Wh40k 10th Edition Faction Focus: Drukhari

[CL_Mission]

Shredders are one of my favourite weapon designs in the game and the new statline looks like fun so I'm already feeling good about the index, lol. Dark lances look good so I'm curious to see how Disintegrators shake out, heat lances too. I'm liking what I see but I'll much more exciting when the Codex comes and hopefully so new options, sadly it's no doubt a long way out.

 

[Doctor Perils]

Combat patrol is a completely self contained game mode from what we've learned so far - as such it doesn't surprise me at all these rules and stratagems don't really apply to it

 

How do these rules suck all the creativity you pushed into your kabal? Just because they don't represent it quite as ideally (that we know of) doesn't mean that everything you've written and modelled and painted for them is all for naught

Plus, hopefully, when the codex comes out the other detachments will be better suited to what you want.

 

Of course it sucks the codexes are going to take so long to come out

[Arkangilos]

2 hours ago, 01RTB01 said:

They may cost a resource but it's something that can be replenished and can be used at critical points in the game.

 

It’s only replenished by killing units. (I’m counting Battle Shock because that requires half a unit to die). It also isn’t for everyone in the army, a token has to be applied to each unit. So let’s say you completely wipe out one unit and cause a BatShock test to one unit, that second unit isn’t a guaranteed pain token, so you only get one token for sure.

 

So you get one reroll to one of your units depending on the phase you use it in.

[Blight1]

At least combat patrol has it's own detachment and strats.

[zero888]

Embarkation rule for Venoms is super cool, but I think in another preview it said that units deploying from destroyed vehicles are automatically battleshocked. So not sure how useful it will actually be on a 6++ vehicle.

[Sea Creature]

Did they lose poison weapons… or wound infantry on 3+ for splinter weapons?

Edited May 29, 2023 by Sea Creature

[Kaiju Soze]

2 minutes ago, Sea Creature said:

Did they lose poison weapons?

Replaced with splinter weapons having Anti-Infantry 3+.

[Zoatibix]

Someone elsewhere told me that Bikes are both Infantry and Biker in Xth, so Anti-Infantry will work against bikes. 
 

Is that correct? I did briefly go and look at the CSM FF but could not see the relevant Datacards.

 

Also, I find it odd that Blasters are AP-4 and Dark Lances are AP-3. Would have thought they’d be the opposite way around.

[TheMawr]

1 hour ago, Ming the Merciless said:

Reading between the lines of the Venom's Transport rule, I hope that Kabalite and Wych squads don't become a minimum size of 10...

 

I find it hard to just read the lines in that rule.. let alone reading between the lines XD but... for as far as I understand it, it does seem to indicate that, its the fourth time I think we have a rule heavily implying that box content = datasheet. ( with CSM as a clear exception to that.)

Though I have to say Im not suprised.. As soon as they said the word streamlining, I knew that was the kind of things they meant.

 

 a funny thing is that RAW the Aeldari detachment DOES apply to drukhari as well.. it targets the Aeldari keyword (wich drukhari have), not the Aeldari faction (wich strands of fate specifically does target.).. the Farseer too can target all with the Aeldari keyword, and since there is no Asuryani keyword.. the Wave serpent and Falcon will have to say its able to carry Aeldari infantry, both keywords kabalites have as well.

 

This either indicates an edition where ynnari will be more streamlined, or they have double the "cannot have this and cannot do that, and X cant take Y etc." they have now.

 

Personally Im wondering if the drukhari part of their equasion doesnt come from a future detachment, but rather from the backside of their character datasheets. If <ynnari character> is your warlord you can take X Drukhari units in your army that do not have the Haemonculi covens or Epic hero keywords. No further words needed = streamlined. The SfD shenanigans coming trough leader abilities. While that initially locks it all back to the 3 named characters again, all one needs is Ynnari variant datasheets of some characters in the future.. no faction, codex or detachment required, not even new miniatures.

 

It would be quite elegant... so its not likely to be the case.

