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I know this is a vague question but come January my Ulthwe army will likely become beil tan.  And I need to know some things.  Each Aspect is specialised.  But which just aren't worth their points, which are good but don't require an exarch or upgrades?  To get the ball rolling I am calling out Striking Scorpions.  Infiltrating assault unit with only 1 power weapon in the squad.   How do you fair with these guys?

They all have their uses, and are very well-balanced in terms of value and capabilities. It depends on what you want to do with them.

Against a big unit of Meqs, scorpions won't do as well as banshees or spears, but they are the best at moving through cover, get more attacks than any other aspect, attack at higher strength, have plasma grenades, can shrug off AP4 fire, and their power weapon is the strongest of all the aspects. They're the best against hordes, higher-toughness targets like bikes, immortals and T6 monstrous creatures, and can survive a burst of gunfire or transport crash better than banshees or harlequins. They don't have to infiltrate--IMO they're better in a transport. They're probably the best compliment to a jetibike autarch.

I'd say the two most limited aspects are probably fire dragons and swooping hawks. Fire dragons only do one thing well: they kill tanks--and then die the following turn. They can shoot at marines or terminators too, but they can't do anything serious against targets in hard cover--banshees or spears can kill more marines more effectively with much less risk. Hawks are also great at killing vehicles (especially skimmers) but they are too vulnerable and their shooting is ineffective.

If I want to kill tanks, I'd rather use a sideshot from a grav tank, an autarch, or a singing spear.

All aspects are quite balanced. You really need to pick the aspects that fill a role in your list that you need.

I think that the verdict is in that reapers are a waste of a heavy slot.

cheers

I see no reason to use Dark Reapers, or Striking Scorpions. Everything else has a purpose at least, even if there arent enough guard players for me to think about Swooping Hawks.

Wouldn't Fire Dragons be good at taking down Terminators and regular marines too? Why are only tanks listed above?

engine

When I played a static army I used to bring reapers all the time but now that eldar are even more mobile then they were before they are a waste I think.

Fire dragons are good at killing Terminators and Marines but if they're behind cover they're probably not going to get the whole squad of Marines then they're going to die to return fire.

At least if the Banshees don't kill the squad they're locked in close combat and can't be gunned down.

I take Scorps against orks if I want to tie up a flank with Warp Spiders too.

No one mentioned warpspiders did they? What are you thoughts on them?

1) Dire Avengers are now great all purpose backup squads.

2) Fire Dragons have been reduced to an anti-tank suicide squad. A large squad with Crack Shot could make its points back killing Terminators, but you have to be able to get to them, be sure your opponent is bringing them, AND get them all in one go.

3) Howling Banshees still suffer from a low armor save and strength, meaning they have very little survivability in long combats. Doom and a powerful Exarch are the only ways to make them viable, but with those, they can kick in the door on Crisis Suits, Destroyers, Terminators, Marines, etc.

4) Scorpions are excellent. A higher S and Sv gives them survivability and longer term effectiveness, and they have a wide range of Exarch options for specialization. Just don't expose them to plasma fire or really elite enemy units like Terminators.

5) Shining Spears have become mediocre on their own, fantastic as an autarch honor guard. A squad of these puppies with an Exarch, an Autarch, and Withdraw can be the ultimate harassment unit -- devastating on the charge and able to charge over and over and over without getting long-term stuck in.

6) Swooping Hawks...I don't know. Don't have any. The launcher is nice, but pinning tests are a joke under the current rules. Lots of shots could make them nice for killing off Marine Scouts or horde armies, and their speed makes them good objective seizers. One idea I had was a small squad with Exarch and Autarch, melta bombs, and intercept for skimmer tank killing. But the thing is, the Eldar army already has better fast units, better massive-numbers-of-shot-generating units, and better anti-tank units...

7) Warp Spiders...also jury still out. They're expensive for a unit which can 'accidentaly' die to its own special ability. They could make good tank/transport trappers, good for pinning down isolated units for a long time in combat (their high save), or for massacring hordes. Again, though, the Eldar already have other units to do these things cheaper or better.

