# Calling all Eldar players what is THE Eldar troop choice?



## tigurius666 (Aug 11, 2008)

Ok guys Im new to the Eldar race and was looking for what YOU the players here at Heresy believe to be the best Troops choice for an Eldar force, including squad leaders upgrades etc. aswell as why they are the best troops choice.

So without further adu let the posting commence.
To victory :victory:


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## officer kerky (Jun 12, 2008)

well 

i find that guardians are a good start.

im not an eldar player just an eldar alliance or eldar killer


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## Cheeseball317 (Jun 11, 2008)

*my troop choices*

1st as an eldar player, i love small squads of jetbikes w/ 1 or 2 shuri cans. they are so fast they can have a 3+ cs. they are tougher. move in the assault phase(read it in the black book) 

I also like the good old Dire Avenger, cheapest "aspect" type warrior. and with an exarch leading them helps.

personal dream of mine, 10 wraith guard!!! counts as a troop choice if lead by a spirit sear. ... oh here comes the rain... gets pretty expensive.


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## Dugong (Apr 13, 2008)

I think most eldar players will agree that the single most common troop choice is a squad of 10 Dire avengers with an exarch, 2 catapults and bladestorm. most eldar armies have at least one of these and often more, but the exarch can have different gear, like shimmershield and defend.

Other popular troop choices is 5 parthfinders, they claim objectives and are a pain to get rid of. 

Guardians take third in common choice, they are very cheep and are usually given a scatter laser and a warlock with conceal. this way they sit at the home objective, shoot with the heavy weapon and enjoy a 5+ cover save.

Jetbikes and wraithguard are not common troop choices and are only really taken if you take a ton of jetbikes or you like a big points sink respectively.


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## tigurius666 (Aug 11, 2008)

so in terms of earning their points back are dire avengers the ones to get?


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## marxalvia (Oct 6, 2008)

full squad of Dire avengers w/ exarch w/ twin shuriken catapults, bladestorm, and a farseer w/ doom, guide, runes of witnessing , spirit stones will more than make up their points in battle.


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## Sieg (Dec 3, 2007)

5-8 man pathfinder squads are the way to go. They can murder any foot slogger, including a MC, with out any problems and are tough stuff. More then once i have run them out into open ground on the last turn to grab an objective, my opponent laughed as he fired at them to get rid of them, they all stop laughing when u drop to ground for a 4+ cover save in the middle of open ground


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

My favorite Eldar Troop choice is a unit of 5-6 Pathfinders hunkering down in some cover to receive a 2+ cover save and shooting at heavily armored infantry, using their crazy rules and the usual Rending rule to take them down one or two at a time.

Unfortunately though, I don't think they'll ever kill units in one go. For pure damage output, I'm more into a unit of Dire Avengers with an Exarch with either double catapults or a power weapon and shimmershield. These guys are especially deadly if they're mounted in a Wave Serpent with minimal upgrades.


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

The best all round troop choice has to be Dire Avengers with exarch, double catapults and bladestorm. As good as pathfinders are, they can't really compete with the sheer killiness of DAs on a roll.


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## Deneris (Jul 23, 2008)

My Eldar player swears by his 15 (I Think- I never count the bodies, afterwards :wink man Guardian Squads led by a Warlock with _Conceal_. He varies the supoort weapon loadout, but usually takes the Rocket Launcher for the choice in projectiles.

In larger games, he DOES field a 10-man Wraithguard squad with Spirit Seers. THOSE are truly hard to shift off an objective...


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

tigurius666 said:


> what is THE Eldar troop choice?


Wrong question.

Eldar have different units for different jobs. Forget what FOC slot they come from for now because it isn't particularly relevent. You need to be able to kill X, Y and Z. You need to be able to capture objectives. You don't want to give away too many KPs. You need a legal list within the points limit.

No troops unit is best. If one is, GW have failed in their job designing the codex. You have to pick an *army*, not pick a good unit and spam it.


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## Dr.Mercury (Aug 2, 2008)

I agree with Someguy.
The Eldar are about synergy, so some troops are must haves, when included with other FOC choices, and others are not.

That being said, I love the 10 man DA with exarch with bladestorm, but I usually give him defend and shimmershield.
Since they are troops, and need to hold objectives, I feel the shimmershield and defend are important for hanging on to late game objectives.
Nothing is worse than ketting wiped in combat, or running from a bad combat resolution at the end of the game, and leaving an objective uncontested for your opponent.
Also after you bladestorm, being able to hold your own in a melee is always a plus.

