Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Dark Eldar

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Please note that this is the tactics for 8th edition Dark Eldar. Their current tactics can be found here.

Why Play Drukhari[edit]

Drukhari are steeped in ancient and unnatural evil. They have chosen this path for themselves, and revel in their own cruelty, drawing physical sustenance from the infliction of pain. They inhabit a realm known as Commorragh, the Dark City, an impossibly vast stronghold from which they launch piratical raids across the length and breadth of the galaxy. The Drukhari live to inflict misery and death; what happens to the captives they bring back to Commorragh is best left undescribed. They are vain, devious and utterly self-serving, with no respect for any living creatures except themselves, though each individual Drukhari typically views every other member of their race with uncaring contempt.

Because of this the Drukhari have a diabolical appeal. They are the evil kings and super-villains of the 41st Millennium, and they have all the right tools for the job. The Drukhari are very fast-moving, have lots of firepower, and boast some of the most lethal close combat units in the game. However, because they conduct their raids at lightning speed, the Drukhari lack any real heavy armor and are hence quite fragile - it takes guile and cunning to use them well. If you possess the skill, though, your Drukhari army can run rings around its opponents, leaving them shell-shocked, terrified and utterly defeated. Best of all, the models in the Drukhari range are truly jaw-dropping examples of the sculptor's craft. In just about every way, the Drukhari are an army for the true connoisseur! Consider yourself warned, playing Drukhari is Warhammer 40K on hard mode.

Pros[edit]

  • Blistering fast army with massive firepower. Infantry moves at least 7" and Vehicles move in excess of 14".
  • Our unique Power From Pain ability grants cumulative buffs to the army as the game progresses.
  • Combat Drugs can now be chosen which makes them infinitely more useful. They also stack with Power From Pain buffs on most units.
  • Gorgeous, highly detailed models that are cross compatible for conversions. It can't be overstated, this army looks really cool and stands out nicely against a sea of power armor.
  • You can now viably take standalone Covens, Cult, or Kabal armies. The book encourages a blend of all three through some unique rules regarding detachments and warlord traits.
  • You share the AELDARI keyword with Craftworlders, Harlequins and Ynnari, meaning you get to cherry pick the best toys from your kin within the same list, and still remain Battle-Forged! Just remember to take separate Detachments for each ASURYANI, DRUKHARI, HARLEQUINS and YNNARI detachment if you want to keep Obsessions, and stay Battle-Forged according to the FAQ Beta Rules.
  • Plenty of ways of getting around your baseline strength 3 for combat units.
  • Almost everything has FLY, or can be shoved inside something that can fly which means easy traversal of terrain and flying out of pesky melee to still open fire.
  • Mandrakes are awesome now meaning we finally get our one great infiltration unit!
  • Drukhari vehicles count all heavy weapons as assault weapons so you can move at full speed and fire at no penalty.
  • The Blaster is now one of the most points effective guns in the game. It sucks you only get 1 in a Kabalite Warrior kit, but you can easily convert splinter rifles into Blasters by chopping the barrel tips off of unused Disintegrator weapons.
  • Poisoned Weapons are a guaranteed 4+ to wound on all non-vehicles; so your rapid fire infantry will always be effective at piling on wounds.

Cons[edit]

  • No native access to Psykers so we miss out on an entire turn phase. Though, there is a relic (see below) that can combat filthy Psykers, and we share the AELDARI keyword with some of the best Psykers in the game so it's not all bad.
  • Almost every unit in the army is extremely frail and has trouble surviving against even the humble lasgun. You must learn to carefully exploit our supreme mobility to keep your distance, stay in cover or out of enemy line of sight whenever possible. Bolt weapons will effortlessly turn your elves into a fine red mist.
  • Almost everything in the army has FLY and our transports all fly, so we are extremely vulnerable to enemy units with bonuses against units with the FLY tag.
  • Special Characters are effective, but their costs should be considered in list building. Also, the named characters are stuck with specific Kabal/Coven/Cult Obsessions and Warlord Traits.
  • While there are no outright bad units or weapons in the army, some weapons have a very specific role or niche so they won't see much use in a "Take All Comers" list.
  • No native Lord of War units. But you can ally with our Asuryani cousins if that's really a concern.
  • Difficult to put Troops, Elites, and HQs in the same transport due to inconvenient passenger restrictions. HQs usually require a "Command Venom" (which any opponent with a working brain is going to focus down turn 1) as a tax unless you're fine with them on foot.
  • As with all tournament play, the army gets pretty bland when distilled down to spamming the best Kabal and Coven units.
  • Poisoned Weapons allow our strength 3 elves to hit above their weight and wound all non-vehicles on a guaranteed 4+, but most poisoned weapons have no AP whatsoever. Enemy units will likely get to make their full armor save and common units like Primaris Marines in cover are practically impossible to kill with splinter weapons. You will have to rely on massing lots of shots combined with lots of re-rolls to inflict damage.

To Ynnari or not Ynnari[edit]

23/07/2017 FAQ: You must have Yvraine, The Visarch or The Yncarne as your Warlord to be able to give any Aeldari units in your army the "Ynnari" keyword. Yvraine and The Yncarne are your only access to the Revenant Discipline and the same FAQ finally gave The Visarch a 4+ Invulnerable save.

17/11/2017 FAQ: In Matched Play games, Soulburst can now only trigger on your turn, and only one of each Soulburst action can be used per turn. In competitive play, this basically means you are better off taking a small Ynnari detachment abusing the hell out of the soulburst potential of any combination of the following: Shining Spears (Move, Shoot, Charge), Harlequins (Move, Shoot, Charge), Swooping Hawks (Move, Shoot), Dark Reapers (Shoot), with all your other points spent on your Drukhari.

16/04/2018 FAQ: Ynnari detachments now must also consist of entirely Craftworld, Harlequin, or Drukhari units; you cannot take units from other Aeldari armies in the same detachment any longer. While this is pretty inconvenient, players may still take multiple Ynnari Detachments (Yvraine in one, The Visarch in another, for example) with one dedicated Drukhari force and the other with a dedicated Craftworld force.

May 2019 White Dwarf: The Ynnari received a major overhaul, getting full access to their own relics, warlord traits, stratagems, and a fully fleshed out psychic discipline, but lost access to the Craftworld, Drukhari and Harlequin equivalents. To further isolate the Ynnari detachments from their vanilla variants, they also cannot be targeted by allied vanilla psykers for buffing purposes. The final and most notable change, however, was Strength from Death being retooled to no longer grant additional actions to simply getting an army wide Always Fights First buff upon the death of a unit. This, combined with the very polarized effectiveness of the new tools the Ynnari got (the new strats/relics/traits are either pretty good or steaming hot shit. There is no inbetween) makes the overall change yet another hard nerf in the string of hard nerfs the Ynnari have been getting ever since 8th edition launched.

With the Ynnari index more or less gutting the army overall you'll find that most of the reasons to take Ynnari no longer exist (The out of phase actions) and they've turned into a close combat army in an edition that tends to leans more towards shooty armies. This overall leaves Ynnari in a weird spot, but it's not all bad they do get to keep Power From Pain despite having left that behind after joining the Ynnari but hey, you also get their own strategems, warlord traits, and relics.

Taking an Ynnari detachment has very few if any incentives now that it's just an army trait, and a rather lackluster one at that. While you do get to keep PFP it doesn't really help stem the overall issue the army faces that you should just play pure Drukhari instead

Faction Keywords[edit]

The overall keyword is DRUKHARI. You share the AELDARI keyword with Craftworlders, Harlequins and Corsairs, meaning you can combine them within any detachment. In addition, the FAQ states that "If your army is Battle-forged, YNNARI units can only be included in Detachments in which all units have the Ynnari keyword." So you can't mix within the same detachment and stay Battle-Forged, but you can add a separate Ynnari detachment to your army in addition to your Drukhari/Aeldari Detachment. This allows you to keep things like Power From Pain or Rising Crescendo and doesn't lock you out out of the <COVEN> units, Mandrakes or Drahzar. Just remember that only the units actually in the Ynnari detachment can actually benefit from Strength From Death.

In addition, you have multiple keywords to keep track of. There is <KABAL> for all your vampire space elf pirates, <WYCH CULT> for all your crazy gladiator ladies and <COVEN> for your Haemonculi Coven freakish genetic experiments. Note that Incubi, Mandrakes, Scourges and all the beasts have none of these Keywords and as such do not profit from buffs for these factions, including aura and faction specific obsessions. This split creates several complications with list building, and even in a "pure" Drukhari list featuring only DRUKHARI, you're still going to have HQ auras that are focused more on a single unit or two rather than supporting the larger force.

16/04/2018 FAQ: The AELDARI and YNNARI keywords are no longer sufficient to include units in a single detachment and remain battle-forged, per the new Battle Brothers rule. All units within any single detachment must share an additional faction keyword (Like DRUKHARI, for instance) in order to be included. You can still absolutely bring along other AELDARI units in their own separate detachments, just not in one giant pot of soup like before. Note that, if you do decide to take Ynnari, the way its worded,Cult and Kabal units can now share buffs in a Ynnari army.

Keyword Quick Reference[edit]

Battle Role <Kabal> <Wych cult> <Coven> None
HQ Archon Succubus Haemonculus Drazhar
Elites Lhamaean, Kabalite Trueborn, Medusae, Sslyth, Ur-ghul Beastmasters, Hekatrix Bloodbrides Grotesques Incubi, Mandrakes
Troops Kabalite Warriors Wyches Wracks
Fast Hellions, Reavers Scourges, Clawed Fiends, Khymerae, Razorwing Flocks
Heavy Ravager Cronos, Talos
Reaper (FW), Tantalus (FW)
Dedicated Transports Raider, Venom
Flyers Razorwing Jetfighter, Voidraven

Special Rules[edit]

  • Raiding Force: In a Battle-forged Drukhari army, you get a bonus 4 CP for taking at least 3 Patrol Detachments. The bonus rises to a whopping 8 CP if you take 6 or more Patrol Detachments instead. As an added bonus, more Detachments also means more combinations of Drukhari Obsessions to work with.
    • One thing to keep in mind that most Events or Tournaments cap you at 3 Detachments per list. This cap is just a suggestion from GW and not an actual rule. Tournaments haven't adjusted the detachment limits and are basically ignoring the existence of this rule, which is what you should do as well.
    • Battalion Detachments now give 5 CP, making a Double Battalion plus Patrol (for Alliance of Agony) the most optimal choice for maxing CP in a Tournament List.
  • Power from Pain:Thanks to your army consisting of a bunch of sado-masochist freaks, you gain bonuses according to the turn number. Note that these bonuses are cumulative.
    • Turn 1: Inured to Suffering - 6+++ Feel No Pain: Any time a model loses a wound, roll 1d6. On a 6, the wound is ignored. Adds a slight bit more survivability to everything, turns Wych Cult units into viable tarpits, and makes Coven units obscenely tough. This is great, and the fact it starts on Turn 1 AND with Instant Death being a thing of the past, your troops are actually going to be able to take this roll. Even though you have to roll for multiple damage now, Drukhari foot soldiers are gonna love this.
    • Turn 2: Eager to Flay - You can re-roll advances and charges. Helps you get stuck in faster. Nice -- gives us back the Fleet USR we enjoyed for basically everything in the prior edition, without sacrificing our newfound Movement speed, which increased by 1" minimum to sometimes 4" on a straight move. Has become much more powerful in the Codex now that Deep Striking units can't benefit from any power or ability that grants a free move (like Word of the Phoenix from Yvraine). Orks still charge farther than you do - use the CP re-roll strat to re-roll a single die when that would be better for optimal charging.
    • Turn 3: Flensing Fury - +1 to hit rolls in the Fight Phase. Combined with the very high WS most Drukhari units enjoy, this should make sure most of your army hits on 2+. It's amazing for Coven units, gives your Kabal units some close combat bite, and frees up a drug choice for your Wych Cult units.
    • Turn 4: Emboldened by Bloodshed - Immunity to Morale tests. Not too great given your fantastic Leadership scores and tendency towards MSU, but it's better than nothing. Note that this means that you will not have to spend CP on auto-passing morale tests, which is the main benefit of this bonus. With the new Codex, this is actually fairly good now - since taking full-strength (or at least ten-elf) units gives you increasing benefits, dying to morale attrition is a greater risk. Couple this with Cursed Blade's near-immunity to morale and you'll only be losing dudes to weapon-induced death.
    • Turn 5: Mantle of Agony - You lower the Leadership of enemies close to you by 1. Helps you clear out the last few pockets of resistance. Stacks with your Phantasm Grenade launchers to help make up for your lack of native access to smite. Also forces your opponent to waste the last of their CP to auto-pass morale tests, instead of on more useful stratagems that actually threaten you. Forcing your opponent to throw away CP this late in the game is never a bad thing.
  • Combat Drugs: A lot of your <WYCH CULT> units have access to drugs. You can either choose which drugs you spread around your army or you can roll randomly. If you choose, you have to give out a different drug to each unit and can only take multiples once you've allocated each drug at least once. If you roll randomly, you get what you get and that's that. However, ask yourself this: Do you really want to risk gaining something weak like Hypex on a unit in a transport or Splintermind on a lone Character? Only roll for drugs if you really can't afford the points to take more Cult units to dump the worse drugs into until you loop back around to the good drugs. The cheapest thing you can field (aside from MSU Wyches) is Beastmasters, which is good news, as it's highly unlikely you'll run out of Elite slots in a Cult detachment.
    • Adrenalight: +1 Attack. Put on a big flock of Wyches or Hellions, and send them after the biggest model the opponent has. See that Wraithknight? Now you don't. (Seriously, let's not get carried away, you're wounding the WK on a 6 and it still gets a 3+ save...) But this IS the best drug for your dedicated assault units. Cult of Strife already has lots of attacks, and with this they can drown anything in dice. (Though it may be tempting to maximize the number of attacks, they're still strength 3 for the Cult of Strike, so not, it's not the best drug and it doesn't allow you to target anything. It's a second choice when Grave Lotus is already taken). This is a very strong combination with the Cult of the Cursed Blade, which already gains a +1 Strength. This puts them on par with the Cult of Strife (+1 Attack/+1 Strength) regardless of whether there has been a charge or intervention this turn and they keep their morale bonus, which the Cult of Strife lacks.
    • Grave Lotus: +1 Strength. Now that you can pick a unit to take this, you could make something absolutely terrifying out of it. Putting it on a blob of Wyches, Bloodbrides, or Hellions can make something truly nasty. Reavers always hit at S4, so consider something else for them. Second-best drug for a dedicated assault unit. The Cult of the Cursed Blade gets bumped up to S5 with this, allowing their Wyches to wound MEQs on a 3+.
    • Hypex: +2" Movement. Makes Wyches and the like obscenely fast, but less useful if your strategy involves putting them in transports or using deep strike. Pairs very well with Hellions or Reavers, and with the Cult of the Red Grief's obsession mixed in, a first turn assault is very hard for an opponent to avoid. You may also consider dumping this on your Succubus - since your characters are running solo this could help them keep up with the faster units, particularly when the units roll high on an advance and the Succubus flubs.
    • Painbringer: +1 Toughness. Could end up creating an amazing tarpit. Great on Reavers: T5, 2W bikes with 4+ save and 18" Move? Oh my my. Pretty nice on Wyches as well, since in close combat it makes them T4 6+/4++ with their 6+++ FNP on top of that.
    • Serpentin: Your WS is 1 better. This will make pretty much anything affected hit on 2+. Nice. But since you get +1 to hit rolls in the fight phase on turn 3, it's not the best in the world. It does have some niche uses for Ynnari detachments (who lose Power from Pain). This is currently only useful if you think you've got a plan to Alpha Strike and charge Turn 1 (probably by using the Cult of the Red Grief obsession), so you can get 2 turns of hitting on 2+ before PfP kicks in. Candidates for that are Reavers and Hellions, as Wyches/Bloodbrides in transports have to exit their boats at the start of the movement phase.
      • The difference between this drug and the Turn 3 PFP is negligible. Giving it to a Succubus, who then has WS1+, means she is always hitting on 2+ since hits always fail if the die physically displays a ‘1’ and modifiers such as the Archite Glaive -1 to hit do not change the physical number on the die. [Codex: Drukhari FAQ V 1.1 confirms this is correct.]
    • Splintermind: +2 Leadership. Good for Beastmasters in Beast Unit lists; decent on a blob of Wyches, but there are better picks, as from from Turn 4 onward your units with Power From Pain gain Fearless. Still, has its niche uses for Ynnari detachments, especially if you didn't take the Yncarne. Give this to a Succubus and stick her in a Tantalus for army-wide Leadership 10.
  • Vanguard of the Dark City: It's Objective Secured.

Drukhari fetishes Obsessions[edit]

Your chapter tactics equivalents. Kabals, Wych Cults, and Haemonculus Covens all get their own bonuses, which are now listed in the corresponding sub-faction entries below. As usual, anyone not listed there can pick from the choices available to their corresponding faction.

Obsessions[edit]

Kabal[edit]
  • Black Heart - Thirst for Power: Treat the current battle round as 1 higher for your units with Power from Pain. Units without Power from Pain gain a 6+ FNP. So Raiders, Venoms, Ravagers, Sslyth, and Ur-Ghuls. It won't get as much use as it would have for the Cults or Covens since the Power from Pain table mostly buffs melee and the Kabals are by and large a ranged force. You're mostly taking it to get access to Agents of Vect and the Relic.
  • Flayed Skull - Slay from the Skies: Add 3" to the movement value of your units that can Fly (transports and Ravagers). Enemies do not get cover from these units, or from units embarked on them. Re-roll hits of 1 for Rapid Fire weapons for those units. When it comes to an obsession that makes best use of the Kabals' strength, Flayed Skull is your friend. Your Kaballite filled Raiders are now faster, more accurate and more deadly all in one neat package.
  • Poisoned Tongue - Serpent's Kiss: Re-roll wound rolls of 1 for Poison and/or Melee, non-artifact weapons. Not bad by itself, but with the introduction of the custom obsessions in Phoenix Rising that 'by itself' is more noticeable. It's roughly on par with Toxin Crafters statistically, and Toxin Crafters lets you pick another obsession on top of it.
  • Obsidian Rose - Flawless Workmanship: Range of your Assault, Rapid Fire, and Heavy weapons is increased by 6", excepting Eyebursts and Artefacts. In 8th edition where range is king, never underestimate a flat 6" range increase on nearly all your weapons.
Custom[edit]

Unless otherwise noted, pick any two.

  • Dark Mirth:-1 leadership to enemy units that are within 6" of any unit with this obsession. The first time an enemy unit fails a Morale test, all units with this obsession gain +1 Leadership for the rest of the battle. Does not stack with itself, unlike the Haemonculus Coven obsession.
  • Deadly Deceivers: Units with this obsession can charge after falling back. In addition, when an enemy unit ends a charge within 1" of a unit with this obsession, roll a die; on a 6, you deal a mortal wound. Given the low number of melee units in Kabals, this has limited use.
  • Disdain for Lesser Beings: When a Morale test for this unit is failed, no more than one model can flee. Useful to survive units from running until you reach turn 4, after which it loses its use entirely because you're auto-passing Morale with Power from Pain.
  • Meticulous Flayers: Units with this obsession always benefit from the eager to flay Power from Pain rule (the one that lets you re-roll Advances and Charges), even on the first turn. When resolving an attack with a melee weapon against a non-vehicle and non-titanic unit, any unmodified hit roll of 6 always hits and always wounds. Again, of limited use on the bulk of your Kabal force.
  • Mobile Raiders: Any model with this obsession that has the FLY keyword gain +3" movement. You're Dark Eldar, movement is key to your army, so this is always worth considering.
  • Soulbound: Re-roll Inured to Suffering (Feel No Pain) rolls of 1. Units without Power from Pain (raiders and venoms) gain Inured to Suffering. Giving your squishy vehicles an extra save makes this obsession very appealing, especially in combination with kaballite loaded Raiders with either Toxin Crafters or who pop close to enemy units thanks to Webway Raiders.
  • Toxin Crafters: Any weapon with the "Poisoned Weapon" rule gains +1 damage on an unmodified 6 to wound. Artefacts of Cruelty do not benefit from this. Wonderful against those annoying Primaris, even if you still have to deal with your lack of AP.
  • Webway Raiders: The Webway Portal stratagem can be used one additional time per battle per detachment with this obsession; all uses beyond the first one are restricted to units with this obsession.
Wych Cults[edit]
  • Cult of Strife - The Spectacle of Murder: Lelith's pals. +1A in the first round of melee combat
  • Cult of the Cursed Blade - Only the Strong will Thrive: +1 Str and only 1 model will run away when failing morale tests.
  • Cult of the Red Grief - The Speed of the Kill: Models can Advance and Charge, rerolling their charges. Vroom!
Custom[edit]

Unless otherwise noted, pick any two.

