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

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


'''Dark Reapers''' 

If Khaine loved anything, it was war. And in war things often get truly and utterly fucking destroyed, reduced to rubble and broken beyond any means of restoration, this is the dark reapers in a nutshell. A grim and terrifying aspect, dark reapers even give other Eldar a hint of fear, levelling foes across a wide zone of the field.
The dynamic of the dark reapers changed heavily with the dawn of the new codex, once relegated to a small squad of dedicated marine killers with their exarch easily responsible for well over half the squad’s actual value, leaving the rest as fluffy extra wounds for the exarch. Now each reaper has a choice of weapon to choose from and he loves each options equally. Regular reapers have the choice of either their more traditional starswarm launcher, a weapon that fire salvos of S5 AP3 shots from across the board. Now they also have the starshot missile, a single heavy hitting shot at S8 AP3, sending most MC's reeling and most vehicles behind the biggest brick wall they can find. The reaper rangefinder that benefit the whole squad and any attached ICs prevents jink saves, lending even more weight to their armor hunting ability.
As far as special rules the reaper go against the grain, ancient doom stays intact but reaper armor is too heavy for the likes of Battle focus, instead the reapers gain mobility from previous additions with slow and purposeful, giving them full ability to move during the movement phase and still fire their weapons with no loss of accuracy, wonderful. 
As for downsides, the reapers are not quite as mobile as the main Eldar force, but with range they don’t really need to be. Other issues such as sheer cost (now that they can have up to 10 models in a squad, up from five) costing you in the three hundreds to field a complete squad, even before upgrades! Oh and cover saves still hinder their ability to lay down unabated killing fire, nothing new there.
The role of reapers hasn't changed very much, laying down the same oppressive AP3 firepower they did before from afar, but now with the power to leave infantry shredding to others while they drown tanks in S8 spam. Anything caught in the open against reapers is either very heavily armored, equipped with a decent invulnerability save, or dead.
*'''Exarchs''' used to be all the squad was worth, now they enhance it rather than make it look bad by comparison. The night vision power helps fantastically against the new availability of night fighting and marksman’s eye gives him the ability to snipe a bit, fast shot hasn’t gotten worse so you'll be picking that up for sure. Can equip:
**'''Shuriken cannon''', a big big step back in range this weapon probably hurts the exarch more than helps him.
**'''Tempest launcher''', the same 36" anti MEQ barrage tool of the past edition, good with fast shot, low strength.
**'''Eldar missile launcher''', as versatile as it is expensive it can grab flakk missiles and fast shot down air threats, though unless your squad is all decked out with starshot missiles you won’t want to force their fire on a target they won’t really hurt.


'''Falcon''' 

The classic falcon remains unchanged in this era over the old and still fulfills its job as APC with guns to spare. 
Falcons come stock with their pulse laser, a S8 AP2 lulzbeam with great range and track record as well as underslung catapult (upgrade to a cannon). Then it gets its choice of heavy weapon from the pretty standard list of Brightlance, Starcannon, Scatterlaser and EML (no flakk). The falcon also features the standard Eldar falcon chassis complete with AV12 front and side with AV10 in the rear, 3HP, nothing to write home about but reliable enough to last most days.
The falcon can carry a squad of no more than 6 bodies which is ideal for moving units such as fire dragons and small elite squads, but cannot move around wraith units. As a fast skimmer the falcon and its kin are mobile and granted a decent cover save against things that mean them harm, a pro with holo fields boosting this already decent defense.
Downsides on the falcon are simple: melts under fire, expensive as hell and competition in the valuable heavy support slot.
The tactics for the falcon are totally unchanged, drive in, unleash squad, shoot things dead. Some things can be relied upon to stay simple and the falcon is just that, it does its damage and get people where they need to be, hopefully before a las shot turns it into so much rainbow debris.


