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

===Lords of War===
*'''[[Khaine#The Avatar of Kahine|Avatar of Khaine]]''': Oh, hell yes. With a Greater Daemon-esque statline unlike anything else in the codex (S/T6, WS/BS/I10) the Avatar can take on the toughest of opponents with ease, usually hitting with 5 attacks minimum. With a 3+ armour save, 5++, +2 Strength in Close Combat for S8, and total immunity to melta weapons and flamers (as well as Pyromancy and Soul Blaze weapons for good measure making him an utter god-send (pun intended) against Tzeentch who spam soul-blaze to warp and back), he's surprisingly hard to take down too. Oh, and he gives himself and any troops within 12" Fearless, Rage, and Furious Charge as well. His main detraction point is that even with Fleet he's pretty slow. In an Eldar army. Still, for CC potential, he's way up there in the army list. Only problem is, he now occupies the Lord of War slot along with the Wraithknight.
** '''Note:''' If you do decide to take him (cause you can't fit a Wraithknight in, are doubling up on FOC or are taking the Eldar specific detachment, which can fit both) you might want to make him the Warlord. If you do, you should probably take Personal Traits, as they can really help the Avatar become even more of a badass motherfucker. Only Furious Charge is a dud right now, all the rest...Counter Attack? Outflank? It Will Not Die? ''Feel No Pain?!'' Yeah, you want those.
** '''Note 2''': Just to be clear, the original entry for the Avatar was written when he was merely a Challenge Monster, so let me be extremely blunt: with his current rules set, the Avatar is a Challenge ''God''. All of the big Challenge Lords: Kharn, Dante, Skulltaker, Logan Grimnar, even Chapter Master Smashfucker, all of them will statistically lose to the Avatar. Only the really big cheeses like Draigo or Abbadon have a good shot of taking him down (and even Abbadon will <s>be one bad Drachn'yen roll away from losing</s> obviously use the claw and statistically win without breaking a sweat). In order to beat him reliably in CC, you need a REALLY good Invul save or absurdly high toughness, a reliable source of Instant Death, D Strength, or a lot of high Strength attacks. And that's just challenges, on the charge he can and will punch FAR above his points level (he will knock down an Imperial Knight on the charge, no questions asked). This might not affect your decision to take him (Eldar are primarily a shooting army) but if you want a good challenge god, there is no one better in the Eldar codex.
***'''Refutation to the Alternate Take:''' Now before this becomes a pissing match (in which case post further in the discussion board), the Avatar of Khaine is WS10 and I10 (He hits first against everything and if you survive to hit back you most likely will hit on 5+) with an Invulnerable save and 5/7 S9 AP1 Armorbane attacks, most Monstrous creatures outside the Keeper of Secrets and the Bloodthirster do not even come close to that. The only thing he lacks is Eternal Warrior. You have to be WS5 or better lest only 1/3 of your attacks hit. He may not be great at killing 3 of a shit ton of unique characters (the rest he kicks their shit in), but nobody is better at destroying Monstrous creatures, walkers (up to and including Imperial Knights with a little luck), and ''entire'' squads of MEQ and TEQ in one wrecking-ball charge.
*'''[[Wraithknight]]''': As of the Craftworlds Codex, this criminally under costed thing is now a Lord of War, and a Gargantuan Creature. Bigger than a [[Battlesuit#XV-104 Riptide|Riptide]] and almost the size of a Revenant Titan, the Wraithknight is truly a monstrous force upon the battlefield, and armed to the teeth with it. For shoulder weapons, Shuriken cannons and starcannons both give it anti-light or anti-heavy infantry power but these options are subpar. It's got a huge mobility advantage too, counting as a Jump Gargantuan Creature. Move up to 12" in the move phase, end in some piece of cover or whatever else you need to be and if assaulting reroll the charge distance if you need to and Hammer of Wrath with Smash etc etc. It is now resistant to the Poison and Sniper rules (needing 6s to wound it), while instant-death and remove from play effects only does D3 wounds to it and it also has Feel no Pain. It's best to imitate the Riptide generally though. The Wraithknight will wipe the floor with Dreadnoughts and MCs in CC thanks to its Ghostglaive now being Strength D. and the high Initiative of 5, but don't forget about hammering your foes with your unique firepower (see below) and generally providing a massive distraction for your other, squishier, troops. It'll always draw tons of fire, so watch out for heavy anti-tank. Here are the pros and cons of each loadout:
** '''Heavy Wraithcannons''': Identical to the fearsome Wraithguard weapons but with three times the range, the Wraithknight can dominate and annihilate any individual target regardless of size or defenses; being a Destroyer Weapon allows these guns (you have two, remember) to remove any two targets you please (being a Gargantuan Creature allows you to target 2 separate units with each of your two Wraithcannons). These come stock on the Wraithknight; however, like the regular Wraithcannons, these weapons run into issues against cover saves unless you roll a 6 to wound on the Destroyer Table. Now you're a Gargantuan Creature. Take those extra weapons you can fire!
