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

==Matchups and Counterplay==
Last but not least, here are some general tactics and counterplay advice on dealing with the various factions you may find yourself facing.

===Imperium===
*'''Space Marines''' - GW's posterboys are the most diverse and flexible faction you will ever face, especially if they're allied with any of the other Imperium factions. Space Marines generally have very balanced stats and reliable saves, but will suffer from a general lack of bodies and can largely be susceptible to your psychic powers. While the methods to deal with the following chapters are largely the same, each one has a unique twist that does significantly alter their playstyle compared to a generic or custom list.
**'''Black Templar''' - Space Marines with an emphasis on close combat, the Black Templar also specialize in shutting down enemy psykers; a problem for your Warlocks, Farseers and Spiritseers if you are expecting their support. 
**'''Blood Angels''' - One of the most famous close-combat Space Marine chapters, the Blood Angels certainly aren't lacking for ways to get into melee and tear your squishy eldar inside out like the rabid vampires they are. Storm Guardians, Fire Dragon Exarchs and Wraithlords equipped with Flamers can discourage Blood Angels from getting too close while Shadow Spectres and D-Scythe Wraithguard can absolutely ruin the day of anyone attempting to charge them. In general though, you'll want to try to pick the Space Marines off at range where you can.
**'''Dark Angels''' - A gunline faction of Space Marines that's effectively immune to morale and absolutely loves plasma. They're somewhat more vulnerable to being tied up in melee than some of the other factions listed here, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're bad at fighting in it. To hit modifiers will severely discourage them from attempting to overcharge their plasma weapons while units with native invulnerable saves (like your Shining Spears, Ghost Axe Wraithblades) generally won't give a shit about the plasma's AP values.
**'''Imperial Fists''' - Space Marines who specialize with Bolters and are able to neutralize cover bonuses. They also have anti-building and anti-vehicle stratagems and Doctrines, so you'll want to take a care if you're fielding any tanks. Your Wraith Units can generally tough out their bolter-spam and aren't terribly bothered by the bonuses Imperial Fists bring to the table.
**'''Iron Hands''' - A 6+++ FNP, 5+ Overwatch and doubled wounds on vehicle damage tables make the Iron Hands a bit daunting to approach. This is made more potent by their Devastator Doctrine letting them casually cruise about and fire their Heavy Weapons without penalty, rerolling 1's to hit for good measure. Goddamn! You won't want to take half measures on Iron Hands vehicles; bring them down as quickly as you can. Wraithguard, Fire Dragons, Hemlock Wraithfighters, Fire Prisms and Dark Reapers are honestly your best bets to quickly punch through their armor, though you can endeavor to have some fast units like Windriders or Shining Spears tie up their vehicles and prevent them from participating.
**'''Raven Guard''' - Sneaky marines who'll be particularly tough to crack open at range and several tools for rapid deployment and battlefield control. Thankfully, your new ''Masterful Shots'' Custom Craftworld Attributes completely negates their primary Chapter Tactic while ''Hail of Doom'' and ''Masters of Concealment'' have particularly useful synergy in countering them. That said, many if not most of your units will need to get within that 12" range to even attack at all, so it's not like their tactic in and of itself will pose much trouble. You will ideally want screening units to ensure the Raven Guard cannot set up around your valuable gunline units.
**'''Salamanders''' - Pyromaniac Marines who ignore AP-1 shots and can re-roll one hit and wound roll per ''unit''. Thankfully, since your weapons mostly tend to have either 0 AP or -3 AP, their extra tankiness won't really affect you so long as you don't take ''Hail of Doom'' as an attribute. Salamander players looking to abuse their exclusive Doctrine or play true to their fluff will typically come packing with a fair few flamers, so you'll want to avoid getting into close combat when possible. If you insist on doing so, at least make sure you have some Howling Banshee screens to shut down their overwatch before you commit anything more to the charge.
**'''Space Wolves''' - A particularly unorthodox chapter of Space Marines that has access to particularly brutal close-combat units. Yet another faction to generally avoid close combat with.
**'''Ultramarines''' - Vanilla marines, in every aspect. While they have access to their own unique psychic discipline, relics and units (like Roboute Guilliman), much of what they do is pretty much what most generic custom chapters can do.
**'''White Scars''' - If there's any SM faction that could rival your mobility, it'd be the White Scars. All of their units get the ability to advance ''and'' charge while their {{W40Kkeyword|Bikers}} essentially gain your Battle Focus, only made better by letting them move and shoot heavy guns without penalty. Combined with their unique stratagems and psychic discipline which buffs their mobility even more, you'll find it borderline impossible to outflank these speedfreaks.

