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So basically, I'm going to be participating in a tournement of sorts, and I want some advice on my list

HQ: Farseer w/ doom, mind war, spirit stones, singing spear- 123 pts
Avatar of Khaine: 155 pts

Troops: 8 Dire Avengers w/ exarch, dual catapults, bladestorm- 128
5 Pathfinders- 120 pts

Elites: 8 Striking Scorpions w/ exarch, biting blade- 145 pts
Wave Serpent w/ TL brightlance, shuriken cannon- 145 pts

Fast Attack: 8 Warp Spiders w/ exarch, dual death spinners, withdraw- 208 pts

Heavy Support: Fire Prism w/ shuriken cannon- 125 pts
5 Dark Reapers w/ exarch, EML, fast shot- 217
Wraithlord w/ 2 flamers, EML, wraithsword- 125 pts

Total- 1491 pts

I'm considering swapping the Scorpions for Banshees right now, but aside from those I have all this plus a squad of Guardians and some Warlocks. I'm more than willing to make changes, but hopefully without breaking the bank. Advice would be greatly appreciated. Oh, a good number of the people I'll be playing against run Chaos or Necrons. Go figure.

Dude don't take this the wrong way but it sucks.
Spiders aren't that good in 5th, if you take scorpions then take shadow strike so you can flank with the serpent, one prism sucks but two are awesome, reapers are meh, avatar and wraithlord seem out of place also there doesn't seem to be any clear direction as to what this list is trying to do. Remember eldar are about synergy and the units need to complement one another.
Bright lances suck, needs dragons, DA need a transport and take 10.
Mind war is situational, fortune or guide are better all round

For my part, I would definitely advise getting rid of the shuriken cannon from the fire prism. If it ever goes slower than twelve inches, you've done something wrong. Use the points to put powerblades on your spider exarch so he can help the squad live long enough in combat to use withdraw. If you can, definitely take a second fire prism in place of one of your other heavy support options, for as SpringLevel implies, one prism is mediocre at best but twin-linked they are amazing. I also have to agree that the avatar has less presence in that list than he could. On his own he is a fire magnet, but if you support him with fortune he has a much more impactful presence, at least. A fortuned avatar is a pretty big psychological threat, and sometimes will cause the entire rest of your army to be ignored while your opponent scrambles to keep the big guy from reaching their lines. Also, be careful about using outflank too liberally with your scorps. Without an autarch, a bit of bad dice luck will leave you short a good portion of your counterpunching force.

I must disagree with the above summarization of warp spiders. AP- doesn't immediately make them a fail unit, eight of them with one dual death spinner pump out a hideous amount of wounds, and can easily ruin AV11. Even marines will fail some of those armor saves. They're great at overloading large, slow, high toughness critters, and mobs of enemies with a 4+ or less, getting side/rear armor shots on vehicles, and with powerblades and doom they're solid assaulters against non-melee units like tac marines. All they need is a good eye for guessing distance and handy terrain to hop behind. If you want to make spiders a threat that even the most dismissive opponent would have to warrant, take an autarch with a jump generator, power weapon, mandiblasters, and a fusion gun. Cheap-as-chips HQ that when supported by doom and a big spider squad becomes a transport busting and troop wrecking monstrosity that you can use to pull the enemy completely off balance trying to chase.

I hear your worry about breaking the bank altering your list, Mandal. If you can't afford anything else, your list will be functional but you will need lucky opponent draws and above average dice luck to pull out wins. Synergy is what you make of it and there is definitely more than one way to play eldar, but the 'set the web and pull the flies in piecemeal' relies a lot more on luck than I would like to risk if I was in your place.

Thanks for the tips, the place I play usually doesn't mind a bit of proxying so I'll playtest some new ideas, if you've got anything else I'd love to hear it.

It depends on what you want your playstyle to be, really, before I could offer too much more advice. I'm fairly new to Eldar myself, I started with pre-new codex Space Wolves. I like the light, frail choices that the opponents scoff at until they hit their niche and tear the heart from the enemy army; also, nothing in my full army moves slower than twelve inches a turn unless dead or tied up in combat. Without further explanations of what you want your army to play like, I can't say much more than you don't really need fire dragons. Sure, they're great and will reduce just about anything on tracks to a pile of melted goo, but if it was a transport you just traded them for it because whatever was inside is probably either going to eat them or at best render them vulnerable. Bright lances are fine if you can move faster than your targets and keep them at arms' length.

I would drop the wraithlord, and do some proxying. Banshees guided with an oppenent's unit doomed should preform better against MEQ armies then stricking scorps. They are better at thining out horde infantry and lightly armoured units like Fire Warriors or Scouts. Also I would difinatly think about dropping something for either more pathfinders or a seperate squad of dire avengers, you only have 2 scoring troops, with most games now being about obectives you will need them.

