Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Eldar (section)

===Fast Attack===
In this slot we find the fastest of our already quick moving and mobile army, armed to the teeth with a variety of weapons such as the spammy lasblaster and armor melting Bright Lance. In this slot you can find not only options for engaging and destroying infantry but many of these slots features unit who can either outfit themselves totally for anti-vehicle or just do a decent job of it if called upon. You also find both of your flyers in this slot and each performs a very different job that should be carefully considered.


'''Swooping Hawks''' 

Swooping hawks have had a tough love life before now, a unit that could never pull its own weight and would rarely accomplish goals under an aged codex. As the Eldar's premier lightweight jump infantry the new swooping hawks stand a chance of glory and respect. 

Swooping hawks enter the battlefield absolutely loaded to the teeth: aspect armor, jump infantry wings, no less than three different kinds of grenades, and their (thankfully improved) lasblaster weapon. The Lasblaster is the first important pieces of tech they bring with them. Increased from assault 2 to 3 they now throw out an almost unmatched number of shots as a squad. Even though they are [[Lasgun|S3 laser pointers]], the sheer volume of shots is pretty threatening now, being equal to any [[Bolter|standard]] [[Ork_Gunz#Shootas|basic]] [[Gauss|40k]] [[Shuriken Catapult|gun]] in firepower, while boasting much more comfortable range. Against hordes this is solid gold; against anything else it’s just a tidal wave of firepower that you get to drop on the table with a mighty clatter of dice. Haywire grenades are good as an anti-armor weapon and lend the hawks some versatility with their targets, allowing them to tear apart vehicles easily with the haywire rule. Plasma grenades can be used in perfectly placed blasts by one dude after the hawks have landed, an easy task as described below.

Swooping hawks have some very cool special rules to make use of now. First and foremost is their Herald of Victory, deep striking in the hawks, perfectly on the board with no scatter to speak of, like a scalpel this can be placed with utter precision for tactical advantages. After they have accomplished their goal hawks can then return to the air and skyleap up up and away, leaving the battlefield at the start of the movement phase as long as they are not restricted in any way. They go into reserve to land again another turn, counting as a kill if the game ends with them up there. Finally, the grenade pack: a cover ignoring S4 AP4 sky burst blast made at the move phase every time the hawks enter from deep strike. If you have 6 models in the squad this is a large blast (pro tip: have 6 models).

Tactics are the hawk’s friend: deep strike in the right place, laying your sky burst on the right foes and maybe gunning survivors down, or just pounding a different target with their plethora of attacks. Sky leap up the next turn to do it all over again. Drastically lowered price and versatile skill and target set gives them a tactical flexibility unlike previous editions.
*'''Exarchs''' can take the night vision and Hit & run to benefit the whole squad as well as marksman eye to snipe out potential priority targets. Hit & run makes the most sense to allow the hawks to get back into the air again. Can equip:
**'''Hawks talon''', which is just a heavier strength lasblaster and thus alright.
**'''Sunrifle''', which fires just like a lasblaster but at AP3 and forces an Init test if it hits, failure reduces the enemy unit to WS and BS 1 for their next turn, great for protecting the hawks from return fire and crippling a potential threat from the target squad. Do note that vehicles that have no Initiative value fail this test automatically, and blinding do affect all models in the squadron, so dakkaing a Sunrifle on the Leman Russ squadron before charging it actually makes sense, since anything that survives in haywire mayhem would be hard-pressed to hit something at BS1.


'''Shining Spears''' 

