40K: Let's talk Dark Eldar

Many thanks to Majestic Chicken for all the artwork in this post

Hello Folks!
NoName1 here to talk about my most hated enemy: the Dark Eldar.


 As an Eldar player (who stubbornly chooses to think of them as "Good" guys) the Dark Eldar represent everything I feel their Craftworld relatives are trying so hard to get away from.
 That said, from a Hobbyist/Gamer perspective, the Dark Eldar offer an awesome army to play against, and what I (and others have said as well) consider the most incredible model range of any army GW has ever come out with.

 Now, their new Codex is dropping this weekend! But before that drop, I wanted to wade into what I've seen from the rumor mill, which has been filled with the usual "Oh my army is so broken," "Oh GW hates us all!" and, classic, "I'll never play my army again..."

 Pfft. Tell that to the Tyranid players. They got the big shiny shaft, and many of them are still trucking along, with distinction, no less. Even the Eldar and Tau books were met with many nerd tears at how "bad" they were when they dropped.
 But! Enough of that, here are the small details that jumped out at me as something I'm not looking forward to playing against-

 These are all still rumors as of now, but from enough reliable sources that I'll refer to them as if they're not for now.

 First, Power From Pain is updated to where it no longer requires Counters. This is huge, because it means all units with the ability benefit whether they're in someone's face or not. I think just how dramatic this change is will only come across after the first few games.

Here's the new table:
Turn 1:Nothing
Turn 2: FnP 6+
Turn 3: FnP
Turn 4: Fnp, Furious Charge
Turn 5: Turn 4 + Fearless
Turn 6+: Turn 5 + Rage

Word is there's also a Formation in the book that grants bonus +1 turn, a +1 turn bonus for a Haemonculous, a rumored bonus from Archons, the Animus Vitae bonus, and Cronos 6" +1 FNP bubble.

So any unit with a Haemonculus in it, in the Formation, next to a Cronos unit, turn 1 counts as turn 3 with a 4+ FNP...
Furious Charge on turn 2 (earliest Charge turn), Fearless by turn 3 (or 2 with the Animus Vitae, and with that FNP boost, and general army-wide points decreases, likely a large chunk of the army will be alive)
That's... Jesus, that turns possibly the squishiest army in the game into a proper beefcake army, it gives the whole army a serious boost over their Craftworld kin in terms on sheer durability - especially since FNP saves are much more rarely ignored than normal Armor saves. The last time I played DE, he only had the 5+ FNP on a single unit of Reavers, and in the course of six turns, I wasn't able to kill a single one. The idea of a whole army potentially having that durability...  ? I'll just leave that hanging.

That in particular has jumped out at me from every bit of rumor-milling I've seen, the possible plays from that are insane. Beast Stars could get a whole new life from this.

In other news:

Reavers lose the quasi-Vector Strike they had, but gain brutal Hammer of Wraith (rumor has it it's S4, all HoW hits are Rending, Caltrops add D6 S6 hits, Grav adds another S4 with Concussive) and can still Hit and Run. They're still made of paper, but with that kind of potential hitting power plus the Power from Pain rules, they could get gnarly. No word yet on whether their points have risen or dropped, but most units seem to have gotten cheaper.

One relic gives Adamantium Will and 12" "Any double Perils" bubble. That helps mitigate the total lack of Psykers and Psychic defense in the Codex. Careful/aggressive positioning with this could be brutal to Psyker-centric armies.

Many of the units that had Haywire Grenades (i.e., Wyches) lost them, and now only Characters can get them, and not the Special Characters. That sucks, because even a Character only gets a single attack when using Haywire grenades. Sure, it's more or less a guaranteed Glance, but with only a single model. With this change, Dark Eldar are significantly worse against things like Imperial Knights.
I predict many more DE players will start including Swooping Hawks, or switch back to heavy-weapon Scourges (who are now significantly improved) to make up for this change.

Harlequins have been removed from the Codex. Which makes sense, it's definitely not the GW way to have identical units in multiple books. It always struck me as a weird thing to do. Keep them in Craftworld Codices, or release a Harlequins Supplement (that would be popular!) DE can just get them as Allies.

There are also several options for units arriving via Deep Strike with no scatter. Load up a Raider with decent guns, land wherever you choose, and drop a priority target on arrival. Also, the Archon's Royal Court is now 0-12, with no limit on how you break it down by types. Want 12 Sslyths? You got it!

I'm holding my breath for Raiders or Venoms as anything besides Dedicated Transports. I still dream of Assault Vehicles for my Wraithblades and Striking Scorpions, even if I have to take DE Allies to get them.

 Now in the Special Character front, the DE were hit harder than anyone else so far. With a number of cool unique Characters with no models, it would have been nice to see a *little* effort put towards some new sculpts (instead of Wracks. I mean, they're cool and all, but really?)
 Among those Characters lost is the Baron, which I am happy about. He was almost exclusively used as spray-cheese for Seer Council lists, so hell with that guy.
 Also, Drazhar. Cool Character, sweet rules, but with a "model" that is, quite frankly, a joke. Probably the worst model in the 40k range at the moment. Come on!
 And the real gut punch: no Asdrubael Vect. I can't imagine he won't be brought back at some later time. Losing him is a little bit like losing Eldrad or Yriel would be to us Craftworlders, it's just brutal. And without any mention or promised of a Vect Supplement...  Ouch. Especially since they just did an Archon re-sculpt, it would have been easy to add in options for Vect in the same kit. Unless he was just too cool and they're working on the project. We can hope, for the sake of the many sad DE players out there.
 Also Lady Malys and the Duke were lost, but truth be told, I know nothing about them - and no one seems as hurt by their loss as the loss of Vect.

 Well, that's my piece. Can't wait for the Codex drop, I imagine many changes will have missed notice so far!