Welcome to the 5th edition Dark Eldar guide.

This guide is intended for both beginning and more experienced dark eldar players.
First is the beginner's section, which includes the units and tactics which are easiest to use or which are generally the most competitive.
The advanced section, which comes later, is for those who want to experiment with some of the dark eldar options which require more tactics, or which are just considered more risky.  Advanced entries will be marked as (advanced).

There have been some fine guides made in the past, but I've never seen one which was all inclusive.  Not to mention with the advent of 5th edition many things have changed for both the army list, and the tactics which are most effective.
I fully intend to update this whole guide if a new edition or a new codex is released.  Assuming I'm still active in this forum.

Will this be the final version? Ofcourse not! This is a work in progress, and I'm fully open to any suggestions and may continue to change anything that needs to be updated.

DON't post in here, if you have any suggestions, questions, etc post them in here or pm them to me.

If you have unit pictures like the ones used in the beginning of some units sections, send me a pm with your pictures!If you have good competitive army lists you want to share, send me a pm! If they're good I'll add them!

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Full Dark Eldar Guide

If I write (advanced) somewhere it means that option is NOT for beginners, it's one of the hard/risky options to use. Some units may even be fully advanced as they're difficult to use no matter what you do to them.

Before we begin, here's a much needed answers to many player's first crucial question:
I'm new to Dark Eldar, what to buy first? How do I start a Dark eldar army?

Click on any unit title to link directly to that unit

HQ (1-2)

Dark Eldar Lord : Archon/dracon
Retinue :Incubi/warriors
Heamonculus

Wych lord: Archite, Dracite (wych cult only)

All weapons and wargear.

Special characters:
Asdrubael Vect, Kruellagh the Vile, Lelith Hesperax, Drahzar, Urien Rakarth, The Decapitator; Mandrake Champion

Elites (1-3)

Wyches
Warp Beasts
Grotesques
Mandrakes

Troops (2-6) ,these are the only "Scoring" units within 5th Ed, although other units may contest objectives.

Warrior Squads
Raider Squads

Fast Attack (0-3)

Reaver Jetbikes
Hellions

Heavy Support (0-3)

Ravager
Talos
Scourges

Forgeworld
Dark Eldar flyers : Raven, Razorwing, Void Dragon Phoenix

Dedicated Transport

Raider

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General Dark Eldar & Tactica info

What's the big difference between a kabal and a wych cult?

General advice about Dark Eldar

WebWayPortal tactica: All about the Webway Portal

Which units are most effective and least effective?

What are the best ways to capture/control/contest objectives?

Annihilation guidelines

I've been playing during a few years now, my Dark Eldar army isn't that big, I want to increase it.
What do I buy next?

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Dark Eldar armylists & Tactics

Before starting talking about real army lists I 'd like to mention various types of famous Dark Eldar armies. These are theme armies, they focus on some aspect of the Dark Eldar in an extreme way.

Themed armylists.

Webway Army

Dark Eldar Airforce

Splinter-O-Doom

Army of Shadows

Heamonculus Coven

Raiderless Force


Most common Dark Eldar lists: this will be a description of the most common DE lists containing the most powerful DE units and leaving out the less good units. This is what most of us advice beginners to change in their lists. These are also the most powerful types of lists in most cases used for powergaming (for those who think winning is all that matters!)
If you're a beginner, you wish to make and list and want extra advice to be sure it's going to be good. Read this!
These will serve as guidelines for making the best use or your Force Organisation slots and using the best DE unit.
Most common Dark Eldar lists

Dark Eldar Apocalypse!

For anyone crazy enough to have a big Dark Eldar army.

Apocalypse Datasheets

Tactics and advice

Lord's renitue : Incubi/Warriors


Pictures :Da Skwire, tryanotherone,Rob Bradbury

(Lord formations underneath incubi/warriors)

Incubi:

Pros: Excellent cc fighters, good armor.
Cons: Expensive in pts. (need a raider in most cases.)

These together with the lord make it one of the best cc units ever, correctly upgraded they can take care of anyone and anything!
They're expensive, but worth it.
Look at the regular incubi. He has 2 A, powerweapon of S 4!a good save of 3+. He pretty much is the corrected/better version of a sybarite.
They're also pretty cheap compared to what a punisher + T H costs for a normal character.They're worth those 2 pieces of wargear on their own.
They're there to make sure the lord doesn't die too easily or too fast.

Besides the cc incubi you have the shooting incubi, with either a blaster or shredder. The use of those weapons is explained in here
This incubi is more expensive, doesn't have a powerweapon (or the S4, but still has 2 A.

Next to that you have retinue warriors.
What are they good for? To carry big guns (DLs or SCs)
A warrior with SR won't do much in a retinue expect serve as canon fodder. These weapons teams are pretty cheap and give the whole retinue a nice amount of firepower. Their use will be discussed a bit further.

Raider!
Most lord HQs need a raider. The reason why is very simple. They always need mobility. The HQ will always be one of the main offensive forces. You'll need him in the centre of the battle, to either shoot or go into cc.

Anything you need to know about the raider = > here

Incubi vs disintegrators.
Incubi take care of heavy armoured enemies faster than diss do.
Why? Pretty obvious, the number of attacks they have! The lord will do his nice share of damage as well.
If everything goes well you can take care of a whole squad in one turn, while it might take several with your diss.


Normal CC lord:

This is the common use of a lord.
It consists of about 5 incubi + lord, raider.
It can take care of most enemy units., the raider gives it support and makes sure it gets into cc. it's mainly cc focussed.

Pros: Very effective cc unit
cons: Expensive in pts. You'll be in trouble if it doesn't get in cc and dies in vain.

