How do you feel about the current state of Dark Eldar?

... I completely forgot about the pfp table ...

Extremely good in GW format (CA19 missions). One of the best

Good but no perfect!

I think V8 Drukhari are better than V5 Dark Eldar (don't talk me about the V7 joke)

But it is a bit frustrating yet.

We don't have enough various HQ for 3 faction :
- Winged archon and Succubus on Reaver bike to boost all our flying units,
- Great Lhamaen to boost Kabal poisonned wepons.

Our HQ don't have good melee wepons :
- The Huskblade, a instant death weapon before, don't have one mortal wound today,
- Archite glaive has only a poor D1 (Why not D2 or D1d3?).

We are lot of poisonned weapons but no way (stratagem, aura) to strengthen them
- For 2CP, a unit can add +2 to bless against no Vehicule target.

Our transports capacity are too lowand they must be updated :
- Venom transport 6 (like starweaver),
- Raider Transport 12 (like CW Wave Serpent),
- and (I dream) Ravager Transport 6.

Darklord wrote:

Good but no perfect!
We don't have enough various HQ for 3 faction :
- Winged archon and Succubus on Reaver bike to boost all our flying units,
- Great Lhamaen to boost Kabal poisonned wepons.

Just to have an option to get a different aura would be excellent.  We currently lack reroll to wound rolls that are showing up in other armies.  We also have no non-psyker psykers, like Chaplains or Dark Apostles that have a selection of auras or powers.

Quote :

Our HQ don't have good melee wepons :
- Archite glaive has only a poor D1 (Why not D2 or D1d3?).

Archite Glaives are also 0 points on a 50 point model getting rerolls on 1s and 0 point Combat Drugs.  I get annoyed about there being a lack of weapon options to make Succubus good in melee. I'd even take a Hellglaive just to have the option. But, their current role is more providing rerolls on 1s and paying the HQ tax as cheaply as possible.  

Well, competitively I feel we are in good shape. Agreed, beasts are not really handy to use, especially in smaller lists. But overall the only thing I would wish for is new HQs. I mean the Drazhar and Incubi buff is nice, but they are still underwhelming. Some mercenary HQs would be nice. I mean it's not like there are not enough possibilities.

They could always bring back Kheradruakh. I always liked the lore of the creepy shadow demon that could duel with primarchs

Exactly, and give him some rule to be able to deepstrike close to other HQs, similar to the Mawloc + some boni when battling enemy characters.

EDIT: Maybe only for one character you choose at the start of the battle. Because he needs just this special skull for his collection.

Would love that, the only problem is he completed his skull collection. It let him go and 'shadow-ify' a whole bunch of commorragh, which had him play a major role in saving the khaine's gate situation.

I'll be happy if I can play with my incubi 8.2
But I hope they will not need a "babysitter" Drazhar to go out.

Perhaps we'll have a Mandrake character when these miniatures will be bach in plastic kit.

But before other named character, I think we need as a priority new generic HQ.
We are to many too many subfactions to have too many named character.

And in the past, has GW missed an opportunity with "Gang of Commorragh" to give us two new flying leader?

Sarcron wrote:

They could always bring back Kheradruakh. I always liked the lore of the creepy shadow demon that could duel with primarchs

Not sure Kheradruakh would be up to dueling a primarch. He's not a duelist anyway, the only real portrayal of him we see that I know of is in the Path of the Dark Eldar trilogy, and there he's depicted as a hunter and master assassin, not someone who duels out in the open anyway.

Regardless, it's pretty much a universal wish that we had more HQ variety, and that we have more options for existing HQs. There's loads of options, generic dracon, some sort of mandrake leader, an upgraded version of helliarchs etc.

I'm less concerned with titles and moreso with the mechanics. I see this as part of the same conversation about how Drukhari basically haven't changed since 5th edition. Craftworlds got melee Wraithguard and Wraithknight. I'd like to see a little of that creativity given to Drukhari, like a genuine Lord of War, a Monsterous Creature. The release of the Ambull in Blackstone Fortress seems like a good opportunity to give Beastmasters a 1-1 partner.

Lord Asvaldir wrote:

Sarcron wrote:

They could always bring back Kheradruakh. I always liked the lore of the creepy shadow demon that could duel with primarchs

Not sure Kheradruakh would be up to dueling a primarch. He's not a duelist anyway, the only real portrayal of him we see that I know of is in the Path of the Dark Eldar trilogy, and there he's depicted as a hunter and master assassin, not someone who duels out in the open anyway.

Regardless, it's pretty much a universal wish that we had more HQ variety, and that we have more options for existing HQs. There's loads of options, generic dracon, some sort of mandrake leader, an upgraded version of helliarchs etc.

