This is the draft of the 6th and final part of my DE unit guide. As always, please post any feedback you have and I will consider it for inclusion in the final article.
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Plastikente’s Dark Eldar Unit Guide Part 6 – Special Characters [6th Ed]
SPECIAL CHARACTERSSpecial Characters are the Archetypes of numerous Dark Eldar units and traits. Looking for an über-Wych, über-Haemonculus, über-Hellion, über-Incubus or even the Supreme Overlord of Commoragh? They’re all here. For fluff, they’re hard to beat, but in terms of combat effectiveness they offer very little that you can’t get for cheaper by tooling up a standard HQ. Nevertheless, many offer certain special rules which you can’t get into your army any other way.
Note: To avoid infringing GW Copyright, I have had to be especially careful in this article not to spell out which wargear and special rules each character has. I advise reading with your Codex open to cross-reference.
ASDRUBAEL VECTStrengths: Awesome at close range due to wargear and Ancient Nemesis. Master Tactician. Fearless.
Weaknesses: Very expensive. No long-range shooting capability. No capability to deal with 2+ Sv.
Wargear and Abilities:- Obsidian Orbs. Useful, but short range. Vect’s massive BS means they should seldom scatter, and they will kill SMurfs outright on a 2+. Watch out for 2+ saves though.
- Sceptre of the Dark City. Mitigates for Vect’s poor (ie. Dark Eldar standard) strength, and burns straight through most armour. Combined with his massive I, high attacks (+1 for 2 close combat weapons) and Ancient Nemesis rule, this weapon makes him fearsome to all opponents in an assault. Unless they are wearing Terminator Armour (or equivalent), in which case they will just laugh as his puny blows bounce off them.
- Ancient Nemesis. As mentioned above, this rule gives Vect an extra edge against everyone in close combat, and doubly so against Eldar and Dark Eldar.
- Dais of Destructor. A pimped up Raider/Ravager which is really not worth the inflated points cost. It can’t take any wargear, so no Nightshield or Flicker Field to protect you, and it can’t swap its lances for Disintegrators to give Vect that much needed close support against Terminators. It has to start the game full, and Vect is a combat monster, meaning your armoured Ravager (which would prefer to sit at max range and take pot shots at armour) must zoom forwards to deliver its passengers, unless you perform a turn 1 passenger swap. But Vect can’t get into another vehicle in the same turn that he gets out of the Dais.
- Master Tactician. Useful to have up your sleeve if forced to deploy second, but it is not reliable enough to let you risk placing units in the open at deployment.
How to use: Vect is very expensive close combat monster. Give him an escort and use him like any other assault-tooled Archon. He is still a low toughness character who is not an Eternal Warrior though, so his survivability is limited after his Shadowfield goes, even with his moderate backup save. He carries grenades, but no phantasm launcher, so his unit can’t benefit from them on the charge. The grenades do, however, give him an option against vehicles, if required.
LADY MALYSStrengths: The only psychic defence in the army list. Deployment tricks (Precognisant). Invulnerable save. Lots of attacks (Lady’s Blade)
Weaknesses: No guns. No capability to deal with 2+ Sv. The psychic defence only affects Malys’ unit.
Wargear and Abilities:- The Crystal Heart. Read the Codex entry. Given the increase in the effectiveness of Psykers, this can be very useful, but it only protects 1 unit, and can’t prevent the enemy from buffing himself with powers (eg. Grey Knights’ Hammerhand).
- The Lady’s Blade. Basically a Djinn Blade that won’t bite its bearer. The extra attacks are handy whilst they last. No better than a standard weapon against Terminator armour though.
- Invulnerable Save. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Won’t short out like a shadowfield, but doesn’t protect as well either.
- Precognisant. Lets you move some units after your opponent has deployed. Useful for making a bluff if you deploy first, but is useless if you deploy second.
How to use: Malys is a variety of cc-tooled Archon, but you could make a more effective build for less points by just taking a normal Archon. She has an Invulnerable Save, but it’s no Shadowfield, making her less survivable than most standard Archon builds, but also less hampered by that infamous first-save fail. She has reasonable hitting power in an assault, provided you aren’t meeting any 2+ saves.
