# Dark Eldar Tactics Discussion



## Ninja D (Nov 9, 2010)

I played my first game with Dark Eldar a few weeks ago and got thoroughly stomped. The fight was 1000 points and I brought an Archon with a unit of Wyches in a Raider, two units of Warriors in Raiders, a Ravager, and six Reavers loaded out for tank hunting. We rolled a dawn raid scenario with three objectives on the board.

The opponent was Blood Angels and he brought two Rhinos with assault squads (one with a librarian), a Vindicator, a Whirlwind, and a Baal Predator (assault cannons).

This was my first game with the Dark Eldar and I tried to hug terrain and work out distances by eyeballing them to avoid getting charged and what not. I was able to figure out some of the issues with why I lost, like poor rolls on the night fighting in the first turn (I had the initiative, so he also was able to use searchlights with impunity). I also made a mistake with getting my Reavers to close to his rhino when I tried to melt it. A few bad rolls later and most of my army wasn't able to do more than glancing hits on his vehicles while he was able to drop ordinance all over the place.

It was pretty much a total annihilation. I thought I had things covered. I had Dark Lances to deal with any potential armor he would bring, I had the reavers set to deal with armor or infantry, I had warriors for taking objectives and shooting from a distance when his troopers started foot slogging it, and I had what I thought was a decent close combat unit to deal with any crunchy things he might bring.

So on to the discussion. I've noticed there aren't many threads on new Dark Eldar Tactics and I was wondering if anyone has thought about writing some overall tactics and strategies vs. various types of armies. Not necessarily "vs Blood Angels, vs Necrons, vs Orks," etc. but discussions on vs Mechanized, vs Hordes, vs Power Armor, vs Monstrous armies, etc.

I've read the tactics in the Dark Eldar Codex and the latest White Dwarf where they discuss Dark Eldar tactics but most of it seems a bit generic and seems to be bent on selling certain units as opposed to solid tactics.

So to try to spark up some discussions on Dark Eldar here are some of the questions I had off the top of my head:

- Does anyone have any experience with some of the generic tactics discussed in the article like the 2nd turn assault where you hug terrain as much as possible and either through Raiders or Webway Portals you try to assault in the second turn? 

- The other tactic that I was concerned with was trying not kill a unit in close combat in your turn so you don't get shot up in the opponents turn. How do you reasonably achieve this?

- It was mentioned to try to use your raiders to provide a 4+ cover save to units hiding behind it, but with the way the raider is designed, using true line of sight, an enemy unit could technically see the unit behind a raider on a standard flying base fairly clearly. Am I wrong about the rules for cover? Does simply having the base of one unit in front of another enough to give the intervening cover save to units behind regardless if the actual covering unit is in the air?

- Are splinter weapons the right thing to bring against space marine equivalent armor?

- When using reavers is it realy down to eyeballing the distances and hoping you got it right when trying to blow transports apart for your other units to shoot at the unit inside without being exposed to an assault?

- Is it smarter to allow the opponent the first turn and react to his dployment and starting moves or should a Dark Eldar army always try to strive for first turn domination?

I have more questions but I'll leave them for now and see how much interest or discussion this generates. I'm really trying to master the Dark Eldar and would like any feedback from anyone who's played them or played against them and maybe get a Tactica article written down the road.


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## viciousjokekiller (Dec 29, 2009)

Though I don’t have a dark eldar army, I’ve played against them enough times to know how they work. Generally speaking, the dark eldar themselves are only average, however their speed and manoeuvrability means that they get to decide what charges occur (and usually get to charge) and can position themselves to avoid incoming fire. So if the enemy has a mean unit of terminators you’re scared of, your speed means that you can easily charge the nice squishy devastator squad instead. This is in fact one of their best tactics, swarming an isolated part of the enemy army, killing it before help can arrive. If you judge it right and outnumber the foe, you can even kill a unit in combat before they get to attack you with your ridiculously high initiative.

To use a dark eldar army, as with any army, you need to have your units support one another and keep looking at the bigger picture. Too many times I’ve seen dark eldar players putting all their effort into eradicating a terminator unit, only to find themselves in the open with the rest of the army’s bolters pointed at them. For example you could fix this by charging a unit to keep it busy, or shooting it, making it flee or reducing the number of shots fired on you. Remember your troops are fragile. They may be able to dish it out, but they can't take it.

