How do you actually run Reavers?

I for the life of me have never been able to get these things to work for me on the table. Every time I bring them they always get shot off the board or completely whiff their HoW and end up getting mauled in close combat. To get around this I usually double down on Kabalite Warriors in Venoms and Raiders, use Grotesqueries or a Dark Artisan, or just fill my Fast Attack slots with Scourges and Razorwings. After seeing them mentioned here time and again I realize there has to be some utility to them that I'm just not getting and I'd like to take advantage of it, but I'm clueless as to what I should be doing differently. What's the best way to get use out of Reavers?

I think their ability to hug cover and ignore Dangerous Terrain tests gives them some mobility that other bikes lack. I think they work best when they work as vultures, and attack things that are vulnerable to them. (Vehicles with exposed AV 10, infantry squads that are already injured, etc.)

I use them to jump to objectives for maelstrom points, as well as using the jet bike moves to jump out of rapid fire ranges against slower armies like necrons. Additionally, I will suicide them to get next to a tank with heat lances and try and crack them. But mostly, to me their best utility is their mobility. They are decidedly a finesse unit, and I think they really see their best use in maelstrom missions where speed is of the utmost. I know at Killadelphia a few years ago, my reavers really earned their points in that role.

The problem for me is by the time they're turbo-boosted into charge range I can't charge. And if I hold them out of close combat and use them for shooting they always get primaried to death.

I think Reavers do better as ambush troops now, and I think they were hurt by the change to bladevanes more than most realize. Turboboosting is nice and all, but it is going to leave you out in the open with no real options for you for a turn, I'd rather shoot and use the 2d6 move and get into position in cover than be stuck out in the open with my bikes for a turn. The exception being if I have to turboboost onto an objective. Then they're not useless, they're earning me maelstrom points before the enemy shoots them off the objective.

I think that by eliminating the bladevanes' old rules, they removed the ability of reavers to really use that turbo-boost efficiently, which means they need to stay slower and more careful, and, as @jimsolo said, only really mopping up units that are already half dead, or in combat already.

That doesn't make them sound particularly good. Why would I play them when I could just run more warrior boats?

36" move to nab an objective with a 3-bike squad? I find them to be very effective for maelstrom missions, and when they do hit on the charge they can hit hard, especially once they get Furious Charge via PfP.

I mean, I get a 30" move with my Venoms and they're objective secured.

True, I suppose the use of Reavers really depends on the size of the squad you're running them in. I think they are good for nabbing objectives quickly when in units of 3, but if you get to the 6-ish range, they are too expensive to be used at nabbing points, and can instead help bolster other units that are in a combat that it going downhill, if you want to run the full 12, you could have a lot of fun using them as a mobile anti-infantry unit that can rapidly redeploy, and just pop out of cover then back in to shoot things.

Most of the games in my area are Maelstrom, so I tend to run MSU reavers to grab points while my Warriors in boats focus on killing instead.

I'm considering them as transport screeners myself. Run a unit of 3 turbo boosting ahead of a Raider or Starweaver and push its jink up to 3 or 2+.

In a Realspace Raider detachment they get a jink buff too! EDIT: Apparently not, pah.

Venoms can admittedly do a similar job here too, but I feel the Reavers get more coverage and tbh I want my Venoms shooting. Plus they can help out a stricken combat with a good HoW hit, which is useful.

My general strategy is 2 Dark Eldar CADs full of 5-man warrior squads with boats, so I usually have 12 boats to spend on nabbing objectives if I need them, plus Mandrakes. Reavers to me always seemed like a points dump but people have amazing luck with them and I need to figure out how if I'm ever gonna expand my Dark Eldar strategies.

I think its generally a matter of knowing what mission you're playing and tailoring them accordingly. If Eternal war or the NOVA packet, I'd run units of 6, get them into cover and jump out to shoot, assault and HOW the enemy to death. If maelstrom, I'd run units of 3 bare bones and jump them onto objectives to nab them with their essentially 48" move, and use them to grab objectives so that your more effective shooting units of warriors in boats (which are waaaaayyyyyyy better at the job of shooting units down than reavers are). Reavers aren't for really holding units long term like an obsec squad usually is used for, they should be in and out as soon as possible, or dead, especially not in 3-man squads.

