# Best Eldar Close combat



## Kyban (Mar 24, 2009)

What's the best way to counter close combat units in your opinions?


----------



## Caratacos (Aug 26, 2008)

It really depends on what you are facing, and what else you have got.

If you face MEQ then Howling Banshees would be your choice. Especially if backed up by a Farseer who can cast Doom upon the enemy.

If you face GEQ then Striking Scorpions are a better choice. This because of their extra attack and extra Strength. They also have better armour than the Banshees, and thus will have a better survivability than then Banshees against large units.

I haven't used the Harlequins much lately, but they are probably good against large units with low armour and Toughness. Since they have Furious Charge they can put in quite a punch in the first round of the assault - that is if they are charging.

The Shining Spears are awesome in the first trun when they charge. And they can really make life a bit harder for a space marine player. Five Spears including an exarch will give you a lot of Strength 6 and 8 power weapon attacks on the charge. 

Warlocks always wound on 2+. They can score many wounds on all opponents, but the problem is if the opponent pack a good armour save.

---

I usually try to have the opponent charge into a Dire Avenger Squad led by an Exarch with Defend and Shimmershield. Then I counter with either Striking Scorpions or Banshees (depending on what army I am facing). So far that strategy has been successful.


----------



## aegius (Mar 24, 2009)

I agree with everything that caratacos says. I will add one note on harlequins though. If your opponent is running a nidzilla list and gets into combat with you, these are the guys you want to be sending in to save the rest of your force from getting eaten alive. Rending is the only thing that is going to save you here. If you cast it in conjuction with doom, then you can reroll ANY 'to wound' roll even if you roll 5's. If you don't want to use doom on MCs, then you may as well just use warlocks who wound on a 2+, but still give that 'orrible creature its 3+ or 2+ armour save.

Two other units that were not mentioned are Wraithlords and the avatar (I won't go into details on special characters, as I have no experience using them.)

Wraithlords: Armed with a wraithsword, these things are awesome, they are immune to anything that is S4 or lower, so if a marine squad doesn't have a powerfist(which costs a quarter of what your wraithlord costs, for the fist alone.) then you can just beat on marines all day long. I add scatter lasers to my CC wraithlords as, they can't always be in combat.
One thing to note about CC wraithlords is, never use them on their own. If you do, they will attract every heavy weapon in your opponents army. If you field 2 or even 3 of them, possibly alongside the Avatar, then your opponent won't know what to shoot at.

Avatar: don't field him alone, field him with either wraithlords or a horde of guardians. He pretty much eats whatever he goes into combat with. If it is something that he can't handle on his own, then you will be thankful that he has 2 - 3 wraithlords with him. 

This is by no means an exhaustive list of Eldar CC ability, but it does give you a lot to work with.


----------



## Steel Nathan (Apr 26, 2008)

I agree with everything that's been said here so far. Although, I do disagree with the Avatar bit however.



aegius said:


> Avatar: don't field him alone, field him with either wraithlords or a horde of guardians. He pretty much eats whatever he goes into combat with. If it is something that he can't handle on his own, then you will be thankful that he has 2 - 3 wraithlords with him.


I can see your point, but I don't think it's neccessary to waste a load of points for some crap Guardians, or Wraithlords that has better things to do then follow the avatar. 

An Avatar, I find, really works well with a Farseer and Fortune. The Farseer would slap that one the Avatar each turn, and the Avatar would be just fine to survive the majoirity of the shooting. I do see how Wraithlords can be a good support unit for the Avatar, but I personally never use the WL for combat purposes. I always stick a Bright Lance/EML on it and fire the hell out of any vehicle that pops up near it. I don't find Guardians that useful either. All they need is to get shot a few times and they're gone screaming. If you're going with offensive support, use the Wraithlords. But if you only have a little amount of points to spare, then get a Farseer with Fortune. That little bastard can get REAL annoying at times. :wink:


----------



## Crimson_Chin (Feb 20, 2009)

Guardians are not crap for their points cost. If you get two decent sized guardian squads moving up with the avatar, they are now fearless. Instant fearless shield for whatever is behind them (eldar transports = expensive).


----------



## Steel Nathan (Apr 26, 2008)

Crimson_Chin said:


> Guardians are not crap for their points cost. If you get two decent sized guardian squads moving up with the avatar, they are now fearless.


Oops, I forgot about that bit of detail. But they're still worthless. I'm guessing that a 'decent' unit of Guardians would cost approx. 150pts? (Including the gun, around 10-15 members, and a warlock). Well if you have two of them, then that would be 300 pts. Now the question is, would you have 2 of your troops go with the avatar, only to get their asses kicked by a couple of big guns? If I wanted to spend 300 pts on Troops, I'd do it so that I use them wisely, and not just a couple of suicide/defensive units for the Avatar. He's a strong bastard, he can handle half the stuff.


----------



## aegius (Mar 24, 2009)

If you read any of the tacticas for dealing with eldar. They are focussed on dealing with an avatar or 1 - 2 wraithlords. No-one seems to know how to deal with an Avatar and 2 - 3 wraithlords. Anything that can deal with this unit dies to a full unit of firedragons and/or wraithguard(which you have as a reserve unit in waveserpents.). I fail to see how buying a fearless unit of guardians just for the warlock is a waste of points. You could always get a unit of warlocks instead, but I feel that this really would be a waste of points.

Eldar really are an army that is greater than its sum of parts. If I suggested using this many units together in a marine army, I'd be laughed right out of town. But when writing an Eldar army, you chose a unit and you build an army around it. This is what wins you games.


----------

