Drukhari Codex Reviews

[Lord Asvaldir]

So got my first game in today after picking up the codex, man was it so great to have stratagems, traits and relics, just really doesn't compare to the index at all. I forgot to take pictures throughout most of my game, so instead of a full on battle report I'll just do a brief after action report and mention my thoughts on the stuff I used. My list was the following, largely just based on what I have available:

 

Patrol Detachment: Flayed Skull

Archon 86pts
huskblade, blaster

 

10 Warriors 90pts
sybarite w/ agonizer+PGL, 2x shredders, splinter cannon

 

Warriors 50pts

Blaster, PGL

 

Warriors 50pts

Blaster, PGL

 

Ravager 140pts
3x dark lances

 

Ravager 125pts
3x disintegrator cannons

 

Raider 95pts
dark lance, splinter racks

 

 

venom 75pts

2x sc

 

venom 75pts

2xsc

 

venom 75pts

2xsc

 

Patrol Detachment: Red Grief

Succubus 50pts

 

10 wyches 96pts
hekatrix w/ agonizer, hydra gauntlet, shardnet&impaler, razorflails

 

6 reavers 158pts
2x blasters, 2x grav talons, agonizer

 

Raider 85pts
dark lance

 

Patrol Detachment: Prophets of Flesh
Haemonculus 78pts
scissorhands

 

10 wracks 108pts
2x ossefactors, agonizer

 

Outrider Detachment: Flayed Skull

archon 75pts
venom blade

 

5 warriors 50pts
blaster, pgl

 

5 scourges 60pts

 

5 scourges 60pts

 

5 scourges 92pts
4x haywire blasters

 

venom 75pts
2x sc

 

Razorwing jetfighter

2x dark lances

I ran against a Tau list, my opponent was also trying out his codex for the first time so we both get games in with our new codex. His list had a ton of command pts, battalion plus brigade so around 15 command points. His list was very heavy infantry focus, lots of little fire warriors squads. His list was roughly the following (my knowledge of Tau gear isn't great to bear with me..):

 

Trait: advance +shoot with no penalty thing, turns rapid fire to assault when advancing

7x 5 man warriors units

2x 6 man pathfinder units

2x 11 man kroot units

2x crisis suit commanders. One was super fast, could move like a ridiculous 30-40" when advancing, twin fusion guns plus extra stuff. Other one had super-nova cannons. 

3x broadside suits. One with dual heavy missile pods and 2x railguns

2 3x stealth suits

2x fireblades

ethereal 

ghostkeel suit

hazard suit

bunch of dornes all over the place to protect commanders/other suits

 

Game was the comet objective from open war deck. Deployment was one person in the middle, 9" out from the centerline, other person got two bands along the long edges of the board. My opponent got the first turn. 

 

Going into the game I was very worried about mass s5 fire from the tau guns taking out my transports very fast. All those fire warriors pumped out a lot of s5 fire which over the course of the game definetly made an impact on all my t5 transports. His first turn fire really didn't do nearly as much as I thought though. The fusion gun commander wiped the dark lance ravager in one go, and I lost a raider to lots of pulse rifle fire but that was it, could have been much worse. Throughout the game both me and my opponent really wifed on our single shot high strength weapon roles. 

 

During my first turn I focused hard on one of my opponent's flanks. I deployed everything mostly bunched in my center zone, while my opponent spread out his forces on both sides, so I used my superior movement to rush everything over to one side. Kabal of the flayed skull trait was so helpful here, my opponent had lots of fire warriors bunched up in buildings and they didn't last long due to ignoring all their cover and more accurate splinter fire. Pretty much everything on the left flank except for the tougher targets like the hazard suit and the commander were either dead or tied up in melee. 

 

Turn two went better for my opponent, he was able to counter my full rush to one side of my board much better than I expected due to his advance and shoot trait, transports starting popping more. That did me he emptied the ruins on his right flank, places which my scourges were more than happy to take over in my second turn. Turn three was fairly even for both of us, whittled down units further on both sides while I wiped most of the left side of the board. Key point of the battle though was the comet came down turn 3, right in the center of the board. The kroot whipped my wyches off the objective with shooting (plus support from other stuff), but my characters were able to wipe the kroot off in turn and hold the objective turn 4 against pulse rifle fire. I also popped the black cornucopians trait to redeploy my one surviving wraith as a full strength unit to go help with the objective, and after my opponent's turn 4 of shooting he handed me the game, since he just didn't have enough firepower left to wipe out my characters plus the wracks who would reach the objective by turn 5. Plus he didn't have much to hold the objective with, just scattered groups of 2 man fire warriors units and his surviving suits. 

