Dark Eldar thread

>humanoid
>pointy eared
>long lived
>tall, thin and agile
>predisposition for magic
>created by a race of ancient gods
>eldar is another name for elf
gee, I dunno

If they wouldn't appear so lolrandom evil I would like them way more. Their troops can look pretty good.

If anything, DE are the real eldar.
>way more numerous
>former aristocracy
>better tech level
>continuing to party like they did before the fall
>not empire outcasts like the exodites or the craftworlders

>liking cyberpunk street rats over glorious Dark Elves

Get styl'd on faggot

Give me the silliest DEldar schemes and most convoluted plans.

They are spesh elves, but they look freaky, and clearly inhuman.
Picture related is how they are described looking like in their codex.

Your picture on the other hand, is just generic jap elf in a deldar suit of armor.

They're definitely one of the most evil factions (arguably THE most, since they don't really have the justification of being insane or a manifestation of dark emotions), but they're not as lolrandom as they appear.

Commorragh IS a death trap, and it's a constant fight to survive, but there is a method to the madness of the city. Random murder in the streets isn't usually tolerated, and many archons have patrols in their territories to make sure things are orderly. The reason being that chaos is bad for business. It's not just murder and mayhem in Commorragh; there are shops and other surprisingly normal amenities that help perpetuate an economy, which archons protect because it's part of their power base.

They also do terrible, terrible things, for sure, but it's also part of their economy. The slave trade forms the backbone of Commorragh's workforce and entertainment, hence the great importance placed on slave raids, in addition to vat-growing them.

Dark Eldar are also mercenaries, and will take work from other factions. There's even room for ancient hatreds against Chaos.

Hell, there's an archon whose kabal is dedicated to hunting the biggest, most dangerous beasts for sport.

A wrack who was so sick of not being promoted stole his haemonculi master's hexriffle, traveled to a world under attack by nids, and shot a trygon that was in the process of swallowing a commissar.
The resulting glass statue, that held the commissar like an insect in amber, was delivered as a gift to the Wrack's master, and the master was so pleased that he made that Wrack into a lesser Haemonculi.

> (arguably THE most, since they don't really have the justification of being insane or a manifestation of dark emotions)
They do have the justification of literally needing to feed off on the emotions of others in order to avoid being consumed by Slaanesh.

Yeah, but most of then don't really care about that too much. They mostly do the things they do because they enjoy it.

I find it funny that the armour and hair colour are exactly the same I used for a DE-themed alt costume for towergirls. And that was before I ever saw that picture.

Anyway, posting more proper artwork. Beckjann's stuff is better looking than 99% of the official art. They should just hire him to do all their DE pictures.

There's something to be said about a faction that is simply Coldsteel the Eldar. Might as well have a faction that actually is pure edge, instead of just memed to be.

Some particularly vain archon first had the faces of all the members of his kabal surgically altered to look like himself (ostensively to fool assassins, but in practice because he liked his own face so much), and then later took it up to 11 and released a mutagenic virus into the atmosphere of some Imperial planet, transforming the face of every living creature on the planet into his likeness.

ayyy lmao elves

He can actually make them look both inhuman and attractive, while official artists can only do either or.

No DEldar babe will ever love you

This is why I am in this thread.

Vect's destruction of Shaa-don is a story I find legitimately hilarious, and displays why I love the Dark Eldar.

A rival empire rises up, so Vecr captures an Imperial warship, lures it into the heart of the rival empire. The ship explodes, destroying a large portion of the upstart city. With the ship's destruction, the gellar field fails, causing a daemonic incursion to pour into the realm. Vect the sealed off that portion of the Webway and left it to its fate.

I just love how absurd the Maximum Overkill is.

The whole path of the Dark Eldar trilogy is just filled with layers upon layers of silly Deldar schemes.
It also features a Haemonculus, and his Wrack assistant, who for some absurd reason, reminded me of picture related. I kept reading their lines with the voices of these two.

>there's an archon whose kabal is dedicated to hunting the biggest, most dangerous beasts for sport.
any idea who? sounds pretty awesome to me

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Yes it is

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This is what the greatest pit fighter of the Dark Eldar looks like in official art.

Clearly they are Dragonborn.

>tfw no videogames with the new Deldar look.

I'd kill for a quality, free roam shooter game taking place in Commoragh.
Grand Theft Jetbike, if you will.

Her appearance varies from artwork to artwork.
The model also has a massive manface.

Yeah. I thought I had her picture from the previous codex, but I didn't. It was pretty similar to this, but once again Beckjann's looks better than the codex art.

I know it has changed, I was going by the most current artwork. That concept art is for 5e.

