Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Eldar

This is the 8th Edition's Eldar tactics. 7th Edition Tactics are here. Their current tactics can be found here.

Why play Eldar?

The Aeldari Eldar, are all about elegance, efficiency, finesse, style, and precision, and are basically alone in this aesthetic among the races of Warhammer 40,000. In the game, the Eldar are a fast army with great guns, awesome toys and the resilience of strawberry shortcake. Each unit plays a very particular role, usually, everyone in a squad has the same gun and the squad as a whole aims for one goal, as opposed to squads of dudes each toting a different gun for a different kind of foe. This can help new players by not forcing them to keep all of a squad's weaponry in mind, but it also requires you move the right squad for the job to the right place, which can be tactically challenging. An ill-positioned Eldar squad has a greater chance of doing nothing than those of other armies. Some units, like Jetbikes, overcome this disadvantage with superior speed and mobility. This is huge in a game where most of the missions are about capturing objectives. If you are the kind of elf who likes it when a plan comes together, you might be tactical enough to lead the Eldar to their victory upon the battlefield.

Pros

• Fast overall with strong shooting capabilities.
• Excellent psychic powers and utility HQs such as Warlocks and Farseers.
• All the buffs and debuffs (mostly psychic, but you cannot complain) you wanted and the ability to deliver them wherever you please, with ever-reliable Farseers or psychic flyers with auto-hitting S12 flamers of doom.
• Comboing Stratagems and Psychic powers together can turn even lowly Guardians into a brick wall, or make your already tough units make Custodes look flimsy by comparison.
• Generally good leadership on most of your infantry with plenty of access to leadership buffs through auras, warlord traits, psychic support or Craftworld Attributes; some of which just make the units affected fearless.
• Eldar Trickery is back! Now you have countless ways to mess with your opponent's minds, be it Redeployment and Deepstrike strategems, Great psychic powers to enhance your Craftworlders already formidable firepower or to make one unit nigh-invulnerable for a crucial moment. And don't say 1+/4++ on top -4 to hit modifier is not dirty. A savvy player can easily become a serious Troll in the end.
• Farseers are still the most reliable Psykers in the game. Losing one to perils is very rare, especially by 8th Editions standards. 5+ to ignore any mortal wound is pretty neat by itself but GW decided that Farseers has not received enough love and now they ignore mortal wounds from perils on 2+ (something only Tzeentch Daemons can also claim for their Generic HQ units). Even then, free re-rolls to any roll to manifest or deny a power and will ensure that you do only perils in the most unfortunate circumstances. These circumstances become even more scarce if you enhance your seers with the Focus Will power, Children of Prophecy custom attribute and/or the Seer Council stratagem for a level of psychic insurance unmatched by any other.
• Aspect Warriors are finally awesome again! This solidifies our army's identity as an elite force of highly specialised troops that have an answer to any role or situation you can imagine as long as they are in the right place at the right time. (Though no aspect host strategems for 2+WS/BS)
• Access to some of the best Flyers in the game.
• Speaking of fliers, the Fly keyword is everywhere. You won't be struggling much with terrain or enemy models getting in the way.
• Dark Reapers. No seriously. They are one of the best units in the entire game right now.
• Significantly expanded customization as of Phoenix Rising, thanks to the ability to make your own Craftworld Attributes and Exarchs becoming pseudo-characters.

Cons

• All of your Infantry models (except for a select few) go squish. T3 is not much. May be remedied with countless negative to hit modifiers and with a new wounding/AP mechanic Heavy bolters are no longer our nemesis. We are extremely reliant on our armour saves and stacking negative hit modifiers to survive, so high AP weapons and/or anything that lets you ignore cover (Like Imperial Fists or Iron Warriors in general) means you have already won half the fight against Eldar.
• While we have some units that can do serious work in the close combat phase, we should generally stay out of it unless it is to sweep up units at the end of the game. With a few exceptions, the majority of our INFANTRY models are only S3 with very few options to effectively bypass it the way Drukhari or Harlequins can.
• Many of your average infantry's basic and heavy weapons may be slightly stronger, but have considerably shorter ranges than their equivalents in other armies. While this is slightly alleviated with the Eldar's faster movement, the loss of Fleet and Battle Focus getting nerfed means getting your troops in range is far more committing and far more punishable than before.
• All Aeldari Special Characters are still overcosted for what they do even if most of them did get buffed. Thankfully Eldrad got a price drop so is definitely much more usable. Aaaand now he got a price increase thanks to CA 2019.
• Most vehicles have lost the ability to take Vehicle equipment. .....You have our sympathies Xenos, we know the path you walk.... HERESY!*BLAM* *FWIP* Apologies, Commander. It appears as though a Mon'Keigh Political Officer managed to escape...May I keep his hat?.....Un-augmented dolt, you scorched my robe.....
• Virtually your entire list is extremely specialized, bar a few exceptions. While this helps these units perform admirably against their intended targets, it can make them virtually useless when forced to engage enemies outside their specialty. Additionally, many of the units in these dedicated roles (particularly your Aspect Warriors) may even struggle to do the jobs they're designed for without support from a nearby Warlock/Farseer to bring them up to par with their equivalents in other armies (that are either inherently more cost efficient, effective or any combination thereof). This can be a particular challenge for newer players.
• From a modelling perspective, a massively disproportionate amount of your unit choices are still in Finecast Resin, or even Metalcast. What's worse is most of the resin models happen to be some of the more iconic eldar units (almost all of the Aspect Warriors, their respective Phoenix Lords and the Avatar of Khaine, for example). This is compounded by the fact that as a non-Imperial/Chaos faction, the Eldar are on the ass-end of new model releases and the few recasts/kits they create are drip-fed once every half year or so. Because of this, unless you're great at molding GreenStuff or an expert kitbasher, your Craftworld infantry will be extremely difficult to customize.

Plastic Aspect Warriors Confirmed FUCK YEAH! (At least Banshees.)

Faction Keywords

There are four distinct AELDARI groups that all eldar armies fall under; ASURYANI, DRUKHARI, HARLEQUINS and ANHRATHE. Craftworlders are specifically designated as ASURYANI, with most of said units having one of five <CRAFTWORLD> designations.

An important note for any eldar player is that the FAQ introduced Battle Brothers rule states that the AELDARI and Ynnari Faction tags are no longer sufficient to include HARLEQUINS and DRUKHARI units in a predominately ASURYANI detachment and remain Battle-Forged for Matched Play games. This can easily be worked around by simply taking these units in a separate detachment, and this rule does not apply for Narrative or Open Play games.

The Craftworld army is divided under several major keywords of note, each with a variety of specialized perks associated with them. For convenience, the major keywords and their associated units are listed in the table below.

Battle Role	Aspect Warrior	Guardian	Spirit Host
HQ	Asurmen, Baharroth, Fuegan, Irillyth, Jain Zar, Karandras, Maugan Ra		Spiritseer, Wraithseer
Troops	Dire Avengers	Guardian Defenders, Storm Guardians
Elites	Fire Dragons, Howling Banshees, Shadow Spectres, Striking Scorpions		Wraithguard, Wraithblades
Fast Attack	Shining Spears, Swooping Hawks, Warp Spiders
Heavy Support	Dark Reapers	Support Weapons	Wraithlord
Flyers	Crimson Hunter, Crimson Hunter Exarch		Hemlock Wraithfighter
Lord of War			Wraithknight, Skathach Wraithknight, Revenant Titan, Phantom Titan

The Asuryani units not listed here fall under the Warhost keyword, which just kind of...exists.

Specialization Detachment Keywords

Introduced in the Vigilus Defiant campaign, several "sub-factions" were made available for players wishing to create specialized, thematic armies while rewarding them with unique tactics and abilities. Any battle-forged Asuryani detachment can be chosen to become either a Windrider Host or Wraith Host at the cost of 1 CP, with all applicable units gaining the respective host keyword associated with them. Do keep in mind; Ynnari detachments are ineligible for these specializations per the recent FAQ, so plan accordingly.

Battle Role	Windrider Host	Wraith Host
HQ	Autarch Skyrunner, Farseer Skyrunner, Warlock Skyrunner, Warlock Skyrunner Conclave	Spiritseer, Wraithseer
Elites		Wraithguard, Wraithblades
Fast Attack	Windriders, Vypers
Heavy Support		Wraithlord
Flyers		Hemlock Wraithfighter
Lord of War		Wraithknight, Skathatch Wraithknight

Special Rules

• Ancient Doom: Re-roll all failed to hit rolls in the fight phase if it charges/is charged by a Slaanesh unit. However, you must add 1 to all morale rolls when within 3" of a Slaanesh unit. A fluffy rule that helps more than hurts, but the only units likely to use this rule intentionally would likely be Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions and Wraithblades. Every other unit would be better served literally anywhere else that isn't in melee with Chaos units, let alone Slaanesh daemons.
• Battle Focus: Responsible for a fair bit of bitching in 6th and 7th Edition, it's finally been changed. Now instead of moving-shoot-move or moving-move-shoot, you can fire after moving as if you have not moved/advanced in the movement phase (so old move-move-shoot). Heavy Weapons are not allowed to use this. The whole wording thus means that Asuryani infantry and jetbikes can advance and still fire assault weapons with no -1 to hit and rapid fire after advancing, too bad we don't have too much rapid fire. All of this means that the old debate "Scatter laser VS Shuriken cannon" is over for sure (unless you're going as Saim-Hann). To be honest now battle focus feels just a bit more useful than SMs ATSKNF (very bad), as pretty much it affects only infantry, jetbikes and War Walkers and now it only gives you the ability to come 1d6" closer to your enemy (which with the army-wide loss of Fleet, isn't even re-rollable anymore), something that can be used to great effect only by Guardians and maybe Fire Dragons (anyway coming too close is a bad idea).
• Heroes of Legend: Including Phoenix Lords in your army won't mess with your Craftworld Attribute. They also can never benefit from Craftworld attributes.
• The Path of War: Objective Secured, 8th Edition Craftworld style. All Asuryani Troop choices in a Battleforged army have this rule.

Core Craftworlds

These are the classic, original Craftworlds that you may select for Your Dudes. While they are certainly less customizable that the build-a-craftworld attributes listed further below, these have the benefit of unique Stratagems, Relics and named Characters that are otherwise unavailable to you. More elaborated unit recommendations can be found in the Army Building section. Remember that your Ynnari or Conclave units don't gain any benefits from these.

Alaitoc

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A craftworld so strictly governed that many of its denizens would rather walk the path of the outcast than live such regimented lives. As such, Alaitoc generates many more rangers, pathfinders and corsairs than any other major craftworld. Despite their reluctance to remain on Alaitoc, these outcasts still ultimately remain loyal to their people and offer their services as spies and marksmen when called. In practice, Alaitoc reflects this by encouraging you to play very defensively. Many of your units can become extremely difficult to shoot at range when properly supported with Alaitoc's attribute and the myriad of other hit-modifiers available to you, forcing opponents to get closer or get into melee combat to reliably deal damage. Conversely, this attribute is virtually useless for any of your units who rely on being in close range to do their jobs, such as Howling Banshees or Fire Dragons.

Alaitoc Special Rules

• Attribute – Fieldcraft: Your opponent must subtract 1 from any hit rolls made by models from more than 12" away.
  • There isn't a single unit in the entire Craftworlds list that does not benefit from this in some way (-2 to hit for Triple Cannon Wave Serpents and Crimson Hunters? -3 to Shadow Spectres and Rangers with Conceal in play? Yes please!) Unless you are going for a specific or fluffy Craftworld list, this will most likely be your default Craftworld Attribute.
  • An interesting clarification was made in the 9/2019 FAQ in that all models outside 12" suffer the hit penalty, even if the unit they're in is within that bubble. Definitely worth keeping in mind, if only to remove room for interpretation on your opponent's part.

• Warlord Trait - Puritanical Leader: If all units within 6" of your Warlord are Alaitoc, they automatically pass Morale tests. Illic Nightspear must take this if chosen as your Warlord.
  • Nice if you don't want to shell out 2CP for fearless.
  • Obviously, this does absolutely nothing for an Avatar of Khaine, who already has this. Can be very good on an Autarch, though, since it has the same range as his re-roll aura, and gives you a good excuse not to find a way to get Will of Asuryan onto your table. Plus, who doesn't want a mobile bunker of Fearless, especially with the mobility options an Autarch has?

• Stratagem - Pathfinders (1 CP): At the start of an enemy shooting phase, pick a unit of Alaitoc Rangers in cover. All attacks that target that unit in this phase will only hit on a 6, irrespective of modifiers.
  • Note this is a flat 6, not a 6+, so keep that in mind when using this as your Rangers are already going to be -2 to Hit while in Cover anyway. In very select circumstances, this can actually buff enemy units attempting to shoot them as it guarantees a hit on a roll of a 6. In most cases, it can be a very useful tool for a squad camping objectives or deepstriking deep in enemy-held territory where Conceal support is unavailable or better used on something else.

• Remnant of Glory - Shiftshroud of Alanssair (INFANTRY only): -1 to hit the bearer in the Shooting phase, and the bearer can Deep Strike.
  • A great relic that stacks with your attribute to grant a -2 to-hit modifier to a regular Farseer, Warlock or Spiritseer at ranges over 12". An Autarch can take this, but seeing as they already have the exclusive Shimmerplume of Achillrial remnant, you'll probably only want to do this if you're taking multiple Autarchs for some reason. Note that the Skyrunner variants of the Farseer, Warlock and Autarch cannot take this relic.

Special Unit

HQ

• Illic Nightspear: At a reduced price of 65 points, Illic Nightspear is a cheap and potent HQ choice that excels at killing enemy Characters. Equipped with a special ranger rifle named the Voidbringer, Illic fires a single S4 AP-3 shot a turn that can target characters freely, deals a flat 3 damage, plus a mortal wound on a damage roll of a 6+. Did I mention that he wounds all non-Vehicle models on a 2+ and hits on a 2+? One or two rounds of shooting are all you'll need to take down squishier characters like Commissars, Warlocks, Apothecaries and Crypteks. Speaking of Crypteks, Illic's last notable perk is that he gets to re-roll all failed hit and wound rolls against Necron units. Where Illic starts to become dead weight is when most single model units have been dealt with; having only one shot a turn means that Illic will at most off one single model a turn (two, if you get lucky and roll a 6 for the bonus mortal wound against 1 wound models). This makes him virtually useless for the rest of the game, as unlike many of your other options, Illic has no way (outside being made your Warlord and using Puritanical Leader to ignore morale) of supporting any of your units. Thankfully, his revised price point means that if nothing else, you can bring him just to fill up an HQ slot for Battalion/Brigade detachments.

Biel-Tan

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A highly militarized craftworld, Biel-Tan's martial might has been halved following the Fracture of their worldship and the subsequent rise of the Ynnari. Despite this, theirs is a force still to be reckoned with. The path of the warrior is so thoroughly ingrained in Biel-Tan's society that many consider service in one of their numerous Aspect Warrior shrines to be the first step along the greater path of the eldar. Biel-Tan is arguably the most "thematic" of your choices and the vanilla craftworld that Aspect Warrior enthusiasts benefit from most. Leadership and Shuriken buffs provide considerable support for an infantry focused army and a degree of offensive flexibility other craftworlds may find somewhat lacking.

Biel-Tan Special Rules

• Attribute – Swordwind: All Aspect Warriors get +1 Ld and you may reroll to-hit rolls of 1 for all Shuriken weapons (including Scorpion Claws, Kurnous' Bow, and any Blazing Star of Vaul).
  • The improved leadership barely makes any difference unless you intend to max out squads (and even then, it's still situational); it is the Shuriken buff that should be the only reason for you to consider this Attribute.
    • Many units have access to some sort of Shuriken weapon: Dire Avengers, Shining Spears, Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, Guardians (both types), everything on Jetbikes, almost every vehicle, and more. If you love rolling many dice and want to drown your opponent in tons of saves, take Biel-Tan.
    • That said, remember you have easy access to the same mechanic elsewhere, so by the same token, if you're taking this, take less of the other sources: Autarchs provide no benefit to Biel-Tan Shuriken weapons, and Farseers with Guide provide less benefit than to other Craftworlds. Biel-Tan Dark Reaper Exarchs are specifically in a weird place where they get no improved accuracy with a Shuriken Cannon, as well.
      • Even worse, the introduction of Shuriken-buffing custom attributes such as Hail of Doom and Superior Shuriken offer flat performance upgrades to the weapons themselves which can then be supplemented by Autarch/Farseer support, meaning Biel-Tan is hardly the best attribute (or combination thereof) for spamming Shuriken weapons these days. If you're running Biel-Tan, you'll definitely want to do so more for the unique stratagem or remnants than the attribute itself.

• Warlord Trait - Natural Leader: At the start of the shooting phase, pick a friendly Biel-Tan unit within 3" of the Warlord. That unit re-rolls all misses for that phase.
  • Functionally, it's very similar to the Guide psychic power. It is slightly worse, however, due to the much shorter range and the fact it lasts only until the end of the active shooting phase. That said, a Farseer can potentially use it in tandem with Guide in order to support multiple units with reroll support. Autarchs are not ideal users of this trait due to their aura already offering re-roll support (hit rolls of 1 instead of all, but it applies to everything within 6" instead of just one unit within 3").

• Stratagem - Court of the Young King (2 CP): At the start of the Charge phase, pick a Biel-Tan Aspect Warrior unit that contains an Exarch. That unit adds 2 to its charge rolls and will re-roll hit results of 1 in the subsequent Fight phase. If the unit in question is within 6" of the Avatar of Khaine when the stratagem is used (i.e. before the charge movement happens), it adds 3 to the charge roll and can re-roll all failed hits in the following Fight phase instead.
  • While a touch pricey, this can stack wonderfully with the new Ghostwalk psychic power to add 4" to the charge, a perfect way to reliably charge a squad that just arrived on the table from reserves.
    • Howling Banshees deserve some small mention in particular, combine this stratagem with their Acrobatics ability and the Ghostwalk power and you can add up to 6" to their charge rolls, 7" if you have them screening an Avatar on the approach!

• Remnant of Glory - The Burnished Blade of Eliarna: Replaces a power sword; S User, AP-3 with D2 that gains S+1 and D3 against Orks.
  • Strictly better than a power sword on your Autarch against multi-wound models, but worse than the Shard of Anaris against almost everything, or the Firesabre against single wound models. A pretty easy skip.

• Remnant of Glory - The Spirit Stone of Anath'Lan (Psyker only): The PSYKER using this may re-roll failed Psychic Tests, but any test that also fails a second time prevents the Psyker from casting any additional powers that phase.
  • Best used on a key Warlock or Spiritseer, who lack the Ghosthelm re-roll support and Perils of the Warp protection that your Farseers have. They can also only cast one power a turn anyways, so failing twice in a row won't penalize you any more than your tragically poor luck already has. That said, Farseers can still make ok use of it, in the event that they fail their second cast of the turn and have already used their Ghosthelm re-roll.

Special Unit

Elites

• Amallyn Shadowguide: A character from the new Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress box, Amallyn serves kind of an awkward role in a 40k detachment. She's one of the few named characters in regular 40k who isn't an HQ choice, and like most named characters, is strictly associated with one particular sub-faction of her kind (Biel-Tan in Amallyn's case). Her stat-sheet is almost virtually identical to your standard Rangers. But for Amallyn's 50 points, what are you getting over a regular squad of rangers? Well, as a relatively cheap character with 3 wounds, Amallyn can sit securely in or behind other units while she takes potshots with her sniper rifle, which benefits from a slightly buffed BS of a 2+. She's also not completely helpless in melee, having one extra attack and a small Power blade to cut through armor a bit more easily than any other of your rangers could. Lastly, and probably most importantly, Amallyn benefits from a 4++ invuln, meaning even if she's caught with her pants down, she'll still at least have a save of some kind. But is she worth it? If she were an HQ choice, definitely. Sadly, as far as your elite choices go, you'll have much more cost effective choices to fill these slots (seeing as she's limited to Biel-Tan, Howling Banshees or Striking Scorpions would probably be better for your army). Additionally, a regular squad of rangers runs only 10 points more and will easily plant more wounds on enemy units per turn than Amallyn could in every circumstance (they have the same Ranger Long Rifle, after all). Plus, said regular rangers can abuse both Alaitoc's attribute and unique stratagem to bolster their defenses drastically. If nothing else, Amallyn can be used if you need an elite choice and need to save as many points as possible for whatever else you're bringing.

Iyanden

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Once the most populous of the craftworlds, numerous costly invasions of Iyanden by the tyranids, orks and even Chaos have slain four out of every five eldar living within the worldship. With such swollen ghost halls, the eldar of Iyanden have little choice but to rely on Wraith constructs to make up for their vastly diminished manpower. Iyanden's playstyle very much reflects their fluff; massive casualties will do little to intimidate your blobs of infantry and your opponents will find your vehicles and constructs almost oppressively effective as long as they remain standing.

Iyanden Special Rules

• Attribute – Stoic Endurance: Units never lose more than one model from morale tests. If a unit has a damage chart, then double its current number of wounds for determining its characteristics.
  • Iyanden is the most defensive attribute that doesn't prevent any damage, but keeps you fighting to the last Eldar. This lets you take large units, which is awesome for your Guardians, Swooping Hawks, Warp Spiders, and Striking Scorpions, who all benefit considerably from taking a max strength unit. On its own, it is comparatively bad for Wraithguard and Wraithblades, who already have high leadership and need to keep their unit sizes smaller to fit in transports. On the other hand, Wraithlords, Wraithseers and Wraithknights greatly benefit from the damage chart modifier, as do any of your vehicles and fliers (Hemlock Wraithfighter exempted, ironically).

• Warlord Trait - Enduring Resolve: The Warlord may attempt to deny one psychic power in each psychic phase. If your Warlord's a Psyker, they can deny one more power. Prince Yriel must take this if chosen as your Warlord.
  • Between your Warlocks (and their variants), Spiritseers, Farseers (and their skyrunner variants), Hemlock Wraithfighters and even Wraithseers, you won't exactly find yourself wanting for ways to shut down enemy psykers. If for some reason you insist on running an Autarch (or Yriel) as your Warlord and don't have any (or very few) psykers to run support, then it can offer some means of resisting enemy psykers. It really shouldn't be your go to choice though.

• Stratagem - Guided Wraithsight (1 CP): At the start of your turn, you may pick an Iyanden Spiritseer. Until your next turn, the range of its Spirit Mark ability is increased to 12", and it allows friendly IYANDEN WRAITH CONSTRUCT units the ability to re-roll all failed hit rolls, not just 1s.
  • The best beneficiary of this stratagem would be your Wraithcannon Wraithguard and ranged Wraithlord/Wraithknight variants. They are the only ones who genuinely benefit from the increased radius, though even your Wraithblades (especially Ghostaxe Wraithblades) can't argue with full re-roll support. D-Scythe Wraithguard and Hemlock Wraithfighters gain no benefit from this.
  • Don't forget, the re-rolls apply against all enemy units within Spirit Mark's radius, giving all your wraith units full-reroll support against anything within that Spiritseer's 2' bubble. Don't be afraid to split your shots.

• Remnant of Glory - Psytronome of Iyanden (Psyker only): Single-use only, all friendly IYANDEN WRAITH CONSTRUCT units within 6" of the bearer have their attacks doubled for one fight phase, but each such will take 1d3 mortal wounds at the end of the phase.
  • Despite its limit of once per battle, the Psytronome can turn your Wraithblades into extraordinarily vicious melee units that can butcher virtually anything in the game through their sheer volume of attacks. Given the one-time nature of this relic, you may as well splurge and use any and all stratagems and psychic powers that you can to make the most out of each of these swings. If a Spiritseer is wielding the Psytronome, go ahead and spend couple command points to activate Guided Wraithsight and Supreme Disdain to re-roll all misses and proc extra attacks on hit rolls of a 6+. If you're targeting something particularly thick and meaty in the wounds department, have your Spiritseer cast either Empower or Jinx (or both, if you have another spiritseer/warlock accompanying them) and/or a Farseer cast Doom to boost their odds of wounding your target. Lastly, if you can afford it, taking these units in a Wraith Host and using the Wrath of the Dead stratagem can grant a single squad of five Ghostsword Wraithblades a minimum of 35 S6 AP-2 D1 attacks that hit on 3's, wound MEQ/TEQ on 3's, proc additional attacks on hit rolls of 6's and re-roll failed hits and wounds. With this much support, a single 5-statue squad will stand a very real chance at killing an Imperial Knight in a single charge.

Special Unit

HQ

• Prince Yriel: The cheapest Autarch variant you can take, Prince Yriel lacks the mobility options his generic cousins have access in exchange for one extra wound over his Infantry kin. This isn't even mentioning the arsenal those generic Autarchs have access to if they run the Legends gear (when legal). The main selling point Yriel has would be his Spear of Twilight, a murderous melee weapon that deals d3 damage per swing and always wounds on a 2+. Just like your Warlock/Farseer witch blades, this applies to literally everything in the game, from the tiniest Grot to the largest Warlord Titan. Unlike those witch blades, the Spear of Twilight also has a modest AP-2 to carve through some armor as well, making it a legitimate threat to most standard units in the game. Unfortunately, that's about where the good news ends for Yriel. His only ranged option, The Eye of Wrath, is a 3" pistol that shoots d6 S6 AP-2 shots that can only be shot once per battle. Really more of a fancy finishing flourish against a character you don't much care for than an actual weapon. What's worse is that as a dedicated melee character, Yriel suffers from having to re-roll all saving rolls of a 6 from attacks made in the fight phase, making him defensively weaker in a fist fight than any other Autarch variant. If you do take him, make sure he has a reasonably fighty bodyguard unit or a transport to tuck him into when moving him across the field.

Saim-Hann

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The Wild Rider clans of Saim-Hann are an honor-bound people who put the welfare of their clans second only to that of Saim-Hann itself. The Eldar of Saim-Hann specialize in swift, rapid assaults spearheaded by jetbikes and vypers, striking their foes hard and fast before retreating beyond their vengeful opponent's retaliation. Your bikers in particular will prove exceptionally mobile when fielded under Saim-Hann, even by eldar standards. Armies looking for raw speed and maneuverability will not be left wanting under the banner of Saim-Hann.

Saim-Hann Special Rules

• Attribute – Wild Host: Re-roll failed charge rolls. Bikers do not suffer a penalty for moving and firing heavy weapons.
  • If you want to use anything on a Jetbike, or plan on engaging in close combat even somewhat frequently, then this is the attribute for you.
  • Autarch Skyrunners with the warlord trait Mark of the Incomparable Hunter deserve special mention, because they can move and shoot their Reaper Launchers at Characters without penalty. A missile or two is capable of evaporating an awful lot of buffing support characters that are otherwise very resistant to sniper fire (and you weren't taking Rangers with Saim-Hann, anyway). Now only a legal option in casual games or tournaments that allow Legends units.

• Warlord Trait - Wild Rider Chieftain: Whenever your Warlord piles in or performs a Heroic Intervention, it can move 3" toward the nearest enemy Character rather than the nearest enemy model. In addition, if your warlord throws all of their attacks at one enemy Character, you add 1 to their attack characteristic until the end of that phase.
  • Brutal on an Avatar when attacking a character - WS2+ A6 S8 AP-4 D2d6 keep highest? Even Rowboat himself is going to be seriously considering falling back (and with Doom support, Mathhammer gives the Avatar a damn good chance at killing him if you're willing to burn CP to guarantee first swing on the next turn). A Wraithseer can also pulp any character idiotic enough to get too close with 5 S9 AP-4 attacks doing D6 damage per stab. It is also a touch more durable (12 Wounds at T7 that can be healed with a Bonesinger and/or Tears of Isha) and for just a bit less than half the cost (100p base compared to the Avatar's 220p as of Chapter Approved 2018), though without healing support, will perform notably worse when it gets focus-fired and worn down (and since it has more than 10 wounds, it will get focus fired). Can be mitigated by keeping it in melee and healing it when necessary. Everyone else should be staying out of melee combat though.

• Stratagem - Warriors of the Raging Winds (1CP): A Saim-Hann Biker can advance and charge in the same turn. It can re-roll hit rolls of 1 in the Fight phase of that turn.
  • Fantastic supporting stratagem for Shining Spears or a Warlock Conclave.

• Remnant of Glory - The Novalance of Saim-Hann: Replaces an Autarch's Laser Lance. A S+2 (S5, S8 on a turn that you charged) AP-4 D2 lance that deals a flat 4 damage on wound rolls of a 6+ against a target.
  • A very easy choice for an Autarch Skyrunner that's highly effective against most standard targets in the game.

Ulthwé

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Ulthwé has stood vigil over the Eye of Terror for millennia, constantly warring against the agents of Chaos directly or by the Seers of Ulthwé manipulating others into fighting for them. For those times when Ulthwé must take a personal hand in battle, the legendary Black Guardians are often the first into battle, their heightened discipline and training making up for the relative lack of aspect warriors compared to other major craftworlds. Ulthwé doesn't particularly encourage any general focus for your army the way the other big four craftworlds do, as while everything in an Ulthwé list benefits from the attribute, none benefit so much so as to buckle down on particular gimmicks to abuse. That said, Guardians and Psykers get an extra toy or two over the competition and having Eldrad himself lead your army is often incentive enough to lead the Damned into battle.

Ulthwé Special Rules

• Attribute – Foresight of the Damned: Global 6+ FNP.
  • For your vehicles this is essentially a "free" Spirit Stones upgrade, which is a nice 10 free points per vehicle, although other Craftworlds can buy the Stones and apply their attribute (meaning that Iyanden and Alaitoc have more durable Wave Serpents). For everything else, the overall defensive net effect is comparable to Alaitoc. For example, against 3+ to hit armies Alaitoc will net 25% less hits whilst Ulthwé will result in 20% less wounds taken, factoring in full rerolls (chapter masters everywhere...) Alaitoc will net 14% less hits. If you intend on staying far away from your enemy, take Alaitoc; if you will come closer than 12" or want to field Eldrad Ulthran, take Ulthwé. Together with Ulthwé's special Stratagem this will let you make the most out of a max size Guardian squad. Warlocks like it too, since it gives them a(n unreliable) way to soak Perils wounds.

• Warlord Trait - Fate Reader: If your army is Battleforged, and your Warlord is on the battlefield, roll a d6 at the beginning of each turn; on a 6 you gain a command point. Eldrad Ulthran must take this as his trait if chosen as your Warlord.
  • A situational and somewhat useful trait. Due to being affected by the "Tactical Restraint" rule per the 2019 April FAQ, it's not as enticing to take (especially if you're running an Autarch as your Warlord).

• Stratagem - Discipline of the Black Guardians(1CP): At the start of a shooting or fight phase, you can pick an Ulthwé Guardian unit. They can add +1 to all hit rolls until the end of the phase.
  • The following have the Guardian keyword: Guardian Defenders (including Heavy Weapon Platforms), Storm Guardians, and Support Weapons. The big deal is the fact that you can move your Platforms and D-Cannon Support Weapons without taking a hit to accuracy.

• Remnant of Glory - Ghosthelm of Alishazier (Psyker only): Add +1 to Psychic tests made to manifest Smite.
  • The modifier makes it easier to do 1d6 Mortal Wounds with Smite, so why not?
  • You'll ideally want to give this to a supporting Spiritseer. You'll (very likely) already be running Eldrad in an Ulthwé list, who'll likely be benefiting from the Focus Will power to fire off psychic tests with +3 to his results (+4 if he's paired with a Warlock (Conclave)), and Spiritseers are your cheapest psyker characters capable of casting a standard smite. You can of course opt to give this to a regular Farseer if for some reason you simply can't/won't bring Eldrad.

Special Unit

HQ

• Eldrad Ulthran: Your premiere psyker and probably the reason you're running Ulthwé in the first place. He may as well be the Phoenix Lord of Farseers given his statline; T4, a 3++ invulnerable save topped off with his 6+++ courtesy of Ulthwé's attribute and a grand total of 3 psychic casts and denials per turn. His casting gets better after his first successful power goes off, adding 1 to all tests he makes for the rest of the phase due to his Spirt-Link ability. Between that and his innate Ghosthelm re-roll, failing to cast most of his powers would require some rather bad luck. Offensively, Eldrad comes equipped with his Staff of Ulthramar, a S+2 (S5) AP-2 Dd3 beatstick and an ever standard witch blade. However, with a grand total of two melee attacks, you should not commit your single best caster to combat unless absolutely necessary.
  • He is considered a Farseer, so sticking a Warlock near him to use Seer Council isn't a bad idea given it will allow his first power to be cast on a +1, and the other two to be cast with a +2. Have that Warlock (Conclave) give up their weakened Smite to teach them Focus Will and have them put it on Eldrad before he starts casting his own powers. This gives him a +3 to his first cast and a staggering +4 to everything he attempts afterwards. A 1d6 Smite on 7+ and Executioner going off on a 3+ is going to leave a mark. It also means he is also eligible for Unparalleled Mastery (Gain an extra use of a power for 1CP), and Runes of Witnessing (Friendly <Craftworld> units within 6" Re-Roll Wounds on 1 for 2CP).

Custom Craftworld Attributes

Like the Space Marines' Successor Tactics, the Eldar can now create their own Craftworld Attributes by combining any two of the following 22 attributes from the Phoenix Rising book to truly make a Craftworld of Your Dudes. The main detraction, obviously, is the lack of any new/unique relics/stratagems/characters inherent in any custom craftworld you make, but that can easily be circumnavigated by simply taking a secondary detachment of the classic craftworld you want to double-dip into.

• Children of Khaine: When an Aspect Warrior model with this attribute rolls an unmodified 6 to wound with a melee weapon, their damage is increased by 1.
  • This can be brutal for Howling Banshee/Striking Scorpion Exarchs using an Executioner/Scorpion Claw, and makes your aspects potentially more threatening towards MEQ/TEQ units, but is unreliable. Use stratagems like Supreme Disdain to help fish for extra hits to help create opportunities for this to proc.
• Children of Morei-heg: When resolving an attack on a model in a unit with half or more of its models missing, get +1 to-hit.
  • An ok attribute that can help a player really on the backfoot in a match, but this does nothing for single-model units such as characters, monsters or vehicles. Given the universal 3+ BS/WS everything in your army has, coupled with the plentiful buff/reroll powers and abilities you have access to, this perk just seems less useful than others listed here.
• Children of the Open Skies: Any unit with the Fly keyword adds 2 to whatever their advance roll is for the phase.
  • A good on paper, less useful in practice kind of power. Many of your units that fly are already super mobile, but it does guarantee that if they do need to advance, the lowest they can roll is effectively 3".
  • Never take this for a jetbike-heavy list - when you use Ride The Wind, you don't make an advance roll, so this Attribute will do nothing for you.
• Children of Prophecy: Each single die roll of a 1 is counted as a 2 when making psychic tests.
  • A fantastic ability for a psyker heavy army, this can potentially be the difference between a failed or passed psychic test for your lower WC powers. It absolutely does work when you would otherwise Perils - since 1s count as 2s, you actually rolled double 2s, and not only did you not Perils, if the power was WC4, you case it successfully. Even if something forces you to Perils despite this, if you live, and the power was WC4, you'll still cast it!
• Diviners of Fate: Everything gets a 6++ invuln save.
  • Kinda like a slightly worse Ulthwé, only with the benefit of having a secondary power. Obviously useless on everything that already has an invuln of 5+ or better.
• Expert Crafters: Each unit can re-roll one hit and one wound roll whenever they make a ranged or melee attack.
  • A nice power that has more value on high strength/damage weaponry with a low shot output, such as a D-Cannon Support Platform or a Fire Prism using its Lance profile. Even then, no one can turn away two free re-rolls per unit. Has a bigger impact the fewer shots the unit is making, as well as the weaker the shots, and the less accurate. By contrast, it has no interaction with AP or Damage, so you typically want those as high as you can get for this.
• Grim: When a unit takes a morale test, you can re-roll the die.
  • Basically ATSKNF, which is a terrible perk when you have craftworlds like Iyanden that effectively just make you immune to morale. Probably a hard pass in most cases, but in the event you plan on taking advantage of one of the other perks in this list and plan on maximizing squad sizes, it's a decent option, if sub-optimal.
• Hail of Doom: When a model with this attribute uses a shuriken weapon to attack an opponent within 12", its AP is increased by 1 (e.g. AP0 becomes AP-1). Does not stack with any AP granted by weapon abilities (the 6+ AP-3 effect).
  • Given the short range of most shuriken weapons, this will be active quite frequently. Pair either with Masterful Shots so that cover bonuses don't negate this attribute or Martial Citizenry if you were planning on fielding a lot of guardian infantry.
• Headstrong: Add 1 to charge rolls.
  • An ok power that stacks nicely with the Ghostwalk Rune of Fortune. It also reduces that deepstrike charge distance to a slightly more manageable 8", so there's that.
• Hunters of Ancient Relics: All models within 3" of an objective add 1 to their attack characteristic.
  • A very situational but arguably decent perk if you know you're going to be playing games full of tactical objectives. If the mission type has none, you're wasting a custom attribute slot. If you think this trait will give you 1 attack every time your unit fights near an objective, think again, it says MODELS withing 3", thus on average only half of your shining spear blob of 9 is going to benefit and even then there is so much counterplay to be had by the opponent... It is so much worse than +1A on the charge, there are better attributes, don't waste it on that one.
• Martial Citizenry: Guardian models re-roll hit rolls of 1.
  • Between Autarchs, Guide, Biel-Tan's attribute, and Ulthwé's unique stratagem, you're not exactly short of ways to buff guardian units with the same or similar ability while still offering standard buffs for non-guardian units. Still, if you're spamming guardians and support platforms, it is undeniably useful.
• Masterful Shots: Targeted enemy units don't receive the benefit of cover.
  • A decent if situational and underwhelming attribute that wrecks the Raven Guard chapter tactic and makes any non-LoS blocking terrain useless to your enemy. Dark Reapers in particular can make quite a bit out of this attribute.
• Masters of Concealment: Your units gain the benefit of cover when targeted by ranged attacks from 12" or further away.
  • Half of the Raven Guard chapter tactic. Slightly less useful on a majority of your infantry units comparatively, but it does make your vehicles and wraith units a touch tankier at range.
• Mobile Fighters: Units that disembark from a transport re-roll hit rolls of 1.
  • Fire Dragons and Wraithguard can become slightly more dangerous when rolling around in a Falcon/Wave Serpent (which you would/should likely be doing with them anyways). Also works in melee, if you'd rather go that route.
• Savage Blades: When your models charge, are charged, or heroically intervene, re-roll melee hit rolls of 1.
  • Yet another "re-roll 1s" perk, this one helps your melee units make the most out of their initial combat phases. Pairs nicely with Headstrong if you want a melee focused army.
• Strike and Fade: Your units may either A) Fall back and charge in the same turn or B) move in any direction you wish when consolidating.
  • A very strong attribute for melee armies, particularly Wraithblades/lords, Shining Spears, and to a lesser extent, Howling Banshees.
  • This attribute cannot be paired with anything else on this list. As such, and since it really only benefits melee units, you'll likely want to use it for a dedicated secondary Vanguard or Outrider detachment using Howling Banshees/Wraithblades or Shining Spears so that you're not shorting your general/ranged units a usable attribute.
• Students of Vaul: At the start of your turn, all Vehicles auto-heal 1 wound a turn.
  • Necrons aren't the only ones with "Living Metal" anymore! A great defensive trait that reduces the need for Bonesingers to potentially take up valuable elite slots (though having one still wouldn't hurt in vehicle heavy lists).
  • While a very nice trait, do consider that healing only one wound a turn will honestly have minimal effect when those tanks are facing dedicated anti-vehicle weaponry or massed firepower. Iyanden's attribute may be more attractive to you; though your vehicles won't heal on their own, anything with a degrading statline will retain peak combat effectiveness far longer than anything with this attribute would.
• Superior Shuriken: Add 4" to the range of Shuriken weapons.
  • Shuriken Catapults/Pistols achieve a range of 16", Avenger Shuriken Catapults 22", and Shuriken Cannons a range of 28". The addition of 4" is actually significant, as it allows even your basic Guardian Defenders to safely engage targets outside of most rapid fire and charge ranges. Unfortunately this trait has no direct compatibility with Hail of Doom due to its specific 12" range limit, but can still pair with it regardless if you want to maximize the potential of shuriken weaponry.
• Vengeful Blades: When your models charge, are charged by, or heroically intervene into Chaos units, re-roll all melee hit rolls.
  • Savage Blades, but conditionally better. Or worse, depending on if Chaos units are even present.
• Warding Runes: All your models have a 5++ FNP against mortal wounds.
  • Actually better for or against psykers than Ulthwé's perk. Recommended pairing with Children of Prophecy if you're planning on going heavy on the psykers.
• Webway Warriors: You may use the Webway Strike stratagem once per detachment with this attribute you take.
  • This can allow you to deepstrike a sickeningly high number of units, arguably more than any other army in the game if you build your list around it. Alternatively, two detachments with this attribute allow you to save command points when deepstriking multiple units this way. However, keep in mind that in Matched Play, you must have 50% of your army on the table when the game begins, discouraging the abuse of this attribute (and your rather abundant options for other deepstriking units). Not to mention that you won't really be able to offensively deepstrike these extra units until turn 2, a strategic gimp that could very easily come back to bite you. Also consider that this takes up an attribute slot that could be better used for something that actually benefits your units once they actually arrive on the table, like Hail of Doom or Martial Citizenry.
  • This pairs rather nicely with Headstrong, as melee units like Wraithblades and Howling Banshees greatly appreciate any method that allows them to get into combat as quickly as possible once they drop in. A Warlock/Spiritseer can further support these units with Ghostwalk to borderline guarantee a successful charge out of a deepstrike.
• Wrath of the Dead: Wraith Constructs with this attribute re-roll any wound rolls of 1.
  • This works for all attacks, melee or ranged, so whether it's a volley of Wraithcannon fire or a couple swings from a Wraithlord's Ghostglaive, this is a solid supportive trait for those looking to build a Wraith host.

Warlord Traits

Named Characters must take the Craftworld Trait associated with their Craftworld. For example, if Eldrad is your Warlord, he must take Fate Reader. Phoenix Lords also cannot take a Warlord trait, so there is no longer a reason for having one of the Craftworld Eldar's legendary heroes and personifications of an aspect of Khaine, heroes that entire Craftworlds rally around in times of need, lead your army. Nope. Only dorks with wings and people with mind bullets get to lead the army now.

Universal

1. Ambush of Blades: Friendly Craftworld units within 6" of your Warlord that roll a 6+ to hit in the Fight phase improve the AP of the attack by 1.
   • This is best applied to AP0 weapons, since AP0->AP1 is a better improvement than on something that already has penetration, and obviously useless on anything that doesn't roll to hit. This is probably more of a one-shot ability, because you don't want your Warlord to sit in a close combat for turn after turn. You will need to plan beforehand on how to pull the trick off: Combine this with a unit with many attacks, the Enhance psychic power for higher triggering chances, an Autarch for rerolls and the Supreme Disdain stratagem for even more attacks. In most cases, one single Wave Serpent won't be enough, therefore consider deepstriking parts of the units or putting them on Jetbikes. In short: An unusual and difficult to use warlord trait.
2. An Eye on Distant Events: Overwatch cannot be fired at your Warlord.
   • Obviously best on a Warlord who actually wants to be in close combat, such as the Avatar of Khaine or a Wraithseer. In the past it was not worth taking this on an Autarch, because the free Banshee Mask wargear negated overwatch, but with that option retired to Warhammer Legends, this might be worth considering.
3. Falcon's Swiftness: Add 2 to your Warlord's Movement.
   • Better used on slow footslogging warlords, if Faolchu's Wings are not available. The Avatar is the hottest candidate for this trait and will appreciate the speedup very much, although the Eye on Distant Events is a very stiff competition for him. Pretty pointless on any warlord on a Jetbike.
4. Fate's Messenger: Your warlord has +1W and 6+++ FNP (remember not to take this on an Ulthwé warlord).
   • Flat out better than the core rulebook version thanks to the +1 Wound. This is a very good warlord trait in a codex full of them, which is a bit of a shame when you consider it. Very useful for Farseers or Autarchs on a Jetbike who will be upfront, best combined with the Phoenix Gem – 7 wounds, T4, a 6+++ FNP, and when it's slain it explodes like a vehicle and doesn't even die. Who said Eldar had to be squishy? This is also possibility to increase the resilience of a Warlock or Spiritseer against Perils wounds, if you don't find anything more useful.
5. Mark of the Incomparable Hunter: Your warlord can snipe characters.
   • Entertainingly powerful on a Wraithseer with a D-cannon. Outside of Forgeworld (still a viable, if expensive option) or an Autarch with Reaper Launcher (now a Legends unit and illegal in official tournament play), it is impractical at best. Every other HQ unit is limited to a paltry 12" for their ranged weapons at best, making it simply more practical to attempt to engage in melee with the target character at that point.
6. Seer of the Shifting Vector: Once per round, you can re-roll one hit, wound, save, psychic, or deny the witch roll for your Warlord.
   • This is another trait recommended for an upfront Farseer or Autarch on Jetbike, because they will get the most chances of actually using this ability. A rerolled save can make the difference between a dead and a living warlord in the end! That said, this trait can also be used to improve the casting of Warlocks or Spiritseers.

Specialist Detachment Specific

These are very specific traits which can be taken by applicable Warlords within their Specialist Detachments. While they can be quite potent, they do only apply towards units with the respective Specialist Detachment keyword, meaning you'd have to very specifically design your army around these traits to take full advantage of them. If you can spare 1 CP and still want a regular trait for your warlord, you may use the Field Commander stratagem to give one of your HQ units within a Specialist Detachment the respective trait associated with it.

• Windrider Host - Wind Rider: This trait allows any WINDRIDER HOST units within 6" of your Warlord/Field Commander to charge even after falling back earlier that turn. While this sounds good in practice, the utility pales somewhat when your standard units are Windriders (who probably shouldn't be in melee) and Vypers (who also shouldn't be in melee). That said, the ones who really benefit are your HQ choices themselves. A Warlock Conclave armed with Singing Spears can be particularly frightening to enemies relying on their Toughness to tank hits, while an Autarch Skyrunner can be shockingly lethal if armed with a Novalance for MAXIMUM PAIN, and will be a bitch to get away from. Alternatively, this opens up some tactical options for applying pressure on key enemy units, though keep in mind; this can make your Warlord considerably more vulnerable since he'd have to be participating in the charge-retreat-charge shenanigans as well.
  • The Strike and Fade custom Craftworld Attribute completely invalidates this trait, as it applies to your entire army at all times. Given the unit restrictions and heavy CP cost specialist detachments tend to incur, you may want to just take a supplementary Strike and Fade detachment if you just want to abuse this mechanic.