7) Reapers are an awesome unit. But Falcons, Wraithlords, and Fire Prisms are way more awesome. Done deal.

-Adso

One thing to throw my 2 cents in about the swooping hawks is that they'll make an excellent anti Monolith unit, could also fair well against guard or other horde type armies.

But the thing is, if you want to kill Monoliths as the Eldar, you can equally well use lances, fire dragons, Prisms, or spear-throwers. And if you want to kill horde armies, you already have at your disposal scatter lasers, scorpions, dire avengers and the like...the Hawks are expensive and semi-well-suited to two roles -- other units are better suited, lower in cost, or have better additional uses.

That said, Hawks aren't a waste, especially if you like the models or the mode of operation. They're just not min-max good.

Same is true of any of the aspects -- none are truly useless, but some are above and beyond.

-Adso

Probably not shining spears, just because I don't want to buy any.

"But the thing is, if you want to kill Monoliths as the Eldar, you can equally well use lances, fire dragons, Prisms, or spear-throwers. "

A lance needs a 6 to glance a monolith, it isn't anywhere near a good weapon to use for it. Prisms aren't much better. The spear throwers are a good deal, as are fire dragons. Fire dragons only because a big unit has a pretty good chance of rolling that magical 6 again and this time it will penetrate the thing.

EMP grenades hitting on 4+ are a monolith's nightmare.

Scorpions got the shaft with the exarch getting nailed with a S6 weapon. Ugh, what BS is that?
They are now relegated to anti-horde.

The banshees are iffy against MeQ. I have seen a unit of the ladies charge a unit of 8 berzerkers and after they finished attacking and killing 2, torrent of blows killed the exarch while normal attacks killed another 2. The unit was pretty much doomed at that point.

Reapers are a fire magnet and unlike falcons will fire until dead. You don't see them shot with only 1 lascannon in a round and then ignored cause they can't shoot anymore. They are okay but can still die fast if not supported or properly placed.

Shining spears got a nasty upgrade and are dangerous.

Warp Spiders appear to be a fairly consistant unit, capable of taking out a lot of horde units fast or going vehicle hunting. S6 on most side armor is a badly annoyed tank.

Each has a role, using them in the best role while keeping all the options covered is the hard part.

For Biel-Tan, it would be fluffy to just use all the aspects. I've seen lists that fit them all in quite easily.

No one has mentioned Wraithguard. I find that telling.

Technically because they're not Aspect Warriors?

I haven't followed the other Eldar tactics threads, though. You're
probably right.

Don't forget the 10 man wraithguard squad with a farseer with fortune and warlock with conceal. Also don't forget that its about 500 pts.

Falcons are immune to small arms fire and assaults, not to mention rediculously difficult to penetrate. Is the same true for reapers?
cheers

Yes, because they have their "coolness shield 1.2", which deflects 9/10 of the incoming shots towards other, uncooler units in you army... see page 123 of the next Eldar codex.

No, seriously,Dark Reapers are somewhat outclassed by the other heavy weapon choices. pretty sad, imo.

Other than that, i feel that Banshees and Scorpions won't be that widely used, just because the harlequins have the veil and jummy rending.

Greets
Schepp himself

I've been taking mainly Scorpions and Swooping Hawks in the games I've been playing.  The Sunrifle is a lovely little toy to hit a Doomed unit with and Scorpions are just lethal with added survivability over the Banshee's.

I have come to the conclusion the Fire Dragons need a transport of some kind, become one the tank is slagged - whatever survives the opponant's retirbution needs a way out.

I'm also toying with really going heavily into Shining Spears for a competitive tournament list.  3 full sized units could be the way to get around their low levels of attacks (and there will be the 6 attack lance autarch haging around with them too).  I'll be popping the list up for review when I've ironed it out.

Meh... There's no question that Harlequins are a great unit, but I think they're balanced with the other assault choices. They're a good bit more expensive than the others, they can't take a Wave Serpent, and while an Invulnerable save is nice, it's only 5+, so they die in a hurry to everything.

