An open letter to my Dark Eldar playing friends:

With the changes to 6th, the introduction of a lot of new codices, Dark Eldar can have a sort of tough time these days. This is a sort of open letter to any and all Dark Eldar players with some advice on how to improve your game/list building in an increasingly hostile environment...



As I go to many tournaments, the typical DE list I see is 3x ravager, some Trueborn in Venoms and as many other Venoms as possible. This worked very well a while ago when armies didn't always have an answer to this kind of firepower as you usually had a ton of S8 AP2 weapons and even more Poisoned shooting from venoms...However, I hardly see DE players winning tournaments or games and that breaks my heart. There are some things that need to be taken into consideration these days and Dark Eldar players will need to adapt or die. I want to discuss some ways DE armies should adapt in my view to the current meta and 6th in general. I'll primarily go over army composition, upgrades and what I call "playing your hand" or knowing when to commit your forces and where.

Army Composition:
As I mentioned above, the typical army was all about Venom spam with as many Lance shots as possible and while it really is a solid, game-winning formula....is it enough?


Moar Raiders with bigger Troop units plz...

While the volume of fire Venoms can put out is very high, it is not the be-all end-all in terms of Dark Eldar firepower. Furthermore, Venoms only have 2 HP and can only carry 5 models so if you want to take bigger units in transports, you can't. I'm not trashing the Venom, I'm just pointing out that it is more fragile than the Raider and more limited in terms of firepower (since it cannot hurt tanks at all) and more limited in transport capacity (since it can only carry 5 models).

So rather than taking as many Venoms as you possibly can, try taking some Raiders, too. You can carry more models, have 3 HP rather than 2 and have access to not just a Darklance but also a Disintegrator and it is this latter weapon I want to focus on. The Disintegrator offers you 3 S5 Ap2 shots which can threaten light vehicles (and you are fast enough to even get side armor) in addition to medium/heavy infantry. I think that 3 S5 AP2  shots can be more effective than 12 poisoned shots in some cases. Therefore, instead of taking 6 Venoms in the troops section, why not take 3 Venoms and 3 Raiders with Disintegrators? You will broaden the way you can threaten other models while adding a slightly more durable transport to your army.

With that said, I think that a Raider or three with a larger troop unit will serve DE players well:

(1) Since you need to disembark from vehicles to claim objectives now, larger units will be helpful for claiming objectives in a more hostile area such as those in the enemy deployment zone or where the enemy can focus a lot of firepower.

(2) The Extra HP on a Raider also helps ensure the transport will get where it needs to go. Now you can survive an Extra glance/bad pen roll and skews the dice in your favor.

(3) The addition of a Disintegrator to your arsenal allows you to more effectively threaten a wider range of targets. No longer is it 12 poison shots or a single Lance shot per vehicle, you can also choose a middle of the road weapon for the right target. Specifically, 12 Poisoned shots can kind of be a waste against an opponent who simply will not fail his 2+ armor save while a Lance Shot might be overkill or wasted as you want to focus those on vehicles rather than infantry...The Disintegrator is the answer in this situation.

Anti-tank and anti-infantry:
Dark Eldar seem to have a great deal of options for both anti-tank and anti-infantry but building these things into your list and actually using them in a game can be a challenge.  Yes, Venoms are great against anything with a T value and Dark Lances are good against vehicles, but sometimes that just isn't enough.

Wyches:

Wyches with Haywire are units that I think every DE army should have. (1) You can use them to multi-charge vehicles and glance them to death; (2) you can charge and engage dangerous targets and tie them up with 4+ invul and hopefully FNP; (3) at the very least, they are scoring units and can claim objectives. Rather than taking 6X5 warriors with blasters in Venoms, why not take one or two 10 strong Wych units in Raiders with Disintegrators? Proper use of these units will show you their worth over the latter option.

