Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Dark Eldar (section)

==Special Rules==
===Detachment abilities===
Because they're akin to three armies in one, Drukhari have several additional rules that affect how you build your detachments, either souped, separate or all-in-one. Going step-by-step, you have to:
#Make a "battle forged" detachment. That is, one that follows any of the Force Organization Charts. But in the Dark Eldar's case, it also means all {{W40kKeyword|kabal}} units in the detachment are from the same kabal, all {{W40kKeyword|wych cult}} units are from the same wych cult, and all {{W40kKeyword|Haemonculus coven}} units are from the same haemonculus coven.
#'''Weakling Kin''': You cannot include Drukhari and Non-Drukhari Aeldari units in the same detachment unless they all have the {{W40kKeyword|Ynnari}} keyword. So no splashing in Yvvraine for some psychic defense: you either are a {{W40kKeyword|druhkari}} detachment or you are not, and you stop reading here.
#Now that you have decided you are a Dark Eldar detachment, one that is battle forged, then you have to nominate what kind of detachment it is:
#*{{W40kKeyword|kabal}} units in a '''Kabal Detachment''' gain their kabal's Obsession, and have access to their relic, WT, and stratagem. It doesn't say anything about all units needing to be Kabal units, meaning ''you can bring wych and coven units inside a kabal detachment'' and it WON'T BLOCK the Kabal from getting its Obsession. But those wych and coven units wouldn't get their obsessions, WT, relics or stratagems, not in a Kabal detachment.
#*{{W40kKeyword|wych cult}} units in a '''Wych Cult Detachment''' gain their cult's Obsession, and have access to their relic, WT, and stratagem. The same restrictions and benefits apply here.
#*{{W40kKeyword|haemonculus coven}} units in a '''Haemonculus Coven Detachment''' gain their coven's Obsession, and have access to their relic, WT, and stratagem. The same restrictions and benefits apply here.
#**Since you don't actually need a Haemonculus as an HQ to nominate a detachment as a haemonculus coven (same for Kabal and Wych Detachments), you can bring Drazhar at the head of a "Haemonculus Detachment", without having to actually buy any Haemonculi, yet Wracks in that detachment would still get their trait and coven stratagem.
#*If your force has one Archon as the warlord, and also at least one Succubus, one Haemonculus, one unit of Kabalite warriors, one unit of Wyches, and one unit of Wracks, then instead of nominating a detachment into either a Kabal, Wych Cult or Haemonculus detachment, that detachment can be a '''Realspace Raid detachment''':
#**'''Realspace Raid''': A Realspace Raid with an Archon designated as the Warlord, a Succubus, a Haemonculus, and at least one unit of Wracks, Warriors, and Wyches will grant all {{W40kKeyword|Kabal}}, {{W40kKeyword|Wych Cult}}, & {{W40kKeyword|Haemonculus Coven}} units (but not {{W40kKeyword|Blades For Hire}}) in the detachment their corresponding Drukhari Obsession. The units in that detachment will also be able to use Wych Cult and Haemonculus Coven relics despite the Warlord not being from either of those factions, and the Archon's Overlord ability's benefits will be extended to all {{W40kKeyword|Core}} units in the detachment. 
#'''Raiding Forces''': When fielding multiple detachments, if ''every'' detachment in your army is a {{W40Kkeyword|Drukhari}} Patrol Detachment, then they don't cost CP to field: their CP cost and Command Benefits (for your Warlord being in one) both become 0.
#'''Arks of Omen''': As per the rules in ''Arks of Omen: Grand Tournament Mission Pack'', you can take one flexible Arks of Omen Detachment and nominate it as either {{W40kKeyword|Kabal}}, {{W40kKeyword|Wych Cult}}, or {{W40kKeyword|Haemonculus Coven}} Detachment. Then, you might also take one Allied Patrol Detachment of a different type, so you can have a Kabal + Coven, Kabal + Cult, or Cult + Coven combo. Units in their respective Detachments gain Obsessions as normal.

