Do people even like/play Dark Eldar?

Why would anyone want to play arguably the darkest, edgiest faction in the setting known for being grim and dark?

>Cool, stylish model line
>Challenging to play as, nobody in their right mind accuses you of being beardy if you win
>Fun background

I dunno. In a setting full of "HONORABLE WARRIORS" and "APOCALYPTIC INVINCIBLE HORDES", it's kind of fun that there's a faction of decadent, petty creeps who lose hard whenever they get into a fair fight. They don't really want to take over the galaxy, they don't really have much in the way of principles or philosophy, they're just a bunch of jerks who don't really care enough to learn a less destructive way to live.
Also, they're pretty funny.

they look cool. IG who should be cool and are apparently humans look like mutant scum.

The Deldar models in general, Scourges in particular, are some of the best GW has ever produced. I know that's a low hurdle to get over but still.

Seconding this. It's fun to lay a deadly decadent noble sometimes. Shame the armies have to rely so much on vehicles.

This seems to be generally overlooked, but is also the reason why I love them so much. For all the horrible shit they do, at the end of the day they are incredibly pathetic. They have no larger goals other than staving off the inevitability of Slaanesh eating them all, and they don't even bother to dream of anything bigger or a way out like their brethren do. They just continue their self-destructive lifestyles from before the fall, because they can't be bothered with anything else.

I know that's you, Kev.

Isn't deldar the smallest and most niche of the xenos?
So the hipster army, rapist bdsm elves aren't an easy sell

Why would you ever take cluster caltrops over a grav talon? Struggling to understand

Kabalites and Reavers look cool as hell, and Wracks, Scourges and Incubi aren't bad either

Also these:
I like having the option of playing a faction thats almost Dick Dastardly in their devotion to being evil, no brooding or angst just the 40k equivalent of hookers and blow and guns but without the Slaaneshi gifts of extra penises. Plus I'd never feel bad when they lose a battle because they probably deserve it.

I love my murder obsessed torture pirate elves, thank you very much.

They are basically addicts. There is nothing that prevents them from adopting a lifestyle of a craftworlder, other than their addiction to extreme sensation.

>Hyper-technological space elf pirate raiders on sleek aesthetic grav-craft, arena fighting gladiators and freakish augmented mad scientists all in one army
>Really well concieved and executed model line
>Interesting tactics
>Fun fluff

What's not to like. I understand its a niche considering they're pretty grotesque but you get a bunch of people who love being the grotesque monstrous irredeemable scourges on the galaxy.

I like their gameplay, and the stupidly over the top glam metal aesthetic. Also it's an entire race of edgelord animu fan fiction characters and that's just delightful.

i like the mercenary bit of their lore/fluff, rogue trader/inquisitor/ planetary governor with some testicular fortitude and-or major hubris hiring them for some deniable wetwork,

the story so far, inquisitor jaroslav has just hired the cabal of bitter dreams to dispose of his,,, problems,

the archon is a sly and cruel negotiator and wants 1000 souls in down payment befoer sevices are rendered, what will our hero do?

imperial prison world Almarak, one week later,

the high warden studied the symbols swirling around the holo-ring, the codes and ciphers all checked out, and the big red =][= was kind of a hint, still this was most peculiar, and so he did what most imperial servants would rather risk bodily harm to avoid, he asked the throne agent to clarify the request, across the fancy table jaroslav simply said, i would like to make a withdrawal.

Speaking for myself I played Dark Eldar because I liked the playstyle. Much later when they got new models in 5th edition I effectively bought a second dark eldar army for the amazing models.

The Merc units are some of the coolest looking.
Incubi, mandrakes, and scourges.
Scourges are also really good which is cool.

>Some of the coolest official models produced by GW
>Actually decent female face sculpts
>Tactical playstyle that requires focus, strategy, and perfection
>The epitome of Grimderp lore
>Thier leaders are capable of taking on the Necrons with their level of douchebaggery and banter
>Objectively the best when it comes to the Space Pirate schtick.

Their models look wicked, they have top Bant's and primarily exist to upset and annoy everyone else in the setting. When they lose they deserve it and when they win it's hilarious.

