Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Ynnari(7E)

Why Play Ynnari?

Pros:

• You can finally field one big mega-detachment of Craftworld Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Harlequins - show these Imperials they do not have the exclusivity on mega-detachments!
• You are gonna dominate the field quite easily. No for real dude, do not go overboard with this faction since you can do a ton of OP combos.
• Finally DE can have a decent comeback and we can all forget about their codex.
• Remember that FAQ that said we couldn't put our units in allied transports before game start? Yeah forget about it - all CE, DE, and Harlequin units taken in an Ynnari detachment are part of the same faction - we are back!
• If you want to go for a fluffy army, the Ynnari can be easily made to represent a reborn Aeldari Empire of sort that unifies forces from all of the old Eldar factions - in other words, go nuts with customization of units, colors etc; you could go overboard by representing all your units as provening from a different Craftworld/Kabal, and still be extremely fluffy.

Cons:

• People might simply not want to play you given the fact you are uber-cheesing an army by many considered OP (CE).
• TO might limit Ynnari at tourneys in the future, given the potentially gamebreaking combos you can make.
• People used to play CE will find that the Ynnari underperform when you try to play them similarly to CE - they are an infrantry-heavy faction that plays extremely aggressively to make use of their unique rule Soulburst. This may (and will) make you radically change your playstyle.

Special Rules

Strength from Death

Your units lose Ancient Doom, Battle Focus, and Power from Pain, but gain this (note: they gain it whether or not they lost anything, so you get it on e.g. a Sslyth or Ur-Ghul). The new rule confers no direct special benefit on its own; your units are just as squishy as they were before. However, things get extremely interesting when people start dying.

Every time a unit. friend or foe, is completely destroyed while within 7" of a non-vehicle unit that has this rule, then one of those units may immediately "Soulburst", which is a Move action, Shoot action, or Charge move as if it were the relevant phase, though a unit may only "Soulburst" once per turn.

This allows you to create some incredible chain reactions where units topple with spectacular effect. It is also not limited to your own turn, so your opponent may feel the sting when he destroys one of your squads, only to be charged by Howling Banshees, or fired at by Dark Reapers, maybe also get destroyed and trigger another nearby unit to Soulburst, potentially causing an avalanche of destruction to his own army in his own turn.

It can allow you to double tap units in the shooting phase. Say Fire Dragons destroy a transport within 7" of them? Not an uncommon occurrence. Well since they've legitimately destroyed a unit within range they may now immediately Soulburst and fire at the unlucky sods who just crawled out of the wreckage. Let's not get started on Wraithguard.

This of course encourages you to play infantry heavy armies, since vehicles cannot use the rule. It also encourages you to play your units close together to ensure you actually benefit when your own squads go down, where a savvy opponent might try and isolate and destroy your units piecemeal, lest the destruction of one unit spark a shitstorm of retribution on his ass.

Be warned against charging into pre-existing melee combats, as although your "Soulburst" charge move might have been out of sequence, the initiative order continues to resolve as before, "including for models in the charging unit", which if you ask most people means continuing to descend towards zero from whatever position it was before you charged. This means if you charge into combat after your initiative step is over, you will never get to swing, so you may be walking into a power fist with nothing to defend yourself with. This particularly includes Hammer of Wrath attacks, as most combat deaths occur at initiative 9 or lower.

Warlord Traits

1. Lord of Rebirth: Warlord has IWND.
2. Warden of Forgotten Wisdom: If your Warlord is a Psyker, you may select your powers instead of rolling for them. So much potential in this. For example, get this on a Farseer dipping into Telepathy for Invisibility, every time. If your warlord isn't a psyker you re-roll this trait.
3. Walker of Many Paths: Warlord can choose a USR that lasts until the next movement phase: Furious Charge, Hit & Run, or Move Through Cover.
4. Master of Death: Roll a 6 to wound for any of your warlord's attacks and it gains the Instant-Death special rule.
5. Ruthless Commander: Warlord and all Ynnari units within 7" have Fearless. Waste on the Avatar of Ynnead.
6. Favoured of Ynnead: Warlord and their unit can make a Soulburst action within 14" instead of 7". Yvraine starts with this.

Artefacts of Ynnead

• Corag-Hai's Locket: If the model holding this slays one or more enemy models in close combat, regenerate a wound on a roll of 4+. Make your Eldar Lord into a Vampire Count.
• Hungering Blade: Very situational. It is a Fleshbane weapon with no AP value. If the bearer kills an Aeldari model with this weapon then they recover all lost wounds. Meh.
  • Alternately, giving this to a Harlequin Character (Read: Troupemaster) could be good. Same cost as a powersword, giving 5 WS6 Fleshbane attacks on the charge. Not something to sneeze at.
• The Lost Shroud: Turns your Eldar character into a tank. You get Eternal Warrior, Feel No Pain, and It Will Not Die. However, like the Mantle of the Laughing God in 6th edition, it removes the Independent Character rule from the model, so they can only ever go it alone. Best used by models with a Jetbike or lone units like a Solitaire.
  • Troupe Masters can also take this and have no Independent Character rule to lose, if you're keen on that sort of thing.
• Mirrorgaze: The wearer of this special helmet gets the Blind, Counter Attack, and Night Vision rules.
• Song of Ynnead: 18" range S1 AP5 pistol that fires poisoned shurikens giving it the Poisoned (2+) and Bladestorm USR's. But also causes enemies to have hallucinations of vengeful spirits when victims are killed by it. Granting it the Death-Jestery special rule: Deathsong: If a model is killed by this weapon, then its unit must take a morale check at the end of the shooting phase even if it's a Guard blob squad of fifty and you only kill 2% of the unit. Fun? Fun.
  • Giving this to a Solitaire could be useful. Finally using that ridiculous Ballistic Skill 9 for something other than a grenade would be awesome .
• Soulsnare: A one use psychic grenade. Can be thrown 8" and has a small blast. While it is only S3, it has AP2 and the Instant Death rule.