But I also like a 10 man guardian squad with a scatterlaser and an embolden spiritseer with a singing spear.
It helps out with the wraithlord, and can sit on an objective and take some serious shooting casualties without running away. 

Your mileage may vary


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## pinned (Dec 7, 2008)

With eldar it matters because for eldar to be successful most units need to work together to take out the enemy so certain troop choices fit the type of army you are playing.

DA in a wave serpant are the most common. Guardians work good in big groups of 15- 20 with a warlock and a avatar nearby.

i personally dont realy like pathfinders because they usualy get flamed (flamers dont allow cover saves) and getting them to an objective is wasting their shooting time.
BUT the models are awesome. 

So basically if your making a foot slogging army go for guardians and other foot slogers to help them to survive and mabe some pathfinders to pick off some troops or whatever is best to shoot at.

Dire avengers in a wave serpent and jet bikes would be a good choice for a fast eldar army.


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## Sleedon (Jan 22, 2008)

I disagree with pinned on the pathfinder point. They are very useful. Not to mention the fact that pathfinders are great snipers they are also almost impossible to kill when they are in deep cover and if u keep a fast moving squad nearby u eliminate the flamer problem.

As for DA. I love em. They out gun Tau fire warriors when they are in range, That is why u put em in a wave serpent or u dont have to. your choice. Either way i always go for double shurikan catapults.


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Someguy said:


> Wrong question.
> 
> Eldar have different units for different jobs. Forget what FOC slot they come from for now because it isn't particularly relevent. You need to be able to kill X, Y and Z. You need to be able to capture objectives. You don't want to give away too many KPs. You need a legal list within the points limit.
> 
> No troops unit is best. If one is, GW have failed in their job designing the codex. You have to pick an *army*, not pick a good unit and spam it.


This is the case with any army though, if you spam tactical squads you can bet you will get an ass whooping, same as if you spam one Eldar unit. That isn't how I see the question though.

Out of the various troop choices which is the most useful, the most effective in a range of circumstances? Most people would argue DA, no matter what else you pick you can't go wrong with at least one unit of DA. To me that makes them THE troop choice, not because you can win by DA spam, but because they are perhaps the most versatile troop choice.


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## Johnny Genocide (Mar 4, 2008)

Personally i prefer using 10 man units of avengers with an exarch equipped with a shimmershield, bladestorm and defend in a Serpent. Along with a squad of around 6-8 pathfinders keeping my target unit pinned until the avengers get there.

Another one could be the same avenger unit as above with a Doomseer along with a full unit of banshees in serpent. Just doom the target unit and then bladestorm it, if that doesn't take them down let the banshees loose.


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## wilsonjc82 (Aug 5, 2008)

My personal choice ( depends on the pts) is to have pathfinders, dire avengers and Dark reapers ( I love thosguys)

avengers I think are 24"
path finders are 36 "
Reapers 48" 
( Am I allowed to post that?)

Gives many possiblities!

John


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## Exodus (Nov 12, 2008)

i run all 4 types depending on oponent and points limit
ive an all gardian/ walkers/ gravtank 1500pts army (using 10 and 20 man squads of gardians and pathfinders as troops)
all mounted / jetbike Sam Hann type 1500pts army (using jetbike squads)
and all aspect 1500pts armys (using 10 and 6 man squads of dire avengers as troops)
and mix and match for different games in my opion there is no best troop choise just more sutable conditions and oponents play a few styles and you will find the style that sutes you (my favrout being jetbikes and pathfinders)


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## Broken (Dec 7, 2008)

I find Eldar Jetbikes can be a great unit and in the latest Codex they're a Troops choice, which is brilliant in my opinion. They have the ability to move 24" in one turn, although this would mean sacrificing the chance to shoot, but considering they have short ranged weaponry this probably won't prove to be a problem.

Also, their Twin-Linked Shuriken Catapults are a serious threat to any lightly armoured infantry, especially as they can unleash twenty-four AP5 shots, which is obviously going to cause some damage. On top of that, they can always take at least one Shuriken Cannon, which has twice the range, a higher strength and one more shot that the Catapult, and it's still an Assault weapon. Taking a couple of these in a six-man unit really adds to their shooting ability, against tough infantry and any vehicles with an armour value of twelve or less.

Jetbikes are also fairly survivable as they have the ability to get out of harm's way, and an increased toughness and armour save. This is really helpful as most Eldar units are generally quite fragile but these are slightly unique which allows for more risks to be taken.

