Warhammer 40,000/10th Edition Tactics/Eldar
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This is the current 10th Edition's Eldar tactics. 9th Edition Tactics are here.
Why Play Craftworld Eldar
Pros
Cons
- Shuriken weapons lost their AP bump on a critical hit. Honestly kinda crippling for a force that relied on it to get an edge over well-armored foes like marines. They still have an AP of -1, so it’s still reducing Marines to a 4+ Armor save - the same as an Eldar Guardian, and their still wounding Powered Armored Marines on a 4+, with their 2 shot 18 range assault guns - that lets them advance and shoot; it’s still a decent gun against most infantry in the game. Plus they get to re-roll a wound roll every time they select to shoot, so they still have a good chance to do some decent damage. Still sad to see it go, as it had become pretty iconic for the weapon, and really bought it back to relevance in previous editions, when the gun was a bit of a sad joke of a weapon; might still be a thing on Avenger versions.
- from the designer notes, the army will be very fragile, and collapse like a wet cardboard box if they let the enemy get within spitting distance, so unfortunately it looks like melee Aspects are going to be off the table this edition; not that they have been very good over the last few editions anyway. This also means Eldar characters like Phoenix Lords are probably going back to being subpar (boarder line unplayable) options; Farseers have already lost a wound from their last incarnations, so that doesn’t look too promising. Wraith constructs are likely going to be less resilient then in previous editions. This is rather unfortunate, as they don’t really hit any harder then the other factions overall; many factions actually hit far harder. They may end up being a ‘Glass canon, without the canon”; which is often the fear for this army - if they make them too fragile and expensive then they will just be swept off the board.
Faction Rules
- Strands of Fate: At the start of the game, roll 12d6. If you don't like what you get you can re-roll the entire pool with one less die in it, and you can repeat that if you like, although of course at one die there's no reason not to keep it. You can use any of these dice in place of other rolls for advance rolls, charge rolls, battle-shock tests, hit rolls, wound rolls, damage rolls and saves.
- Because the number of dice doesn't scale at all, the more units your army has the more advance, charge, and battle-shot rolls you'll tend to have, with a similar concern for hit and wound rolls based on attack volume (damage too, but static damage weapons can mitigate this). Your melee units are more dangerous as one big unit (it will cost you fewer dice to guarantee a charge) and your ranged units are more dangerous with single-shot weapons that hit accurately and very hard (if will cost you fewer dice to hit and wound).
- Math on re-rolling: the rolls you can use your dice for don't all work the same way and as a result a truly optimal rolling strategy depends on your list and your opponent's list, but the short version is that what makes the most sense given that you need to be able to quickly determine if you're re-rolling or not is counting how many dice you rolled that were 4+. If you roll less than half your pool (don't round; half of 11 is 5.5 and 5 is less than 5.5) as 4+, re-roll. This will give you, on average, 6.78 (slightly more than 6 and 3/4) 4+ dice that will be reasonably likely to help you without worrying too much about too many otherwise-useless 1s or incredibly valuable 6s.
- As long as you have one Farseer you can potentially change a low roll into an automatic 6 (per turn, so one in your turn and one in your opponent's - a potential of up to 10 over the course of a game), so even if roughly half your rolls are low you can keep them and later turn them into an auto success. These dice count as an unmodified roll, so those 6s will be providing additional rules depending on the weapon being used.
- There are seemingly no restrictions on how many dice you can use per turn or per unit - each time a die would be rolled it can be substituted as long as it is one of the rolls listed. Spending them defensively is therefore a relatively bad idea, because you are free to dump your entire pool into wiping out your enemy and thereby avoid needing to make defensive rolls in the first place. Spending on them on acquiring more Fate Dice - e.g. by helping your Defenders of Fate units wipe out whatever is contesting their objectives - is a very good idea.
Detachments
Battle Host
Special Rules
- Unprecedented Foresight: Your units can re-roll one hit and one wound roll each time it is selected to fight or shoot. Most useful on single powerful shot weapons, such as a Bright Lance or Fire Prism or potentially useful on Exarchs, depending on if they are usable this edition. This is a nice rule that means you are less inclined to use your Fate Dice on smaller actions, and allows you to be more confident in keeping them aside for when you really need them.
Stratagems
- Fire and Fade (2 CP): One non-Aircraft unit that isn't engaged can immediately move after shooting (their full movement). While they can't run into a transport or charge after moving, it's still great for keeping your forces out of an open lane of fire.
