Are Sybarites Viable?

Hey there, I've been wondering about the kabalite warriors' squad leader, the Sybarite.

Almost without fail, people suggest to drop them. While at first glance at their stats, there isn't much of an improvement for 10 points.

But is there anyway to possibly make the sybarite viable? It would probably have to involve a close combat setup for him though, as just 10 points for just +1A and Ld seems a bit much. I was thinking possibly just with a venom blade. That's 15 points for +1 A and Ld, and the ability to wound on 2s in close combat. Is this in any way viable?

I realise that warriors should really never get into close combat, so the answer is probably no, but hopefully there is some legit way to make it viable. After seeing a lot of other armies squads. Having that 1 squad leader really does look cool on the tabletop.

Atm my warrior squad is just 10 normal kabalites. 1 splinter cannon, 1 blaster. I've made a "semi" sybarite (though it counts as just a normal kabalite) by just putting the flag on the back of a normal splinter rifle kabalite. But I'd like to see if I could maybe make that into a proper sybarite with venom blade.

But from what i've seen/heard the sybarite upgrade is probably not worth it, hopefully I'm wrong ^^?

Anyway, thanks in advance for the assistance.

The only way it can be viable is by having blast pistol and giving LD9 to large squad.

Thats about it, forget about any and all CC upgrades , if Kabalites get into combat they are dead anyway. They are better fail LD and run away.

I run a sybarite at 10 models or more (9 with a character) - the losses to the crash of the raider most of the time mean an LD test and the boost is great.

Leave him bare though

I saw somewhere list with them. Like Azdrubael said, only Blast Pistol justify him.

Grab venom, pack Blaster Warriors inside, give Blast Pistol for 2 AT shots.

55 + 85 = 140 points for 2 Darklight shots.
Or 3 for 145 if You take Raider.

Not that bad, but one is limited to 6" range... Pretty close for my opinion, so You need long range fire support. They should have 12" range...

Apart from looking good on the table top there is no point in having a sybarite.
Even the blast pistol use is debatable as, having the abilty to actually cause damage with it means you are within charge range, not a good place for kabalites to be. The 25 points it has cost you could be put to better use.

+1 to Ork... that is IF you have to use one. I know alot of people put it on and go "well... you would pay 25 points for a Power Fist in a tact squad or an ork squad, why not 25 points for an extra darklight shot??? well the difference is that the power fist is extra insurance to make sure your over 200 some point unit doesnt get slaughtered by say... a dreadnaught. The blast pistol is not the same thing though. First off our warrior squads should never be over 200 points (that is just a waste) secondly you have to be so close to shoot that blast pistol that you might as well be touching them, and DE should never be that close unless they are assaulting. As Kenny said... there is other places that 25 points could be put to better use, like fields or shock prows

Blast pistol + Blaster give You 1 AT shot per 42,5 points, for DE standards it isn't that bad.

I think only Ravager (35 per shot) and Trueborn (27 for Blasterborn, 43 if You pick twin lances) have it better... Third place isn't that bad, no?

Also, don't forget that practical range is ~15" long, if You disembark (or 12", if You don't). And if You destroy transport, unit inside have high chance of dieing from Venom fire.

I think You can give them try, provided You have troops for capturing objectives. Just make sure that "trade" would be worth it.

Consider this as 200% AT shots for 150% cost.

I use them in my duke deep strike list. 5 warriors 1 w/ blaster 1 sybarite w/ blast pistol in a dakka venom. The extra pip of Ld is aces and the extra darklight shot is just gravy.

I personally always use squad leader upgrades, whatever army it is. Call me naive if you like, but I've given mine agonisers so if it comes to the last turn and I need to, I can throw them into a combat to help clear an objective. If the extra points means a win over a draw I call it worthwhile. I'm not planning on getting them into CC regularly though.

I should point out though that I generally pick my list based on what I like the look of, not what's most efficient in game terms, and I really liked the idea of having most of my squad leaders with agonisers, especially the one from the scourge box!

What if they had access to Shard Carbines?

Would completely depend on the cost. Probably not though.

Sybarites are just fine, but there's only one way to run them: barebones wih another rifle, giving the squad that critical Ld bonus in the event that their unit takes heavy losses. I've had more Dark Eldar run off the board due to crashed transports than any other Ld. failure i've ever taken. 10 points means that your 2-model squad doesn't run away from a critical objective on turn 7.

jb7090 wrote:

I use them in my duke deep strike list. 5 warriors 1 w/ blaster 1 sybarite w/ blast pistol in a dakka venom. The extra pip of Ld is aces and the extra darklight shot is just gravy.

This.

Outside of specific shooting advantages from the pistol (and I think those *only* exist in DS lists) I see no gain to ever taking them unless you want to run them as assault units...and now that Wyches are Troops I fail to see the point in that either.

I can see some uses, but it's mostly cos they make nice models that I really want to use them Warriors don't really belong in an assualt, but the Ld pip is nice to have, and a venom blade isn't that expensive really. The only use tho is if the are assaulted, but you'll still likely die pretty quick.

You can use them to help out other assualt units in a pinch, which I could see having their uses. Charge in once an assualt has begun and you can't be targetted this turn...... just make sure you win that round, or next turn, they'll focus all their attacks on the warriors and you could loose ur wyches due to their casualties.............

Love the models, but over all, really can't see em working that well overall........ but 15 points for a reasonable assualt weapon and buffed LD in a larger squad is prob worth it, especially if you hit the 10+ unit size.