New “Skysplinter Assault” Drukhari Detachment Released

In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there are few races more feared than the Drukhari, the sadistic slavers who dwell within the dark confines of the Warp itself, feeding on the souls of their victims and striking without warning across the galaxy.

In Warhammer 40K 10th edition, the Drukhari have largely remained in the shadows, waiting for their moment to emerge. Now, it seems that their time has finally come, with Games Workshop recently unveiling a the new “Skysplinter Assault” Drukhari Detachment, which was launched alongside the most recent Warhammer 40K Balance Dataslate.

So what can fans of the Dark Ones expect from these new rules? Below, we jump out of the Webway and slice out all the details.

What Are Detachments in Warhammer 40K 10th Edition?

As a reminder to both new and experienced players, Warhammer 40K Detachments are created by Games Workshop to ensure that armies remain fair and balanced. Detachments indicate which units can and cannot be added to an army, and also includes new rules, enhancements and strategems that can be employed on the battlefield.

Using Detachments is required to make your army officially “Battle-Forged,” which means it’s properly structured and rules-legal in most of the game’s formats.

Notably, you can choose only one Detachment for your army, and no army can be legally played without a Detachment. For the Drukhari, Warhammer 40K 10th edition has previously released the “Realspace Raiders” Detachment, while this is the first time the “Skysplinter Assault” Detachment has ever been officially published in either online or print Games Workshop materials.

What is the new Detachment Rule for the Drukhari Skysplinter Assault?

The Drukhari Skysplinter Assault Detachment brings the pain with a new Detachment Rule:

Rain of Cruelty: Each time a Drukhari unit from your army disembarks from a Transport, until the end of the turn, that unit’s ranged weapons have the [IGNORES COVER] ability and your unit’s melee weapons gain the [LANCE] ability (which adds 1 to Wound rolls made during a Charge).

It’s also important to note that the Skysplinter Assault Detachment also receives the “Power from Pain” Army Rule (which applies to all Drukhari armies, regardless of which Detachment is selected). This grants Pain Tokens to players which can be spent for added abilities. Notably, Pain Tokens – which are somewhat similar to Command Points – are given out at the start of the game and can also be earned throughout the game.

What are the new enhancements for the Drukhari Skysplinter Assault Detachment?

The Skysplinter Assault Detachment also offers four new Enhancements:

• Phantasmal Smoke: While the Drukhari unit is within 6″ of a friendly Drukhari Transport, models have the Benefit of Cover (which adds 1 to a Saving Throw) and the Stealth ability (which reduces 1 from an attack’s Hit roll).
• Sadistic Fulcrum: Each time you expend a Pain token to Empower the bearer’s unit in the Shooting phase, you can select one friendly Drukhari Transport within 3″ of the bearer’s unit. Until the end of the phase, that Transport is also Empowered. (NOTE: Being Empowered means a unit can re-roll Advance, Shooting or Charge rolls – depending on what phase they’re in).

• Spiteful Raider: Each time the bearer’s unit destroys an enemy unit in the Fight phase, if that enemy unit was within range of one or more objective markers when the bearer’s unit was selected to fight, you gain 1 additional Pain token.
• Nightmare Shroud: Each time the bearer’s unit disembarks from a Transport, until the end of the turn, enemy units cannot use the Fire Overwatch Stratagem to shoot at the bearer’s unit. (NOTE: Fire Overwatch allows units that are the target of a Charge to fire at the charging unit before their Charge roll is made).

What are the Stratagems for the Drukhari Skysplinter Assault Detachment?

The new Drukhari Skysplinter Assault Detachment also introduces six new Strategems:

• Vicious Blades: During the Fight phase, just after a Drukhari Transport from your army has selected its targets, that Transport can select one enemy unit that was the target of one or more of those attacks and roll one D6 for each model embarked within your Transport, adding 1 to the result if that embarked model is a Wracks model: for each 5+, that enemy unit suffers1 mortal wound (to a maximum of 6 mortal wounds).
• Wraithlike Retreat: At the end of the Fight phase, one Drukhari Infantry unit from your army that fought this phase can make a Normal or Fall Back move, but unless it is a Wyches unit, it must end that move wholly within 3″ horizontally and 5″ vertically of a friendly Drukhari Transport and must embark within that Transport at the end of that move.
• Pounce on the Prey: During your Movement phase, just after a Drukhari Infantry unit from your army disembarks from a Transport that made a Normal move this phase, that Infantry unit is eligible to declare a Charge.

• Skyborne Annihilation: During your Shooting phase, one Drukhari unit from you army that disembarked from a Transport this turn and has not been selected to shoot can fire using the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability. This becomes a [SUSTAINED HITS 2] ability if the model is a Kabalite Warrior. (NOTE: A Sustained Hits inflicts an additional hits on Critical Hit rolls. So a “Sustained Hits 2” weapon would score two additional hits for every six that’s rolled.)
• Swooping Mockery: During your opponent’s Movement phase (just after an enemy unit ends a Normal, Advance or Fall Back move) one Drukhari Transport from your army that is not within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units and is within 9″ of the enemy unit that just ended that move can make a Normal move of up to 6″.
• Night Shield: During your opponent’s Shooting phase, just after an enemy unit has selected its targets, one Drukhari Vehicle unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks has a 4+ invulnerable save until the end of your phase.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot to love with the new Drukhari Skysplinter Assault detachment, which offers significant improvements in gameplay over the fairly rigid options that were previously included with the Realspace Raiders detachment.

It’s also incredibly thematic, capturing the hit-and-run tactics and vicious nature of the Dark Eldar and bringing it onto the battlefield. And while it does tend to lean heavily on the relationship between infantry and transports, it also showcases just why the Drukhari are likely going to continue to bring the pain when it comes to Warhammer 40K.

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