  • Acrobatic Display: Units within 1" of enemies gain a 6++ invulnerable save, or have their existing invulnerable save increased by 1 (to a max of 3++). Note that this prevents the selection of a second obsession.
  • The Art of Pain: While a unit with this obsession and the power from pain special rule is within 1" of an enemy unit, they treat the current battle round as one higher.
  • Berserk Fugue: When resolving a melee attack by a model with this obsession that charged, was charged, or made a heroic intervention, an unmodified hit roll of 6 causes 1 additional hit (which acts like +1 to hit, except that it works on WS2+ models and stacks with actual +1 to hit). Mutually exclusive with the Precise Killers obsession.
  • Precise Killers: When resolving a melee attack by a model with this obsession, an unmodified wound roll of 6 improves the AP of the melee weapon by 1. Mutually exclusive with the Berserk Fugue obsession, and usually inferior to it, unless you're using a weapon that re-rolls wounds, like Hydra Gauntlets, and are up against good (penetratable) saves.
  • Slashing Impact: After a model with this obsession finishes a charge move, pick one enemy infantry, biker, or monster unit within 1" and roll 1d6. On a 5+, they take a mortal wound.
  • Stimulant Innovators: When the Hyperstimm Backlash stratagem targets a unit with this obsession, it costs 1 CP instead of 2.
  • Test of Skill: Gain +1 to wound when attacking Monster and Vehicle units which contain any models with W10 or more (the characteristic, not current).
  • Trophy Takers: When an opponent takes a morale test due to casualties caused by a melee weapon, they must roll 2d6 and discard the lowest.
Haemonculus Covens[edit]
  • Prophets of Flesh - Connoisseurs of Pain: Urien's cronies. Insensible to Pain gets bumped up to 4++.
  • Dark Creed - Distillers of Fear: Obligatory Leadership bomb. Enemies get -1 to their LD for every Unit of Dark Creed in 6". Capped at -3, but can stack with other leadership bomb abilities.
  • Coven of Twelve - Butchers of Flesh: All Melee weapons get an additional -1 AP. Doesn't apply to Artefacts.
Custom[edit]

Unless otherwise noted, pick any two.

  • Artists of the Flesh: Prevents you from taking a second option. -1 damage from all enemy weapons, to a minimum of 1; applies to the weapon's characteristic for the entirety of the attack, in case that comes up.
  • Dark Harvest: After charging, select one enemy unit within 1" for each model in the unit that charged, and roll a die; on a 5+ the targeted unit takes a mortal wound.
  • Dark Technomancers: When the unit shoots, you can choose to enhance any or all of their ranged weapons. Such weapons gain +1 to wound and +1 damage, but if an enhanced weapon rolls any unmodified 1s to wound (after re-rolls), the model carrying it suffers a mortal wound (note that the bearer suffers 1 mortal wound even if it rolls multiple 1s).
    • This is absurdly good; while it has terrible synergy with an ossefactor (or the ossefactor's strictly worse cousin, the stringer pistol), its synergy with liquifier guns is incredible, and it's fundamentally good with hexrifles and just about everything you can put on a Talos, Cronos, or Venom - for a Raider, take a Disintegration Cannon over a Dark Lance, and make sure to grab the Phantasm Grenade Launcher. Its most synergistic partner is Experimental Creations - for example, a dual splinter cannon Talos shooting a T5 vehicle, like a Land Speeder, can combine both rules to wound on 4+.. After 26.11.19 faq, only melee weapons take the benefit from Experimental Creations
  • Experimental Creations: All models gain +1S. Additionally, Poisoned Melee Weapons get +1 to wound if the target has a lower Toughness than the user.
  • Hungry for Flesh: +1 to charge rolls.
  • Master of Mutagens: When resolving an attack with a poison weapon against a non-vehicle and non-titanic unit, an unmodified hit roll of 6 automatically hits and automatically wounds. Does not apply to artefacts of cruelty.
  • Mass Torturers: When the Torturer's Craft Stratagem is used, it costs 1 CP instead of 2.
  • Obsessive Collectors: When an enemy unit is destroyed by a melee weapon wielded by a model in a unit with this obsession, you can select one model in the unit that did the deed to regain d3 lost wounds. If the unit was a unit of wracks, you can restore d3 destroyed models to the unit.

Stratagems[edit]

With 33 stratagems overall, including a mix of reprints from the Craftworld codex, Drukhari specific stratagems, and game changing faction exclusive stratagems, Drukhari are among the most command point hungry factions in the game.

Universal[edit]

  • Alliance of Agony (1 CP): Used before the battle. If the Warlord is an Archon, pick up to 1 Haemonculus and 1 Succubus. They get to pick a Warlord Trait. It's like having three Warlords for the price of one, and Raiding Force was already encouraging you to take detachments from multiple sub-factions. If the Haemonculus is from the Prophets of Flesh, the Diabolical Soothsayer WT will immediately let this Stratagem pay for itself.
    • The Archon is the only one that counts for things like Slay The Warlord. Keep that in mind.
    • 16/04/2018 FAQ: This can only be used once per battle.
  • Architects of Pain (1 CP): Pick a unit at the start of the battle round and treat its Power From Pain as being 1 turn higher than the actual game turn for the rest of the battle round. As with Hyperstimm Backlash, this specifies battle round, not turn. That means you get potential bonuses for two fight phases and two morale phases, but you also telegraph this to your opponent. If they go first in the battle round, they will know what is coming and can try and avoid it.
    • On turn one, combine this with webway strike to increase the chances a unit can pull off a vital charge after deep strike. This stratagem cannot affect a unit which is not physically on the table at the start of the round.
    • On turn two, combine this with a melee unit that is about to disembark from a transport to give them that extra edge. This stratagem cannot affect a unit which is not physically on the table at the start of the round.
    • The Kabal of the Black Heart can stack this with their own bonus to grant one of their units morale immunity on the second turn.
  • Cruel Deception (2 CP): Used if a Drukhari unit in your army falls back. If it does so, it may still shoot and charge this turn.
  • Enhanced Aethersails (1 CP): Use when a Raider or Ravager advances. Add 8″ to their move instead of rolling for it.
    • when combined with the Cult of the Red Grief, this stratagem can allow a raider to pull of a first turn charge, potentially preventing a unit from shooting and setting up a Wych unit for a second turn disembark. Attempt at your own risk.
  • Fire and Fade (1 CP): Allows a Drukhari unit to move up to 7″ after shooting but cannot charge that turn.
    • While this may be a duplicate of a Craftworld stratagem, it is still an amazing tool to have access to. Use on deep striking scourges to get into cover after dropping in or on a a Talos to get an extra 7" move toward the enemy. (You don't have to move away from the target). As per the FAQ, it is not possible to move after arriving from reserves, for any other reason than charging
    • Do not use this on your Razorwing or Voidraven unless you want to suicide your own planes.
  • Haywire Grenade (1 CP): Used when a Drukhari model throws a plasma grenade at a Vehicle unit. Make a single hit roll, if it hits, it deals D3 mortal wounds.
    • Useful for finishing off a badly damaged vehicle or dropping it a damage tier.
  • Hunt From the Shadows (1 CP):use if a unit in cover is targeted by a shooting attack. Increase your cover saves by 1. Warriors in cover will go to 3+ saves while scourges will have a 2+.
  • Lightning-Fast Reactions (2CP): Use when a Drukhari Infantry, Vehicle, or Biker unit (except for <Haemonculus Coven>) is targeted by a ranged or melee weapon. For the rest of the phase, subtract 1 from hit rolls made against that unit for the phase. Same as their Craftworld cousins, but no less annoying for your opponent.
  • Onslaught (1 CP): When an Incubi unit fights in the Fight phase, every unmodified hit roll of 6 scores 2 hits instead of 1.
  • Pray They Don't Take You Alive (1 CP): If you slay the enemy Warlord in the Fight phase, the entirety of the enemy army takes a -1 to Ld for the rest of the game. Tricky to pull off, but a permanent debuff on every enemy unit makes it worth it.
    • All three Eldar factions have units that synergise extremely well with this and it can set up some great Leadership Bombs in Soup Lists.
  • Prizes from the Dark City (1 CP/ 3CP): Your standard more relics stratagem.
  • Screaming Jets (1 CP): As Webway Portal, but with a Drukhari Vehicle that can Fly instead and only one unit (1 CP to Deep Strike 1 unit, units inside a transport do not cost extra). Totally not a copy pasta of the Craftworld stratagem Cloud Strike. Honest. NOTE: You cannot use both Screaming Jets and Webway Portal in the same game; you have to choose one or the other.
    • This has drastically better performance than Webway Portal, provided you're using it on valid targets; you can spam it (because it's not used during a phase) at 1 CP per unit, meaning 2 units cost you 2 CP, not 3, and you can keep on paying for it. The big downside is the restriction on valid targets, of course.
  • The Great Enemy (1 CP): Re-roll failed wound rolls in the fight phase for one of your units fighting a Slaanesh unit. Also a Craftworld copy-paste, but still helps against Emperor's Children and Slaanesh Daemons.
  • Torment Grenades (1 CP): Use before a model fires a Phantasm Grenade Launcher. If an enemy unit is hit, in addition to the usual effects, roll 3d6. If the result is higher than the enemy unit’s highest Leadership characteristic, it suffers 1d3 Mortal Wounds. Given how prevalent Phantasms are and that the average of 3d6 is 10.5--much higher than most units' leadership--this is a fairly reliable way to plink 1d3 mortal wounds, and *almost* makes up for our lack of smite.
  • Webway Portal (1 or 3 CP): One use only. When deploying, you can set up either 1 (for 1 CP) or 2 (for 3 CP) Drukhari Infantry, Biker, or Beast unit(s) in the Webway, which can deep strike at any time in the game following the usual rules for deep striking.
    • You're probably thinking "Why don't I just shove them in a Raider and use Screaming Jets?" The answer is that you can use these on 1-2 20 elf wych or kabalite blobs to protect them before they get to slashing/blasting your opponent's army off the table.

Kabal-Specific[edit]

  • Soul-Trap (1 CP): Use when an Archon kills a character, increase the Attack, Leadership, and Strength characteristics of that Archon by 1.
    • Not as ridiculously OP as it was in 5th Edition but melee Archons are definitely viable now and it's only 1CP to make them that much more dangerous.

Cult-Specific[edit]

  • Hyperstimm Backlash (2 CP): At the start of the battle round, choose a unit with the Combat Drugs rule. For the rest of the round, the benefit of Combat Drugs is doubled, but at the end of the battle round, the affected unit must roll a d6 for each model in the unit- it takes a mortal wound for each 1 rolled. If used on a unit with the Stimm Addict WT or the Phial Banquet relic, all its bonuses are doubled but it will suffer D3 mortal wounds at the end of the turn.
    • Because this specifies battle round and not turn, you can use this stratagem even if your opponent goes first. For instance, it could make your Reavers with the +1 toughness drug into T6 to guarantee they survive. In addition, you functionally get two entire turns out of the bonus. If you know a unit is going to likely be in combat for more than one fight phase, this can be of great assistance.
    • But because it's used at the start of a battle round if you don't get the first turn you'll have to use this when your opponent's turn starts. SO be careful on how you use this.
  • Release the Beasts (1 CP): Used at the start of the charge phase. Choose a Beastmaster, your Drukhari Beast units within 6″ of him can re-roll failed charge rolls for that Charge phase.
    • Beasts don't benefit from Power from Pain or Obsessions, this patches that very nicely.
  • Eviscerating Fly-By (1 CP): Used when a Wych Cult unit with the Fly keyword advances. If you move over an enemy unit with this move, roll a D6 for each model in your unit, adding 1 to the result if the enemy unit you picked is Infantry. On a 6+, the enemy unit takes a Mortal Wound. Imagine this on a 20-elf squad of hellions flying over a character that thought it was safe surrounded by other units...
    • Note that only one model has to move over the unit to trigger this.

Coven-Specific[edit]

  • Crucible of Malediction (2 CP): One use only. In the Psychic phase, select a Haemonculus and roll a d6 for each enemy psyker unit within 12". On a 4+, that unit takes D3 mortal wounds.
    • Note that Haemonculus get this for free use via the Index anyway as a Wargear option so it's only really worth it for Urien Rakarth, but ask yourself if it's really worth 2CP and getting your Haemonculus that close to an enemy Psyker.
      • Whether or not you can take it for free is an entertaining question. This flowchart explicitly declares that any wargear which is Index only you can still take, and since it's not even wargear any more, that should mean you can take it. The Drukhari FAQ is silent on the issue. However, the Tau FAQ contradicts the flowchart dealing with an identical situation for them, declaring that their stimulant injector stratagem makes the wargear untakeable. As it stands, RAW is definitively that you can take them, as the flowchart is GW's canonical advice, but whether or not that's RAI probably depends on whether or not the Tau rules team agrees with the Drukhari rules team.
  • Fleshcraft (1 CP): Used at the end of the movement phase on a Haemonculus Coven Monster that is within 3″ of a Haemonculus. That monster regains D3 lost wounds.
    • Quite nice considering other stratagems like this cost 2 CP.
  • Freakish Spectacle (1 CP): Used when an enemy unit fails a Morale test within 6″ of a Haemonculus Coven unit in your army. One additional model flees from the enemy unit.
    • Combine with the Dark Creed's obsession for maximum effect.
    • A nice addition to the Leadership Bomb tactics Aeldari Soup are now very good at.
    • Situational at best. The difference between this and a straight up leadership penalty is pretty significant. A leadership penalty will affect things other than morale (such as Mind War, or the shadowseer's grenades). A leadership penalty can convert a passed morale test into a failed one. This cannot. It can only increase the loss by one model on a failed test. So you should only use it on units that have expensive models. Which tend to be small in number anyways, and would probably rout with your other leadership penalties. Always consider if you'd be better off just spending your CP to make a unit hit harder or more often, or to bring a second unit into range, etc, etc. If you can use your CP to simply kill one extra model from a unit in the shooting or fight phase, you're already doing more damage than this stratagem can gain you.
    • Minus leadership debuffs strategies can make very unlikely foes run away, for example small units of elite multi-wound infantry, like Crisis suits, Obliterators, Wraiths, Grotesques etc..something your opponent wouldn't expect to ever fail LD.
  • The Torturer’s Craft (2 CP): Used before a Haemonculus Coven unit from your army fights in the fight phase. You can re-roll failed wound rolls for that unit.

Tactical Objectives[edit]

11 - Take Them Alive!
1 VP if at least one enemy unit was destroyed in the Fight phase. Improved to 1d3 VP if an Infantry Character was slain.
12 - Fear and Terror
1 VP if an enemy failed a morale test this turn.
13 - Death of a Thousand Cuts
1 VP if at least one model was lost from three or more different enemy units this turn. Upped to 1d3 if you did it with at least 6 different enemy units instead.
14 - Trophy Hunter
The opponent nominates one objective and one of their Characters. Score 1 VP if you control the objective, slay the Character, or both.
15 - There Is No Escape
1 VP if you completely destroy an enemy unit that began the turn on or within terrain.
16 - Pain, In All Its Forms
1 VP if you destroyed an enemy unit in both the Shooting and Fight phases this turn. If at least two units were destroyed in each phase, score 1d3 VP instead. If at least one of these units was destroyed by a Kabal unit, one by a Wych Cult unit, and one by a Haemonculus Coven unit, score 1d3+3 VP instead. Another reason to take at least 3 detachments on top of the Raiding Force bonuses, but the base form is Take Them Alive! only harder.

Psychic Powers[edit]

Drukhari do not have native access to psychic powers but can include Ynnari or Craftworld psykers to fill the gap. That said if you have a mixed list only Executioner and Mind War will do anything for your Drukhari due to the April 2019 FAQ nerfing Runes of Fate/Battle debuffs. Oh and Smite. Just remember not to stick a Haemonculus next to a Psyker unless you like explosions (or a hilariously Drukhari way to trigger Soulburst). See the Craftworld Eldar Tactica for more information on the Psychic powers Craftworlds units have.

Warlord Traits[edit]

Kabals[edit]

  • Hatred Eternal: Changed from Chapter Approved to reflect the Archon's new aura. Re-roll ALL failed to wound rolls for the Warlord. Drazhar has this.
    • Deliciously sadistic if you use this on an Archon with a splinter pistol relic, since it's one of the few things that allows you to reroll with a relic. Or just a Blaster/Blast Pistol for that matter.
    • Obviously worse on a Black Heart Archon with the Writ of the Living Muse, due to overlapping buffs. But you weren't taking this over Labyrinthine Cunning anyways.
    • Pair this with Poisoned Tongue/Poison Weapons for lolsy 2+ rerolling to hits and wounds.
    • Can turn an Archon with Djin Blade into an unholy character-murdering monstrosity. Add Soul Trap strategem for maximum rape.
  • Soul Thirst: Get +1A when charging, being charged, or performing a Heroic Intervention. Additionally, slaying a model in the Fight phase restores one wound.
    • Remember, this heals you for every model you kill.
  • Ancient Evil: In the morale phase, enemies within 3" of the Warlord must roll an extra d6 for morale checks and choose the highest one.
    • Good on a leadership bomb army, especially combined with an allied Dark Creed detachment.
    • Remember, the additional die happens on every roll, so if the rolling unit has a re-roll ability, the additional die still happens on the re-roll. This is also independent of what die they roll, if they can roll 1d3 instead of 1d6.
    • This is a compulsory effect, so beware its tendency to increase the chance of a Tau unit with Bond of Brotherhood to pass Morale tests, since they autopass on 6s.

Haemonculus Covens[edit]

  • Master Regenesist: Heal d3 lost wounds at the start of your turn.( Urien should've had this one... He lost his regenerating ability in this edition.)
  • Master Nemesine: In the fight phase, gain +1 on rolls to wound.
  • Master Artisan: Friendly <haemonculus Coven> units within 6" can reroll 1s on their Inured to Suffering rolls. This will allow one extra success for every 36 rolls - very underwhelming.

Wych Cults[edit]

  • Quicksilver Fighter: The user always fights first in the Fight phase, unless fighting a unit that has charged or possesses a similar rule.
  • Stimm Addict: Can take 2 Combat Drug choices instead of one if choosing. If rolling to determine Combat Drug effects, rolling duplicates will make the effect stack.
  • Precision Blows: Wound rolls of 6 inflict a bonus mortal wound on top of their normal damage.