Optional
: -2 incubi with blasters (or even shredders, but remember, shredders are anti-infantry, incubi normally take care of heavy-infantry.)
-2 DLs or 2 SCs it's a good way to shoot at a unit before going into cc. These options do make the unit shooty  and cc at the same time, but they make the whole unit more expensive.
Having 2 blasters + 2 DLs is a nice amount of firepower.
You can either just have 2 SC (which is very cheap), or just 2 blasters or the whole package depending on how much pts you want to spend in the unit.
If you have doubts about this don't do it and keep the unit cc focussed.
You can either sacrifice these guys first and keep the cc power, or sacrifice them last to have a nice firepower after you're done with the cc.

Pros : Makes the unit both powerful in shooting and cc
If used well this unit will be = 2 units
Cons : Hard to make judgment at times. You don't always know if you want to shoot and cc. Even more expensive than the normal cc HQ.


heavy CC lord: (advanced)

Almost same as above, but with more guys:
You can have lord, 5-7 incubi, raider, Drahzar, (master incubi with combat drugs)
The master incubi doesn't much better than 2 incubi, but he really is.
With combat drugs he'll have 4 A of S 5, power weapon , +1A charge
This incubi is more expensive and more effective than any incubi, he almost will look like a little DE lord.
You can add some firepower if you want, but don't add too much, this units can turn out very expensive.
In most cases your lord and drahzar remain alive on their own (with master incubi at times and may some surviving incubi)
Lord and drahzar are a unit on their own, these 2 can even kill a hive tyrant in 1-2 turns.

Pro: Perfect to take care of a various enemy main units.
Cons: VERY expensive , you'll have to know what you're doing...


ravager lord: (advanced)

Basically this unit is a lord with warriors with DLs in a raider.
Lord= archon. This is a shooty unit, you don't need a super heavy cc lord. You can add a min to your archon like: agoniser + splinter pistol.
He'll be a decent cc fighter, better than any sybarite, but nowhere as good as most DE lord. He doesn't need to be good in cc, his unit is all about the DLs.
Remember the raider is not a ravager, it will die faster. Best is to add night shields for sure, it's going to stay long range anyways and the shield will protect it nicely at times.
Warrior squad size can go from 5-9, they're cheap, 9 is the safest way to increase survivability.
Optional: 2 incubi blasters.
This will change everything greatly. This suddenly becomes heavelier armed, but it's still short range. Night shields will suddenly become less useful and the risk of you being shot down are greater are shorter range. It's not worth it in most case, but it can be eventually.

Pros: You suddenly have a new ravager! It still has some cc power in it.
Cons: more expensive than a ravager!

imagine you have 6 warrior/raider squads already + 3 ravagers but still want more there's your answer.
You may use this squad on foot too I suppose... you don't always need mobility, though it is advised.
If you want a full splinter-O-doom (6 full warrior squads of 20 warriors each) and still want more warriors you can get them here! and make it a crazy total of 140 warriors!

Weapons:
Special character weapons
-Agoniser: One of the best weapons in the whole game.
It's almost like a fast powerfist. It will wound on 4+ no matter if you're facing a hive tyrant or a dumb space marine. Besides that you don't allow saves and can glance a vehicle on 6. The downside would be the point cost.
It is quite expensive, so don't give it to all your characters.
It's not because a sybarite has an agoniser that he'll be able to kill anyone. He might just die in vain and do nothing, thus making the whole + 20pts cost completely useless.
-cc weapon: just any standard weapon, used for cc. This is the way to have a cheap cc character. Downside would be it's nothing special, do you really want to have a cheap sybarite?
-Destructor: This corrosive acid will take care of anything if you're lucky when you roll the AP. It's the most recommended weapon for a heamonculus. 2 downsides are that if you're unlucky you may not kill much, it also needs to be fired at short distance. In certain squads that can be a problem, you don't always want your warrior squad to be too close to the enemy.
It's also heamonculi only, you'll have a limited amount of these.
I like to compare this weapon to an uber flamethrower.
It has the same S as most flamethrowers, but the AP is better.
How easy/difficult is it to throw a 6+ or even 5+? VERY!
We all know it, that's the save for most of our troops lol XD.
Now this applies to the roll of AP, meaning in most cases it's = to 4 or less. If you're lucky you'll keep throwing 3 or less and nearly all saves will be nullified.
-Poison blades: great addition for any sybarite. It can be as affective as any punisher or agoniser. The advantage is the low point cost.
Disadvantages are: no extra attack, saves are allowed
-Power weapon: This is just common power weapon all races have access to. The big advantage is that you don't allow saves, but the big disadvantage with the DE is that they only have S3. Thus this weapon is mostly effective against T3 opponents/armies.
-Scissorhands: This is the better version of poison blades. Besides having the 2+ to wound, you also still have +1 Attack.
Downsides are that this weapon is only for heamonculi and it still allows saves.
-Splinter pistol: The common pistol you add to any cc weapon. it allows you to shoot at short distance and gives you +1A in most cases.
It's not as powerful as it used to be, it only shoots once in this edition.
-Stinger: It's also heamonculi only again. It's not as attractive as the heamonculus destructor, but it's able to kill a nice bunch of guys.
The big downside is that if it doesn't hit you got nothing.
If it does explode, you can expect some nice enemy casualties. It will still inflict less casualties than the destructor
-Punisher: A nice two handed weapon. Best combined with Tormentor Helm(+1 A) (BUT it does make the character more expensive, so If you don't want too high point costs, don't take the T H)
It's a better version of a power weapon, but it does add +1 S, thus making it effective against almost all armies,unlike the regular power weapon. Downside is that it's a two handed weapon...but the T H can take care of that, like I explained.
You also depend on that S value greatly. The agoniser doesn't care about S. It does have more attacks, but the punisher allows you to throw 3+ or even 2+ to wound instead of the 4+ from the agoniser.
Don't forget that one agoniser is cheaper than a punisher + TH.
The best use of the punisher is against fairly low Toughness, that way you may have to roll 2+ to wound and no saves allowed. (that's when marines feel weak)

