New Eldar Psychic Powers

Psychic Powers

The Eldar are the most potently psychic living race in the galaxy yet some of their wargear doesn’t reflect this, like the super nerf to Runes of Warding and also leadership 8 warlocks, but in saying that I think their new psychic powers are quite nice. In the Codex there are two lines of psychic powers available, one for the warlocks (Runes of Battle) and one for the Farseers (Runes of Fate). Let’s take a look at them.

Runes of Fate Overview

One would think that with the name Fate as opposed to Battle, that the Runes of Fate would be all about blessing and helping your units but the fact is, that Runes of Fate are very much a direct set offensive powers compared to Runes of Battle with their blessings. These powers are available only to our Farseers and range 1 to 3 Warp Charges. The powers themselves are quite useful but they do have to compete with Divination and Telepathy from the main rulebook. So I will let you decide.

Primarius - Guide

The venerable guide, oh how we love you. Typically Guide was always one of the most used powers in the old Eldar Codex and even though it is similar to Divinations Primarius power Precience it’s still an excellent choice. It has a range of 24” which is fantastic (Precience is 12”) but unfortunately it only offers rerolls to hit with shooting as opposed to both shooting and close combat that Precience offers. For an truly excellent loadout on a Farseer take guide primaris power and then the precience primaris powers casting rerolls to hit with shooting and melee left, right and center on two separate units. Really effective on a backfield Farseer near some Scatter Laser Warwalkers or Dark Reapers.

Executioner

Executioner is a witchfire power with a range of 24” and deals 3 automatic hits to an enemy model. Also it carries the fleshbane special rule so you will be wounding on 2+. Unfortunately it doesn’t have an armor value but that doesn’t stop the fun. If the model targeted dies then another model is chosen and suffers 2 automatic hits and then if that model also dies then a third model is chosen and that suffers one automatic hit. Very handy for picking out heavy weapons and squad sergeants etc.

Doom

Like Guide, Doom is an old favourite among all Eldar players. However this version of doom has gotten a nice little buff. It now allows reroll failed to wound rolls and also failed armor penetration rolls against vehicles. Couple this with all our Wraith Cannons and rending Shuriken weapons and this becomes a real gem of a power. The only problem is as per the rest of the powers, it is randomly rolled for so you can’t rely on getting it.

Eldritch Storm

Eldritch Storm has a reach of 24” and throws out a Strength 3 large blast template, so it’s pretty good at taking out large blobs of infantry. But it also comes with fleshbane so you are wounding everything on a 2+. It also has the pinning special rules so it’s extremely useful against units with low leadership such as Orks or Guardsmen. The fun doesn’t stop there though, it has the Haywire special rule also so it will glance ANY vehicle on a roll of 2-5 and automatically pens it on a 6. With a large blast it could easily cover squadrons of light vehicles etc. A fairly decent power that at first glance seems underpar.

Death Mission

Death Mission is an interesting power. It costs two warp charges to cast and it boosts the Farseer’s Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill and Initiative by +5 and also gives him/her an extra two attacks. This means that you will have a WS10, BS10, I 10 Atk 4 Psyker running around the battle field. Sounds good right? Not quite, because it certainly comes with its drawbacks. When you cast Death Mission you roll a D3+2 and that is how many tokens you have and on a D6 roll of a three or lower at the end of each turn, one token is lost. If you lose all of them, the model is removed as a casualty. The power once cast, lasts for the entire game and the only way to keep your tokens up is by casting it again so you can roll that D3+2. It seems a bit situational but could be useful if your Farseer is leading a close combat unit such as Harlequins. Having said that it’s random so you can’t rely on getting it.

Fortune

Good aul Fortune. I once played an apocalypse battle with a large seer council on bikes and they tanked the fire power of a full Tzeench and Dark Eldar force for three turns before being taken out. This power was a must have and it is still great only that it‘s now random. It has a range of 24” now as opposed to the old power which was only 6”. It costs two warp charges to cast and it allows you to reroll all saving throws and all deny the witch rolls. This could be incredibly useful and annoying for your opponents when cast on your Wraithknights or Wraithguard. It is effectively an even better version of the old Fortune but unfortunately it’s now random like the rest of the powers. I can kind of understand this though because it was quite broken in the last Codex.