Armory[edit]

Ranged Weapons[edit]

  • Bale Blast: Exclusive to Mandrakes and damn good. 2 shots with 18" and AP-1 that each have a chance to deal mortal wounds in addition to the normal damage.
  • Blast Pistol: Tiny range, massive stopping power. Since you can fire Pistols in melee now, these might actually be worth taking for a change. Upped to d6 damage, making it kind of like an Inferno Pistol without the melta effect but with better availability and just as hilarious when you vapourize your opponent's special snowflake character with a single shot.
  • Blaster: Same profile of the pistol but Assault and with three times the range. The S8 AP-4 combination will plow through most tanks and D6 damage for every wound will add up fast. It's a shame they don't have the same "roll 2d6 pick highest" rule as their Imperial cousins, but they're cheap, have better range than a meltagun, and and they're much more easily spammed in most lists. The 18" range, 24" if Obsidian Rose means that it's also generally difficult to charge the unit with the Blaster for all but the fastest of units. Generally will be your Workhorse as far as Special Weapon options go.
  • Dark Lance: The good shit. Same as above but Heavy and twice the range. Also interesting is that it becomes an Assault weapon when mounted on a vehicle, most likely so you don't have to compromise their accuracy when mounting them on paper boats. Infantry that use them still class them as Heavy though, so keep that in mind if taking one for a squad in a Raider. Like the more portable Blaster, this will be your Workhorse Heavy Weapon for your Kabalite units and generally your default choice.
  • Dark Scythe: D3 index blaster shots (that is to say D3 damage). Pretty useful for sniping characters or taking out heavy infantry, but overshadowed by the buff blasters got. Voidraven exclusive.
  • Plasma Grenade: Frag grenades with S4 and AP-1. Fun when softening infantry up before a charge, but little else. The AP means they will do more damage than a Splinter Weapon if something is close enough. Remember to toss one out for Overwatch if your opponent is charging from 6" away. For 1 CP you can make it do an instant d3 Mortal wounds against vehicles, so don't forget to toss one at a vehicle foolish enough to come close to your units.
  • Disintegrator Cannon: Half the price it was in the Index now, 15pts. A DC Ravager is cheaper than the DL ver. by 15pt!! As of CA 2019, Ravagers cost the same no matter the loadout (140pts). A frankly terrifying statline of Assault 3, S5, AP -3, Damage 2, so it has lower base than the Dark Lance but with a high enough rate of fire that it's still decently effective against light vehicles while also scaring the living hell out of all kinds of infantry. The only downside is that you are usually trading away a Dark Lance to take one so make absolutely sure that you have enough Anti-Vehicle weapons before taking one as nothing is more expensive than regret. A Dark Lance will score 1.55 Wounds against T7, 4+ vs 1.33 per Dissie so Dissies can still do work against Tanks from the sheer volume of fire.
  • Eyeburst: Oddly not a Flamer anymore, the Eyeburst of the Medusae has 4 shots S4 with AP-2. Burns through armour well enough, but keep an Archon close for those rerolls to Hit because this thing does NOT hit automatically.
  • Haywire Blaster: This was once the most reliable anti-tank gun in the game, and has spent some time on the shelf, gathering dust. The Codex has buffed it to Assault d3, with it still Automatically inflicting a Mortal Wound on a 4+, and d6 Mortal Wounds on a 6+ regardless of if the shot actually caused any wounds. Each hit giving a 50% chance of stripping a Mortal Wound isn't quite the electromagnetic rape the gun dished out in 7th Edition, but it is a very cheap and reliable weapon at tossing out Mortal Wounds. It has an excellent niche in countering things like Quantum Shielding or Serpent Shields as Mortal Wounds are always dealt one at a time.
  • Heat Lance: Strength of "only" 6, but with a massive AP-5 and usual Melta rules of "at half range, roll 2D6 and pick the highest for damage". Codex reduced the price to 12 POINTS - Rejoice Dark Brethren! Great for sniping out T3 characters with Scourges, Reavers and Talos (with the relevant Stratagem).
  • Hexrifle: A bog-standard Sniper Rifle now. Can shoot at characters and has a tiny chance of inflicting a mortal wound in addition to normal damage. The fact that both the Acothyst and the Haemonculus want to get stuck in melee and not stand back and fire Heavy weapons further hurts it.
  • Liquifier Gun: D6 auto-hits with AP-D3. Nice. Even the worst roll for the AP still screws with armour and that 33% chance of turning power armour into a 6+ save is fantastic. Shame about the strength of 3.
    • Twin Liquifier Gun: Shockingly, this is the same as above but with 2D6 shots.
  • Ossefactor: A single shot with AP-3 that always wounds on 2+ (or 6+ if shooting at a vehicle) is already great at sniping the odd wound off the opponent but the chance to toss in a mortal wound as a chaser if the first shot kills something makes it even better.
  • Phantasm Grenade Launcher: D3 shots at a piss-poor Strength of 1, but it's not meant to kill things (although it totally can). It simply lowers enemy Leadership if they're hit by it. Stupidly cheap at 3 points a pop, and it can be taken by Sybarites, Hekatrices, Dracons, Syrens, Archons, Raiders, and Ravagers. Best on the Archon, as with his BS of 2+, he is pretty likely to hit something with it. Could also potentially force your opponent into burning CP on morale tests as well. There is nothing more hilarious than an S1 weapon killing a model in a squad of 3 Leadership 7 models and your opponent then rolling a 6 with 0CP...
  • Pulse Disintegrator: Found only on the Tantalus. Assault 6 S8 AP-3 D2. A Dark Angels player's wet dream, this thing is essentially an overcharged Plasma Cannon, but with a cooling system that actually works and the rate of fire of an Assault Cannon... Oh, and the Tantalus comes with two of them. You couldn't catch a bus back to 'overkill'.
  • Razorwing Missiles: The Jetfighter is equipped with all types of missiles by default, which is awesome. Even more awesome is the fact that they don't go away after being fired once. Rather, you choose one type of missiles in a shooting phase and use their profile.
    • Monoscythe Missile: Strength 6 and no AP value but Damage 2. Force 'em armour saves, the enemy will hurt when they fail them. Better than shatterfield against multi-wound models with lower toughness and lower saves (break even at T5, 4+, 2W, for example)
    • Necrotoxin Missile: 3D3 shots (averaging out to the Pre-Nerf number of shots it had in the Index) that wound non-Vehicles on a 2+. You are looking at an average of 3 Wounds per missile against non-Vehicle units, 4 if you use the Flayed Skull Stratagem on non-Vehicle units with Fly. Solid choice.
    • Shatterfield Missile: S7, AP-1, re-rolling to wound. Edges out the Razorwing missiles against most vehicles, and all 1 wound models.
  • Shredder: Finally buffed in the Codex to Assault D6, S6 AP-1, Re-Rolling Wounds against Infantry putting them slightly ahead of Splinter Cannons for your dedicated Anti-Infantry option. Shredders are cheap and chew through GEQs, hurt MEQs and can even threaten light Vehicles. The shredder's range synergizes well with Splinter Rifles since it means you're also in 12" Rapid Fire range. However, this means your unit is extremely vulnerable, because being within 12" of the enemy is usually a death sentence to Kabalite Warriors. Obsidian Rose's Obsession alleviates this somewhat, as does putting them on Scourges to hit and run with Fire and Fade. All told it is a good gun now; a clear upgrade to a Splinter Rifle or Shardcarbine, but it competes with the Blaster for your Special Weapon slots.
  • Splinter Weaponry: All of the following weapons do not have a Strength score. Instead, they always wound non-vehicles on 4+, and vehicles on 6+, so if you're desperate, you can still unleash a torrent of poisoned shots at that Land Raider and hope something sticks. Since they don't have a Strength score, they inherently ignore abilities that trigger on strength values, like the Krieg abilities that make some of their models more resistant to attacks of Strength 4 or less.
    • Splinter Pistol: Pistol with 1 shot and 12" range. Don't forget to use it in melee.
    • Splinter Rifle: Rapid Fire 1 with 24" range. Stock on Warriors and Trueborn. You know it. You love it.
    • Twin Splinter Rifle: Shockingly twice the above at Rapid Fire 2.
    • Splinter Pods: Assault 2 18" range so your Hellions can shoot something.
    • Shardcarbine: Assault 3 as a stock gun for Scourges and Sslyth.
    • Splinter Cannon: The big'un. 36", Rapid Fire 3. This is technically a nerf since you only get your 6 shots at half range now. On the upside, your Infantry can now move and still fire 6 shots. Synergises pretty well with Blasters actually as if you can shoot the Blaster in the unit, the Splinter Cannon on the Venom/Unit the unit can Rapid Fire that target as well.
  • Spirit Syphon: D6 auto-hits with nice AP and a chance of doing extra damage. Only S3 though so keep that in mind.
  • Spirit Vortex: Exchanges the auto-hitting of the Spirit Syphon for 10 more inches of range. Still only S3 so keep that in mind.
  • Stinger Pistol: Buffed up Splinter Pistol wounding non-VEHICLEs on a 2+, and VEHICLEs on a 6+. It also only costs 5 points!
  • Stinger Pod: 2D6 S5 shots. Would be far better if the Talos had a better BS. Like the Shredder, it's useful in those situations where the Strength score on your gun matters (which is a lot actually). Now the cheapest option for your Talos, much more reasonably priced at 15pts.
  • Void Lance: Lascannon with AP-4 but less range. Given you get two stock on a Voidraven, the range doesn't matter. Voidraven exclusive.
  • Voidraven Missiles: You can equip the bomber with missiles for 10 points; they don't go away after using them once anymore. Simply choose one type per shooting phase and fire away.
    • Implosion Missile: Exclusive to Voidraven, D3 shots at S6 and AP-3.
    • Shatterfield Missile: Same as the Razorwing's. Strong, but you better roll well with that D6.

Melee Weapons[edit]

  • Agoniser: Wounds everything but vehicles on 4+, wounds Vehicles on a 6+ and has AP-2. Good stuff. Better for the Archon than a Huskblade against single wound models with T5. Only costs 4 points. Go HB if you plan on pretty much anything else. Pretty nice for your Hekatrices, though.
  • Archite Glaive: S+2, AP-3. Sounds like a dream right? Nope, you also take a -1 penalty to your Hit rolls and only have Damage 1 for your troubles. That said, your Succubus has a WS of 2+ anyway so don't worry about the penalty too much, and she can functionally ignore the penalty entirely if you give her Serpentin or from Turn 3 onwards with PFP.
  • Beastmaster's Scourge: Normal weapon with an additional point of Strength. Better than nothing.
  • Bladevanes: These come stock on your transports and Reavers, for a little extra melee clout. S 4, AP-1.
  • Chain-Flails: Rerolls To Wound and make 2 hit rolls for each attack allocated to this weapon. Nice if you want your Talos to do horde duty
  • Claws and Talons: Standard close combat weapon with no bonuses on Ur-Ghuls. They do make 2 bonus attacks on the charge, though.
  • Demi-Klaives: You can choose between either S+1 and AP-3 or AP-2 and two additional attacks. With the way Wounding works now, use the dual blade profile for the T8 or higher enemies.
  • Electrocorrosive Whip: An Agoniser but with damage 2. This, right here, turns Haemonculi from weak and helpless into fantastic character killers. Also should be your default choice for Acothysts if your meta includes a lot of Primaris Marines, Stealth Suits, Tyranid medium bugs or the like.
  • Flesh Gauntlet: Come stock on Grotesques but Haemonculi like them, too. S:User in the codex, Wound-rolls of 6+ also deal a mortal wound. No AP but you have your cleavers for that. Instead you use this against units with high Invul saves like Daemons and Crusaders. A Dark Creed Haemonculus with the relic pistol and Master Nemesine can use this to be a credible buster of characters, however.
  • Glimmersteel Blades: Mandrake CCWs with AP-1. A small but welcome change from previous editions.
  • Haemonculus Tools: The quintessential poisoned weapons from which all others here are offshoots. Wounds on 4+ (6+ if you target a VEHICLE).
  • Hekatarii Blade: Grant an additional attack. Makes your Wyches and Bloodbrides scary.
  • Hellglaive: S+1 and Damage 2. Oh dear lord, send those Hellions at multi-wound models and watch the opponent devote all his shooting to killing them (which they will).
  • Huskblade: Strength +1, AP-2 and D3 Damage, rejoice! Huskblades are good again! makes your Archon great for murdering characters and swarms with all of the Multi-Wound damage they can do, especially with a Blast Pistol. The usual go-to for an Archon unless you're penny-pinching.
  • Hydra Gauntlets: AP-1, an additional attack AND it lets you reroll To Wound. Take as many on your Wyches as you can.
  • Ichor Injector: Only one attack can be made with this weapon. Strength User (so either 6 for the Talos or 3 for Urien) and rerolls To Wound. If you roll a 6+ To Wound, you deal D3 mortal wounds in addition to the normal damage, which can potentially kill 4 models in one strike but don't bet on that happening with only one attack.
    • You can take this in addition to your other melee weapon in the codex and it gained AP-1 but it's still not worthwile
      • If taken on a Master Nemesine haemonculus it deals the mortal wounds on a 5+, coupled with the wound rerolls around half of all attacks with this weapon will deal mortal wounds.
  • Impaler: AP-1 and Damage 2. For when your Wyches need to deal with two-wound enemies like Primaris Marines.
  • Klaive: Strength +1, AP-3. The basic tool for your Incubi.
  • Macro-Scalpel: AP-1 and Damage 2. Also, if you have 2, you make one additional attack with it. Cheap and effective. Come stock on the Talos and still a decent weapon.
  • Mindphase Gauntlet: Bog-standard weapon, except with Damage 2. Since damage doesn't spread between models, this is worthless against 1 Wound models and with Strength: User and no AP it won't help much against anything else, either. TL;DR: stinks on ice.
  • Monstrous Cleaver: Stock on Grotesques and damn good. AP-2 and lets you make an additional attack with it. Use it to kill GEQs and MEQs in the droves.
  • Power Lance: Basically the same as a Power Maul now. S+2, AP-1. Nice, but kinda wasted on the Solarite.
  • Power Sword: S:User, AP-3 can opener. Shame about your awful Strength stats. Everyone who can take one can take an Agonizer instead, and for the same price. Do that.
  • Razorflails: Similar to Hydra Gauntlets, AP-1, +D3 attacks, re-rolls to hit for Wyches; use these if you want to chew through GEQs or deep strike a big 20 elf unit. Still kinda the booby prize among Wych weapons, but much better than previously.
  • Scissorhand: Haemonculus Tools with AP-1 and an additional attack. Decent on an Acothyst if you don't want to give them an Electrocorrosive Whip (for example, if you're Coven of Twelve), but your Haemies should stick with the whip.
  • Shaimeshi Blade: Haemonculus Tools adds 2 to Wound, on a 6+ it deals a mortal wound in addition to its normal damage (Note: with the +2 to wound this means a roll of 4+ turns into a Mortal Wound). Exclusive to Lhamaeans. Use this on a Poisoned Tongue Kabal and you will put a dent on anything
  • Shardnet and Impaler: Impaler statline, plus an extra attack. Also forces your opponent to roll-off with only a d3 when trying to fall-back. Need to hold someone's bubblewrap in place? Well, you just found the perfect option. Two damage also improves your odds against Stealth Suits, Primaris Marines and their ilk.
  • Spirit-Leech Tentacles: S:User, AP-1, 1 DMG that does D3 damage on a wound roll of 6+. Available to the Cronos.
  • Sslyth Battle-Blade: AP-1, just in case a Sslyth's melee didn't look intimidating enough already.
  • Stunclaw: Like the Hellglaive, it is S+1, but only does one damage. However, 6+ to wound with this weapon does a mortal wound in addition to other damage. Keep your Hellglaive.
  • Venom Blade: Haemonculus Tools that wound on 2+. Exclusive to the Covens, Archons, and Solarites. Pretty cheap.
    • Try this on a Poisoned Tongue Archon. 2+ to hit and 2+ to wound with re-rolls for both are nice. No AP, but they'll all hit and wound (due to the Archon's aura and Poisoned Tongue obsession)

Vehicle Wargear[edit]

  • Chain-Snares: When attacking with blade-vanes, re-roll hit rolls of 1.
  • Dire Scythe Blade: Because your warlord just has to have the biggest blades on their floating death catamaran. Unique to the Tantalus and similar in form to the Shock Prow and Sharpened Prow Blade, but isn't limited to just one attack and hits at S8 AP-2. Useful to finish off anything that you didn't quite manage to completely annihilate with the Pulse Disintegrators.
  • Enhanced Aethersails: Tantalus exclusive. Instead of rolling a die, Tantalus simply doubles its movement value when it Advances. A movement value of 16", by the way.
  • Flickerfield: Venom exclusive. Your opponent must subtract 1 from all hit rolls that target the vehicle in the shooting phase.
  • Night Shield: All Drukhari Vehicles are equipped with these, which grant them a 5++ invulnerable save against all ranged weapons. Jink is gone, but there's that to compensate.
  • Sharpened Prow Blade: The Reaper's scythe, works the same as the Shock Prow below but at Damage 2. Make sure to paint some blood on it.
  • Shock Prow: Lets you make one attack at S User AP-1 and becomes D1d3 on the charge. It's only 1 point, so knock yourself out. Available to Raiders and Ravagers.
  • Splinter Rack: Raiders only. Gives embarked splinter pistols and rifles exploding 6s: any 6+ to hit causes two hits instead of one. Outstanding on Raiders carrying Kabalite Warriors, questionable for Wyches, unhelpful for Wracks.
    • Great on a Flayed Skull or Poisoned Tongue detachment, since you get to re-roll 1s while on your murder boat.
  • Grisly Trophies: For every model that flees within 6" of a unit with this, roll 1d6. On a 6, an additional model flees.
    • 2 points, so always a good idea in a Dark Creed detachment.

Relics[edit]

  • Animus Vitae: One use only. 6" grenade that deals d3 mortal wounds if it hits. If it kills a model, anyone within 6" of the bearer counts their Power from Pain bonus as 1 round higher for the remainder of the turn, which stacks with similar effects (e.g. Kabal of the Black Heart's Obsession).
    • Don't force yourself to get into a situation to take advantage of that second effect. You have d3 mortal wounds in any one shooting phase, and if you get a bonus in the following fight phase that's just icing on the cake.
  • Djin Blade: Replaces a Huskblade, making it Archon only. Gains an extra AP, and you can make 2 extra attacks with this weapon. However, after combat roll a D6, on a 1 suffer a mortal wound.
    • Mortal wounds can't burn out your Shadowfield, because you don't get to use it in the first place...
    • Also, Sslyth can 2+ absorb wounds from the blade just fine.
    • Great on a beatstick Archon, shame about it occasionally eating their souls.
    • Give it to an Archon with Soul Thirst to heal that mortal wound.
  • Helm of Spite: Auto-include for next time you're fighting Thousand Sons or the like. Allows you to attempt to deny like a psyker. If successful, the enemy psyker suffers a perils automatically. Nice.
  • Nightmare doll: Haemonculus only. Improves FnP to 4+++.
    • A Prophets of Flesh with this and Master Regenesist can just laugh off almost any attempt to kill it.
  • Parasite's Kiss: Replaces a splinter pistol; is an upgraded stinger pistol - +2 to wound rolls against non-vehicles (i.e. 2+ usually, 4+ against just titanic). +1ROF, -2AP, +1D, and when it kills an enemy model, the bearer gains a wound back.
  • Triptych Whip: Succubus only. An agoniser with +3 attacks.
    • Give it to a Blood Dancer for some poisonous fun.

Unit Analysis[edit]

HQ[edit]

Note: Characters in Transports are kind of a pain due to capacity being 5, 10, or 16, while many other armies have an odd number for their transports so you can fit in a character. Because only Yvraine and The Visarch (and technically The Yncarne but yeah...) ignore keyword rules with transports, you have to either buy a Venom just for the character (inefficient use of points), put multiple characters into a Venom (puts so many eggs into one basket it will draw fire from the Empire vs Dwarfs game from the nearby Warhammer Age of Sigmar table) or put them with a 9-Elf unit in a Raider (gimps a unit, but is the most viable option). Just keep this in mind if you are taking multiple HQ units.

Kabals[edit]

  • Archon: The very customizable leader for your <kabal> army. Has the standard re-roll 1s to hit aura. He comes stock with a Huskblade, which you can switch out for an Agoniser, Power Sword, or Venom Blade, and a Splinter Pistol, which you can swap out for a Blast Pistol, or, using the Index, a Blaster. Can also take a Phantasm Grenade Launcher, again using the Index. No reason not to splurge, really, since all his upgrades are useful. The Blaster will do work if you plan on keeping your Archons in their Venoms, and is a very worthy purchase. If you do wanna get in melee, then by all means go for a Blast Pistol and Huskblade, because you will just murder any multiwound characters with that setup.
    • Archon has an in-built 2++ (that is not re-rollable by any means), which is lost after the first failed save roll, meaning he might tank a surprising amount of attacks, or might whiff immediately, and lose in invuln for the game. Don't count on it to perform. Saw one deployed aggressively during a tournament killed by eliminators top of turn one because he rolled a one on his very first save roll. Don't EVER count on his invuln to save him. If it does, awesome! but any time you really need him to make it, assume you'll whiff the first roll and lose it. Gonna say it one more time, because the person who wrote in this article before me seemed to be in love with this character as the "best objective camper in the game!!!!" because he has a 2+ invuln and a 6+ fnp from power from pain. DO NOT COUNT ON HIS INVULN SAVE TO WORK, EVER. BTW, to address the guy who wrote that the archon is the best obj camper, literally almost any other character in the game is as good, or better than him (other than maybe guard characters, but they have oodles of cheap troops to camp objectives or screen objective camping characters). Ignoring points restrictions, something like a terminator character with T5, and a 2+ 4++ (I could also site guilliman, with T6, 2+ 3++, 9W, and the ability to get back up when he dies as the best objective camping character, but I won't.), will last way longer than an archon. Even trying to keep the same faction and points value, a Succubus or Haemonculus both have similar points value, and have access to a 4+ invuln, that won't go away when you roll a 1, and the Haemonculus even has T5 (after his buff), plus they both get the same 6+ fnp.
  • The Agonizer deals with T4 and up 1 wound models while the Huskblade deals with T3 and T4 characters and other multiwound models (Swarms especially).