Warlocks are great additions to a Jetbike Squadron as they can be cheaply armed with a Singing Spear, which can prove effective at dealing with vehicles and multi-wound characters. Using Destructor will compliment the fighting style of the Squadron as it's incredibly effective against units with low toughness.


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## azalin_r3x (Feb 25, 2008)

let's see your options so you decide what you want to field for what porpuse.

-*Dire Avengers*. They better work in big numbers, great medium range unit, always take an exarch. Bladestorm is allmoast a must have. Be carefull when to use it though. Diresword is not a good choice since you shouldn't be meleeing multi-wound models, they usually are nusties. Power weapon and shiemershield + defend is not that bad of an option since you could hold many units for many turns. 
They work very good with doom, also guide is good as well.
I usually use 10 with exarch dual cata and bladestorm.

-*Rangers*. Always get them pathfinders, and in numbers 5-6, more are quite expensive. Very good against MCs and heavy armored models. Pinning is not bad either. They have a great cover save, but if someone reach you, and they will... they are just dead. Flamers and melee are their weakness. 
Doom is very nice addition for them.
i don't really choose them anymore, too fragile, and nowadays hit on 3+ and rending is really not a big boost for their nice ap shots. 

-*Guardians Defenders*. Not the best option really. They can get a weapon platform with some nice gun, but the rest of them just clap as the one weapon hits or misses, since their BS is not that great. Warlock should be added, most probably with embolden so you at least hold. Cover saves nowdays are everywhere. 
Doom and guide while in range is not bad.
I don't like them.

-*Storm Guardians*. A unit not mentioned so far. They can be a very good option when equipped aproprietly. 2 flamers and a warlock with destructor in a wave serpent can kill any unit of low armor and good cover save. 2 meltas and a spear could be another option since we have not that many options for meltas, but it's not the best of your choices. Enhance and charge is not recommended at all either.
Doom for flamers is just great.
I use one such unit very often, they do miracles.

-*Jetbikes*. The 3 man bike unit is no more an option. Perhaps a unit of 6 with 2 cannons + a speared warlock maybe with embolden could be a not that bad option, for the unit's survivability. Don't expect from them to kill much, and for that many points, perhaps other choices are better. Though, they can survive better, and get objectives last turn by turbobusting. Their BS is not that good though and if you go too close to fire your catas, and get charged.. then you are screwed.
No powers really needed for these guys.
I don't like them very much. Too many points spent to be playable.

-*Wraithguard*. This is an other story. 10 wraithguards with a warlock, most probably with conceal and most probably a farseer too with fortune footsloging. A powerfull unit, very durable, lacks a bit in melee though. Their short range is a disadvantage but run helps them. Too many points spent, but well spent tbh, they have their own playstyle but are also expensive (moneywise) a reasson why i haven't tested them myself so far.
Fortune is nice for them, guide wouldn't hurt either.
I don't really like Iyanden style armies so i haven't bothered with them. Though i recomend them if you like them, they are very powerefull, just be carefull not to fall in any trap since they are too many points.


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## Ragewind (Aug 3, 2008)

Its a bit hard to say, personally I prefer GjB's in this edition, but Dire Avengers seem to "win" as the most useful. Although I have not once in 10+ years of Eldar used Avengers so you might want to get some opinions, on paper though it seems they can be fit for a variety of roles.


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## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

Katie Drake said:


> For pure damage output, I'm more into a unit of Dire Avengers with an Exarch with either double catapults or a power weapon and shimmershield. These guys are especially deadly if they're mounted in a Wave Serpent with minimal upgrades.


Why do people go shimmer shields and power weapons dire swords are much better you can cause a instant death on a HQ unit with this from a 20pt model and the 5+ invulnerabe save whilst good not to great as no bonus in CC and the power weapon well a standard eldar troop even a dire avenger is screwed in CC why are they thier in the 1st place they are designed to be a shooting squad not a CC squad hence the many different aspects.


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## Ragewind (Aug 3, 2008)

Blue Liger said:


> Why do people go shimmer shields and power weapons dire swords are much better you can cause a instant death on a HQ unit with this from a 20pt model and the 5+ invulnerabe save whilst good not to great as no bonus in CC and the power weapon well a standard eldar troop even a dire avenger is screwed in CC why are they thier in the 1st place they are designed to be a shooting squad not a CC squad hence the many different aspects.


They are not designed to win combat, just to tarpit the unit they engage after using blade storm.


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