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I'm thinking x3 Fire Prisms will be in my list. One usually drops early to some random lascannon shot.

Linking 3 = str 8 ap 2 big blast marker.....anti terminator

So how many of you run this? Is it over the top?

I run 2 at most, but i dont think it is overkill, after all termies are just down right waiting to die.

With the new template rules, and Prisms' BS4, you really should never need to link the shots.

I usually only bring two prsim cannons to a game. However, I am thinking of removing them from my list as they rarely do anything of value, anyways.

A linked shot statistically more likely to pop a tank than two unlinked shots.

2-3 is good just dont put any upgrades on them. 120 each (IIRC) is a steal for what you get until you start making it cost more. Keep them back field in terrain and dont move them. If they cant see anything, link.

115 each

Ponder this.....

After reading FAQ. You can use prism to link shot to another prism and fire other weapon, catapult or cannon upgrade, at another target.

So with that mindset, is the 10pt upgrade to cannon worth it?

Last weekend my prisms (2) underachieved. It may be due to my "randomness" with Eldar, as I was playtesting ideas. When I buckle down and use units to do the jobs they are supposed to do, it will be different story. That and find a new scatter dice. Mine was failure last weekend.

In my experience, the linked shot is better than 2 unlinked for 2 reasons:

1. Re-Roll scatter

2. Improved AP and Strength [the most imporant part]

With 3 you can get an AP1 S10 small blast with reroll [x2?] thats going to mess alot of things up first shot.

Squig_herder wrote:With 3 you can get an AP1 S10 small blast with reroll [x2?] thats going to mess alot of things up first shot.

You get this already by linking 2 Fire Prisms. It's an excellent anti-vehicle shot. I usually only link the Fire Prisms when they are going to shoot at a Land Raider or Monolith. The S10 doubles the chances to penetrate and the AP1 increases the chances to destroy the AV14 tanks. I don't think it is worth it to link Prisms on any other target.

3 fire prisms are not overkill ... THEY ARE USELESS !!
why would you want to have a s7 ap2 pie plate , to kill termis ? then you would have wastet all your heavy slots .
eldar have alot better termi killers . shining spers and fire dragons do the trick
2 prisms is just enough , that way you rape marines and kill any anoying land raiders

omar wrote:3 fire prisms are not overkill ... THEY ARE USELESS !!
why would you want to have a s7 ap2 pie plate , to kill termis ? then you would have wastet all your heavy slots .
eldar have alot better termi killers . shining spers and fire dragons do the trick
2 prisms is just enough , that way you rape marines and kill any anoying land raiders

Like said before, Fire Prisms are very good when they aren't linking their shots. If you think they are useless then I don't know what to tell you. A fast moving tank firing S5 AP4 large blasts (or S9 AP2 small blasts) is a very good deal for the points. On top of that, they are able to link (which is almost never worth it, unless firing at AV14). Nobody is forcing you to link the shots. Nobody is crazy enough to link it to a S7 AP2 large blast template, while you can just as easily fire 3 S9 AP2 small blast templates.

You can't compare Fire Prisms to Fire Dragons as their roles are totally different (anti-infantry and anti-vehicle). Comparing Fire Prisms to Shining Spears is a joke. Shining Spears are a terrible unit, you shouldn't even look at them.

Shining Spears are anything but terrible, but that is another discussion.

While Eldar have other Ap2 options they also have expensive units and cannot afford everything at once. Fire Prisms are one of the ways to get Ap2 and it works because they are also a good anti horde unit.

One of my local players runs a three Fire Prism army he doesnt any more not because other things are better, but because it was too nasty (alongside the other stuff he took), mostly Pathfinders.

omar wrote:3 fire prisms are not overkill ... THEY ARE USELESS !!
why would you want to have a s7 ap2 pie plate , to kill termis ? then you would have wastet all your heavy slots .
eldar have alot better termi killers . shining spers and fire dragons do the trick
2 prisms is just enough , that way you rape marines and kill any anoying land raiders

You link them for the reroll and to kill tanks. St 10 AP1 reroll misses...

GMMStudios wrote:

omar wrote:3 fire prisms are not overkill ... THEY ARE USELESS !!
why would you want to have a s7 ap2 pie plate , to kill termis ? then you would have wastet all your heavy slots .
eldar have alot better termi killers . shining spers and fire dragons do the trick
2 prisms is just enough , that way you rape marines and kill any anoying land raiders

You link them for the reroll and to kill tanks. St 10 AP1 reroll misses...