Normal weapons
-hellglaive (HG) :+1S in the first cc turn. It also has a SR in it. You can shoot with it and go into cc. The 2 big downsides is that it's not a power weapon and the +1S bonus only lasts for 1 turn. Hellions however do have the hit & run attack rule.
-Splinter riffle (SR): This is the standard weapon for the Dark Eldar armies. The AP is pretty normal, the S of the weapon is only 3, so you can only kill very few soldiers with it. This isn't the main weapon in the squad anyways. Don't underestimate the killing potential of this weapon, but don't expect too much from it either.
-Splinter canon (SC): This is a better version of the SR, not only does it have a better S of 4, but it also shoots 4 times, thus making it the perfect anti-infantry weapon. This weapon cannot take care of heavily armoured targets.
-Blaster (Bl): A short range very powerful weapon. Can serve as anti-tank, or anti heavy-infantry. The big downsides is that it's short range and it only shoots once. Choose your targets carefully!
-Shredder (Sh?): This is one of the underrated weapons.
The new blast rules make it a more reliable anti-infantry weapon.
I suppose it can also be used against light vehicles. The big advantages are the blast and the S 6. (Remember, new blast rules are way better than in previous editions, all enemies under the blast are auto-hit)
The big downsides are: it doesn't have an AP and you can still miss with your blast.
-Dark lance (DL): This is a very common weapon in any Dark Eldar army.
Warriors, raider and ravagers can carry it...
It's the obvious anti-tank weapon. It only shoots once like the blaster, but is a logn range weapon.
It's almost impossible to find a DE army without any DL. Be sure you have enough of these in your army...
Don't forget it's not just good against tanks. Hive tyrants, carnifexes and any MC creatures will die when they wounded a few times.
-Disintegrator (dis): This weapon has 2 modes to fire. Both are very effective in this edtion. The long range mode uses a blast (which does fine in this new edition) and also has a better AP. The shorter range mode shoots 3 times and has a slightly higher AP and lower S 4, but it's still good to take care of most heavy armored enemies. (marines hates this weapon).
The big downside with this weapon is that you don't have it as much as you have DLs. Only ravagers and raiders can carry it.
People can start choosing to take more of these than DLs, but don't forget you'll always need to have those precious anti-tank DLs.
Sidenote about all blasters, Dark lances and disintegrators:
Don't use them to kill regular low armoured infantry, that's just a terrible waste...Do it only if you don't have a heavy armoured target in range.

Wargear:

-Gruesome Talisman :Useless in he 5th edition! YAY ! reminds me of the fact that gw hasn’t given us a new codex in 10 years >:  (
-Plasma Grenades : This bonus allows you to strike with your initiative. It's a very cheap upgrade and worth it when there is cover!
-Haywire Grenades : Cheap and allows you to kill a tank. Only take it if you do intend to use it. I find it nice how you can end up killing a tank with a lot of luck for only a few pts...
Downsides are that you won't use it a lot...You may not need it at all in most cases. DLs are the main anti-tank weapons.
-Archangel of Pain : Not bad at all, It allows you to pin down an enemy unit, just like the terrofex. The perfect way to give your own warriors more time to take care of other units.
Downsides: It doesn't kill anything, some tactics may not use it at all.
It's also only short range.
-Hell Mask, only for independent characters...
In most cases it's not good at all to have a character without some form of retinue. Attacker must pass a Ld test if he fails he can only hit on 6...
A lot of units are fearless, thus making this mask useless.
-Tormentor Helm : a perfect combination with a punisher( +1A) !  Downside is the pointcost. It's cheap, but do can you really afford to take it. You will in most cases, but don't forget that you're already paying for a punisher. (punisher+ helm+ extras = quite a lot of pts)
It's not advised, you may make the regular leader characters too expensive. It's still perfectly possible.
-Trophy Rack : a nice addition to your char, but do you really want to waste your pts on it ? It's cheap and does increase you leadership. By the time you'll be in cc you'll have lost a few guys already. Your Ld won't change that much in most cases.
-Soulseeker Ammunition : this is one extra bonus I enjoy giving to my sybarites. It boosts up shooting nicely, having an extra reroll is nice, but the main advantage is how it disables the cover saves.
The best option is to give it to a character with a splinter pistol as the range and number of shots will be better.
It’s perfect to boost up your shooting power. It's still worth 10 pts and should be used on a sybarite that intends to be doing some nice shooting. It's not that useful on characters that are focussed towards cc.
It's also mainly effective again armies with low saves (and low T)
Remember you're only shooting with a splinter riffle (or pistol) You can expect to be doing some heavy marines killing. It's of no use against heavy armoured armies.
-Animus Vitae : Gives you one of the best bonuses ever, use it if you have spare points. + 1 S + 1 WS. The big downside is that you have to kill to get it. By the time you have killed you'll also have suffered casualties in most cases. It doesn't change that much either.
Remember to use it as fully as possible. Best way is to use it with a punisher and combat drugs (giving a total of +2 S)
Having an AV with an agoniser is useless as S doesn't matter.
The bonus you get isn't that cheap either. 15 pts is not nothing.
-Hellion Skyboard : It increases your save. It add mobility to your character. it also allows deepstrike and gives your character a "jink" save of 5+. It's not that useful in a normal squad, don't forget that all squad members will have to move at normal speed even if the leader is "faster"
Allows you to put a heamonculus or lord into a hellion squad, which makes possible to boost hellions and finally make it into a useful unit.
-Reaver jetbike : a much used item, who doesn’t have at least one HQ on reaver ?
It does boost your leader considerably. S +1,E +1 and save (4+) are boosted.
The character's speed is increased as well. Don't forget reaver jetbikes count as eldar jetbikes in this edition. They get an extra movement during the assault fase and characters are allowed to carry 2 handed weapons.
Same as principle as hellions, A HQ reaver is used to boost up a reaver squad. It's rare to see a HQ reaver alone, it's way more fragile alone.   
-Terrorfex : the perfect toy to stop enemy units, Several of these can pin down the enemy army pretty badly. Now you have to see if your tactics really need it. A heavy cc force might not need. Shooty DE armies always find terrofexes useful, they want to avoid cc and the terrofex can pin down some dangerous enemy units while you kill all other units.
In most cases you'll need more than one, meaning this will be a pretty expensive wargear (since you prob want 2-3 of them 30-45 pts)
-shadow Field : Taking a lord without this doesn’t make any sense…
Yes! It's expensive, but it gives your char a 2+ invuln save!
If it gets destroyed your char will only have his normal low save.
This is the main reason why archons and dracon need it.
They cost so much already and are so powerful, you need to make sure they survive the longest possible, your normal save is nearly useless.
If you're lucky your Lord will remain untouched during a whole battle. If you aren't lucky, his shadow field may break and he may lose wounds and may even die.
Downsides are like I said: If save is failed you're screwed, it's fairly expensive and you can only have one. If you have 2 lords the second one will be considerably weaker as he won't have this precious 2+ invuln save.
-Crucible of Malediction : A weird item…Not really that effective, the main reason why you would use it is for pure “fun “
Some armies don't have psykers, some do, but you still may only kill a low pts cost psyker. In extreme cases you'll be able to kill a farseer, but these are very rare cases...It could be that nothing happens.
Don't forget that it also is more effective in short range.