I think they look cool, and explaining them to others is actually less embarrassing than explaining most of the other self-insert fragile-ego small-penis projection-fantasy factions like space marines

>ask on /40kg/ how to start collecting eldar as i dont like SC! box
>three of them tell me to go DE
>tell them i have Chaos already so no need for more edge
>"poor excuse"
Fuck you i want elves with shurikens and waifus, and some order too
At least one user told me to get wraithguard and some transport

Easy, they look fucking rad.

I've been a Druchii/DEldar fan since reading the Darkblade series.

I like the idea of a brutal meritocracy and the anti-hero that you still root for.

Also the aesthetics.

They are space pirates.
I don't view them as the too edgy for you BDSM fantasy that GW is trying to push.
To me they are space pirates and I always loved pirate stories and adventures.

At least, that's why they appeal to me.

Drazhar.

The models of Reavers are awesome, too. Just not sure about this edition's rules for them, yet.

I play them because I have a hardon for fleshcrafted abominations, and Covens are fucking sick.

How do you spend hundreds of dollars on something ironically?

Not sure about the rules? They became more durable with a 4+ and 2 wounds AND the ability to choose your drugs made them baller as hell

Shame they neutered cluster caltrops tho

Because they aren't edgy, they're fun. They're horrible, monstrous, arrogant, and they love being so. You wouldn't see an Archon brooding over causing an atrocity unless they were disappointed there were survivors. Chaos is phenomenal when you are looking to play something with a betrayal/vengeance motive and Imperium is great if you want to be righteous, but the Dark Eldar are the single-most perfect symbol of Warhammer 40k. They're monsters who want to be monstrous and who's entire society is centered around torture which they have a biological need for. Warhammer 40k answers the question, "What would happen if the only way to survive was to embrace the worst atrocities as a way of life?" and the DEldar are that taken to its logical extreme.
And everyone who plays Imperium anything is boring with a side of self-aggrandizement. Learn to play something interesting, loyalist

By having a very fragile grasp on fiscal responsibility and your first "unlimited credit" card.

So what are my fellow Archons working on right now for their armies? Currently working on my Tantalus which is going to be my Archons pimp mobile.

>Imperium is great if you want to be righteous
More like "Imperium is great if you want to be as cruel as the Dark Eldar, but in denial."

How was it assembling that bad boy? I've been looking at getting one myself.

I don't care for the forge world de vehicles, they all looks like frankenstein monsters of the raider model with a bunch of stuff tacked onto them. For some reason the massive space in the middle of that model bothers me.

Settled on my Kabalite colour scheme on the weekend, this is my Archon (still a WIP mind you)

I've gotten a bit distracted by deciding to start up a Dred Mob force on the side, but I'll try finish off getting my Dark Eldar ready this weekend and hopefully actually start playing the week after

>Cyberpunk supercity ruled by space pirate mafia
>Mad Max-style gangs fight in the streets and in the air for the peoples' entertainment
>Mad scientists compete to make the most horrific monstrosities, in some beautiful unholy amalgamate of all sorts of 80's horror B-movies
>Ultraviolence and future drugs are their modus operandi and their lifeblood

Waiting on a shipment of some blue stuff so I can mold up a few more Dark Lances and Blasters. Working on a couple squads of Scourges, which I'll kit out with said DLs, as well as a couple squads of Trueborn, with said Blasters. That Tantalus looks really nice, by the way.

>t. Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Daddy you're an asshole why did you leave!!!!

Speaking of objectively the best space pirates, I was always disappointed that Duke Sliscus got cut
Also I'm sure I did once see a metal 25-8mm Ziggy Stardust mini, but I'll be damned if I can find it again

Wouldn't Ziggy make a better Tech Priest? Because of the Spiders from Mars?

>Actually take skill to play
>Actually take skill to paint
>Just chilling in Commorragh not giving a fuck about the shitty universe plots happening
>actually represent females in the universe well in both fluff and models
>Not space marines /space marines with spikes

Nah, Ziggy's an alien - combine with the thin white duke persona and you've got Sliscus to T: a highly fashionable and sexual androgynous alien on a mountain of drugs

Fair enough.