Now onto some of your questions…

How to not kill the enemy in combat and expose yourself to shooting:
The wych unit you have is perfect for that. They won’t kill too many with their str 3, while the agoniser on your sergeant will kill enough to ensure you win the combat. Of course you always run the risk of the enemy fleeing, that’s unavoidable. However if you’re playing against marines, your higher initiative means you’ll probably catch them and force them to keep fighting. However, I only recommend this for units like tactical marines. The wyches will not be able to handle a solid combat unit like terminators. Their 4+ combat save (assuming they still have that rule) means they will survive, and may even tie up the unit, but they will be hard pressed to win. To take something like them on, you’d need to charge with another unit as well, or soften them up with some shooting first.

Second turn assaults:
Those are particularly mean. Usually you can hug cover as you move up first turn. If you take the upgrade that minimises the enemy’s range by 6 inches, you’ll only be hit by one or two rockets or lascannons, which you’ll get a cover save against. You can then coordinate your charges on the second turn. You can use a webway portal, but it requires you to leave your archon out of the tank for a turn, leaving him vulnerable. If he survives, then he can get straight back I the raider and move off again, but it’s a turn where he and his unit does nothing, can get shot down and there’s not even a guarantee that reinforcements will arrive when you need them. I wouldn’t recommend it for just a unit or two, maybe in larger games.

Raiders and cover saves:
True line of sight takes precedence (unless in area terrain). If you can clearly see more than half of the unit hiding behind the raider, no cover saves are allowed.

Splinter rifles:
No matter how good your armor is, if you put enough shots into it, it will die. Splinter rifles are as good a weapon as any, and really hurt monstrous creatures too. If you’re worried about high armour, use disintegrators. They work wonders. May I recommend that you take a warrior unit without a raider. This gives you a unit which can sit on a rear objective, and can lay down some ranged firepower with splinter rifles and cannons. This will free up some points for you.

Taking first or second turn.
Ultimately it’s up to you as both have their advantages. Setting up second lets you avoid firing lanes and lets you hide your raiders from enemy anti tank. Setting up first means you spend fewer turns getting shot at before you charge and get your choice of terrain, though unless the enemy has a lot of long range (like Tau) first turn losses are usually minimal.

Well there’s my advice. Hope this helps!


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## Dawnstar (Jan 21, 2010)

As far as the first turn, if your playing a standard pitched battle/annihilation game, you will ALWAYS want to go first. Deploy your raiders on the 12" line and assault him first turn. 18"move, 2"disembark, D6"fleet, 6"assault. total 26+" assault range. If he has rhino's and you manage to kill one, you earn your first power through pain token, gaining feel no pain. Ravegers for fire support and tank killing makes your army stronger and can kill important targets before they begin to kill you


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## Jack Mac (Apr 29, 2009)

I've got a few thoughts on what you're asking; I'll put them in at appropriate points.



Ninja D said:


> I played my first game with Dark Eldar a few weeks ago and got thoroughly stomped. The fight was 1000 points and I brought an Archon with a unit of Wyches in a Raider, two units of Warriors in Raiders, a Ravager, and six Reavers loaded out for tank hunting. We rolled a dawn raid scenario with three objectives on the board.
> 
> The opponent was Blood Angels and he brought two Rhinos with assault squads (one with a librarian), a Vindicator, a Whirlwind, and a Baal Predator (assault cannons).
> 
> ...


The only thing you've asked that I had a strong feeling on was the deployment question; because all of his guns are short ranged (even on fast vehicles), I would have made him deploy first to exploit any possible weaknesses. -If your friend deployed as far forward as possible in the middle and you weren't confident of being out of range anywhere in a normal deployment, feel free to form the 'huddle of tanks in a corner' tactical manoevre. You can reasonably often arrange it so everything has cover and/or is out of range, and your mobility is great enough that you don't need to be concerned with positioning.


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## Ninja D (Nov 9, 2010)

Thanks for the responses. This stuff really helps. I still like the reavers alot for what they can theoretically do so I'll probably keep feilding them and experimenting with range to targets and getting back out of the way so I don't lose them to an assault. After I wrote the original post I thought about the unit composition for my assault units and how to possibly tweak unit size and adding or removing IC's to try to keep myself in combat through my turn and into the opponent's turn.

I think I'm going to be clipping the stands on my raider flying bases down to lower their overall height to use them as a potential emergency cover if needed. Nothing cheesy mind you, I won't be rigging the bases to allow the raiders to be set sideways or anything, just lower to the ground so they look like their flying nap of the earth.

I was also tossing around the idea to bring 2 or 3 haemonculi with a couple of webway portals for a cheaper alternative to adding the WWP to my archon. The haemis will be cheaper (thus the loss of them won't be so bad if it happens), I can load them into a raider full of wyches or whatever other assault unit I have to give the unit the pain token (and subsequently FNP), and use them to get out and deploy the WWPs. I haven't field tested it yet but one of the tactics I'd like to try out is zipping up two raiders, jumping out with probably the haemis into the edge of some cover and deploying the two WWPs in different parts of the board and then using the portals to deploy things like reavers, hellions, and wyches (and some of the other assault units once they come out with models for them).

