Unit of the Week - Raider

[Karhedron]

Welcome to Drukhari "Unit of the Week" series.

Each week a different unit will appear, with the idea being that we discuss how best to use that model on the battlefield. This series will focus on Codex entries initially. If/when we exhaust those possibilities, we will start looking at Forgeworld and Legends if people are interested in those units.

These threads are not to discuss proposed changes to units or long complaints about poor behaviour. I would like to keep them constructive and focus on making the best use of the units as they stand. Inevitably, in a codex as large as ours, there is going to be some overlapping of battlefield roles. For this reason, I will allow comparisons against other units that fill similar roles provided the posts remain primarily focused on the unit under discussion.

Mentioning other units in the context of synergies and army building is of course permitted (even encouraged). This week's entry is:

Raider

What are you thoughts here folks? How best would you use Raiders?
To compliment a list, or to build a list around?
Will you be running multiple units?
What units (if any) would you have embarked?
Which weapon options are you taking and are they affected by the above?
Are you buffing this unit? If so, how?
Stratagems of note?
Over to you.

Should you want your model on display here (or on another thread from the series), then submit a photo here please.

[WarriorFish]

I think Raiders are almost a standard unit. Warriors are a bit squishy being no more difficult to remove than Guardsmen so a transport to help keep them alive which they can shoot out of is a good choice. The heavy weapon mounted on top is a nice extra and where you'll get a lot of the heavier weaponry from too. Dark Lances for some AT are the obvious choice generally I feel, especially as they negate the movement to hit penalty.

 

Wyches absolutely need a transport to work as they'll get evaporated before they get anywhere otherwise. Any foot unit that wants to close on the enemy needs one, such as Incubi etc, as aside from getting there quicker you're much more likely to get there in mostly one piece...

 

Maybe the question should be "why wouldn't you take Raiders"?

[Angel of Death]

Hello, new player on the forum here :) As an old dark eldar player Im gonna second WFish. The raider can be a pretty good choice for transport purposes for units like wracks, grots and wyches. Sometimes a bit squishy, and between Venom and Raider, I recall that it was the less popular choice for Kabalites. However, Im thinking of maybe building a fully raider-based haemonculi covens army for my wracks, and Im thinking it may be that the raider can come in handy there. So, im basically pretty neutral, not for or against it really.

[WarriorFish]

I think this is worth revisiting with the changes for 9th in mind, with the focus on missions and secondaries I think the mobility Raiders provide is probably even more useful. Granted the game has always been about playing the mission, but the feature of choice is new here. You could easily claim ground with them as well as use this to deny and remove your opponent's attempts to claim their own objectives for example.

 

With a new codex coming soon I'm hoping that Raiders can get a bit of a buff somehow. Whether this is in points to reflect the strong need for them or other options I don't mind, though I always liked the upgrade that reduced weapon range against them.

 

I think having some Warriors on foot is viable, but it'd need to be in decent number otherwise all your opponent's longer ranged AP won't have too much trouble removing them. Theoretically they should fair better once your opponent has your other squads dismounting where he doesn't want them to worry about.

[Angel of Death]

I'll definately be going for raiders for my covens army. And they do make it look more like a thematical invasion force. Also, if you have maybe 4-5 of them, that's one dark lance shot for each. But the only reason you would not take them would maybe be that venoms are very good at 'spam this transport vehicle and kill all infantry that moves'. Or what do you think?

[WarriorFish]

I think the Venom thing is as much to do with the scaled down nature of it, as in you can have smaller squads and therefore more Venoms - numbers is still strong so playing the numbers game works. More so I imagine for DE who are a bit of a glass hammer at times, so it's the best form of durability you can add.

 

Venoms are still kind of new to me, they feel like a good choice for specialists and the like but otherwise Troops are 10 model units for me. It'd be good if someone who's had experience of a Venom heavy list could pitch it in comparisons and that, but I've not heard much talk about it here so I'm not sure if anyone else has done it :P

[Angel of Death]

Haha, I remember rolling like 140 dices with venom fire once but that was years ago. I dont know how much have changed tho.

[Snazzy]

My favorite part about the Raider is how unusual it is.  Sure, it carries our ultra fragile units.  Yes, it has a dangerous gun at the prow.  It is the other qualities that interest me.  Raiders are actually not bad at melee, Chain Snares are also cheap.  With 9th edition's Big Guns Never Tire they are not even penalized for using their Dark Lance or Disintegrator inside engagement range, as both are Assault weapons.

 

There's some fun considerations for how each subfaction bonus applies to a Raider.  Cursed Blade with a Shock Prow is a S7, D3 damage attack.  Slashing Impact applies, as does any other bonus not related to Power From Pain.  I've been entertaining the idea of a Ld penalty inducing army, and a Coven of The Twelve Raider riding up, lowing Ld, using a Phantasm Grenade Launcher and having Grisly Trophies to boot.  Who knows how things will change in the new Codex.  But, i appreciate all of the options.

