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

==Unit Analysis==

===HQs===

*'''Troupe Master:''' No longer a squad sergeant but a full-fledged HQ, allowing you to fill out Detachments. Is reasonably cheap at just 60 Points, and comes packing 5 attacks hitting on a 2+ with your choice of Embrace, Kiss, or Caress (or Power Sword, but you're never going to take that). The real reason you take a Troupe Master, though, is for the buff aura, granting friendly {{W40Kkeyword|<MASQUE>}} units within 6" re-rolls to wound in Assault. This is an extremely powerful buff to your Harlequins and should be leveraged as much as possible by keeping multiple units within the aura (remember that only one model needs to be within 6" for the whole unit to benefit). Ideally, a Troupe Master should be nearby whenever you get your clowns into a charge. He can potentially spar with enemy HQs using a Kiss, as his re-rolls help to overcome the comparatively low Strength and AP, but he's best off with a big Troupe hacking through the regular enemy army.  Like the Troupe members, his best loadout is a Fusion Pistol and Embrace.
**However, as a single-model buffing unit, his grenade deserves special mention, not least because it's the same range as a Fusion Pistol.  The grenade can't be thrown in melee, which is significant, but for drive-by shootings, it's substantially better than the shuriken pistol and comes for free anyway.  Since his primary purpose is his buff, not dealing damage himself, there's a lot to be said for leaving him with his Shuriken Pistol, having him rely on his grenade when he needs to, and spending the points elsewhere.  Don't do the same thing with his melee loadout unless you're ''certain'', as the gap between a basic weapon and an Embrace is drastic.
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'''Pivotal Roles:''' By default Troupe Masters get Choreographer of War. However you can, trade this in or pay 1 CP to pick one of these other perks instead/in addition. You cannot have duplicates of any pivotal roles.
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*'''Prince of Light''': Reroll charges for {{W40Kkeyword|<MASQUE>}} units within 6”, adding 1 if you already could. 
**Probably not a good idea to take this with Player of the Light, even with the free extra inch. Harlequins are already fast as fuck and can basically guarantee charges in the move phase as is.
*'''Darkness’ Bite''': After this model fights, you can select a unit it attacked, that unit suffers 2 mortal wounds.
**On one hand, it's free damage, enough to delete a Terminator for free just by sending one attack into its unit, though clowns tend to be blenders in melee combat anyway. However, if you are up against an elite army with a bunch of invuln saves, this can be a godsend.
*'''Twilight’s Grasp''': For every melee attack against a unit that is not a MONSTER or VEHICLE, an unmodified wound roll of 2+ is always successful.
**This can make your Troupe Master a very scary anti-infantry unit. Giving this to one alongside Choreographer and a high AP melee weapon (embraces or even power swords are good choices) and throw it at anything that doesn't have the aformentioned keywords will likely result in those things dying in a painful manner.
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*'''Shadowseer:''' Moved from the Elites to HQs, with a price bump to match. The Shadowseer clocks in at 110 Points. Possessing the ability to cast two spells in the Psychic phase, a decent melee presence with 3 S5 AP-1 D1d3 attacks, and especially the Shield From Harm ability. The defensive counterpart to the Troupe Master's Choreographer of War, it means your opponent must subtract 1 to wound rolls against friendly {{W40Kkeyword|<MASQUE> infantry}} units within 6" of the Shadowseer. This is a potent defensive bonus and one of the few defenses you have available, and much like the Troupe Master's bonus should also be extended to as many units as possible at once. The sheer joy of seeing weapons have to wound your squishy, squishy clowns on a 5+ cannot be overstated. Shadowseers are too expensive to spam, but at least one is practically mandatory for any list.
**Neuro Disruptors can be taken for 5 points, increasing your Shadowseer's damage output while also being slightly more reliable than the stock shuriken pistol. Potentially worth taking now that it's not 10 points on an already expensive model.
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'''Pivotal Roles:''' Replaces Shield from harm or pay 1 CP to pick one of these other perks in addition.
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*'''Veil of Illusion''': Friendly {{W40Kkeyword|<MASQUE>}} units within 6” of this model count as being an additional 6” away when shot at. For cases where you need to determine if a model is at half range, this is factored in.
**Arguably the best of the three. Shut down rapid fire guns, prevent flamers from doing anything during overwatch, overall a nice buff.
*'''Gloomwake''': Friendly {{W40Kkeyword|<MASQUE>}} units get the benefit of cover if within 6” of this Shadowseer.
**Additions like this make me question if GW reads their own rules or not. This would be fine, though invulns are not affected by cover. Literally useless unless you've got a shadowseer keeping pace with some bikes or clown cars. Skip for literally anything else.
*'''Agent of Bedlam''': Subtract 1 (to a minimum of 1) from the attack characteristic of enemy models within 6” of this model.
**Very nice on a Shadowseer that likes to get into combat. This is per model, so against larger groups it can shave off a pretty big chunk of their threat. Works best on stuff that has an attack characteristic of 2.
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====Special Characters====
There aren't any named Harlequins with rules right now, but since you can field Harlequins in an Ynnari force, the Ynnari named characters are listed here.