If there's one assault troop that really stands out, it's Harlequins, but I think it's the bells and whistles that do that, and in practice they do have disadvantages to offset their numerous strengths.

Which Aspect Warriors won't you use?

Honestly most of them, news flash, the Eldar got defanged, in case you hadn't noticed, almost every advatage they ever had was removed, including all the special force orgs, the starcannon, the wraithlord etc.  The comment that Eldar (Aspect Warrior) units are specialized and you have to pick them based on their rolls, is really the sugar coated version of saying they are generally disadvantaged accross the board (and only have a very specific set of favorable match ups).  Most Eldar aspect warriors are only good, in a 5% perfect matchup, otherwise they are disadvantaged, and possibly helpless.  Now that they are incapable of coming in the troop choices (sans blue ones, and ridiculous HS choices), they really are awful, limiting combinations or multiple squads to 3. 

Here is a commentary on each: Genrally from worst to best:

WON'T EVEN BUY/PAINT: PROBABLY SELL CATEGORY (D or worse)

Striking Scorpions(F-): The loss of grenades on these, and the degredation of their hidden powerglove to S6 simultaneously removed their anti vehicle and anti characetr abilities, taking away about 2/3 of their on table roll. This unit went from probably the best core TROOP choice in the old Biel Tan army to a stingingly mediocre ELITE choice in the new book.

Dark Reapers(F): Never had any option to take wound absorbing models, this unit probably gives up VPS easier and quicker than anything else in the list.  Besides, it competes with the Heavy Support slot, over a super falcon? Or a wraithlord, never, not even a consideration.

Warp Spiders(D): Why do they continue to write rules for things that kill themselves when they use their own gear?  Even though it is occasional, it really wrecks a novel unit idea.

Shining Spears(D+): Sounds good on paper, but these do... what? 3 guys or so, who fight in melee with 6 attacks and have hit and run? Meh, cant beat horde assault units, can't compete with firepower bases, almost certainly die to a man in an assault with a hidden fist, or with a dedicated assault unit, mediocre anti armor capability, costs a lot of points and uses up an FA slot, some neat tricks here, but this unit is to the Eldar list what the autocannon is to the Imperial guard, really great in a very limited scope.  Generally to expensive, to few in number and to overspecialized.

Banshees(D+): A simple problem, really the same as before, T3, S3 4+ save models make really bad assaulters.  Furthermore the banshee mask is still one of the silliest pieces of wargear in the game, what purpose does always striking first serve if you are already I6? (They could have just given them plasma grenades for almost the same effect) Basically only if you fight other Eldar or genestealers, and a specialty unit like this is not what the Eldar need.  This unit has a lot of promise when combined with Doom, but the points expenditure, for that combination, and the chain of events that makes it happen has to many holes in it for it to be reliable, need the farseer, need to survive to get the charge, need to pass the Psychic check and not get nullified, need to have a high value enemy assault target.  Without Doom, I have played well positioned Marine Tac Squads that fought off banshees, not hard.  These are heavy bolter food, oh yes, and ZERO anti vehicle ability, compared to DE Wyches, or Harlequins competeing for the SAME ELITE CHOICE slot this is a bizarre, redudndant, underpowered unit choice.

MIGHT CONSIDER (C choices)

Swooping Hawks(C-): Also a unit that looks good on paper, what this really is, a glass hammer for vehicles, get your one shot assaulting them with the haywire grenades, and then enjoy a quick death, by aby method your opponent has.  Way to fragile, poor shooting, poor assault capacity, poor survivability, great speed.  Removal of the exarchs old sustained assault ability with a power weapon nerfed this units assault abilities.  A better unit, in the same roll, is Guardian Jetbikes with a warlock with a shining spear. Once again, novel but not really good at anything, except running and hiding (there is some merrit to the VP denial tactics, keeping them off board, they cant be killed, theres a fun game to play, waiting and hiding off table).

