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What are the most competitive and meta army list build for the Eldar in the 5th Edition? I am asking what is still left as a serious threat list in a competitive environment that has a good chance of winning some games and being fun for both the opponent and player.

Jetseer councils are pretty hairy. Dire Avengers in Wave Serpents still work pretty well too. Fire prisms are dangerous and fairly durable.

Elfzilla seems to be doing pretty well. I just got mine a while ago but I have yet to assemble it and take it for a test run. I will post a report as soon as I do though as on paper it is great but we will see how it plays in the real world.

Essentially that is the only change I have seen or read about. The old lists still work apart from clowns in a falcon as the new assault rules and rending nerf really hurt them. Firedragons in super falcons still do well though.

A solid 4th ed list will still be very competitive, although I am curious to hear what more experienced Eldar players have to add to this thread.

Last couple of weeks I've been seeing a lot of lists built around Eldrad +2 full units of war walkers. The idea is you set em up in cover (if you can find 50% TLoS on your table) give em both fortune, guide one, and fire away.

The jetseer council is effective, but I doubt it would fulfill the OP's request for a list that's fun to play against. The bike council--either dealing with it or dying to it--kind of tends to dominate the play action of the game.

Probably the most frequent one I've seen since 5th edition, though, is the Eldar Mech Tau list. DAs = Fire Warriors, FDs = suits (in transports), Fire Prisms = Hammerheads. It works for Tau.

Going down the list...

Elfzilla: Avatar, Eldrad, large troop units of wraithguard, and dreadnaughts with optional harlequins and/or pathfinders. The idea is that everything is so tough it's mostly not worth attacking. Great in 2 objective missions and kill points. Struggles against large numbers of power fists or rending attacks and has difficulty covering 5 objective missions.

Mech Eldar: Avengers in serpents, fire dragons in serpents, and fire prisms with optional jetbikes, shining spears and bike seer council. Some versions rely on putting everything in reserve and using an autarch or two to bring everything on from off the board on turn 2. This army is great at covering ground and getting where they need to be. They have decent long range fire power but tend to be a bit light on models due to having to buy so many transports. This army can struggle a bit against other very mobile enemies and hordes.

Guardian Horde: Guardians (both varieties), Avatar, and Eldrad with optional heavy support (normally war walkers, fire prisms, or dreadnaughts). The point of this army is to be a fearless horde that's difficult to kill off since it's fearless. Works good against MEQ armies but orcs do it better so this army struggles against them.

That’s about it for the standard eldar formula lists. Balanced eldar lists also tend to do well if they are made well but that requires more work both on and off the field to get right.

Phoenix wrote:Going down the list...

Elfzilla: Avatar, Eldrad, large troop units of wraithguard, and dreadnaughts with optional harlequins and/or pathfinders. The idea is that everything is so tough it's mostly not worth attacking. Great in 2 objective missions and kill points. Struggles against large numbers of power fists or rending attacks and has difficulty covering 5 objective missions.

Mech Eldar: Avengers in serpents, fire dragons in serpents, and fire prisms with optional jetbikes, shining spears and bike seer council. Some versions rely on putting everything in reserve and using an autarch or two to bring everything on from off the board on turn 2. This army is great at covering ground and getting where they need to be. They have decent long range fire power but tend to be a bit light on models due to having to buy so many transports. This army can struggle a bit against other very mobile enemies and hordes.

Guardian Horde: Guardians (both varieties), Avatar, and Eldrad with optional heavy support (normally war walkers, fire prisms, or dreadnaughts). The point of this army is to be a fearless horde that's difficult to kill off since it's fearless. Works good against MEQ armies but orcs do it better so this army struggles against them.

That’s about it for the standard eldar formula lists. Balanced eldar lists also tend to do well if they are made well but that requires more work both on and off the field to get right.

I knew a guy four years ago who ran at least one of each aspect warrior with success, but he moved away. He use to give people fits because he knew how to use each as they should be used. I remember watching him, but I forgot how his aspect list looked.

Four years ago his army looked like this:

Banshees & scorpions in wave serpents, plus maybe warp spiders. Zoom up, jump out & assault in the same turn, consolidate into the next unit, and continue until all enemies are dead. They are accompanied by a minsized swooping hawk exarch delivery system with a web of skulls. Fire dragons in a falcon go after tanks, DA's--if used at all--are there for show because they were useless, Dark Reapers are a minsized unit to support the fast shot missle exarch, and shining spears too expensive and vulnerable to plasma for anybody to use.

That type of army, like the rhino rush, became unviable when the rule allowing assaults out of transports was changed.

Well, mech Eldar lost an edge since tanks can get penetrating hits and hits in cc are targeting the rear armor.

Hammer & anvil type armies are the best, with Eldrad, Avatar, 2x3 Warwalkers, Falcon or Wraithlord, Harlies as counter-strike unit, and some troops (Dire Avengers or Guardian Defenders).

rcm2216 wrote:
I knew a guy four years ago who ran at least one of each aspect warrior with success, but he moved away. He use to give people fits because he knew how to use each as they should be used. I remember watching him, but I forgot how his aspect list looked.

My army looks a bit like that most of the time. The only units I double up on are farseers and guardians. I manage to make it work fairly well most of the time but it is a lot of work and takes a lot of time to get the hang of.

I really think having amount of pinning weapons can allow eldar a edge against non fearless armies and its a list I am working toward. Using Scouts and the Eldar missile launcher on Wave Serpents along with squads of War Walkers with one war walker with 2 EML to force pinning.

The problem with pinning is that it's unreliable. Just look at the chance to pass...

Leadership 7 => 58% chance to pass
Leadership 8 => 72% chance to pass
Leadership 9 => 83% chance to pass
Leadership 10 => 92% chance to pass

You can more or less count on just about everything you shoot at being leadership 9 these days so it takes around 5 pinning squads causing wounds to actually pin something. So while it's great when it works, I don't think building an army around it is wise.

I wouldnt build a army around it but having the option to produce alot of pinning shots is ery nice. Pinning is also great on Nob Bikers.

With 10 nobz and a warboss, the unit is fearless, so not quite.

Kill two and they are not.

Here's an interesting statistic though: it takes 156 plasma missile hits with average rolls to kill two nob bikers.