# Post 5th Eldar Tactics



## Sieg (Dec 3, 2007)

so i think that with the new rules all out we need to start going over new tactics for each of the new armies. With my new found interest in Eldar i guess this is where i will start.

The biggest change i can foresee is the new use of Howling Banshees. With new rules pushing people to use more troops banshees are some of the cheapest and best ways to take them down. Take 2 10 man squads of banshees in wave serpents to keep them alive until they reach the opponent, then watch the bodies hit the floor.

This also brings up the next point, Wave Serpents. Because you will often need troops to win the best way to keep them alive is to hide them inside a tank, and a durable tank at that. Keeping multiple small troops squads inside 4-6 wave serpents can lead to victory at the end of a tough game. 

Fire dragons are always a touchy issue among eldar players. I say that unless you know for a fact that you will be facing TONS of tanks, leave these guys at home.

Fire Prisms get a big boost in usefulness too. They were good before and now they are even better with the expected horde armies coming up.

Wraith Lords now should only be fielded as BL, EML, 2x Flamer. End of story.

The quality of the other things will vary on what you are facing. I feel that 5th was overall pretty good to Eldar assuming that you can spend the time to get used to the new tactics that the new edition requires.

If you have anything to comment on or add feel free. The purpose of this thread is to start people talking about specific squads in a tournament environment.


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## H0RRIDF0RM (Mar 6, 2008)

Once untouched unit that deserves some recognition is Dark Reapers. I recently subbed a squad of

Dark Reapers x 4 
-Exarch w/Tempest Launcher, & Crack Shot

for my Fire Prism in 1,500

With cover saves being so huge in 5th alot of players are huddling squads in cover. That 2d6 Scatter - 5 combined with Crack Shot is gross. I also noticed that when you combine those same Dark Repears with Eldar Monstrous Creatures and Wave Serpents that your opponent gets priority screwed fast.

Another untapped unit is Karandras with or without Striking Scorpions. They deploy togther on a flank. Karandras leaves the Scorpions in the movement phase, fleets, and assualts. The Scorpions run in for a movement boost and all of the sudden your opponents flank has to gruesome close combat squads to contest. If you can make the assualt without Karandras leaving the squad then you massacre and hopefully get a 3+ cover save with wound allocation to Karandrass to keep the squad alive.


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## solitaire (Mar 24, 2008)

I think the idea of 10 Wraithguard with a Concealing Spiritseer and a Fortuning Farseer will be Invincible when it comes to capturing objectives!


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## Sieg (Dec 3, 2007)

thanks for the rep

I was going to say something about the wraith guard but the more i thought about it the less i liked them. They are very powerful units, especially as troop choices and are fairly durable on top of that. The big problems with them is that theor guns only have a 12" range. Any squad that it fires on and lives will, with out a doubt, charge into CC the following turn. WG are extreamly weak in this area though and so a single half strength squad could potentially take them out of the game for a few turns. Also they are a huge point sink. As for sitting on an objective, Expect to see pie plates over your squad for the rest of the game. Most large blast will cause you to have to make your inv save, and you can only roll so many 5+.

As for the dark reapers...i really have no comment. I never really liked them before but havent really used them all that much so i had nothing to base it off of to say whether they got better or worse. 

Thanks for posting, glad to see that this sparked some conversations.


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## H0RRIDF0RM (Mar 6, 2008)

I dunno about the 10 man Wraithguard troop choice of doom.

I've played with Eldar against Eldar twice with the opponent using the Wraithguard. With that many points spent on a single scoring unit that can still be contested late game, you're going to lack both standard and heavy arms in the rest of your list. So just ignore the unit I say. 

Wraithguard have a poor kill radius. If you sit on an objective then obviously your going to miss out on lots of shooting. So why pay 1/3 your available points in lets say 1,500 for a single scoring unit that wont deal much damage? 

For it to work you probably want a Wave Serpent to bring them over to an objective. Unload, shoot, camp, but wait! Wraithguard can only fit 5 models in a Wave Serpent. So that doesn't work either.

Now 5 Wraithguard in a Wave Serpent soaring over the battefield to contest an objective would probably nails its points in the shooting phase and then of course the objective that it now defends. 

You could just as easily take 3 squads of 10 bare Dire Avengers, multiply your scoring potential, shooting potential, and probably be just as durable.

On the other hand I give credit to Desolations Wraithguard battalion which is just scary having to work around that many frikin T6 3+ save models, not sure how it plays out though.

I am undecided on Dark Reapers. In my current list I feel that my opponents so far have ignored the Reapers due to the pressure of 3 Monstrous Creatures and 2 Grav Tanks. So the Dark Reapers have lived through all of the games that I've played with them.

The Tempest Launcher with Crack Shot is just plain nasty. In 4th Edition it was Guess which ment you couldn't take advantage of the Exarchs BS 5.
Now you can subtract 5 from the scatter. This is much more likely to hit a squad huddled up in cover. Then you reroll wounds, and ignore the cover saves. Brutal.

