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What units are a must take for blind tournament and which units always avoid? Thanks!

Fire dragons
Eldrad
min DA squads in serpents
war walkers vs fire prisms

Must take units for competitive eldar lists are as follows.

Eldrad
He's rather expensive but he is one of the most valueable units in 40k even though hes a 4th edition unit. He can cast 3 spells as opposed to 2 spells for a standard Farseer and can also cast the same spell twice. You will find playing an Eldar list that your farseer spells are the only thing keeping you in games. Eldrad is the #1 Priority for any competitive eldar player.

Avatar
The Avatar is a beast. Tough powerful and cheap for its statline - also granting fearless to all units within 12 inches. Essential for any ground Eldar list.

War Walkers
War Walkers are simply a dominant shooting vehicle squadron usually armed with Scatter lasers, they put out a horrendous amount of firepower and can receive guide from farseers to make them even more effective.

Guardian Jet-bikes
Simply the most under pointed troop choice in the game. Extremely mobile and resilient with good anti infantry and anti tank ability.

You can build a very competive army with these units as the core.

Also, be prepared to take on Space Marines efficiently with Howling Banshees, remember to be the one to charge.

My quick review of Eldar units:

HQ:
Autarch - Can be useful in mechdar. Make sure you've got a solid squad to put him with (Warp Spiders, Seer Council, Jetbikes)
Farseer - MUST HAVE. The only time you don't is when you upgrade to Eldrad.
Warlock Council - Expenisve unit. Wins plenty of games by itself, but face the wrong foe and you auto-lose.
Avatar - Good in Footdar. Avoid in mech. Must have if you're going MC Eldar.
Yriel - Worthwhile, but not great. Use in a CC unit.
Eldrad - Excellent choice. Take if you can afford him and you aren't running Jetlocks.
Phoenix Lords (all of them) - Look great on a shelf. Perform poorly on a battlefield. Avoid.

Elite:
Striking Scorpions - Works well in footdar, but not great. Avoid in mechdar.
Fire Dragons - Excellent unit! Must have in a mech force. Lack of delivery makes them hard to use in footdar.
Wraithguard - Meh. Usable in 10-man troop choices, but not great.
Howling Banshees - Good CC unit in mechdar, but not great. Avoid in footdar.
Harlequin Troupe - Useful screening unit in footdar. Avoid in mechdar.

Dedicated Transport:
Wave Serpent - Excellent transport and gunboat. Possibly best transport in the game. Spam it in mechdar (obviously, it's your only choice )

Troop:
Dire Avengers - Must have in mechdar. Usable but more limited impact in footdar.
Rangers - Not great, not even good. But, are a cheap way to park a squad on an objective. Be prepared for a single flamer to wipe out the squad.
Guardians (Defender) - Pretty bad unit. Only use if you have an Avatar to support. Avoid in mechdar at all costs.
Guardians (Storm) - Good unit. Gives DA a run for their money in mechdar. Also somewhat usable in footdar.
Guardian Jetbike - Decent unit. A great way to get an extra scoring squad for cheap in mechdar. Also makes a good supplimentary unit in footdar.

FA:
Shining Spears - Looks good, but isn't worth the cost. Avoid.
Warp Spiders - Surprisingly effective unit. Works well in both mechdar and footdar. Not a must have, but a good place to spend extra points.
Swooping Hawks - Worst unit in the codex (apart from a few Phoenix Lords). Avoid at all costs.
Vyper Squadron - Meh. A cheap way to get extra heavy weapons if you're out of HS slots.

HS:
Support Weapon Battery - It's an artillery unit. Enough said. NEXT
Dark Reapers - They can be good, if you're fighting foot-based Marines without drop pods. Avoid in a TAC list. Avoid in mechdar.
Wraithlord - Avoid in mechdar. Usable in footdar. A must have in MC Eldar.
War Walker Squadron - Excellent choice. Usable in both mechdar and footdar. Bordering on must have.
Falcon - Playable in mechdar, but typically is worse than a Fire Prism. Divided opinions among players.
Fire Prism - Possibly the best HS choice. Not everyone runs them, but they're pretty close to a must have.
Night Spinner - (Rules are in a White Dwarf) Moderate to good. Excellent against horde armies, limited use against mech forces. Usable, but not a must have.

Must say that is a pretty solid review their Grakmar.
I would echo a previous post, and say Eldrad is a very very good character, and in footdar, i would definatly take Eldard over a farseer or two.

And why Wraithlord avoidable in footdar? Did you get that mixed up? I would have thought they would be fairly useless/not effective in mechdar, but very useful in footdar.

You need to have a Spiritseer Warlock within 12" of it or it has a 1 in 6 chance of doing nothing for an entire turn. In an army as unforgiving as the Eldar, that's a no-no.

rodgers37 wrote:And why Wraithlord avoidable in footdar? Did you get that mixed up? I would have thought they would be fairly useless/not effective in mechdar, but very useful in footdar.