Shining spears are guardians that once flew jet bikes and really loved it, now they are aspect warriors who love flying jet bikes and really love it, enough said. Shining spears are a shooty assault style knight of medieval days, leveling a lance at enemies and running it into squishy bits with a whole lot of speed behind them. 
They feature high toughness and heavy armor courtesy of the jet bike and heavy aspect armor as well as a laser lance their primary weapon with the under-slung shuriken catapult. The laser lance can fire a single 6" shot with S6 and AP3 with the hilarious benefit of the lance rule for heavy AV vehicles. Basically a 17% chance to glance armor and maybe better for lower AV. After this shot is fired the spears can jet into an assault, using their lances momentum for the first turn of combat to function as S6 AP3 weapons, ideal for cutting down marines on mass and even keeping the lance rule if you charged a land raider. 
They get the Battle focus and ancient doom rules of the other Eldar, plus the outflank ability and skilled rider for enhanced cover saves on the fly. 
The downsides of spears are easy to see, expensive models with not a lot of deadly weaponry to really scare any particular threat, they need to make the most of their numbers and really try hard to seize more points than they cost you, though the points cost did drop. They also get way worse at fighting the second round of an assault, so don’t stick around.
The spear tactics are simple, fly into the board, laser pew pew your target, charge in for the dunk, if your target didn't die you’re either stuck in combat or have the exarch.
*'''Exarchs''' bring a bit more stink to the squad with more attacks and better stats overall for what they will be doing. Options of powers are monster hunter and Hit&run, both of which benefit the whole squad (if you bought exarch you will also buy hit&run, you WILL) as well as disarming strike for the exarch alone for challenge purposes. Can equip:
**'''Power weapon''', um...why would we do this?
**'''Star lance''', better than a laser lance, thus good as a weapon and a simple purchase.


'''Vyper Jet bike''' 

The Vyper is the large scale armored jet bike of the Eldar, requiring two pilots, one for aiming its weapons at the high speed the vehicle moves and the other to deftly maneuvering the vehicle with inhuman speed and grace. The Vyper is a fast platform for many of the Eldar's classic heavy weapons and can zip around as a combined squad to seek and destroy targets of all shapes and sizes.
Stock the vehicles is a fragile AV10 open topped skimmer, with only 2 hull points they can go up in smoke if too many shots get levied at them and they should always aim for cover saves when available. Their default armaments include a twin linked shuriken catapult and a primary shuriken cannon, the catapult can be swapped out for a cannon which is basically a must on all vehicles with the option. The primary weapon can then be exchanged for a Starcannon, Bright lance, scatter laser or EML like basically all Eldar vehicles, these options presenting it a variety of options for engaging foes with weaponry suited to that end, each Vyper can swap for different weapons. 
The Vyper boasts no special features aside from its unit type so to grant it any additional benefits the Eldar vehicle gear must be consulted, holofields seem like a good choice and crystal targeting matrix allows for a full salvo of accurate fire (with the units buffed BS4) right after a hefty table move. Vectored engines don’t help a unit whose rear armor is equal to all the rest and if shot at spirit stones won’t likely make anything like a difference.
The Vypers are fragile, they offer only one choice of heavy armaments so unlike the warwalkers they are not the anti-heavy units you should rely on, that being said a squad even barely outfitted with just a Brightlance each is a highly mobile rear armor crashing force to remember. This is the fastest heavy hitter in your list and a good contender for your attention in the fast attack slots.


'''Warp Spiders''' 

A reliable unit from the fast attack slot for years now the spider teleports around the battlefield threatening virtually any kind of foe almost anywhere on the battlefield. 
Sporting mad heavy aspect armor for durability and their 12" S6 deathspinners for genocide the warp spiders are a rough customer. The monofilament rule of the spinner improved a good gun into a damn near great one, short ranged but bristling with firepower the gun can now turn those normally AP- shots into auto wounding AP1. Then just as a guarantee, the guns all gain a special bonus vs. slow infantry and all non-walker vehicles, gaining a free +1 to strength. This allows them to glance even AV13 to death, which is NUTS, or just dump their otherwise good firepower into the [[Anal Circumference|rear armor]] of tanks for the touchdown. 
The mobility of the spiders is paramount to the success of their weapon however, its short range needs to be countered by the powerful movement of the spiders. Warp jump packs allow them to either jump their normal 6" or warp jump up to 6+2d6 (losing a model on a double result) in a direction, then they get their run courtesy of Battle focus with Fleet rerolls. Then you spin a whole lot of death, then you jet (troll) pack away 2d6" to avoid return fire. 
*'''Exarchs''' can take marksman’s eye for value sniping and stalker for challenges, if you get into one. Fast shot again seems good as hell, especially when paired with the spinneret rifle for multiple AP1 shots. Can equip:
**'''Twin linked spinner''', more accurate spinner dakka than the regular for almost nothing.
**'''Spinneret rifle''', interesting change from previous codex, now an 18" rapid fire weapon with monofilament and pinning, all with S6 AP1. Note the rapid fire distance is less than the death spinners normal range, so you have to get within 9” for the rapid shot benefit.
**'''Powerblades''', which would be helpful for murdering enemy character (who is likely the only thing with a power weapon in a squad) if you choose to dive into melee with some shooty squad to avoid return fire, because as long as you keep the exarch alive your spiders would just jump out of melee the next turn. Besides that they also looks cool.
*Surprisingly, a squad of Warp Spiders would deal more anti-air S7 hits than equal point cost of War Walkers with double flakk missiles, just by sheer amount of dakka they dish out, so they are your cheapest ground based anti-air choice aside allies. Sure, their guns are short ranged, but that's why they have warp jumps and battle focus.

