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

===={{W40kKeyword|Aspect Warriors}}====

*'''Shining Spears:'''  Taking a glance at their stats, they look like Windriders with +1 Ld, but they are more expensive. That is before you look at their special abilities and weapons, and the fact that they got to keep their 3+ armor save. You gain a S6 AP 4 D2 weapon (the Exarch can upgrade to a S8 version for basically 2 extra points) in addition to the twin shuriken catapult, and a '''4+ invulnerable save vs shooting''' allowing for some shoot, charge, withdraw, shoot shenanigans that will leave the Mon'Keigh raging. They have been vastly improved from 7th Edition, and can cause some serious damage when charging, though their cost might be prohibitive. Remember to always shoot the twin shuriken catapults! It's very easy to forget about them. Honestly, they are the hidden gem of the CW Index and borderline OP in a {{W40Kkeyword|Ynnari}} list.  A minimum unit is effectively immune to morale, and for 102 points, you can either shoot anything 28" away for up to 6 damage (by Advancing and then shooting the Lances at no penalty, thanks to Battle Focus), or shoot and reliably charge anything 22" away for up to 20 damage.  Even better with a Warlock Skyrunner along to cast Quicken, of course; an {{W40Kkeyword|Alaitoc}} warlord skyrunner can support them with a morale immunity bubble if you're worried about making the unit large.
** Just make sure you blast Sabaton whenever you declare a charge with these guys. You will thank me later.
**These guys got a significant points drop in CA 2019 which seems fair given that ynnari shining spears are now incomparably inferior to what they once were.
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'''Exarch Powers:''' Shining Spear Exarchs have '''Expert Hunter''' as standard issue powers, giving them wound re-rolls against {{W40Kkeyword|Monster}} and {{W40Kkeyword|Vehicle}} units. Like the others, you may replace or pair this power with one of these using the respective stratagem.
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*'''Blademaster'''
**Your Exarch's paragon sabre does a flat 3 damage.  Generally speaking, hot garbage - the situations in which this is better than a Star Lance paired with Lancer are so few you may as well ignore them.
*'''Heartstrike'''
**Your Exarch's melee weapons generate a mortal wound on an unmodified hit roll of a 6 on top of all other damage dealt.  Never take this - like Blademaster, this will almost always behave like Lancer but worse, assuming you take the Star Lance you should be taking.
*'''Lancer'''
**The Exarch generates an additional hit on an unmodified hit roll of 6 while using a Laser/Star Lance. Notably works at range and melee, and will generally behave like +1 to hit, which it will also stack with.  This power plus a Star Lance should ''always'' be your choice over Blademaster or Heartstrike; while it will stack with Expert Hunter, if you're choosing between them, Lancer is better against lighter targets, and Expert Hunter is better against heavier ones.
*'''Skilled Rider'''
**The Exarch (and only the Exarch) has a 3++ invulnerable save against shooting attacks (1 better than stock). A Warlock Skyrunner tagging along casting protect gives the Exarch a disgusting [[cheese|2++ invulnerable save]], bar a potential followup FAQ. As of now, there's nothing saying you can't use CP rerolls on them, either.  The downside is that you have to take shots on the Exarch to use this, so anything that gets through will kill off the most valuable squad member.
*'''Swooping Dive'''
**While the Exarch is alive, the entire unit adds 1 to all charge rolls made. Generally speaking, the best option available, since Shining Spears ''really'' want to be in melee to do their jobs.
*'''Withdraw'''
**While the Exarch is alive, the entire unit may fall back at the end of the fight phase 6" like it was their movement phase. Useless if your opponent Falls Back (or dies), so it's primarily useful when you're on the ''receiving'' end of a charge, allowing you to functionally fall back, shoot, and then charge, without any CP or specialized detachment investment, instead of being forced to choose between falling back and shooting, or hanging out in melee without the charge bonus to your strength.
**Alternative take, this is far and away the best Exarch power as it allows you to move out of combat in your opponents fight phase to move shoot and charge normally in your turn. Wrap your spears around an enemy unit in your turn preferably one that doesn't pose a threat to them in combat, wait out their shooting phase in combat, then at the end of their turn, back your unit out no strings attached. 
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'''Exarch Weapons:''' Shining Spear Exarchs can trade in their Laser Lance for any of the below:
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*'''Paragon Sabre'''
**Trap. It costs the same as a laser lance, so it's effectively free, but you not only give up the lance's shooting profile, you drop to S3 all the time, and D1; S3 is useless against the Shining Spears' primary targets, which are {{W40Kkeyword|Monster}}s and {{W40Kkeyword|Vehicle}}s. The Exarch is re-rolling wounds against your main target anyway, and it's not like the Aeldari are starved for To-Hit buffs anyway, so what's the point? The Exarch already has a ton of attacks for a unit leader, so you want to up the quality of your Exarchs attacks which leads to:
*'''Star Lance'''
**Pay 2 more points for a buffed up laser lance with S8 on charges and shooting.  A minimum unit is still 2 laser lances and a star lance, but you'll have 4 laser hits and 3 star hits in melee.  Easily worth it.