*'''Deathwatch''' - The Space Marines designed to slaughter anything not human (heretic or no), and they certainly pack the tools to do it. Try to spam Mortal Wounds against Kill Teams utilizing a Terminator or Storm Shield to tank high AP hits before you light up whatever's left of their squad and beware the hell of their Frag Cannons.

*'''Grey Knights''' - Everybody's a psyker and everybody is able to kill you at range or in melee. They're one of two factions in the entire game that can spam Smite without the Warp Charge increasing, though most non-elite units will only deal a flat 1 mortal wound. Save your denial roles for powers from their disciplines and engage them at range; they're significantly less dangerous and have a relative lack of dedicated gunline units. As an elite subdivision of an already elite faction, you won't find it hard to outnumber whatever force your opponent is bringing to bear. With the introduction of their Tides (combat doctrines), you'll want to pay attention and avoid engaging them in matchups that compliment their current tide. You can prevent them from changing the current Tide by denying any of their Psykers attempting to use Warp Shaping.

*'''Astra Militarum''' - A horde-friendly army with no shortage of heavy armor, Astra Militarum can spam bodies and tanks from table edge to table edge and be cost effective doing it. Their main weakness is a mediocre ballistic skill and generally non-existent weapons skill (with a few select exceptions), but they make up for it by being able to fill the air with so many shots that you'll still lose something valuable by the end of the turn. To hit modifiers are the bane of Imperial Guard players, and while spamming them is a good way to avoid taking any casualties, it's also a good way to [[RAGE|lose friends]]. [[Just as Planned|But that's why you're still going to do it anyways]]. Close combat is also a pretty decent way to deal with their infantry and tie up their tanks; Howling Banshees in particular can semi-reliably carve through them without support and as long as the Exarch is up and has her War Cry ability, the retaliating Guardsmen will struggle to do the same. The lynch-pin of guard hordes are ''officers''. A few Ranger squads taking advantage of their inbuilt -1 to hit and deep strike abilities will make a cautious guard player hug his officers close to LoS blocking terrain and gimp his effective order range since most guard players skip the range improving voxcasters to take more bodies. After that, prioritize any auto-hitting weapons such as Hellhounds and Flamer Special Weapon Squads since they don't give a damn about your hit modifiers. 

*'''Adeptus Mechanicus''' - The Imperium's cyberpunk tech support is a mixed bag; very flexible and abundant special weapons make their basic troops particularly adept at handling virtually any standard threat while their heavier vehicles and servitors can weather no small degree of firepower before falling. Their Skitarii units share very similar statlines to aspect warriors like your Dire Avengers or Howling Banshees; reliable accuracy both at range and in melee make them significant offensive threats, but they crumble easily enough to most standard weapons. Caution should be taken around their basic Vanguard troops; not only do they put out a significant amount of dakka, but they can also debuff the toughness of anything they engage in melee. For you, this means any S4 attacks coming in on your living infantry will wound them on a 2+, a "privilege" normally reserved for nurgling swarms. Ad Mech notably lacks much in the way of in-house psychic support and are vulnerable to your offensive powers.

*'''Adeptus Custodes''' - The most elite standard army you could face, bar a pure Imperial Knight list, that is an absolute nightmare to face in melee. Though they are exceptionally durable, they do have a notable weakness to mortal wounds, particularly those incurred from psychic powers. You also won't find it challenging to outnumber and outmaneuver them. Under ideal conditions, don't attempt to match their close combat game under any circumstances.