-Combat Drugs : a must for most lords. It can also be given to normal sybarites and succubi to boost them. But you have to realise what you’re doing...it’s  like a double bladed sword.
It's a very expensive, dangerous wargear option. In most cases you'll only give it to your lord.
Best is to use 2 options and roll 2 dices. Changes that you roll a double are quite low. (remember double is - 1 W, triple is death! )
Safest is to just take 1 option.
You can take 3 or more options, but that's only at your own risk. Chances that you roll a double or triple are quite high with 3 or more dices.
Personally I always go for either 1 or 2. 1 if I want to be sure I don't lose any wounds, 2 if I'm okay with it. (you can play riskier near the end of the battle in most cases where your lord still hasn't lost any wounds due to his shadow field.)
The more gutsy people may take 3 or more...but frankly speaking it doesn't make much sense in most cases...chance of you being killed are too high. I do it if I'm fooling around and I want to have a nice battle ending cc.
All Combat Drugs options:
a)assault movement of 12", retreat of 3D6
Very useful if you need that extra movement to get into cc.
Take it if you want to get into a cc and you usually couln't with the usual 6" assault movement.
b)+1WS
DE already have very nice WS and their more powerful characters have even better WS. It won't change much if you have to roll 3+ or 4+
Because other options are more attractive and drugs are dangerous, this option isn't used that much.
c)+1 S
Useless when you have an agoniser, very useful when you have a punisher! A must if you have a punisher!
d)Strikes always first in cc
Same as WS, except DE characters have the highest Initiatives in all the game. This choice will only serve well against special cases, like banshees who also strike first...In most cases your init will be higher and you'll strike first anyways.
e)re-rolls all failed Attacks in cc
Very useful attractive choice, but you have to see if you can afford it!
You can't take too many choice when you're using combat drugs.
f)+ 1 A
Useful in most cases, same as option e)
Remember you can't take all nor can you take too many drug options.
Let's suppose you have an agoniser, you can get into cc. Best to take are e), f) and??? a) or d) if you need it or take b), but the safer option would just be to take e) and f)
Let's suppose you have a punisher, you can get into cc. Best to take are e), f) , and the c)! and??? a) or d) if you need it or take b). Here you got a problem. You'll need c) for sure, then you'll want one or 2 of all the other options...e) and f) are very attractive, a),b),d) are attractive depending on where you are and who you are facing.
Even if you're in the worst position ever don't kill yourself with drugs...

-Xenospasm : People should use it more. It’s an excellent short range shooting weapon! Perfect before going into cc. It has a nice AP, blast which is good in this edition. The only downside is the short range.
-Webway portal : A risky move that can pay off later in the game. This edition made it worse than ever. Try it at your own risk !
All about the Webway Portal
-Nightmare doll : It does nothing in this edition anymore...a sad reminder of an urgent need for a new nicely updated dark eldar codex.
-Mask fo the damned : if I’m not mistaken this is for independent chars only… it’s very rare to have any DE char all alone somewhere on the battlefield…Pretty much the same as the hell mask
-Vexanthrope : almost the same as hell mask. Consequences are just slightly different.

Warp beast! Grrr!


Pictures by the kharandhil, the kharandhil

Pros: A LOT of attacks, a very cheap agoniser succubus, a fast unit,overall a cheap unit
cons:very cheap armor, don't have "wych save" no firering weapon, small number and you may experience trouble in getting them into cc at times.

It’s a very good choice, you get an enormous amount of attacks, even a very cheap succubus for only 75 pts!
Don't forget they don't count as a Elite slot, in fact they occupy not force organisation slot at all.
You can remove 2 warp beasts, but it’s best to keep them at max. They’re cheap anyway.
Now the “only” problem is getting them into cc.
Having a lot of other cc choices should take care fo that. They’re slower than raiders anyway, so raiders will be targeted first for sure.
They’re still pretty fast and they benefit from cover saves.
Another problem would be; can I afford to take these 75 pts?
It only may be 75 pts, but it's 75 pts very easily lost.
They may have a lot of attacks, but they'll die easily ,because of their low armor.
These are certainly recommend if you already have 1-2 wych squads.

Mandrakes !

picture by Da Skwire

(Advanced)
This whole section is fully advanced. The big downsides of mandrakes are pretty serious. If they're badly used they will pretty much be a waste of points. You have to understand their use and roles clearly and they can die pretty quickly and easely.
Using this unit proves a lot, you're willing to risk a lot, you're just trying something new or you just know what you're doing...

pros: Special deployment, good cover save.
cons: No special cc weapon, low armor in cc, averagely good in cc, no raider!

