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So, I have been thinking about Wraithguard for a while. They look good on paper but I can't decide on them. I play Dark Eldar with a couple of allied Eldar. I usually run a fast shooty army with 1 or 2 melee units as backup. Now the reason I'm considering Wraithguard is that they could potentially deal with 2+ stuff that deep strike behind my lines. They are slow but if they were to protect the rear they would be ok and they would be bringing a wave serpent anyways. Eldar is low on template weapons so they could potentially do some damage to blobs as well. Now my problem with them is that in a game where there is nothing to watch out for behind the lines, they are really slow and frankly, quite expensive. And if the dice gods decide that my WS is to be immobilized (which happened at the only game I proxied them) they are a totally useless 200 points. What do you think? Did you have any scenarios where they really shined?

I like Wraithguard, but only if they're troops. If they're troops, they give an Eldar or DE army tough objective holders, and if they have D-scythes, they can actually take objectives away from enemy infantry. If they're not troops, they don't bring much to the field that other options can't also do.

Get a ghost walk matrix on the serpent. It ignores dangerous terrain then and down grades all pen's on a 2+. They are plenty fast as long as the serpent moves them around (and you can use iyanden and a spirit seer if you want to battle focus them around the board).

I would recommend that you always take wraithguard as scoring as otherwise they are a waste of points...this does make them not as great allies as you cannot have a farseer then.

I play a shooty list so it makes more sense for me to grab an HQ that can buff my shooting and troops that can shoot. But I might try the Iyanden way, see where that gets me. I could do with a flexibility I guess.

You can still take a Farseer with your Spiritseer, as he/she can offer you access to Runes of Battle (i.e. Conceal/Reveal) without taking Warlocks. That single power can make your shooting significantly more survivable or more devastating depending on how cover-dependent your opponent is. Now that there is no more Wraithsight, there's no need for the Spiritseer to be with the Wraithguard buffing them at all. In fact, the spirit seer works better with things like Dark Reapers, Guardians, Dire Avengers, etc.

I'd be hesitant to actually use the Iyanden Supplement unless you really go for the whole theme, cause the spirit seer will lose Conceal/Reveal for a Wraith Buff. But the spirit seer is an HQ choice that I like on its own, and it gives you the variability of tough scoring as well.

'd be hesitant to actually use the Iyanden Supplement unless you really go for the whole theme, cause the spirit seer will lose Conceal/Reveal for a Wraith Buff. But the spirit seer is an HQ choice that I like on its own, and it gives you the variability of tough scoring as well.

I'd say the Iyanden Supplement is worth it, even if you are not running pure Iyanden.

Making the Wraightknight a Warlord, and rolling on the Iyanden table is great. There also some great Relic choices.

0-5 Spiritseers is also pretty good. Don't forget about spirit marking units with a Spirit seer, rerolling those 1's is great boon to shooting.

I play a pretty heavily Wraith Oriented army. It is most defiantly not the most competitive Eldar build, but is a lot fun.

Well, Wraithguard has not been played in competitive settings during the last incarnations of the codex. Now players think that with the new codex and the promotion of Iyanden, the situation has changed. Sorry, but it hasn't.

Wraithguard are still a terrible choice even as troops. They are overpriced, slow, and not easy to pull off. My suggestion is to take Guardians or Avengers as troops and Fire Dragons for anti-heavy-tank or anti-MC.

Ignore my post if you like the fluffy Iyanden way.

I run Eldar as an allied detachment sometimes to my BA. I have had great sucess with them in a wave serpent. I drive them up to whatever I want dead, kill it, and then they take a MASSIVE amount of firepower. They usually die, but it pretty much gives me an extra turn to do what I need to with the rest of my force.

So I like them, but they're probably not as good as sperpent spam or something like that.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, Wraithguard has not been played in competitive settings during the last incarnations of the codex. Now players think that with the new codex and the promotion of Iyanden, the situation has changed. Sorry, but it hasn't.

Wraithguard are still a terrible choice even as troops. They are overpriced, slow, and not easy to pull off. My suggestion is to take Guardians or Avengers as troops and Fire Dragons for anti-heavy-tank or anti-MC.

Ignore my post if you like the fluffy Iyanden way.

Wraithguard are not near as bad as you make them out to be.

Are they the most competitive choice? No, they are not. If you are not playing Seer Council with Baron and DE allies, you are not playing the most competitive choice anyway, so it's a moot point.


They can do well, and are not terrible troops. They are great at taking out elite troops, and are not super easy to move from Objectives. If you throw them in a serpent, you have plenty of volume of fire as well, and it gets them around the board quickly. If you add a few more elements to the list, you've got a pretty well rounded list, that can still do very well.

The Iyanden supplement goes a long way with helping make Wraithlists more viable as well.

So, yes, they are not the top of the list when it comes to competitive options, but they are no means as bad as you make them out to be.

 Sasori wrote:

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, Wraithguard has not been played in competitive settings during the last incarnations of the codex. Now players think that with the new codex and the promotion of Iyanden, the situation has changed. Sorry, but it hasn't.

Wraithguard are still a terrible choice even as troops. They are overpriced, slow, and not easy to pull off. My suggestion is to take Guardians or Avengers as troops and Fire Dragons for anti-heavy-tank or anti-MC.

Ignore my post if you like the fluffy Iyanden way.

