Urien Rakarth Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

A Newbie’s Outlook on Conquest, Warhammer 40K and Wine – Alex Bosch will talk about decks, trends and various topics that strike his fancy while deep into several glasses of wine.  A guest article from Alex Preston-Bosch.

I sit at the table filled with dread.  The inevitability of my demise swells inside as I place my warlord on the table. My opponent gives me a look of pity and surprise that has become far too familiar in these past few months. This is the opening scene of any game when playing our infamous Dark Eldar warlord, Urien Rakarth.

Now, I will be the first to admit that my confidence in poor Urien isn’t high enough to bring him to a tournament quite yet, but lately I have been turning those looks of pity into disgruntled sighs as I send volley after volley of ranged damage raining down onto the enemy units across the table.

So here is how I learned to love Urien again, by accepting what he was and not trying to make him anything he wasn’t.

Urien, in his natural state, is an event warlord, pure and simple.  You gotta play by his rules or he will make your life miserable and that means Torture events and ONLY Torture events. But that’s not such a bad thing.  There are many Torture events that are quite good, particularly if you’re lucky enough to get Urien’s signature attachment, the Ichor Gauntlet, which can be devastating if your opponent is investing in expensive units.

That being said, we all know events can only go so far and that’s where our old friends Baleful Mandrake and  Altansar Rangers come in. It’s hard argue against the fact that Ranged is one of the more powerful keywords in Conquest right now. Being able to destroy your opponent’s units before they can even take a swing at you is a beautiful thing. The issue being that there are few units besides those two that are worth their cost. With only six Ranged units you’re most likely only going to take out one to two units before your opponent comes in and smashes your frail space elves to pieces.  And since Torture events are so valuable it’s never fun to use them as shields when you could be causing your opponent misery. Enter Hypex Injector.  At 0 cost it’s return on investment is amazing considering just how many cheap Torture events you have at your disposal. Throw this baby on one of your Ranged units and you can ready it every time you use one of your Torture events – Urien’s signature event, at 0 resources, is always a fine choice – and enjoy pinging your enemies with Ranged attacks for days.

Besides that, it’s a simple game of making sure you have plenty Torture events to play, and that means winning command. While resources are great, it’s cards that really matter with Urien.  More cards equals more cheap events you have to play equals fewer options your opponent has. Urien has to be played surgically, so it’s not about winning every battle.  Just the ones that matter.  So don’t try to win every planet; you most likely will not have enough Ranged units to spread around. While Warlock Destructor can hold it’s own in a fight, if you try to win planets you don’t need, you might regret that investment later. So focus your combat units on the planets that mean victory for yourself (or your opponent) and spread out your command units to win you those precious cards you need while Urien command snipes. He isn’t that great in a fight and he rarely has to be at a planet for his events to have an effect on the game.  Once he is bloodied the deck becomes an uphill battle.

I personally have done quite well with this deck. I have played it for a month and have won about 60% of my games. Swarm decks, unsurprisingly, are the hardest to deal with.  So limiting your opponent’s command is very important. I have tried swapping in some Biel-tan Warp Spiders but ended up removing them in favor of the new Prophetic Farseer from Decree of Ruin. Getting rid of shields means less Torture events have to be used to kill off units.  Plus, getting to pick what your opponent draws next is both informative and can limit their choices, which you should never turn your nose up at.

While the new Dark Eldar Location Holding Cell is nice, I find it hard to find a place in the deck at the moment, but it may make a cameo in the future.

Obviously, I think the key thing this deck needs is an additional 2 shield Torture event to replace Suffering, which is mainly there for the shields – though but it can trigger Twisted Wracks in a pinch.  So here’s hoping FFG will give us a new option in the future.

Below is the deck list that I have been playing with and while making it I had a glass of Mcmanis Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, it was strong, sweet and a little bit of a bite – just like my man, Urien.

Urien Rakarth

Now you might be thinking, okay, I not including Archon’s Terror. That’s more expensive now so it isn’t really as powerful as it is in other Dark Eldar decks.  Not that 3 cost out of the question, since you’re also triggering a Hypex. And maybe you’re right.  Feel free to swap it for Suffering or even the Promotion if you’re finding you just don’t need them. The real sin is no Klaivex Warleader? Madness! I would tend to agree if it wasn’t for that dang 4 cost. In a pitched battle, if I am planning on using several events, even at their reduced cost I find putting 4 resources into clearing a single unit quite expensive where another 3 damage from a Mandrake might do. That’s just my opinion though, so perhaps you’d rather swap a couple in instead of having the Prophetic Farseer.  If so, I say give it a shot and drop me a line so I know how it played for you!

And that’s about it, let me know what you think of this deck, and what you would like to see to make Urien “da bomb”.

Cheers.