Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Dark Eldar (section)

====Covens====
*'''Grotesques:''' Massively scary. They have an impressive statline complete with S/T5, 4 Wounds and 4 Attacks that hit on 3+ all for 32 points and you can take 10(!) of these. Also like all  <'''COVEN'''>  units they come stock with a 5++ Invulnerable, all of which makes them both tough as nails and scary enough that your opponent will still focus everything he has into them. For armament they come stock with a Flesh Gauntlet and a Monstrous Cleaver. The Cleaver does very well indeed against T4 and less while the Flesh Gauntlet does well against high invulnerable saves unit. Can also take Liquifiers but why bother?
**'''An alternate take:''' While their most significant weakness (Instant Death) is gone they did lose much of their appeal. They are more expensive, lost the Rampage rule, lost re-rolls to wound against T4 or less and lost the amazing Grotesquerie formation (basically Grotesques on Combat Drugs). And they are by no means more survivable, as their 5+ FNP basically already was an Invulnerable Save equivalent and T6 is less significant in this edition. To make things worse, many weapons now deal D3 or D6 damage. Mind you, they used to be able to tank Lascannons easily. I would consider investing into a much cheaper T5 blob of Wracks.
***'''Counter point:''' While they are not what they were in 7th, so were a lot of things. Grotesques can still shrug off a lascannon with their invulvn save (particularly Prophets), something they could not do against S10 and up in 7th. And while they have less attacks then in 7th, they now can hit on 2's in cc, and have -2 base, so I'd say that's a wash. With 4 wounds, a 4++ and 5 attacks at S5 -2, I'd say grots are just as strong as they ever were, just in a different context.
**That being said, there are a few things Grotesques excel at, and that is killing T4 and lower. Where Wracks are hemmed in by having poisoned weapons and ''only'' poisoned weapons, the Grotesques have an answer for situations where their Strength stat actually matters. Similarly, due to their ability to throw out Mortal Wounds via their Flesh Gauntlets, they can threaten Thunderhammer Terminators and other high-invulnerable saves models, which the Wracks are almost entirely powerless against. In addition, the Monstrous Cleaver with its S5 allows the Grotesques to more effectively threaten '''VEHICLES'''. In short, they aren't the end-all be-all of the Covens anymore, but they are far from useless.
**Taken in a prophets of flesh detachment and with Urien nearby these guys will put out 5 WS3+ S6 AP-2 D1 attacks and then have a defensive statline of T6 4++ 6+++ to back it up. A squad of 4 will kill 11 GEQ a turn and even put a decent dent into MEQ and light vehicles. Grotesques are back!
**If you dislike the models or failcast resin, or aren't made of money, the '''Crypt Horrors''' and '''Stormfiends''' from AoS are nice plastic alternatives.