They’re basically like better sybarites without any wargear. They don’t need a raider in most cases and will get into cc anyway.
Why?
You deploy them in front, they are allowed to move over a distance of 18" (3*6") You'll have to deploy them at the end of the 3th turn no matter what.
They almost always attack first and have an OK amount of attacks.
They also have a very nice cover save once they’re somewhere in some cover. In most cases 2+ whenever they're in somewhere.
They have an extra 2+ on each cover save, so a 3 cover save will become => 3+ and all 4+ cover saves will become 2+ XD.
Now they don’t have powerweapons and their normal cc save isn’t that good at all. That’s the reason why they can’t take on anyone, but they can go anoy any enemy unit.
They’re the perfect unit to go into cc while other DE units arrive. In other words, they’re a nice support unit.
The trick is knowing where to deploy and where to lead them too. With time you can notice how they’re better at handling some units. You can put some nice pressure on the foe before you’re going to deploy them. You can learn to play with than in order to deceive him.
As you all know you have 3 mandrakes on the table and move them around. They can’t attack, but can’t be shot at either. The enemy knows you’ll deploy them somewhere near one of the 3 mandrakes...but you make it seem like you’re going to deploy them somewhere ,but you put them somewhere else. Basically you’ll mess up his plan.

One example: I have 3 mandrakes, 1 is alone, no enemy around, second is near terminators, third is near a tactic squad. Logic would tell you to get the tactic SM, as they weaker, but you still go after the termies. He wanted to attack with the termies, but you go into cc. Another wych squad goes take care the tactic squad. Your lord goes to kill another tactic squad. DLs are used to kill a few termies. Mandrakes go back into cc with the termies and both are stuck again..., DE take care of some other marines and next turn a few DLs are shot at the termies and the lord comes in to finish them off...All drakes may be dead (or a few survived) but termies didn’t do anything...
You can use these same tactics , but you may be able to kill if you’re facing an army with less good saves.
Same can be done with tau, except that crisis suits are not that good in cc and firewarriors die even faster in cc than a normal sm squad.

Since Mandrakes are not ubergood killers you should use too many squads. 2 squads max for cover on 2 sides. 3 may be too much. , but it you really insist ! Why not ! Remember even a 10 man mandrake squad won't be a vicious killer. You may be able to kill some weak cc units, but you'll die trying to take on too strong cc units.

No raider!
This is one of the big downsides and it's more related to the enemy tactics. What if your enemy stays behind and doesn't go forward?
Your mandrakes will never get to him in 3 turns and they'll be stuck half way...You can provide them with another raider if you have one, but even so transporting them won't assure your victory. They're only averagely good in cc.

No damage, fast death, they never got into cc : (
at times mandrakes may not kill anything at all or barely anything. Take marines for example; if they're lucky no mandrake will kill any of them.
Their save in cc only is 5+, they're made to be used in cc, but they'll die pretty easely in cc too!
Specialized cc units will eat these guys alive! You don't even need that good cc units to take care of them. Take a squad of kroots. Each has 2 +1A if they charge. Kroot units are often larger than mandrakes squads, and have more attacks...No matter what ...mandrakes will die in a cc turn vs kroots...1 or 2 turns and they're gone...kroots however are way cheaper!
Like I said, the deployment may fail, if it does you may end up with mandrakes somewhere they shouldn't be and be shot into pieces...

Raider Squads!

picture by Saucey


Pros: mobile & fast, heavy weaponry.
Cons: Small numbers, vulnerable against most medium-heavy weapons, very fragile skimmer
If the raider is destroyed it could have serious repurcussions on your warriors on board.
 
Same goes as for warrior squads:
This is the main body of the Dark Eldar forces in this new edition.
There is a big focus on troop, thus it's best to have a min of 3 troop choices, but I recommend to always go for a max number of troop choices.
This will also depend on how many points you're playing, but any army of 1500-2000 pts or higher should highly consider having max number of 6 troop choices. They're a very important offensive part of any Dark eldar army. They're able to kill anything from tanks to light infantry depending on what weapons they're equiped with.

Before Going into weapons I 'd like to talk a bit about the raider squad sybarite.

All uses and wargear or sybarites can be found back in the
Warrior squads section.
Besides all that I'll go further into having this leader in a raider squad:
I'll make you remember a few extra things.
A raider squad is the uber example of a shooty unit.
It's not supposed to go into cc at all, in fact, the raider has to be destroyed or the warriors have to get off the raider to be able to go in cc. In most good scenarios your raider should remain intact and your warriors on it, this means there's no cc at all! Both warrior and raider squads are shooting units they have no reason to go in cc, even with a syabrite.

The raider
For detailed info go here
How does having a raider change a warrior squad?
Advantages: very mobile, fast, as weird as it may sound, a raider squad is quite hard to shoot down. You could almost say that the raider is a way to increase the armor of the warriors. The raider does have a Dark lance which allows to still have 2 DLs just like the normal warrior sniper squad. You can always change the DL into disintergrator.µ
Warriors may still remain alive after the raider gets shot down (meaning that the raider will have taken heavy fire and was destroyed,thus sparing the warriors from taking that same enemy fire.
Disadvantages: Smaller amount of assault weapons, smaller squad numbers. Raider may explode! (possibility of causing losses among the warriors), loses DL once raider explodes.

Raider squad vs ravager
A sniper gunboat has nearly the same role as a ravager.
It just has less weapons ,it has the same movement, but the armor is very different. A sniper gunboat can be cheaper than a ravager too, but the best reason to prefer a gunboat to a ravager is the fact that it's a troop and only troops can score in the 5th edition! Ravagers don't take objectives...If you have the max troops you can take ravagers without any problem.

