With the recent rumors prior to the dark eldar codex, I can't say that I was excited for this release. In a time prior to those rumors, I would have been first in line at the very minute of release for the codex. I'd have had the clear plastic torn off the cover in my car before I ever got out of the parking lot, and I'd have likely immediately camped out reading the entirety of the book in all it's glory, only pulling away for food or bathroom breaks, until I was finished. Not this time.
On release day, I slept in. I got out of bed, did some unremarkable busy-stuff, ran some errands, ate, etc. Then, I went to my FLGS, about 3-4 hours after release, and purchased my copy of the book. After doing so, I had some other errands to run, so did some shopping and went home. I had purchased a new RAM setup for my computer as well, so I put that all together first, upgrading my computer. Then I played a video game, cooked and ate dinner, and watched an episode of the walking dead. Only AFTER all those things did I finally come to my new codex, remove the plastic, and open the book.
It was at that moment that I decided to defer my disappointment just a bit further. I decided to read through all of the fluff first, and the timeline, as that might perhaps justify the rumors that I'd heard. I made it through most of the fluff before the monotany of reading the same fluff I had read before got to me. I finally skipped ahead to the timeline, referencing our old codex to see which entries were new, and read through them. Vect was still there! Malys too, and they were the stars of the show insofar as the timeline was concerned! Perhaps the rumors were wrong? Perhaps vect was, in fact, included in the codex. Maybe we got to keep our special characters, including my beloved Duke Sliscus?
I quickly flipped through the central, art portion of the book till I landed squarely at the beginning of the new rules/units section. I flitted through, but alas, no Vect, no Malys, no Baron, and no Duke. Very dissappointing to say the least.
I spent the next couple hours pouring over all of the rules for weapons, vehicles, and units found in the new codex, referencing them against the rulebook with an eye on wording. At the conclusion of what ended up being about a 5 hour binge session with the book, I felt...empty. Then that emptyness turned to disgust with GW. The loss of our special characters stung, most certainly. Other negative changes were also littered throughout the book, which I will outline below, but there were also some significant improvements to other units. And that is what drove my disgust. You see, units that weren't really that OP to begin with got stepped on, nerfed, whatever you want to call it, and units that no one used because they sucked got boosts that essentially made them fill the roll that the unit they nerfed used to fill. What does that mean for us, the customers? Well, it means that a large portion of our armies, the ones we pay thousands of dollars for, are now useless. If we want to enjoy our games, and not be utterly worthless against pretty much everything, we're going to need to invest in these other models that we don't have because they used to suck.
Now, please, before the GW appologists come out of the woodwork to crucify me, just understand what I'm saying. We are the victims of the corporate profit machine right now. The codex was not designed solely on what they felt was balanced/good for the story, but rather based on what they could do to "force" us to buy models. Entice me, GW, I want to be enticed. I've come to your stores to spend my money. Make awesome things that make me want to spend it more, but there is no reason to nerf an already underpowered unit to make your new unit more appealing! I would have bought the new unit anyhow! Now, I am just bitter that I own hundreds of dollars in models that I will likely not be using.
Yes, they may come out with a supplement. But really...come on. A new codex($50), two new supplements($50 each), pigeonholing us into abandoning half our current army and investing in new models for old sucky units that are now our staple AT...it just reeks of cash grab. I feel like an old dish towel that they're putting through the ringer, trying to squeeze out every last drop of cash from me before I'm no longer useful to them. And forget about me convincing other friends to try the hobby. I don't lie to my friends, and so, talking about potentially getting into 40k never makes it far past "How much is it?" If they didn't try to kick everyone in the nuts over their prices, we might be able to help them have more people playing the game, therefore continuing to make them the same amount of money, while having a more healthy, thriving community. But no, nutkick, gimme your money, now GTFO, but buy these new models first, you'll need em. ::winkwink:: But enough of the talk about GW's financial practices. By now, we should all know they're the evil empire. On to the rules...
What's New?
Power from pain:The old pain token system is gone, replaced by a system that grants the entire army abilities based on the turn number. Being very fragile at the beginning of the game, and being guaranteed to be more surviveable towards the end of the game, should they survive, I think we'll start seeing DE played a bit differently to best utilize this effect.
