I hear so often how poor the Dark Eldar 2014 codex is. How it got nerfed in all the wrong ways. How there are only a few units you can win with. It's all rather depressing. To top it off there isn't much out there in the way of strategy support for DE players. They're not all over the place like other top tier armies. To be honest right now that's what has me so into them. It is also the position of gaming that makes them the most dangerous.
I want to debunk rumors about Dark Eldar. I firmly believe people see them as the same army that they were in 2nd edition. Glass Hammer gets thrown around a lot. Poison Spam or Venom Spam is something I see as "the only winning tactic." People still think Dark Lances are good.
In fact, with so much to say about this...let's just start off with tackling poison and lances. I can write an argument alone on these two things.
Weaponry is broken down into 2 categories:
- What's good against infantry
- What's good against vehicles
- Poison/Venoms
- Dark Lances
My response:
- Disintegrator Cannons
- Haywire Blasters
Poison
We see the Venom being the primary poison delivery system. There are others, but it's very hard to argue the point efficiency of dual splinter cannon Venom's as the go-to for massed poison shots. Add in that you can take buckets of Venom's and all of a sudden it starts to look really appealing. I don't think we need to take poison this way to be competitive.
Looking at the basic level of 1:1 shooting between a poison shot and a Disintegrator it's very easy to see why the Dissie wins. I asked my wife who has no knowledge of this game which she would take:
- "A weapon that needs a 3 to hit, a 4 to wound, and gives a save"
- "A weapon that needs a 3 to hit, typically a 3 to wound, and doesn't give a save."
Hmmm. I know there is cover and there are invulnerable saves and yadda yadda. My point is simply this: One weapon is more efficient at killing one infantry model. Take more of them.
Dark Lances
Triple lance Ravagers! 9 S8 AP2 Shots at 36" range are an awesome alpha strike! Sure. It's a good use of range. GW built in these new rules though, that almost kind of show you how it might not work anymore. There's a new point tax to switch to Dark Lances on Ravagers. You can't move 12" and shoot all 3 at full BS anymore either. So staying stationary or moving a little less is pretty much the only way to use them at full efficiency...which, again, is the goal.
Scourges can take 4 Haywire Blasters. With a 24" gun and a 12" jump not effecting my ability to shoot any number of shots, I suddenly have 4 36" shots instead of 3. So again, on the same post-it note I said to my wife:
- "A weapon that needs a 3 to hit, a 4 to glance."
- "A weapon that needs a 3 to hit, a 2 to glance."
Haywire Blasters retain mobility, can be taken in abundance with the Realspace Raiders detatchment, and open up your Ravagers to taking 3 Disintegrator Cannons each.
There will always be those that argue my points. There are plenty of counter points to this. I know them well. Just play fluffy. Dark Eldar strike fast, aren't afraid to die, and do it with a cackle. Take the most efficient tools for the role you need to fill.
More to come!
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