===Troupes===

*'''Troupe:''' Oh BOY have Troupes really gotten better than the last edition. To start off you can buy all of your Harles fusion pistols for 7 points each. Added on to the fact that you can shoot pistols in combat during the shooting phase, this makes Troupes a monster in combat. Competent vehicle killers? Harlequin Troupes? Who would have thought it! In addition, they all get a 4++. Yes, you read that right. Armies will no longer shred them anymore, coupled with the fact that high AP weapons will never rend their saves actually makes them an extremely tough unit. And to top it off, Rising Crescendo lets them advance AND CHARGE. Did I also mention they move 8" and are not slowed by terrain or any models?. These dudes are best equipped with the Harlequins embrace for most armies. Overall these flippity-flops just got a helluva lot faster, tankier and deadlier. All at only 11 points per model!
**'''Side Note:''' A basic 5-man Troupe with optimal loadout, Fusion Pistols+Embraces, is 140 points - 1 point less than 3 5 men squads of Kabalites with Blasters, although the Troupe will do a ''lot'' more damage if it can get within Pistol/Charge range against most targets, so they are not cheap, but what they really shine in is melee. A bog standard 5-man Troupe is going to pump out 20 attacks at S4 AP-3, all with fairly good staying power with 4++, perfectly amplifiable with the Shadowseer's and Troupe Master's buffs. Please do keep in mind that even with -1 to wound rolls against them from the Shadowseer, ''they are still T3'', and while with their newly acquired 4++ they may take lascannons to the face for turns without dying ''they still do drop down like flies even under standard bolter firing''. All this in mind, if you cannot stick 'em in combat and/or hide 'em from LoS (preferably both) you should stay in the warmth of your cozy little Starweaver while peppering your opponent with Fusion pistols (which you can do now even if your transport is engaged in combat).  So, in most cases, a starweaver is more than essential.
***As noted above, their 4++ is equivalent to a 4+ against AP0 weapons (slightly worse, in fact, since Harlequins generally get no benefit at all from cover), so you need a Shadowseer if you want to run into mass Storm Bolter fire from something like Grey Knights.  Without a Shadowseer but within 12", every 9 Grey Knight shooters equals 8 dead harlequins; with a Shadowseer around, that improves to 6 dead against the same 9.  As you can see, the Shadowseer is helpful but needs to be near a ''lot'' of Troupes to earn its cost back.