WORTH PLAYING(C and up)

Dire Avengers(C): Probably the best overall troop choice in the army, Dire Avengers have finally been made into what they were suppose to be all along!  The shimmer shield, and the extended range to 18 inches means they no longer have the ridiculous problem of not being assault troops and having to move into minimum assault countercharge range to fire (why guardians are essentially worthless, even after the new dex).  However this unit only nets a C+ because it has no antitank capability, still has a fairly short range, and has little chance against any dedicated assault unit (Still T3 S3), whatsmore, it probably needs a transport to engage(making it to expenisve for a light infantry killing tasked unit), as almost every other troop choice in the game shoots out to 24 inches (meaning they are hosed in a strait match) and probably brings a heavy weapon too.

Firedragons(A-): Whole units of Meltgun Armed BS4 models is great, here is a unit, at 10 strong that is worth guiding!  This may be the only aspect in the entire list to get a legitimate significant advantage over the last incarnation (depending on how big a fan you are of Avengers), the S8 boost is incredible, and AP 1 superb, but this unit also suffers from the regular Eldar problems, T3, poor save, and a weapon that requires them to get into assault ranges to engage, also like the above probably needs a transport and gets pricey fast.

NON APSECTS

Harlequins(A): These might as well be aspect warriors, thematically, and technically, Clownwarriors, probably sounded to silly... They easily outclass scorpions and banshees, they bring their own configurable heavy weapons and upgradeable characters like imperial troops, they have antitank capacity they fleet, they have a chance in open ground against any foe and they have rending, this is such an obviosus choice they really should have put them in the basic army box, one of the only units in the Entire codex, short of a Super Falcon, that is good all around regardless of mission and opponent match up. (If they let whoever wrote the marine codex, write one Eldar unit, Harlequins were it, its like they're from another race)

Wraithguard(F-): This is a really tough unit with absolutely no battlefiled roll at all, not good shooters, poor in assault, expesive literally and points, slow, lousy range, oh yes and literally stupid... Why do the Eldar even make these things, basically a substandard deathguard unit for the Eldar army? Desperately needed fixing and never got it. With 2+ saves and 18inch ranges, might be playable, but at the points cost and with wraithsight, probably not even then, much less with the pitiful stats they have now, dying race indeed.

Want to know what to expect for Eldar armies, and whats good?

Super falcons, Snakes on a plane, 6 guardian jetbikes and 2 warlocks as 2 troop choices, Harlequins and some of the new characters, Doomseer, Jetbike Farseer, Autarchs with silly weapons, Prince Yriel and thats about all.  Expect Eldar mechanized lists, with some zippy characters and no staying power at all outside of the falcolns.

Any ?s

I definitely hadn't noticed. I'm having the most winningest time of my life. Since the new codex came out, I've only lost one game (and no draws--won all the rest).

My army has banshees, scorpions, bikes, and dire avengers, but no harlequins yet (because of lack of models). I recently won a combat patrol tournament using an army that consisted half of warp spiders.



Banshees have I5; the exarch has I6. People who use banshees on a regular basis know that it's much better to have all your models going at I10 together so that your opponent can't remove models and deprive the lower-initiative guys of attacks (scorpions have this problem).

I haven't had a major problem getting a whole, intact banshee squad to charge a high-value target that has been doomed at least once in all but one game so far, and often they do it again after finishing off the first target.



...except that defend power reduces the attacks of the dedicated assault unit by 1 per model. Ever seen a squad of terminators or assault marines trying to slog through even a reduced squad of DAs? They can't do it--they're tarpitted for 3-4 full turns minimum.

I haven't tried the firedragons, but mostly because I suspect they can't really win games. I believe they're a suicide unit that depends too much on cover and can't produce casualties on the level of banshees, harlequins or scorpions.

Maybe you're not getting the results you want because you're using these units wrong, Augustus.

Maybe you're not getting the results you want because you're using these units wrong, Augustus.

I'm not using any units, Im crushing them.  I haven't lost a game to Eldar yet, and I have only played against them. I shelved the army till the codex came out, and have seen little reason to bring it back out since...

I definitely hadn't noticed.

Really? How would you respond to these: Starcannon w/ 2 shots, no custom force orgs, stupidity rules for wraithguard and wraithlords, reduced attack on the wraithlord, removal of the hidden powerglove from the Eldar army, reduction of attacks of the wraithlord, removal of pop and shoot, removal of  spirit stone ignore... read any of that in your new dex?

