Help with Dark Eldar Please

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Lordanubis
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Help with Dark Eldar Please

Post by Lordanubis »

Dear Druchii.net members,

Next Wednesday, I'm going to be playing a game with my new Dark Eldar army. This will be my first time using it, and I realise I've not exactly got an ideal list. I don't necessarily want a tournament level list, but I would like an outside chance of winning and it has to be an 'all comers' list because I don't know who I'll be playing against.

So, I would like to ask for your help in building 1500 and 1750 points lists for this. I've got the following models, but I'm willing to buy some more if necessary, just not a whole new army... I think it probably will be, but I want to make sure I buy what I need and what will work.

Anyway, here's what I have so far:
Lelith Hesperax
1 Haemonculus

3 Grotesques
10 Wracks

2x 10 Warriors (each with Sybarite, Blaster, Splinter Cannon)
10 Wyches
2 Raiders

2x 5 Scourges (each with Solarite, one with 2 Haywire Blasters, one with 2 Heat Lances)

1 Talos
1 Razorwing Jetfighter

I don't have the time tonight, but I will try and put up a potential army list of my own tomorrow so I'm not just asking for blind opinions. Thanks, hopefully in advance, for any comments on army lists or useful/essential purchases.
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Calisson
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Re: Help with Dark Eldar Please

Post by Calisson »

"All comers": half of your opponents will be Space Marines or related.
Anyway, generally speaking, the most annoying opponents are vehicles. Make sure you have enough shooting to get after them, as all the poisonous shooting is ineffective against vehicles.

DE are generally fragile, except for talos/Cronos/Grotesques/Wracks.
Stay away from shooting. Use your mobility to concentrate on the weak wing of your opponent and get there into melee as soon as possible.

For ALL your troops: take a champion with agonizer. It's the most useful upgrade.



Lelith Hesperax: excellent in melee - she freightens the opponent by her mere presence.

1 Haemonculus: make him ancient. Deploy him with the Wyches in order to provide them the Strength Through Pain token. If it requires the Wyches to be reduced to 9 in order to go inside a Raider, so be it. Useful: agonizer, Webway Portal (for the Talos).


3 Grotesques: Did not try yet. Seems nice.

10 Wracks: troops if the Haemonculus is selected. 2 liquefiers useful. Champion with agonizer. Excellent to keep an objective, because sturdy.


2x 10 Warriors (each with Sybarite, Blaster, Splinter Cannon): Good against troops. Splinter has a great range. Take agonizer for the champion.

You could consider to transform some of them into Kabalite Trueborn. Their firepower with carbines is impressive.

10 Wyches: arguably the best unit of the codex. Take grenades for all, agonizer for champion. Necessary to have the Homonculus provide them the first Pain token.

2 Raiders: very nice, although extremely fragile. Flickerfield & Nightshield useful but not that effective, I usually don't bother to take. Speed sail could be useful if kept in reserve.


2x 5 Scourges (each with Solarite, one with 2 Haywire Blasters, one with 2 Heat Lances): I only like scourges in a large unit with Baron Sathonyx. However, I did not try your antitank setting which seems interesting. The problem with them is that they are very fragile. As usual, an agonizer is nice, although such small units could be considered sacrificial.


1 Talos: Hmmmm.... So nice! Upgrade them as much as you can: the option to make attacks more deadly. Really nice to show up through a portal, otherwise it is too slow and may be shot to death during the travel.

1 Razorwing Jetfighter: fragile. Missiles are mostly antipersonnel. I like better antitank missiles. Not really convinced, although it may be 'cause I don't know well how to use it.


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Post by Masked jackal »

More Dark Lances. You don't have enough right now to deal with vehicles.
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Lordanubis
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Post by Lordanubis »

Thank you both for your comments. I did forget one unit that’s work in progress – 8 Trueborn, 4 with Carbines, two with Splinter Cannons and two with Blasters.

Also, if I need more Dark Lances to deal with vehicles, do you have any suggestions about where to get them? I have a Razorwing, which mounts two, and two Raiders with one each. Would another Razorwing and another Raider be enough? Or do I need to look into getting a Ravager or two?

On the surface, the Razorwing seems more multi-purpose. It has the Dark Lances to hit tanks and the missiles and splinter cannon for infantry – I know that there are horde armies around and even Space Marines fall if subjected to enough armour saves. On the other hand, it is more expensive and a Ravager does mount more anti tank or anti heavy infantry guns, depending how you equip it. Is one objectively better? Does it depend on the list? Thoughts?

My feelings so far are to add a second Razorwing, because I like them and I would rather have two of one unit than one of each, but I’m willing to go with Ravagers if they are the better unit for my list. I will put up lists with both tomorrow, I hope. And thank you again for the initial thoughts.
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Post by Masked jackal »

Ravager's are usually the competitive player's first choice. In fact, a common saying is that every list needs 3 ravagers. Dark Eldar are good enough all-round that you don't need to go that far, but one or two will help you out immensely.
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Post by Lordanubis »

Alright then. Here is a list using Ravagers that I've worked out. It features a second Haemonculus instead of Lelith, principally because I needed a second cheap HQ to babysit the Grotesques, but I could switch them out for her instead. Again, if there is a better way to equip the squads, please let me know - all help is useful at this point.