 

Corsairs I could see having a dual faction Aeldari/Drukhari, as that fits with the core rules... but none of the faction abilities (the real question being.. is their card in both sets as well.)

 

Harlequins is more of a mystery.

 

[WrathOfTheLion]

There's definitely a weird setup for the Aeldari keyword vs the Aeldari faction keyword. I don't know quite how it'll shake out, but I think you're right it has a good chance of interacting with Ynnari rules.

[Doctor Perils]

1 hour ago, Zoatibix said:

Someone elsewhere told me that Bikes are both Infantry and Biker in Xth, so Anti-Infantry will work against bikes. 
 

Is that correct? I did briefly go and look at the CSM FF but could not see the relevant Datacards.

 

Also, I find it odd that Blasters are AP-4 and Dark Lances are AP-3. Would have thought they’d be the opposite way around.

I think the Heretic Astartes article mentioned the Rider keyword as opposed to Infantry and Biker, so I don't _think_ so - jump infantry does seem to have Infantry and FLY still

 

1 hour ago, TheMawr said:

 

I find it hard to just read the lines in that rule.. let alone reading between the lines XD but... for as far as I understand it, it does seem to indicate that, its the fourth time I think we have a rule heavily implying that box content = datasheet. ( with CSM as a clear exception to that.)

Though I have to say Im not suprised.. As soon as they said the word streamlining, I knew that was the kind of things they meant.

 

 a funny thing is that RAW the Aeldari detachment DOES apply to drukhari as well.. it targets the Aeldari keyword (wich drukhari have), not the Aeldari faction (wich strands of fate specifically does target.).. the Farseer too can target all with the Aeldari keyword, and since there is no Asuryani keyword.. the Wave serpent and Falcon will have to say its able to carry Aeldari infantry, both keywords kabalites have as well.

 

This either indicates an edition where ynnari will be more streamlined, or they have double the "cannot have this and cannot do that, and X cant take Y etc." they have now.

 

Personally Im wondering if the drukhari part of their equasion doesnt come from a future detachment, but rather from the backside of their character datasheets. If <ynnari character> is your warlord you can take X Drukhari units in your army that do not have the Haemonculi covens or Epic hero keywords. No further words needed = streamlined. The SfD shenanigans coming trough leader abilities. While that initially locks it all back to the 3 named characters again, all one needs is Ynnari variant datasheets of some characters in the future.. no faction, codex or detachment required, not even new miniatures.

 

It would be quite elegant... so its not likely to be the case.

 

Corsairs I could see having a dual faction Aeldari/Drukhari, as that fits with the core rules... but none of the faction abilities (the real question being.. is their card in both sets as well.)

 

Harlequins is more of a mystery.

 

I don't think they'd be able to take advantage of Strands of Fate as the ability isn't on the sheet, even if they the Aeldari keyword

[Wolf Guard Dan]

8 hours ago, Doctor Perils said:

So, will they be able to take on monsters, considering splinter only particularly affects infantry, and haywire only particularly affects vehicles?

I wouldn’t worry about monsters. Dark light weaponry will keep them shaking in their boots. Also I expect grots and incubi will still be really good at hurting monsters too. 
 

Shredders look like a lot of fun. This makes it hard to equip the scourges. I really love dark light weapons though 

[ShibeKing]

Really excited to play Dark Eldar in 10th. Hopefully this edition will bring plastic Mandrakes as well.

 

The name: "Pain Tokens," is kind of goofy though.

[Tokugawa]

2 hours ago, Zoatibix said:

Someone elsewhere told me that Bikes are both Infantry and Biker in Xth, so Anti-Infantry will work against bikes. 
 

Is that correct? I did briefly go and look at the CSM FF but could not see the relevant Datacards.

 

Also, I find it odd that Blasters are AP-4 and Dark Lances are AP-3. Would have thought they’d be the opposite way around.

If so, biker and cavalry could go to second floor of ruins or buildings. Which doesn't make sense.