===Elites===

*'''[[Death Jester]]:''' The Jester retains his role as a ranged support sniper, but now has some nasty tricks. The first thing to note is he lacks any melee weapons, so unlike most of your army, he will want to hang back, made a bit easier by his {{W40Kkeyword|character}} status. The next thing to note is that he is capable of sniping other {{W40Kkeyword|characters}} regardless of whether they are the closest. So far, so good. His weapon and Death Is Not Enough is where he really starts to shine, though. His weapon has two profiles. One is a standard shuriken style weapon, the other trades Assault 3 for the ability to tack on D3 mortal wounds if an enemy {{W40Kkeyword|INFANTRY}} model is slain. This lets you potentially knock out small chunks of a unit. Note that the -3 AP on a 6+ applies to both profiles. Death is Not Enough is where the Jester gets his most dangerous punch. If he slays any models, then the target suffers -2 Ld until next turn.  And if a unit he attacks flees, you choose the first model that is removed. This applies for an entire turn, so use your Jester to soften an opponent before a charge. Regardless of whether or not he does damage, if an enemy fails its morale, you'll get to get rid of that special weapon. The only problem is that his trick is situational, best used against certain armies. Other times, you'll just be sniping characters.
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'''Pivotal Roles:''' The Death Jester was the biggest winner in our Psychic Awakening. All of these powers replace Death is not Enough, which you should do, or pay 1 CP to pick one of these other perks in addition to it.
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*'''Harvester of Torment''': Each time the model shoots, if the target has 6 or more models, each successful hit roll scores 3 hits instead of 1. Does not stack with other stuff that causes additional hits
**Sorta like having a passive, better version of An Example Made on a Death Jester. Again, not locked behind a masque but literally only effective against bigger units. Fighting GEQs is basically begging for this thing to be used.
*'''The Jest Inescapable''': Add 12” to this model’s ranged weapons. Unmodified wound roll of 6 inflict 1 mortal wound in addition to normal damage and the target does not get the benefits of cover.
**Especially nice on a Death Jester sitting on an objective in your deployment zone. With a certain relic he can fire at stuff 48" away. Has a bit of synergy with a Jester that has Player of the Twilight warlord trait for farming CP while remaining in relative safety. 
*'''Humbling Cruelty''': Each time this model scores a hit, the target is pinned until the start of your next turn. Pinned units subtract 2” from their move characteristic and cannot fire overwatch.
**This should be your default choice. If you have two Jesters, give this to the one without the relic and have him futher up. Split your shots among three different targets with the shuriken profile for maximum coverage. Only shoot this at things you intend to charge of course, unless fighting Tau. If that's the case, target other stuff so that they can't FTGG. 
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**His Shrieker profile is ''usually'' worthless, because he's doing 1/3 the normal damage in exchange for getting the "lost" wounds back as mortal wounds if his one shot kills someone.  Obviously, the profile is terrible against unwounded multi-wound models (particularly the {{W40Kkeyword|characters}} he's so interested in hunting), as its ability can't trigger, but even when it ''can'' trigger, doing 2 mortal wounds only when the first wound gets through is the same damage amount as just shooting the target 3 times, and meanwhile you've drastically increased the variance in his shooting (it all comes down to 1 shot, not spread out over 3).  You should really never use it. 
***While it is true the single shot's mortal wounds ignore both armor and invulnerable saves, this is ''immaterial'', as the mortal wounds only happen ''after'' the original shot has made it past both.  The ''only'' case in which the single shot deals more average damage is when the additional AP on the ''base'' shot is relevant ''and'' the target has at least 4 models left in it (so you can get the full average on the 1d3 mortal, if you trigger it); in those situations, the worse the target's save/the better their invuln (giving them less penetratable armor), the better the single shot will do (as on a 6+ to wound, both profiles have the same AP), and any Feel No Pain will swing the balance back over to the multishot immediately, due to the FnP's ability to shut down the remaining wounds by saving the first one (e.g. a 6+ FnP will reduce wounds dealt, post-save, from 2 1/2 to 2 2/9).  For example, when shooting GEQ units in cover (T3/4+) with 4 or more models remaining, the single shot profile will deal 22.22% more wounds (1.53 total, as opposed to 1.25).
****Note that the above disregards the Leadership penalty, because it assumes you're shooting to kill now, not trusting to morale to finish the job for you.  Against a target where the Leadership penalty is relevant (i.e. it increases the number of models the target unit expects to lose to morale), the single shot profile will improve, as models it encourages to flee count towards it.  