Emptive Dark Eldar List Ideas

Love the list. Frankly, with the points being somewhat similar, I'm leaning more towards the RSR detachment to grab 2 units of scourges and 2 razorwings with lances. Frankly, they're just so much better AA than a ravager. And you can upgrade to necrotoxin missiles fo freeee which can be good.

Despite that it went up in cost by 5 points, I still think Night Shields are mandatory on ravagers, razorwings, and raiders...3+ jink is just too good.

I'm excited to get myself some grots. Ebaying some Island of Blood rat ogres and some talos parts as we speak to convert me up 4 of them. Not sure I'd bring along the aberration though, seems unnecessary since you want your archon in challenges to grab souls for his trap.

Overall, looks good. I think we're going to see a lot of VERY similar lists to yours on the net...and even worse with Eldar allies (I mean, an allied archon with WWP, 5 warriors in a venom, and a raider for your firedragons is like...300 points, even with upgrades. SO WORTH IT).

What does Coteaz do? Screw with reserves?

That's super fancy and legit, I like that mechanic a lot! So he basically has interceptor? And that's interesting about the initiative seizing...one of the new DE warlord traits is to re-roll to seize, would be fun to have both on the table and have a regular ol' roll-off.

I totally agree, Joel. Reavers are awesome and if I had twelve, I'd find room for them.

What I like about the soul trap is that the sgt either accepts the challenge and gets punked or they refuse and any benefit the unit had from their sgt is removed from the combat. This pairs pretty nicely with the Scary Armor which could lead to a -3 swing in leadership. Maybe even more for guard etc.

And the aberration might be pointless. I still need to think about it. Like maybe if I gave him an agonizer as well? That'd be 6 attacks on the charge with rerolls to wound. Super nasty. He could also eat the odd challenge I don't want to accept.

Oh, and Nick, if you're making grotesques, did you consider using wraithguard and the talos kit? Just so it's consistent with your talos. I've thought about going that direction myself.

As for vehicle upgrades, I try to avoid them. 4 night shields is a venom, yadda yadda, you've heard this before. I barely convinced myself to take the splinter racks. I do like the option for sails as well, but the 30' move turn 1 usually puts me where I need to be.

And Will, I feel like deep striking next to your army is a huge mistake. Too many flamers. I'm uncomfortable thinking about it.

See my only hesitation with the grotesques as wraithguard is that, now that I actually have eldar allies, and the allies rules exist, the "talos" I converted can just be what it is...a (dark) wraithlord. Like his big brother (dark) wraithknight.

I'd probably rather make a unit of (dark) wriathguard AND a unit of aesthetically distinct grotesques, using the commmonly seen IoB rat ogre conversion. That way, if I ever try to expand my coven forces, or take Eldar Allies, there will be 0 confusion on the table top.

"Oh that wraithknight that's barely converted with spikes and chains? Yeah no, that's actually a heirophant" - some tool, probably.

Wraithguard as Castigators (apparently those are a thing from a rather popular DE series) will likely be a popular "conversion" in the near future. In no small part due to either Wraithguard being stupidly good at short range, and WWP's making short range largely moot.

A lot of DE players are upset because, in their opinion, Eldar things are better. Or "it's better to just ally in DE to Eldar for a few tricks" or whatever else. In the end, I think the two armies really just function exceptionally well together. I can't remember how many points a Fire Dragon is, but it's comparable to a Blasterborn I should think (each with pro's/con's). Either in a Venom is a pretty solid mobile anti-tank unit. Banshees obviously appreciate the open-topped access, and even Dark Reapers would have a field day with a DE boat.

Of course, Guardians don't throw out 3 S4 attacks on the charge in the late-game, either. Seriously... I may start taking multiple Splinter-Rack Raiders in order to have more large(ish) units of Warriors on the field. Turn 4 push onto objectives and have a surprisingly strong combat presence to shift the enemy. Turn 5 you gain Fearless in order to hold it (with ObSec) to a man. A Feel-no-paining main that is (hopefully) in cover.

Eldar sure can't do that with an 8-point troop.

Shrug. I'm super excited. There are certainly things I don't love about this book, and I'm sure there will be more that pop up as I play... but there are definitely a lot that I really, really, really like. The people who are moaning and already trying to build a home-brew "fix" of the codex need to play Tyranids for a few years.

But I digress.

To the (original?) point of Wraithgaurd/Grotesques... I think the biggest key is weapon options. The picture above isn't likely to be confused with a regular Wraithguard unit, if you were really in love with the idea of converting them (some, or all) to Grotesques. But of course the Rat Ogres are about perfect for the job as well.

Must. Get. Bits.