It's stated in several places that this is both an act of self-deception, and an act to ward off rivals. Commorite society is so cut-throat that showing any kind of weakness can be lethal - a Dark Eldar who admits to being afraid of Slaanesh and wishing they could live a more moderate lifestyle is going to be seen as soft and unreliable, which would result in their allies looking elsewhere and their enemies moving in to finish them off. Most of these Dark Eldar probably die quickly, because they don't have the ruthlessness needed to survive, which only further enhances the illusion that their race genuinely commits atrocities for fun.

It's also a necessary lie which allows the average Commorite to get through the day. The harsh truth is that the utter majority of Dark Eldar are doomed. They aren't going to escape Slaanesh, because eventually they'll make a mistake that results in a final death. It's just a matter of how long they can put it off for. Consider what sort of effect that would have on a human - not just that they're going to die, but that when it happens they are 100% guaranteed to wind up being tortured in hell for all eternity - and then factor in the Eldar's typically extreme emotions. Your average Commorite desperately needs to convince themselves that they're a swaggering, immortal badass who tortures and kills for the sheer fun of it, because the alternative is a rapid descent into crushing nihilism and all-consuming depression.

Note that I'm not claiming that the Dark Eldar don't get a kick out of killing and enslaving other beings. But the first and foremost motivation for doing so is because they need to. They're a race of desperate, strung-out addicts, pretending not to care about the moral filth and squalor they drag themselves through to earn one more frantic day of existence.

You put the essence of Dark Eldar condition far better than I could.

That aspect to their nature is precisely why I like them so much. Unlike chaos, which is just "lol evil/crazy" with very little else going on with them, the Dark Eldar are, in their own twisted way, tragic beings, who cannot escape their ways, even if they wanted to, because any attempt to change their ways would be seen as weakness by other Deldar, and be ruthlessly exploited.
The only ones who might be able to escape are ones who manage to somehow join other groups of Eldar, like Harlequins and Corsairs, and trough them, find an alternative to their horrible way of life.
The Deldar aren't truly irredeemably evil, at least not all of them. The big names, like the Haemonculi, or Archons probably are pretty much irredeemable, but your average, run of the mill Dark Eldar, is just trying to survive, in a society where survival requires absolutely heinous acts.

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Not off the top of my head, but I know he's mentioned in the 5th edition codex. I'd check, but I'm at work.

New Dark Eldar dex when?

One film I'm trying to find for Deldar inspiration is Johnny Mad Dog, a tale of child soldiers in Liberia. Given that the majority of them would be speed grown as half-born, they'd be popping out immature into a world of violence and ruthlessness and having to deal with that without having developed any means to handle it.

I'd hope soon, but it seems unlikely. And given the current trends I'd assume it's just the current codex with new formations, a couple of new units and maybe some minor changes (like Tau getting a new weapon option for firewarriors and ability to take riptides in units). Which would still be better than nothing, I suppose. Some nice formations might go a long way to make DE useable as something other than cab drivers for the CWE cousins.

I want Deldar to get something similar to battle focus.
Makes no sense that the Craftworlders can run and gun, but the Deldar can't.

What I'd do is add the following special rule to all non-Haemonculus DE units and vehicles;

Immaculate Agility: Models with this special rule move at full speed through Difficult Terrain and do not suffer the penalties from charging through Difficult Terrain. Additionally, they run and charge an additional 3" and automatically pass Dangerous Terrain tests.

Battle Focus represents the superior cohesion of a Craftworld Eldar unit; the combination of their latent psychic powers and the focus and unity granted by the Path allows them to operate almost perfectly within their unit. What the Dark Eldar have, in addition to their Power from Pain chart, is sheer, breakneck speed and aggression. They might not be able to fire on the move or hit an opponent then smoothly withdrawn, but they can run like the clappers, swiftly maneuver through the most hostile terrain, and pounce on an enemy from far away.

That's actually a very good idea, and fits the deldar better than just copying battle focus.

Also, speaking of the haemonculi, I wish that they would get some more units, or at least redone Grotesque sets in plastic.

I always thought there was design space for a shooty Grotesque variant. Something a little bit like Obliterators or Centurions, though maybe with a focus towards suppressing and weakening enemy units instead of just killing them. So their guns wouldn't be terribly dangerous - St5 AP5, Assault 2 Blast, 24" range or something - but if the target unit takes any casualties, they drop to WS and BS1 and friendly units within 6" can re-roll FnP rolls.

They would allow a Covens-themed army to play a bit more like the walking circus freakshow they're often depicted as, instead of just another batch of melee assault units to be kicked out the side of a Raider.

They could leave and join The Path.

It happens sometimes.

But they won't because murder-rape-torture-orgy is so much fun.