Just magnetizing some scourges today. Ran out sadly so will be painting up some warriors. Then I'll prime my Ravager tomorrow. I also started a Dark Eldar discord. discord.gg/TuUDbxf

Per I mostly play Admech but I do really dig the Covens aesthetic and also most of the lore. I was thinking of getting a round of Deldar bits and making some Divisio Genetor cybernetic monstrosities. Thing is that with our massive 8e nerfs we're basically Worse Shooty Dark Eldar at any case, since we don't even get move buffs and 6+ FnP to stay alive. Maybe I should make a Covens army on the side, always thought Wracks were badass. They any good now, or did you lose all your wargear options same as us?

They're lewd and they love it.

I never did play covens but I think they got nerfed due to losing all the formations in the Homoncualus covens supplement. Wracks are still good though. I've heard from some that grotesques are better. I think its mostly the pain engines that people are unsure about.

I started playing 4th. I liked their play style it required boldness, strategy and luck. I also unironically loved their looks back then but I'm a huge GW hipster and love 1st-4th ed models.

>love their looks
>I like the asshole pirates schtick it's fun to be the bad guy
>Incubi (I miss their head guns)
>raiders

Ooooh shit he bought the pimp mobile good on you fellow Archon!

Is that some motherfucking void vipers mah nigga? Hope they all turn out so well bro.

For me it was the models first then I read path of the dark eldar and quickly bought a start collecting box.

> worships space anomalies bound by machine
> calls chaos mentally defective

At least the soul exists in the warp, while replacing half your brain with tech is literally the act of becoming mentally defective.

What in dear gods name is that lizard???

Your wife was named after a whore-demon.

Its a snek called a Sslyth.

Wow that's awesome, thanks!

I remember a friend made a squad of them and painted them black and yellow. He always told his opponents to not step on snek. But nothing about shooting them with a Manticore.

>Is that some motherfucking void vipers mah nigga?
that they are thanks again for the name my man
Sslyth are actually pretty damn good in game too

Those models are hard as fuck to get a hold of. Every batrep I see uses them though must be worth the hunt.

I ordered a couple off the GW store online. Shame they're finecast, a plastic kit would be top tier, but they're still nice models.

Do the dark elder EVER get fucked over? In the fluff they always come out on top and get away with basically stealing entire solar systems.

I bought a 2000pt admech army because I hated how they looked
They've grown on me since then

Well there soul is slowly consumed by slannesh...but they just torture to avoid it...and they have ways to avoid death...I think no, they always get on top - figuratively and literary

Yeah, they get smacked down sometimes. Probably less than usual because A) they hit and run so they're fighting on their terms most of the time and B) writers forget about them when writing other Codexes when they need an enemy to beat in fluff

But there are some examples, one Kabal got wiped out entirely when it rolled into what they thought was a defenseless imperial city but found out it had been evacuated and prepared for a Raven Guard ambush.

Usually they get fucked over when their carefully laid plans are suprisingly thwarted usually though its internal sabotage by a fellow dark eldar to wipe out a rival. The big cheese in Commorragh came to power after letting a Salamanders flagship into Commorragh and killing hundreds of thousands of DE.

They also routinely get their shit pushed in by Chaos when a dysjunction happens in Commorragh.

In the Fall of Orpheus book by Forgeworld they get driven away (read: probably a lot of them atomized) by the Necrons, and later about 200 Kabalites get their shit pushed in hard when a sergeant of the Minotaurs chapter lays a trap for them by rounding up all the workers in a fuelling station, and using them as bait for the Deldar. The Deldar all die, while the casualties among the workers are suprisingly low - only 6 in 10 died.

Nah, I think they lose pretty frequently. While permanently destroying the Dark City seems to be impossible, any time they fight a real battle they usually get wiped out or driven off. Plus, probably their most significant fluff battle was teleporting the Salamander's Battle Barge into the city, then losing massive amounts of warriors trying (and failing) to take it over. Vect won that one by consolidating his power base, but it was definitely a victory for the marines.
They don't have a lot of defeats where swathes of territory are lost like other factions do, in part because they just don't work that way. They're less of an empire, more of a parasite on the galaxy.
You're right on about them being pathetic. It's a very interesting quality for an antagonist, and a hard one to get right. For me, I think the DE hit the perfect balance between pathetic and dangerous.