Ynnari note: A thing to keep in mind with a Ynnari Archon you get a quality of life bonus. Simply put your reroll 1's bubble will not only affect your Kabal units but your other Ynnari Drukhari too! Kabalites, Wyches, Incubi, etc. This opens up a wide variety of opportunities so be mindful of the tricks you can pull that the others can't.

Cults[edit]

  • Succubus: Buff Vector for your <wych cult> units. Still only 4 attacks, but there are now so many ways to get around this limitation or make the most of what she can do that it hardly matters anymore. She lets Wyches reroll 1s To Hit in melee, which, for her and from turn 3 on for everything will probably mean they will be hitting on 2+ rerollable (yay!). The Succubus herself comes stock with an Archite Glaive, which lowers her Hit rolls to 3+, but if you absolutely must ensure you hit she comes with an Agonizer as well (the Glaive will usually outperform it anyhow, even against infantry). Her 4++ Dodge Save (that works outside of close combat now! Double yay!) will also keep her safe that much longer and don't ever forget about her drugs. All in all, this codex is exactly what the Succubus needed to truly shine as a badass leader for your Wyches!
    • Succubi can (and should) swap the Agonizer for a Blast Pistol, which can deal with the heavily armored targets they struggle with in melee.
    • You can also replace both the glaive and agonizer with a wych cult weapon. For the love of Khaine, do this! Don't take the Razorflails, though, you're wasting the re-rolls to hit and the extra attack or two aren't worth it compared to the other options. but Hydra Gauntlets can also be nice to make sure your attacks have a better chance of wounding, and the shardnet & impaler are definitely the best of the three against anything with more than one wound.
    • The Red Grief Succubus can be one of the best and cheapest duelists of the Drukhari. First, with the specific Archite Glaive Relic 'The Blood Glaive' (which you should absolutely take because it doesn't have a negative modifier to hit like the stock weapon!) and Adrenalight she can make 5 S6 AP-3 DD3 attacks which will basically never miss, or with Grave Lotus 4 S7 attacks and if you fancy dropping a couple of CP on Hyperstimm Backlash to make her S8, you can giggle at the mental image of your Succubus bisecting tanks and Dreadnoughts with her Glaive. That alone makes her quite good, but add the Red Grief Warlord trait, and she reaches a 3++ Inv save - or take Stimm Addict for both A5 and S7 at the same time (still not usually worth it, but your mileage may vary). Throw in a Blast Pistol as well for good measure and it only costs 60 points total for a model that can go toe-to-toe with characters and monsters that are double or sometimes even triple her points cost! A true champion of the Commorrite arenas!
    • Another option is to take a Cult of Strife Succubus with a Triptych Whip and just bury your opponent under the sheer volume of attacks. 8 Poisoned Attacks (9 with the +1 Attack Drug) at AP-2 is nothing to sneeze at.
    • A Cursed Blade Succubus with hydra gauntlets, the Precision Blows trait, and Traitor's Embrace relic may be useful to deal with almost any target character thanks to amount of mortal wounds she can cause.
    • Take a Cursed Blade Succubus with the Treacherous deceiver trait, Traitor's embrace relic and a shardnet and impaler and watch as enemy HQs have no choice but to kill your 55 pt succubus and take ALL the mortal wounds in return. You'd be giving up slay the warlord, but in games where that isn't worth any points - or if you're using Alliance of Agony so your Succubus wasn't the real warlord anyway - this can be a hilariously effective character assassin.

Ynnari note: A thing to keep in mind with a Ynnari Succubus, you get a quality of life bonus. Simply put your reroll 1's bubble will not only affect your Wych units but your other Ynnari Drukhari too! Kabalites, Wyches, Incubi, etc. This opens up a wide variety of opportunities so be mindful of the tricks you can pull that the others can't

Covens[edit]

  • Haemonculus: A nasty little Character for your <haemonculus coven> army. On the one hand, he's a buff vector that flat increases your <haemonculus coven>'s Toughness by 1 within 6". This makes Grotesques all but immune to small arms fire and is generally nice. However, the Haemonculus is now actually an impressive combat character. Like all <haemonculus coven> units he comes stock with a 5++ Invulnerable save, so combined with his 5 Wounds and effective Toughness of 5 and the PFP save he can survive quite a bit. But he also has 5 attacks and access to all the nasty poisoned weapons you could want. Give him an Electrocorrosive Whip and go Character-hunting or take a Scissorhand or Venomblade and kill scores of light infantry. Just, don't send him after Vehicles. Can also take a Crucible of Malediction, which is a nasty anti-Psyker tool and since it is apparently free, you should always take one along, just in case you find yourself surrounded by Grey Knights.
    • Going by RAW, the Aura can buff the toughness of Raiders and Venoms that have the same <haemonculus coven> tag. Remember that you need to be actually standing outside the Vehicle for it to have an effect. Outside meaning in an easy target for Deep Strikers, Snipers and Bikers.
    • Take Experimental Creations and Master Nemsine, and now, you wound anything below T5 on a 2+. This makes the Haemonculus an even better character hunter and, when placed near a few squads of wracks, potentially makes them wound on 3+ instead of 4+.

Special Characters[edit]

Cult of Strife[edit]
  • Lelith Hesperax: The Queen of the Arena came out of the codex much closer to her classic form. Instead of doing drugs, she simply chooses a stat each turn and gains that bonus. 3++ special Dodge now works outside of combat, and she still has bucketloads of attacks that will never miss. She re-rolls failed hits and wounds against other Characters, meaning she does an average of about 3 wounds on T4-T5 characters at AP-4 D1 each. Then her hair gets 2 more attacks (yep!) to put maybe another wound plus another from her obsession. Even things with Storm Shields might not be able to count on their invulnerable saves protecting them from all of her attacks. She can swap out one of her knives for an impaler, but the extra point of damage from the impaler isn't worth the reduced AP or the loss of the other extra attack for having two of the knives(unless your going up against characters with an invuln save 1 higher than their armor save, of which their are plenty).
    • The Cult of Strife WT is what really makes her shine. On a charge, she'll make 6 attacks with her two blades (and that's without choosing +1A) and 2 with her hair, which will translate to more than 6.8 blade hits and more than 2.7 hair hits. With the Strength boost you are looking at 3.86 dead Marines or 5.75 dead Guardsmen per charge before Turn 3, and 4.96 dead Marines or 7.39 dead Guardsmen as of Turn 3. The Attacks boost will get you substantially fewer kills against these targets - with the sheer number of swings Lelith gets, you want to only choose +1A when +1S won't help, such as if you find yourself stabbing a T8+ target. And we haven't even started with what she can do to characters (even SMASHFUCKER needs to be wary of her due to Re-rolls to Wound and boatloads of AP-4 attacks). Very solid choice and probably our best HQ choice now. Vect must be furious. She can also bully Monsters, TEQs, and Bikes with the sheer number of S4, AP-4 attacks she can put out (Exploding Flavour or Soulburst Flavour), and the Cruel Deception Stratagem will let her keep getting those bonus attacks from her Obsession again and again while keeping her safe from anything that a 3++ alone might not protect her from.
Prophets of Flesh[edit]
  • Urien Rakarth: Dead hard, and awesome in all the ways a Haemy is awesome. T6 due to his own buff, and halves damage; this dude will take a lot of firepower to bring down. However, being equipped with only a meh Ichor Injector and some bog-standard Haemonculus Tools, he is none too scary in melee. He does have an aura that inflicts mortal wounds on enemies within 3" of him on a 6+, though, which can act as a deterrent against enemy charges.
    • He now buffs Prophets of Flesh Strength and Leadership too. Wracks won't notice much, but your Grotesques and Pain Engines will. See your opponents' faces as your menagerie drills a hole through their army.
    • Remember thanks to the FAQ everyone is equipped with a regular close combat weapon. If Wracks are fighting T3 GEQ forgo the Haemonculus tools and enjoy wounding on 3s next to Urien.
Unaffiliated[edit]
  • Drazhar: The baddest motherfucker in an army of bad motherfuckers gained an additional wound and a 5+ invulnerable save! He still has his amazing Phoenix Lord tier stat line and his buff now gives +1 to wound for all Incubi units within 6 inches. Shit just got real and heads will roll. He also packs a tormentor just to make sure whatever survives his charge decides to book it. Drazhar now sports the Executioner's Demiklaives which offers the same single/double version but with D2 on each profile. Furthermore, he now rightfully has Lethal Precision so he's D4 on any 6s to wound. If you make him your warlord then he gets to re-roll all failed wound rolls!
    • Dual-Blades offer 6/12 S4 AP-2 D2 (D4 on 6s) attacks for hacking down hordes and 2W primaris marines. Sheer number of attacks suggests this will likely be your go-to mode.
    • Single-Blade gives you 4/8 S5 AP-3 D2 (D4 on 6s) attacks for hacking down anything T5 or higher.
    • Probably best to take this guy in a transport with his incubi friends as they all lack ranged weapons, try out a raider or if you're feeling spicy, a Tantalus. Just keep in mind that he will always will be a big and scary target and needs support to get him in the front line where he is best. Watch out for units with good charge distances as he is massively hamstrung when he can't get that meaty charge.

Troops[edit]

Kabal[edit]

  • Kabalite Warriors: You know them, you love them. They're cheap, they hold objectives, they can handle anti-infantry or anti-tank roles, and they can take Raiders and Venoms as dedicated transports. The big question is whether to take them in 5-man Venom or 10-man Raider squads. Now with everything being able to split their shots, there is no reason not to stick that one Blaster in a Venom squad and there's no reason not to add a Splinter Cannon to a Raider squad, to increase their firepower further. Remember, never enough dakka.
    • Your weapon choices boil down to if you need more horde killing dakka (Shredders and Splinter Cannons), or you want more tank killing dakka (Blasters and Dark Lances). Just keep in mind the needs for your army when picking weapons. Also be wary of the different weapon ranges and types you are mixing into your squads. Don't forget that you get -1 To Hit on the Dark Lance if you close in to fire the Blaster, or the different Rapid Fire ranges of Splinter Cannon and Rifles.
    • Probably worth noting: At 30 points per 5-Elf Squad, spamming multiple small units of Kabalite Warriors is the cheapest and most efficient way of getting a lot of Venoms onto the field, and filling out the Troops tax for a Brigade Detachment.
    • These guys rock: They are so cheap and so effective at what they do that when writing a list, you have to seriously ask yourself, why AREN'T I taking Warriors? They're cheap enough to throw away as screens, are killy enough against infantry and monsters, and can take Blasters (and even Dark Lances). They just rock.
    • One thing most people have missed, the Wargear options state FOR EVERY 5 MODELS you can replace a Splinter Rifle for a Shredder or Blaster, then there's a separate listing for every 10 models for a Splinter Cannon or Dark Lance. This means a 10 man unit can actually take 2 Shredders and/or Blasters, as well as a Splinter Cannon or Dark Lance! If you want more dakka then 10 man in a Raider is where you want to go!

Cult[edit]

  • Wyches: These ladies and guys are now finally awesome again. They can still do fuck all about tanks (unless you give the Hekatrix a Blast Pistol, which you absolutely should do!), but they're now a perfectly fine melee unit for your Troops slot, especially with Adrenalight. Take ten, give them as many Hydra Gauntlets as you can, give them Adrenalight and stuff them in a Raider. Then bury something in an unholy number of attacks. (UPDATE: With the new Codex, the other Wych weapons are now just as viable as the Gauntlets, but for different reasons. Flails give you +D3 attacks and still let you reroll hits, while the Shardnet and Impaler combo forces your opponent to roll on a D3 when you utilize the No Escape rule. Choose your weapons wisely, and don't get stuck thinking that Hydra Gauntlets are the only way to fly anymore. Tying up a big, scary unit in melee indefinitely is just as valuable in the right situations as being a lawnmower.) The other option is to go Painbringer to exploit T4 along with your new Codex-granted 6++ invulnerable save (which is upped to a 4++ in melee combat) and the ability to shrug off unsaved wounds on a 6 from Power from Pain to make a resilient tarpit. These ladies do also have rules that make them dedicated to keeping enemies stuck in combat. With their 4++ save, they can be quite a trouble, specially tanks since if they Fall Back they can't shoot their guns for a turn. Also remember that you have Grenades! If you are charging from within 6" then always toss a grenade before charging. In the codex they received a +1A base while having their points reduced, oh boy! This sadly makes Bloodbrides completely obsolete, but on the upside, combined with the awesome Cult options like +1S, +1A, or charging after an Advance ON TOP OF combat drugs these killers are finally going to wreak some real havoc! For alternative models, look at Blood Vestals from Raging Heroes.
    • Adrenalight (+1A) is the MathHammer king and should be your default choice if no other unit needs the bonus attacks. Against MEQ a unit of (non-Cursed Blade) 10 Wyches with 3 Hydra Gauntlets and Agoniser Mathhammers out as 1.32 Wounds in the Shooting Phase (factoring in the Plasma Grenade and Phantasm Grenade Launcher), and 6.64 in the ensuing Fight Phase, totaling 7.96 dead MEQs, and the two survivors of a 10-man Squad stuck in close combat (and more than likely fleeing anyway unless your opponent wants to waste CP on keeping your Wyches in close combat for some reason).
    • An Alternate Take: Where taking 10 might be tempting for the 3 Wych Weapons, consider that an Agoniser is the same cost as a Hydra Gauntlet. Two 5-elf units will run you 96 points for 6 Agoniser attacks (AP-2 Poisoned) and 6 Hydra attacks (AP-1 S3/Re-roll failed wounds), as opposed to 1 10-elf unit for the same cost, with 3 Agoniser attacks and 9 Hydra attacks, but the latter will be more susceptible to Morale up until Turn 4, on top of the other downsides of bulkier units, like vulnerability to overwatch. As an added bonus, they can both be placed in the same Raider you were planning to put them in anyway. Small 5-Elf groups are a nice and cheap way of paying Drugs taxes in pure Wych Cult lists too!
    • Cult of the Cursed Blade, with its minimization of morale losses, can take full squads of 20 with none of the usual drawbacks to doing so while being able to threaten anything up to T7. That said, remember, from 11-20 additional elves you're not adding any special weapons.
      • Quick Mathhammer: Both Strife and Cursed Blade are level against MEQ if you are going with Grave Lotus (3 Hydra Gauntlets and a Power Sword for Weapons choices). The main advantage of the Cursed Blade is they can also threaten up to T7 reliably and have a built-in pre-nerf Commissar, while Strife is ridiculously good against any sort of T3 horde play (and punishing players who Daisy Chain to buff units) while still threatening T4 Boy/Necron Warrior blobs from the sheer volume of attacks. Red Grief are better off sticking to Reavers and Hellions instead.
    • Protip: After disembarking, charge their Raider or Venom into combat first! Drukhari vehicles are actually not too bad in melee unlike lumbering Imperial vehicles, and your Wyches will thank you when the enemy's Overwatch fire harmlessly riccochets off of their transport and allows them to get into combat without being shot up on the way in.

Coven[edit]

  • Wracks: Now unconditionally Troops. The basic Wrack comes stock with two poisoned attacks and 1 in 5 can take either a Liquifier or an Ossefactor. The squad leader, the Acothyst, has access to all the same shiny tools as the Haemonculus sans the Crucible, and with his lower Attack count you might want to consider a Scissorhand; this also means you can field 2 Liquifiers in a 5-elf unit, or 1 Ossefactor and 1 Stinger Pistol. For best use, stuff into Venoms, crap the Wracks out of the Venom, charge with the Venom and soak up Overwatch, then charge with the Wracks.
    • Don't touch the Hexrifle. You want these guys as your shock troops. If you want Snipers, just take a squad of Rangers and Deep Strike them into some cover, or grab some Scourges if you want a Pure Drukhari list, or use a Dark Creed Talos for your sniping needs.
      • Alternate take: a few Hexrifles sprinkled in amongst your Haemonculi and Acothysts can ping the last wound off a character that survives your Esoteric Kill. Since you'd still hit on a 4+, and Heavy weapons don't prevent charging anymore, it can be a useful option in a Dark Creed detachment.
    • Wracks from the Prophets of Flesh coven are the toughest objective secured troop unit in a pure Drukhari list. Combine with a nearby Haemonculus and you have both a decent anchor for controlling an objective and a simple patrol detachment.
    • If you dislike the Wrack models, female Skinners from Ragingheroes.com make an excellent alternative.

Elites[edit]

Kabals[edit]

  • Court of the Archon: If you have an Archon in the same detachment, these don't take up slots - which is now a compulsory rule. In Matched Play, you can only have four of these in total per detachment, and you can only take them if you have an Archon (meaning it's impossible in Matched Play for them to fill out an Elites slot). They also all gain re-rolls To Hit if the Archon is within 3" of them. Keep in mind that they are not characters, and they are all single model units. This also means everything has to be rolled individually for them, so keep this in mind when advancing and charging.
    • Ynnari Note: Due to the cost, these are excellent fodder for Strength from Death in any Ynnari Detachment. All are cheaper than a 5-Elf Kabalite Squad, and as single model units that don’t take up slots, all trigger Strength from Death when they die.
    • Lhamaean: 15 Points, comes with a Poison 2+ combat weapon that does a mortal wound in addition to its normal wound on a wound roll of 6+. Note that she adds +2 to wound rolls for tasty mortal wounds on a 4+.Remember that unlike normal damage mortal wounds do carry over to the rest of the unit. Buffed when hanging out with an Archon, and at 15 points they're a relatively cheap source of potential mortal wounds. The statline seems mediocre, but she does benefit a lot from Power from Pain (turn 3 onwards); stick near the Archon to make sure those measly 2 swings actually connect.
    • Medusae: 21 Points, their eyeburst is no longer an AP3 flamer but instead is Assault 4 at flamer distance, S4 AP-2. No automatic hits, but a more reliable number of shots and with an Archon nearby it's more or less like a very reliable flamer. Still pretty deadly to single wound infantry models and only cost 21 points per model.
    • Sslyth: 27 Points for a terrifying melee statline and 3 ablative wounds for your Archon. Going by RAW, the Cold-Blooded Bodyguard ability can only be activated when the Archon loses a wound (and loses his Shadowfield). However, Mortal Wounds ignore the Shadow Field, and can be directed to a nearby Sslyth on a 2+ instead. Worth considering for a close combat Archon.
      • Note: When taking saves, you can choose from all your possible saves which kind you want to make. In some circumstances, it can be worth it to have your Archon take normal armor saves (5+) instead of risking his 2++. Then, when you (most likely) fail those regular saves, you still have a 2+ to pass them off to his Sslyth buddies.
    • Ur-Ghul: 15 Points and a crapload of S4 attacks for a single model, particularly on the charge. Unfortunately those attacks have no AP and only do 1 damage. It has no access to Power from Pain though. That said, 3W a unit does make them excellent Smite shields to protect a more important character.
      • The new 40k Warhammer Quest game comes with 4 plastic Ur Ghuls. There may be separate rules for those, but at the very least it'll be easier to get some models without having to buy the old resin model separately.
  • Kabalite Trueborn (Legends): Want to hear something scary? How about a Venom + 4 Blasters deepstriking 17.99" away from your frontline? With the new Screaming Jets Strategem, Blasterborn are crazy good now. Warriors with an additional attack and point of Leadership, and the ability to get 4 Blasters into a 5-Elf Squad. Sounds awesome, so why does nobody use them? Well, you are putting all of your eggs in one basket. Drukhari run on redundancy and not presenting a target that is objectively better to attack than any others. All your opponent needs to do to remove 4 Blasters from the table is to destroy one Venom. Compare this to having to shoot down 4 separate Venoms to get at your Blasters. No longer worth taking unless you just really like them.