Reminder to all the new guys!
Don't forget you can have ONLY one or the following weapons one each raider squad: shredder, blaster, dark lance, splinter canon
The only legal and possible weapon options are:
-1 splinter canon, 1 blasters
-1 splinter canon, 1shredder
-1 dark lance, 1 blasters
-1 dark lance, 1shredder
-1 splinter canon,
-1 dark lance,
-1 blasters
-1shredder
I found that this had to be mentioned, because new dark eldar player still come up with raider squads with 2 blasters, or 2 dark lance, ect
Those weapon combinations are illegal!

Gunboat formations
(gunboat = a raider squad)

Before naming all formations I'll first mention 3 things
Squad size: 5-10. 5 is a minimum, 10 is the max. You take 10 to be sure your warriors do survive some time after the crash. 5 warriors may all die in the crash of the raider...The small number of warriors is a serious disadvantage, that's why it's advised to have full raider squads.
minimal raider squads are only perfectly acceptable in small battles.
Sybarite: always optional, but remember what I said here above. Having no sybarites at all in any raider squad is perfectly possible.
Heamonculus: Don't forget you can always add a heamy in here for some extra firepower. Here you might even drop his scissorhands to keep him 100% shooty.

Sniper Gunboat
5-10 warriors, raider , 1 DL
It's the same as the normal sniper squad, but in more mobile version.
It may move and shoot unlike the normal sniper squad.
Like I said it does have more protection, meaning you may be more aggressive with it. But you can still use it long range, but keep moving it each turn. You'll be able to keep shooting each turn and still move...
This is one of the raiders you may want to keep with a DL. That way the role of this vehicle will remain 100% pure.

Role? Mainly kill tanks (and heavy-infantry)

Heavy sniper
Same as above, with one extra weapon.
5-10 warriors, raider, 1 DL, 1 blaster
This still is a sniper squad, but it may be more aggressive as it has an extra weapon. Eventually it can make a total of 3 S8 weapons.
If you change the raider DL =>disintegrator you'll have yourself a anti heavy-infantry with 2 S8 shots + shots from diss (3 or a blast)
Do remember that since you have to get closer that this is a riskier unit.
Long range is safer and will keep your raider alive longer.

Role: Anti heavy-infantry and anti-tank

Gunboat
5-10 warriors, raider with either DL or dis, 1 SC, 1 blaster/shredder optional.
You have the same problem when you add the Shredder/blaster as above:
A raider who needs to get close will also be more vulnerable.
Having just a SC will keep it a medium range shooter.
Having either a DL or dis on your raider depends from whether you want the raider to be more anti-infantry or still have some anti-tank potential.

Role:
A raider + SC (+ shredder) will be effective against light infantry (the shredder will increase its anti-infantry power)
The raider + SC + blaster will be anti infantry as well, but with potential of killing medium or even heavy-infantry too.
Here again this is the uber example of the flexibility of the Dark Eldar

Combining gunboats
What's the best way to combine gunboats?
Depends a lot from what you have in your other army choices.
Same as with warriors, be sure you have enough anti-tank and anti-infantry. You can mix all these, or just use one type of gunboat.

Gunboat combinations will be discussed in example lists and all tactica related sections of this DE guide.

Hellions

picture by Da Skwire

(advanced)
Ahaha this is probably the worst DE unit of the codex. You'll very rare use this unit, that is if you have the guts to use it. They have some very few useful uses, but even then you can't expect much of them...

Pros:cc unit, mobile,deep strike, splinter riffles, hit & run, combat drugs
Cons: very average cc and shooting, low armor

Hellions alone, without any upgrade, without a succubus?
Pretty much useless !
Why?

In terms of killing they can kill both in cc and with their splinter riffles.
Now we all know why the SR isn't the best shooting weapon ever...
It's not as bad as we all think, but it's not that good either
Hellions only get a +1S at the beginning of each assault phase. Okay after that they have the hit & run thing from the codex, but that doesn't help at all in killing, that's just fleeing safely. They only have one attack sadly. The only one who will be doing some real killing is the succubus, if there is one. Hellions may belong to the wyches cult, but they don't have that 4+invuln save wyches have, or have 2  weapons, or have wych weapons either...basically all the advantages are gone! Just one tiny advantage remained: the combat drugs might give a nice bonus to the whole squad.
Even with drugs this squad won't be the type to be able to take on anyone. Best type of units to attack would be very weak cc, low armor units.
Their survival is not too bad, but not excellent either. They have a 5+ invulnerable save against shooting.. a normal 5+ save in cc.
Now hellions can get cover like everyone else, but as we all know, going into cover with jetpacks has some risks...

Succubus : a must ! this leader upgrades the unit big time.
especially here. Hellions alone don't have many attack, or have the best cc weapon ever and have one of the worst saves ever.

Her common wargear : agoniser/punisher, splinter pistol
She gives possibility to attack stronger opponents as she has very good stats and a powerweapon. She’s the one who will be doing the real killing, with her power weapon.

Additional wargear :
trophies
haywire/plasma grenades.

One last fact to not forget about them : one hellion can carry either 1 shredder/blaster. (yeah only one puny assault weapon)

Hellions formations


Suicide bomber: A squad of 3 hellions, one with a blaster
No succubus, nothing big.
They deep-strike and shoot a vehicle with their only short distance assault weapon. Remember how the deep-strike may still go wrong and you can lose the entire unit...
Total cost = 64 pts.
This unit won't last long in most cases, as I've said before hellions are one of the worst DE units ever...HOWEVER don't forget this formation could end up surviving 1-2 turns and kill a big tank who is worth a lot of pts. Basicly this is a "all or nothing" tactic. Either it works or it doesn't...