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*'''Swooping Hawks:''' The anti horde option. Deep Striking, great movement and great firing range means that the unit has an absurd threat range. With their lasblasters being Assault 4 with S3 they do appreciate Doom, to-hit re-rolls and big unit sizes, so going MSU with these is a bad idea. At 13 points per model they will still be comparably cheap. If they get trapped somehow, Skyleap will be a good "get out of jail free" option, which can be used in any turn. Bounce at will, ladies. One may be tempted to make excessive use of their grenade packs by landing next to or flying over enemy units. However, even under best circumstances, a max size unit will achieve only 1-2 mortal wounds against a 10+ enemy unit. Given that their typical targets will be guards, gaunts and similar GEQ, 2 mortal wounds will be probably negligible. By doing so the Hawks are put directly into retribution range, which they will probably not survive. In most cases it will be more beneficial to stay save at 24" and only use the grenade launchers if two mortal wounds will make any impact. [[Derp|For some reason they forgot how to use Haywire Grenades.]] An alternative use may be a minimum sized unit for 65 points without upgrades for objective grabbing and finishing off remains of enemy units. In this case you should field some other means of anti horde weapons as well.
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'''Exarch Powers:''' Swooping Hawk Exarchs have '''Herald of Victory''' as their default power, uniquely granting +1 Leadership to all {{W40Kkeyword|<CRAFTWORLD>}} units within 3" of them. This does have its own minor uses, such as buffing a Mind War Farseer or supporting blobs of Guardians. Outside those specific uses, this generic ability certainly doesn't compare to the selection below, so don't feel compelled to waste a command point on HoV's behalf.
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*'''Intercept'''
**Your Exarch and the unit accompanying him may reroll hit rolls against units that {{W40Kkeyword|Fly}}. Kind of handy given the general abundance of that keyword, but not the most useful of these powers.
*'''Suppressive Fire'''
**When your Exarch fires overwatch, the charging enemy must subtract 2 from their charge rolls. This can make your Swooping Hawks a fantastic screening unit against combat heavy armies.
*'''Exarch Evade'''
**Your Exarch confers a squad-wide 5+ invulnerable save. A good defensive power for fighting a variety of different armies.
*'''Rapid Assault'''
**When your Swooping Hawks successfully charge/get charged, your Exarch adds 2 to their attack characteristic for the turn.
*'''Fast Shot'''
**Exarchs alter their ranged weapon profiles to Assault 6. [[Dakka|Dakka Dakka Dakka!]]
*'''Swooping Barrage'''
**Your Exarch and his unit add 1 to all Grenade Pack rolls, triggering mortal wounds on a 5 and 6. Just like the scorpions, doubling your chances to deal mortal wounds (especially since all your hawks need to do is land near or move over enemy units) is awesome, especially when running larger units.
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'''Exarch Weapons:''' Swooping Hawk Exarchs can take a power sword in addition to trading in their lasblaster for either gun below:
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*'''Power Sword'''
**This does not replace your lasblaster and can be taken with either of the two below. For 4 points it gives you a bit of melee bite, especially because you will typically have them within charge range of a lot of units if you make use of their grenade packs. However, you don't want to have your Hawks to end up in close combat anyway and 2 power sword attacks won't make any noticeable impact. In the end it feels like a waste to spend points on equipment you don't want to use in the first place, and you are better off spending these on other units (like spears for your Warlocks and Farseers).
*'''Hawk's Talon'''
**Lasblaster that costs 3 points more and gives you S5. This is the more straight-forward upgrade for the anti-infantry role the Hawks are designed for. Definitely worth the points, although equally good as the sunrifle. Take whatever tastes better.
*'''Sunrifle''' - '''Legends'''
**Lasblaster that costs 4 points more and gives you -2AP, which will probably negate any armour save your typical targets have. Additionally it causes -1 to Hit if any damage was done. Unfortunately this -1 to Hit debuff lasts only until the end of the turn, therefore it will only have an effect on the consecutive close combat phase, making it rather useless. You could potentially support one of your close combat units like Scorpions or Banshees with it, or imagine the trolling when you kill someone in Overwatch with it! However, most probably you will take this weapon for the AP, not for the blinding effect.