 

Overall a great game and a nice win for the first codex game, was a pretty close battle until the end. My main observation was man it's one thing to discuss the stratagems and relics and what not pre-game, but I really felt like I need to learn this codex inside and out now to really make use of the stratagems/traits to the fullest affect, which is great because we truly have a lot of good options. I'll throw up some analysis of how my units performed later when I get a chance. 

[Zamtro]

Little disappointed they didn't bump the named characters attacks up... Lelith should be like 7, Urien 5, Drazhar should be 5 and attack twice every phase not just on the charge.

 

The new Detachment keywords make it very difficult to make anything like a Brigade, so multiple patrols or battalions are the only way if you have the models for it.

[Lord Asvaldir]

All the special characters went way down in their pts, Lelith in particular is such a steal for her pts. Urien has an amazing aura for coven units, so he doesn't need the one extra attack to make him worth it. Lelith can easily get to 6 attacks thanks to her choosing a stat boost every battle round. She should be 5 base, but all succubi should be 5 base in general so not a Lelith issue. Drazhar is fine I don't think he needs attack twice every round. Again they are all a really good price for their pts. 

 

Not every army can make brigades easily anyway, and it also requires a lot of models. Personally don't have the elites for it anyway since I don't own mandrakes or incubi. Instead you could just take 2 battalions which is still plenty of cp, and it lets you take kabal/cult or kabal/coven. Not a huge deal. 

[Halandaar]

Well Lelith gets +1 from her weapons and +1 on the charge/when charged from the Cult obsession, so that’s 6 in most combats, plus the 2 from her hair for 8, and can opt for the extra one from her “I don’t need drugs” rule for 9. I think that’s plenty for 80 points.

[Slips]

Well Lelith gets +1 from her weapons and +1 on the charge/when charged from the Cult obsession, so that’s 6 in most combats, plus the 2 from her hair for 8, and can opt for the extra one from her “I don’t need drugs” rule for 9. I think that’s plenty for 80 points.

And, if she's warlord, gets the Blood Dancer trait for 3 hits per attack that rolls an unmodified 6.

[Withershadow]

Drazhar is the only character that I don't think I like.  He is quite expensive, and his buff is retarded.  What is the point of a +1 to hit aura, when you are already WS2+, the things you are buffing are WS2+ (Klaivex at least), and from the third turn the whole army gets +1 to hit.  If it at least worked with their Stratagem to trigger double hits on a 4+, but as it is, it is the second worst buffing aura in the game after the Master of Ordnance.

 

Should have been re-roll 1s to hit or 1s to wound.

 

As it stands, with no Kabal bonus, the Incubi have no purpose when their job can be performed better by any number of units we have. I guess it's not a huge loss since they are only available in failcast, but it's a shame because they are a great looking bunch of models.

 

Maybe GW will release a boxed set sometime in the future, with Vect on his Dais and Incubi bodyguards, all in lovely plastic. With new rules!

 

On the other hand, he is another HQ if you need to fill a slot and don't feel like buying yet another Archon.

[Withershadow]

That last Flayed Skull patrol doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose. Why not Black Heart?

 

You could also move your transports around to get ideal buffs on them.

 

Glad the Hellions performed well, they are the unit I am most skeptical about even with the fly-over stratagem.

[Lord Asvaldir]

Yeah incubi are one of my favorite models that I really want to get, but finecrap really is a downer for a unit with really incracite armor like incubi. I actually find that the biggest deterrent from taking incubi isn't their rules or the overpriced cost of drazhar, but mandrakes. Just compare what you get for the same pts cost same slot- same number of attacks now at the same strength, just incubi are ap-3 instead of ap-1. Granted that's a pretty significant difference, but mandrakes also get their excellent shooting attack, can deep strike and are -1 to hit with a +5 invul. Pretty much objectively better in every way. 

 

Drazhar being meh doesn't bother me because his model is so outdated, he's like a third edition model in a range that has some of the most up to date plastic kits. Just doesn't fit at all. I'd much rather use Leilth because she has a sweet model and is such a steal for her pts cost. 

[Withershadow]

Right. Without any buffs or Kabal bonuses, Incubi are very much outshone in melee by like half the codex.

[Lord Asvaldir]

I definetly could have maximized detachments more, I'll likely do that in my next time around. 

 

I'm not a fan of black heart. I know why people like it so far, the reroll 1s relic and the warlord trait are solid, but I'd rather have a solid bonus on all my units. Flayed skull definetly mattered for all my kabalite units, every venom/warrior unit was ignoring cover and rerolling 1s which helped with my splinter shots output. Granted I'll try other obsessions, see what I liked but flayed skull is definetly my style, maximizing the output from our gunboats full of warriors. 

 

Couple thoughts from the units I used:

 

Kabal units were as always the heavy hitters that carried the weight. Ravagers actually didn't last long since they were focused, but venoms and warriors were excellent. Scourges as well had their usual output, though the haywire scourges were a waste given I faced no vehicles. 

