Aspect Warrior
For those Eldar who wish to follow the Path of the Warrior, they have specialized warriors known as Aspect Warriors
They focus themselves to hone their martial abilities by following the way of the warrior, which creates a portion of their psyche called a "War Mask" which protects their minds against the horrors of war. This has the advantage of essentially protecting them from PTSD and turning them into stone-cold killers even if they were raw recruits who have never fought in battle before. A War Mask can be "removed" after the warrior has left the battlefield and he can return to his life as if nothing had happened afterwards.
However, due to Eldar anal-retentiveness sometimes it can lead them to become utterly obsessed with their job and Aspect Warriors can become incapable of separating their "War Mask" from their normal personality. Such warriors are known as Exarchs, and they lead squads of Aspect Warriors, although despite their leadership role and badassery other eldar (and most Exarchs themselves) tend to pity and mourn them, as their original personalities is all but dead, replaced with simple-minded mask, incapable of any emotions not related to their aspect. It goes so far as Exarch soulstones are placed in his armour, which is passed to another Exarch so the deceased warrior can share his knowledge and skills with a younger exarch, so they not only lose their personality but are also denied the proper afterlife. All Aspect Warriors fight according to one of the aspects of Kaela Mensha Khaine. Each Aspect was founded by a warrior known as a Phoenix Lord, who serves as the ultimate embodiment of that Aspect.
The rest of the Eldar army is composed of Guardians. These are not professional full time soldiers, but rather just civilian militia conscripted in from other Paths of the Eldar. These individuals do not have a "war mask" and typically have their minds shielded by a Warlock who has been an Aspect Warrior in the past to prevent the sensations of battle from overwhelming them (because seriously, who wants to stand beside a dedicated dreamer or mourner on the battlefield?) in addition Guardians get assigned to more generalized or less hazardous tasks that Aspect Warriors would be wasted on.
Aspect Warrior Types
Dire Avengers
Basically upgraded Guardians. They were the first Aspect Warrior path and the original founder of their temple was Asurmen, the first Phoenix Lord. They are good all-round troops, with the ability for their Exarch to be upgraded with a power weapon or Diresword, or some sort of miniature void-shield. They are given Avenger Shuriken Catapults and Aspect Armour, which gives them a decent save in comparison to other Eldar, and an increase on the range of their Shuriken catapults.
They represent Khaine in his aspect as a noble warrior.
Howling Banshees
The second Aspect temple were the Howling Banshees, founded by Jain Zar. Their namesake comes from Eldar mythos where banshees are warp apparitions that foreshadow doom with their loud cries.
So the story goes, Morai-Heg: Crone Goddess, wanted to drink her own divine blood and learn all of knowledge stored in it. But the only creature capable of harming a deity was Khaine, who actually didn't want help her out. So she sent her daughters to bitch and whine at Khaine until he relented and cut off her hand to shut her up. In return he kept ownership rights to the Banshees and created an aspect.
They carry power swords and shuriken pistols and equipped with a Banshee mask, which amplifies the wearer's battle cries into a psychic scream that disorients their target, giving them the initiative and allows them to keep their namesake as the screaming harbinger of bloody murder. While the Exarch can take twin powerblades, a power sword and boomerang or a badass executioner, which is basically a power naginata. High initiative (as much as Slaanesh-marked Chaos Space Marines) and power weapon make them a big trouble for power-armored foes. They are also a favored target of fa/tg/uy lusts due to their...form-fitting armor. It's worth noting that whilst the Howling Banshees are a traditionally all-female aspect, they do accept male recruits, but they wear the same armor as the other Banshees and are treated as female for the duration of their service. This means that any one of those sexy badass warrior babes could in fact turn out to be a trap. FUUUUUUUUUU-TANARI!
On the tabletop they've had a rough time of things since their 4e codex due to being fragile at T3 with a 4+ save, striking at S3 when their main targets (marines) has a toughness of 4 or better, not having quite enough weight of attack to deal with large numbers of enemies, and having initiative and WS values only somewhat better than their targets of choice (and ones inferior to Wyches who serve much the same role in Dark Eldar armies). This is compounded by a lack of assault grenades to strike first against enemies in cover or assault transports to bring them to their opponents safely.
6e slapped them hard right off the bat with the new power weapons rules, the many nerfs to assault (not being able to run and charge was especially devastating), and being ruled only able to bring swords, and they got a lateral buff at best with the new book, which really didn't fix their old problems while improving their competition (buffing Scorpions a bit and introducing Wraithblades). The Exarchs did get quite a lot better though, but now; like Genestealers they have been reduced to glorified sergeant escorts.
The new 7e codex gave them a rather significant buff - they still don't have plasma grenades, but they now ignore cover when charging and can charge further. Also, their masks now suppress overwatch fire, which helps them out quite a bit, especially against folks like Tau, or units with multiple flamers.
