Tob's guide to playing Eldar competitively

[Tob]

Hi,

Ok, I'm fairly new to Warseer but I consider myself to be a very experienced Eldar player. I have won 4 local tournaments (Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Shrewsbury were you there?) with Eldar so I hope this establishes my credentials a little. I would like to help other Eldar players with their lists/tactics. This first section is very long and contains a general guide to how to play the Eldar and a break down of the units available to them. I will follow this a later date with a guide to army selection and advice against specific opponents so check back here frequently.

The aim of this guide is to show people how win competitive games with the Eldar. The Eldar list is quite diverse and unless you have a clear idea in mind as to how the army plays and what troops to use it is easy to get lost. Tau players have access to very good advise online as to how to play their army effectively and the standard of play among Tau players is very good. Getting good advise for playing Eldar though is much harder and Eldar players tend to have a much less good idea of how to play their army. I hope everybody finds this guide useful I’ve not had a lot to do over the last few days waiting for my college course to start so I just started typing…

Please not that all these opinions are my own I don’t want to force them down your throat. I will be quite happy to discuss anything I have said in this article and explain why I have made a particular judgement. If you notice any mistakes or omissions point them out to me so I can edit the article.

Lastly I am aware that elder are one of the most powerful codex’s around and that many people have strong opinions about the Eldar. This thread is not the place for anti- Falcon/harlequin/uber unit ranting and accusations. I don’t play 40k just to win (I also play orks lol), it’s about getting the best results from the Eldar list.

I define large games as +1,500 points
Medium sized games 750-1,499 points
Small sized games 0-749 points

General tips

-Eldar are about mobility and firepower. I have yet to see an Eldar infantry army perform particularly well they are just too vulnerable. In games of 1,000 points plus you should take lots of fire prisms, wave serpents and falcons if you want a competitive army. Aspect warriors with a 4+ save are very vulnerable and should have a transport.
-Take the first turn if offered the worst thing that can happen is your opponent shooting your tanks before they move and getting penetrating hits. The exception to this rule is in Omega level games with escalation. If most of your force is coming on by reserve you can happily give your opponent the first turn so you can take the last turn of the game.
-Usually take the deployment zone with more terrain since it gives you more room to hide your troops and tanks.
-Terrain is very important for Eldar. All vehicles should start the game behind terrain or where your opponent cannot see them. This way if your opponent gets first turn your tanks are hopefully not visible.
-Always move you vehicles more than 6 inches each turn always!
-Don’t try and fight your opponent’s entire army at once this is very important. Manoeuvre your tanks and army so you can fight 1/3 or 1/2 of your opponent’s army with all of your force. Your opponent can make this easier for you by spreading out thinly across the entire length of his deployment zone while you put all your forces on one end of the table. This is referred to as a refused flank deployment. If your opponent does not fall for this it may be worth sacrificing a turns shooting to move all your tanks 24 inches to the other side of your deployment zone outflanking him this way.
- Try and gather enough firepower to wipe out your target in one round of shooting. In a perfect game you would not get any return fire at all. I’ve not seen a perfect game but it’s what I strive for. Manoeuvre to stop the enemy army drawing line of sight to your troops.
-Move your tanks so the back armour is not exposed if possible; it is a favourite tactic of my opponents to deep strike units to hit the weak rear armour of my tanks. This can be avoided by placing the back of the tank against a table edge or terrain. Be careful though if the tank is carrying troops and is destroyed and the troops onboard can’t disembark they are also destroyed.
-On the attack strike with as much of your force as possible at one point in your opponent’s army having mobile forces helps this.
-On the defence hide your tanks and troops behind terrain and wait to ‘pounce’ that is wait until your opponent draws close then throw all your forces forward. Good pouncing units are blades storming dire avengers or fire dragons in transports. Aim to break the back of the opponent’s army in one strike. The build up to the ‘pounce’ should have you taking pot shots at his army, ducking in and out of terrain with your tanks to bait your opponent forward while you yourself take little damage due to holo fields.


I believe the heavy support section to be the most important in the Eldar list and selection from it contributes a large part to how effective your army will perform. Selections should be based on how many points you have available.
Here are the heavy support entries ranked best to worst.

1.Falcon (use in medium to large games)

This tank is without a doubt the best Eldar Heavy Support choice in terms of power and utility (and also the best tank in the game). In points terms a kitted out falcon costs more than a kitted out fire prism however and this influences our selection.

In terms of weapons never give a falcon a bright lance or a missile launcher. These limit the mobility of your Falcon to 6 inches if you want to fire all the weapons since only 1 s8 weapon can be fired if it moves over 6 inches. This leave 3 weapons: the star cannon is the best overall because it works very well working together with the pulse laser at killing MEQ but it is also the most costly. The scatter laser has 4 shots and costs less than the star cannon.. In anticipation of facing horde armies and in the interests of economy all falcons beyond the first should be armed with scatter lasers. Shurikan cannons are not really worth considering for the turret you will often find yourself out of range when you need the extra shots. Conversely Flacons should always replace the twin catapults on the hull with a shuriken cannon for 3 more s6 shots for only 10 points.

On a falcon with a scatter laser, pulse laser and shuriken cannon we get 9 shots at s6 and above which is fairly impressive considering it can also move 12 inches. If you can angel up for side armour shots you should be able to generate impressive numbers of penetrating and glancing hits.

In terms of vehicle upgrades all Falcons and indeed all Eldar tanks should have spirit stones without exception. It really is a no brainer that if your tank gets stunned and can’t move 6 inches next turn it will die to penetrating hits on its weak armour in the following turn.

Holo fields are the next most important upgrade. They make your Eldar tank nearly invulnerable as long as you move more than 6 inches in your previous turn The odds of your opponent destroying your falcon fall from 1/3 to 1/9 with holo fields for each glancing hit. This is therefore a very desirable upgrade, which should be taken if you are taking a serious mechanised Eldar army. Note that wave serpents cannot take holo fields. The maximum number of holo fielded Eldar tanks in a game using the force organisation chart is therefore 3.

Vectored engines further reduce the probability of a falcon being destroyed still further. The probability of destroying a falcon with one shot falls from 1/9 to 1/36 in other words your opponent needs a double six to destroy it on the damage table. This pushes the price of the tank up still further but makes your tank nigh on invulnerable combined with holofields. While not as essential as holo fields vectored engines are still very much worth taking. If you plan on using your tanks cautiously you can skip this upgrade to save points. If you plan on exposing your tanks to quite a bit of fire you should take this upgrade. Falcon’s should have vectored engines before fire prisms if you are running short of points because they have a more aggressive role.

Don’t take star engines as Eldar tanks are fast skimmers and can already move 24 inches, which is enough. Unless you have some unusual battle plan you can do without star engines.