They become a 230 point Tau rail head....... LOL

The ability to link up lends flexibility. Yes its costly to link up to get that str 10 ap1 shot but you can hide the lending prism out of enemy LOS protecting it.

Three isnt overkill if you plan to keep the large proportion of your blast death in the heavy support slots & use things like transports, GSJ's, spyders and vypers to fill the roll otherwise required by that heavy support stuff.

When you do have three however, spamming the small str 9 ap 2 templates becomes much more viable & this is the perfect anti-termie weapon as it ID's TEQ's & thier HQ's. Being able to put down an anti-MEQ large blast and TEQ blast in one turn @ 60" from a fast-skimmer platform does have its uses & should be scary.

Add in 2-4 brightlances and you can dedicated these guys to anti-troop duties which, from what I can tell, the meta-game never takes into concideration.

Razerous wrote:The ability to link up lends flexibility. Yes its costly to link up to get that str 10 ap1 shot but you can hide the lending prism out of enemy LOS protecting it.

Three isnt overkill if you plan to keep the large proportion of your blast death in the heavy support slots & use things like transports, GSJ's, spyders and vypers to fill the roll otherwise required by that heavy support stuff.

When you do have three however, spamming the small str 9 ap 2 templates becomes much more viable & this is the perfect anti-termie weapon as it ID's TEQ's & thier HQ's. Being able to put down an anti-MEQ large blast and TEQ blast in one turn @ 60" from a fast-skimmer platform does have its uses & should be scary.

Add in 2-4 brightlances and you can dedicated these guys to anti-troop duties which, from what I can tell, the meta-game never takes into concideration.

QFT

GMMStudios wrote:

omar wrote:3 fire prisms are not overkill ... THEY ARE USELESS !!
why would you want to have a s7 ap2 pie plate , to kill termis ? then you would have wastet all your heavy slots .
eldar have alot better termi killers . shining spers and fire dragons do the trick
2 prisms is just enough , that way you rape marines and kill any anoying land raiders

You link them for the reroll and to kill tanks. St 10 AP1 reroll misses...

You link them to kill AV14 tanks.

Airmaniac wrote:

omar wrote:3 fire prisms are not overkill ... THEY ARE USELESS !!
why would you want to have a s7 ap2 pie plate , to kill termis ? then you would have wastet all your heavy slots .
eldar have alot better termi killers . shining spers and fire dragons do the trick
2 prisms is just enough , that way you rape marines and kill any anoying land raiders

Like said before, Fire Prisms are very good when they aren't linking their shots. If you think they are useless then I don't know what to tell you. A fast moving tank firing S5 AP4 large blasts (or S9 AP2 small blasts) is a very good deal for the points. On top of that, they are able to link (which is almost never worth it, unless firing at AV14). Nobody is forcing you to link the shots. Nobody is crazy enough to link it to a S7 AP2 large blast template, while you can just as easily fire 3 S9 AP2 small blast templates.

You can't compare Fire Prisms to Fire Dragons as their roles are totally different (anti-infantry and anti-vehicle). Comparing Fire Prisms to Shining Spears is a joke. Shining Spears are a terrible unit, you shouldn't even look at them.

i didn't say fire prisms are useless , i said that 3 are useless .
and , fire dragons are not only tank hunters , they are relatively cheap mc/termi/commander killers .

omar wrote:

Airmaniac wrote:

omar wrote:3 fire prisms are not overkill ... THEY ARE USELESS !!
why would you want to have a s7 ap2 pie plate , to kill termis ? then you would have wastet all your heavy slots .
eldar have alot better termi killers . shining spers and fire dragons do the trick
2 prisms is just enough , that way you rape marines and kill any anoying land raiders

Like said before, Fire Prisms are very good when they aren't linking their shots. If you think they are useless then I don't know what to tell you. A fast moving tank firing S5 AP4 large blasts (or S9 AP2 small blasts) is a very good deal for the points. On top of that, they are able to link (which is almost never worth it, unless firing at AV14). Nobody is forcing you to link the shots. Nobody is crazy enough to link it to a S7 AP2 large blast template, while you can just as easily fire 3 S9 AP2 small blast templates.