Revenant Discipline Psychic Powers

Any Psykers with the Aeldari/Ynnari faction can opt to roll on this power chart in addition to any disciplines they know. (Note: despite it being present in the leaked appendix from the enhanced edition, no unit actually has the "Terrors of the Warp" rule, so Ynnari Psykers use the revenant discipline as normal)

• Primaris - Spirit Hook - WC1. 18" Focussed Witchfire that doesn't have a weapon profile. If your Leadership value is higher than the target then they suffer a single S6 hit. Otherwise they are struck at S3. No Armour or Cover saves are permitted (Invulnerable saves are though) and the power has no effect on vehicles.

1. Shield of Ynnead - WC1. All friendly units within 7" get a 6+ invulnerable save. Better than nothing, and can stack with Sanctic Daemonology's "Sanctuary" power for a 5+.
2. Storm of Whispers - WC1. A 9" S3 AP2 nova that shoots 2D6 times with ignores cover and pinning. Although it is hampered by short range and low strength, the potential for a high number (average = 7, noticing a theme?) of armour and cover ignoring shots is not to be sniffed at.
3. Word of the Phoenix - WC2. Pick a friendly unit with Strength from Death within 24". That unit may immediately make a Soulburst action.
   • Consider this your uber form of "Vanhel's Dance Macabre" where you can rapidly get your units where they need to be. You've just moved, so move again... Or just get a free round of shooting if you're already close enough. No real point in getting a unit to charge during the psychic phase.
4. Ancestor's Grace - WC2. A better form of the "Enhance" runes of battle power combined with "Will of Asuryan" from the runes of fate. It gives a friendly unit +1 on WS, BS, I, A & Ld, as well as Adamantium Will.
5. Unbind Souls - WC2. Another witchfire, this time 12" range with S4 and no AP value. Though you do fire a number of shots equal to the number of models in the target unit and if you cause any casualties then nearby units are eligible for a Soulburst, even if you didn't destroy the unit completely.
6. Gaze of Ynnead: - WC3. 12" S10 AP1 Assault 1, Ignores Cover, and no Invulnerable saves can be taken against this power. While this pretty much a guaranteed wound, just bear in mind that it is WC3 for a single shot that can still miss.

Unit Analysis

The gist of the Faction is that you get to use Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Harlequins units together. Since it would take a lot of effort to list all the units on here (as well as figure out which ones are better at which rolls), they are not yet added. In the meantime you can refer to their own articles to see what they're good at. We'll get to it where any new tactics for old units begin to stand out

HQ

• The Visarch, Sword of Ynnead: WS/BS/I7 with a 3+ Armor Save, and can auto-LoS for Yvraine if she's in the same unit, and always passes Glorious Interventions for her. Rules-wise he has Stubborn, Eternal Warrior, Rampage, and Precision Strikes in addition to the usual rules. His relic sword Asu-Var is an S+2 AP2 two-handed melee weapon with Silence, where every enemy unit within 3" must use their lowest Ld value instead of their highest Ld. Side note: he always gets a Warlord trait, even if he isn't the Warlord.
  • Champion of Ynnead: His nifty rule which allows him to regenerate a wound whenever an Aeldari model dies within 7" of him on a 4+. In addition, if the model was a character then the Visarch gains an extra attack (to a maximum of 7)
  • He's similar to Vargard Obyron: a bodyguard unit that could be taken alone, but you really want him along with Yvraine. On his own he's like an inferior phoenix lord, capable of blitzing his way through combat or challenges with a high number of high initiative S5 AP2 attacks, but he really needs to get momentum going to build up more power. However, he's fragile and has no invulnerable save, only a 3+ Armour save and only three wounds, so you have to cross your fingers and hope he kills his opponent before they start swinging back. Take him with Yvraine and keep them together as a pair. Technically she is the superior combatant anyway, so the Visarch can tag in when things get too hairy and let her recover.
• Yvraine, Herald of Ynnead: WS/BS/I8 with Eternal Warrior, Stubborn, and is a ML2 Psyker who gets D3 extra warpcharges only she can use thanks to her Gyrinx Familiar. She can dip into Daemonology (Sanctic) and Revenant powers. She has a 4++ invulnerable save to mitigate her shitty 6+ armor save. Wargear-wise, she has the Kha-vir, Sword of Sorrows, which is a S+1 Huskblade. Better make use of this rule below...
  • Herald of Ynnead: IWND on steroids. Every time an Aeldari model dies within 7" of her, roll a die and on a 4+ she regains a lost wound. In addition, if it was a Psyker then she gets +1 to her Mastery level, to a maximum of Level 4, and generates an additional Psychic power immediately.

Elites

• Black Guardians: Rolls Defenders and Storm Guardians into one package. However, if one guardian swaps his Shuriken Catapult for a Pistol/CCW, then they all must do so and can take a Fusion Gun or a Flamer. If they all keep their catapults they can take a Weapon Platform instead. Unfortunately they don't have access to Warlock squad leaders and from a statistical viewpoint they are no different from normal guardians. The reason you might take them is that they may kept in reserve and deployed via Deep Strike without scattering as long as they are placed more than 9" from enemy units.
• Black Guardian Windriders Normal Eldar jetbikes (with a few points of tax - 20 points per bike, base) with the Webway Assault rule so you can Deep Strike them. Cannot take a Warlock leader.
• Black Guardian Vypers 45-point-base Vypers with Webway Assault.
• Black Guardian War Walkers 65-point-base War Walkers with Webway Assault.

