Letter to GW about our wishes and requests

Dear Games Workshop,

Since 8th edition came out, we, members of the Dark City Dark Eldar Forum have been busy little bees. New rules, new units, new stats, new tactics to be imagined, maths to be done, lists to be crafted. More fun to be had. And we think it is important to start this letter with a big : « Thank you », as 8th edition has proved so far to be a ton of amusement for us Dark Eldar players, and it's been a long time since the Drukhari had been so fun to play. We know that all your efforts are directed towards the goal of making this game as enjoyable for us as you possibly can, and it is only fair to acknoledge that, for the portion of the community we represent, it has been the case with 8th edition.

The reason behind this letter is quite simple : we want to help. Your rules development team will be at some point working for weeks on the Drukhari codex, and we wish to facilitate their job, we wish to inform them of our concerted opinions and experiences with the Drukhari Index. We are, in a way, your biggest play-testers, and it's time we give some feedback. So here's a summary of what The Dark City thinks of the current state of Dark Eldars. Here it goes.

The Arsenal

We think it's safe to say that the biggest reason why Dark Eldars are a lot more fun and interesting to play is Darklight. Dark Lances and went from a subpar Anti-Tank weapon to one of the best in the game, and it feels incredible. Ravagers, Jetfighters, Voidravens, Scourges... every unit that can wield a Dark Lance is currently great. The only problem with the Dark Lance right now is... the shadow is casts upon our other special and heavy weapons.

The Heatlance, for instance, feels like an expensive downgrade, since it has less Strength and less range than a Dark Lance while being more expensive. Combined with the fact that you can't Deepstrike Scourges into melta range, this is the second least played of all our weapons. Our opinions on how it could be changed vary : more range (allowing more synergy with Scourges), more Strength (or a reroll to wound against vehicles), or a big price cut.

The Haywire Blaster is in a weird spot right now. It went from being the best AT weapon in our arsenal to a very specific niche (used only against Quantum Shieldings and Harlequin vehicles), the reason being that he can't inflict enough Mortal Wounds to compete with other multi-damage weapons. Some of us think it should simply deal more mortal wounds, but one popular opinion is that it could go back to the role that was its in 5th edition : a « you're not shooting next turn » weapon, dealing very few damage but messing with the electronics of its targets, dealing temporary penalties to hit and move for instance.

The Shredder is the least played weapon of our arsenal, and has been for a while. Supposed to be our Anti-Infantry special weapon, it does not serve its purpose. The main ideas for this weapon are : it could be a flamer, and auto-hit ; it should deal D6 shots instead of D3 ; it could have the mono-filament rule, and gain AP-4 on a 6 to wound.

While Splinter Weaponry is really doing okay (mostly due to how cheap and great Kabalite Warriors are), the Splinter Cannon really is too expensive. The common consensus is that equipping it on Scourges or Kabalites makes no sense : buying more Scourges and Kabalites yields the same amount of shots, while increasing the body count. In the same way, while the Splinter Cannon upgrade for Venoms was considered mandatory in 7th edition, most of us don't do it anymore.
Some of us think it's just too expensive. Others think it doesn't shoot fast enough, and it should increase its Rapidfire value.
One alternate, yet popular opinion, is that Splinter Weaponry should be Anti-Infantry focused. That
portion of our community advocated for the return of a Strength value for those weapons, and suggest the following : S3 for the riffles, S4 for the cannons, both weapons rerolling to wound against infantry and monsters.
One last request, that everyone on the forum shares, is the return of our beloved Splinter Racks.

Power from Pain

While the current form of Power from Pain is very powerful (and having an entire army with WS2+ is great, although it makes Drazhar's Aura and the Serpentin drug useless), it doesn't fit with the Dark Eldar playstyle at all, and many around here have renamed it « Power from Patience ». A Dark Eldar army should strike fast and either win hard, or lose hard. It should reward grit and audacity, rather than incite you to wait for a few turns before you attack. So we came up with an idea to replace the Power from Pain chart that is very simple to understand and to use in game, but allows for a lot of tactical depth : « Everytime the Dark Eldar player's opponent loses a unit, the Dark Eldar player gains a Command Point ».

HQs

8th edition, with the introduction of the incredible Command Points mecanics, created a game where having more than one HQ for your army is important and recommanded. This is a problem for Dark Eldar players, because we have no reason to do that.

First, most armies have access to some utility HQs : Medics and Apothecary, Psychers, Company Commanders, Crypteks, Commissars, all those little yet important part of the Command Team are playing a huge role on the battlefield, in addition to filling the important HQ slots for detachments. Dark Eldars only have « important » HQs, and it's incredibly difficult for us to achieve multiple detachments for that reason.

What's more, armies that only have a few HQs often circumvent that problem with the fact that their HQs have a ton of options, which we also lack. In particular, it's currently a nightmare to find a way to move our HQs : it's impossible to put an Archon with Trueborns or Incubi in a Venom, and if you want to put your Succubus in Raider with Wyches, those wyches have to go down to 9, and lose 2 special weapons. Making Venoms go up to 6 slots, and Raiders to 12, would go a very long way.