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*'''Warp Spiders:''' These were one of the main reasons everyone hated playing against eldar in 7th. While they lost most of their mobility tricks, the one they kept is still hilariously good: instead of advancing, they can increase their move by 4D6" and gain the {{W40Kkeyword| Fly}} keyword without any other restrictions. That's right, Warp Spiders are now faster than jetbikes almost half the time. Their guns work in much the same way, 2 Shots at Str 6 with an AP of -4 if you roll a 6. Their Flickerjump ability doesn't actually move them, but imposes a -1 to hit in the enemy shooting phase, although rolling snake eyes will kill one of them.  For the love of Khaine keep these guys in cover. A 3+ save isn't much when you're '''always''' in Rapid Fire ''and'' Charge range. 2+ save and -1 To Hit? Now we are getting somewhere! Also because the Spiders rely so much on drowning opponents in saves, and because they can re-roll morale tests, going MSU isn't really the best idea with these guys. With the Fire and Fade Stratagem they also get JSJ back, which again favours big units. The Codex makes them 18 points per model, and confirms that they can use the Jump Packs to Fall Back- in fact, since they get the '''FLY''' keyword when using it, they can still shoot afterwards! Bounce at will! They also finally re-learned how to deep-strike!
**'''How to become [[That Guy]]''': Argue that Flickerjump is not limited to once per turn, but can be activated every time the enemy shoots at you (that's how it's written) and will stack without limits to -3, -4, -5 and so on (that's not explicitly written, but is the wet dream of That Guy). FAQ may change this in the future.
**'''How to counter[[That Guy]]''': Main Rulebook FAQ already indicates that the effects of rules with the same name, do not stack unless they say they do.  So while you can activate Flickerjump multiple times RAW, the end result is still only a -1 to hit rolls.
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'''Exarch Powers:''' Warp Spider Exarchs have '''Iron Resolve''', granting them rerolls to failed Morale tests. Due to their smaller unit sizes and good leadership, this isn't the best vanilla power and unless you really plan on maxing out squad sizes, there's little need to spend a command point to keep this and whatever much superior ability listed below you want.
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*'''Surprise Assault'''
**On a turn in which your Warp Spider Exarch and his unit set up on the field, each model can reroll a hit roll for their deathspinners. A nice supportive power that negates any real need for a Swooping Hawk/Jump Pack Autarch to accompany your dudes.
*'''Withdraw'''
**Like Shining Spears and Striking Scorpions, Warp Spider Exarchs and their unit may fall back at the end of the fight phase 6" as if it were their movement phase. A touch redundant since your Warp Spiders could already use their jump packs to just teleport away without much consequence regardless. Leave the charge-withdraw-charge shenanigans to units designed for melee combat.
*'''Whim of Deceit'''
**Your Exarch and his unit can exit the battle field at the start of your movement phase and redeploy at the end of it via Deep Strike rules. This can only be done once per battle. This is ''slightly'' underwhelming; it can certainly act as a get out of jail free card and it removes the unpredictable variance the jump pack's 4D6 movement can cause, but it seems less useful compared to a few of the other perks here.
*'''Spider's Lair'''
**If your Exarch and his unit are fully on or in cover or terrain feature and an enemy unit successfully charges them, roll a D6. On a 3+, that enemy unit takes d3 mortal wounds. Now this is the kinda power you're going to want! Given how ridiculously maneuverable Warp Spiders are, it's very easy to put them in a position of deep cover where enemy units will be highly encouraged/tempted to dive in after them. That said, savvy opponents will catch onto this tactic quick and will sooner attempt to smoke your spiders out of hiding than risk that kind of damage.
*'''Flickering Assault'''
**Your Exarch and his squad pile in 6" instead of 3". Again, Warp Spiders aren't really meant for melee. Sure, they can survive in it due to their 3+ armor, Flickerjump rules and semi-capable Exarch wielding powerblades, but why would not use units like Shining Spears for that purpose instead?
*'''Spider's Bite'''
**Your Exarch's powerblades get a +1S buff and deal 2 damage per swipe. A much more usable melee buff than the others here, but once again, why not just take a squad of Shining Spears if you want fast, hard-hitting melee units?
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'''Exarch Weapons:''' Warp Spider Exarchs can trade in their deathspinner for either gun below. The Exarch also has the option to pay 4 points to buy a pair of powerblades, very useful now we know they can Warp out of combat at will.
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*'''Powerblades'''
**AP-2 and +1A; your Warp Spiders don't want to be in melee, but if they do find themselves there, this is absolutely worth the cost.  Still, you're better off saving your points and playing them as dedicated to being shooty.
*'''Two Deathspinners'''
**Warp Spiders rely on popping up in cover near a high value target and drowning them in armour saves. This helps them be better at that. Always take this if you can afford the extra 8 points since it's definitely cheaper than another Warp Spider.
*'''Spinneret Rifle''' - '''Legends'''
**It's 4 points cheaper than two deathspinners and with -4 AP, but with Rapid Fire it kinda sucks. You need to be within 9" to get your 2 shots, which won't happen if you deep-strike them (and you'd need them to get any use out of this). While statistically better than even two deathspinners against high armor value, TEQs and MEQs shouldn't really be your preferred targets in the first place. Not really a good option.
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