Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Dark Eldar (section)

===HQ===
*'''Archon''' - The core commander of many players' Dark Eldar armies. Low S and T, as befitting an Eldar, but absurdly high WS, BS and I. Extremely customizable and with the right loadout they can often go toe to toe with a lot of HQ choices. Be aware they can be points hungry and if you're not willing to put in the points to make them a close combat beast (Huskblade, PGL, Shadow Field, Combat Drugs, maybe Soul Trap) then you're probably better off with a Haemonculus. 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 very cheap as template weapons go for the Dark Eldar (and the one time you get S7 AP1 Flamers will be worth it).
**'''Lhamaeans ''' - Basically Wyches with poisoned weapons. That's all it is; the Mistress of Poisons rule doesn't count for shit, since the only poisoned weapons in an Archon's arsenal are the Venom Blade and the Splinter pistol, and VB's already wound on a 2+. The rule does NOT effect agonisers as they are not poisoned weapons.
**'''Ur-Ghuls''' - Decent on the charge but fail in every other regard. Take them only if you need warm bodies and lots of regular attacks in your retinue. 
**'''Sslyth ''' - T5 Meatshields. Similar to Ur-Ghuls except they can carry shardcarbines, the only thing that makes them even remotely worth their exorbitant price tag. Also, if your Court has 2 Sslyths and no more than 2 of any other type, all hits against the unit are resolved against Sslyth's T5; save for precision shots. With 2 wounds each, they make excellent suckers for the Archon's Look out Sir! rolls.
**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. What really hampers    it is the one-of-each requirement, which forces you to pay extra points for shit you don't need when you just want to kit out your Archon's unit for a specific job. There's a rumour going on it might get FAQ'd out, but considering the Codex is already three years old, you probably shouldn't get your hopes up.
*'''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 them and put them in Warrior or Wych squads, increasing their survival rate by a little bit. Relatively 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. 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 which 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).
**'''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. When her Raider Explodes, put two wounds on her to save a few Wyches. Also, Haywire Grenades and a Power Weapon on her is probably the best load out.  A good HQ as well, but made of glass against shooting.
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 very cheap, 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 infantry from behind 3+ cover). He isn't terrible in assault, good weapon skill, and strikes at Strength 6 at Initiative. Stick him with his boys and win the claw game every turn. Also, with the new FAQ, he adds 1 to your first turn roll. Which is a pretty nifty upgrade. 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.  He's also hilariously good in a Beastmaster Pack, so he's worth considering in some situations. 
*'''[[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 special rule makes her a great ''"fuck you"'' against [[Tarpit|tarpits]] 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.) 
*'''[[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 deal-breaker is the easy-to-overlook lack of Independent Character, meaning he can't join a unit of mandrakes and make them playable.  In short, skip him unless it's a fluffy game.
*'''[[Duke Sliscus]]''' - The ultimate utility HQ.  Seriously. He gives <s>your dedicated transports</s> <s>ALL your vehicles</s> (Thanks to the new FAQ, Razorwings and Voidravens can't deep strike anymore. Also 6ed means you can only have half your force deep striking) deep strike capability, allows your Wyches, hellions, himself, and anything else to roll twice for drugs and take your choice (never get a 1 again!), makes a Warrior/Trueborn squad's rifles wound on 3+ (fun for objective sitters/[[Anal_circumference|teabagging]] the shit out of units), 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 AP2. ''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. Drazhar is now incredibly powerful in melee due to the power weapon nerfing making him more powerful - especially since his attacks ignore armor saves.
*'''[[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-Haemonculus. He starts the game with a pain token, and lets you bring wracks as a troop choice like normal Haemonculi, and he regenerates one wound a turn. Only take in a Haemonculus themed army.
*'''[[Asdrubael 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 beating entire armies on his own, he is one of those few who can go toe to toe with the Swarmlord, <s>Draigo, or Abaddon</s> (he is only AP3 now) 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 [[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]].
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