Millennia ago, Aeldari society reached such a pinnacle of debauchery that the psychic and emotional overload birthed the fourth Chaos God, Slaanesh, who immediately set about feasting on the souls of almost the entire race. Some of the survivors duly devoted themselves to asceticism (or the performing arts) to save their doomed race from She Who Thirsts, while others settled down to farm dinosaurs or simply fled into the void.
Not so the Drukhari, who just wanted to keep the party going. These heartless hedonists soon discovered that they could feed on pain and anguish to replenish their threadbare souls, saving them from being consumed for all eternity by Slaanesh.
Overview
These haughty reavers now range across the galaxy, sadistic parasites with a ravenous appetite for violence and spectacle. Merciless Archons command hosts of Kabalite Warriors, Succubi caper into battle followed by screaming mobs of Wyches, while flesh-weaving Haemonculi unleash their most twisted experiments onto hapless foes.
All three persuasions (and strange mercenaries besides) work together in the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 to accomplish one singular goal – inflicting maximum pain for maximum profit.
Faction Rules
The Drukhari are cutthroat corsairs who conduct lightning-fast realspace raids that prey on the mortals they see as little more than cattle or playthings. They feed on the souls of those they slaughter in order to reach new heights of ecstatic violence, gaining yet more Power From Pain.
On top of the cache of Pain tokens each Drukhari army starts with, you earn more for doing the sort of things they love – murdering whole squads and conducting mind-breaking massacres to remind the lesser species of their place in the grand scheme of things. You can then cash these tokens in at the start of a relevant phase.
If a unit is Empowered Through Pain in the Movement or Charge phase, they can re-roll their Advance or Charge rolls, throwing themselves headlong at their foe in an explosion of aggressive athleticism. In the Shooting or Fight phase, they can tap into their sadistic nature to re-roll their Hit rolls, ensuring maximum agony.Drukhari society is totally inscrutable to an observer, as warring cults, kabals and covens struggle for dominance through duplicitous schemes, displays of decadent wealth, and outright violence. Realspace Raiders Detachments don’t suffer from this internecine competition – instead, they thrive on the challenge, goading each other to new levels of sadism.
Unit Spotlight
A realspace raid isn’t anything without a flotilla of lightning-fast transport craft to deliver its combatants into the thick of the action. The Venom is nimble enough that it can fly low to avoid incoming enemy fire with the Stealth core ability, which subtracts 1 from shooting Hit rolls that target it.
The Venom’s light carrying capacity often made it difficult to squeeze an entire squad onto its deck. In the new edition, you won’t have to – you can split your Kabalites or Wyches into two units, boarding one on the Venom while the other makes its own way. What’s more, these Athletic Aerialists can pull off gut-wrenching aerobatic manoeuvres, snatching up units that have finished with combat to deposit them into a fresh melee elsewhere.
There is no shortage of INFANTRY units that can make use of this sadism-fuelled taxi service, but Kabalite Warriors make a particularly attractive proposition. These Sadistic Raiders will ensure the objective they just grabbed remains yours after they abscond – even if you claimed it while they were aboard a TRANSPORT.
They can also make great use of the Firing Deck rule found across Drukhari transports to let rip with their signature splinter weapons. These cruel guns fire shards of crystalline neurotoxin designed to overcome the hardiest biologies and inflict maximum agony, so even their mainstay splinter rifle has the Anti-Infantry 3+ ability.
Weapon Spotlight
Like any good torturer, a Haemonculus has a suite of tools that they can use to inflict maximum pain on their subjects. The Talos are the most versatile of these brutal implements, sentient pain engines which boast inhuman resilience and are fitted with an armoury of advanced weapons – such as Drukari haywire blasters that bypass armour plating to directly disable tanks, providing easy access to the terrified occupants.
A fearsome facet of Drukari society are the Wych Cults, arena combatants who make a spectacle of slaughter up close and personal with their foes. Lelith Hesperax is an exemplar of the art of murder who uses humble knives, the better to showcase her personal skill as she tears apart entire squads of hapless INFANTRY.
Once per battle, Lelith can put on a Thrilling Spectacle, which increases the number of attacks she makes to 12 and increases her invulnerable save to 3+, turning her into a living blender of untouchable blades.
Stratagem Spotlight
While the Drukhari compete amongst themselves to prove their superiority, the Realspace Raiders Detachment offers tools for those who put their antagonism aside out of enlightened self-interest. The Alliance of Agony Stratagem allows an Archon, a Succubus, and a Haemonculus to all benefit from the same Pain token – now that’s a bargain.
The Word from the Studio
“The Drukhari are profoundly driven by the suffering of others. They feast on pain itself, and as the wails of their foes coil through the air, they find themselves empowered, both in soul and in body,” says Rich from the studio. “This is represented in the Power From Pain army rule through the accumulation of Pain tokens – a currency unique to the Drukhari that is gained when enemies are maimed or destroyed. Pain tokens allow the precise application of sadism wherever and whenever it is needed. Drukhari players can set up multiple situations to surgically eviscerate particular foes through shooting or melee, depending on their needs at the time.
“As any Archon would tell you, this represents a sophisticated and intelligent form of warfare befitting a civilisation as ancient and accomplished as the Drukhari. They have a diverse culture spanning all of the wonders that can be found in tormenting lesser beings, and the Kabals, Haemonculus Covens, and Wych Cults are all represented in a range of Enhancements and Stratagems that lean into their different creative approaches to suffering. For example, the Acrobatic Display Stratagem is available only to Wych Cult units, and allows them to Advance and charge in the same turn (which you’ll notice stacks pretty well with Power From Pain re-rolls)
“To the savvy general, the Drukhari present the chance to inflict a bountiful feast of precision cuts to the enemy force.”
Black Library
Few chroniclers have ever made it to the city-realm of Commorragh, the sprawling metropolis in the Webway that the Drukhari call home, and so stories about their depraved and abhorrent practices are rare. The Path of the Dark Eldar omnibus by Andy Chambers is the most complete telling of Drukhari life, full of all the double-dealing political shenanigans and cold-blooded killing you’d expect from this sadistic faction.
Pain Engine by Chris Thursten and Turn of the Adder by J C Stearns are also tasty morsels that focus on a Haemonculus’ quest for a rare construct and the cutthroat ambition of an Archon’s son.
We’re nearly at the end of our Faction Focus series. You can find out what the new edition means for all of your armies below, and join us tomorrow when we get to grips with the covert operations of the Genestealer Cults.