The falcons I use look like this:

Falcon with scatter laser, shurikan cannon, pulse laser, spirit stones and holo fields = 185 points

Falcon with star cannon, shurikan cannon, pulse laser, spirit stones and holo fields = 195 points

If I have more points:

Falcon with scatter laser, shurikan cannon, pulse laser, spirit stones and holo fields, vectored engines = 205 points

Falcon with star cannon, shurikan cannon, pulse laser, spirit stones and holo fields, vectored engines = 215 points

The following squads work well transported in a falcon ranked in order of effectiveness for their cost: fire dragons, harlequins, dire avengers possibly scorpions. For shooting units like avengers and fire dragons you can just power up the table and destroy two units i.e. falcon kills one unit/tank fire dragons kill another tank . To have a an assault squad deploy from a falcon you need to rely on the falcons invulnerability to survive one turns shooting before you disembark and assault the following turn.

2. Fire Prism (use in medium to large games)

Cheaper than the falcon packs a punch, has a 60 inch range can still take holo fields and upgrades. Work best in pairs so don’t take 1, take 2 if you want to use any. Should always have spirit stones and holo fields as well unless your opponent has no ranged firepower (lol!). This is generally the limit in terms of upgrades and comes to 160 points .If you can move the tank so that it is out of range of their heavy weapons while still being in range with the prism cannon do so. One tactic you can use is only giving one-tank holo fields and giving the unshielded tank the job of hiding and powering up the other tank.

Good uses are firing a combined dispersed blast at space marine squads to use the large template and ignore their armour. Using a single dispersed blast to kill 4+ sv troops. Against av 14 vehicles such as land raiders or monoliths it is probably better to use one fire prism to charge the other up and fire a focused shot. Against av1 3 fire them separately (I need math hammer people to check this). Fire prism are vulnerable to a single weapon destroyed result unlike falcons. Weapon less Wave Serpents should grab objectives/hide or tank shock enemy units. Don’t bother giving a fire prism a shuriken cannon it won’t be used much of the time.

3. War Walkers (use in small and medium sized games)

Great little things these. In larger games of 1,500 and more though they should not be taken as tanks will take all your heavy support slots but in small games their firepower and low cost makes them very useful. I prefer the twin shuriken cannon armament since you get 6 s6 shots for only 40 points. Twin scatter lasers and twin star cannons also work well since they can hit from a bit more of a distance but undermine the main reason for taking a war walker which is its low cost. I would not ever use war walkers for tank hunting as you then have a very expensive armour 10 model which will almost certainly die to the first hit it takes. You will probably not make your points back on these so don’t take bright lances or missile launchers. The Eldar army has much better ways of dealing with tanks.

The war walker is the reason that the heavy support slots in an Eldar army should never be unfilled. If you can’t afford a falcon or fire prism take a single 40 point war walker as a cheap drop. War walkers are no longer open topped so they are more survivable and get a free 6-inch scout mover before the game. They outclass Guard sentinels in every way. In fact spamming cheap 40 point war walkers in a small say 400 point game is probably a very good way to win when the number of heavy weapons your opponent can take is limited. For 120 points you get 18 s6 shots a turn and your opponent will struggle to draw a bead with a heavy weapon on them. I will go so far to say you would be silly for not taking them in a small game.

4. Support Weapon Platforms (use only in small games)

Ok Support weapons should only really be used in small games otherwise it’s a heavy support slot which could have been used for something more powerful like a fire prism or falcon. I don’t think shadow weavers should be used at all since they are too weak. D- cannons can be used to deny areas of the battle field to your opponent such as one half of you deployment zone. This usually works since nobody really want to put their elite troops or tanks near one if they can avoid it. Vibro-cannons are the best of the bunch having the longest range and causing automatic glancing hits on vehicles. Support Platforms are more useful if you ever for some reason need to defend a static position. The weakness of support platforms is that they are very easy to take out if you opponent can draw line of sight to them or has deep stikers so you can’t really move them around much. I much prefer war walkers though for 40 points for one with two heavy weapons is insane.

5. Wraithlord (use in small-medium sized games)

I used to love this thing but it is no longer as good in the new rules. The wraith lord has only 2 attacks, cannot take duplicate weapons without them being twin linked and suffers from wraith sight. Wraith sight means it will be hit automatically in hand to hand should it fail the roll or just stands around doing nothing. I used to use wraith lords to hold up big assault units without power fists but more things have rending now i.e. death company. The wraith lord has the option of a second heavy weapon but because of the price increase anti-tank and anti MEQ weapons are not really worth it. I would probably give one a shurikan cannon, scatter laser and flamers which comes to 120 points and is ok. Another downside is that you have to baby sit the wraithlord with a farseer or spirit seer, which is a bit of a waste really. I would take a tank over a wraithlord every time. Does better in smaller and medium sized games where there are fewer weapons that can take them down.

6. Dark reapers (use only in large games)

Despite the improvements to their save, drop in point and new weapons they are still not really worth it. The problem is that the unit is static and a static Eldar unit is a dead Eldar unit. Especially dark reapers which are expensive and come in small squads which is why they should only be used in games when you have plenty of points to spare. Much of the time you will find that Dark Reapers have no line of sight or must select sub-optimal targets The damage reapers can do means that your opponent will target your reapers before anything else. The table usually has to be pretty clear of terrain or your opponent fairly silly for you to really get good use out of Dark Reapers. The only time I would ever use dark reapers is in an army with Eldrad Ulthran who can reposition them otherwise they end up facing down a tank, which they can’t kill and they die horribly. Same problem again here taking one of these units means one less falcon or fire prism in the army.

[Tob]

Elites

Elites are the next most important section of an Eldar army.

Ranked from best to worst in terms of game utility and points cost:

1.Fire Dragons
2. Harlequins
3. Striking Scorpions
4. Howling Banshees
5. Wraith Guard

Fire Dragons

My favourite aspect warrior unit. Then can kill just about anything since they are all armed with fusion guns but are especially useful for killing monstrous creatures, tanks and MEQ’s. Fire dragons should be taken in squads of 5 or 6 and transported, ideally in a falcon. They can race up the battlefield blow up a tank while the falcon engages another target. If you want to make them more flexible you can give the exarch a heavy flamer which you can re-roll the wounds on thanks to crack shot (don’t quite know how that works but never mind) since it’s a flamer it ignores cover as well. Now that’s a lot of dead orks/kroot/fire warriors/ space marine scouts. The best fire dragon’s comparison is with Imperial Guard veterans who I believe cost a similar number of points. The advantages fire dragons have though is a 4+ armour save, as many melta guns as squad members, the fleet rule, an exarch, melta bombs and an improved stat line. Considering how good Imperial Guard veterans are why not include fire dragons in an Eldar list? Looking for a unit that will kill Eldar falcons or Tau Hammerheads after they have moved? Fire dragons are probably your best shot.