[Grimoire]

In my humble opinion, the Raider is the quintessential transport. Probably the most elegant of all the various armies as well.  As a result I have more than a few of them, though only 4 are completed at this point.

 

Generally I magnetize the steersman and bow gunner. 3 are built with Dissies (Obsidian Rose, Poisoned Tongue, and Flayed Skull) and one with a Dark Lance (Black Heart). It's a pity that GW didn't provide extra Bow Gunner Shields (part No's 22 & 23). If they had it would be simple to build the Boats with both weapons and simply use the one you like at the time.  And before someone mentions it...... Yeah you *can* sort of, magnetize the the barrel's and change that way but to me it doesn't look quite right and the magnets allow a rotation which really looks odd and bugs me. Can anyone say OCD ? <lol>

 

As a non-competitive player I build them all with Shock Prow, Chain Snares, Splinter Racks, and Grisly Trophies. Points be damned <lol> they look better that way. While I have Venom's they simply don't present themselves as elegant. So I may restrict the Venom's to carrying HQ's. I'm leaning more towards 10 man units as opposed to 2x5 man.

 

To my extremely opinionated mind <lol> Nothing looks more menacing than Multiple Raiders, a Ravager or two, a Reaper and a Tantalus on the table together.

 

My $.02 at any rate

 

 

[Angel of Death]

In my humble opinion, the Raider is the quintessential transport. Probably the most elegant of all the various armies as well.  As a result I have more than a few of them, though only 4 are completed at this point.

 

Generally I magnetize the steersman and bow gunner. 3 are built with Dissies (Obsidian Rose, Poisoned Tongue, and Flayed Skull) and one with a Dark Lance (Black Heart). It's a pity that GW didn't provide extra Bow Gunner Shields (part No's 22 & 23). If they had it would be simple to build the Boats with both weapons and simply use the one you like at the time.  And before someone mentions it...... Yeah you *can* sort of, magnetize the the barrel's and change that way but to me it doesn't look quite right and the magnets allow a rotation which really looks odd and bugs me. Can anyone say OCD ? <lol>

 

As a non-competitive player I build them all with Shock Prow, Chain Snares, Splinter Racks, and Grisly Trophies. Points be damned <lol> they look better that way. While I have Venom's they simply don't present themselves as elegant. So I may restrict the Venom's to carrying HQ's. I'm leaning more towards 10 man units as opposed to 2x5 man.

 

To my extremely opinionated mind <lol> Nothing looks more menacing than Multiple Raiders, a Ravager or two, a Reaper and a Tantalus on the table together.

 

My $.02 at any rate

 

I didnt really know which was the better transport tbh. But like I said earlier, I'll definately go all out raider for my new army too. They do look better. And also more thematical of dark eldar. I just think its a good thing ive been updated that theyre also the better option, because I was decided on them even before my revalation on the forum.

[Snazzy]

They are really different beasts.  Venoms are less about the passengers and more about being a gunwagon in their own right.  People who take Venoms usually take multiple, if not the entire army mechanized.  The point of doing this is to maximize the number of Venoms.  They have a -1 to hit in the shooting phase, don't degrade from wounds, and have have 10 Poisoned shots at 12 inches, for 75 points.  Look at what Flayed Skull can do with this, or just how strong it is with a Coven dropping off Wracks. 

 

Venom spamming is the lowest form of Drukhari combat, IMO.  I'll die on that hill.

 

Speaking of Flayed Skull, Splinter Wracks work really well for them.  In addition to the rerolled 1s, the Flawed Skull Stratagem adds +1 to hit against flying units.  You can have a situation where your embarked Kabalites are hitting on 2+, rerolling 1s, and causing 2 hits on a 5+ while ignoring cover.

[Angel of Death]

When you say flayed skull, are you talking about raiders or only about venoms? I think both are strong and good. Also, if you mean venoms, you can give each venom 2 splinter cannons for like 10-20 points, and give a kabbalite/trueborn a splinter cannon too, capping in at ~95 points for like 24+ dices, depending on how you spend your points.

[Snazzy]

Upgrading the twin splinter rifle to a Splinter Cannon costs 15 points for at beast 2 extra shots.  That isn't worth it, IMO.

 

Flayed Skull's benefits extend to both the transport and their passengers.  So, FS is good for both.  It just gets obnoxious for Raiders because they can also take Splinter Racks.  Masters of the Shadowed Sky adds to the attack roll, which works in conjunction with the 6+ double hits on Splinter Racks.  Ignoring cover is big, though.  Chewing through 2+ saves with Splinter weapons sucks.