To jink or not to jink, that is the question

I'm semi-new to playing 40K going to be playing a lot in the near future. But I am a huge Eldar Jetbike fan, and i want a some Reavers for my DE army. With Reavers having only a 5+ and not a 3+ like Eldar bikes, i cant tank shots and rely on my save to probably discount the wound. However snap shooting in so punishing, in my mind, that the unit is neutered to the point of them being near useless other than zipping around to contest objectives and maybe assault a strangler or 2 from a nearly whipped unit. So is jinking worth it in the end, or what situation would someone jink or not? Also are Reavers worth it to even field, i really like their appearance on GWs current rendition of the Reavers like they are riding a crouch rocket in a very aggressive pose. Thank you ladies and gentleman for your time, happy raiding

Welcome, young archon. Thy post shall be moved to the Tactical Arena, for better pondering and mulling by your fellow archons. Santa.

If you play maelstrom their use IS zipping around to contest or take objectives. And in any format they're great for reliably getting line breaker. Even if they are forced jink your opponent has just fired at a tiny inexpensive unit instead of something more valuable.

The general consensus is that they are a very good unit. Running interference can be just as or more valuable than doing damage. Especially in an army like ours.

Just to add to that, generally Reaver shooting isn't massively effective, and even the good weapons need a lot of outlay to get in useful numbers. Their biggest threat in terms of removing models is by charging, and as noted above, their biggest game threat is stealing objectives by using their large movement.

In short, yes they are worth it, but they need to be used in a less conventional fashion and they are not simply a 'point and click' unit.

To complement the_burning_eye, the main damage output of the reavers jetbikes comes from the cluster caltrop upgrade, that makes "massive" (from dark eldar point of view) damage when it charge. You'll probably jink every turns, so don't invest in costy guns on them.

Yell "JINK!" at your opponent if he even looks in the direction of your jetbikes.

and if you ally; an Autarch with banshee mask protects you from flamer overwatch.

You want to shoot with the reavers? I'd forgo that notion and start harassing small units and talks with close combat. And zoom around capturing objectives.

So basically what they said. Take 2-3 units with 3 Reavers each and you're good to go.

Their primary use is superior movement abilities, but their rending jetbikes allow them to be quite threatening to most unit types as well.

I thoroughly recommend reading a few of the guides that Mushkilla did on Reavers here.