Furthermore, the entire Eldar book and indeed the meta as a whole really isn't lacking for 3+ or better armor save killing capacity, thus further ensuring that the primary battlefield banshees will see is that of the shelf. A cruel fate for one of the most iconic Eldar units (though given the similar prominence and screwing over of the Bloodletter for Chaos armies, the Warrior for Tyranids, or Tactical Terminators for marines they at least have company in misery) that is seen in virtually all media involving them and is one of the first things that comes to mind when the Eldar are brought up.
They represent Khaine in his aspect as a harbinger of doom.
Striking Scorpions
Eldar answer to Khorne Berzerkers and Ork Boyz. Their founder was Arhra, but he was said to have been too driven by murderous impulses and so he went renegade and burned down the first Aspect Temple (that had belonged to Asurmen) and it was Karandras took his place, who tempered their killing Rage with patience, so they became stalking serial killers instead.
Sneaky dudes with chainswords, shuriken pistols and mandiblasters built into their helmets. They can take a beating almost as well as they can dish it out. The Exarch can take a bigger, badder chainsword which gives a +2S or a powerfisty Scorpion's Claw, which doesn't slow him like a mon-keigh fists, and with proper training Exarch can hit with it as hard as marines with their fists.
They represent Khaine in his aspect as a silent hunter. Also said to represent Gork and Mork in their aspect of being green ded killy 'ard as nailz choppy-dakka murdermachines.
Fire Dragons
Said to represent the mythical dragons who basically just destroyed EVERYTHING indiscriminately.
If they get within 12 inches of anything AV14 and below, it's going to blow up within the turn. Dragons are armed with either a Fusion gun, which operates like an Imperial melta gun, or a Firepike, which is basically a long-range fusion gun. Their Exarch can also take a Dragon's Breath flamer weapon, but only if he wants to lose his only use on the battlefield. They also carry melta bombs to allow them to take out tanks on the charge.
They have meltas and meltabombs but oddly, the Exarch can take a big flamer instead of his big melta. You should not want. Their Phoenix Lord Fuegan is the bestest tank destroyer out there, better even than railguns and Leman Russ Vanquishers. He's also a beatstick in CC, carrying a burning axe that lets him fight like a monstrous creature. An often overlooked aspect (pun not intended) of Fire Dragons is that they train in demolition, sabotage, anti-tank warfare (ie; identifying the weak spots of armored vehicles and fortifications), and siege warfare.
They represent Khaine in his aspect as a careless destroyer.
Dark Reapers
The story goes that Khaine once battled the Nightbringer and wounded him. Though the injury caused shards of the C'Tan's existence to migrate into the psyche of all of the races of the galaxy (except Orks) making them share a common fear of death and according to Wikipedia, this urgent fear of death was what eventually precipitated the birth of the Chaos Gods, CAUSING the grimdark in the first place... WAY TO GO Khaine!. In return, these shards pierced Khaine's body and he gained a new aspect as the Destroyer.
Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra founded this aspect. (Which is a bit weird, because Ra himself handles...absolutely nothing like his aspect.) He was said to be obsessed with Death and stood apart from his fellow Phoenix Lords.
Something like a hybrid of a Dire Avenger and Fire Dragon. Use them to kill MEQs and AV10-all around vehicles. The Exarch can take a big missile launcher of the type only seen on support platforms or Wraithlords, but with More Dakka.
On the tabletop, dark reapers are essentially a squad of Ap3 heavy bolters with T3, good accuracy, and a 3+ save. This means that they are very good against MEQs and have the range and weight of fire to be dangerous to lighter but more numerous infantry and annoy heavier infantry and 3+ save monstrous creatures. The Exarch can either use a shuriken weapon (never do this) or a missile launcher that he can double tap and has all the same warheads as it's Imperial counterpart (with the exception of the frag warhead being replaced by the better plasma warhead).
Dark Reapers are good units at what they do with the problems of cover saves being everywhere, the entire codex now being excellent at marine slaying, and sharing a slot with the also fiercely competetive and more versatile war-walkers, wraithknights, fire prisms, night-spinners/other assorted forgeworld Eldar tanks, and vaul's wrath batteries. The Eldar heavy support slot is filled with excellent units and each of your three/six slots are precious. So while the Dark Reaper is by no means bad, it's a good unit that has to compete with a lot of excellent units.
6ED brought back something they have had since 2ED, Krak missiles. With long-range anti-tank missiles available and an increase in squad size their scores just went up.
Of course you can now throw the FoC out the window so have fun with them.
They represent Khaine in his aspect as inescapable death.
Shining Spears
They are the fastest Aspect, striking at ridiculous speeds and withdrawing in a flash. Until recently nobody knew their Phoenix Lord, but he has since been named as Drastanta, who went missing after the fall of the first aspect temple, so you still can't use him on the tabletop.
Shining Spears have jetbikes and a Laser Lance (unusual power weapons), and the Exarch can take a Star Lance for a more powerful stat line.
They represent Khaine in his aspect as a light-speed blade.
Swooping Hawks
Eldar mythology uses Hawks to point out those marked by guilt, so that everyone would know their crimes and judge them accordingly.
