Last Stand - Farseer

The Farseer is the Last Stand Hero of the Eldar.

Overview

The Eldar Farseer is simultaneously one of the strongest and weakest heroes; she has, perhaps more than any other hero, the ability to completely warp an entire battle's progression for her team's favor, and she has remarkably high survivability for a character who tends to focus on abilities like she does. Indeed, many who are more familiar with her Chaos counterpart are usually more than a bit surprised by how survivable she is in contrast to the (at first) abhorrently bad survivability of the Sorcerer.

What makes the Farseer powerful is her ability to influence the battle indirectly. Her abilities can cause more pandemonium and disruption to the enemy than is probably healthy, and enable her to seriously reduce the threat enemies pose to her teammates. She also boasts some offensive abilities, though these aren't as potent as their counterparts. In trained hands, she's absolutely terrifying, since she can easily flow between different types of support as the battle and her wargear merit.

In truth, however, the Eldar Farseer's biggest weakness is honestly damage output. She gets a number of very powerful skills in Eldritch Bolt and Eldritch Storm, and these can be (and are) remarkably powerful, but are nowhere near as good as comparable abilities used by the Chaos Sorcerer, Mekboy, or Tau Commander offensively. She actually has only modestly good mobility; indeed, hers is the dead-center middle - ahead of the Tyrant and Lord General, but behind the Sorcerer, Mekboy, Tau Commander, and Space Marine Captain.

Armor

• Farseer Armor - Default
  • Armor Rating: 16
    • Default Armor. It fails at everything and should never be used.

• Armor of Vaul - Level 1
  • Armor Rating: 184
  • Trait: Fearless (Immune to Suppression)
    • This initial armor boasts absolutely gigantic defense for a caster, as well as the fearless trait - an incredibly powerful combination, to say the least. Right out the gate, the Farseer boasts very high survivability specifically because of this, and this armor remains useful for quite some time due to its heavy armor and Fearless trait.

• Rune Armor - Level 6
  • Armor Rating: 68
  • +50 Energy
    • This armor is more in-line with the Chaos Sorcerer's armors: Modest defense, but an ability specifically-designed to support a caster. In this case, one might immediately see the Rune Armor's vastly lower defense and immediately ignore it, but that does the armor a huge disservice; the Rune Armor gives a massive amount of secondary energy, and since the Farseer relies so heavily on her skills to do much of anything, this boon is absolutely gigantic and thusly not to be underestimated. It tends to lose its sparkle as the game goes on, however.

• Ghosthelm - Level 13
  • Armor Rating: 44
  • +1 Energy Regeneration
    • Like the Rune Armor, this lower-defense armor is easy to overlook - especially with access to another suit of armor on this list. On the other hand, +1 Energy Regeneration, for a character like the Farseer, is fucking huge. It dramatically improves her peformance and ability to stay in the fight by simple virtue of letting her cast far more often, and that's a particularly handy advantage to have, especially when one considers that it can be stacked with her other abilities for a veritable font of energy regeneration that lets her throw out spells in a barrage.

• Armor of Eldanesh - Level 18
  • Armor Rating: 132
  • Ability: Psychic Shield (Raise a psychic shield which halves incoming damage and causes it to reduce Energy instead of Health.)
    • Yet another overlooked armor, but this one has a few defenders owning to its heavy defense and access to Psychic Shield. Though often an avoided ability, the Armor of Eldanesh giving the Farseer a means to resist damage means that it makes a good survival option, especially if the Farseer gets overwhelmed. The drawback of course is that the Farseer is an immensely energy-reliant hero; burning off energy from her pool can leave you short of it in a bad situation.

• Mantle of Malan'tai - Achievement Unlock: Revive 75 Allies as the Eldar farseer
  • Armor Rating: 165
  • Trait: +0.5 Energy Regeneration
    • This unlockable armor frequently is seen as the better version of the Ghosthelm armor, due to the fact that it has much heavier armor; On the other hand, however, the energy regen boost is only half as strong. Whilst at a glance, this means the Mantle of Malan'tai is much stronger, the energy regeneration rate boost available from the Ghosthelm is infinitely better for many builds. It is still a very effective armor, however, and one of the most commonly used.