Lord of War

• Yncarne, Avatar of Ynnead: Oh, fuck yes. Has an equally Greater Daemon-esque statline like the Avatar of Khaine (WS9, S/T6, I10). She has a 3+ Armor Save and a 5++ for being a Daemon, and she carries Villith-Zhar, an AP2 melee weapon with Fleshbane, Armorbane, and Soulblaze. Rules-wise, she has Eternal Warrior (which is a big step up from the Avatar of Khaine, sorry bud!), Strength From Death, Fleet, Deep Strike, and Preferred Enemy: Daemons of Slaanesh. She's also a Mastery Level 3 Psyker and can dip into either Sanctic Daemonology or Revenant psychic disciplines. She and all Ynnari units within 12" have the Fearless and Feel No Pain USR. And if an Aeldari model dies within 7" of her, she regains a lost wound on a 3+. She can easily take on any opponent in melee and have a near-guaranteed chance of coming out on top. Except the Avatar of Khaine, since his immunity to Soulblaze will mess her up in a mirror-match.
  • Inevitable Death: When a unit of any kind dies, the Yncarne may be immediately picked up and placed as close as possible to that unit's position, provided that is at least 1" away from enemy units. Yes, this includes both arriving from Deep Strike Reserve and picking her up when she's already arrived, so it can be used zip out of a bad situation, or to Deep Strike safely on Turn 1. Speaking of Deep Strike, the Yncarne must always be deployed in Deep Strike Reserve.

Eldar Units

The original tactics - Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Eldar(7E)

• Note: sadly you cannot use the Avatar of Khaine

HQ

• Eldrad Ulthran:
• Prince Yriel:
• Illic Nightspear:
• Asurmen:
• Jain Zar:
• Karandras:
• Fuegan:
• Baharroth:
• Autarch:
• Farseer: An extremely versatile character, which can be tailored to different roles depending on the enemy. It is the army main source of psychic support with its mastery lv.3, a plethora of items to help said versatility (see down) and the ability to roll on 5 different disciplines (Divination, Telepathy, Demonology Sanctic, Runes of Fate and Revenant). All of these factors ensure that this HQ will always be able to support your army (or deal its fair share of damage to the enemy) and that taking 1 or 2 will never disappoint. He can be tailored by taking relics from either the Ynnari and the CE lists; another thing to note is that you can give him a jetbike and a singing spear (you should always do both).
• Warlock Conclave: The Runes of Battle is a useful yet relatively inoffensive discipline that has buffs that applied to its own unit, and had some situational debuffs to enemy units. By and large the Runes were better suited to Warlocks who lead Guardian squads than a squad of warlocks itself. The new Revenant Powers are either much more directly killy or provide exceptional buffs to nearby units, both traits that the Runes could never hope to match, so the Warlock Conclave makes for a great unit to follow your own units around and support your army. There is still no reason to ever take the Warlock Conclave as its own HQ choice as several of the formations require them.
  • Alternative opinion: in very particular situations it might be a decent cheap HQ if you want to generate (relatively) cheap warp charges for the main psykers of the army (aka farseers) and mix-max a detachment. Yvraine in particular appears to be the best candidate to take advantage of the Seer Council, as she can tank a few hits before taking advantage of their deaths to replenish her health and improve her own Mastery Level.
• Spiritseer: WIth a Mastery lv.2 and the ability to roll on 3 different charts (Runes of Battle, Telepathy and Daemonology Sanctic) the spiritseer is - when taken in a normal army - a much weaker HQ choice than the Farseer; this changes in case you make use of many Wraith units due to its ability Spirit Mark, which allows them to re-roll To Hit rolls of 1 against enemies within 12" of the spiritseer. In an Ynnari army, the spiritseer can find its place primarily in the formations, but it might be a decent cheap HQ choice in case you needed to round up your psychic support.

Troops

• Guardian Defenders:This is as basic bitch as Craftworld eldar get at 9 pts a model. You can take a warlock (lvl 1 psyker) as a leader if you like. They can also be outfitted with a heavy weapons platform which may make sense for a stand and shoot Craftworld army but with the Soulburst rule you probably don't want to stand and shoot and should work to be closer to your targets.
• Storm Guardians: Basic Bitches with Swords. This trades the defender's catapults for swords. May be a better choice for Ynnari so you can be closer for Soulburst.
• Windriders: With 3+ armor, T4 and BS4, the Windriders are the MEQ of the Ynnari forces - just better. The great maneuverability offered by the jetbike allows them to hide to deny LoS (remember that 2D6 move in the assault phase) to enemies whose weapons would ignore their 3+ - and if a 3+ does not cut it, a 4+ cover save just might. The jetbike comes with a twin-linked shuriken catapult (for what is essentially 90% accuracy for a weapon that strikes at AP2 on every 6 you roll) but can swap it for a shuriken cannon or a scatter laser (former for general-purpose fire, latter for light armor wrecking).
  • Note 1: Take note that you can take a Warlock with them. Doing this is a very good idea for 2 main reasons: free Conceal for everybody for a sweet sweet 2+ cover save in the open when jinking, and a Singing Spear for S9 that can threaten even AV13/14.
  • Note 2: Quick math from the CE article - max squad is 270 points, and they can put out 40 S6 shots with scatter laser or 30 S6 shots with Bladestorm (for an average 5 AP2 shots). This is gonna put a dent in any squad you target.
• Rangers: Essentially a BS4 platform for a Heavy 1 rifle (48' range) at AP6 with the Sniper USR. The unit itself comes with Infiltrate, Fleet, Stealth and Move Through Cover - theoretically their focus should be on moving in, unleashing a massed targeted fire, and then get the out of dodge; practically, they are sitting ducks since they fire snapshots with the rifle if they move (and the only reason to bring them is their rifle). On a more positive note, this unit might actually be worth it in an Ynnari force; why? Because Battle Focus does not work with heavy weapons on non-relentless models, but Soulburst does! Usage of a maxed out unit of 10 would work something like this: place them in cover/infiltrate close to the enemy, unleash massed fire (10 shots at BS4 results in 66% hitting; of these 1/2 wound due to Sniper USR for a rough 50% chance to damage MEQ counting the AP2 chance) and then Soulburst the hell out of there. Tl;dr do not expect exceptional things from them, but do not underestimate them either.
• Dire Avengers:What is there not to like about Dire Avengers? To start with, they are the only Troops level aspect warriors and swing around with BS/WS4, I4 and Ld9 (10 with Exarch, which you should always take). As a general rule, they are a decent basic infantry with some extra tricks to survive the battle - their shuriken weapons have a range of 18 compared to usual 12, which when combined with Bladestorm (every 6 is AP2) and Battle Focus ensure the Dire Avengers have a pretty good chance of avoiding the enemy charges while retaining a decent level of firepower. Compared to average Guardians, they rock +1Ld, 4+ save and the special rule Defensive Tactics, which gives you the choice between Overwatching at BS2 or gaining Counter-Attack and Stubborn once charged (but if you choose the latter, no Overwatch for you). A decent and fluffy option, yet inferior in many ways to the other options available to the Ynnari forces - in other words, take them only in their formation.