'''Fire Prism''' 

Fire prism are the benchmark of Eldar battle tank technology, quick, fragile, deadly. The fire prism is elegant and graceful, it will deliver the results you need and look great doing it, like so many heavy support slots choices it's hard to just field one.
The weapons of the fire prism is all you need to care about, the old combined beam power is gone, a loss as it would have given the fire prism even better than it is, which is fantastic. The AV12 falcon chassis is here to stay, reliable but fragile to dedicated hunters, twin-linked shuriken catapult (read: soon to be upgraded shuriken cannon) is here as well and the plethora of Eldar vehicle upgrades available. 
However it’s the 60" Prism cannon you buy the tank for, this magnificent jeweled weapon that focuses such intense power as to turn foes of all shapes and sized into all shapes and sized of slag. Boasting now the amazingly versatile THREE FIRING MODES the prism cannon rules as king of your culinary delights. For your meat lovers you have the dispersed mode, a S5 AP3 large blast, great for MEQ and anything more fragile. For your vegetarians you have the focussed mode, a TEQ hunting small blast with S7 and AP2, good for all things the previous mode didn’t quite get. Finally we turn the volume up to 11 and give our vegans out there the lance mode, used to scythe down anything that doesn’t strictly walk where it needs to go. At S9 AP1 with the LANCE special rule this weapon finally gives the Eldar an answer to the rail guns and lascannons of the other races, penning AV12+ 50% of the time.
What downsides does the fire prism have you ask? Expensive tank + upgrades costs, high aggro generation and usual complaint of Eldar vehicles but nothing beyond that, a solid workhorse in the army you could field three and no one would bat an eyelash.
Field the fireprism like you would a tank with a serious chip on its shoulder, easily capable of downing an enemy unit and making back its own point cost quickly with proper use. Holofields make it pretty durable just keep it away from dedicated anti-armor weapons it cannot save against.


'''[[Wraithlord]]''' 

Wraithguards controlled instead by the soul of a true Eldar exarch the Wraithlord features great skill at range and up close. Durable like adamantium the wraithlord is a threatening and distracting unit, [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|wink wink]].
With the heavy competition the Wraithlord needed to step up its game to stay on the board, and it did just that, the ghostglaive is a new melee option that allows for a single re-rolled hit each turn and adds +1S, for basically free. MUCH cheaper options of Shuriken cannon, Bright lance, Scatter laser, Starcannon and EML work far better than before. These weapons not only come cheaper than before but you can EQUIP TWO OF THE SAME, dual lances, some massive Shuriken dakka or whatever to your tastes. With massive toughness and great armor they are a stark contrast to the regular Eldar's poor durability under fire. Now the only weapons that hurt a Wraithlord are poison type abilities or big anti-tank shots. With monstrous creature rules lords can easily get some cover and blast out with accurate fire while still presenting themselves as a strong melee deterrent for your back line. They absorb far more firepower than is reasonable and with the new boosted attacks they can make a bit of a threat in melee again, crushing all foes under S9 AP2 strikes and taking little in return.
Wraithlords are now characters for the fluff of it and challenges either make or break the unit in assaults, allowing him to call out special units with power fists and the like or getting caught up in a scrap with a meager sergeant for a turn too long.
Their downsides lie in their cost and slow speed, preventing them from closing for melee quickly or proving the firepower their cost would allow on units such as the warwalkers or fireprisms. 
With their toughness, damage, versatility and cool appearance each commander will find the Wraithlord a different part of the battlefield to call its own, be it running to take that Landraider apart with a well-aimed smash, or charging to hold an enemy objective on big guns never tire. Each lord is unique and useful, it’s up to the player to give them the role that is needed best.


'''[[Wraithknight]]''' 

