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I'm looking to expand my army from 1000 points. I've got a mech-dar theme and I like how it's been working so far. I'm trying to balance the list for all comers while taking the best advantage of eldar mobility I can. Any comments, criticism, or advise would be welcome.

HQ - 285

Farseer (Spirit Stones, RoWi, RoWa, Doom, Fortune)

Autarch (Jetbike, Mandiblasters, Laser Lance)

TROOPS - 846

10 Dire Avengers (Exarch, Dual Cats, Bladestorm)
+ Wave Serpent (TL EML, Spirit Stones)

10 Dire Avengers (Exarch, Dual Cats, Bladestorm)
+ Wave Serpent (TL EML, Spirit Stones)

10 Dire Avengers (Exarch, Dual Cats, Bladestorm)
+ Wave Serpent (TL EML, Spirit Stones)

ELITES - 242

7 Fire Dragons
+ Wave Serpent (TL EML, Spirit Stones)

FAST ATTACK - 227

5 Shining Spears (Exarch, Star Lance, Withdraw)

HEAVY SUPPORT - 250

Fire Prism (Spirit Stones)

Fire Prism (Spirit Stones)

The general strategy is to us the Shining Spear/Autarch squad to hunt termies and high-armor HQ units while my tanks and FDs go after anti-armor threats. I'll Bladestorm and re-embark as necessary with the DAs, then dump them on objectives turn 4 or 5. I worry about the small list at 1850, and even with 6 templates I'm not sure I can lay down the firepower I need to stop a horde. The Shining Spears are something new, but I like them as an alternative to Banshees for dirty work. They have the potential to be very nasty, but there are a lot of points tied up in those T4 models, and there are only 6 of them. I guess time will tell on the Spears.

Replace fortune with guide for your farseer. Doom and guide increase bladestorms wounds on MEQ from 11 to 22.

Take holofields on Fire Prisms if your only taking two. You lose one and you'll find your only strength 10 ap 1 gone.

Apart from that a pretty nice list. I run something similar, and im moving it to be even more similar.

Looks very efficient, my only input is that skilled rider on the shining spears (allows you to fearlessly assault through cover) and a fusion gun on the autarch (gives you a bit more punch against armour-heavy lists) are useful, cheap upgrades.

My view on Fortune vs Guide was that with high BS already, rerolling hits is not as efficient. Crunching the numbers, I see that the benefit of fortune vs bolter fire is not significantly better, and Guide would save me 10 points which could buy that fusion gun for my autarch. Looks like a good idea here, and I may do this unless anyone else has a good reason not too.

Skilled Rider does not seem to be necessary, as the only benefit it provides is for ending a turn in difficult terrain. In the 5e rulebook, on page 53, there is a special box with Jetbike rules. If you read the rule labeled "Eldar Jetbikes", it seems to state that all eldar jetbikes can always move 6" in the assault phase even if they do not assault, and that eldar jetbikes treat difficult terrain in the assault phase in the same way that other jetbikes do during the movement phase. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, please.

Holofields are quite expensive, and Fire Prisms are not. Putting Holofields on both prisms would be almost as many points as buying a third Prism, which the army probably doesn't need. I'm frankly not all that worried about losing the link power, and if I do I will likely miss the AP3 large blast more. I've got EMLs and FDs to pick up the slack on anti armor.

Guide and doom will improve the average wounds of blade storm from 11 wounds on MEQ to 22 wounds. Its the perfect combination.


Also with out holofields you will lose a fire prism, they simple cannot take any fire at them without holofields. Thats why people tend to run either 3 naked Fire Prisms for redundency, or run two with holofields for a more survivable two. It really depends on your play style. But doing neither tends to be a sure way to end up with an overly expensive Lascannon, and a blast that is no were near as good as it could be.

On the prisms I would probably run them entirely naked. Spirit stones without holofields arent really a great buy, only help 1 in 6. Prisms should either have both stones and fields (to max the defensive advantage) or run naked.

With several serpents in your army, I would argue that shots on the prisms are something that you WANT to see. If they are shooting at the prisms then they arent shooting at your important units. Naked prisms are cheap enough that you can afford to lose them, while they still pose enough of a threat that they will soak up some fire. If they get fired upon in the first turn or two, then they are doing a wonderful job even if they never deal any damage.

If I can entice fire onto a naked prism instead of a loaded serpent on the first turn, then Im delighted with that outcome. Anything that would kill a prism would cripple my serpent squad.


Sliggoth

Combo: I've been leaning towards guide over fortune, like I said before, but I think your math is off. Bladestorm from a full squad is 32 shots, 27 at BS 4 and 5 at BS 5.

So, with just Doom:
(27*(2/3)*(3/4)*(1/3)) + (5*(5/6)*(3/4)*(1/3)) = 6.24 wounds

With Doom and Guide:
(27*(8/9)*(3/4)*(1/3)) + (5*(35/36)*(3/4)*(1/3)) = 7.22 wounds

As you can see, the impact Guide makes is significant, but not great. My original thoughts were that rerolling saves could be more useful than 1 extra wound on MEQs, but crunching the numbers, it looks like Fortune will only save me about 1 wound vs a full volley of rapid fire bolter shots, and significantly less against anything else. Of course, performance for Guide gets worse than this when you consider that the DAs can't always Bladestorm and will lose shots as they take casualties. Also, please consider that while Doom may benefit several squads firing at the same target, Guide and Fortune are expensive bonuses for the squad the Farseer rides with. Is it really worth 35 points to allow 1 squad to re-roll shooting? Is it worth 45 to allow that squad to reroll saves instead?

I see your point about the Prisms drawing fire, but as Sliggoth pointed out, thats not so bad. It's a more or less fair game, which means I have to count on losing units. Better for me if they spend their shots taking out my cheap, non-scoring, single shot tanks rather than my transports. One idea I tried to keep in the list is to force the enemy to pick where his S8+ shots are going - Should he hit the artillery pounding away from the back, try a shot at insta-gibbing the Autarch, or cripple the transports? I've personally never run into a list with 3 prisms below 2000 points, Combo, and while holo-fields are good, they aren't great. I'll still have cover saves and SS, which is usually enough to frustrate enemy shooters.

also, with fortune, your wave serpents can reroll their obscured save if the farseer is inside.

on the other hand doom and guide are really nice with any unit, I like to put him in with the fire dragons and watch vehicles burn