 

Wyches made their pts back. Granted I was facing a tau list so they never came up against a unit that could match their cc output, but they chewed through all the stealth suits and a kroot unit very easily before be shot up. 

 

Wracks didn't do much, they took more damage of course then any of our average infantry units would but took a long time to deal with a single fire warrior unit. Granted that wasn't really their fault because the fire warriors were way up on a ruin where only 2-3 wracks could make contact, but not great. On the other hand black cornucopians helped in the end a lot, I used it on turn 3 so they would reach the center objective and hold it by the end of the game, and my opponent just couldn't get rid of them at that point. 

 

Characters didn't get a chance to do too much. Forgot my archon had a blast pistol at least a few times which was a bummer. With the djinn blade though he has a ton of attacks, combined with famed savagery trait he's actually a a bit of a combat beast. My opponent just got lucky with invul saves so the one chance I got to take out his super fast commander didn't fall through.   

[Lord Asvaldir]

Yeah I was thinking about taking a unit of around 5-8 incubi as an escort for a couple characters in a raider but I think I'll probably just use wyches instead, half the price and yeah they won't get as many special weapons but it's a lot cheaper than incubi and not much worse output wise. Plus I just feel like mandrakes are so solid now, I really should get my hand on unit of them. 

[micahwc]

I’m thinking wracks are going to be great objective holders. Prophets of flesh wracks get a 4++ and a 6+++ with T5 near a haemonculus.

[Lord Asvaldir]

I tried that build in my game on Saturday, wasn't terrible impressed, all they did was mostly absorb fire though they did that recently well. One game though is hardly enough to reach judgement on the build. Wish you could take 20 man units of wracks though, with black cornucopians that would be fun.  

[Vel'Cona]

 

Drazhar being meh doesn't bother me because his model is so outdated, he's like a third edition model in a range that has some of the most up to date plastic kits. Just doesn't fit at all. I'd much rather use Leilth because she has a sweet model and is such a steal for her pts cost. 

 

So 8 WS2+/S5/AP-3 attacks OR 12 WS2+/S4/AP-2 attacks on the charge is . . . bad?

 

And since when is 120 points for a combat character with excellent output and statistically solid durability overpriced?  I get that he doesn't have a gun and Kabals don't effect him, but Drazhar serves as a totally neutral HQ choice allowing complete detachment flexibility and his buff is far from useless.  There are plenty of units that inflict -1 on hit rolls (including with Psychic Powers, which DE struggle to overcome without Allies) and being able to negate that early on and boost it when PFP hits turn 3 gives Incubi consistency in punching TEQ/MEQ that the rest of our list mostly lacks.

 

Don't get me wrong, he's not Roboute Guilliman or Magnus, but for his cost Drazhar is absolutely solid.

[Lord Asvaldir]

I didn't mean to say that he was bad, more that he just doesn't interest me at all when it comes to list building. That's primarily because he still has that ugly 3rd edition model. Plus you can make some pretty mean succubi and archons for a lot less pts. Nothing against Drazhar (well his stats, his model is a different story), just don't intend to ever use him. 

[Withershadow]

No, he is bad.  He is a good 40 points more than a geared Archon, or almost twice the cost of a geared out Succubus, who both can deliver a large volume of attacks in a better way (they all happen at once, without being conditional on a charge and broken up over two fight phases).  Do we really need to spend 120 points on Drazhar to go after basic infantry?

 

I would say point for point he is the worst unit entry in the book, with Hellions and Incubi not far behind.

 

And TEQ? Really? Please do try sending Incubi vs. TEQ and watch them die like dogs.  D1 damage bounces off of terminators even if they don't have storm shields.

[Slips]

Got 20 Scourges to build and was thinking:

5 Blasters

5 Haywire

10 Dark Lances

 

Worth bothering with a Shredder Squad? AFB but iirc they can take them too.

 

Thoughts?

 

Also: bother giving the Solarite weapons? If so which one?

[Lord Asvaldir]

As much as I might like to give a solarite a venom blade for rule of cool, it's useless since he'll never use it so I'd pass. 

 

Dark lances aren't good for scourges anymore, since you get the -1 to hit when you deep strike and blasters have the d6 damage you need. If you want I'd say go ahead and assemble one suad with them, but I definetly wouldn't do 10 scourges with dark lances. Instead I'd actually give one suad shredders. D6 shots s6 ap-1 is solid anti infantry firepower, it's the one suad I really want to try out but don't have the models for. Also base stock carbines aren't bad, have 10 of those as well, though I think shredders are better for anti infantry duty. 

[Slips]

Fair enough; one squad of everything it is!