Wraithknights are our new wraithbone colossus, standing high above even the Wraithlord's stature, piloted by a combination of living and dead Eldar twins it manages to pilot with the grace of a true Eldar and the power of its wraithbone comrades. 
At nearly the size of the revenant titan the Wraithknight is truly a monstrous force upon the battlefield, and with that armed to the teeth with various weapons at its disposal including the typical heavy shoulder weapons. Shuriken cannons and starcannons both give it anti-light or anti-heavy infantry power but these options are poor and subpar. The scatter laser however is now, at 20 points each up to two (don’t take two) these add to the already massive cost of the unit but grant it the same spammy S6 fire that has made the scatter laser a staple in the past, but with the added benefit of the laser lock rule, which makes any hits by the laser twin-link any and all weapons fired by the Wraithknight except the laser themselves. Because of the special load outs of the unit and its newness each weapon kit will get a bigger description as follows:
*'''Heavy wraithcannons''', identical to the fearsome Wraithguard weapons but with three times the range the Wraithknight can dominate and decimate any individual target regardless of size or defenses, S10 with the distort rule to back it up allows these guns (you have two remember) to remove any single target from the battlefield. These come stock on the Wraithknight and keep it on its lower price end of the scale, however like the regular wraithcannons these weapons run into issues against cover saves that are abundant in 6e, aim wisely. Don't bother paying for shoulder weapons with these as you cannot fire more than two weapons each turn.
*'''Ghostglaive & scattershield''', With the Wraithknight's maximum S10, the bonus to strength from the glaive is lost, but the knight still benefits from the mastercraft re-roll on one of its 4 attack rolls. The scattershield really make this baby shine, granting the otherwise fire magnety Wraighknight a 5++ for defenses against all attacks. This makes the Wraithknight hard to kill even under the best scenarios and with any form of pskyer support, harder still. The shield also has another benefit, every time a save with the shields 5++ is made each unit within 6" has to make a test against the blinding rule. Watch you don't get your own guys hit by it - even with I5 you would occasionally roll a six sometimes, and seeing as Eldar have no units to spare, one turn of WS/BS1 could cost you a game. Though against [[Orks|low]] [[Necron|initiative]] or [[Imperial Guard|mechanized]] opponents blind is both reliable and powerful tool.
*'''Suncannon & scattershield''', perhaps the greatest of Vaul's creations, the Suncannon is the absolute pinnacle of Eldar plasma weaponry, burning with the heat of a star but cool to the touch, meaning no dumb killing itself with every shot bullshit like other units. The Suncannon fires three shots at a lovely 48" range, each is a TEQ hunting nightmare with S6 AP2, but that’s not enough is it? No, now the weapons shots are all diamonds, I mean small blasts. With twin-linking (shoulder Scatterlaser) or guide support the blasts should land pretty easily on target. This weapon could potentially reduce a squad to no dudes or not enough models left to care about, it is deadly, it is expensive and it will do serious damage. Come with a scattershield as well for a 5++ saves.

The Wraithknights grace and nimbleness despite its size makes it a jump monstrous creature, allowing it to sail through the air and get around very quickly. Move up to 12" in the move phase, end in some piece of cover or whatever else you need to be and if assaulting reroll the charge distance if you need to and hammer of wrath with smash ect ect. Can also deepstrike which for a model of this size is risky (unless your warlord got Seer of the shifting vector) due to terrain and whatnot.
The Wraithknight has better strength, Initiative and attacks than the Wraithlord but barely outclasses it as such, very expensive cost difference. 
You probably would need a special case for it. With T8 and six wounds it will endure a beating, but you may want to keep it near area terrain (if you can find any big enough) for a tasty and cheesy 5+ cover to compensate for the lack of an Invulnerable normally. Like the wraithlord poison type abilities and weapons ruin your day along with instant death.

**In larger points games (Over 1500 or so) a Wraithknight with a Suncannon and Scattershield, plus a Scatter Laser, can become the biggest and most unreasonably tough [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] ever. With T8, it's immune to everything S4 and below, you have to be S7 before you need better than a 6 to wound it, and it's 3+, 5++, plus 6 wounds, means that it's nigh on impossible to bring down (this goes double if you manage to cast Fortune on it). The twin S6 guns will make it a serious threat to all forms of infantry and a good portion of vehicles and as a Jump Monstrous Creature, it's fast enough that your opponent can't reasonably ignore it. Throw on the Pacific Rim theme as your personal Jaeger drop kicks tank battalions, hops over Aegis' to smash artillery and squish heavy weapons teams, while all the while your Falcons and Aspect Warriors run around getting to kill things unmolested, because the Wraithknight is absorbing all the fire.


'''War Walker''' 

A core part of older lists the warwalkers are mobile platforms that really embody the Eldar condition, loaded with firepower, melts under fire. War walkers excel at putting long ranged damage into whatever target they have been equipped to handle, often an anti-armor role but their versatile weapons list allows for many other targets. 
Walkers function with a much improved BS of 4 and even better comes equipped with a stock 5++ as a result of their higher price, enhancing the unit’s questionable durability to something a bit more reasonable. They can grab a host of different Eldar vehicle upgrades and come stock with dual shuriken cannons as their default weapon. The cannons can be exchanged for other weapons and makes the big change in walker’s roles on the battlefield (these units are good for magnetized modelling as a result). Shuriken cannons, scatter lasers, star canons and bright lances are all on the menu. Finally the big option, the Eldar missile launcher: a gun as versatile as the wielder the EML clocks in at several times the price of alternate options but here's why: at its base it can either be anti-armor or anti infantry blast weapons. It is also one of two units that can attach the flakk missile for a skyfire option for a few additional points. 
Warwalkers have battle focus, <strike>however they cannot use it, too bad</strike> all vehicles have Relentless according to BRB page 71. Run and gun those walkers all day. 
Frail as all fuck walkers are AV10 open topped and only two hull points apiece, their power shield granting them a limited but unreliable resistance but doing nothing to make the squad a powerhouse for defenses. Do not expose them to heavy firepower or you will lose them.
Walkers excel at either unloading round after round of guided firepower into the field as well as outflanking onto the board to dork some side and rear armor for you, they unleash a frankly unreasonable number of shots and don’t cost you and arm and a leg to pull it off, protect them, kill with them, and maybe even down a flyer with them.