[ThePenitentOne]

5 hours ago, Doctor Perils said:

Combat patrol is a completely self contained game mode from what we've learned so far - as such it doesn't surprise me at all these rules and stratagems don't really apply to it

 

How do these rules suck all the creativity you pushed into your kabal? Just because they don't represent it quite as ideally (that we know of) doesn't mean that everything you've written and modelled and painted for them is all for naught

Plus, hopefully, when the codex comes out the other detachments will be better suited to what you want.

 

Of course it sucks the codexes are going to take so long to come out

 

If you look at the Drukhari Faction ability, you will notice that it references Combat Patrol. Which means not all Combat Patrol rules are self contained. Yes, we know that GW is addressing some balance issues by giving some units different abilities on their Combat Patrol cards, but we don't know the extent of that. Your point still stands, however, because if YOU don't know that the sub-par rule won't affect CP games, it also means I can't say for sure that it will.

 

As for the creativity piece, the idea is that my story used to matter, because it used to flow from battlefield behaviour and affected subsequent battlefield behaviour in turn. You see, as a lifelong roleplayer (as in 42 years of roleplaying- I played D&D for the first time in 3rd grade at 8 years old), I have the attitude that fluff means less than nothing unless it is actually reflected in game play. I say "less than nothing" because GW fluff is not only not reflected in game play, but is HARMFUL to game play- not all marine players are silly about it (there are a lot of reasonwable marine players on B&C), but every once in a while you meet one who believes a five man marine squad SHOULD be able to take out an entire platoon of guard because some irresponsible BL author said that's the way it goes.

 

So when I say my Archon Ascendant is cultivating a partnership with Lhamaean who maintains a Poison Distillery in order to convince the Trueborn of his toxin-crafting Kabal that he is worthy of their support, it only actually matters to me if it has an impact on game play. If it doesn't, then it's all just as much BS as the single marine defeating a thousand guardsmen.

 

Fluff without impact on the game is not actually fluff- it's just empty words that mean nothing... Or in some cases, less than nothing. This belief is why 9th was my favourite edition. Sure there were a lot of rules, and made the heads of competitive players hurt since their appreciation of the hobby is contingent upon memorizing the rules of EVERY faction in order to win, rather than working exclusively with the rules of the faction they are using at any given time. But the reason those rules existed is that it was GW's best attempt ever to reflect every piece of fluff with an actual rule which gave it an impact on the game, rather leaving it in a story somewhere that had no impact at all. 

 

Again: I recognize that this is not a common opinion, and that my way of appreciating the game doesn't match that of the majority player base. Even amongst people who LIKE Crusade, I'm a bit of an outlier. I unapologetically own the bias that implies, and I realize that the opinions of those who don't share that bias will never truly understand where I'm coming from. 

[TheMawr]

23 minutes ago, Doctor Perils said:

I don't think they'd be able to take advantage of Strands of Fate as the ability isn't on the sheet, even if they the Aeldari keyword

 

They definitely cant ( I think sometimes I word things unclearly as I already said that ) Its a faction rule and even then it must be on the datasheet. But I was talking about the detachment rule unparalleled foresight and the Farseer's fortune ability, those two target only the Aeldari keyword.

 

and @ThePenitentOne Yes, the factionrule talks about combat patrol because the combat patrols still have faction rules... but the faction rule doesnt require you to take all 3 HQs.. its the detachment rule that does, and that one definitely doesnt apply to combat patrol. Its all explained here : https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/05/09/ways-to-play-warhammer-40000-combat-patrol-is-fast-and-fun/

Actually the way I read it is I dont think combat patrol uses detachments at all.

 

Thats not to say that I dont think the detachment is a little bit uninspired.. a big bit really. But it doesnt affect the combat patrol.

[ThePenitentOne]

Thanks for the the clarification. It does indeed look like each combat patrol is its own detachment with a distinct detachment rule. It'll be interesting to see what a Kabal/ Mercenary only detachment rule might look like- it would provide some insight into the type of alternative detachment that will be available when the dex comes.

 

Thanks as well for the link. 

 

 

[MegaVolt87]

The changes look good to me, but fixed box loadouts will hit hard. 