Alternatively, you can deep strike them to try and crack open some transports or threatening vehicles, plus since they HOW at Strength 6 with caltrops, you can Assault transports and try and chew through whatever HPs they have left.

Strengths of Reavers:
1) Exceptional points efficiency on the charge
2) 3+ Jink saves (or 2+ if you get Stealth through Night Fighting or Conqueror of Cities)
3) Mobility 14-24" per turn and up to 48" with turbo-boost

I find the best use of Reavers if usually to turbo-boost them into a position turn 1 where they can assault something that really doesn't want to be assaulted turn 2. Either put them behind LOS blocking terrain, or in a position that lots of fire will be required to deal with the 2+ cover save.

A small unit of Reavers has a reasonable chance of whiffing, and might need some support especially if charging into a decent sized target. That shouldn't be a surprise given a unit of 3 Reavers with Caltrops is 63 points.

See I like using my disposable bodies in more the 36-40 point range than 60+. Plus, Reavers don't really seem to fill a role. Scourges are anti-armor. Razorwings are anti-everything and manipulate reserves. Grotesques and the Dark Artisan crush anything that they get close to and absorb tremendous amounts of punishment. I'm just not seeing where these guys would fit. What role do you use them for? What do you remove from your list to fit them?

I don't remove anything. Assuming I already brought anti-infantry and anti-vehicle capacity, the Reavers are my go-to pick for batting cleanup and adding some MSU.

Alternately, if I'm going balls-to-the-wall MSU, they are the best pick for the FA slot in my opinion.

I guess I'll just have to field enough of them to test them out. It's going to be hard to justify them over anti-tank though, and I'm certainly not giving up my Mandrakes for them lol.

Reavers are tournament winners in the right hands. Lawrence from tabletop tactics proves this.

I like to tag team as many units as possible of 3-6 with a grotesquerie in raiders.
I find reavers to be cheap, elusive, resilient, they can reliably put wounds/hull points on almost anything in the game, are stupid fast, great at mission objs and able to block, screen etc. They can do it all. No down side.

Most thing have been said and while I dont want to repeat you guys, I want to repeat myself: I did run them as auxilliary to bigger targets (CTC) with best effect or with Urien (Grotesquerie) and a Cronos. 5+/4+ fnp from turn one (!) makes them that much better.

Also I thing they greatly Profit from the strengt from death and I would play some counting as shining spears.

One more use: Cluster Caltrops to snipe support models. I once killed an FnP banner from a bike star for example, as my opponent left just enough space to place one reaver and had to allocate all wounds to him first

Reavers are awesome. 3 man units are very fast, very cheap, very durable with 3+cover save and FNP, pack an insane punch for their point cost and have a very little footprint, what makes it really easy to hide behind BLOS.

I use them as backline unit hunters, Auxiliary assault units along harlequins and medium AV. I dont go out without minimum 6 units of 3. I think they are our best combat unit by far in cost/efficiency.

Using them with Strength from Death makes them pretty potent but I'm talking normal Dark Eldar Reavers.

As unit screens that sounds pretty good, I could see them escorting some Grotesques or the like. I don't see bringing 6 units of them though. That'd leave me either cutting into my warriors or cutting into my anti-tank, which is a role they can't really fill.

wait wait wait beginner question here: you can improve jink saves with cover?

No. Jink gives you a cover save. If you have something that improves your cover saves like stealth provided by nightshields then that improves your jink.

Huh, I always thought that Jink was an effect that could stack with cover, like any other.

Either way, even if it doesn't, the Realspace Raiders detachment is pretty handy for pushing it to a 2+ on the first turn.

EDIT: Arg, I misread it! Sigh. I should have known better than to assume 40k operated on the principles of logic.

Nope. That is a misplay. RRD only gives you a 5+ or 6+ cover save in the open, It doesn't stack or improve anything. Night fighting does not stack with nightshields either. Only way to cleanly get a 2+ cover for a raider with no allies is to sit on an objective with the explicitly stackable cover save in ruins with nightshields, or to jink with that nightshield while sitting on that objective.

Night Shields are such a terrible upgrade ._.