** '''Ghostglaive & Scattershield''': The Ghostglaive is Strength D, Master-Crafted, and the Scattershield confers a 5++ invuln save. Additionally, whenever the wraithknight passes the 5++ any enemy models within 6" must make a blind test. While it sounds like an ideal choice for a CC knight, it is largely outshined by the other options. Strength D is only really necessary super heavies, gargantuans, high toughness MCs, pimped out Eternal Warriors, etc. For everything else the Wraithknight's S10 is sufficient. So versus the Wraithcannons, you are trading 2 long range D shots (a rather rare ability in non-apoc games) for a 5++ and marginally better melee. Not worth it from a purely competitive point of view. But since the Wraithknight itself is quite cheesy, it might make your games more fun and fair if your big boy is purely CC.
** '''Suncannon & Scattershield''': perhaps the greatest of Vaul's creations, the Suncannon is the absolute pinnacle of Eldar plasma weaponry, burning with the heat of a star but cool to the touch, meaning no dumb killing itself with every shot bullshit like other units. The Suncannon fires three shots at a lovely 48" range, each is a TEQ hunting nightmare with S6 AP2, but that’s not enough is it? No, now the weapons shots are all diamonds, I mean small blasts. With Guide support the blasts should land pretty easily on target. This weapon could potentially reduce a squad to no dudes or not enough models left to care about, it is deadly, and it will do serious damage. Comes with a scattershield as well for a 5++ save. As of 7th Edition, it's now a free upgrade. Which loadout you give it depends on what you normally face. The double Wraith-cannons sacrifice defence for removing 2 separate, high priority single targets, the Ghost Glaive is to make the Wraithknight the scariest close combat beast in the game. This gives you the ability to demolish both hordes and TEQ alike, but is pretty shit against moderate AV vehicles or higher.
*** In larger points games (Over 1500 or so) a Wraithknight can become the biggest and most unreasonably tough [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] ever. With T8, it's immune to everything S4 and below, you have to be S7 before you need better than a 6 to wound it, and its 3+, 5++, FnP, built-in resistance to Poison and Sniper (only works on 6s), AND 6 wounds means that it's nigh on impossible to bring down (this goes double if you manage to cast Fortune on it).  (But our depraved cousins might just Webway Portal a bunch of S8AP2 shots into your face, as is their right, so watch out for that.) Access to the D in both melee and long range will make it a serious threat to absolutely everything up to and including Titans, and as a Jump Gargantuan Creature, it's fast enough that your opponent can't ignore it. Throw on the Pacific Rim theme as your personal Jaeger drop kicks tank battalions, hops over ADLs to smash artillery and squish heavy weapons teams, while all the while your Falcons and Aspect Warriors run around getting to kill things unmolested, because the Wraithknight is absorbing all the fire. The only practical way to take one down as of now is to either tarpit it with a shitload of tough models (who might get stomped anyway) or fire as many lascannons or grav-weaponry at it as possible and hope for the best.
***They ran this thing against a Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster, a Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage, an Imperial Knight, a Toxicrene, and Deathwing Knights. Of them all, only the Deathwing Knights managed to kill it with 2 guys remaining thanks to SMITE MODE (This was an idealized scenario. We all know you Eldar players would either ignore them or gang up on them with Bladestorm. Deathwing is still shit). The Toxicrene was hilariously wiped since its Instant-death and poison now mean jack to a Gargantuan Creature, the Knight was downed because the Wraithknight went first and also had a D-weapon. The two bloodthirsters are unfortunately little surprises. The WoKBTs weapons now are expensive paperweights for the GC, and the BToIR with its I1 Destroyer weapon, the Great Axe of Khorne, was stomped even. If you can tarpit it with 50 or more fearless models, go for it. The simple fact is is that this thing is awfully undercosted for what it brings to the table.
* '''Skathach Wraithknight (Forgeworld)''': Good news everyone! We've got an offical Wraithknight variant. The Skathach Wraithknight is 315 points, a bit more expensive than your normal Wraithknight, but might be worth it if you want to shell out the points. Has the same statline as your favorite undercosted Gargantuan, but has one piece of new wargear on both types. The Warp Shunt Generator, allows you to leave the table in the movement phase, allowing you to get out of a sticky situation, or to move in any direction 18"[[http://imgur.com/y8qrvPm.png Errata]], and then scatter 1d6.  You can also use it to disengage from a fight[[http://imgur.com/y8qrvPm.png Errata]]. This makes sure that you never get stuck behind a few rocks. If you scatter into a unit, you leave the table and take a wound. You can take 2 of their weapons, or 1 and a Scattershield (Primaries and Shield are all for free), as well as up to 2 Heavy Weapons in any combination (Scatter Lasers, Starcannons and Shuriken Cannons). 
** '''Inferno Lance''' The Inferno Lance is a d3+2 shot S8 AP1 Melta gun with a 36 inch range. I like to think of it, as a very consistent D weapon, firing 4 per lance on average, and peeling wounds off of other GC's, and slapping super heavies around pretty easily. It's less "Ride or Die" than the Wraithcannon and praying to roll a 6.