Cults[edit]

  • Beastmaster: Little more than a buff vector for all the beasts. If they stick close to him, they reroll To Hit and can use his Leadership. Now comes stock with an Agoniser for melee, but he is hardly spectacular in a fight, even with combat drugs and obsessions. Same ranged weapon as Hellions too, just in case you wanted to fly around harassing infantry.
    • The beasts don't take up slots in a detachment with a Beastmaster, but you can't take a Beastmaster unless you have at least one Beast in the detachment (why you'd want to do that is a mystery). Also, it can't get Warlord Traits. Make sure to double check if whatever you're playing in is using Legends rules or not, because if they are you can give him back his now free Beastmaster's Scourge, letting you use that 4 points elsewhere.
    • A Note About Drugs: Always, ALWAYS give the Beastmaster Splintermind. The +2Ld makes his ‘shared leadership’ Aura much more potent, and he’s not really ‘fighty’ enough to justify any of the other Drugs (unless you’re taking small Beast units and need to offload the terrible "WS+1" onto a unit that doesn’t care).
  • Hekatrix Bloodbrides (Legends): Take ten, give them as many Hydra Gauntlets as you can, give them Adrenalight, and stuff them in a Raider. Then bury something in an even unholier number of attacks. Just keep in mind the cost when bringing them over Wyches. Everything that has been said for Wyches is relevant to these. 5 in a Venom make an awesome MSU hunting unit. 10 in a Raider is a Tarpit that will eventually kill something due to the sheer number of attacks. Have received a +1 Attack boost as part of their Legends update, placing them once again above regular Wyches.

Covens[edit]

  • 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.

Unaffiliated[edit]

  • Incubi: New plastic models! These guys are our exclusive edgy Aspect Warriors, armed with giant swords. Not only does each Incubus make 3 attacks at S4 and AP-3, the Klaivex hits on 2's and also has a chance of dealing massively higher damage, enough to cleave a Tyranid Warrior in two in a single strike. The Klaivex can also switch between S4, AP-3 Attacks or dropping 1 AP for two extra swings!. Check your target before deciding which one to use. He also gets +1 A and W over a standard Incubus though, which is nice. They hit on 2's from Turn 3 onwards turning them from scary to horrifying. Take 5 in a Venom and go hunting high value targets, a practicable choice, or take two units of 5 in a Raider and go drown a unit in an unholy number of S4, AP-3 attacks (expensive but a lot of fun). They also have tormentors, which will turn a barely successful morale test into a failure. Don't count on it happening, but it's nice when it does.
  • Mandrakes: Damn good now. No, really. They can pop up more than 9" away from the opponent and immediately shoot with Assault 2 S4, AP 1- attacks with a chance to do Mortal Wounds in addition to the damage on a 6+. ANY attacks targeting them at them take a -1 To Hit penalty and they have a 5++ as well as the PFP save to keep them alive and if their Baleblasts don't quite do it, their 3 S4 AP -1 attacks per model should damn well make sure. Probably the unit that received the biggest buff in the new edition. Mandrakes do work now, son! Maybe taking over Comorragh was just what they needed to get their day in the (Dark) Sun.
    • If you dislike the models or failcast resin, the Idoneth Deepkin Namarti Thralls from AoS are nice plastic alternatives. Also Executrix squads from Raging Heroes make excellent female Incubi.

Dedicated Transport[edit]

NOTE: Not that it comes up often for the Drukhari outside of embarking characters, but you can mix units inside transports now.

    • It's also worth adding that they benefit from Obsessions. This comes into play the most for Flayed Skull (Flayed Skull Kabalites only get their obsession bonus while in Flayed Skull transports) and Red Grief (The transports can advance and charge!), but it's always worth checking which detachments they are in as they might just benefit from that Detachment's Obsessions (for example, a Raider with a Shock Prow from the Cult of the Cursed Blade will get a single S7 attack instead of S6, and transports from a Black Heart detachment gain the benefit of Inured to Suffering; not a huge boost, but used correctly it can make the difference between wounding on a 4+ and wounding on a 3+, or shrugging off that last vital wound, respectively)...

Beta Rules: With the Beta rules functionally killing off Alpha Strike lists that use a lot of Deep Strike stratagems in favour of Gunlines, the value of these have skyrocketed considerably.

  • Raider: A big paper boat costing only 10 points more than a Venom, with either a Dark Lance or a Disintegrator Cannon. Can also take a Shock Prow if you're feeling lucky. The Raider is now actually decently tough (especially as Kabal of the Black Heart, or as part of a Coven) and might even survive until it discharged its CC cargo, or ferrying a Kabalite squad for a few turns. Can hold 10 Infantry models (Grotesques take 2 slots each). Zoom across the table at full speed (14") and shower the enemy with hails of poisoned splinters unabated. Use that to either close in to that Cultist or Scout squad on an objective, or to keep your distance from approaching CC units as you gradually wear them down. They won't appreciate that. Even better with Kabal of the Flayed Skull, which makes them even faster, and also boosts their accuracy while negating cover. More importantly, it and the venom are the only ways for Flayed Skull infantry to benefit from their Drukhari Obsession. Your Kabalites also appreciate the ability to take Splinter Racks as well.
  • Venom: A small paper boat with a Splinter Cannon and either a Twin Splinter Rifle or a second Splinter Cannon. With the release of the codex, Venoms have gone down to 55 base points and Splinter Cannons have gone down to 10 points. Splinter Cannons are definitely worth taking now if you have the spare points. This transport is a cheap weapons platform and should be treated as such. It transports 5 and Grotesques cannot ride in it even if you took an under-strength unit. It's also now 2" faster than the Raider, so zip around and crap out a massive amount of poison.

Flyer[edit]

  • Note: Weapon facing does not matter anymore. You should always prioritise whatever facing will keep your flyer on the table for the longest.
  • Razorwing Jetfighter: A few changes make the Razorwing into what is probably the best flyer in the game right now. It always has access to all three types of missile (but can only fire one each turn). All Drukhari heavy weapons turn into assault weapons when mounted on a vehicle, so it will hit on a 3+ most of the time. Each weapon may fire at a different target on a 360° firing arc, meaning you don't need to worry about any wasted splinter shots or where the flyer's nose is pointing at. Getting out of sticky situations or into the enemy's face is no problem either with a move of 20-72". The Razorwing comes equipped with Disintegrator Cannons for ruining the day of any Bike Squad or TEQ, or can opt for Dark Lances to go after vehicles and characters. Also comes with a Twin Splinter Rifle that you can upgrade to a Splinter Cannon. With Kabal of the Flayed Skull, it's just plain evil.
    • Razorwing Missiles No longer one use only, and you get all types by default now. You declare which missile you use when you declare the weapon to shoot with.
      • Monoscythe Missile: Assault D6, S6, 0 AP , 2 Damage. Nice for drowning a Bike Squad or TEQs in saves.
      • Necrotoxin Missile: Assault 3D3 (averaging out to the Pre-Nerf number of shots it had in the Index), Wounds on a 2+ (6+ for Vehicles). Your infantry hunting and character sniping choice. You are looking at an average of 3 Wounds per missile against non-Vehicle units, 4 if you use the Flayed Skull Stratagem on non-Vehicle units with Fly. Solid choice.
      • Shatterfield Missile: Assault D6, S7, -1 AP, 1 Damage with Shred. Necrotoxin is much more consistent but this has a nice niche in burying MSU MEQ units in armour saves.
  • Voidraven Bomber: Behold, one of the most durable and powerful models in the army! 12 Wounds at T6 combined with the new Flyer rules and a built-in 5++ mean that for Drukhari standards, this is one tough son of a bitch to bring down. First of all it is a bomber, and a bomb it has. Once per battle you can drop a tactical nuke on a single unit the Voidraven has moved over. Then, you roll 3D6 for each Monster or Vehicle, or a D6 for every other model in the unit up to a whopping 10D6. For each roll of 3+, the unit suffers a mortal wound. Very, very nasty. (To put the power of the bomb into perspective, when nuking a squad of 10 2+Sv Marines, you can expect 6 of them to be vaporized away from the board). But that's not the end. The Voidraven is equipped with two Void Lances, which are +1S compared to the Dark Lances. You can switch these out for Dark Scythes which are Assault D3, S8, AP-4, D3 damage. Both options are good for doing work after you have dropped the Bomb, they will definitely help with stripping the last few wounds off a Knight or Tank. For 10 points you can equip the Voidraven with the below missiles to boost the Voidraven's firepower if you can spare the points:
    • Voidraven Missiles No longer one use only, and you get all types by default now. You declare which missile you use when you declare the weapon to shoot with.
      • Shatterfield Missile: Assault D6, S7, -1 AP, 1 Damage with Shred. Has a nice niche in burying MSU MEQ units in armour saves.
      • Implosion Missile: Assault D3, S6, -3 AP, 1 Damage. Sadly nerfed from 7th Edition. Can still reliably threaten a lot of units. Still not a bad choice.

Fast Attack[edit]

Beasts[edit]

In Matched Play, you can only take 3 Beasts per detachment, and the detachment itself must contain at least 1 Beastmaster.

  • Clawed Fiends: Horrifying but overlooked. Lots of Wounds, high Toughness and lots of attacks at high strength and with damage 2. Its only weakness, the 4+ WS, is remedied by the Beastmaster granting it rerolls.
  • Khymerae: Decent harassers with a 5++. Basic stat line of a marine but much cheaper and 3 cc attack, able fill up small hole in your deployment zone to deny alpha attemp.
    • Alternate Models: Dire Wolves work pretty well as a cheaper and plastic alternative. Just green stuff the undead bits and add in spikey bits and job done.
    • Alternate Models: Necrohounds from maxmini.eu make an excellent dark city style alternative.
    • Alternate Models: Displacer Beasts from D&D Nulzu's miniatures are dirt cheap, comes with a 40mm base, and they come pre-primed. Did I mention they're a dime a dozen?
  • Razorwing Flocks: Horrible Strength and Toughness of 2, but with Instant Death being a thing of the past, all you can see are the 4 wounds per flock and no longer have the insane attacks from the codex, but a fluffy -1 AP with 4 attacks each. For best results, throw them at big stuff like Wraithknights. You'll wound most things on 6+ anyway so might as well make those 6s count. 48 wounds for a maxed out unit and 48 attacks for 144 points (if I'm mathing right and not totally retarded) is great for a throwaway unit. These will either be ignored or shots will be dedicated to stopping them. Plus how badass would you feel if your Archon could just summon murders of murder birds to the field? Be sure to use these things like a tau shield drones, let your bird bois soak those lascannon shots so your raiders can nice and close. Then charge the birds in to soak the flamers in overwatch. Saves your Raider the trouble from losing out on his juicy dark lance by charging in.
    • Alternate Models: These things are disgustingly overpriced IRL. So if you arn't running tourneys and want a cheap alternative use the Murder of Crowz from zombicide. The model looks a little janky, but it might mean that you can actually afford these guys.https://youtu.be/WAvzmqw8qxI you could also get the new Ravening Direflock endless spell from AoS, which gives you 3 bases

Cults[edit]

  • Reavers: By Drukhari standards, Reavers are indestructible juggernauts with T4 2W and a 4+ save. They combine decent shooting (Splinter Rifle and Splinter Pistol) with decent melee (S4 AP-1 Bladevanes). They can also take either a heat lance or a blaster for every three models in the unit. In light of the new Codex, heat lances are now the cheaper option. The difference comes down to whether you prefer S8 AP-4 DD6 (Blaster) or S6 AP-5 DD6/Melta (Heat Lance) - both are viable after the update and both have the same range. Finally, they can take either Cluster Caltrops or a Grav Talon, at a rate of one per three models. The difference is, the former can deal Mortal Wounds when the Reavers Fall Back while the latter can deal Mortal Wounds when the Reavers charge. Your choice. They are now 19 Points, rejoice!
    • Given that it turns these guys into T5, 2W models with a 4+ save, Reavers are the best candidate for Painbringer, and it should really be your default Drug of choice. A big group of these with Grav Talons is one of the best tarpits in the army that your opponent really doesn't want to fall back from.
    • With the Eviscerating Fly-By strategem, Reavers have regained their old wonderfully fluffy tactic of simply flying over something and causing damage! A unit of 9 bikes will reliably put a mortal wound or two on something which can be a nice way to soften up a target before a charge.
    • Agonisers are only 4 points so consider them on your Arena Champions if you have the spare points. Extra AP is never a bad thing.
  • Hellions: For some reason each little Hellion gets a damage 2 melee weapon on top of their Splinter Pods, which makes them both better at shooting and scarier in melee than Reavers. However, they are far more fragile than Reavers, too. These guys are horde sweepers. They fly around blasting suckas with a bunch of poison shots, then charge in. With no AP on their weapons and striking at S4 (maybe S5 if you gave them that Combat Drug), their attacks will bounce off big and tough things with a decent save. That 2 damage is there for one reason only: making sure infantry with FNP-type saves (a la Ork Boyz with a Painboy) have to roll boxcars or 5+ TWICE to stay alive. They could maybe harass some light vehicles (oddly enough they'd be extremely effective against enemy Drukhari vehicles) but will in no way, shape or form charge in and take out the enemy's centerpiece model. They are, however, a nasty, hard counter to horde-style armies. Give them +1A Combat Drug and send them in against a 30 man Ork Boy or conscript squad and let the bodies hit the floor. The 2 damage attacks also make them somewhat interesting against multiwound infantry like Crisis or Stealth Suits, Wraithguard, Nobz or Tyranid Warriors/Raveners/Shrikes.
    • Note: The new FAQ confirms that Hellions can't be taken in Raiders or Venoms.
    • Alternate Take: Take 14 with Adrenalight and a Succubus for those Re-Rolls of 1's and shove them all into a Tantalus (the wording of the FAQ does not mention Tantali are illegal transports for Hellions). Watch your opponent weep at the Alpha Strike.
    • Primaris beware: if you can pile on enough unsaved wounds, Hellions turn Primaris marines into the most overpriced models in the game by nullifying their magic second wound.

Unaffiliated[edit]

  • Scourges: Heavy weapon squads with wings, which somehow aren't in a Kabal, despite their fluff in the same book establishing that they used to be Kabalites and still work for the Kabals. Their stock weapon is a Shardcarbine, which is already a very nice gun, but let's be real here, you take Scourges for the clusterfuck of heavy weaponry they can schlep with them. With how specialized Haywire Blasters have become, Blasters and Dark Lances may be your best bet for general use against vehicles, but Heat Lances have received a point reduction that makes them by far the most effective anti-tank option within melta range. Splinter cannons have dropped 5 points each, and are cheaper than individual scourges. Shredders also received AP -1, so both are now valid weapon options to kit out scourges! Also don't be afraid to mix weapons as you can split your fire. The Solarite in charge of the unit can't ditch his weapon for something you'd like better, so if you're not sticking with Shardcarbines, consider him an ablative wound.
    • Note: Scourges can't be taken in Raiders or Venoms, but they can be taken in the Tantalus. 3 Squads of 5 with Carbines, Blasters or Dark Lances, or a mix of the three? Congrats, you just became That Guy.
    • Melee Note: If you do want to take a Melee weapon on the Solarite, all the weapons perform about the same given the number of attacks the model has, with the Lance being best due to it actually being a Power Maul and the wielder being S3, and you should always expect to have to fight MEQ. If you want to abuse Shoot, Charge, Fallback, Shoot shenanigans to stop an enemy unit from shooting for a turn, then there are other units that do it better; however, your Scourges' mobility does let them easily support Reavers or Hellions with a follow up charge. If you are going to do this, however, in Matched Play it's best to keep the unit as cheap as possible. In Open/Narrative Play you're probably having a Casual/Fluffy game anyway so go nuts.
    • Scourge Weapon Analysis - Short Version:
      • Shardcarbines: The cheapest option and the one that gives the most mobility, at 18" Assault 3.
      • Blasters, Dark Lances, Haywire Blasters, and Heat Lances: The weapons for fighting Vehicles and Heavies.
        • Dark Lances are 36" Heavy but deal as much damage as blasters; since you have mobility anyway, there is limited utility in paying the extra points for having more range. Plan on your Scourges moving every round they can.
        • Heat lances are very efficient when in melta range and awesome for sniping out characters that are badly wrapped, but when you Deep Strike, they're outside of melta range - you'll have to get aggravatingly close (for Scourges) to really use them properly. Their point cost is fundamentally fair for their performance, but be aware of what you're buying.
        • Haywire Blasters are the cheapest (the same cost as a Shredder) and extremely effective at dishing out mortal wounds to vehicles now that they are Assault 1d3 (which you really want against Quantum Shielding, Invuln Saves, and other defenses where the best bypass is mortal wounds). Very type specific - they're terrible against MONSTERS or any other heavy without the VEHICLE keyword. In a big way, consider this the opposite of the Poison Weapons you're used to playing with. One valid way to field Scourges is using Haywire squads to solve your vehicle problems while you use Poison everywhere else to solve all of your other problems, but be aware doing that largely means you won't have any good solutions for monsters, since most of the poisonous weapons you can field have terrible AP and many of them have terrible damage.
        • Blasters are quite expensive - nearly 1.5 times the cost of the elf carrying it - but avoid all of the above headaches: you can move and shoot with them at no penalty, they don't care about typing on the target, and they don't need to be closer than your Deep Strike distance for full functionality. This ease of use is probably why they're such a popular choice as the default option for a heavy-hunting unit.
      • Shredders and Splinter Cannons: Splinter Cannons now give more shots per point (3.7) than flat carbines (4) but give up being assault weapons for more shots at the same range. Shredders are also more efficient in terms of points per wound inflicted against GEQ, MEQ AND Light Vehicles, but give up 6” of range, leaving them vulnerable to Rapid Fire and being charged. Both weapons are type sensitive, but the Shredder is worse - there are far more non-Infantry targets you can face than non-Vehicle - and while both weapons work at full functionality at minimum deep strike range, your Scourges are kind of terrible in melee, so you'd better off using the Cannons and just deep striking farther away to avoid being charged.
    • Scourge Weapon Analysis - tl;dr Version:
      • Your safest defaults are a Shardcarbine/Power Lance Solarite (pistols suck) with 4 Splinter Cannons for hunting light targets or 4 Blasters for hunting heavy targets. Every other option you can take is more complex and requires more thought.

