Editing Warhammer 40,000/10th Edition Tactics/Eldar (section)

====Aspect Warriors====
Aspect Warriors are very tuned down this edition, having lost their ability to choose an Exarch power - and Exarchs are once again reduced to just having +1W and potentially distinct (and therefore better or worse) wargear/weapons. Many of theses units are going to struggle to find a place in a list, as there are other units available that make them somewhat redundant. Note that "Aspect Warriors" isn't a keyword on the units, but all of these units share the fact that they can only be led by their Phoenix Lord - and if they don't have a Phoenix Lord with a model/rules, they can't have a leader at all.

With the points reveal, the Phoenix Lords cost more (in some cases almost double) than a 5 Warrior team, essentially more than doubling (almost triple for some) the cost of the unit without doubling the unit's effectiveness; even at 10 Warriors, they just generally don't earn their keep.

It’s not all bad, at least Aspect warriors are now fairly cheap, so at least they might be usable, even if their performance is going to be a bit lackluster. 

*'''Dark Reapers''': Heavy Weapons Elves, with a 3+ BS that can never be changed. Each model's Reaper Launcher gives them a choice between one shot made to dent small monsters, bikers, or TEQs, or two shots more meant for hitting MEQ or GEQ, both able to get past cover natively. The Exarch can pick up alternative weapons, with a missile launcher that gives both stronger anti-tank fire and genuine crowd control, a Shuriken Cannon that can give loads of fire thanks to ''[Sustained Hits 1]'', and the Tempest Launcher, your only gun that gets bothered by cover but gives extreme mob-blasting power. While the squad can now once again be bumped up between 5-10 models, the overall buff to vehicle/monster toughness means that Dark Reapers will now struggle to realistically deal with heavy armor, and lack the number of shots needed to concern hordes.
*'''Dire Avengers:''' Their Shuriken Catapults retain that single extra shot compared to the guardians, but they also gain ''[Lethal Hits]'' so they can capitalize on crits by negating enemy Toughness - shame they still have to deal with armour, though. Defense Tactics helps them hit on a 5+ when firing Overwatch, but this improves to an even better 4+ when they're camping on an objective.  Note the lack of synergy here: Lethal Hits only goes off on a 6+ to hit regardless of Defense Tactics (and a similar issue comes up when you try to buff them with Asurmen).
**The choice between the Exarch taking a Diresword or Power Glaive really hinges upon whether you need the glaive's S5 over how likely you are at triggering the Diresword's ''[Devastating Wounds]''. Of course, you can still dual-wield catapults for maximum firepower.
**Overall they are not really that noticeably better than Guardian Defenders (who get to take heavy weapons, hold objectives with OC2 and are a source of Fate Dice), so probably not really much incentive to take them instead of one of the other options available.  
**They also suffer quite noticeably compared to Warp Spiders, who occupy the same niche Dire Avengers try to occupy with their buffed Overwatch. Against MEQ, for example, ''even on 4+ Overwatch'' Warp Spiders deal nearly double (35/18) as much damage as Dire Avengers. Since Warp Spiders also have superior M and Sv, it's questionable what purpose Dire Avengers could serve in your army.
*'''Fire Dragons:''' Formerly your premier anti-{{W40Kkeyword|Vehicle/Monster}} infantry squad, your Fire Dragons sadly aren't packing as much fire as they used to. While S9 re-rolling 1s to wound against {{W40Kkeyword|monsters/vehicles}} is certainly adequate for punching through heavy infantry, lighter monsters, bikers and some light vehicles, it sadly ''isn't'' quite potent enough to burn through the heavier toughness found on the average Imperial Guard or Space Marine tanks. If such shots ''do'' manage to burn through, the AP-4 all but guarantees that those vehicles won't get an armor save. With {{W40Kkeyword|Melta 3}} and Dd6 on all their Fusion Guns, anything within half range that gets shot ''will'' feel the heat. Tragically, that's about where all the good news stops. While a 3+ save is virtually unheard of for still-living Aeldari infantry, T3 W1 is a tale as old as time, and with a pitiful 12" range on their Fusion Guns, the concept of "escape" is but a fairy tale to these soldiers. If they are ever in range to unload their wrath onto a target, they're assuredly within revenge range for either the tank they just failed to scratch or the angry soldiers who just piled out of it.
**You can get relatively decent output from these guys if you load them into a Falcon, drive the Falcon up, drop off the dragons, and have everyone shoot - wraithguard can't even fit inside a Falcon, so there's no competition there.  The problem with this is that a Falcon is more fragile than a Wave Serpent, but your efficiency will drop precipitously if you switch to a Wave Serpent based solution.  Fire Prisms are negligibly less efficient at killing things than a Falcon plus Fire Dragons, but you don't have to worry about dropping off your cargo intact and then having everyone unload into the same target.
*'''Howling Banshees''': Well, Banshees took a bit of a fall from grace - not only do they only have three S4 AP-3 swings per model, but they also lost the ability to ignore Overwatch with their masks. Instead, Banshees have the ''Fights First'' ability, a fairly brisk 8" move, and the ability to charge after advancing or falling back. Still, Howling Banshees are definitely your go-to melee troopers when you're looking to deal with armored infantry; a 4++ save while in melee can make them surprisingly survivable (for Eldar) and their consistent AP-3 weapons mean that even MEQ units can't exactly brush them off. Unfortunately, the loss of supporting Psychic powers such as Empower and Doom (unless Eldrad is nearby) means that Howling Banshees will struggle to do anything of note to TEQs or T5+ units. Still a decent, if highly niche, choice.