===Unit Upgrades===
*'''Lords of Commorragh''': If your army is battle-forged and includes any Drukhari detachments, one Archon, Succubus, or Haemonculus per detachment can be upgraded to be a master version of the same unit for a small point cost. This grants new abilities as well as access to a new relic and warlord trait. If you have a Realspace Raid, you can choose one of each HQ to be upgraded, though your army can only include one of each.
*'''Favored Retinues''': If you army contains a Master Archon, a Master Succubus, or a Master Haemonculus, one unit of Warriors, Wyches, or Wracks respectively can be upgraded to an improved version for a small point cost. This lowers the squad cap to 10 and conveys 3 upgrades: +1 Ld, +1 to WS or BS or Saves depending on the unit, and a third unit-dependent upgrade.

===General Abilities===
*'''Blade Artists''': A new rule found on nearly everything in the army, including vehicles. Unmodified 6s to wound in melee gain an additional -1 AP that stacks with any other AP a weapon may currently have. 
*'''Combat Drugs''': Found on almost all (Lelith doesn't do drugs) of your non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} {{W40Kkeyword|<WYCH CULT>}} units. You can either choose a drug (and now you can repeat the same drug on as many units you want!), or roll for two random drugs, re-rolling the entire roll if you get duplicates. Numerical order can matter - e.g. there's a Cult trait that lets you roll 1d3 on this table and do the drug in addition to your already-present drug(s).
*#'''Adrenalight:''' +1A on a charge or heroic intervention. Always good.
*#'''Grave Lotus:''' +1S. Consistently '''the best against T3 (GEQ), T4 (MEQ), & T6-7 (light vehicles)''' targets. Also known as "targets". This is because all your units are S3. Except Hellions, which still reach the important S5 value (but they may be interested in other drugs).  Usually useless against T5 or T8+, and of course useless with poisoned weapons.  Has diminishing returns the higher your base S that you're hitting at - so bad on power swords and worse on hydra gauntlets, and so on.
*#'''Hypex:''' +2M. Pairs very well with Hellions and Reavers. With Cult of the Red Grief's obsession mixed in, a first turn charge is almost guaranteed.
*#'''Painbringer:''' +1T. Great on Reavers and Hellions, as both are T4 W2, up to T5 with this.
*#'''Serpentin:''' +1WS. One of the weakest, since it only really matters in turns 1 and 2. Most games are decided in turns 1 and 2, though. Could be useful against armies that rely on -1 to be hit to survive.
*#'''Splintermind:''' +1Ld and +1BS. Good for Beastmasters, massed Hellions, and special weapon Reavers.
*'''Insensible to Pain''': Grants a 5+++ FNP save. Found, in practice, on all non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} {{W40Kkeyword|<haemonculus coven>}}  units.
*'''Poisoned Weapons''': Weapons with this rule now always wound on an ''unmodified'' die value, usually 4+. This ignores any modifiers to wound, but notably not the Transhuman Physiology Marine stratagem.
====Power from Pain====
Thanks to your army consisting of a bunch of sado-masochist freaks, you gain bonuses according to the turn number as long as you have a pure Drukhari army. Note that these bonuses are cumulative.
#'''Inured to Suffering''': 6++. ''Many'' units have special rules on their own datasheets that overlap with this, so this benefit is often wasted - e.g. Wyches. ''The old 6+++ was arguably better.''
#'''Eager to Flay''': You can charge after advancing. Most of your units were already speedy to begin with, and now they can get stuck in even faster. Some units already have only a blade and no guns, so it's a net benefit.
#'''Flensing Fury''': +1 to melee attack hit rolls. Units with the {{W40kKeyword|Vehicle}} or {{W40kKeyword|Monster}} keywords no longer take penalties for firing Heavy weapons at units engaged in melee with them. Combined with the very high WS most Dark Eldar units enjoy, this can make most of your army hit on 2+. It's amazing for Coven units, allows your Kabal units to defend themselves in melee, and frees up a drug choice for your Wych Cult units.
#*Your vehicles want to be in melee with their target, especially enemy non-Dread vehicles & common troops, as that prevents others from shooting at them. A Ravager in melee with another vehicle can fire its dark lances point blank while the enemy vehicle has to fall back to fend off the attack, which often disables it better than actually making it use their lower stat brackets: ''there are more "Shoot at full stats" stratagems than there are "fall back & shoot" stratagems affecting vehicles''.
#'''Mantle of Agony''': The invulnerable save is upgraded to 5++. Still not going to save you, but it's something.
#'''Emboldened by Bloodshed''': Automatically pass Morale tests, and models with statlines that degrade with damage count as having twice as many wounds for the purpose of determining their characteristics. 
#*Morale isn't a big deal for Dark Eldar given their high Leadership values, but the second effect can do wonders for an army that relies on transports. Or one with lots of {{W40Kkeyword|aircraft}}.

