Warhammer 40K: The Drukhari Are Dominating – For Now
Codex Drukhari is tearing up the Warhammer 40K Meta, but how long can they hold onto the crown?
I’m sure you’re familiar with the pattern.
The Great Wheel of 40K
A codex comes out, and within 3-4 weeks it either sinks into ignominy, or players find exploits, undercosted units, and crank up the spam machine. Net lists get theory-hammered, argued and counter-argued in a myriad of forums, and YouTube videos for weeks on end.
Then finally the best of these will face off in the next major events (say 150 players and up) and the best will rise to the top. The new faction will be claimed “The Kings of 40K”. The designers (more recently joined by playtesters) will be lampooned for letting such a travesty through the design process. But secretly, we will see hundreds of players shelf last month’s deposed king of 40K lists (boo, hiss), and do whatever it takes to cobble together copies of the winning list to take to their next local event.
Prices will plummet (for the previous army), and spike (for the new hotness). Folks will start scalping hot units, and within weeks the “Polish Bits” aftermarket will start unveiling coincidentally useful standins for whatever folks can’t get their hands on easily.
Players will throw up their hands and say the game is broken and they are boycotting it (their netlist got beat by the new netlist).
Clearly, I’m talking about Iron Hands right?
Oh, no, it’s Druchari this time around! Yes, actually Druchari, the generally ignored army that was only useful for flyers and Grotesques last edition is getting its long deserved time in the sun!
ALL HAIL the New Champions of Commorragh!
Sure there are a lot of reasons for its amazing 75% winning record in over 1500 games (via ITC and BCP).
- Raiding Force is Super CP efficient
- Incubi are KILLERs! (I can’t believe I just typed that – they have sucked for literally decades)
- Are Reavers REALLY supposed to be only 10 points?
- Liquifier Guns
- Etc…
FEAR ME (no really!) Fear Me!
Be Still Your Beating Heart
The details here are irrelevant, but just remember that this is the way it is supposed to work. There’s a reason the game releases a regular set of ever-evolving rules and codexes in a drip, drip, drip pattern of releases month after month. There is a reason the game doesn’t do an annual dump of updated rules for all factions.
The game’s intrinsic inbalance, and the chase to find the most potent army is every bit a critical part of 40K as playing. Ensuring that it is a moving target that keeps the meta churning, and folks ever designing, building, painting (hopefully), and playing, only to do it all over again is what makes a competitive 40K player a competitive 40k player.
So yes, the Drukhari are having a moment. Let them. There is no better time for an army to dominate than right after they get a new codex. If not then, when? Don’t worry, keep painting your favorite list and just be aware that things may be a little dicey out there if you find yourself opposite a bunch of just painted or dusty Drukhari at the tabletop.
Warhammer’s true equalizer
In just a few weeks, they will get FAQed, Sisters and Ad-Mech will be with us, and the great meta wheel of 40K will grind on yet again. Sometimes the most fun is trying to predict not who the king of 40k is right now, but who it will be in 3 months.
That’s the REAL trick. Who do you think it will be?