• Wraith Host - Revered by the Dead: Built primarily for your fighty Wraith units, this allows any WRAITH HOST WRAITH CONSTRUCTS within 6" to reroll failed charge rolls. This is very redundant for Saim-Hann, given their attribute simply applies to all your units regardless. Instead, this can be particularly handy for Iyanden Wraith armies, with a Spiritseer for cost efficiency and RoB support, or a Wraithseer as a durable, hard-hitting buff vector for his Wraith body guards (plus it gets the re-rolls too!). Going with this trait means you're going heavy with Wraithblades, physically inclined Wraithlords and Wraithseers, or planning to have your Wraithknight up in the thick of it. If you prefer to keep your enemies at a modest distance, it may be better to stick with a vanilla trait instead.

Tactical Objectives

It is not possible to be prepared for an explicit tactical objective. For most cases, achievement is purely situational. However, in some cases there are some tricks to make achieving them easier.

11 - Legacy of Sorrow

1VP if you kill an enemy character.

12 - Master of Runes

Cast 1/3 Eldar psychic powers for 1/d3 VP.

13 - Khaine's Wrath

1/3 successful charges give 1/d3 VP. Because only charges and no kills matter, you may throw in everything you have at hand, e.g. Wave Serpents and other grav-tanks who can survive melee for a turn.

14 - The Hidden Path

1VP if there are no enemies within 12" of objective marker d6.

15 - Strands of Fate

1VP if you control objective marker d6. If your warlord is a psyker, you may modify by ±1. With a psyker Warlord you can hedge your bets, who will guarantee this is always marker 2 or 5.

16 - Combined Strike

1/d3/3+d3 VP if an enemy unit is destroyed in 1/2/3 phases (out of psychic, shooting, fight). If there is somewhere a lonely 1-man unit, you may consider casting Smite instead of Eldar trickery in order to get the psychic kill. As per shooting and fight phase kills: Remember that you have to kill the entire unit off - letting morale do the work for you won't count.

Stratagems

Universal

Standard strategems that can be used by any and all Craftworlds, though Ynnari detachments are now exempt from using these.

• The Avatar Resurgent (3 CP): If the Avatar of Khaine is slain in the Fight Phase, do not remove it as a casualty. Instead, roll a d6 after the unit that killed it has resolved all its attacks; the Avatar then comes back to life with that many wounds remaining. Needless to say, this greatly increases the danger an Avatar poses in close combat.
• Celestial Shield (1CP): During the enemy shooting phase, if a friendly Guardian unit is chosen as a target of an attack, it will have a 4+ invulnerable save for the rest of that shooting phase. Stack with Fortune and Protect to become freakishly hard to budge. Use Ulthwe and an Autarch, and the enemy will either try hard to kill them (and make this stratagem earn its cost) or not try hard enough (and get completely shredded by 2+ rerolling Black Guardians).
• Cloud Strike (1 CP): As Webway Strike below, but with an Eldar Vehicle that can Fly instead & only one unit. NOTE: You cannot use both Cloud Strike and Webway Strike in the same game, you have to choose one or the other. Absolutely hilarious for Deep Striking in a bunch of Hemlocks right where you need them. Only works once though.
  • Remember that you drop down during the Movement Phase so the vehicle has to sit still for a turn. using this for transports is a bad idea. Not bad for protecting Fire Prisms, Crimson Hunters or Super-Heavies from a round of shooting against certain Alpha-Strike lists.
• Concordance of Power (1 CP): Use this stratagem whenever a Warlock Conclave successfully casts a Runes of Battle psychic power. The range of the power is doubled.
  • 36" range on your Runes of battle powers is extremely useful as it keeps your out of deny range while still able to to support units on your opponents side of the table. It can't be stated how useful a 36" Range Jinx and Restrain can be, especially with Primarchs or Flyrants on the table.
• Feigned Retreat (2 CP): Pick an Asuryani unit that has fallen back this turn; it can now shoot and charge despite having fallen back. Not as useful on Swooping Hawks or your tanks, since they could already shoot after falling back (due to the FLY keyword), but everyone else benefits from it, given the short range of most of your guns.
  • Incredible for your Shining Spears as they benefit greatly from being able to fall back while abusing FLY, shoot and charge again.
• Fire and Fade (1 CP): After a friendly Asuryani unit shoots, it can move 7" as if it was the movement phase; however, it may not advance as part of this extra move and will be unable to charge that turn. Still a small price to pay for getting move-shoot-move back. It gives a great mobility boost as well as Advance-Shoot-Move is possible. Finally it can be a nice option to get a unit back into cover after it has finished off a unit in the shooting phase.
  • FAQ confirms that Swooping Hawks can still drop grenades on any unit it flies over with this.. The same FAQ also notes that if it is used on a Crimson Hunter or a Hemlock they will be removed as casualty.
• Forewarned (2 CP): Used whenever an enemy unit arrives from the battlefield within eyesight of a friendly unit that is within 6" of a friendly farseer. That friendly unit may make an out-of-sequence shooting attack. Unlike other similar stratagems, this one doesn't force a -1 to-hit penalty, and can be outside of 12"! You DO have to bubble-wrap/conga line next to a Farseer for this to really pay off. This is actually really broken. Your opponent's gotta be REALLY careful not to get his deep striking unit shot to shit from Dark Reapers who could see them, or even humble guardians taking down a Lictor before it could do shit to them.
  • A note on Drop Pods: The RAW specifically states you target the unit that arrives, in this case the Drop Pod itself, and not whatever comes charging out.
• The Great Enemy (1 CP): Used whenever a friendly Asuryani unit is chosen to fight. Re-roll all failed to-wound rolls against a unit with the Slaanesh keyword. Make Ancient Doom work in your favor, and fuck Slaanesh Daemons and Emperor's Children.
• Lightning Fast Reactions (2 CP): Used when a friendly <CRAFTWORLD> Infantry unit or a friendly <ASURYANI> unit that has <FLY> keyword is targeted by a ranged or melee weapon. All attacks against that unit are resolved at -1 to hit for the rest of the phase. One fun but costly idea is to combine this with the Celestial Shield Stratagem on Guardians to really infuriate your opponent. Bonus points for doing it with Alaitoc in the shooting phase to stack it with the Craftworld Attribute, though you will probably lose friends for it.
• Linked Fire (1 CP): When a target is selected for a Fire Prism's Prism Cannon, do not resolve the hit until the end of the phase. Any <Craftworld> Fire Prism within 60" of the first one that is visible to it may link fire, targeting the first Fire Prism's target with its Prism Cannon and re-rolling failed hit and wound rolls when doing so, as well as ignoring range and visibility. Once all other shooting is completed, the first Fire Prism may resolve its shots against the target selected. If at least one other Fire Prism linked fire with it, it gets to re-roll its hit and wound rolls as well.
  • Combined with Pulse Laser Discharge, this stratagem can wreak absolute havoc on almost everything in the game. Having Fire Prisms shooting S12 AP-5 lances twice each irrespective of line of sight or range re-rolling hits and wounds can absolutely devastate any vehicle from Rhinos to Imperial Knights. Conversely, rapid Dispersed Blasts can all but evaporate any individual blob you want off the board with a barrage of D6 S6 shots (assuming you have only two Fire Prisms fielded, that's still 4D6 shots, assuming they haven't moved much).
  • Hilariously you can also use Linked Fire to nuke your opponent's special snowflake character, as long as the character is the closest model to the first Fire Prism the others can also target it. Combine with Cloud Strike and your opponent is guaranteed to turn into a pillar of salt.
• Matchless Agility (1 CP): Used whenever a friendly unit advances. Instead of rolling a die, you automatically advance 6" with the unit. Makes Footdar lists hilariously broken outside of Matched Play. Still damn useful in Matched Play as well.
• Overload Energy Field Projectors (1 CP): During the shooting phase, pick a Wave Serpent that discharged its shield on an earlier turn. It can now discharge the shield a second time. Because apparently the Wave Serpent really needed the extra boost.
• Phantasm (2 CP): Used at the beginning of the game but before the first player turn has begun. You may immediately remove up to 3 friendly units and re-deploy them. Nice if you deployed first for a quick counter-deployment strategy in case you fucked up your unit placement. Considering how a properly positioned Eldar unit is critical, this can be a good backup plan. Alternatively, if you have the CP to spare, you can attempt to influence or bait your opponent's deployment by setting up a few key units (like a Fire Prism, Wraithlord/seer or Wave Serpent) in a position that heavily encourages him/her to focus on either setting up in a manner to exclusively avoid or target those units. Once the deployment is finished, you can place that Fire Prism he could've sworn was just sitting out in the open way down field of those devastators he sent after it with a clear flanking shot on them.
  • Do note that using this tactic offensively will likely only work once or twice against most people, and even then you shouldn't base your core strategy around it. Try to save it for tournaments or games against irregular opponents and if you're confident you can afford the CP or potential risk to your important units.
• Runes of Witnessing (2 CP): Used at the start of any phase. Pick a friendly Farseer. All <CRAFTWORLD> units within 6" of the Farseer re-roll 1s to wound. Given you want that dick up front spamming Smite and Executioner, this is awesome for supporting the unit he's with. Also pretty nice on that Farseer in the Dark Reaper blob that they just guided.
• Seer Council (1 CP): In the Psychic Phase, if a Farseer is within 6" of a friendly Warlock unit, both the Farseer and the Warlocks gain +1 to psychic tests. Use it on that dick with Unparalleled Mastery to cast 3 powers with +2 to cast and one extra with +1 to cast. This strategem combined with Runes of Farseer should give you up to ~95% success rate on powers you really need also making them much much harder to deny.
• Starhawk Missile (1 CP): When an Infantry unit model shoots an Aeldari missile launcher at a unit with Fly, make a single hit roll with +1 to hit. If you hit, do D3 mortal wounds instead of rolling to wound. Awesome for putting some Mortal Wounds onto Slamguinius, or evaporating 1-3 Vanguard Veterans on a 2+. Guardians and Dark Reapers are viable as they can carry the AML, but keep in mind that the +1 to hit will not apply to the Dark Reapers.
• Supreme Disdain (1 CP): Used whenever a friendly unit is chosen to fight in the fight phase. The unit gains exploding attacks on 6+ that do not proc themselves. This does stack with Striking Scorpion Exarchs or Scorpions buffed by Karandras, and can definitely make that unit of Banshees or Wraith Blades even more horrifying. Also fun on a Firesabre Autarch or Diresword Exarch to try and fish for more Mortal Wounds. Even more fun, if you stack it with Enhance or/and Striking Scorpions' Shadow Strike. Try this on a unit of 10 wraithblades with Enhance affected by Psytronome of Iyaden and Ambush of Blades WT for undiluted devastation. Even regular Wraithguard are no slouch in close combat and every exploding attack hurts all the more.
• Tears of Isha (2 CP): Used at the start of your turn. Select a Wraith Construct model, and it regains 1d3 wounds lost earlier. Your Wraithlords will appreciate this as they walk up the battlefield with a degrading stat line and no form of invulnerable save. Note that for 70 points, you can field a Bonesinger to do the same job, but that has its own downsides, like the need for the Bonesinger to keep up with what it's healing.
• Treasures of the Craftworld (1/3 CP): Take extra relics, Eldar style. Pay 1 CP for an extra Remnant of Glory in your army, or pay 3 for two extra Remnants of Glory in your army.
• Unparalleled Mastery (1 CP): Used whenever an ASURYANI FARSEER successfully casts their last allowed power in the Psychic phase. They can attempt to cast one additional power. Oh hell yes. Slap this on Eldrad and one-up those Tzeentch Chaos Sorcerers.
• Vaul's Might (1 CP): If a Support Weapon is within 6" of another Support Weapon, they can both reroll 1's to wound. Pretty useless given the low volume of fire: Two D-cannons will give 3 hits on average and therefore 0.5 1's on wounding. I.e. every second time this stratagem will be completely wasted. Use Doom or the standard CP reroll instead.
  • If you're fielding three or more Shadow Weaver Support Weapons, this stratagem is worth considering. Due to how cheap they are, they are great for filling up detachment slots and this will help make the most of their shots should the need arise. Definitely consider this as an option though, not a core part of your strategy.
• Webway Strike (1/3 CP): This lets you deep strike a single Infantryor Bikerunit of your choice! Pay for the 3 CP instead to deep strike a second unit. NOTE: You cannot use both Cloud Strike and Webway strike in the same game, you have to choose one or the other. Aside from the obvious Fire Dragons or D-Cannon Wraithguard just about every eligible unit can benefit from being able to be placed where you want, when you want.
  • Remember that Guardian Platforms are Infantry and Vypers are Bikers. Ulthwe and Saim-Hann respectively can use this to dump a Guardian Squad with Heavy Weapons or Vypers full of Heavy weapons right behind something important then fire without penalty (Discipline of the Black Guardians Strat and Saim-Hann Craftworld trait respectively)
  • Special note on guardians, although they can use this to deep strike into shuriken catapult range, just bear this will also put you're brittle unbuffed guardians at risk of auspex scan and other stratagems.

Aspect Warrior Stratagems Each of these nine stratagems are dedicated to one of the nine standard Aspect Warrior Shrines. Each can only be used once per battle and only on a single squad of their respective aspect, so choose and invest wisely. Functionally, each of these are the same; the aspect warrior Exarch in the chosen squad may keep their original Exarch power and take one of the six other powers in addition to it as opposed to replacing it with one.

• Exemplar of the Avenger Shrine (1 CP): A Dire Avenger Exarch gets to keep their Battle Fortune ability and take another power.
• Exemplar of the Banshee Shrine (1 CP): A Howling Banshee Exarch keeps their War Shout ability in addition to another power.
• Exemplar of the Dragon Shrine (1 CP): A Fire Dragon Exarch gets to keep their Crack Shot ability in addition to a single other power.
• Exemplar of the Hawk Shrine (1 CP): A Swooping Hawk Exarch keeps their Herald of Victory ability in addition to a single other power.
• Exemplar of the Hunter Shrine (1 CP): A Crimson Hunter Exarch keeps their Marksman's Eye ability in addition to a single other power.
• Exemplar of the Reaper Shrine (1 CP): A Dark Reaper Exarch retains Crack Shot as well as one of their other powers.
• Exemplar of the Scorpion Shrine (1 CP): A Striking Scorpion Exarch keeps their Sustained Attack ability in addition to one of their other powers.
• Exemplar of the Spear Shrine (1 CP): A Shining Spear Exarch retains Expert Hunter as well as one of their other powers.
• Exemplar of the Spider Shrine (1 CP): A Warp Spider Exarch gets to keep Iron Resolve in addition to another power.

Specialist Detachment Stratagems

Introduced in the new Vigilus Defiant Campaign, These can be used to grant access to new traits, relics and/or Stratagems to applicable units within any Battle-Forged detachment by adding additional keywords to said units. It should be noted that you may not select any detachments with Ynnari units, unfortunately.

• General Stratagems: Stratagems that aren't gated behind specific Specialist Detachments, but can still be used to augment them.
  • Field Commander (1 CP): This stratagem bears special mention. For one command point, you can designate a character with a Specialist Detachment keyword and they gain the warlord trait associated with that detachment. Can't be used on named characters or to give your warlord a second warlord trait. Usefulness may vary, though if you have the CP to spare and do have a significant unit investment in your Specialist Detachment, this can definitely help maximize your unit synergy.

• Windrider Host (1CP): For the folks who like to go fast, this lets you add the WINDRIDER HOST Keyword to any Vypers, Windriders and any AUTARCH/FARSEER/WARLOCK SKYRUNNERS (as well as the Warlock Skyrunner Conclaves) within your Detachment. This sort of detachment screams for SAIM-HANN, though it is a shame that Shining Spears aren't invited to the party.
  • Nimble Escape (2CP): Use in the fight phase after a wind rider host unit has fought. That unit can move and advance as if it were the movement phase. If the are any enemy units within 1", you can fall back... yes, that means you can charge in, fight, then fall back out of combat before your opponent had a chance to swing. DAMN.
  • Tempest of Blades (3 CP): Used in the shooting phase, this lets you improve the AP of all shooting attacks made by WINDRIDER HOST units within 6" of a Farseer Skyrunner by -1 for the rest of the phase. While this is certainly useful, (especially if you're running lots of Scatter Lasers), it's also very expensive (If you ran just a Battalion, you just burned half your total CP to do this once) and can end up being somewhat redundant on weapons that have decent rending already.

• Wraith Host (1CP): This stratagem transforms the chosen Asuryani detachment into a Wraith Host Specialist Detachment, granting the WRAITH HOST keyword to SPIRITSEERS and any WRAITH CONSTRUCTS. Most of the perks associated with this specialization are very melee-focused, so while Wraithguard and (oddly) Hemlock Wraithfighters can benefit, it may be best to shelve them in exchange for the bladed variants or their larger kin. Suffice to say, this specialist detachment works best under Iyanden, particularly if you're fielding Wraithlords/seers/knights.
  • Wrath of the Dead(1CP): Used at the beginning of the Fight Phase, this grants one additional attack to each model in a WRAITH HOST WRAITH CONSTRUCT unit of your choosing. This of course, stacks quite wonderfully with many of your other fight-based stratagems (Supreme Disdain comes to mind) as well as several of your Runes of Battle/Fate. Spice with the Psytronome of Iyanden if you want to guarantee the death of whatever you're trying to punch.
  • Spirit Shield (2 CP): Used at the end of your Movement Phase, this lets a Spiritseer throw its 4+ invulnerable save to a WRAITH HOST WRAITH CONSTRUCT unit within 6" until your next turn. Ghost Sword Wraithblades or Wraithguard with Shimmershields? Season with Protect and Fortune if you wish for T6 3 wound models with 2+/3++ saves and 5++ FNPs. Not to mention Bonesinger/Stratagem healing support, and you have one of the tankiest infantry units in the game. Additionally, with some thoughtful positioning, you can throw this on a Hemlock Wraithfighter or a Wraithknight for some additional protection if you're expecting them to get focused down. Just make sure the Spiritseer who is sacrificing his invuln is out of LoS and is hanging back for the rest of your turn.

Psychic Powers

The Eldar have always been psychic power-houses in their many iterations throughout 40k's history, 8th edition sees the return of reliable psychic tests, as well as more reliable ways to stop psykers. Looking at matched play rules we can see that almost every single army can cast only 6 powers other than Smite per turn (Thousand Son's daemon princes have access to 18 also.) and moreover only from their specific discipline, while Eldar can cast 24 different powers (different variations of warlocks powers are being considered separate powers)! And almost all of them may find some big use. Additionally, all but one of our powers don't need a line of sight against their targets, feel free to hide your psykers as needed.

Runes of Fate

These are only available to Farseers, and Farseers are only capable of these powers and Smite, so without exception, a psyker choosing from this Discipline only knows WC5 and WC7 powers; aside from Eldrad or Warlord Traits/Relics, the caster's casting ability is simply 2 powers, and once per phase, can re-roll either or both dice when casting. This means the most reliable way to ensure your Fate powers go off is redundancy; for example, the most common power combo you're going to want on hand is either Doom/Fortune/Will of Asuryan (for D-Scythe Wraithguard) or Doom/Guide/Fortune (for almost everything else, especially Fire Dragons) - sort your powers by how much you want them to go off. Take a Farseer with the first two powers, and a Farseer with the second two - for this example, we'll use the latter. The first Farseer should cast Doom; if they need to use the re-roll for it, they should do so, and then cast Smite, and the second Farseer will ensure Guide goes off without a hitch. If they don't use their re-roll, they can cast Guide themselves with the re-roll available, and the second Farseer can ensure Fortune happens, then cast Smite (with a possible re-roll available for reliability or going for 11+). Done this way, the odds of the two powers you really care about going off will always happen with 84.95% probability each, meaning the odds of both happening are 72.17%; if you trust one Farseer to do both, your odds of pulling off both are only 65.08%. This math was done with WC7 powers, of course - you don't need the re-roll nearly as much for Will of Asuryan or Smite, and they'll go off with 97.22% probability if you have the power available.

1. Guide: WC 7. Targets a single friendly asuryani unit within 24". Re-roll all failed to-hit rolls for the unit's ranged weapons until the next psychic phase. Works better the less accurate and more populous the unit is, of course - you won't see much bang for your buck if you have the Farseer cast this on themselves.
   • RAW it affects ranged weapons. RAI it also affects the lances on Shining Spears and the spears on Warlock Conclaves even in melee, as the points cost for both of those weapons falls under the "ranged weapons" section at the back of the codex, in much the same way as a Deathwatch Watch Master and the relic bolter shells boosting the damage of his melee attacks.
2. Doom: WC 7. Targets a single enemy unit within 24". Re-roll all failed to-wound rolls from asuryani unit attacks against the targeted enemy unit until the next psychic phase. Works better the harder the target is to wound, of course.
   • Bear in mind that your opponent will typically be particularly wary of Doom, so try to keep the Farseer casting it out of denial range. If you expect your opponent to attempt to deny the witch, have a supporting warlock (conclave) cast Focus Will on your Farseer for a touch of insurance.
3. Fortune: WC 7. A single friendly asuryani unit within 24" gets a 5++ FNP. Until GW decides to clear up the wording mess of ignoring wounds, the generally accepted procedure is to use Fortune whenever the unit loses a wound, i.e. against all type of damage.
4. Executioner: WC 7. The nearest enemy unit within 18" suffers 1d3 mortal wounds, and if a model in the unit is slain, it suffers an additional 1d3 mortal wounds. A real rarity among psychic powers, this actually has the potential to outperform Smite, provided you target it intentionally - Smite is strictly better against one big target, but this will outperform Smite against any unit with a single-wound model in it (either natively, or because you've already damaged it).
5. Will of Asuryan: WC 5. Friendly asuryani units within 6" of the psyker automatically pass morale, and the psyker adds +1 to Deny the Witch rolls.
   • Alternate Take: at WC 5, this is awesome filler for Eldrad to give him something to trigger his +1 to cast with; plus as the best Smite and Executioner user we have, he's usually going to be close enough to something that can use that Fearless bubble. it's also useful filler for a Guide spam Farseer if you pull Master the Warp and/or Master of Runes.
6. Mind War: WC 7. Targets a single enemy Character model within 18" of the psyker. Both players roll 1d6 and add their model's leadership characteristic to the result. If the target rolls higher or draws, nothing happens. If you roll higher than the target, they suffer a number of mortal wounds equal to the difference in score. Remember that you can use a Command Point to re-roll your d6 (and your Autarch may get it back for you).
   • Leadership bombs are viable ways of assassinating a character now, which is awesome. Have a Hemlock cast Horrify or a Warlock casting Embolden on the Farseer and maybe bring along The Visarch or some Kabalite Warriors with Grenade Launchers and use it to snipe those Commissars, Ancients and Painboys.
   • As long as it has the Character tag it's fair game. You know who has that tag that people forget? Pask. Pask has that tag! Make sure you check your opponent's Datasheets before casting as this Power can hit more things than you realise.
   • Not to mention that the Swarmlord, Old One Eye, the Avatar of Khaine and many other immense monstrosities are listed as Character ! If you have problems with two Flyrants, or a pesky Bloodthirster that just won't turn down for what, just submerge them in mortal wounds thanks to this trick. A good enough disparity (if well balanced with a proper casting of Embolden on your Farseer and Horrify on enemy monstrosities- always follow the ritual Embolden First; Horrify Second; Mind War Third, as this avoids your Mind War getting denied) can bring monstruous creatures down in one turn- just sit back, enjoy your superiority in the psychic phase, and watch the enemy behemoths cry salty tears as you proceed Jean Greying their arses.

• Strategic Note: Guide, Doom and Fortune have 24" range, so with a Farseer's 8-13" movement this is more than enough to sustain any force on an average table nowadays. All this means there's no clear need for jetbiking seers anymore. On the other hand, that's still only a basic gun's range and above average movement, so while you won't usually need the jetbike, it is still pretty damn useful, mostly since it can let you reposition and adjust to changes on the battlefield.

Runes of Battle

Warlocks and Spiritseers always know one pair of powers, but these count as individual powers for all casting purposes, meaning the psyker in question can choose which to cast, and doesn't block another from casting the "twinned" power. All powers have a range of 18", are active for one full round, can buff only Asuryani Infantry and Asuryani Biker, and debuff everything. In every Serpent there will be enough room for one or two psykers to support the unit, you just have to decide which power to take!

1. Conceal/Reveal: WC 6. The enemy must subtract 1 from ranged to-hit rolls against the buffed unit. The debuffed unit loses any bonuses from cover when attacked by Asuryani units.
   • Conceal stacks perfectly well with any other source of penalties to hit, such as Rangers in cover or anything from Alaitoc.
   • Conceal is usually better than Protect, but Reveal is almost always worse than Jinx - take Jinx first if you're a Hemlock.
     • Reveal only comes into its own to remove cover from enemy sniper scout squads and make them fall back to their baseline 4+ save for easy targeting and disposal, or as an addition to Jinx.
2. Embolden/Horrify: WC 6. Buffed unit gets +2 to its Leadership, debuffed -1.
   • Although this power can have a niche if a Farseer with Mind War is Emboldened, it is still terrible, and basically anything else in this discipline will serve you better. Embolden is also rendered effectively useless in Iyanden lists, given the borderline morale immunity the attribute confers.
   • Although not altogether an ideal use of its one power per turn, Hemlocks can use Horrify to help build a leadership bomb. Can make quite a nasty one at that too, in mixed Aeldari comps using Phantasm Grenades and the Visarch.
3. Enhance/Drain: WC 7. Target friendly unit gets +1 to hit in close combat or target enemy unit gets -1. Because it is so similar to Empower/Enervate, look there for comparison.
   • Most melee units won't need the Enhance portion of the power, since they hit on a reliable 3+, but special mention goes to Ghost Axe Wraithblades, who'll probably be escorting a Spiritseer anyways for the re-roll support they'll desperately need.
   • With Drain you get -2 to incoming melee attacks on your Howling Banshees. Forcing TH/SS Termies to hit on a 6+ at best is one of our best "soft" counters to them, now not even Rawboat gonna save'em from such disgrace. Add Lightning Fast Reactions for undiluted RAGE.
4. Protect/Jinx: WC 7. Target allied unit gets +1 to all saving throws or target enemy unit gets -1 (including invulnerable saves) from Asuryani unit attacks.
   • It is strongly recommended to buff a unit with an invuln, so that your buff won't be negated by high AP weapons. Strong contenders are Wraithblades with Shields, Shining Spears, everything inside Asurmen's bubble, Guardians with Celestial Shield, or a Character heading into close combat.
   • On the opposite, there are two potential targets for the debuff: again a unit with some nasty invuln, or a target that you want to drown in saves (with Dire Avengers, Warp Spiders, Guardians, etc.)
5. Quicken/Restrain: WC 7. A friendly unit moves (and may advance) a second time (but not if it came in by deep strike this turn); an enemy unit halves its move range.
   • A very versatile power that lets you react to unfarseen threats immediately or pull off unpredictable flanking maneuvers, it is best used on a Warlock on Jetbike who can deliver this power anywhere you want.
   • With the right positioning, Shining Spears can get a turn 1 charge with this power, especially with the PHANTASM strat.
   • If you want to field a max unit of Wraithblades and don't want to pay obscene prices for a Vampire Raider to carry them, this will let them reach their targets much faster than you and your opponent might expect!
   • Howling Banshees can also become terrifyingly fast if quickened, getting an effective threat range of 23-43". You might very well catch a careless opponent off guard!
6. Empower/Enervate: WC 6. Target friendly unit gets +1 to wound or target enemy unit gets -1 to wound in melee.
   • When deciding between this and Enhance/Drain: Always buff/debuff the part that has the lower probability for bigger effect (basic probability calculus). As an example, your Banshees will typically hit on 3+ and wound on 5+, hence they will benefit more from Empower than from Enhance. On the opposite, enemies with hammers, fists and other badly hitting weapons will suffer more from Drain than from Enervate. If both chances are equal, take Empower for the lower warpcharge.
   • Enervating the target of your wraith constructs also lets you relive the glorious days when S4 couldn't hurt your Wraithlords/Wraithknights. Small thing, but still nice.

Specialist Detachment

1. Twilight of Gloom: WC 6 WRAITH HOST WRAITH PSYKER exclusive power. Gives a friendly WRAITH HOST WRAITH unit within 18" the benefit of cover. Potentially useful if you are fighting a lot of low AP weaponry. This power can be particularly handy for Wraithlords/seers, Hemlock Wraithfighters, and Wraithknights, due to the difficulty for such large models to attain cover naturally.

Runes of Fortune

A newly announced psychic discipline which made its debut in Phoenix Rising. Replaces Smite, so is usable by virtually every psyker in your army (bar the Wraithseer, who doesn't have any form of smite at all). This may be more useful to units like your Warlocks, whose smites are virtually useless due to their reduced range and damage, though it only makes it more difficult deciding which of their 3 powers is worth their 1 cast per turn.

1. Ghostwalk: WC 6. A friendly unit within 6" gains +2 to their charge rolls until the next psychic phase.
   • This can make a significant difference for deep striking units like Striking Scorpions or Wraithblades, who'd only have to make a much more likely 6-7" charge instead of an 8" one.
   • Special mention goes to Biel-Tan Aspect Warrior units and Howling Banshees. Biel-Tan's Court of the Young King stratagem adds 2" to charge rolls (+3" next to the Avatar who also lets you re-roll failed charges), and Banshees add 3" to their charges whenever they advance. Either give one Howling Banshee unit a long-bomb charge, or spread the love and have multiple units charge out of deepstrike.
2. Fateful Divergence: WC 4. Select one Craftworld unit within 6". They can re-roll a single hit roll, wound roll, or save roll. Lasts until your next psychic phase.
   • A niche power that can be used in lieu of the CP reroll if you're worried about a particular unit, but arguably inferior to similar powers such as Guide/Doom and Fortune (ironically).
   • Worth considering for units like Shining Spears, whose Exarch can have a 2++ invuln save with the right combo of psychic and exarch powers.
3. Witch Strike: WC 4. Add 2 damage to a friendly psyker's melee weapons.
   • Potentially useful, if highly situational, on Skyrunner Warlock/Farseer units. A notable example: a Windrider Host Farseer Skyrunner carrying the Howling Skysword of Galaleth will do a flat 5 damage per swing using this power (which can very consistently be cast thanks to its paltry WC value), instantly killing most characters who fail a single save. Outside that particular example, it's a bit too situational to use.
   • Pairs nicely with Jinx, which can help make up for your Seers' complete lack of AP in melee.
   • While a Warlock Conclave is a viable target, only one model within will actually benefit from it.
4. Crushing Orb: WC6. Select one visible enemy character within 18" and roll 3d6; for each result of 5+, the target takes a mortal wound.
   • Arguably worse than just using Mind War, since you can get far more mortal wounds against an enemy character more reliably if you stack leadership debuffs against them. I guess it's cheaper and you can pair it with Mind War if you want to really maximize that Farseer's anti-character role.
5. Focus Will: WC 6. Select a friendly Craftworld Psyker within 6". Until the end of your psychic phase add 2 to any psychic tests they make.
   • The 26/11/19 FAQ gave this power a much needed rewording. Now it is actually a useful tool to ensure a key psyker successfully casts whatever power you need them to. Combine this with the Children of Prophecy Craftworld Attribute and you literally cannot fail any WC 6 or less power. Notably functions for all tests they take, so you'll get more mileage using this on a Farseer or Warlock Conclave. Alternatively, as it adds 2 on top of whatever you roll it can make your opponent's Deny the Witch tests significantly harder (or impossible if you roll a 11+).
   • Eldrad can manifest powers with ridiculous ease if buffed with this. Offensively, you can cast Executioner on a 5+ and follow up with Smites that manifest on a 2+ and 3+ respectively (which do D6 damage on an 8+). Alternatively, a supporting Eldrad can cast Smite or Will of Asuryan on a 3+ then manifest any Guide/Doom/Fortune casts on a paltry 4+.
   • If you really want to maximize your psychic rolls, use this on Eldrad and pair a Warlock Conclave with him and use the Seer Council Stratagem to give Eldrad +3 to his first cast and +4 for any follow up powers. Power Overwhelming! +4 to cast is not only a super smite on 7+ but also a power that is essentially undeniable for anyone but Black Templars and Khorne worshipers with their stratagems to deny on 4+. Also Guide, Doom and other powers going off on 3+...
6. Impair Senses: WC 6. Pick one enemy unit within 18". They can shoot normally at units within 18", but beyond that, they can only pick the closest.
   • Probably the best of the batch, this allows you to suppress or redirect major threats to your backline units like your Dark Reapers or Fire Prisms by forcing them to target something much closer and (hopefully) much more disposable. A Hemlock Wraithfighter makes a great carrier for this power; it can force a unit (say, an Imperial Knight, for example) to focus fire on it while it employs Lightning Reflexes to impose a -2 to hit (-3 if Alaitoc and just far enough away) modifier.
   • Rangers can serve as excellent buffers when tactically deployed around a target affected by this power. Their innate to-hit modifiers make them absurdly difficult to shoot off the board (especially with proper stratagem/psychic support) and their ability to deep-strike into enemy territory almost ensures that you can place them close enough to effectively force your opponent to shoot at them instead. The best part is that at 60 points a squad, they're cheap enough that their (very likely) sacrifice won't cut too deeply into the rest of your detachment.

Remnants of Glory

Any non-named Asuryani Characters can take one of the following relics if your warlord is part of a battle-forged Asuryani detachment. To take additional relics or if your warlord part of a non-Asuryani detachment, you can use the Treasures of the Craftworlds stratagem.

Universal

• Blazing Star of Vaul: The bearer's Shuriken pistol or Twin Shuriken Catapult gets 2 more shots, which is fine to boost the firepower of a Psyker that will presumably be somewhere at the front.
• Faolchu's Wing (Infantry only): The bearer's Movement is set to 12, and he gains fly. Useful for speeding up a Spiritseer or a Bonesinger that should accompany some wraith units.
• Firesabre (Autarch only): The bearer's power sword gets +1S and -4AP, and on a 6+ inflicts a Mortal Wound instead of normal damage; with a Damage characteristic of 1, it's less effective against Infantry blobs than it sounds. Nice for fighting Characters with an Invuln. The only issue stems from the fact that Autarchs with Jump Packs aren't especially good for character hunting, and Skyrunners will be trading in the Power Sword for a Lance anyway.
• Kurnous' Bow: The bearer's Shuriken pistol gets D2, and any wounds of 4+ have AP -3. Just as the Star of Vaul, this should only be taken when you can't make proper use of any other relic. Take whichever tastes better.
• The Phoenix Gem: The first time the bearer is slain, he explodes and each unit in 3" gets 1D3 mortal wounds on a 2+. If at least 1 mortal wound is inflicted, the bearer survives with 1 wound. Hilarious for trolling when used on an Autarch on Jetbike with Laser Lance: You will have him in close combat anyway, therefore the chances for triggering will be almost 100%. Also, if he gets charged and killed, he will resurrect and still be able to hit back! A recommended relic for Wraithseers looking to shore up their durability by a couple points. This can be a potentially hilarious way to trigger a Soulburst in any allied Ynnari Detachments running around in your list. Be warned, per September FAQ you must take saves one at a time for this relic. Should the bearer resurrect and they usually will, you must take all remaining saves allocated to the model. It makes charging into tar pits or eating marine shells far less appealing.
• Shard of Anaris (Autarch only): The bearers power sword makes 1d3 damage and re-rolls failed wounds. Because you should only be getting into fights with T4 or less if you can help it, the Firesabre will actually usually do better for you - have something else in your army deal with higher toughnesses.
• Shimmerplume of Achillrial (Autarch only): -1 to all hit rolls that target the bearer. Stacks with Conceal, Lightning Reactions and the Alaitoc Craftworld Trait, meaning an Autarch with -4 to be hit is possible. Another excellent choice for an Autarch on Jetbike, who will definitely be the targeted during the match.

Specialist Detachment Specific

• Windrider Host - Howling Skysword of Galaleth: This Relic is essentially a buffed Witch blade (seeing as it replaces one), doing a flat 3 damage instead of d3. It's a decent choice, though compared to your vanilla relics (like the Novalance), it'll probably only see use as a secondary pick if you're overflowing with CP for the extra Relics.
  • As mentioned earlier, this relic pairs very nicely with the Witch Strike rune of fortune, granting your farseer/warlock a melee weapon that deals a flat 5 damage per swipe; more than sufficient to one-shot many supporting characters and enough to bring any non-Infantry HQ to their knees. You may want to bring another warlock that knows the Jinx power to help compensate for the lack of AP.

• Wraith Host - Warp-Spawn Bane: A buffed up Witch staff, this relic also ignores the invulnerable saves against both Psykers and Daemons. This can be quite fantastic for a Spiritseer up in the thick of it with some Wraithblade Bodyguards, though you'll want to be careful about who/when you charge with your less-than physically inclined Psyker.

Craftworld Unit Analysis

Common keywords are AELDARI, ASURYANI, and the <CRAFTWORLD> placeholder for Biel-Tan, Iyanden, Ulthwé and the like. You share the AELDARI keyword with Drukhari, Harlequins and Ynnari, meaning you can combine them within your list. Please note that a <Craftworld> detachment can only take <Craftworld> units. You can still take your Aeldari brethren in separate detachments however.

As far as Games Workshop is concerned, the only unit and wargear options legal for official matched play tournaments are those found within Codex: Craftworlds, Imperial Armour: Xenos and any updated datasheets found within Chapter Approved or supplementary books (such as Phoenix Rising). There are additional options that are no longer considered tournament legal found within the original Xenos 1 index (which has since been supplanted by Warhammer: Legends) that are available for Open/Narrative play. These "unsupported" units and wargear still do have point values for matched play and are certainly viable for casual/local Matched Play events that endorse them, but Games Workshop has made it clear that they have no interest in keeping those options up to date any longer. As such, use any units marked as (Legends) at your own discretion.

HQ

• Autarch: The Craftworld's generic captain-type character used to manipulate reserves while having all the wargear options to somewhat fit into every niche. Now with reserves being completely determined by player choice, you'll want to take an Autarch over another Farseer for his aura: All <CRAFTWORLD> units within 6" may re-roll 1s to hit for both shooting and melee attacks. Aside the tactical benefits to supporting multiple units at once for no extra effort, the ability to work for all attacks makes it a useful buff for your entire army regardless of their combat role. Although the Wargear options in the Codex are very limited, all of the old wargear options available in the Xenos 1 Index are still legal to take, so long as you adhere to any updated point costs and rules regarding them. The basic Autarch on foot is, of course, the cheapest variant at 77 points including gear. If you need your Autarch to keep up with faster units but absolutely cannot afford any of his mobility upgrades, Faolchu's Wing is a great way to compensate.
  • Autarch Skyrunner: The fastest Autarch variant with the most flexible weapon loadouts available , the Skyrunner is an ideal supporting character for other bikers. Tag one to a squad of Shining Spears, Vypers or even Warlock Conclave Skyrunners to have a veritable little deathball.
  • Autarch with Swooping Hawk Wings: The "default" Autarch sold by GW, the ability to deepstrike and leave the battlefield can give him virtually unlimited coverage to support your units, though the Skyrunner is almost quick enough to simply dart between locations to perform the same role (for the same price, no less). The SHW Autarch can more easily hide among your troops or simply bow out in a pinch, however.
  • Autarch with Warp Jump Generator (Legends): The cheapest mobility upgrade is potentially the fastest, giving your Autarch 4d6 inches of bonus movement. As with anything dice based, a few bad rolls can severely undermine your repositioning options compared to your other choices but it's hard to argue with the WJG's price tag.

Weapon Loadout Options: Originally the most flexible of your HQ choices, almost all of your non-default weapon choices are now considered as a Legends variant and no longer supported for competitive play. Bummer. At least you can use them in friendly matches.

• Mandiblasters: The Autarch's default headpiece. Just like the Striking Scorpions he took this from, it slaps a mortal wound on enemies in melee combat on a 6+ before any fighting actually begins. Honestly this is a very lackluster perk since the autarch will have significantly more trouble proccing it compared to a standard squad of Striking Scorpions simply due to their higher body count.
• Fusion Pistol: A sidearm that lets your autarch side swipe a S8 AP-4 blast at anything 6" or closer to him. Given that your Autarch is practically a dedicated melee unit these days,
• Power Sword: Comes stock on the winged and Skyrunner Autarchs in the codex, and an option for the regular and Warp Spider Autarchs in the Index. SU, AP-3, D1. Its main use is being taken to upgrade to one of the three power sword relics available to Eldar players.
• Starglaive: Exclusive to the footslogging Autarch in the codex, and has the exact profile of a powerfist (Sx2, AP-3, Dd3). Remember, you're S3, making you a mediocre S6 with this, and hitting on a 3+ due to the unwieldy rule.
• Laser Lance: Exclusive to Skyrunner Autarchs in both the codex and the index, and has both a ranged and melee profile - R6"/melee, S6/U, AP-4, D2, melee becomes SU+2 if you charge. Honestly the best melee weapon available, and you're gonna take a Saim-Hann Skyrunner Autarch, you're gonna give them this, you're going to upgrade it to the Novalance relic, and you'll dress him up as the lost Shining Spears Phoenix Lord.

Legends
Any and all Autarchs can take anything in this list, however they become classified as a "Legends" variant and are thus illegal in any competitive play banning Legends units. Still worth noting for those few that do or for those who only play casually.

• Banshee Mask: Not a weapon per-say, but still a wargear option. Of the two headgear options, the Banshee Mask is arguably the superior option due to it disrupting overwatches on the charge. This is immensely valuable on a Skyrunner Autarch due to his incredible mobility. Have a secondary melee squad of Wraithblades, Striking Scorpions or Shining Spears (arguably the best option) tag along so they can join the Autarch in combat without fear of eating any overwatches.
• Scorpion Chainsword: a S:U+1 melee weapon. Meh, but it's only 1pt. Still pass and grab the power sword.
• Shuriken Pistol: Interestingly, this is only standard on the Legends Autarch profiles, and got dropped upon modern iterations. The only reason to take it is because it's free.
• Avenger Shuriken Catapult: Like the name suggests, the index autarch can take the Dire Avenger's Shuriken Catapult variant. Generally this would be a hard pass, since the only thing these guns have going for them is that the autarch can dual-wield them and that they're arguably the cheapest ranged weapons available to them. If points are so hard to come by that you have to settle for these on your autarch, you should reconsider your list.
• Death Spinner: The Warp Spider's signature gun. The higher strength and AP value on these guns make them a reasonable choice on faster autarchs intended for anti-infantry duties.
• Fusion Gun: This is in the codex as an option for the Skyrunner Autarch, though all other autarch become Legends class units if they take it. Just like the Fire Dragons and Storm Guardians whipping these guns around, your autarch will want this for any anti-tank/monster needs you may have. Skyrunners can make excellent use of these, but the real MVP abuser of this gun would probably be an autarch running a Warp Spider jump pack.
• Lasblaster: From the armories of the Swooping Hawks, the lasblaster provides the same volume of fire that two avenger shuripults or death spinners can provide at longer ranges, but at weaker strength with no chance of AP. Especially given that it's more expensive than two avenger shuripults and can't even be dual wielded, just avoid this one at all costs.
• Reaper Launcher: Discount Maugan Ra anyone? There are exactly two loadouts that'll be using this; a vanilla autarch camping in a corner with some Dark Reaper buddies or a Saim-Hann autarch skyrunner equipped with this and the Nova Lance. When paired with the Mark of the Incomparable Hunter warlord trait, your autarch can snipe enemy characters from across the table with ease (flat 3 damage hitting on 2+ and re-rolling 1's? Wounding most characters on a 2+ or 3+? Yes please!). The major drawback, especially on skyrunner variants, is the rather high point cost it can incur.

• Farseer: A classic HQ choice, and long a staple of the common Eldar list. Now he is everything you loved and wanted rolled into a nice 110 points package (115 with a spear). A codex version now is one of the best psykers available in the entire game, just have a look: ability to cast and deny 2 powers per turn, while Runes of Farseer allows for one free reroll of any number of dice in any psychic phase be it yours or your opponents. All that on a great base of 5 wounds 4++ and the ability to ignore any mortal wounds on 5+ with their ghosthelms even if it is a rail gun, sniper fire or exploding vehicles. After all that, GW decided that Farseers are not reliable enough and gave their ghosthelms the ability to ignore mortal wounds from perils on 2+, due to RAW your Farseer could not care less about exploding Warlocks in the background. They know two powers from Runes of Fate, in addition to Smite, and can attempt to cast/deny 2 powers in the psychic phase. Considering how versatile Runes of Fate powers are Farseers can be kitted out to perfectly suit whatever strategy demands. Fortune/Guide for excellent back line babysitting of expensive point sinks, while Doom/Executioner is really good for a front line support. Also you should not forget many strategems are tied to Farseer, such as Forewarned, Unparalleled Mastery, Seer Council, and Runes of Witnessing, all making Farseers even more versatile. Ironically, because Guide and Fortune work on your Hemlocks, Titans, Wraithknights, Wraithlords, and Wraithseers, and Doom supports everything, they are better at supporting those units than Spiritseers or Warlocks are.
  • Farseer Skyrunner: Superior in every way to a regular Farseer, and only 25 pts more expensive. Being on a Jetbike allows for 17-22" of repositioning for his psychic powers and deny the witch aura, while also boosting his resilience - T4 and an extra wound means he can take quite a few more sniper shots than his footslogging counterpart. Stack him with Protect and he becomes quite tanky, perfect for delivering aggressive powers like Executioner and Mind War. Don't forget that his twin catapults hit on BS2+.

Weapon Loadout Options: Outside of the ranged weapons that come stock on your Farseer (Skyrunner), you do have your pick of melee weapons to kit him out with.

• Witchblade
  • Free and very effective against anything relying on toughness to shrug off damage. In the "best" timeline, your Farseer isn't using this because Farseers don't usually thrive in melee combat, so you're only taking it to keep costs down.
• Singing Spear
  • Take this if you can spare the points. Farseers can thrive in mid-field areas where they can still support your backfield gunlines while also debuffing/smiting enemy forces with their varied psychic powers. A singing spear can let your Farseer also contribute a powerful ranged hit on opponents that get a little too close to your side of the field.