What she brings that you can’t get any other way, is her psychic defence, however, as mentioned, it can only shield one unit at a time. If you are the kind of player to run a death-star unit, her Crystal Heart could make them that much harder to take down, but if you just run her with one of many assaulting similar units the enemy will just turn his Psykers on something unprotected.
DRAZHARStrengths: TEQ-level save, immune to instant death, low-AP weapons, high WS, I and A. Drazhar is a close combat assassin. And he’s fearless.
Weaknesses: Very expensive, can’t shoot, no grenades, no invulnerable save.
Wargear and Abilities: Kit-wise, Drazhar is basically a Klaivex with a better armour save. That save makes an important difference though with the current lack of low-AP weapons since the change to the rules for power weapons. Note that his own swords will chomp through Terminators as easily as any other model. As mentioned in the section on Incubi in Part 2 of this guide, the strength increase almost always performs at least as well as the attack increase you could choose instead.
- Master of Blades. Limits Drazhar to only joining Incubi, but gives him both Klaivex powers. Unfortunately, this is quite a limitation, which pushes his effective cost up even more, as you will want an escort to stop him from getting sniped.
- Darting Strike. A very useful trick that will let you pick on the enemy you want to take out, provided there is space to get into base contact. Lookout Sir! limits its effectiveness against characters, but if you want to take out a power fist or other special weapon, this is ideal.
- Riposte. Allows Drazhar to strike back sometimes when he passes a save. Unfortunately, the only people who are really a danger to Drazhar are those which can disallow his save, so he won’t be slapping them back anyway.
How to use: In an army full of close combat monsters, Drazhar is near the top of the pile. Unfortunately his cost shows this, making him significantly more expensive than anyone else in the army, bar Vect. It is quite difficult to get a good return on this investment (for the same price you could have, say, 2 Ravagers) and if you want to take an HQ for competitive reasons (rather than fluff, or because you like the model) you can get at least as good an effect for less cost by tooling up an Archon.
If you definitely want Drazhar though, you need a delivery system for him. That means a transport (probably) or a Webway Portal, and a unit to take the shooting for him. As he can only join Incubi, this ablative shield for him is very expensive, and most importantly
doesn’t have grenades, unless you shell out for yet another character with a Phantasm Grenade Launcher to join them. This drives up Drazhar’s exorbitant cost even more.
Once you do get into combat, Drazhar is going to annihilate whatever he touches. He comes with both Klaivex powers (discussed in Part 2) and his Riposte rule lets him slap anyone who has the temerity to survive long enough to strike him. The Darting Strike rule is what really turns him into an assassin though. You generally won’t want to issue challenges with Drazhar, as that would let the heroic sergeant sacrifice his 1 wound on your many high strength, low AP attacks. Instead, use Darting Strike to place Drazhar in base contact with his target so that you can allocate hits to it. Either your opponent will use Look Out Sir!, sacrificing other squad members and increasing your combat resolution, or your target will face the full wrath of Drazhar.
By the same token, you should always escort Drazhar with a Klaivex (yet more cost!) to take challenges from those heroic sergeants and let the killing machine go about his business. Or, if you are set on a deathstar unit, Baron Sathonyx or Lady Malys (see separate entries) can add useful buffs to your cornerstone unit. It all drives up the cost though!
As with Incubi squads in general, Drazhar also has to watch out for being a victim of his own success. Very few squads will last more than a turn with him and his escort, leaving you stuck in the open with an army’s worth of gun barrels pointed your way. The other problem to watch out for is high toughness monstrous creatures, which will be difficult for you to wound but can squash you with ease.
LELITH HESPERAXStrengths: So many attacks! Massive WS and I, Quicksilver Dodge, Penetrating Blade, and she has grenades.
Weaknesses: Low S limits target she can take on and low T makes her vulnerable to instant death.
Wargear and Abilities: - Plasma Grenades. Lelith barely wears any clothes, let alone carrying wargear!... But nevertheless, she manages to secrete assault grenades somewhere about her person; remember that you can throw these, using her massive BS. She also has a shardnet and impaler hidden in her hair, so it is worth getting her into base-contact with a multi-attack model so that she can rob one of those, if the lucky fool survives her attacks.