Heavy Support[edit]

Covens[edit]

  • Cronos: The support Engine. The Cronos comes stock with a flamer with high AP and a chance to do massive damage with each hit and can take a second weapon that does nearly the same but without the auto-hits. It also, more interestingly, lets DRUKHARI units within 6" reroll 1s To Wound in melee, which makes your Taloses and Grotesques even scarier. It also has a chance of healing friendly models if it kills something in melee but its melee stats are so lacking that this will rarely happen. Can now fly again thanks to the FAQ.
  • Talos: The killy Engine. The Talos comes stock with two Macro-scalpels and you can replace one with chain flails or a talos gauntlet and the other with a twin liquifier or an ichor injector. The Chain-flails are good if you need even more anti-horde melee (and they're very good at it) and the Gauntlets (being power fists) do pretty well against vehicles and other high T and wound targets, but the Ichor Injector is just trash. It can also get guns on the tail, with the Twin Heat Lances being a bit of a trap option; sure, they're 24 points now, but you're unlikely to hit with your shitty BS. In a pure <COVEN> list, you should probably take Haywire Blasters, as they're decently cheap. Otherwise, stick to either the Stinger Pod or the Splinter Cannons. Can also fly again thanks to the 2018 FAQ, which means they can now charge and assault jets, bombers, etc.
    • Macro scalpels vs. Talos gauntlet: While the extra strength and AP from the talos gauntlet seems attractive, the dual macro scalpels will ultimately do more work for your pain engines because of the hit modifier and loss of extra attacks on the gauntlet. Against everything bar heavy vehicles and monsters (T8) the scalpels outperform the gauntlet and when you have Urien around to buff Str, the scalpels start to outperform on those vehicles as well. The only time you shouldn't take macro scalpels is when you're assigning your pain engines to horde lawnmower duty, in which case you should take chainflails and a twin liquifier.
    • 1 Macro Scalpel + 1 Twin Liquifier is also better than 2 Macro Scalpels against most targets, simply because 4 points for 1 additional melee attack is often worse than 22 points for seven (on average) auto-hitting attacks, even with the gun's inferior inferior S, AP, and D.
    • Choosing tail weapons: Pain engines suffer from BS 4+, so their shooting weapons should be chosen with care depending on what role you want your engines to play. Splinter cannons will give them some extra anti-infantry firepower but reduce their effectiveness against vehicles. Haywire blasters are surprisingly effective against vehicles for their price (a squad of three taloi with haywire blasters will put out 4d3 shots which will cause mortal wounds on a 4+ and D3 mortal wounds on a 6+ against vehicles) and range from decent to mediocre against infantry, dependent on the type of infantry you're facing; heat lances are underwhelming against vehicles but effective against heavy multiwound infantry like obliterators or centurions. The stinger pod is the worst choice out of all, but is the cheapest in case you want pain engines exclusively for their melee potential.
    • You can turn these fellows into nice DISTRACTION CARNIFEXES by giving them and Ichor Injector, Talos Gauntlet, and Haywire Blasters. A jittery imperial with his Knight Crusader will shoot at it until this thing is totally dead, giving your real units all the time they need to move in.

Kabals[edit]

  • Ravager: Even more survivable than the new-and-improved Raider, the Ravager is somewhat sturdier with T6. Similarly, built-in Night Shields provide a 5++ save against all ranged weapons. Because Dark Lances count as Assault when equipped on Vehicles it has got an effective threat range of 50" at full accuracy. That, and their ability to deal D6 Damage at S8 AP-4 means the enemy won't escape and will die when you shoot them. Use their mobility to dictate the terms of battle and stay away from enemy charges. Disintegrators are a good choice if you want to erase enemy TEQ or Bikers from existence.
    • Archons allow friendly Kabal units to re-roll 1s to Hit, so it's not a bad idea to put one next to a few Ravagers to increase their accuracy. You can even go the extra mile and form a Black Heart Spearhead Detachment and give the Archon Writ of the Living Muse so that the Ravagers re-roll 1s to Wound as well. Quite nasty. Even though maintaining formation within the 6" aura reduces their manoeuvrability, the increase to effective firepower and the fact the Archon can move 8" and advance all the time to keep up render this a viable tactic.
      • Per Chapter Approved 2019 Dark Lances and Disintegrator Cannons are priced equally at 15 points per weapon and a total cost of 140 points, so the only question is whether you want more anti-infantry or anti-armor in your list.

All Factions[edit]

  • Reaper (Forge World): The One Big Gun alternative to the Ravager. Comparable points cost to the Dark Lance variant with +2 Wounds for greater survivability. The weapon has got two firing modes: the first is 24" range blast with 2D6 shots at S6 to drown the enemy in saves, the second is 36" range beam with D6 Dark Lance shots to vaporise a tank or a monster. Should the enemy unit endure this, both modes prevent the survivors from Advancing if any models have been slain. Unfortunately, the weapon is Heavy so its accuracy is reduced on the move. That shouldn't be too much of a problem with proper deployment, though. Moreover, the Reaper is no slouch in CC thanks to 5 attacks one of which is done at S6 AP-1 D2. Overall, a tactically flexible skimmer with great potential.
  • Tantalus (Forge World): Drukhari Superheavy. No, really. 18 Wounds at T7 and 3+ armour is insane for the faction's standards. Two pulse disintegrators fire a total of 12 shots at 36" range, with S8 AP-3 D2. In close combat, it's got 6 S8 AP-2 attacks which hit at 4+, and on the charge it inflicts D3 mortal wounds on a 4+ roll to any enemy units within 1". When the Tantalus Advances, you simply double its movement value. Combine that with Open-topped transport capacity of 16 (works the same as a Raider's) and the ability to grant the embarked Warlord's Leadership to all friendly LoS units (except for those in cover, for some reason) to complete the most powerful model in the army. The price for that is your wallet, your soul, and a points cost that exceeds 3 Disintegrator Ravagers. Given its size, strength, and points cost, Tantalus is a prime target for heavy enemy firepower. Using the Lightning-Fast Reactions stratagem on it may well be the difference between being reduced to a smouldering wreck or laughing in the face of that unlucky Shadowsword gunner.
    • The FAQ that banned Scourges and Hellions from transports only mentions Raiders and Venoms. This awesome boat can still transport your Scourges and Hellions and protect them from fire, and give your Scourges a second deployment option to boot. 12 Dark Lances plus the 12 total shots from the main gun is about as Drukhari as you're going to get. And with that volume of fire, you stop caring about the -1 to hit if you have to move too.
    • Supreme Command Tantalus: Give a Succubus splintermind, make her your warlord and she can grant Ld 10 to your entire army (out of cover).
    • Black Heart Tantalus: Gains an additional 6+++ save, and an Archon with Writ of the Living Muse can allow it to re-roll 1s to Wound. The increase to both survivability and firepower is worth considering.
    • Dark Creed Tantalus: Use An Esoteric Kill, Delivered From Afar to melt an important enemy HQ with the aforementioned Pulse Disintegrators. Ouch.
    • Red Grief Tantalus: Want a First Turn charge? Total 32" of movement and then a re-rollable charge on a model with Fly. Double ouch.

Fortifications[edit]

  • Webway Portal: For 120 points you can finally pick this giant arch. Fluffwise, it is the very reason of Eldar trollobility to suddently appear somewhere, where they completely shouldn't be. Crunchwise, it is still a giant arch with T8, 14 wounds, 3+ and 5++ which helps you to deep strike your units. It is set up anywhere on the battlefield more than 12" from enemy deployment zone and their units during your deployment and, of course, is immobile after that. What it allows you to do, is to be able to set some of your AELDARI units in the Webway (aka Necron style Tomb World), but, aside from 1 unit per gate (aka 1 unit per Night Scythe) restriction, you also must be 9" away from enemy, just like for normal deep strike AND within 3" from the gate. Of course, if the gate is destroyed, all units, that were in the gate's Webway (the Webway from Webway Portal stratagem is not the same one, so that doesn't count) are slain. On the one part, it does let you save some CP for not using aforementioned Webway Portal strat and, furthermore, allows you to deep strike your Vehicles on the contrary to it. Still, the restriction for model placement (9" away from the enemy and within 3" of the gate itself) poses a large threat that your opponent just bubble-wrap your nice and large gate with infantry blob, thus making actually using the gate a bit of "Risk-Reward" tactics, if not even a bit of a doubtfull one. The model is very nice thou, so don't restrain yourself from using it as a piece of terrain.
    • Keep in mind, that to use Webway Gate specific Stratagems from Harlequins Codex you need to have a small detachment of this nice and deadly murderclowns (and pray to any god of your choice for this to be FAQed and Labyrinth Laughs and Webway Ambush to be accessible to all AELDARI, as it actually affects all of them).

Subfactions[edit]

Kabal of the Black Heart[edit]

Vect's very own, and the top dogs in the city of Commorragh. You can also find them as the box art of any Kabalite units.
On the tabletop, they are taken for Agents of Vect, giving Inured to Suffering to vehicles, and the relic + warlord trait in that order. Two particularly common ways of seeing these guys is as a Ravager spearhead with three Ravagers babysat by an Archon with Writ of the Living Muse and as an air wing detachment. 27 S5 AP3 D2 shots rerolling 1's to hit and wound is a fantastic choice for any Drukhari list, or even Aeldari list. The flyers are good in and of themselves and become surprisingly durable with a 5++ 6+++ and -1 to hit, but you took them as Black Heart for Agents of Vect. It's worth noting that you can put units with other obsessions in Black Heart transports so it's common to see Obsidian Rose/Poisoned Tongue warriors in Black Heart venoms.

Special Rules

  • Obsession - Thirst for Power: +1 to the turn on the Power from Pain table. In addition, any Kabal unit without PFP such as Raiders gets Inured to Suffering (aka the 6+ FnP save).
    • This means you start the game already able to re-roll Advance and Charge distances and get more resilient vehicles for good measure. The archon and the melee units in his court will benefit from this the most, but it can give a slight edge to Warriors. Just don't expect miracles immediately; when the game goes on and you become Fearless by turn 3, on the other hand, the benefits really start to come into play.
    • While the Obsession bonus might seem mediocre at first, remember about the excellent Warlord Trait, Relic, and Stratagem it unlocks as part of the package.

Warlord Trait

  • Labyrinthine Cunning: Roll a d6 each time you or your opponent spends a command point to use a stratagem. On a 6, you gain one command point. It may not be original, but that's never stopped it from being useful. Pair it with Agents of Vect and your opponent will strongly reconsider using any kind of Stratagem against you. FAQ confirms that they just have to be on the Battlefield so can't use this from the comfort of a transport as models in transports are not on the battlefield.

Relics

  • Writ of the Living Muse: Archon only. Allows friendly units within 6" to reroll 1s to wound. Put that Archon next to a bunch of Ravagers and let him orchestrate a symphony of destruction.

Stratagems

  • Agents of Vect (4 CP): Use when your opponent spends CP for using a stratagem but before it takes effect. Roll 1d6; on a 1, nothing happens. On 2-5, the CP used by your opponent is refunded but the stratagem does not take effect and can't be used again this phase. On a 6, the CP is not refunded and the stratagem does not take effect and can't be used again this phase. This stratagem cannot be used against a stratagem that is used before the battle or during deployment.
    • Very expensive, but the value of a "counter-Stratagem" cannot be overestimated. Denying an opponent a crucial Command re-roll may be all you need to guarantee a victory on your part.
    • Even with the Big FAQ, this is still an extremely good Stratagem. It often comes paired with Labyrinthine Cunning, so you are going to be rolling 5-7 Dice to generate CP. Statistically you are getting 1CP back resulting in a net cost of 3CP.
    • Not to be overlooked is the fact that just being able to use this Stratagem will mess with an opponent, suddenly they are second guessing themselves and will hold back on using their key stratagems. Thus you *deny* more stratagems just by the very threat of being able to do so.

Tactical Objectives

Tactics

Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue[edit]

In the grim darkness of the far future, something dark and sinister will be written here.
Thematically describe this faction.
On the tabletop, they (insert play description).

Special Rules

  • Obsession - The Serpent's Kiss: Re-roll to-wound rolls of 1 for melee weapons and weapons with the Poisoned Weapon rule. This does not apply to relics.
    • A fairly middle of the road obsession, The Serpent's Kiss has the distinction of being useful in both the shooting and melee phases. It is never going to be amazing but it'll never be worthless either.

Warlord Trait

  • Towering Arrogance: Friendly units within 12" of the Warlord can use the Warlord's Ld. Typically, this is worth a whopping +1Ld. Terrible, take one of the 3 generic Kabal traits instead.

Relics

  • Soul-Seeker : Archon only. Replaces a splinter pistol; is an upgraded stinger pistol - +2 to wound rolls against non-vehicles (i.e. 2+ usually, 4+ against just titanic). +6" range, +1ROF, -1AP, changes D from 1 to 1d3. Ignores cover save modifiers, ignores LOS, can snipe enemy characters.
    • Great for a character hunting Archon since nothing will protect a character in range of this weapon.

Stratagems

  • Insidious Misdirection (2 CP): Use before the first battle round, one use only. Allows you to redeploy 3 Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue units. Amazing, savor the look on your opponent's face when you redeploy your ravagers far away from any units that threaten them.

Tactical Objectives Tactics

Kabal of the Flayed Skull[edit]

Flayed Skull are the air force of the Drukhari. They are obsessed with aircraft and the skies, to the point their archons get offended when they even see other races aircraft. They brag to the other kabals that they can commit raids of entire planets without a single one of their own touching the ground, which is possible with tons of Raider skimmers. Interestingly, they gained most of their popularity from the citadel painting suppliment 'Raiders of Commoragh', where the archon, Malidrach Vrasque, was shown to be a cool conversion which almost every drukhari player follows given how shit the current archon model is, easily improved by slapping a jetbike helm instead of the head. They also, hands down, have the coolest colour scheme in maybe all of 40K. Red armour with elite units like Incubi having pristine white with red helms. Fuck yeah.

On the tabletop, they (insert play description).

Special Rules

  • Obsession - Slay from the Sky: +3" movement to all units with Fly. Enemy units do not receive cover benefits to their saving throws against Flying models or units with this obsession embarked on a Flying transport with this Obsession. Finally, units that either Fly or are embarked on a Flying transport that have this Obsession (the rider, not the transport) re-roll to hit rolls of 1 for rapid fire weapons.
    • The upshot of this is that all your vehicles are faster, their splinter rifles and cannons are more accurate, and they're able to ignore cover saves (but not penalties to hit) for good measure. Note that this helps give re-roll 1s to hit to models inside transports, who normally the character aura won’t affect (due to not being on the field). Remember that re-rolling 1s to hit and to wound have the same effect on output (a 7/6 multiplier) - since all of your rapid fire weapons are poisonous, this part of the obsession behaves like a strictly worse version of the Poisoned Tongue one. Still pretty great, though.

Warlord Trait

  • Famed Savagery: Get +1A and +1S when charging, being charged, or performing a Heroic Intervention. Useful if you want to kit out an Assault Archon using the Husk/Djinn Blade.

Relics

  • Obsidian Veil: Archon only. If (i.e. when) your shadow field fails, gain a 4++ invulnerable save for rest of game. Absolute auto-include, that shadowfield is going to die on you eventually, this and Sslyth bodyguards are the only way to survive a turn after it goes down.

Stratagems

  • Masters of the Shadowed Sky (1 CP): Gives a Kabal of the Flayed Skull unit +1 to hit when shooting at a unit with Fly. Perfect for negating the hard to hit rule on most aircraft, and since the Flayed Skull specializes in flyers themselves it'll help their Razorwings dominate even further. Also gives you a hilariously Drukhari way of shooting out Jump Pack equipped characters as well.

Tactical Objectives Tactics

Kabal of the Obsidian Rose[edit]

The finest gunsmiths and arms dealers in the Dark City, the Kabal of the Obsidian Rose specialize in creating the best guns available to the Drukhari. Their Flawless Workmanship Obsession provides an extra 6" range for all Assault, Rapid Fire, and Heavy weapons used by members of this Kabal, including their transports and support vehicles. (Notably, the extra 6" range does not work on Blast pistols, but does work on Blasters and Shredders.) The extended range of their weapons lends itself fairly well to a classic gunline tactic, which seeks to punish the enemy at range rather than get close.

Special Rules

  • Obsession - Flawless Workmanship: +6 to the range of all assault, rapid fire, and heavy weapons. Does not apply to Eyebursts or relics.
    • 24" Blasters and 42" Dark Lances? Put a unit of 10 Warriors with 2 Blasters inside a Dark Lance Raider to obtain a Ravager Lite with some anti-infantry firepower to boot.
    • Remember that this will also increase the Rapid Fire range of your splinter rifles (15") and splinter cannons (21"); while this may not seem big on paper, remember that every inch you can put between you and your opponent is potentially -1 to the likelihood of them making that charge.
    • Also note that this buffs the range of your Shredders, making them the same range as unbuffed blasters, making them a fair bit more viable.

Warlord Trait

  • Deathly Perfectionist: The Warlord's weapons gain +1D. Does not affect relics. D2 Agonizers and Splinter Pistols are nice, but using this with a Blast Pistol is just evil.

Relics

  • The Armour of Misery: Archon only. Grants a 3+ armour save, and enemies have a -1 to hit in the fight phase. Gives your Archon a good amount of protection after his Shadowfield has burnt out (which we know will definitely happen at the worst possible time - aka the 1st time).

Stratagems

  • Failure is Not an Option (1 CP): Use when a Kabal of the Obsidian Rose unit fails a morale test. Select which models will flee, BUT first those models get to make a shooting attack or a single close combat attack each. If this causes even a single enemy model to be slain, none of your models flee. Maximum sized units can turn what might have otherwise been a devastating loss in the morale phase into an unexpected gain thanks to this, taking an extra chunk out of your opponent's army without actually losing anybody. (Keep in mind that from turn four onward, any unit with the Power From Pain rule becomes Emboldened by Bloodshed, making them automatically pass their Morale tests, rendering this Stratagem worthless.)

Tactical Objectives Tactics

Cult of the Cursed Blade[edit]

Your goth gym rat wyches. They may not have the flash and finesse of some of the other cults but they know that the quickest way to a marines heart(s) is through a hail of bolter fire and 6" of ceramite, and they intend to get there.
Do you need a unit that can soak 12 casualties on overwatch from a Leviathan without running away? These are your guys. Excellent turn 2 deep strikers as their morale benefits make large blobs more viable, can be given Adrenalight for lots of S4 attacks or grave lotus for some S5 goodness. A shardnet and impaler succubus with warlord trait and relic will tie down infantry and will make them take mortal wounds.

Special Rules

  • Obsession - Only the Strong Will Survive: +1S and only 1 loss from failed morale tests. S4 base Wyches with near-immunity to morale tests that already got cheaper and 1 more attack? Niiice!
    • Due to bladevanes having a set strength value of 4, Reavers gain do not benefit from the strength increase.
      • Per the Rule Book FAQ, all models count as armed with a close combat weapon. So it can benefit if you choose not to use the bladevanes - that can be helpful against MEQ if you have the +1S drug.

Warlord Trait

  • Treacherous Deceiver: Each unmodified save roll of 6 made by the Warlord in the fight phase causes the attacker to take a mortal wound.
    • Suicide Succubus anyone?

Relics

  • Traitor's Embrace: Succubus only. If the bearer is slain in the Fight phase, the unit that killed it takes d6 mortal wounds on a 2+.

Stratagems

  • Concealed Boobytraps(1 CP): When an enemy charges a unit that is in terrain, roll a die. On a 4+ deal D3 damage.

Tactical Objectives Tactics

Cult of Strife[edit]

The Cult of Strife is to Wyches what the Kabal of the Black Heart is to Kabals: poster boys, good all rounders, and led by a named character. Fortunately, Lelith Hesperax actually has rules this edition and is Drukhari exclusive despite having run off with Yvraine in the fluff.
These guys run well as minimum strength units with a shardnet and impaler that can jet around in venoms and tie up valuable units or use their extra attacks to clear chaff. Their strategem of fighting a second time can be absolutely silly on large blobs but still relies on getting that blob into combat intact. Blood dancer becomes very good after battle round 3 when you're generating multiple hits on a 5+. Slap that on a succubus with the Triptych Whip and watch your model with 4 base attacks do 8 wounds or watch Lelith Hesperax chew through a smash captain then attack again and skewer a lieutenant.

Special Rules

  • Obsession - The Spectacle of Murder: +1A when charging, charged or heroic intervened. So that means 4A base for your standard wych before weapons and combat drugs. Drown your enemy in dice! Use this with Hellions to throw a ton of attacks with S5 and 2D each at any Primaris or Terminators or Vehicles coming your way!
    • If you end up mixing Cult of Strife units with others melee units (incubi, Wracks, archons, etc), try and position your Wych Cult units around non cult units in a screen. That way the opponent must either declare a charge against them in order to get into melee or risk a longer charge to avoid triggering The Spectacle of Murder.
    • The obsession triggers when charged, but does not specify you have to target the charging unit. if your opponent sends in a unit to help save something locked in combat, then you can punish them by turning those additional attacks against the original target.

Warlord Trait

  • Blood Dancer: When rolling a 6 to hit in the fight phase, that attack counts as 3 hits instead of 1. Due to Power From Pain, this can trigger on 5+ from turn three. The Cult of Strife's extra attacks from their Obsession will make sure the extra hits happen with considerable frequency. Lelith Hesperax has this, and boy, does she benefit from it.
    • Keep in mind, however, that a Succubus using an Archite Glaive cannot trigger the trait until battle round 3...unless you give her the right drugs.

