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Wargear

Contents
Melee Weapons
• Agoniser
• Archite Glaive
• Chain-flails
• Demiklaives
• Electrocorrosive Whip
• Flesh Gauntlet
• Hellglaive
• Huskblade
• Hydra Gauntlet
• Ichor Injector
• Klaive
• Mindphase Gauntlet
• Razorflail
• Scissorhand
• Shaimeshi Blade
• Shardnet & Impaler
• Stunclaw
• Venom Blade
• Wrack Tool
Ranged Weapons
• Baleblast
• Darklight Weapons
• Disintegrator Cannon
• Eyeburst
• Haywire Blaster
• Heat Lance
• Hexrifle
• Implosion Missile
• Liquifier Gun
• Monoscythe Missile
• Necrotoxin Missile
• Ossefactor
• Phantasm Grenade Launcher
• Shatterfield Missile
• Shredder
• Spirit Syphon
• Spirit Vortex
• Splinter Weapons
• Stinger Pistol
• Stinger Pod
• Void Lance
• Void Mine
Armour
• Armoured Carapace
• Ghostplate Armour
• Gnarlskin
• Incubus Warsuit
• Kabalite Armour
• Wychsuit
Arcane Wargear
• Beastmaster Skyboard
• Bladevanes
• Clone Field
• Cluster Caltrops
• Crucible of Malediction
• Grav-talon
• Hellion Skyboard
• Reaver Jetbike
• Shadow Field
• Soul-trap
• Spirit Probe
• Webway Portal
Artefacts of Cruelty
• Casket of Flensing
• The Animus Vitae
• The Archangel of Pain
• The Armour of Misery
• The Djin Blade
• The Executioner’s Armour
• The Helm of Spite
• The Parasite’s Kiss
Dark Eldar Vehicle Equipment
• Chain-snares
• Enhanced Aethersails
• Flickerfield
• Grisly Trophies
• Night Shields
• Shock Prow
• Splinter Racks
• Torment Grenade Launchers
This section of Codex: Dark Eldar lists wargear (including Melee Weapons, Ranged Weapons, Armour, Arcane Wargear, Artefacts of Cruelty and Dark Eldar Vehicle Equipment) used by Dark Eldar, along with the rules for using them in your games of Warhammer 40,000.

Melee Weapons

Profiles for the following melee weapons can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:
Power Axe

Agoniser

An agoniser is an extremely sophisticated weapon that drives a victim’s sensorium haywire, causing excruciatingly severe pain as nerves burn out from overload. Though agonisers come in a variety of forms, the most common are toxin-soaked whips.

Range S AP Type
- User 3 Melee, Poisoned (4+)

Archite Glaive

These power glaives are exquisitely crafted pole-arms employed to lethal effect by Succubi in both the gladiatorial arenas of Commorragh and the battlefields of realspace. They can be wielded with both hands, to bisect a foe with ease, or used in combination with another weapon to cut through a host of victims.

Range S AP Type
Double-handed - +1 2 Melee, Two-handed
Single-handed - User 3 Melee

Chain-flails

Chain-flails consist of lengths of barbed chain wound tight under gravitic pressure. As a Talos glides into battle, these chains are loosed, hurtling from their housings to lash around wildly. As their barbs find purchase in flesh, the chains’ grav-winches re-engage, reeling in at lightning speed to snap bones and tear bodies asunder.

Range S AP Type
- User - Melee, Shred

Demiklaives

Demiklaives are power weapons that can either be wielded separately for speed, or clasped together to form a more powerful blade.

Range S AP Type
Single blade - +1 2 Melee, Two-handed
Dual blades - User 3 Melee, Dual Wield

Dual Wield: A model fighting with demiklaives (Dual blades) receives +1 bonus Attack.

Electrocorrosive Whip

An electrocorrosive whip is a lashing tongue of venom-coated polymer with a highyield dynamo in its hilt. Its touch is painful and debilitating in the extreme, sapping the strength of its victim and robbing them of the will to fight.

Range S AP Type
- User 3 Melee, Concussive, Poisoned (5+)

Flesh Gauntlet

A claw-glove crammed with syringe-like protrusions and vials, the flesh gauntlet can inject potent electrosteroids that force rapid and unnatural growth. Its victim will literally outgrow his own skin, suffering a truly unpleasant death as he bursts apart in a welter of steaming, heaving gobs of matter.