Elites

• Howling Banshees: Aside from the fact that the daughters of Morai-Heg & Kaelis Vara'Lanthian are probably one of the fluffier units you can take in the army. The extra 3" on charge moves and the fact that they ignore Overwatch shooting means they are the absolute best unit to benefit from the free charge action of Soulburst and can be one of the biggest scares an opponent can receive when he kills one of your units only for a squad of Banshees to leap on top of him. As always avoid bumping into terminators, also avoid charging into currently ongoing combat (combat that has yet to be resolved is just fine).
• Striking Scorpions:
• Fire Dragons: Along with Wraithguard, these guys become incredibly nasty in an Ynnari list. Because their weapon range is so low, you'll want them up close to the front lines anyway. Keep them close to your own units and they become a potent countering tool. Have them hover around close combats and they'll get a free shot if the enemy slays your unit. They may also get the aforementioned "double-tap" for destroying transport vehicles, which they are very good at. Also, consider choosing a move action if you don't have any super big AV threats in front of you. Your fire dragons are likely to die the turn after you kill 2 transports, so you can use Soulburst as a way to get back in your transport safely. Next turn you move 6, disembark 6, kill another transport, and back into the wave serpent you go lol.
• Wraithguard: Wraithguard in an Ynnari army have 3 main purposes: area denial, surgical strike, and giant distraction.
  • Area Denial: Simply place them in an area and start shooting enemies; they will clear the area after your first volley of D-strength guns/flamers - having said this, expect the Wraithguard to die the next shooting phase your enemy gets - not that this is a bad thing mind you, since an inexperienced player will use overkill vs them in fear they might survive, and a more experienced player will drown them in small-arms fire (thus wasting a turn of shooting for another unit). If you want them to stick around, either buy them a transport (that they can re-enter using Soulburst!) or attach a farseer/warlock to give them some cover (Conceal/Invisibility/etc).
  • Surgical Strike: Place them in an Dark Eldar Ynnari Raider or with an Ynnari Archon with a webway portal. Deep Strike within range of two units. Wipe out the first one and proceed to wipe out the second one with the free Soulburst action from killing the first unit (and then proceed to die - either make sure to have a psyker with Invisibility attached to the unit, or an Archon with a Shadow Field on whom you have cast Fortune for that juicy 2++ re-rollable tank). Also works on popping a transport and then murdering the occupants.
  • Distraction: A unit of models with a semi-MC statline, armed with D-strength guns? Yup you will catch attention. If this is a good or bad thing...
• Wraithblades: A CQC unit with T6, 3+ save and 4 attacks on the charge with the standard kitout (1 base + 1 for dual-wielding + 1 extra on the charge from Rage), with S5 AP3 built-in? Yup, what you charge will die..if you reach them. If you are worried about them getting mowed down before reaching the intended victim/target, arm them with the Axe and Forceshield for a slower but tougher unit (AP2 with a 4++? Oh boy!). Note that taking axes means you'll strike last, which might just come in handy for once given you can Soulburst to place them in a new combat and avoid the next shooting phase from your opponent. Now cheaper than Wraithguard by 10 pts.
  • You can stick a unit of 5 Wraithblades into a DE Raider with a Reborn Detachment. This will give the Wraithblades a way to get into combat quickly, which at least a LITTLE protection, while also being able to assault after disembarking thanks to a Raider being counted as an Assault Vehicle. Just hope you get turn 1 so you can fly those babies into your opponent's face and watch him panic.

Fast Attack

• Wave Serpent:
• Swooping Hawks: As if Swooping Hawks weren't already great enough. I can only imagine chain-killing two flyers due to their vector-striking haywire attacks. Move over a flyer, kill it via haywire, soulburst and move another 18" to do it again to another flyer.
  • Note: The most pressing question though is whether Intercept can be used during a Soulburst move, and if so whether Intercept can be used in any phase rather than just the Movement Phase (as currently stated in the RAW for Intercept). Depending on the answers to this, Swooping Hawks can get a lot of mileage from Soulburst. That said, even if Intercept is restricted in its usage, Hawks still remain an excellent unit to take advantage of and trigger Soulburst, especially if you take them with an Aspect Host: Herald of Victory gives them no-scatter Deep Strike that doesn't have the distance limitations of Webway Assault, while the anti-infantry firepower (don't forget the Skyburst and Plasma Grenade!) can easily whittle down or wipe out a weaker unit. Just remember to be careful versus AOEs since you don't have Battle Focus anymore.
• Warp Spiders:
• Shining Spears: Shining Spears are more viable with Soulburst, if they manage to destroy vehicle or other unit on charge (which they should be able to) they can trigger Soul-turbo-burst 36" somewhere out of LoS instead of standing in the middle of the open ground being shot at by everything and their uncle, or being counter charged.
• Crimson Hunters:The Crimson Hunter is an amazing air-denial unit since it has the fighter role which allows it to have skyfire (given its relative rarity in the post-DfTS meta, this fact alone makes the CH a worthwhile unit) on a turn-by-turn basis, thus allowing it to double as a decent air-to-ground support plane. Just remeber to bring them using the formation since it gives them a flat 4+ cover save without jink (or a re-rollable jink save).
  • Note 1: remember that fighter planes get -1BS when shooting at ground targets; if you plan to take a single CH to have air superiority (or to deny it to your opponent), always upgrade the CH to exarch for that sweet sweet +1BS (thus becoming BS5 vs air targets and BS4 vs ground targets)
  • Note 2: Remember that air targets are not just flyers and FMC, but also FGC, Skimmers, and Jetbikes - do not let that guy claim his jetbikes are ground targets.
• Vyper Squadron:
• Hemlock Wraithfighter: What is there not to love about a flyer that is Mastery lv.2, shoots 2 D-strength AP2 blasts per turn and forces enemy units to take Fear/Morale/Pinning tests at -2Ld? The Hemlock can now take powers from Telephaty, Demonology Sanctic, Runes of Battle and Revenant Powers. This has become the hate-machine it was always meant to be! Shriek an enemy unit, blast to death any survivor and then repeat the D-blast on another unit!
  • Note I - Powers: If you are using a Freakshow themed force, pick powers from Telephaty; otherwise I would advise to pick all from the Revenant discipline, just for their absurd killing power (even tho Shriek continues to be one of the best - if not the best - offensive powers of the game).
  • Note II: You think the Wraithknight is OP? Think again! I decided to become That Guy for an afternoon by bringing 3 maxed out Air Wings of Hemlocks in a Air Superiority Detachment in a 3000 points game - while the rest of the army pulled its punches, let me tell you that 18 D-strength AP2 blasts in the turn they arrived (afterward some had to jink to avoid death, and thus could not use the blast weapon) preceded by 6-7 Shrieks vaporized 1/3 of the enemy army in a single shooting phase.