You can still pump out 4-8 Shots from Reaper Missles.


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## Steel Nathan (Apr 26, 2008)

May as well go down the entire list eh? :grin:

*Farseer:* I listed this guy first because I feel he's probably the most useful HQ. Not much change in 5th ed himself, but what he can do is keep some troops more alive with Fortune, especially the conceal/fortune combo. He can doom some units for some easy(or easier killing) to keep your troops alive. He can guide some units that can fire mass but only half would normally hit (cough War Walkers). AND he can really screw over pskyers with the runes of warding. Not to mention he has the Mind War power which can knock out those hidden power fists/ weapons. 

*Autarch:* You honestly don't see this guy much in the game except for the evil shining spears autarch. I for one like this guy. He can be nasty when following the Banshee's with a few upgrades (although I prefere my Yriel thank you very much) 

*Avatar:* This guy is now even more useful, now that he can run and get closer to the enemy. He's still the same really when it comes to what he does best( kill things and inspire the others) 

*Phoenix Lords:* Still expensive as hell and still half ass useful (although they do get the job done, when they want to). 

*Striking Scorpions:* Now once they get into combat these guys are monsters. But now they are just plain deadly. They can either go with the rest of the assaulty army by running (and the others fleeting) would get them into combat faster). Or they can infiltate and support the faster moving units. Either way they still rock IMO.

*Fire Dragons:* Well them alone is still the same, with their ass kicking meltas. But the exarch has gotten useful however. With the new tank cover rules, it can be avoided with the Exarch if you give them crack shot. Bastard cover tanks won't know what hit them. 

*Howling Banshees:* Still the same really. But the benifit in 5th ed is that they won't get shredded that much by full charging heavy bolters from tanks that much anymore. Plus the combo of them and a dooming Farseer can really hurt....

*Harlies:* *cough*nerfed rending*cough*. The only thing you'll see is people taking more of them now, but it's still the same thing really.

*Wraithguard:* Now these guys as 10 man troops, with conceal and fortune, can be very nasty to take down. Just sit and laugh as they try to kill you. And they can move faster to the points as well with run. Bonus!

*Wave Serpents:* Provide vety much usefulness since low level troops can sit and take objectives. And of course still provide extra protection. 

*Dire Avengers:* Needed to capture objectives. But in general they are still good. Nothing really in 5th that affects them the same as the other troops and units. 

*Guardians:* Not only are these guys are cheap, and suck, but they're also good too in 5th ed, only because they are cheap. But I don't like them so I'm not going to get into description on this. Same thing goes with the Storm Guardians. 

*Jetbikes:* These guys are fast, hard to kill (for Eldar) and can be a pain in the ass. When using Saim Hann, this right here is your obvious choice. 

*Rangers/Pathfinders:* Well generally I never really liked these guys. They were too expensive for what they do, but they do get the job done. They make great objective holders because of their infiltration rules and such, but the only thing now is that they are such great targets, because they(and the other troops) is what really counts nowadays :wink: 

*Vypers:* Heh, with Saim Hann, these guys are the bomb. They move fast, can fire plenty of shots (I don't advise giving them single shot weapons) and just plain annoying. But the one thing I really don't like is that they have weak armour. It's like a war walker, minus one weapon, getting closer and closer to the enemy. Yet it'll get shot down . I wouldn't use it for Iyanden, but for Saim Hann I would definitly would keep in touch with these bad boys.

*Shining Spears:* Now... these guys are F***ing amazing! They're fast, perfect for Beil Tian or Saim Hann, and they just plain kick ass and arn't pretty to fight. Expensive... yes, but with the combo with the laser lance autarch, you can't go wrong. But the same goes with the other bikes, they die pretty fast, although these don't count as scoring so your they may be not THAT much of a target (although don't hold your breath that they'll be ingored) 

*Warp Spiders:* These guys are truly amazing. Although they can't fleet... pfft they have jump packs. And they can deep strike whether the mission says you can or cannot . They have good S guns (no ap which can be bad) but they're a solid choice. They're good in combat too if you give the exarch power claws(and it doesn't even count as holding a weapon!). I personally think you can't go wrong with these guys.

*Swooping Hawks:* These guys are probably the most debatable unit in the game. Do they suck? Are they worth their points? Well some people don't like them (others hate them) and I'm not into them either. Yes they have the gernades to take out tanks, but I can name much better anti tank weapons. Although they do have their purposes (against horde armies, they would be the bomb!)

*Dark Reapers:* I don't like these guys......I F***ING LOVE THEM!!!!! What's meaner then high range, marine killers and a multiple blast weapon that can ignore cover?? Well there's some things (ie pie, battlecannons, pie, women, pie, money, pie, etc). But seriously these guys are just good. With the cover rules for tanks, they can be stopped with a cracked missle launcher. Can't go wrong with these guys. 