You can't compare Fire Prisms to Fire Dragons as their roles are totally different (anti-infantry and anti-vehicle). Comparing Fire Prisms to Shining Spears is a joke. Shining Spears are a terrible unit, you shouldn't even look at them.

i didn't say fire prisms are useless , i said that 3 are useless .
and , fire dragons are not only tank hunters , they are relatively cheap mc/termi/commander killers .

Please enlighten us with more information. One or two prisms is fine, but 3 are useless. How did you arrive at such a profound conclusion?

2 are good , as you will get most out of it for all the points.
3 are not good , because you would waste 115 points fo what ? twin linking a twin linked shot ? yea, very good and effective

?

I know what you are saying, but increasing a big blast shot of str 5 ap 4 to str 7 ap 2. Twin-linked is just gravy.

You will be hard pressed to find a better 115 pts of killy in the eldar codex.

After thinking about it.....3 little blast str 9 ap 2 is a helluva lot better than big shot triple linked. :/

The 3rd prism wouldn't be wasted. Pretty sure there would be a target within 60" to blow away.

^You dont constantly link all three, its about flexibility and spamming and covering your hide.

I take three, assuming at least one will pretty much always be stunned.

I'm not sure they're the most effecient thing in the list, but I've had good luck with them. I took three fully loaded to hard boys and did pretty well (in an admittedly weak semi, but still).

I, personally, wouldn't use three.
In fact, I would probably only use one, because I probably would only link shots vs. MEQs. (S6 AP3 Large Blast ). The single Prism is versatile, fast, hard to kill, and cheap.
After the first Prism, others would just be wasting valuable HS slots that could be used for War Walkers or a Wraithlord.

Like Polonius says- playing mech, you have to figure that a significant portion of your force will be stunned at any given time. During turns when you're still completely mounted and blazing away, canny opponents will stick to the "shake and move on" tactic to neutralize your shooting. 3 Prisms would help with this.

That said, I stick to 2. Even in 1850, 3 WS full of troops and 1 to 2 WS or Falcons full of elites doesn't leave room for much else. I tend to trim the shooters, as it's easier to fruestruate shooting than it is to stop transport delivery.

And ditto the above comment about taking several brightlances alongside the Prisms. Prisms are additional strength vs. tanks, never a mainstay.

Squig_herder wrote:In my experience, the linked shot is better than 2 unlinked for 2 reasons:

1. Re-Roll scatter

2. Improved AP and Strength [the most imporant part]

With 3 you can get an AP1 S10 small blast with reroll [x2?] thats going to mess alot of things up first shot.

You only get one reroll. Page 2 of the rulebook.

Old Man Ultramarine wrote:115 each

Ponder this.....

After reading FAQ. You can use prism to link shot to another prism and fire other weapon, catapult or cannon upgrade, at another target.

So with that mindset, is the 10pt upgrade to cannon worth it?

Last weekend my prisms (2) underachieved. It may be due to my "randomness" with Eldar, as I was playtesting ideas. When I buckle down and use units to do the jobs they are supposed to do, it will be different story. That and find a new scatter dice. Mine was failure last weekend.

I've always found the 10 point upgrade to a BS 4 shuriken cannon to be worth it. Ten points gets you an extra shot, 24" range instead of 12", and Str 6 instead of Strength 4. The extra wounds against infantry are nice; you'll get 2.5x as many wounds against T4 and 4.5x as many against T6 on average. More than that, though, it gives you the ability to threaten side and rear armor. Three S6 shots at BS4 can easily threaten vehicles, especially since the Prism is mobile enough to be able to hit that exposed armor.

Heck, it even gives the Prism something worth contributing if it's Prism Cannon is destroyed!

I agree 2 is perfect three abliet not overkill it seems fairly useless to me. Unless you run fluffy full mech, i have found that 3 Warwalkers are just as deadly anti-infantry as a Prism. Also with cover abound (or ways to get it) the Meq's will probably still be having a cover save if they are smart, negating the AP 3 or 2 shot.

Very stunning to see many say 2 prisms is optimal, but using 3 is useless.

A tank with 60" range with two blast marker options to fire, one anti troop and one anti tank, can never be declared useless. Sure, having the third isn't needed for linking, but finding a target on the board shouldn't be too hard.

misspost

Three are fine.
Just take them without any upgrades.
If one looses its main weapon, use it for tank shocking, ramming, and contesting.