Duke vs Archon vs ?

Hey guys so im just starting out with DE I posted mt planned army list a couple of weeks ago and after making a few tweeks im kinda stuck again. I really like the coven and kabalite models but am not so keen on the wyches and this is where the problem lies.
I like the duke for his poison special rule and he sounds good in cc with his blades, but people have said to get the most out of him I need to focus my list around units with drugs, but as im not too keen on the wyche models my list is lacking and I think all it has is 5 wyches with hwg.
I guess the question is based on my list which is mainly as I said going to be kabalite and coven based will it be better to switch out the duke for something else, I already have a single haemo as my second hq slot what hq would my list benefit from, a kitted out archon? More haemos or an ancient? Urien? Or maybe something else?
Is a kabalite/coven list going to be a good combo? Or will it be better to lost the coven side and put in some cult units as that would flow more with duke?

Thanks in advance!

The Duke is very expensive for what he brings, considering his sub par stats compared to a regular archon (W6 A3 W2 I6 LD9). WS7 is a big deal as it means you are hitting almost all other independent characters on 3s and means WS3 or less models hit you on 5s. I7 again just pushes the boundaries meaning you will be going before most things. Not to mention costs more than a fully kitted Archon. Taking your list into account I wouldn't bother with the Duke.

Hope that helps.

I found that the Baron is the best value for points. He helps with taking first turn. He brings a bunch of USRs that can help with all sorts of things. He has grenades. He's great as a pain token caddy. He doesn't bring a power weapon or other killy weapon, but put him with beasts or incubi and he doesn't need one!

Both the Duke and the Baron are characters to base a list around in order to get the most out of the points spent on them. Duke even moreso than the Baron, but if you don't want Hellions or a Beastpack - for whatever reason - he won't be efficient either.

Without a full list, it's hard to say what it will benefit from most. Want a hard-hitting combat squad with Grotesques or Incubi? Archon. Running multiple wrack units and want them scoring? Haemy. If you can spare the points, Urien can provide some nice buffs for them.

craigyy wrote:

I guess the question is based on my list which is mainly as I said going to be kabalite and coven based will it be better to switch out the duke for something else, I already have a single haemo as my second hq slot what hq would my list benefit from, a kitted out archon? More haemos or an ancient? Urien? Or maybe something else?
Is a kabalite/coven list going to be a good combo? Or will it be better to lost the coven side and put in some cult units as that would flow more with duke?

Thanks in advance!

The Duke works best in a list built around him.
It sounds like you have a list and want to know if the Duke will work in it.
My suspicion is - no, because you're not building it for him, you're including him in an already established list. Take something else.
If you want to build a list for the Duke because you want to use the Duke, forget about your current list and start from the ground up.

Without seeing the list it's hard to say what you need, but if you are thinking the Duke then you probably want an Archon.

Kabal/Coven is a fine combo, so is Kabal/Cult, Cult/Coven, and Kabal/Cult/Coven (which is what I run). Each of the three have viable and potent units that serve useful purposes.

Play Sliscus if you want to, but he will not be the optimal choice here. A tooled Archon is killier in combat; it's not really worth sacrificing that imo for just upgraded poison on one unit if you're not going to get full use of his other special rules i.e. Deep Strike, Drugs Re-rolls etc.etc.