Range S AP Type
- User - Melee, Lethal Dose, Poisoned (4+)

Lethal Dose: Any To Wound roll of a 6 inflicted by this weapon has the Instant Death special rule.

Hellglaive

A hellglaive is a lightweight, twin-bladed halberd. Though it requires some effort to master, this weapon can spin and block like a stave, cut like a scythe, or impale like a barbed spear. From the back of a Hellion skyboard such a weapon can prove especially lethal, lopping off heads and severing limbs with every blow.

Range S AP Type
- +1 5 Melee, Two-handed

Huskblade

Leaving smoking trails as it carves through the air, a huskblade instantly evaporates the moisture in anything it touches, reducing targets to shrivelled and gruesome corpses that fall away to dust on the breeze.

Range S AP Type
- User 3 Melee, Instant Death

Hydra Gauntlet

Hydra gauntlets are made from a flexible weave of semi-sentient, extraplanar crystal. Smooth and glassy when inert, a hydra gauntlet can be compelled by a strong-willed wearer to sprout and regrow an impossible profusion of lethal crystalline blades.

Range S AP Type
- User 5 Melee, Shred, Specialist Weapon

Ichor Injector

This device injects its targets with the noxious ichor of the wielder’s own bloodstream. Its victims boil alive from the inside out, while foul, steaming fluids bubble from their mouths and eye sockets.

Range S AP Type
- User - Melee, Fleshbane, Lethal Dose

Lethal Dose: Any To Wound roll of a 6 inflicted by this weapon has the Instant Death special rule.

Klaive

Klaives are massive ritual powerblades of brutal aspect. Shimmering with dark energy, these weapons are impossibly light for their size and can slice through the thickest armour and toughest flesh with insulting ease.

Range S AP Type
- +1 2 Melee, Two-handed

Mindphase Gauntlet

The mindphase gauntlet is an advanced neural controller that saps both strength and will. It can stop a rampaging foe in his tracks with a single touch, leaving him glassyeyed and shuddering with overwhelming fatigue.

Range S AP Type
- User - Melee, Concussive

Razorflail

Razorflails are wielded as a twinned pair of blades that at first glance resemble long, flimsy and unwieldy swords. Yet with a single flick of the wrist each can split apart and lash out like a whip, their whistling blades almost impossible to block or parry.

Range S AP Type
- User 5 Melee, Blade Whip, Specialist Weapon

Blade Whip: Models fighting with a razorflail re-roll all failed To Hit rolls in close combat.

Scissorhand

The scissorhand looks a little like a pair of surgical shears, and harbours expensive toxins so that its wielder might better incapacitate those whose limbs it amputates.

Range S AP Type
- User - Melee, Poisoned (4+), Rending

Shaimeshi Blade

Whether elegant short sword, curved dagger or even barbed hair pin, the core of each Shaimeshi blade is shot through with reservoirs of breathtakingly lethal poisons, while its surface is riddled with microscopic vents through which these venoms can flow. With each graceful swing or lightning fast stab, it parts flesh to vent its poisons where they can do the most harm.

Range S AP Type
- User - Melee, Lethal Dose, Poisoned (2+)

Lethal Dose: Any To Wound roll of a 6 inflicted by this weapon has the Instant Death special rule.

Shardnet & Impaler

Typically used as a ritual pair, these weapons are a deadly combination. The wielder first entangles their foe in the hooked mesh of their electrified shardnet before administering the killing blow using their extendable, twin-bladed impaler.

Range S AP Type
Impaler - User 5 Melee, Impale
Shardnet & Impaler - User 5 Melee, Ritual Pair

Impale: A model fighting with an impaler re-rolls all To Wound rolls of a 1 when fighting in close combat.

Ritual Pair: A model fighting with a shardnet and impaler always gains the +1 bonus Attack for fighting with more than one Melee weapon. A model fighting with a shardnet and impaler re-rolls all To Hit and To Wound rolls of 1 in close combat.

Stunclaw

Stunclaws are viciously barbed grapnels, often attached to lengthy metal chains. In battle a stunclaw can be anchored in the armour or flesh of a luckless victim, who is then hoisted agonisingly aloft and borne away amid a flock of jeering Hellions, either to a horrible and bloody fate at the end of the Hellions’ blades, or a brief and violent death by virtue of simply being dropped from a great height.

