Dark Eldar Tactics: A few quick tips on how to play (and win)
effectively with Dark Eldar.
When I first started Dark Eldar I
was entranced with the idea of playing a "glass hammer" army. The
problem was, In reality, I really didn't understand what this meant. For the
first six months of gaming with them I lost repeatedly through a combination of
terrible list design and bad tactics. Recently though, I have begun to win more
and more games both socially and competition level.
The codex, in my opinion, is
fairly balanced (in that way that we have vicious offence but cardboard
defence) and as such falls prey to players believing they can transfer common
tactics over to them (like I did). Here are just a few points that changed my
win/loss ratio:
They are not marines...........or Eldar.
This sounds obvious but is
usually the most common downfall of Dark Eldar players. We do not have reliable
armour saves or the ability to re-roll them (barring the Eldar allies
shenanigans). If you run your troops out of cover or intentionally move them
into range of enemy weapons, they will die. Which brings me on to the next
point......
Survivability.
The best kind of save for Dark
Eldar are the ones that never have to be rolled. This comes down to three
things:
1. Speed.
Using speed to avoid enemy
weapons is our best form of defence. A Ravager can move 12" and still fire
all of its weapons which means if you find yourself being rapid fired by
bolters you have serious problems.
2. Line of sight.
What better kind of protection is
there than your enemy not being able to see your models? Best used for raiders
zooming across the battle field.
3. Night Shields.
Take them on ALL your non assault
carrying vehicles....no excuses. 6" may not seem like a lot at first but
it becomes hilariously frustrating for an opponent without many long range
weapons or when someone realises that their Melta range has been halved.
4. Measuring.
Pre-measure everything. You need
to measure and move so that your enemies guns are useless in their shooting
phase. This is simple if you are facing Necrons but more difficult against long
range armies.
5. Cover.
If your battlefield has 4+ ruins
on it, get your vehicles behind them. For the facings on a raider and ravager,
check out:
http://www.thedarkcity.net/t4106-1-coversave-on-facing-question
If you are not getting a cover
save from terrain, you need to either be moving constantly (which you already
should be!) or equip vehicles with flicker fields.
I will be start a Dark Eldar
tactics page and post/edit it as we progress over time. We should also see an
Imperial guard guide in the near future.
I'm gonna play my first game with Dark Eldars this thursday, so I'll try to put on practice everything I've read. Thanks mate!!
ReplyDeleteI'm new to dark eldar and am trying to master them. right now I'm having trouble when facing tau and chaos space marines. any suggestions when facing these opponents?
ReplyDeleteTau will always be a difficult match up for us. They will out-shoot us very easily so getting into combat is the only real option. One route is taking the Baron with a Beast pack that includes 1-2 Clawed fiends and a tonne of Razorwings. Stick the Baron out front with a fiend and flock both in base contact. LOS all Str6-9 shooting onto the fiend and the rest onto the flock and go as fast as possible towards their gunline. Disentegrator Ravagers chew through Crisis suits, keep one in reserve and bring it on where you need it to kill them. If you are facing a Riptide, either shoot Disentagrator shots at it or run a Huskblade Archon with a Flesh Gauntlet Grotesque squad bodyguard and hope for some Insta-ills.
DeleteChaos is more diversified so without knowing what you are regularly facing then I can't help that much. I've run a Grotesque bomb (with Archons) vs Chaos and had reasonable success. Venom Spam is a decent option as well. Helldrakes aren't all that scary if you are holed up in transports with 5+ Invul saves. Ally in a Fire Prism and Crimson hunter for additional support.