It was when Vulcan was trying to get back to Terra, he went Aelindrach for a bit where Kheradruakh fought him for a bit.
Vulcan struggled to survive the large amounts of killing blows, but he also badly wounded Kheradruakh with one hit. He was able to duel him one-on-one, but would lose in a proper battlefield scenario.

That's why I thought a rule for fighting characters would be nice. Maybe also some buff for rounds where he charged or performed a heroic intervention. This would show that he is an assassin.

Sarcron wrote:

Lord Asvaldir wrote:

Sarcron wrote:

They could always bring back Kheradruakh. I always liked the lore of the creepy shadow demon that could duel with primarchs

Not sure Kheradruakh would be up to dueling a primarch. He's not a duelist anyway, the only real portrayal of him we see that I know of is in the Path of the Dark Eldar trilogy, and there he's depicted as a hunter and master assassin, not someone who duels out in the open anyway.

Regardless, it's pretty much a universal wish that we had more HQ variety, and that we have more options for existing HQs. There's loads of options, generic dracon, some sort of mandrake leader, an upgraded version of helliarchs etc.

It was when Vulcan was trying to get back to Terra, he went Aelindrach for a bit where Kheradruakh fought him for a bit.
Vulcan struggled to survive the large amounts of killing blows, but he also badly wounded Kheradruakh with one hit. He was able to duel him one-on-one, but would lose in a proper battlefield scenario.

Hu that's an interesting tidbit, that happen in one of the Horus Heresy novels?

Sarcron wrote:

It was when Vulcan was trying to get back to Terra, he went Aelindrach for a bit where Kheradruakh fought him for a bit.
Vulcan struggled to survive the large amounts of killing blows, but he also badly wounded Kheradruakh with one hit. He was able to duel him one-on-one, but would lose in a proper battlefield scenario.

My god that sounds like a poorly written fanfic. What happened to games workshops writing department?

Burnage wrote:

It's been a while since our Codex was released, and the game's changed quite a bit since then. The Ynnari got reworked, Doom/Jinx no longer applies to us, other (powerful) factions have come to the forefront of tournament play. We might also be about to see some radical changes over the next few months, with both Psychic Awakening and the first Chapter Approved that our Codex might be eligible for.

With all that in mind, I'm curious about how people are feeling about us right now. Good? Bad? Do you think we've got room for improvement? If so, how?

I'm intending for this to be a pretty broad question, so take it however you'd like.

Pretty bad, the updated rules do nothing to address our crippling lack of list diversity. We still need 3 detachments to field our entire codex, and even then, more than half a dozen units don't even have access to Obsessions at all. The new rules for us just pigeonhole the same cookie cutter builds we've been seeing over and over.

I voted us middle of the pack.

The TLDR version is that we went from the complete and utter joke that was 7th to a formidable foe in 8th.  This took a few months for people to get a hang of, and adapt to both Meat Mountains (Prophet 4++ Grots/Talos) to mixed Ynnari/Aeldari with Black Heart Ravagers, to all Kabal lists (which I did OK with).

Of course.. then came Knights.. and that changed everything.

No other codex in the game shook up the meta as much as Knights.  It wasn't the fact that we're a subpar book or that we didn't/couldn't win games, it was because Knights was the essential gear-check in every single tournament.  If you couldn't win games vs. Knight-variant lists, you couldn't compete.  It just happens that if you didn't run one of the meta, high-performing Drukhari list hybrids in Aeldari soup (including flyers) or MM, you were SOL.

Then came Chaos Knights, and that was a heavier gear-check for Aeldari flyers.  At the same time, we got the Doom/Jinx nerf.  This pretty much pigeon-holded our only reliable Knight-killing forces to Harlequin bikes.

And now, welcome to Space Marines, and Iron Hands.  The more durable things are, the less value key stable - BH Ravager Spearhead weakens.  This is the lynchpin in all competitive Aeldari lists, and the less value you draw from this detachment, the less competitive your list becomes (unless you're running MM).

That's why we're in the middle of the pack right now.  The new obsessions don't change the MM meta (which is still our best bet for competitive play IMO), and flyers got better ala Wych Razorwings, and ignore-heavy Crimson Hunters. Harlequin bikes are still good, although its kinda weird that Harlequins got nothing.

HERO wrote:

I voted us middle of the pack.

The TLDR version is that we went from the complete and utter joke that was 7th to a formidable foe in 8th.  This took a few months for people to get a hang of, and adapt to both Meat Mountains (Prophet 4++ Grots/Talos) to mixed Ynnari/Aeldari with Black Heart Ravagers, to all Kabal lists (which I did OK with).

