Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Eldar (section)

===Heavy Support===
Heavy support was a slot already tight for space with the majority of the Eldars best and brightest weapons vying for our attention, now the issue is only made worse with the overall improvement of just about every unit in the slot. You will almost guaranteed fill all three slots of this unit type regardless of the army you field given that the heavy supports offer something for everyone. Heavy support is now a pinched slot, so choose wisely and take great care with the units you commit to taking, since you’re turning down other equally good options to do it.

*'''Dark Reapers''': Once upon a time, Dark Reapers were once relegated to a small squad of dedicated marine killers with their exarch easily responsible for well over half the squad’s actual value. Now each Reaper has a choice of weapons to choose from and he loves each option equally. Regular reapers come with the devastating starswarm launcher, a weapon that fires salvos of S5 AP3 shots from across the board and can also take starshot missiles (in addition to their starswarm missiles), a single heavy hitting shot at S8 AP3 that will ruin any biker/vehicle/MC's day. The reaper rangefinders prevent jink saves, lending even more weight to their armor hunting ability. Slow and Purposeful aids their ability to move and keep blasting, and their ability to reroll hits against zooming/swooping models give the squad (and army) much needed AA ability if you still feel the need for it, just be aware this is not true skyfire, only the Exarch can do that (and then only with an upgrade). They also got a point decrease with the new codex.  Allying with Harlequins to grab a Death Jester is a very recommended idea for anti-infantry squads when you factor in the Jester's ability to direct where the enemy falls back. They can, like most Aspect Warriors, take a Wave Serpent as a dedicated transport. Mounting up a squad in a Starweaver or Raider could be incredibly annoying too, but with their long range they rarely need a transport at all. You might consider one if you're playing in a very Marine-heavy meta, to avoid being the target of a first-turn alpha strike in the event that you go second.
**'''Exarchs''' used to be all the squad was worth, now they enhance it rather than make it look bad by comparison. Their special ability lets them fire one extra shot from their weapon, which can mean the difference between merely foiling a charge and fucking them up so badly they need to roll morale. Oh, and it also works on turrets and emplaced weapons (say hello to two shot Aquila vortex missile silos). Can equip:
***'''Shuriken Cannon''': A big big step back in range, this weapon probably hurts the Exarch more than helps him. Has some limited utility if you're teaming up with Death Jesters and Maugan Ra, however.
***'''Tempest Launcher''': The same 36" anti MEQ barrage tool of the past edition, good with fast shot, low strength and can't snap-shoot, so unlike the Reaper Launcher and Shuriken Cannon, it doesn't have any emergency AA capability.
***'''Eldar missile launcher''': As versatile as it is expensive it comes with free flakk missiles now to shoot down air threats. Against MEQs, the standard Reaper Launcher or the Tempest Launcher would be better, but the EML covers every possibility with plasma, starshot and starhawk missiles. Good choice if you don't have other AA (like War Walkers with missiles, Crimson Hunters or Falcons/Wave Serpents with missiles).
*'''Vaul's Wrath Support Weapon Battery:''' These are the artillery of the Eldar army which can be taken in squads of three and are crewed by two guardians per gun model and come in three flavors. They can also get a warlock optionally with a host of supportive power options. Gunners get a basic shuriken catapult you should hopefully never have to fire. Bear in mind that these support weapon batteries show none of the awesome convenience of Guardian squad support platforms - they are type Artillery and therefore function like a Napoleonic-era field cannon; they can run in 7th edition. The crew benefits from the gun's awesome T7 against enemy shooting attacks. On the bright side they are dirt cheap. In the ever-competitive heavy support slot the Vaul's Wrath needs to work damn hard to make its place at the table. The suite of artillery weapons are:
**'''Shadow Weaver:''' Default weapon. Lightweight version of Nightspinner's main gun, it packs one less strength, but it's still a small blast (read the faq) barrage and have all the monofilament benefits. Fired in groups these function as a salvo and thus the first shot is all the more important.
**'''Vibro-cannons:''' No longer featuring the LOS ignoring line of dubstep the Vibro cannon has lost a lot of its character. For every vibro cannon that hits beyond the first they increase the strength of all hits. You get +1S -1AP for each vibro canon that scored a hit. The base stats are S7 AP4. Sadly, you can only take 3 of them, so they cap at S9 AP2 and have the pinning rule.
**'''D-cannon:''' Another distortion weapon out of the Eldar armoury and like the others, it contains THE ALMIGHTY D. Sure, it has half the range with barrage and blast, but taking it practically guarantees that whatever it hits will suffer a painful D-eath.