Guide won't help you in melee, it's shooting only. Also, two troop choices isn't necessarily a liability with Eldar, provided you can keep them safe and mobile, say a serpent in reserve that zooms around like a spastic bat until turn 5, where it jumps on an objective. Even your best troops are barely better than mediocre, it's the elites and heavy support that do your lifting from what I've experienced. My troop choices are two mid-point upgrades that make two serpents scoring, and if I have the points a few guardian jetbikes. Target saturation will usually keep enough troop choices safe to cover your bases at game's end.

keep the reapers, they kill MEQ armies like tin foil, they will draw fire so allways depoly in cover with them. I agree with most have been said about ur scoring units are doomed to get slaughterd since they are footen it. I'd drop either the Avatar for a Transport for one of ur troops.

Autarch w/ warp jump generator, mandiblasters, power weapon, fusion gun- 125

Farseer w/ doom, fortune, singing spear, runes of warding, spirit stones- 148

8 Striking Scorpions w/ exarch, biting blade, shadowstrike- 165

8 Fire Dragons w/ exarch, firepike, tank hunters- 163

Wave Serpent w/ twin linked brightlances, shuriken cannon, spirit stones- 155

10 Dire Avengers w/ exarch, dual catapults, bladestorm- 152

6 Pathfinders- 144

9 Warp Spiders w/ exarch, dual death spinners, powerblades, withdraw- 240

5 Dark Reapers w/ exarch, Eldar missile launcher, fast shot- 207

Total- 1499 

Alright so this is what I'm thinking I might try out this weekend. The Reapers are always going to be in here because they really are 100% marine killers, and almost always my mvps. I figure with this list I'll be running a pincer with the scorpions outflanking and the spiders jumping up the side, I don't have much luck with deepstriking. The seer will hang out in doom range with fortune on himself, keeping my targets nice and squishy, while the dragons ride in the serpent doing their thing. The avengers are kinda just to run interference and pathfinders are my hq killers.
How does this sound as a more stable build?

Your troop choices are fragile.

Having only 2, with one being a stationary unit. Fine line to being able to win objective games.

Props to making a fluffy Aspect army

Your most glaring weakness is the troops. 2 smalls squads of delicate troops are going to cost you all objective missions. If you lose both troops you will find it impossible to win games - they would be an early target for me. I'd say 2 full size DA squads would be fine if they had transports. Without you might want a full 3 units of troops.

Reapers switch to Tempest Launcher and Crack shot. You will kill WAYYYYYY more marines/necrons.

DA not in a serpent are a recipe for fail. You have two very squish troop choices as said above, so if your going to be playing objective... your toast.

Dragons drop the Exarch, he's overkill and unnecessary points. If something doesn't die to 7-8 normal dragons then you are cursed and don't plan on them surviving to hit a 2nd target.

Farseer... not seeing what your attaching him to here. If you're planing to use the farseer out on his own, then cast his powers round one, take him off the table, and give your opponent the kill points.

I'd want more troops, but I don't know where I'd pull the points from, maybe take out the farseer for another avenger squad?

I still don't like your list. It seems somehow defected.
Here try this 1500 on for size and tell me what you think

HQ
farseer,bike,stones,warding,fortune,doom,spear-178
7xjetlocks,enhance,embolden,2xdestructor-755
Troops
10xDA,exarch,cats,storm-152
-wave serpent,scatter-115
8x bikes,2xcannons,warlock,spear,embolden-249
Elites
6x fire dragons-96
-wave serpent,stones,scatter-125
Heavy
prism-115
prism-115

1500

Jetlocks make good balance for warp spiders or other bikes but if the OP doesn't want to break the bank making new units, that's definitely the wrong way to go. If those are taken, though, double up the enhance and embolden on the jetlocks. You don't want to lose one to an unlucky wound wrap, so make sure you have insurance.

Everyone will hate you if you run Eldar bike armies. That being said, its damn effective and reaaally annoying. Especially the seer bike council. ugh.

-If you don't wanna go the bike route I have a few suggestions.

-DROP the reapers. I know you said you didn't want to, but in every game I've played against them they have been marginal at best, even against MEQs. For the points you spend on them you could load yourself with another prism or another serpent for the second avenger squad that you MUST take.

-Troops: Avengers, Avengers, Pathfiners. Keep in mind 2/3 of the games you play revolve around scoring troops choices. Take your pathfinders, drop them on an objective in cover and hold it forever...or until you get assaulted. Avengers in serpents are excellent. They do nearly everything well. They're extremely mobile in the serpent, can lay down a ferocious amount of fire with bladestorm, and they can almost be sort of good in CC with shimmershield...but I would not do that. To make room scale down your scorp/dragons/ spider squads a little.

-Get the avatar back in there, screw the autarch. A fortuned avatar is a horrifying thing, just make sure that you fortune him every turn.

-Meh on the dragons. First of all the squad is too big, second of all they need a transport or else they take forever to get into range. If you're looking for more anti-tank use the TL brightlances on your serpents, drop the wraithsword and give him a brightlance as well.

