Dark Eldar skimmers can no longer maintain that important 18"-24" range that dark eldar assault weaponry likes to stay in. This leaves them now in two roles, as a fast means to get somewhere, or as a fast skimmer that darts in and out of 30+ inch ranges trying to maximize their firepower.
Dark Eldar vehicles are fast, and to maintain a raiders distance, nightshields really come into play and are almost essential now.. They are affordable in 6th that you do not have to pay to get a 5+ save against shooting attacks. So with a raider equipped with a nightshield, its quite possible to play this distance game, and keep up your firepower.
Night Fighting
50% of all games now have night fighting. This is a huge boon to an army that can see just fine in the dark, but it also helps against heavy shooting in round 1. It is a sad thing that Dark Eldar cannot attack at the time of their choosing (night raids), and you cannot ally with Necrons to attempt to get some sort of control over night fighting. However, if your Raiders have moved, and nightfighting is in effect, you can essentially get a 3+ cover save if you are over 24" from the enemy and gain the shrouding USR. This should incourage Dark Eldar players to go first or take the means to sieze the initiative.
Raider Movement:
The greatest thing for Dark Eldar Raiders besides jink, is that fast skimmers are now so much faster than they were in 5th edition. Lets look at their movement now in 6th edition.
12" during the movement phase, and be able to fire, (guys inside can snap fire, twin linked if you have splinter racks).
18" for going flat out during the shooting phase. This is a 6" increase in movement since last edition.
Add in Enhanced Aethersails, and now we get an additional 2d6 movement in the movement phase. (you cannot shoot or get out if you do this).
This gives us an average of 37" of movement, and up to 42". This gives dark eldar a distinct advantage in that you can get your assault style units across the board in a heartbeat to reach enemy weakpoints. Once again I am going to stress the Vect Tax in getting a seize in.
Deployment.
Taking advantage of the new speed raiders can move and more nightfighting, means that with nightshields you can deploy back and still get those raiders you want them.
Ramming
Its dead. OK, maybe not completely, but the ease at which you rammed before is even worse now, and in my opinion not worth it. Is it advantageous to use rams for tank shocking...... Yes, just not for hitting armour now. So this piece of hardware now has less effectiveness. Remember that tank shocking is done now in the movement phase. So you do not get your extra distance for moving flat out to tank shock with.
Conclusions:
The Raider has gained in value on the tabletop, as it can move larger squads close combat units two where you need them. I feel that Raiders now have two roles, loose fire support, or extremely fast movement to deliver close combat units.
