Combat Drugs Poll; vs Chaos Gift of Mutation?

How many of you folks out there pay the 10pts to give your Archon the Combat Drugs upgrade? You? And you over there? What about you in the back? Don't be shy, you aren't breaking any laws in Commorragh!
I'm curious as to whether you feel you get your points worth.
Everyone says yes after playing a game you rolled for a bonus pain token, because win. Conversely we all know Hypex stinks. Everything else? Pretty much awesome.
I'm wondering about general use, as an overall benefit/deficit in a list.
Are you satisfied with the quality of the intoxicants your Warlord is consuming?

And secondly, specifically aimed at all you CSM players out there but open to everyone, do you pay the 10pts to give your warlord Gift of Mutation? Drawing from a broader list of boons you can get anything from +1 BS, +1W, a better armour save, or the Dark Apotheosis results.

Thanks for your input!

Personally, I never bother with Combat Drugs.

Only if i take Huskblade.

I always have Combat Drugs on my Archon. Partly for my army fluff (he's a junkie, pretty much) and it's always nice to have a slight buff.

Archon & Sliscus in my list, so drugs for everybody!

I started out taking them on a huskblade archon but soon dropped them and havent looked back. Now that said, units that inherently start with drugs I am usually pleased with the results. Just not quite good enough to purchase on an IC.

Yes and yes?

It's kind of like the lottery. Sure, you're chance of getting something isn't the absolute best. But your chance of getting a pain token / daemon prince / eternal warrior / without drugs or rewards? Is zero percent. I stopped running an archon a while ago and went with the succubus and some bloodbrides.

Now I'm generally happy with drugs on everything but hypex. But when you have an hq and a unit with combat drugs roll a 6 and start with furious charge and a pain token? You feel like a boss.

I like the convenience of a concise CD table. Snorting 6 lines is much easier! A table like the boons in that Chaos dex would be hideous to remember.
Sometimes, 1 is a good number to roll, like when you roll for strategic traits for example. Hypex would be great if you could run and then assault.
I feel I get my 10 points worth, especially if I get re-rolls to wound.

mmmmmm.....drugs. I never leave home without my fix.

Sounds like a majority "Yes" to Combat Drugs, interesting to hear. I'll have to start testing 'em out more.

I use them when I have the points. They are nice to have, but not a must.

He's killed Inquisitors and spread their remains on the pages of every book in their library.
He's blown up a sun just to watch the pretty lights.
He's promised to help the Tau with their bug problems.

He is - the most interesting Archon in the world.




Stay raiding, my friends.

Is that Evil Elrond?

OMG

That serioiusly just made my day. btw Adhemar, that is the cover art for Path of the Archon novel coming out in a few weeks.

Archon always has them has made the difference several times for me.

Both drugs and the gift are pretty good. Overall, the list for the gift is probably stronger - some of the possibilities on there are just staggeringly good. The possibility of my WIP Khorne Lord on Juggernaut with the axe of blind fury getting Eternal Warrior before the game even begins gives me a warm glowy feeling... However, you have to look at who has access to both. Combat drugs affect a big chunk of a Dark Eldar list, in fact it's quite possible that every infantry unit in a given army will have them - whereas gift of mutation only affects characters. In addition to that, combat drug results like +1 strength for a base strength three Archon with a huskblade is a much bigger deal for him than for a base strength 4 Chaos Lord swinging a +2 strength axe about like a loon. The latter is just adding a very small cherry to an already very rich cake (or perhaps a wafer thin mint), whereas the former is levelling the playing field in terms of actually being able to wound MEQs.

I'd say both are good, even though you could pay ten points to get something totally useless on either list it's worth doing if you have them spare. An Archon needs drugs more than a Lord needs the gift though, and if you're paying that many points to outfit him with fancy wargear you might as well pay a few more to maybe tip the balance more in his favour. And to give him the chance to actually use his toys of course.

Expletive Deleted wrote:

Yes and yes?

It's kind of like the lottery. Sure, you're chance of getting something isn't the absolute best. But your chance of getting a pain token / daemon prince / eternal warrior / without drugs or rewards? Is zero percent. I stopped running an archon a while ago and went with the succubus and some bloodbrides.

Unfortunately you can't use the daemon prince result from gift of mutation, but the good thing is the spawn one won't happen either. I've taken it a few times but tend to shy away from it more now.

I think it's easier to justify drugs if you take the duke. Then you have a little control over what you get. Having an archon with an agonizer makes +1 strength results useless and the weapon skill doesn't help him often either. The 50% chance of not getting anything beneficial is lackluster. Basically, I wouldn't just slap them on an archon with leftover points but if I have the Duke I would plan it in my list.

True, I just mentioned it because it was one of the many I remembered.

Rewards are definitely better than drugs, one time I rolled multiple rewards on the Boon list 4 times. Haha! That HQ was nasty!

But yes I agree, if you take drugs, don't use an agonizer.

Hey Expletive Deleted, can I borrow those dice?
Thor, thank you for that.
And Mr. Believer, good points. Totally didn't clue in to the difference between a possible army-wide buff vs individual potential.

Drugs look highly attractive for a husk blade archon.
Gifts are fun, sometimes not crap and rarely amazing.  I take one on my lord if I have points spare.

I always do, the majority of the the results help your Archon be an even more lethal beatstick so why wouldn't you?

Thor, that was awesome. Thank you.

I go with the drugs. 4 of 6 are things I would easily pay 10 points or more for. +1 to WS is meh, wouldn't pay for it because it doesn't really do anything for the Archon. As for 1... it was fine in 5th....

Albiet, drugs lose some appeal with venom blade and agonizer but then your sacrificing having a ap 2 weapon and sacrifice having a Insta-Death weapon.

I see myself needing the boost drugs give my archon, but we have codex adept us mechainicus at my game store so I need every boost I can find. One thing about drugs vs gift, we don't risk downgrading our warlord, if we didn't take a different one, Luke the gift list can. I don't have it in front of me, but I believed getting spawn or prince actually gives slay the warlord also.

Archon-Hidicul wrote:

I see myself needing the boost drugs give my archon, but we have codex adept us mechainicus at my game store so I need every boost I can find. One thing about drugs vs gift, we don't risk downgrading our warlord, if we didn't take a different one, Luke the gift list can. I don't have it in front of me, but I believed getting spawn or prince actually gives slay the warlord also.

Gift of mutation doesn't give slay the warlord and you can't roll daemon prince or spawn from the roll at the start of the game. Those can only occur after killing champions in game.

Jeff, I knew you couldn't get them at the start, but couldn't reference the rulers as my codex is currently being borrowed.