*'''Falcon''': Oddly unchanged in an era where everything else seems to, the Falcon still fulfills its job as APC with guns to spare. Falcons come stock with their pulse laser, a S8 AP2 lulzbeam with great range and track record as well as underslung catapult (upgrade to a cannon). Then it gets its choice of heavy weapon from the pretty standard list of Brightlance, Starcannon, Scatterlaser and EML (with flakk), giving it enough options for you to customize depending on the opponent. The Falcon also has a Transport capacity of 6, allowing you to field a small squad (ideally Fire Dragons) for dropping off and raising merry hell. If you take three of them in a squad, you can actually deep strike them without scattering so long as they're within 4" of each other, allowing you to make for some fantastic traps with a WWP Raider.
*'''Fire Prism''': With the new Codex, the Fire Prism finally gives Eldar players an answer to the long range guns of other races.  This magnificent jeweled weapon focuses such intense power as to turn foes of all shapes and sizes into all shapes and sizes of slag. Now boasting THREE FIRING MODES the prism cannon rules as king of your culinary delights. For your meat lovers you have the dispersed mode, a S5 AP3 large blast, great for MEQ and anything more fragile. For your vegetarians you have the focused mode, a TEQ hunting small blast with S7 and AP2, good for all things the previous mode didn’t quite get. Finally we turn the volume up to 11 and give our vegans out there the lance mode, used to scythe down anything that doesn’t strictly walk where it needs to go (and will blow smoking holes in Daemons and Tyranids, too). At S9 AP1 with the LANCE special rule this weapon will crush any armoured vehicle going in the game today. What downsides does the Fire Prism have, you ask? Expensive tank + upgrades costs, high aggro generation and usual complaint of Eldar vehicles but nothing beyond that - a solid workhorse in the army. You could field three and no one would bat an eyelash. Three full squadrons, however, would make almost anyone cry. With The new 7E Craftworlds codex, you can take them in squadrons and, to boot, you gain the combined fire mode back, but now under more lenient terms: One tank can fire, and they gain +1 S -1 AP for each Fire Prism in the squad (generally not worth losing another tank's shooting). However, two tanks in a squadron could drop an S6 AP2 large blast, very nasty for dealing with Terminators and their ilk with slightly greater odds than the small blast - which could, itself, be amped up to S9 AP1. See you later, Paladins!
*'''Nightspinner''': Less useful than its Fire Prism cousin, the Nightspinner is still a useful choice when used correctly. The Doomweaver is the primary weapon and features 99% of the tanks actual threat, laying down a S7 shot of monofilament onto the board, as well as the mini rending power that makes it auto wound and AP2. Like its close cousin the Fire Prism, Nightspinners feature different modes of attack. The dispersed mode launches the shot high above the battlefield to rest silently and invisibly as a large blast, wounding and possibly pinning the target squad. Now there is also the focussed mode, a torrent weapon that fires the same deadly web but with increased accuracy, ignoring cover saves and lacks the pinning. Nightspinners are possibly more resilient due to not needing to be exposed most of the time but also have a chaotic track record of actual threat, sometimes wiping whole squads from the board other times managing to wound maybe a model or two, not a great buy for the player who likes guarantees. The Nightspinner can, as a barrage weapon, hide completely from view to fire it's shot and can be used effectively as the least upgraded of the Eldar tank options, requiring no actual upgrades to its weapons or gear (excellent because it's already the cheapest tank). Exposing the Nightspinner to fire is doable and sometimes even necessary depending on the available terrain but in those cases it benefits from its BS to reduce scatter.  The 7E codex gave it a huge point reduction and the option to to team up with up to two other Nightspinners to do a combined fire like the Fire Prism, only now the firing tank adds +1 shot +1 S for each tank joining in. And for some reason the way it is worded means the tank firing gets 3 pie plates that can get up to strength nine. Covering an IG parking lot or Necron pirate fleet with S9 pie plates sounds nice.
**'''Alternate View:''' With the change of the wording of the Monofilament special rule, a single Nightspinner as not as worth taking as it used to be, 2 in a squadron are good, but then you may be wasting a bit too much dakka at one unit than ideal.
