We need to talk about how the good ole Dark Eldar are still a problem for the game.
Warhammer 40,000 will never be a perfectly balanced game. Let’s just get that out of the way up front. Not only would it be impossible to perfectly balance it but no one would actually want that. Not even chess is perfectly balanced. What players do want, and should expect, is a semblance of balance. A game where all armies are, if not equal, at least on the same field. When one army gets too far ahead and too good, that’s just bad for rest the game. Right now it’s clear that Drukhari are a broken army and are still a problem. We’re going to tackle why.
They Started Off Strong
Drukhari got off to a really strong start with their new Codex. This was a book that packed a punch and had a lot of power. On the back of this book they took the meta by storm – winning a ton of events and converting a lot of players in to Drukhari Players. It was clear that they were a dominant faction. Then they got FAQ’d. While some of the FAQ was clearly fixing mistakes, other parts seemed to be attempts to de-power the Drukhari. At the time some players felt this was enough and made them suck, but a number of top players and myself (not that I count as a top player), felt that Drukhari were still really good. Indeed we worried that this one FAQ wouldn’t really tone them down. And we were right.
Massive Win Ratios
The Orlando Open, held towards the end of August, was as fair an event as can be put on. GW pulled out the stops to make it that way based on the missions and terrain. Now it should be noted that the Drukhari did not win the event. However, at the event, they had the overall highest win ratio winning a whopping 64% of their games. This was significantly higher than most other factions, and nearly twice that of some bottom tier factions like Astra Militarum. All of this was of course post FAQ. Despite nerfs Drukhari still remained the easiest army to win with and remained a major meta army. And it doesn’t stop there – this win ratio is in line with the ratio of wins we’ve seen for Drukhari at other events post FAQ.
Winning Events
In 34 listed events since the end of July, found here, Drukhari won 14 of them. No other army won more than 4 events, meaning that Drukhari won more than 3 times as many events as any other army. They placed in the top 4s, 35 times. To put it another way: just over 1/4th of all armys that made the top 4s at those events was a Drukhari army. No other army even comes close. Simple put no other army is dominating the meta in this way.
Drukhari Are A Problem
Drukhari are not unbeatable. They do not win every event. Indeed they’ve been beaten out at a number of the largest events. A top player using one of a handful of other meta lists can confidently beat them. A bad Drukhari player can also lose. They are still the best army in the game. Statistically speaking, they are the easiest to win with and are winning the most events. And it’s by a very wide margin.
This a real problem as it not only unbalances the game but also turns off players. It’s not very fun to play an army like Guard and go up against an army that wins twice as often as yours. The truth is the Drukhari burn too bright and they are flying too close to the sun. It’s only a matter of time before they crash and burn.
Let us know what you think should be done about Drukhari, down in the comments!
Source: Bell of Lost Souls