===Drukhari Obsessions===
Your chapter tactics equivalents. Kabals, Wych Cults, and Haemonculus Covens all get their own bonuses, which are now listed in the corresponding sub-faction entries below. As usual, anyone not listed there can pick from the choices available to their corresponding faction.<br>
You can also make your own custom obsession by combining two of the custom ones below, unless it's listed as an "All consuming" obsession, in which case you can't combine that with something else.

====Kabal Obsessions====
*'''Black Heart - Thirst for Power''': Treat the current battle round as 1 higher for your units with Power from Pain; this also affects Blades for Hire. All units with this obsession gain +1 Leadership and may re-roll one hit roll in the shooting or fight phase.
*'''Flayed Skull - Slay from the Skies''': Add 2" to the movement value of your units that can {{W40kKeyword|Fly}} (transports and Ravagers).  Enemies do not get the benefit of light cover against these units, or against units embarked on them. 
*'''Poisoned Tongue - Serpent's Kiss''':  Your poisoned weapons are all improved by one (4+ to wound becomes 3+) and if your poisoned weapons kill any models in an enemy unit, they suffer a -1 penalty to combat attrition checks. While you still won't be able to shift marines, you now have a slightly easier time gunning them down.
*'''Obsidian Rose - Flawless Workmanship''': Range of your Assault, Rapid Fire, and Heavy weapons is increased by 6", excluding relics. Units with this obsession may re-roll one wound roll when shooting or fighting. Never underestimate a flat 6" range increase on nearly all your weapons. Excellent when taking Shredders and Blasters for that extra bit of range, as well as keeping your Ravagers as far away from the enemy as possible. 

=====Custom=====
*'''Dark Mirth''': Gain a 12" aura. Any time an enemy movement dares start a move inside this aura, be it walking, advancing, falling back, or charging, they suck a Mortal Wound on a 5+.
*'''Disdain for Lesser Beings''': Units with this obsession add +1 to combat attrition checks.
*'''Merciless Razorkin''': If a model with this obsession rolls a nat 6 to hit with a splinter weapon, you score another hit, equivalent to +1 BS except it stacks with being BS2+. Pairs well with Torturous Efficiency.
*'''Mobile Raiders''': Any model with this obsession that has the {{W40kKeyword|FLY}} keyword gains +2" movement. You're Dark Eldar, movement is key to your army, so this is always worth considering.
*'''Torturous Efficiency:''' If a model with this obsession rolls a nat 6 to wound with any gun, you improve the weapon's AP by 1. Aka it only triggers once every 9 shots (base), so about ''1.11 shots per 5-elf squad'', which goes up as the unit gets more accurate; more relevant for stacking with Merciless Razorkin is that it applies to 1 in 3 successful wound rolls with a Splinter Rifle or Splinter Cannon. Still, not like Merciless Razorkin can be combined with anything else, really.
**Once every 9 shots assumes BS3+, no buffs, but your accuracy can effectively be BS2+ (Trueborn or Razorkin) or BS1+ (Trueborn Razorkin) and you can apply an Archon, so that comes out to this many procs per 5 elves shooting splinter rifles:
**#Base: 1.111 (1 every 9 shots)
**#Archon: 1.296 (1 every 7.7 shots)
**#Trueborn or Razorkin: 1.389 (one every 7.2 shots)
**#Archon + (Trueborn or Razorkin): 1.620 (one every 6.2 shots)
**#Trueborn + Razorkin: 1.667 (one every 6 shots)
**#Archon + Trueborn + Razorkin: 1.944 (one every 5.1 shots)
**Toxin Crafters is better than Merciless Razorkin + Torturous Efficiency if you want to focus solely on poison guns, but Torturous Efficiency affects other guns (Shredders) and Toxin Crafters doesn't.
*'''Soulbound''': Models with this obsession gain a 5+++ against mortal wounds. Kind of not great unless you're going against Smite spam and Tau rail weapons.
*'''Twisted Hunters''': Models with this obsession get +1 to hit {{W40Kkeyword|character}}s - but Haemonculus Covens get sniper rifles, you don't, and Wych Cults are much better at melee than you are.
*'''Webway Raiders''': Whenever the Webway Portal stratagem is used on a unit with this obsession, the stratagem costs 1 CP less.  Since the strat can only be used once, this is equivalent to spending half your obsession on 1 CP.