Another question I had: has anyone used Mandrakes effectively and are they actually useful for disrupting the opponent's back line?

Again, thanks for the tips and analysis, this stuff is extremely helpful to me.


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

Dawnstar, there are a couple of problems with what you're saying.



Dawnstar said:


> Deploy your raiders on the 12" line and assault him first turn. 18"move, 2"disembark, D6"fleet, 6"assault. total 26+" assault range.


You can only move your raider 12" if you want to disembark. A trick with DE vehicles that is quite nasty is to deploy your raiders on the 12" line (assuming pitched battle) *parallel* to the edge of your deployment zone, you then pivot on the center & fly 12" forward. The raider is approx 2.5" wide at its largest, its also about 6" long. This means the pivot will give you an extra ((6-2.5)/2=1.75) 1.75" on your move, coupled with the 2" disembark to the *closest* edge of your base means that assuming you have a 6" run move you can move 12"+1.75" + 2" + 1" + 6" + 6" = 28.75"



Dawnstar said:


> If he has rhino's and you manage to kill one, you earn your first power through pain token, gaining feel no pain


no PFP for killing vehicles.

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## Cyleune (Nov 10, 2010)

Your sick how your twisting the rules XD

Remember that you can steal the I too when deploying, in my Eldar I like to deploy 2nd where my opponent is weakest then seize the initiative and strike with overwhelming force. Alpha strike is crucial to many DE units, especially Heamonculi (or however its spelled) as they can run forward, deploy WWB (which is indestructible) and then promptly die.

On Wytches, FNP is really nice because it keeps you from having to use your 5+ gimp suit.


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

I’ve been playing DE for about a year now – little bit over - & I can tell you that aside from adding several new units (for which there are no models) the play style & effectiveness of DE hasn’t really changed. Everything basically functions in the same line as it did before – Incubi chop through fellas without invul saves, wyches tar-pit (they’re better at being offensive now with the correct weapon upgrades) and warriors dakka the rest (in this they’ve gotten better since they now wound everything on a 4+ rather than being S3…)

*Basics*
To be successful you need to understand exactly what your units are capable of doing & the odds of their success. For example, if you rock 15 dark lances did you know you only have a 70% chance to destroy one or more vehicles (AV12+) in a round of shooting? That’s not actually that great… It is always better to be conservative in your estimates. Facing 7missile launcher long fangs? Well, expect to lose 2 raiders per turn & plan for it. Even with a 4+ turbo-boost save they have a 60% chance to destroy one or more raiders…

Having a realistic (if not conservative) understanding of what your troops can accomplish is fundamental to success in tabletop gaming. Everybody knows that space marines are more forgiving than any other army out there – DE is probably the LEAST forgiving. If you risk all on a gambit & it fails either because the odds were against you or your rolls were poor you are going to suffer (example, I’ve had wyches disembark from their transport & stand 1” away from enemy troops. In the assault phase I’ve rolled snake-eyes denying my wyches the assault (even though you’re only 1” away you must be more than 1” away…) & leaving them to be rapid-fired to oblivion by bolters (fitting end to bloodbrides w/ (3) hydragauntets & the extra attack combat drug… ugh!)

Once you have a fundamental understanding of what your army can accomplish you must then develop the same for the armies you are facing. A land raider full of assault terminators is a daunting piece of equipment when deployed but as a DE player you have the speed to avoid it as long as you maintain your mobility. That means the heavy weapons team deployed NEXT to the LR is a better target turn one. Once you’ve determined your target priority you must stick to it. Focus EVERYTHING you have at eliminating the largest threat at the time, once that threat has been dealt with it is time to move to your next largest threat – or to targets of opportunity (ie, firing 15 lances into a 7ml longfang squad should pretty much take care of them – there may be one or two left, at that stage it’s probably okay to put any remaining lances into that land raider to at least prevent it from moving / shooting )

Alright, that first bit was pretty long-winded but if you’re still with me I’m going to start in on the DE specific strategies which have worked for me.