Harlequins

The reason I rate fire dragons ahead of these guys is that if harlequins are mounted in a falcon and you want to assault from it after racing forwards you have to wait till your next turn to do so. By then your opponent may have gotten out the way or gotten very lucky and killed your falcon. Fire dragons can disembark after the falcon moves 12 inches and fire probably killing a very expensive tank in the process. Despite this harlequins are awesome assault troops. No other army has anything quite like them. It goes without saying that each harlequin should be given rending but don’t upgrade any of the members to death jesters. Harlequins are assault troops not fire support and you will want to fleet most of the time instead of fire. The troupe master is fairly expensive and probably unnecessary with all the squads rending ability so it’s not worth including him. Fusion pistols? Probably not since the Eldar have much better thank hunters than harlequins (see fire dragons) and you really want to be assaulting enemy infantry with these guys. Shadow Seers are expensive but worth it if the squad is not being transported having the effect of making the nearly invulnerable to long-range fire. Please not that the veil of tears does apply to barrage and indirect fire weapons since they ‘target’. The only sure way of killing harlequins with a shadow seer with shooting is to get really close to them and rapid fire so watch out for transports that are carrying squads with a lot of short range firepower.

Harlequins are very fast on foot having the fleet ability and being able to ignore difficult terrain. In city fight it’s easy to imagine these guys dominating. Harlequins nearly always clear their kill zone if they charge and even when they are charged they will do a fair amount of damage thanks to their high initiative. With harlequins cover is no defence if the squad has a shadow seer and models still strike in initiative order. Harlequins can hit and run and this ability should be used during your opponents assault phase so you can assault at the start of your turn to get furious charge and more attcks.

Harlequins are very powerful used correctly but very vulnerable to rapid-fire, transported troops and Tau battle suits (specially stealth suits). Against opponents that use much of any of these things harlequins are probably best left on the shelf but against most armies they are devastating. Harlequins are powerful but not the super unit that many players believe them to be and they can be effectively countered by a large number of units Like Maugan Ra if you want to learn more about harlequins then check out the special rules section of the 40k main rulebook.

Striking Scorpions

There has been much comparison of Striking Scorpions and Howling Banshees. I much prefer scorpions for a number of reasons: a 3+ save, more attacks (41 in a full squad on the charge), higher strength, infiltrate and a much better exarch weapon in form of the scorpions claw. Scorpions are fairly cheap only costing 16 points and quite tough. It is best to take large units of 8-10 to make sure enough scorpions make it into combat. The scorpion’s claw (the can opener) is an awesome weapon, the exarch gets 5 attacks on the charge at s6 just watch that you don’t clear the squads kill zone so he can’t attack. It also counts as a shurikan catapult so the exarch can use his bs5.

Scorpions are heavy infantry so they are slower than other Eldar troops but this is made up for by their ability to infiltrate which means they can usually set up fairly close to the enemy anyway. Once again though Scorpions are vulnerable to highly mobile opponents who can stay out of striking distance and pepper them with shots like stealth/crisis suits.

Howling Banshees

I don’t like these much. Few attacks and s3 mean they are not that effective against MEQ unless you take large numbers of them (and sometimes not even then). Light armour means they die very easily to heavy bolters, inferno cannons and anything else. They are inferior in just about every way to harlequins. Banshee masks are not really useful since eldar usually go first anyway in a combat anyway. The only time I would ever use banshees is against other Eldar assault troops (incubi, scorpions etc) when they can be ok and can hit first.

Wraith guard

I like these even less, wraithguard operate like fire dragons that cost more than twice as many points. They also need a warlock or farseer babysitter to make sure they don’t space out in a fight. The main reason Iyanden wraith guard armies don’t don all that well is because they are slow moving with short ranged weapons and a high points cost which restricts their numbers. Sensible opponents will just avoid wraith guard completely or obliterate them from range. I suppose that fortuned they could hold an objective but then so could a holo falcon, which is about as tough and infinitely more useful.


HQ’s are the next most important section in the Eldar army. The best HQ’s for Eldar are ranked best to worst in terms of utility as follows:

1. Avatar
2. Eldrad
3. Autarch with laser lance and jetbike
4. Yriel

The good HQ’s are mostly individuals. This means there can only be one of them in the army. I would pick one of the below to use as the armies sole HQ at 1,500 points so you can fit some other stuff into the list as well.

Avatars are my all time favourite HQ choice yet I never see them and this puzzles me since he is easily the best HQ choice for a generic eldar army. Why would you not want something that is more powerful than a greater daemon for 155 points? His only disadvantage is his lack of speed even so he is easily the best HQ choice. He has a 3+ save and 4+ invulnerable as well as t6 and 4 wounds and 5 attacks on the charge.. He gets a melta gun attack which hits on a 2+. In hand to hand the avatar hits pretty much everything on a 3+ and ws 4 marines with powerfists need a 5+ to hit him thanks to his ws 10. As added bonuses he is immune to melta and flamer weapons and makes all Eldar within 12 inches fearless. The avatar is cheap for his cost and makes short work of tanks dreds, and marine squads. He also scores since he is no longer an independent character. The Avatar is excellent as a counter charge unit and to protect a gunline. Armies whith lots of infantry benefit from his 12 inch fearless bubble.

Eldrad

Even though this guy is expensive at 210 points he is worth every point of it in an army adapted to use him. My current favourite tactic is to have 3 falcons and reposition them to the other end of the board after my opponent has deployed. He can eldritch storm enemy tanks so you can shoot their rear armour he can guide your own troops or mind war the enemy. He is not vulnerable to perils of the warp because of his toughness 4, has a 3+ (in most cases re-rollable ) invulnerable save and he’s not all that bad in hand to hand. In short he is very flexible and surprisingly powerful in an army list tailored for him. (Hint try running him with 2 units of pathfinders in cover and fortuning both of them it’s highly entertaining. He can’t be hit because he is an independent character and your opponent can only get 1 in 36 hits past the cover save). If you want to make use of the Farseer powers in the Eldar codex ditch the regular farseer and take Eldrad he is worth every point. Please note: ELDRAD DOES NOT HAVE FLEET.

Yriel

Yriel costs the same as an Avatar has some special attacks but is easier to kill. He comes with the master strategist rule so I don’t really see much of a need for the basic autarch.

Farseers and Autarch’s

A word on Farseers and Autarch’s here. Despite the fact that they have cool models they are not particularly good and I fail to see why 90% of the Eldar armies I come across contain them . Let me outline the problems here. Autarchs are not at all impressive from my viewpoint they strength 3 for starters. Which means he will never be any good at killing MEQ even with a power weapon. You charge him in he might kill one marine before he gets insta-killed with a power fist. His stats are not impressive and his wargear is not particularly effective.

