Warhammer 40K: The Competitive Drukhari Units
The all-new Drukhari are raiding your store shelves this weekend. Here are the units you should pay very, very close attention to.
This week we are seeing the Dark Eldar make their appearance on the tabletop. I believe this is the second xenos faction that has made an appearance since the release of the new edition. I know many players were getting a bit tired of the constant Space Marine releases, whether it was loyalist or traitor. Hopefully, this release marks the beginning of a string of non-Space Marine releases. Unfortunately, there are still various armies of the Imperium that are still coming out so we still have to bear with that.
In the meantime, Games Workshop has given us Dark Eldar to pour over and look at until they give us the next xenos book. That being said, let’s have a look at a few of the units from the book that I plan to keep my eye on when the books are out in the wild. As a reminder, I do not get an advance copy of the book so this is based on the previews that were shown, although there are one or two YouTube videos where the content creator actually read the entire codex word for word!
Wyches
I’m not going to lie, this is one of my favorite units from the army. Back in the mists of time I had a full Wych Cult army and it was pretty good. This new book seems to make them stronger than before. Access to combat drugs, keeping people from falling back, and a good invulnerable save when in combat. Now, these abilities were available to the army before but small adjustments can have big effects.
From what I could find there are a few changes to the combat drugs that benefit them a bit better, in my opinion. Even some of the Obssessions help more, along with better wych weapons. With the smaller board and the obscured rule, it should be easier to get them into combat, if you don’t put them into a transport. Being able to charge after advancing can be huge. The key still seems to be able to get them there but my next unit I am looking at should help with that.
Raiders
The big thing here is that they are the same points, when equipped with a Dark lance, as a Venom with 2 Splinter cannons. With greater capacity, eleven models, than before, you can actually include a character to support the models that are also in the vehicle. So you can include your special character or Succubus with those Wyches as they leisurely glide across the battlefield on their way to deal death.
The Raiders also come with better weapons than a Venom. As a result, after the vehicle drops off their deadly cargo they can go around and take shots at things that might threaten your cargo of death. Now it is not as good as a Ravager, obviously, but if you have enough Raiders on the field you will have almost the same amount of firepower. So if you don’t have Raiders I suggest you start stocking up, if you can find them. I would still bring Ravagers in addition, though.
Grotesques
There are a few things that have changed for this unit and I’m not sure if it is for the better. They still benefit from the Power from Pain table but are now limited in that they must be in a pure Drukhari army in order to benefit from it. Not the detachment but the entire army. This means that if you want to use the Power from Pain table then you cannot use detachments from the other Aeldari armies. If you do ally in other detachments then the Grotesques lose any invulnerable save and would have to rely on their native abilities to see them through.
I’m not sure if losing Power from Pain is worth bringing in non Drukhari detachments into the army. I know some players bemoan this change but if you were already playing a pure army then this change really shouldn’t bother you in the least. I am curious how much use the Grotesques will get in tournament play after this change. This also seems to be another example of Games Workshop steering people to play pure armies but that is a discussion for another.
~Well, That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed the article. Let me know what you think, and what Dark Eldar units you are keeping your eye on, in the comments section below.