[Khornestar]

I’m wondering if scourges will get the loadouts restricted to box contents treatment. Someone was talking about a unit with all dark lances due to the awesome stats previewed today, but I don’t think there is more than 1 or 2 in the box (not totally sure, I don’t know which weapon is which by looking at them).

Edited May 30, 2023 by Khornestar

[Wolf Guard Dan]

12 minutes ago, Khornestar said:

I’m wondering if scourges will get the loadouts restricted to box contents treatment. Someone was talking about a unit with all dark lances due to the awesome stats previewed today, but I don’t think there is more than 1 or 2 in the box (not totally sure, I don’t know which weapon is which by looking at them).

I’m hoping that’s not the case. I hope the chaos terminators weren’t the writing on the wall. Although an anti tank unit could still be made with each of a dark Lance, blaster, heat Lance, and haywire blaster. Anti infantry could have shredder and splinter cannon with 3 shard carbines. 

[Zoatibix]

It will also be a bit of faff rolling out weapons individually. Unless you and your opponent agree on and remember’this dice colour is this weapon’ pre-game.

[Xenith]

Datasheets and core weapons seem strong, poison 3+ will put a lot of wounds on everything, espcially with assault 2 at 24". 

 

Factions rules seem weaker than others, maybe? Though if you start with the 3 characters in a 2k game, you get 6 instances of free rerolls to hit for an entire unit from the start of the game, while Strands of Fate lets one dice be fixed. Kind of fluffy? But I honestly can't tell the power level of the DE from what we've seen. 

[jaxom]

2 hours ago, Xenith said:

Datasheets and core weapons seem strong, poison 3+ will put a lot of wounds on everything, espcially with assault 2 at 24". 

 

Factions rules seem weaker than others, maybe?

I expect that's the balancing act. Power not in the faction rules is power that can be put other places. Like @Bradeh said, they're a very well rounded faction, and just from what we've seen (Aerial Acrobatics, splinter weapons being anti-infantry 3+) they have some nice stuff where they need it. I think the less well-rounded factions show us that they need a bit more in their Faction rule to compensate for a lack of units-as-tools in the tool box.

[TrawlingCleaner]

I absolutely love these rules, very fluffy and very fun looking. Splinter weapons are worse vs Monsters but are Assault 2 instead of rapid fire 1 and wound infantry on a 3+ instead of 4+ in 9th. An absolute win in my book

Shredders are now just flame throwers which is ace and Haywire is actually quite nuts.

Looking forward to seeing more!

[Dr. Clock]

On 5/29/2023 at 9:23 PM, Khornestar said:

I’m wondering if scourges will get the loadouts restricted to box contents treatment. Someone was talking about a unit with all dark lances due to the awesome stats previewed today, but I don’t think there is more than 1 or 2 in the box (not totally sure, I don’t know which weapon is which by looking at them).

Vect, I hope not... If so they'd have to do the same to like SM Devastators and Havocs, and even Sisters Retributors. I've been using triple or quad dark lance Scourges in most Druk games since 7th... Really don't want to rip their guns apart.

 

With luck, the higher AP and Assault on the Blaster is precisely so that Blaster and Dark Lance are somewhat comparable so they can cost the same? Same thing with shredders tbh: torrent makes them compete alot better with blasters.

 

On 5/30/2023 at 2:32 AM, Zoatibix said:

It will also be a bit of faff rolling out weapons individually.

A million times this. I'll be able to cope with like 'up to two of each weapon', but this seems like a clear instance where need for 'simplification' kicks in to permit almost any build. Like - I'd almost prefer a generic 'Scourge Weapons' profile to represent the variety of guns on them than to be forced into a 'one of each per 5' model.

 

Although, I'd just have to figure out the heat lances to run 3x5 with blaster, heat and dark lance in each. Could be worse, although the forced slow-roll will be annoying. I think Scourges have usually been best value with less than 4/5 equipped with the specials anyway, as being cheap is important for something that fragile. Big question is whether the game is retaining 'different points for different guns' or going AoS style.

 

As you can tell, I'm a Mercenary main for Drukhari lol.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.