Not even. Not nearly enough spikes for a kabalite nor enough skin showing to be a wych.

SUPPOSEDLY this year, but very little details about it.

It wouldn't surprise me if it just turns out to be like the Black Legion and Crimson Slaughter rereleases, though. Supplements to give an army that lacks formations a small update.

If so, I hope for some more Wych Cult or Kabal formations. I seriously can't give a damn about Covens.

A shooty grotesque, with nasty haemonculi weaponry grafted onto it, sounds like a fun idea.
The haemonculi are sadly unimaginative and plain on the tabletop, all things considered. They should have far more variety.

This more appropriate?

>a dark eldar has taken up residence in your favorite tree
what do Veeky Forums?

Move the fuck away, with my family and loved ones.
I don't want to be tortured to death horribly.

You're assuming that:
1. This is possible. To my knowledge it has happened once, in a BL novel, during a time period where the Dark Eldar fluff was very much in flux. The nature of the Thirst hadn't been fully pinned down, so whether or not one can get out of it in this way is up for debate.

2. The average Dark Eldar has the means to escape Commoragh on their own. Most won't. They won't own a spaceship, they aren't going to have an in-depth knowledge of the Webway's layout. Their could try signing up with a band of Corsairs or Rangers who visit Commoragh to trade, but their parent Kabal might look poorly on that and try to have them killed.

3. That the Craftworld they reach will be sympathetic to their plight. While the Craftworlders and Commorites aren't trying to wipe one another out, they're certainly wary and suspicious of one another. Craftworlds are rather insular communities, and members who can't control their emotions are regularly booted out - the Path of Exile is called that for a reason. At best, a Commorite is going to be a disruptive influence until he's learned to settle in. At worst, he might be a spy or infiltrator there to gather information or force open central webway gates prior to an attack. How many Craftworlds are going to take the risk of accepting him? How many will refuse to take him in and send him back, or just kill him? Is it worth the risk of trying?

Saying "oh, they can just go join the Craftworlders" is a lovely theory, but in practice it's going to be almost impossible for the vast majority of Dark Eldar.

>The haemonculi are sadly unimaginative and plain on the tabletop, all things considered.

I don't know. Their selection of models is obviously pretty limited, but they have a very strong aesthetic theme. I'd certainly love more of them, but IMO what's there works nicely. At least it was enough to provoke me into building a dedicated Covens army with the supplement.

The Deldar should get an anti psyker unit imo.

True, they have a strong aesthetic theme, however their limited unit range makes the style of army you can wield with them very limited.
They all boil down to just dumping melee hordes out of raiders and venoms, with pain engines providing a bit of firesupport, before getting stuck in. They have zero dedicated ranged options.

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>Drug
>Blindfold
>Chain to bed
>Assert dominance

Just like regular tree eldar but you have to watch out for the sharp edges.

No Eldar want to touch a filthy Mon'keigh.

Only normalfag plebs hate bestiality, meanwhile Vect has SoB slavesluts on the dais like Jabba.

Something, something, go suck Beckjanns dick.

What?
His art is pretty damn good.

for a non-professional, yeah. But it's not half as good as the 5e codex artwork

>no sweet scourge gf to fly with who coos when you snuggle

So?

I need to see this happen before i die.

Despite of that, he still manages to capture the way the Deldar are described in their fluff far better than most official GW artist, let alone the wast majority of other fan artists, who just draw Eldar in general as pretty humans.

Significant amounts of the artwork used in the latest codices is actually outsourced to artists who basically amout to paidn fan-artists, and while some of it is quite good, a lot of it is just terrible. This is far from the worst, but the pictures of the Tau vehicle models that have been lazily photoshopped on top of the background are pretty egregious. The same book also has several extremely off-model battlesuits, but I don't have any of the worst pictures saved up.

This is shopped. I can tell from the pixels and from having seen quite a few shops in my time.

Yeah, from what I've seen, the Tau codex has some of the worst art in the current round. Craftworld Eldar art is pretty bad, too.

The artist of the most recent Dark Eldar codex isn't terrible, I actually liked some of the art in the book. But it did bug me how he seemed to portray splinter fire as looking like a standard gun (pistol in the back). This might have just been an oversight, though.

I didn't like the portrayal of the Wyches, though. I like the description from the 5e codex of Dark Eldar being outwardly beautiful, betraying their horrific under-layer.

Personal favorite.

What bad art is in the new Eldar dex?
I can't recall any.

I don't have it on me right now, but the battle with the Saim-Hann Wraithknights.

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>tfw mandrakes suck ass.
They look so fucking cool, but they are completely useless.

