Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Eldar (section)

====Phoenix Lords====

[[Fail |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 {{W40Kkeyword|aspect warrior}}s, 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 <s>just faking it; the [[Drazhar|real one]] works for the Dark Eldar.</s> {{FWIP}} '''Ignore the vile and insidious propaganda of the [[Dark Eldar |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 {{W40Kkeyword|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 [[Awesome |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 [[Eldar |-1 to Hit Eldar can stack on top of this]] (even without going Alaitoc), he can potentially give your [[What |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 {{W40Kkeyword|aspect warrior}}s 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 ([[Awesome|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 ([[Rape|making him S7]]) and attack characteristics ([[Rape|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 {{W40Kkeyword|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 [[/d/|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, [[Awesome|he is wounding everything below T8 on a 2+, letting him take on anything short of a Super-Heavy]], and [[Rape |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 {{W40Kkeyword|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 {{W40Kkeyword|chaos}} units.