'''Vaul Wrath Support Weapon Battery''' 

These are the artillery of the Eldar army which can be taken in squads of three and are crewed by two guardians per gun model and come in three flavors. They can also get a warlock optionally with a host of supportive power options. Gunners get a basic shuriken catapult you should hopefully never have to fire. Bear in mind that these support weapon batteries show none of the awesome convenience of Guardian squad support platforms - they are type Artillery and therefore function like a Napoleonic-era field cannon, they can run in 6th edition, <s>and thanks to Battle Focus they can also shoot, as the restriction for artillery not being able to fire is having moved in the movement phase, not the shooting phase.</s> (Rules for Battle Focus says that you can not shoot and run or run and shoot Heavy Weapons unless you are relentless) The crew benefit from the gun's awesome T7 against enemy shooting attacks. On the bright side they are dirt cheap. In the ever competitive heavy support slot the Vauls wrath needs to work damn hard to make its place at the table. The suite of artillery weapons are:
*'''Shadow Weaver:''' Default weapon. Lightweight version of Nightspinner's main gun, it packs one less strength, but it's still a small blast barrage and have all the monofilament benefits(FAQ'ed to small blast says large in codex). Fired in groups these function as a salvo and thus the first shot is all the more important.
*'''Vibro-cannons:''' No longer featuring the LOS ignoring line of dubstep the Vibro cannon has lost a lot of its character. For every vibro cannon that hits beyond the first they increase the strength of all hits. You get +1S -1AP for each vibro canon that scored a hit. The base stats are S7 AP4. Sadly, you can only take 3 of them, so they cap at S9 AP2 and have the pinning rule.
*'''D-cannon:''' Another distortion weapon out of the Eldar armoury and like previous version the D-cannon doesn’t stack up well to its peers. With half the range, the artillery will be hard pressed to find ample targets for the weapon and even then has the result of almost doubling the cost of the unit.


'''Nightspinner''' 

Build upon the same falcon chassis as other Eldar battle tanks the Nightspinner embraces the silent killing power of monofilament weapons over the more direct firepower of its kin. Acting more as a fire support tank the Nightpsinner can slink away totally out of sight and lay deadly webs all over the battlefield while remaining mostly safe from retaliation. 
The doomweaver is the primary weapon and features 99% of the tanks actual threat, laying down a S7 shot of monofilament onto the board, and as with all monofilament weapons it becomes S8 against slow targets like necrons and vehicles as well as the mini rending power that makes it auto wound and AP1. Like its close cousin the fire prism, nightspinners feature different modes of attack, the dispersed mode launches the shot high above the battlefield to rest silently and invisibly as a large blast, wounding and possibly pinning the target squad. Now there is also the focussed mode, a torrent weapon that fires the same deadly web but with increased accuracy, ignoring cover saves and lacks the pinning.
Night weavers are possibly more resilient due to not needing to be exposed most of the time but also have a chaotic track record of actual threat, sometimes wiping whole squads from the board other times managing to wound maybe a model or two, not a great buy for the player who like guarantees.
The Nightspinner lost its older difficult/dangerous terrain ability and now relies totally on its raw damage, even threatening vehicles with its S8 area of effect. The Nightspinner can as a barrage weapon hide completely from view to fire it's shot and can be used effectively as the least upgraded of the Eldar tank options, requiring no actual upgrades to its weapons or gear. Exposing the Nightspinner to fire is doable and sometimes even necessary depending on the available terrain but in those cases it benefits from its BS to reduce scatter.


'''Warp Hunter (Forgeworld)''' : The update made things interesting.  Now it has a D-flail, str 7 ap 3, which can either be fired as the banewolf template from hell or as a three shot barrage weapon. (Small blasts). It keeps distort, but this incarnation seems to be a heavy infantry killer more than anything else.  If your fielding regular eldar, it's probably not the best choice, but if your going all wraith, all the time, it might be fun to include since it gives you a ranged template.