Ever read a cage, shattered? It's just a fanfic but I recommend it to every DEldar fan into the lore 1d4chan.org/wiki/Story:A_cage,_shattered

They're the edgiest cunts in an already hilariously edgy setting. They're not too expensive since they have low model armies. They're not exactly hard competitive, but their rarity kind of gives you a left-hand advantage, as in nobody knows what to do against you because you're the first deldar player they've seen.

Always nice to help another Archon! Anyone else have any great reason for loving your piratical space elves?

Dark Eldar are pretty much Anarcho-Capitalist master race.
>Have some of the most skilled (high WS, BS, and Initiative) characters of any mortal races
>Pretty much all of their political leaders are described as unmatched geniuses
>Pretty advanced technology particularly in biology
>Lots of elites of elites units like Bloodbrides and Klaivexes
>Main political entities are Kabals and Haemonculi covens which act like slavery corporations and teams of mad scientists respectively

As a result I made my army based around this, a Haemonculi coven obsessed with making the perfect organism. They enlist elites like incubi, bloodbrides, and succubi and use genetic material from those they deem capable enough to breed superior dark eldar. They also work alongside the manipulators of Dark Eldar society like Vect and Lady Malys since the perfect lifeform would obviously be a genius in addition to being strong and fast like Lelith or a klaivex.

>when your rival archon is hosting a rape-party for his mon-keigh raid-order child bride so you fire a black hole at him because the rape sounds invaded your private property

Gods be damned, I love this city.

I'd like to start collecting DE. How do you play them?

Stick those Kabalites from the box in the raider then have eeeeeeverything you have hit them hard and fast preferably first. Like another user said read up on your rules because DE are rare enough to where people go wait you do what? Splinter weapons always wound on 4+ and I've seen many ah head scratched over just that.

All the time in space marine fluff whenever a character needs a high kill count to pad their numbers.
For example DE raided the white scars homeworld and took some villagers hostage so karoso'khan went into the webway and hunted down every single member of the kabal personally rescuing most of the villagers and killing 1,000+ DE.

They just recently got fucked over with the whole Ynnari thing when Khaine's Gate broke and Comorragh got flooded with daemons

To be fair Decapitator saved the day with his skull-powered Event Horizon portal.

>bondage
>elves

Edgy sexy space elves on more drugs than an 80s rock band

So what music do the various Dark Eldar groups listen to?

Reavers probably blare Eurobeat in their races.
Hellions are definitely punk rock.

They used to be the highly complex glass cannon race.
One that required a lot more mechanical knowledge and finesse than other races to succeed with.

Also I'd argue they took a lot more finesse to paint well than your average Tyranid, Ork, Space Marine, etc.

Don't know if either of these things are still true, but that's why I played them in 4th.

Because they look amazing and are fun. They are twisted fucks with good stories.

ideally you would fall back when engaged against two separate units, thus more chances at mortal woulds. But I don't take either of them anymore. grav-talon is a 50% chance to cause an extra wound, big woop. That's 1/3rd of a blaster, and 1/4 a dark lance. I'd rather save the points.

Bikes got nerfed this edition pretty hard. Last edition I couldn't get enough of them. D6 s6 rending wasn't terrible

It actually fit together really well, apart from the main sail which was more warped then the ending of Event Horizon. And the flying base FW supplies you with is an absolute fucking joke, it's just the regular 40mm flying base. You basically HAVE to drill your own stand.

>biology

Biology is such a crude mon'keigh term I prefer 'fleshcraft' or 'pain science'.

Simple

>I like speed
>I like shooting
>I dislike Marines

That's what got me into them initially, then I started to read the lore, I love the fact that unlike most other factions Dark Eldar don't have any lofty ideals or grand plans; just get in, get shit get out.

An user once said; They are the equivalent of a bunch of rich arseholes strapping guns to their private yahts and becoming pirates to preserve their lavish lifestyle.

And if there is one thing I like; it's pirates.

What is this, Imperial Guard by CS Goto? Why are they firing autoguns? Or if those are supposed to be lasguns, why are they firing small light "pellets" instead of friggin' lasers?