Range S AP Type
- +1 6 Melee, Snatched

Snatched: When fighting in a challenge, this weapon has the Instant Death special rule.

Venom Blade

A venom blade has thousands of micropores that constantly exude a distilled elixir of deadly hypertoxin – one of the most poisonous substances in the galaxy.

Range S AP Type
- User - Melee, Poisoned (2+)

Wrack Tool

Wracks wield a sickening variety of sickle-blades, saws, knives and mauls into battle, all of which are coated in searing venom.

Range S AP Type
- User - Melee, Poisoned (4+)

Ranged Weapons


Baleblast

Mandrakes can channel the energies stolen from their prey into blasts of freezing flame, wreathing their victims in spectral fires that burn through flesh and soul alike.

Range S AP Type
18" 4 4 Assault 2, Soul Blaze

Darklight Weapons

The weapon shops of Commorragh are infamous for their ability to cheat the natural laws of physics in order to design ever more efficient and exciting ways to kill. Blasters and dark lances epitomise this, for they do not employ standard laser technology but instead fire a stream of what is, for want of a better term, ‘darklight’. The origin of this substance is unknown, although there are a number who claim it is sourced from black holes, warp storms and other celestial phenomena of great magnitude. Darklight works by reacting catastrophically with its target, producing a blast that can bore a massive hole in a vehicle regardless of armour, or vaporise a foot soldier in an instant. Even to perceive a beam of darklight without the correct protection leaves permanent slash-scars upon the retina.

Range S AP Type
Blast pistol 6" 8 2 Pistol, Lance
Blaster 18" 8 2 Assault 1, Lance
Dark scythe 24" 8 2 Heavy 1, Blast, Lance
Dark lance 36" 8 2 Heavy 1, Lance

Disintegrator Cannon

The disintegrator cannon fires particles of unstable matter harnessed from a stolen sun, each shot capable of atomising the most heavily armoured warrior. Far more sophisticated than conventional plasma-based firearms, it maintains a high rate of fire and always remains cool to the touch despite the ravening energies housed within.

Range S AP Type
36" 5 2 Heavy 3

Eyeburst

A Medusae can open its host’s steel visor and paralyse those under its gaze with a wave of raw anguish, plunging them into a coma from which there is no recovery.

Range S AP Type
Template 4 3 Assault 1

Haywire Blaster

Haywire blasters are long-barrelled weapons that siphon the electromagnetic energy crackling around Commorragh’s highest aeries, to later release it in a terrifyingly powerful burst. A well-aimed haywire blaster can cripple an enemy vehicle’s control systems in a single shot.

Range S AP Type
24" 4 4 Assault 1, Haywire

Heat Lance

The heat lance combines melta and high-yield las technology into a weapon that has both surprising reach and extreme destructive potential.

Range S AP Type
18" 6 1 Assault 1, Lance, Melta

Hexrifle

The hexrifle fires crystal cylinders containing a tiny sample of the Plague of Glass that afflicted the Dark City in M36. On contact with bare flesh, the hexrifle’s arcane payload spreads quickly, turning its victim into a transparent statue with an expression of shock etched upon its visage forevermore.

Range S AP Type
36" X 4 Assault 1, Arcane Payload, Sniper

Arcane Payload: Any Precision Shot made with this weapon has the Instant Death special rule.

Implosion Missile

Upon detonation, these missiles emit a molecular dissonance field that causes those caught in their path to implode, instantly collapsing in upon themselves and leaving nothing more than a scorched silhouette to mark their passage.

Range S AP Type
48" 6 2 Assault 1, Blast, One use only

Liquifier Gun

The liquifier gun fires a spray of incredibly potent acid that eats through anything it touches. Wracks, Grotesques and other minions of the Haemonculus Covens often have liquifier guns built into their bodies to that they can fire out great gouts of their own acidic blood. The amount of devastation wreaked by this fearsome weapon depends on how much of its vitriolic ammunition splashes over its unfortunate target.
Range S AP Type
Template 3 D6* Assault 1

* Roll for this weapon’s AP value each time it is fired, after the target has been chosen.

Monoscythe Missile

These signature missiles are remotely steered by the Razorwing’s pilot into the midst of the foe. When detonated, they emit not a conventional blast but one that is constrained to a specific plane by complex in-built powershields. A great horizontal sheet of force explodes outward at a certain height, decapitating or even cutting in half everyone caught in the blast zone.