*'''Adeptus Sororitas''' - Bolters, Flamers and Melta. The holy trinity abounds in the Sisters of Battle armies and should be expected whenever you see them take to the field. Though it is in somewhat short supply, using long range units like Rangers, Dark Reapers and Fire Prisms will let you engage the sisters well outside their conventional ranges. Despite their reliable saves, sisters are also notably squishy underneath all that armor and faith; massed fire from Guardian blobs, Dire Avengers, Windriders or War Walkers will invariably whittle through them reasonably well enough. If you're bringing psykers, keep in mind that much like the Grey Knights, every single unit of sisters can attempt to deny the witch. Unlike the Grey Knights, they are limited to only 1d6 for their denials, but they have several oppressive ways to buff their rolls and debuff your psychic tests if they're close enough. Keep your Warlocks at bay.

*'''Imperial Knights''' - Very big, very scary robots that can fuck your shit up sideways if approached carelessly. More often than not they'll be used to supplement detachments composed of the other Imperial factions (like the Adeptus Mechanicus, with whom they share a lot of synergy with), but they still occasionally are fielded as a pure-strain army. In the case of the later, you'll effortlessly be able to outnumber them and maintain much higher control over the table, giving you an advantage in objective-based game modes. Your Wraithguard, Fire Prisms, D-Cannon Support Weapons and Wraithknights can deal severe damage to them with enough support. You'll have no real trouble providing it either, as again they lack much in the way of stopping your Psykers from buffing or debuffing whatever you need so that you can reliably break through their defenses.

===Chaos===
*'''Chaos Space Marines''' - These guys play similarly enough to regular Space Marines that many of the same tactics that apply to them apply here as well. Key differences do start with their Daemon Engines, which regenerate automatically each turn if not completely destroyed, as well as the ability to summon in Daemon allies if they so desire. With the new legion supplements there's a wealth of sneaky combo's that CSM can pull of, -7 ld against guardian swarms can be devastating so keep an avatar or a WILL OF ASURYAN farseer close when fighting night lords, with the easy access that chaos space marines have to death star units your going to need to find a way to kill of their charecters of debuff their units without having JINX or DOOM denied, allying in a kabal of the black heart detachment for AGENTS OF VECT can be very useful hear as some CSM stratagems are so pivotal to their playstyle, Vect Concealed or Meat shields when you can as a unit of untargetable slaanesh Obliterators is going to cause you serious problems if it isn't dealt with early on. 

*'''Thousand Sons''' - The only other faction in the game that can spam Smite to hell and back without penalty and has enough native psychic potential to rival and even outclass your own. Multi-wound weapons are arguably a must against these guys, as any 1-wound weapons actually increase their Rubric marine's saving throws by 1 (even the invuln save). Tzaangors are actually fairly threatening to engage in melee against, so much like the Death Guard, you'll want to keep your distance as you lay fire upon their ranks. You'll want to save your deny the witches for any major psychic powers your opponent attempts to cast

*'''Death Guard''' - Slow, thick and pestilent, Death Guard represents the best of what papa Nurgle has to offer; Disgustingly Resilient models that can shake off hits left and right as they gradually creep across the table. High strength/AP weapons are a must and any guns that deal multiple wounds (like Starcannons and Reaper Launchers) are ideal in order to overload any lucky FNP rolls they may get once you punch through their toughness and armor. You will have absolutely no trouble outrunning Death Guard units and keeping them from getting into combat with your ''much'' squishier infantry models.