My army has banshees, scorpions, bikes, and dire avengers, but no harlequins yet (because of lack of models).

So your opinion of Aspect warriors is from the use of Avengers Banshees Scorpions and Warp Spiders? Have you tried the new harlequins not at all? Do you agree that Reapers at least are wasteful? Why dont you have the others?

I recently won a combat patrol tournament using an army that consisted half of warp spiders.

What is a combat patrol tournament? Sounds little (small points values). Is that a reasonable benchmark? Did any of your spiders kill themselves, why do you like them? What did you fight?

...except that defend power reduces the attacks of the dedicated assault unit by 1 per model. Ever seen a squad of terminators or assault marines trying to slog through even a reduced squad of DAs? They can't do it--they're tarpitted for 3-4 full turns

Defend is nice, and let me say, I think terminators are a waste  (I have a squad and play them just for fun, Id take 2 dreadis over them anyday) and I have some respect for Avengers, if I did not make that clear.  That said, yes I have seen marines versus Avengers, and they died in hand to hand with a tac squad in cover, and once with a librarian and it never took 3 turns, it took 1 turn, those guys only get one attack each anyway, vs S3 T3. In our test games, the Avengers only got into hand to hand twice anyway, and vs the librarian, it was worse...

1. I kept one starcannon on a falcon, ditched the rest. Let go of starcannons--it's over.
2. I added all the aspect warriors that I needed within the standard force org
3. Stopped using wraithguard/wraithlord (but I'd use them again with new roles)
4. Hmmm, scorpions still have a hidden power glove--is this the one you mean?
5. I never used CTM--too expensive/inefficient
6. Never being stunned (and never crashing on immobilization) is more than worth the loss of the "ignore" result

Singing spears and witchblades eat dreadnoughts like candy. I'm always happy to see walkers on the table--it's like free victory points.

Sounds like your opponents or test games may not be applying Dire Avengers in the wisest possible role. It's a waste to send them into assault against 1-attack models or large squads or to leave them on their own; they just get ground away. Their job is to bog small squads of models with 2+ attacks or characters with reduced retinues (i.e. what remains after a bladestorm) until the banshees/harlies/scorps arrive to finish them off. Or to be the squad that stays behind when an assault squad withdraws on the same turn as the charge.

Combat patrol rules are in the back of the big rulebook, and warp spiders pretty much break the system. They boom around and shoot the crap out of everything and can take out smallish marine squads on their own in a single charge. They're probably less useful in fullsize games, depending on the army and how many you take. The odds of losing one to the warp are only 1 in 6, so if you do the hop every turn (and I don't recommend it) you'd lose, on average, one per game.

I don't have the models to try harlequins, but I know just where they'd fit in my army.

Have never been a fan of reapers (too static), but they certainly haven't gotten weaker with an improved save, especially versus heavy bolters. But high cost and low model count, plus everyone's desire to wipe them out as quickly as possible, still creates problems for them.

Sounds, then, like your opponents have not adjusted to the requirements of the new codex. Eldar don't play the same way they used to, and anybody who refuses to adjust is going to be losing games. But I'm finding that the different aspects mesh together much better than they used to.

I'd like to put in my two cents on this:

I don't understand how you can say Wraithguard are lousy- try facing a full fortuned, concealed, squad without lots of powerfists and tell me they're worthless. Even ordnance isn't too scary if you remember to space them out. And they are not "stupid" if there is a warlock with them -which is not a drawback since you want them to have conceal anyway. Note that there is no better way to deal with a monolith IN THE ENTIRE GAME.

Coincidentally, Dark reapers work well with wraithguard. While there are 10 T6 models carrying 12" death lumbering towards you your'e less likely to focus on models that are (preferrably) 40+ inches away. Also, If there is immenent risk of them being shot by long range fire you can set them up to control just one or two fire lanes (or avenues of approach) allowing you to avoid most incoming fire.