Dark Eldar Wargear:Power weapons - Pretty much all the power weapons we had access to previously are now just power swords. Gonna need to adjust your models accordingly.
Archite Glaive - Only available to the succubus, this AP2 weapon may be used either 1handed for S:User, or two-handed for +1S. Price just slightly higher than a basic power weapon, it's worth every point.
Agonizer is now properly listed as an AP3 poisoned weapon.
Heat lances are slightly cheaper.
Splinter cannons are salvo, which doesn't effect our vehicles at all. As for our troops, it does make cannons less attractive for mobile soldiers, leaving splinter cannons primarily as either a vehicle upgrade, or best in a gun line.
Haywire grenades are now only obtainable on characters, making them mostly a points sink. COULD be useful if you happened to be within striking distance of a vehicle with only 1 HP left, but it would likely mean you're either seperating the character from their unit, or wasting the entire unit's attacks on a vehicle they can't hurt in order to get 1 shot at putting 1 hp on a vehicle.
Soul-trap has been changed to add +1S for each wound eliminated in a challenge. This is sort of a mixed blessing. It gives you benefits as you go for a challenge that lasts more than 1 combat phase, but makes it to where you don't get as much for killing an IC with 1-2 wounds as you did before.
Huskblade is now cheaper by nearly a third, but only AP3.
Phantasm Grenade Launcher/Torment Grenade Launcher - These have been altered significantly. The old effect has been removed from each of them and replaced with the ability to fire a small blast projectile that kills units based on how much they fail a leadership test by. With a couple ways of lowering leadership, this is a novel idea, but it comes at the cost of our most reliable, army-wide leadership manipulation vehicle upgrade, and the only upgrade we had to provide grenades to units that didn't get the option to take them. This is a HUGE hit to the codex, imo.
Clonefield now just gives a 4++. Easy. Overpriced. Boring.
Shadowfield now persists until the end of the combat phase in which it was defeated. No more rolling dice 1 by 1. This can be useful for lots of low strength fire, but doesn't really make a difference against middle strength or better, since you're going to get instakilled by S6 on the first penetration anyhow.
Webway Portal has been changed to allow the model carrying it, it's unit, and it's transport to deep strike without scattering. I like this change, and believe that we'll start seeing these used with much more frequency.
Venom blade can only be taken by an acothyst now. This is a change I didn't see coming, and not particularly welcome. It hurts our ICs and upgrade characters' versatility for no discernable reason.
The electrocorrosive whip has lost it's special rule to become a 5+ poisoned, AP3 melee weapon with the concussive special rule. At nearly the cost of an agonizer, you're probably better off with an agonizer on nearly everything.
Liquifier Gun was unnecessarily nerfed to be S3, as if we didn't have enough S3 to deal with already in melee. Then they raised the price on it by 50%.
Wych cult weapons have been revamped, with the hydra gauntlets giving shred and AP5, the razorflails now only reroll to hit instead of both to hit and wound, and shardnet now rerolls to hit and wound, but only on 1's. They're now each half the price they were before. Ultimately, still not really great, and much less unique than before.
Enhanced aethersails allow a vehicle to flat-out 24 inches. Cannot be taken by venoms. Since all of our vehicles are fast skimmers, this basically means enhanced aethersails give us an additional 6 inches of movement when moving flat out.
Chain snares now allow you to tank shock, but not to ram.
Shock prow now causes your vehicle to be considered AV14 during ramming attempts. Good change.
Splinter racks now work on all splinter weapons. This would be very helpful, except that splinter cannons have become salvo, lowering their range to 18 inches when shot by infantry inside a moving vehicle, and trueborn no longer have access to sharcarbines. So basically, they made splinter racks work on all splinter weapons, but it doesn't matter because the only weapons you'll see inside them are splinter rifles and splinter pistols(from wyches).
Night shields now provide stealth to vehicles. Far less unique than the previous ruling, and therefore doesn't stack with other things like night-fighting that provide stealth. Still, stealth on jinking raiders can be a major boon, so I think this is a positive change overall.