CC hellions 1-3 hellions (more eventually). Succubus, 1 blaster/shredder.
This unit is all about the succubus. Once he/she is dead your unit becomes useless. The extra gun does increase the killing potential, the extra hellions serve as extra wounds for the succubus, you can go beyond 3 extra hellions, but remember how expensive they are!
HQ hellions: this is the type of hellion squad that will accompany a hellions lord or a hellion heamonculus. Here again the squad will be all about the succubus + lord or/and heamy. Having those 3 all together does create a fairly acceptable cc unit. It's not as good as a lord + incubi, but it's potential may still be greater than a wych squad!
A more extreme hellion HQ would be 2 lords + hellion squad.
The number of hellions you'll have in a HQ hellion squad will also need to be higher, as you're escorting a HQ and you need to keep him alive the longest. Do remember that the lord does get all the nice hellion boar advantages! (the biggest would be better save and mobility.
Note: this HQ squad is mobile, doesn't need a raider and is still very acceptable in cc. It may even take on heavy infantry. A lord and a succubus do have a big killing potential.

Hellions alone!
This is not a formation, it's just a reminder of what hellions are capable of. A hellion squad almost looks like a mobile warrior squad. It does look at lot like a scourge squad, who can also use its splinter riffle for cc and has access to combat drugs. Don't don't have any heavy weapons except one tiny assault weapon. I compare them to warriors of scourges, because that's pretty much what they're all about, but one thing is very different. Their point cost!
One warrior can shoot just like a hellion, he can assault like a hellion too, but won't have the +1S, both will die as quickly, but the hellion costs 10 more pts.  A scourges does have the mobility, but not the +1 S bonus and costs 2 pts cheaper.

Talos!


pictures by Da Skwire,Rob Bradbury, Saucey

Pros: fairly good in cc, nice anti-infantry firepower
cons: Unpredictable, vulnerable for heavy firepower.

A fine, but unpredictable cc unit. Don't forget how in this edition the talos is a Monstrous Creature. It's not some form of slow weird skimmer any more!
It serves as a firemagnet and has an ok firepower against infantry.
It can run now, meaning it’s faster than before! Always give it some kind of support.
Best way to support him is to take care of heavy firepower.

What is his job?
basically go forward as fast as he can and get his claws into the enemy!


How do you keep him alive and what's the best way to use him?
He'll suffer if he starts getting shot down by heavy firepower. Most anti-tank weapons have S8 of higher at times, meaning that in most cases they'll inflict a wound on 3+ maybe even 2+.
He only has T7, S6 weapons may still damage him too.
Lower S weapons may still hurt him on a 6+, this is not something you should completely forget. Losing one or 2 wounds due to bolter shots, that's a very big deal! But it won't happen that often if you calculate the odds.
Besides the heavy firepower you always have the pain in the ass powerclaws/fist other armies carry...It's best to avoid those whenever you can. You'll want to stay completely off a HQ with powerfist, but you may attack a leader with powerfist as he is considerably weaker and will die faster. Once he's dead, his whole remaining unit will be available to be a nice fun toy for your talos.
A Tactical SM units is the perfect lvl of enemy you should aim at with you talos. They're about the same pts cost or maybe a bit higher than the talos and he can take care of them pretty fast.
Consider just one turn: Talos moves towards them, shoots! He's lucky and kills 1-2 SM. He charges, he rolls D6 and gets 1charge + 3 A.
He kills 2-3 SM.
The talos will have taken care of 3-5 SM, that's a LOT for a marine squad. He may suffer a wound loss or 2 in worst cases, no loss at all lucky cases.

Some units have nothing to protect themselves from the talos in cc, don't have anything to hurt it in cc, they may still be expensive and have nice big guns. Those won't help them in cc and the talos will just ripp them into little pieces.

Be realistic, can he kill them all without suffering much?
He has a limited number of attack, unless he's uber lucky. He's not fully immortal. He may take on a powerful cc HQ and may win the cc if he is lucky. But it's not advised to do it. A good way to still take on such units is when he's not alone. 2 talos together or a talos + a lord + incubi can take on anyone easily, but a talos alone is still pretty limited in terms of battle effectiveness.

Wych Lords

pciture by Relentless

Pros: excellent in cc
Cons: expensive, needs a retinue

Kabal Lords vs. Wych Lords

The primary differences between these two is slightly higher initiative on the Archites and Dracites, and the different saving throws they get compared with Archons, and Dracons.  Wych Lords have a worse armor save, but also an invulnerable 'dodge' save in close combat.  Thus they are more vulnerable in general against shooting attacks and sturdier in assault. The worse save against shooting is not such a big deal, but it's a bigger deal than you think.
Consider "what if": saves are allowed (weapon has no AP)
Chances of the wych lord failing his save are higher than the kabal lord.
Furthermore, NOT all weapons have AP5 or better. Some still have AP6 or no AP at all. A 5+ save is a bad save, but it will save you at rare times

In addition, Wych Lords count as being equipped with Wych Weapons, which can give them a definite edge in close combat against enemy close combat specialists.  With a shadow field and/or a retinue, the save differences become less important, but can still make a difference if/when the shadow field fails. You'll remember this even more when you shadow field is destroyed and your second wych lord (if you're brave enough to take a second) won't have it to begin with.

The leader of a wych cult, escorted by a wych squad, not the uber powerful incubi. It's obvious that incubi are better than wyches.
A Lord with incubi will do better than a wych lord with wyches because of his incubi. Wyches are still very good cc fighters.
Wargear should be pretty much the same as archons/dracons

Wargear: agoniser/punisher(+ tormentor helm), combat drugs, splinter pistol, shadow field. That's the basic wargear. You can also use a reaver wych lord and give him a reaver jetbike, but his escort will then be composed of reavers rather than wyches. Respectively you can also give him a hellion board and his escort will be a hellion squad.

advanced additional wargear:
-Trophies
-Animus vitae
-Xenospasm or terrorfex or Archangel of Pain
-haywire grenades
-plasma grenades

There’s not much need for giving a wych lord a retinue, best is to just put her/him into a normal wych squad. The main reason to still get a retinue is to have over 6 wych squads. It does make a lot of difference whether you take a retinue wych squad for the lord instead of troops wyches. Remember that only wyches score, the wyches from a HQ won't...DON'T forget it!

