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Which is the optimum Reaper Exarch build? I've been toying with both Tempest with Crack Shot and EML with Fast Shot as they're the same points. The Tempest's 2 AP2 Guess blasts looks good but it's shorter range and St4. The EML has the range and stats to complement the rest of the squad, but I fear I may be too tempted to take those shots at vehicles more often than I should.

What does everyone else think?

I'm going EML and Fast Shot. 2 str 8 AP3 shots, hitting on 2s, is a mighty thing. A little versatility never hurt, as long as you maintain discipline in choosing shots.

Although Reapers arent' the best HS choice in the new book (thanks to the loss of screening in 4th), I think you need to make good of all the range you can. Because you don't have any meat shields, you want to be as far away from the action as possible. That cuts out the tempest launcher, IMHO. So now we're left between the free Reaper Launcher and the 30 pt H2 missile launcher. Pinning really isn't useful in a world of Fearless and LD 10, so we need to question how useful a few krak missiles really are. They give you the ability to touch vehicles. That's nice, but then your Reaper Launcher shots are wasted, further proving the theory that variation in weapons isn't particularly wise. So what is the ML useful for that doesn't make your RL shots worthless? TMCs and insta-killing battlesuits. You will wound TMCs more often and be able to drop battlesuits with one shot instead of 2. Unfortunately, you won't always see battlesuits, because of their JSJ. But Godzilla armies are quite the contenders these days.

The exarch costs 12 pts. So that's a 42 pt investment for an H2 missile launcher firing at BS5. But with enough Godzilla nids out there, I think it could be worth it, if you must take DRs, that is. They're probably the weakest Eldar HS choice right now, but that's doesn't necessarily make them weak in the big picture.

Of course, the alternate approach is to take no Exarch at all, saving the 42 pts and setting for S5 instead of S8. But I still think I'd rather take the S8.

I like the tempest launcher with both fast shot and crack shot. Three blast templates that reroll wounds are awfully nice.

the_wraith

You cannot combine fast shot and crack shot in the same turn. See the description of the powers in the Eldar Codex (any of them, going back to 2nd Ed!)

One possibility that I don't think gets widely considered is a minsize unit of reapers with tempest launcher exarch and crack shot. I'm looking at this as an alternative to a vibrocanon battery, since the cost is about the same.

The tatic is to sit out LoS and make 2 indirect shots at BS5 every turn at marines. Crack shot is better than fast shot in this case because (1) the rerolled wound produces more net kills than the extra shot on the str4 weapon (2) the range is short enough that you can't pick your targets, so you'll probably be shooting at something in cover and (3) it's cheaper.

The other two reapers don't get their shots it's true (except at things that poke around the corners of their cover), but the 2 AP3 blast templates hitting on 2's with a 75% wound rate and *no cover saves* every single turn should have a tremendous annoyance factor to most marine infantry players. If nothing else, it prevents them bunching up.

Is that worth wasting 70pts.?

An interesting thing to point out that several people seem to have missed here. When firing the tempest launcher, you don't roll to hit. Its a barrage weapon as denoted by its 36" guess range. I myself, personally, would have been a lot happier with weapon that hit on 2+ rather than one that scatters 2/3 of the time. However I sat down and did a test run with the tempest firing into a squad that was spread out in a variety of ways and it appears to be a viable option. Against a squad that's spread out in an average way (~1-1.5 inches apart in a "blob" formation) the tempest kills a fair bit more than a reaper launcher. If the squad spreads out a lot, the tempest becomes less effective. If the squad bunches up, it becomes really deadly (deepstrikers, summoned deamons, and disembarking troops get really screwed). The addition of things like crack shot, fast shot, and guide all substantially improve is lethality.

I intend to field a squad of reapers with an exarch, tempest launcher, fast shot, and a guide/fortune farseer in my next battle to see how well it really performs on the field. If it turns out to not be all its cracked up to be, I will simply go back to my 3rd ed configuration of an exarch with a reaper launcher and crack shot. Ignoring cover for a few reaper shots is always nice.

Doesn't anyone feel that an Exarch is pretty expensive to boot anyway? I would rather stick to a basic 5-man squad for anti-powerarmor shooting. Done and done. The Exarch powers are all sadly just for him and not his squad unlike other exarch powers and therefore he seems to be worth ignoring.

Just my opinion.

Greets
Schepp himself

Sutekh: it's not a waste, it's the opportunity cost of the weapon. The extra guys cover fire lanes, function as ablative wounds, and make sure the exarch gets to keep shooting.

Phoenix: hey, you're right, it shoots and scatters. And causes pinning. I didn't notice that. Okay, that changes things quite a bit. Not sure if it's a disadvantage or an improvement.

Reapers may not be the best, but in my last game I used them, and Guided, they put a nice hurt on a distant marine squad. 6 kills, one shooting phase and the MEQs were below half.

I am leaning the EML way myself, but I do want to try out all options.