Help me decide!!

I've never played 40k so I don't know the rules, but I've brought my choices down to Dark Eldar and the necrons. Both look interesting, I like the models and the paint schemes. I know there's a new codex coming for Dark Eldar so I'm waiting to see what the opinions on changes are before I start buying.

Id like to collect an army that has a chance of winning games as well as looks great. And I strongly dislike the space Marines look...


Can you help me?

Well, you've come to a Dark Eldar forum.

So we'rew all going to tell you that Dark Eldar are the only choice.

Ultimately it'll come down to how you like to play.
Necrons are slow moving, with big guns, and decent durability. They are a march and shoot kind of army.
Dark Eldar are about speed. They run at you, shoot you in the face, and then stab you.

The codexes are almost here so you’ll know soon enough which will be more competitive!

That new ad mech necron box is enticing tho, split that we a buddy for a nice starter army.

How Do you feel about painting? Dark eldar are more rewarding IMO

Necrons and Dark Eldar are the next two codices (after Tau, which is about to go on preorder), but I can give you a (subjective) historical perspective.

Necrons have always been a strong army. They're tough, ignore many other armies' special rules, and they get back up again after you kill them. People associate them with a plodding, methodical playstyle, but in the past they've had access to a number of teleportation effects which, combined with their units of Destroyer skimmers, meant certain Necron armies were among the fastest in the game. People who don't like them say they're frustrating to play against and boring to play (and win) with.

Dark Eldar have always been a finesse army, although "finesse" was often jargon for "grossly underpowered". The True Kin are fast and fragile, which leads to a very dynamic playstyle in which all your decisions matter and you will suffer for your mistakes (or bad dice). There have been competitive Dark Eldar army builds, though depending on the codex they could be rather spammy. Even a powerful Dark Eldar army is still dependant on player choices, and the learning curve can be steep. People who don't like them think they're severely underpowered, or just exist as a taxi service for Craftworlders.

Also, most importantly, Dark Eldar are awesome and the best.

Haha yeah I know I'm on a dark eldar forums, but to be fair they are my number 1 currently....

I love painting and I'd consider myself a really good amateur painter so I'm not worried about that side of things... And tbh idk how quickly I'll be able to play, having a family doesn't mean I can throw thousands at an army and get right in it.
Codices are basically an armies personalized book right?... Am I correct in thinking that not every army in 40k has its own codex?

So in reply to Calyptra, would you say you expect the dark eldar to be weak again? I mean obviously you can hope they are super strong but has history been on the bad side of dark eldars? Meaning they've been more weak than strong?

So the Necrons are the next army in line to get a codex, can I assume they will have new army boxes and some units then? And for a new to the game is there a way for me to tell by looking at a codex if the army got buffed or nerfed? Lol really doubt that last question .

Probably both Drukhari (our new fancy name to make it copyrightable) and Necrons should get a Codex in the next few weeks, with Necrons next and Drukhari after that. When 8th edition dropped every army had an Index, which have gradually been replaced by Codexes. The Indexes are a basic collection of the unit pages and points values, with limited army special rules. The Codexes have given each army a major power boost, with points reductions, relics (unique items to boost characters), stratagems (special and flexible boosts to units during the battle) and new psychic powers (not that either Drukhari or Necrons should get those).

Historically, Necrons have been fairly often a top tier or at least competitive army, and Dark Eldar not. I missed a couple of editions in there, but the number of Necron players locally makes me fairly confident in that claim.

Based on their Index in 8th edition, Necrons were one of the worst, and Drukhari were somewhere near the middle of the pack. That could change with the Codexes, but Necrons have the most ground to make up.

Drukhari also have the flexibility of including other Aeldari detachments in their army, so we can bring in some Ynnari, Craftworld Eldar, Harlequins or Corsairs if there are any critical gaps in the Drukhari Codex. If Necrons have problems they can't be fixed in the same way.

History and cynicism tell me Necrons will be better, but the evidence in 8th edition is probably on the side of Drukhari.

Awesome thanks for the great replies everyone!

Codexs are dedicated army books yes. When 8th edition began there were 5 Indexes which acted as an army book for 4 - 5 factions. Since the beginning of 8th, they have been releasing a codex a month (ish).

If you enjoy painting, dark eldar are the way to go IMO. Our model range is awesome, its one of the best. (Crons are known for being an easy army to paint)

Regardless tho, you cant go wrong with a Xenos race (any race that isnt part of the Imperium of Man or Chaos)

Yeah it was Dark eldar, Necrons or Tau was the suggested races based on a really good quiz I took haha !

I agree with what's been said so far by everyone. The only things I can think to add are that while both armies have a variety of elements from which to choose from (such as the aforementioned fast elements within the Necron army) the Dark Eldar have 3 very distinct flavors to choose from: Kabal, Wych Cult, and Haemonculus Covens. The former 2 are delicate and focus on shooting and melee respectively, whilst the latter is significantly more durable, and offensively also focuses on melee (for the most part). Visually, all 3 elements are very distinct, especially the Covens, and since fluff-wise (story/background) they're all different factions with their own heraldry you can justify painting their color schemes very differently.

My recommendation is ask around and see if a friend will let you play using one of his armies so you can have a feel for commanding that army. Failing that, collect small armies of both but paint neither and then sell the one you don't like. Best of luck and I hope this was helpful!

Really great suggestion with collecting both armies but not painting! Ty