Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Dark Eldar (section)

===HQ===
*'''Archon''' - The core commander of many players' Dark Eldar armies. Solid overall, with tons of Wargear options, including the Huskblade (an AP3 instant death weapon), which is more or less the nightmare of any unnamed character in the game (except a space marine commander that has taken a shield eternal, because space marines want to make you cry). Shadow Field is borderline-mandatory and goes in practically every Dark Eldar army list with an archon - almost everything else is up to you to pick, though power swords, as always, are good ideas (provided you want AP 3 and can't afford an Agonizer, Djinn Blade, or Huskblade; if you wanted AP 2 or Concussive, you need a different HQ). An Agonizer is also a good choice (and if you end up in a situation where it's not worth it, IE against Grots, you've used the unit entirely wrong). Still, if you're willing to put in the points and have a use for it, an Archon can be an excellent choice, and your opponent will HATE you when it kills Kharn in a challenge and then chops up half the unit with the rest of their attacks. If you're gonna take an Archon, be aware they can't be both cheap and effective, but if you're willing to put in the points, they can be a brutally nasty CC character.
**'''An Alternate Take''' Since the Archon can have a Venom as a transport, it could be used as a [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]].
**'''Another Alternate Take''' Leave the close combat shenanigans to the Succubus, she's better at it anyway. Give your Archon a Blaster, stick him in a squad of Kabalite Trueborn also with Blasters on a Raider (hell, chuck in a couple of Splinter Cannons and slap a Splinter Rack on the Raider too if you like!) and go tank / MC hunting. This combo works delightfully with a Webway Portal, as you can surgically remove your opponent's biggest toy without worrying about deep-strike mishaps.

*'''Court of the Archon:''' If you ''really'' want to you can add a retinue from the choices below - but you're often better off keeping him as an IC - bear this in mind.  The new codex now allows you to better kit this out to your advantage, as you're no longer required to stick to one of each into the court.  They also can grab the Archon a Raider if you feel like keeping one just to spam Sslyths or something.  The Lhaeman and Medusae both benefit from PFP. The Court can double as a cheap HQ option for budget lists, as the Retainer rule no longer requires an Archon for the unit to be taken at all, it just allows you to take a Court without using up a slot if you do have an Archon. None of the Court are Characters, so if you do go this route some other model in your army will likely end up being the Warlord, just keep that in mind. Great option for a secondary detachment, though.
**'''Medusae ''' - Assault flamers. Have Str 4, AP 3.  The loss of the random AP, while statistically better, really only gives him one purpose: auto-overwatches.  Just to add to the buckets of Chaos Player tears everywhere. Also can work surprisingly well with Webway Portal.
***''I've'' got another purpose for you: You know how Space Marines love roasting your asses with flamers, and then laugh it off in their power armour when someone does the same to them? Grab a couple of these and let them gaze into Medusa's unblinking brown eye of doom.
**'''Lhamaeans ''' - Basically Wyches with poisoned weapons that wound on 2 and ID on 6. That's all it is.  There's really not much reason to grab them compared to the others, other than to pad out the list and some bonus poison. Nice, cheap and great 2+ poisoned attacks though so don't be afraid to take one or two if you are looking to fill up the last seats in your Archon's party bus. Woah, hold on a sec, they have 2 attacks base (pistol + non specialist weapon)  with 2+ poison, take ten for 100 points, put them in a raider and launch it at a something you want to die. Enjoy your 30 attacks on the charge that wound on 2s. For 100 points you could do far worse.
**'''Ur-Ghuls''' - Decent on the charge but fail in every other regard. Take them only if you need warm bodies (they have FNP, so they'll last) and lots of regular attacks in your retinue. 
**'''Sslyth''' - T5 Meatshields. Similar to Ur-Ghuls except they can carry shardcarbines. Also, if your Court has a majority of Sslyths, all hits against the unit are resolved against Sslyth's T5; save for precision shots. With 2 wounds each with FNP, they make excellent suckers for the Archon's Look out Sir! rolls. (Tip use these guys to eat wounds while you get your Archon pumped with the soul-trap).  If you haul a couple Sslyths along in a Raider with Splinter Racks, you'll have some fun as you shoot things to utter shit. With CCW and pistols and 3 attacks base, these guys will put out five S5 attacks on the charge. Great for finishing whatever survives your archondrop's shooting.
***To sum it up: while the Court isn't a bad choice in the same sense Mandrakes are, for their points there are definitely far more better choices. With the abolition of the one-of-each clause, you can now give some good meatshields if you really feel uncomfortable alone.

*'''Haemonculus''' - HQs that can be customized specifically for the troops you want them to lead that got slightly pricier at 70 but have the Ancient's statline by default. These guys serve a critical rule by granting the unit he's in as having a bonus turn for PFP rules, meaning free FNP.  Relatively tough and with access to some pretty heavy-duty wargear, including the Crucible of Malediction, which gives all psykers within 3d6" an unsavable S6 hit, and your only source of HQ-level Concussive, via the Mindphase Gauntlet, which is unfortunate, because Reavers and Acothysts with Electrocorrosive Whips are better at making Concussive attacks stick. In shooty lists, it's not uncommon to see a single, cheap haemonculus with a liquifier gun or a hex rifle (or an otherwise naked Archon with a blaster) stuck in with a larger squad just to fill up the mandatory HQ slot, because the DE will not be winning by combat in this edition (damn Overwatch).
** In the Covens supplement, these guys become your ONLY HQ choice.  This makes bringing them even more critical, as their PFP boosting is the only way the Grotesques can last despite their shit Leadership.  Keep them as cheap as possible, and keep the relics you grab from the covens as low as possible, because most of them kick ASS. 
***Using the Parasite's Kiss coupled with a splinter pistol or a stinger pistol lets them gun-sling very efficiently