**The Exarch's Executioner is the only weapon that makes you more dangerous against TEQs, but that still suffers the pitfall of no ''[Devastating Wounds]'' to make them worth it. Still, it is the best anti-MEQ weapon you can get your Banshee Exarch. If you're facing mono-wound foes or hordes, the Mirrorswords with their 6 attacks at AP-3 will be your best friend.
**Like Striking Scorpions, fundamental failures relative to a Troupe with the right Leadership - a Shadowseer's Troupe can also charge after advancing but has '''Stealth''' while hitting harder, while a Troupe led by the Visarch and Yvraine Fights First, has a 5+++, and regenerates dead Banshees.  If you want to make this unit even try to keep up, Jain Zar will provide a unit-wide +1 to hit and more importantly will get you 0CP Heroic Interventions even if someone else already Heroically Intervened, but there's only so much you can do.
*'''Striking Scorpions:''' Rather than fishing for a couple mortal wounds on top of everything else, the Mandiblasters now give ''[Devastating Wounds]'' to all melee attacks against non-{{W40Kkeyword|monsters/vehicles}} - a much needed damage buff as their 4 ST4 AP0 chainsword attacks aren't cutting through any armour anymore (and will struggle to deal with Orks, or anything that has low save, high toughness, which is what should be their specialty), even if they get a bunch of accurate attacks with ''[Sustained Hits 1]''.
**The Exarch can of course grab the claw instead of a pistol - the mounted pistol not only gets an extra shot on a pistol but also getting an equivalent to a power fist. Instead, you could trade everything for the Biting Blade if you're that dedicated to going down swinging in melee with S5 AP-1 D2. 
**This unit is struggling to find what it's actually good at - what target do they actually do well against? It's not armoured infantry, it's not tough infantry, and it's certainly not vehicles. They have about the same damage output as the Hounds of Morkai, but lack any sniping potential and have less than half the durability.  Also, Karandras doesn't do much for them, whereas if you take a Troupe with a Troupe Master, you'll get, on a fundamental level, this unit but better.
*'''Swooping Hawks:''' Your flyboys are not only very fast, but they can always fly back into reserves so long as they aren't in any fights - Not that you'd want them to anyways, their armament is their Lasblasters, decent guns 4 shots at S4 with ''[Lethal Hits]'' and ''[Assault]'', but not cut out for any armor; add in a bit of ‘Blade Storm’ (or simply taking advantage of Plunging Fire) and their potential damage output improves quite a bit against armored units. With this in mind, these hawks are only good for harassment, jumping in to piss someone off and then flying back away from enemy retribution. This unit would also work very well with ‘Doom’ for that +1 to wound- a very mobile unit, able to deliver a hail of shots (Lethal on a 6) that now wound marines on 3+ (Heck they would be wounding Custodes on 4+) and can get extra AP for just 1CP- they certainly would be a unit that could make sure that’s it’s in position to take full advantage of the effect.
*'''Warp Spiders:''' The warp packs are now fully turned into a {{W40kKeyword|Fly}} keyword, though that doesn't really affect the mobility of the Spiders much. It does, however, change Flickerjump into now giving a flat boost in movement to 24" (over a default of 12") with a 1/6 chance of suffering a mortal wound on the unit. While they can't charge after making the jump, you don't really want to anyway since only the Exarch can take Powerblades and get any sort of AP in a fight. Instead, you're more inclined to use the Death Spinners, S4 AP0 webbers (''[Devastating Wounds]'' rather than ignoring cover) so you can cheese out armour. They don't deal a lot of damage, and will struggle to wound most things, unless you get lucky and roll a few 6s - mostly usable as a harassment unit, because you can get them anywhere they need to be (e.g. to pick up Plunging Fire) to both shoot the enemy and be in position for Overwatch.  To give you a sense of how their guns work, each one will, on average, deal 35/36 of a wound to MEQ; since a typical unit of 5 Spiders will have 6 guns in it, a full unit firing will, on average, kill 2 MEQ and leave a third wounded.  Their optimal targets are invuln-based, so their lack of AP won't matter but their Devastating Wounds still has a chance to be on full display - e.g. they'll jump in utility against a Chaos Daemons army.

*'''Shadow Spectres<sup>IA</sup>:''' One of your better Aspect Warriors (not that the competition is very stiff at the moment). Shadow Spectres return as your speedy, flexible mid-ranged anti-infantry unit this edition. They have a solid defensive profile at 3+/5++ with a baked in -1 to-hit modifier courtesy of  ''Stealth'' and have the frankly bonkers ability to freely move another 6" after shooting, no CP or rolls required. This stacks with their normal 12", giving them immense mobile flexibility to engage and retreat to safer positions. Offensively, they're quite well equipped to put down MEQ or GEQ models with their focused (S6 AP-2 D2) or dispersed (Ad6 S4 AP-1 D1) profiles respectively. Uniquely among Aspect Warriors, their Exarch isn't included by default; you have to purchase him separately (with both money and points, funnily enough). Additionally, he's 20pts as opposed to the 16pts a normal Spectre costs and provides no extra benefits aside the extra wound. Though this makes them the only Aspect unit that can have up to 11 models (160pt 10-elf squad plus the exarch), there's not really a good reason to splurge for him.