If that same GEQ unit was leadership 6, and it lost 2 models to being shot, and it had 4 models or more left in it, the leadership penalty alone would raise the expected number of models fleeing from 0.5 to 1.67, more than triple (and more than an entire model, in absolute terms).  This is particularly important for Death is Not Enough, discussed below, as you will get to choose which model flees.
**His Shuriken profile has terrible points per wound, but that's very normal for snipers in 8E; he's nowhere near as good as, say, Ratlings or Deathmarks.  
**Take him for Death Is Not Enough, or don't take him at all - that's what he can do better than anyone else.  Remember, he just has to shoot at a unit to activate the ability - he doesn't even need to hit, and it works perfectly well in melee, not just at range.  The only downside to Death is Not Enough is that it won't stack - multiple Jesters won't let you pick additional models to flee - so multiple Jesters will only let you trigger the ability more reliably.  
*'''[[Solitaire]]:''' You know him, you love him. An incredibly powerful single model, with Melee potential that will truly threaten any other infantry or character in the game. Functionally, he hasn't changed much between editions, though he has gotten a couple of buffs. A 12" move puts him among the fastest infantry on the board. His trademark, Blitz, lets him add 2D6" to his move and sets his number of attacks to 10, but he can't use it if he gets Twilight Pathways in the previous turn. Worth noting is that Twilight Pathways is inordinately useful to him regardless since his native movement is higher than other infantry. Just don't use it when you're planning to use Blitz. Between these traits, the Flip Belt, and his 3++, you are looking at a highly mobile character killer. Be careful, though, as he suffers from the same T3 squishiness as the rest of your army. BE cautious and consider a transport, as every enemy sniper and lascannon will desperately try to vaporize this guy before he can reach "terminal threat range." Also, the psychological power of this model is not to be taken lightly. As noted below, a basic troupe can outperform him... but your opponent is still very worried about the solitaire. This is a model you want your opponent to make mistakes over and alleviate pressure on the rest of your army. Very fitting method of fucking with their mind.
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'''Pivotal Roles:''' Replaces Blitz or pay 1 CP to pick one of these other perks in addition. Given that you can only take one Solitare anyway, this is probably the best candidate for taking two on.
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*'''Shocking Emergence''': You may set this model up in deepstrike during deployment. After being brought in from deepstrike, following the standard 9" rule and declaring a charge, roll 3d6 and discard one of the results.
**Very nice, though arguably the worst of all three, which is saying something. On one hand, it's a way to safely get your Solitare into position though there is also normal deepstriking, heroes' path and other such methods to achieve similar results without giving up Blitz. If you don't have a Shadowseer and Death Jester for some reason though, it's a valid choice.
*'''Chromatic Rush''': Instead of rolling to advance, this model can  automatically advance 6”. Each time this model consolidates or piles in, it can move an extra 3” in addition.
**Even more to the Solitare's crazy mobility. Combine with Midnight Sorrow for even more shenanigans. 9" consolidate is even more than a normal clown's movement. 
*'''Unnatural Acrobatics''': Subtract 1 from all attack hit rolls against this model
**Far from bad, though personally wouldn't take it over Blitz. Has synergy with the Suit of Hidden Knives, see entry for that relic for further explanation of how you can cause a mob of orks to blow themselves up on this thing. It also works against shooting, so it can act as another form of defense although you could argue that the 2d6 extra movement from Blitz is the best defense of all.
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**[[Awesome| He has the <MASQUE> keyword now so can benefit from friendly Troupe Master and Shadowseer auras and Psychic powers! They can even ride in Starweavers now meaning they will actually be able to survive for long enough to hit close combat now!]]
**Even on the Blitz turn, not nearly as dangerous as a standard Troupe in melee for the same cost (for 13 points ''less'' than his cost you can field an entire 5-man Shuriken Pistol troupe with Embraces, which will kill almost any target faster than the Solitaire can with its 20 attacks); the primary reason to take him is his ludicrous running speed, as he can run faster than a lot of Jump Infantry can fly, and a 3++.
***Alternative take, even if a troupe will be able to crap out more attacks than he can, keep in mind he can actually take relics, specifically Cegorach's Rose. The reroll for wounds is like having a troupe master in his back pocket, though the 3 damage it has against infantry makes him a threat to any character, multi-wound infantry and so on. Just don't run him into vehicles.

