Non thicc-city meta

Anyone who follows the competitive scene has seen that the points nerfs to Drukhari weren’t really a nerf, they just traded one archetype (wyches/incubi/support) for another army archetype (AotF grots and talos).

However, I really am not a fan of thicc city. Some grots or talos are nice but spamming them is boring and isn’t really how I like to play Drukhari.

So what is the current non-thicc city meta? Is it still wyches, hellions, incubi, raiders and supporting cast? What are some lists folks have been having success with? Are trueborn still worth it or is it better to take a ravager or 2 instead? How is court fairing? Still useful or are points better spent elsewhere?

The old game plan was tarpit our opponent in the center with lightning quick assaults from incubi, wyches and courts. We contested every objective and had units left over to score secondaries easily every single round. By the time our first assault is batted aside, it's turn 4 and there's no time to catch up in scoring.

The way the meta started to evolve, was these buffed up hard as nails, killy as hell units and models. We're talking GK/Nids, etc. Even with their ability to punch up, our units weren't taking them down in 1 shot and in response were getting mopped up the following turn. Add to that the shift towards kill primaries AND the points nerf, and the kabal/cult is starting to lose its appeal.

Where kabal/cult had a really strong speed/killiness point efficiency, coven currently has a terrifying tankiness/killiness point efficiency, and they aren't even that slow on these 9th edition board sizes. You can see why a few coven units, at least, will make it into any winning tournament list even after they're nerfed.

To my mind, a good list with minimal coven will still include grotesques, master haemies, and a healthy number of wracks/haemoxytes. This forms a core to contest the center that no one does better.

Aside from that, we need to be able to win board control and kill the nasty unkillable models reliably. My thinking on that is the list has to threaten to kill a dreadknight in both the shooting and assault phase. Coven spam usually manages this with 6-9 pain engines, but ive found a mix of ravagers, test of skill hellions, succubi, reavers, grots or incubi and drazhar manage the same kind of threat, if not the tankiness.

My picks for anti-tank duty: ravagers, the often overlooked void raven, KotBH raider lances, assault as mentioned above.

Point scoring/utility: outflanking hellions, mandrakes, 5-9 backfield reavers that zoom up when needed and, in last place, scourges.

Honestly, there's a lot of great ways to play drukhari. It says a lot about how OP the book is that we judge sub-optimal to be anything under a 70% win rate tournament list.

Thanks for the reply, it’s quite interesting. I see what you mean about cult/kabal losing their appeal, especially with the recent points nerfs. I think you’re probably right that most lists need some kind of core of coven. My haemoxytes and master haemi are often mvp, and I have 10 grots on the way.

I feel like 2x5 grots in raiders and 2x10 wracks on foot would form a strong core. Grots you move up to mid board objectives to get a foot hold and then wracks you move up on turn 2 to contest.

This can then be backed up by a couple ravagers, 10-20 hellions, succubus, Drazhar and a smattering of support units. I guess it’s just unfortunate that Drukhari have lost the feel of fast moving space pirates. And yeah, I’m not looking to win 70%, but it doesn’t feel great that one of the core builds was nerfed relatively hard

The last Drukhari Goodstuff list I saw doing great is similar to the old with a switch on Wyches for Wracks. Still spamming Raiders, supporting them with 2 Ravagers, filling them with all our strong HQs, Incubi and Wracks, and 2x5 Hellions.
5 Wracks with Whip+2liquefiers are 65 points, and they bring a pretty good punch between shooting and melee (2D6 flamers ap-2 + 14 poisoned attacks at ap-1/-2.
No Grots, no Talos, no Cronos.

do you know if the Thicc-city meta will change now that patrol will only allow for 1x HS slot?
Or this strategy already uses the Battallion detachment?

I thought that was just a rumor?

it is still only a rumor, but this rumor is starting to appear more often than a simple rumor should be allowed........but from Warhammer Community this saturday we will be able to preorder the Monitorum field manual 2022.........so the wait will come to an end and we'll finally have only the real deal.

Interesting. I could see that changing things, or people will just move to a battalion or maybe a spearhead detachment