Wraithguard are not near as bad as you make them out to be.

Are they the most competitive choice? No, they are not. If you are not playing Seer Council with Baron and DE allies, you are not playing the most competitive choice anyway, so it's a moot point.


They can do well, and are not terrible troops. They are great at taking out elite troops, and are not super easy to move from Objectives. If you throw them in a serpent, you have plenty of volume of fire as well, and it gets them around the board quickly. If you add a few more elements to the list, you've got a pretty well rounded list, that can still do very well.

The Iyanden supplement goes a long way with helping make Wraithlists more viable as well.

So, yes, they are not the top of the list when it comes to competitive options, but they are no means as bad as you make them out to be.

While your points are valid, one of the main reasons Wraithguard aren't as used as DAs or Jetbikes is simply because of their speed and cost. With Battle Focus, you can get a good long move in or emulate the JSJ of the Tau suits. With Wraithguard, you can't do that, and using the WG turns Eldar from a fast and mobile shooting army will decent CC abilities to an army more like Necrons; resilient, with some great weapons, and a great transport.

I'd much rather use the 5 spiritseers to buff CC or shooting units.

A unit of wraithguard w/D-scythes with a anti-troop waveserpent is 320 points. They are pretty decent at killing heavy troops. A wave serpent is generally a good choice. Are they the best use of your points? No, there are far cheesier options. I have seen them be a surprisingly resiliant elite choice, and given the relative lack of good eldar elite choices in the base codex, that's made them reasonably worthwhile.

I use other choices as my anti-tank option, so although Fire Dragons are good choices, they are not my current one. As dark eldar, I think 5 wraiths with a farseer might be a viable ally choice. No, they don't score, but you bought bikes for that anyway. Yes, its expensive, but you are answering a specific need your army has, which is going to serve you far better than any discussion of "competative" use. It might not be your best solution, but I think its worth trying. The wraithguard kit is pretty nice.

A wraith list is not "competitive" but a unit of wraithguard D-scythes and a spiritseer was a prominent part in mortetvie's Golden Throne winning list. I would say if it is a prominent part of a GT winning list then it definitely has the potential to be a competitive and should not be dismissed flippantly.

I have been taking Spiritseer and anywhere from 10 to 20 Wraith(guard/blades) since Codex release. What follows is my humble experience.

- If you foot slog them, they will probably never kill their points. They are too expensive and slow.
- If you transport them next to a juicy target, Guard might kill their points back (faster if D-scythes). Even then, Blades usually don't kill their points worth due to low number of attacks and lack of assault vehicle.
- Limited luck with Wraithcannons due to low shot number. Really only good if vehicle hunting, which rarely makes back the unit's points.
- Wraithblades with Axes make GREAT bubble wrap for Footdar Farseers and Spiritseers. T6 with 3+/4++ is ridiculously durable. Toss in Fortune and/or Protect, and your psykers are nigh untouchable. A foolish enemy will waste turns shooting into them, helping the rest of your army survive.
- Instant Death is bad news bears for MCs and FNP units. You can get some lucky 6's and surprise the enemy (and yourself).

I like them, but am still trying to make them work. I hope this helps.

 McNinja wrote:

 Sasori wrote:

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, Wraithguard has not been played in competitive settings during the last incarnations of the codex. Now players think that with the new codex and the promotion of Iyanden, the situation has changed. Sorry, but it hasn't.

Wraithguard are still a terrible choice even as troops. They are overpriced, slow, and not easy to pull off. My suggestion is to take Guardians or Avengers as troops and Fire Dragons for anti-heavy-tank or anti-MC.

Ignore my post if you like the fluffy Iyanden way.

Wraithguard are not near as bad as you make them out to be.

Are they the most competitive choice? No, they are not. If you are not playing Seer Council with Baron and DE allies, you are not playing the most competitive choice anyway, so it's a moot point.


They can do well, and are not terrible troops. They are great at taking out elite troops, and are not super easy to move from Objectives. If you throw them in a serpent, you have plenty of volume of fire as well, and it gets them around the board quickly. If you add a few more elements to the list, you've got a pretty well rounded list, that can still do very well.

The Iyanden supplement goes a long way with helping make Wraithlists more viable as well.

So, yes, they are not the top of the list when it comes to competitive options, but they are no means as bad as you make them out to be.

While your points are valid, one of the main reasons Wraithguard aren't as used as DAs or Jetbikes is simply because of their speed and cost. With Battle Focus, you can get a good long move in or emulate the JSJ of the Tau suits. With Wraithguard, you can't do that, and using the WG turns Eldar from a fast and mobile shooting army will decent CC abilities to an army more like Necrons; resilient, with some great weapons, and a great transport.

I'd much rather use the 5 spiritseers to buff CC or shooting units.

This is why I suggest using the Iyanden supplement, they can get Battle focus and furious charge thanks to Voice of Twilight.

If you want an established competitive players view on it, here is Reecius' Review on Frontline gaming

http://www.frontlinegaming.org/2013/06/20/eldar-iyanden-supplement-review-and-a-crazy-eldar-combo/

If you want an established competitive players view on it, here is Reecius' Review on Frontline gaming

http://www.frontlinegaming.org/2013/06/20/eldar-iyanden-supplement-review-and-a-crazy-eldar-combo/

And what does he say?