======All-Consuming======
*'''Deadly Deceivers''': Units with this obsession can shoot after falling back, but suffer -1 to hit when doing so. This costs you two traits and is worth only 1, and hence is best avoided.
*'''Toxin Crafters''': Models with this obsession get to re-roll 1s to wound with poisoned weapons, and if they score a nat 6 to hit with a poisoned weapon, the poison value is set to 2+. Yeah, this is the one you want if you just want to go all-in with splinter weapons: because you're ws/bs3+ (the ability applies to 1 in 4 wound rolls), the net effect on Poisoned 4+ weapons (when the effect applies, it's a 5/3 multiplier on wounding) is another 7/6 multiplier that stacks with the 7/6 this comes with to wound and the 7/6 to hit an archon provides for 343/216 total (1.167, 1.361, and 1.588, respectively). Worth considering if spamming Kabalite warriors, as only the 5th, 9th, and 10th elf in a squad may wield special guns, and that 10th elf can just take a Splinter Cannon.

====Wych Cult Obsessions====
*'''Cult of Strife - The Spectacle of Murder''': Models fight first if within engagement range of any enemy models at the start of the fight phase. Add +1 to charge rolls against unengaged enemies.
*'''Cult of the Cursed Blade - Only the Strong will Thrive''': +1 Strength and unmodified save throws of 6 cause a mortal wound against enemy attacking models in the fight phase.
*'''Cult of the Red Grief - The Speed of the Kill''': Models can re-roll charges and add +2 to advance rolls. Vroom! Take this to go fast and try and kill anything before it kills you. 

=====Custom=====
*'''Acrobatic Display''': Models with this obsession can consolidate through terrain and other models.
*'''The Art of Pain''': While a unit with this obsession and the power from pain special rule is engaged with an enemy unit, they treat the current battle round as one higher.
*'''Precise Killers''': Models with this obsession trigger Blade Artists on a nat 5.
**Best on Bloodbrides, obviously, and while it makes Grave Lotus marginally less bad - Precise Killers does nothing if you don't wound on 5s - it's not enough to save it.  Naturally, it makes the weapons Blade Artists discourages even less enticing - ''never'' take a power sword on a model with this, for example, even if costs change and they stop being strictly worse than agonisers.
**The reason to take this over Berserk Fugue is, presumably, to combine with Test of Skill, if you want your Wyches to suck even less at chopping a vehicle or monster to bits.
*'''Slashing Impact''': After a model with this obsession finishes a charge move, pick a non-{{W40kKeyword|vehicle}} enemy unit within engagement range and roll 1d6. On a 6, they take a mortal wound.
*'''Stimulant Innovators''': Once per game, you can trigger this and make every unit with this obsession rolls 1d3 to add an extra drug that lasts for this turn only.
*'''Test of Skill''': Gain +1 to wound when attacking {{W40kKeyword|Monster}} and {{W40kKeyword|Vehicle}} units in melee. The removal of the Wound limitation opens it up to a good deal more enemies for tying up, but the loss of shooting robs the Raiders.
*'''Trophy Takers''': When an opponent takes a morale test for a unit that lost at least 1 model to a melee attack from a unit with this, they must roll 2d6 and discard the lowest.
======All-Consuming======
*'''Agile Hunters''': Models with this obsession add +1 to hit when attacking an enemy with {{W40Kkeyword|Fly}}. It also improves Hypex to add +3" rather than +2" to movement. Really, this is going to be worth more to Reavers and Hellions than anyone else. Plan on focusing on them? Then go ahead.
*'''Berserk Fugue''': When resolving a melee attack by a model with this obsession that charged, was charged, or made a heroic intervention, an unmodified hit roll of 6 causes 1 additional hit (which acts like +1 to hit, except that it works on WS2+ models and stacks with actual +1 to hit). It also applies a 5+++ FNP that ''only'' works against mortal wounds.

