Dark Riders (Shields)
Melee cavalry· Shock Cavalry· Tier 2· 60 models at Ultra size
Duel it in the combat calculator →vs Chaos Warriors, the unit the rankings measure against; pick any other there.
Dark Riders (Shields) are Dark Elves melee cavalry: 5,520 HP across 60 models, armour 30, melee attack 24, melee defence 30, weapon strength 28. It costs 500 in the campaign and in multiplayer. Unit key wh2_main_def_cav_dark_riders_1. Patch 9.0.4, from the game's data tables.
Health
92 per model
5,520
Armour
shield blocks 35% of small-arms missiles from the front (not artillery)
30
Leadership
55
Speed
92
Melee attack
24
Melee defence
30
Weapon strength
21 base + 7 armour-piercing
28
Charge bonus
40
Attributes
- Vanguard Deployment
This unit can deploy outside the deployment zone.
- Hide (forest)
This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
Abilities
- Murderous ProwessAugment · +20% Armour-Piercing Missile Damage, +25% Charge Bonus…passiveMurderous ProwessAugment+20% Armour-Piercing Missile Damage+25% Charge Bonus+25% Melee Attack+15 LeadershipPassive · Duration 90 s · 1 useSlaughter! There is no greater glorification of Khaine, the God of Murder, and no more popular form of worship – or indeed daily exercise – amongst the Dark Elves.
Counters
Vulnerable to
- Bonus vs large — large (cavalry-sized or bigger)e.g. Bone Giant, Feral Troglodon, Warp Lightning Cannons · Dark Elves: Reaper Bolt Throwers, Scourgerunner Chariots
Computed from base unit-card values (no skills, items or abilities), one rule per line; examples are units with the most of that trait. How counters are worked out · Try it in the combat calculator
Gold for gold
Beats, at a similar price: Corpse Cart (Balefire) (142.98× faster), Corpse Cart (Unholy Lodestone) (142.98× faster), Goblin Wolf Chariots (7.01× faster)
Loses to, at a similar price: Forest Goblin Spider Riders (1.58× slower), Peasant Horsemen (1.54× slower), Nehekharan Horsemen (1.37× slower)
Equal gold, every model fighting at its weapon's attack interval, combat calculator formulas; no charge, mass, splash, leadership or abilities. “Similar price”: within 30% of its 500 multiplayer gold. Dark Elf units ranked.
Who can field it
- Dark Elves · Naggarond
Custom Battle lists factions under each race; every faction of a race fields that race's units (units_custom_battle_permissions rows of any of its factions). The name after the race is the faction the army builder uses.
Where these numbers come from
Read from the game's database tables for patch 9.0.4 (main_units, land_units, battle_entities, melee_weapons, projectiles…) as published in the WH3-Dump export (commit 099796e8). Formulas that turn table values into card values are checked against known units before they are shown — how we verify.