• Warlock: Your cheapest and frailest HQ choice, Warlocks are fantastic (and necessary) force multipliers for most of your aspect warriors, and due to the dual functionality of the Runes of Battle, are extremely flexible and can adapt to changes in the field a bit more easily than some of your other HQs. That said, your Warlock honestly won't be bringing much to the table on his own due to his lower strength smites and single cast limiting your options. Defensively, a 4++ isn't much when he only has 2 wounds with GEQ stats. Single Warlocks desperately need to keep out of line of sight with a full bodyguard ready to keep them safe if there's anything that poses an immediate threat to them on field. Unfortunately, caution must also be taken even when using their powers, as they lack the protections your Farseers have and even a single perils of the warp runs a very serious risk of killing the Warlock and wounding nearby friendly units. Save your CP re-rolls for his casting if he's a key component to a formation you're running.
  • Warlock Skyrunner: For only 15 more points, you can plop your Warlock onto a Jetbike to let him get where his psychic powers are needed much more quickly than having him hoof it everywhere. The Skyrunner variant also has an extra wound at T4, to help keep him around a little longer, coupled with a little extra firepower in the twin-linked Shuriken Catapult strapped on the bike itself. If you're paying this much for the warlock, it may not be a bad idea to go ahead and splurge a little more to give him a Singing Spear to help him hit with a little more staying power. With Warlocks being so expensive for a 2W model, the new footslogger's price point honestly makes the Skyrunner variant a goddamn bargain, and it should legitimately be considered unless points are that hard to come by.

Weapon Loadout Options: Your Warlock has exactly two choices in weapons he can bring on top of his shuriken pistol. The Skyrunner also gets the standard issue twin shuriken catapult all jetbikes get, so that's neat.

• Witchblade
  • The free default blade in most cases is all you'll need. You generally don't want to make your Warlock an easy target due to his frailty, so keeping him away from most direct combat situations is advised. No need to pay for features you're not using!
• Singing Spear
  • If you do want your Warlock participating in fights, paying the extra 5 points for a decent ranged attack is probably worth it. This is of particular note for the Skyrunner version due to the fantastic overlapping range it shares with the shuriken catapults the jetbike has.

• Warlock Conclave: Your only non-character HQ unit serves as a very handy toolbox, albeit with a catch or two compared to the rest of your choices for this slot. Even at MSU, being able to know two different powers gives them an unparalleled flexibility as a vector for Runes of Battle, though you'll need to take at least four or more models in the unit to really take advantage of that. At a newly reduced price to 35 points per dude, it's certainly a much more feasible feat these days. Ideally, your Warlock Conclave can function as an elite bodyguard unit for a linchpin Farseer (like Eldrad himself) in generic lists or Yvraine (who really benefits from having expendable psykers as a bodyguard) in a Ynnari detachment. Keeping company with a Farseer opens up the extremely handy Seer Council stratagem that can be used in conjunction with the Concordance of Power and Unparalleled Mastery stratagems to unleash a deluge of psychic casts per turn when needed. When building your list, keep in mind that while the Conclave can cast more powers and stronger Smites the more models it has, the unit can get extremely expensive quickly.
  • Warlock Skyrunner Conclave: For 13 more points per dude, bump up each model's toughness and wound count by one and give them all the the power and mobility of a jetbike. Despite the price reduction, skyrunner conclaves are still potentially the most expensive HQ choice you can take depending on how many you're looking to run, so keep that in mind while building your lists.

Weapon Loadout Options: Aside the complementary shuriken pistol your Warlocks pack, they have the same choice of melee weapons your stand alone Warlock and Farseer get. If they are riding a Skyrunner, they also get a twin shuriken catapult per bike.

• Witchblade
  • Your Warlocks' default weapon is honestly all they should really need in most cases, especially since trading these out for Singing Spears gets very pricey very fast.
• Singing Spear
  • Even at an otherwise measly 5 points a pop, it adds up very quickly when you slap them on every model in your squad. Due to being free game to your opponent, you may generally want to avoid overpaying on a supporting unit that can easily get spanked off the board if your opponent so desires. A minor exception is if you're taking a Skyrunner Conclave; you're already paying out the ass to field a Conclave on jetbikes and the Singing Spears get really nice synergy with the underslung catapults. The added mobility and durability afforded by the jetbikes also makes them significantly harder to immediately deal with, so you may as well give them the extra offensive presence to match.

• Spiritseer: Now costing 55 points, their primary role is intended to support Spirit Host units (including themselves), which get re-rolls of 1s to hit while the Spiritseer is within 6" of the target. However, while Hemlocks, Titans, Wraithknights, Wraithlords, and Wraithseers have the Spirit Host tag, none of the Runes of Battle buffs work on them, so a Spiritseer is actually quite bad at supporting them; instead, Spiritseers excel most at supporting Wraithcannon Wraithguard and Wraithblades, and also serve as more cost efficient Warlocks for Smite and melee output. For just a 10 point bump, you gain a better smite, double the amount of wounds (thats 4W), and BS/WS 2+ compared to a foot slogging warlock while missing out on just a few stratagems like Seer Council. That is one helluva bargain! The most crucial is 4W that means that Spiritseers are guaranteed to survive the first perils and aren't that afraid of sniper fire. If going just for RoB delivery vector they are better served under Alaitoc Attribute but with 4W Ulthwé is a still good choice.
  • Modelling Note: It looks like GW hasn't completely forgotten about the non-Imperial factions amid all the new releases, and a shiny new Plastic Spiritseer model was released for the new Wake the Dead set!

• Wraithseer (Forge World): Your sturdiest generic HQ unit by far, Wraithseers are stacked with a staggering 12 wounds at T8 and a 3+/5++ save, making them nigh indestructible compared to your other choices for this slot. This durability is slightly hampered by two things: as characters with 10+ wounds, they're free game for everybody with a gun and they suffer from a degrading statline. The latter issue can easily be worked around; Iyanden practically removes the damage table while Bonesingers and/or Tears of Isha can heal Wraithseers D3 wounds a turn each. Offensively, the Wraithseer packs heat in the form of any standard heavy weapon, a Wraithcannon, or a D-Cannon as their ranged option with a complimentary Ghostspear for close encounters. Like prior editions, Wraithseers are highly synergistic with other Wraith units (specifically Wraithguard/blades and Wraithlord) and benefits from Spiritseer support. As such, they tend to operate best in a spirit host-type detachment, but can still shine on their own with proper support. Speaking of support, Wraithseers have access to 3 unique powers (with only one cast per turn and no Smite of any kind), two of which are strictly designed to support their Wraith buddies.

Psychic Powers: The Wraithseer's ability to cast/deny one power a turn can be quite handy, if only to protect against opposing psykers in non-Spirit Host lists. Armies sporting a few Wraithlords and Wraithblades/guard can, however, find a few of these powers a bit handy.

• • Enliven: Warp Charge 6 (72.22%). Allows a friendly unit of wraithguard/wraithblades/wraithlord to roll two dice for that unit's advance/charge and discard the lowest roll. This gives Wraith units the hilariously ironic privilege of being the only Craftworld units that can get Fleet in 8th edition.
  • Foreboding: Warp Charge 8(41.67%). Reduces the leadership of every enemy unit within 6" of the Wraithseer by 1. Situational and not very reliable, but can be stacked with other powers/effects to create potent leadership bombs (A nearby Hemlock casting Horror alone can drop Ld by an additional -3, for example).
  • Deliverance: Warp Charge 7 (58.33%). Grants the targeted unit of Wraithguard/Wraithblades/Wraithlord 6+ FNP. Weirdly, cannot cast it on himself. Does not stack with Ulthwe's attribute and is outperformed by Fortune, though the latter may be better reserved for squishier, still living Eldar.

Even if you don't have it cast any powers, it can still at least deny one enemy cast and can still easily tear most enemies apart at range or in melee; more than can be said for the rest of your psykers (granted, their powers are considerably more useful/flexible). Currently at 100pts base, Wraithseers are definitely a force to consider for people good with Forge World kits.

Weapon Loadout Options: Though the complimentary ghostspear is quite good for dealing with anyone who strays too close, the Wraithseer's ranged arsenal is actually quite varied and can be tailored to help shore up areas of your army that may be lacking. That said, one of these guns in particular stands out among the others for obvious reasons.

• Shuriken Cannon
  • A decent mid-strength gun that doesn't penalize the Wraithseer's accuracy for moving and shooting. As cool as that is, it doesn't have either the volume of fire or impact per shot to really be worth taking over any of your other choices.
• Scatter Laser
  • Probably the most acceptable choice of the standard selection, the scatter laser offers just a touch more in the dakka department than the shuricannon does and is marginally cheaper for it. If you must take the cheapest possible Wraithseer, consider at least giving it this to make sure it can still do something at range.
• Starcannon
  • A good MEQ/TEQ killer at a reasonable price, the starcannon can soften up a smaller unit of infantry just enough that a followup charge can easily clear it out. That said, a single starcannon often doesn't provide enough ranged pressure on its own to be worth taking on your Wraithseer.
• Bright Lance
  • Bright lances are normally a pretty good choice for dealing with enemy tanks or monsters, and that much is still true here. Only the melee ghostspear hits up to four times per turn at a higher strength with extra bonuses against enemy vehicles and is free to boot. Compared to your other ranged options, the bright lance might seem like a decent option if you want to shave off a few points, but it just does so much worse comparatively that you may as well just skip it entirely.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • The AML provides both anti GEQ/MEQ support in addition to its anti tank/monster role, so it's a decent option. The variable number of shots does make it a bit worse than the scatter laser or even shuricannon if you explicitly intend on using it for anti infantry, and even the bright lance offers a bit more consistent armor negation against bigger targets (not even mentioning how much better the D-Cannon is at this yet), so unless you are absolutely uncertain as to what you're going to be fighting, stick with one of your other options.
• Wraithcannon
  • An...odd inclusion, especially as no kits outside wraithguard exist for the weapon, but it can still take it somehow. The only other assault weapon available to your Wraithseer, it has a decent niche for an anti vehicle/monster melee Wraithseer since it can close the gap and remain slightly more accurate while doing so, but its garbage range and extreme price tag makes it unsuitable for anything else outside this role. Even then, the potential accuracy drop incurred from moving the other heavy weapons might be made entirely irrelevant given the higher number of shots they're capable of.
• D-Cannon
  • This is the Wraithseer's pride and joy, though this puppy is staggeringly expensive. Though it's nearly half again the price of the Wraithseer itself, the D-cannon can easily take advantage of its ability to ignore line of sight to tear tanks, monsters and superheavies a new asshole. The variable d3 shots can potentially make up for the accuracy lost for moving with the gun, more than can be said for any of your other anti large weapons and the (albeit unlikely) potential to slap up to 18 wounds on a target per turn can let you effectively erase any target short of a relatively healthy Imperial Knight. A fantastic way to abuse the ability to ignore line of sight to take advantage of the Mark of the Incomparable Hunter warlord trait to snipe enemy characters with a S12 gun, making the Wraithseer one of the best character hunters in the game. Keep in mind though, having a 145 point freely targetable warlord that presents such a danger to your enemies' characters, tanks and monsters will make it that much more of a priority mark for your opponents, and only one Wraithseer in your entire army can be used to snipe like this.

Special Characters

• The Avatar of Khaine: Now back to the HQ slot after 7th shifted him to the Lord of War section, he's every bit the buffed monster he should be, but has taken a steep price increase from 195 to 220 points (thanks Chapter Approved 2018). He is as survivable as he was before with a 3+/5++, but now thanks to his awesome Molten Body special rule, he can ignore regular and Mortal Wounds suffered on a 5+. Not to mention his Wailing Doom is utter carnage, be it at range or close combat. S8 AP:-4, and inflicts D6 wounds (roll 2d6, discard the lowest for both shooting and melee). He hits on 2+ just like every decent character, so just stick him with an autarch for those all important re-rolls, as his attacks is just pure gold. He's awesome against characters, vehicles, and high-priority targets as he should be, but due to the way overkill now works only Mortal wounds spill over, so the Avatar of Khaine at best can kill 5 infantry models. This makes him much more prone to tarpitting from hordes than he was in 7th. He is also Character with less than 10 wounds, so screen him with whatever you want - an Alaitoc Guardian blob with shuriken cannons, buffed by Protect, Conceal, and Celestial Shield makes the perfect bodyguard, fending off tarpits and being absurdly durable.
  • Worth noting that the Avatar allows ALL friendly Asuryani units within 12" to reroll charges...and makes them immune to morale. This is very helpful when running mixed craftworlds - he's basically giving you a combination of Saim-Hann and Iyanden's craftworld abilities, so you'll get the most mileage out of him if he's buffing Ulthwe, Biel-Tan, or Alaitoc. Rerolling charges makes Eldar even faster, as many of your units can close the gap and then use Fly to escape next turn (while locking down your opponent and basically using them as a human shield). This is horrifying when combined with a Banshee-star list.
  • Where the Avatar of Khaine really shines is in a Footdar list where infantry can make the most out of his 12" aura, however, he can quickly become deadweight in a mechanized list where he cannot keep up with vehicles that move more than twice his speed.
  • Mobility concerns have always been problematic for the Avatar. Giving him Falcon's swiftness warlord trait helps a lot. That, and/or Matchless Agility if you have the command point to spare and there's no other unit that benefits from it more.

Phoenix Lords

Sadly, Phoenix Lords can't take a Warlord Trait. All of them buff their own aspect in some fashion (three of them provide re-rolling of 1s to hit; as a result, Fuegan and Maugan Ra don't buff their Exarchs if said Exarchs didn't trade up for another power). They share a "baseline" profile of M7, WS/BS 2+, S/T 4, W6, A4, Ld9, and a 2+ save. All of them are aspect warriors, but none of them have the actual keywords of the aspect they represent. There are no Phoenix Lords for the Crimson Hunters, Warp Spiders, or Shining Spears (that last is because Drastanta is busy challenging Jaghatai Khan to a bike race, but for the other two, we have no idea who their Phoenix Lord even is), although it's worth noting that Karandras is just faking it; the real one works for the Dark Eldar. *FWIP* Ignore the vile and insidious propaganda of the dark kin, Commander; for their treacherous words will only lead you astray from the path.

• Asurmen: Has an additional attack (A5) with his S+1 AP-3 D1d3 sword, which inflicts an additional 1d3 Mortal Wounds on a 6+ to wound, and has two Avenger Shuriken Catapults for ranged combat. Like his Aspect, he Overwatches on a 5 or 6, but you take him for the invuln: he has 3++ in melee and a 4++ at ranged, and more importantly, friendly aspect warrior units within 6" gain a 5++, or a 4++ if they're Dire Avengers. This means he can buff both other Phoenix Lords, and some of the stranger Aspect Warriors, like Crimson Hunters and their Exarchs. Combine this with the Protect Warlock power and you can have Dire Avengers with a 2+/3++ in cover. 2+/3++/6+++ if they are Ulthwe. Yes that is right, when you factor in all of the -1 to Hit Eldar can stack on top of this (even without going Alaitoc), he can potentially give your Baseline Infantry durability to rival the Custodes. He is an expensive Phoenix Lord at 150 points, but damn well worth the price for an Aspect Warrior list.
  • With some support, Asurmen can be disgustingly tanky in a fight. Cast Protect on him to bump his saves up to a 2+/2++ when in combat, which can be further supported with Enervate/Drain if you so desire. That said, your opponent may simply bow out and try to light him up with ranged firepower to reduce/negate some of this buffed durability, so try to have a squad or two of Striking Scorpions/Howling Banshees help surround priority targets.

• Baharroth: The quickest (M14) and cheapest of the Phoenix Lords at 110 points, and with good reason. He has the same Cry of the Wind and Skyleap abilities his Swooping Hawks have. Also, if he moves over an enemy unit or deep strikes near it in the movement phase, roll a die for every model in the unit (max 3d6) for the unit, and every 4+ dishes out a mortal wound. He gives friendly Swooping Hawks re-roll 1s to hit (but strangely not himself), and all aspect warriors gain +1Ld within 6" of him (with friendly Swooping Hawks gaining +2Ld). You can drop him wherever his support abilities are needed. He also has a Swooping Hawks Exarch gun, and an S+1 AP-3 D1d3 sword that debuffs any units it wounds with a -1 to hit until the end of the turn.

• Fuegan: If you thought Fire Dragons were awesome, wait until you get a load of this guy. His Firepike is still the same anti-tank or anti-Monster gun at 18" Assault 1 S8 AP-4 D1d6 (rolling 2d6 discarding the lowest when the target's within 9"), a Fire Axe which is AP-4 D1d3 (and Fuegan is S5!), and melta bombs. He's pretty kitted out as is, but his abilities make him truly shine. He re-rolls 1s to wound against Monsters and Vehicles, and he re-rolls 1s to hit at range (and gives this same bonus to friendly Fire Dragons within 6"). In addition, he has a 5+++ FNP, making him almost as survivable as Asurmen against normal weapons (and flat out better against mortal wounds), and if he suffers at least one wound in the Fight phase, then at the end of it, once per game, he gains a permanent +2 to his strength (making him S7) and attack characteristics (that's 6 attacks). At 140 points, he is a costly beatstick, but a good one at that.

• Irillyth (Forge World): Speedy and shooty with deepstriking privileges, Irillyth is second only to Baharroth in sheer mobility (M12), but packs a hell of a lot more firepower than his flighty brother. Irillyth's Spear of Starlight (24" Assault 1 S6 AP-3 D2) allows him to make an additional shooting attack for each successful hit he lands, up to a maximum of 4 total hits! To top that off, his Reaper of Souls ability lets him re-roll 1s to wound infantry in the Shooting phase. Given his rather shooty nature, many would assume that he would be easy prey when it comes to melee. However, rather than having a Dispersed mode on his Spear of Starlight, it has a melee mode that stabs people 4 times at S+1 (S5) AP-3 for 2D (D3+1 if he was the one who charged), meaning even Primaris marines and Terminators may hesitate before trying to punch him to death. Combined with his 2+ save, Irillyth has a Spectre Holo-Field that subtracts 1 from enemy To Hit rolls, which if in cover and buffed by a Warlock's Conceal, can make him a real bitch to get rid of. The last notable perk he's got going for him is his spooky fear bubble (the Spectre of Death) that makes all enemies within 18" of him or any of your Shadow Spectres roll 2D6 (discarding the lowest roll) for all Morale tests they take. Note that this stacks with the Exarch rule, for TWO unkept low dice on morale checks, and is an infinite range buff - he doesn't need to be near the unit he's buffing, just for both of them to be alive (he doesn't even need to be on the table!).
  • Leadership bomb: The wording of The Spectre of Death and Shadow of Death (from the Shadow Spectre Exarch) rules allows you to create a terrifying Morale check on 3D6, discarding the 2 lowest, for an enemy unit within 6" of a Shadow Spectre Exarch. Throw some Horrify/Mind Shock Pod/Phantasm Grenades in there, and even those Custodes just might run.
    • In case you're wondering, the averages on 1d6, 2d6kh1, and 3d6kh1 are 3.5, 4.47, 4.96, so stacking the two unkept die rules is pretty worthless; instead, if you do take Irillyth, use him as an excuse not to take an Exarch, which will save you 5 points per squad. Irillyth's rule has much better range, anyway.

• Jain Zar: The first of Asurmen's students has returned, both in plastic and with updated rules! Right off the bat, Jain Zar is a terrifying melee combatant who wields both Silent Death (an assault 4 S4 AP-3 weapon) and the Blade of Destruction (a buffed Executioner that hits at S6 AP-3 DD3 with re-rolls for failed wounds) on the mostly standard Phoenix Lord statline. Combined with the flurry of special abilities native to her aspect, such as overwatch immunity, advancing after charging with an extra 3" added if she does so, she will find it particularly easy to get stuck into combat and do some heavy damage. Jain Zar wouldn't be a Phoenix Lord if she didn't offer any incentives to run her aspect with her, so in comes her Cry of War Unending ability. This grants Jain Zar and all Howling Banshees within 6" the Always Fight First rule (and all the caveats that come with it), which might have some niche use if enough Banshees can fully cut off enemy units from pulling out of the fight. Jain Zar's last notable ability, Storm of Silence is arguably her main selling point now. Allowing her to make attacks equal to the number of enemy models within 2" of her, this transforms Jain Zar into a GEQ/MEQ blender that can single-handedly wipe entire squads off the board in a single fight phase. Unfortunately, this kind of discourages having more than a squad of banshees accompany her since outside acting as meatshields on the approach, they'll more likely just get in the way in the fight phase.

• Karandras: Hell yes, our infiltrating super-ninja warrior! He has the average Phoenix Lord stat-line and currently runs at 125 points. He comes with a host of special abilities: the Master of Stealth and Shadow Strike rules of the Striking Scorpions, and his Scorpion's Bite is a Mandiblaster mask that hits on a 5+ and shoots 4 times instead of 1 (Averages 1.3 Mortal Wounds per combat round). He also has exploding attacks (6s to hit generate a single additional attack that DOES NOT explode) on himself, and grants it to all Striking Scorpions within 6" of him. His Scorpions Claw has lost the -1 to hit Penalty meaning he is one of the scariest close combat characters we have (short of the Avatar or Yncarne) with 4 S8, AP-3 Exploding attacks that deal d3 damage each. If you give him Empower, he is wounding everything below T8 on a 2+, letting him take on anything short of a Super-Heavy, and Enhance means his attacks explode on a 5+, or 4+ if the target is covering in cover. However, with how the Psychic Rules worth in 8th Edition you might be better off using those powers on the blob of Scorpions that he is babysitting instead.

• Maugan Ra: Our shooty Lord, at 140 points, and the slowest of them, at M6. He can shoot his Maugetar twice, using either profile in each salvo (and target them independently). Both profiles are 36" Assault X S6 AP-1 D1; the "Shuriken" profile has X=4 while the Shrieker profile has X=1, but if it slays an infantry model, its unit suffers another 1d3 mortal wounds. While it sounds awesome, 2 Shuriken Cannon shots that might cause Mortal Wounds will always be outperformed by 8 Shuriken Cannon shots. His Scythe is also a powerful S+2 AP-2 D1d3, making him decent at taking on enemy characters or Monsters. Abilities-wise, as mentioned, he can fire his gun twice in each shooting phase (allowing him to get 8 Shuriken Cannon shots off per turn), re-rolls 1s to hit for his ranged weapon and grants that same ability to all Dark Reapers within 6" (this in addition to always hitting on 2+ means he only has a 1/36 chance of missing a shot), and re-rolls to-wound rolls of 1 when targeting chaos units.

Troops

All Units in this section have the Path of War ability (which is the old Objective Secured, and will be referred to as such).

• Guardian Defenders: When you're looking to quite literally fill out your troop choice with as many bodies as possible, Guardian Defenders are probably going to be your go-to choice. At 8-points a model, they're a touch pricier than their GEQ counterparts in other armies, but they make up for it with their Space Marine level accuracy, speed and access to many support options that can turn them into one of the most resilient infantry units in your army. Every 10 members per squad allows you to purchase a Heavy Weapon Platform that can be kitted out with any standard Heavy Weapon available to you, enabling your Guardians to take potshots against a wide variety of targets they may otherwise be borderline useless against. This by no means should encourage you to chuck your Guardians at your opponent's Leman Russ tanks just because you gave them a Bright Lance, but they can certainly try to bip a shot or two at it while your Fire Dragons or Wraithguard get into position. The Shuriken Catapult each Guardian comes stock with may at first seem underwhelming, a 12" range, 2 shot S4 gun that may be AP-3 if luck favors you, but in the numbers you'll be fielding Guardians in, they make shockingly effective blob blenders that can seriously lock down objectives or discourage anyone from charging recklessly into your turf.
  • It's actually possible to get them up to a 3+/3++/5+++ against shooting by combining Fortune and Protect with Celestial Shield. Ulthwé gives a 6+ FNP for free so they don't really need to use Fortune. It's also possible to get them to -2 to be hit (-3 for Alaitoc) as well so they're now more durable than you think if there are Psykers close enough to support them.

Heavy Weapon Platform Loadout Options: As stated, every 10 Guardians per unit allows them to take a Heavy Weapon, maximum of two. The standard fare is available to them, though they must pay a slight fee for the platform itself in addition to the gun.

• Shuriken Cannon:
  • A great option for Guardians on the move, Battle Focus makes this the only "heavy" weapon that lets your Defenders run and gun with no penalties. Ideal for Biel-Tan lists.
• Scatter Laser:
  • The cheapest choice is also a solid one. Long ranged anti-GEQ firepower works fairly well with large squads of Guardians, especially if you go big enough to field a pair of them.
• Starcannon:
  • A mid-tier choice for mid-tier units, the Starcannon cuts out some of the "all-or-nothing" attitude the your shuriken weaponry has regarding armor. A good supplementary choice against MEQ armies, but unless your Guardians are close enough to contribute their firepower as well, don't expect it to clear squads on its own.
• Bright Lance:
  • If you have the points to spare and if you plan on having your Defenders hang back and defend key locations, the bright lance is a good, if pricey choice for contributing firepower against monsters and tanks. You can also buff these to hit on a 2+ for Ulthwé Guardian Defenders, but one would argue the AML would be a better choice.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher:
  • Same price as the bright lance, though much more flexible. Not only does it perform decently against both single heavy targets and groups of small targets, but your Guardian Defenders arguably get the most out of this particular gun than anyone else who can take it (namely Ulthwé ones). Discipline of the Black Guardians grants the ever reliable accuracy most other units (even Dark Reapers) can't quite compare to and the Starshot Missile offers a clutch anti-Fly option that can smack Mortal Wounds on airborne targets. Their exceptional range also makes them fantastic for backline Guardians acting as deep-strike buffers or objective defenders so that they can contribute something cross field.

• Storm Guardians: They are faster and they can assault out of Wave Serpents, so they suck a bit less than in 7th. Sadly they are quite a niche unit outside of some very specific roles. They are the cheapest option to get Fusion Guns and Flamers onto the board, and at 48 points per 8-Elf Squad are the cheapest way to fill out a Brigade Detachment, so they do have that going for them. Sadly, they lost their high initiative with nothing to compensate for that other than being able to shoot their decent pistols in melee. And their "exquisitely crafted" Aeldari blades are..... different, now allowing you to re-roll misses which is something that would be amazing on almost any unit other than the one that got them... One niche they do have in the Codex is a cheap bodyguard unit for characters in an Ulthwé detachment. With the Guardian exclusive stratagems they are more accurate than Aspect Warriors and stick around decently enough with a Warlock helping them, so can compete with other Aeldari melee options, but the support they need to do so might be better served on other units. Like the Aspect Warriors doing the actual killing. If we are also considering allies: Wyches, however are strictly better for tarpitting and are only a little more expensive, and Troupes are by far the better pick for actual melee combat, though you can easily field 2 Storm Guardian squads for the same cost.

Weapon Options: Aside the complimentary Shuriken Pistol, each storm guardian has their choice of taking either a chainsword or aeldari blade. Two of every eight Storm Guardians can instead take one of two special weapons and arguably serve as the primary reason to even take these guys at all.

• Aeldari Blade
  • The default blade that is complete trash. The only benefit it provides is that it allows Storm Guardians to re-roll failed hits in the fight phase. Seeing as how this is strictly worse than just gaining another attack, never take this.
• Chainsword
  • A completely free upgrade that grants Storm Guardians an extra attack. Always take this.
• Flamer
  • One of exactly two units in the entire Craftworld codex who has access to the bog-standard flamer. One or two of these in a standard unit is actually quite useful against GEQ armies. Their range meshes nicely with the rest of the squad's shuriken pistols and serves quite well as a prelude for and against charges.
• Fusion Gun
  • Serves the exact opposite purpose the Storm Guardian's flamer does. In a similar vein to taking a bright lance or AML on a Guardian Defender squad, you take these to supplement your existing forces rather than replacing them, as the Storm Guardian squad as a whole likely won't contribute jack shit to the type of targets the fusion gun is designed for. Additionally, these guns can get expensive quite quickly and decking out your S. Guardians with them can negate one of their biggest selling points: dirt cheap prices. On the plus side, Ulthwé S. Guardians can take advantage of their unique stratagem for +2 to-hit fusion guns, something even your Fire Dragons can't quite match.
• Power Sword (Legends)
  • Kind of a "special weapon" in its own right, only two models per squad can take a power sword in lieu of their aeldari blade. The AP is nice, but each model wielding the sword only gets one attack at S3 a turn. Give this a skip.

• Dire Avengers: At 11 points per model, they could seem like an overpriced Guardian unit, but their increased range, better overwatch, better save and unique Exarch options open up for several interesting uses. They are usually considered as a Jack-of-All-Trades unit, that can be tailored to your special needs by choosing the appropriate Exarch option. In most cases, they excel at harassing slower melee units by constantly advancing back from the enemy and keeping the distance at 18". And even when they get caught, their overwatch is nothing to laugh about (remember your Grenades, so if your opponent is 6" away when charging...). Don't forget the Exarch's 4++ invuln, that can possibly tank some high AP shots. There are many ways of fielding these guys, including:
  • 10-man squad in a Wave Serpent, possibly supported by Guide, Doom, Jinx or Reveal, that clears some objective from soft targets or a small MEQ unit. If you want to field Asurmen, take two of these!
  • 5-man squad that shares a Serpent with a small unit of Fire Dragons, in order to kill the passengers of the transport the Dragons just melted.
  • 10-man squad that footslogs together with an Avatar straight up to the enemy, who takes care of the big targets, while the Avengers keep him free of tarpits.
  • Squad of arbitrary size that stays at your back line in order to shield your fire base and counter deep striking enemies.
  • 5-man squad for 55 points filling up a brigade detachment.

Exarch Powers: Dire Avengers Exarchs by default have the Battle Fortune ability, granting them a 4+ invulnerable save. This can either be exchanged for one of the following powers, or you may pay 1 CP for one particular Dire Avenger Exarch to keep Battle Fortune and take one of the following.

• Bladestorm
  • While the Exarch is part of the unit, all non-Grenade ranged weapons score an additional hit on an unmodified hit roll of a 6. Can prove somewhat handy, especially with bigger squads or on Exarchs dual-wielding ASCs. Equivalent to +1 to hit (and stacks with it), even on Overwatch (where it works fine, unlike real modifiers). Offensively speaking, this is the best power of the bunch (Avenging Strike would be better if you could reliably lose only a few members, but that's challenging compared to losing none or many).
• Defend
  • Squads accompanying an Exarch with this force opponents to subtract 1 from wound rolls made by melee weapons against them. Basically a free, constant Enervate debuff (which can be stacked with Enervate for a -2 to wound roll). Given your Exarch can actually participate in melee to a decent degree, this isn't a bad trait to take for objective defenders expecting company.
• Stand Firm
  • Straight up morale immunity for a squad containing an Exarch with this power. As in, you auto-pass all morale tests, don't roll any dice. Another decent ability that has uses in maxed out squads, but is somewhat overshadowed by other abilities you can take here instead - and why take 1 10-elf squad when you can take 2 5-elf squads?
• Martial Adept
  • This Exarch has a WS/BS of 2+. A pretty good trait that is great for either ranged or melee exarchs. Precious few troop choices in the game can get a built in BS/WS of a 2+ with the abundant access to hit rerolls and performance buffing psychic powers you have. If you're sticking to ranged combat, this is going to be worse than Bladestorm, which is functionally BS2+ for the entire unit; only take this if you really plan on getting into melee, or are obsessed with your Exarch's grenades.
• Shredding Fire
  • All ranged non-grenade weapons fired by this Exarch gain AP-3 at all times, losing the "critical hit" AP-3 on a wound roll of 6 rule. This is generally speaking terrible, because even on a 5-elf unit, targets are few and far between where this will outperform Bladestorm, due to this only buffing the Exarch's shots, not the squad's.
• Avenging Strike
  • While your Exarch is alive and the squad itself has taken at least one casualty, you add 1 to each model's hit and wound rolls. This is also a very good power; you will invariably lose at least one model from your units as the battle progresses and these roll buffs apply for all attacks made by every remaining model. The only downside is also an upside: your opponent won't willingly leave an injured squad alive, so be prepared for this to turn into the real power being that your Dire Avengers can control your opponent's flow.
  • Given you also get +1 to wound, this means that the rending effect on 6s will also trigger on 5s too.

Exarch Weapons: Your Dire Avenger Exarch arguably has the most flexible loadout choices among all the other aspect warriors. If you don't want to spend any extra points on him, he just packs around an avenger shuriken catapult just like his less obsessed kin.

• Two Avenger Shuriken Catapults:
  • Exactly what it sounds like, your Exarch simply dual-wields two ASC's. Given you're doubling his ranged output for a measily 3 points, you'll almost always want to take this on any standard loadout. As they're counted as two individual guns (not "twin-linked"), you may choose separate targets for each gun, so there's that going for him too.
• Power Glaive and Shuriken Pistol:
  • Shave 6" and half the shots from your ranged weapon, but get a power axe equivalent. Has some decent usage when up against GEQ/MEQ, but is arguably outperformed offensively by the Diresword or even just sticking with the shuripults.
• Power Glaive and Shimmershield:
  • Completely forego any ranged weapons on your Exarch in exchange for a squadwide 5++ invulnerable save. A pricey upgrade that is now considerably more attractive for Exarchs giving up their invulnerable save for one of their fancy new powers. Due to the way those powers work, you ideally don't want the squad Exarch to tank shots unnecessarily and this will let the rest of your meat shields gain at least some guaranteed protection to compensate.
• Diresword and Shuriken Pistol:
  • Again, sacrifice a bit of your ranged firepower to get a power sword equivalent that's AP-2, but slaps a mortal wound in addition to any damage dealt on a wound roll of 6. Since your Exarch is naturally S3 and would've needed to roll a 5 or 6 just to wound most MEQ units anyways, this is a reasonably decent loadout for Exarchs you expect to be up on the front lines. Season this with a Warlock casting either Protect or Empower on him, or posse up with Asurmen to more efficiently lay the smackdown on enemies in melee.

• Rangers: Deep Striking Snipers that can target characters regardless of restrictions. Awesome. They also gain a 3+ Save in cover and anything firing on them has -1 BS to hit, meaning that they can be a nightmare to get rid of, especially if they are Alaitoc and/or a Warlock is nearby. Sniper units all have an essential Character Hunting role to play in 8th Edition, and they are fantastic units to spread out to deny your opponent the ability to Deep Strike exactly where they want to, so these guys are a strong contender for any of your Troop slots regardless of Craftworld. They are 12 points per model, making each 5-Elf Squad 60 Points each.
  • Remember: Snipers won't kill an Ork Warboss alone, but they can sure as hell take out the Painboy buffing him up, or snipe that Commissar keeping that Conscript blob from breaking the second your Wraithguard or Shadow Spectres open up on them.
  • Note: Due to Heavy Weapons no longer Snap Firing on the move, and the Rangers also having pistols (for if you need to use Battle Focus), these guys are a lot more mobile than you might think.
  • They are now the best unit to take for a Brigade Detachment to get those precious command points.
  • Deployment: If you have some larger ruins on your table, make sure to place one or two of the objective markers on the very top of those, and then let your Rangers appear right there. Perfect for trolling sluggish, ground-bound armies.

Dedicated Transport

• Wave Serpent: All those Serpents you definitely didn't get during 6th Edition have been made great again. It is still the most survivable Grav-Tank, but now by a larger margin: not only does it have an extra wound compared to its shorter brethren, ye olde Serpent Shield will now reduce any multiple damage results by 1 (to a minimum of 1). Firing it off (and disabling the shield in the process) will basically auto-cast the Smite psychic power. Any weapons loadout you slap on it will be useful, be it the cheap triple Shuriken Cannon for some Bladestorm goodness or Bright Lances to hunt tanks (don't forget to take a Crystal Targeting Matrix if you opt for a Heavy Weapon), you won't be disappointed. At now only 28 points, Twin Starcannons are a good choice for scaring the hell out of TEQs and Primaris Marines. Missile Launchers are as versatile as ever and Scatter lasers will threaten infantry of all types well. So basically just take what your Army might need. Oh, and did we mention that it's our main transport? The one that brings Fire Dragons, Banshees and Wraithguard to their targets?
  • Chapter Approved 2018: One of the few Craftworld units that got a point increase as opposed to a decrease, but by only 13 points. And let's be real, they kinda deserve it.

Weapon Loadout Options: Wave Serpents have a fairly basic selection of weapons to mount on its chassis. Like every other tank based on the Falcon, it features an underslung twin-linked shuriken catapult that can be swapped out for a single shuriken cannon. As it is your dedicated transport, it does eschew some of the more specialized and unique weapons in exchange for a twin heavy weapon. The only real downside to these twin weapons is that they count as a single weapon; even if they're effectively just two heavy weapons strapped together, they both must target the same unit when firing.

• Twin-Linked Shuriken Catapults
  • Your default underslung gun has its uses in those Falcons that intend to get up closer to the enemy to drop off a squad of Aspect Warriors and is the best choice for Wave Serpents looking to keep it cheap. The wounding potential this has is fairly comparable to the cannon and honestly is preferable unless you want to run triple cannons for the range and strength synergy.
• (Twin) Shuriken Cannon
  • Upgrading the underslung gun into a shuriken cannon is generally not necessary, as your Wave Serpent will often be trying to get in close to drop off its payload of aspect or wraith melee units in enemy lines. If you're planning on taking a Wave Serpent to primarily act as a durable tank that doesn't take up your precious heavy support slots, the extra range the cannon has over the catapults is certainly welcome. The twinned version mounted on the turret is an excellent and reasonably priced choice for transporting units quickly, since you can still contribute their firepower even while advancing. Obviously pairs perfectly with the underslung cannon.
• Twin Scatter Laser
  • Your cheapest and best anti-GEQ choice, the twin scatter laser lets you blast 8 S6 shots at ranges that surpass any shuriken variant available to you. Even with the accuracy dip brought on from the constant moving, the rate of fire alone will still help put a dent in any infantry you scoot past.
• Twin Starcannon
  • A good middle of the road option, the twin starcannon seems a little lackluster compared to your other options in this slot. Being twinned does give it a serious boost however, as 4 S6 AP-3 shots will virtually erase any MSU MEQ squad you come across, with the underslung catapults/cannon able to clean up the rest of what's left.
• Twin Bright Lance
  • A good choice that gives your Wave Serpent a fairly effective anti-tank/monster option for a workable price. It serves fairly nicely as a tank/transport cracker if you're carting around Banshees/Wraithblades and can give embarked Fire Dragons/Wraithguard an extra push if whatever they tried to blow up managed to survive their efforts. It does face fairly stiff competition from the twin AML though.
• Twin Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • If you have the points, the twin AML is your most flexible choice and one certainly worth considering if you can afford it. Either 2 S8 shots or 2D6 S4 shots let your Wave Serpent threaten a wide variety of targets. It also grants your Wave Serpent the ability to double down on its passenger's focus (like anti-tank Fire Dragons or anti-horde Howling Banshees) or help cover up their shortcomings (like using the 2D6 shots against that 10 man Scion squad that tumbled out of the Taurox Prime your dragons just popped open)

Vehicle Upgrade Options: Your Wave Serpent and its sister tanks are the only ones who actually have their pick of the vehicle upgrades still available. Unlike most of those tanks, most of these are actually useful to the Wave Serpent and warrant a look if points allow.

• Crystal Targeting Matrix
  • A fantastic choice that lets your Wave Serpent close in without completely sacrificing accuracy in order to do so. Arguably essential to the serpent that's transporting Aspect Warriors about, though don't take this if you just plan on sticking with shuriken weapons.
• Soul Stones
  • Wave Serpents, being a defensive tank possibly carrying cargo worth more than it is, definitely want to purchase these if at all possible (especially if you're running Iyanden or Alaitoc). The Serpent Shield pairs beautifully with these, since it reduces the number of FNP rolls you'll need to make against anything dealing more than 1 damage to the tank.
• Star Engines
  • A nifty but somewhat unnecessary upgrade. Wave Serpents have pretty good movement on their own already, but these can help them close the distance to its destination much more quickly for its riders' sake. Consider just sticking with shuricannons if you're going with this upgrade so that it can still fire all its weapons while advancing.
• Vectored Engines
  • Kind of a similar boat as the star engines. They stack well with them, the Serpent Shield and with Alaitoc's attribute, making the Serpent even harder to take down. Taking advantage of these does effectively restrict your weapon loadout to shuricannons if you want to actually have the serpent contribute any firepower, however.

Elites

• Bonesinger (Legends) no longer legends due to having points in CA19: A psyker that only knows Smite, but can repair friendly <craftworld> vehicles and wraith constructs for 1d3 instead of manifesting Smite in the psychic phase. Noticeably worse than most models capable of repair, since those don't give up their Psychic power to do so (of course that's because this is the only psychic repairman model in the game), and worse than most models capable of healing infantry, since it can't resurrect the dead, but is among the very rare (Cawl is the other one) set of models capable of repairing both vehicles and infantry. It is also the only form of healing support the Aeldari get (as the Renewal Rune of Battle doesn't exist anymore). Another advantage it has over other repair units is that it can still toss out a regular Smite when there's nothing around in need of patching up which is not a bad thing. At 55 points, you have to carefully decide if it's worth fielding over spending the same points on more stuff. It is strictly better than a Warlock and equal to a Spiritseer when it comes to casting Smite, but takes up one of your very crowded Elite slots. Has no gun, but its basic melee weapon does 1d3 damage for whatever reason. With base S3 strength and 1 attack, if your Bonesinger is in melee combat, you definitely messed up somewhere. If you're taking Wraithlords or Wraithknights and you aren't Iyanden (though even Iyanden lists can hardly say no to a healer if you're fielding anything Wraith), consider making room for one of these in your list a priority. Due to his price tag, make sure you have a cheap screening unit or two (like Rangers or Dire Avengers) so that if the Wraith unit(s) he's following get focused down, he still has someone to cower behind.
  • If you are taking one to babysit a Wraithknight you should always take the Faolchu's Wing so you can keep up with them.
    • Tragically, the Bonesingers brief time in the sun has come to an end. They have been relegated under Warhammer Legends and thus are no longer supported by official competitive play. What's worse is that this all but guarantees that they will not get a plastic re-release. It's rather curious, as Bonesingers received a significant point reduction in Chapter Approved 2019 despite their presence in Legends (which also runs the old point values for it).

Aspect Warriors

• Fire Dragons: Even with the changes to Meltaguns and Fusion guns, Fire Dragons are still the same reliable anti-tank Aspect Warriors. Now you see that vehicle, FWOOOM, now you don't. They haven't changed much; they are still your awesome Vehicle and Monster Hunting Aspect Warriors who get to re-roll 1s to wound against Vehicles and Monsters in the Shooting phase, plus the Exarch re-rolls 1s to hit. As always, Fuegan gives this buff to all friendly Fire Dragons within 6". They used to face stiff competition from the Wraithguard for this, and while they still do, they have the advantage of being cheaper and easier to put in transports. Tactics are simple: Shove them in a Transport, vomit them out next to something big, and pull the trigger. If they are somehow still alive by the next turn, embark and carry on. Fucking Autarchs. An impressively excellent choice. Remember they are 25 points per model, gear included, so you really can't throw these away.
  • Unless the Exarch is carrying a flamer (see below), it's generally easier to just never throw the melta bomb, but if you can be bothered to remember this, the bomb is better only against T8+ vehicles, and the benefit against T8 is vanishingly slight. It's also better any time the target is down to 2 or 1 wounds remaining.
  • Fire and Fade is an excellent way of getting these guys into cover after blowing up their target.

Exarch Powers: Vanilla Fire Dragon Exarchs get the bonus of Crack Shot, letting them re-roll 1s for their hit rolls. However, trade this in or pay 1 CP to pick one of these other perks instead/in addition.

• Dragon's Bite
  • The Exarch's accompanying unit may change their fusion gun characteristic to Pistol 1 at the start of their shooting phase. Basically garbage, since neither you nor your opponent will typically have any interest in staying in melee long enough for pistols to come up.
• Tank Killer
  • Your Exarch may re-roll one of the damage dice made by an attack using the Fire Pike, but only against VEHICLEs. It certainly helps get the most out of that particular gun, though it's still not an ideal weapon to use. Very anti-synergistic - outside of melta range, it helps your damage less than melta does, and within melta range, it has diminishing returns with it.
• Burning Fists
  • Turns your Exarch into mini-Fuegan. Their melee weapon gains AP-2 D2, and grants wound re-rolls. A decent pick for the very likely possibility of melee combat your Exarch will face.
• Swift Step
  • When your Exarch's unit advances, roll 3D6 and discard whichever 2 results you don't like. Extremely handy for getting in close enough to do their job and potentially get out somewhat safely. This should typically be your default - it's the only Exarch power you can take that fundamentally helps the unit do the job you took it to do.
• Wall of Fire
  • Your Dragon's Breath flamer wielding Exarch may forego his overwatch shot against a charging unit and roll 1d6. On a 2+, the charging enemy unit takes D3 mortal wounds. Notably doesn't seem limited by the flamer's 8" range and nothing can really argue with a source of borderline guaranteed mortal wounds.
• Burning Heat
  • Your unit's Exarch forces enemy melee attackers to subtract 1 from their hit rolls in melee against the unit. Basically the Banshee's War Cry ability, and a pretty good defensive perk that stacks with Drain and Lightning Reflexes if you want to go that route.

Exarch Weapons: Fire Dragon Exarchs have a couple side choices they can take just in case the basic fusion gun isn't quite packing enough heat for you.

• Fire Pike
  • Pay 3 additional points and trade out the basic fusion gun for +6" of range, which is +3 to the improved damage range as well. This was really nice in 7th edition when you could hide the Exarch at the back to protect them from fire and still have them in Melta range. Now with the 8th Edition wounding rules, it's not even needed; you need to ask yourself "is it really worth the extra 3 points?" The short answer is no; you should be committing the entire unit to killing things, so you shouldn't be attacking things more than 12" out to begin with, and the damage buff in the 6.01-9" band isn't worth the points, full stop.
• Dragon's Breath Flamer
  • Swap your fusion gun for an assault heavy flamer for no points change. Used to be an infuriating weapon for certain Ynnari Alpha Strike builds that exploited Cloudstrike in 7th to vomit a bunch of double-tapping heavy flamers and melta shots onto your opponent's backline; now, it's more a utility weapon, and one that is criminally underrated. It also discourages counter charges against your Fire Dragons, the value of which really is not something you can just dismiss. Remember, the Exarch can still chuck melta bombs, so it's not like you've given up all your melta.
    • The Exarch's Crack Shot (and Battle Focus) doesn't apply to the flamer, and the melta bomb doesn't re-roll wounds against monsters, on top of only having 4" of range. This means the flamer is often worse than the fusion gun it's replacing - for example, against TEQ during your Shooting phase, even in the 6.01-8" band. Often, you're better off with the fusion gun, and you can stop counter-charges by having something else, like the Wave Serpent these guys rode in on, charge the potential counter-chargers.