Yup, that was a typo. I've fixed the other post.

Thanks!

I also agree that Grakmar's overview is very solid. But I'd like to add the following to compliment it when you go about making a list.

The most important thing to avoid in an Eldar list is bloat. You need your units to be lean and mean so you can fit as many units as possible. Inefficiency in your list will cause you to be even more outgunned then usual.

The most common sources of bloat on an Eldar List are vehicle upgrades. On Wave Serpents the only things you'll generally need are weapons and possibly spirit stones. no other upgrades are worth the points. Keep em cheap, and keep em plentiful. On certain tanks, Holofields can be good, there is an entire debate raging on thier usefulness, and I won't get into it here. Vectored Engines and Star Engines are generally not worth the points ever.

the second most bloated area I find are Farseer Psychic Powers. Either take a single power for a cheap farseer, or take 2 with spirit stones. If you want 3 psychic powers on your Farseer just take Eldrad. A regular farseer's advantage over Eldrad is that in a mechanized list they can give a simliar benefit of psychic support for a fraction of the cost, as the cost gap narrows... the advantage disappears completely. The exception is on a Jetbike with a biker counicil as Eldrad isn't cool enough to ride, however you should still limit yourself to just fortune and maybe doom, so as to not gimp the rest of your list.

Another area is Dire Avenger Exarch equipment and powers. Figure out what your Avengers are going to do, and stick with it. 2 catapults + bladestorm for shooty, and shimmer shield + defend for tarpit. Generally in a mech list you'll want 2 catapults and bladestorm leaping out of a wave serpent, and in foot you'd be more interested in the tarpit build. Don't try to mix the roles, you'll waste too many points for the versatility. Also you should only take an Exarch if the squad numbers at least 9. All of the exarch's powers are more effective the more Dire Avengers they effect, they are a colossal waste of points if there are no forces to multiply.

And finally, don't use Falcons to transport fire dragons. I know that the transport capacity is perfect but wave serpents just do a better job. falcons need to be far back, and moving slowly to fire all of their long range guns. Dragons need to be moving fast toward the enemy. Wave Serpents do this better. End of Story, save your heavy support for Fire Prisms, Walkers, and Night Spinner (in about that order of usefulness) if you want to run a falcon, put a 5 man dire avenger squad in it and holofields to make a rock hard objective holding long range support tank.

+1 to both Grakmar and Akaean.

Thx, wow I didnt expect to get such a thoughtout and comprehensive list, but wow...I feel confident now on a starting list of models to start out with. The support to the reviews seem consistent as well. As a side note, are the 2 latest Forgeworld Eldar units worth taking/buying? The serpent with large gun and unit of jet pack guys? Thx,will post pics soon.

bootlegbaker wrote:Thx, wow I didnt expect to get such a thoughtout and comprehensive list, but wow...I feel confident now on a starting list of models to start out with. The support to the reviews seem consistent as well. As a side note, are the 2 latest Forgeworld Eldar units worth taking/buying? The serpent with large gun and unit of jet pack guys? Thx,will post pics soon.

I haven't proxied them into a game yet, so I can't say for certain.

But, from looking at the unit and thinking about how it would perform, neither one really looks all that great.

The Shadow Specters certainly look cool, but are very expensive. You're only getting a single shot, which although excellent in tank popping, isn't worth the investment. Plus, as the squad takes casualties, the shot goes from tank popping to doing nothing rather quickly. Their main flaw is the same one that has hit Tau: True LOS means it's nearly impossible to use the JSJ to hide them. Perhaps 6th edition will change this and they'll become incredibly effective, but that's a few years away.

The Warp Hunter looks like it may be playable, but isn't a "wow" unit to me. The template attack certainly looks effective, but is sadly very short range. The D-cannon on it will be pretty awesome against MEQ or Termies. But, it's effectively just a Fire Prism that is restricted to only the Focussed firing mode. And, against AV less than 14, it's worse than a S9 shot. If it was 20 points cheaper, I'd be talking about "Is this the end of the Fire Prism?", but at 125, I fear it's a downgrade tank for more points.

The other FW model you should check out is the Hornet. It is clearly superior to a Vyper. Added Armor, removal of open top, scouts, additional heavy weapon, ability to take a Pulse Laser, and star engines included. And, all it costs is 10 extra points and the loss of a TL-Catapult. It is definitely better than the Vyper, and possibly even gives War Walkers a run for their money. If your playgroup allows FW units, check it out.
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/h/hornetexp.pdf

bootlegbaker wrote:Thx, wow I didnt expect to get such a thoughtout and comprehensive list, but wow...I feel confident now on a starting list of models to start out with. The support to the reviews seem consistent as well. As a side note, are the 2 latest Forgeworld Eldar units worth taking/buying? The serpent with large gun and unit of jet pack guys? Thx,will post pics soon.

Be careful with Forgeworld, though. Most tournaments won't let you use anything from Forgeworld.