I wish some people would stop whinning about what is gone and focus on what is there. Ok the Eldar aren't what they were before, but thats often the point of a new dex. I've always found them very specialized, and much more so with the new dex. There are very few units with much versatility so using everything in concert is key.

I've been a huge fans of Spiders since I first saw them. Boo hoo, theres a possibilty of losing one or two, so what. If theres one thing Eldar will never master its warp travel and thats just fluffy. The amount of st6 shots they can pump out and hiding puts tau suits to shame. Plus the abilty and deep strike and/or hit and run which is particulary useful with an exarch and that spineret rifle with power blades. They're perfect for siding tanks, and whittling down mobs or high priced elite enemy units.

Avengers are sick now, thats all that I can add.

I still think reapers have their little niche, it may be smaller, but its still there. I falcon is still armour which can blow up in one turn or imobilize and crash which blows. There are few units I like to take at 6 strong and I hate to waste transport capacity. While wraithlords are undoubtedly great, 2-3 turns facing a unit with sniper rifles can bring them crashing down. Reapers are perfect against anything wearing power armour. Anyone who doesn't at least acknowledge that are being silly or just unfair to the unit. They are pricey, but that just encourages you to make the best use of what you are getting.

I'm not saying its easy, but if that what everyone wanted, we'd all be playing vanilla marines!

Posted By Augustus on 01/09/2007 1:13 PM

Which Aspect Warriors won't you use?

Honestly most of them, news flash, the Eldar got defanged, in case you hadn't noticed, almost every advatage they ever had was removed, including all the special force orgs, the starcannon, the wraithlord etc.  The comment that Eldar (Aspect Warrior) units are specialized and you have to pick them based on their rolls, is really the sugar coated version of saying they are generally disadvantaged accross the board (and only have a very specific set of favorable match ups).  Most Eldar aspect warriors are only good, in a 5% perfect matchup, otherwise they are disadvantaged, and possibly helpless.  Now that they are incapable of coming in the troop choices (sans blue ones, and ridiculous HS choices), they really are awful, limiting combinations or multiple squads to 3. 

Here is a commentary on each: Genrally from worst to best:

WON'T EVEN BUY/PAINT: PROBABLY SELL CATEGORY (D or worse)

Striking Scorpions(F-): The loss of grenades on these, and the degredation of their hidden powerglove to S6 simultaneously removed their anti vehicle and anti characetr abilities, taking away about 2/3 of their on table roll. This unit went from probably the best core TROOP choice in the old Biel Tan army to a stingingly mediocre ELITE choice in the new book.

Dark Reapers(F): Never had any option to take wound absorbing models, this unit probably gives up VPS easier and quicker than anything else in the list.  Besides, it competes with the Heavy Support slot, over a super falcon? Or a wraithlord, never, not even a consideration.

Warp Spiders(D): Why do they continue to write rules for things that kill themselves when they use their own gear?  Even though it is occasional, it really wrecks a novel unit idea.

Shining Spears(D+): Sounds good on paper, but these do... what? 3 guys or so, who fight in melee with 6 attacks and have hit and run? Meh, cant beat horde assault units, can't compete with firepower bases, almost certainly die to a man in an assault with a hidden fist, or with a dedicated assault unit, mediocre anti armor capability, costs a lot of points and uses up an FA slot, some neat tricks here, but this unit is to the Eldar list what the autocannon is to the Imperial guard, really great in a very limited scope.  Generally to expensive, to few in number and to overspecialized.

Banshees(D+): A simple problem, really the same as before, T3, S3 4+ save models make really bad assaulters.  Furthermore the banshee mask is still one of the silliest pieces of wargear in the game, what purpose does always striking first serve if you are already I6? (They could have just given them plasma grenades for almost the same effect) Basically only if you fight other Eldar or genestealers, and a specialty unit like this is not what the Eldar need.  This unit has a lot of promise when combined with Doom, but the points expenditure, for that combination, and the chain of events that makes it happen has to many holes in it for it to be reliable, need the farseer, need to survive to get the charge, need to pass the Psychic check and not get nullified, need to have a high value enemy assault target.  Without Doom, I have played well positioned Marine Tac Squads that fought off banshees, not hard.  These are heavy bolter food, oh yes, and ZERO anti vehicle ability, compared to DE Wyches, or Harlequins competeing for the SAME ELITE CHOICE slot this is a bizarre, redudndant, underpowered unit choice.