Relics

  • Phial Bouquet: Gain the effect of a random drug every round, in addition to the currently selected drug. If the randomly chosen drug is the same as the one the bearer is already under the effects of, the bonuses stack.

Stratagems

  • No Method of Death Beyond Our Grasp (3 CP): Use after a Cult of Strife unit destroys a unit in either the Shooting or Fight phase (if the latter, after consolidating). Depending on the phase the enemy unit was destroyed, the unit can either shoot or fight again. A single 20-strong blob of Wyches from the Cult of Strife which had its Obsession trigger can put out 81 attacks per turn before Combat Drugs and weapons get factored in. Now imagine what a total of 162 attacks can do to just about anything. You're going to need more dice.
    • Do remember to declare your multicharges, Pile In, and Consolidate properly before using this. Nothing is more expensive than regret.

Special Characters

  • Lelith Hesperax: The Queen of the Arena came out of the codex much closer to her classic form. Instead of doing drugs, she simply chooses a stat each turn and gains that bonus. 3++ special Dodge now works outside of combat, and she still has bucketloads of attacks that will never miss. She re-rolls failed hits and wounds against other Characters, meaning she does an average of about 3 wounds on T4-T5 characters at AP-4 D1 each. Then her hair gets 2 more attacks (yep!) to put maybe another wound plus another from her obsession. Even things with Storm Shields might not be able to count on their invulnerable saves protecting them from all of her attacks. She can swap out one of her knives for an impaler, but the extra point of damage from the impaler isn't worth the reduced AP or the loss of the other extra attack for having two of the knives.
    • The Cult of Strife WT is what really makes her shine. On a charge, she'll make 6 attacks with her two blades (and that's without choosing +1A) and 2 with her hair, which will translate to more than 6.8 blade hits and more than 2.7 hair hits. With the Strength boost you are looking at 3.86 dead Marines or 5.75 dead Guardsmen per charge before Turn 3, and 4.96 dead Marines or 7.39 dead Guardsmen as of Turn 3. The Attacks boost will get you substantially fewer kills against these targets - with the sheer number of swings Lelith gets, you want to only choose +1A when +1S won't help, such as if you find yourself stabbing a T8+ target. And we haven't even started with what she can do to characters (even SMASHFUCKER needs to be wary of her due to Re-rolls to Wound and boatloads of AP-4 attacks). Very solid choice and probably our best HQ choice now. Vect must be furious. She can also bully Monsters, TEQs, and Bikes with the sheer number of S4, AP-4 attacks she can put out (Exploding Flavour or Soulburst Flavour), and the Cruel Deception Stratagem will let her keep getting those bonus attacks from her Obsession again and again while keeping her safe from anything that a 3++ alone might not protect her from.

Tactical Objectives Tactics

Cult of the Red Grief[edit]

Fast, fast, extra fast. These guys are the speed demons of the arena, only touching the ground when there's a kill to be had, sometimes not even bothering to stop.
Red Grief is a Reavers best friend. It turns them from fast and dangerous to ludicrously fast and dangerous. A 38" charge threat on flying models can get them from your deployment zone to an enemy's back line potentially doing eviscerating flyby damage on the way. The Blood Glaive and Hyper-Swift reflexes are both good on Succubi and let her put out some absurd damage for her points cost. Don't forget this applies to your transports too, giving your venoms and raiders turn 1 charges as well. Alas, Red Grief does little to augment the survivability or damage output of Wyches and most improves the overcosted Reavers, so they mostly appear in non-competitive lists.

Special Rules

  • Obsession - The Speed of the Kill: Advance and charge, plus re-roll failed charges. This drastically increases your chance of your overall improved wyches making it into close combat. Your Wyches are now as speedy as Genestealers! Jetbikes love this, nothing is beyond their reach now!
    • At first, the re-roll on the charge seems to only matter if you are trying to launch a first turn charge, since PFP will give this naturally on turn 2. However, it also allows your vehicles to join the fun. You can reliably charge with EVERYTHING in a Red Grief raiding party turn 1.
    • The Deep Strike rules have killed off Alpha Strike lists in favour of Gunline lists, so this is one of the only competitive choices.

Warlord Trait

  • Hyper-swift Reflexes: Increases invulnerable save by 1. Not much but useful nonetheless, especially if you intend your Blood Glaive Succubus to duel enemy HQs.

Relics

  • Blood Glaive: An Archite Glaive with +1S (+3 total), D1d3 instead of 1, and most importantly, no -1 to hit. Not much else to say but take it and engage blender mode!

Stratagems

  • Athletic Aerialist (2 CP): When consolidating after combat, you can move a Cult of the Red Grief unit 6" towards the nearest transport. If the move brings all models in the unit within 3" of the transport, they can embark on it as if it was the Movement phase- even if they already disembarked from that transport on the same turn.

Tactical Objectives Tactics

Prophets of Flesh[edit]

The coven poster boys they are led by notable sick fuck Urien Rakarth, inheritor and exemplar of the fine Aeldari traditions that gave birth to Slaanesh. When it comes to making flesh monsters these guys are simply the best there is. Closely allied with Vect and masters of the cloning technology that keeps Commorragh running the Prophets of Flesh are the most influential and powerful coven.
Pre custom obsessions if you saw coven units on the tabletop it was these guys. 4++ on everyone? Incredible. Diabolical Soothsayer to make Alliance of agony better than free? Incredible. Vexator Mask for no overwatch and being able to slap always fights last on something? Incredible. Urien Rakarth, unkillable and bumping your already great monsters even more? Incredible. Black Cornucopians to bring back a depleted unit of wracks or teleport one to an opposite table edge? Incredible (if a bit situational). A big downside is it sets up a rather predictable strategy of cluster your heavy hitters around a haemonculus or two and run it at the enemy. Not a bad strategy and fits well with a lot of Drukhari armies, but a bit slow and inflexible. The custom obsessions let coven units fill some different roles but Prophets of Flesh will still give you a tough core with a few neat tricks.

Special Rules

  • Obsession - Connoisseurs of Pain: The invulnerable save from Insensible to Pain is increased to 4+, giving your units the equivalent of a free Iron Halo.

Warlord Trait

  • Diabolical Soothsayer: Once per battle, reroll a single hit, wound roll, saving throw, or damage roll for your warlord. In addition, if the army is battle forged, roll a D3 before the battle begins; you gain a number of additional command points equal to the results. Urien Rakarth has this.
    • Note: This refers to your Warlord. This means that if you gave a Haemonculus a Warlord Trait through Alliance of Agony, then it is your Archon that gains the benefit (no as these characters are considered the warlord in relation to their warlord traits. This mean that the Archon is the only warlord that can give up slay the warlord as it is the warlord in all regards). Combining this with Alliance of Agony makes this at worst, CP Neutral. If you have the Labyrinthine Cunning Warlord Trait you stand a chance at making even more back as well.

Relics

  • Vexator Mask: No overwatch against the bearer. At the start of the Fight phase, choose a unit within 6"; that unit fights last.

Stratagems

  • Black Cornucopians (2 CP): Use at the end of the movement phase. Lets you remove a unit of Prophets of Flesh Wracks from the board and return them to the table at full starting strength. The unit is set up wholly within 6" of a table edge and more than 9" from an enemy model. Basically Tide of Traitors from Chaos Space Marines, but with a unit that can be good as something other than a meatshield...and has a 4++ and 6+ FnP for good measure.

Special Characters

  • Urien Rakarth: Dead hard, and awesome in all the ways a Haemy is awesome. T6 due to his own buff, and halves damage; this dude will take a lot of firepower to bring down. However, being equipped with only a meh Ichor Injector and some bog-standard Haemonculus Tools, he is none too scary in melee. He does have an aura that inflicts mortal wounds on enemies within 3" of him on a 6+, though, which can act as a deterrent against enemy charges.
    • He now buffs Prophets of Flesh Strength and Leadership too. Wracks won't notice much, but your Grotesques and Pain Engines will. See your opponents' faces as your menagerie drills a hole through their army.
    • Remember thanks to the FAQ everyone is equipped with a regular close combat weapon. If Wracks are fighting T3 GEQ forgo the Haemonculus tools and enjoy wounding on 3s next to Urien.

Tactical Objectives Tactics

Dark Creed[edit]

This coven likes to court its pain and bring you the wagyu of suffering rather than the McDonalds buffet that the Prophets of Flesh provide. They massage their prey's fear, let it graze wild, and harvest it at its most nourishing.
These guys are fun and fluffy but don't quite make the competitive cut. As part of an Aeldari list they can set up great leadership bombs. The relic can help turn your haemonculi into a mortal wound dealing monster. Unfortunately they suffer from a lack of synergy and the unreliability of morale bombs. You don't have shooty enough units for the stratagem to be worth it (it's funny on a Tantalus or a Reaper, but so are most things) and the units most likely to fail from a morale bomb will either be valuable enough to auto-pass or cheap enough that they were supposed to die anyways. Save the elaborate maneuvers for your wyches, let your coven just slap things around.

Special Rules

  • Obsession - Distillers of Fear: Models in enemy units must subtract one from their leadership for each unit with this obsession that is within 6" to a max of -3. Phantasm Grenade Launchers can push the penalty further, and if you bring in an allied Eldar detachment with Hemlock Wraithfighters on top of that you can bring almost any unit to the Ld of a mere Conscript.

Warlord Trait

  • Fear Incarnate: At the start of the Fight phase, roll 2d6 for each unit within 3" of the Warlord. If the result is higher than that unit's highest LD, the unit takes a mortal wound. Does synergise with your obsession, but the failure to deal more mortal wounds the larger the gap makes it end up decidedly underwhelming compared to Master Nemesine, particularly on a Haemonculus with an Ichor Injector.

Relics

  • Spirit Sting: A 3 shot stinger pistol, Ap -4. Adds +2 to wound against non-vehicles, and ignores invulnerable saves. Unlike most pistol relics, this one has pretty good synergy: this, a Flesh Gauntlet and the Master Nemesine warlord trait gives you a Haemy that doesn't care about no stinkin' Storm Shield.

Stratagems

  • An Esoteric Kill, Delivered From Afar (2 CP): Allows a Dark Creed unit to shoot at enemy character even if they are not the closest. Coven units are not exactly known for their shooting, but this stratagem can allow a dark lance equipped raider or a Talos with Heat Lances to snipe a character. Try not to miss. Speaking of which, Tantalus is a perfectly viable unit choice to employ this stratagem, so you might vaporise the enemy character with 12 Pulse Disintegrator shots instead. Also has good synergy with the Dark Creed relic pistol, 3 shots hitting on 2s, wounding on 2s, ignoring almost any save is pretty menacing and gets really dangerous to even tough characters as the game goes on and they start losing wounds (less powerful than the tantalus but still).

Tactical Objectives Tactics

Coven of Twelve[edit]

These fine gentleman pride themselves on being the best of the best. Constantly circle jerking/attempting to murder each other, the twelve (eleven, since Urien never actually shows up) are in an endless game of one upmanship to make the fanciest toys out of their living captives.
The extra ap from their obsession doesn't hurt, but it doesn't help enough to take these guys typically. Sure you can shoot into combat and maybe kill some of your own guys which is fun and may be how you want to play a game, but very situational. The warlord trait is less good than just taking the -1 damage custom obsession and the relic is mostly useful against characters in melee, which isn't usually where you want your haemonculus to be.

Special Rules

  • Obsession - Butchers of Flesh: All melee weapons have one better ap. (0 ap becomes -1) Does not apply to relics. Helps compensate for the generally poor ap of coven melee weapons and turns agonisers into poisoned power swords.

Warlord Trait

  • Scarlet Epicurean: Reduce incoming damage by 1, down to a minimum of 1. Usually better than Master Regenesist in melee, but if you're trying to survive sniper rifles, remember that it won't reduce incoming mortal wounds at all, unlike Master Regenesist (if you live long enough to roll to recuperate).

Relics

  • Flensing blade: Replaces Haemonculus Tools. -2 AP, d3 D. Adds +1 to wound against non-vehicles and always deals 3 D against characters.

Stratagems

  • Administer Punishment (1 CP): Select a Coven of Twelve unit during the Shooting phase. It can shoot at enemies that are within 1" of another friendly unit, but any hit roll of 1 is resolved as a hit against the friendly unit instead. If more than one friendly unit is present, choose which one gets hit. This Stratagem can't be issued to a unit which is itself within 1" of an enemy unit.
    • Unlike the Valhallans' "Fire on My Command!" Order that this is based off of, auto-hitting weapons are affected by this. For each hit from such a weapon, roll a d6; on a 4+ it hits normally, but on a 1-3 it hits one of your units. This makes it much more risky to use than its IG counterpart, which can just use Flamers to avoid the possibility of self-inflicted damage. On the other hand, Liquifier Guns and Spirit Syphons aren't exactly that dangerous to Coven units, so its probably less of a risk than simply the loss of about half the shots.
    • Could be very useful for a Talos equipped with Haywire Blasters or Heat Lances depending on how their Codex pans out. Wracks Tarpit something big, and the Talos blasts it apart.
    • Very useful for trapping a character and having a Talos blast it apart with Heat Lances.

Tactical Objectives Tactics

Ynnari[edit]

Ever since the rebirth of Yvraine in the heart of Commorragh the Drukhari have had a mixed relationship with the reborn. Lelith Hesperax immediately flipped to the Ynnari after seeing someone reborn in front of her and brought a good chunk of wyches with her. Vect was mad that Eldrad had out dicked him and that someone had stolen Lelith away from him, but other kabals saw promise and hope in rebirth and fell in line. The Covens will have none of this feel good hopeful nonsense and are quite happy to keep doing what they're doing.
Crunch wise the Ynnari can bring cult and kabal units in a single detachment along with the Ynnari keyword with Strength from Death taking the place of your obsession. These guys pair excellent with cults. Psychic bonuses form Yvraine and the Yncarne make wyches tougher, faster, and stronger and do even more for beast units turning razorwing flocks into iron walls. The Ynnari tend to have huge potential but expect your opponent to go hard the support characters that make your army extra dangerous.

Special Rules

Strength from Death

  • Reborn Drukhari - Strength from Death: Whenever any unit is destroyed, all Ynnari units fight first in the fight phase for the rest of the turn. If they already could or just charged, they also add +1 to their hit rolls.
    • As Reborn Drukhari replaces <Kabal> and <Wych Cult> and no longer removes Power from Pain, this basically serves the same role as your obsession. Though it has become an army wide buff, Strength from Death has redefined the Ynnari as an explicitly melee oriented faction.
  • Allies of the Reborn: Incubus, Beasts and Scourge units never benefit from Strength from Death, although they can be included in Ynnari detachments without preventing other units from gaining the rule.
    • Mandrakes and <Haemonculi Coven> may never be included in Ynnari detachments.

Revenant Discipline Since Drukhari never had their own psykers to begin with, these are only available to Yvraine and the Yncarne, these powers allow them to play both a supportive and offensive role for your army.

  1. Gaze of Ynnead: Essentially Smite on crack, this WC 6 power deals damage based on a D6; a roll of 1 results in 1 Mortal Wound, 2-5 causes 1d3 Mortal Wounds, and a 6 results in 1d6 Mortal Wounds on the target. This is perfect for either softening up a hardy unit or vehicle, or dispatching whatever battle-worn foes didn't quite bite it last turn.
    • This power does 48.45% the damage of Smite for the Yncarne and 58.33% the damage for Yvraine; the only reasons to cast it are that it is targetable, and a given Psyker can cast both it and Smite. It can be a solid offensive tool in the hands of Yvraine, but you'll ideally pick it up mid-battle when some of her warlock meat shields get chewed up rather than starting out with the power.
  2. Storm of Whispers An AoE aura attack, this WC 6 power lets you roll 3D6 dice per enemy unit within 6" of the caster; every roll of a 6 hits the unit in question with a mortal wound. An alright power that can do work in the hands of the Yncarne, but probably not an ideal choice for Yvraine.
  3. Word of the Phoenix: WC 5, this ability no longer triggers Soulburst, but rather allows the targeted Ynnari Infantry or Ynnari Biker within 18" to heal D3 wounds or resurrect one model, who comes back with a single wound remaining. Finally, a semi-reliable way to heal your units! Suffice to say this is a fantastic supporting power for your bikers, who can afford to take a few hits.
  4. Unbind Souls A WC 6 malus that allows units to re-roll wound rolls for melee attacks against the targeted unit. It synergizes fairly well with the new Soulburst and is relatively easy to cast without much hassle.
  5. Shield of Ynnead A slightly more challenging WC 7 power that grants all Ynnari units within 6" of the Psyker a 5+ invulnerability save. This works for literally everything in your army and can be a fantastic tool for your infantry, beasts, bikers, and even vehicles.
  6. Ancestor's Grace: This power allows the targeted friendly unit to re-roll hit rolls of 1 until your next Psychic phase, so both shooting and melee. A nice supplemental power, but odds are you may already have an Archon or a Succubus with an aura providing exactly the same benefit to multiple units.

Warlord Traits Yup, after nearly two years of going without, Ynnari armies finally have access to their own unique Warlord traits. Due to the way Ynnari detachments now work, so long as a named Ynnari character is in the detachment, you may name take it as a Ynnari detachment and name any generic HQ as your warlord if you so wish. All non-Ynnari named characters cannot join a Ynnari detachment anymore, so no Drahzar or Lilith Hesperax for you. Also, it goes without saying the Kabal and Wych Cult traits are off limits.

  1. Lord of Rebirth: Heal one wound a turn automatically and ignore wounds on a 5+. You already have FnP from Power From Pain, but the ability to heal is nice.
  2. Warden of Souls: Whenever your Warlord is affected by Soulburst, and +1 to their Strength and Attack characteristics. A decently reliable way to buff your warlord on a more consistent basis compared to the other offensive traits here, but with a notable peak in performance. The Yncarne has this by default.
  3. Walker of Many Paths: A free hit/wound reroll every turn with a 5+ CP refund when you use a stratagem. A flexible choice that helps keep your options open when you don't know what to expect.
  4. Fear of the Grave: All enemy units within 6" of your warlord subtract 1 from their leadership, 2 if it's during a turn a unit was killed by the warlord.
  5. Favoured of Ynnead: Consolidate 6" instead of 3" in melee. Can be handy to keep up the momentum, but runs the risk of leaving your warlord's entourage behind. Yvraine has this by default.
  6. Master of Death: Whenever your warlord rolls a hit roll of 6 in melee, it generates two hits instead of one. A good way to help deal with hordes and fish for hits in general, but kind of unreliable. The Visarch has this by default.

Relics of Ynnead A fresh batch of relics available for your Ynnari characters, thanks to the May issue of White Dwarf. These are all exclusive for your generic characters and cannot be taken on your named Ynnari characters, ironically.

  • Hungering Blade: Replaces a Husk Blade/Star Glaive/Power Sword, making it available to an Archon/Autarch/Troupe Master respectively. S+3 AP-3 flat D2 sword that swats an extra mortal wound on targets for every wound roll of a 6. A decent upgrade if you plan on having your character up front.
  • Song of Ynnead: An 18" Pistol 3 S5 AP-1 replacement for a shuriken pistol. Follows shuriken AP-3 rules and every time it kills an enemy model, its unit subtracts 1 from its leadership until the turn ends. Since it shoots three times, this can devastate enemy leadership in conjunction with other debuff powers/abilities. Very good for horde-based armies.
  • Mirrorgaze: A standard "-1 for hit rolls against the bearer" relic. Notably affects all hit rolls and isn't limited to infantry.
  • Soulsnare: Once per game, you can pick a unit within 6" of the bearer and roll a D6. 1 does nothing, 2-5 deals D3 mortal wounds and heals the bearer for the damage dealt, and a 6 deals D6 mortal wounds and heals for all lost wounds on the bearer. Basically a pocket mini-smite with some crazy benefits if you get lucky and obviously pays off more on characters with big health pools.
  • The Lost Shroud: Halve all damage received, rounding up, with a 5+ FNP for good measure. Crazy good ability that can take the edge off strong weapons, but largely underwhelming on any characters with less than 6 wounds total.
  • Corag Hai's Locket: Whenever the bearer destroys a unit, permanently add 1 to their movement and attack characteristics. There is no cap to this, meaning you can get some ridiculous stats if the owner of this racks up the kills. Stacks beautifully with Soulbursts and Warden of Souls.