- Quicksilver Dodge. A handy invulnerable save. Not enough to let her weather a storm of fire though.
- The Penetrating Blade. No need to worry about terminator armour...
- A League Apart. More attacks for the close combat queen
How to use: Get her into close combat and watch the fur fly! Lelith is much better value than Drazhar, coming in at about the same price as a fully tooled Archon. Even so, at that price the Archon has a Phantasm Grenade Launcher to help out his squad, a low AP weapon which causes instant death, potentially increasing strength and a better save (until he fails one).
Lelith, on the other hand, has loads of attacks and doesn’t care about the opponent’s armour, although her low S means she should avoid T5+. Her dodge save keeps working after failing one, but at standard DE toughness that one fail can easily lead to her instant demise. Although Lelith can dodge bullets, she will only dodge about half of them, so try to avoid letting her get shot up.
Like Drazhar, Lelith needs a delivery system, but she isn’t limited in the squads she can join. Wyches offer good synergy, Wracks can offer a higher majority toughness or Grotesques bump that even higher. Whatever squad you escort her with, it’s worth having a sergeant-equivalent to take those unwanted challenges and let her single-handedly slay the entire squad whilst the Independent Character in charge piles all his attacks into a 1-wound model. Due to her massive initiative, very little is going to flee from combat with Lelith without being cut down.
URIEN RAKARTHStrengths: High toughness (for a Dark Eldar), very survivable in assault, heals himself, buffs coven units.
Weaknesses: Moderate WS, I and A, poor save, can’t deal with 2+ save.
Wargear and Abilities: Rakarth carries an improved flesh gauntlet, a casket of flensing and a clonefield (all of which are covered in section 2 of the guide). Notably, he does not carry grenades, so will strike last if charging through cover, and his only AP1/2 item is short-ranged, single use and not guaranteed to do what you need it to.
- Meld the Flesh. An awesome ability that allows Rakarth to keep regaining lost wounds, as long as he’s not dead.
- Father of Pain. Allows the big boss-Haemi to hand out some free pain tokens to coven units at the beginning of the game.
How to use: Urien Rakarth is not so much a close-combat assassin as the king of challenge tarpits. His own low strength and lack of power weapon make it difficult for him to land a wound (although if he ever does, it will insta-kill). However, he is fairly tough, he has feel-no-pain, his clonefield lets him shrug off a few wounds every turn, and as long as he’s not dead, those wounds keep growing back. This makes him ideal for challenging your opponent’s chief killing machine (as long as it’s not S10 or carrying a Force Weapon) just to watch him spend the rest of the game trying to hack bits off your endlessly regenerating Haemi.
Rakarth is also useful for the advantages he brings to your other coven units. Handing out extra pain tokens before the game is great for giving a key unit that extra edge. If Rakarth also starts with that unit, they can easily begin the game with 3 tokens, which can make for a near unstoppable Grotesque deathstar.
Lists which include Rakarth can also choose to upgrade any Grotesques to have a higher strength (helpfully, this option is on p.83, in the army list, not on p.54 with the rest of his special rules). This is well worth it to get the Grots to a strength where they can insta-kill humans and improves their chances of popping vehicle rear armour.
Rakarth does bring some unique tricks to the party, but does so at a significant cost (more than a tooled Archon, but less than Vect or Drazhar). Compared to a Haemonculus Ancient, he has a higher toughness, a clone-field, and some special rules and improved wargear. Whether he’s worth it is up to the player.
DUKE SLISCUS THE SERPENTStrengths: Rending venomblades, Serpent’s Venom, Low Orbit Raid, Contraband. David Bowie in space!
Weaknesses: Like an Archon, but not quite as good.
Wargear and Abilities: - Serpent’s Bite. A couple of super-rending venomblades. These are what every Archon wants: a weapon which wounds on a fixed value but can also cut through terminator armour (sometimes).