Range S AP Type
48" 6 5 Assault 1, Large Blast, One use only

Necrotoxin Missile

At the heart of a necrotoxin missile is a large reservoir of virulent poisons. When the missile detonates, it splinters into shards of jagged shrapnel, each carrying thick gobbets of its deadly payload.

Range S AP Type
48" 1 - Assault 1, Fleshbane, Large Blast, One use only

Ossefactor

The ossefactor employs weaponised osteocytic impulsion-waves, normally used by the Haemonculi to craft bone structures and fashion spinal sumps. It projects a focussed overdose of this energy at its victim, triggering uncontrolled osteocytic multiplication. Bones twist and lengthen violently, shooting out dozens of spurs like the branches of some hideous tree. The luckless victim is rent apart by their own warped skeleton, even as their horrified squad mates find themselves impaled on the calcific spears that burst from their body.

Range S AP Type
24" 1 2 Assault 1, Fleshbane, Calcific Spears

Calcific Spears: If a non-vehicle model is removed as a casualty due to an unsaved Wound caused by this weapon, that model’s unit immediately suffers D6 additional hits. These hits are Randomly Allocated and have the Ignores Cover special rule. The Strength of these hits is equal to the Toughness characteristic of the model removed as a casualty, and they are resolved at AP`-`.

Phantasm Grenade Launcher

Wealthy Dark Eldar warriors often wear modified backpacks or launchers that hurl a volley of small, disc-shaped grenades at the foe. These are made from a reactive substance that, upon contact with the air, dissolves into clouds of psychotropic gas. This vapour is so potent that the merest exposure causes delusions of such horror that its victims are literally scared to death in seconds.

Range S AP Type
18" 1 - Assault 1, Blast, Soulfright

Soulfright: At the end of the Shooting phase, a unit that has suffered one or more hits from a weapon with this special rule in that phase must make a Leadership test. The unit suffers a single additional Wound, with no armour or cover saves allowed, for each point this test is failed by. Wounds cannot be allocated to models with the Fearless or And They Shall Know No Fear special rules (any excess Wounds are lost).

Shatterfield Missile

A shatterfield missile actually houses two separate detonator cores. On impact, the first of the cores sucks away all warmth, turning those caught within its blast into brittle statues. An instant later, the second core sends out a blast of percussive force that shatters its frozen victims into a thousand pieces.

Range S AP Type
48" 7 - Assault 1, Large Blast, Shred, One use only

Shredder

The shredder unleashes an expanding mesh of monofilaments with miniscule barbs along their length, entangling the victim in an invisible net that slices him apart as he struggles to free himself.

Range S AP Type
12" 6 - Assault 1, Blast, Shred

Spirit Syphon

The Cronos Parasite Engine can cast out a field of baleful energy that allows it to feed upon those nearby.

Range S AP Type
Template 3 3 Assault 1

Spirit Vortex

Cronos Parasite Engines are sometimes modified to incorporate a spiral-etched device that can hurl out a massive burst of negative force, draining the lifeforce of dozens of victims.

Range S AP Type
18" 3 3 Assault 1, Large Blast

Splinter Weapons

Splinter weapons fire shards of splintered crystal covered in incredibly potent toxins using a powerful magno-electric pulse. The favoured armament of the Kabalite Warrior is the splinter rifle, often fired on the move from the balustrade of a transport. The splinter pistol is an elegant sidearm beloved of assassins and street fighters across the galaxy; though it is designed for precision short ranged shots, the toxins inside its reservoir pod are no less deadly. Some Dark Eldar become addicted to the distorted grimaces of pain made by the targets of splinter weaponry, and hence employ larger versions of the splinter rifle. Amongst these are the shardcarbine, popular with the winged Scourges, and the splinter cannon, a weapon able to mow down entire squads at a time.

Range S AP Type
Splinter pistol 12" 1 5 Pistol, Poisoned (4+)
Splinter pods 18" 1 5 Assault 2, Poisoned (4+)
Shardcarbine 18" 1 5 Assault 3, Poisoned (4+)
Splinter rifle 24" 1 5 Rapid Fire, Poisoned (4+)
Splinter cannon 36" 1 5 Salvo 4/6, Poisoned (4+)

Stinger Pistol

A stinger pistol is a lightweight sidearm characterised by a long syringe-like barrel and a venom magazine that holds searingly effective toxins. When fired, it ejects a long sliver of hollow glass that can pierce a foe’s skin and introduce the toxins straight into his bloodstream, with invariably horrific results.

