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

====Covens====
*'''Cronos:''' The support Engine. The Cronos comes stock with a flamer with high AP and a chance to do massive damage with each hit and can take a second weapon that does nearly the same but without the auto-hits. It also, more interestingly, lets  '''DRUKHARI''' units within 6" reroll 1s To Wound in melee, which makes your Taloses and Grotesques ''even'' scarier. It also has a chance of healing friendly models if it kills something in melee but its melee stats are so lacking that this will rarely happen. Can now fly again thanks to the FAQ.
*'''Talos:''' The killy Engine. The Talos comes stock with two Macro-scalpels and you can replace one with chain flails or a talos gauntlet and the other with a twin liquifier or an ichor injector. The Chain-flails are good if you need even more anti-horde melee (and they're very good at it) and the Gauntlets (being power fists) do pretty well against vehicles and other high T and wound targets, but the Ichor Injector is just trash. It can also get guns on the tail, with the Twin Heat Lances being a bit of a trap option; sure, they're 24 points now, but you're unlikely to hit with your shitty BS. In a pure  {{W40Kkeyword|<COVEN>}} list, you should probably take Haywire Blasters, as they're decently cheap. Otherwise, stick to either the Stinger Pod or the Splinter Cannons. Can also fly again thanks to the 2018 FAQ, which means they can now charge and assault jets, bombers, etc.
** '''Macro scalpels vs. Talos gauntlet''': While the extra strength and AP from the talos gauntlet seems attractive, the dual macro scalpels will ultimately do more work for your pain engines because of the hit modifier and loss of extra attacks on the gauntlet. Against everything bar heavy vehicles and monsters (T8) the scalpels outperform the gauntlet and when you have Urien around to buff Str, the scalpels start to outperform on those vehicles as well. The only time you shouldn't take macro scalpels is when you're assigning your pain engines to horde lawnmower duty, in which case you should take chainflails and a twin liquifier.
**1 Macro Scalpel + 1 Twin Liquifier is also better than 2 Macro Scalpels against most targets, simply because 4 points for 1 additional melee attack is often worse than 22 points for ''seven'' (on average) auto-hitting attacks, even with the gun's inferior inferior S, AP, and D.
** '''Choosing tail weapons:''' Pain engines suffer from BS 4+, so their shooting weapons should be chosen with care depending on what role you want your engines to play. Splinter cannons will give them some extra anti-infantry firepower but reduce their effectiveness against vehicles. Haywire blasters are surprisingly effective against vehicles for their price (a squad of three taloi with haywire blasters will put out 4d3 shots which will cause mortal wounds on a 4+ and D3 mortal wounds on a 6+ against vehicles) and range from decent to mediocre against infantry, dependent on the type of infantry you're facing; heat lances are underwhelming against vehicles but effective against heavy multiwound infantry like obliterators or centurions. The stinger pod is the worst choice out of all, but is the cheapest in case you want pain engines exclusively for their melee potential.
**You can turn these fellows into nice DISTRACTION CARNIFEXES by giving them and Ichor Injector, Talos Gauntlet, and Haywire Blasters. A jittery imperial with his Knight Crusader will shoot at it until this thing is totally dead, giving your real units all the time they need to move in.