The laser lance jet bike combo is the only useful autarch I know of but has to be carefully used since after the charge your autarch is useless and can gets counter charged and killed. His mobility makes him useful though since he can keep up with the speed of your mechanised assault and charge any stragglers left over from the volleys of fire from the falcons and their passengers. If you are going to spend points kitting him up in any combination but the jetbik e+ laser lance combo you may as well not bother and just take Yriel who is infinitely better in hand to hand and confers the master strategist benefit the same as any other Autarch would. An autarch’s

master strategist ability is not always useful (you may not be using escalation or strategy ratings) so I usually prefer the sheer power of the avatar.

Farseers are also a bit pathetic. He is rubbish in hand to hand and becomes expensive very quickly from the upgrades, which are needed to make him anywhere near decent. Whatever you do don’t take runes of witnessing they make your farseer’s head asplode from perils of the warp. The farseer low toughness makes him very vulnerable to instant death. I would actually say that I would never use a farseer. His best use is probably as a tank hunter paying 3 points for a singing spear, 30 for a jetbike and 20 for eldritch storm to spin around tanks so the rest of your army can shoot the rear armour. In most cases though just don’t take a farseer it is far better to spend the points you would have spent on a farseer with guide, doom or fortune to buy more units. Having more dice in the first place is better than re-rolling. I will also mention that Mind war although fairly decent I don’t believe the points cost justifies it.

Warlock body guard are fairly useless and expensive for whatever you use them for get other units instead


Phoenix lords

The only Phoenix lords I rate are Maugan Ra and Kharandras. Mr Ra being the best overall since he seems to have most of the special rules in the book.. Maugan Ra is very useful placed behind a unit of pathfinders so he can’t be targeted. Your opponent is forced to target the pathfinders with a 2+ cover save instead. If he charges the pathfinders Maugan Ra counter charges and cuts them to pieces with 5 s6 ws7 I7 attacks that ignore armour. The amount of firepower he kicks out means he is quite well suited to supporting pathfinders assault 5 hit on 2+ range 36 s6 rending, pinning or assault 4 to gain crackshot which confers ignore cover and the ability to reroll wounds its your choice! If he were cheaper he would be a staple Eldar HQ choice.

Kharandras is the bomb simply because he has 8 powerfist attacks on the charge and infiltrates downside is no invulnerable save. Same problem as the other phoenix lords though he is too expensive.

Troops

Eldar have a great range of troops, 4 selections is very good indeed especially when you see what is on offer. I won’t rank these in order of utility because it depends largely on what type of army you are taking.

Dire Avengers

A very lethal squad indeed. Take squads of ten if possible since they are very cheap and you need as many shots as you can get. The Exarch should have dual catapults and the blade storm skill. This lets you unleash 34 shots (5 at bs5) to wipe out most targets in one go. I’m not really bothered about any of the defensive skills since if your opponents are all dead you don’t have to worry about being attacked back. They should ideally be given a wave serpent transport. This protects them from incoming fire since they are fairly venerable and extends the reach of the blades storm to 30+ inches. A unit of 5 avengers is the cheapest troops selection.

Rangers

Should always be upgraded to pathfinder if you have the points. Used correctly the can cause considerable difficulties for your opponent. Take small squads of 5 or 6 so you can take more squads of them or spend the points elsewhere a large unit does not really increase the power of the unit greatly. The main benefit is that they are nigh on impossible to shift when deployed in cove as they effectively gain terminator armour. Ideally they are best placed on the flanks or away from your main army. This forces you opponent to divert assault squads or massive amount of firepower away from your main army you deal with them. Can also be used to grab ground to deny it to enemy infiltrators. If the squad looks like it will be surrounded just pack up and fleet away, since pathfinders ignore difficult terrain you should be able to make good your escape. Tau struggle especially against pathfinders because they are pinned easily and most armies don’t take the equipment needed to flush them out. Rangers also have can also spring a nasty surprise on unwary players if it looks like a squad of say kroot is getting too close you can rapid fire shuriken pistols into their face using bs4. This does a great deal of damage to un-armoured troops.

Jetbike Squadron

a very cheap but also mobile selection.. If you just want to fill your compulsory requirement for troops 2 units of 3 bikes is only 132 points. Jetbike squadrons should always be small (3-4 models) because you have 6 troop slots available and more scoring units and heavy weapons is always better. Warlocks are not really recommended as they put the cost of the unit up quite a bit. You could give him a singing spear to hunt tanks but then the other jetbikes do nothing. Better to take an Autarch or Farseer on a jetbike to hunt tanks in this manner if you must do so.

Jetbikes are great if you want everything in your army to be highly mobile. Used in this manner they can clean up stragglers from that survive the fire from you grav tanks and shield your jetbike autarch.

Guardians

Guardians are the only troops choice I would not really take on a regular basis not because they are bad but because dire avengers are so good. Guardians are the Eldar army’s cheap cannon fodder. Don’t give them warlocks once again it is just better to take more models than expensive upgrades. I would shy away from anti-tank heavy weapons since they are expensive and guardians are bs 3. It also means that 9 guardians are not being used. It is better to give them a shurikan cannon if in a transport or a scatter laser if on foot since it has better range. This keeps the cost down which is the main reason to be using guardians. Eldar guardians are more expensive than many other armies horde units and quite vulnerable so I don’t expect a guardian spam would be terribly effective. I prefer guardian defenders since they can still assault after firing so can do more damage than storm guardians, which are very poor for an assault unit anyway.

Wave Serpent’s

Wave Serpents are a transport and a very good one at that. Not as tough as a falcon or prism since it can’t take holo fields. It’s shield is interesting… Quite fun against Tau where their s10 rail guns are reduced to s8 and their melta guns fizzle. Wave Serpents make good gun platforms since their weapon systems are twin linked. It’s really the only unit in the list where I might choose a bright lance armament, which are normally inaccurate. I prefer the missile launcher armament though. From a lot of experience I nearly always send the wave serpent up a flank and from there it needs a long range armament to shoot down the length of the table. Missile launchers are one of the few weapons that have a range longer than 36 inches. I’m also most often shooting at the flanks of vehicles so bright lances are unnecessary and expensive. If going for an anti personnel armament give the hull of the tank a shuriken cannon its cheap and adds quite a bit of fire power. The most common use for a wave serpent is to drop a unit with shuriken catapults right in front of the enemy. Delivering assault troops is risky since the wave serpent will probably not survive until the next turn to let the troops disembark and assault. As before always take spirit stones and if you are transporting a valuable unit have vectored engines as well.

[Tob]

Fast Attack

Well this section is the weakest in the codex it’s like the leftovers always get put in fast attack…. I will move on fairly quickly.