Artefacts(Unique Items - 1 per character, only 1 of each allowed in army):
Animus Vitae - 8" ranged S4 AP2 1shot weapon that advances your entire army 1 turn on the power from pain chart if you score an unsaved wound with it. A bit pricy for a one-shot weapon with limited application, it might still be useful if it didn't exclude the character that took it from taking other, more universally useful artefacts.
Armor of Misery gives a 4+ armor save, and a 6++. The primary reason to take it, however, is the -2 Ld bubble it provides against your enemies. All enemies within 6 inches suffer from it, while you gain the fear special rule. This is probably the best artefact in the codex.
Archeangel of pain forces a leadership test at -2 for all units within 9" of the user. For each point they fail by, they suffer a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed. Doesn't work on models with the fearless or And they shall know no fear special rules. Limited utility, in my opinion. Even if you paired it with the armor of misery, and another -2 to leadership from somewhere else(for -6Ld!), you're still only going to kill 4 single-wound models on average, against typical leadership 9 units. This is with a one-shot weapon that will require you to have 2 archons/characters within the same unit to make that combo happen at all, as well as spending the cost of 4 wyches to even try it.
Crucible of malediction - No longer 1 per army, instead of targetting each psyker, it now inflicts an automatic S6 hit on all units that includes at least 1 psyker and are within range. The hit does not allow saves of any kind. Overpriced and not particularly useful because it can only do at most 1 damage to any unit, and follows normal wound allocation. There might be times when it would come in handy, but I suspect those times would be outnumbered by the times that it was worthless.
The helm of spite is an anti-psyker device with a modest 12" range(24" bubble). All friendly dark eldar units inside the bubble get the Adamantium will special rule, while enemy psykers within the bubble suffer a perils of the warp on any double when making a psychic test. I've heard others say this is a great item. It's certainly not BAD. However, it would have been far better if it automatically caused perils, or if it gave us some way to generate additional warp charge in order to utilize our "Adamantium Will". As is, we're left to the mercy of the opponent's warp charge roll. If they roll a 1 or 2, we're basically psychically scewed, and without warp charge points, adamantium will does nothing.
The parasite's kiss is a 12" range master-crafted poison 2+ pistol with AP5. If you cause an unsaved wound with it, you regain a wound lost previously in the battle. Ringing in at the cost of a venom blade, this artefact is worth every point, simply due to it's low cost, and the ability to regain lost wounds.
The djin blade's mechanics have changed, but the chance to be hit by the weapon has stayed the same. Only now, it can only do 1 wound per round, but it's an unsaveable wound. The mechanics are more clean-cut, and will serve to make dice rolling faster, I think. Overall, I like it slightly better than I did before, but mostly due to huskblades not having as much appeal.
HQs:Archon - Oh, the archon. He still doesn't have access to jetbikes or anything else that would give him more than 6" of movement, but he can now take a dedicated venom by himself. The fact that he's now the cheapest HQ will ensure he still see's action, and he's no slouch, but he's also not the challenge beast he was before, having lost access to both the venom blade, and the AP2 of the old huskblade. I think he'll still be useful as a utility character, providing a 2+ invuln to a unit in the form of his shadow field, allowing you to field a mass of Sslyth, or carrying a webway portal for a shooty unit to ensure they arrive with pinpoint accuracy, then providing either melee support, or an extra blaster shot. Certainly not a superstar these days, though.
Court of the Archon - Very similar to before, except for the following: Lhamaean's lost the mistress of poison rule, Ur-Ghul's gained the fear rule, and you don't have a minimum of anything for any units. You may take the models in any combination you wish up to 12. SSlyth are cheaper by the cost of a Lhemaean, and medusa increased the same amount in price. There is nothing as far as I can tell that demands you place the archon with the court, as there was before. With these changes, I think you'll begin to see the court used more often, with good reason.
Succubus - The succubus is pretty much the same except she has been given access to the only AP2 melee weapon available to independent characters in the form of the archite glaive, which was described in the equipment section of this review. On the attack, the succubus is a force to be reckoned with when utilizing her new weapon. It's unfortunate that she still doesn't have any access to any sort of defensive upgrades, leaving her with only a 4+ invuln to win the day.