Heavy Support

• Dark Reapers:
• Vault's Wrath Support Battery:
• Falcons:
• Fire Prisms:
• Night Spinners:
• War Walkers:
• Wraithlord:

Lord of War

• Wraithknight: Everybody's favourite undercosted GC, now with even more OP-ness. Basic rundown of the guy: Jump GC (12' move/turn, re-roll charge and Hammer of Wrath at AP2 with Smash), FNP, resistance to Poison, Sniper (need 6s to wound in both cases) and remove from play/instant-death (it does D3 wounds and you can take FNP rolls!). Now add on top of that Soulburst which allows you a free action and make sure to have your mug to drink those delicious tears from your opponent. Regarding the optimal loadout (refer to the CE tactics page at the top of this section for the details):
  • Heavy Wraithcannons: strength D to kill/smash open a transport to allow other units to make use of Soulburst is a very good tactic, but count that differently from CE, this army focuses even more of sinergy - if you were looking pure firepower, even with strength D this configuration generates relatively little firepower.
  • Ghostglaive & Scattershield: Jokingly called the rape-train configuration for the Wraithknight, it gets even better (for you, not your opponent) in an Ynnari army! Charge some poor sods and obliterate the unit, just before charging another unit and killing that too...and allowing yet another one of your units to charge/fire/move again. While a CQC wraithknight is a damn good distraction in a normal Eldar army, it becomes a great sinergic unit in an Ynnari army, since it allows other units to make use of Soulburst after it charges and kills its target(s) - and do not doubt, it will kill its target.
  • Suncannon & Scattershield: 3 small blasts with 48" range at strength 6 AP2, and an invuln save slappen on top of it. Cast Guide on the knight, point at stuff and watch TEQ vanish, while your other units Soulbust into action.
  • Note: you can spam this bad boy if you really wanted - as said in the Detachment section, you only need around 90 points as tax for a new Reborn Warhost.

Dark Eldar Units

Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Dark Eldar Note: you cannot take Mandrakes, Drazhar, or any unit from the Haemonculi Covens (Haemonculi, Wracks, Talos, Chronos, Grotesques) Also note that while you are losing FNP on all your units, you are getting Soulburst on all your units (even ones that did not have/lose FNP); while you hit harder as a result of the new special rules you are more fragile as a general rule.

HQ

• Archon:
• Court of the Archon:
• Succubus:
• Lelith Hesperax:

Troops

• Kabalite Warriors: You know them, you love them. They're your cheap scoring, your anti-tank, and your source of Raiders and Venoms. The big question is whether to take them in 5-man Venom or 10-man Raider squads - the 5 man squad puts out 17 poison shots (and 22 in rapid fire range) and costs 110 points, while the 10 man puts out an effective 13 to 27 poison shots at 160 points thanks to Splinter Racks. Either squad can take a blaster, but the presence of the Raider's Dark Lance and their ability to take another Dark Lance makes the 10 man squad better at early game and emergency tank-hunting. Once you get within Splinter Rifle range it's wasteful to shoot at tanks. Venoms are better at Alpha striking infantry from far away, so keeping them hidden behind Ravagers or stationary cover for much of the game is a good idea.
  • tl;dr If you want somewhat (we're talking relative to the DE here) more durability and objective-camping ability in exchange for less initial fire power, take a pair of kitted-out raider squads. If you want more initial firepower take Venoms instead. 2 Raider Squads costs approximately 3 Venom Squads.
  • Running 10-man squads disembarked and in area terrain also helps troop survivability. This way when the raider goes boom, you don't lose half the squad due to S4 hits and bad rolls. Give them a splinter cannon, and let them pour out shots. If you get turn 1, you can move up with the raider, disembark into some cover around midfield, and get even more done with them than you ever could in the raider.
  • Strictly speaking,there isn't really much point to the shredder. Even though it is S6, it has no AP, meaning even Ork boys can take saves against the thing. Just buy a splinter cannon instead. Much better and no finicky blast templates to mess with.