*'''Succubus''' - At a glance, the Succubus is kind of weird; she has 6+ armour (4++ Dodge during the Fight sub-phase), though with a damned fine statline befitting a Wych - but she has rather poor limited options, with the best ones being Agonizers, Power Swords, and the Archite Glaive, her only AP2 weapon. It may be a good idea to give her the Armour of Misery to increase her out-of-CC save to 4+/6++, and the combination of Fear and -2 Ld debuff makes it easier to decimate and scare away the opponents. Her biggest advantage, by far, is the ridiculously small amount of points she costs to get out; even fully-kitted out she's unlikely to reach 150 points. Worth taking if you plan to use Wych cults, especially as Lelith costs twice as much if you take a Succubus as-is. Also, unlike Lelith, she has combat drugs, which can definitely boost her combat potential. She won't last long outside of a combat so either hide her in a big unit of wyches or have her deep strike with them. She also makes a great secondary HQ due to her low points cost. Let your primary commander (the archon of course) go with the incubi or banshees while the succubus just sticks with the wyches to help tie down units until the archon arrives.
**One interesting idea might be to put a Succubus with the Archite Glaive and the Armour of Misery (the rest is optional) in a small team of Incubi (preferably with Klaivex). Not only do you get to mix "horny daemons" of both sexes but the entire team ends up with a number of high WS, high Initiative S4 AP2 melee attacks. Get them a dedicated Venom and skim around the map to remove distant objective holders, whether a squad of Cultists or Tac Marines. The FNP and Furious Charge the team gets as the game progresses significantly increases their effectiveness.

====Special Characters====
[[Fail|Due to the new 7th Edition Codex, over half of our named Characters are gone, including the main player, Asdrubael Vect]]. ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a0Eu4bTY-4| Cue this reaction from Dark Eldar players towards GeeDubs]).

*'''[[Lelith Hesperax]]''' - High Weapons Skill and an amazing special rule make her a giant fire magnet, which is mostly offset by her 4++ save (3++ in close combat!). She makes your opponent sweat, since any squad she reaches close combat with is comprehensively screwed - unless she starts hammering away on something she'll have difficulty actually hurting (such as Plague Marines)- Strength 3 isn't doing her any favors. On the plus side, her armor-ignoring special rule makes her a great ''"fuck you"'' against [[Tarpit]]s and 2+ armor saves, meaning your Wyches will spend less time mulching conscripts and more time focusing on actual threats. Her lack of combat drugs is also irritating due to how useful those buffs would be on her...though it's all worth it when you split her off from her unit and send her into a Fire Warrior blob. The mental images are priceless. (And fap-worthy.)  To add insult to injury, she also can re-roll to-hit and to-wound in a challenge. If you've gotten Lelith into close combat with a vehicle, you are using her ''entirely wrong''. If you really feel uncomfortable on taking tough things in combat, you can buy an Impaler - her special rule overrides the AP5, and she gains re-rolls 1s to-wound. (One word: Wraiths)
** Of note here is that Lelith has lost her ultra-cool super-special-snowflake rule from 6E that allowed her to generate more attacks if her WS was higher than her opponent's. A League Apart now only allows re-rolls To Hit and To Wound in challenges, because [[Games_Workshop|GeeDubs]] really, ''really'' hates Dark Eldar - especially their special characters. In exchange she now gains Rampage and the WT Blood Dancer (+1 WS) automatically. Meh.

*'''[[Drazhar]]''' - An expensive beatstick with the ONLY 2+ in the army. He has seen a little bit of rework, like Lelith, but in his case not all the changes are for the better (also like Lelith). He has lost, like the klaivex, his special powers and in exchange he got rampage. That is not terrible, but is quite situational at best (you should try to take advantage of it by putting him in a little elite squad...just like how Incubi are suppose to work!). He has also lost his Dragon Ball-like ability to teleport himself in whatever spot he liked in close combat and riposte, that allowed him to kick in the balls every enemy unit was attacking him if he rolled a 6 when taking an armour save. In exchange for that he now [[Haruspex|gains an additional attack in close combat every time he rolls a 6 to wound]], made at the same initiative step, which is arguably better than riposte, and he's a bigger boon for Incubi, as he gives +1 WS for the unit he joins, which is rock. He can still do his job quite well, especially in the late game when he could possibly unleash a grand total of [[Rip and Tear|9 Strength 6, AP 2, Weapon Skill 7, Initiative 7 attacks, which can generate more attacks on a 6 to wound roll]]. He and his squad still lack grenades though, so take care not to charge enemy in cover if you want to make the most of their high initiative. Put him in a venom with 4 incubi for maximum [[Carnage]]. He also suffer, like Klaivexes, from the nerf to Demiclaives, sadly.
** On a side note, he doesn't come with a pre-established warlord trait. If this was an error or on purpose it's unknown, but it allows him to be a little bit more flexible (although not a lot: he is still a beatstick and can't do nothing other than kill units in assault). A good warlord trait for him would be Hatred Eternal, giving him hatred and making him even a stronger rape machine, but Labyrinthine Cunning is simply too good to pass on so you should take it if you roll it.

*'''[[Urien Rakarth]]''' - A super-Haemonculus. Has T5, 4++, 4+ FNP and IWND, which is sweet and makes him one of the tougher Dark Eldar HQs.  He also gives ALL units within 12" +1 PFP, which makes him a lot more welcome in a Kabalite army.  His relic is very meh, though, as it's a single use 12" S3 AP3 Assault 2d6 shot, which isn't terrible, but hardly something to take him for.  In the Coven FOC he becomes a much bigger deal with the altered PFP makes more fearless minions to work with. Important to note that his Father of Pain special rule does not stack with master of pain on a Haemonculus