• Armor of Idranel - DLC
  • Armor Rating: 165
  • +100 Health
  • Trait: Unshakable (Immune to Knockdown)
    • An almost bizarrely powerful armor that is undeniably the most-commonly-used, by simple virtue of its massive health boost and strong armor rating. Just as strong as the Mantle of Malan'tai defensively, the huge health buff it gives is what pushes it over; 100 extra health plus that level of armor means an incredible level of survivability, but when it has Unshakable as well, that's just outstanding. Perhaps more than any other Farseer armor, this one is the hardest to justify not using, since its massive upsides eclipse almost anything the other armors can do, though many players eschew it in favor of the other armors, either for Fearless (Armor of Vaul), Energy Boosting (Ghosthelm, Rune Armor, Mantle of Malan'tai), or access to Psychic Shield (Armor of Eldanesh). Or just because they don't want to pony up for it.

Weapons

• Witchblade - Default
  • One-handed Melee Weapon
  • 7.0 DPS

• Shuriken Pistol - Default
  • One-handed Ranged Weapon
  • 2.6 DPS

• Pistol of the Warseer - Level 1
  • One-handed Ranged Weapon
  • 2.6 DPS
  • Traits: Combat Expert (+30% Melee and Ranged Damage), Swift (+25% Movement Speed)
    • The main reason you should be taking this weapon shouldn't be because of the Combat Expert, though that helps, it should be the Swift trait, which helps make running around a lot easier.

• Pistol of the Doomseer - Level 1
  • One-handed Ranged Weapon
  • 2.6 DPS
  • Ability: Eldritch Bolt (15 Energy, Fires a rolling blast of psychic energy at the target)
    • Not a bad weapon to start off with as a combat Farseer, as this works like the Sorcerer's Doombolt.

• Witchblade of the Crone - Level 1
  • One-handed Melee Weapon
  • 20.0 DPS
    • Considering that your default sword is shit, take this.

• Singing Spear - Level 4
  • Two-handed Melee Weapon
  • 19.0 DPS
  • Traits: Unshakable (Immune to knockback)
    • Stack this with the Armor of Vaul when possible, as this will make your Farseer a whole lot more durable in battle without need of taking the Armor of Idranel.

• Witchblade of Isha - Level 9
  • One-handed Melee Weapon
  • 10.2 DPS
  • +0.3 Energy Regeneration, +25 Energy
    • This weapon works more with assist-focused Farseers, as this will give you some more energy to use your special abilities.

• Pistol of the Skyseer - Level 14
  • One-handed Ranged Weapon
  • 2.6 DPS
  • Ability: Levitation Field (15 Energy, lifts enemies in the air and then tosses around for knockback damage)
    • WARNING: This will not help against Unshakable doppelgangers in Wave 16 in the Bloodied Coliseum.

• Warp Spear - Level 19
  • Two-handed Melee Weapon
  • 12.2 DPS
  • Ability: Warp Pull (5 Energy, pulls enemies toward the Farseer)
  • Trait: Pitiless (Farseer has a chance to cause massive damage)
    • This is a weapon that fits many builds, as this can both pull away enemies from a dying ally and pull shooty targets close enough for Pitiless to do its work.

• Lauging Stave - Achievement Unlock: Earn a Score Multiplier of 275 as the Farseer
  • Two-handed Ranged Weapon
  • 11.1 DPS
  • Traits: Knockback (Enemies hit by this weapon will be knocked back), Laughing Runes (-25% Energy Cost)
    • Taking this weapon will grant you some major help with your powers, as it will make all your powers cheaper.