*'''Chaos Daemons''' A general rule of thumb with Chaos daemons is that they all rely almost entirely on their invulnerable saves to deflect incoming attacks. This is exacerbated by their generally lower toughness (T3 infantry on average, Chaos God dependent). To this end, you should prioritize maximizing the number of shots your units put out as opposed to harder hitting firepower. You'll also want to bring a few psykers to both lay down mortal wounds to get through their invuln saves and to run interference against ''their'' psychic powers (particularly against Tzeentch).
**'''Khorne''' - Notably the only daemon faction without Psykers (given how Khorne [[RAGE|hates]] them, this is unsurprising), Khorne daemons are particularly vulnerable to your psykers and mortal wound spam in general. As an army entirely focused on melee units, they are also very vulnerable to being picked off at range, something you should have absolutely no trouble accomplishing. Bring down any Skull Cannons they may have brought and stay the hell out of melee with these guys.
**'''Nurgle''' - An army wide 5+++ FNP gives all Nurgle daemons some defense against mortal wounds and effectively two chances to shake off any damage that breaks through their 5++ invuln save. Their painfully slow movement speed will ensure you will have no trouble playing keep away the entire game.
**'''Tzeentch''' - A native buff to their standard invulnerable save means most of their standard units benefit from a 4++. Units to watch out for would be their Flamers and Blue Scribes, the later of which can make your Psykers permanently lose any power they fail at casting within 12" of them.
**'''Slaanesh''' - The subjects of She-who-thirsts and effectively the only faction you'll ever face who'll trigger your Ancient Doom ability (not that it really matters). Much like Khorne, Slaanesh daemons are dedicated melee combatants only with a heightened emphasis on speed over power. Suffice to say, pick them apart at range where you can. Dire Avengers are a cheap and decent option to intercept incoming charges due to their better overwatches.

*'''Chaos Knights''' - Evil Knights that individually are more flexible in their loadout than their imperial counterparts. As a dedicated Super-Heavy list, they are heavily limited by their minimal model count and being focus fired. Wraith units and D-Weapons in general are excellent Knight-B-Gone tools that can erase or cripple knights after a single volley. Psychic powers, namely Guide, Doom and Jinx are highly recommended to ensure every shot you make counts. Offensive powers like Smite are also great tools to bypass their toughness and armor/invuln saves. Special note, in a Battle-Forged Knight list, you can opt to use leadership buffs/nukes and Mind War against their nominated {{W40kKeyword|Character}} to lay down a large number of mortal wounds a turn. Defensively, hug LoS blocking terrain like your life depends on it; in many cases it does. You may also wish to place your more valuable units (like Wraithguard or Fire Prisms) in reserve so that they can be protected in the event you fail to get first turn.

*'''Renegades and Heretics'''

===Xenos===
*'''Craftworld Eldar''' - By now, you should have a solid idea on how they play, seeing as how that's what this entire page discusses. Try to focus on outmaneuvering your opponent and focus on taking down their psychic support whenever possible. Pay attention to whatever Exarch Powers they elect to give their exarchs where applicable and put their aspect warriors in generally unfavorable matchups when you can. Ironically, craftworlders are among the best in the game to deal with to-hit modifier spam should your opponent try to cheese you with them. Dark Reapers don't give a shit about these modifiers and between the flamers available to your Storm Guardians, Fire Dragons, Wraithguard, Shadow Spectres, Wraithlords, and Hemlock Wraithfighters you're not terribly short of potent auto-hitting weapons perfectly suited to bypassing these defenses completely. If nothing else, mortal wound spam through your plentiful psykers or aspect warriors (like Striking Scorpions or Swooping Hawks) also effectively neuter these tactics.

*'''Dark Eldar''' - Your edgy kin are just as fast and deadly as you, though they're a bit frailer. They lack any native psychic support, which gives you a slight advantage if you choose to go that route, but they make up for it by their units being a bit more flexible and deadly, especially in melee. Their poisoned weaponry doesn't give a damn about your Wraith units' high toughness, so caution should be taken when facing large numbers of splinter rifle wielding kabalites.

*'''Harlequins''' - Your clown cousins are probably the trickiest of your kin to deal with; their insane speed coupled with their universal 4++ invuln saves make it difficult to successfully wound them on the approach, especially since they can simply move through terrain and models to get to your dudes. Wraithblades and Wraithlords can match or even overpower them in a straight up fistfight, but beware any Fusion Pistol wielding Troupes; they'll ruin your day. Where applicable, flamers from Storm Guardians, Fire Dragons, Wraithguard (D-Scythes) Wraithlords and Shadow Spectres are ideal for both overwhelming their invulnerable saves and heavily discouraging close range charges. Dire Avengers, with their 5+ overwatches and plasma grenades are also reasonably decent charge screens and the Exarch (if geared for melee combat) can perform almost as well as any one of their troupe models in a fight. Otherwise, just focus on overloading their invulnerable saves with sheer volume of fire. Guardian Defenders, Swooping Hawks, Windriders and Dark Reapers can do well in this matchup ''if'' they can get the first shots in. Alternatively, mortal wound spam courtesy of Rangers, Striking Scorpions, Swooping Hawks and the ever obvious Smite/Executioner powers to circumvent their invulnerable saves. In the case of your standard units, this is somewhat unreliable however. Conversely, so long as you focus down any Shadowseers your opponent may have brought, Smite spam is a very reliable option that can and will dispose of entire troupe squads at a time.