Range S AP Type
12" 1 5 Pistol, Poisoned (2+)

Stinger Pod

Talos Pain Engines are often armed with sinister weapons that fire great pulses of raw agony. The victims of these weapons often break their own bones or rupture their own organs with the force of their agonised convulsions, while survivors are left catatonic with pain, unable to defend themselves against the Talos’ bloody ministrations.

Range S AP Type
24" 5 5 Assault 2, Blast

Void Lance

The void lance fires pulses of highly destructive eldritch energy harvested from beyond the shattered spars of the webway.

Range S AP Type
36" 9 2 Assault 1, Lance

Void Mine

This bizarre bomb detonates two warheads, one a split second before the other. The first merely establishes a sphere of force that protects everything outside and condemns everything within. The second contains a particle of purest darklight, released from its containment field by the primary detonation. The effects of introducing even a tiny amount of darklight into realspace are catastrophic. If it were not for the force sphere established by the primary detonation, the resultant implosion would destroy not only the enemy but also the Voidraven into the bargain. As it is, anything trapped inside the crackling sphere is annihilated utterly, and in total silence.

Range S AP Type
- 9 2 Bomb 1, Large Blast, Lance, One use only

Armour


Armoured Carapace

Engines of Pain like the Talos and Cronos are clad in finely wrought armoured shells that protect the most vital of their grisly organic components from harm.
An armoured carapace confers a 3+ Armour Save.

Ghostplate Armour

Those Dark Eldar who desire a substantial amount of protection whilst retaining a high degree of mobility wear armour made from hardened resins and shot through with pockets of lighter-than-air gas. Ghostplate armour also incorporates minor forcefield technology the better to protect its wearer.
Ghostplate armour confers a 4+ Armour Save and a 6+ invulnerable save.

Gnarlskin

The Haemonculi and their hideous, fleshy creations have toughened, scarred hides that have been subjected to so many brands, burns and abrasions that they have become leathery and resistant to blows.
Gnarlskin confers a 6+ Armour Save.

Incubus Warsuit

All Incubi wear close-fitting suits of ritual battle armour that can turn aside all but the most well-placed blows.
An Incubus warsuit confers a 3+ Armour Save.

Kabalite Armour

Dark Eldar Kabalites go to battle clad in suits of segmented plates, usually part of a larger bodysuit that is secured in place with serrated barbs and hooks.
Kabalite armour confers a 5+ Armour Save.

Wychsuit

Wyches wear flexible bodysuits that have been designed to protect one side of the body – usually the side they habitually turn towards their opponents – whilst not impeding movement at all.
A Wychsuit confers a 6+ Armour Save.

Arcane Wargear

Profiles for the following arcane wargear can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:

Beastmaster Skyboard

The skyboards of the Beastmasters are calibrated to reflect their specialised needs. Able to move at high velocities while hugging the the ground, they automatically swoop around hazards, leaving their riders free to ply the lash on their feral charges.
Models on Beastmaster skyboards have the Beast unit type. Beastmaster skyboards also confer a 5+ Armour Save, and are armed with splinter pods.

Bladevanes

These hooked, razor-sharp blades jut from the sleek hulls of Reaver jetbikes. In battle the riders crouch low over their steeds before streaking through the midst of the enemy ranks, using their bladevanes to lop off heads and limbs with every pass.
All Hammer of Wrath attacks made by a model with bladevanes are resolved at Strength 4 and have the Rending special rule.

Clone Field

The clone field projects several hololight images of the wearer, all moving in perfect synchrony. Such is the artifice of these simulacra that even the sharpest senses cannot put the lie to them. Foes find themselves surrounded by a multiplicity of identical warriors through whom their blades pass like smoke on the breeze.
A clone field confers a 4+ invulnerable save.