• Wych Squad: Combined with a lucky Combat Drug roll will still mean these Wyches mulch through Hordes with a bunch of high initiative attacks. Give them a Raider to improve their mobility as always, and consider deepstriking them to avoid their useless first turn.
  • Wyches best function now seems to be as delivery vectors for your independent characters, since they can hold high value units such as Terminators in place while Lilith/Succubus steadily dismantles them. As mentioned above they also function against low value Hordes by striking first with massed attacks, but other Dark Eldar units such as Beastmasters can do that better.
  • All three Wych weapon choices are AP5, S-, and 5 points each. It should be noted that ALL weapons mentioned are taken on both hands, meaning that they'll always get another attack for having a second melee weapon. Each grants a particular type of rerolls.
    • Shardnet and Impaler: Reroll 1s both To-Hit and To-Wound
    • Razorflails: Reroll failed To Hit
    • Hydra Gauntlets: Reroll failed To Wound
  • At first glance, these three choices seem roughly identical. However, Weapon Skill 4 means that Wyches will only hit on 5s against WS9 and up. To be honest, if Wyches are against something with WS9, they're there as a tarpit, not to do damage. Razorflails, thus, are mostly trash. The Shardnet and Impaler, condoning rerolls of all 1s in close combat, seems useful. However, it quickly pales in comparison to the last weapon. Hydra Gauntlets, thanks to the Shred rule, re-roll ALL to-wound rolls. This is a much bigger boon than any of the competition. Wyches are Strength 3, meaning they'll wound Space Marines on 5s. Re-rolling this is much more important than rerolling the 3s to hit, since there are simply more chances to fail. The benefits against Toughness 3 units are also notable; most Toughness 3 models are also WS3, meaning the Wyches already hit them on 3s, rendering razorflails relatively redundant.

Elites

• Incubi: One of the most glorious units in a Ynnari army. Everything you loved about these guys already is basically turned on overcharge with Soulburst. AP 2 at ridicoulus initiative with free movement and out of turn charges anyone? Probably the best buddies you can take for your Blender HQ. Tau Gunline around making you miserable? Jain Zar and 9 of these guys just flew up the board in a Raider. They also benefit a lot from psychic buffs, so a farseer rolling on sanctic with a bunch of these guys in a raider makes for a highly troublesome unit.

Fast Attack

• Beastmasters:
  • Beastmaster:
  • Khymera:
  • Razorwing Flock:
  • Clawed Fiend:
• Raider:
• Venom:
• Reavers:
• Hellions:
• Razorwing Jetfighter:
• Scourges:

Heavy Support

• Ravager:
• Voidraven Bomber:

Harlequin Units

For the general tactics, see Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Eldar Harlequins(7E) Note: You can finally play Harlequins in a CAD if you want, since you can include the Ynnari HQs in all Eldar factions.

Elites

• Death jester:
• Shadowseer: With Reborn Warhost Shadowseer is free from harlequin formation requirement and now can make use of his/her Independent Character rule. Amazing addition to Seer Council deathstar (Hit and Run and Fearless from Mask of Secrets). If you stick Succubus/Archon with Armour of Misery and Webway Portal you basically get unit with -4 Ld aura that can Deep Strike precisely where you need it. And if by Cegorach's grace you manage to roll Mirror of Minds on Phantasmancy anything with Ld9 and dont deny you is guaranteed to be destroyed (Riptides? Greater Daemons? bye bye). Add Ancestors' Grace or Hemlock and ANYTHING that does not deny you is ANNIHILATED. Chances that you get those powers are not big, but thats why we have Warden of Forgotten Wisdom. Ow yea, and after their Wraithknight shatters from 2WC psychic power you get Soulburst to make your warlocks hurl S9 spears at whatever hapless victim is nearby. Then continue psychic onslaught. Then throw more S9 spears in their own shooting phase.
• Solitaire: The Solitaire can now become one of the tankiest and deadliest choices that the squishy AF harlequins can take, with the juicy new Ynnari relics. Taken with a Cegorach’s Revenge formation, which grants Consummate Performance (Re-rolling invun saves of 1) and the Lost Shroud (Eternal Warrior, FNP and IWND), he literally WILL NOT DIE. The Shroud usually dicks over character units by removing the Independent Character rule but this is totally ignored as the Solitaire can’t join anybody anyway.
  • Alternative Take: The Lost Shroud costs 35pts, which is pretty hefty for the bonuses it gives as the Solitaire has Eternal Warrior anyway and is only T3 so will have FNP ignored by str 6. HOWEVER, Corag Hai’s Locket (less than half the price at 15pts) allows him to get stuck in and recover lost wounds after killing a model EVERY fight sub-phase on a 4+. This is more statistically likely than IWND’s 5+ every CONTROLLING PLAYER’S TURN and could be a lot better than the Shroud in a high strength shooting meta.
  • The Mirrorgaze can also be a decent relic for the Solitaire, granting him Blind (very nice), Counter-attack (very nice) and Night-Vision (meh) for a rather expensive 30pts making him even more of a reliable killing machine in combat.
  • The Song of Ynnead doesn't hurt him either. Solitaire with a pistol that wounds on 2+, gets AP2 on 6's and forces morale checks when something dies? Yes please!
  • Question of point; An FAQ stated that the Solitaire could make use of both his Harlequins Kiss and his Harlequins Caress in the same fight sub-phase due to the fact that the Harlequins Kiss was worded "models equipped with this weapon" rather than "attacks made with this weapon". Is the Harlequins Caress worded the same way? I don't have my codex with me now, but if so; would giving the Solitaire the Hungering Blade mean that he makes 8 attacks on the charge, one of which is a Kiss of Death and seven of which are Fleshbane and AP2 auto-wound/glance on a 6?

Fast Attack

• Skyweavers:
• Starweaver:

Heavy Support

• Voidweaver: Just don't... one of the obligatory tax units for Harlies, this detachment gives you the option to avoid it, do so! There are so many better choices available like the Fire Prism, Ravager or even a Venom.

Formations

Reborn Warhost

An interesting combo of Combined Arms Detachment and Formations. You get your regular HQ and 2 Troops tax, but you may take any number of formations available to the Ynnari (yes the leaked table says "one of the following" but the restrictions say "any number"). This is considerably more cost effective than the Craftworld Warhost since you are not compelled to buy as many Guardian units. So once your taxes are filled, you can go directly to the formations and stack up on special rules from things like Aspect Hosts and Seer Councils and save your more traditional FOC slots for units you want to squeeze in that can't find a formation.

Everything in the detachment gets Stubborn and can ignore morale checks caused by model loss to shooting if they are within 7" of a friendly unit in this detachment.