'''Crimson Hunter''' 

While not the Nightwing Eldar players know and love the crimson hunter is still a fantastic answer to the fliers of other races that have mindlessly harassed us till now. The crimson hunter is a dedicated air superiority flyer of the Eldar army, he can single handily down just about every flyer in the game with and equal level of elegance and grace befitting an aerial Eldar pilot. 
The crimson hunter embodies Khaine’s ability to lay low foes seemingly greater than himself, rending the vehicles of other races with seemingly no effort due to her dual Brightlances and primary pulse laser weapon found on the hull.
Crimson hunters have a few special rules that add to the ease of their job on the battlefield. Skyhunter allows them to re-roll any non-glancing non-penetrating shots made against fliers, giving the crimson hunter an almost guaranteed kill with its anti-armor load out. Vector dancer allows her to pivot 90° with ease at the end of her move, keeping him a hunter on the board far longer than the other races. 
The biggest downsides of the crimson hunters are easily seen, AV10 across the board makes them just as frail as Vypers (albeit with more Hull Points) at triple the price. As such even the lowly bolter could clip our elf’s wings and weapons such as the AA fortification weapons pose a very serious threat.
Their poor durability can be mitigated slightly by the benefits of being a flier and cover saves in addition to Jink, however these defenses are fickle and will rarely save you form dedicated AA firepower. As such the best defense the Crimson hunter offers is coming into the field after his prey is already present, allowing him to down the target flier before the enemy can bring sufficient weapons to bear on him. (The Autarchs special ability makes this a tiny bit easier to accomplish)
*'''Exarchs''' can be taken for the crimson hunters, Eldar men and women of such unreasonable skill they gain the power to deliver precision shots against foes below even while jetting across the battlefield at supersonic speeds, an utterly demented idea the crimson exarchs pride themselves on. They also outright boost the accuracy of the weapons as a benefit of their enhanced BS and can acquire the night vision, which is mostly useless unless you know you're about to play an eternal night Lolcron army and marksman’s eye, which is mostly useless because your objectve is to down the flyers, not hunt enemy ICs. Can equip:
**'''Double Starcannons''', but let’s face it, you shouldn’t do this, and you won’t do this.


'''Hemlock Wraithfighter''' 