Warp Spiders

I can’t see why people like them they are just fairly poor. Twenty-two points a model is very expensive so they should really be taken in small squads of 6, which also helps them, take advantage of cover when they make their second jump. I would not waste warp spiders in hand to hand since they are s3 which won’t hurt much no matter how many attacks you have so don’t equip the exarch for hand to hand. You get my point though about warp spiders being when you can take a 40 point walker with 6 s6 shots which can shoot 24 or a vyper with the same. Both of these units are much easier to position and protect than warp spiders.

The main risk when using warp spiders is that you will roll badly for the second jump, and get charged in your opponents turn and wiped out. This would not be much of a problem if their guns had an 18 inch range instead of 12 but as it stands you take a large risk running warp spiders.

I believe it is far better to take a blade storming squad of avengers deployed from the back of a waveserpent using an adapted Tau’s fish of fury style move. They will perform their task more reliably (34 shots lol) with less risk due to their greater range at around the same cost (not counting the transport). The best way I can see of using warp spiders is to have a six strong squad with exarch + extra death spinner deep striking to hit vulnerable tanks and vehicles on your opponents flank.

Swooping Hawks also suck pretty bad it’s a 21 point model that can’t kill anything since they are armed with flash lights. Rubbish as a tank hunter since they can’t assault when they deep strike and very vulnerable to everything. Even repeatedly deep striking them for the grenades is not very good I would rather have more supporting troops on the battlefield

Vypers are like space marine land speeders but not as good. They are open topped, have bs 3 and have worse weaponry. I prefer the war walker and would only ever take vypers if I thought I didn’t have enough anti infantry capability elsewhere in the list. Never use this unit to tank hunt with a bright lance or missile launcher bs 3 makes it a poor and expensive tank hunter. Always give it a shurikan cannon on the hull and one on the turret as well to supplement anti – infantry firepower and keep costs down. You may be lucky enough to angle for a side armour shot on a tank.

Shining Spears

Very very expensive. It is far better in my opinion to take an autarch with a jet bike and laser lance instead of Shining spears since he can get as many attacks as 3 shining spears on the charge only at a better ws and I and you also gain the benefits of the master strategist rule. He is only 15 points more expensive than 3 shining spears as well. Shining Spears cannot fire both their laser lance and catapults before they charge which is a bit of a waste. After the charge they become useless so that means spending more points on an Exarch to give them withdraw. Overall not that great a unit.

There we go more to follow soon!

[Laughingmonk]

I believe it is far better to take a blade storming squad of avengers deployed from the back of a waveserpent using an adapted Tau’s fish of fury style move. They will perform their task more reliably (34 shots lol) with less risk due to their greater range at around the same cost (not counting the transport). The best way I can see of using warp spiders is to have a six strong squad with exarch + extra death spinner deep striking to hit vulnerable tanks and vehicles on your opponents flank.

I disagree with this statement.

Warp spiders do not require a transport. Yes, they pay for their jump generators, but Wave serpents are really easy to destroy (Usually meaning an enangled Dire avenger squad trying to scrabble out of it's one access point). Plus, when dire avengers do Serpent of fury, they are really really vulnerable to blast weapons, especially ordnance ones, of which there are more than a few in this game. Even a couple of frag missiles will hurt the avengers.

Warp spiders also have s6 guns, which means they are actually very good at destroying vehicles.

I'm not saying the rest of the tactica is bad (I think it's pretty useful for new players), but I think it's fair for new players of eldar to know how much of an issue to have only one access point on your vehicles, and how it can get entire units wiped out (especially on the fragile eldar infantry) if you're not careful. A new player may rejoice at seeing the effectiveness of a serpent of fury when he wipes out a squad of fire warriors, but then weep when is DA are almost wiped by a single railun submunitiion.

That being said: Good tactica. This should really help some players discern what and what not to buy when they're first starting out. I may disagree on some of the things that you say, but then again, different strokes as they say. Every player has his preference of eldar units I guess.

[oglethorp]

i'm reading through your tactica and i agree 100% with your statements about faclons and fireprisms, and taking their upgrades. however, i've found shuri cannon on the fireprism is a good buy. after about 2-3 turns if you've done your job most of thier anti-tank is dead you can move the fireprism closer and get 3 more S6 shots off.

but after getting through to the troops section of this tactica i was astoundingly disappointed. both in the rankings you put units in and the description of usefullness you have provided.

i think you are right on for a particular style of play (yours) but overall miss the point of much of the changes in units from the last codex to this one. greatly undervaluing many of the units.

[fwacho]

Good read, great for newbies. I'm a swooping hawks guy. my wfire convinced me to buy some back in thrid , and I've used them ever since.

Swooping hawks have no business deepstriking. This puts you in nice little formation for template weapons to mop you up. (I never buy sky leap unless I have leftover points.) Intercept is handy though particularly against walkers of various kinds.

Swooping hawks should fight fairly spread out (linish) and pick on the enemy from from a distance. their good BS makes their medium range flashlights deadly to anything not MEQ, and is about as good as you can get when flushing MEQ's out of cover. It forces lots of saves. just keep them back and control their LOS.

If a dreadnought wanders close Swooping Hawks have a jumppack plus fleet of foot. You can get their points back very quickly pouncing on a careless enemy vehicle. you can even use them to bail out other troops being assaulted by walkers. Once you've done this to an enemy you'd be surprised how much attention they get from your opponent in later games. Haywire gernades are about the snazziest anti-tank weapon there is short of a wraith cannon.

Wraith gaurd are useful in small teams. use a warlock with witchblade and conceal to team with them. this way they don't need cover. and are relatively cheap. basic troops have a hard time dealing with them. and only being a size 4 ( 3 WG+WL) unit they are fialrly easy to manuever. they don't have to be baby sat. that's simply a risk you can choose to take. Personally I find the warlock with withc blade a nice complimetn as they can now assault a tank they just fired on. (lets face it even the best guns sometimes fail) They are best used in smaller games. larger games ther get to be too many high str weapons for them to last as long.

I like WraithLords. extra BS make thes Eldar missle launcher useful and paired with a shurikan cannon and flamer gives him a nice anti-personel bent. The Eldar missle Launcher is my favorite weapon as I cna handle all comer with it. It ignores Fire warrior armor, causes pinning, and smashes light-medium vehicles in a pinch. The wraith lord is the most accurate mobile platform avialable. Paired with squads of Pathfinders he can protect them form assaulters and contribute to their fire power. He'll also so soak up some hits as the the enemy is more likely to taget him instead of the pathfinders (who actually causing most of the damage).

