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I am contemplating a return to playing Eldar. I had a lot of fun with them back in 3rd Edition but a good bit has changed. I'd want to build them as a tournament army, and the tournaments I go to tend to have 1500, 1750, and 1850 points limits. The list is based a lot on what I had before, and what I was very successful with.

HQ:

Farseer w/ spirit stones, Doom, Guide.[120]

Farseer w/ spirit stones, Doom, Guide. [120]

Elites

Striking Scorpions: 9 Scoprions, Exarch with chain sabers, shadow strike. [197]

Troops

Dire Avengers: 9 Avengers, Exarch with blade storm, diresword. [157]
Wave Serpent: TL brightlances [135]

Dire Avengers: 9 Avengers, Exarch with blade storm, diresword. [157]
Wave Serpent: TL brightlances [135]

Rangers: 6 Rangers, Pathfinders upgrade [144]

Heavy Support

Dark Reapers: 4 Reapers, Exarch with ELM, Fast Shot [195]

Dark Reapers: 4 Reapers, Exarch with ELM, Fast Shot [195]

War Walker: 3 War Walkers with scatter lasers [180]


Notes:
I played a Biel-Tan list before there was even a Craftworld codex, as I love Dire Avengers, and now they've gotten even better. I feel the HQ will be good anywhere they go as their powers can really help out any squad in my army. I love the look of the Howling Banshees but experience taught me they just aren't good enough. I also used Striking Scorpions and they did very well, though a S6 power fist on the Exarch just never impressed me, better go get rerolls. One of the big things I always regretted was not getting a 2nd squad of Dark Reapers. They just rocked so much! I tried some Guardians before, not again. 5+ armor is a joke. I have never run war walkers but I have seen them run to great effect. Other units I've been considering instead of the war walkers are a Falcon or Wraithlord, and possibly a squadron of 2-3 Vypers.

Not sure if this is a competitive force. Dark Reapers are Marine killers, but in the new edition the enemy often gets a 4+ cover save. I guess the Farseer go with the Reapers. The army lacks a strong melee unit and anti-tank.

The two Wave Serpents and Exarch ELM are the anti tank. I don't see many vehicle heavy tournament lists anyways.

The Dire Avengers are anything killers, not just Marines. Besides last I checked, forcing Marines to make a 4+ cover save still beats a 3+ armor save.

It's light on melee because it is not a heavily melee force.

@ wuestenfux:

You'd be surprised how seldom units actually get that cover save. Besides, there's two units... hard to hide from.

@ Swordbreaker:

I wouldn't give the DR Exarch an EML... the Tempest Launcher is a much better buy. It also deprives the enemy of a cover save (from being behind cover, not in cover), and is very accurate, because it is a blast weapon. Giving him an EML is also unadvisable because that causes you to commit the 140 points worth of other models to shooting a tank, which they weren't designed to do.

I like the DAs in the Wave Serpents, but they'll be a prime target if they're in it. I would suggest keeping them out of it until they need to move away, or trying very hard to keep them alive. They're your little amount of anti-tank.

For the Scorpions, I would highly suggest a claw for the Exarch. The reason being is that, more often than not, the unit will be functioning independently for a while. Even when acting as a counter-assault unit (which you should keep it free for), the claw gives quite an edge. S6 will often do the job just as well as S8, and it could give you some extra bit of anti-tank.

I think you could afford to drop one seer and the pathfinders (not bad, but not necessary) for some Fire Dragons in a Falcon. More firepower, and more tanks for the enemy to deal with. Fire Dragons can hunt anything, if you give the exarch a flamer with Crack Shot.

My past experience with Fire Dragons and from watching them in 5E is that they were, and still are, a fire and forget suicide squad. They are simply overkill against vehicles and while they can seriously hurt a Marine Squad, they die almost immediately afterwards. Plus then you have to commit to having something to transport them.

The Dire Avengers maybe in the Wave Serpent for a turn or two, but I don't see them staying in it for long. The Wave Serpents are really there to open up any transports or deal with heavy armor. Fly up, drop out troops. Wave Serpents fire at enemy transport, if that fails, Dark Reapers Fire at transport, Farseer does his thing and Guided Avengers Blade Storm the Doomed troops that pop out. The DA will then charge in if anything is left.

Unless I missed something the EML can drop templates too, not just the Tempest Launcher, and with Fast Shot I am still dropping two of them.

Should I really drop the Rangers/ Pathfinders? That leaves me with only two troop units, I really wanted a base of 3. I could take another unit of DA.

Would two units of Striking Scorpions be too much? I'd be going two-by-twos then. 2 Farseers, 2 SS, 2 DA, 2 DR...

EMLs can drop Templates, yes, but only 2, and only at AP4. The Tempest can drop 3 at AP3.

Dropping the Rangers and Pathfinders may give you one less troops choice, but they're not really a capturing unit. You can basically get a free objective if you get the chance to place one in cover, though.

Two units of scorpions might be a bit much, but two small units couldn't hurt.

EMLs can drop Templates, yes, but only 2, and only at AP4. The Tempest can drop 3 at AP3. Reapers are MEQ hunters anyways... the 3 Templates make it superior against hordes.

EDIT: I'm not so convinced you need the War Walkers. Two full units of Reapers and 2 full units of Bladestorming Avengers are more than you'll ever need. Consider EMLs on the Walkers or EML Vypers.

Dropping the Rangers and Pathfinders may give you one less troops choice, but they're not really a capturing unit. You can basically get a free objective if you get the chance to place one in cover, though.

Two units of scorpions might be a bit much, but two small units couldn't hurt.

Well I am not set on that on that 3rd heavy choice (the other two being the Dark Reapers). Scatter laser just look like good fun for the points. I sat down and really thought about the ELM for them and here's why I decided against it on the War Walkers: The current blast rules does make them pretty good. While at times you can get lucky and 4-5 models under a single template this doesn't happen much. Realistically you can only expect to be getting 2, maybe 3 models under a template, after all is rolled and scattered. This means you are hitting nearly equal numbers under the ML templates as you would with the Scatter Lasers. The Scatter Lasers higher strength is going to make the difference, as those hits will wound more often than the EML's. The EML does have the versatility to knock out heavier tanks while the Scatter Laser can only knock lighter armor around. However the EML is now the most expensive Eldar weapon option, and to pile them onto what is otherwise a rather fragile unit does not seam like a good idea to me. It's just to many points for the unit vs what it can do, and how it fits into the rest of the army.

Concerning the Striking Scorpions, they are an assault unit. I always go max squads with assaulting units, knowing they will get shot up some before they go in.

The rangers/ pathfinders are expensive for such a small unit, that I intended to just sit on the object in cover on my side of the board. Problems is, I am not seeing much else good to take. I thought of having a 3rd unit of DA's with a Shimmer shield and keep them back as a counter assault force or simply as a reserve.

I've also been considering taking a Falcon and a pair of Vypers. My old army was very similar to this, with a pair of Serpents, a Falcon, and a pair of Vypers, which had some great visual appeal on the battlefield. I called it my Eldar Light Armor column. It had some issues though, and the Falcon while still good just doesn't seam to have the kick it used to and the Vypers are just an annoyance and not all that effective.

EML is bar none the most versatile weapon available to Eldar lists. I use them extensively in my 1750 army (6 of them) and second to fire prisms I'd say jam as many as you can in as many spots as you can.