Well, not completely useless anymore, but their role is very limited and not all that important (they're pretty good for sitting on objectives in cover and harassing enemy infantry. Unless you have ignores cover weapons they're quite hard to remove for their poitn cost, and any ignores cover shot at them is less shot at your raiders).

Vect stole the cookies from the cookie jar.

One time I got hornets in my favorite tree.

I apply the same principle. I move away, call an exterminator and only move back when the fumes have gone and the pests are either dead or stoned enough to be transported somewhere else.

The problem is, in the case of Deldar only attracts more and more until your tree collapses.

Whats the best way to begin a Dark Eldar Army a box or two at a time?

The same way as any army: start small, with the codex, a unit of troops, a HQ and a transport.
Dark Eldar are pretty unique in that they literally can't be played without transports. So I hope you enjoy assembling venoms.

Sweet deal. I hope that I enjoy assembling venoms as well! Really wanted hellions to be good they most likely get some just because.

Better tech level? How so?

I thought they were basically the same, the dark eldar just don't use spirit stones.

Does the transport ruling extend to Kill Team?

DE have more of the pre-Fall stuff. They've lost much of it as well, but they still occasionally pull out shit like black holes in boxes and sun-killing super weapons.

It's explicitly stated somewhere in the dexes.
I don't know specifics unfortunately, but the Dark Eldar are stated to have the best tech in the galaxy aside from the Necrons.

>Better tech level? How so?

Among things the Dark Eldar tech has been seen to do:
>Resurrection, with only a scrap of flesh to regen from. (All the time)
>Create clones that don't instantly go horribly wrong. (Society is based on it)
>Trapping people in the shadow realm. (Repeatedly)
>Put a black-hole in a box. (Once)
>Extinguish a sun. (Several times)
>Put a sun in a box, then leave it lying around for humans to kill themselves with. (BL book series)
>Open and close pocket dimensions. (All the time)
And all of this without dipping a toe into the warp.

Dark Eldar are less limited than Craftworlders, who are restricted by the Path system and a reliance on Wraithbone. And where other Eldar look to psykers to solve problems, the Dark Eldar recognise the danger and instead found technological solutions.

General tech level, from best to worst:
>Necrons
>Dark Eldar
>Mechanicus Best
>Craftworld Eldar
>Tau
>Imperium Average
>Ork Average
Though there are obviously areas where each side is better/worse than the others: Orks are hilariously good at teleporters for some reason, while Tau have none at all.

>Create clones that don't instantly go horribly wrong. (Society is based on it)

I thought half born were just speed grown embryos which the parents didn't want to deal with?

This and this.
If you look at the Dark Eldar with witchsight or psychic means they are horrible monsters. Empty shells, hollow crones and hideous shades of their former selves. To me Dark Eldar are elven in appearance but closer to the undead in nature.

No, PFP is SUPPOSED to be their big "thing"
The problem is that the bonuses don't come quick enough to offset the loses

>1. This is possible. To my knowledge it has happened once, in a BL novel, during a time period where the Dark Eldar fluff was very much in flux. The nature of the Thirst hadn't been fully pinned down, so whether or not one can get out of it in this way is up for debate.
It's actually proven in codex son. The Harlequins explicitly recruit from every walk of Eldar life, clearly demonstrating that any DEldar that really wants to can escape the thirst if they try

The Harly path isn't identical to the CWE, but that's besides the point, any DEldar can escape their fate.

They are.
Retards just think they are clones because they are dumb shits who don't read the fucking lore.

>I thought half born were just speed grown embryos which the parents didn't want to deal with?
Yes. Basically, when a DE goes to have an abortion, the haemonculus takes the fetus, sticks it in a vat, and speed grows it toa dulthood before dumping it out onto the streets.

Also, the "black hole in a box" thing was apparently done more than once, as the Path of DE books mention it as one of the possible boobytraps archons like to put on any "gifts" (it's also supposed to be very easy to detect, so it's usually not that effective as an assassination tool).

>General tech level, from best to worst:
>DAoT humanity
>
>
>
>
>>Necrons
>>Dark Eldar
>>Mechanicus Best
>>Craftworld Eldar
>>Tau
>>Imperium Average
>>Ork Average

FIFY

Dark Age of humanity was pretty baller. But if you include them, you better compare them to the Eldar Empire and the Necron Dynasties at their heights.

All three empires were way past their members needing to work for a living, had armies that were undefeatable, and had super-weapons that could do absolutely ridiculous things. And all three fell horribly. The current power of the races in 40k is 90% derived from whatever was left from these various falls.

>human tech
>above Eldar or Necron tech at any point.

Seriously niggers?
How come you hfy fags cant' accept that humans never were the most technologically advanced race around. Eldar tech shits all over human tech, no matter if it is DAoT tech, or modern imperial tech.