Their Phoenix Lord is Baharroth who was said to have been Asurmen's finest pupil, which is derp since on the tabletop he's probably the most mediocre of all the Phoenix Lords.
Once used only for yo-yo grenade bombing now they are kings of glancing vehicles to death, being fast, and decently armored, while equipped with haywire grenades. And with new codex update they can grenade bomb while perfectly deep-striking, and their Eldar flashlights became surprisingly terrifying through sheer number of shots they deliver.
They represent Khaine in his aspect as a precise predator.
Warp Spiders
Warp Spiders are named for the beings of energy that inhabit the Infinity Circuit that travel through its links in the Webway and purge it of foreign influences (such as daemons or psychic intruders). Though they are identified as Aspect Warriors it is not entirely known what Khaine's connection to the Warp Spiders is, since they do not have a fixed Phoenix Lord and it has been established in Gav Thorpe's Paths of the Eldar series that Khaine's influence has no place in the webway, which in fact is why Exarchs and Phoenix Lords count as mini-Infinity Circuits on their own.
C.S Goto's contentious book Eldar Prophecy presented Lhykosidae whose armour materialised spontaneously at the Warp Spiders shrine during the time of crisis when he was most needed, rather than being a suit of armour that gets passed from bearer to bearer adding his personality to the sentience within the suit. If Lhykosiae is a Phoenix Lord borne out of the webway, then essentially his personality would have to be the gestalt consciousness of the ENTIRE SPECIES. Fucking Goto.
The Eldar's premier jetpack infantry, Warp Spiders use the warp to teleport from place to place, allowing them to strike at their enemies from virtually any location in the blink of an eye. Their guns are called "Death Spinners", which shoot out a mist of monomolecular threads that expands and slices through flesh and light infantry armor on contact with little effort. While this makes the spiders fairly unreliable against power-armored armored units since the spinner's threads can't penetrate it properly (although it gets an AP1 version of bladestorm...why AP1 when that only matters against vehicles is anyone's guess), they are never-the-less a frightening foe against the likes of guardsmen and gaunts, and are surprisingly effective against vehicles, especially if they get to their vulnerable rear armor (which is not a big deal with such mobility). Their Exarch is given two death spinners which are attached to the back of his armor for mobility and two power blades which he holds for close combat, though on the tabletop, he's generally outclassed in assault by any unit that can melee better than a guardsman.
Shadow Spectres
The Shadow Spectres are a newer Aspect, thought lost until the armor of their Phoenix Lord, Irillyth, was recovered from an Imperial world, as chronicled in Forge World's Imperial Armour Volume Eleven: The Doom of Mymeara.
They fly around on jetpacks and wear holofields, making them look kind of like ghosts, if ghosts also shot prismatic lasers of doom. Their weaponry is fairly high-strength as infantry weapons go (especially for Fast Attack infantry), and they can combine their beams into a super-beam of death that gets more powerful as more of them join it (in fact, the technology is the same as the Fire Prism's main cannon).
Between their ghost-like appearance and name, and their tendency to become Wraithguard after they die, they represent Khaine's aspect as an eternal warrior, even after death.
Unfortunately, the latest codex has enshrined Warp Spiders as the Eldar solution to Jetpack Infantry, which is clearly why Forge World invented these guys.
Crimson Hunter
A fairly new aspect but one on the rise. Rather than a blade or a gun the Hunters use a jetfighter. No Phoenix Lord has been mentioned for them, but it may be Amon Harakht, who was mentioned once as the Phoenix Lord of the Eagle Pilots.
They represent the Blinding Blades of Khaine, which were forged from the blood that constantly drips from his hands, they strike at the weakest points and leave the enemy easy prey for the close kill. Therefore, bringing down foes who think themselves above him.
The Unknowns
Whether these are actually Aspect Temples, have been retconned out, or were once supposed to be something, nobody knows.
- Slicing Orbs of Zandros: The strangest aspect to ever be named. They were apparently *oooooOOOOOOooooo* mystEEEEEEEEyrious. But seriously, they just sound silly. They're still around, though, don't worry. Ever see "Phantasm"? That's probably their weapon of choice.
- Crystal Dragons: Probably became the Fire Dragons.
- Eagle Pilot: Some kind of fighter pilot.
Probably became the Crimson Hunters.They're a subsect of Shining Spears that pilot the elder fighter craft. - Ebon Talons: mentioned in ASURMEN: HAND OF ASURYAN
Gallery
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Don't mind me, just posing.
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The best thing is that they can sneak upon you without you hearing their Chainswords. Because Eldar chainswords trigger only after making contact with the target.
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If not their screams, then their swords and pistols will tear you a new one. Still a good way to die.
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How do you want your tanks? Partially melted, or vaporized?
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Bend over. And no, it won't be over soon.
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HOW ABOUT A LANCE TO THE FACE!!!?
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A Eldar Swooping Hawk going against a Dark Eldar Scourge on who's the swoopiest of them all.
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Ah! A WAHP SPIDEAH! - Captain Diomedes
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BOOOO!!
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