- Serpent’s Venom. Note that this rule means that if you have any units of Kabalite Warriors or Trueborn in your force, then Sliscus must deploy with one of them. Whichever unit he starts with gets a buff to its poisoned shooting. Thing is, like a combat Archon, Sliscus isn’t going to want to hang around with the gunslingers for long. Remember that you can’t disembark and embark in the same turn, so the easiest thing is to start Sliscus with some foot Warriors/Trueborn who he ditches on Turn 1 to jump into a Raider of Venom carrying his escort.
- Low Orbit Raid. Lets certain vehicles in your forces have access to a special deployment option. In contrast to retrofire jets, which have a very similar effect, this rule will let passengers disembark on the turn that the vehicle arrives. This is a key advantage, because it protects them from the fireball when your paper planes get shot down.
- Contraband. An army containing Sliscus can influence the roll on the combat drugs table. This is probably the strongest reason to take him, as it massively reduces your chance of getting the 1 useless drug, and doubles your chance of getting that excellent extra pain token.
How to use: Sliscus is tooled out similarly to a close-combat Archon – everyone’s favourite forcefield, a slightly pointless (due to its range) pistol, an improved, sort-of-rending Venomblade and some grenades. He weighs in at 20pts more expensive than an Archon with the similar kit (no-one else has access to his swords), and for that you get lower WS, BS, W, I, A and Ld. His extra cost is paying for the special rules he can apply to the rest of your army.
Despite the fact that he is not as good as an Archon, Sliscus is still pretty handy in an assault, and has the advantage that his weapons can deal with 2+ saves (if you get the right roll) and high toughness opponents. Sure, he has fewer wounds, but actually, any Archon has pretty much had it if his Shadowfield goes, so it arguably doesn’t make such a huge difference. On the table, Sliscus should therefore be used like pretty much any other close combat Archon. You should note his lack of Phantasm Grenade Launcher if he joins a unit that doesn’t carry their own grenades. His big attraction, though, is the aforementioned special rules.
To get the most value out of Sliscus then, you should take at least one unit of splinter armed Warriors or Trueborn (the bigger the unit, the more return on your investment), and as many units as possible which use combat drugs. Low Orbit Raid is a useful trick, but probably won’t influence you to take any more or different vehicles to what you would want in your list anyway.
KHERADRUAKH THE DECAPITATORStrengths: High strength, power weapon which may cause instant death, special deployment option.
Weaknesses: Expensive, no grenades, low toughness, poor save.
Wargear and Abilities: - Decapitator. A power weapon that sometimes causes instant death.
- Shadow Stalker. Kheradruakh has a unique method of deployment. The inherent weaknesses in this rule are discussed later...
- Hunter of Heads. Allows Kheradruakh to gain bonuses in assault against his nominated target. Unfortunately, this special rule is also unlikely to be of much practical use to you because of the way targeting attacks in assault changed in 6e.
- Altered Physique. Other than the above, he is basically a Mandrake with better stats, with all their standard abilities. His slight perk is that the Altered Physique special rule means that he came use his baleblast as soon as he arrives.
How to use: Kheradruakh costs almost as much as Sliscus, but with essentially none of the perks. His rules seem to suggest that he could be a sort of assassin, able to deploy almost anywhere and gain preferred enemy against certain opponents, but the devil is in the detail: he has a low toughness and poor (but invulnerable) save, just asking your enemy to hose down this lone character before he can assault. If by some miracle he survives the enemy turn, he will probably have to strike last as the target character will have grabbed some cover. And he can only use the preferred enemy rule if he can direct his attacks specifically against that target, ie. if the character is not in a unit. Kheradruakh cannot issue or accept challenges, because he’s not a character, so can’t single his opponent out that way. At least he starts with a pain token, so he can get one turn of shooting off before he meets his end...
In writing this series of tactica, I have tried to be even-handed and see the possible uses of every unit in the army list, but the concept of Kheradruakh as some sort of fear-inspiring assassin from the shadows has been entirely hamstring by the practicalities of his rules. I have to award this character the prize of Most Useless entry in the army list.
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I've hit the character limit, so I can't post Baron Sathonyx until someone replies!