But one of the most popular and important requests in the preparation of this letter was : we want our HQs to be able to move on their own. We want Scourges wings, Reaver jetbikes, Hellion skyboards, anti-grav Coven thrones, and of course, Webway Portals. Maybe even the possibility to transform an Archon into a Mandrake and make him lurk into the realm of Aelindrach.

But i think the most important request concerning our HQs is the following : we'd really like to see them accomplish something. Appart from the Haemonculus with his very good Aura and his glorious Electro-corrosive whip, our HQs don't really bring much to the table. The utility auras of both Succubus and Archon are very weak, and they don't feel like the amazing fighters they should be.

Auras are a problematic aspect of our army, since in an army entirely transported in vehicles, auras don't even work to begin with. But the Archon would benefit immensely from getting back his « Purge Coterie » capacity to target an enemy unit and give a reroll to allies attacking it. Another idea was that the Archon is a master tactician and could cancel enemy Stratagems that affect nearby units on a roll of 4+. Some suggested that the Haemonculus buff applied to every infantry unit in the army, and that he could give a little extra buff (a bonus to Inured to Pain, for instance) to Coven units. The Succubus, for instance, could make every unit nearby reroll 1's to hit in CC, and make Cult units also reroll 1's to wound. Our HQs have a lot of personality in the lore of the army, but right now the HQ department of the Index is really the least interesting one.

We'll end this section with the following request : we all long to see our beloved Special HQs to make a return. Sathonyx, Vect, Sliscus, Kheradruakh and Malys are all very colourful characters, and they would help us, Dark Eldar players, telling more stories about our faction.

Units

8th edition has been great for Dark Eldars as it saw the rise of many units that were left completly unnoticed in previous editions. Mandrakes are a Top-tier unit (and that says something!), Incubi are top notch, Wyches and Hellions are better (but not quite there yet), Beasts are great, both Planes are incredibly useful, and both Raiders and Ravagers have made a huge comeback over the Venom (that has seen a drop in popularity). But some units are a bit left behind.

Reavers, for example, lost almost all their interest in 8th edition. They doubled in price, have lost their glorious Skilled Rider jink save, their primary special weapon (the Heatlance) is not really playable, and Clustercaltrops are nowhere near what they used to be. They cost more than 4 kabalite warriors, but shoot like 1.
We all think they should drop in price. In addition to that, many enhancement could be made : gaining an invulnerable save to replace the old Jink, gaining either access to more special weapons, or to shardcarbins, and maybe giving them back the old Clustercaltrops, that damaged the units they flew over.

Hellions, on the other hand, a much better than what they used to be, but aren't quite there yet, for one big reason : 17 points for 1 HP, T3, 5+ save is a huge risk, even for Dark Eldars. A drop in price would do, or a little invulnerable save against shooting attacks to represent the fact that they are acrobats that are capable of dodging incoming fire. They offensive capacity is great, and with a tiny little more durability they would be a ton of fun to play.
One popular idea was to give the Stunclaw a special ability that allowed to move and drag special characters that Hellions flew over. Considering we are an army that has almost no sniper, this would help us a bit dealing with hidden HQs.

Wyches and Bloodbrides suffer from a few problems that prevent them from being awesome. First, the No Retreat rule is unreliable and cannot be counted on for a strategy. We understand that it would be way too good if you didn't have to roll for it, so here is our suggestion : the Shardnet gives the Dark Eldar player +1 to the Roll-off for No Retreat.
The second problem is that, while their 4+ invulnerable save is really good, the fact that it doesn't work against pistols is a bit silly, and it makes them unable to stand their ground against anything that has a pistol.
The last problem is that, on order to be something more than a tarpit, Wyches require a little more « Umph ». Having AP-1 on regular weapons (or gaining AP-4 on every 6 to wound), having better wych weapons (the Hydra Gauntlet is fine, but the Razorflail and Impaler could be redesigned : for example, the Razorflail could add +1d3 attacks, and the Impaler could be AP-2, D2). Some even suggest that they gain some equivalent to the « Death to the False Emperor », gaining additionnal attacks as they roll 6's to hit.

Grotesques would also need some love right now. They didn't gain any HP while many weapons in the game gained multiple damage, they lost Rampage, and they no longer reroll to wound when their Strength is superior to the enemy Toughness. It wouldn't take much to make them awesome, perhaps a single extra wound would do (a tad more attacks would be good as well), but they definitly require something.

In the same logic, the Talos need some attention. Comparing them with other Monstruous Creatures makes them blush. Defensively, they are okay, but they used to have AP2 because of their MC status. Macro-scalpels should rise to D3 (like Carnifexes weapons) and AP-3 or -4. The Liquifier gun could know a price reduction, or a strength increase. The Ichor Injector could be poisoned 2+.


We really hope that this letter doesn't look like a compilation of rants and complaints, as we appreciate very much the job you've been, and are still doing for this game. It is really an attempt to help you design a game that fits our expectations so that we can, together, make the Warhammer 40k universe live on and prosper.

Best regards from the Dark City