Dark Eldar

*Why do we ride atop these elegant craft? The better to hear the screams of our prey as we ride them down, to savour the fear etched on their faces, to taste the tantalising tang of their blood in the air as an appetiser before the feast. But most of all we ride them so that the slaughter may begin as soon as possible.*

- Dariaq Bladetongue of the Pierced Eye (from Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rulebook)

## **Race Overview**

Pirates, slavers, sadists and hedonists, the Dark Eldar literally feed off the pain and agony of others. When Slaanesh's violent birth destroyed the Eldar's empire, its gods and most of its people, the ones now known as the Drukahri, or Dark Eldar, were residing in their city of dark pleasures, Commorragh, within the webway. Though the barriers of the webway prevented their souls from being immediately consumed by She Who Thirsts, their presence in the warp still tied them to the Dark God. Slaanesh pulls on all of their souls, seeking to devour them, and the only way to prevent their horrific demise is to constantly seek out fresh victims for their sadistic needs. Ultimately, this is what the Dark Eldar were already doing so they simply gleefully continue to do so, but while also secretly in fear of being consumed by the very god they helped create.

This faction focuses on speed, mobility and high damage output at the detriment of low staying power, expensive units and small squad sizes. The term "glass cannon" applies more to the Dark Eldar than any of their other kin.

## **Playstyle**

### Powers of the Soul Harvest

The Dark Eldar can harvest Soul Essence  from the recently deceased to fuel powers called "Soulpowers". This soul essence can be collected by Tortured Slaves and Talos pain engines, the latter being more efficient than the former. Soul Essence manifests on the map as small chunks of meat with a pink glow. Slave Chambers with the Torture Pit add-on will continuously produce a dead slave every 17s which can be harvested for soulessence.

### Self-constructing Buildings

The buildings of the Dark Eldar are not technically constructed by the Tortured Slave, instead the builder merely touches the construction site and the building will teleport in (self-construct). The slave does not need to remain by the building for this process to finish.

### Raiders and Pirates

The Dark Eldar rely a lot on their skimmer vehicles for their durability and transport capability, even getting access to them in Tier 1. Most of their larger skimmers are also transports, able to jump in and unload troops quickly, then collect the survivors and flee just as swift. Be sure to utilize the Raiders and Venoms to their full potential.

### Increasing Population

**Pop Cap Increase**
 **Support (Vehicle Cap)**
Tortured Slave

## **Units**

### Campaign Honor Guard Units

Listed here are the Honor Guard units available in Campaign Mode, including special units only available in this mode.

### Survival Reinforcements

Listed here are the units granted to the player while playing in Survival Mode at each Tier.

**Tier 1**
\*

**Tier 2**

**Tier 3**
\*

**Tier 4**

## Buildings

**Tier 2**

**Tier 3**

**Tier 4**

## Interested in reading about the Dark Kin?

For those Interested in reading about the Dark Kin beyond codices, supplements, White Dwarf articles and so on, below follows a list of Drukhari centered Black Library literature:

Braden Campbell - "Mistress Baeda's Gift"

Braden Campbell - "Tantalus"

Ben Counter - "Rise"

Andy Chambers - "Masque of Vyle" (Harlequins and DE story)

Andy Chambers - "Path of the Renegade", "Path of the Incubus", "Path of the Archon"
(trilogy)

Andy Chambers - "Treasures of Biel Tanigh", "Midnight on the Street of Knives", "Bellathonis and the Shadow King"
(trio of short stories directly tied to the trilogy)

J.C Stearns - "Turn of the Adder"