-I like spiders. Jumpy fun!

-Yeah scale down your elites, maybe remove the dragons, definitely remove the reapers, and beef up and speed up your troops choice. Avengers are great units when used correctly.

Good Luck!

Bright lances suck, they only give you a 1 in 18 chance at wrecking against AV12 ,1 in 12 if they're TL, . Either way those aren't good odds and you can't relay on them for you're AT.
I don't like spiders because they get shot at a lot and even with their 3+ save they don't last long.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and reapers are definitely Meh with a capital M. Even in cover they die fast you know why. Cause they're only five T3 soldiers. Even five marines on their on wouldn't last that long and they don't have a big "look how deadly my guns are" bulls eye on them.
Every time I used them they died on turn 3 tops and even then they couldn't justify their cost

Semirelated Unrelated note I miss the old days when friendly units didn't block line of sight (well give 4+ cover ... you know what I mean). And you could take reapers and set a full squad of guardians with conceal in front of them for meat shields. Those where the good old days of cheezy battle lines. No everyone just uses vehicles to do their dirty work.

I still want to playtest the list I had posted before, I'll tweak it a bit, but how does this one look from a tactical standpoint?

Farseer w/ fortune, singing spear- 88

Avatar of Khaine- 155

7 Scorpions w/ exarch, biting blade, shadowstrike- 149

10 Avengers w/ exarch, dual catapults, bladestorm- 152

Wave Serpent w/ brightlances, shuriken cannon- 145

10 Avengers w/ exarch, dual catapults, bladestorm- 152

Wave Serpent w/ EMLs, shuriken cannon- 130

5 Pathfinders- 120

7 Spiders w/ exarch, dual spinners- 171

Fire Prism- 115

Fire Prism- 115

Total- 1492

I'm not entirely happy with the monetary cost of this one, but the holidays are coming up, lol

Ok here is my list:-

HQ
Farseer w/ singing spear, fortune -88 pts
Kaandras ( I will be getting him soon so i dont know how many points he is, guessing 150 pts. )

Troops
10 Pathfinders -240 pts ( 2 seperate squads )
10 Avengers w/ exarch, dual catapults, bladestorm -152

Heavy Support
2 Fire Prisms -230
6 Dark Reapers w/ exarch, Eldar missile launcher, fast shot- 207


Elites
12 Striking Scorpions w/ x2 Exarch, x2 Biting Blades, Infiltration -308
6 Fire Dragons w/ exarch -98

1473 pts all together. However with the Striking Scorpions i have magnitized the biting blades so i can swap them for scorpians claw. Also if i could add a single unit if i have enough spare parts for the points i have left if i dont add the scorpions claw. It works when i use this setup.

Must have been a typo, the max dark reaper squad size is 5, but your points were right. Also, hate to burst your bubble, but Karandras is 215 points.

CrazyCombatCarl wrote:Semirelated Unrelated note I miss the old days when friendly units didn't block line of sight (well give 4+ cover ... you know what I mean). And you could take reapers and set a full squad of guardians with conceal in front of them for meat shields. Those where the good old days of cheezy battle lines. No everyone just uses vehicles to do their dirty work.

Take a reaper launcher and crack shot with 2 normal reapers. Your nasty gun has no side effect and only the two normals confer cover saves.

MandalorynOranj wrote:
Farseer w/ fortune, singing spear- 88

Avatar of Khaine- 155

7 Scorpions w/ exarch, biting blade, shadowstrike- 149

10 Avengers w/ exarch, dual catapults, bladestorm- 152

Wave Serpent w/ brightlances, shuriken cannon- 145

10 Avengers w/ exarch, dual catapults, bladestorm- 152

Wave Serpent w/ EMLs, shuriken cannon- 130

5 Pathfinders- 120

7 Spiders w/ exarch, dual spinners- 171

Fire Prism- 115

Fire Prism- 115

Total- 1492

OK now were getting somewhere. Replace the spiders with dragons and serpent, their kind of a must and beef up your AV 12 count.
Take EML instead of BL on those serpents and remove the shuriken cannons.
If I were you I'd lose the rangers and take a transport for the scorpions so they can outflank.

I would have to agree on fire dragons and a serpent for the Strikings... but honestly it would make you list more in line with more cookiecutter builds. Playtest the original list and this one, then decide what your getting a good vibe from.

I just tested the list with the fire dragons, reapers, and autarch, it completely owned in annhilation against chaos marines, got wrecked in seize ground against necrons

Mechdar is the way to go unfortunately. Don't drop Farseer for exarch or any other HQ because psychic powers are too awesome. Along with Fortune, you will DEFINITELY need doom (which also means spirit stones)

I would drop scorpians and/or avatar/spiders for Fire Dragons and a transport because bright lances won't get you anywhere. Give every transports scatter lasers at best.

Reapers are fail so yea... you won't have much success with them because everything are in transports nowadays.