Splinter Cannons in Warrior Squads:
Yes, a Blaster or even a Dark Lance in a Warrior squad is nice, but you only get one shot and limited

utility. A Splinter Cannon in such a unit is a better buy because you can get more utility/shots. Specifically, if you are relying on a single shot in a unit to kill a tank (or anything), you are relying on dice and luck but if you are able to take multiple shots on something, you now vastly increase the chance to do something useful. Think about it, 66% chance to hit with a single shot, 50% chance to glance an AV12 vehicle (33% chance to pen) and then you have to deal with a cover save usually or an armor pen roll if you managed to pen. Why not just take a Splinter Cannon and give yourself a much greater chance of doing something useful? Not only will this allow your Venoms to stay farther away, you can offset the choice to take Raiders as discussed above.

Blasters/Dark Lances where you can spam them:

Obviously, the more S8 AP2 shots you have, the more likely you can hurt vehicles. However, this is especially true for units that can take more of your anti-tank weapons than other units. Specifically, a unit of Trueborn can spam S8 shots so they become a great choice to fulfill your anti-tank needs while a single shot from Warriors here and there simply will not cut it. Trueborn should be your go-to anti-tank unit also because they are not scoring and are easier to throw away than a Warrior squad you probably don't want to over-expose.  This is why Ravagers are great anti-tank platforms, they can have 3 shots rather than 1. Likewise, the more S8 the merrier in a Trueborn squad. Scourges are also a decent place to have some anti-tank since they can spam some unique weapon options, have decent anti-infantry shooting when all vehicles are gone and can score in The Scouring. Keep them hidden and you should be fine.

Upgrades:

All too often I see simply just Venoms and Raiders with Flicker Fields and nothing else. Where have all the Nightshields gone? Of all of the armies out there, Tau are one of the biggest challenges to DE and Nightshields are the number one answer to this army. First, Marker Lights are only 36", therefore, Nightshields will ensure that you can be in range of enemy models with Marker Lights while the Marker Lights will not be in range of you. Second, Missile Pods and most other weapons are 36" or less, only really the Broadsides, Riptides and Vehicles can get longer ranged weapons so you can focus down these units while the other units are too far to help. Also, Crisis Suits can offset Nightshields with their jetpack move but you can focus them down as well and just stay out of their range completely early on. Going Second is helpful in this capacity.

Therefore, please, do yourselves a favor and take Nightshields on everything that can...They are not the be-all end-all in terms of vehicle protection but they go a long way in helping your vehicles survive longer. Also, now that you can pre-measure, you have no excuse for ensuring you are in range while enemy models are not.

Playing your hand:

This concept is knowing when and where to commit your forces. Sometimes people just think blindly sending their units forward while shooting things is a good idea...It's not. DE (and Eldar for that matter) is for those that are cunning and can take advantage of mistakes in enemy deployment and target priority. Is your opponent very powerful in close range or medium range? Stay back until those threats are taken care of then move up and claim objectives or engage other elements of the army. Is your opponent very powerful in long range but vulnerable to close quarter's fighting? Forgo a turn of shooting, boost units in his face and next turn get out and charge. There is a right time and place to commit your forces and just because the opponent has models in a part of the table doesn't mean you have to as well.

Therefore, this aspect of playing DE or even regular Eldar comes from experience. This concept is also focused on in Warmachine/Hordes as "Threat Range." Know the threat range of your opponent and manipulate it to force your opponent to play your game.

Conclusion:
So putting all of this together, Dark Eldar players should have at least 1-3 larger scoring units in Raiders with Disintegrators and focus their anti-tank in Trueborn, Ravagers and maybe even Scourges while anti-infantry should be focused on from Raiders, Venoms and Warrior units with Splinter Cannons. Nightshields and proper positioning is another thing every DE player should focus on as well. Nightshields might not ALWAYS come in handy but proper positioning will. Just because an enemy spreads his army out doesn't mean you have to as well...Rather you should focus your army all in one side of the board and take stuff out one at a time from the part of the table you are on.