Stratagems The Ynnari now have their set of stratagems to further enhance your Ynnari detachments. Now that the Ynnari have their own set of stratagems, GW decided that they are no longer permitted to use Craftworld, Harlequin or D. Eldar stratagems. Bummer.

  • Fire and Fade (2cp): Copy-paste of the vanilla version, this lets your selected unit move 7" after shooting, no charging or advancing allowed. Still useful, if twice as expensive as the vanilla version for whatever reason.
  • Lightning-Fast Reactions (2cp): Another copy-paste, add a -1 to-hit modifier if targeted by a ranged or melee attack. Useful in a pinch, but a little less spammable compared lists abusing to-hit modifiers.
  • Deadly Misdirection (2cp): Identical to Feigned Retreat, this one lets you shoot and charge after falling back.
  • Artefacts of Death (1/3cp): Ever standard extra relic stratagem, nothing special.
  • Webway Ambush (1/3cp): Your flavor of deep striking Infantry Biker, or Beast stratagem. Situationally useful.
  • Exalted of Ynnead (1cp): Pick one of your non-warlord/named HQ characters and give them a warlord trait, no duplicates allowed. Doesn't make them a real warlord and you can only do this once. Actually quite handy, as there are some good traits to choose from.
  • Inevitable Fate (2cp): Pick an enemy unit at the beginning of the fight phase and all your Ynnari stuff re-roll wound rolls against it. Can be handy, but kinda pricey.
  • A Taste for Death (1cp): Used when a unit's ranged weapons wipe an enemy unit, they add +1 to-hit in melee till the end of the turn. Objectively useless, as they'd be benefitting from Soulburst if they kill a unit and since most decent ranged weaponry can't be fired while in combat, they'd need to charge and would cap on their hit bonus from the Soulburst itself.
  • The Great Enemy (1cp): Largely the same as Inevitable Fate, but limited to Slaanesh targets and only buffs one of your units. Fluffy.
  • Back from the Brink (2cp): When one of your Infantry/Biker characters dies, use this and roll a D6. On a 4+, they come back with D3 wounds and sets up as close to where they died as possible. Can come in handy if your opponent fucks up your plans.
  • Reborn Together (1cp): Add +2 Leadership to all Ynnari units that have another Ynnari unit within 6" of them. Sort of helpful if you're worried about leadership bombs or casualties screwing your morale.
  • Whispering Spirits (2cp): Basically the opposite of Reborn Together, targeted enemy unit subtracts 2 from their leadership when within 1" of your dudes. Stacks obscenely well with the myriad of leadership debuffs at your disposal.
  • Acolyte of Ynnead (1cp): If one of your psykers attempts to manifest a Revenant power in the same phase that you destroyed a unit, add 3(!) to their psychic test. Generally situational for your usual list since only Yvraine or the Yncarne can make use of it. An allied Farseer smiting/executing/mind warring enemy units can help grant opportunities for this.
  • Ynnead's Net (2cp): A Ynnari biker can advance and charge in the same turn. Shining Spears still have a place in this army!
  • United in Death (1cp): Pick a Reborn Asuryani, Reborn Drukhari and a Reborn Harlequin unit. All of them get +1 Attack in the fight phase if they're Soulbursting. Yikes, try making that happen in a Matched Play game.
  • Shrine of the Whispering God (2cp): Pick up to three Incubi units and they get Strength from Death. A somewhat expensive but useful stratagem if you're bringing Incubi and want to maximize their synergy with your list.

Special Characters

  • Yvraine: The Emissary herself, now differently useful. Yvraine costs 132 points and is exclusively armed with Kah-vir, the Sword of Sorrows (basically a Force Axe stat-wise), her substandard Phoenix Lord statline, her ability to regain wounds on a 4+ whenever an Ynnari model dies within 7", and the ability to learn new psychic powers whenever a Ynnari dies in that same distance. With the rework she's put into an odd spot, her warlord trait allows her to consolidate 6in leading her to want to be in the front lines but her statline leaves a lot to be desired in that regard. But with certain psychic powers like on the unbind souls or Shield of Ynnead she can be extremely useful at buffing combat units like incubi and wyches much like she used to. With the change to soulburst effectively ruining it the main advantage of it you can't fight twice, but your close combat units will likely be hitting on 2's you can take advantage of this by having a archon or succubus around depending on what units you brought. Plus combining this unbind Souls, Phantasm grenade launchers, a stratagem or two, and the minus leadership warlord trait you can effectively core out the center of your opponent's arm you with one massive leadership bomb.
    • Now whereas in a Craftworld Ynnari detachment you have access to many different psykers to use that last ability you don't have any in a Drukhari detachment save for Yvraine herself. This means if you're going with just the one Ynnari detachment you need to think more carefully on which two powers to bring. What the choice really comes down to is whether to take Ancestor's Grace or Shield of Ynnead as Unbind Souls will be your go to. The choice largely comes down to what else you're bringing. If you're taking a Succubus to help your Wyches or other such reroll auras, take Shield if not take Grace. Where she truly shines though is supporting units and making them much more dangerous than they would be on their own or pushing terrifying units even higher good examples are Reavers, Wyches, Trueborn, Scourges, & Incubi funny how most of those are Wych Cults or Unaffiliated almost like the former Succubus was supposed to be supporting them.
  • The Visarch: Now actually a better combatant than Yvraine. At 120 points and a statline that puts him on somewhere between a close combat Archon and the Phoenix Lords, The Visarch is a very nice but expensive character, especially now he has a 4++ Invulnerable save thanks to the recent FAQ. His BFS, Asu-Var, the Sword of Silent Screams is a Strength 5 Force Sword that reduces the enemy unit's Leadership by 1 allowing him to be the linchpin for Leadership Bomb setups. Very tanky as when any Aeldari model within 7" dies, on a 4+ he regains a lost wound, and gains +1 Attack (caps at 7) if it was a character, plus with his warlord trait he will dice enemies in combat and does especially well in challenges. Overall he's a beatstick
    • Now unfortunately compared to the other two he's lacking and kinda badly overcosted, but since you need him if you want a third Ynnari detachment you might as well find a use for him outside of being a body guard for Yvraine. Here's the thing re-read that part about his statline and it shouldn't be too difficult to figure how he should fit. Think of him like a better Drazhar trading out the redundant buffs, the two extra attacks, and a 2+ save for a leadership debuff to enemies within 3", a better invuln, and a harder hitting weapon. Stick him with either a Court of the Archon to get those extra attacks, or some Incubi, put them all in a Venom and thrust it at something you want gone be it characters or elite infantry.
  • The Yncarne: The single most expensive HQ choice for the Aeldari, the Yncarne clocks in at a high 280 points to field equipped with nothing but Vilith-shar, the Sword of Souls, an awesome weapon that is S6 AP-4 and D6 Damage with re-rolls to wound. With 6 attacks, S7 A7 with the relevant Warlord Trait, whatever it is hitting is dying. If that in itself doesn't seem like much, the Yncarne is a flying, monstrous character that can cast two of the three Revenant Discipline powers. The Yncarne is also pretty resilient, T6 with a 3+ armor and 4+ invuln that covers 9 wounds that regenerate on a 4+ for any Aeldari model killed near it. It also provides a 6" Fearless bubble and any friendly Aeldari within 6" shrugs off any Wound or Mortal wound on a 6+. While the 8" of movement it has may not seem particularly fast, the Yncarne also has the unique ability to teleport to the location where any squad (friend or foe) is killed so long as it is at least 1" away from enemy units. This makes it one of the few units able to deep strike easily within charging range to wreak some melee havoc, and can give it a terrifying threat radius. Use your Dark Reapers to nuke some squishy back-line unit, then have the Yncarne teleport behind enemy lines to hit 'em where it hurts!
    • For your Drukhari detachments specifically she does as she does for everyother kind of Ynnari detachment she kills things plain and simple, Inevitable Death coupled with the innate killyness and squishyness of your dudes leads to her functioning very much as a last nail in the coffin if you're getting the upper hand or as a strong counter blow if your opponent starts overcoming you via dismembering the heftiest units they have whether they be characters, tanks, or MCs and giving your remaining units the momentum needed to win. Remember though you can't just place her on the field and expect everything to die horribly just like most of your units you need to wait for the right moment to place her into your opponents midst, or if they killed one of your units near their frontline bring her in directly infront of them using the souls of your fallen to exact hellish retribution.
    • Note: The Yncarne can't charge after arriving in this way so you ideally want it popping up on your opponents turn so you are ready to charge on yours. You also want to be exploiting the ability to redeploy when anything dies as a mobility/escape tool. If anything else the Yncarne popping up somewhere unexpected can divert a ton of fire away from your other units though you might want to leave the DISTRACTION CARNIFEX role to something designed for it like a Succubus, Solitaire or Character in Venom.

Tactical Objectives Yep, these exist now too. They aren't anything special, mind you.

11 - Spirit Sanctuary
Roll a D6; gain 1VP if no enemies control the corresponding Objective Marker. Completely random and unreliable.
12 - Harness the Spirits
Successfully casting a power from a Ynnari Psyker generates 1VP. You'll need to rely exclusively on Yvraine or the Yncarne to make this one happen.
13 - For Ynnead's Glory
Get 1VP if three or more units were killed by attacks made by Ynnari units this turn. Kind of a tall order for a single VP all things considered.
14 - Surety of Purpose
Get d3VP if you achieved at least two other tactical objectives this turn.
15 - Death's Every Visage
Score 1VP if you destroy a unit in the Psychic/Shooting/Fight phase this turn. Score d3VP if you destroy a unit in all three of them. A bit harder to accomplish for Drukhari given their aversion to psykers, but still doable.
16 - Soulsurge
Score 1VP if you destroy three or more units with attacks made by Ynnari units while they are benefiting from Soulburst in a single turn. Kinda fucked up that the more challenging version of For Ynnead's Glory doesn't offer any more VP for the extra effort needed (you'll need to wipe 4 enemy units in a single turn to get this; one to trigger the Soulburst and then the remaining 3 for the objective). Made somewhat easier if by some miracle you manage to pull off the Souls of the Strongest stratagem beforehand.

Tactics

Army Building and Tactics[edit]

Army Building[edit]

  • Overall: The Drukhari have the potential to make some extremely potent Alpha Strikes. Their absurd firepower coupled with high mobility coupled with smart positioning makes them extremely viable as of the beginning of 8th Edition. The Meta is bound to shift as more Codexes come out but as of right now your access to lots of very good Anti-Infantry and Anti-Vehicle weapons is allowing the Drukhari to stay competitive.
  • How Many Drops? Recent changes to the rules to determine who goes first means an interesting meta for your list building. You now roll off to determine who goes first, but whoever finishes first gets a +1. So you can pick between finishing first to get that +1 and potentially not have to burn a CP to re-roll seize the initiative, or you can use Chaff units (Venoms, Kabalites, Wyches and Court of the Archon usits are excellent at this) to get more information on your opponents deployment. Note: you can no longer burn CP to reroll seize.
  • Unit Spamming: Formations are gone yet spam is still legal to a silly degree. Venoms are among the best units for spamming as they are absurdly mobile, high durability (for a Drukhari unit), no damage chart, and can combine strong anti-armour (Kabalite units inside with 1-4 Darklight weapons, Wych unit leaders with Blast Pistols, Blaster Archons etc), anti-infantry (Double Splinter Cannons), and Fly in one point efficient model cheap enough to may a role as chaff for deployment.
  • Keep your Allies Lesser Kin you aren't currently scheming against close...: Remember you aren't just a Drukhari army, you are an Aeldari army. You can cherry pick the best units from the Craftworlds, Ynnari, Harlequins and Corsairs lists. While you do have a Mirror to most Craftworld units, there are some things that cover what you lack:
    • The most notable and fluffy unit you can bring are Rangers, which provide something that you sorely lack: access to a good sniper unit.
    • An allied Farseer sounds odd given it can only Buff Asuryanni units but Smite and Executioner are a reliable source of Mortal Wounds that can be tossed around against harder targets or smaller squads of infantry, as the situation demands. It also gives you an answer to enemy Psykers as spamming Haemonculi is not efficient.
    • Warlocks are another cheap source of Deny the Witch.
    • Swooping Hawks are good against GEQ's, who your poison would normally struggle against, and outrange Shredder Scourges, and can have the Alaitoc trait so they can tank light fire and kite enemy melee units.
    • Harlequin Troupes are another fluffy pick. They are much more offensively oriented than Wyches, plus Shadowseers bring along more Smite and Deny the Witch.
    • Of course Wraith units are a very powerful addition to any Drukhari force. Heck, you could even paint them in Kabal colours and say your Archon captured a bunch. Plus your only Lord of War options are in the Craftworld List. Though just how your Archon managed to get their hands on a Wraithknight is another thing entirely...
    • Corsairs are one last Fluffy option. For 60 Points you can get a unit of 5 Pirates with Shardcarbines and Jet Packs! Plus one of them can swap out their gun for one of several heavy or special weapons including Flamers, Fusion Guns, Shredders, Shuriken Cannons, Dark Lances, Blasters, and even Aeldari Missile Launchers!
  • Darklight & Poison: [Note: this sub-section is incredibly outdated - look elsewhere for better, more cost effective tactics.] It's pretty well known but For 1982 Points you can take a Brigade Battalion Detachment with 2 Archons with Blaster, Grenade Launcher and Agoniser in a Double Cannon Venom, 5 Units of 5 Kabalite Warriors with Blaster each, Sybarites packing Agonisers and Grenade Launchers all in a Double Cannon Venom each, and 3 Ravagers along with an Air Wing Detachment with 3 Razorwings with Double Dark Lances and Splinter Cannon each.
    • So that is a total of: 9 6 9 Command Points (5+1+3=9), 12 Drops, 2 Leadership Re-roll Hit Auras you won't use, 7 Blasters, 15 Dark Lances, 16 Splinter Rifles, 15 Splinter Cannons, 7 Agonisers, 7 Grenade Launchers, zero Disintegrators or Haywire Blasters, and absolutely no close combat support. It's not hard to switch an Archon for a Succubus, Haemonculus (if you want to lose access to Obsessions like a dummy because all you brought was a single Battalion and a single Air Wing), or even switch the Archon's Blaster for a pistol if you want more close combat bite (alongside your...Venoms? What even is this list?). Dropping the Agonisers and Grenade Launchers from the Sybarites frees up enough points to take a Sslyth to guard the Archons so there is that too. Each Venom is packing 7-14 Splinter Shots and 1 Blaster shot. In one round of shooting you can put out 35-70 Splinter Shots from the Venoms alone! Add in the Razorwings and you have 44-88 Splinter Shots and add in the Darklight Weapons from the Ravagers and Razorwings and that is 44-88 Splinter Shots and 23 S8 AP -4 Shots (a third of which will miss because you have no Obsessions, no footslogging Archons, and no Writ - congrats on your wasted points). (okay, so don't bring Succubus or Haemonculus moron, and take flayed skull for rerolls in transports and flyers, poisoned tongue for reroll 1's, or obsidian rose for extra range) Totalling 111 Shots. You can play leadership Shenanigans with the cheap Grenade Launchers and if you have to charge something or get charged, the Agonisers on every infantry unit let you do work ok in the Fight Phase, I guess, until a regular Tac Marine decides to punch your guys in the face. You ARE punching on 2's and rerolling Charges from Turn 3 onwards (why would you charge in a shooty list, though?) after all so you might as well use those stupidly cheap Agonisers for something if the Venom explodes (use Raiders - embrace the future). To whoever ruined this entry, learn math and be consistent in edits. Overall its a fine shooty list, but can definitely be improved on.

Detachments and CP[edit]

  • Detachments and You: The Dark El-- I mean Drukhari's Raiding Party rule gives them an interesting army-listing consideration that other factions don't have. Usually a Patrol detachment is only useful for low point games or Tyranids using them for allying with Guards using Genestealer Cults; our edgy knife-ears, however, can gain Command Points if they have 3 or 6 Patrols (+4 or +8, respectively), although the latter will virtually never happen if you're following the rulebook's suggestion detachment limit based on points limit. The difference between using a Battalion + 'specialist' and multiple Patrols is that while you may not have as many Elites slots available, you'll have more varied Obsessions to use, which isn't something you want to ignore considering how powerful they are if you use Patrols. Read the Raiding Force section above for other considerations, but overall taking an MSU approach to your Patrol detachments (i.e. a bare bones HQ and one MSU troop per patrol) can give you a disproportionately high amount of CP relative to the points cost of using them.

Tactics[edit]

  • Drukhari Soup: With the way the new codex is effectively three armies in one book, you have a lot of options. A lot of options - more than the Drukhari have ever had, in fact. While the tournament meta may continue being mono-build Kabal spam, something to consider is the ease with which we have access to very good HQ choices, and all the benefits they bring with them. Fielding an army that consists of all three Drukhari sub-groups gives you arguably greater tactical flexibility than simply spamming Warriors in Raiders while camping your Archon among your Ravagers. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each group: Kabals are ridiculously shooty, but they have trouble holding objectives due to their unfortunate tendency toward dying if looked at crosswise; Cults are screamingly fast, hit like a metric ton of spikey bricks in close combat, and can keep your enemy's most valuable units perpetually tied up in combat, but have almost no ranged weaponry to speak of and suffer from the same objective grabbing issues as their Kabal cousins; Covens are the toughest units in our army (and can be made to be even tougher), can dish out the pain in close combat, and can camp objectives like nobody's business, but suffer from a lack of any reliable ranged weaponry. So, combining all those strengths together - and peppering in Scourges/Mandrakes/Incubi to taste - gives you a tremendously versatile army that can do basically anything you need it to, whenever you need it to. To boot, you can buff your already great HQ choices into CC murder machines and/or megatanks that double as force multipliers and character assassins for just a few CP. In smaller games taking three Patrol Detachments will get you by just fine (Raiding Party, mmmmmm...), and in larger ones it's a simple process to take two Battalions and a Patrol/Air Wing/Outrider/Spearhead/Vanguard Detachment. This edition should be making you think outside the box rather than clinging white-knuckled to what worked in the past (*cough*Trueborn*cough*).
  • Nova Charged Venom Spam: Run a custom covens battalion using the "Experimental Creations" and "Dark Technomancers" traits, then take as many venoms as you want (2 haemonculi and 3 squads of wracks gets you 5 transport slots) with double splinter cannons. Now when you overcharge your splinter cannons, you are getting +1 to wound and +1 damage, add on the +1 to wound Experimental Creations gives when targeting anything T4 and below (T5 if you have a nearby Haemonculus buffing your venom's toughness) and now you wound almost all infantry in the game on 2+ with 2 damage. You wound monsters on 3+ and vehicles on 5+, which makes a big difference against heavy mech armies. And because of how the drukhari transports work, you can still throw some kabalites or wyches into the transports to fulfill other jobs. The drawbacks here are that you give up rerolls of any kind and you can hurt your self when you roll wound rolls of 1, but the offensive boost you get heavily outweighs the negatives. To illustrate, a supercharged venom will kill 2 primaris marines on average while a flayed skull venom will only do 1.5 wounds to a single primaris.
      • The Phoenix Rising FAQ did away with this particular combo, as “Experimental Creations” +1 to wound buff now only works for Melee Poisoned Weapons, so no 2+ to wound Splinter Cannons anymore.
    • You can swap out Experimental Creations for Masters of Mutagens if you'd rather be better at murdering non-vehicles than murdering T4 or less; Experimental Creations is better when it triggers, but Masters of Mutagens will trigger against more targets, all told.
    • Double Liquifier wrack squads are the most points efficient contents for your venoms (due to how incredible Dark Technomancers Liquifiers are), but that assumes you're getting into range, which won't happen immediately if these boats are deep striking, so plan accordingly.
    • If you don't care to bother with Troops slots, remember that you can take Drazhar as your HQ, and then Incubi as Elites, without removing the <Coven> assignment of your Venoms - Drazhar + 3xIncubi gets you 4 <Coven> Venoms.
    • If you want to do this with Raiders, a Disintegrator Cannon and Phantasm Grenade Launcher are the way to go - it'll typically underperform compared to Venoms as far as points per wound, but you will get transport slots more efficiently, in case you end up needing more.

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