• Howling Banshees: Your absurdly fast Glass Cannon shock troops. Howling Banshees are your swiftest non-flying infantry, having a standard movement of 8" and the ability to advance and charge like your clowny cousins, complete with a bonus 3" to their charge if the banshees advanced. This, combined with their overwatch immunity, makes them a fantastic spearhead unit that can tie up enemy models while your slower, more vulnerable units get into position. Offensively, each standard banshee has 2 attacks apiece armed with Power Swords (and Shuriken Pistols, but whatever). This, however, is where they start to struggle. While your banshees have good AP courtesy of their power swords, the S3 arms swinging them means unsupported banshees only wound GEQ targets on an underwhelming 4+ and MEQ/TEQ on a 5+. Defensively, Howling Banshees also find themselves a touch lacking with their T3, 4+ save and single wound per model rendering them very vulnerable to most armies' basic weaponry. That is, however, before you start to factor in their Exarch and RoB support. A Drained target tied up by a squad led by an exarch will suffer a -2 to-hit modifier, which may well make those underwhelming defensive stats completely irrelevant in combat. Additionally, Empowered banshees will easily cleave through GEQ units and can more reliably go toe to toe with MEQ/TEQ targets. What's more is that they can do all of this much more cheaply than your other melee units, but if you want them to do more than just shutting down gunlines, they need warlock support in order to do so.
  • Banshees can have a use as an alternative to Scorpions to shut down a enemy's scary fire support unit. For only 1CP you can use Webway Strike to place a unit of Banshees near that Devastator Squad and ignore Overwatch. However, they don't benefit from +3" charge distance since they couldn't advance.
  • For obvious reasons Banshees excel at quickly shutting down static gunlines. Remember that the salty tears of a Tau or IG player, when bottled, can fetch a high price in Commoragh.

Exarch Powers: Howling Banshee Exarchs by default have the War Cry ability, slapping a -1 to-hit modifier on enemies in melee with them. They can replace this with one of these six alternate powers (or you may use the Exemplar of the Banshee Shrine stratagem to keep War Cry in addition to one of these.)

• Graceful Avoidance
  • Your Exarch's unit gains a free 5+ FNP against melee attacks. I suppose this can be paired with War Cry, Drain and Lightning-Fast Reflexes for a particularly challenging to kill unit of banshees, but you are giving up a significant amount of potential offensive prowess to do this.
• Piercing Strike
  • For Exarchs with Executioners, whenever they fight, you can drop their total attack output by 1, but add +3S and deal a flat 3 damage per hit. This turns your exarch into a hell of a MEQ/TEQ butcher, with a side specialty of character hunting. If you're taking the executioner, you may as well consider slapping this on your exarch for some added oomph.
• Disarming Strike
  • So this is where Jain Zar's ability went. At the start of combat, your Exarch may select an enemy model within 1" and reduce their attack characteristic by 2, to a minimum of 1. This works on every model from the lowliest guardsmen to the burliest Imperial Knight. This is a great tool for suppressing key combat characters (especially if multiple exarchs swarm the model in question) and can make your Banshees the ultimate tarpit unit.
• Whirling Blades
  • Your Exarch adds 1 to their attack characteristic, 2 if they're using Mirror Swords. A solid power that turns your Exarch into a mini-Jain Zar, but doesn't really help the rest of her squad.
• Decapitating Strike
  • Your Exarch's unmodified to hit rolls of 6 in melee cause a mortal wound on top of any other damage. This means your Exarch deals at least one mortal wound in a round of combat approximately 42% of the time, up to 53% if using Mirrorswords. Another pretty decent power, if considerably more limited and situational compared to others on this list.
• Nerve-Shattering Shriek
  • When the Exarch and her squad successfully charge an enemy squad (or squads), roll a D6. On a 4+, pick an enemy unit within 1" and deal D3 mortal wounds to them. Actually a pretty good power, as your banshees will generally struggle to fail a charge given their insane mobility.

Exarch Weapons: Howling Banshee Exarchs also have a collection of exotic blades to swing around if the basic power sword just doesn't quite cut it.

• Executioner
  • Pay 3 points to upgrade the power sword to +1S D1d3. S4 is a nice breakpoint to be hitting given you're only going to be charging infantry with high armour saves anyway, but Mirror swords are actually better in practice, since the unit is doing most of the work, and they're stuck at S3 - and with an Empower Warlock on hand, it's not usually worth taking. The Piercing Strike exarch power does give it a useful niche as a character/TEQ killer since the bump up to a flat D3 hitting at S6 will outright kill terminators, primaris marines and very possibly an unlucky character. This does turn the unit of banshees itself into a bit of a tax for the exarch however, as they won't be contributing much to the kind of fight your exarch'll be getting into.
• Mirror Swords
  • A free upgrade, the mirror swords drop the exarch's shuriken pistol in addition to the power sword. While this causes her AP to drop to -2 as well, it does allow her to re-roll all failed hit rolls in melee combat. For the discount banshee exarch, this is probably the recommended choice, especially if the squad is going to be thrown at GEQ-type blobs of infantry. Tailor made for the Whirling Blades exarch power, granting the exarch 5 attacks when using mirror swords!
• Triskele
  • Now officially supported for plastic banshees! For 6 points you trade your Power Sword in for a weapon with 1 less AP, but it can be thrown as an Assault 3 shooting attack instead of firing a pistol. Ends up faring a bit worse than the sword in melee, obviously, since you've paid 2 more points and reduce your AP by 1. Suffice to say, it is completely superior to the pistol due to having triple the "shots" and a standard AP-2 instead of AP-3 only on a 6+. Oddly, the triskele is considered S4 for the ranged attacks while its melee profile is S-user (S3), so it is more effective at range than in combat. While this makes it perfect for softening up enemies on the charge, it does find itself underperforming compared to all your other options in actual melee. Given that melee is the focus of the banshee's aspect...make of it what you will. It's a shame you can't replace the pistol with this instead, then it'd totally be worth considering more freely.

• Striking Scorpions: A Deep Striking brawler unit, Striking Scorpions are capable of burying a unit in S4 hits with their shuriken pistols and scorpion chainswords. Exarchs benefit from the extra perk of getting an extra attack on a hit roll of 6+ (which cannot proc another such attack if it is also a 6+). This in particular can benefit from the Scorpion's squad-wide +1 bonus to hit things in cover, which helps not only the pistols and grenades - units remain in cover in the Fight phase, they just gain no benefit from it, so the +1 applies in melee as well. Even though your Scorpions have a 3+ armor save to help against most conventional fire, they lack the protection your Banshees have from overwatch or retaliatory melee hits. This means Striking Scorpions require considerably more finesse on the approach than your other melee infantry, especially if you're deep striking them in enemy lines. That said, if/when they make it into combat, their higher innate strength helps them wound targets more easily than your banshees can sans warlock support, which is further supplemented by each model's Mandiblasters; special little guns that go off at the start of combat before any attacks are made. This includes before enemy charges or abilities that let the enemy attack first! While the straight roll of a 6 for them to go off makes them relatively unreliable, having the chance to deal mortal wounds on your enemies for free is nothing to sneeze at. At 45 points for a bare bones squad, they're reasonably cheap for what they do best: bullying backline gunners or exposed characters. Keep in mind, they are very vulnerable in the ranged game and can easily be wiped out if caught out of position.

Exarch Powers: Striking Scorpion Exarchs utilize the Sustained Assault power by default, granting an additional attack on a hit roll of 6+ with attacks generated this way not triggering this power. Certainly a good power, but you may want to consider trading it in or paying 1 CP for one of these other fancy abilities instead.

• Stalker
  • So long as the Exarch and his unit are completely on or in cover, enemies suffer a -1 to hit modifier on their ranged attacks against them. Currently, that means Striking Scorpions can also now achieve a -4 to hit modifier just like their fellow Warp Spiders and Shadow Spectres.
• Crushing Blow
  • Your Exarch gets +2 Strength. S10 Scorpion Claw smacks anyone?
• Scorpion's Grasp
  • Your Scorpion Claw deals a mortal wound on top of all other damage on unmodified wound rolls of a 6. Not a bad choice by any means, fishing for mortal wounds is a significant reason to take scorpions after all.
• Ambush
  • Your Exarch and his squad gain Always Fight First while fully on or in terrain features or cover. Your scorpions will probably have more opportunities to take advantage of this mechanic than other units since it's much easier to corner your enemies in the close quarters environments you ideally want your scorpions sticking in. That said, it's still situational.
• Withdrawal
  • Your Exarch and his unit may fall back 6" as if it were their movement phase at the end of the fight phase. This lets your scorpions swoop in, fire their mandiblasters, slap some faces a bit then bounce back a reasonable distance before your enemy has a chance to cut them off or surround them. Just remember not to take this when using attributes or stratagems that let you do this anyways.
• Scorpion's Sting
  • Your Exarch and his unit's mandiblasters add 1 to their rolls, going off on a 5+. Doubling the chance for these to go off is no joke and is certainly one of the better choices for more generalized lists.

Exarch Weapons: Striking Scorpion Exarchs have a surprisingly diverse selection of arms and armaments that can deliver quite a sting to a variety of enemies.

• Scorpion Claw
  • Buffed in the Codex and is a viable option again! Pay 12 points to trade your pistol for a S*2, AP-3 D3 damage Power Fist. It no longer has the penalty to hit so you swing at your full WS and your hits can explode without buffs or Shadowstrike. As your Exarch drops his pistol for this, he won't be able to contribute to ranged firepower while in combat. As the default Scorpion chainsword doesn't grant additional attacks, there's never a reason to not chose this over it in combat.
• Biting Blade
  • Gives a 1 point improvement to S, AP, and D, for 8 points - easily worth it against almost all targets. Not a bad choice at all, especially against 2 wound models and characters. Very few things you will send Scorpions against are T10 so Strength 5 is always a nice break point to hit. The cheaper option (if you only want one weapon upgrade) that lets you keep your pistol. And who doesn't love a weeb as hell BFS?
• Chainsabres - Legends
  • Have your Exarch toss away his chainsword and pistol so he can unleash his inner Ork and dual-wield shooty choppas that shoot choppy dakka. These are awesome in 8th Edition. First of all, you're really now carrying a second pistol, rather than having given up one. Secondly, adds +1A. Costs 12 points total and there are a number of tricks available to the Eldar to get those dice exploding on 5+ or even 4+. If you are fighting infantry instead of assassinating characters this one will be your choice. On a sad note, due to being index exclusive, they don't get to benefit from Biel-Tan's shuriken weapon buffs despite functioning exactly like one.
    • Modelling Note: Need Chainsabres? Clip the right hand off the Biting Blade and use the Exarch's Chainsword along with it to dual wield Chainswords. Add some shuriken pistols and green stuff and you're done.

• Shadow Spectres (Forge World): For an army known for extreme specialization, Shadow Spectres are oddly flexible in what they can do. Shadow Spectres are quite speedy; a 10" move with the FLY keyword letting them ignore terrain/units gives these guys excellent mobility for both offense and defense. Offensively, Shadow Spectres can unleash simply surprising amounts of mid-strength firepower with their prism rifles. The Coherent Mode has reasonable range with a respectable S6 AP-3 letting it burn through MEQ/TEQ targets, while the Diffused Mode functions exactly as a heavy flamer; D6 Autohitting S5 AP-1 shots will shred GEQ targets and can overwhelm harder targets with massive volumes of armor/invuln saves. And Shadow Spectres can take full advantage of Battle-Focus to get into position and make the most out of either of these two modes of fire. Defensively, the Spectres have the decent 3+ save their Warp Spider and Dark Reaper brethren enjoy, but that's not really where they get their durability from. A built in Holo-field makes all attacks against the Spectres take a -1 to hit penalty at any range, which stacks quite fantastically for Alaitoc Spectres and can be supplemented with the Conceal RoB and Lighting-Fast Reflexes stratagem to give a staggering -4 to-hit modifier against shooting! While this level of to-hit shenanigans may encourage some opponents to attempt to engage your Spectres in melee (which, to be fair, is a notable weakness for your Spectres), a fresh MSU Spectre squad can fire off 3D6 autohitting S5 overwatch shots; severely punishing opponents who try to get in close. Should they survive or ignore the overwatch, they still suffer mild to-hit penalties incurred by the holo-fields (and potential Drain casts) while your surviving Spectres can simply leave combat come your next movement phase and light them up with all manner of fire. At 23 points a dude, they can get on the pricey side, but they can easily earn back their points against infantry-focused armies.
  • Shadow Spectres, being a Forge World unit, definitely seem to have gotten the shaft with the Phoenix Rising book. Unless an FAQ or rule sheet is released for them later down the line, they are the only Aspect Warrior unit to not receive a selection of powers for their Exarch. Yes, even the Crimson Hunter Exarch got them. This stings all the more when they are also the only infantry-based aspect whose Exarchs actually cost additional points to field and must actually be purchased from Forge World separately from the unit they're supposed to be leading. At least the basic Shadow Spectres are good enough on their own they don't really need the Exarch. Just field Irillyth if you want that fear bubble, it's better than the Exarch's version anyways.

Exarch Weapons: Shadow Spectre Exarchs have a pretty ghastly selection. I'm serious, despite being the only Aspect Warrior Exarch that actually costs extra points to take, none of his weaponry offers anything of note that the basic prism rifle can't compete with (if not outperform entirely). If you're taking an Exarch, it'll likely be for the extra wound as well as the morale roll debuff he inflicts on nearby enemies.

• Prism Blaster
  • Spike your cost from 33 to 38 in exchange for losing 6" of range, a point of AP, and the Heavy Flamer mode, but, on average, double the damage from the single shot mode. While this has the potential to match the damage of the rest of your squad combined (if you roll well), it's not worth the lost AP, range and Diffuse mode. Stick with the prism rifle.
• Haywire Launcher
  • The Shadow Spectre's answer for any METAL BAWKSES thrown their way; costs 2 points (33 to 35), and is a 24" Heavy 1d3 S4 AP-1 gun that packs on a Mortal Wound per wound roll of a 4+ and D3 Mortal Wounds on a 6+ on top of any other damage it may do to the targeted vehicle. Considering how cheap it is as far as upgrades go, you may actually consider it. But when you consider that the extra 6" of range is basically worthless since the rest of your Shadow Spectres can't contribute shit towards that particular target at that range, and that both of the Prism Rifle modes are more likely to wound that vehicle (from either volume of shots, or harder hitting, higher AP shots) anyways, you may as well stick with the vanilla loadout. Besides, between Dark Reapers, Wraithguard, Fire Dragons, Fire Prisms and Bright Lance/AML platforms, there are plenty of better options for dealing with tanks than this gun.

Spirit Host

• Wraithblades: Angry Ghost Elves. Expensive and reassuringly scary Heavy Shock Troops that clock in at 35 points per model. Like other Wraith units, they are extremely durable by Eldar standards, but will draw a lot of fire. Massed lasgun or bolter fire will bring them down, and the Drukhari just see your T6 as adorable (as is tradition in WH40K, constructs like Wraith and Necrons are still vulnerable to poison, even though walker vehicles aren't). Like their ranged brethren, you want to put the unit into a Double Cannon Wave Serpent with a character to support, then drop them next to a high value target, charge in the transport to soak up Overwatch, and watch the carnage unfold.

Weapon Loadout Options: Wraithblades have exactly two different melee weapon choices depending on if you want to kit them out offensively or defensively.

• Ghostswords
  • The offensive loadout, as well as your cheapest wraith unit, ghostswords grant an additional attack per model (3 base, 4 on the charge) at S6. Designed to overwhelm enemy units in a flurry of attacks, ghostswords excel at slaughtering any and all infantry they're sent up against and, if supported with a Spiritseer, can even put a dent in lighter vehicles through the sheer volume of saves they'll need to make. Wraithblades with ghostswords need a Wave Serpent to cart them around if you plan to get them into combat by your second turn, as they cannot afford to take fire while they slowly footslog it across the field. If points are extra tight, you can attempt to Webway Strike them into a position to charge backline infantry, though the likelyhood of making that charge immediately after deepstriking them is rather low.
• Ghostaxes
  • Your defensive and most expensive wraith infantry unit, ghostaxe Wraithblades hit harder for potentially more damage per swing than their ghostsword variants. Why does this make them defensive instead of offensive? The extra strength conferred by the axe isn't quite enough to give it any higher likelyhood of wounding targets outside the T6/7 range than the swords do and the lowered melee accuracy coupled with fewer attacks per model make it challenging for ghostaxes to compete with the swords without extensive psychic support. In exchange, the Wraithblade does enjoy a very nice 4++ invuln save that can be boosted with Protect for a 2+/3++ T6 unit with 3 wounds per model. Outside very heavy focused fire or mortal wound spam, not much will break even an MSU squad of ghostaxe Wraithblades. While they can stand to risk running across the field a little more than their ghostsword kin can, using a Wave Serpent is still highly recommended to get them into position. Wave Serpents also let you more safely cart along the Spiritseer(s) needed to supplement your Wraithblades' slightly worse combat skills where the odd sniper might be able to sneak a shot in on them otherwise.
    • Try a setup of 10 Wraithblades with Ghostaxes, a Spiritseer with Quicken, two Warlocks with Protect and Enhance, one Farseer with Fortune and whatever you like as a second power, garnished with an Avatar of Khaine. Best served as Alaitoc in order to protect them on their approach. It will be absurdly difficult for your enemy to get rid of that unit, which will still demolish everything in close combat even after losing half of its strength. Although definitely not cost effective (around 1000 points) and not recommended for tournaments, it is massive fun to play. With in total 4 movements, 2 advances and a rerollable charge chances are pretty high that you reach close combat in turn 2.

• Wraithguard: Still as powerful as 7th edition rules with pretty much the same points cost. Clocking in at 38-43 points per model with T6 and 3 wounds, these guys are very tough and have a metric crapton of firepower to boot. Their movement is pretty slow, coming in at 5" and lacking Battle Focus, and their weapons have very short ranges, so get a Wave Serpent for them to ride in. Add in a Spiritseer/Autarch if you're taking wraithcannons and you've got a pretty nice little combo. They also have quite decent melee ability at S5 AP-1 D1d3, though only A1.

Weapon Loadout Options: Just like the Wraithblades, Wraithguard squads can equip one of two guns to deal with opponents at close range.

• Wraithcannons
  • At Assault 1 S10 AP-4 D1d6, they are murder against heavy enemies and strip wounds from Vehicles like crazy. However, remember that Fire Dragons are cheaper, fit into Transports better, and have much the same role, so they do face some competition if you are tight on points. Alternatively, Wraithguard equipped with wraithcannons are fantastic candidates for a Webway Strike, being able to drop in on a key target and unleash a salvo on important backline targets. Having a Spiritseer, Autarch, or Farseer around to help make sure the shots hit home is always recommended. When in doubt, the default wraithcannon will serve you well. Notably, unlike the Dragons, these guys are not only durable, but can Fall Back and then Shoot; this is typically not a concern against the things they're good at murdering, but see below.
• D-Scythes
  • Pay 5 more points per model to turn the wraithcannon into a flamer: Assault 1d3 auto-hit, but only D1, and only 8". The net effect on damage out is that you go from 2.33 (after accuracy and rolling for damage) to 2; switched to a more standard roll once per model with the Codex, so variance is now less of an issue, but you can no longer re-roll the entire unit for a single command point. The damage difference is fantastic against Quantum Shielding, where they actually do far more wounds per point, and the rate of fire increase is easily worth it against hordes, but again, Dragons have better damage out per point (here, you'd always take a Heavy Flamer on the Exarch to compete); the reason to field Wraith is that you can back out of a fight and shoot anyway, which is where D-Scythes really shine, since it's usually hordes who try to stop you this way. 5/10/15 "shots" on a Conscript or Boys blob doesn't sound like much until you realize that it's an average of 4.17/8.33/12.50 dead infantry plus the additional casualties inflicted in the Morale phase. Depending on leadership (4 for Conscripts, 6 for Guardsmen) you can end up causing a significant chunk of damage in the Morale phase, or force your opponent to burn some CP.

Fast Attack

• Vypers: Extremely resistant (by eldar standards) and mobile heavy weapons platform with 16" of movement, going up to 20" with a maxed out unit. Can take any eldar heavy weapon in addition to the twin catapult (upgradeable to cannon) it gets by default. It's a nice little unit, but the usual rules to moving and advancing with heavy weapons do apply unless you are Saim-Hann, who can move and shoot these without penalty regardless of weapon thanks to them counting as Bikers. For most other craftworlds, they do function quite well as an easily repositionable heavy weapon turret that can quickly respond to a variety of threats due to its flexible loadout. Alternatively, you can get two double-cannon Vypers for five shuriken cannon Windriders, who are way less durable, so there is that to consider. It is also worth noting that Vypers do not suffer from the same degrading stats that other vehicles have when taking damage. As of the Codex, they are both Vehicles and Bikers. Typically, you don't want one, but three: with shuriken cannons as Biel-Tan or any heavy weapon as Saim-Hann.

Weapon Loadout Options: As mentioned, Vypers come equipped with an underslung twin shuriken catapult which can be upgraded into a shuriken cannon if so desired. The main selling point however, would be the heavy weapon loaded on the gunner seat, which can be any one of your five standard heavy weapon choices.

• Twin Shuriken Catapult
  • The default under-gun for your Vyper is your cheapest and weakest option. It does put out a respectable four shots at close range, something your Vypers are easily able to dart in and out of, though a max range of 12" makes it challenging to utilize in conjunction with the much longer reaching turret mounted weapon for non-Saim-Hann Vypers.
• Shuriken Cannon
  • The ideal choice for Biel-Tan Vypers, going with two shuricannons per bike allows each model to churn out a decent six S6 shots to apply pressure on smaller MEQ/GEQ units. For other craftworlds, upgrading the underslung twin shuripult into the cannon allows you to more reliably contribute extra firepower at ranges more in line with your other heavy weapon choice. Saim-Hann Vypers may want to eschew the shuricannons altogether, as their ability to move and shoot their other heavy weapon without penalty could let you opt to simply stick with the higher firing rate the default twin shuripult provides at a cheaper cost.
• Scatter Laser
  • Your GEQ gimper synergizes decently with a shuriken cannon for Vypers in a position to act as turrets and are your cheapest choice in heavy firepower. Going this route means that your Vyper will struggle to break through tougher targets with good armor, but it'll be pretty effective at clearing out standard infantry squads.
• Starcannon
  • The MEQ murderer, the starcannon does very well against most armored infantry due to its good AP values, range, decent rate of fire and variable damage letting it cripple or outright kill multiwound models like primaris marines or Terminators. Where other units taking starcannons would possibly struggle to wipe a MSU squad of MEQ or TEQ in a single turn, two to three Vypers geared with Starcannons can focus-fire down such squads and use their underslung weapons to finish off any survivors.
• Bright Lance
  • Your Monster mulcher will burn through all but the sturdiest of armor. With Vypers priced as they are, a "unit" of three can dart up the map and deal horrendous damage to enemy vehicles or monsters. The lucky shot with the underslung weapon (ideally a shuricannon to maximize wounding potential against such targets at safer ranges) can also provide some extra chip damage in case the (rather limited) bright lance shots fail to fully finish off the target.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • An all-rounder weapon, the AML can be very useful for laying down hard/multi-hitting firepower across the board. Honestly this is probably the one weapon not necessarily recommended for your Vypers. It has double/quadruple the range of your shuriken cannon/catapults which somewhat discourages using it as a gunline unit in addition to its extreme mobility encouraging the run-and-gun playstyle that in turn punishes non-Saim-Hann Vypers with hit penalties for doing so.

• Windriders: The eldar jetbikes squads are back in the Fast Attack slot (though to be fair, with the new Detachment rules, they don't even need to be Troops anymore) costing 18 points per model with its default kit. Windrider jetbikes strike a nice balance; they're reasonably durable and are blisteringly fast units that can tote Twin shuripults or shuricannons for maximizing speed, or can take Scatter Lasers for maximizing each model's mid-strength shots. They are great for filling out Fast Attack slots cheaply and excel at flanking enemy positions due to their speed and Fly keyword. Of special note are SAIM-HANN Windriders, who are much more effective when used in conjunction with Scatter Lasers given they lose the penalties for moving-shooting heavy weapons. Alternatively, Biel-Tan Windriders are excellent vectors to abuse shuriken spam at a bargain-bin price tag.

Weapon Loadout Options: Windriders have only three choices of underslung gun to pick from, all of which perform somewhat similar roles. Adjust depending on what craftworld you're running and whether or not you want them to play a primary role in your army.

• Twin Shuriken Catapult
  • The default gun is probably your ideal choice for the average Windrider. The relatively short range isn't too much of an issue due to how quickly your Windriders can jet across the field and performs comparably if not better than the cannon against your more ideal targets. A great loadout choice for Windriders just filling slots for Brigade detachments.
• Shuriken Cannon
  • Interestingly, the shuriken cannon is now your most expensive choice. A lower number of shots means that even though it hits at S6, it has a slightly lower killing potential against hordes than the TSC and performs relatively the same against MEQ. It does have its uses though; a 24" range expands your threat radius considerably while the potential AP-3 gives it a slightly higher chance at wounding tougher targets with a lucky roll or two. In general though, it might be best to pick one of the other two guns.
• Scatter Laser
  • The longest ranged gun your jetbikes can carry can also be the most temperamental. Its range does allow you to simply have your Windriders camp back and blast enemies downfield, though most craftworlders will suffer hit penalties if they need to reposition for any reason. This isn't a major issue though and can be negated entirely by running Saim-Hann if you so wish. Honestly a solid choice either way for dealing with infantry focused armies and despite lacking any AP, can still try to deal chip damage to heavier targets by virtue of their rate of fire.

• Wasp Assault Walker (Forge World): You know what doesn't suck? A War Walker that deep strikes and flies. Retains the loadout configurations of the ground walker, 5++, can still form up into squadrons, still has a profile that doesn't degrade with a bonus Wound for good measure, Battle Focus, you name it. What do you need them to do? Shred infantry, murder tanks, hunt TEQs, harass careless characters... the Wasp can do it all. All this, and not hobbled by melee; just bounce out and keep shooting. As a Fast Attack unit, the Wasp Walker is exceptionally durable (by eldar standards at least) and can bring its two heavy weapons of any choice for roughly the same price as single Windrider squad (depending on your loadout, obviously). In Saim-Hann detachments, Vypers are more ideal since they're one of the 3 biker units that benefit from moving heavy weapons without penalty, and are marginally cheaper for it. Alaitoc and Ulthwe are great for more generic lists, while shuricannon Wasps do enjoy Biel-Tan's re-roll support (though you have cheaper, more ideal shuriken platforms for that craftworld perk).

Weapon Loadout Options: Despite being Forge World exclusive, the Wasp Assault Walkers' selection is just as standard as its ground-bound variant. Alongside simply being a better War Walker, the Wasp also has the privilege of not taking up your hotly contested Heavy Support slots. You may mix and match these as you see fit.

• Shuriken Cannon
  • A decent choice for Biel-Tan walkers, though it is somewhat point inefficient compared to your Windriders or even the vanilla war walker for this role. Not to say that it doesn't benefit greatly from having Battle Focus and the ability to deep strike and ambush backline gunners, it's just that by the time your walkers are able to deep strike outside your deployment zone, any of your biker units could have easily rushed into position with their superior movement speed.
• Scatter Laser
  • Honestly a pretty great choice for dealing with infantry and arguably your second most cost effective scatter laser platform (Saim-Hann windriders excluded). The sheer mobility and deployment options the Wasp possesses allows it to get into an ideal position to act as a turret to pick away at enemy lines, though the usual problems from the lack of AP and accuracy on the move apply.
• Starcannon
  • Giving your Wasp a pair of these can make it an ideal executioner of smaller MEQ/TEQ squads like inceptors or aggressors while posing a decent threat against light vehicles, but the drastically reduced number of shots will make the Wasp struggle against model heavy units or particularly tough vehicles/monsters. While reasonably priced guns, you should probably field no more than one or two Wasps kitted out with starcannons if you want them to effectively earn back their points.
• Bright Lance
  • A solid choice for your Wasps, kitting it out with two of these lets it effectively hunt harder targets like dreadnoughts fairly reliably. Like most units with access to them, it does face some minor overlap with the AML now due to costing the same and should probably only be picked over it if you are expecting vehicle/monster heavy armies.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • The most flexible, if expensive choice, the AML can effectively balance between GEQ/MEQ targets with its D6 shots or vehicle/monster targets with its single D6 damage shot. The Wasp can take great advantage of this weapon's range alongside its flexible deployment/movement to grant it near perfect coverage over the battlefield.

• Hornet (Forge World): A speedy and sturdy vehicle, the Hornet is essentially a jacked up Vyper: T6 at 8 Wounds with no degrading statline keeps it on the field for quite a while, even under relatively sustained fire at peak efficiency. This can be augmented in a pinch by the inbuilt Lightning Assault ability, which incurs a -1 to-hit penalty against units targeting the Hornet if it advances. Unfortunately, taking advantage of this ability does disable 5/6 of its guns for the rest of the turn, so outside gimmicky builds this should only be done in relative emergencies. That said, at 50 points baseline with the ability to take up to three Hornets per slot makes them quite reasonable vectors for heavier firepower. Slapping a CTM on them actually makes them the quickest and most accurate platform for such firepower available to you (with the usual caveat the CTM incurs) and should definitely be considered if you're not running Vypers under Saim-Hann.

Weapon Loadout Options: In addition to the standard fare of heavy weapons available to most vehicles, Hornets also have access to their own unique gun; arguably the best in its arsenal.

• Shuriken Cannon
  • Normally a decent if subpar choice, a hilarious niche the Hornet holds with the shuriken cannon is the synergy it has with lightning assault. As the only weapon at the hornet's disposal that can fire after advancing, taking a pair of these is important for people looking to abuse the hornet's speed and natural defenses while still providing some degree of firepower. Without re-roll support through the Guide psychic power or a tag-a-long Autarch, you will notice a fairly significant dip in the Hornet's accuracy playing this way.
• Scatter Laser
  • The scatter laser, as always, is a great choice for dealing with infantry heavy lists while keeping overall unit price tags comparatively low, though like the rest of the standard heavy weapons, it's arguably outdone by the pulse laser even in this regard.
• Starcannon
  • While the starcannon is just over half the price of the pulse laser, it is completely outclassed by it in every regard. Avoid taking this.
• Bright Lance
  • A decent choice, for an anti-vehicle/monster Hornet, but it's arguably worse than the pulse laser in most matchups.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • The most flexible choice, the AML can effectively balance between GEQ/MEQ targets with its D6 shots or vehicle/monster targets with its single D6 damage shot. Like several of the Hornet's options, it is pretty outclassed by the pulse laser due to the AML's variable and unreliable number of shots and/or damage output per shot.
• Hornet Pulse Laser
  • The signature Hornet pulse laser, while expensive at 25 points per, is honestly the most attractive due to its excellent range, rate of fire, solid AP values and a flat 2 damage letting it slaughter GEQ, MEQ, TEQ, light vehicles and even slightly weaker monsters in quick order. It can also prove effective against heavier targets due to its good strength and AP, all things considered. Pair with a CTM to ensure you can keep accurate on the move.

Vehicle Upgrade Options: As fully fledged vehicles, Hornets are completely eligible for any and all vehicle upgrades. Of course, if multiple Hornets are taken in a single slot, all of them must be upgraded in the same manner as one another.

• Crystal Targeting Matrix
  • A fantastic choice that lets your Hornet maneuver without completely sacrificing accuracy in order to do so. If you have the points, you should definitely pair this with a pulse laser Hornet. Of course, as it only removes the penalty for shooting the closest target after moving, do note that positioning is key.
• Soul Stones
  • Like most vehicles, Hornets can appreciate the potential to ignore incoming wounds, but taking these can drastically increase the price of your Hornet(s), especially if they're packing pulse lasers. Like literally every vehicle, don't take these if you're running your hornets under Ulthwe.
• Star Engines
  • A nifty but largely unnecessary upgrade. Hornets are plenty fast as is and there's almost no instance a standard advance won't provide the extra speed you'll need.
• Vectored Engines
  • Now this one has potential for some gimmicky cheese. Pairing this with the Hornet's lightning assault will guarantee a -2 to-hit debuff on units targeting your Hornet, which stacks with Alaitoc's Fieldcraft attribute for a -3 to-hit at ranges of 12" or more. Use the lightning reflexes stratagem if you wish to transcend that debuff to a comical -4 to-hit modifier. This can make sure your Hornet is borderline untouchable for a quick repositioning, or you can run two shuriken cannons to zip around and hassle enemy units while they can only shake their fists at you. Just keep in mind that if you're running anything but shuricannons and do this, your Hornet won't be contributing jack shit for the rest of the turn.

Aspect Warriors

• Shining Spears: Taking a glance at their stats, they look like Windriders with +1 Ld, but they are more expensive. That is before you look at their special abilities and weapons, and the fact that they got to keep their 3+ armor save. You gain a S6 AP 4 D2 weapon (the Exarch can upgrade to a S8 version for basically 2 extra points) in addition to the twin shuriken catapult, and a 4+ invulnerable save vs shooting allowing for some shoot, charge, withdraw, shoot shenanigans that will leave the Mon'Keigh raging. They have been vastly improved from 7th Edition, and can cause some serious damage when charging, though their cost might be prohibitive. Remember to always shoot the twin shuriken catapults! It's very easy to forget about them. Honestly, they are the hidden gem of the CW Index and borderline OP in a Ynnari list. A minimum unit is effectively immune to morale, and for 102 points, you can either shoot anything 28" away for up to 6 damage (by Advancing and then shooting the Lances at no penalty, thanks to Battle Focus), or shoot and reliably charge anything 22" away for up to 20 damage. Even better with a Warlock Skyrunner along to cast Quicken, of course; an Alaitoc warlord skyrunner can support them with a morale immunity bubble if you're worried about making the unit large.
  • Just make sure you blast Sabaton whenever you declare a charge with these guys. You will thank me later.
  • These guys got a significant points drop in CA 2019 which seems fair given that ynnari shining spears are now incomparably inferior to what they once were.

Exarch Powers: Shining Spear Exarchs have Expert Hunter as standard issue powers, giving them wound re-rolls against Monster and Vehicle units. Like the others, you may replace or pair this power with one of these using the respective stratagem.

• Blademaster
  • Your Exarch's paragon sabre does a flat 3 damage. Generally speaking, hot garbage - the situations in which this is better than a Star Lance paired with Lancer are so few you may as well ignore them.
• Heartstrike
  • Your Exarch's melee weapons generate a mortal wound on an unmodified hit roll of a 6 on top of all other damage dealt. Never take this - like Blademaster, this will almost always behave like Lancer but worse, assuming you take the Star Lance you should be taking.
• Lancer
  • The Exarch generates an additional hit on an unmodified hit roll of 6 while using a Laser/Star Lance. Notably works at range and melee, and will generally behave like +1 to hit, which it will also stack with. This power plus a Star Lance should always be your choice over Blademaster or Heartstrike; while it will stack with Expert Hunter, if you're choosing between them, Lancer is better against lighter targets, and Expert Hunter is better against heavier ones.
• Skilled Rider
  • The Exarch (and only the Exarch) has a 3++ invulnerable save against shooting attacks (1 better than stock). A Warlock Skyrunner tagging along casting protect gives the Exarch a disgusting 2++ invulnerable save, bar a potential followup FAQ. As of now, there's nothing saying you can't use CP rerolls on them, either. The downside is that you have to take shots on the Exarch to use this, so anything that gets through will kill off the most valuable squad member.
• Swooping Dive
  • While the Exarch is alive, the entire unit adds 1 to all charge rolls made. Generally speaking, the best option available, since Shining Spears really want to be in melee to do their jobs.
• Withdraw
  • While the Exarch is alive, the entire unit may fall back at the end of the fight phase 6" like it was their movement phase. Useless if your opponent Falls Back (or dies), so it's primarily useful when you're on the receiving end of a charge, allowing you to functionally fall back, shoot, and then charge, without any CP or specialized detachment investment, instead of being forced to choose between falling back and shooting, or hanging out in melee without the charge bonus to your strength.
  • Alternative take, this is far and away the best Exarch power as it allows you to move out of combat in your opponents fight phase to move shoot and charge normally in your turn. Wrap your spears around an enemy unit in your turn preferably one that doesn't pose a threat to them in combat, wait out their shooting phase in combat, then at the end of their turn, back your unit out no strings attached.

Exarch Weapons: Shining Spear Exarchs can trade in their Laser Lance for any of the below:

• Paragon Sabre
  • Trap. It costs the same as a laser lance, so it's effectively free, but you not only give up the lance's shooting profile, you drop to S3 all the time, and D1; S3 is useless against the Shining Spears' primary targets, which are Monsters and Vehicles. The Exarch is re-rolling wounds against your main target anyway, and it's not like the Aeldari are starved for To-Hit buffs anyway, so what's the point? The Exarch already has a ton of attacks for a unit leader, so you want to up the quality of your Exarchs attacks which leads to:
• Star Lance
  • Pay 2 more points for a buffed up laser lance with S8 on charges and shooting. A minimum unit is still 2 laser lances and a star lance, but you'll have 4 laser hits and 3 star hits in melee. Easily worth it.

• Swooping Hawks: The anti horde option. Deep Striking, great movement and great firing range means that the unit has an absurd threat range. With their lasblasters being Assault 4 with S3 they do appreciate Doom, to-hit re-rolls and big unit sizes, so going MSU with these is a bad idea. At 13 points per model they will still be comparably cheap. If they get trapped somehow, Skyleap will be a good "get out of jail free" option, which can be used in any turn. Bounce at will, ladies. One may be tempted to make excessive use of their grenade packs by landing next to or flying over enemy units. However, even under best circumstances, a max size unit will achieve only 1-2 mortal wounds against a 10+ enemy unit. Given that their typical targets will be guards, gaunts and similar GEQ, 2 mortal wounds will be probably negligible. By doing so the Hawks are put directly into retribution range, which they will probably not survive. In most cases it will be more beneficial to stay save at 24" and only use the grenade launchers if two mortal wounds will make any impact. For some reason they forgot how to use Haywire Grenades. An alternative use may be a minimum sized unit for 65 points without upgrades for objective grabbing and finishing off remains of enemy units. In this case you should field some other means of anti horde weapons as well.

Exarch Powers: Swooping Hawk Exarchs have Herald of Victory as their default power, uniquely granting +1 Leadership to all <CRAFTWORLD> units within 3" of them. This does have its own minor uses, such as buffing a Mind War Farseer or supporting blobs of Guardians. Outside those specific uses, this generic ability certainly doesn't compare to the selection below, so don't feel compelled to waste a command point on HoV's behalf.

• Intercept
  • Your Exarch and the unit accompanying him may reroll hit rolls against units that Fly. Kind of handy given the general abundance of that keyword, but not the most useful of these powers.
• Suppressive Fire
  • When your Exarch fires overwatch, the charging enemy must subtract 2 from their charge rolls. This can make your Swooping Hawks a fantastic screening unit against combat heavy armies.
• Exarch Evade
  • Your Exarch confers a squad-wide 5+ invulnerable save. A good defensive power for fighting a variety of different armies.
• Rapid Assault
  • When your Swooping Hawks successfully charge/get charged, your Exarch adds 2 to their attack characteristic for the turn.
• Fast Shot
  • Exarchs alter their ranged weapon profiles to Assault 6. Dakka Dakka Dakka!
• Swooping Barrage
  • Your Exarch and his unit add 1 to all Grenade Pack rolls, triggering mortal wounds on a 5 and 6. Just like the scorpions, doubling your chances to deal mortal wounds (especially since all your hawks need to do is land near or move over enemy units) is awesome, especially when running larger units.

Exarch Weapons: Swooping Hawk Exarchs can take a power sword in addition to trading in their lasblaster for either gun below:

• Power Sword
  • This does not replace your lasblaster and can be taken with either of the two below. For 4 points it gives you a bit of melee bite, especially because you will typically have them within charge range of a lot of units if you make use of their grenade packs. However, you don't want to have your Hawks to end up in close combat anyway and 2 power sword attacks won't make any noticeable impact. In the end it feels like a waste to spend points on equipment you don't want to use in the first place, and you are better off spending these on other units (like spears for your Warlocks and Farseers).
• Hawk's Talon
  • Lasblaster that costs 3 points more and gives you S5. This is the more straight-forward upgrade for the anti-infantry role the Hawks are designed for. Definitely worth the points, although equally good as the sunrifle. Take whatever tastes better.
• Sunrifle - Legends
  • Lasblaster that costs 4 points more and gives you -2AP, which will probably negate any armour save your typical targets have. Additionally it causes -1 to Hit if any damage was done. Unfortunately this -1 to Hit debuff lasts only until the end of the turn, therefore it will only have an effect on the consecutive close combat phase, making it rather useless. You could potentially support one of your close combat units like Scorpions or Banshees with it, or imagine the trolling when you kill someone in Overwatch with it! However, most probably you will take this weapon for the AP, not for the blinding effect.

• Warp Spiders: These were one of the main reasons everyone hated playing against eldar in 7th. While they lost most of their mobility tricks, the one they kept is still hilariously good: instead of advancing, they can increase their move by 4D6" and gain the Fly keyword without any other restrictions. That's right, Warp Spiders are now faster than jetbikes almost half the time. Their guns work in much the same way, 2 Shots at Str 6 with an AP of -4 if you roll a 6. Their Flickerjump ability doesn't actually move them, but imposes a -1 to hit in the enemy shooting phase, although rolling snake eyes will kill one of them. For the love of Khaine keep these guys in cover. A 3+ save isn't much when you're always in Rapid Fire and Charge range. 2+ save and -1 To Hit? Now we are getting somewhere! Also because the Spiders rely so much on drowning opponents in saves, and because they can re-roll morale tests, going MSU isn't really the best idea with these guys. With the Fire and Fade Stratagem they also get JSJ back, which again favours big units. The Codex makes them 18 points per model, and confirms that they can use the Jump Packs to Fall Back- in fact, since they get the FLY keyword when using it, they can still shoot afterwards! Bounce at will! They also finally re-learned how to deep-strike!
  • How to become That Guy: Argue that Flickerjump is not limited to once per turn, but can be activated every time the enemy shoots at you (that's how it's written) and will stack without limits to -3, -4, -5 and so on (that's not explicitly written, but is the wet dream of That Guy). FAQ may change this in the future.
  • How to counterThat Guy: Main Rulebook FAQ already indicates that the effects of rules with the same name, do not stack unless they say they do. So while you can activate Flickerjump multiple times RAW, the end result is still only a -1 to hit rolls.

Exarch Powers: Warp Spider Exarchs have Iron Resolve, granting them rerolls to failed Morale tests. Due to their smaller unit sizes and good leadership, this isn't the best vanilla power and unless you really plan on maxing out squad sizes, there's little need to spend a command point to keep this and whatever much superior ability listed below you want.

• Surprise Assault
  • On a turn in which your Warp Spider Exarch and his unit set up on the field, each model can reroll a hit roll for their deathspinners. A nice supportive power that negates any real need for a Swooping Hawk/Jump Pack Autarch to accompany your dudes.
• Withdraw
  • Like Shining Spears and Striking Scorpions, Warp Spider Exarchs and their unit may fall back at the end of the fight phase 6" as if it were their movement phase. A touch redundant since your Warp Spiders could already use their jump packs to just teleport away without much consequence regardless. Leave the charge-withdraw-charge shenanigans to units designed for melee combat.
• Whim of Deceit
  • Your Exarch and his unit can exit the battle field at the start of your movement phase and redeploy at the end of it via Deep Strike rules. This can only be done once per battle. This is slightly underwhelming; it can certainly act as a get out of jail free card and it removes the unpredictable variance the jump pack's 4D6 movement can cause, but it seems less useful compared to a few of the other perks here.
• Spider's Lair
  • If your Exarch and his unit are fully on or in cover or terrain feature and an enemy unit successfully charges them, roll a D6. On a 3+, that enemy unit takes d3 mortal wounds. Now this is the kinda power you're going to want! Given how ridiculously maneuverable Warp Spiders are, it's very easy to put them in a position of deep cover where enemy units will be highly encouraged/tempted to dive in after them. That said, savvy opponents will catch onto this tactic quick and will sooner attempt to smoke your spiders out of hiding than risk that kind of damage.
• Flickering Assault
  • Your Exarch and his squad pile in 6" instead of 3". Again, Warp Spiders aren't really meant for melee. Sure, they can survive in it due to their 3+ armor, Flickerjump rules and semi-capable Exarch wielding powerblades, but why would not use units like Shining Spears for that purpose instead?
• Spider's Bite
  • Your Exarch's powerblades get a +1S buff and deal 2 damage per swipe. A much more usable melee buff than the others here, but once again, why not just take a squad of Shining Spears if you want fast, hard-hitting melee units?

Exarch Weapons: Warp Spider Exarchs can trade in their deathspinner for either gun below. The Exarch also has the option to pay 4 points to buy a pair of powerblades, very useful now we know they can Warp out of combat at will.

• Powerblades
  • AP-2 and +1A; your Warp Spiders don't want to be in melee, but if they do find themselves there, this is absolutely worth the cost. Still, you're better off saving your points and playing them as dedicated to being shooty.
• Two Deathspinners
  • Warp Spiders rely on popping up in cover near a high value target and drowning them in armour saves. This helps them be better at that. Always take this if you can afford the extra 8 points since it's definitely cheaper than another Warp Spider.
• Spinneret Rifle - Legends
  • It's 4 points cheaper than two deathspinners and with -4 AP, but with Rapid Fire it kinda sucks. You need to be within 9" to get your 2 shots, which won't happen if you deep-strike them (and you'd need them to get any use out of this). While statistically better than even two deathspinners against high armor value, TEQs and MEQs shouldn't really be your preferred targets in the first place. Not really a good option.

Flyers

Note: All Eldar Flyers have special rule called "Wings of Khaine", which means they advance 20" without rolling, and more importantly, it gives the old vector-dancer: pivot up to 90°, move 20-60", and then pivot again up to 90°, which is something even Dark Eldar do not get. This rule mean that now Eldar flyers can potentially fly between 2 points all the time, good luck positioning your Crimson Hunters in a 6" bubble near Asurmen.

