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Dark Elves Question


Miyokari

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Hiya,

 

 I used to play a lot WFB before, mostly as Bretonnia/Dark Elves/Wood Elves and sometimes lizardmen. Recently I returned to Age of Sigmar as the rules to the game really looks neat and I like that battles are way faster than they used to be (and rules are way simplier to understand). I touched Khorne and build a small army of his, but I don't feel the army at all hence why I started looking towards Dark Elves/High Elves and wanted to ask.. Is the army viable at all? I don't want to pump money into something I won't have fun with, I don't play for winning but I don't also want to be stomped 20:0 due to my units being inferior. I am mostly wondering if Dark Elves have more than only one viable warscroll, or can I play one battle with X units then next week with Y.

 

If this is written in wrong section, please excuse me, I am new to the forum

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A mixed aelf army could provide some unique combinations, but as it stands now with allegiance abilities no.  The GHB2 will have allegiance abilities for factions without a battletome so maybe that will help.

I would recommend looking at mixing the dark/high aelfs

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4 minutes ago, chord said:

A mixed aelf army could provide some unique combinations, but as it stands now with allegiance abilities no.  The GHB2 will have allegiance abilities for factions without a battletome so maybe that will help.

I would recommend looking at mixing the dark/high aelfs

 

This is what I was thinking about, not playing pure DE/HE but mixing them both for now until Aelves would eventually get a battletome

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Well there are a few ways to look at this, but to put it simply - If you want to win or be competitive, you have to build around the Grand Alliance: Order battalions i.e. Dragonlord Host, Waystone Pathfinders, Thrall Warhost, etc.  As it stands, since the elves are split into subfactions, and so many other armies and newer factions get bonuses and synergies that put them above the rest, you need to maximize your own bonuses and play to your strengths.  

For Dark Elves, Thrall Warhost seems to be one of the only viable ones (from reading and asking around), since it gives a free round of charge and attacks for a unit, on top of rerolling a dice for a charge (drummer/musician), which grants great mobility and punch.  Dragonlord Host seems strong as well, with the mortal wounds from the breath, as well as the horn giving +1 attack to everyone (which makes the dragons ridiculously strong) on top of quicksilver potions... and well, things die...

 

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Fluffwise mixing High and Dark elves in one army is pretty horrible... You might wanna have a good story behind this for a fluffbunny like me ;-)

I Play Dark Elves only and am satisfied with the army. Winrate is ok, but the Splitting in Subfactions gives you headacke while army building...

Anyway the old Dark Elve Warhost Battalion is also very good. Besides this I would only recommend the Thrall Warhost to be competitive.
Have a Look on this Thread:

actually we are working on a good army composition of the Thrall Warhost for competitive Play.

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Well, I don't really want to play competively, more for fun with my friends but I don't want to lose every single battle as well.. Thrall warhost seems alright, but I was wondering if it is possible to build army using Daughters of Khaine units

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3 hours ago, Miyokari said:

Well, I don't really want to play competively, more for fun with my friends but I don't want to lose every single battle as well.. Thrall warhost seems alright, but I was wondering if it is possible to build army using Daughters of Khaine units

Yes, very much so.  There's a battalion centered around those units specifically.  The access to the Medusae gives you some mortal wound ouptut against hordes, and Witch Elves are actually great when buffed.

Cauldron of Blood is your centerpiece unit to buff the army with the prayer/command ability, and allows Witch Elves to have a 5+ save if they're in range.  Death Hag can make the Witch Elves immune to Battleshock and rerolling failed wound rolls of 1... and the Battalion has a 1/6 chance to allow a free pile-in and attack in the hero phase.  This means that, if you're lucky, a unit of 40 WEs fully buffed will have:

120 attacks, 3+/3+ hit/wound, reroll failed values, and can pile in and attack twice in combat phase.  That's an average of 96 attacks getting through that the enemy has to save against.  Pile in again and attack and watch just about anything die.  Even if the enemy is saving on 2+, those 192 attacks equate > 30 wounds.

I have no interest in running the army, but if I ever did, I'd take a bunch of Witch Elves and run them up, along with the cauldron, as fast as I could.  The only real downside is if the Cauldron of Blood gets sniped by ranged units.  11 wounds on a 4+ save (5+ extra save, it has Witch Aelf keyword) can still die, so make sure to give it the Phoenix Gem.

Taking some Doomfire Warlocks will give you ranged mortal wound output and I'd run in a 10-15man so that you can consistently get out 6 mortal wounds... but they're too expensive.  Take a Mistweaver or Sorceress purely for arcane shield on your cauldron or Sisters of Slaughter (boosts their chance of mortal wound reflects).

Strengths:
- Tons of models for objectives
- 5+ save for your battleline troop against all wounds
- Potential for dealing damage outside of combat phase
-7" movement and reroll charge dice for your Daughters

Weaknesses:
- Hero-dependent for buffs/synergies
- Lack of rend
- Lack of Ranged options

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My friend plays a Dark Elf army and it can get pretty sweet at times. We mostly just play for fun but he usually brings a Dreadlord on a Black Dragon, 2 Sorceresses, a wack load of Executioners, spearmen, crossbowmen, and a few bolt throwers. Unless I get the first strike against the executioners it's devistating. There is a ton of ranged firepower there and the spearmen with mystic shield are really good at holding the line. After a round of being tied up with them he usually sends in a mystic shielded Dreadlord which rerolls failed saves and the executioners to mop up. 

Granted, I do play mostly Slaves to Darkness so I guess my view on that is a little skewed, since a pure slaves army will lose to almost anything.

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A combined DE/HE list would work and can actually look neat on the table if done right. They actually came back together during the end times as Malekith took the throne of Phoenix King, and they had very big mutual threats to deal with (Morathi finally got her comeuppance as well).

DEs can still be twisted freaks, but they for the most part support the interests of the other members of the order alliance, because the other 3 alternatives are completely terrible.

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Here is a mainly high aelf order list that I have run in the past:

Dragonlord 400 with war horn, master of defence and quick Potion

Anointed On Frostheart Phoenix 240 with Relic blade

Loremaster 100 

Archmage On Steed 120 

5 Dragon Blades 160

5 Dragon Blades 160

Dragonlord Host 80

10 Eternal Guard 80

10 Eternal Guard 80

5 Reavers 160 

6 Kurnoth Hunters 360 with greatswords

1940/ 2000

 

For 2500 points you can add in a Hurricanum and a unit of reavers. The list has worked best at 2.5k but is still strong for 2k. If you want, you could drop the Kurnoth Hunters for 20 executioners should you opt for the dark elves theme. However I must vouch for both the staying power and damage output from this unit. On that not, Eternal Guard reach a 3+ save rerolling 1/2 if they can get fortress of boughs in cover. This works really well for such a cheap unit as it can hold objectives easily and sometimes opponents divert mortal wounds into a unit which is 8 points per wound.

The Loremaster is there to give rerolls to hit/ wound to Phoenix or Dragonlord. The Archmage adds a bubble of 6+ save to units within 18". This is a similar save increase to mystic shield and works agains mortal wounds. In addition the phoenix gets tangier the mire magic is going off. 

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Thank you everyone! You are giving me a bright hope to actually return to one of my original armies (if only Bretonnia would have been continued)! I know what figures I Need to buy next and start preparing my Aelf army :) thanks everyone for such nice help

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