• Debilitating Witchblade - DLC
  • One-handed Melee Weapon
  • 7.1 DPS
  • Traits: Sap (Reduces an enemy's melee damage by 50% for 5 seconds), Energy Leech (Restores 10 Energy when this weapon kills an enemy)

Accessories

• Runes of Warding - Level 1
  • Ability: Ward (25 Energy, grants ally temporary invulnerability)
    • This is a lifesaver for the Farseer, as this can be the difference between saving your ally or dying and failing a run. Just beware when fighting your Wave 16 doppelganger as the enemy will use this with impunity against you. Especially if they're going for that Tau Efficiency achievement.

• Runes of Herlequin - Level 1
  • Ability: Confuse (15 Energy, confuses the target, forcing it to attack anything nearby for a while.)
    • This is more situational than it looks, as if you use it at the wrong time, this will sic the squad right back at you, which may or may not be what you intended.

• Runes of Fleetness - Level 2
  • Ability: Fleet of Foot (5 Energy, grants the Farseer a speed boost at the cost of her damage output)
    • If you really want to work support as a Farseer, then this will be your go-to tool for making those quick saves. Take care though, as this is not a triggered ability, but a temporary one.

• Runes of War - Level 4
  • Traits: Combat Master (+40% Melee and Ranged Damage)
    • If you play a combat Farseer, then this will be an auto-include, as it will make you much more of a threat than everyone would expect.

• Runes of Deception - Level 7
  • Ability: Conceal (20 Energy, grants invisibility to allies within the field)
    • This is a bit more situational than other abilities, as this won't make much difference when you're being chased by swarms or Banshees, but it can let you make a Cyrus-style stealth save.

• Runes of Fortune - Level 8
  • Ability: Fortune (10 Energy, grants ally a substantial defense bonus)

• Runes of Wrath - Level 10
  • Trait: Second Strike (Delayed psychic strikes follow each time the Farseer attacks in melee)
    • Stack with the Runes or War to make your Farseer a bunch more deadly as and assault character.

• Runes of the Warp - Level 11
  • Ability: Group Teleport (15 Energy, teleport all nearby allies to a targeted location)
    • Where a Sorcerer would teleport to gt into combat, you have a teleport to get away from the ruckus. This can definitely help make shenanigans happen, especially against slower enemies or shooty prey. It can also be useful in getting near a fallen ally and rescuing them.

• Runes of Vigour - Level 12
  • +0.3 Energy Regeneration
    • This is not a useful thing, as it takes up a slot better used for neater powers.

• Runes of Evasion - Level 16
  • Traits: Evasive (All attacks made at the Farseer have a 30% chance of missing)
    • Whatever your role, you can never go wrong with some extra evasion to go along with it. Unless you're at Bloodied Coliseum, where your doppelganger will be just as annoying to kill.

• Runes of the Spider - Level 17
  • Ability: Entangle (15 Energy, ensnares an enemy, making them unable to move, but able to attack)
    • This is a lifesaver when dealing with Banshees or other agile targets, as they will hound your ass at every opportunity. This can give your team the time it needs to wipe them out.

Commander Items

• Spirit Stone of Eldritch Might - Level 5
  • Ability: Eldritch Storm (50 Energy, Unleash a large psychic storm, disrupting and damaging enemies in a large radius. While channeling this powerful spell, the caster will be immune to damage but not regenerate energy)
    • This is a big risk to take, as it will drain all your energy and make you unable do anything else while it's up. However, it's useful in removing large waves of enemies from the room.

• Spirit Stone of Illusion - Level 15
  • Ability: Veil of Tears (50 Energy, Confuses half the enemies on screen and makes them attack the nearest target regardless of alliance)
    • This is not quite as big a risk, but considering the situational use of the normal Confuse ability, this may turn against your favor very quickly.

• Spirit Stone of Vigour - Level 20
  • Traits: Invigorating Leadership (+0.3 Energy Regeneration for all nearby allies)
    • This is an item that definitely helps others, as heroes like the Lord General and the Sorcerer can live or die depending on how their energy levels are.