• Hemlock Wraithfighter: Easily the best flyer for the Craftworld Eldar (though it faces some stiff competition from the Dark Eldar for the title of "Best Aeldari Flyer"), and overall one of the best support units in the list. For 210 points you get 16" Assault 2d3 S12 AP-4 D2 shots that autohit, wound easily, and do lots of damage, though the 16" range does put you in Rapid Fire range of Plasma Guns and Hellblasters, and Bikers and Assault Marines with Melta can easily swoop in and cause serious damage, so be careful with your positioning. The 12" -2Ld aura (-3 with Horrify) to enemies is very strong in this morale meta, especially if it forces your opponent to burn CP auto-passing morale tests. Don't forget the psychic power too! See below for a breakdown, as all have their niche. It also keeps Vector Dancer, so it's easy to keep it on the board, too! One of the reasons this is the best Flyer you can take in the Codex is that it can actually use its automatic 20" advance and still shoot - note that this makes its Movement 20-80", which, combined with the size of its base, means it can reach anywhere on the table from anywhere on the table. It also has built-in Spirit Stones for a 6+++ FNP, unlike the other Flyers, who can't take anything from Vehicle Equipment.
  • With the recent increase in crimson hunter exarch point cost, the hemlock may be seeing a lot more competitive play in the near future.

Psychic Powers: The Hemlock Wraithfighter, as mentioned, is one of the precious few Vehicle units in the game that is also a Psyker, but it comes with a slight caveat. Aside Smite (which can be replaced with a Rune of Fortune if you wish), each Hemlock may only know one Rune of Battle and may only target enemy units with it (effectively, they only know the hex half). With only one cast and denial available per turn, you'll have to choose wisely based on how you want your Hemlock to synergize with your army.

Runes of Battle

1. Reveal: Use this to negate cover saves on your target. The Hemlock's D-Scythes punch through armor with laughable ease, only models a 2+ armor save and no invuln save to fall back on will have any hope of surviving a blast from these soul-shredders. If you're looking to support other units with this power, take it on a warlock.
2. Horrify: Use this to apply a -1 Ld modifier on your target - if you're trying to make a morale bomb, this is a convenient way to improve your Mindshock Pods.
3. Drain: The target takes a -1 modifier to hit in the Fight phase. For a number of reasons, you should never take this on a Hemlock; use a warlock if you're looking to cripple enemy units in the fight phase.
4. Jinx: Use this to debuff your target's saves (armor and invuln!) by -1. This is the best supporting power for an offensive mindset, as it'll let your Hemlock more effectively engage targets with notable invulnerable saves
5. Restrain: Target halves their Move. Careful not to use this on an enemy Flyer without reading its datasheet - for many of them, what you'll end up doing is applying a buff, since you're reducing their problem of being forced to move a minimum distance. It's not really useful against the Hemlock's preferred targets, but can be used to help hold a particularly fast target relatively close to the rest of your army so they can kill it.
6. Enervate: Target subtracts 1 from their wound rolls. Again, you have far more cost efficient vectors to use these sort of powers, don't take it on a Hemlock.

• tl;dr: Use Horrify to improve your Mindshock Pods, Jinx to upgrade your Heavy D-Scythes and help the boots on the ground, and Enervate to protect other elements of your army from a potent melee threat. The rest are situational and/or usually best left to the Warlocks to handle.

• Crimson Hunter: This is a Crimson Hunter Exarch that is even less accurate, since it doesn't re-roll 1s to hit, and is only marginally cheaper. Generally, skip - take an Exarch or don't take a Crimson Hunter at all (although a Hemlock is still better).
• Crimson Hunter Exarch: For 15 points more than the base version it gains re-rolls of 1s to hit or better (see below). Has twin Bright Lances and a Pulse Laser, and can swap the bright lances for starcannons. Re-rolls failed wounds against targets with fly, but at only BS4+ re-rolling 1s against enemies with Hard to Hit, and with low shot volume for dealing with jetbikes and jump infantry, broadly worse than just taking a Jinx Hemlock for solving the same problems. Oddly enough our dedicated fighter aircraft is worse at shooting down planes than the earth-bound Dark Reapers. As an anti-monster/vehicle or anti-MEQ/TEQ unit, however, CHEs are not to be underestimated. The default underslung Pulse Laser is a significant threat to any multiwound models not packing storm shields and the semi-flexible loadout options give them a little more customizable utility when compared to Hemlocks or standard Hunters.
  • However, if you spend a CP to make your CHE have marksmans eye and Hawkeye, it boosts its expected damage output (v a collection of 8 common vehicles) significantly and makes it hit harder than the hemlock for fewer points. Use bright lances with this combo.

Exarch Powers: One of the defining features the Crimson Hunter Exarch has over its basic version is Marksman's Eye, the aforementioned ability to re-roll hit rolls of 1. While it's good, other powers are better, so you'll only keep it when you want to spend a CP on both. Generally speaking, your best bet is Hawkeye, followed by Hawkeye + Marksman's Eye, but Aerial Predator and Evade can both be used effectively if you have a particular use in mind.

• Aerial Predator
  • Ranged attacks deal 1 more damage against enemies that fly. D4 pulse laser shots and either D1d3+1 (usually 3) damage starcannon shots, or D1d6+1 (usually about 4.5) bright lance shots. Whichever combo you choose is sure to leave a hell of a dent in a significant portion of the game. Because the damage benefit triggers only against targets you already re-roll wounds against, you should generally always choose starcannons for this, as you'll get +4 damage out of it instead of +2, due to the doubled rate of fire - between the guns being cheaper and your wound re-rolling making up for the strength difference, the starcannons should end up outperforming the bright lances against just about anything. Works wonders considering the pesky primarine repulsor bricks have FLY just as those damn Rapetides.
• Evade
  • A free 5++ invulnerable save. Can't argue with that! Pair with Iyanden, Alaitoc, or Ulthwé for particularly durable combinations.
• Hawkeye
  • You no longer suffer movement penalties for your heavy weapons, letting your CHE actually use its BS2+ fully! This obviously works wonderfully with Marksman's Eye if you choose to keep it using the stratagem to do so.
    • As for the math: On the move, your accuracy is 24/36 base, 28/36 with Marskman's Eye, 30/36 with Hawkeye, and 35/36 with both. This means you should always take this over Marksman's Eye, as you have way to stop moving, and this has a better benefit.
• Strafing Assault
  • Attacks against targets that can't fly re-roll wound rolls of 1. Absolutely worthless, because it's Marksman's Eye but worse, in that it only works against some targets, and it's also always going to be worse than Hawkeye.
• Eye of Khaine
  • Units targeted by your CHE don't receive the benefits of cover. Since all of your guns are AP-3 or AP-4 to begin with, you can reliably give this one a miss.
• Aerial Maneuvering
  • You may pivot 180° instead of just 90°. This one is laughably unnecessary since virtually all craftworld fliers can bounce back and forth between any two points on the board like coke addicts thanks to their Wings of Khaine rule. Unless you're trying to confuse and misdirect your opponent with semi-random twists and turns along the way, it's better to pick something that actually boosts your CHE's damage or accuracy.

Exarch Loadout: Unlike their standard counterparts, Crimson Hunter Exarchs can choose to pair their built in pulse laser with either two bright lances or two starcannons.

• Bright Lances
  • These are the most expensive choice, but they have the most synergy with the pulse laser. The bright lances also offer the highest potential damage output against a single target; a few lucky rolls can let your Crimson Hunter vaporize a tank with a single S8 four-shot volley. On the other hand, the D6 damage of the bright lances can be just as much of a curse as a boon given the fewer shots per turn and highly variable damage compared to the slightly weaker yet more consistent starcannons.
• Starcannons
  • For the cheaper, more flexible approach. Four S6 shots and two S8 shots can fully wipe a MEQ squad and severely threaten a TEQ squad or monster. The D3 damage of the starcannons might not have quite the same impact the bright lances have against harder targets, though having double the number of shots per gun does let it compete or even outperform it against anything T5 and lower.

• Nightwing (Forgeworld): Corrected from Fast Attack to Flyer in errata. Clocking in at 139 points and effectively benefiting from many of the flyers’ best upgrades, the Nightwing Interceptor is one of the undiscovered gems of the Aeldari hangars. Sure, a payload of just a twin linked shuriken cannon and a twin-linked bright lances might sound like a small arsenal to put on your Flyer of choice, but thanks to the embedded CTM and the quite versatile movement you acquire with the Vector Shift ability, you can dash right in to make that tank at 60” go boom without penalties on to hit. All in all, the Nightwing Interceptor is a little solid choice that won’t turn the tides of the battle by itself, but when paired with other specialist units- which abound in the CW Codex- or even another Nightwing, becomes a fearsome threat for every responsible player. But it comes at a price of being a soft T6 target that tends to run straight into enemy line to use the CTM, so beware you WILL go down and go down you will.

• Phoenix (Forge World): Corrected from Fast Attack to Flyer in errata. Not The cheapest of all the Aeldari "Flyers" though it has more wounds then most of the Space Elf flyers AND more shots than all of them too! Built-in CTM means you can shoot the underslung heavy weapons at the closest unit without the -1 to hit penalty. Due to flyer movement this is a little trickier to utilize than other eldar flyers, so watch out. The Phoenix Pulse Laser has one more strength than the normal Pulse Laser, so it's more likely to wound T8 Super-Heavy vehicles like Knights and Baneblade variants than standard bright lances and pulse lasers. Twin StarCannons are very expensive but 4 shots semi-guarantee death (even with the FAQ errata for D3 damage instead of 3). Nightfire missiles averaging 7 shots a turn can be used as an anti-horde option, and includes a debuff if you wound the enemy if you're playing an apocalypse game. Phoenix Missiles are similar to starcannons with only D6 variable shots and flat 2 damage, so they're unreliable for big damage output but can trim a few enemy Terminators or Primaris Space Marines from any squad. Finally the nose-mounted Twin Shuriken cannons add more anti-infantry and since they are assault, can shoot even at far targets without the -1 to-Hit penalty.

Heavy Support

• Dark Reapers: Easily one of the best units in the Heavy Support slot in the entire Aeldari Faction (which is saying something, given the competition they face), if not the entire game. Their Reaper Launchers offer you a single shot at S8 AP-2 flat D3 for your vehicle and monster killing needs, or two shots at S5 AP-2 flat D2 for taking out infantry. They always hit on a 3+ in the Shooting phase, no matter what, even if they are shooting at a supersonic aircraft at night on the move. Including movement they have a threat range of 54", although probably they will be sitting still in some warm and cozy, high piece of cover. All in all they are a great firebase that can nuke anything. Due to their reputation your opponent will try hard to eliminate them as soon as possible, which is why you should take extra precautions, especially when fielding larger units. At 34 points per model every loss hurts and reduces their output. While 3-men-squads are too unimportant to bother, you should take care about 5-10 men squads. When deploying them you should consider setting them up either inside a Wave Serpent or at least behind some LOS blocking terrain, so that they are safe in the case that your opponent gets the first turn. For obvious reasons, they love belonging to Alaitoc. If you field a big squad, a Farseer with Guide and Fortune will immensely enhance the reliability and damage output AND will make them an excellent target for the stratagem Forewarned in order to counter any enemy's reserves (remember that Guide will still be active!). As such, your unit will be a massive DISTRACTION CARNIFEX, and hence they will appreciate any additional Protect or Conceal they can get.
  • Just remember to kill your opponent's LOS-ignoring units before you disembark these guys from their wave serpent. Losing even two Dark Reapers per turn to basilisk fire is unsustainable.

Exarch Powers: Dark Reapers Exarchs come with the Crack Shot ability, allowing them to re-roll hit rolls of 1 for their ranged attacks. But, just like all the other Aspects, they can either trade in Crack Shot or pay 1CP (one use only) to take one of these supplemental powers. Generally speaking, you should do this - unless you're bringing a Tempest Launcher, Rapid Shot is strictly better than Crack Shot.

• Rapid Shot
  • Your Exarch adds 1 to the number of ranged shots he makes per turn. Pretty decent, it lets him double-tap or triple-tap Reaper Launchers and Missile Launchers. This ability is better for the Tempest Launcher than Rain of Death, below - assuming you would only use it when you ought to, Rapid Shot is negligibly better (8 instead of 7 35/36 shots on average). It's also worse than Crack Shot (which is 76, which is better than the 8/7 this provides), so you should only take this on your Tempest Launcher when you're burning CP on taking 2 powers. On any other weapon you can take, this is better than Crack Shot, and the effects will stack if you take both.
    • Assuming you take this, always swap to the Aeldari Missile Launcher - it will outperform the Reaper Launcher against hard targets. The Tempest Launcher will be better against GEQ/MEQ and the Reaper Launcher better against TEQ, but the AML will generally speaking serve you best, particularly since you can split the squad's fire if you feel the need.
• Rain of Death
  • The Exarch may re-roll the 2D6 used to determine the number of Tempest Launcher shots he makes per turn. Never take this - Rapid Shot is functionally the same thing but better.
• Grim Visage
  • When an enemy unit is within 6" of a Dark Reaper squad with this Exarch, they subtract 1 from their Leadership. First, if a enemy unit is 6" away from your Dark Reapers, you're either playing them wrong or your opponent is playing you. You already have tons of leadership debuffing abilities and powers, this is not worth either trading Crack Shot or 1CP for.
• Long-Ranged Fire
  • Your Exarch and the squad he's in add 6" to their weapon ranges. This is the only ability that affects the entire Dark Reaper squad and it's pretty ok. Reaper Launcher ranges already cover a majority of any standard tabletop, but this does grant considerable wiggle room for those squads table corner camping.
• Deadly Touch
  • When your Exarch makes an unmodified wound roll of 6 in melee (yikes, why would you allow him to be there?), it deals a flat 2 mortal wounds on top of any other damage done. While that's certainly impressive, I think it goes without saying that this is a dedicated gunline unit. Bar the most desperate last stand or gamble, there's no reason you should commit these guys to melee; their guns will always do more damage than their Exarch will even if he rolls nothing BUT 6's in melee (unless they're charging something insanely durable, like a forge world titan).
• Focused Fire
  • Your Exarch may target and shoot enemy Character models within 18" of him even if he's not the closest enemy model. Despite the 18" caveat, this is very easily workable and a very good power (especially if paired with a MotIC Autarch/Wraithseer) for when you want to go character killing. The Tempest Launcher can be particularly brutal against GEQ/MEQ characters (especially since it ignores LoS) while the Reaper Launcher serves fantastically for MEQ/TEQ or <10 wound monster characters. Like all exarch powers, there's no limit on the number of squads who can take this power, so stuff 3 MSU squads with this power in a Wave Serpent with a MotIC Reaper Launcher Autarch, a Jinx Warlock and perhaps a Doom/Mind War Farseer. The standard Reapers can split fire at whatever nearby foes might pose a threat to your drive-by deathstar while your Warlock and Farseer debuff the hell out of that character you want dead. Then unload either 4 S8 AP-2 3 Damage shots into that character, or 6D6 S4 shots if you wish to cheekily hide out of LoS, rerolling hits of 1 and all failed wound rolls.

Exarch Weapons: The fare afforded to Dark Reaper Exarchs in exchange for their Reaper Launcher.

• Reaper Launcher
  • If you are lacking anti-vehicle measures in your list, it is not a bad idea to keep the default weapon, maximizing the amount of hard hitting shots.
• Tempest Launcher
  • Pay 5 more points to trade in your Reaper Launcher for a Heavy 2d6 S4 AP-2 D1 weapon that doesn't need LoS to help with clearing out blobs. Just remember it has a shorter range than the Reaper Launchers. Although this choice lessens the anti-vehicle damage of your squad, the overall damage will increase, because the Exarch alone will typically take out several single-wound models each round. If you are not super-short on anti-vehicle weapons, this should be your default choice.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • Shave off 2 points from your default Reaper Launcher to get the same versatile AML that we all know and love. As usual, a versatile weapon will always be worse than a specialized one. Although the damage characteristic of the single S8 D1d6 shot is on average slightly bigger (3.5) than flat 3, but luck will typically play against you. When you need lots of damage, you roll a 1, and when the enemy model only has left 2 wounds, you roll a 6. The reliability of a solid 3 shouldn't be underestimated. The multi-shot profile is embarrassingly worse than the Tempest Launcher due to less shots and less AP. The mode of 2 S5 shots is lost completely with this weapon. At least it legitimates for the Starhawk Missile stratagem. All in all, a very rare choice, and in most of the cases you should stick to one of the two weapons above.
• Shuriken Cannon
  • Hard pass. While it is technically the cheapest Shuriken Cannon in the game, your Reapers should never be close enough to make use of it. We have far better options to field Shuriken Cannons. If you are that short on points you can't even afford a basic Reaper Launcher then you should take a long, hard look at your list first.

• Falcon: Your trademark Falcon serves you in the exact same way it always has; a flexible transport that sacrifices some of its capacity and defensive utility for some extra firepower. The inbuilt Pulse Laser is a Heavy 2 S8 AP-3 gun that does a solid 3 damage per shot, making it reasonably effective against any MEQ, TEQ, vehicles and monsters thrown your way. With 6 slots available for your dudes, filling one full of Fire Dragons or Dark Reapers and slapping on a CTM with Starcannons or Bright Lances is a perfectly viable way to transport a small team of your more elite units. That said, it is still outperformed by Dark Reapers themselves and the Night Spinner as an anti-vehicle or anti-infantry platform respectively, and Wave Serpents still outclass it in general utility, durability and point-cost without competing with other units for a slot. That said, running at 120pts base, it is slightly cheaper than your Wave Serpent and is still very much a transport option if you max out your Wave Serpent capacity (for games/tournaments utilizing datasheet usage restrictions).

Weapon Loadout Options: Falcons, just like all the Wave Serpent, can choose to fit its turret with any of the standard heavy weapons available to many of your units. Additionally, like literally all of its sister tanks, it has the option to upgrade the underslung twin-shuriken catapult into a shuriken cannon.

• Twin-Linked Shuriken Catapults
  • Your default underslung gun has its uses in those Falcons that intend to get up closer to the enemy to drop off a squad of Aspect Warriors and is the best choice for Falcons looking to keep it cheap. On your tanks that you plan to keep further away, however, it will probably be in your best interest to upgrade to a shuricannon.
• Shuriken Cannon
  • Upgrading the underslung gun into a shuriken cannon is recommended if you can afford the points; it has a more workable range that can mesh with the rest of your Falcon's armament. Although you could take one on the turret as well, it is recommendet to run the single one in addition to two of your other heavy weapons instead to give your tank a bit more flexibility in its targets.
• Scatter Laser
  • The scatter laser, as always, is a great choice for dealing with infantry heavy lists while keeping overall unit price tags comparatively low, and compliments the underslung shuricannon rather well. The pulse laser can help deal with the targets these two weapons would otherwise struggle to crack. You may opt to supplement this further by having a squad of Fire Dragons ride inside as well.
• Starcannon
  • A good middle of the road option, the starcannon seems a little lackluster compared to your other options in this slot. Its performance is overshadowed by the much superior pulse laser built into the tank, which in turn would appreciate being paired with either the bright lance or AML for more synergy.
• Bright Lance
  • A good choice that pairs rather well with your pulse laser to make a fairly effective anti-tank/monster platform for a rather decent price. Put a CTM on this and slap a squad of Howling Banshees or Dire Avengers inside to help screen or deal with whatever fell out of the enemy transport you just cracked open, and you have a rather flexible unit on your hands.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • While the AML doesn't quite punch through enemy armor the way the pulse laser or bright lance do, it still pairs quite nicely with the former due to their similar strength and damage values. The obvious perk that the AML has over the bright lance is that it can actually deal with infantry blobs without needing a squad of aspect warriors to shore up that shortcoming. Since it is the same price as the bright lance, you may as well take this if you have the points to spare.

Vehicle Upgrade Options: Aside one or two exceptions, the Falcon and its sister tanks are the only ones who actually have their pick of the vehicle upgrades still available.

• Crystal Targeting Matrix
  • A fantastic choice that lets your Falcon maneuver without completely sacrificing accuracy in order to do so. Since this benefits the pulse laser and your turret mounted weaponry, there's really no reason not to take one of these. Arguably essential to the Falcon that's transporting Aspect Warriors about.
• Soul Stones
  • Iyanden and Alaitoc Falcons might find these quite handy since they add a layer of damage mitigation that compliments their Craftworld Attributes rather well. Of course they work just fine for Saim-Hann and Biel-Tan as well, but Ulthwe gains absolutely nothing from these. Outside that last Craftworld, take these if you have a few extra points to spend.
• Star Engines
  • A nifty but largely unnecessary upgrade. Falcons have pretty good movement on their own already, but you won't be able to fire most of your weaponry whenever you take advantage of this.
• Vectored Engines
  • Kind of a similar boat as the star engines. They stack well with them and also stack with Alaitoc's attribute, but a turn you advance with your Falcon is a turn you choose not to shoot anything.

• Fire Prism: The other archetype of Grav-Tank. The Lance mode on its Prism Cannon is probably the highest-stat weapon in the Eldar arsenal (not counting superheavies, of course), with S12, AP-5, and D1d6. The Focussed mode (D3 shots, S9, AP-4, D1d3) is more suited for hunting 2-wound infantry like TEQ, and the Dispersed mode (D6 shots, S6, AP-3, D1) is great against single-wound targets like MEQ. It can double tap the main gun at the same target with the same profile, as long as it moves under half its current move or remains stationary. With its 60" range you will probably stay out of range of any counter-fire most of the time, therefore the CTM is optional depending on your game plan. Unless you face a pure horde army without any big targets the Fire Prism will probably always earn back its points, especially if you field two of them and make extensive use of the Linked Fire stratagem.
  • When shooting without Linked Fire it is advisable to use either the Dispersed or the Focussed mode, because then an unlucky hit or wound roll won't hurt you that much.
  • On the other hand use Linked Fire to make sure the few precious Lance shots come through
  • Statistically, Focused mode is actually marginally better than the Lance on anything with a 3+ armour safe at T7 or T8. For your opponent it is also more difficult to negate multiple shots via CP re-rolls of invulnerable saves. However, having a random number of shots as well as a random amount of damage makes this mode less reliable against big targets than the Lance mode.
  • When using Linked Fire the first Fire Prism always resolves all of its shots at the end of the shooting phase, which limits its usefulness on cracking up transports. Because your shooting phase will be over, you won't be able to shoot at the passengers any more.

Weapon Options: Due to the Fire Prism being a specialized tank, it is considerably less flexible with its optional loadout than your traditional Falcon. That said, you do have your standard choice in underslung weaponry.

• Twin-Linked Shuriken Catapults
  • Your default option for when you want to pay as little as possible for the Fire Prism. If you're planning on using this outside of emergency overwatch shots against backfield deepstrikes, you should probably reconsider what type of tank you want to bring. At the ranges your main prism cannon typically fires at, your TWSC isn't going to be contributing jack.
• Shuriken Cannon
  • Probably the choice to take if you can afford the extra points. At a more workable 24" range, your backline fire support will have a much easier time finding targets to safely engage with this compared to the TWSC.

Vehicle Upgrade Options: Just like everything using the Falcon-chasis, your Fire Prism has its pick of all your vehicle upgrades. Arguably only two are useful to it though.

• Crystal Targeting Matrix
  • A fantastic choice that lets your Fire Prism maneuver without completely sacrificing accuracy in order to do so. All profiles of the prism cannon are classified as Heavy and seeing as that's the main reason you're taking one of these over a Falcon or Wave Serpent, you should probably try to make the most out of using it.
• Soul Stones
  • Iyanden and Alaitoc Fire Prisms might find these quite handy since they add a layer of damage mitigation that compliments their Craftworld Attributes rather well. Of course they work just fine for Saim-Hann and Biel-Tan as well, but Ulthwe gains absolutely nothing from these. Outside that last Craftworld, take these if you have a few extra points to spend.
• Star Engines
  • A fairly useless upgrade for your Fire Prism. With a range of 60" on their main gun, Fire Prisms will very rarely be wanting for the extra possible mobility these provide. This is worsened by the fact that advancing sacrifices the use of your biggest selling point of the tank for the turn.
• Vectored Engines
  • These can be potentially handy in emergency scenarios where you need to get your tank to safety while maximizing their defensibility while doing so. However, the same issues plaguing the Star Engines apply here; traditionally, there will be next to no reason to advance your Fire Prisms under any other circumstance.

• Night Spinner: With 2d6 shots and D2 on its main cannon, all while keeping the rending effect and barrage-like ability to fire without LoS, the Night Spinner is looking good. Be sure to get a Crystal Targeting Matrix so you can make full use of that amazing 16" move. With each Doomweaver shot hitting at S7 and doing that flat 2 damage with potential AP-4 hits, this thing is gonna eat MEQ/TEQ units for breakfast. The only thing that hurts is that it lost the torrent fire mode. Costs 112 points with the catapult, ten points less than a vanilla Falcon.
  • For an extra 13 points you can take both a Shuriken Cannon and a Crystal Targeting Matrix which gives you a unit that is very good at both clearing objectives and responding to incoming threats before they happen.
  • When combined with the Doom psychic power some night spinners can prove extremely dangerous even to T8 units as re-rolling your wound rolls will yield a considerable number of AP -4 2d shots, only 8 need to get through to destroy a land raider.
  • This unit is almost a perfect counter to tau triptide lists, as your opponent will be forced to take these hits on their drones as each hit is 2 damage.
  • With the recent points drop they are no longer mathematically worse than a fire prism. I hope you all magnetized.

Weapon Options: Due to the Night Spinner being a specialized tank, it is considerably less flexible with its optional loadout than your traditional Falcon. That said, you do have your standard choice in underslung weaponry.

• Twin-Linked Shuriken Catapults
  • Your default option for when you want to pay as little as possible for your Night Spinner. Though ideally you won't want enemies within the range these can fire at, they can contribute more consistent firepower to help supplement your main cannon's variable number of shots.
• Shuriken Cannon
  • Probably the choice to take if you can afford the extra cost. At a more workable 24" range, your Night Spinner will have a much easier time finding targets to safely engage with this compared to the TWSC. Its strength values and potential rending also compliment your main Doomweaver cannons, seeing as how they function virtually identically to each other.

Vehicle Upgrade Options: Just like everything using the Falcon-chasis, your Night Spinner has its pick of all your vehicle upgrades. Arguably only two are useful to it though.

• Crystal Targeting Matrix
  • A fantastic choice that lets your Night Spinner maneuver without completely sacrificing accuracy in order to do so. Due to not needing line of sight to target enemy units, this upgrade isn't usually necessary, but it does keep your options open when you're in doubt.
• Soul Stones
  • Iyanden and Alaitoc Night Spinners might find these quite handy since they add a layer of damage mitigation that compliments their Craftworld Attributes rather well. Of course they work just fine for Saim-Hann and Biel-Tan as well, but Ulthwe gains absolutely nothing from these. Outside that last Craftworld, take these if you have a few extra points to spend.
• Star Engines
  • A fairly useless upgrade for your Night Spinners. With a range of 48" on their main guns and the ability to ignore line of sight, your Night Spinners will very rarely be wanting for the extra possible mobility these provide. This is worsened by the fact that advancing sacrifices the use of your biggest selling point of the tank for the turn.
• Vectored Engines
  • These can be potentially handy in emergency scenarios where you need to get your tank to safety while maximizing their defensibility while doing so. However, the same issues plaguing the Star Engines apply here; traditionally, there will be next to no reason to advance your Night Spinners under any other circumstance.

• Support Weapons: Now a single model unit rules-wise, with one guardian per gun being some sort of decoration. Similarly to the War Walkers, your Support Weapons are the "poor man's" option for Heavy Support slots. Costing between 35 to 60 points per platform, depending on your flavor of gun, these are excellent long range fire-support options for players looking to save points for other slots or when trying to cheaply fund a Brigade detachment. Additionally, like War Walkers, Support Platforms can be taken in squadrons of up to 3 models in a single slot and act as individual units after deploying in coherency. If positioned carefully, you can set up and move your Support Platforms so that everything on the table is within their firing arcs. This is made considerably easier when two of the three gun choices ignore line of sight when firing, letting you stick them in deep cover for extra protection. Another positive note is that as a GUARDIAN unit, it can take advantage of the Celestial Shield and Ulthwe's Discipline of the Black Guardians stratagems to bolster one of your gun's durability/accuracy in a pinch (admittedly probably best saved strictly for D-Cannon platforms though). That all said though, these Support Weapons are one of the two vehicles in the Craftworld Codex that lack the FLY keyword, and unlike the War Walkers, also lack any non-webway gate deepstriking options (stratagems or otherwise). This hampers their mobility and deployment options significantly, makes them vulnerable to being tied up in melee and prevents them from being able to scale buildings beyond the first floor. Because of this, you need to be very mindful with their initial deployment if you want to get the most bang for their buck.

Weapon Loadout Options: In addition to a standard issue Shuriken Catapult (presumably wielded by the otherwise decorative Guardian Defender included with the platform), your Support Weapons come in three unique flavors, each with their own uses.

• Shadow Weaver
  • Discount Night Spinners, a single Shadow Weaver platform costs a third of the cost of a vanilla Night Spinner tank and packs half the total number of shots the tank can bring. Since it's not remotely as maneuverable or quite as durable as the tank, why bring it? Well, a maxed out "unit" of Shadow Weavers is a point cheaper than the Night Spinner with 3d6 LoS-ignoring shots that can be split against multiple targets as opposed to 2d6 shots that can only target one unit. Against GEQ-type armies or units, this is considerably more useful since the extra point of strength and damage per Night Spinner shot is negligible against such targets. Additionally, where the Night Spinner suffers from a degrading statline, your three 5-wound platforms don't and due to their smaller size and ability to spread out independently, are much easier to tuck away into deep cover where the enemy can't see/shoot them.
• Vibro Cannon
  • Long time ago it used to be a pretty funny weapon, now it just makes d3 shots with S7, AP-1 and d3 damage. The more Vibro Cannons shoot at the same target, the better the wounding and the AP. However, because it needs a line of sight and the model being relatively small it will be rather challenging to find a target to shoot at, and pretty much impossible on maps with ruins. Even if it finds a target, most of the time it won't do any notable amount of damage. The only funny thing is that if the target does get damaged, it may not advance in the next turn - this can be used to troll large horde units of Orks or Tyranids. As it is now the cheapest option, it is worth considering a little more freely.
• D-Cannon
  • The most expensive option with half the range of the other two guns, but with considerably more punch. Like the Shadow Weaver, the D-Cannon can shoot its d3 shots at targets regardless of LoS. This compensates for its otherwise average range, especially when those shots are slamming those targets with staggering S12 AP-4 hits that'll ruin the day of any multi-wound targets relying on toughness and/or high armor saves to protect it. In terms of utility and range, units like your Fire Prism will outperform it individually, though you can take two of these guns for slightly less than the cost of a single Fire Prism for more average shots while also having access to those Guardian stratagems mentioned above.

• War Walkers: For 55 points you can get one of these on the table with two Shuriken Cannons, or replace said Shuricannons with any other standard Heavy Weapon. The codex returned its ability to flank, essentially allowing you to deep strike, though with an additional caveat of placing the unit within 3" of a table edge on top of the usual 9" from enemies rule. As far as a Heavy Weapon platform goes, it sacrifices staying power for mobility and durability, making it more of a skirmisher-type unit than an anti-tank/monster platform. A 4+/5++ on top of a decent toughness with the ability to flank makes it ideal for assaulting backline infantry or objectives deeper in enemy territory. It also has the benefit of being a modestly priced Heavy Weapons platform and no degrading statline to hamper its accuracy or mobility the more damaged it is. Recommended in Ulthwe or Biel-Tan detachments where it appreciates the extra durability or Shuriken Cannon support respectively. Also an ideal Heavy Weapons platform if you're looking to cut down on costs for other unit categories. Falls behind Dark Reapers, Fire Dragons, Fire Prisms or Wraithguard in the anti-tank/monster game, and if outflanking your enemy isn't a priority, Falcons/Wave Serpents or Windriders are recommended Shuricannon platforms instead.

Weapon Loadout Options: Your War Walkers are arguably your single-most cost effective platforms for your standard Heavy Weapons, given what they bring to the table for how much you're paying. As mentioned, each War Walker can take two of these in any combination you desire.

• Shuriken Cannon
  • Shuriken cannons are a great choice for War Walkers looking to take advantage of their impressive mobility to harass key infantry units in your Opponent's flanks or backline gunners. This also makes them very well suited as part of a Biel-Tan detachment.
• Scatter Laser
  • The cheapest choice, and not a bad one at that. Two of these on a War Walker brings the total cost to a rather respectable 49 points for 8 S6 shots a turn.
• Starcannon
  • A good middle of the road option, the starcannon is somewhat lackluster unless taken in pairs. Even then, a maximum of 4 shots will not fully clear out any single standard infantry squad in one turn. The lower strength value of these guns compared to your bright lance or AML also makes it somewhat challenging for these to contribute against targets larger than said infantry units. That said, if you have a couple of War Walkers equipped with these, they can prove very effective at slaughtering MEQ targets wholesale.
• Bright Lance
  • A good choice, especially when taken in pairs, for dealing with enemy tanks or monsters. Despite their mobility, War Walkers are quite content to sit in one spot as needed and just provide heavy fire to key targets across the field
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • Probably the best choice for mixed lists if you have the points. Two AMLs effectively gives each War Walker either 2 S8 AP-2 D1d6 shots or 2d6 S4 AP-1 shots for a very wide variety of targets. Just like the bright lance, taking two of one or one of each will double the cost of your War Walker, so make sure you plan accordingly for it.

• Wraithlord: The Eldar answer to the Space Marine Dreadnought. Bare bones, it runs 80 points at S7, T8, 10W, compared to the S6, T7, W8 Dreadnought statline, which will likely cost more on average once both are kitted out. The Wraithlord does contend with a degrading statline unlike its Imperial counterpart, but several of the Craftworld attributes can help mitigate that downside (big shoutout to Iyanden). So while the degrading statline sucks, there are a lot of ways to plan around it. With a loadout of two heavy weapons and up to two shuriken catapults/flamers, it is a very flexible and capable choice for your heavy support slots, but it does suffer from some notable competition. War Walkers offer a cheaper, more mobile platform for heavy weapons and have an inbuilt invuln save for extra protection while your tanks can hit harder from farther away. And of course, Dark Reapers. However, unlike literally anything else in this category, Wraithlords are CQC monsters, even if you don't give it the Ghostglaive. Additionally, as a Spirit Host unit, it can be supported by Spiritseers and Wraithseers for extra synergy. Do also note that as a Wraith unit, the ability to be healed not just by Bonesingers, but the Tears of Isha stratagem shouldn't be overlooked either. On a modelling note, the plastic Wraithlord has some pretty cool looking assembly options like a sniper rifle style Bright Lance in its hands or the ability to attach the Heavy Weapons to its arms so your model looks far more unique and less derpy than the Bird Walker if that is important to you.

Weapon Loadout Options: In addition to the optional and exclusive Ghostglaive, Wraithlords have their pick of any standard Heavy Weapon topped off with a couple of wrist-mounted choices that can let your giant statue fill a number of roles on the field.

• Shuriken Catapult
  • A Wraithlord's default wrist guns that are free of charge. These are always a viable choice, but typically you'll be sticking with them when you want a mid to long range loadout on your Wraithlord.
• Flamer
  • One of the few units in your entire army list that can take standard flamers, and damn does it know how to use them. Though taking one or two of these can spike your Wraithlords' point cost, they are shockingly effective on CQC loadouts where the (2)D6 autohitting shots can soften up targets on the charge (yours or theirs). If you're loading your Wraithlord with longer ranged firepower via bright lances or missile launchers, you'll probably want to avoid taking these so you aren't overpaying on the Wraithlord.
• Shuriken Cannon
  • Shuricannons are fantastic for CQC Wraithlords, as they are the only "heavy" weapons that don't drop accuracy on the move; a necessary act for one seeking to punch things. They synergize decently with the shuripults if you want to keep it dirt cheap, though the flamers are arguably a better pairing all things considered.
• Scatter Laser
  • The cheapest choice, though the increased volume of shots will be tempered by the accuracy reduction induced by movement and the degrading statline. Still, it's a decent anti-GEQ choice for Wraithlords keen on keeping some distance between them and their foes.
• Starcannon
  • A good middle of the road option, the starcannon is somewhat lackluster unless taken in pairs. Even then, a maximum of 4 shots will not fully clear out any single standard infantry squad in one turn on their own. The lower strength value of these guns compared to your bright lance or AML also makes it somewhat challenging for these to contribute against targets larger than said infantry units. That said, a pair of shuripults costs nothing and can potentially pick off the remaining squaddies left in the wake of these bippers.
• Bright Lance
  • While the bright lance is a decent answer for bigger, stronger targets like enemy tanks and monsters, the Wraithlord arguably isn't a good wielder of them. Sure, it can take two of them, but unlike a lot of the vehicles that can take these, Wraithlords have no way to compensate for accuracy debuffs from its damage table or simply from moving. Additionally, if armed with a Ghostglaive, it is much more effective at tank busting in melee with its four S9 attacks hitting at the same AP and Damage values these guns have. Take these on something like a War Walker if you desperately need them.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • A mixed bag, the AML can function against a much wider array of targets than a lot of the Wraithlord's other choices here, but it is tied with the bright lance as the most expensive option and encourages a more sedentary playstyle for the Wraithlord; something other units in your army can do more cost effectively than it can. A pair of these matched with a couple flamers can unleash 4d6 shots (2d6 at AP-1 of course) against a single target and be semi-reliably followed up with a charge for maximizing damage, though such a loadout maximizes your Wraithlord's point cost and the problems of accuracy on the move with these still haunt it.

• Warp Hunter (Forge World): A Falcon-chassis tank that decided the Pulse Laser didn't have enough oomph, and tossed the twin heavy weapon turret in exchange for a giant Distortion gun. The onboard D-Flail isn't quite as powerful as a conventional D-Cannon (S10 as opposed to S12), but it makes up for this slight weakness by a longer base range of 36" and a slight bump up from Heavy d3 to Heavy 2d3 when targeting infantry blobs of 10 or more models. Additionally, it has an autohitting Heavy d6 12" S10 AP-4 D1d6 flamer profile for ripping apart anything that gets a bit too close. While these weapons make the Warp Hunter quite versatile against infantry and vehicles alike, it does have a few shortcomings compared to the other tanks in your Heavy Support list. At a reduced price point of 175 (much more reasonable for what it was before CA 2018), it is still your single-most expensive Falcon chassis tank while not really offering anything that outshines one of your cheaper options. Yes, the D-Flail can punch holes in tanks, but Fire Prisms can do so for cheaper and farther away. The rift profile may shred infantry, but the Night Spinner does so with more shots and more consistent damage for considerably less. It is, however, flexible enough to perform well for any real role in your list and is certainly worth considering if you can spare the points.

• Lynx (Forge World): At a staggering 325 points base, the Lynx comes stock with a Shuriken Cannon and a Lynx Pulsar with the option to trade in the Shuricannon for any other standard heavy weapon, as well as its Lynx Pulsar for a Sonic Lance. Depending on how dead you want your targets, the Sonic Lance fires off a slew of shots that always wound infantry on a 2+ at AP-3, or you can stick with the vanilla Lynx Pulsar for some long range heavy bombardment depending on the mode. In addition to the sheer firepower this thing can lay on the table, it's capable of shifting from a ground-bound hover tank into a skyward Lumbering Flyer to deliver its steaming payloads on unsuspecting targets far more quickly than they may have anticipated. Keep in mind that as a lumbering flyer, it's not nearly as maneuverable as any other flyer the eldar can take, so plan ahead before you rush your pricey flying tank into a tight spot. At toughness 7 with 16 Wounds and only a 3+ save (and no -1 to hit even while airborne), it can very easily succumb to massed fire if carelessly positioned.

Weapon Loadout Options: Your Lynx has two primary choices for their main weapon and is privileged with its fair choice of standard heavy weapons it can sling as a side arm.

• Shuriken Cannon
  • Your standard choice and debatably the weakest choice. Sure, you can advance and still fire this, but that niche is completely unnecessary on a vehicle that can turn itself into a standard flier and back at will. You'll either want to take something to reduce the cost you're paying or compliment the main gun you're using.
• Scatter Laser
  • The cheapest choice and the best for maximizing how many shots you put out a turn. This should probably be your "default" if nothing else really interests you.
• Starcannon
  • Normally a decent enough choice, the starcannon offers very little to compliment the lynx compared to your other options. As they say, go big or go home.
• Bright Lance
  • A decent enough choice to pair with the pulsar, aside the drop in strength, the bright lance shares the same AP and damage values as the Salvo mode, making it a fairly decent follow up against hard targets.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • A solid enough choice for either of the main guns, the AML can both compliment the strengths or offer coverage over whatever main gun it's tethered to. Just note, if you take one of these with the sonic lance, you're spending 405 points on a single 16 wound tank without upgrades. Consider what else you can buy for that pile of points (and cash, if you're looking to actually buy one) before you settle on it.
• Lynx Pulsar
  • The default cannon and a pale imitation of the "real deal" pulsars that can be found among your super-heavy tanks, the Lynx Pulsar has two firing modes. The first, Salvo, fires two S12 AP-4 Dd6 shots a decent 36" down range, making it an effective vehicle/monster killer. The second mode, Saturation, fires 48" 2d3 S7 AP-3 Dd3 shots across the table, making it better at dealing with MEQ/TEQ squads. If you want to take a pulsar but don't want to be burdened with some kind of Super Heavy detachment tax, then the lynx pulsar can fill that role. You'd be better off just taking two Fire Prisms for what you're paying though; literally every profile on their prism cannon is better than what the lynx pulsar provides for under half the cost.
• Sonic Lance
  • For a staggering 60 point upcharge, you get a single profile cannon with a tragically impotent range of 18". However, it makes up for this literal shortcoming with a hellstorm of fire; 3d6 shots at AP-3 will shred all Infantry on a 2+, letting it punch through any single squad a turn, bar perhaps the biggest blobs of Boyz/Gaunts. Against anything else, it wounds non-infantry on a 4+, reasonably better than many dedicated anti-infantry guns in the game. This would be a fantastic weapon if not for the fact that it brings the Lynx just shy of 400 points, a price that could be better spent on cheaper, cost effective options that can do the job just as reliably.

Vehicle Upgrade Options: Like a lot of your fully fledged tanks, you may choose to enhance the Lynx with the standard selection of bits and baubles that improve its performance offensively and defensively.

• Crystal Targeting Matrix
  • As ever, this one's practically a must-have; especially if you plan on utilizing the Sky Hunter ability. A measly 5 points to prevent accuracy dips when you move your lynx is definitely worth it, even if it does restrict your targets a bit.
• Soul Stones
  • Another worthy upgrade to consider, a 6+ FNP can come into play quite frequently given the 16 wounds the Lynx has (in an ideal world). Pair this with the usual Iyanden/Alaitoc or Students of Vaul craftworld attributes to maximize your durability.
• Star Engines
  • Given that you can shift the Lynx into a flier with a minimum movement of 20", you're not ever going to find a situation you regret not taking this. So don't.
• Vectored Engines
  • Less of a hard pass compared to the star engines, the vectored engines are marginally more useful when you're trying to get the lynx out of dodge. However, as every gun on the lynx is classified as heavy (bar the shuricannon), you're sacrificing all the firepower you spent 330-410 points on for the turn. Probably not something you should be planning on doing.

• Firestorm (Forge World, Open/Narrative Play only): A Falcon-Chassis tank that functions as an effective anti-air platform, the Firestorm's main gun fires 12 Scatter Laser shots up to 60" away, gaining a to-hit bonus against any units with the FLY keyword, and suffering a to-hit penalty against anything without it. Otherwise, it is functionally a Falcon, retaining the same statline and vehicle equipment options available to the other tanks in this category. It is even able to transport up to 6 models, even if the range on its Scatter Lasers encourages a sedentary gun-line role for the tank. Despite Forge World providing a data-sheet with updated rules for the Firestorm, it is unfortunately restricted to Open and Narrative play; no point values have been assigned to this unit and, for the foreseeable future, will not be.

Lords of War

• Wraithknight: Your one and only non-Forgeworld Lord of War and the eldar answer to the Imperial Knight. While the Wraithknight has a couple advantages over the Imperial Knight in the form of flexible psychic support, it is very outclassed in terms of durability and firepower and can still underperform even with babysitter Farseers and Spiritseers doing everything in their power to help your WK earn its points back. Thankfully GW has noticed the general lack of Wraithknights in official tournaments over the past few years and has consistently been lowering its point cost to encourage its use. Unfortunately, even at a newly revised 285pts base, it's still a bit too expensive for what it brings to the table (you could bring ten Wraithguard for the cost of one Heavy Wraithcannon Wraithknight. Just saying, 10 S10 AP-4 shots are better than 4 S16 AP-4 shots if you're looking for anti-tank/monster options). In larger point games (1800+) it might be worth bringing as a semi-DISTRACTION CARNIFEX because despite its impracticality, it is still a very powerful unit that can and will kill everything it engages at range or in melee.
  • It's worth noting that with the Wraithguard vs Wraithknight comparison one important factor is missing - range. Beyond 12" Wraithguard kill absolutely nothing and a full unit of 10 have to slog it across the table on foot unless you spend a CP to drop them in or throw points at a Vampire.
  • Apparently someone took one of these to an ITC major and actually did pretty well. The strategy revolves around using Expert Crafters for consistency with its Wraithcannon shots, along with a wraith host spiritseer giving it a 4++ every turn with the Spirit Shield stratagem.

Weapon Loadout Options: Wraithknights come stock with Titanic Wraithbone Fists (which you won't be using believe me) and a stomp equivalent Titanic Feet that can be used now as a weapon (now go to), Titanic feet if chosen as a weapon gives 3 attacks instead of 1, pumping Attacks up to 12 (4*3), having S:8, AP-2 and dealing d3 damage each. And this is a statistically better weapon against everything short of another Superheavy. Each Wraithknight also comes with a primary weapon loadout that you can compliment with an assortment of shoulder mounted Heavy Weapons.

• Shuriken Cannon
  • Shuricannons are a legitimate waste of a slot here. Wraithknights don't suffer hit penalties for moving and shooting heavy weapons, so the one advantage the Shuricannon has over the other heavy weapons that you can still advance and shoot (with penalties). Skip this one.
• Scatter Laser
  • The Scatter Laser is the best anti-horde choice you can pair with your Wraithknight. Two of these can help alleviate the low shot volume the double Heavy Wraithcannons suffer from and can still contribute towards harder targets for the lucky chip damage here and there. It's also your cheapest choice, so stick with it as the default if you're short on points.
• Starcannon
  • A good premium option that pairs very nicely with the Suncannon for rather obvious reasons. Great for taking on anything with half a decent armor save or multiple wounds to their name but is your most expensive shoulder option.
• Double Heavy Wraithcannons
  • A go to long-range vehicle/monster wrecker now each one is an Assault 2 S16 AP-4 d6 dmg, which will punch through most armor saves and wound basically everything in the game on a 2+. While these potent cannons can cast down everything from Leman Russ tanks to other Wraithknights, it does nothing to ease how many points you'll be spending to field this beast.
• Suncannon and Scattershield
  • Still a viable TEQ killer now Heavy 2d6 AP-3 and 2 dmg. A bit more survivable with a scattershield but quite a bit weaker with variable shots and still forced to roll to hit after. But if you look closely you'll see it's actually Avenger knight minigun, but it's not Heavy 12.
• Titanic Ghostglaive and Scattershield
  • Now the cheapest variant, and the most situational dealing flat 6 damage and wounding everything on 2+ due to Str 16, but with only 4 attacks hitting on 3+ it might find its use only in matchups against other Superheavies, ranged loadouts in particular. If you're expecting the enemy titans to be CQC oriented, it may be in your better interest to take the Wraithcannon loadout. Against anything else, take the Suncannon or Wraithcannons; stomping attacks are considerably more effective against everything else.