One note about the wraith lord. don't plop one out there all by himself. If he is the same line of sight as wave serpent or wawalker, it will give the enemy a very difficult choice (you want them to shoot the wraith lord). Quite honestly, getting him in some 4+ cover with a good LOS will protect a lot of your units. and if they ignore him, He'll contribute a fair amount of damage. 2-3 turns of shooting is about as much as ne needs to get points back unless you snipe a tank.

[The_Dragon_Rising]

Overall a sound tactica, i don't agree with some points but then thats expected. One thing i will say however is that some things you say don't fit with others. Avatar as top HQ but you point out the list must be manueverable, etc and your argument against some things was 6" move. Personally i use an Avatar but always with a farseer. A farseer can be very useful when teamed with things, ( i use WL with EML/BL[guided], and Avatar [fortuned]) and though hes not that good in combat with 3 str9 attacks against vehicles with wichblade i have killed many vehicles.

[Altashheth]

I commendend you for the time and effort that you have put into this tactica and whilst I realise that these are your opinions I think you have misjudged several units.

First somethings that I agree with.

-Falcon is an excellent vehicle and I would rank it higher than the prism

-The autarch is very expensive for what you get - IMHO you are better off buying the equivalent in which ever aspect you are using him as especially spears, additionally very litte of the aspect equipment actually support each other.

-Fire dragons are awsome

-as are dire avengers

The eldar are a very versatile army with several successful builds possible. I dont think that there is a bad unit (bar the autarch) in the list, all have their nich.

Where i disagree with you its probably because of the gaming styles that we prefer. You seem to appreciate highly mobile, firepower packed armies with units that can stand alone. I also like to have a degree of mobility but I like to have an army where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

HQ - The farseer is an awsome support unit,I never leave home without one. Doom is so useful and greatly enhances some of the lower strength options - hawks, banshees, guardians, scorps, etc

As far as Yriel and eldrad are concerned alot of players dislike using named characters especially if the backstory for the character doesnt support their army fluff. IMHO there are two types of army with named characters in 1) the highly fluffy 2) the winning for winnings sake lists. Yes the characters are powerful and often with abbilities that you dont get else where, but they are often expensive. You can get a lot of support from a 150 odd point faseer, do you really need eldrad for 60 odd points more?

Ellite - There is nothing bad in this section and all have their utility. I love my dragons and banshees, I like my scorps as well. Wraithguard are a solid choice in the correct army. Wraithguard are a squad of high tougness, decent save unit in an army of fragiles with a gun that can kill anything.

As far as the banshee/scorp debate goes for me it all depends. The scorps are the more stand alone, they can operate without support due to their save and number of decent str attacks, saying that they do rely on their exarch to help them out. Banshees are the never on their own unit, they dont really need their exach, they move faster (fleet) making that assault from a serpent all the more likely, they always strike at ini10. When combined with a squad that has been Doomed they are a nasty little team.

Troops - Again everything here has its place, avengers are my favourite by far now, I recomend squads of either 10 (maximum exarch impact) or 6 (slim line objective grabber). Guardians take a lot of stick but they are a nice unit, very cost effective with a mobile hvy weapon that can hang around, probably the best place to put a brightlance.

Fast attack - Now I know you like your hvy support butsome of the best units are in the FA slot. Hawks are awsome, even with their 'flashlights' their mobility combined with number of shots makes them a decent ranged threat. Their ability to take out hard tanks is also not to be sniffed at, with 12"+d6"+6" and always hitting on 4+ they can easily get a charge on some of the more troublesome tanks in the game (monolith, skimmers).

Spiders are another decent unit and with your MO I'm supprised you dont like them. Mobile, decent str, good save, exarch that multi-roles the unit. Thats why they are 20+points. I dont really know why anyone deepstrikes them though.

Vipers, yep eldar landspeeders but with options, my 2 fav builds are the duel shuriken cannon - this is marginly more expensive than the warwalker, it moves faster, can only be glanced, can make a last turn 24" objective grab and cant be pinned in combat. The other build is the missile launcher, decent range and can sit right back throwing a missile every other turn, best used in pairs but often suviving the whole game.

Shining spears are expensive but on the charge are nasty and if combined with other units they can hit and run and suvive most of the game.

hvy support - Once again no real losers here. As far as reapers go if you can appreciate the area denial of the D-cannon then surey you appreciate the 4x greater area denial that the reapers offer? Also the ability to start on the table in escalation is another winner.

Warwalkers are excellent. I run the duel missile loadout so that I can mitigate its vunerability with range, bolters are 24" range so I want my walkers further away than this - hvy bolter are 36" so if I'm further than that I survive even longer. Put it this way if my opponent only has a couple of lascannons and a missile launcher and has a choce between my walker and falcon the walker will probably survive to fire again. If I ran the 24" shuriken cannon loadout then my opponent can focus his lascannon/missiles at the falcon whilst his bolters take out my walker :-( (starting on the table in escalation is also good)

Support weapons are not just a low point game alternative, especially the vibros. The more stuff that is on the board the better they perform especially against those armoured spearheads that some people like to perform - rhino walls etc

I realise that there is alot that I have disagreed with you on and that doesnt take anything away from your opinions, I think a lot of the units that you dislike are just down to experience and army style.

My current build looks like this:

- farseer, stones, doom, storm
- 6 dragons inc exarch with dragons breath
- 10 banshees inc exarch with exicutioner and warshout, serpent with TL shuriken cannons and underslung cannon, stones and vectored.
- 10 avengers, exarch with diresword, bladestorm and defend
- 6 avengers, exarch with dual cats
- 3 jetbikes with cannon
- 5 hawks with exarch, talon and intercept
- viper with duel shriken cannons
- falcon with duel shuriken cannons, stones, field and vectored
- walker with duel missiles
- 4 reapers

Its had a lot of success against marines, necrons and nids whilst stuggling against orks and tau.

[elvinltl]

Nice Tatica about Pathfinders. I didn't realised they were BS4 since i use them as sniper which hits on 2+ all the time. The interesting thing is the Rapid firing of 10 S4 3+ to hit making them potentially nasty against anything not expective of them.

Perhaps you underestimated WarpSpiders. No doubt they are S3, T3 units, they have 3+ Amour Saves making them as arguably as tough as MEQ. Of course this does not give them the excuse to go about absorbing firepower, leave that to the Falcons or Pathfinders instead.

I field 2 seperate squad of 5 WarpSpiders, one even with an Autarch attached. Till date they had not dissapointed me...
I just love the spinneret rifle at 2+ to hit 2+ to wound AP1 against T4 3+ Saves standard MEQ units. At that rate, you are bound to kill 1 forcing them to take a pinning test. I run 2 squads of 5 both with Exarch with Spinneret rifle and taking 2 pinning test greatly increases the chance of pinning them. Not forgetting the pinning shots of 36" Pathfinders supporting.