Cluster Caltrops

Some Reaver jetbikes are modified to mount micro-bomblet dispensers within their sleek hulls. These can be triggered as the jetbike passes through the midst of the foe, stitching them with vicious point-blank blasts. Some riders even learn to spin as they discharge their cluster caltrops, hurtling through the foe’s ranks amidst a whirlwind of razor shrapnel and lethal explosives.
A model with cluster caltrops makes D6 Hammer of Wrath attacks instead of just one. These are resolved at Strength 6 and have the Rending special rule.

Crucible of Malediction

Haemonculi refer to this extraordinary weapon as ‘the kin-gift’, for it is especially dangerous to their psychically attuned craftworld cousins. Each crucible contains the essence of psykers tortured to death. When released, their spirits hurtle across the battlefield, shrieking in a cacophony that drives nearby psykers insane.
Once per game, a model with a crucible of malediction can unleash its contents instead of making a shooting attack in the Shooting phase. If he does so, all units that include one or more models with the Psyker, Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers or Psychic Pilot special rules (friend or foe) within 3D6" of the bearer immediately suffer a Strength 6 hit, with no saves of any kind allowed.

Grav-talon

The grav-talon is an adaptation of the traditional Reaver jetbike bladevanes. As well as slicing its way through foes unlucky enough to feel its bite, a grav-talon can discharge a localised pressure wave. This smashes the enemy flat with a dull boom, forcing them to abase themselves and leaving them at the mercy of their predatory foes.
All Hammer of Wrath attacks made by a model with a grav-talon have the Concussive special rule.

Hellion Skyboard

These anti-grav boards are highly prized as symbols of independence. As such they are personalised by their owners with trophies and glyphs. They are sensitive to the slightest pressure, allowing their riders to flip and jink at incredible speeds while firing their splinter pods into the foe with the simple depression of a heel-stud.
Models on Hellion skyboards have the Jump Infantry unit type. Hellion skyboards also confer a 5+ Armour Save and are armed with splinter pods.

Reaver Jetbike

Reaver jetbikes are the most streamlined and pared-down of all skycraft, a fusion of raw motive power and finely-honed lethality.
Models on Reaver jetbikes have the Eldar Jetbike unit type, and have their Armour Save increased to 5+ if it is normally lower. Reaver jetbikes are armed with a splinter rifle.

Shadow Field

The shadow field surrounds its wearer in a dark miasma of energy that is almost impossible to penetrate. However, should a solid blow connect the field will short out, leaving its wearer vulnerable.
A shadow field confers a 2+ invulnerable save. The shadow field save is lost for the rest of the battle at the end of any phase in which the model suffers one or more unsaved Wounds.

Soul-trap

Soul-traps vary in appearance, from folding pyramidal prisms to jewelled skulls engraved with vampiric runes, but they all have one ghastly function: to capture the soul of a powerful enemy within their confines and empower the bearer with the stolen energies.
A model with a soul-trap receives +1 Strength (up to a maximum of Strength 10) for the rest of the battle for each unsaved Wound it inflicts in a challenge on an enemy character.

Spirit Probe

A spirit probe is a conductor for agony; a device that ensures no scrap of pain or misery escapes the Cronos’ contra-empathic net. Running hot on tides of excruciation, it boosts the resilience of nearby Dark Eldar, allowing them to stride laughing amid volleys of fire and rains of blows that would otherwise tear them apart.
The model, and all friendly units with both the Dark Eldar Faction and the Feel No Pain special rule within 6" of one or more models with a spirit probe, receive a +1 bonus to their Feel No Pain (e.g. Feel No Pain would become Feel No Pain (4+). This is cumulative with any other modifiers to Feel No Pain, but cannot improve their Feel No Pain beyond 4+.

Webway Portal

These are small, easily carried versions of the mighty webway portals used by the Dark Eldar to travel across vast distances instantaneously. Appearing as jagged, runegraven crystals, these devices are simply hurled into the air where they hang impossibly, in defiance of gravity. With a crackle of dark energy they tear a rent in the skin of reality, flaying open a route into the webway through which murderous Dark Eldar can pour.
If a model with a webway portal is in Reserves or Ongoing Reserves, then the model and any unit it has joined or is embarked upon has the Deep Strike special rule. This model, and his unit, will not scatter if arriving from Deep Strike Reserve.

Artefacts of Cruelty

Artefacts of Cruelty are items of horrendous power, which the Dark Eldar value for their ability to inflict torments of rare quality on their unfortunate victims. Only one of each of the following relics may be chosen per army.


