Faction Focus: Drukhari

Welcome reader to a faction focus, an article designed to help understand different factions in this game of warhammer 40k. For our very first one I am going to just jump right in with my personal favorite faction, the Drukhari, or sometimes referred to as the Dark Eldar, which will show my age a little. There is so much going on with this army it’s really hard to not find something interesting, as they can go fast, pack a huge punch, or become a wierd horde army of reanimated Corpses. They really have a strong vampire and necromancy vibe going on, which is one of my favorite aspects, because the converting potential is through the roof. The biggest draw back is we are very easy to remove from the board, so we have to concentrate fire power and use our units efficiently so they aren’t just wasted.

When it comes to building a list we need to start by looking at the mechanics of what the army does, which is a rather neat mechanic, Power from Pain. This is the army rule that let’s you generate and use pain tokens. You can nominate to spend your paint token to empower a unit, this will open them up for rerolls to hit, advance or charge.

At first glance this can seem a little underwhelming, if we build for a 2k list we know we will start with at least four, one from our character and 3 from the mission size. We can add more if we take characters, adding as we see fit for our list. Also we get a pain token when we wipe units, or if they fail battle-shock. Which plays well into either msu or horde in a neat fashion.

    These pain tokens are a great way to keep our shoot units hitting their targets, we also can combine firing deck to fully optimize our tokens. Firing deck just says that the unit inside equip their guns to the transport, so buffing the transports, buffa the GUNS. This is an important caveat, you can look at the archon and see he gives rerolls to wound for a squad he is attached to, this is correct. However, while they are riding in their transport, they just give their weapons to the transport, effects do not carry over.

The next step is to look over the stratagems, these will provide us a chance to turn the tide of battle, utilizing our command point resources.

Prey on the weak: This Stratagem is going to let you reroll wounds for a squad of kabal, this seems really strong when you first look at it but we need to keep in mind that this cannot target a Raider, as they are not kabal. Ravagers are a prime target, this extra reroll can really help seal the deal on an almost dead target.

Strike and fade: 2 cp to make another full move on my army that already goes fast? Yes please, this has received such a great upgrade, we used to only go 7, but now we can go a normal movement. Combine this with a scourge squad and now you’re moving 32″ in one turn, that’s crazy effective to grab an objective at some point. It’s pricey but this should be the stratagem in mind when building.

Acrobatic Display: Letting a wych cult unit advance and charge is pretty strong. I don’t think it will see much play, as wyches are going to be in transports, Reavers don’t really want to prioritize assaulting over shooting, however hellions seem to shine here. If you take a squad of hellions this could help you deliver them to your opponent, but with a world of indirect fire and overwatch in your opponents movement, this makes them a pick we will have to test around.

Alliance of agony: All about value, if you have all three of your characters in the list, and they are out doing stuff then you can empower them all for one cp. There is a lot going on with this, as if our heroes join a squad then when they are empowered, the unit is empowered. Also combine this with Labyrinthine Cunning, and this should give you free empowerment for one pain token.

Quicksilver Reactions: 1 cp, to make anything but coven stuff – 1 to hit. Pretty standard, might have some benefits but I would hold cp unless I had nothing left to spend it on.

Insensible to pain: 1 cp to make a coven unit – 1 to wound, this seems kind of bonkers when you think about having a Haemonculus on the board with a squad of wracks. Very powerful, but with the nature of 40k I would not build into a tanky army, there are better armies for that.

     There are also 4 different enhancements you can take on your characters.

Crucible of Malediction: Once per battle make every unti within 12 of Haemonculus take a battleshock test. If they are a psyker, and they fail they take D3 mortals. This seems okay if you can position right and could swing a game, it would be a bad day for tsons or grey knights. Ultimately, it’s too pricey to be situational.

Labyrinthine Cunning: Mentioned that one before, let’s you generate a cp if you target archon squad with stratagem. A few good plays but it does require your archon to be out, and that’s not a good place for him to be.

Blood Dancer: Increase attack and ap by 1 for a succubus, or by 2 if she’s empowered. This seems strong, if you don’t want to take lilith already.

The Art of Pain: If this guy is on the board in your command phase, get an extra pain token. Not bad for a Hamunculi, since he will probably be in a squad of wracks walking the table.

     With all of that information shared, we can attempt to build a list. I have built two for you here and I will add more focused sections to the units and builds. I really need feedback for these kinds of things, I plan on doing something like this for each faction, please leave me feed back!

    2k Dark Lance Spam (1970 points)
    Drukhari
    Strike Force (2000 points)
    Realspace Raiders


    CHARACTER

    Archon (85 points)

    BATTLELINE

    Kabalite Warriors (120 points)
    Kabalite Warriors (120 points)
    Kabalite Warriors (120 points)
    Kabalite Warriors (120 points)
    Kabalite Warriors (120 points)
    Kabalite Warriors (120 points)


    DEDICATED TRANSPORT

    Raider (90 points)
    Raider (90 points)
    Raider (90 points)

    Venom (80 points)
    Venom (80 points)
    Venom (80 points)
    Venom (80 points)


    OTHER DATASHEETS

    Cronos (50 points)
    Cronos (50 points)

    Mandrakes (70 points)

    Ravager (95 points)
    Ravager (95 points)
    Ravager (95 points)

    Scourges (120 points)
    Scourges (120 points)

    2k Venom Spam (1995 points)
    Drukhari
    Strike Force (2000 points)
    Realspace Raiders


    CHARACTER

    Archon (85 points)
    Haemonculus (100 points)
    Lelith Hesperax (105 points)

    BATTLELINE

    Kabalite Warriors (120 points)
    Kabalite Warriors (120 points)
    Kabalite Warriors (120 points)
    Wracks (130 points)
    Wyches (110 points)
    DEDICATED TRANSPORT

    Raider (90 points)
    Venom (80 points)
    Venom (80 points)
    Venom (80 points)
    Venom (80 points)
    Venom (80 points)
    Venom (80 points)

    OTHER DATASHEETS

    Cronos (100 points)
    Ravager (95 points)
    Ravager (95 points)
    Ravager (95 points)
    Reavers (150 points)