Their mobility makes it easy for 2 squads to gank lone squads and inflicting massive amount of damage. Pinning gives a chance they get to use the Warping offensively to get into more advantageous positions instead of just falling back to avoid CloseCombat.

Another underated tatic is to attach an Autarch with the WarpJump pack to one of the 5 WS squad. It potentially increases the WS capability with an additional Fusion gun shot. The thing i like about this tatic is that opponents seldom pay any attention to them simply because they are just a puny squad of 6 units only to realised to his horror when they get within 12" and starts releasing all the shots.
Against MEQ it's two 2+ hit 2+ wound ignore amour saves shots, one from autarch and other from exarch, guarenteed 2 dead MEQ. Then you proceed to shooting another 8 S6 shots at 3+ to hit 2+ to wound and shriuken catapult 2+ to hit 4+ to wound.
Then the Exarch and Autarch shall charge unleasing 10 Power Attacks (Mini-Banshee squad) which could effectively kill another 2 MEQ. Considering their awesome firepower, we cannot expect much in CC from WS anymore.
Then you use Hit and Run rule to pull them out of combat...

I agree with you they are not excellent in any areas but does generally well in ALL areas and this Jack of All Trades characteristic makes them good. Their versality and mobility makes them good.

[Arbiter7]

A good competitive guide.

But, like you said, *competitive*.

All your choices seem to be based on maxing out on hard-hitting mobile troops.

In a tournament, that is fine, and expected of you.


The moment I knew I wouldn't like this guide is when I saw your HQ ratings.


The guide is very good for a player who only cares about winning, or enjoys himself only with winning the game.


There are others, who just love theming, or just enjoy watching their warp spiders phasing in and out, even if they suck at CC.

Don't get me wrong, its a good guide, but not one for me, since I'm not into tourneys.

[Ragewind]

Just so ya know, the Farseers and Warlocks S3 doesn't matter since a witchblade (what they are most commonly equipped with) wound on a 2+, with a WS of 4+ they hit often and all that's left is the enemy's armor save.

[Grazzy]

The tactica covers most stuff. Tod, most people take autarchs for the reserve roll - in escaltaion it means that turn 3 onwards reserves (anything mounted) comes in on a 2+.

[Tob]

Thanks for the response I'm not sure how many people I have convinced though!

I think most of the unit's in the Eldar codex are good but then you come across others which are better. I like to concentrate on the 'best' (subjective but hey) units.

Laughing Monk: I agree that +4 save aspect warriors are very vulnerable. Without a transport they are much more vulnerable. A Wave serpent will usually keep a squad of avengers safe behind terrain until they are needed only exposing them to enemy fire at the point your opponent is least able to respond (after you have unleashed hell with your army). On foot they would be exposed to enemy fire for longer and incorrect placement of the unit can be more costly. since you can choose the time and place your avengers deploy from a transport you can pick a place where they will not get submunitioned. If a pounce move is pulled off well there is not usually much left of the enemy army to respond anyway. If you disembark a unit of avengers where they get submunitioned you probably deserve to lose.

Warp spiders do not sit well with my play style at all. They are the opposite of dealing one short sharp blow to the enemy. Warp spiders hover around close the the enemy army and chip away at them over time giving your opponent plenty of time to deal with them. Since they jump shoot jump for many turns and the second jump is variable they are are quite often left open to a charge. I think I mention theat they are ok against light vehicles but so many thins in the Eldar list have s6 or better there is nearly always a better alternative.

Oglethorp: You are right in that Fire Prism's can make use of a shuriken cannon usually later on in the game. It's a 10 point upgrade why not? I will edit the tactica.

fwacho: I think I disagree about swooping hawks they can easily be killed by a stray inferno cannon or heavy bolter (damn you Infernus!). Fire Dragons safely in their Flacon are nigh on invulnerable until they deploy. Fire dragons are much cheap give you a much better chance of killing a vehicle target (it's 5 melta guns c'mon!). Because of their price I don't really want to get inot any fire fights with hawks they are too expensive and too vulnerable.

I think 3 wraith lords in a fairly small game would be quite powerful.

Wraith guard I will never like. I just don't see the point of having a small slow and short ranged unit. Yes they are tough but your opponent has to be daft to go near them they are easily avoided. Once again fire dragons are better in most roles.

The_Dragon_Rising: I agree that the avatar is quite slow and he does not really fit in with the rest of my army. It's made up for by his sheer power and low points cost he is silly. Farseers? I don't like them they always die to perils of the warp when I use them. I would rather have another squad. Avatar's are tough enough really most the time but I guess you could use him as some sort of battering ram with fortune cast on him.

Altashheth: Nice post. It's as you say most eldar unit's have their place and just about all the unit's are good. It's Just that against all comers other unit's are better.

Struglling with Tau? I can understand that they are the Eldar's are rivals for the position of most powerful army in 40k. If anyone has played many games against the Tau I would be interested to hear about them. Ork's though what's he using? Eldar should not struggle against Orks. Games against orks are usually chronicled as crushing massacres in favour of the Eldar. The only problem is killing them fast enough! are you happy with your army build do you want advise on it?

Elvinltl: I don't like jack of all trades units in an eldar list (apart from falcons which excel in all areas) I believe in using units that can be rapidly deployed for massive damage. Each unit has a specific purpose which usually involes killing large numbers of the enemy very rapidly to minimise enemy return fire. I don't like the look of the warp spider hand to hand combat unit with the autarch, 2 MEQ kills on the charge is not great at all.

I don't think the damage they deal out would be all that massive. I like to leave pinning to the Pathfinders and EML's. Another Eldar good but not great unit.

Arbiter7: Fair enough but whats wrong with my HQ ratings?

Ragewind: A squad of warlocks would take forever to get anywhere in combat against marines espcially with the small number of models you will have in a unit. Other units can inflict more damage faster. A farseer and warlock bodyguard would get beaten down in the end.


Thanks again for the reply! I respect everyones viewpoint even if I disagree so please don't take anything personnally. Oh ad lets hear about those victories against the Tau!

[Altashheth]

Altashheth: Nice post. It's as you say most eldar unit's have their place and just about all the unit's are good. It's Just that against all comers other unit's are better.

Struglling with Tau? I can understand that they are the Eldar's are rivals for the position of most powerful army in 40k. If anyone has played many games against the Tau I would be interested to hear about them. Ork's though what's he using? Eldar should not struggle against Orks. Games against orks are usually chronicled as crushing massacres in favour of the Eldar. The only problem is killing them fast enough! are you happy with your army build do you want advise on it?

I complete agreement, the eldar have a unit for every situation, they seem to suit alot of play styles.

My list is supose to be an all comers list. Against the tau the game usual starts of in my favour then once all the firewarriors/kroot/tanks are dead those darn jsj suits just never die...The games are often close.