Only one of each Artefact of Cruelty may be taken per army. A model may take one of the following:

The Parasite’s Kiss1 5 pts
The Armour of Misery 15 pts
The Animus Vitae 20 pts
The Archangel of Pain 25 pts
The Helm of Spite 25 pts
The Djin Blade1 30 pts
1 Replaces a model’s ranged or Melee weapon.

Casket of Flensing

When this puzzle-box is opened, a swarm of evil spirits is released that sets upon the head of Urien’s chosen victim with needled fangs. The prey’s skull will be stripped to the bone, torn free from the spine, and borne back to the ancient Haemonculus whilst the brain inside writhes in abject horror.

Range S AP Type
12" 3 3 Assault 2D6, One use only

The Animus Vitae

The Animus Vitae appears to be a smooth orb, until it is thrown at the feet of a victim and explodes into a lashing tangle of barbed wires that wrap around its prey. Slowly and spitefully, the Animus Vitae begins to constrict, cutting through armour, flesh and bone until its victim’s agonised cries become desperate, nerve-sawing screams. All the while the foul weapon radiates this agony, saturating the battlefield with pain so that the bearer and his kin can drink it in like a vintage draught.

Range S AP Type
8" 4 2 Assault 1, Agonising, One use only

Agonising: If an unsaved Wound is inflicted with the Animus Vitae, all models with the Power from Pain special rule (friend or foe) treat the current turn as being one higher than it actually is when determining what special rules they benefit from. This benefit applies for the remainder of the battle and is cumulative with the Architect of Agony and/or Master of Pain special rules.

The Archangel of Pain

In the days before the Fall, the prophet Ynshimael sought to save himself by crafting a device to trap daemonic entities. Ynshimael’s artifice was clever yet inadequate in the face of Slaanesh’s birth, and his soul was devoured in seconds. Since those days, the device has been perverted by Ynshimael’s Commorrite successors, becoming the metaphysical prison known as the Archangel of Pain. It is used to trap Daemons, binding them in a pit of barbed nothingness that tears and tortures their empyric substance. When released, these entities flee back into the Warp, their soul-rending psychic screams driving those that hear them irredeemably mad.
Once per game, the bearer can open the Archangel of Pain instead of firing a weapon in the Shooting phase. When he does so, each enemy unit within 9" of him must take a Leadership test with a -2 penalty; a unit suffers a single Wound, with no armour or cover saves allowed, for each point this test is failed by. Wounds cannot be allocated to models with the Fearless or And They Shall Know No Fear special rules (any excess Wounds are lost).

The Armour of Misery

Crafted by the artisan Kalmael using psychoempathic shards of poisoned wraithbone, this armour is the ultimate expression of Commorite contempt. Its barbed plates provide its wearer with exceptional protection, but it is not its durability that makes this armour so sought after – the armour emanates crippling waves of pure dread. Only those with an iron will can withstand such mental torture – others slump to the floor defeated, weapons falling from trembling hands as they are overcome with fear.
The Armour of Misery confers a 4+ Armour Save, a 6+ invulnerable save and the Fear special rule. All enemy units within 6" of the bearer suffer a -2 Leadership penalty.

The Djin Blade

Forged from an unknown alloy that retains a perfect mirror sheen, the Djin Blade reflects an idealised reflection of whoever looks at it; an image of themselves that exudes power, beauty, wisdom – whatever they most desire. Any who takes up the Djin Blade will fall under its spell, guarding it jealously and listening to its whispers day and night. Though the blade lends its wielder incredible prowess, it will feed off their essence until it deems them drained and turns upon them. On that day the wielder’s reflection shifts into something malefic, the true face of the Djin leering out at them in their last moments before it turns their heart to ash and their soul to drifting cinders.

Range S AP Type
- User 3 Melee, Sentient Blade

Sentient Blade: When fighting with the Djin Blade, the wielder gains +2 bonus Attacks. Immediately after resolving all of the attacks made with this weapon, roll a single D6 – on a result of 1, the model using this weapon immediately suffers a single Wound, with no saves of any kind allowed.

The Executioner’s Armour

This ceremonial suit of armour is a masterwork of Eldar craftsmanship thought to have been made in an age before the Fall.
The Executioner’s Armour confers a 2+ Armour Save.