** '''Deathshroud Cannon''' Imagine if a Warp Spider Exarch trained hard every day. He trained so hard, that one day, he became Wraithknight sized. This is your unit. Each Deathshroud Cannon is S7 AP4, with the Mono-filament rule, and shred. This either fires a Hellstorm Template, or a Massive Blast at 48" with the same statline. Perfect for mulching hordes, and slapping some Autocannon rounds at tight clusters of vehicles.
** '''Note:''' This thing right here is one of the most cheesiest bricks in the whole game. Seriously. Unless you want to have a CC Wraithknight (or you run out of points), you should always use this Monster here instead of a regular Wraithknight. It has the same Statlines and Special rules, so it's basically as good at stomping something dead in CC as every other WK variant. Pay only a (relatively) small amount of extra points to give this thing two Starcannons and equip it with two Deathshroud cannons. Voila, you got yourself a only a bit more expensive JGC with a teleporter and two hellstorm templates (or 7" Blasts) that will wreck almost everything. Also note, that you can use your FnP against the Wound when you scatter off into ongoing reserves.

====Super Heavy and Titans====

Eldar Titans (e.g. Revenant & Phantom) have titan holofields, which force your enemies to roll D6 after hitting it with ranged weapons and roll 4+ or 3+ if your vehicle does not move (why wouldn't it?) or nullify the hit - which is just an odd and unwieldy way to describe 4++/5++ which works against D-weapons and stacks with other saves. This make their medium-armored hulls far, FAR more resilient, especially against D-strength weapons. Throw in Fortune for even more annoying trollery. With the recent update of IA11, the super heavy tanks have ''Improved Holo-fields'', which give a 4++.
*'''Scorpion (Forgeworld)''' – Huge fast tank with twin-linked turret-mounted pulsar (which is R60 SD Heavy 2 5"blast). The Shadowsword wishes it could be so deadly. It wasn’t selling very well compared to the other Eldar superheavy skimmers, so instead of fixing it (say giving it Heavy 4 or even the only Heavy 2 pulsar) they have nerfed the other two.
*'''Cobra (Forgeworld)''' – Scorpion chassis with HUGE hull-mounted D-Impaler (cue chuckle).  The gun is short ranged for a superheavy (only 36"), but has a 7" massive blast, ignores void and power fields and has your regular Str D Primary weapon perks.  The 7" blast template stays on the ground for a round, the glowing ground wounding all non-superheavies that start or end their movement take a wound/glancing hit on a 6.  
*'''Revenant Titan (Forgeworld)''' – Your light titan. Two pulsars or two sonic lances, its missile launcher now also has Skyfire + Interceptor, in case there's a pesky flyer nearby, can fly on its giant jump-pack up to 36". With the update to IA11, it can no longer Run and Shoot, however it auto-runs 12" now, . Extremely mobile and deadly, but a bit fragile with only AV12. However in combat a little rule called Wraith Titan helps him out which debuffs anything trying to hit it (Gargantuans and Superheavies can only hit it on 5+, everything else on a 6) means that when playing a CC army he is still very useful. This also affects the Phantom titan.
**'''Weapons:''' - It can take one of each as written, but FW does not sell them with separate weapon options.
***'''Pulsars:''' - 2 Large blasts per gun at strength D, the go to weapon if you think the enemy is bringing another Super Heavy, or some crazy deathblob.
***'''Sonic Lances:''' - Whats better than AP 2 hellstorm pinning templates that wound on 3+? Hellstorm templates that torrent 18" away. When firing at a vehicle they count as S1, but roll '''4d6 and pick the highest 3''' (due to ordnance.) These have a unique addition to their rules when used by the Revenant, which are as follows, pinning test is made with 3d6 picking the 2 highest, and non superheavy vehicles '''hit''' by this weapon are auto '''Crew Stunned''' in addition to any other effects, if it gets a penetrating hit against a super heavy, it loses an additional D3 HP. Your go to anti infantry weapon, but not useless if they're mostly vehicles, infact, auto stunning a vehicle is hilariously broken.
*'''Phantom Titan (Forgeworld)''' – Absurdly powerful. With AV13, titan holofield bullshit forces re-rolls to shoot it, and 24 HP make it almost indestructible. It could spam D-strength pie-plates with 4-shot pulsars, blast enormous areas to hell with SUPER D-Bombard (like the Cobra's D-Impaler but with a 10" diameter, and instead of 6's it AUTO puts a Str D shot on anything in the glowing crater at the start of the victim's movement OR shooting phase, or fuck anything (up to and including Imperator titan) in close combat with XBAWXHUEG space-elf-ninja-titan sword. And unlike imperial or orky heavy titans the Phantom is fast – it can also run 12" without rolling.
*'''Vampire Raider (Forgeworld)''' – Eldar transport flyer, can equip pulsar, and poorly armored, but still very tough with eldar holofields. It’s a good vehicle on its own, but Eldar are fast enough, especially with 6-th edition buffed flat-out moves for fast skimmers. Leave heavy sky transport to space marines and weaboo space communists.
*'''Vampire Hunter (Forgeworld)''' – Twin linked pulsar on flying platform. Fucking awesome.