*'''[[Wraithlord]]''': With the Heavy Support section more crowded with quality units than ever, the Wraithlord needed to step up its game to stay competitive this Codex - and it has done just that. The heavy weapons have been greatly reduced in price, and you can now properly take two of them, instead of the old "twin-linked" routine. In addition the Ghostglaive keeps the Lord threatening against MCs and characters - +1S and the option to reroll a single missed Hit each turn give the already formidable lord plenty of killing CC power. At T8 and 3+ armour, you need heavy anti-tank weaponry or lots of Poison (watch out for Dark Eldar and Nurgle) to stand a chance of bringing it down quickly. In short, it's an ideal [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] - a threat at range or in CC no player can afford to ignore. Hilariously, they now count as characters - allowing you to directly challenge and squish those annoying enemy special units before power fists and the like become annoying (veteran players might recall doing this in the glory days of 3rd ed anyway). The only real drawback? It is slow. In an Eldar army. Alternatively, pair one or two with an Avatar and go nuts. Oh, sure, the Avatar's faster, but the Wraithlord has higher S and T - pretty much nobody really wants to tangle with either one!
*'''War Walker Squadron''': Much like the Vyper over in Fast Attack, War Walkers embody the Eldar playstyle perfectly - fast, armed to the teeth and absurdly fragile. With BS4 now, they're even more reliable at putting huge amounts of firepower into whatever foe is unlucky enough to be in range. As to that firepower, they get the usual range of Eldar weapons. Bright Lances for tank-hunting, Starcannons for heavy infantry, Shuriken Cannons and Scatter Laser for light infantry. Finally the big option, the Eldar missile launcher - a gun as versatile as the EML clocks in at several times the price of alternate options. But there's a good reason: it can either be anti-armor or anti-infantry and now gets Skyfire for free. And with Battle Focus and Relentless, their firepower is unimpeded by their mobility. With AV10, Open-Topped and only two Hull points they're brutally fragile. Power Fields give you a 5++, but that's not the most reliable save out there - stick near sources of cover for those all-important saves. These are the one unit that might actually want Star Engines to get even better Battle Focus shenanigans.
*'''Fire Storm (Forgeworld):''' A very decent AA-Tank (it's still a Fast Skimmer) from the Imperial Armour 2005 Update. It costs 190 pts base, has BS 3 (which is not THAT great on a AA Tank), 12/12/10 and 3 HP. It comes stock with a Fire Storm Scatter Laser, which is a beefed up Scatter Laser for flyer hunting, with 60" Range, Heavy 6(!) and Skyfire, Interceptor and TWIN-LINKED. Sadly it's keeping his Strength 6 and AP 6, which is why it threatens FMC not as much as it does light flyers. Altough the sheer volume of shots with twin-linked should make up for that. If you buy one, you also have to take either a Shuriken cannon or twin-linked shuriken catapults (why would you?). You can also give it Star- and Vectored-Engines, Holo-Fields and Spirit-stones. The Holo-Field and Spirit Stones are mandatory on this thing, because you don't won't it to Jink, get stunned or shaken, which would decrease it's potential to kill a flyer (remember, it only has BS3). Star-Engines aren't worth the points, because you don't want it to move with full speed anyways, whereas the Vectored-Engines are quite useful if you don't want to face your back at the flyer that just flew over you, and could potentially turn around to hit you in the rear armour. All in all, not a bad choice if you need additional AA firepower. But then again, you have much cheaper and better suited flyers for that.
*'''Lynx (Forgeworld):''' Lighter and cheaper version of Scorpion. Might be considered a heavy grav-tank. Has 5 HPs, decent 12/12/11 armour and hull-mounted Lynx Pulsar or Sonic Lance, with additional underslung Shuriken Cannon. The Sonic Lance is mean 18"-Hellstorm with AP2, which wounds everything on 3+ and rolls 3D6 for armour penetration. Holo-fields and Spirit Stones are basically obligatory upgrades to keep this thing going after being shot at. While technically a clumsy Flyer that might not Jink and can only fire Snapshots whilst Zooming, Lynx can be also deployed as a Fast Skimmer with the Tank type at the beginning of the game. Aside from running away from some nasty assault, this is the preferable mode. All in all comparable to Wraithknight, Lynx trades durability for higher firepower and slightly lower cost even with upgrades.
*'''Warp Hunter (Forgeworld):''' The new update made things more interesting.  Its D-flail is S:D AP2, which can either be fired as the banewolf template from hell or a d3+1 shot barrage weapon. (Small blasts).  Better and worse than the Corsair version.  Craftworlds aren't limited to 1 squadron per detachment, but the Dispersed rule is a straight -1 to the Destroyer table (unlike the Corsairs "6s are 5s" version).