 

Been trying to cram a Double Battalion of Kabal and Cult and man, the lack of space to take transports is a bit lame since my ideas end up looking like:

 

Vectbois

Archon w/ Helm, BP

Archon w/ BP

10x KabaliteS w/ 2 specials + heavy, sarge with Agonizer(or PSword depending on what I have modelled)

10x Kabalites as above

10x Kabalites as above

5x Blaster Scourges

5x Haywire Scourges

5x Shredder Scourges

 

Lelith and friends:

Lelith

“Cracky” the succubus (use strat to get her Stimm Addict WLT and Phial Relic)

10x Wyches; Agonizer, Net, Flails, Gauntlets

10x Wyches as above

10x Wyches as above

5x Dark Lance Scourges

6x Reavers, 2 Blasters, 2 Grav Talons, Agonizer

6x Reavers as above

 

This more or less just leaves room for 1 raider or venom if Im not mistaken.

[Vel'Cona]

broken up over two fight phases

 

I have no idea how fighting twice in a phase is worse than only fighting once, but I'd like to hear it explained

 

@Slips, looks like a pretty good start, though I'm fairly certain Scourges can only take 4 heavy weapons . . .

[Slips]

 

 

broken up over two fight phases

I have no idea how fighting twice in a phase is worse than only fighting once, but I'd like to hear it explained

 

@Slips, looks like a pretty good start, though I'm fairly certain Scourges can only take 4 heavy weapons . . .

Yeah a 5 man squad with max of X weapon :p

[Withershadow]

As much as I might like to give a solarite a venom blade for rule of cool, it's useless since he'll never use it so I'd pass.

 

Dark lances aren't good for scourges anymore, since you get the -1 to hit when you deep strike and blasters have the d6 damage you need. If you want I'd say go ahead and assemble one suad with them, but I definetly wouldn't do 10 scourges with dark lances. Instead I'd actually give one suad shredders. D6 shots s6 ap-1 is solid anti infantry firepower, it's the one suad I really want to try out but don't have the models for. Also base stock carbines aren't bad, have 10 of those as well, though I think shredders are better for anti infantry duty.

 

I very much disagree on the lances. The -1 to hit is not that big a deal in my opinion, since it only should affect you 1 turn. Blaster Scourges are a very high priority target, and their proximity to the enemy lines means they will inevitably always die immediately. With lances, you can land your scourges safely on a building somewhere out of the way of anti-infantry weapons, and just light up the sky with darkness. I’m building my scourges as two units with haywire and one of lances.

 

broken up over two fight phases

 

I have no idea how fighting twice in a phase is worse than only fighting once, but I'd like to hear it explained ;)

. .

Because your opponent gets an opportunity to fight back before you fight a second time.

 

Again, Drazhar costs as much as a razorwings or ravager with disintegrators, and all he is good at is killing 1W basic infantry, which can also be done by our Archons and Succubi. Why? Why is the Klaivex better at killing big stuff than friggin’ Drazhar? His aura should have been “friendly Incubi get precision strike” and his invulnerable a 4++, and then he’d be a great character. There is hope, 2-3 years from now Drukhari may get another little model range expansion, given that they have been selling like gangbusters since the codex dropped. Everything is still sold out everywhere.

[Lord Asvaldir]

 

As much as I might like to give a solarite a venom blade for rule of cool, it's useless since he'll never use it so I'd pass.

 

Dark lances aren't good for scourges anymore, since you get the -1 to hit when you deep strike and blasters have the d6 damage you need. If you want I'd say go ahead and assemble one suad with them, but I definetly wouldn't do 10 scourges with dark lances. Instead I'd actually give one suad shredders. D6 shots s6 ap-1 is solid anti infantry firepower, it's the one suad I really want to try out but don't have the models for. Also base stock carbines aren't bad, have 10 of those as well, though I think shredders are better for anti infantry duty.

I very much disagree on the lances. The -1 to hit is not that big a deal in my opinion, since it only should affect you 1 turn. Blaster Scourges are a very high priority target, and their proximity to the enemy lines means they will inevitably always die immediately. With lances, you can land your scourges safely on a building somewhere out of the way of anti-infantry weapons, and just light up the sky with darkness. I’m building my scourges as two units with haywire and one of lances.

 

 

 

That's fair, I've had some success before with throwing scourges way on the top of a building against a mostly ground based army that didn't really have any way to get up there and get rid of them. In the right matchup, dark lances certainly have their uses. I tend to use a lot of scourges though, 15 currently and honestly might even go up to 20, so I have a lot of scourges for my opponent to worry about in addition to the other threats in my list. Plus I've been trying haywire blasters and they have 24" range, which lets them stay a little more safe out of range than blaster scourges. 

[Jacques Corbin]

I would go Kabalites of Obsidian Rose, for that extra 6" range on everything but pistols versus Tau.

[Soulhunter1995]

I`ll be going for the Obsidian Rose :) I mainly play against Guard so a round of shooting before they hit me will be handy :P