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===Elites=== *'''Bonesinger (Legends) no longer legends due to having points in CA19''': A psyker that only knows ''Smite'', but can repair friendly {{W40kKeyword|<craftworld> vehicles}} and {{W40kKeyword|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. [[Not as planned |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). ===={{W40kKeyword|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 {{W40Kkeyword|Vehicles}} and {{W40Kkeyword|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: [http://wasted-knights.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/joys-of-melta.html 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]. [[Meme|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+ {{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}}s, 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. <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="10> '''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. <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> *'''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 {{W40Kkeyword|VEHICLE}}s. 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. </div> </div> <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="10> '''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. <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> *'''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 {{W40Kkeyword|monster}}s, 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. </div> </div> *'''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 [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Eldar Harlequins(8E)|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. <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="10> '''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.) <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> *'''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. </div> </div> <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="10> '''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. <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> *'''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. </div> </div> *'''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. <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="10> '''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. <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> *'''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. </div> </div> <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="10> '''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. <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> *'''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. </div> </div> *'''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 {{W40Kkeyword|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 {{W40Kkeyword|Alaitoc}} Spectres [[Troll|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'' [[Wat|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. <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="10> '''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. <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> *'''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. </div> </div> ===={{W40kKeyword|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. <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="10> '''Weapon Loadout Options:''' Wraithblades have exactly two different melee weapon choices depending on if you want to kit them out offensively or defensively. <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> *'''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. </div> </div> *'''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. <div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="10> '''Weapon Loadout Options:''' Just like the Wraithblades, Wraithguard squads can equip one of two guns to deal with opponents at close range. <div class="mw-collapsible-content"> *'''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. </div> </div>
Summary:
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