Of course.. then came Knights.. and that changed everything.

No other codex in the game shook up the meta as much as Knights.  It wasn't the fact that we're a subpar book or that we didn't/couldn't win games, it was because Knights was the essential gear-check in every single tournament.  If you couldn't win games vs. Knight-variant lists, you couldn't compete.  It just happens that if you didn't run one of the meta, high-performing Drukhari list hybrids in Aeldari soup (including flyers) or MM, you were SOL.

Then came Chaos Knights, and that was a heavier gear-check for Aeldari flyers.  At the same time, we got the Doom/Jinx nerf.  This pretty much pigeon-holded our only reliable Knight-killing forces to Harlequin bikes.

And now, welcome to Space Marines, and Iron Hands.  The more durable things are, the less value key stable - BH Ravager Spearhead weakens.  This is the lynchpin in all competitive Aeldari lists, and the less value you draw from this detachment, the less competitive your list becomes (unless you're running MM).

That's why we're in the middle of the pack right now.  The new obsessions don't change the MM meta (which is still our best bet for competitive play IMO), and flyers got better ala Wych Razorwings, and ignore-heavy Crimson Hunters.  Harlequin bikes are still good, although its kinda weird that Harlequins got nothing.

I wholly agree with you

I like the faction overall, though I miss Screaming Jets being useful. A stratagem to give mercenaries obsessions would be sweet and something I was wishing Phoenix Rising to have.

My main complaints are the Court (less an issue in non-ITC games), beasts, Hellions and the Cronos. Everything else is good stuff.

Plus I dislike the lack of decent options for our HQs that isn't a warlord trait or a relic. I would like some more big centerpiece models like the Tantalus, but much like the Tantalus the nature of our flimsy army means any centerpiece dies first.

****/5

Regarding Harlequins, I kind of suspect they will get thrown in a book with Thousand Sons/Tzeench.

Do you think we'll see Slaanesh? Maybe Harlequins will come then? I mean, the entire point of this Psychic Awakening stuff for Aeldari is to fight against Slaanesh right?

HERO wrote:

Do you think we'll see Slaanesh?  Maybe Harlequins will come then?  I mean, the entire point of this Psychic Awakening stuff for Aeldari is to fight against Slaanesh right?

Personally, I think Harlequins will be skipped over entirely.

Soulless Samurai wrote:

HERO wrote:

Do you think we'll see Slaanesh?  Maybe Harlequins will come then?  I mean, the entire point of this Psychic Awakening stuff for Aeldari is to fight against Slaanesh right?

Personally, I think Harlequins will be skipped over entirely.

I can see it going either way. They've been used in the advertising for Phoenix Rising a fair bit (e.g., today's short story) and technically they can use the Ynnari rules. Pretty lame if that's all they get though.

Soulless Samurai wrote:

HERO wrote:

Do you think we'll see Slaanesh?  Maybe Harlequins will come then?  I mean, the entire point of this Psychic Awakening stuff for Aeldari is to fight against Slaanesh right?

Personally, I think Harlequins will be skipped over entirely.

They already have some bits out for Harlequins tho.... tomorrow i bet we see something else.

amishprn86 wrote:

Soulless Samurai wrote:

HERO wrote:

Do you think we'll see Slaanesh?  Maybe Harlequins will come then?  I mean, the entire point of this Psychic Awakening stuff for Aeldari is to fight against Slaanesh right?

Personally, I think Harlequins will be skipped over entirely.

They already have some bits out for Harlequins tho.... tomorrow i bet we see something else.

When you say 'some bits', are you referring to the fluff/stories?

Because unless I've missed something there's been no sign of any crunch for Harlequins and I absolutely do not believe GW will release a second Eldar book for psychic awakening.

Soulless Samurai wrote:

amishprn86 wrote:

Soulless Samurai wrote:

HERO wrote:

Do you think we'll see Slaanesh?  Maybe Harlequins will come then?  I mean, the entire point of this Psychic Awakening stuff for Aeldari is to fight against Slaanesh right?

Personally, I think Harlequins will be skipped over entirely.

They already have some bits out for Harlequins tho.... tomorrow i bet we see something else.

When you say 'some bits', are you referring to the fluff/stories?

Because unless I've missed something there's been no sign of any crunch for Harlequins and I absolutely do not believe GW will release a second Eldar book for psychic awakening.

Its a symbol on the "everyone gets something" and the book is under pre-orders just for them, and they have released stuff with just harlequins (fluff bits), the fluff isnt with the DE/CWE so i'd assume its with the other book (book 2).