Lelith Hesperax - Oh, Lelith, we all love your model, and want to love your rules too. Maybe now we'll get that chance. Lelith has changed quite a bit. Her points cost was reduced by the price of an agonizer, but she lost her shardnet effect from her barbed hair. Her special rule that used to give her extra attacks was altered to allow her to reroll both to hit and to wound in a challenge. Her base attacks were also increased by 1, and she was given rampage. She also has the option to buy the impaler half of the shardnet/impaler wych weapon at triple the cost of the full wych weapon. Overall, I think Lelith might need to be feared quite a bit more than previously. With the ability to generate an average of 2 extra attacks on top of her base 5+1, and the ability to reroll both to hit and to wound in challenges while still ignoring armor, she will probably be our best character for challenges, despite S3. She might even be worth pairing up with a Haemonculus w/animus vitae for that shot at a turn 2 furious charge.
Haemonculus - The only model caqpable of taking the crucible of malediction, this normally won't be a good enough reason to take them on their own. Fortunately, the Haemonculus also boosts his unit +1 turn on the power from pain chart, and has access to other weapons of torture, and of course has access to Artefacts. The crucible isn't considered an artefact, so a Haemonculus may take both. The stats and cost of the Haemonculus are basically a mix of the old Haemonculus and old Ancient. Overall, not a huge change. No longer the cheapest HQ, and can no longer take 3 in one HQ slot.
Urien Rakarth - Cheaper by nearly the cost of a venom, he's still Very similar to how he was before. He still has the casket of flensing, S3 AP3, Assault 2d6, One shot. He also increases units turn on the power from pain chart by +1, but does so in a 12" radius around him. If he is your warlord, he automatically gives all units within 12" of him fear as well. He no longer has any abilities that effect troop slots, or other units at all. His unique "meld the flesh" rule has been replaced with the generic "it will not die" rule from the rulebook. He does have feel no pain(4+) outside of the power from pain special rule, so he hasn't lost ALL of his tankiness with the changes to clone field and "meld the flesh". Overall, I'd say a neutral change to this character.
Drazhar - Reduced in price by half the cost of an old raider, he Still can only be placed in units of incubi. He also improves the weapon skill of any incubi unit he joins by 1. He lost onslaught, murderous assault, riposte, and darting strike in exchange for the rampage special rule. Still, based on his statline and gear, Drazhar is our best all-around CC character. It's a shame that with initiative 7 he doesn't have access to assault grenades.
Troops:Kabalite Warriors - Our warriors have been slightly reduced in price, while maintaining the vast majority of their prior effectiveness. Positive change for the codex, adding a slight amount of strength to the army. Trueborn(An elite choice) are now actually an upgrade from warriors.
Wyches - Woe be the wyches. Basically the same as before, except they can't get haywire grenades, they can take 3 wych weapons if they have at least 10 members of their unit, and the wych weapons cost half as much. Unfortunately, the wych weapons have been stripped of all uniqueness, basically being: Reroll wounds, Reroll hits, or reroll both, but only on 1's. So, they're no longer anti-vehicle at all, and they took away their weapon that allowed them to tarpit effectively(shardnet). So now we have an awesome looking unit that doesn't do anything very well. They're still prone to dying horribly to overwatch fire and vehicle explosions. By the writing, it seems almost like someone might have had the idea to give wyches their 4+ in the entire assault phase, thereby protecting them from overwatch, but the editor caught it or something and changed it from assault phase to fight sub-phase. Or maybe I'm just imagining things. Either way, I don't expect to see many of these fine ladies on the table. For a third of their original cost, wyches upgrade to bloodbrides with +1ld and +1A. If you were going to take wyches, the extra attack and leadership might be worth it, but why take them anyhow? Much better options available.
Elites:Kabalite Trueborn - Upgraded from warriors, trueborn are slightly cheaper than previously, but have a minumum squad size of 5. So no more ICs leading trueborn in venoms. Aside from that, they have pretty much the same options, except that they no longer have access to venom blades, haywire grenades, or shard carbines.
Hekatrix Bloodbrides: See Wyches.