Equipment
Unit Analysis
Characters
- Farseer: In an age where many have lost their array of psychic power, the Farseer is one who hasn't suffered quite as severely. Branching Fates lets you make a Fate die you use on one unit within 12" count as a natural 6, which is incredibly useful if you've got some bad rolls. Fortune lets you give a friendly unit within 12" a bit of protection by letting any attacks against them take -1 to wound.
- While their combat prowess remains limited, Eldritch Storm being a weapon does give them the ability to handle some crowds (and unlike the majority of psychic weapons, it's not Hazardous). The choice between the Singing Spear and Witch Blade is pretty much a choice between the Witch Blade's Anti-Infantry 2+ making it pretty lethal on unprotected foes and the Spear's ability to be thrown as a ranged weapon.
- Probably best to keep them away from the frontlines, as they are kind of bad in combat, and use them as a support unit for your big guns- that -1 to the wound roll is going to be far more useful in keeping your tanks alive then it is wasting it on Guardians; who should be sat back on your objectives farming Fate Dice anyway.
Epic Heroes
Battleline
- Guardian Defenders: Shuriken weapons lost their universal AP bump on a critical hit, which severely limits their effectiveness against more armored foes. Catapults remain reliable Assault weapons, so they can at least still be fired on the move. Their mobility is just as vital too, as they can cap objectives so you can roll 1d6 to add to your Strands of Fate pool.
- This revamp of Strength and Toughness also affects your weapon platform's uses as well. While the Scatter Laser remains a reliable horde weapon, the Shuriken Cannon now gets Sustained Hits 1 so it can more easily handle armored troops. The Starcannon is now relegated to mostly targeting small monsters at S8 AP-3 D2, with the Brightlance going anti-tank for S12 AP-3 D2+d6 and the Missile Launcher giving you the ability to do either at reduced effectiveness.
- These guys are going to be sat on an objective and farming Fate Dice that the rest of your army can use- probably best keeping them at minimal until size and giving them a weapon platform that has a longer range, so that they can take advantage of that extra hit and wound re-roll, whilst keeping them out of the enemy’s reach.
- stick some eldar support weapon units or War-walkers in front, and fortify your position. Use these units to babysit your Fate Farms, then when you can move forward to claim another objective, leave the minimum sized unit of Guardian’s behind on the previous objective, and move up the board with another small unit of Guardian’s to set up another Fate Farm.
Infantry
- Dark Reapers: from the weapon preview it look like the Reapers will be able to Ignore cover when they shoot, this looks like a generic rule that Reapers gain; however, with the way the rules are being implemented, it is very likely that Exarch Power options are once again gone entirely.
Vehicles
- Fire prism:
- although we do not have the entire unit rules yet, we do have the rules for its main weapon.
- It has a dispersed Pulse and a Focused Lance function. The Dispersed Pulse gives you 2D6 attacks at ST6 and 2 damage (AP -1), the Focused Lance gives you 2 attacks at ST18 and 6 damage (AP -4). The Prism is pretty good at dealing with both individuals and hoard targets, but isn’t really outstanding in either; however it does provide a more stable performance then a lot of other big guns in other factions.
- Linked Fire: enables multiple Fire Prism’s to fire through another Fire Prism that is visible to it. You can have a bit of fun here, as you could have two or three Prisms out of range of the enemy, then get a Farseer to give one of them the -1 to wound bonus (even something with a strength 20+ is going to be wounding it on a 3+), send that one forward, so that it’s in range of something you want gone, use Linked Fire to fire all six Focused attacks at the enemy unit; re-rolling 3 hit rolls and 3 wound rolls, as each model is attacking individually, or 6D6 shots with blast. This should give you around 36 wounds on a target if you used the Focused Lance, and managed to get them all through, more then enough to take anything out the picture; if you managed to take out the primary target early, you could simply change to the Dispersed mode for some quick Hoard management. If the Prism takes damage from any kind of retaliation, then it has that handy -1 to wound, and if push comes to shove, and it becomes a target of something it really doesn’t want to be hit by, use a Fate Dice to shrug it off. You could also use Fire and Fade to zip forward, unleash hell, then immediately move back to safety. If it’s taken a beating, then send it back, bless one of the other fresh Prism’s, send it forward and rinse and repeat.
Falcon:
- As with the Fire Prism we do not have the full rules reveal yet.
- Fire Support: If you fire into an enemy unit then until the end of the turn, any friendly models that have disembarked that turn can re-roll the wound roll each time they make an attack against that targeted unit until the end of the turn - this applies to all attacks, not just shooting attacks. Depending on their rules, this could be massive for units like Fire Dragons.
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