# Can Dark Eldar beat Tau?



## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

I've got a mate who plays Dark Eldar, and he seems convinced they can't beat Tau. I'm convinced he's wrong, and I want to know how Dark Eldar would go about beating Tau.


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## Marneus Calgar (Dec 5, 2007)

Using the Theory hammer, of course they can. If you use any army correctly they have a damn good chance of beating another. I got beat lots when I had my last Tau army - and a few were against DE.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Marneus Calgar said:


> Using the Theory hammer, of course they can. If you use any army correctly they have a damn good chance of beating another. I got beat lots when I had my last Tau army - and a few were against DE.


Can you remember what straegies they used?


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## Marneus Calgar (Dec 5, 2007)

The Sullen One said:


> Can you remember what straegies they used?


I honestly can't remember much, its just if your mate has been playing them for a while, he should look at the Tau codex and the DE codex, and see where he can make a hole. Just tell him to keep in mind that they are crap in combat, they have a not too bad armour save, but could be better, I would say that the Armour save is what he has got to pick at, thats what happened with me if I remembered.


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## Cruor99 (Mar 11, 2009)

The Sullen One said:


> Can you remember what straegies they used?


What kind of army does your friend use? He should be getting into lots of skimmers with a bunch of dark lances etc, which seems to be the only way Dark Eldar can build nowadays and still be successful. 

I'm no DE player, however. That's just what I've picked up.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Cruor99 said:


> What kind of army does your friend use? He should be getting into lots of skimmers with a bunch of dark lances etc, which seems to be the only way Dark Eldar can build nowadays and still be successful.
> 
> I'm no DE player, however. That's just what I've picked up.


Basically that's his setup, along with Reavers and Ravagers, but basically he doesn't think there's anyway to avoid being shot up Tau style.


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## Orochi (Jan 28, 2009)

My Time to shine 

Against Tau DE either want to be within 24" or over 31". The latter will require a good eye of distance.
Tau are fast, moving at the same speed as Dark Eldar. But Unlike DE, do not have the ability to move the core of it's army without spending a large amount of points on doing so. 
Against Tau, the DE player should maximise out on Troop choices in raiders to his limit. 4 Troop choices in Raiders is a cheap and effective way of moving 40 men into hazard range.

DE will slice through Tau in CC like an Over-clocking Chainsaw through Mr Blobby. 

Of course the Tau player will do his very best to prevent a close encounter (of a different kind LOLOL). So the DE player must invest in anti-transport caperbilities.

and to be fair, once in CC, Tau can do fuck all. Infact, DE are probably one of the few armies that can ignore Railheads. Yes they are a threat, but he should focus on crippling the Tau's speed. That way, the juicy part of the Tau is exposed.


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## Kirby (May 16, 2010)

Tau will effectively block your assaults with drones/piranhas/kroot though and really, DE want to be 30"+ or 42-48" away. This allows them to spam DLs whilst avoiding the majority of Crisis suit damage. Add in nightshields and you get an extra 6" .

The only real DE army which can be considered competitive is still DL Raider spam which maximises your number of Raiders and DLs + 3 Ravagers w/Disens. You can see a sample 2000 list here. This style of army list is very good in 5th due to their saturation, spread of fire, damage potential, scoring potential, nightshield defense and mobility. Everything a 5th ed army can want + more .


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## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

In answer to your question a DE army built well can literally rape a Tau army, Crisis Suits are our main threat as the Hammerhead is usually the first thing to go and will go, playing against them it's raider rush forward with 2 ravagers they may shoot one ravager out but then they are still facing off around 8-10 DL shots on the remaining tanks. As said Crisis Suits are the biggest problem though to be a major threat to us they have to be within 12-24" range which is usually in range of the Troops Sniper Squads which will lay waste to them and if need be charge them as they can win against a suit as you get the less attacks than a standard marine squad with same toughness but less LD and WS


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

Cheers Guys, these ideas pretty much echo my own thinking, and I'll be sure to mention them to him.


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