Editing Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Dark Eldar (section)

===HQ===
*'''Archon''' - The core commander of most players' Dark Eldar armies. Solid overall, with tons of Wargear options. Shadow Field is borderline-mandatory and goes in practically every Dark Eldar army list - almost everything else is up to you to pick, though power weapons, as always, are good ideas. 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). 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. '''IMPORTANT:''' If you intend to give your Archon a retinue, he needs at least one of each type (for a total of 75 points). This is not inexpensive. It adds a lot to his survivability, however.
**'''Medusae ''' - Assault flamers. Have randomized AP and strength but are fuckcheap as template weapons go for the Dark Eldar (and the one time you get S7 AP2 Flamers will be worth it).
**'''Lhamaeans ''' - Even cheaper unit that has 2 attacks and wounds on a 2+. Her poison buff to Archon means he isn't using a power weapon, so ignore it.
**'''Ur-Ghuls''' - Decent on the charge but pretty fail in every other regard. Take them only if you need warm bodies and lots of regular attacks in your retinue. '''Modeling Note:''' Vampire Count Crypt Ghouls make EXCELLENT Ur-Ghuls, so if you have some extra bases lying around, you should probably go for those instead, especially if you play VC or know someone you can sell the extra 5 to. Even if you just end up throwing the extras away, the whole box still costs less than 2 Ur-Ghul models.
**'''Sslyth ''' - Meatshields. Similar to Ur-Ghuls except they can carry shardcarbines, the only thing that makes them even remotely worth their exorbitant price tag.
*'''Haemonculi''' - Cheap 50 point HQs that can be customized specifically for the troops you want them to lead. Not as cheap as their 4E equivalents, but they now serve the invaluable role of starting a unit with a pain token (and by extension feel no pain. You can also take 3 of these per HQ choice. So take 3 of the motherfuckers and put them in Warrior or Wych squads, increasing their survival rate by umphteen billion. Surprisingly tough and with access to some pretty heavy-duty wargear, they are especially valuable because they enable you to use Wracks as a troops choice.
**'''Haemonculi Ancient''' - +1 WS, BS, Wound, Initiative, Attack, and Leadership for an additional 30 points. Worth it if you have the points to blow, since this succeeds in making him considerably nastier than the Haemonculus already was. Points-hungry, but overall decent, especially if you stick him in a close combat based unit. Like the standard version, its biggest advantage isn't even its wargear (though that is impressive), but the fact that it lets you field Wracks as a troops choice. 
*'''Succubus''' - At a glance, the Succubus is kind of weird; she has poor armor, though with a damned fine statline befitting a Wych - but she has rather poor limited options, with the best ones being Agonizers and Electrocorrosive Whips (both of which are decent; agonizer preferable). 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 break 100 points. Worth taking if you plan to use Wych cults, especially as Lelith costs roughly 3 times as much if you take a Succubus as-is. Also, unlike Lelith, she has combat drugs - on a lucky roll of a 6, she and her unit of wyches begin the game with two pain-tokens, becoming an absolute murder factory right off the bat. 
The following are special characters:
*'''Baron Sathonyx''' - The dark space elves' skateboard punk capo. Yea his statline is garbage, he doesn't have a power weapon, and doesn't get drugs. But on the other hand he's fuckcheap, gets a nice strength bonus on the charge, and gives out deployment and stealth bonuses like candy (Stealth applies to any unit he's attached to, not just Hellions, so try him out on a four splinter cannon Scourge unit and troll the fuck out of infantry from behind 3+ cover). Stick him with his boys and win the claw game every fucking turn. With Stunclaws. As an aside, he makes hellions troop choices. This is good for exactly one squad: The Baron's. For anyone else, it's mediocre.
*'''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). On the plus side, her special rule even makes her a great ''"fuck you"'' against [[Tarpit|tarpits]], 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.
*'''Kheradruakh''' - He's a T3 HQ killer that can't assault on the same turn he <strike>deepstrikes</strike> GOES [[Sly Marbo|MARBO]], guess how this is going to end? If you've actually got the ceramite balls to use this guy deploy him directly into cover and watch as your opponent dedicates truly retarded amounts of firepower to his removal. Or they hit him with a Dreadnought. He pretty much has to join a pre-existing combat too, since he doesn't get grenades... And the real dealbreaker is the easy-to-overlook lack of Independent Character, meaning he can't join a unit of mandrakes and make them playable.
*'''Duke Sliscus''' - The ultimate utility HQ.  Seriously. He gives your dedicated transports deep strike capability, allows your Wyches to roll twice for drugs and take your choice (never get a 1 again!), makes a Warrior squad's rifles wound on 3+ (fun for objective sitters), has a Blast Pistol and a 2++ save, and has 2+ poisoned CC attacks and combat drugs. Oh, and rolls to wound of 5+ are power. ''Always'' bet on Duke. 
*'''Drazhar''' - An expensive beatstick. If an Incubi Squad can get him and even a single pain token they will become all but unstoppable. Actually, he's better without the squad, or at least splitting from the squad prior to assault. The reason for that is his Darting Strike. It looks innocent enough, but the ability to wave-dash across the map is comedic. Play DBZ music as he jumps around, ganking models while avoiding anything which could realistically hurt him. 
*'''Lady Malys''' - Another low cost special character with a vanilla Archon statline. She works best in a gunline DE army, because realistically, since going first means your opponent deploys second, being able to shift lance squads around so they aren't out of range on the first few turns is golden. Making squads pysker immune is situational. 
*'''Urien Rakarth''' - A super-Haemonculi. He starts the game with a pain token, and lets you bring wracks as a troop choice like a normal Haemonculi, and he regenerates one wound a turn. Only take in a Haemonculi themed army.
*'''Asdurbael Vect''' - Great in close combat, preferred enemy against ''fucking everything'', rerolls wounds against both races of Eldar, and he seizes the initiative on a 4+, which is amazing...Seriously, there are reports of this guy fucking over entire armies on his own, this guy is one of those few who can go toe to toe with the Swarmlord, Imotekh, or Abaddon in melee combat and hope to win. I mean I once charged this guy into a full squad of khorne berserkers and he slaughtered them all without much trouble. But sweet fucking [[Emperor|Christ]] he's expensive at 240 points, and everyone who's heard of him knows how deadly he is, so he will attract fire as if he had the world's biggest bullet magnet on his head with a bullseye painted on his chest for good measure. [[Troll|Put him on the Dais of Destruction with a bunch of trueborns and bring him if you think you can somehow bring Dark Eldar to an Apocalypse game and win]].