Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Dark Eldar (section)

==Armory==

===Ranged Weapons===

*'''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. <strike>A DC Ravager is cheaper than the DL ver. by 15pt!! </strike> 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. [[Troll| 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. [[Awesome |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-{{W40Kkeyword|VEHICLE}}s on a 2+, and {{W40Kkeyword|VEHICLE}}s on a 6+. [[Awesome |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===

*'''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===
*'''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. [[Awesome|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===
*'''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-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}}s (i.e. 2+ usually, 4+ against just {{W40Kkeyword|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.