• Skathach Wraithknight (Forge World): Essentially a premium Wraithknight, the Skathach variant shares the exact same statline of the standard WK, though it serves a significantly different role than the basic version. To start, the Skathach lacks the melee potential the normal Wraithknight has since it can't take the sword. Additionally, all of the guns available to it lack the eye-watering strength that the Heavy Wraithcannons posses. In exchange, the Skathach is far more equipped to face infantry hordes and lighter vehicles due to its much higher shot volume compared to its basic brother. Additionally, the regular WK lost the ability to deepstrike in the transition from 7th to 8th where the Skathach retains this ability as well as the ability to leave the battlefield and re-deepstrike on the next turn. Take caution, however, as if the game ends before it gets a chance to return, it is considered slain.

Weapon Loadout Options: Skathach Wraithknights share the same Titanic Wraithbone Fists, shoulder-mounted heavy weapons and Titanic Feet that regular Wraithknights have. Unlike the regular version, the weapon loadout available to the Skathach Wraithknight is a bit more flexible this edition than it used to be; it can mix and match the primary weapons with each other as you see fit. Take two, one of each, or pair one or the other with a scattershield depending on what you want this behemoth to do.

• Shuriken Cannon
  • Shuricannons are a legitimate waste of a slot here. Skathach Wraithknights don't suffer hit penalties for moving and shooting heavy weapons, so the one advantage the Shuricannon has over the other heavy weapons is rendered moot. Skip this one.
• Scatter Laser
  • The Scatter Laser is the best anti-horde choice you can pair with your Skathach Wraithknight. Pair these with your Deathshroud Cannons to erase blobs indiscriminately. It's also your cheapest choice, so stick with it as the default if you're short on points.
• Starcannon
  • A good premium option. Great for taking on anything with half a decent armor save or multiple wounds to their name but is your most expensive shoulder option.
• Deathshroud Cannon
  • Take these when you want your Wraithknight to become the biggest Warp Spider in existence. The loss of templates hurts the effectiveness of this once formidable blob blender. It retains its two firing modes; being able to fire a focused blast at 10" for Heavy 2D6 shots at S7 AP0, or a dispersed blast at 48" for only Heavy D6 S8 AP-2 shots doing D3 damage apiece. Similar to its tinier Deathspinner cousins, the Deathshroud cannon gets a juicy AP-4 for every wound roll of a 5+ you get. While it will still effectively end whatever infantry (and even some light vehicles) it blasts with this gun, it can no longer indiscriminately erase those 20+ conscript blobs marching across the field in one shooting round the way it used to.
• Inferno Lance
  • This puppy is essentially what you get if you upsized a Fire Dragon's Fusion Gun and churned out the dakka; 24" Heavy D6 S8 AP-4 for D6 damage that lets you roll 2D6 and discard the lowest roll at half range. This gun will let you ruin the day of whatever tank that looks at you funny. Keep in mind though, unless all those puny little infantry models within that 12-24" range are either more eldar or armed with nothing but knives, expect heavy amounts of return fire.
• Scattershield
  • The option to make your overcosted titan less so, this will give the SWK a 5++ at the cost of one of its other unique cannons. Honestly the best choice since it'll help stretch those 12 wounds that keep your Wraithknight remotely effective while giving you 40+ points to spend on more infantry or upgrades for other, more cost effective vehicles you may be fielding with it. A Deathshroud+Scattershield SWK is the cheapest loadout available if you're looking to pinch pennies.

• Scorpion (Forge World): Your first superheavy tank and the most suited to taking on anything from infantry blobs to enemy tanks. With a BS of a 2+ and a range of 60" on the twin Scorpion Pulsar, you can safely camp this in your back line and thoroughly erase any single unit with its jaw-dropping 4d6 S12 AP-4 D3 (D6 on wound rolls of 6+) shots a turn. The inability to target more than one unit a turn with this potentially high shot volume does mean that your super tank will struggle to earn back its points in most standard games (and at 700pts base, it's got a lot of work to do to be worth it). Defensively, it is equipped with the same Distort Fields all your Forgeworld Titanic vehicles come with and is relatively stacked at T8 and 26W. Take it as either Iyanden, Alaitoc or make one of the custom attributes the Students of Vaul to capitalize on this durability.

Weapon Loadout Options: The Twin Scorpion Pulsar is your only primary weapon and the single reason you'd consider bringing this tank. It does, however, have one standard heavy weapon equipped in addition that you can equip as you see fit.

• Shuriken Cannon
  • Shuricannons are the default option and the only one that will work if you need to advance your Scorpion for some reason (though you really should never advance the Scorpion, or that's 700 points you're not using that turn). It is a...decent choice that has the potential to rend, but the inconsistency of it isn't really worth taking over the scatter laser.
• Scatter Laser
  • The Scatter Laser is the cheapest choice and arguably the best to pair with the pulsar for laying down as many shots a turn as possible. 4 S6 shots at a 36" range is quite nice as a source of supplemental firepower for what it costs. May as well take it.
• Starcannon
  • The starcannon, while great for killing MEQ targets, lacks the firepower damage, volume and range that would allow it to perform even decently as an addon to your Scorpion. Pass.
• Bright Lance
  • A pretty hard pass. You're not hurting for high strength or high AP firepower, and the very variable d6 damage just can't compare to the flat 3 or 6 damage the pulsar deals per wound.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • Another weapon to skip. It doesn't matter if you want to use the single shot S8 d6 damage profile or the d6 shot S4 profile, it's just far too tempermental to pair with the pulsar.

Vehicle Upgrade Options: The Scorpion can take any and all of the standard vehicle upgrades, and with the points you're spending on it, several of these are seriously worth considering.

• Crystal Targeting Matrix
  • A measily 5 more points lets your Scorpion keep its fantastic BS 2+ after moving, even if it limits your targeting options. For anyone looking to take advantage of the Scorpion's distort fields, this is a must.
• Soul Stones
  • Given you're spending at least 700 points on this tank, spending a mere 10 more points to give it a 6+ FNP should be an easy sell. With 26 wounds, you won't be hurting for opportunities for this to come into play and when paired with Iyanden or Alaitoc, possibly even Bonesinger support, you'll have a disgustingly durable tank. That said, if you have a Fortune Farseer or for some inconceivable reason wish to run this in an Ulthwé detachment, you can skip this.
• Star Engines
  • Never take this. There's virtually never a time you'll be hurting for an excuse to use the extra d6 movement when you advance, even if it makes it easier to improve your distort field saves.
• Vectored Engines
  • Kind of a similar boat as the star engines. Yes, especially when paired with Alaitoc, the -1 to hit on top of the distort field invuln can make your tank especially frustrating to target. But as it's only active if you advance (and it's very challenging to find a legitimate reason to advance and forgo a round of shooting your Twin Scorpion Pulsar), it isn't worth investing in.

• Cobra (Forge World): The premier anti-tank/superheavy available to craftworlders at a hefty 550 points, the Cobra's main armament consists of the D-Impaler; a Heavy d6 S16 AP-5 gun that does an extra d3 mortal wounds per wound roll of a 6+ you make. When it has 15+ wounds (or 8+ for Iyanden Cobras), it hits on 2's, so you'll have plenty of opportunities for those wound rolls! Aside this primary gun, it only has one other standard Heavy Weapon (of your particular choice) that it can fire, meaning that while this tank can all but ensure whatever it shoots gets thoroughly erased; it is particularly ineffective against horde/infantry-focused armies. Like most Titanic models of the Craftworlders, the Cobra can take advantage of inbuilt Distort Fields to confer movement-based invuln saves, though this can only be reasonably done for the 9-16" 5++ range (with CTM support to remove the penalties somewhat). Should your Cobra become the center of your opponent's attention, you'll probably want to make sure no allied models are within a foot of the thing should it be close to death; if you roll a 4+ when the Cobra dies, everything within 2d6" takes d6 Mortal Wounds as the Cobra implodes into a Warp-Rift. You could try to take advantage of this and suicide bomb a severely wounded Cobra deep into enemy lines to quite literally rip a hole in their defenses, though it requires a fair bit of luck on your part and plain ignorance on your opponent's. Still a pretty hilarious way to get the last laugh though.

Weapon Loadout Options: The D-Impaler is your one and only main weapon and the single reason you'd consider bringing this tank. It does, however, have one standard heavy weapon the Cobra can side arm in situations that call for it.

• Shuriken Cannon
  • Shuricannons are the default option and the only one that will work if you need to advance your Cobra for some reason (though you really should never advance the Cobra, or that's 540 points you're not using that turn). It is a...decent choice that has the potential to rend, but the inconsistency of it isn't really worth taking over the scatter laser.
• Scatter Laser
  • The Scatter Laser is the cheapest choice and arguably the best to pair with the D-Impaler for laying down as many shots a turn as possible. 4 S6 shots at a 36" range is quite nice as a source of supplemental firepower for what it costs. May as well take it.
• Starcannon
  • The starcannon, while great for killing MEQ targets, lacks the firepower damage, volume or range that would allow it to perform even decently as an addon to your Cobra. Pass.
• Bright Lance
  • A pretty hard pass. You're not hurting for high strength or high AP firepower, and the singular d6 damage can't really compare to the 2d6 damage each D-Impaler shot deals, ignoring the potential for mortal wounds.
• Aeldari Missile Launcher
  • Another weapon to skip. It doesn't matter if you want to use the single shot S8 d6 damage profile or the d6 shot S4 profile, it's just far too tempermental to pair with the D-Impaler.

Vehicle Upgrade Options: The Cobra can take any and all of the standard vehicle upgrades, and with the points you're spending on it, several of these are seriously worth considering.

• Crystal Targeting Matrix
  • A measily 5 more points lets your Cobra keep its fantastic BS 2+ after moving, even if it limits your targeting options. For anyone looking to take advantage of the Cobra's distort fields, this is a must.
• Soul Stones
  • Given you're spending at least 540 points on this tank, spending a mere 10 more points to give it a 6+ FNP should be an easy sell. With 26 wounds, you won't be hurting for opportunities for this to come into play and when paired with Iyanden or Alaitoc, possibly even Bonesinger support, you'll have a disgustingly durable tank. That said, if you have a Fortune Farseer or for some inconceivable reason wish to run this in an Ulthwé detachment, you can skip this.
• Star Engines
  • Never take this. There's virtually never a time you'll be hurting for an excuse to use the extra d6 movement when you advance, even if it makes it easier to improve your distort field saves.
• Vectored Engines
  • Kind of a similar boat as the star engines. Yes, especially when paired with Alaitoc, the -1 to hit on top of the distort field invuln can make your tank especially frustrating to target. But as it's only active if you advance (and it's very challenging to find a legitimate reason to advance and forgo a round of shooting your D-Impaler), it isn't worth investing in.

• Vampire Raider (Forge World): After a year and a half of being merged in 7th, the two Vampires are separate entries again. The Vampire Raider distinguishes itself by its insane transport capacity of 30 units that can easily drop passengers up to 70" away in only one turn. That's fuck'n fast! in addition, the Raider enjoys a rather sturdy 32 wounds at T8 with the Distort invuln save usually reserved for Titans. Unlike said titans, it's actually rather likely the Raider will be making full use of the 5+ or 4+ profile. The built in CTM allows it to fire off its Scatter laser and both Twin Pulse Lasers (Heavy 4 S8 AP-3 3 damage profiles each) against the closest threats without penalty; a plus for a rather fast aerial unit (note that with the Chapter Approved update it always counts as Stationary when moving, so the CTM has no use anymore). Not only does it enjoy the Wings of Khaine special rule, but it may also shift to a Hover mode to remain sedentary should you need. Doing so costs it Hard to Hit, Wings of Khaine and Airborne abilities, so be cognizant of its surroundings if you do so. Keep in mind, the Vampire Raider benefits from Craftworld Attributes, so taking it in an Iyanden or Alaitoc detatchment will maximize its efficiency/durability and is highly recommended (especially if you want to drop 10+ Wraithguard/blades on your opponent all at once) In addition Errata gave it the Colossal Flyer rule that the other Superheavy Flyers have, adding 12" to ranges meaning bolters right under it can't Rapid Fire at them anymore, and it never gets a penalty for firing heavy weapons.
  • Both of the Vampires technically do not count as a Flyer Battlefield Role (FOC slot) as they are Lords of War, so they are able to control objectives, and do not count as Flyers for "Boots on the Ground".
• Vampire Hunter (Forge World): Essentially a Scorpion that moves faster, has more HP, -1 to hit and is currently out of production from FW. Being able to fire the Pulsars in any direction was a huge improvement. Twin Pulsar is Heavy 4 D6, Str12, AP-4 D D6 and 6's to wound do an extra D6 damage, and it never gets a penalty for firing heavy weapons. With Craftworld attributes affecting vehicles this is one of the best flyer available. If you go Iyanden your precious LoW is staying effective for twice as long; something no other army can claim. Alaitoc and Colossal Flyer will always confer a -2 to hit which can go even to -3 with stratagems which is hilarious for a LoW. With 8 pulse laser shots and 4d6 S12 pulsar it can be the most annoying DISTRACTION CARNIFEX to get rid of and surely the most mean.
  • Errata gave it the Colossal Flyer rule that the other Superheavy Flyers have, adding 12" to ranges meaning bolters right under it can't Rapid Fire at them anymore. And it no longer gets -1 to hit when moving (which will be nearly always).
  • Chapter Approved 2017 puts the cost of The Vampire Hunter (not the Raider) at a ridiculous 1500pts - a whopping 62% increase!
  • Both of the Vampires technically do not count as a Flyer Battlefield Role (FOC slot), but Lords of War, so they are able to control objectives, and do not count as Flyers for "Boots on the Ground".

Conclave Titans

These are the largest and most powerful aeldari war machines you could ever use... if they weren't so eye-wateringly expensive to both buy and field. The only realistic time you could expect to field even one of these would be in an Apocalypse game, or in a ≥3000 point list and even then, they'll leave virtually no wiggle room for any other units you might want to support them with. Another significant downside is, unlike literally everything else listed on this page, Revenant and Phantom titans are <Conclave>, not <Craftworld>. According to forgewold xenos index the <Conclave> is the same as craftworld. Therefore you can use stratagemts, powers and get attributes. If you do field one of these titans, take advantage of their prodigious range to rain hell upon your foes from the other side of the table (or from a table away, if you're playing a big enough game) to keep these behemoths alive.

• Revenant Titan (Forge World): Elegant scout titan that can fly, and is the equivalent to the Imperium's Reaver/Scout Titan. With a toughness of 9 and 32 wounds, you would expect that the Revenant titan would be rather difficult for your opponent to put down without a titan of their own. But, having only a 3+ Armor save and an invulnerable save entirely reliant on moving/advancing as far as possible means that even S5 weapons with any AP value stand an honest chance of shaving off some wounds. What's worse, is that while the Revenant has an impressive 32" movement (with an auto 18" advance) and the ability to give no fucks about ground-bound things like terrain and enemy units, the Revenant's damage table drops that movement down to 24", 18" and 8" respectively, making it mandatory to advance just to keep some semblance of an invuln save as it gets worn down. Granted, now that this thing costs 2000 (seriously, what the flying fuck?) points for only 8 more wounds than a single Wraithknight, who can also have an invuln save not reliant on movement, there is absolutely no reason to take this. Ever. Literally everything it can bring to the table even other eldar Titans can do cheaper.

Weapon Loadout Options: Revenant Titans are equipped with a Titanic Stride (S9 AP-3 D3 stomp attacks that make 3 hit rolls per attack like the Wraithknight's stomp attack) and a Cloudburst Missile Launcher ( 2d6 S8 AP-2 D1d3 that adds +1 to hit against units that fly). Outside of that, they have exactly two choices in primary armament.

• Pulsar
  • The default loadout, each Pulsar is a Heavy 2d6 S12 AP-4 cannon that does d6 damage on a normal wounding roll, and 2d6 on a wound roll of 6+. All in all a pretty good weapon, but again is relatively underwhelming for a Titanic unit given that it's a Heavy weapon as opposed to a Macro. I guess at least it can fire Overwatch and has massive range?
• Sonic Lance
  • One of the few good blob-blenders that still exist. Each Sonic Lance, while pitifully ranged at 18", fires an unholy 3d6 shots that wounds Infantry on a 2+ with an AP of -3 to erase most standard saves. That said, taking these means that your Revenant is always going to be in range of some heavy hitting weapon or another. Additionally, if your opponent is smart and fielded Monsters, Vehicles, or a Titan of their own, then you'll only hurt those on a 4+. Not ideal odds for such a pricey unit. Unless your opponent is idiotic enough to field only infantry against your Revenant, it's probably better to stick with the Pulsars. 60" range great for staying out of mid-to-long ranges and S12 will wound basically all infantry on a 2+ anyways with most vehicle/monsters getting hit with a harder AP that wounds on a 3+ doing d6 damage instead of just 1 at the cost of d6 more shots (inconsequential for most infantry units anyways, with their 5-10 man average).

• Phantom Titan (Forge World): At 60 wounds with access to the only Macro weapons in the entire Aeldari arsenal, the Phantom is basically the best (and only real) option when it comes to dealing with equivalent enemy titans. Despite nearly being twice as durable as a Revenant titan with access to heavier firepower, the Phantom clocks in at only 400 points more than its half-sized kin. In addition to all the other standard Titanic unit rules, the Phantom can also buff other <Conclave> units (if you're playing in such an absurdly high-point Apocalypse game to begin with) by letting them re-roll failed to-hit rolls once every turn.

Weapon Loadout Options: Phantom Titans are equipped with a Titanic Stride (S9 AP-3 D3 stomp attacks that make 3 hit rolls per attack like the Wraithknight's stomp attack) and a Voidstorm Missile Launcher ( 2d6 S8 AP-3 D1d3 that adds +1 to hit against units that fly). Outside of that, they have three interchangeable weapon choices in primary armament per arm and a support weapon mounted in the chassis.

• Starcannon
  • The default gun wedged into the missile silos, the Starcannon is the default and cheapest choice in this slot. With only two S6 shots, there's precious little this weapon can really contribute to targets that you'll actually want your Phantom Titan engaging. Given you're already nearly 2400pts for this, just go ahead and spend the extra 7 points to replace this with a bright lance. You have far more cost effective means to field starcannons if you really want them.
• Bright Lance
  • For just a couple pennies over the starcannon, give your Phantom a single shot gun more in line with the Voidstorm Missile Launcher profile (S8) that can be used in conjunction with it as a finishing flourish, as needed. May as well take it.
• Dire Pulsar
  • The longest ranged weapon available to it, as well as its default weapon, the Dire Pulsar is the first of the Phantom's two Macro weapons. Firing 2d6 shots at S14 at AP-5 120" downrange, whatever it's hitting is not getting an armor save. Additionally, like the smaller Pulsar, a 6+ wound roll causes it to do 2d6 damage as opposed to just a d6.
• D-Bombard
  • Though D-Strength is gone, S16 at AP-5 comes about as close to it as you can get anymore. While it sacrifices the range and volume of shots the D. Pulsar fires off, this Macro weapon causes 3 Mortal Wounds per wound roll of a 6+ in addition to the 2d6 damage each salvo causes. It's a tough call, but this makes the D-Bombard more ideal for dealing with enemy titans compared to the Pulsar.
• Wraith Glaive
  • The anti-titan melee option, this Sx2 (S18) AP-5 armblade does a flat 9 damage a cleave, proccing additional attacks on hit rolls of a 6 (with the extra attacks not proccing more). Since this will bypass Void Shields, it's honestly the most reliable anti-titan weapon you can give the Phantom. Additionally, while not exactly amazing, it does have a built in starcannon to help contribute a smidge more firepower to compensate for the loss of other ranged options. Unfortunately, it's also the only primary weapon that costs additional points to take over either of the guns.

Fortifications

• Webway Portal: For 120 points you can finally pick this giant arc. Fluffwise, it is the very reason of Eldar trollobility to suddenly appear and disappear without a trace. Crunchwise, it's a massive arc with T8, 14 wounds, 3+ and 5++ which lets you deepstrike one unit a turn. It can be set up anywhere on the battlefield more than 12" from enemy deployment zone and their units during your deployment (and like all scenery must be 3" away from any other scenery - which makes it VERY difficult to place)(remember, hills[i.e. simple LOS blocking terrain] are not considered to be terrain features) and, like any other structure, is completely immobile. During deployment, the owning player may set up any of their AELDARI units in the Webway (aka Necron style Tomb World), where-upon they may be set up 9" away from enemy units and completely within 3" of the gate in a fashion very much like standard deep-striking. Of course, if the gate is destroyed, all units that were in the gate's Webway (This doesn't affect units using the Webway Strike stratagem ) are slain. On the one hand, it does let you save some CP for not using aforementioned Webway Strike Strat and allows you to deep strike units the stratagems do not cover, like Wraithlords and Support Weapons. You can also use this in tandem with said stratagems; if you utilize the Cloud Strike Stratagem for fliers or grav-tanks, you can use the Portal to Deep Strike a squad of Howling Banshees or Wraithguard, as an example. Still, the restriction for model placement (9" away from the enemy and within 3" of the gate itself) can be problematic against horde-based opponents, who can clog up the gate and keep anything from actually leaving it. Even though it is impressively durable, without built-in weapons to defend itself with, a canny opponent can shut down hundreds of points worth of your army without even firing a shot. The model itself is still very nice though, so don't restrain yourself from using it as a piece of terrain for Aeldari-themed battlefields if you don't actually want to use it.
  • Keep in mind, that to use Webway Gate specific Stratagems from Harlequins Codex you need to have a small detachment of this nice and deadly murderclowns (and pray to any god of your choice for this to be FAQed and Labyrinth Laughs and Webway Ambush to be accessible to all AELDARI, as it actually affects all of them). You also need a Fortification Detachment just to field the Portal, so to effectively use this piece you need to chew up 2 detachments.
  • Also remember that it actually isn't a bad way to make sure that your Vehicles survive if you aren't going first, as the gate has high toughness and has a 5++. Something to consider for that Fire Prism of yours.
  • Deploying this thing is difficult, due to it's massive footprint and that it can't be within 3" of any other scenery. Just hope that your table has a 12" x 8" area of totally clear terrain otherwise you can't place it. (remember, hills[i.e. simple LOS blocking terrain] are not considered to be terrain features)
  • RAW all models must be set up "Wholly" within 3" of the portal. Since the struts are so small, RAW you can't deploy anything larger than a Wraithlord because anything bigger wont' fit completely within 3" - meaning even the photo on the box of the WraithKnight is illegal. Look for an FAQ or just play RAI. Or just model your Phantom Titan to be balancing on one tiptoe, ballerina style, on a 3" base.
    • Or just put it between the arcs, which, considering their size, won't be a problem.
      • The arcs must be set up with the bases 5" apart (the tips would be about half an inch apart), the overlap between the 3" from either leg (since you must measure to the nearest part of the webway portal) is too skinny to fit anything between them while being within 3" of either leg. RAW you don't measure from the arch, you measure to the nearest part of the arch... which is the base.File:Geometry3.jpg
        • To be honest, it may simply be more practical to upgrade to the Skathach Wraithknight if deepstriking Wraithknights are such a priority. It'd be roughly the same cost as a Webway Portal + Wraithknight combo anyways, though it comes with an arguably more flexible weapon loadout and the ability to leave the battlefield and re-deepstrike at will; an ability the one-and-done Webway Portal doesn't confer. Additionally, the Skathach is only limited by the standard Deepstriking rules when it comes to deployment where as the Standard WK would be forced to come out of the extremely visible and extremely present Webway Portal, making it harder to predict and prevent deployment. Finally, you'd only be utilizing just the one extra detachment for the Superheavy as opposed to two for the Superheavy and Fortification detachments.

Ynnari Overview

The reborn aeldari from all walks of life, united in their war against Slaanesh under the banner of Ynnead and his chosen champions. At least in fluff, or in notably segregated squads as far as the crunch goes. All non-character Ynnari units function virtually identically to their original counterparts, with some minor caveats listed below. To declare a detachment Ynnari, simply include Yvraine, the Visarch or the Avatar of Ynnead in any Battle-Forged detachment and choose to make it a Ynnari detachment. In this instance, all <Craftworld> units become Reborn Asuryani.

Restrictions

Bad news out of the way first. Once a detachment is designated as Ynnari, it and all units within lose access to all vanilla eldar Attributes, Relics, Stratagems, Psychic Disciplines and named Characters. For Craftworlders, this means all of the Phoenix Lords, Eldrad, Yriel, Illic and the Avatar of Khaine may not be included in a Ynnari detachment. In order to remain Battle-Forged, these detachments must follow the Battle Brothers rule and maintain only Craftworld, Drukhari or Harlequin units in any single Ynnari detachment. Craftworld Aspect Warriors also lose access to the list of Exarch Powers introduced within the Psychic Awakening book, restricting them to their default abilities. Additionally, Ynnari units cannot be targeted by or benefit from an allied vanilla detachment's psychic buffing or debuffing powers.

Pros

• The Ynnari have access to some really good Warlord Traits and Relics, some potent enough to consider taking at least a small detachment of Ynnari just to use them.
• When benefitting from Soulburst, Ynnari factions can be among the best CQC factions in the game; a borderline universal WS of 2+ on the charge makes units like Harlequin Troupes, Wraithblades or Shining Spears absolutely menacing. This is more a testament to those Craftworld, Harlequin or Dark Eldar units themselves being beasty units, not really by any virtue of Strength from Death.
• Yvraine and the Visarch are both fairly good characters in their own right. Yvraine's psychic prowess can rival or even surpass a Farseer while the Visarch functions both as a cheapish bodyguard and potent beatstick. The Yncarne can be quite effective as well, but its point cost requires you to really build around it to get the most out of it.
• Taking any of the eldar factions as Ynnari no longer strips them of their unit's faction wide rules, such as Battle-Focus or Power from Pain.
• Soulbursts now affect every unit in your list across the board, which is notably better than before.

Cons

• When your units aren't soulbursting, they may as well not have any attribute at all.
• To say the Soulburst mechanic itself is a pale shadow of its former glory would be a dramatic understatement. It does absolutely nothing for any infantry or vehicle designed for ranged combat and melee units need to be the ones charging into combat to really take advantage of it themselves.
• This faction has a notorious history of back-to-back nerfing extending all the way back to late 7th edition. They certainly deserved it at first, even during the first half of 8th edition. However, from how zealously GW has continued to bludgeon this faction with the nerf bat, it's not that far of a stretch to say that running a Ynnari detachment is a significant downgrade from just sticking with the classic factions at this point.
• Despite characters such as Jain Zar or Eldrad being considered part of the Ynnari in every respect in the fluff, no named characters are allowed in the Ynnari outside of the original Triumvirate.
• Outside the Triumvirate, the Ynnari have no native units truly their own. Every single unit they can draw from is simply copy-pasted over from one of the original eldar factions, meaning for the purposes of matched play, you're just playing a slightly gimped version of that army. This rings extra true for Aspect Warriors, who despite receiving fancy new interchangeable Exarch Powers, get to take none of them if taken as Ynnari.
• Your new stratagems, as mentioned, are garbage. With maybe one or two notable exceptions, your stratagems have very situational uses or are completely useless at worst and are overpriced or just copied from one of the original eldar factions at best.
• Losing access to the Runes of Battle/Fate/Fortune and Phantasmancy Discipline flat out sucks for a lot of your dudes. Indeed, even your craftworld Ynnari units can't take advantage of enemy debuffing powers like Jinx or Doom anymore.
• The Triumvirate special characters are arguably an overcosted tax to run a Ynnari detachment. The only real exception to this is Yvraine, who is a potent psyker in her own right. This issue has been slightly addressed through the occasional point cost drops they've received.

Special Rules

• Reclaim the Galaxy: Objective Secured, Reborn Style.
• Allies of the Reborn: Beast, Incubi and Scourge units may be included in a Ynnari detachment without disabling Strength from Death for anybody else, though they themselves don't get the ability. Explicitly for Dark Eldar Ynnari lists, but worth noting if you plan on taking another Ynnari detachment using them.
• Revered Figurehead: Yvraine or the Visarch may embark on any Aeldari Transport even if it normally restricts models to a different faction.
• Reborn Asuryani - Strength from Death: Whenever any unit is destroyed, all Ynnari units fight first in the fight phase for the rest of the turn. If they already could or just charged, they also add +1 to their hit rolls. This is your one and only attribute and it's...ok. This greatly benefits units such as your Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, Shining Spears or virtually anything in your army with "Wraith" in its name, but it also does absolutely nothing for units that do all their work at range, such as Dark Reapers or Fire Prisms. Even if your units aren't necessarily guaranteed to fight first due to AFF's interactions regarding enemy charges, the +1 to-hit gained from charging with the ability active is certainly nothing to scoff at.

Warlord Traits

Due to the way Ynnari detachments now work, so long as a named Ynnari character is in the detachment, you may take it as a Ynnari detachment and name any generic HQ as your warlord if you so wish.

1. Lord of Rebirth: Heal one wound a turn automatically and ignore wounds on a 5+, a solid choice for a tanky warlord like a Wraithseer.
2. Warden of Souls: Whenever your Warlord is affected by Soulburst, and +1 to their Strength and Attack characteristics. A decently reliable way to buff your warlord on a more consistent basis compared to the other offensive traits here, but with a notable peak in performance. The Yncarne has this by default.
3. Walker of Many Paths: A free hit/wound reroll every turn with a 5+ CP refund when you use a stratagem. A flexible choice that helps keep your options open when you don't know what to expect.
4. Fear of the Grave: All enemy units within 6" of your warlord subtract 1 from their leadership, 2 if it's during a turn a unit was killed by the warlord. Stacks very well with leadership bombs courtesy of the Visarch and nearby Hemlocks, Wraithseers or Horrify Warlocks.
5. Favoured of Ynnead: Consolidate 6" instead of 3" in melee. Can be handy to keep up the momentum, but runs the risk of leaving your warlord's entourage behind. Yvraine has this by default.
6. Master of Death: Whenever your warlord rolls a hit roll of 6 in melee, it generates two hits instead of one. A good way to help deal with hordes and fish for hits in general, but kind of unreliable. The Visarch has this by default.

Ynnari Tactical Objectives

11 - Spirit Sanctuary

Roll a D6; gain 1VP if no enemies control the corresponding Objective Marker. Completely random and unreliable, but a bit easier to achieve than the vanilla version in a rare twist.

12 - Harness the Spirits

Successfully casting a power from a Ynnari Psyker generates 1VP. Yvraine or a Farseer can make this one easy pickings.

13 - For Ynnead's Glory

Get 1VP if three or more units were killed by attacks made by Ynnari units this turn. Kind of a tall order for a single VP all things considered.

14 - Surety of Purpose

Get d3VP if you achieved at least two other tactical objectives this turn.

15 - Death's Every Visage

Score 1VP if you destroy a unit in the Psychic/Shooting/Fight phase this turn. Score d3VP if you destroy a unit in all three of them. Worse than the vanilla version.

16 - Soulsurge

Score 1VP if you destroy three or more units with attacks made by Ynnari units while they are benefiting from Soulburst in a single turn. Kinda fucked up that the more challenging version of For Ynnead's Glory doesn't offer any more VP for the extra effort needed (you'll need to wipe 4 enemy units in a single turn to get this; one to trigger the Soulburst and then the remaining 3 for the objective). Made somewhat easier if by some miracle you manage to pull off the Souls of the Strongest stratagem beforehand.

Ynnari Stratagems

A subset of stratagems to further enhance your Ynnari detachments.

• Fire and Fade (1cp): Copy-paste of the vanilla version. This lets your selected unit move 7" after shooting, no charging or advancing allowed. Still useful for units like your Fire Dragons.
• Lightning-Fast Reactions (2cp): Another copy-paste, add a -1 to-hit modifier if targeted by a ranged or melee attack. Useful in a pinch, but a little less spammable compared to Alaitoc lists.
• Deadly Misdirection (2cp): Identical to Feigned Retreat, this one lets you shoot and charge after falling back.
• Artefacts of Death (1/3cp): The ever standard extra relic(s) stratagem, nothing special.
• Webway Ambush (1/3cp): Your flavor of deep striking Infantry, Biker or Beast stratagem. Situationally useful.
• Exalted of Ynnead (1cp): Pick one of your non-warlord/named HQ characters and give them a warlord trait, no duplicates allowed. Doesn't make them a real warlord and you can only do this once. Actually quite handy, as there are some good traits to choose from.
• Inevitable Fate (2cp): Pick an enemy unit at the beginning of the fight phase and all your Ynnari stuff re-roll wound rolls against it. Can be handy, but kinda pricey.
• A Taste for Death (1cp): Used when a unit's ranged weapons wipe an enemy unit, they add +1 to-hit in melee till the end of the turn. Objectively useless, as they'd be benefitting from Soulburst if they kill a unit and since most decent ranged weaponry can't be fired while in combat, they'd need to charge and would cap on their hit bonus from the Soulburst itself.
• The Great Enemy (1cp): Largely the same as Inevitable Fate, but limited to Slaanesh targets and only buffs one of your units. A fluffy strat that stacks with your Ancient Doom for both re-rollable hit and wound rolls that benefits quite a lot from a Soulburst, but your opportunities will be very slim.
• Back from the Brink (2cp): When one of your Infantry/Biker characters dies, use this and roll a D6. On a 4+, they come back with D3 wounds and sets up as close to where they died as possible. Can only do this once per character. Can come in handy if your opponent fucks up your plans.
• Reborn Together (1cp): Add +2 Leadership to all Ynnari units that have another Ynnari unit within 6" of them. Sort of helpful if you're worried about leadership bombs or casualties screwing your morale.
• Whispering Spirits (2cp): Basically the opposite of Reborn Together, targeted enemy unit subtracts 2 from their leadership when within 1" of your dudes. Stacks obscenely well with the myriad of leadership debuffs at your disposal.
• Acolyte of Ynnead (1cp): If one of your psykers attempts to manifest a Revenant power in the same phase that you destroyed a unit, add 3(!) to their psychic test. On a Farseer, it guarantees a cast of whatever you want to go off. An allied vanilla detachment's Farseer spamming Smite/Mind War/Executioner can help create opportunities to use this.
• Ynnead's Net (2cp): A Ynnari biker can advance and charge in the same turn. Shining Spears still have a place in this army!
• United in Death (1cp): Pick a Reborn Asuryani, Reborn Drukhari and a Reborn Harlequin unit. All of them get +1 Attack in the fight phase if they're Soulbursting. Yikes, try making that happen in a Matched Play game.
• Shrine of the Whispering God (2cp): Pick up to three Incubi units and they get Strength from Death. Handy, if useless to a Craftworld based Ynnari list.
• Souls of the Strongest (1cp): Kill the enemy warlord, and all units with Strength from Death are soulbursted for the rest of the game even if no other units are destroyed in subsequent turns. Best take some rangers to make it work, but can take the pressure off of trying to kill something before combat every turn if you manage it.

Revenant Discipline

Ynnari Psyker units replace either their access to the Runes of Battle or Runes of Fate disciplines with this one. These powers allow them to play both a supportive and offensive role for army. A reminder, Ynnari units can no longer select or benefit directly from any Runes of Fate and Battle, as they cannot be targeted by them anymore. Offensive powers from allied vanilla detachments such as Executioner and Mind War are good powers to take on an allied vanilla detachment supporting a Ynnari one, as they can help trigger SfD or be used to help trigger stratagems or Tactical Objectives.

1. Gaze of Ynnead: Essentially Smite on crack, this WC 6 power lets you choose the target, and deals mortal wounds based on a D6; a roll of 1 results in 1 mortal wound, 2-5 causes 1d3 mortal wounds, and a 6 results in 1d6 mortal wounds on the target; the total expected mortal wounds is, accordingly, 25/12, or slightly more than 2.
   • Like all non-Smite Psychic Powers in 8th, this is worse than Smite: the odds of it going off base are down from 30/36 to 26/36, so the total expected output is only 1.5 mortal wounds. For comparison, Smite deals 1.79 (both results assume the Psyker survives Perils on double 6). What's surprisingly nice here is that the reduction is small compared to two significant trade-offs: the first is that you can pick the target, and the second is that your Warlocks can cast it without a wacky special rule nerfing your mortal wound output. Still not a great power, but other disciplines definitely have worse.
   • The math changes for both Yvraine and a Farseer, and for any other buff you can come up with to casting the power. However, any buff that increases the casting total, like Yvraine's, tends to make Gaze worse, not better: Yvraine's Gaze deals 1.74 mortal wounds, but her Smite deals 2.08. In other words, normally Smite does 19% more mortal wounds than Gaze, but for Yvraine, it deals 20% more. The difference is negligible, but will accumulate as you incorporate more buffs, like spending CP to re-roll her cast. It can be a solid offensive tool in the hands of Yvraine, but you'll ideally pick it up mid-battle when some of her warlock meat shields get chewed up rather than starting out with the power.
2. Storm of Whispers An AoE aura attack, this WC 6 power lets you roll 3d6 per enemy unit within 6" of the caster; every roll of a 6 hits the unit in question with a mortal wound.
   • This power is hot garbage. Assuming you pull it off - and you will 26/36 of the time for a standard caster, or slightly better than 2/3 of the time - each unit suffers, on average, half a mortal wound (or, in other words, every nearby enemy unit will suffer 13/36 of a mortal wound, on average, or slightly better than 1/3). That means a normal caster needs to be within range of five units for this to compete with Smite, and Yvraine needs to be within six. Stay the hell away from this power - you're seriously better off casting Smite additional times, even despite the casting penalty.
3. Word of the Phoenix: WC 5, this ability no longer triggers Soulburst, but rather allows the targeted Ynnari Infantry or Ynnari Biker within 18" to heal 1d3 wounds or resurrect one model, who comes back to unit coherency with a single wound remaining. Accordingly, this is best used on as elite targets as possible (to maximize how many points you're returning to the table) with as few wounds as possible, both to maximize your chance to res rather than heal, and so that your res restores as high a percentage as possible of the target's total wounds. For example, it'll repair Vypers at range just fine (since it doesn't care about the presence or absence of Biker), but you'll get overall better performance on a Warlock Skyrunner Conclave.
4. Unbind Souls A WC 6 debuff that allows units to re-roll wound rolls for melee attacks against the targeted unit. Now that Doom is more or less off the table for Ynnari units, this is the next best thing. It synergizes fairly well with the new Soulburst as it is relatively easy to cast without much hassle - and while it is easier to cast than Doom, the double nerf of shorter range AND being melee only really hurts.
5. Shield of Ynnead A slightly more challenging WC 7 power that grants all Ynnari units within 6" of the Psyker a 5++ invulnerability save. This works for literally everything in your army that doesn't already have a 5++ or better (e.g. this won't do anything to protect Wyches in melee) and can be a fantastic tool for your Wraith units, vehicles, or even the ever standard Aspect Warriors.
6. Ancestor's Grace: This WC5 power allows the targeted friendly unit within 18" to re-roll hit rolls of 1 until your next Psychic phase, so both shooting and melee. A nice supplemental power, but it might be better to simply use an Autarch or Archon, who will benefit multiple units automatically with his aura (so long as you're using primarily <Craftworld> or <Kabal> Eldar in your Ynnari detachment).
   • As even your Craftworld Ynnari units can no longer benefit from Guide, this is the only option you have that can support your ranged units. Consider just parking an Autarch with a reaper launcher for your backline gunners in a Craftworld-focused list.

• Perhaps the two most worthwhile powers here are Word of the Phoenix and Shield of Ynnead; to give you a good example of them working together, if you supply a unit of Blaster Scourges with both, they go from a 4+/6++ to 4+/5++, and every time you bring a dead Blaster wielder back, you're bringing back 36 dead points. Plus, they need Ancestor's Grace, since they're allergic to Archons.

Relics of Ynnead

Your range of relics for your generic characters. Cannot be taken on your named Ynnari characters, as per the usual standard.

• Hungering Blade: For you, Autarch exclusive, as it replaces his Star Glaive/Power Sword. S+3 AP-3 flat D2 sword that swats an extra mortal wound on targets for every wound roll of a 6. A decent upgrade if you plan on having him up front.
• Song of Ynnead: An 18" S5 AP-1 replacement for a shuriken pistol. Follows shuriken AP-3 rules and every time it kills an enemy model, its unit subtracts 1 from its leadership till the turn ends. Since it shoots three times, this can devastate enemy leadership in conjunction with other debuff powers/abilities. Very good for horde-based armies.
• Mirrorgaze: A standard "-1 for hit rolls against the bearer" relic. Notably affects all hit rolls and isn't limited to infantry.
• Soulsnare: Once per game, you can pick a unit within 6" of the bearer and roll a D6. 1 does nothing, 2-5 deals D3 mortal wounds and heals the bearer for the damage dealt, and a 6 deals D6 mortal wounds and heals for all lost wounds on the bearer. Basically a pocket mini-smite with some crazy benefits if you get lucky and obviously pays off more on characters with big health pools.
• The Lost Shroud: Halve all damage received, rounding up, with a 5+ FNP for good measure. Crazy good ability that can take the edge off strong weapons, but largely underwhelming on any characters with less than 6 wounds total.
• Corag Hai's Locket: Whenever the bearer destroys a unit, permanently add 1 to their movement and attack characteristics. There is no cap to this, meaning you can get some ridiculous stats if the owner of this racks up the kills. Stacks beautifully with Soulbursts and Warden of Souls.

Special Characters

HQ

• Yvraine: The Emissary herself, running a slightly cheaper 115 points with the advent of Psychic Awakening. With the drastic rework Soulburst received and Word of the Phoenix being retooled into a healing power, Yvraine is now more geared towards close combat than she used to be. In practice, this means she can very easily roll around with some Ghost Sword Wraithblades or even a Warlock Conclave while healing them and getting them to reroll wounds with the right psychic powers. Indeed, Warlock Conclaves can serve very nicely as a bodyguard unit since if any of them die, Yvraine gets to generate a new power from the Revenant Discipline and can optionally revive any of those Warlocks who fall using Word of the Phoenix. Just beware that despite her ability to regain wounds as Aeldari die within 7" of her on a 4+ and a 4++ invuln save, she's still T3 and will fall quite quickly if you're not careful.
  • There are still the two differing schools on how she runs in a Craftworld Ynnari detachment: A very aggressive role where she accompanies a unit to push them as far into enemy lines as possible before potentially dying after causing considerable havoc, or a more passive supporting role accompanied by a Warlock Conclave and/or Farseer while dolling out healing, re-roll buffs and pain in equal measure. Do keep in mind which detachments your supporting Farseers and Warlocks are in if you want them to double-dip into the Revenant Discipline with her, or if you want them to provide the more offensive powers otherwise exclusive to vanilla Craftworlds.
• The Visarch: Now actually a better combatant than Yvraine. With Psychic Awakening's updated point cost dropping the Visarch to a bargin-bin 80 points, he is a steal of a deal both as a close combat character and as a cheap way to field a Ynnari detachment. His BFS, Asu-Var, the Sword of Silent Screams is a Strength 5 Force Sword that reduces the enemy unit's Leadership by 1 allowing him to be the linchpin for Leadership Bomb setups. Very tanky as when any Aeldari model within 7" dies, on a 4+ he regains a lost wound, and gains +1 Attack (caps at 7) if it was a character and given his Warlord Trait he'll be bifurcating people pretty regularly. He also acts like a bodyguard to Yvraine and if he's within 3" of her, he can take any wounds for her as a Mortal Wound on a 2+ which plugs one of her biggest weaknesses right now, good job buddy 2 years and you've finally found a use.
  • Oh the Visarch he's the odd one of the three ain't he? He's the cheapest Ynnari character, and this reflects in the limited support he offers compared to Yvraine or the Yncarne. He does have a pretty neat sword though. When figuring where he fits in a Craftworld Ynnari detachment it's a game of buts, sure he could back up you're hefty CQC units but Yvraine or an Autarch do that infinitely better, you could have him help set up a leadership bomb but Warlocks, your own stratagems, or an errant Hemlock do that better, you could have him- you get the idea. On top of this with being able to take any Ynnari character as your Warlord there is next to no reason to bring him save for being a beat stick.
    • He does give Ynnari units within 6" rerolls 1 to hit in combat, and given how the army works now, he can replace an Autarch for your front line attackers.
• The Yncarne: Our Avatar of an Eldar God (Even though the Ynnari have an Avatar of Khaine and it's the biggest and scariest one, but whatever it's not like GeeDubs is gutting the character of this army at every turn) coming in at 280 points might seem like a lot but she's equipped with Vilith-shar, the Sword of Souls, an awesome weapon that is S6, Ap -4 and d6 Damage with re-rolls to wound. With 6 attacks, S7 A7 with her Warlord Trait, whatever it is hitting is dying. With the "rework" of SfD the Yncarne can't fight twice, but with her Warlord Trait hits much harder weirdly making her kill half as much, more efficiently (i.e. she'll only drop one Imperial Knight a turn in combat not 2) this all being said the Yncarne is a flying, monstrous character that can cast two of your six Revenant Discipline powers granting her impressive flexibility. The Yncarne is also pretty resilient, T6 with a 3+ armor and 4+ invuln that covers 9 wounds that regenerate on a 4+ for any Aeldari model killed near it. It also provides a 6" Fearless bubble any friendly Aeldari within 6" shrugs off any Wound or Mortal wound on a 6+. While the 8" of movement it has may not seem particularly fast, the Yncarne also has the unique ability Inevitable Death allowing her to teleport wherever a unit friend or foe died within 1" letting her appear where and when she's needed.
  • Note: The Yncarne can't charge after arriving in this way so you ideally want him popping up on your opponents turn. You also want to be exploiting the ability to redeploy when anything dies as a mobility/escape tool. If anything else The Yncarne popping up somewhere unexpected can divert a ton of Fire away from your other units though you might want to leave the DISTRACTION CARNIFEX role to something like a Succubus, or Venom.