Incubi - Incubi are about 10% cheaper than before, and have +1 Ld, but are otherwise the same. The Klaivex has lost the ability to purchase all upgrades except the demiklaive, and has gained the rampage special rule. Even with the lost of several upgrades, this would be a positive change for incubi, were they not hit so hard by the change to phantasm grenade launchers. The incubi now how no way at all of getting access to grenades without going outside their own codex.
Mandrakes - Wow. Apparently someone wants us to use these. Lowered in cost by 20%, they've been given shrouded on top of already having stealth. Further, while their baleblast has lost it's pinning effect, they get to start the game with it. They also now have the fear special rule. They have, however, lost their 5++, so in CC they won't be making saves unless they have FnP from power from pain. Overall, these guys have been vastly improved, making them almost a must-take in a fairly crowded elite slot.
Wracks - Elite only now, their new weapon is certainly interesting. It's sort of an all-or-nothing shot. Either the target unit takes 2-7 hits, or it takes 0. Their acothyst is the only model in the game with access to a venom blade now. They've gained feel no pain in exchange for their previous "altered phsysique" rule. This is actually a nerf, as their FnP now no longer helps them towards the other PfP abilities, and cannot be transferred. They also now have a minimum squad size of 5. Further, the liquifier guns they're known for carrying have been nerfed to S3. Overall, I think wracks are far worse than they were before primarily due to the squad size requirement, the fact that they are competing for an elite slot, and the nerf to liquifier guns.
Grotesques - They're about the same. They've been negatively effected by the changes to altered physique(in exchange for FnP) and the liquifier gun, but positively effected by the change from berserk rampage to the rampage special rule. Overall, I'd say they're slightly less powerful than before since they cannot be augmented by Urien.
Fast Attack:Beastmasters - A mixed bag. Beastmasters themselves are cheaper, but about the same, except that their only upgrade options are a power sword or agonizer. Khymera have also had a price drop, now sporting a 6+ armor save, and a 5++ from the daemon special rule. Clawed Fiends are a bit cheaper, but have lowered WS and Wounds. Razorwing flocks have gained the swarms special rule, and lost a couple wounds, making them much less durable. Maximum squad size has been vastly reduced down to 12 models, but you may take them in any combination you like, having no minimums. You don't even have to take a beastmaster. One of the major reasons beastpacks were taken before was because of their large footprint, being able to cover a massive area on the table. That area has been effectively cut in half with the unit cap set at 12. There is still some potential here for creating a deathstar unit, but it has been greatly diminished with every beast in the pack having been nerfed in one way or another, and the loss of the baron for Hit & Run. I think we'll still see people use them effectively if for no other reason than the price and maneuverability, but they've definitely taken a major hit, and will see a fall from grace in the top tournament lists.
Raider - A slight cost reduction with dissies and the option to buy back the old cost to take a dark lance. Now comes stock with deep strike(probably a consolation prize for losing the duke). Several upgrades are now exclusive to the raider. Night shields offering stealth to raiders has improved them a bit, and the cost reduction for dissies is super-welcome in my book. Overall, positive changes for our pain boats. Can be taken as fast attack, or dedicated transports.
Venom - Much the same, they now have deep strike standard. Not much to say here, venoms were good before, and they're good now. The only difference being, the options for what to put in them are starting to lack with haywire wyches not being a thing now. That's somewhat ok, though, since we can now take venoms as fast attack slots or dedicated transports.
Reavers - Their bladevanes were altered heavily to be a special kind of Hammer of Wrath attack that has S4 and rending. Heat lances were reduced in price, along with a 30% reduction in the price of reavers themselves. Having H7R, PfP, combat drugs, and skilled rider with their special bladevane attack, I think the role of reavers is changing. They're a specialist, fast unit that can maneuver to attack rear vehicle armor with melta weapons, but they're also perfectly capable of doing significant damage in CC. With the price reduction, the fact that they're vulnerable to counter-attack in CC isn't as big of a deal, and hit and run allows them to ensure they get to continue to utilize their bladevanes.
Hellions - They've also taken a reduction in price of nearly 20%. Aside from that, they're very similar to how they were before. The stunclaw's special rule has changed to just be a +1S CC weapon with AP6 and instant death. Aside from that, the reduced cost of hellions with their access to 18" splinter fire may actually make them one of our more effecient costed sources of splinter fire. Compared to a dual cannon venom, which get's 12 splinter shots at the same exact cost as 5 hellions, which get 10 shots. The difference here is two-fold. The venom can fire twice the distance as the hellions, but the hellions can assault after they shoot. Overall, positive changes for hellions, but in an extremely competitive fast attack slot, perhaps not competitive enough.