Mind War

Mind War is a witchfire power that has a range of 24” and a warp charge of two. This power can be hilarious to use if you manage to get it off a few times during the battle. However the only times I have used it was in a recent game where my opponent managed to roll higher than me. You select a model within 24”, usually a character or Sergeant and you both roll a D6 and add it to your leadership. If the Farseer scores lower, he/she has their Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill and Initiative reduced to one until their next turn. If both scores are equal the enemy suffers the above afflictions, however if the Farseer wins, the enemy suffers the number of automatic wounds equal to the difference rolled between the two players dice roll and these are at no armor saves or cover saves. It can be extremely effective at taking out those squad Sergeants with power fists or heavy weapons etc.

Runes of Battle Overview

The most obvious thing about the Runes of battle is that it is divided up into modes for each power that affect your enemy and also those that bless your own units. Most of these powers are quite supportive in their nature while the powers available for Runes of Fate are the opposite. The list of powers are actually very potent and nearly all are very useful however this is somewhat hampered by the fact that these are randomly rolled for. Not all is lost though, the primaries power “Conceal/Reveal” is a very strong ability and a lot of players might not bother on rolling on the table as this power is exactly what they are after.

Primaris - Conceal/Reveal

The blessing side of this power, Conceal, is an excellent power that grants the unit shrouded special rule. This is a fantastic rule especially when used in conjunction with Jetbikes who already have the 5+ cover save from jink. Now they can get a 3+ cover save. It really is a brilliant ability. The blessing side of the power removes stealth and shrouded from an enemy unit which can be extremely useful against some Tau and Daemon units and not to mention those other Eldar/Dark Eldar players you will be facing.

 
Destructor/Renewer

Destructor is a witchfire power and is basically a heavy flamer and features the nifty feature called soul blaze.I think this power will come in very handy against some of the tougher foes out there. Renewer on the other hand is a blessing power that if a friendly model is within 18”, you can restore a lost wound to it. It’s very useful if you are playing any of the Eldar Monstrous creatures in your list.

Embolden/Horrify

Good aul embolden, well now it has gotten better! Embolden makes the warlock and his unit fearless! I can see this great for twenty Guardians lead by a warlock. The Horrify power reduces the leadership value of an enemy unit by -3. This is absolutely lethal and used alongside a Wraith Fighter, you will see tones of Orks and Guardsmen running for the hills.

Enhance/Drain

Wow I used to never leave home without an Enhanced warlock in my seer council. Again if used with a large squad of Storm Guardians this could be effective but to be honest will you ever be running Storm Guardians? Enhance provides the Warlock and his attached unit with a +1 to their Weapon Skill and Initiative. Drain reduces the weapon skill and initiative of an enemy within 18” which could be excellent if one of your close combat units is about to charge an enemy unit.

Protect/Jinx

Protect is a potentially fantastic power that grants the Warlock and his unit a +1 bonus to their armour save which could be excellent for giving Jetbikes and Wraithguard that 2+ armor save to drastically increase their durability.  Jinx reduces the armor value of the enemy by -1 which could be excellent by softening up tough units like Terminators etc.

Quicken/Restrain

Quicken provides the Warlock and his unit with an additional three inches to any running they decide to do. Again due to the fact that Warlocks can only really join 4 units (Jetbikes, Defenders & Storm Guardians, Vaul Support Batteries) and the fact that bikes can’t even run anyway I think this is most useful to Guardian Defenders. Why? Well Storm Guardians are so outclassed by most other dedicated close combat units in our army but by adding 3 precious inches on a squad of 20 Guardians armed with 12” shuriken weapons, this could potentially be a big boost in getting them into range in conjunction with Battle Focus, Restrain reduces the chances of running from an enemy unit. I think this power will be mainly used in its blessing form due to the flexibility it provides.

Empower/Enervate

Finally we have the Empower/Enervate power. Empower grants the Warlock and his unit a +1 bonus Strength which given to the right unit could become extremely handy. Strength 5 Striking Scorpions or Strength 8 Ghost Axe wielding Wraithblades anyone, or dare I say Strength 4 Howling Banshees? Nice! The Enervate power typically targets an enemy unit within 18” and reduces their Strength by -1. It’s quite handy considering our close combat units and most of our units for that matter are toughness 3. If those space marines are wounding our units on a 4 instead of a 3 then all the better!

So there you have it Folks, a comprehensive look at our new psychic powers. What do you think? Which powers will you hope to get?