Corsair Overview

A unique little sub-division of eldar, the Corsairs are to the Aeldari as the Death Korps of Krieg are to the Imperial Guard; an overpriced Forge World exclusive faction with a fancy little twist on the standard way they'd normally play. Unlike the Kriegers, the Corsairs are considerably less popular and as such, have significantly fewer units to play around with. Go figure. Regardless, Corsairs offer a much more flexible way to play your eldar factions, and practically encourage you to go wild with conversions to really make your dudes... partly because the only visible difference between a standard Corsair Reaver and a Guardian Defender is literally just the helmet bit.

Pros

• Corsairs have the most flexible weapon loadouts of all the Aeldari factions, allowing you to either specialize against a particular unit type (like GEQ or MEQ), or kit them out to handle a wide range of threats.
• With the 2017 CA dropping their point costs, most of the Corsair units are actually pretty reasonably priced for what they bring to the table.
• Troop choices with 16" moves that fly make securing or contesting objectives considerably easier compared to most ground-bound armies.
• Between the Craftworlders, Dark Eldar and Harlequins, Corsairs have more opportunities for conversions than any other Non-imperial army; fantastic for making your dudes.

Cons

• In the transition from 7th to 8th edition, most Corsair units have been liquidated. For some reason, this also included their HQ choices such as the Corsair Princes, Barons and Void Dreamers.
• With only 5 unit data-sheets (2 of which are copy/pasted from Craftworld/Drukhari codexes), this is also the single smallest faction in the game. If you're all about diversity, look elsewhere.
• Like Imperial Assassins, can only be brought as a pure Corsairs detachment without an HQ, forgoing any command benefits for the detachment.
• As a Forge World army, its units are also the most expensive financially. Not that there's many of them left to choose from.
• Corsairs have all the frailty of the Dark Eldar, meaning that a single stiff wind could very easily wipe out an entire squad of your dudes. While they have access to the Falcon now, with no means to repair or mitigate damage received, it'll suffer all the more for it.
• For the time being (which will probably be a very long time), Corsairs lack any and all faction traits to shore up their weaknesses. With all the other Aeldari armies having Craftworld Attributes, Drukhari Obsessions and Harlequins Masque Forms, they can all perform more effectively both in defensive and offensive roles compared to the Corsairs. Coupled with your lack of unit choices, this leaves the Corsair faction with very little in-house incentive to pick them compared to what all the other Aeldari factions offer.
• Forge World has stopped supplying all Corsair conversion kits, meaning that you very much will need to pretend that your Swooping Hawks and Windriders are space pirates if you really want to run corsairs and don't have an existing army of them from days gone by.

Special Rules

• Reckless Abandon: Unique to Corsair units, this risk/reward ability triggers only if an enemy unit that is charging your squad loses a model to your overwatch fire. If these lofty requirements are met, you can move said squad 3" in any direction away from the dudes charging them. Borderline useless on the Cloud Dancer Jetbikes, though Reavers and Sky Reavers have an honest chance of triggering it between the Brace of Pistols each model has along with any flamers they might have tugged along with them. Don't get cocky though, that 3" potential reposition may not be enough to get your Corsairs out of their charge, and they are absolutely pathetic in a fist fight. Not that you'd want to use corsairs defensively, but with most deep-strike/infiltration at 9" max, the 3" back-out makes an instant charge all but impossible.
• Dancing on the Blade's Edge: This ability continues the risk/reward trend and allows Corsairs to roll an additional dice on Moral tests if they so wish, discarding the lowest highest result (the typo in the original Imperial Armour: Index Xenos was corrected via FAQ). If any models bail however, then one additional model flees along with whoever you lost from the test itself. This ability is pretty double-edged; on one hand, it could reduce or negate loses through morale tests for your pirate elves with some good rolls. On the other hand, bad rolls could just finish the job your opponent started on your fairly cowardly thieves.

Wargear Corsairs are unique in that basically everything available to your standard Aeldari Troop choices is basically open game to your pirates. Most of their loadout selection can be found between these two factions:

• Craftworld Weapons: Shuriken Catapult, Lasblaster, Flamer, Fusion Gun, Shuriken Cannon, Scatter Laser and Aeldari Missile Launcher.
• Drukhari Weapons: Shardcarbine, Blaster, Splinter Cannon, Shredder and Dark Lance.

The three Corsair units also come with a few extra exclusive options for their perusal (some like the Brace of Pistols being manditory) that can give them even more flexible applications based on what you need them to do.

Corsair Unit Analysis

A quick overview of the Corsair specific units available for selection can be found within this collapsible box for those interested in using them.

HQs Sadly, there currently aren't any Corsair-specific HQ units in 8th Edition. That said, you don't need any; per the 28/09/18 FAQ, so long as your army's Warlord is AELDARI, you may bring an HQ-less Corsairs Patrol, Battalion or Outrider Detachment, though you forgo any command benefits for the detachment to do so. Additionally this means faction-specific stratagems, auras or psychic powers cannot affect them. Fielding Corsairs more as a supplementary force as opposed to your core army is strongly advised.

Troops

• Corsair Reaver Band: The most versatile troop choice among the Aeldari, it'll run you 80 points base for a 5-elf squad armed with Lasblasters and a Brace of Pistols. However, for 7 points less each, you can freely swap out said lasblasters for either Shuriken Catapults or Shardcarbines (Dropping the cost to 50 Points including Felarch), and for every 5 models in the unit (maximum of 15), one of them can swap out their gun for one of several heavy or special weapons, including Flamers, Fusion Guns, Shredders, Shuriken Cannons, Dark Lances, Blasters, and even Aeldari Missile Launchers. While the Reavers have all the flexibility of an SM Tactical Squad and can do a lot on the field, don't forget that they're still squishy little Eldar with only a 5+ armor to save their skins. These will be your best objective holders, though even if they're geared defensively, you'll need to keep them out of LoS or in cover to survive.
  • Chapter Approved: Interestingly, aside the Wraithseer, the only Eldar units to receive point drops were all of the Corsair units, including the Reavers, Skyreavers and Cloud Dancer Jetbikes. Reavers dropped from 9 points per model to 7, and the Felarch from 14 to 12.
  • Felarch Weapons: While the corsairs as a whole have their fair selection, their Felarch only has the Dissonance Pistol and Void Sabre to choose from, aside the standard fare. The Dissonance Pistol could find some use, if you would like a little extra bite on your squad leader. The Void Sabre could find some use on a spar-glaive squad of Reavers, though a squad with that kind of a loadout is basically begging for death.
  • Note on Costs: The default loadout for each Reaver is a Lasblaster (7p) and Brace of Pistols (2p). In almost every circumstance, you should absolutely replace the Lasblasters with Shardcarbines or Shuriken Catapults, since it will drop the cost of each model almost by half.
  • The Brace of Pistols is a mandatory take, so it may be a good idea to build around engaging at close range to make the most of it. A Shredder/Flamer with a squad of Pistol/Spar-Glaive or Pistol/Shuriken Reavers can dish out an unholy amount of shots despite being a relatively small squad. Works doubly so on Skyreavers, who can get right in the face (Preferably 9") of a squad to use their shredder for double the shots.

• Corsair Skyreaver Band: There's only one real difference between these guys and the normal Corsair Reaver Band. Jetpacks, and some of the best jetpacks available to most infantry at that too! All the flexible goodness of the land-bound Reavers given a nice 16" move with the Fly and Jetpack keywords. These guys will serve primarily as your objective contesters and forward skirmishers, as they can easily get into enemy territory as soon as Turn 1 if positioned carefully. Recommended special weapons for these guys would be the Splinter/Shuriken Cannons or Flamers for anti-infantry or the Fusion Gun/Blaster for anti-vehicle; you can give them heavier firepower through the Dark Lance or AML, but given how often your Skyreavers will be moving around, they'll be less effective with them compared to your ground-bound Reaver kin will be. Additionally, do note that at 100 points base for a 5-elf squad, or 205 base for a 10-elf squad, they can get expensive fast.
  • Chapter Approved: Like their Reaver brothers and sisters, the Skyreavers received a slight drop from 12 points a model to 10 (17 to 15 for the Felarch). It's not much, but that 10 point difference does make quite an impact.
  • Note on costs: Identically to their Reaver twins, the default guns for the Skyreavers are the Lasblaster (7p) and Brace of Pistols (2p). Again, replacing the Lasblaster with either the Shardcarbine (recommended), Shuriken Catapult or Spar-Glaive drops their total cost by a little over a third of their original price.

Dedicated Transport

• Corsair Venom: A small paper boat with a Splinter Cannon and either a Twin Splinter Rifle or a second Splinter Cannon. Now that the Twin Rifle is free but the second Cannon runs you another 15 points, it may not be too bad an idea to keep the Twin rifle. Just ask yourself, is the difference between 24" Rapid Fire 2 and 36" Rapid Fire 3 worth 15 points? Either way, it transports a single 5-elf squad of Reavers. It's also now 2" faster than the Raider, so zip around and crap out a massive amount of poison.
  • Alternative Take: One thing people have missed out about the Twin Linked Splinter Rifles is that closing in to Rapid Fire the thing results in either 1) The Venom dying to Lasguns, Bolters, Melta Guns or a random Krak Grenade following a round of Rapid Firing Bolters, 2) The Venom just getting charged (6" move plus 6" Charge ain't hard to make) which loses you a turn of shooting for the passengers, assuming the Venom survived combat, 3) You not quite getting into Rapid Fire Range Turn 1 resulting in you losing the unit 4) A combination of the above. Remember that while Venoms can be spammed, they are not exactly expendable. You take the additional cannon for extra firepower at range while skirting just outside the range of weapons that can reliably threaten it.

Fast Attack

• Corsair Cloud Dancer Band: Corsairs with Jetbikes. While they have nearly the same statline (worse leadership unless you pay 5 extra points for the Felarch to bring it back up) as Windriders, they have a few extra options they can take, like Dark Lances, Splinter Cannons and Dissonance Cannons (of which, only the Splinter Cannon and Shuriken Cannon aren't Heavy Weapons). All in all, they are a pretty decent and relatively durable unit that is very flexible, though their lack of any rules to alleviate the penalty for moving with heavy weapons does hurt their effectiveness as a vector for heavy firepower.
  • Chapter Approved: Their cost was dropped down to 27 points per model, making them considerably more cost effective than they used to be.
  • Note on Modelling: With the Corsair Jetbike bits from Forge World moving to the "Last chance to buy" category, it looks like future players looking to field Corsair Cloud Dancers will either need to get lucky on ebay or kitbash some miscellaneous Aeldari jetbike bits if they don't want to rely on "counts as" rules. Fortunately, since Corsairs are all about stealing their kin's rides, there are plenty of opportunities to get creative with your dudes pimped out bikes.
  • Pay No Attention to the rules behind the curtain: "The Felarch may replace its lasblaster with [...]", but doesn't have a lasblaster.

Heavy Support

• Corsair Falcon: Functionally, the Corsair Falcon is the exact same as the Falcons Craftworlders have, and has access to all the bells and whistles that come with theirs. While the Corsair Falcon does have some transport capacity, being able to tote up to 6 Corsair Reavers along with it, its main use is as a fast, fairly durable heavy weapons platform (given that it is your only Heavy Support choice). A Falcon equipped with two Starcannons and a Shuriken Cannon will be quite versatile, and better able to deal with MEQ and TEQ targets that your Shard Carbine Corsairs may struggle with. If you want to give the Falcon some extra support, you can spice up a Corsair Reaver squad with Shard Carbines and take either a Splinter Cannon for anti-infantry, or a Dark Lance for anti-tank, and have the Reavers hang out in the Falcon until they're needed.

Army Building and Tactics

Army Building

• Building up your forces:
  • Getting Started with Bundles: To those who have considered creating a CW Eldar army, or those who are looking to expand their existing forces, now is a pretty good time to do so. There are several bundles available to the frugal player that can save both new and old players quite a bit of money
    • Start Collecting! Craftworlds ($90): This repackaged bundle comes with a Farseer, Wraithlord, Warwalker and a squad of Wraithguard/blades. It's a bargain for what it offers; hard-hitting durable units headed by arguably the most useful HQ choice you could take in any generic list. Unfortunately, it also has one of, if not the fewest model counts among all other get started kits with no Troops included, meaning that you'll have to purchase your Guardians/Dire Avengers separately if you're needing them. That said, the $55 odd bucks this bundle will save you will easily cover the cost of a squad or two of those.
    • Craftworlds Army ($170.75): A premium Start Collecting! kit that includes a Wave Serpent and Guardian Defender squad in addition to the prior bundle's contents. A higher price point of $170.25 makes this bundle a touch harder on the wallet, but it comes with everything you'll need for a solid Patrol Detachment. Unfortunately, there's literally no difference in price between buying the Start Collecting! Craftworlds kit then buying a squad of Guardian Defenders and a Wave Serpent separately or just purchasing this bundle, so it really boils down to how much you're willing to spend all at once.
    • Wake the Dead ($150): A joint narrative campaign kit with Craftworld Eldar and Primaris Space Marines. Honestly a steal of a deal, Craftworlders can get a plastic Spiritseer, Wraithguard/blades, Guardian Defenders and a Wave Serpent for effectively $75; half the price they'd run individually! You can make that price literal if you can get a buddy or even local colleague to split the cost with you for the imperial forces. Alternatively, you get a bunch of Primaris Space Marines essentially for "free" if you just buy it yourself. Either way, it's a fair bargain that makes for a much more balanced starting force for new players than the basic Start Collecting! kit.
    • Battleforce Craftworlds Asuryani Bladehost ($170):(Discontinued) Yet another bundle for vanilla Craftworlders, this package comes with a Farseer, a squad of Guardian Defenders, Dire Avengers and Windriders, a Vyper and, for some reason, a Wraithknight. This ends up being a little over $105 in savings; a pretty solid deal all things considered (it all but pays for said Wraithknight included). The unique thing about this set is the inclusion of the Lord of War unit, something very few "generic" bundles have done before. Since LoW's tend to be less common in the average detachment these days, in addition to the Wraithknight's cost to field (and debatable viability), you'll get more value by buying a different kit if you have no need/desire for the Wraithknight itself (it would in fact be cheaper to buy all the other units sans WK separately than to purchase this bundle).
    • Craftworlds Vanguard Detachment ($170): Designed for Apocalypse games, this package comes with a Spiritseer, two Wraithlords and three squads of Wraithguard/blades. What it lacks in variety (bundles only ever seem to focus on Wraith units or guardians, but given everything else is resin, it's not like they have much to choose from) it can make up for with some punishing firepower that's more suited to the bigger scale Apocalypse games are aiming for. A solid choice if you only have a couple squads of Wraith units or plan to play it big.
    • Wraithknight Super-Heavy Detachment ($345): The most expensive bundle (which it technically is), this package of three Wraithknights is...impractical for a number of reasons. First, it offers no discount compared to just buying the three wraithknights separately, so it really just provides the minor convenience in packaging them all in the same box. Second, even with the agreeable point discount Chapter Approved 2018 gave them to field, wraithknights are still too cost inefficient to justify taking more than one (even then, situationally) in the average list. If you're just in it for the modelling or mainly planning for Apocalypse, however, feel free.
    • Blood of the Phoenix ($230): The first new plastic Aspect Warriors and Phoenix Lord make their debut in GW's most expensive non-superheavy box set to date formerly most expensive non-superheavy box set (they wasted no time breaking that record). Uh...yay? Regardless, this set comes with Jain Zar and a squad of Howling Banshees in their sleek new plastic glory, a Falcon to carry them around in and a random Vyper since every other eldar box set released spammed Windriders as filler. If you can find a player to split the Dark Eldar units (or plan on getting them for their fancy new plastic Incubi and Drazhar models anyways), then it's arguably worth it (you know, given how inflated GW's prices are these days). Assuming Jain Zar will run $30ish dollars and the banshees run $50ish dollars, you'll save $55 on the craftworld units included compared to purchasing them individually, again assuming you find someone to split the set with. This just happens to be enough money to cover the cost of the Phoenix Rising rule book you'll want/need to buy separately if you want access to all those fancy Exarch Powers and Custom Craftworld attributes since the book included in the set doesn't have any of those rules included, forcing you to purchase a stand alone book separately if you actually want to use them. While the plastic aspect warriors are certainly welcomed with open arms, there are a few issues with this set that make purchasing even one of them a tall ask; a 30~% price increase on a bundle that only includes two "new" units per faction (versus a bundle like Shadowspear, where everything included on both sides was completely new and still at a semi-standard $170) with two of the models being named characters makes this set a particularly hard sell. At most, you'll probably only want to buy this set once (if even that), even if you're splitting it with someone else.
    • Squadrons: Players looking to fill up on more niche models can save a few bucks on the Vyper Squadron ($75) and Vaul's Wrath Support Battery ($60) bundles; each comes with three models that can either be set up either individually or as a single squad, giving players a bit of tactical flexibility when it comes to filling out their detachments.
  • Aspect Warriors: When it comes to the Aspect Warriors, unfortunately almost all of them are online exclusive and Fine-cast Resin models (Dire Avengers and Howling Banshees being the only exceptions to both of those standards) that are not only woefully outdated aesthetically, but also consistently out of stock and difficult (if not impossible) to find on 3rd party websites. Now that much of the 40k hype has shifted towards less model intensive game-types, the availability of these units isn't as much of an issue as they used to be, though don't be surprised if it takes GW several months to restock a kit that sells out for Eldar. With the Psychic Awakening focus on the Craftworlds having come and gone, it'll likely be quite some time before any of the other Aspects get plastic overhauls like the Banshees received.

Required and Recommended Reading

Here is a list of all Asuryani-applicable rule books you'll need in order to officially play the game. Outside the Codex itself, many of these books are largely optional but are good to have on hand just in case that guy incessantly insists on fact checking any obscure rule or unit you want to use. The prices listed are assuming you're looking to purchase a physical copy of the book.

• Warhammer 40,000 (Core, $60) - Kind of obvious, the basic rules on how to play the game are listed within. Watered down rule booklets are often included in battle box sets that go over the basic battle round phases, but they neglect to mention any of the game modes, deployment zones or other miscellaneous information needed. That said, check with your local store or fellow gaming buddies if they already have a copy you can borrow; you might be able to get by just sharing one core rule book between the involved players if you only play rarely or casually.

• Codex: Craftworlds (Core, $40) - Another "no shit, Sherlock" book you'll need to own to actually play Craftworld Eldar. For anyone just interested in playing Open/Narrative play, this and the core Rulebook are all you'll need.

• Imperial Armour - Index Xenos (Forgeworld/Optional, $24) - You'll need this book if you want to field your more obscure or superheavy options available on GW's sister website Forgeworld. It seems that Forge World will be releasing updated versions of these indexes sometime later in 2020. These updates will provide new rules and reworked datasheets to bring the Forge World units in line with their fellow standard units as they are in their respective Psychic Awakening books. Once the current edition sells out on their website, they'll no longer restock copies of the index until they release the new version, so if you have any interest in picking up Forge World units before then, you should probably grab a copy soon.

• Chapter Approved: (20XX/Kinda optional, $35) - An annually released book that amounts to an irritatingly necessary subscription to play competitively, as it contains the most up-to-date balance updates for all playable units across all the factions (core and Forgeworld). Needless to say, these point reevaluations override whatever point costs were listed in any prior Codexes/Indexes/CA Volumes and are required in order to field tournament legal lists. Each edition does thankfully also come with new game modes and rules to expand how you can play the game, so they aren't completely rendered obsolete each year when the new volume drops. Casual players can get away with skipping this purchase as well, especially if their local community doesn't really give a shit about the official GW stance on tournament play.

• Vigilus: Defiant (Optional, $50) - Now onto the truly elective reading, Vigilus: Defiant offers access to two specialist detachments that you can upgrade your lists with, if you're playing with the compatible units. It's a bit expensive and the percentage of the book actually relevant to you is disappointingly small, but it does offer additional generic game modes and access to a variety of other faction specialist detachments if you plan on double-dipping into any of them.

• Psychic Awakening: Phoenix Rising (Optional, $40) - Though it's entirely supplementary, the custom Craftworld Attributes, Exarch Powers and full Ynnari rules offer very compelling reasons to pick up a copy for players looking to enhance and customize their army. Additional game mode modifiers, like Theatres of War, add extra rules that can mix things up by granting unique effects to certain units fielded within.

• Warhammer Legends: Craftworlds (Optional) - The retirement home for any models/units GW doesn't currently stock or have any intention of keeping relevant in the current tournament scene. To that end, the units or loadout options available in the Legends section are still supported for Narrative/Open/Casual Matched Play, but are illegal for use in official Matched Play tournaments and generally not recommended for locally hosted tournaments either. The only things of note in here are the expanded weapon options for your Autarch variants and a few discontinued Aspect Warrior Exarch special weapons. Craftworld players certainly got off easier than Space Marine or Ork players in this regard.

Lastly, keep a sharp eye on Warhammer-Community for any FAQs published about the core rules and any of the books listed above. They can drastically change the way your units function and are necessary (for competitive players at least) in order to properly play the game. Casual players again can live without these, but as the FAQs are the only rule adjustments that are released for free, there's really no reason not to go ahead and give them a read.

Tactics

• Overview: The thing about Craftworld Eldar is that most of their infantry units are elite and highly specialized; in concept each different unit is suited to one particular job that they do exceptionally well, and struggle to do anything outside their designated roles effectively. While they reflect this in practice as well, certain units don't perform those jobs well enough to justify fielding them without having to build entire lists around them. When building a detachment, you'll need to keep your opponent's army in mind when choosing your units; find their strengths and weaknesses and exploit them with surgical precision. CW Eldar lack the tactical flexibility of Space Marines, are far too costly to field disposable blobs of infantry, and cannot afford to field units that have limited use against their opponent's forces. Battles of attrition can be particularly one-sided against Eldar due to their minimal model count, fragile durability with subpar armor and shorter-than-average range on their guns. However, with the exception of Wraith units, all your infantry units are faster than most other armies, are reliably accurate, and possess powerful guns and psychic powers that make up for their less than adequate defenses.

• Aeldari, not just Asuryani: Something that you'll want to consider, is that you can and should take units from your Dark Eldar, Harlequin, and Corsair cousins. While Craftworld Eldar have access to durable, hard-hitting units (like Wraithguard, War Walkers and Wave Serpents), as well as solid psykers (Farseers and Warlocks), most of your units come with a point price tag that makes most losses you suffer hurt more than they should. Dark Eldar on the other hand have access to surprisingly cheap and hard hitting units, Harlequins themselves are pricier, but their infantry's mobility and close combat game is unrivaled and lastly, Corsairs are modestly priced, highly flexible troops that can help fill any niche your army may be lacking. Take units that'll complement your strategy.
  • 28/09/2018 FAQ Note Now that the Battle Brothers beta rule added in the 16/04/2018 FAQ has been decreed a fully fledged rule, Matched Players must ensure each faction of Aeldari is keeping to their own strictly pure-strain detachments. Even Corsairs must abide by this rule, though they now enjoy a special rule allowing them to be brought without an HQ in their detachment (since they'd otherwise be unplayable), but they are limited to Patrol, Battalion and Outrider Detachments. Taking them in said detachments also negates the bonus CP they would otherwise confer. Plan accordingly if you want to take more than one flavor of eldar.

• Mind your Detachments: As far as pure Craftworld detachments go, going with the standard Patrol, Battalion or Brigade formations is often not the most economical way to field an army (With the codex out however, it's far more feasible due to Dire Avenger and Ranger point reductions). Going with a Vanguard, Outrider or Spearhead detachment will allow you to field the specialized army that the Craftworld Eldar are known for without a Troop tax limiting your options. Given the large number of new stratagems that were released with the new Codex, make sure you plan out which ones you will use and how often you think you'll need to use them before committing to a lower CP cap.

• Melee Combat: It sounds obvious at first, but it really does need to be said for the Eldar: you really don't want to wipe a unit in close combat in your own turn as the Craftworlds Eldar; even for the Ynnari, it's less than ideal. You want to be wiping a unit on your opponent's turn to be protected from return fire, or abuse the hell out of the Yncarne's ability to teleport next to something that just died on anyone's turn (potentially giving them the ability to teleport across the table, then charge on your turn). Given that everything but your Wraith units are T3, you definitely don't want them standing there in the open for your opponent to shoot to bits. Wraithblades, Incubi, Grotesques and Harlequins are all units easily able to wipe a unit off the board in one charge, so make sure to plan an escape for them if/when they do. Everyone else has a cheap Troop they can literally throw at your melee units (yes, even the Dark Eldar) to tie them up for a round then proceed to shoot the hell out of them next turn.

Specific Army Builds

Bike Swarm: Not a pure craft worlds list per say but close enough to be included here. With the advent of the new space marine meta quite a few of the "classic" Craftworlds lists have been rendered almost unplayable, fortunately there are a few lists out there that almost perfectly counter the AIDS of the space marines meta; this one included. Take 1 to 3 max size units of Shining Spears with the withdraw Exarch power, (Starlance exarch weapon) and three warlock Skyrunners, Jinx/protect, Empower/enervate and Quicken/Restrain (probably take a Farseer with Doom and Guide as well). You'll also need 3 units of harlequin Skyweavers with zephyrglaives and haywire cannons with a Shadowseer, Twilight Pathways and Webway Dance. Finally take an Alaitoc or custom detachment with 3x units of rangers using your Quicken/Restrain warlock and Farseer as HQ's, if after all this you have any points to spare put them into a large unit of dark reapers with Tempest Launcher and Long-Ranged fire.

You probably get the idea by now, as many fast hard to kill, 2 damage toting units you can get, a list tailor made to kill those Primaris rats, with Protect and Withdraw on your lead unit of Shining Spears you'll be almost immune to melee attacks from basic space marines, S6 AP-4 and D2 will make a mockery of Primaris and Centurions alike and their fly keyword allows them to charge those pesky Stormtalons and Stormhawks. One unit of skyweavers can have a 3++ every phase for 1cp and another can be -2 to hit, don't forget they can move twice too with twilight pathways. They're hitting with 3 S5 AP-1 D2 attacks each in combat, but their true strength is against vehicles at range, doing an average of 1-2 mortal wounds per bike to any unit with the vehicle keyword - no Ironstone is going to save them this time!

Wave Serpents: The premiere tank of the Craftworlds, Wave Serpents outclass Falcons as durable transports that offer no small amount of firepower for considerably less cost than any other grav tank that you can field. However, if all it'll be transporting is a small squad of Fire Dragons/Howling Banshees, you could consider to pay a bit more for the Falcon in order to increase its fire power.

• Wraith-Bus: Despite how durable wraith units are, they don't appreciate having to slowly slog it across the field with either melee or flamer-range weapons while your opponent lights them up with all manner of heavy firepower from half a table away. Wave Serpents can comfortably fit a squad of 5 blades or guard accompanied by a Spiritseer or Yvraine (or both if you wish!) while providing decent amounts of extra firepower. Wraithblades accompanied by an Enhance Spiritseer can absolutely slaughter most infantry with 20 S6 AP-2 attacks that hit on 2+ (with re-rolls!). This can be made extraordinarily terrifying if the Spiritseer is using a Psytronome of Iyanden, giving each Wraithblade within his 6" bubble a staggering 6 attacks on the charge (for a 5-statue squad, that's 30 S6 AP-2 attacks! While this costs each affected squad d3 Mortal Wounds, you're at worst losing 1 Wraithblade in exchange for what's likely the entirety of the squad they just charged. If you're feeling feisty, you can do this with some Ynnari Wraithblades (They're still <CRAFTWORLD> units after all, and the Psytronome applies to all IYANDEN Wraith units) and very likely trigger a Soulburst. Just be careful that if you do this, you don't accidentally leave your Spiritseer to the wolves while your Wraithblades charge off to make Khaine proud.
• Fire-Bus: The much cheaper option than those pricey wraith units, these guys basically exist to be crammed into Wave Serpents for your anti-vehicle/monster needs. While they're basically throw-away units after they open up on their first target, they can do surprising amounts of damage when operating under Strength from Death. Watch your opponent pop an artery when your Fire Dragons immediately incinerate those Space Marines that tumbled out of that rhino you roasted literally seconds before them. Depending on how important those Fire Dragons are, consider taking a non-warlord Autarch or Warlock to provide re-roll support or defensive buffs so that they can do their jobs effectively and potentially even survive the following turn.
• Banshee-Bus: A squad of 6-8 Howling Banshees grouped up with a 4-6 elf Warlock Conclave can prove a relatively competent strike-squad that can handle most standard infantry relatively well. A Drain-Empower casting conclave can significantly buff the survivability and damage output of the Howling Banshees, who will be able to relatively reliably wound infantry up to and including MEQ squads. Drain on top of the H.B's hit modifier means that most enemies remotely competent in melee are only hitting back on a 5+. The Warlocks can also try to join the fray with their Witchblades, though MEQ targets and above can usually shake off their attacks using their standard saves. Additionally, even though the Warlocks all have a 4++ with several wounds apiece, losing 1-3 of those Warlocks will permanently handicap your Banshees due to the reduced powers per turn. Commit them only if you're certain they can survive your opponent's next combat round. As far as the number of Warlocks you're taking, if you're confident that you can keep your Warlocks safe (remember, they're not characters in a conclave), feel free to take just 4 and fill the rest of the Serpent with more Banshees. Going half-and-half will reduce your Banshee's total attack output, but will ensure your warlocks can survive a couple casualties before dropping a tier on their powers.
  • Alternate Take: If you have the points to spare and are able to take a secondary detachment, consider just taking a Supreme Command detachment of 2-4 Warlocks rather than cramming in a Conclave in your primary detachment. You will maximize the number of Runes of Battle your Warlocks can cast while simultaneously maximizing the number of Banshees crammed in the Wave Serpent with them. Additionally, these individual Warlocks are in fact Characters, and will be considerably easier to keep safe from enemy fire. Empower/Enervate and Enhance/Drain Warlocks are a must, and while Protect/Jinx and Quicken/Restrain warlocks are extremely helpful, are not required. Conceal/Reveal can be helpful on the approach, but as a melee specialist unit that'll likely be in a Wave Serpent if not in combat, would be a power better reserved for dedicated ranged units. Though the Embolden/Horrify power can find usage due to the Banshee's penchant for horde-killing, their naturally high leadership means that they likely won't fail many morale tests. As for the Horrify power, it is better reserved for units like the Hemlock Wraithfighter, which is far more suited for the Leadership bombing role than banshees are.

Deathstars: While a good amount of eldar cheese has been toned down since 8th edition launched, there are still a couple units that can perform spectacularly when grouped together.

• Banshee-Star: With the Codex returning Howling Banshee's Overwatch immunity alongside acrobatic advances and charges (which they can now perform both in the same turn), getting into melee combat is easier than ever for these aspect warriors. Banshee Exarchs have a passive that is basically the Drain power which stacks with a Drain Warlock to make them absurdly resilient in melee. A second Warlock tagging along with Empower can help fix their poor ability to wound MEQs and above. Depending on whether or not you're going MSU with the Banshees, a standard 5-Banshee squad can appreciate having a 5-Dire Avenger squad tag along inside the Wave Serpent as a screening unit of sorts to give them a bit of cover fire. Be careful though; Unless Jain Zar is within 6" of your banshees, they no longer strike first in melee.
• Reaper-Star: Take a full unit of 10 with a Reaper Launcher or Missile Launcher on the Exarch with a Farseer for Guide and either Doom for if the enemy gets close or Fortune if you're just worried about surviving the reprisal. That is 10 of your pick out of Heavy 1 S8 AP-2 D3 or Heavy 2 S5 AP-2 D2 per turn. Just make sure you keep your range to survive your opponent's reaction to this. Make sure you take a screening unit like Guardians or Rangers to protect from Deep Strikes. If you're concerned about ranged enemy reprisal, a Conceal Warlock can go camp with them to give anyone trying to bip your Reapers a -1 to-hit penalty, -2 if alaitoc.
• Shadow-Star(Forge World; best under alaitoc): A group of 5-10 Shadow Spectres accompanied by a Warlock Skyrunner casting conceal can be a force to be feared indeed. With 3+ armor and a -2 to-hit modifier (per successful conceal cast), Shadow Spectres can be one of, if not the most, durable CW eldar infantry choices you can take. While Wraith units are tougher with more wounds and heavier firepower, Shadow Spectre armor comes at no cost to their mobility or accuracy, which comes in at a brisk 10" base movement with Battle Focus letting them fire off their Prism Rifles at Coherent(S6 AP-3)/Dispersed(S5 AP-1) mode with no penalty. On top of a much lower likelyhood of even being hit in the first place thanks to their Holo-Fields. Unfortunately, they're no longer as cheap as they were, at 165 points for a standard 5-elf squad. Despite that, they are still 35/60 points cheaper than a Wraithcannon/D-scythe Wraithguard squad, or 10/65 points cheaper than Ghostsword/Ghostaxe Wraithblades. An autarch joining in with Swooping Hawk wings can keep up with the Shadow Spectres and give them re-roll 1s support for their coherent beams for your MEQ blending needs as well. Of special note, Shadow Spectres can become even more of a pain to get rid of if using Alaitoc's "-1 to hit" rule, making them borderline untouchable at range (assuming your Warlock is still casting conceal on them, that's -3 to hit from 12" or further!). With careful positioning, Shadow Spectres can dance around and fire their Coherent Mode within that sweet 6" border that keeps them out of (most) rapid fire/charge ranges and keeps the -3 modifier going strong. Add the Lightning Fast Reflexes Stratagem to up that penalty further to a -4, and even units with BS 2+ will be all but incapable of hitting them. But beware of Adeptus Custodes Venerable Land Raiders- they get a Stratagem that lets them ignore all of those penalties entirely. However, given how expensive it is to do this, the Custodes will have more things to worry about from a mobile army like the Eldar, like being able to actually score objectives (though why they aren't just spamming Jetbikes against Eldar instead is another question entirely). And though the heavy Flamer profile on their Prism Rifles will likely give your opponent pause (especially since the Spectres can simply leave combat and light them up come your turn), CQC is a definite shortcoming for the Spectres; most of their to-hit bonuses will be negated (though not all of them) and they hit back about as hard as a stiff sneeze in the wind. Heavier melee units like the Custodes, Grey Knights, Blood Angels, and other Eldar Wraith units can generally tough out the overwatch and slaughter your Spectres in short order if you let them get too close.
• Spear-Star: Fairly straightforward; take 3 Warlocks with Enhance, Empower, and Quicken, and a Farseer with Guide/Fortune. You can take more Warlocks with less important powers like Protect, Embolden, or even Conceal if you're worried, but this is meant to punch things, not be durable. Cast any non-Quicken buffs on the Spears, then Quicken them. That's 38" of shooting threat, and 34" minimum (average 39") of charge threat, with, at full bore, +1 to hit and wound in melee, re-rolling misses with the guns. If you combine it with the Saim-Hann stratagem, you can advance the bikers, shoot at no penalty, charge with re-rolling charge rolls, and then have both +1 to hit and re-rolling of 1s to hit in melee, on top of the +1 to Wound.
  • The most important trick here is simply noting that Quicken works best on fast units, and Shining Spears are both fast, and most in need of the help, since their otherwise tremendous guns are very short range. If you want to pull this trick more than once, you'll want Skyrunners, so your buffers can keep up with your Spears.
• Wraithstar (Iyanden Only): Take a unit of 5 Wraithblades with Ghostswords, a Spiritseer with Enhance, and a Farseer with Doom and Fortune, with one of the characters carrying the Psytronome of Iyanden. When you activate the Psytronome, this gives the unit 30 S6 AP-2 Attacks, hitting on Re-rollable 2s, Wounding on a re-rollable 2+ or 3+ against Infantry, and it is able to shrug off the Mortal wounds it sustains, all while fitting into a single Wave Serpent that has a statline that degrades at half the normal rate. While you're at it, feel free to use the Supreme Disdain stratagem to give the wraithblades exploding attacks on their 6+ rolls! Alternatively/additionally, while a Wraithseer can't fit in a Wave Serpent with them, it can give the Wraithblades re-rollable charges, and is no slouch in melee, either, since it also benefits from the Psytronome, as well as the boost to its degrading statline. Additionally, a Bonesinger tagging along can help recover wounds lost from combat/Psytronome usage, and lay down a Smite or two in the meantime to help soften up enemies from afar. Sadly, this is a one-time thing per battle, so make sure your priorities are clear before committing to a target. You can make a detachment running this strategy into a Wraith Host to open up access to a few more stratagems to improve their offensive/defensive capabilities.
• Scorpion Star: Take 9 Scorpions, Karandras and 2 Spiritseers or Warlocks with Enhance/Empower of which one is your warlord with Ambush of Blades and put them into a Serpent. Let them Charge into something in Cover. Pull the Supreme Disdain Stratagem and Drown your enemies in saves. RAW each hit on 4+ will generate 2 additional Attacks(3 Attacks for the Exarch because he gets extra attacks from 3 different sources) wounding on 3+ against T4 or 2+ against T3, each hit on 4+ will be resolved with -1AP. This will be around 50 Hits with more than a half Attacks with -1AP if you factor in an Autarch plus all Mandiblasters, Karandras and the Spiritseers. Not really cost efficient, but really fun to pull off.

Craftworld Unit Recommendations

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Alaitoc: Alaitoc is probably the default Attribute for many armies, specialized or no, simply because an army wide -1 to hit modifier benefits almost every unit you can field. Suffice to say, longer ranged units take advantage of this much more effectively than your mid/short ranged units. Melee units will find this perk quite situational as they will either be in a transport, in melee combat and generally un-targetable in the meantime or at ranges that don't confer the attribute's bonus.

• HQ Choice Recommendations: Autarchs are highly versatile HQs that have access to the Shimmerplume of Achillrial, making them extremely difficult to hit even if enemy units get a chance to shoot at him unimpeded. Works wonderfully as a force multiplier for squads of Dark Reapers, especially if given the Mark of the Incomparable Hunter trait and a Reaper Launcher to not only stay at range, but also to snipe your opponent's characters. Farseers and Spiritseers are perfectly viable as well, and can take the Shiftshroud of Allansair for consistent -2 to hit modifiers (can also take in conjunction with at Autarch and his Shimmerplume if you can spare the CP for it). Warlocks as secondary HQs are a must, as stacking the Conceal power with other to hit modifiers is what makes Alaitoc units so incredibly hard to kill.

• Special Character Recommendations: Illic Nightspear is a fluffy pick that, when combined with fellow Rangers and/or even an Autarch with MotIH and a Reaper Launcher, can almost guarantee one dead character a turn. A perfect pick for all the Shadow Spectres you're inevitably going to field is Irillyth, as while he cannot abuse Alaitoc's attribute the way his aspect warriors can, he gives all Spectres an 18" fear bubble that can make the Morale phase for your opponent just as dangerous as your shooting phase.

• Troop Choice Recommendations: Rangers are a given; they're your second cheapest troop choice and combined with their innate -1 to hit modifier, ability to deep-strike and 36" range guns, they are perfect for securing objectives outside your initial deployment zone, acting as buffers against enemy deep-strikers, character hunting, and just being a general pain in the ass to get rid off. Alaitoc also offers a unique stratagem that requires enemy units shooting at a squad of rangers to roll specifically a 6 in order to hit them, letting you save the Conceal power for more important units doing the killing. Guardian Defenders are a good secondary choice; while they can't contribute much firepower outside that 12" the Alaitoc attribute needs to stay effective, they can still plant a lot of bodies on an objective and can be a pain to clear off if utilizing the Celestial Shield stratagem and Protect psychic power. Lastly, their Heavy Weapon platforms can contribute a little bit of extra firepower with a bit more oomph than Ranger Long Rifles or Shuriken Catapults can provide.

• Elite Choice Recommendations: Shadow Spectres are an obvious choice for lists allowing Forge World units. Fast flying infantry that have powerful guns that can not only punch through MEQ and TEQ targets with relative ease, but also effortlessly burn through horde armies with impunity. The dispersed mode on their guns can generally discourage even somewhat durable targets from getting too close, and anything trying to shoot them at range has to deal with a -2 to hit modifier at minimum. Stacking Conceal with Lightning Fast Reflexes makes it nigh impossible to score a shot on them; the few hits that do manage to land still have to contend with a 3+ base armor save that can easily be boosted by both Cover and Protect to an effective 1+ armor save. Anyone wishing to avoid this kind of cheese, or is unable/unwilling to field Forge World for one reason or another, Wraithguard and Wraithblades become particularly durable and are surprisingly versatile in what they can do. Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions appreciate the extra protection Alaitoc provides, though other craftworlds (particularly Biel-Tan and Saim-Hann) offer better perks that they can utilize much more effectively.

• Fast Attack Choice Recommendations: Warp Spiders can easily bump up to a -4 to hit modifier much the same way Shadow Spectres can; Flicker Jump, Conceal and Lightning Fast reflexes can all be stacked if your Spiders find themselves in a pinch, though keeping enemy units further than 12" away may prove challenging since that just happens to be the range of their Death Spinners. Swooping Hawks are a cheap, fast and shooty choice that can reliably keep enemy units securely outside that 12" danger-zone other Craftworld units need to be mindful of and offer a reliable source of Mortal Wounds for dealing with those feisty hordes. Shining Spears get an honorable mention since, even though they're a melee-focused unit, their speed and relative durability make it fairly tempting to bulk it up with to-hit modifiers. As a biker unit, a Warlock Skyrunner can also putter along and cast Conceal for a relatively reliable -2 modifier as well. Forge World Hornets happen to be the only vehicles that can also get a consistent -4 to hit modifier and are also the only units that can do so without Psyker support. However, as they need to constantly advance to get up to that point, abusing to hit modifiers on them limits their weapon loadout strictly to Shuriken Cannons and as such, may not necessarily be desirable candidates for this slot.

• Flyer Recommendations: Hemlock Wraithfighters may no longer be able to cast Conceal themselves, but this attribute will at the very least allow them to keep the -2 to hit modifier they used to have before the Codex's release. Hemlocks are powerful fliers even without the added durability, S12 auto-hitting shots will make short work of MEQs, Monsters and Tanks alike, though the limited number of shots launched per turn makes it less effective against horde-based armies directly. Indirectly, Horrify combined with its Mindshock Droppods make for one of the most potent leadership bombs possible with the added bonus of being strictly from one source. Stack this with Irillyth and some Shadow Spectres to ensure any infantry that survives a salvo from either the Hemlock itself or the nearby Shadow Spectres tucks their newly formed shit-tails between their legs and books it. All the other craftworld flyers do indeed prefer the Alaitoc attribute as well, though the Hemlock is arguably the best choice if you're going to use this slot at all.

• Heavy Support Choice Recommendations: Dark Reapers. Even if the -1 to hit modifier had no effect on Dark Reapers, these guys are too good at what they do to not be an immediate consideration for this slot. With 48" range guns, it'll be quite some time before most enemy units can slog up to a range that negates Alaitoc's attribute. If they ever even make it so close alive to begin with. On the flipside, Dark Reapers are also a perfect counter to other armies abusing to hit modifiers themselves. Since they always hit on a 3+ regardless of all these modifiers, they can humble even enemy Shadow Spectres should they get too drunk on all that cheese. Alternatively, Fire Prisms offer long range, flexible fire support that can stack the Linked Fire stratagem and Pulse Laser Discharge to erase one particular target a turn. War Walkers and Heavy Weapon focused Wraithlords also appreciate the added durability Alaitoc offers, especially if they were going to spend their time as backline gunners.

• Lord of War Choice Recommendations: Vampire Raiders and Vampire Hunters, if you're lucky enough to have these out-of-production models, have natural synergy with Alaitoc. Their Colossal Flier rule forces all non-flying units to add 12" to their shooting/psychic powers, meaning that they will always benefit from Alaitoc's attribute. This means that against many armies, your super expensive Vampires will always have a -2 to-hit modifier on top of their distortion invulnerable saves (which, unlike virtually everything else in the LoW section, can actually practically maintain movement required for the 5+/4+ save) until/unless you choose to switch it to hover mode. Cobras and Scorpions, as gunline tanks likely parked deep in your territory, will almost always benefit from Alaitoc's trait as well, though they tend to function more efficiently under Iyanden. (Skathach) Wraithknights, while equally affected by the attribute as the rest of your non-Conclave units, perform better under Iyanden.
  • Honestly if you're running a Footdar list it's this or Biel-Tan. The main advantage an Aliatoc Footdar list has is that the -1 to Hit will help your melee units actually get close enough to charge in the first place, something a lot of people overlook.

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Biel-Tan: Tailor made for Aspect Warriors, Biel-Tan favors taking small elite squads of infantry and compliments anything Shuriken. Biel-Tan is particularly useful for lower point games, as most Aspect Warriors are relatively cost effective and can easily fit into <1000 lists.

• HQ Choice Recommendations: Autarchs again have incredible flexibility that let them fill whatever niche you may need in your detachment. Need re-roll support and an extra Fusion gun for your Fire Dragons? Check. Want re-roll support and Overwatch suppression for your Howling Banshees or Striking Scorpions? Check. Whatever your Aspect Warriors can do, your Autarch can do slightly better while supplementing their specialized skills. Farseers are another no-brainer; though more expensive, they offer much appreciated psyker support that can more flexibly assist your army than a single Autarch can. Warlocks are also ideal, and even necessary for some of your Aspect Warriors to be utilized to their full potential.

• Special Character Recommendations: Biel-Tan just screams for Phoenix Lords. Asurmen is all but mandatory, as he can make most of your army particularly tanky with his invuln buff and compliments your Dire Avengers to such a potent degree that it's simply staggering. Baharroth is another candidate for a rounded list, as he can make any nearby Aspect Warriors borderline fearless and can redeploy to anywhere on the map as needed. All the other Phoenix Lords offer particularly powerful perks, though they're all limited specifically to their respective Aspect Warriors and should probably only be used if you plan on focusing on them. Lastly, the Avatar of Khaine is a serious consideration for larger point lists; Biel-Tan's exclusive Court of the Young King stratagem is improved considerably by using it on the Avatar, and is truly a force to be feared in short range and melee combat.

• Troop Choice Recommendations: Dire Avengers are basically the poster-boys for this Craftworld. They take advantage of everything this attribute has to offer at a bargain of 60 points base, and should be your primary troop choice for a more conventional list. Guardian Defenders, while more expensive and considerably more cowardly, can still easily take advantage of the Shuriken support and make for a relatively strong objective securing unit. They can also be used in a Webway Strike, popping up 9" from an enemy unit and filling it with anywhere from 20 (single 10-elf squad) to 80 (two 20-elf squads) shuriken shots that re-roll 1s to hit. A bit of a one-trick pony, but not much is going to be walking away from that particular volley of Shuriken shots.