Against Orks.....I think this is more my problem I always seem to struggle against orks. My friend has played orks for a very long time and has a 3 large mob supported by kans and dreds foot marching army supported by truck squads. Off of the top of my head he has:

tooled boss
mek with KFF
Large shoota mob with 4 hvy shootas
large slugga mob with 4 rockets
large hard boys mob with 3 rockets
tank busta mob with 4 rockets
3 trucks with hvy shootas, 1 flamer
3 trucks with rockets, 1 flamer
truck with bolt on
2 dreds with hvy shootas
3 kans with hvy shoots

its something like that...the eldar just never seem to kill enough and with all those big shootas anything on the ground within los tends to vapourise the turn it shows its head. i seem to spend a turn or two trying to kill the fast vehicles followed by a turn or two wittling down squads.

I'm fairly happy with my list but willing to listen to any advice going, i can't promise to change anything because I like some of my models too much but I'm willing to learn.

[Altashheth]

About those warpspiders.

The turn they hit they can do massive damage.

Take a squad of 10 inc exarch and autach (high points expenditure)

thats what 18 str 6 bs4 shots, 4 str 6 bs 5 shot and a str 8 bs 5 shot followed by 10 str 3 power weapon attacks and 18 str 3 basic attacks at decent ini all wrapped in a 3+ save suit.

Thy have the mobility to move in utilising terrain and the speed to get the drop.

If units of 10 are not to your taste take two units of 5 (or 6, my prefered number)

12 spiders inc 2 exarchs swap the fusion shot for 4 more str 6 shots.

26 str 6, followed by 18 str 3 and 10 str 3 power weapons.

thats an average of 6 meqs dead - a typical las/plas squad :-)

[Tob]

I would say to ignore the foot mobs and concentrate entirely on the vehicles especially the fast ones. Hide most of your force behind cover so he can't shoot you and jump out and hit him with everything when he gets close. If you think you can't stop him run away and keep chipping away at him.

How much does he beat you by? are the games close or are they massacres?

Concentrate your army's fire on one target until it is removed or stunned and move on the next target. Ork's take around 4 turns to get across the table so don't worry to much about being charged. Just kill his vehicles and keep all your guys behind area terrain so they can't be shot. when you do reveal your forces do so all at once not a bit at a time which lets him pick off your units.


Ok list changes against orks:

First off Howling banshees are anti- MEQ troops they have power weapons which are wasted on orks and low strength which can't hurt them very well. Scorpions are the close combat horde killers they have more attacks and a higher strength.

Again reapers are an anti-MEQ unit against orks each reaper needs to kill around 4 orks to make their points back. Drop them and take something mobile with shuriken cannons or scatter lasers.

Hawks should do well against ork just keep deep striking them for the grenades which should do a fair amount of damage to orks.

Avengers are good in a transport they would be better.

The farseer should be dropped in favour of another HQ. Something better at hand to hand such as an Avatar, Yriel or Maugan Ra, anything thats not a farseer. If you want to keep him give him guide and fortune they should help you more.

You are a bit short on heavy weapons you need to take more.

Do you see what I mean that Eldar suffer without their tanks? Their infantry is very vulnerable to being wiped out by long range fire power. Sorry I can't be much more help your opponent's list is good (for orks). Just experiment with diffrent combinations of units until you are happy with them.

[elvinltl]

The beauty of Warpspiders is that they do not produce awesome effects like other aspects such as DireAvengers with the BladeStorm or HowlingBanshees when they charge a squad at full Strength but rather on a collective ffort through BOTH shooting and assaulting. If you do the MathHammer you realise they yield roughly the same results as other Aspects...
This also includes the fact they need no Transport unlike other aspects and have 3+ amour saves making them more durable. At 22 points per model, do the Maths and you will realise they equal out.

What is more advantageous about 2x5 WS squad is that they offer more mobility then just 1 WaveSerpent full of DireAvengers/Banshees. With 2 squads warping about, you lower the risk of losing the entire portion of points and they provide good distraction, Just imagine facing 1 WaveSerpent and 2x5 WS squad, the latter will definately be harder to guard against especially when they are jump infantry...

WarpSpiders are more abstract and harder to use... In return, they are also harder to guard against because of their Jack of all Trades characteristic. I mean if i see a Falcon loaded with FireDragons, i immediately know it will be going Tank Busting and MEQ hunting and this allows me to guard my Percious WraithGuards against them. Similiarly, i see DireAvengers and Guard my GEQ and Banshees i Guard my MEQ. WS have no definate role, despite the fact they are less potent against all, they are still effective making them valuable.

Example
Who would expect a WS squad to take down a Land Raider? Well mine did with an Autarch attached... 12" movement and Fusion Gun makes it easy for Autarch to enter Melta Range of the LR and at 2+ to hit and S8+2D6, i was VERY confident it will bust the LR. It did!!! You see you need no specially field 6 FD in a Falcon to go Tank busting...

[Arbiter7]

Tod it's just that I stand against using special characters.

I find them unbalanced, and strategically unfair. I'm not a big fan of hero-hammer or that great big uberkilly thingy that does all the work and prefer utilising the units to do all the work. That's why I'm a farseer fan, apart from the fluff, they augment the army's innate capabilities.

The Autarch on a jetbike looks like a no-brainer (I've found myself considering one), but still, a firework.


Anyway, its a good guide, but its better suited for tournaments. In friendlies, I prefer when the aspect of the game that includes people making choices because they enjoy them, is lit. A tournament player's favourite opponent

[Tob]

Arbiter7: I see what you mean about hero hammer I would prefer to have tanks and troops not invincible hero's. I also play Blood Angels and I'm a little annoyed the army has to be propped up to a great extent by Mephiston. Anyway back to Eldar I think the Avatar is ok to take in most games. It's just when you start seeing Yriel and Eldrad in a Biel-Tan army that things get silly (they are on holiday!).

all the heros and monsters got cut right back in 3rd ed but they are slowly creeping back in undermining the game...

[bigred]

Count me in for disagreeing with the OP on Spiders. They are one of the Eldar's best units.

Spiders represent one of the very few units in the codex that are: Fast moving, Tough (3+ sv), and hard hitting (S:6).

I always take them in full size units with an Exarch using a double spinner and Hit and Run. The lack of AP on their weapons is meaningless, as the unit is spitting out 24 BS:4 S:6 shots per turn. They are one of the game's most reliable generators of Torrent of Fire rolls, and often snipe out enemy PF sergs, or key heavy weapon troopers. They are fast enough to get side/rear shots on vehicles, and the glances only rules doesn't help most vehicles who end up taking 4-6 rolls on the glancing table. They may not be destroyed, they they are combat ineffective after that. Finally, the spiders can follow it up with double jumps back to a safe location.

Whats not to like?