The Helm of Spite

The children of the Dark City look down upon those fools who would use psychic witchery in battle. Not only does such a thing tempt the gaze of She Who Thirsts, but it also risks the far more immediate wrath of Asdrubael Vect. Through necessity, the Dark Eldars’ psychic abilities have been allowed to atrophy, leaving them less able to defend themselves against the reckless Warpcraft of their foes. The Helm of Spite redresses this balance, shielding its wearer from harm and setting up a field of violent psionic feedback that can cook a psyker’s brain inside their skull.
The bearer of the Helm of Spite, and all friendly units with the Dark Eldar Faction within 12" of the bearer, have the Adamantium Will special rule. In addition, enemy Psykers that are within 12" of the bearer suffer Perils of the Warp when they roll any double when making a Psychic test.

The Parasite’s Kiss

Thought to be the finest splinter pistol ever crafted, this weapon spits out crystalline darts bound with psycho-vampric circuitry. Upon biting into flesh, the target’s very soul is leeched, one gasp of pain at a time, and transferred back to the gun’s wielder. As the luckless victim withers and shrivels like rotten fruit, their murderer flushes with vigour and youth, revelling in their stolen life energies while their foe crumbles away to dust on the breeze.

Range S AP Type
12" 1 5 Pistol, Master-crafted, Poisoned (2+), Soul-leech

Soul-leech: Each time the bearer inflicts an unsaved Wound with the Parasite’s Kiss it immediately gains one Wound lost previously in the battle.

Dark Eldar Vehicle Equipment


Chain-snares

Some Dark Eldar vehicles are fitted with several underslung chains and barbed hooks, the better to gouge at the flesh of those they pass over – if the vehicle happens to snatch up a victim or two and drags them to their death, so much the better.
A vehicle with chain-snares is allowed to Tank Shock even if it is not a Tank. However, it may not Ram.

Enhanced Aethersails

Aethersails are used to capture the aetheric winds that flow out from open webway portals. Many vehicle crews are meticulous in the construction of these sails, incorporating frictionless alloys, vibro-pods and angled booms to enhance their bursts of speed.
A vehicle with enhanced aethersails can move up to 24" when it moves Flat Out.

Flickerfield

Flickerfields are highly advanced optical force shields that make the vehicle they are fitted to appear to flicker in and out of reality.
A vehicle with a flickerfield has a 5+ invulnerable save.

Grisly Trophies

Some Dark Eldar vehicles are adorned with the disembodied heads of slain foes and daubed with copious amounts of enemy blood. The sight of the festering remains of onceproud foes instils the Dark Eldar with arrogant pride.
All friendly units with the Dark Eldar Faction within 6" of a vehicle with grisly trophies can re-roll failed Leadership tests.

Night Shields

The vehicle is covered by a broad-spectrum displacement field, enveloping it in cold and inky darkness. Foes find the vehicle hard to target, hidden as it is within a cloak of roiling shadow.
A vehicle with night shields has the Stealth special rule.

Shock Prow

The shock prow is an energised ram that sends out a directional wave of electromagnetic force, allowing the skimmer to carve its way through infantry and even shatter the heavy hulls of enemy vehicles.
A vehicle with a shock prow can Tank Shock and Ram even if it is not a Tank. In addition, when the vehicle executes a Ram, it is treated as having a front Armour Value of 14 when working out the effect of the Ram upon both the vehicle and its target.

Splinter Racks

Some Dark Eldar vehicles carry additional racks of anti-personnel weaponry on their decks. This allows passengers to quite literally empty their weapons’ magazines in great raking fusillades, before discarding their spent guns in favour of fully-loaded replacements.
Whilst a model is embarked on a vehicle with splinter racks, all splinter weapons have the Twin-linked special rule.

Torment Grenade Launchers

Some Dark Eldar skimmers incorporate hull-mounted launchers that send barbed grenades spinning into the ranks of the foe. Each grenade spews out an ochre cloud of phantasm gas that causes abject terror in the minds of those nearby.

Range S AP Type
24" 1 - Assault 1, Blast, Soulfright

Soulfright: At the end of the Shooting phase, a unit that has suffered one or more hits from a weapon with this special rule in that phase must make a Leadership test. The unit suffers a single additional Wound, with no armour or cover saves allowed, for each point this test is failed by. Wounds cannot be allocated to models with the Fearless or And They Shall Know No Fear special rules (any excess Wounds are lost).