Also, if the detachment includes more than 7 units, then two legal units may initiate a Soulburst rather than just one when a unit gets destroyed.

• Now the flip side: players who used to spam Wraithknights can no longer do so and remain "Battle-Forged" as the "Wraith Construct" option is not available to you. You only get one Lord of War slot on your FOC. You can still take one and the Yncarne though, since the Avatar of Ynnead can be taken as part of the Triumvirate formation.
  • Or can you? With a minimum tax of 90 points (Lhamaean and two Kabalite Warrior squads with no upgrades) per Reborn Warhost, you should easily be able to fit at least 4 Wraithknights in an 1850 point match.
• Similarly, there are no tank formations so you have to take your Fire Prisms and Falcons out of your Heavy Support slots.
• Realistically, you shouldn't need to use the FOC to take aspect warriors ever, since you can always use the Aspect Host formation as part of your Reborn Warhost, taking them in groups of three and adding extra more special rules to the mix. You could say the same thing about Harlequins as you have unlimited access to their formations. What this leaves you with is the freedom to take Dark Eldar units in your FOC because the Kabalite Raiding Party sucks.
  • Don't shy away from bringing Harlequins in FOC slots though. We finally have a way to bring them without paying for Voidweavers! ABUSE IT!

Ynnari Formations

• Triumvirate of Ynnead: each of the new special characters. They each add +1 to their Herald/Champion/Avatar rolls when all three are on the tabletop, meaning the Yncarne can regenerate lost wounds on a 2+ when Aeldari units go down and the other two regenerate on 3+. The other bonus is that Ynnari within 12" of two of these characters gain the Fearless rule. (The Yncarne already has this though.). But if all three are on the tabletop then ALL friendly Ynnari become Fearless, so this is awesome.
  • Reminder note: this formation gets you the Yncarne without using your Lord of War slot in your Reborn Warhost detachment, your only other option is the Wraithknight.
  • In regards to the Fearless bubble: It appears, at least to this player, that the designers intended for the Visarch and Yvraine to stick close together and enter the board during first turn, granting a not-quite 12" Fearless Bubble (Due to units having to be in overlapping 12" bubbles from the Visarch and Yvraine to benefit.) The Yncarne would then Deep-Strike in upon either A: Via Inevitable Death upon a Unit being completely wiped, or B: Coming onto the board as reserves or Deep-Strike from turn 2 onwards. At which point the entire army gains fearless. Fluffy.

• Aeldari Bladehost: 2 units of Wyches, 2 units of Troupes, and 2 units of Storm Guardians or Black Guardians.
  • If 2 units are fighting the same enemy in close combat, they gain Hatred. If 3 or more are in the same close combat they all get Preferred Enemy on top of that.
  • Furthermore, if no unit in the formation has Soulbursted yet this turn, the entire formation can Soulburst when any unit in it would Soulburst.
    • Storm Guardians are not a particularly strong close combat unit. Wyches are only slightly better and losing Power From Pain debatably makes them not even that. Meaning that this is essentially a 244 point tax on bringing 2 Troupes of Harlequins with Preferred Enemy.
      • Though if you really wanted to, you could max out both Units of Wyches with no upgrades, have them tie something up in combat with their 4++'s, granting Hatred whilst they're at it. The Storm Guardians could then either act in a similar capacity to less effect, or act as cover and ablative wounds for the Harlequins.
      • Nothing says the Black Guardians have to switch to melee, you can just have them keep their rifles and ignore CC

• Soulbound Vanguard: 2 units of Dire Avengers, 1 unit of Incubi, 1 unit of Wyches. If the Visarch or Yvraine is in any squad of the formation, the squad but not the characters get +1 BS & WS. If two units from the formation are within 7" of each other they get Furious Charge, which doesn't really help the Avengers but is good for the Incubi/Wyches. The best part of the formation is that its units can soulburst if within 14" instead of 7" of a destroyed unit. The doubling of range makes a huge difference as it will really allow these units to come to full effect much earlier.
  • Stick the Incubi with the Visarch for a frightening Close Combat unit and let the Wyches act as ablative wounds for Yvraine. The Dire Avengers can then tail these two Units around providing fire support, Furious Charge and either benefitting from or granting Soulburst.

• Ynnead's Net: 1 Warlock Conclave (forced upgrade to skyrunners), 1 unit of Windriders, 1 unit of Reavers, 1 unit of Skyweavers. When a unit from the formation kills a unit, you gain an additional psychic die for your next psychic phase that the warlock conclave may use. All units from the formation have to start in reserve. Roll reserves for all units in formation as a single rerollable roll. When they come in, each unit comes in from a different table edge.

• Whispering Ghost Hall: 1 Farseer, 1 Spiritseer, 1 Shadowseer, 2 Wraithlords, 3 units of Wraithguard or Wraithblade (any combination). All units in the formation gain Fear. Non-character models re-roll to hit rolls of 1 that target an enemy unit within 12 inches of a character from the formation (note: this does not specify shooting, so close combat is a green light as well). Enemy units locked in combat with any units from this formation suffer a -2 leadership roll when making Fear tests.

