Seeking advice as a newbie

Posted this in the Army List section but have since been told it would serve better here.

I'm new to both the game and the Dark Eldar. I originally got into this through buying the figures I thought looked cool merely to paint up and put on a shelf next to my Circle Orboros (Hordes). I finally decided to get a rulebook and codex and now my head is filled with questions.

I'm not really interested in playing the normal Dark Eldar but I am totally into the Haemonculi and their Covens (as the name shows), these are the questions I have regarding them:

1) Is Urien Rakarth worth it in games of 1750 pts or less? The upgrades on grotesques looks great but I have yet to actually play a game and see how S6 really differs from S5

2) Scissorhands or Hexrifles for Acothysts?

3) Crucible of Malediction and all the other one shots. Really worth it or not?

4) When equipping your Haemies is it better to give them Hexrifles and Liquidiser Guns or Melee orientated things like Scissorhands/Flesh Gauntlets? Also how many do I want minimum- was thinking Urien + 2 Haemonculi for a 1750pt list

5) How many squads of Wracks is deemed minimum and how large should I be aiming for? Should they be in raiders or on foot?

6) Scourges are the only fast attack that I feel fits in with the covens, do I want to mix up lances and haywires or take special weapons in pairs?

7) Is a Cronos a silly addition to a list starting with so many pain tokens?

I absolutely love the Talos but here you cannot play them without a WWP? Also which of the upogrades for their tail guns is the best?

I know this is rather a lot. Look forward to some more insight.

Urien's Apprentice wrote:

1) Is Urien Rakarth worth it in games of 1750 pts or less? The upgrades on grotesques looks great but I have yet to actually play a game and see how S6 really differs from S5

Define 'worth it' I suppose.
I, personally, think that regular Haems will give you everything Mr. Rakarth does, and do so at a more viable point cost. On the charge with a regular Haem Grots will hit Str 6, and with Urien Str 7 - vs. infantry it's a wash, as both strengths will mostly wound on 2+. Versus vehicles it's a wash as both will hurt AV 10-11, and neither will hurt AV 14. Urien gives them a *slight* advantage versus some Dreads and other Walkers, but that's about it.

Urien's Apprentice wrote:

2) Scissorhands or Hexrifles for Acothysts?

That's an odd question because that's like asking 'pancakes or beer' the two items in question serve too drastically different purposes. One is a shooting weapon, the other is an assault tool. In an immediate answer sort of way I'd say 'Scissorhands' because I think the Hexrifle is one of the worst upgrades in the codex.

Urien's Apprentice wrote:

3) Crucible of Malediction and all the other one shots. Really worth it or not?

Some are, some aren't. The Crucible currently falls on the 'aren't' category. The Shattershard is the only one shot weapon I personally think is legitimately competitive.

Urien's Apprentice wrote:

4) When equipping your Haemies is it better to give them Hexrifles and Liquidiser Guns or Melee orientated things like Scissorhands/Flesh Gauntlets? Also how many do I want minimum- was thinking Urien + 2 Haemonculi for a 1750pt list

In a coven build I think Liquifiers+some melee option is the way to go. Agonisers is actually my slight preference suggestion, as the rest of your army will mostly lack assault tools that punch through armor. But going with Scissorhands or V.Blades, or even P.Weapons will all serve you well.

Optimum number is hard to predict - probably at 1750 you're looking at 2-4 as the sweet spot.

Urien's Apprentice wrote:

5) How many squads of Wracks is deemed minimum and how large should I be aiming for? Should they be in raiders or on foot?

There are way too many variables here to cover in the time I'm willing to spend answering I'd suggest you just start putting together a list and see what you come up with, then post it in Army Lists for review. I would tend to avoid foot unless you're trying for a WWP build, otherwise I would mech them up.

Urien's Apprentice wrote:

6) Scourges are the only fast attack that I feel fits in with the covens, do I want to mix up lances and haywires or take special weapons in pairs?

I don't mix as I think it's silly, I'd take Haywires or Heat Lances.

Urien's Apprentice wrote:

7) Is a Cronos a silly addition to a list starting with so many pain tokens?

I personally think so, yes. I don't see it serving much purpose because most of the army will already have the sweet stuff, and the Scourges don't need them, and a Talos ought to be able to get them itself.

Urien's Apprentice wrote:

I absolutely love the Talos but here you cannot play them without a WWP? Also which of the upogrades for their tail guns is the best?

You can play them without WWP, though it isn't as good for them.
I would say the best tail weapon is the Haywire Blaster, though the Heat Lance gets a lot of love from people.

Thanks for all that advice. Will spend a bit of time playing around with numbers and put up a list. The hexrifle info intrigues me because it seemed epic in the codex. Guess I will have to start playing and learn how these things work in the game.

The problem with the Hexrifle is it's basically a wussier sniper rifle. It doesn't work on vehicles, and its insta kill power has around a 1% chance of actually going off. So that means all it is is a way to shoot reasonably far and wound big tough things reasonablly easy...you know what else does that but can fire 4-6 times instead of 1? Splinter Cannons - and those are cheap and can be picked up by lots of things. Oh, splinter rifles are also almost better than hexrifles too. Whoo-hoo! Y'know, because it's really hard to get splinter rifles into a list

That's why Hexrifles are wussy - they just don't do anything that is worth their point upgrade.