===Fast Attack===

*'''[[Skyweaver]]:''' Clowns on bikes. By default, they come with a shuriken cannon and star bolas at 35 points per model. Do yourself a favor and buy the zephyrglaive. The star bolas are perfectly serviceable - or would be, but as with other Harlequin units, you want them in close combat, plus they are Grenades, so you can only throw one per unit. The scary part is how mobile they are. A 16" move, plus a 6" automatic advance, then the charge. They also fly, so can drop out of combat, fly over their enemies, and play amazing hit and run (and hit again) tactics. At 3A and 3 wounds with their 4++ and -1 penalty against anyone shooting them, they stick around longer than they have a right to, knocking out models all along the way. A good default tactic is to advance, shoot, charge, then fall back, shoot, and charge again next turn. Keep in mind that they are among the most mobile units and, if needed, can also harass at range until they swoop in for the kill.
**Note the once humble Zephyrglaive. Once largely ineffective, it occupies a niche role as a 2 Damage weapon. Use these guys' maneuverability and speed to hunt down multi-wound models like Terminators, primaris marines, heavy weapons teams and characters.
**The codex made haywire cannons Assault d6, making them very mobile and dangerous anti-vehicle platform. Taken with the Soaring Spite allows them to shoot after advancing with no penalty.
***Mathhammer does put the Haywire Cannon ahead of Shuriken Cannons against any Infantry/Monster T5 and below due to their AP and rate of fire. The Shuriken Cannons pull ahead against T6 and up, and naturally, Haywire is always better vs vehicles. Defaulting to Haywire isn't a bad choice if you have the points to spare.

===Dedicated Transport===

*'''[[Starweaver]]:''' Because you really, really want to get your troupes up close and personal (and that is 100% of the time you field them). In the 8th edition Starweaver received a MAJOR buff, now making it probably the best transport in the entire game [[Cheese|(still maybe a bit short of Wave Serpents and Valkyries)]] and what is more important, [[ Troll | it is much more infuriating to take down]]. As it was before it is fast, open-topped, and has a 4+/4++ (now 4++ is permanent) with 6 wounds. Mirage Launchers, now they are here not to modify your invulnerable save, but on a permanent basis give -1 to hit for any shooting attack against you, making it much more survivable in shooting,  [[ Troll | (All those marines with their lascannon spam will be forced to hit on 5+ after moving, and I'm not talking about IG) ]], For armament it has shuriken cannons, while not phenomenal, do their bladestorm effect and now can fire at whatever you want that firing arcs are gone. It is no slouch in melee; it has the best WS of all vehicles with marinesque 3+, and with A3 S5 it can now kill a few MEQ/GEQ on its own with 3 attacks; sadly, it loses its -1 to hit in melee, so do not expect it to survive well there.  All is good, but, honestly, the worst part is that it can only carry 6 {{W40kKeyword|<MASQUE>}} {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} and you do not have access to a DE raider or any bigger capacity transport.
**'''Note on Points:''' For <s>99</s>80 points as of CA 2019 with 2 Shuricannons included, this boat is a steal and is very similar to a DE Venom which, incidentally, comes at 75p with double Splinter Cannons (presumably a tax for being able to bring a character along and to use it for fusion shenanigans despite the fact that fusions are really only good against high toughness stuff without an invuln which basically all harlequin units are decent to amazing against....). While they do share a lot in common, the Starweaver has better transport capacity, better invulnerable, and better movement, while not pumping as many shots at close range. Its main use is not only to transport your units and to provide them shelter until they can assault on turn 2 but also to soak up overwatch (and with 4++ it can do it pretty reliably); Overwatch is your worst enemy, just as it was before, and when each and every model of yours has 4A at S4 AP-3 and you are paying 24-33 points for that pleasure losing even one Player may spell doom for your assault and thus may even cost you a game.
**Disembark your clowns and then charge these in first to eat overwatch for the squishier guys. Not only will this thing stand up to massed bolter fire better, being wounded on 5s but it's also not too terrible in melee either as stated above.