• Elite Choice Recommendations: Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, Fire Dragons, and Shadow Spectres all will be competing rather harshly for this spot. Howling Banshees are good for clearing up hordes and tying up enemies in melee combat, while Striking Scorpions are better at dealing with MEQ targets and are more suited for backline assaults compared to your other choices. Fire Dragons offer a cheap(er) answer to your vehicle/monster needs while Shadow Spectres are a very durable and flexible, if expensive choice that can deal with a wide variety of targets most of your Aspect Warriors may struggle with. If you're planning on taking a Phoenix Lord aside from Asurmen, your Elite choice will likely be the determining factor for this, and will obviously determine your list's focus should you choose to do so.

• Fast Attack Choice Recommendations: Warp Spiders, Swooping Hawks and Shining Spears, needless to say. Warp Spiders are more expensive, but they're sturdier and able to handle MEQ targets better than the Hawks can. Comparatively, Swooping Hawks are cheaper, can deploy and redeploy at will, are longer ranged and able to deal with larger clumps of models better than the Spiders can. Shining Spears offer a powerful hit-and-run option that, while particularly pricey, can devastate MEQ, TEQ and put a bit of a dent in Vehicle/Flyer targets. Should you opt out of fielding Scorpions or Banshees, Shining Spears can fill the melee niche while you field Fire Dragons or Shadow Spectres for the ranged roles. Windriders, Vypers and Wasp Assault Walkers offer fast and relatively cheap platforms to field Shuripults or Shuricannons on, though they find better synergy with other attributes compared to Biel-Tan's.

• Flyer Recommendations: Crimson Hunters count as Aspect Warriors and as such, benefit from the +1 Leadership (not that they'd ever use it) and can benefit from Asurman's invuln buff should you manage to miraculously get it in range. Hemlock Wraithfighters are arguably more useful though, given their S12 autohitting D-Scythes and as an extra vector for Runes of Battle debuffs.

• Heavy Support Choice Recommendations: Dark Reapers are once again your go-to standard. Out of all your Aspect Warriors, they offer the single longest range fire support and can flexibly bring down a wide variety of targets that your Banshees, Scorpions and Dire Avengers will be struggling with. Alternatively, War Walkers using Shuricannons can act as relatively cheap skirmishing units that can flank vulnerable areas in your opponent's deployment zone to assault backline units or secure potential objectives.

• Lord of War Choice Recommendations: None. Even in 2000+ point games, the only conventional LoW you can take that even benefits from a Craftworld perk is the Wraithknight. Biel-Tan offers nothing that an eldar LoW can use, and if you're fielding an army that is large enough to support a LoW, there's a better Craftworld attribute for it.
  • Actually the best option for MSU Footdar as +1 Ld bonus combined with Aspect Warrior leadership in general means it's a non-issue. If you lose enough to take a Morale test that squad is beyond combat effectiveness anyway.

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Iyanden: Synonymous with Wraith units, it should come as no surprise that Iyanden offers the most incentives to field anything Wraith related. It is also the ideal Craftworld for a vehicle heavy list, or for maxing out footdar infantry unit sizes due to their built in commissar-esk rules (the old commissars, before the dreaded 2017 Chapter Approved).

• HQ Choice Recommendations: Wraithseers are very potent candidates to be your Warlord, as Iyanden's perk keeps them in peak form until it's all the way down to 3 wounds remaining from their original 12. Not to mention a Wraithseer with MotIH as its trait and a D-Cannon is downright dirty. They also complement a Wraith focused list particularly well, granting Wraithguard/blades/lords a FNP or advance/charge re-rolls as you need. Finally, they themselves can take the infamous Psytronome of Iyanden into battle alongside their Wraith buddies. Spiritseers are another notable choice; they're cheap and act as force multipliers for your Wraithguard and Wraithblades. Spiritseers can also take advantage of Iyanden's unique Guided Wraithsight stratagem in conjunction with the Psytronome of Iyanden, Enhance psychic power and/or Supreme Disdain to ensure any one enemy unit stops existing after your Wraithblades are done with it. Autarchs and Farseers can offer very useful army wide buffs to supplement your non-statue units, should you need the extra support.

• Special Character Recommendations: Prince Yriel gets special mention due to being an Iyanden specific character, though you can do better with a vanilla Autarch at a more reasonable price point. He's not a bad character in and of himself, though his abilities and loadout render him fairly situational unless a list is built specifically around him. None of the other named characters offer anything that really synergizes with Iyanden's attribute, and would likely function better in a different Craftworld.

• Troop Choice Recommendations: Guardian Defenders can become extremely difficult to clear off objectives, especially if fielded in maximum squad sizes. Between Celestial Shield, Protect and effective Morale immunity, it's likely that your opponent will have to explicitly focus them down in order to properly secure whatever point your Guardians were...guarding. Storm Guardians are your cheapest choices, and due to Iyanden's Stoic Endurance protecting them from morale tests, they can be fairly resilient as well in large squad sizes. Dire Avengers and Rangers are cheaper if you plan to save your points for Wraith units, and also appreciate the morale immunity should you max out their squad sizes as well.

• Elite Choice Recommendations: Between your Wraithseer and/or Spiritseers, unique stratagems and Craftworld relics, the obvious and fluffy choice would be Wraithguard and/or Wraithblades. While the Craftworld attribute itself doesn't offer much to these Wraith units compared to their bigger kin, the extra perks your HQs get access to (particularly the Psytronome) make these choices particularly fearsome in both melee and at range, with even Warhammer Community bragging about how a 5-statue blade squad can butcher a Land Raider in a single charge. Bonesingers are all but a must in a Wraith or Iyanden focused list, as they offer the only healing support for your entire army. Even when they don't have much healing to do, they are a welcome source of Smite that does not take up an HQ slot and can easily squeeze in a Wave Serpent with a squad of Wraithblades/guard and a Spiritseer for a nice little deathball.

• Fast Attack Choice Recommendations: Swooping Hawks are perfect candidates for your Fast Attack slots. The near-immunity to morale phases lets you max out their unit size to ensure the maximum amount of Lasblaster shots and mortal wounds they can dish out a turn, and can fill the mid-range anti-horde roll your wraith units might struggle with. Warp Spiders also fill a slightly similar roll, and are more challenging to shoot off the board comparatively.

• Flyer Recommendations: Hemlock Wraithfighters are a fluffy, effective pick that kind of appreciate the damage table modifier, but aren't really affected that much by it. Conversely, every other flier is improved exponentially by this modifier, since their BS is actually affected by how damaged they happen to be.

• Heavy Support Choice Recommendations: Wraithlords essentially lose their damage tables in a manner very similar to their Wraithseer kin do, and do not have to worry about being crippled until they're essentially dead with 2/10 wounds remaining. They're also a very flexible unit at a reasonable price tag; they can bring Shuricannons and Flamers for anti-infantry roles, or can slap on AMLs or Bright Lances to deal with enemy monsters or vehicles. Regardless of what you give it, it's no slouch in melee and can easily clear off MEQ and TEQ enemies in short order bare handed (or with a big-ass Ghostglaive for extra melee punch). Fire Prisms, Falcons, Night Spinners, Warp Hunters and Lynxes all love this perk immensely as well, though Dark Reapers are arguably more cost effective than most of these choices and considerably more discreet in their placement.

• Lord of War Choice Recommendations: Wraithknights and Skathach Wraithknights in particular gain much more mileage under Iyanden than the other Craftworlds, and to a lesser extent, so do the rest of your non-Conclave Lords of War. All of your bipedal titans, however, benefit from the extra Spirit Host synergies provided by Spiritseers and the Psytronome, so there's that to consider.

• Specialist Detachment Recommendation: If you're going heavy on Wraith units, it may behoove you to go ahead and spend the CP to turn your detachment into a Wraith Host; particularly if they're inclined for CQC. Wraithblades and Wraithlords re-rolling charges and misses when accompanied by a RbtD Spiritseer can be fearsome enough, but with a Psytronome of Iyanden and Stratagem support, these things can rip and tear through practically anything you throw them at. Alternatively, you can have your Spiritseer toss his invuln save on your Wraithlord/Seer/knight just before it charges neck deep into enemy lines to make the thing even more absurdly durable than it already is.
  • As mentioned, where Alaitoc's and Ulthwé's defenses come in through hit and wound mitigation, Iyanden's strength lies in loss mitigation. This makes Iyanden the best faction for maxing out your unit sizes for all your infantry, Wraithguard/blades included. Don't be afraid to take an extra Iyanden Patrol or Battalion detachment if you just need to have a few maxed out blobs of Guardians hold objectives while your Saim-Hann Shining Spears or Alaitoc Shadow Spectres blast about the board on the offense.

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Saim-Hann: To all the jetbike fans, this'll let you slap heavy weapons back on your bikes so you can relive those 7th edition memories of "relentless" jetbikes. On the other hand, all your dedicated melee forces will enjoy re-rollable charges, making Saim-Hann very fight-friendly indeed.

• HQ Choice Recommendations: Autarchs on Skyrunners can keep pace with your Shining Spear while toting the Novalance of Saim-Hann and/or a Reaper Launcher to abuse Saim-Hann's attribute with. Warlocks are necessary in lists heavy with Howling Banshees, and Spiritseers are recommended should you go the Wraithblade route with them. Given how fast most of your army will be as well, it may not be a bad idea to slap Faolchu's Wing on a footslogging Warlock or Spiritseer so that they can keep pace with their wards. Lastly, Wraithseers enjoy the charge re-rolls for two reasons: It loves shoving its S9 spear into things and because it lets it focus on casting the 6+++ FNP Deliverance power on it's Wraithblade buddies.

• Special Character Recommendations: Jain Zar and Karandras, for obvious reasons. Jain Zar accompanying your Howling Banshees can make them that much more of a bitch to deal with, not necessarily due to the Always Fights First rule (though that's definitely still a plus), but the ability to disable an enemy's weapon while in combat. Against enemy units or characters that rely on one particular weapon to dish out the pain, this greatly enhances your Banshee's longevity against key targets. Karandras is the more offensive option, between his exploding attacks and buffing nearby Scorpions to do the same, they can take down key backline infantry or characters with relative ease. The Avatar of Khaine is another perfect, if costly choice due to his potency in melee.

• Troop Choice Recommendations: Storm Guardians offer a cheap, if fairly ineffective, melee tarpit that can be modestly durable if given enough support through Runes of Battle/Fate and respective Stratagems. Your other troop choices don't necessarily gain anything from being in a Saim-Hann detachment, aside fielding squads of Guardian Defenders to camp objectives. Dire Avengers can participate in melee to a degree if necessary, though you have far better choices to field in this role.

• Elite Choice Recommendations: Howling Banshees are your cheap, semi-squishy anti-horde infantry while Wraithblades are your expensive, durable and strong anti-horde, MEQ and TEQ infantry. The Banshees are cheaper and much more spammable compared to your Wraithblades, though they require much more babysitting in the form of Drain/Ennervate/Empower Warlocks (even with Jain Zar) than your Wraithblades do. Additionally, while the Banshees may be harder to hit, they're much easier to kill due to their pitiful toughness and single wound per model. Wraithblades can be healed with a Bonesinger and can take Forceshields for added protection. What you ultimately take in that regard should probably be determined by what kind of infantry you're expecting and whether or not you're taking Shining Spears. Regardless of your choice, a unit or two of Striking Scorpions makes for an ideal assassination unit, especially if accompanied by Karandras for the extra bite.

• Fast Attack Choice Recommendations: Shining Spears stole the spotlight when it comes to Saim-Hann's Fast Attack choices, as their immense threat range makes hit and run tactics particularly potent given their re-rollable charges. A quicken Warlock can ensure any particular target on the table is within threat range, be it MEQ, TEQ or Tank. Vypers are the ideal Heavy Weapons units you can take, since they are the only unit you can have equipped with a Bright Lance, Starcannon or AML move and shoot without penalties of any kind. Windriders get to enjoy using their Scatterlasers like they did back in 7th, making for cheap, excellent sources of mid-strength dakka.

• Flyer Recommendations: None in particular. Hemlock Wraithfighters are always good, but Saim-Hann only confers its Heavy Weapon benefits to Biker units. As such, Crimson Hunters and all other flyers get no particular benefit from being part of a detachment with this attribute.

• Heavy Support Choice Recommendations: Wraithlords of the physical mindset appreciate getting into the thick of it much like their shorter cousins, and are the only Heavy Support units that can really take advantage of Saim-Hann's perks. Dark Reapers are always a welcome supplement, as they can soften up a target from afar before you have your Banshees, Wraithblades or Shining Spears swoop in for the kill. Everything else does better under a different Craftworld.

• Lord of War Choice Recommendations: None. If your Wraithknight is unable to make its charge without this attribute into melee, it honestly deserves to get shot at.

• Specialist Detachment Recommendation: Spending the CP to make your detachment a Windrider Host is definitely advised if you're going heavy on the jetbikes. While the ability to duck in and out of combat in the same player turn doesn't exactly help your standard Windriders and Vypers, your HQ Skyrunners can be particularly nasty in CQC with their Laser Lances or Witchblades.
  • The unique Stratagem also needs to be mentioned as being able to Advance and charge as well as re-rolling 1's is very useful. An Enhance Warlock can have your Shining Spears or Striking Scorpions hitting on 2+, re-rolling 1's.
  • It also allows for Turn 1 Charges with your Shining Spear Deathstar you will without a doubt be bringing if you are Saim-Hann. Have a Quicken Warlock and maybe an Enhance Warlock buff them up, and use the free movement phase to Advance as far up the board as you can, using the regular movement phase to get yourself into position for a charge.

Border

Ulthwé: Similar to Alaitoc, Ulthwé only confers one bonus across the entire army. A generic 6+ FNP is not a bad deal at all, as ignoring even one (mortal) wound could be the difference between a fully operational or crippled vehicle, or a passed/failed Morale Test. Unfortunately, as this rule explicitly doesn't stack with similar FNP abilities, it's a situational attribute at best. Needless to say, this attribute comes into play far more often on multi-wound models and supports vehicle-heavy builds particularly well.

• HQ Choice Recommendations: Farseers are a delightfully fluffy and incredibly useful default choice for the average Ulthwé army, particularly if you're taking advantage of the unique Ghosthelm relic to dish out easier Smites. The army wide 6+++ also allows them to drop the Fortune Rune of Fate in favor of more offensive debuffs like Executioner, Doom, or even Mind War for your frontline needs. Warlocks and Spiritseers love getting the chance to shake off the odd Mortal Wound they may pick up from the stray Perils that occasionally crop up in Psyker-heavy detachments as well. For the Wraith-lovers out there, Wraithseers become the single most durable HQ choice you could ever dream off; a 3+ Armor with a 5++ Invuln on top of T7 and 12 wounds makes hurting these things a daunting task to begin with. A 6+++ not only gives it plenty of opportunities to shake off the few wounds that slip past its insane defenses, but it also allows it to focus on casting Enliven on its Wraith buddies since the Deliverance power is rendered obsolete by the attribute.

• Special Character Recommendations: Eldrad. If you were planning on taking a Farseer as your HQ or Warlord, putting Eldrad in your list should be a priority. Not only is he able to cast more powers each turn compared to his generic colleagues, but he can manifest them much more easily too. Running Eldrad with the Seer Council stratagem gives him Smites that, if cast after a successful first power, manifest on a 3+ and do D6 damage on a 9+. Combined with the Executioner power, this makes him one of the most reliable sources of Mortal Wounds you can field.

• Troop Choice Recommendations: Guardian Defenders are another obvious choice. Shockingly resilient despite their initial statline, Ulthwé Guardians (both Defender and Storm variants) can take advantage of the unique Black Guardian stratagem to lay down insanely accurate firepower by the bulk. Imperial Guard wishes that it could have upwards of 40 shots that hit on 2+ and rend on 6's (which with 40 fucking dice, you're getting a good number of 6's). Webway Strike two squads of maxed Defenders (Heavy Weapons platforms optional and recommended, but not necessarily required for the frugal player) and drop a Swooping Hawk Autarch next to them to guarantee the death of something your opponent thought was safe. Storm Guardians are a decent alternative, as they become slightly more durable and can also benefit from Ulthwé's stratagem to become fairly proficient objective assaulters.

• Elite Choice Recommendations: Wraithguard and Wraithblades, particularly Ghost Axe variants, can become a solid wall that can weather all but the most intense firepower directed at them. Those that follow a Wraithseer around can also gain more focused support for their Advances and Charges, ensuring that footsloggers get where they need to be much more quickly then other craftworlders can. Bonesingers can ensure that the few wounds that scuff up your Wraith units or Vehicles can get spit-shined in short order, and serve as an additional vector for Smite spam should you wish.

• Fast Attack Choice Recommendations: Vypers become quite durable indeed, and are reliable platforms for either twin Shuricannons or a more standard Heavy Weapon for your various needs. Forge World Hornets and Wasp Assault Walkers are also particularly durable in their own right, and can very easily serve as Heavy Weapon vectors if you wish to spam the firepower. Windriders and Shining Spears all appreciate the support as well, and can easily pick away at outlying forces while your wraiths or tanks burn through the core of your enemy's army.

• Flyer Recommendations: Ulthwé Crimson Hunters and Forge World fliers all love the free FNP, given that stacks quite well with their innate -1 to hit modifiers. Hemlock Wraithfighters, while quite potent in their own right, sadly gain nothing from being fielded in an Ulthwé detachment since they already enjoy built-in Spirit Stones. That all said, Alaitoc's modifier is arguably more useful seeing as consistent -2 to hit modifiers are far more likely to keep your fliers skybound compared to the low likelyhood of making FNP saves when those shots manage to make it through.

• Heavy Support Choice Recommendations: Everything you can field in this slot loves the 6+++, since it effectively gives all your tanks and walkers free Spirit Stones (For the War Walkers, this is quite the boon seeing as how they can no longer take Vehicle Equipment at all). Special mention goes to your Support Weapons, which can benefit from the Celestial Shield and Discipline of the Black Guardians stratagems. Wraithlords love the added durability, of course, and synergize quite well with a Wraithseer casting Enliven to give it a better chance to get into glorious melee combat. Dark Reapers are always a solid choice as well, should you opt for the Footdar approach with your army.

• Lord of War Choice Recommendations: Ulthwé Sword-and-board or Suncannon Wraithknights can become particularly durable with their 3+/5++/6+++ string of saves, and are something to consider in games that can afford a LoW or two. Granted, it may be more cost effective to stick with the standard fair offered in the more conventional detachment slots.
  • If you are going Guardian heavy then the unique Stratagem is actually pretty good as it lets your Guardians stick around longer. Plus that 6+ FNP can and will be the difference between a failed morale test. It also allows Guardians to hit on 2+ with the Shuriken Catapults and Heavy Weapons (ormove with them and still hit on a 3+), and Storm Guardians to hit on a 2+ with Fusion Guns.
  • Another fun thing is having a maxed out 20-Elf blob of Guardians pop out of the Webway, then open up with 40 Shuriken shots all hitting on 2+, plus whatever the Weapon Platforms are shooting. Not much will be left standing after that.

Reborn Elves vs. Regular Elves

Due to the massive rework of the Ynnari in their White Dwarf index, a lot of the incentive to run Craftworld units under them has kind of gone up in smoke. Always fighting first is a nearly entirely useless ability on anybody - just ask Slaanesh's daemons and the Emperor's Children legion - due to the fact that the way the game is usually played, the rule won't come up: typically 1 unit at a time charges, then Falls Back the first chance it gets to allow for shooting up its target, so chargers end up going before ASF chargees despite the rule. Strength from Death also offers nothing to any of your units that rely on their ranged weaponry to deal damage. Of the three colors of Eldar, this hurts you the least, but it still hurts you plenty. The loss of not only being able to personally cast buffing powers from the Runes of Fate/Battle at all, but also being unable to be targeted by them from an allied detachment, hurts a lot, especially since your craftworlders often must rely upon those powers to supplement your rather specialized units so that they can perform their jobs effectively.

Ynnari: Should you elect to combine the skills of the Aeldari as a whole into one detachment, fielding a Reborn Warhost may be the best option for you depending on what you wish to bring. This particular section will focus primarily on the Craftworld options for obvious reasons.

• HQ Choice Recommendations: Warlock Conclaves, interestingly enough, make for excellent shields for your Ynnari warlords. Not only are they relatively cheap and disposable, but they can also indirectly heal their ward when slain either from combat or from a Perils of the Warp (assuming the rolls for mortal wounds are modest). Additionally, since several of the Revenant Discipline's powers affect units within a 6" radius, larger Warlock Conclaves can maximize this area by spreading out to encompass much more ground than any single model could. If you are taking wraith units, Spiritseers are excellent supporting characters that can ensure that they make the most out of their soulbursting fight phase, and can be used to compensate for the Ghost Axe's reduced accuracy if you decide to field that variant of Wraithblade. Spiritseers can also learn Word of the Phoenix to heal their Wraith companions and even resurrect them should they fall, a unique niche compared to other Craftworlds. Lastly, Wraithseers are an exceptionally durable HQ unit that now benefit from Strength from Death while still being able to support fellow Wraith units with its unique powers. They can also be made borderline unkillable with the right combo of Warlord Traits and Relics that can not only heal it automatically each turn, but halve all incoming damage and provide an otherwise unobtainable 5+ FNP.
• Special Character Recommendations: Yvraine is practically mandatory. Not only do you need a Ynnari Special Character, but as a Psyker she can offer a wide range of support to many of your units. In larger lists, the Visarch is a strong melee combatant and is an excellent emergency bullet sponge for Yvraine, but should probably only be taken in higher point games. Alternatively, he is the cheapest named character if you're looking for the bargain bin. The Yncarne is the single most expensive character the Aeldari as a whole can take, but is nearly an army all on its own.
• Troop Choice Recommendations: Storm Guardians are the cheapest choice Craftworlders can field who can also actually benefit from the new Soulburst to some degree. Alternatively, Dire Avengers are well rounded troop choices who's Exarch also has decent melee potential. Rangers are another good choice, especially since they are particularly ideal for deep-strike denial and character harassment.
• Elite Choice Recommendations: Wraithblades in particular are excellent and fluffy choices that dearly appreciate the melee buffs Soulbursting grants. All of their weapons are guaranteed to cause a unit of your choice to die horribly. Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions in particular also perform quite well under the influence of the new Soulburst, but their lack of RoB support can hurt them even compared to regular Craftworld variants. Lastly, Fire Dragons offer a modestly cheap tank/transport busting option that can burn through heavy armor and open up those METAL BAWKSES so that your melee units can get at them.
• Fast Attack Choice Recommendations: Shining Spears, though slightly gimped by the loss of out-of-phase charging, love the new Soulburst mechanic. Though they ideally don't remain in combat, the +1 to hit from Charging+Soulburst makes missing an unlikely possibility and they can capitalize on several Ynnari stratagems to advance and charge then fall back and charge in relatively short order. Not much else in this slot really benefits from being in a Ynnari list, sadly.
• Flyer Recommendations: Hemlock Wraithfighters actually become fully fledged psykers by going Ynnari (since they lose Runes of Battle and gain the Revenant Discipline, they no longer suffer restrictions on the powers they can cast), and as such can serve as a speedy, durable vector for offensive or supportive roles in addition to doing what they do best: blowing holes in virtually everything in the game. Outside Wraithfighters, nothing else here benefits from rolling with the Reborn, so keep them in a different vanilla detachment.
• Heavy Support Choice Recommendations: Wraithlords, namely CQC inclined ones, love the ability to the the first punch in whenever possible. Flamer+Shuricannon variants can keep mobile while softening up GEQ/MEQ targets for the charge. Other than them, sadly nothing else in this slot gains anything from being Ynnari. Dark Reapers or Fire Prisms could be quite handy, but you'd benefit more in every regard by taking them in a secondary vanilla detachment where they'd actually get some benefits.
• Lord of War Choice Recommendations: None. The soulbursting Wraithknights of yesteryear are but a fading fever-dream of many players suffering PTSD from 7th Edition's Ynnari. Even if they could in today's 8th edition, Strength from Death is not the game changer it used to be.

Matchups and Counterplay

Last but not least, here are some general tactics and counterplay advice on dealing with the various factions you may find yourself facing.

Imperium

• Space Marines - GW's posterboys are the most diverse and flexible faction you will ever face, especially if they're allied with any of the other Imperium factions. Space Marines generally have very balanced stats and reliable saves, but will suffer from a general lack of bodies and can largely be susceptible to your psychic powers. While the methods to deal with the following chapters are largely the same, each one has a unique twist that does significantly alter their playstyle compared to a generic or custom list.
  • Black Templar - Space Marines with an emphasis on close combat, the Black Templar also specialize in shutting down enemy psykers; a problem for your Warlocks, Farseers and Spiritseers if you are expecting their support.
  • Blood Angels - One of the most famous close-combat Space Marine chapters, the Blood Angels certainly aren't lacking for ways to get into melee and tear your squishy eldar inside out like the rabid vampires they are. Storm Guardians, Fire Dragon Exarchs and Wraithlords equipped with Flamers can discourage Blood Angels from getting too close while Shadow Spectres and D-Scythe Wraithguard can absolutely ruin the day of anyone attempting to charge them. In general though, you'll want to try to pick the Space Marines off at range where you can.
  • Dark Angels - A gunline faction of Space Marines that's effectively immune to morale and absolutely loves plasma. They're somewhat more vulnerable to being tied up in melee than some of the other factions listed here, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're bad at fighting in it. To hit modifiers will severely discourage them from attempting to overcharge their plasma weapons while units with native invulnerable saves (like your Shining Spears, Ghost Axe Wraithblades) generally won't give a shit about the plasma's AP values.
  • Imperial Fists - Space Marines who specialize with Bolters and are able to neutralize cover bonuses. They also have anti-building and anti-vehicle stratagems and Doctrines, so you'll want to take a care if you're fielding any tanks. Your Wraith Units can generally tough out their bolter-spam and aren't terribly bothered by the bonuses Imperial Fists bring to the table.
  • Iron Hands - A 6+++ FNP, 5+ Overwatch and doubled wounds on vehicle damage tables make the Iron Hands a bit daunting to approach. This is made more potent by their Devastator Doctrine letting them casually cruise about and fire their Heavy Weapons without penalty, rerolling 1's to hit for good measure. Goddamn! You won't want to take half measures on Iron Hands vehicles; bring them down as quickly as you can. Wraithguard, Fire Dragons, Hemlock Wraithfighters, Fire Prisms and Dark Reapers are honestly your best bets to quickly punch through their armor, though you can endeavor to have some fast units like Windriders or Shining Spears tie up their vehicles and prevent them from participating.
  • Raven Guard - Sneaky marines who'll be particularly tough to crack open at range and several tools for rapid deployment and battlefield control. Thankfully, your new Masterful Shots Custom Craftworld Attributes completely negates their primary Chapter Tactic while Hail of Doom and Masters of Concealment have particularly useful synergy in countering them. That said, many if not most of your units will need to get within that 12" range to even attack at all, so it's not like their tactic in and of itself will pose much trouble. You will ideally want screening units to ensure the Raven Guard cannot set up around your valuable gunline units.
  • Salamanders - Pyromaniac Marines who ignore AP-1 shots and can re-roll one hit and wound roll per unit. Thankfully, since your weapons mostly tend to have either 0 AP or -3 AP, their extra tankiness won't really affect you so long as you don't take Hail of Doom as an attribute. Salamander players looking to abuse their exclusive Doctrine or play true to their fluff will typically come packing with a fair few flamers, so you'll want to avoid getting into close combat when possible. If you insist on doing so, at least make sure you have some Howling Banshee screens to shut down their overwatch before you commit anything more to the charge.
  • Space Wolves - A particularly unorthodox chapter of Space Marines that has access to particularly brutal close-combat units. Yet another faction to generally avoid close combat with.
  • Ultramarines - Vanilla marines, in every aspect. While they have access to their own unique psychic discipline, relics and units (like Roboute Guilliman), much of what they do is pretty much what most generic custom chapters can do.
  • White Scars - If there's any SM faction that could rival your mobility, it'd be the White Scars. All of their units get the ability to advance and charge while their Bikers essentially gain your Battle Focus, only made better by letting them move and shoot heavy guns without penalty. Combined with their unique stratagems and psychic discipline which buffs their mobility even more, you'll find it borderline impossible to outflank these speedfreaks.

• Deathwatch - The Space Marines designed to slaughter anything not human (heretic or no), and they certainly pack the tools to do it. Try to spam Mortal Wounds against Kill Teams utilizing a Terminator or Storm Shield to tank high AP hits before you light up whatever's left of their squad and beware the hell of their Frag Cannons.

• Grey Knights - Everybody's a psyker and everybody is able to kill you at range or in melee. They're one of two factions in the entire game that can spam Smite without the Warp Charge increasing, though most non-elite units will only deal a flat 1 mortal wound. Save your denial roles for powers from their disciplines and engage them at range; they're significantly less dangerous and have a relative lack of dedicated gunline units. As an elite subdivision of an already elite faction, you won't find it hard to outnumber whatever force your opponent is bringing to bear. With the introduction of their Tides (combat doctrines), you'll want to pay attention and avoid engaging them in matchups that compliment their current tide. You can prevent them from changing the current Tide by denying any of their Psykers attempting to use Warp Shaping.

• Astra Militarum - A horde-friendly army with no shortage of heavy armor, Astra Militarum can spam bodies and tanks from table edge to table edge and be cost effective doing it. Their main weakness is a mediocre ballistic skill and generally non-existent weapons skill (with a few select exceptions), but they make up for it by being able to fill the air with so many shots that you'll still lose something valuable by the end of the turn. To hit modifiers are the bane of Imperial Guard players, and while spamming them is a good way to avoid taking any casualties, it's also a good way to lose friends. But that's why you're still going to do it anyways. Close combat is also a pretty decent way to deal with their infantry and tie up their tanks; Howling Banshees in particular can semi-reliably carve through them without support and as long as the Exarch is up and has her War Cry ability, the retaliating Guardsmen will struggle to do the same. The lynch-pin of guard hordes are officers. A few Ranger squads taking advantage of their inbuilt -1 to hit and deep strike abilities will make a cautious guard player hug his officers close to LoS blocking terrain and gimp his effective order range since most guard players skip the range improving voxcasters to take more bodies. After that, prioritize any auto-hitting weapons such as Hellhounds and Flamer Special Weapon Squads since they don't give a damn about your hit modifiers.

• Adeptus Mechanicus - The Imperium's cyberpunk tech support is a mixed bag; very flexible and abundant special weapons make their basic troops particularly adept at handling virtually any standard threat while their heavier vehicles and servitors can weather no small degree of firepower before falling. Their Skitarii units share very similar statlines to aspect warriors like your Dire Avengers or Howling Banshees; reliable accuracy both at range and in melee make them significant offensive threats, but they crumble easily enough to most standard weapons. Caution should be taken around their basic Vanguard troops; not only do they put out a significant amount of dakka, but they can also debuff the toughness of anything they engage in melee. For you, this means any S4 attacks coming in on your living infantry will wound them on a 2+, a "privilege" normally reserved for nurgling swarms. Ad Mech notably lacks much in the way of in-house psychic support and are vulnerable to your offensive powers.

• Adeptus Custodes - The most elite standard army you could face, bar a pure Imperial Knight list, that is an absolute nightmare to face in melee. Though they are exceptionally durable, they do have a notable weakness to mortal wounds, particularly those incurred from psychic powers. You also won't find it challenging to outnumber and outmaneuver them. Under ideal conditions, don't attempt to match their close combat game under any circumstances.

• Adeptus Sororitas - Bolters, Flamers and Melta. The holy trinity abounds in the Sisters of Battle armies and should be expected whenever you see them take to the field. Though it is in somewhat short supply, using long range units like Rangers, Dark Reapers and Fire Prisms will let you engage the sisters well outside their conventional ranges. Despite their reliable saves, sisters are also notably squishy underneath all that armor and faith; massed fire from Guardian blobs, Dire Avengers, Windriders or War Walkers will invariably whittle through them reasonably well enough. If you're bringing psykers, keep in mind that much like the Grey Knights, every single unit of sisters can attempt to deny the witch. Unlike the Grey Knights, they are limited to only 1d6 for their denials, but they have several oppressive ways to buff their rolls and debuff your psychic tests if they're close enough. Keep your Warlocks at bay.

• Imperial Knights - Very big, very scary robots that can fuck your shit up sideways if approached carelessly. More often than not they'll be used to supplement detachments composed of the other Imperial factions (like the Adeptus Mechanicus, with whom they share a lot of synergy with), but they still occasionally are fielded as a pure-strain army. In the case of the later, you'll effortlessly be able to outnumber them and maintain much higher control over the table, giving you an advantage in objective-based game modes. Your Wraithguard, Fire Prisms, D-Cannon Support Weapons and Wraithknights can deal severe damage to them with enough support. You'll have no real trouble providing it either, as again they lack much in the way of stopping your Psykers from buffing or debuffing whatever you need so that you can reliably break through their defenses.

Chaos

• Chaos Space Marines - These guys play similarly enough to regular Space Marines that many of the same tactics that apply to them apply here as well. Key differences do start with their Daemon Engines, which regenerate automatically each turn if not completely destroyed, as well as the ability to summon in Daemon allies if they so desire. With the new legion supplements there's a wealth of sneaky combo's that CSM can pull of, -7 ld against guardian swarms can be devastating so keep an avatar or a WILL OF ASURYAN farseer close when fighting night lords, with the easy access that chaos space marines have to death star units your going to need to find a way to kill of their charecters of debuff their units without having JINX or DOOM denied, allying in a kabal of the black heart detachment for AGENTS OF VECT can be very useful hear as some CSM stratagems are so pivotal to their playstyle, Vect Concealed or Meat shields when you can as a unit of untargetable slaanesh Obliterators is going to cause you serious problems if it isn't dealt with early on.

• Thousand Sons - The only other faction in the game that can spam Smite to hell and back without penalty and has enough native psychic potential to rival and even outclass your own. Multi-wound weapons are arguably a must against these guys, as any 1-wound weapons actually increase their Rubric marine's saving throws by 1 (even the invuln save). Tzaangors are actually fairly threatening to engage in melee against, so much like the Death Guard, you'll want to keep your distance as you lay fire upon their ranks. You'll want to save your deny the witches for any major psychic powers your opponent attempts to cast

• Death Guard - Slow, thick and pestilent, Death Guard represents the best of what papa Nurgle has to offer; Disgustingly Resilient models that can shake off hits left and right as they gradually creep across the table. High strength/AP weapons are a must and any guns that deal multiple wounds (like Starcannons and Reaper Launchers) are ideal in order to overload any lucky FNP rolls they may get once you punch through their toughness and armor. You will have absolutely no trouble outrunning Death Guard units and keeping them from getting into combat with your much squishier infantry models.

• Chaos Daemons A general rule of thumb with Chaos daemons is that they all rely almost entirely on their invulnerable saves to deflect incoming attacks. This is exacerbated by their generally lower toughness (T3 infantry on average, Chaos God dependent). To this end, you should prioritize maximizing the number of shots your units put out as opposed to harder hitting firepower. You'll also want to bring a few psykers to both lay down mortal wounds to get through their invuln saves and to run interference against their psychic powers (particularly against Tzeentch).
  • Khorne - Notably the only daemon faction without Psykers (given how Khorne hates them, this is unsurprising), Khorne daemons are particularly vulnerable to your psykers and mortal wound spam in general. As an army entirely focused on melee units, they are also very vulnerable to being picked off at range, something you should have absolutely no trouble accomplishing. Bring down any Skull Cannons they may have brought and stay the hell out of melee with these guys.
  • Nurgle - An army wide 5+++ FNP gives all Nurgle daemons some defense against mortal wounds and effectively two chances to shake off any damage that breaks through their 5++ invuln save. Their painfully slow movement speed will ensure you will have no trouble playing keep away the entire game.
  • Tzeentch - A native buff to their standard invulnerable save means most of their standard units benefit from a 4++. Units to watch out for would be their Flamers and Blue Scribes, the later of which can make your Psykers permanently lose any power they fail at casting within 12" of them.
  • Slaanesh - The subjects of She-who-thirsts and effectively the only faction you'll ever face who'll trigger your Ancient Doom ability (not that it really matters). Much like Khorne, Slaanesh daemons are dedicated melee combatants only with a heightened emphasis on speed over power. Suffice to say, pick them apart at range where you can. Dire Avengers are a cheap and decent option to intercept incoming charges due to their better overwatches.

• Chaos Knights - Evil Knights that individually are more flexible in their loadout than their imperial counterparts. As a dedicated Super-Heavy list, they are heavily limited by their minimal model count and being focus fired. Wraith units and D-Weapons in general are excellent Knight-B-Gone tools that can erase or cripple knights after a single volley. Psychic powers, namely Guide, Doom and Jinx are highly recommended to ensure every shot you make counts. Offensive powers like Smite are also great tools to bypass their toughness and armor/invuln saves. Special note, in a Battle-Forged Knight list, you can opt to use leadership buffs/nukes and Mind War against their nominated Character to lay down a large number of mortal wounds a turn. Defensively, hug LoS blocking terrain like your life depends on it; in many cases it does. You may also wish to place your more valuable units (like Wraithguard or Fire Prisms) in reserve so that they can be protected in the event you fail to get first turn.

• Renegades and Heretics

Xenos

• Craftworld Eldar - By now, you should have a solid idea on how they play, seeing as how that's what this entire page discusses. Try to focus on outmaneuvering your opponent and focus on taking down their psychic support whenever possible. Pay attention to whatever Exarch Powers they elect to give their exarchs where applicable and put their aspect warriors in generally unfavorable matchups when you can. Ironically, craftworlders are among the best in the game to deal with to-hit modifier spam should your opponent try to cheese you with them. Dark Reapers don't give a shit about these modifiers and between the flamers available to your Storm Guardians, Fire Dragons, Wraithguard, Shadow Spectres, Wraithlords, and Hemlock Wraithfighters you're not terribly short of potent auto-hitting weapons perfectly suited to bypassing these defenses completely. If nothing else, mortal wound spam through your plentiful psykers or aspect warriors (like Striking Scorpions or Swooping Hawks) also effectively neuter these tactics.

• Dark Eldar - Your edgy kin are just as fast and deadly as you, though they're a bit frailer. They lack any native psychic support, which gives you a slight advantage if you choose to go that route, but they make up for it by their units being a bit more flexible and deadly, especially in melee. Their poisoned weaponry doesn't give a damn about your Wraith units' high toughness, so caution should be taken when facing large numbers of splinter rifle wielding kabalites.

• Harlequins - Your clown cousins are probably the trickiest of your kin to deal with; their insane speed coupled with their universal 4++ invuln saves make it difficult to successfully wound them on the approach, especially since they can simply move through terrain and models to get to your dudes. Wraithblades and Wraithlords can match or even overpower them in a straight up fistfight, but beware any Fusion Pistol wielding Troupes; they'll ruin your day. Where applicable, flamers from Storm Guardians, Fire Dragons, Wraithguard (D-Scythes) Wraithlords and Shadow Spectres are ideal for both overwhelming their invulnerable saves and heavily discouraging close range charges. Dire Avengers, with their 5+ overwatches and plasma grenades are also reasonably decent charge screens and the Exarch (if geared for melee combat) can perform almost as well as any one of their troupe models in a fight. Otherwise, just focus on overloading their invulnerable saves with sheer volume of fire. Guardian Defenders, Swooping Hawks, Windriders and Dark Reapers can do well in this matchup if they can get the first shots in. Alternatively, mortal wound spam courtesy of Rangers, Striking Scorpions, Swooping Hawks and the ever obvious Smite/Executioner powers to circumvent their invulnerable saves. In the case of your standard units, this is somewhat unreliable however. Conversely, so long as you focus down any Shadowseers your opponent may have brought, Smite spam is a very reliable option that can and will dispose of entire troupe squads at a time.

• Ynnari - Ultimately, the Ynnari will play just like any of the prior eldar armies mentioned, only with an obvious predilection towards melee combat. They'll honestly probably be easier to deal with than if the player had just run those factions in their vanilla incarnations, since Ynnari lists sacrifice a lot of the original synergistic psychic and stratagem options for more generic, overpriced, situational and arguably useless equivalents.

• Orks - A tough horde of Boyz who'll do their damnedest to close the distance and beat you to death in an ideal world. Don't waste your time going overboard with to-hit modifiers; tempting as it may be with their basic BS 5+, their Dakka Dakka Dakka! rule lets all Ork units auto-hit on 6's regardless of modifiers. Due to this, you should also not underestimate ranged lists in the slightest as they can and will wipe units through sheer volume of fire alone. Your Wraith units can safely tango in melee with Orks, though you'll want to keep an eye out for Power Klaws. For the rest of your infantry, use your superior speed to kite their units while dashing into cover wherever possible and pick away at them from range. Their relatively low armor saves makes them easy prey from these kinds of hit and run tactics.

• T'au - One of the shootiest armies in the game, and honestly one of the most vulnerable to your numerous to-hit modifier debuffs. An average BS of a 4+ makes it tremendously easy for units like your Warp Spiders, Shadow Spectres, Hornets and any Flier you field virtually impossible to shoot (especially if you're running Alaitoc as your Craftworld) while you can engage them in relative safety. They also have virtually no defense against your psychic powers and have next to no dedicated melee units outside of any Kroot they may have fielded. To this end, Howling Banshees in particular are an anathema to the T'au due to their ability to completely shut down overwatch.

• Necrons - Extremely tough metal skeletons that will. Not. Die. You'll need to focus down entire squads at a time or they'll slowly start replenishing lost models thanks to their reanimation protocols. Characters and any Vehicles with Living Metal also need to be focused down quickly, as their automatic healing makes attempting to chip them away an exercise in futility. They are particularly vulnerable to your vast array of psychic powers as the only way they can deny the witch is to upgrade their canoptek vehicles with Gloom Prisms. Take down any such vehicles and drown their units with psychic mortal wounds to make quick work of the rank and file they fielded.

• Tyranids - These space bugs are well renowned for two things; hordes and monsters. Both are particularly adept at melee combat and many of their units can either match your speed or even surpass it. Try to keep your distance and focus down any Synapse Tyranids that you can. Take a care with their innate Shadow in the Warp, as it can particularly interfere with your Warlock's casting. Warlock Conclaves can overcome this by using their Concordance of Power stratagem to cast safely outside the range of SitW if needed.
  • Keep tabs on any units like the Venomthrope or Malanthrope, who can buff nearby tyranids with to-hit modifiers and take them down as soon as possible. Fire Prisms excel at killing single-model units like these, the Linked Fire stratagem in particular deserving a mention. Dark Reapers, as ever, serve as a handy counter to hit-modifiers and can even be used as snipers with the appropriate exarch power.

• Genestealer Cultists - Unlike Imperial Guard (whom they may take as "allies" btw), many of the Genestealer units in this faction are not ideal targets to engage in melee. Between their Aberrants, Acolytes and Purestrain Genestealers, these guys will tear through your infantry (and even Wraith units, in the case of Aberrants) like tissue paper. Be extra cautious of squads deep-striking into your back lines and keep a Farseer paired with a squad of Dark Reapers to heavily discourage this tactic.

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (10th Edition)

General Tactics	General Weapons Terrain
Imperium	Space Marines (Black Templars, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Deathwatch, Space Wolves) Grey Knights
	Adeptus Mechanicus Adeptus Titanicus Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Sisters of Battle
	Adeptus Custodes & Sisters of Silence Imperial Agents (Inquisition, Rogue Traders, etc.)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons World Eaters)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Chaos Titans
Eldar	Eldar (Craftworlds, Corsairs, Harlequins, Ynnari) Dark Eldar
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults
Votann	Leagues of Votann

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (9th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications Tactical Terrain Weapons Apocalypse
Imperium	Space Marines (Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Space Wolves) Grey Knights
	Adeptus Mechanicus Adeptus Titanicus Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Sisters of Battle
	Adeptus Custodes & Sisters of Silence Inquisition Officio Assassinorum Rogue Traders
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons World Eaters)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Craftworld Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins Ynnari
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults
Votann	Leagues of Votann

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (8th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications Apocalypse
Imperium	Space Marines Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Talons of the Emperor (Custodes and Sisters of Silence) Adeptus Mechanicus
	Adeptus Ministorum (Sisters of Battle and minor factions) Adeptus Titanicus
	Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Inquisition Officio Assassinorum
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (7th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications
Imperium	Space Marines (Siege Assault Vanguard) Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Adeptus Custodes Cult Mechanicus Skitarii Adeptus Sororitas
	Imperial Knights Inquisition Officio Assassinorum
	Imperial Guard (Armoured Battlegroup Death Korps of Krieg Assault Brigade Death Korps of Krieg Siege Regiment Elysian Drop Troops D-99)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines Khorne Daemonkin Chaos Daemons Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins Corsairs
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks Ork Dred Mob
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (6th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications
Imperium	Space Marines Blood Angels Dark Angels Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Adeptus Sororitas Inquisition
	Imperial Guard (Armoured Battlegroup Death Korps of Krieg Assault Brigade Death Korps of Krieg Siege Regiment Elysian Drop Troops) Militarum Tempestus
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines Chaos Daemons Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Corsairs
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks Ork Dred Mob
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (All)

General Tactics	General (8th) Movement (8th 7th) Psychic (8th 7th 2nd) Fortifications (8th 7th) Tactical Terrain Apocalypse (8th)
Imperium (8th)	Space Marines (8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd) Blood Angels (8th 7th) Dark Angels (8th 7th) Deathwatch (8th 7th) Grey Knights (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd, AKA Daemonhunters) Space Wolves (8th 7th 6th 5th)
	Talons of the Emperor (Custodes and Sisters of Silence) (8th 7th) Adeptus Mechanicus (8th 7th) Adeptus Ministorum (Sisters of Battle and minor factions) (8th 7th 6th 3rd, AKA Witch Hunters) Adeptus Titanicus (8th)
	Imperial Knights (8th 7th) Imperial Guard (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd) Inquisition (8th 7th 6th) Officio Assassinorum (8th 7th)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (8th 7th 6th 5th) Death Guard (8th) Khorne Daemonkin - 7th Edition Thousand Sons (8th) Chaos Daemons (8th 7th) Chaos Knights (8th) Renegades and Heretics (8th 7th 6th)
Eldar	Eldar (8th 7th 6th 5th) Dark Eldar (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd Revised) Harlequins (8th 7th)
Necrons	Necrons (8th 7th 6th 5th 4th)
Orks	Orks (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd) Ork Dred Mob - 7th edition (6th 5th) Ork Kult of Speed - 3rd edition Feral Orks - 3rd edition
Tau	Tau (8th 7th 6th 5th)
Tyranids	Tyranids (8th 7th 6th 5th) Genestealer Cults (8th 7th)

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