The hemlock is piloted not by a fighter pilot but instead by a unique Spiritseer. The Hemlock is a wraith unit and as such is crewed by the souls of past Eldar.
The hemlock does not boast heavy weapons or hull smashing armaments for it is not a weapon of this world, but of the next. Fear is the hemlock's true purpose and fear it delivers with ease. The dual heavy D-scythes are S4 AP2 blasts that obviously excel at cutting down swaths of armored and unarmoured foes with ease. These weapons make the hemlock totally incapable of aerial combat and poor at taking out vehicles, though the distort rule of the weapons does not leave it fangless. The hemlock comes standard with spirit stones allowing it to negate problematic conditions when under fire.
The hemlock is piloted by a non-HQ Spiritseer, and this seer constitutes the hemlocks most unique features. The Mindshock pod attached to the underbelly of the fighter forces any successful morale and pinning tests made nearby to be rerolled, even for allies. Then the Spiritseer inside knows and utilizes a singular power, Terrify from the core rulebook, which he can fire once a turn at LD10. Stripping the target first of its fearless and then forcing a morale test under the gaze of the Mindshock pod is scary stuff, even the mighty Swarmlord could be made to flee such an embodiment of fear itself. If your army have a lot of pinning weapon, Hemlock might be the thing you need to make them actually work against anything, that isn't Imperial Guard or Tau.
Like the crimson hunter the hemlock is fragile, sporting an AV10 and 3hull points to its name it’s no better off than the Crimson hunter when people start shooting at it. Using Jink for saves also leaves you unable to fire your weapons period but Terrify still functions. Additionally any perils of the warp caused by the Spiritseer cause a glancing blow against the fighter as well. The Mindshock pod and distortion weapons also have pretty short range so the Hemlock finds itself often in unfriendly territory.
Often times the hemlock must be used with great care, its weapons and powers not suited for all threats all the time. Combine the Horrify power of the standard warlocks with the Hemlock and a plethora of pinning tests and you can shut down your foes across the board, rendering them helpless to fight back against your slaughter. It also has vector dancer so keep it on the board and over your enemy’s heads.


'''Shadow Specters (Forgeworld)'''

Guess who's back? Shadow Specters get an update, that turned them from weird overpriced unit who don't know what they suppose to do into proper all-rounders. Sure they are fragile and few in numbers, but with Battle Focus and JsJ they can jump around BLOS, and even if they get targeted, 4+ armour and cover may help a bit (though don't count on it). Then comes their guns - they have "MEQ-killer" and "Horde Sweeper" mode, with the later getting buffed to AP4 (making it a threat to anything with a word "warrior" in its name), and with Ghostlight they can threaten tanks as well. And they come equipped with haywire for when you REALLY want that Land Raider or Monolith dead - just be aware that Specters themselves would probably die the next turn after they charge some big metal box, and that you paid a lot of points and pounds to field them. For some reasons they get Fear, but don't rely on it - they still suck in close combat.
*'''Exarchs''' can take the night vision and Hit & Run to benefit the whole squad as well as Monster Hnter (not really worth it) and Shadow of Death - interesting, albeit unfluffy ability that allow him to voodoo enemy squads within 12" to pass Ld tests on 3D6 discarding the lowest result. Can equip:
**'''Prism Blaster''', which boosts MEQ, TEQ, and motster-killing ability of Exarch a lot and boosts Ghostlight, but for a price of no blast mode. Definatelly worth it against marines, and might be worth against heavy mech, if not the following one:
**'''Haywire Launcher''', two shots with haywire backed with a hail of S6 or Ghostlight lance of his squad would kill most vehicles in one turn. The downside is that it's all but useless against anything else but mech, being just an AP4 flashlight.

'''Wasp Assault Walkers (Forgeworld):''' Update pending…

'''Hornet (Forgeworld):''' 
Guess what? The update is out and what do we have?
First of all, the Hornet itself is now 70 points and all weapons except for EML are 5 points. Yes. Even the pulse laser.
It now has access to Acute senses in case you don't want to get right into the fray. The update has nerfed the Aerial Assault to oblivion, but with 6E fast vehicle rules you could fire two guns on full speed anyway.
With Warp Hunter nerf this babies are almost obligatory, especially with 6th edition being a termi-edition.
They also get access to all the eldar vehicle goodies, yet you hardly require anything except for holofields. And in most cases you need them not, for their job is to dish out a whooping 12 S8AP2 attacks at an unsuspecting foe across the deck, decimating even the Paladins if need be. Just be sure you don't get charged. That's 6th. You can get charged even if you're a fast skimmer.

'''Nightwing Interceptor (Forgeworld):''' Still fast, still able to mince other flyers, and more likely than not a vehicle a  turn. Gets a pretty sweet cover  save, but every bit as paper thin as other eldar flyers.