MIGHT CONSIDER (C choices)

Swooping Hawks(C-): Also a unit that looks good on paper, what this really is, a glass hammer for vehicles, get your one shot assaulting them with the haywire grenades, and then enjoy a quick death, by aby method your opponent has.  Way to fragile, poor shooting, poor assault capacity, poor survivability, great speed.  Removal of the exarchs old sustained assault ability with a power weapon nerfed this units assault abilities.  A better unit, in the same roll, is Guardian Jetbikes with a warlock with a shining spear. Once again, novel but not really good at anything, except running and hiding (there is some merrit to the VP denial tactics, keeping them off board, they cant be killed, theres a fun game to play, waiting and hiding off table).

WORTH PLAYING(C and up)

Dire Avengers(C): Probably the best overall troop choice in the army, Dire Avengers have finally been made into what they were suppose to be all along!  The shimmer shield, and the extended range to 18 inches means they no longer have the ridiculous problem of not being assault troops and having to move into minimum assault countercharge range to fire (why guardians are essentially worthless, even after the new dex).  However this unit only nets a C+ because it has no antitank capability, still has a fairly short range, and has little chance against any dedicated assault unit (Still T3 S3), whatsmore, it probably needs a transport to engage(making it to expenisve for a light infantry killing tasked unit), as almost every other troop choice in the game shoots out to 24 inches (meaning they are hosed in a strait match) and probably brings a heavy weapon too.

Firedragons(A-): Whole units of Meltgun Armed BS4 models is great, here is a unit, at 10 strong that is worth guiding!  This may be the only aspect in the entire list to get a legitimate significant advantage over the last incarnation (depending on how big a fan you are of Avengers), the S8 boost is incredible, and AP 1 superb, but this unit also suffers from the regular Eldar problems, T3, poor save, and a weapon that requires them to get into assault ranges to engage, also like the above probably needs a transport and gets pricey fast.

NON APSECTS

Harlequins(A): These might as well be aspect warriors, thematically, and technically, Clownwarriors, probably sounded to silly... They easily outclass scorpions and banshees, they bring their own configurable heavy weapons and upgradeable characters like imperial troops, they have antitank capacity they fleet, they have a chance in open ground against any foe and they have rending, this is such an obviosus choice they really should have put them in the basic army box, one of the only units in the Entire codex, short of a Super Falcon, that is good all around regardless of mission and opponent match up. (If they let whoever wrote the marine codex, write one Eldar unit, Harlequins were it, its like they're from another race)

Wraithguard(F-): This is a really tough unit with absolutely no battlefiled roll at all, not good shooters, poor in assault, expesive literally and points, slow, lousy range, oh yes and literally stupid... Why do the Eldar even make these things, basically a substandard deathguard unit for the Eldar army? Desperately needed fixing and never got it. With 2+ saves and 18inch ranges, might be playable, but at the points cost and with wraithsight, probably not even then, much less with the pitiful stats they have now, dying race indeed.

Want to know what to expect for Eldar armies, and whats good?

Super falcons, Snakes on a plane, 6 guardian jetbikes and 2 warlocks as 2 troop choices, Harlequins and some of the new characters, Doomseer, Jetbike Farseer, Autarchs with silly weapons, Prince Yriel and thats about all.  Expect Eldar mechanized lists, with some zippy characters and no staying power at all outside of the falcolns.

Any ?s

No questions at all.  Just some corrections.  Your theories on the failure units is way off.  I've seen everyone of those in practice, and they've all payed off when used to their strengths.

Scorpions.  They aren't there to assault tanks or characters.  They are there to get up real close to the enemies firing lines, and destroy it.  You infiltrate a squad against things like Guard, Tau, even Tac Marines, and they will kill or stop firing coming from that unit.