*Fire Prisms:* These....probably have to be the most improved in the Eldar army in 5th ed. I can't remember how many times I missed with the Prism Cannon. Now that's all sovled with the blast scattering rules ( and the face that there's no more partials as well ^^). Yep, you'll be seeing more of these. 

*Falcons:* Now the fact that Fire Prisms have the best improvements, the Falcon probably has the worst in the Eldar Army. With the new Primary/Defensive Weapons, this guy got gyped, big time. Of course you can still move a small bit, but not enough to actually do something important (depending what you're doing with the Falcon I suppose). They do make great anti tank weapons (firing 3 krak-like missiles a turn) but other then that you won't be seeing much of this guy as well. 

*Support Weapon:* 
Shadow Weaver: Meh, nothing really has changed. Don't really care for it.

Vibro: Still the breadwinner here, although the glancing rules probably has killed this, but it's really never meant to kill them anyways. So I think it's still useful. 

D-Cannon: Well I don't mind this, a bit expensive for what it does (athought the Wraithguard are too...) but it gets the job done. Then again it has a pretty short range for an artiliary... 

*Wriathlords:* Now here we go . can be used as a hard-to-kill anti tank weapon, or just to move up close and fire the hell out of the IG bastards with the twin flamers. Then it happens to be that he can rip open tanks in combat (what gave me that idea, the MC ability and the 10 S?......). But the one thing I don't want to see with the Wraithsword. Looks cool yes, but is it good? NO! Not for saving 2 attacks (and not since it takes one of your weapons). And it'll go faster with the run ability as well.

*War Walkers:* Great shooters, awesome for weakening an army with it's mass scatter laser shooting (and for a cheap prince too) but they shouldn't be going alone. If you want to have a full squad of these guys, then it's a very good idea to have a Farseer with Guide due to the crappy BS of the Walkers (Ballistic Skill not Bull S*** :wink 

That pretty much covers the basic of every unit and it's 5th ed stuff.


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## Ebsolom Dhaark (Jun 5, 2008)

Just thought I'd mention Outflanking War Walker units which their Scouts USR special rule grants them. I know they have been overlooked recently due to their fragility but baing able to stride onto your opponents flank with a unit of three pumping out 24 SL shots or 12 Starcannon shots has got to be worth it, especially with the advantage of being able to get side armour on vehicles.
Even a unit of three kitted out with Shuricannons only comes to 120pts and well worth the disruption effect it will have.


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## Sieg (Dec 3, 2007)

Are dark reapers really any good? I haven't ever used them.


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## solitaire (Mar 24, 2008)

Dark Reapers are *THE* best unit to shoot Space Marines with, especially Grey Knights cause they are so expensive. They can also be use to take out tanks if you give the Exarch an EML like I usually do.


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## Sieg (Dec 3, 2007)

what exarch powers do u give them if he has the EML?


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## stormshroud (Apr 27, 2007)

When I use my Dark Reapers I usually give the Exarch an EML and Fast Shot. I find them great against marines and usually hide my Farseer with Fortune and Guide in there to help improve thir effiency and help keep them alive.


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## solitaire (Mar 24, 2008)

Another possible Tactic though is giving him Crack Shot so he can ignore the Cover Saves that tanks can now receive.


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## Desolatemm (Feb 2, 2008)

I now run 2 squads of these guys fully kitted out Exarchs because both powers come in handy every game.

My first squad is 4 strong. The Exarch has an EML with Fast Shot and Crack shot. Gives me the shots for troops and the shots for tanks.

My second squad is 5 strong. The Exarch has the Tempest Launcher with Crack shot and Fast Shot. The 2 AP3 blast markers that get re-roles (handy at S4) and ignore cover! Or 3 shots for hordes :biggrin: 

Crack shot is going to be the favorite of the powers because of the cover save denial. The Fire Dragon Exarch with Crack shot and a Fire Pike is going make a fun game for those IG tanks :laugh:


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## beenburned (May 15, 2008)

hmm I must say my autarch is a firm favourite in my army. He has a warp pack, so he's bloody fast, has a fusion gun for easy tank killing, and a chainsword with mandiblasters for fantastic butchery of troops. One battle saw a leman russ, a hellhound and 2 squads of IG fall to him alone. 

Dark reapers - ML with fast shot. Either a s8 reaper launcher or a ap4 tempest launcher, with the same range as the rest of 'em. Fantastic stuff against any form of power armour. Which would be every army I face (now).

Agreed about warp spiders - stupendously good.

I was thinking about possibly taking some d-cannons in the new rules though, due to the new blast template rules. For only 150pts, 3 of them is very tempting...a direct hit will decimate anything really.

I was tempted to take 2 squads of dark reapers when I read your post, desolatemm, but I want those open for the 2 fire prisms which will now be a permanent fixture in my army.


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