====Haemonculus Coven Obsessions====
*'''Prophets of Flesh - Connoisseurs of Pain''': Urien's cronies.  Wound rolls of 1, 2, & 3 always fail against these guys unless the weapon is S8+ (remember that most poison weapons have a low strength value). In addition, characters, grotesques, and monsters regenerate a single wound each in the command phase.
*'''Dark Creed - Distillers of Fear''': Obligatory Leadership bomb.  Enemies get -1 to their LD and -1 to combat attrition when within 6" of units with this ability. If that wasn't enough, you also get +1 to hit in melee against foes with a lower leadership than your dudes.
**A vehicle with grisly trophies now applies -3Ld to close enemies. Combine with poisoned tongue for extra attrition negatives, and spam phantasm grenade launchers/incubi to have a truly terrifying list. For the poor troops witnessing their demise, at least.
*'''Coven of Twelve - Butchers of Flesh''': These units can shoot while doing actions and all melee weapons get an additional -1AP.  Doesn't apply to Artefacts.

=====Custom=====
*'''Dark Harvest''': After charging, select one non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} enemy unit within engagement range and roll a die; on a 5+ the targeted unit takes a mortal wound. 
*'''Enhanced Sensory Organs''': All attacks ignore light and heavy cover.
*'''Experimental Creations''': All models with this obsession gain +1S.
*'''Hungry for Flesh''': Models with this obsession can re-roll charges.
*'''Master of Mutagens''': When resolving a melee attack with a poisoned weapon against a non-{{W40kKeyword|vehicle}} non-{{W40kKeyword|titanic}} unit, an unmodified hit roll of 6 automatically wounds. Does not apply to relics.
*'''Mass Torturers''': When the Torturer's Craft Stratagem is used, it costs 1 CP instead of 2.
*'''Obsessive Collectors''': When an enemy unit is destroyed by a melee weapon wielded by a model in a unit with this obsession, you can select one model in the unit that did the deed to regain 1d3 lost wounds. If the unit was a unit of wracks, you can restore 1d3 destroyed models to the unit.
*'''Splinterblades''': Units with this obsession score an extra hit whenever they roll a 6 to hit in melee.
======All-Consuming======
*'''Artists of the Flesh''': -1 damage from all enemy weapons, to a minimum of 1. Sadly won't apply to any {{W40Kkeyword|vehicles}} you bring.
**The January 2022 Dataslate has nerfed this one too, as now it won't work an anything Strength 8+. Heavy artillery like the Basilisk remain just as capable of pulping your wracks, though this will still help against most infantry gunlines.
*'''Dark Technomancers''': When the unit shoots, you can choose to enhance any or all of their ranged weapons. Such weapons gain +1 to wound rolls and +1 to their damage characteristic (which is why it does nothing for phantasm grenade launchers, as they don't deal damage based on their characteristic), but cannot re-roll to hit. If an enhanced weapon rolls any unmodified 1s to hit, the model carrying it suffers a mortal wound (note that the bearer suffers 1 mortal wound even if it rolls multiple 1s). {{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} and {{W40Kkeyword|monster}} units eat d3 MWs instead.  Doesn't work on Liquifiers or Twin Liquifiers.
**This was ''absurdly'' good; the new codex has taken the nerf bat to it, and moving to unmodified die results has rendered a lot of the covens' favourite guns pointless. Then the June 2021 FAQ kneecapped it even further by making it unable to affect liquifiers. Such a shame, because those were such good guns.