Johno here and today I’m going to summarize each section of the
new Eldar Codex and pick out the good, the bad, and the ugly of each section. I
know there are lots of excellent in-depth reviews of the new book online so I
will take a lighter approach so for those of you at work can skim over this and
get all the information you need without getting caught by your boss with your
head in your smart phone. We are very lucky that our new book is very strong in
nearly all areas and we have a lot to choose from. I'm going break this
analysis it down into HQ, Troops, Elites, Fast Attack, Transport, and Heavy
Support.
Excellent Choices:
Avatar – Fearless Bubble, Attracts fire from
other units, anti-EVERYTHING. Cheap for what you get!
Loadout – 205pts with Fast Shot
Eldrad – Best Psyker in 40k, Nice special rules
with a sprinkle of cheddar. You WILL lose friends.
Loadout – N/A
Farseer – Excellent Psyker and very versatile.
Makes already excellent units amazing.
Loadout – No Addon’s really worth it
Autarch – Great Support Character, Often
underestimated. Can hold his own against most.
Loadout – Jetbike, Mantle of the Laughing God, Power Axe, Banshee
Mask.
Karandras – Godly close combat character. Powerfist
strikes at I7.
Loadout – N/A
Asurman – Another great close combat character
with good rules to match. Close call between him and Karandras.
Loadout – N/A
Fuegen – Really good close combat character and
has feel no pain, whats not to love?
Loadout – N/A
Prince Yriel – Fantastic close combat character but at
a hefty price.However you get a lot of nice special rules and a lot of killy
for your buck.
Loadout – N/A
Moderate Choices:
Wraithseer – Crucial if you are taking
Wraithguard/blades and can give them great buffs. Don’t bring if not taking
Wraith units.
Loadout – No Addons
Warlocks – Excellent support units for large
groups of guardians. Is 35pts too much for a guy who’s head can explode on a
roll of 9 on 2d6? You’re Choice.
Loadout – Singing Spear (Basically a 12” range Lascannon).
Maugan Ra – Decent close combat and ranged
character however he’s not exceptionally great at either really. Definitely not
worth the outlay in points.
Loadout – N/A
Illic Nightspear – Comes with a great sniper rifle and very killy.
Very Fragile. Unlocks Pathfinders. Can be a thorn in your opponents side.
Loadout – N/A
Poor Choices:
Jain Zar – Great Close Combat character however
with lack of grenades means she will die fast.
Loadout – N/A
Baharroth – Can be useful but unlikely to really
make back his points in most games. Can be good for stealing Line Breaker in
late game.
Loadout – N/A
Excellent Choices
Guardian Defenders – Cheap and once in range are
devastating. Great buy!
Loadout – Support Platform with Scatter Laser or Brightlance.
Blobs of 20 are amazing.
Dire Avengers – Upgraded version of the Guardian. 18”
range can be crucial. Better Armor and invun save from Exarch. Excellent unit.
Loadout – Exarch with Powersword and Shimmershield.
Guardian Jetbikes – Extremely fast and durable. Cheap and
very reliable Catapults (Twin linked).
Loadout – Take in units of 3 or 6 with upgraded Shuriken cannon
for every 3 you take.
Moderate Choices
Rangers - Still a great sniper unit however
compared to other races snipers they are expensive for what you get. Not sure
if worth it.
Loadout – N/A
Pathfinders - Amazing Snipers but having to spend all
those points on Illic Nightspear to unlock them relegates them to moderate
choice.
Loadout – N/A
Poor Choices
Storm Guardians – A close combat unit that does its intended job quite poorly.
Loadout - Can be ok if you take blobs of 20 with flamers or unit
of 10 in a wave serpent with two fusion guns.
Excellent Choices
Fire Dragons – Still amazing even with points hike.
Very reliable.
Loadout – 5 Fire Dragons in Wave Serpent, Done…
Wraithblades – Phenominally hard unit to shift if
attached with Wraithseers giving buffs. Capable of 2+ armor save. Extremely
killy and will worry your opponent from turn one.
Loadout – Axes and shields are best. Buy a unit of 10 with two
spirit seers and march them across the board.
Wraithguard – Shares the W.Blades durability but
lacking an invun save however give these Wraithscythes and they WILL kill
anything you point them at.
Loadout – 5 bodies with Wraithscythes in wave serpent.
Striking Scorpions – Fantastic Close combat unit. The Exarch
really makes them shine with his I6 Powerfist.
Loadout – 5 Scorpions with Exarch and Scorpions Claw.
Moderate Choices
Harlequins – As good, if not better close combat
unit than Striking Scorpions, however you have to pay through the nose to get
them.
Loadout – Shadowseer, Troop Master, Kisses all round.
Poor Choices
Howling Banshees – Best Model, Worst rules. Decent for
protecting backfield troops or counter attacks. Will die in droves.
Loadout – 9 Banshees and Exarch with Executioner.
Excellent Choices
Crimson Hunter – Best Air Superiority fighter in the
game, epitome of “glass cannon”.
Loadout – Keep with the Pulse Laser and Bright lances and upgrade
to an Exarch for BS5 goodness and able to pick out models in a squad on a roll
of 6 to hit.
Warp Spiders – Amazing damage output, extremely fast. One
of the codex’s best units.
Loadout – 8 Warp Spiders with Exarch and Dual
Spinners.
Moderate Choices
Vyper Jetbike – Packs a huge punch but fragile. Very
flexible. Can make back their points but die easily.
Loadout – Upgraded under Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Cannon or
Scatter Laser Turret.
Swooping Hawks – Great harassment units, Can win you
games. Great at claiming line breaker. Will destroy tanks and infantry.
Loadout – 5 Hawks with Exarch and skyleap.
Poor Choices
Hemlock Wraith Fighter – Too expensive and rather situational. Can
horrify your own units too. Best to leave at home.
Loadout – No Addons
Wave Serpent – Expensive transport but absolutely
worth it. Probably best transport in the game right now and our best tank in
general.
Loadout – Holofields, Scatter Laser, Upgraded under
Shuriken Cannon
Excellent Choices
Wraithknight – Extremely durable, fear factor, kills
everything. Expensive but worth it.
Loadout – Standard two Heavy Wraith Cannons is best.
Fire Prism – Kills armor and all types of infantry
with ease. Can be very difficult to kill. Avoid getting close to close combat
troops.
Loadout – Holofields
War Walker – Good Value, More durable now with inv
save, a lot of firepower.
Loadout – Dual Scatter Lasers is best
Moderate Choices
Falcon – Excellent anti-tank platform, Can carry
small units. Typical tough Eldar tank design.
Loadout
– Pulse Laser and Bright
Lance, Holofields
Nightspinner – Kills all infantry with impunity.
Durable grav tank. Cheap.
Loadout - Holofields
Wraith
Lord – Very tough, Decent
price, good all rounder. Can get bogged down in close combat with hordes.
Loadout – Ghostglaive, Brightlance, Missile
Launcher
Dark
Reapers – Expensive, Very
killy, Can kill all infantry and vehicles and also aircraft with an Exarch.
Loadout – Upgraded all missiles to Starshot, 5
Reapers with an Exarch included, Night Vision, Skyfire, Fast Shot.
Vauls
Battery – Very Cheap and
durable but slow, move OR shoot.
Loadout – D-Cannons
No Poor Choices in Heavy
So there you have it, the Eldar codex in a nutshell. All the good
and bad points of each unit. Hope you found this article useful for those of
you wishing to know which units to take and their strengths and weaknesses. The
above evaluation is by no means the bible but it should give you a snapshot of
all the Eldar units.
Thanks for reading!
Johno
