Greetings Fellow True Kin

Greetings Archons,

I am here to introduce myself.

I am proud to say that I am returning to the way of the True Kin. Last played in third edition, which feels quite a while ago.

From what I gather I have picked a very poor codex to start collecting again! However, the pull Commorragh is too strong.

I am stocking my Kabal with Kabalits, venoms and raiders. But if there is any advice from more experienced Archons, I would of course be grateful. I mainly fight: Tyranids and Space Marines (bleurgh...).

PS: Just want to say that having rummaged through some of the tactics, podcasts and advice threads this forums seems a fantastic resource!

Welcome to the Dark City! It is a fantastic resource, and there are some really talented people here, from painters and modellers to tournament players!

Honest advice right now for just about ANYONE playing 40k, not just dark eldar: Plan on using allies.

Seriously, it's the game right now. Mixing and matching allies is all the rage. Up till recently, I'd have said that if your opponents generally don't use allies, you may be able to get away with staying pure, but with the latest and greatest space marine stuff that came out, I don't really think that's accurate any more.

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If you're not super worried about being overly competitive and would rather stay pure DE, I'd plan on bringing some toughness in the form of a covens formation like the grotesquerie. Alternatively, another guy on the forums here claims to have had some success going super MSU strategy(he said he got Best DE at the Las Vegas Open).

Basically, he only paid for as many minimum units of warriors as necessary to get raiders with dark lances and venoms. So something like this for an 1850 list:

2 CADs
HQs:
2 Lhameans in Venoms w/dual cannons 150
Troops:
6x 5 Kabalite Warriors in venoms w/dual cannons 630
6x 5 Kabalite Warriors in raiders w/ dark lances 600
Fast Attack
6x Raiders w/dark Lances 360
Heavy Support
1 Ravager w/Disintegrator cannons 110
TOTAL 1850

You can see the theme and apply it to whatever points value you play at. At 1850, the list above has 8 venoms, 12 raiders, 12 minimum sized squads of obsec warriors, and a dissie ravager. (24 obsec units when you count dedicated transports)

Often, people fall into the "upgrade trap", wanting to run max-sized squads in raiders with all the options. But those people end up having 2 raiders, 3 venoms, 2 Ravagers, and a jetfighter. DE lists like that get eaten alive in the current meta. You need as many vehicles as possible if you're staying pure and not using coven units.

Welcome back!

Thank you for the advice,

Picked up the homunculus covens add on, on my way back from work this morning. Night shifts...

It is an interesting set up, the Grots I can see working well and some Talos/Cronos formations.

Are there any ways to make Wracks actually work though?

They just seem too weak for the points they cost

Well met, and welcome to the Dark City.

You've picked a tough faction to play, but one that does rewards a good general like no other. It also helps that the models are an absolute joy to collect and paint.

As far as the supplement you picked up goes, a lot of Dark Eldar players invest quite heavily into the Covens, sometimes with multiple Corpsethief Claw formations, buffing them with nearby Dark Artisans, or running a big Grotesquerie straight into the heart of the enemy. So, if playing big fleshy monsters is your thing, go nuts. The supplement rewards this kind of play.

Sadly though, to answer your question, Wracks are trash, even with the supplement. They occupy the same slot in the regular CAD as Grotesques do, but are worse in almost all the important respects. None of their formations really help them bridge the gap between the two units. For every 10 Wracks in a Raider, 3 Grots in a Raider are similarly priced, and pretty much universally a better option, unless you know you're against Grey Knights and their mass force weaponry.

Wracks do offer one thing of plausible interest depending on the type of list you're intending to create - the Scalpel Squadron formation. That is, they're a tax for that formation that might be worth paying for if you value the special rules. The extra bonuses for first blood are nice, but really the reason some people like it is for the clause where they deep strike automatically on turn one.

This allows you to deploy literally nothing as the game starts if you want, which in turn allows you to completely ignore your opponent's first turn of shooting if you're going second.

Rumours are abound that Dark Eldar will see some love rules-wise in the near future. If this happens, and I say this with a pinch of salt; don't get your hopes up, if this happens, Wracks, or their associated formations, are likely to get substantially better.