An earlier version had Agonisers on squad leaders. I kept one on the Hekatrix as the most likely to be in a fight, but the others got cut for points. I'd like to include them, but what could or should I cut for them?

1750 point Dark Eldar list
Haemonculus Ancient with Flesh Gauntlet and Webway Portal – 135

Haemonculus with Venom Blade, Casket of Flensing and Liquifier Gun – 75

3 Grotesques – 105

9 Trueborn including Dracon, 4 with Shardcarbines, 2 Blasters and 2 Splinter Cannons – 183

Raider – 60

9 Wracks – 90

10 Warriors including Sybarite with Blaster and Splinter Cannon – 125

10 Warriors including Sybarite with Blaster and Splinter Cannon – 125

9 Wyches including Hekatrix with Agoniser with Haywire Grenades and Razorflails – 148

Raider – 60

5 Scourges including Solarite with 2 Haywire Blasters – 140

5 Scourges including Solarite with 2 Heat Lances – 144

Ravager with 3 Dark Lances and Flickerfields – 115

Ravager with 3 Disintegrators and Flickerfields – 115

Talos Engine with Chain Flails, Additional Combat Weapon and Stinger Pod – 130
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Post by Darkmark »

Buying wise I think a raider followed by 2 ravagers would be money very well spent. After that 2 battleforces would be great. This would give you the rest of your raider fleet, more troop options, trueborn and bloodbride options, and an excellent fast slot in a reaver bike squad.
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Post by Omnichron »

Good that you removed Lelith. She just isn't worth the points unfortunately (Unless you know you are going up against badly armored t3 troops which are lots of points.... uhm, yeah)

Personally I like my warriors on raiders. It gives them more protection against normal shots, and means that they can get close and kill enemy troops quickly.

I guess you will use the WWP to get most of the stuff in though, so you might not need more raiders. Have you considered beastpack or Incubis coming through the WWP? I've found the Incubis to be worth their points, even though most DE lists I see don't have them.

I don't like the disintegrator ravager though. If you want anti troops, you should consider the Razorwing with disintegrators. It destroys one squad per round and is generally awesome. The danger is doing overkills with that bad boy ;)
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Post by Calisson »

Raneth wrote:Come to the Dark City for all your Evil Space Fairy needs!
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Post by Krau27 »

More Dark Lances. You don't have enough right now to deal with vehicles.
could not agree more, unless your heat lances are the new dark lance havent seen the new codex yet, (to busy messing around with my Howling Griffons and Space Puppies)

Buying wise I think a raider followed by 2 ravagers would be money very well spent


also agreeing, throw some wytches (i think thats what their called) on the raider and get them stuck in dear god they can devistate infantry, or at least they did to my infantry
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Post by Danceman »

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LordAnubis wrote:1750 point Dark Eldar list
Haemonculus Ancient with Flesh Gauntlet and Webway Portal – 135
Not really worth the points. You're better off with normal haemies
Haemonculus with Venom Blade, Casket of Flensing and Liquifier Gun – 75
I am missing the shattershards and liq guns. They're amazing, while the casket is good to, the others are just devastating.
3 Grotesques – 105

9 Trueborn including Dracon, 4 with Shardcarbines, 2 Blasters and 2 Splinter Cannons – 183
Split this unit into 2 x 5 and get em blaster with a venom with extra SC. Much more firepower.

Raider – 60

9 Wracks – 90

10 Warriors including Sybarite with Blaster and Splinter Cannon – 125

10 Warriors including Sybarite with Blaster and Splinter Cannon – 125
Same as with the TB, these just begs to be riding a venom
9 Wyches including Hekatrix with Agoniser with Haywire Grenades and Razorflails – 148
Raider – 60
Solid choice
5 Scourges including Solarite with 2 Haywire Blasters – 140
Solid choice
5 Scourges including Solarite with 2 Heat Lances – 144
Heat lances are short ranged and you're better off with more haywire for stunlocking, as it is there they truly shine. Get more darklight weapons on your TB/warriors

Ravager with 3 Dark Lances and Flickerfields – 115
Always a good choice
Ravager with 3 Disintegrators and Flickerfields – 115
We got plenty of anti-personel weapons and this needs more darklight weaponry
Talos Engine with Chain Flails, Additional Combat Weapon and Stinger Pod – 130
This guy needs a twin-linked HWL.


To be honest I don't like the list. The WWP seems like it's an afterthough as I assume the footsloggers are the ones who's going through the portal. In this regard it feels inverted. It should be the wyches who is granted the protection of the WWP, not your shooty elements like warriors and trueborns. In the list design you're better off getting more raiders and venoms.

Some tips. TB work better in MSU style in venoms. Don't forget grisly trophies as the re-roll will often stop them from running off.

Ask yourself what kind of list you want to play and how. Right now it looks like you're not quite certain where you want to be. I've been experimenting with a WWP army myself and I've found the hybrid is better. Start off with shooty units and then have your CC units pour out(ideally you should bring some faster units so you don't block your own units from coming into play).

That said, you have a solid force to work with. I just think you should keep a fast and shooty army on the tabletop and have your CC units come through.
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