Razorwing jetfighter - Nearly identicle to the previous incarnation, the razorwing jetfighter HAS taken a slight points reduction, and starts armed with 2 dissies. You may pay the price of a wych to upgrade them to dark lances. Everything else pretty much the same. Has access to the new stealth night shields, but no flickerfield. Neutral change.
Scourges - Along the same lines as the mandrakes, someone definitely wants us to buy scourges. They've been lowered in cost by 30%, their special weapons have been lowered in cost, they've been given the ability to take special weapons on 4 out of 5 squad members, are now the only unit in the codex that can take a power weapon that isn't a power sword, are the only unit that has access to shard carbines, and come stock with ghostplate armor. They're the fastest, most versatile, and economical option in the codex. Every single dark eldar player should be running as many of these as they can fit in their army. They are the replacement for our lost haywire wyches. Does it make sense? Yes. Should they kick ass? Yes. It still hurts that our wyches had to be reduced to gibberish to make these guys more appealing. Either way, very positive changes for scourges. If you don't have them and you'll be playing DE, you WILL want to have them in your army.
Heavy SupportTalos - Increased cost by a couple of wyches, but can now be taken in squads of 1-3. Haywire blaster more expensive, while the heat lance option became cheaper.
Unless I've missed a rule somewhere, the fact that these are now a squad would allow an IC to join their unit. If that's the case, popping an archon and 3 heat lance toting taloi out of a webway portal behind an enemy transport might be something we see a lot of. I missed the rule in the rulebook at the start of the independant character section. Thanks to Egorey for pointing it out.
Cronos - The cronos has lost much of it's appeal, as it's weapon profiles are still weak, but don't have the upside of providing pain tokens to supporting units. Instead, it's replaced with a 6" range in which any allied DE unit that has feel no pain improves it's FnP by 1, to a maximum of 4+. With a 6 inch range, and a price tag increased to that of the old Talos, it's Not exactly exhilerating.
Ravager increased in cost by the price of the old venom blade, and starts with 3 dissies. May upgrade them individually for the price of the old venom blade each. Lost their rule that allowed them to move at cruising speed and still fire all their weapons, meaning if they move 12", they may only fire 2. Overall, this is a nerf to ravagers. They cost more, and do less.
Voidraven Bomber - Increased in cost by the cost of a blaster, with a new model to boot. May take night shields for stealth, but missile options have been limited to groupings pre-selected for you. Meaning, no purchasing a single missile with that last 15 points you had left. You're either buying 4, or you're not getting any. They did add dark scythes to the codex specifically for the voidraven, providing small blasts of dark lance equivalent power instead of void lances if you choose, but overall I feel like it's less customizeable, and significantly more expensive than before. Razorwing is probably the better choice.
Synopsis: Overall, a relatively neutral change to the codex, power-wise. Perhaps slightly nerfed. However, much of the soul has been ripped out with the loss of our special characters, and Games Workshop has outdone themselves in taking the 2 worst units in our previous codex, making them the most desireable units in the new codex, and ruining previous units so that we're FORCED to purchase the new stuff to stay competitive. Can DE be a competitive army? Sure, maybe. But the blatant manipulation of the power level of various units directly to effect sales is so obvious that I couldn't imagine I'm the only one who feels violated by this. Games workshop should tread carefully in the future, lest they further alienate the people willing to spend thousands of dollars on their paper and plastic. At this point, if I didn't lament the loss of certain special characters so much, I'd probably be more angry at GW if they DID release those characters in followup releases than if they didn't. Coming out with a codex, immediately followed by 2 supplements, plus digital releases of dataslates, etc, just rubs me the wrong way, as if they had all the information for one really awesome codex, but instead broke it up into 3 major books and 5 dataslates so that they could charge us 200 dollars for a codex.
Subject: 7th Edition Codex Review & Analysis 
Tue Oct 07 2014, 02:53