*'''Ynnari''' - Ultimately, the Ynnari will play just like any of the prior eldar armies mentioned, only with an obvious predilection towards melee combat. They'll honestly probably be easier to deal with than if the player had just run those factions in their vanilla incarnations, since Ynnari lists sacrifice a lot of the original synergistic psychic and stratagem options for more generic, overpriced, situational and arguably useless equivalents.

*'''Orks''' - A tough horde of [[Boyz]] who'll do their damnedest to close the distance and beat you to death in an ideal world. Don't waste your time going overboard with to-hit modifiers; tempting as it may be with their basic BS 5+, their Dakka Dakka Dakka! rule lets all Ork units auto-hit on 6's regardless of modifiers. Due to this, you should also not underestimate ranged lists in the slightest as they can and will wipe units through sheer volume of fire alone. Your Wraith units can safely tango in melee with Orks, though you'll want to keep an eye out for Power Klaws. For the rest of your infantry, use your superior speed to kite their units while dashing into cover wherever possible and pick away at them from range. Their relatively low armor saves makes them easy prey from these kinds of hit and run tactics.

*'''T'au''' - One of the shootiest armies in the game, and honestly one of the most vulnerable to your numerous to-hit modifier debuffs. An average BS of a 4+ makes it tremendously easy for units like your Warp Spiders, Shadow Spectres, Hornets and any Flier you field virtually impossible to shoot (especially if you're running Alaitoc as your Craftworld) while you can engage them in relative safety. They also have virtually no defense against your psychic powers and have next to no dedicated melee units outside of any Kroot they may have fielded. To this end, Howling Banshees in particular are an anathema to the T'au due to their ability to completely shut down overwatch.

*'''Necrons''' - Extremely tough metal skeletons that will. Not. Die. You'll need to focus down entire squads at a time or they'll slowly start replenishing lost models thanks to their reanimation protocols. Characters and any Vehicles with Living Metal also need to be focused down quickly, as their automatic healing makes attempting to chip them away an exercise in futility. They are particularly vulnerable to your vast array of psychic powers as the only way they can deny the witch is to upgrade their canoptek vehicles with Gloom Prisms. Take down any such vehicles and drown their units with psychic mortal wounds to make quick work of the rank and file they fielded.

*'''Tyranids''' - These space bugs are well renowned for two things; hordes and monsters. Both are particularly adept at melee combat and many of their units can either match your speed or even surpass it. Try to keep your distance and focus down any Synapse Tyranids that you can. Take a care with their innate Shadow in the Warp, as it can particularly interfere with your Warlock's casting. Warlock Conclaves can overcome this by using their ''Concordance of Power'' stratagem to cast safely outside the range of SitW if needed.
**Keep tabs on any units like the Venomthrope or Malanthrope, who can buff nearby tyranids with to-hit modifiers and take them down as soon as possible. Fire Prisms excel at killing single-model units like these, the Linked Fire stratagem in particular deserving a mention. Dark Reapers, as ever, serve as a handy counter to hit-modifiers and can even be used as snipers with the appropriate exarch power.

*'''Genestealer Cultists''' - Unlike Imperial Guard (whom they may take as "allies" btw), many of the Genestealer units in this faction are ''not'' ideal targets to engage in melee. Between their Aberrants, Acolytes and Purestrain Genestealers, these guys will tear through your infantry (and even Wraith units, in the case of Aberrants) like tissue paper. Be extra cautious of squads deep-striking into your back lines and keep a Farseer paired with a squad of Dark Reapers to heavily discourage this tactic.


[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(8E)]]
[[Category:Eldar]]

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