===Heavy Support===

'''[[Voidweaver]]:''' No longer a mandatory tax, so now the real question is are they worth taking? Short answer: maybe.  With the Haywire and Prismatic Cannons both being Assault weapons, you're now a little more accurate with your shots while on the move, and can even advance for laughs.  It's no longer a terrible unit, but it faces some pretty stiff competition. As of CA 2019 this thing got a serious point decrease down to 90. Since prismatic cannons now cost the same amount as haywires, you'll almost always take the prismatic cannon since bikes are a much more spammable method of getting haywire onto the field. Keep this thing out of combat, its main advantage over anything else is being able to threaten a variety of targets at a 24" range. It can put out 1 fusion strength shot with its lance mode at 24" compared to a starweaver full of clowns needing to be within 6" to get out more shots. It's pretty niche though with its new cost, it can now be justifiably taken in some lists, especially if you're trying to get a Brigade (which is easy to do in the current codex).

===Fortifications===

*'''Webway Gate''':  For 120 points you can finally pick this giant arc. Fluffwise, it is the very reason of Eldar trollability to suddenly appear somewhere, where they completely shouldn't be. Crunchwise, it is still a giant arc with T8, 14 wounds, 3+ and 5++ which helps you to deep strike your units. It is set up anywhere on the battlefield more than 12" from enemy deployment zone and their units during your deployment and, of course, is immobile after that. What it allows you to do, is to be able to set some of your {{W40kKeyword|AELDARI}} '''units''' in the Webway (aka Necron style Tomb World), but, aside from 1 unit per gate (aka 1 unit per Night Scythe) restriction, you also must be 9" away from enemy, just like for normal deep strike (both parts can be amended a bit via '''Webway Ambush''' stratagem, so check out the [[#Stratagems|Stratagems]] section for more info), AND within 3" from the gate. Of course, if the gate is destroyed, all units, that were in the gate's Webway (the Webway form '''Webway Assault''' strategem is not the same one) are slain. On the one part, it does let you save some CP for not using aforementioned '''Webwey Assault''' Strat and, furthermore, allows you to deep strike your Vehicles on the contorary to it. Still, the restriction for model placement (9" away from the enemy or 1" with '''The Labyrinth Laughs''' Strat and within 3" of the gate itself) poses a large threat that your opponent just bubble-wrap your nice and large gate with infantry blob, thus making actually using the gate a bit of "Risk-Reward" tactics, if not even a bit of a doubtfull one. The model is very nice thou, so don't restrain yourself from using it as a piece of terrain.
*'''Universal Fortifications''':  Harlequins benefit more than most from taking Bunkers and Bastions.  Assuming a 6" diameter building, they have an effective threat range of a 42" circle (this is often squished into an oval due to deployment zones), or roughly a quarter of the board.  While your faction transports are certainly faster, the building are far more durable.
**Note that these will require a fortification detachment, which may be an issue if you plan on spamming for CP.