*Turn 2 Assault & why it's not neccessarily the best idea...*
Range is your friend (usually): Many a times I see the inexperienced pushing hard for that turn 2 assault, only to have their plans go awry when either they fail to destroy the vehicle they needed to, or their opponent gets absurdly lucky with reserve rolls / to hit rolls (face it, hitting us is more than ½ the battle. Once they’ve done that we’re pretty much finished). Many people will advocate boosting the raiders that hold your damned fine assault units like wyches & incubi up the board to get into assault on the 2nd turn, while leaving your ravagers / sniper squads in the backfield to ensure they can shoot & bring down the hard cases surrounding the squishy insides. I think this is generally a no-no. Remember what I said about target priority & threat analysis? That land raider is going to take at least 2 turns to catch you, all the while the devastators are sitting in the backfield brining down your transports (maneuverability AND antitank rolled into one… it is painful each time one crashes…). First turn you should be concentrating on that long range firepower. Once that is gone you’re basically at your leisure to pick & choose what you’re going to face. 

Now that you’ve gotten rid of those pesky long range weapons like lascannons, rockets et al, remember what I said before about the likelihood of lance weaponry opening vehicles? Good, then you’ll understand why having MORE lances firing is in general a good idea. So again, turn two you shouldn’t be racing forwards in anticipation – hang back again & open up some of those cans. Each vehicle you open serves to either (a) isolate the squad that is now foot slogging, or (b) forces your opponent to create a defensive position around the relatively immobile dismounted squad. Either one is good for you.

So now we’re at turn 3, you’ve taken out long range fire support and you’ve isolated squads by either destroying their transports, or at least stunning their crew. NOW is the time to boost forwards. Without tricksey pivoting of your vehicles, or even relying on fleet of foot you have a 21” assault (12” move, 2” disembark, 1” base size, 6” assault) meaning you should be able to hit what you want now. Your dedicated assault troops should move to do this. Since you can still fire your lance weaponry if travelling 12” you can either (a) shoot into the squad you’re about to assault to weaken it further, or (b) take shots of opportunity into other vehicles – the flow of the game & your own judgment will be your guide. Your ravagers & warriors should now be moving into positions to deal with anything moving for a countercharge (or moving to drop out onto objectives…) 

Unless your opponent is very aggressive I think that hoping for a turn 2 assault is unrealistic. It can be useful to react to deep strikers or out-flankers, but otherwise I feel it leads to overextending a small portion of your forces. As a DE player you should revel when your opponents do this – the best opportunity to jump on a unit is when it is isolated far from any support (deep striking BA are a good example). Knowing this to be true why would you willingly do it to your own army?

Long post is long so I may write more later....


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## Ninja D (Nov 9, 2010)

Awesome advice, Clever. You hit the nail on the head for what I've been dealing with so far in my games using the DE. I tend to over extend myself or stray to close to the opponents units. I've also jumped the gun and went for some balls out 1st and 2nd turn assaults (which didn't work out very well). I do believe I'm gonna be working on my patience a bit more and trying for some solid 3rd turn assaults and isolation tactics. Thanks again.


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## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

A note for facing fully meched forces:
If you find yourself facing full mech forces (transports &/or many battletanks) it’s probably a good idea to try to glance as many vehicles as you can before moving in for a kill. What I mean by this is that if you’ve stunned a vehicle it & its occupants can’t fire that turn (no HW anyways) barring special rules like potms, possession, etc. it is probably best to move onto the next vehicle & try for the wreck, but if not glance & move on. Sometimes a certain vehicle must be destroyed though, needs your own judgment


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## Dawnstar (Jan 21, 2010)

Oh and power from pain specifies UNIT. Since transports eg rhino's are counted as seperate units, you get the token


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

Dawnstar said:


> Oh and power from pain specifies Non-vehicle UNIT. Since transports eg rhino's are counted as seperate units, you do not get the token


Fixed that for you. 

Good words Clever, but I take issue (again - if it was you the first time, I can't remember) with your comment about turning Raiders in order to gain extra movement. It is illegal by the rulebook, simple as that.

Rulebook Pg. 11



> As you move the models in a unit, they can turn to face in any direction, without affecting the distance they are able to cover.


This is followed on the next page by a diagram of how to move vehicles. For further reinforcement, on Pg. 57



> Turning does not reduce the vehicles movement. This means that a vehicle may combine forwards and reverse movement in the same turn provided it does not exceed its maximum move.


The only exception to this is when you do not move at all apart from to pivot, which does not count as moving and therefore does not need to follow the rules for movement. Measuring from the side of a Raider to the side, and then pivoting to gain 2" with the front spike is _breaking the rules_, not a nifty tactic.

Apart from that, most of what you say makes sense. I agree that a mindless turn 2 rush is generally a bad plan, because you have the mobility to pour in firepower as the enemy comes to you, and then move out yourself on turns 3-4 for objectives.


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## Dawnstar (Jan 21, 2010)

Thanks for the clarification


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