Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Weapons (section)

===Eldar===

====Asuryani (Craftworld)====
The "good" elves. Eldar have a lot of potent firepower, and even the humble Shuriken catapult can threaten MEQs, basically a Bolter that shreds armour with AP-3 on 6+, though with reduced range. One thing of note is the sheer specialisation of the army's Aspect Warriors: unlike Space Marines or Imperial Guard squads who might have a grabbag of weapons, every model of an Aspect Warrior squad barring maybe the Exarch has the same gun, which can be a blessing or a curse; for example Fire Dragons are all armed with a meltagun, which means they will likely be shot to pieces by anything outside their pitiful 6" range and cut to pieces in melee combat, however any tank or armoured baddie that gets within that range is dead meat; conversely Swooping Hawks get a lasgun-type that puts out an impressive 4 shots, so a fusilade of 20-40 S3 shots will mow down squads of GEQ with contemptable ease but against MEQ or tougher, you just have a harmless laser light show. This is an army where you really need to do your research and figure out what each unit is capable (or incapable) of, whether you are playing with them or against them.

Generally speaking, their ranged options are shorter range than their Imperial counterparts, which means the units often have to expose themselves to charges and rapid fire range - seeing as most Eldar units are GEQ (T3, 5+), this is very bad news. The exception being the Wraith units which are basically magitek golems boasting some really nice statlines (T6, 3+, 3W), requiring a lot of firepower to take down.

'''Popular Units''':
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Unit !! Good for !! Countered with
|-
| Guardian Defenders || Large numbers, limited utility on offense, good for screening and holding objectives || High volume shooting, blast weapons, melee attacks
|-
| Dire Avengers || Flexible all-rounder infantry, decent against GEQ and MEQ, passable in melee || High volume shooting and blast weapons
|-
| Howling Banshees || Very fast, armour-piercing melee attacks with power swords, effective against GEQ and okay against MEQ || High volume shooting, high wound/high toughness models
|-
| Vyper || Heavy attack bike, mobile and resilient by Aeldari standards, strong heavy weapon options || High strength anti-armour shooting, mortal wounds
|-
| Dark Reapers || Long-range, all-purpose firepower, effective against MEQ, TEQ and vehicles alike especially multi-wound models, great for holding objectives and chokepoints in the back || Horde charges, melee attacks
|}

====Drukhari====
The bad elves. Like the Asuryani, the Drukhari consist of mostly GEQ-type units. Even the humble lasgun can threaten Drukhari vehicles, and bolters will smear these evil elves across the landscape, to say nothing of even more high-power weaponry. They rely on cover, positioning and magic shields and the like to avoid being hit in the first place, rather than heavy armour. Fortunately, everything in the Drukhari army flies or skims or at least can be shoved into something that does, so mobility is not an issue.

Drukhari firepower is also every bit as impressive as their good cousins. The basic gun is the splinter rifle, which has no strength stat and instead wounds all non-vehicle targets on 4+ irrespective of the target's toughness. This makes them hilarious against Necrons, Asuryani Wraith troops and tougher Tyranids, and means troops in rapid fire will pile on wounds very, very fast even though the enemies will still likely get to make their full armour save. Remember another thing about Drukhari Heavy weapons is that they count as Assault if mounted on vehicles, allowing them to move fast and hit hard without compromising accuracy (and like all Aeldari they are pretty good shots to boot).

Various melee weapons and Combat Drugs allow these skinny elves to hit a lot harder in close combat than their across-the-board S3 stats would suggest, and they will often be packing anti-tank firepower like Blasters (one of the best anti-vehicle guns in the entire game for the points cost), Dark Lances and Heat Lances up the wazoo. A common fan adage goes that if Drukhari turn up to a table, ''somebody'' is going to be curbstomped, it's just a question of who. Handle with care.

'''Popular Units:'''
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Unit !! Good for !! Countered with
|-
| Kabalite Warriors || Very strong anti-infantry or anti-armour firepower from a small squad, great harasser, decent board control || High volume shooting, horde charges, high volume melee attacks
|-
| Raider || Very fast and decently-armed troop transport, protects fragile squads while allowing them to shoot out || Mid-strength shooting, high-strength melee attack
|-
| Wyches || Very fast close combat infantry, excel at tying up enemy squads with 4++ invul in melee || High volume shooting, blast weapons, overwatch
|-
| Grotesques || Very dangerous and durable heavy assault infantry, very good against MEQ and GEQ || High-strength shooting, D3 or D6 damage attacks, mortal wounds
|-
| Reavers || Very fast and decently tough, superb tarpit unit, good source of mortal wounds || Medium strength D2 shooting
|}

====Harlequins====
The ugly elves. No actually, forget the reference. If you ever play against a Harlequins player, make sure to shake their hand before the game, for you are up against a gentleman and a connoisseur! Second, you need to know about these guys is that you DO NOT want to tangle with them in close combat. Their ''basic troops'' can have 4 attacks in melee - the super-elite Custodes have three, and most troops in other armies might only have one or two, leaving four attacks to be the domain of special characters geared for melee combat. And it isn't just weight of attacks either, the clowns get a good choice of armour-piercing melee weapons and powerful close-range shooting. And to top it all off, these clowns are every bit as mobile as their brethren but also ''ignore intervening terrain on the charge and vault over your screening troops''. Clowns may be a common phobia, but is it a phobia if the fear is rational?

It's a good thing then, that these jokers are as delicate as they are pretty. Even with widespread 4++, the name of the game is T3 and 6+ armour saves (the Shadowseer even gets a 7+, which is just a pisstake), so any kind of concentrated anti-infantry fire or counter-punches will splatter them even easier than Guardsmen. They also have few options for retaliating against long-range fire - seriously, a handful of Shuriken Cannons is the best they can do.

Generally speaking, any kind of high-volume anti-GEQ shooting will threaten most Harlequin units, as will mortal wounds. The few exceptions are their vehicles, like the Voidweaver (a clowny version of the Asuyrani Fire Prism tank), which require something a bit stronger. The trick is just getting clear shots as the dodgy bastards.