Other Permitted Formations

• Guardian Battlehost - A Farseer takes 3 Guardian Defender squads, a squad of Vypers, War Walkers, and a Vaul’s Wrath support Battery with an optional Warlock Conclave. The Vypers, Warwalkers and Vaul’s Wrath get preferred enemy against an enemy within 12″ of the Defenders. Guardians can also purchase a Platform for free.
  • If you take this you've practically got yourself the core of an army. Which is unnecessary since your Reborn FOC has compulsory Troops choices instead of "Core formations" so you can save your points for something else. This might have been a good way to get War Walkers and Weapon Batteries in your army without using Heavy Support slots, but taking lots of Guardians in an Ynnari force is not strictly the best option as you want units that hit really hard; otherwise, they make good fodder to mark close to your unit and transfer souls for more power.
• Guardian Storm Host - Same as the Guardian Battlehost, but replacing the Guardian Defenders with Storm Guardians. The Storm Guardians can now take their weapons AND power weapons for free and the non-infantry units get their Preferred Enemy.
  • Suffers worse than the Battlehost because Storm Guardians using Soulburst is about effective as a one legged man in an arse kicking competition. Extra shots of pistols aren't going to do a whole lot, and getting a free charge with Guardians of any type will always pale in comparison to what dedicated Aspect Warriors could do.
• Windrider Host: A Farseer and a Warlock Conclave take bikes to join 3 gangs of Windriders and a Vyper Squadron. Once per game all models in this formation get Shred when firing shuriken weapons.
  • This formation actually has some bite. Heavier weapons and increased speed means that Soulburst actually makes jetbikes really agressive with a very long reach across the table.
• Seer Council: No need to waste those compulsory HQ slots on Farseers and Warlock Conclaves if you don't have to. Get them here and save your slots for things like Phoenix Lords and Succubi.
  • With no actual restriction on the amount you can take, after fulfilling your compulsory Troops choices on the FOC you could literally spam these as your whole army and still be Battle-Forged.
  • Give the Warlocks the new Revenant powers and let the Farseers use their traditional powers and you've got a support squad unlike any other, dishing out buffs to your army and deadly necromantic rape to the enemy.
• Aspect Host: This is where it's at. Ynnari are about taking advantage of kills by granting more opportunities for movement and attacking. Aspect Warriors are rightly known for being very good at these things, so giving them either +1 WS or BS means you are ensuring you get the most out of them when the time comes.
• Dire Avenger Shrine: These Aspect Warriors are obviously better than Guardians, but are out of their league against MEQs when compared to Dragons, Reapers, and Banshees, who can really benefit from Soulburst. Lots of mid-ranged shuriken shots might easily clear out GEQs far better, but because you can instead take Avengers as part of the Soulbound Vanguard formation which brings in other units as well and extends the reach of Soulburst there isn't as much need to use this formation.
  • I respectfully disagree. I've tried this and I had some luck with it. The +1 BS is helpful, and the ability to up your shots to Assault 3 for the phase (meaning you can use it twice if you soulburst in that same phase, shouldn't be hard) isn't bad at all. Getting them up close to soulburst isn't hard if you bring Raiders.
• Crimson Death: If you bring this formation - congrats, you own the air. More objectively, this formation gives the Crimson Hunter (an amazing unit on its own to start with) Preferred Enemy against other flyers/flying MC and a flat 4+ cover save in the open without jinking (if you DO jink, you get a re-rollable 4+ for that delicious 75% chanche of saving the wound...mind you, this is necessary given you are only AV 10 which means strength 4 can glance you to death). This might very well be the best way to bring air support for the Ynnari.
  • Note that the formation is from the pre-DFtS period and it specifies 3 CHs, not 3 CHs units - aka no sweet flying pattern bonuses for this formation.
• Wraith Host: The Wraith host is as nasty as ever, though whether or not it continues to give Battle Focus to your Ynnari Wraithguard is open to interpretation. In all likelihood, they'll retain this USR since the initial loss of Battle Focus has nothing to do with formation benefits. Either way, since the Wraith Host can be taken as part of a Reborn Warhost, this is a great way to cram three squads of Wraithguard into Nightshield/Aethersail raiders and cram your proverbial fist down your opponent's throat.
  • Note that the above interpretation is probably correct, given that RAW the Formation confers the USR which the units do not have natively and cannot thus lose it when included in the army. Knowing this the formation just became much more attractive - who doesn't want Wraithguard with both Battle Focus and Soulburst??
  • Alternative Interpretation: The above interpretations are incorrect. The RAW is, "[...] units with the Ynnari Faction lose the Ancient Doom, Battle Focus and Power From Pain special rules, if they have them." There is no concept of sequence, here - an Ynnari faction model that has any of those rules loses them, so granting them to an Ynnari faction model results in them immediately being lost.
• Kabalite Raiding Party: An Archon, a court of the Archon, 6 Units of Kabalite Warriors that can be made Trueborn, 1 unit of Incubi, 1 unit of Scourges, 1 unit of Hellions, a Ravager and everything except the Archon had to take a Venom or Raider as Dedicated Transport. No. Just no. Expensive and inneffective. Hellions and Ravagers do not belong here, the Scourges are good, but Incubi can get better buffs and less tax with Ynnari Formations, the Court is flat out unnecessary, the Archon may be functional and the potential for six Blaster/Splinter Born Venoms flying around sounds fun until you realise this is more than two thirds of an 1850 point list that gives you one close combat unit, one anti vehicle unit, 2 HQ's, six Venoms and Hellions.
• Cegorach's Revenge:
• The Serpent's Brood:
• Cast of Players:
• Cegorach's Jest:
• The Heroes’ Path:
• Faolchú's Blade:

Ulthwe Strike Force Detachment

You may take 1-4 units from the Black Guardian selection. They gain Stubborn and Preferred Enemy if the opposing any contains any Chaos Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, Khorne Daemonkin or Renegade Knights.

Note that Black Guardian units are not available to normal Craftworld Eldar armies. So other than the Ynnari Reborn detachment this is the only way to take them. But if you take them this way, they aren't actually Ynnari and so still have Ancient Doom and Battle Focus instead of Strength from Death.

• Whether they belong in a Strike Force or a Reborn Warhost depends entirely on what you intend to do with them. The Strike Force offers some nifty benefits against Chaos, doesn't take up slots in another detachment, and has the potential to unleash a nasty deep strike assault on Turn 1. If you don't need Soulburst for your Black Guardian units and have enough to fill the four slots, this is the way to go. That said, Windriders and Guardians will benefit from Soulburst if they join a Reborn Warhost and they'll still be able to deep strike starting on Turn 2. If you want to deep-strike huge Guardian mobs in hopes of triggering a Soulburst-powered double volley, keep them in the Reborn Warhost. The same can be said for large squads of Scatter Laser bikes, which stand a solid chance of getting a Soulburst double kill on some light vehicles before boosting to cover in the Assault Phase.