Dark Eldar Tactics: Heavy Support

How to bring the pain lesson one: Take Dark Eldar heavy support.
How to bring the pain lesson two: Repeat lesson one.
Let's face it. Heavy support rocks for Dark Eldar.

Ravager

It's pretty simple. If you need to kill a tank then take three Dark Lances. If you need to mow down marines then take three disintegrators. NEVER mix weapons. I often see people trying to "argue" the point of mixing weapons but they are usually the ones the lose constantly. Dark Eldar need to be focused when attacking and when you shoot at something you want it dead not just hurt.

The fact that Dark Lances have the Lance rule (go figure) makes it arguably better than a Lascannon and in combination with a Fast Vehicle and Aerial Assault make it the tank hunter of choice.

Always upgrade to Night Shields. You want to be moving around while keeping the enemy as far away as possible in every situation. This combo is cheap and simple and you really can't go  wrong with triple ravagers. They support Venoms very well as they can pop open the transports to discourge the enemy occupants for your Splinter Cannons to go to town on. Taking at least one disintegrator Ravager is recommended simply to deal with any pesky marines or terminators hanging out of cover.

Talos

They would have been way better if they came in groups of 1-3. Unfortunately they almost always die relatively early. T7 and a 3+ armour save sounds tough but once you have a few Krak Missles and Lascannons coming your way the wounds begin to disappear fast. You want to get a pain token to this guy as fast as you can but that is harder than you think. I have found that taking a Haywire blaster and sniping off the last HP off a tank is the easiest way to get the token.

Always take a Chain flails. 2d6 pick the highest is a god send as there is nothing worse then walking into combat and rolling a 1. The main problem with these guys in 6th edition is the fact that anyone with a Krak grenade is immediately a threat to you. Charging a marine squad might sound juicy but you are striking at the same time and more likely then not you will be taking a few armour saves from the grenades.

Cronos
Much better than the Talos. Especially if you are needing extra paint tokens around the board. It suffers from the same vulnerability as the Talos but has one distinct difference.......it's shooting kills a lot. Definitely take a Spirit Vortex. Having an 18" Str3 Ap3 large blast shooting attack will kill most infatry. You only need to kill a single model to dish out a pain token to another friendly unit within 12" or for the Cronos itself. I would highly suggest keeping the token on the Cronos for the first time as adding in FNP will give it more survivability. Plus, having a Str4 AP3 flamer also goes a long way in terms of making units think twice about charging.

A Cronos is best used in foot lists. If you have units of Kabalites sitting on objectives then a Cronos can very easily get them a pain token. Same goes for assaulting units. When I run my Grotesque/Archon bomb it is handy to have a Cronos nearby to A) soften up the amount of Overwatch I'm about to take and B) get Furious Charge and Fearless onto the squad ASAP. Incubi synergise especially well with a Cronos as their saves suddenly become 3+ then 5+ ontop of being str5 on the charge. Yeah!

Razorwing Jetfighter
The funny trait about this entry is that it is far better at Anti-Infatry then it is at Anti-Air. It can obviously be used for both but It is far better used to lay down large blast templates around the board first and then as an Anti-air second. Always put a Flickerfield on it so you don't have to Jink to get a save. Night Shields are usually not worth it as most Anti-Air weapons won't be restricted by the debuff, however, It's advisable vs Necrons. Standard Monoscythe missles are great. You don't want to be upgrading the plane too much as it is very flimsy. Besides, Monoscythe can ID most Xenos and Guard anyway.

If you want to make it a dedicated anti-infatry plan then switch in the Disentegrator Cannons. They can come in handy, especially if you don't have any dissie Ravagers. The best course of action for the Razorwing is to fly on and dump two missle strikes + Lance/Disentegrator shots for two turns in a row. Get the missles fired ASAP as you will feel like a fool if it gets shot down in turn 3-4 and you still have all the missles.

Voidraven Bomber
Move over Razorwing, the big boys are here. Same base cost as the Jet fighter but has a few distinct differences. Firstly, it is AV11. Doesn't sound like much of a boost but that takes Boltgun's out of the equation and makes a Quad Gun 16.66% less effective vs you. Again, always take a Flickerfield.

The real sweet spot of the Voidraven is it's Void Lances. Str9 Lance is the best anti-tank weapon in the game and will scare all flyers into Jinking. It's also a badass Tank Buster considering you will roll a pen 50% of the time. Also, dont forget about the Void Mine. Str9 Lance blast as a bombing attack is awesome. Fly over one vehicle....bomb it and then shoot another.

Dark Eldar Reaper (Forge World)
Not bad. If you are regularly facing any form of mech army list then the Reaper can pull a lot of weight around. No need to worry about having to pen with Dark Lances, just shoot and watch as D3 Haywire rolls per hit (focused) do the work. Plus, it's large blast profile isn't to bad either considering it kills most non Marine units. Always take Night Shields (so cheap you would be crazy not to). Did I mention it also Insta Kills anything 1/3 of the time........Yeah! Overall a solid choice in my opinion.

Dark Eldar Tantalus (Forge World)
Pimp my ride Dark Eldar style. No Archon wants to cruise around in a Venom or a Raider....everyone has those. Instead, why not get yourself a real ride: a Tantalus. This tank is a combination of 1.5 Ravagers and a Raider stuck together.You may take it as either a heavy support choice in a standard army or may use it to ferry around your Archon and his court as a dedicated transport. Since courts are pretty much useless it is really only useful as a heavy support transport.

Firstly, its AV12 and comes with double the hull points of a Venom....badass. Secondly, It's transport capacity is huge. Being able to fit in five grotesques plus a character is awesome. It's fire power is pretty scary for almost anyone: twelve dissie shots is horrifying for Marine players....worse so if there is Doom and Guide floating around to buff it. The hilarity doesn't stop there though. It also comes with "Sychthvanes" which pretty much gives you a D6 vector strike vs infantry or a str7 armourbane hit vs a vehicle.

It is a bit pricy considering that taking Night Shields is pretty much a standard requirement but that is all offset by its awesomeness. Don't be fooled into thinking it is invincible. Even though it is the highest AV tank available to DE it is still going to get shot down by tank hunting Tau, mass Krak missles or a single Vendetta. Worth it though.