Dark Reapers, sure next to the Falcon, Prism, and Wraithlord, they seem to be lacking.  But can either of those drop as many MEQ's in a single turn of firing as a 5 man squad?  MAYBE the prism combined with another.

Warp Spiders, I haven't seen in action yet.  I plan on putting them to use soon myself though, and I'll come back to talk about their strengths.

Shining Spears, are an EXTREMELY effective charge unit.  Slam those into things like Devestators, Broadsides, IG heavy weapons, and you WILL kill enough to chase them away.  Pull them off, rinse, and repeat.  I've never seen them as wasted points.  Their usually one of the ones that scare me the most when I see them put onto the table.

Banshees?  One word for you.  Doom.  Doom doom doom doom doom doomy doom doom.  Ever see a 10 man Assualt squad destroyed in 1 round of combat?  Yeah, I cried.  I cried a lot.

Now, Wraithguard.  They are useful in certain situations.  Want to slow an assualty based army down?  Those things will do it real quick.  I watched a space wolf army stopped in its tracks by a Wraithgaurd army.  Want to blow a really nasty vehichle up?  Wave Serpant and pop them out right by it.  And the Warlock with Conceal is really nice.

There is not a single Eldar unit (asides from the Guardians) that is bad.  One just has to know how to use tactics when they play their game.  They need to know how to make the units work with each other.  If anything now, the Eldar are more about feinting and baiting then anything else. 

I love them now, simply because they are something more now then Starcannon Spam.

The scorpion claw has got 'better' in many respects. Yes you lose S8, a big loss - but Eldar are not short of anti-tank especially as I would rather have S8 fusion guns and S6 claws than the other way around. 6 is good enough. However now the claw replaces the pistol, not the chainsword. Consequently you can use the claw as the second CCW if you need to, attacking on S4 at normal initiative. As Scorpions are and always were anti-horde close combat this makes sense.
Also mandiblasteers add +1A, not an extra S4 attack, so if you use the claw it adds to your S6 power fist attacks. Between the opt out and the extra attack S6 is more than compensated for.

I dont use Warp Spiders, they are fugly, random and short ranged. Why bother with 12" firepower aspect warriors who dont carry fusion guns. S6 Ap- is not the same.

The scorpion claw has got 'better' in many respects.

What? How is going from S8 to St6 better?

Yes you lose S8, a big loss -

Yea.

but Eldar are not short of anti-tank

Are you serious?

I would rather have S8 fusion guns and S6 claws than the other way around.

Ok, I suppose veiwing it as a trade is one opinion, but that doesn't have any bearing on the still legitimate fact that scorpions took a big hit.

6 is good enough.

WRONG.  Actually it's not at all, it's horrible, it was the only S8 fist equivalent in the entire Eldar army, it's loss is crippling.  The hidden fist is the biggest threat to enemy T4 HQ choices, and they populate the entire game, it was also the linchpin for having a chance against a monstrous creature or a walker of any sort, all gone, this is a massive ding in the battlefiled ability of the assault unit, at S6, they don't instakill T4, and need 4s to wound T6, making the unit go from dangerous to below average, it's like an IG glove, awful!

However now the claw replaces the pistol, not the chainsword. Consequently you can use the claw as the second CCW if you need to, attacking on S4 at normal initiative.

Who cares in a unit full of attacks, one more iattacking at I sn't what you need, and loosing a pistol shot? irrelevant.

As Scorpions are and always were anti-horde close combat this makes sense.

Wow, thats just completely wrong, that makes no sense at all.  Scorpions were good at anti horde, but they were also a threat to vehicles, enemy Characters, and walkers too, basically anything in the game, even a monolith (which they couldnt even scratch now BTW).  Like a marine assault sqaud with meltabombs.  Plasma and Haywire grenades and S8 hidden fist made the unit a credible assault threat to everything in the game, now, they don't even have a chance vs a vehicle, an enemy character or a monstrous creature, they aren't even as capable versus troops in cover because the grenades are all gone.

If you thought they were just for anti horde in the old rules it just shows you didnt know how to play then, and discredits your post.