The Art of Dark Eldar Part 3: A New Edition

The Art of Dark Eldar Part 3: A New Edition

I’m sitting here, trying to get my mind off the exam I’m due to complete tomorrow and I’ve drifted my thoughts to the fast attack and  heavy support section. For me this was the easiest choice for my army in 5^th edition. Fast Attack Choices were cack (except for Hellions, but they were troops) and heavy support had basically Ravagers galore.

Dedicated transport was another one sided affair. With all my units 5 strong, who would ever choose 1 dark lance shot to 12 poisoned ones?

But in the new edition this has changed dramatically.

I’m, in this blog, going to tackle the fast attack, Dedicated Transports and heavy support choices and critique them under the new rules.

The Same Rankings have been used from the last few blogs…

(++: Much Better +: Better -:Same x:Worse xx:Much Worse)

Dedicated Transports

Venom: -

The extra fragility to vehicles hasn’t really effected the venom. If it had taken two glancing hits, often as not it was probably dead already. The jink save again hasn’t helped as they have a 5+ invulnerable anyway. A very solid quick source of poisoned shots and still a must take. I’d expect to see these bad boys littering other armies as allies as you can get 3 very very cheaply.

Raider: +

The Raider has got better, there’s no doubt about it, the jink save meaning it no longer needs a flickerfield and it has 3 hull points unlike the venoms lowly 2. However it still only has 1 dark lance, which just isn’t as good as 12 poisoned shots. Also having a transport capacity of 10 makes people want to over spend on the unit inside it and as I’ve always said, keep units on fragile transports cheap. Probably still second fiddle to the venom.

Fast Attack

Hellions: xx

NOOOOOooooo….. my favourite unit that led me to three tournament victories has been killed!!!! A reduced cover and Fnp save and focus firing units out of cover has really done for these boys. Not even the Baron can make this unit useful anymore. There still pretty good at combat but just not very survivable anymore.

Scourges: +

A bit of a boost with the boost to haywire but still far too expensive unfortunately!

Beastmasters: ++

The Boost to beasts has really made this unit Brilliant. Allocation allows Kymeras to take the pain a lot more than the flocks, which, with rending AP2, have become extremely useful. You can get a very large unit of beasts relatively cheaply filling slightly the ginormous whole left by the hellion’s disappearance. A must take in new edition I’m reckoning.

Reavers: ++

Much Much Better. A Nuisance unit and now pretty hard. When they turbo Boost they get a 3+ jink and they ignore terrain due to skilled rider. Hitting a unit like Necron warriors from 36 inches away with 8 or 9 d3 str 4 hits can also be pretty devastating. A base toughness 4, means they have more fnp saves. I great unit for the new edition.

Heavy Support

Ravager: +

A slight boost with Jink but not much has changed for the Ravager, still a very solid choice

Talos/Cronos: +

Both have got better due to the boost in MC and access to haywire, however still a slow unit in a fast army and reduces the dark Eldar players heavy gunning options. I think therefore these will still be bottom of the pile

Razorwing Jetfighter: +

Now a flyer and so much much more survivable, however restricted to 2 missiles a turn my effect its impact. A good Choice but in my opinion the Void Raven is better.

Voidraven Bomber: ++

So much better now. It’s a flyer, can now actually use its bomb pretty easily (36 inch move ahoy). The strength 9 lance makes up for the fact u have 1 less dark lances and it’s much more survivable now and doesn’t require a flickerfield. Some cheap missiles can be purchased for this making it pretty cheap for it.

Fortifications

Just a quick word on these. The cheaper fortifications with anti-aircraft guns will be good (manned by wracks!) the expensive fortress just too over the top. Worth a punt if you have the points.

Conclusion

Here’s my rankings!

Must Have: Venom

Solid Choice: Ravager, Voidraven, Reavers, Beastmasters

If you have the points: Raider, Razorwing Fighter, Scourges, Hellions (Troops)

Leave behind: Cronos, Talos, Hellions (fast attack)

Thanks for Reading Guys! And so ends my review of the choices of Dark Eldar! These again are my own opinions I hope they’ve given you some ideas and I hope

Next time I’ll be looking at Allies and how Dark Eldar will interact with them Till then…. Have fun!

Mike