A wych lord can’t go fight against anyone (well she can, but it’s not recommended).
The most dangerous (heavy armored) enemies should be taken care off with DLs and diss and blasters (from ravagers, raider, and warriors). A wych lord HQ is less reliable than a Kabal HQ.
(which is obvious since wyches < incubi)

Transport: Raider





Pictures by Relentless , Saucey, Khira'lyth,Da Skwire, Da Skwire,Rob Bradbury

Pros: Cheap, fast, skimmer, transports 10 Dark eldar, has a DL or dis
cons: Very fragile; can get shot down at any moment.

One of the best transport ever. They’re responsibly for the speed and firepower Dark Eldar are so famous for.
New 5th edition rules allow us to give a raider to a unit it didn't belong to originally. That way you can suddenly disembark en embark a warrior squad with 2 DLs and 2 blasters on it!
Mandrakes who want to go somewhere may use a used raider to get somewhere else.
The Dark lance they have is always handy to have, it gives you a much needed firesupport.
Remember: a DL can eventually kill a landraider in one shot, nobody enjoys losing his big tank to a transporter...
You can upgrade to disintegrator to have some very nice anti heavy-infantry shooting.
How many diss and DLs do I take? It’s up to you! However don’t forget to have enough DLs to take care of enemy tanks. In most cases I take ¼ diss or ½ diss .
If you have a lot of sniper squads you can afford to have more diss.

Getting shot down: it can mean a lot for the occupying units. Take wyches , they have the worst save ever. Nearly all of them could get shot down. Losing valuable raiders too soon could mean you losing the battle.

Lines Of Sight and cover:
Remember ravagers are easier to be seen with the new LOS, your ravager will be vulnerable to any heavy firepower a lot faster than in previous editions.
Now the new cover rules do give some very fair advantages with the new cover saves it gets in certain situations (fast moving, behind a big terrain piece, partially in LOS)

Kill points: This is valid for troops only. Remember how the raider is worth an easy KP, the squad in it is worth another KP aswell. If the raider gets shot down and most (or all) aboard get killed you lost a lot of valuable KPs.

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Sidenote: Fragile doesn't mean it's going to get shot down by a fart. A vehicle is still a vehicle and it may survive more than you ever expected.
It's not because a raider has bad armor that it's 100% sure that it won't last a whole battle. It may even stay untouched during a whole battle (luck will help you out with that)

Upgrades: (advanced)

The best is to go for clean raiders, but if you have spare points you might give some upgrades to some raiders. Remember how easy raiders can get shot down. Once you've mastered how to keep raiders alive you can start knowing which upgrades you might find useful.
2 exceptions night shields and screaming jets who will keep your raider alive longer for sure. Don't forget these upgrades aren't free either.

Scythes: They inflict damage on a unit that assault the raider. Particularly handy for cc raider. Ravagers mostly stay long range,thus usually are not supposed to
Slave snares: I love this upgrade. A nice addition to any raider that gets close to the enemy, especially cc raider.
Torture Amp :allows you to ram into a enemy squad. See yourself if you'll need it.
Trophy Racks : if it was up to me a must...
It affects the enemy Ld. Okay some units are fearless, but many units will still be affected. Both great for any raiders.
Night Shield : a wonderful upgrade for raider that stay at long distance. (sniper raiders). This upgrade doesn't allow some of the shooting on the raiders.
You can also use them on cc raiders to increase chances that they get in cc.
Remember how this work: the range of anyone or anything willing to shoot at the raider get their range lowered by 6". That is a big deal in a lot of cases. It will safe you at long distance, but it will at short distance aswell. Any weapon of range 12" will have to be at 6" to shoot at the raider. Long range of 36" will need to be at 30" to shoot at the raider.
 Screaming Jets : a fairly good upgrade, I wouldn’t put it on all raiders either, it’s best to give it to some cc raiders, as new cover rules may result in you losing raiders in the first turn already.
Shooty raider may also use it to come into battle safely later on...
These are not really needed if you’re using a massive amount of raiders.
Raiders are pretty fast you know.
Screaming jets just assure you you'll be safe until he lands somewhere, you'll also be sure he gets somewhere. At the same time it does create a nice element of surprise. A raider will incubi suddenly appearing near your HQ that will be a serious threat!
There still is a risk when deep-striking, don't forget it!
Horrorfex: Same as in wargear. It allows you to pin down enemy units. BUT! remember that one raider dies faster than a whole warrior unit. You may also be forced to sacrifice other weapons to just shoot with your terrorfex. Best to put on shooty raider, but cc raider might benefit from it too.
You can use it as often as you used to with the new rules

Don’t give all upgrades to all raiders. Just use whatever upgrade you really need.
At times you may not need any of these at all, at times you just don’t need hororfexes.
You don’t always get to use slave snares or any of the upgrades, since raiders can get shot down easily…
Some upgrades make more sense to put on cc raiders than shooty raiders.



How do I keep my raider alive the longest?


There are many ways to do this, but remember how fragile raider are...you can only try, luck will tell if all your raiders suddenly become as tough land raiders.

Night shield and screaming jets directly affect the raider. You can shoot at raider that isn't on the table or not in range.

All other ways are just tactics. A good army may protect its raider enough so that the enemy may not shoot at them.
In most cases you'll need raiders and ravagers. Lots of raiders and ravagers back eachother greatly. A DE airforce (an army with a lot of raider and ravagers) is one of the greatest ways to keep DE skimmers alive!
Cover can help at times, the speed your raider has too, but remember it's not all as easy as it used to be! (you can't fully hide skimmers behind certain big things any more. Daim these new Lines Of Sight rules!)