Dark Eldar Cruiser
Dark Eldar Cruisers are fast, nimble and dangerous. While they follow the Dark Eldar formula of having tissue paper armor supported by a cardboard superstructure, they are armed with weapons that could pose dangers to ships several classes above its weight.
Class
Basic
Bloodied Claw
The all-rounder of the Cruiser family. With the Bloodied Claw-class, you are paying 207 points for 6 tubes (34.5 points per), in comparison, the Bladed Lotus-class Light Cruiser gives you 4 for 152 points (38 points per) whilst the Falling Moon-class Battleship grants 8 tubes for 318 points (43.75 points per). This makes the Bloodied Claw the best price per torpedo tube for the Drukhari line ships.
Now that all being said, the torpedo-carrying ships have a lot more to account for with regards to their hull's base stats than other vessels do, as your ability to successfully deploy your torpedoes relies heavily on the speed, maneuverability, and survive-ability of the ship delivering them, not to mention whether or not you are utilizing the Splinter Torpedoes upgrade. Because of all of this, it's really worth taking those facts into consideration in how you want to field your torpedo boating vessels in accordance with your overall plan and fleet strategy.
These Cruisers are armed with 6 Torpedo Tubes, 2 Heavy Scythe Missile Artillery and 3 Scythe Missile Artillery Batteries.
- Length: 5-7km; approx
- Mass: 18.3 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 26,500 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 8.7 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration; approx
Carrier
Fiend Ascendant
The standard Dark Eldar Carrier Cruiser. The Fiend Ascendant-class offers a fine balance between crippling firepower and attack craft, whilst still maintaining the speed and agility of what one would expect from Dark Eldar vessels.
At 129 points a launch bay, the Fiend Ascendant takes the spot for the most economical launch bay platform for the Drukhari fleet, compared to the Iron Thorn-class Battleship at 134 points per bay and the Burning Scale-class Light Cruiser at 180 points for the one bay.
Since it is easier to fit a cruiser/s in a fleet than Battleships, you'll likely find the Fiend Ascendant heavily populating any carrier-focused Dark Eldar fleets, since having the bays split between more craft also gives better flexibility in launching squadrons of Razorwing Bombers, Raptor Fighters and Slavebringer Assault Boats in pairs.
These Cruisers are armed with 2 Launch Bays carrying Razorwing Bombers, Raptor Fighters and Slavebringer Assault Boats, 2 Heavy Scythe Missile Artillery and 3 Scythe Missile Artillery Batteries.
- Length: 5-7km; approx
- Mass: 19.4 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 23,000 crew, including 6,500 pilots and support staff; approx
- Acceleration: 8.7 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration; approx
Bleak Soul
The assault Carrier of the family. The Bleak Soul-class Cruiser is designed more for filling its cargo with boarding parties so that the murder fairies could get to their jobs at efficiently murtherfucking everyone to death.
Prior to some of the later patch changes, the Impaler Bays were far less useful, being stuck at a single charge no matter the ship size. Now that the charges are set by ship class, the Bleak Soul gets to carry 3 of these babies into battle, as opposed to a single charge that could end up being wasted quite easily. The complimentary weaponry brought into battle ensures that the Bleak Soul still has plenty of potent offensive capabilities when those charges run dry.
These Cruisers are armed with 1 Impaler Bay carrying Impaler Assault Modules, 2 Heavy Scythe Missile Artillery and 3 Scythe Missile Artillery Batteries.
- Length: 5-7km; approx
- Mass: 20.1 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 24,500 crew, including 9,300 pilots and support staff; approx
- Acceleration: 8.7 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration; approx
Torture
The Torture-class Cruiser is a Dark Eldar Carrier Cruiser Class that is more heavily armed than usual.
It has been noted by Imperial statisticians that potentially up to thirty attacks attributed to the Eldar may, in fact, have been by the Dark Eldar. Experts from the Fleet Insturum of Alien Studies have been studying the many wide variants of the Torture-class as well as other Eldar vessels in order to separate and properly classify them all
Armament of the Torture-class Cruiser consists of a Phantom Lance and prow-mounted Torpedo Tubes. Additional weaponry consists of an Impaler prow-mounted ram and Launch Bays for various Attack Craft such as Razorwing Bombers, Raptor Fighters and Slavebringer Assault Boats.
It is known that a force of Torture-class vessels captured three hundred technicians from monitoring station Adecca and later dropped them in low orbital runs over the planet Bladen. This attack was seen as an attempt to incite retribution, possibly ending in the Imperium mistakenly attacking Eldar rather than Dark Eldar forces.
- Length: 5-6km; approx
- Mass: 19.1 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 24,200 crew, including 4,500 pilots and support staff; approx
- Acceleration: 8.7 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration; approx
Lance-Boat
Flayed Skull
The lance-boat Cruiser. The Flayed Skull is a direct upgrade to the Dark Mirror-class Light Cruiser thanks to the Drukhari's template design, for an additional 68 points, the Flayed Skull deals twice the amount of raw damage, both from its macros and lances in equal measure.
Probably going to be a common pick in Drukhari fleets thanks to its cruiser hit points, high damage numbers, and affordable price, not to mention being the only ship of its weight class to pack in the standard weaponry.
These Cruisers are armed with 2 Phantom Lance Artillery, 2 Heavy Scythe Missile Artillery and 3 Scythe Missile Artillery Batteries.
- Length: 5-6km; approx
- Mass: 19.7 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 24,200 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 8.7 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration; approx
In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2
The Drukhari Cruisers maintain engine speeds well above Imperial faction escort ships while adding the extra chunk of hit points over the light cruisers that comes with the tier up in size. Still keeping the highest in-game base crit chance for assault actions, the Cruisers get troop damage numbers to back it up while also keeping a large number of defensive troops to absorb enemy boarders.
| Vessels of the Dark Eldar | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spaceships | ||
| Battleships | Battleship | |
| Cruisers | Light Cruiser - Cruiser | |
| Escorts | Escort | |
| Combat Spacecraft | Slavebringer Assault Boat Impaler Assault Module | |
| Landships | ||
| Superheavy Tanks | Tantalus | |