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I am a new player and have decided that the smooth lines and bright colors of the Eldar army really appeal to me. I have the codex and have started reading it but am still unsure what units are good and what units are just plain terrible. There are several units that I really like such as the Wraith Knight, Warp Spiders and the Avatar and would like to run those in my list that I build but don't know if they would be competitive units. I am reaching out to my fellow forum goers for advice, what units should I run and why and what units should I just stay clear of. Thank you to all of you who can help point me in the right direction.

The Good:
Warp Spiders - Insane movement and S7 pseudo rending shots verses most enemies. Also surprisingly effecting versus flyers.
War Walkers - A classic Eldar vehicle. Absolutely amazing amount of shooting and the ability to outflank allows access to side armour. 2x Scatter Lasers is generally the preferred loadout for general purposes, though double bright lance for dedicated tank hunters is common.
Wave Serpents - The strongest model in the codex by far. Effective vs most enemy models. D6+1 Twin Linked S7 Ignores Cover shots, or the ability to reduce pens to glances on a 2+. Dedicated Transport means you can take a virtually limitless amount of them, and they are surprisingly undercosted for their worth. Take them with Scatter Lasers and a Cannon.
Jetbikes - Fantastic movement, fairly durable, and the ability to take cannons for some harass makes these guys some of the best late game objective grabbers/contesters in the entire game. You can also take a small squad of them to soak up wounds for a farseer on a bike.
Mantle of the Laughing God - Put an Autarch or Farseer on a jetbike with a mantle. 2+ re-rollable cover save so long as they have moved.
WraithKnight - For use in larger games. One is all that is necessary, 2 is viable in very large games. Default loadout is most common, though Suncannon/scatter laser combo is also effective.
Seer Councils - One of the best deathstars in the game, but expensive points and dollars-wise. Also you have to convert them yourself since GW does not sell warlocks or farseers on jetbikes.

The Bad:
Howling Banshees - They are not durable enough to survive long enough to see combat. They are not guaranteed first strike anymore and lack grenades and assault vehicle.
Rangers - They're little more than basic scouts now. Small squads are cheap options for camping backfield objectives, but do not expect much damage output or survivability from them.
Warlocks - Leadership 8 means their random psychic power will not go off reliably, nor do they provide a leadership bonus to any squads they join. Seer councils are still good as the numbers help their probability.
Falcons - These aren't actually bad, it's just that there are other options that do everything they do, but better. These are most commonly used to transport fire dragons to act as a very strong compliment to an anti-tank unit.

The Rest:
Everything else in the codex is viable filler, even in competitive games. Avatars are good for their "fearless bubble" and acting as a bullet magnet, allowing guardians to advance up the field without fear of fleeing off the table.

Heavy Support is generally the most contested slot when making eldar lists as most of their options are good.
Fire Prisms, War Walkers, Wraithknights are the most commonly chosen.

Hope this helps!

The Eldar have like two to three units that are bad. The rest is just so much better.
A good example is Falcon.

Fast, gives you Jink (up to 3+ cover with Holo-Fields)
Gives you 2 S8 AP2 shots and some more weaponry and can carry 6 models.
All this for a bit more than 100p. It's pretty good deal if you ask me, but also concidered as a piece of crap by most Eldar players. Why? Pretty much because Wave Serpent is better. A lot better, so in comparison the Falcon does seem a bit lame.

All units you listed are pretty good and usable in competitive play.

Avatar, 2x5 Warp Spiders, Wraithknight.
Fill in a troops choices that you like and you have a 1000p list there. With little tailoring it'll make an excellent list.

 soomemafia wrote:
A good example is Falcon.

Fast, gives you Jink (up to 3+ cover with Holo-Fields)
Gives you 2 S8 AP2 shots and some more weaponry and can carry 6 models.
All this for a bit more than 100p. It's pretty good deal if you ask me, but also concidered as a piece of crap by most Eldar players. Why? Pretty much because Wave Serpent is better. A lot better, so in comparison the Falcon does seem a bit lame.

Which is why you get serpents instead

 ninjafiredragon wrote:

 soomemafia wrote:
A good example is Falcon.

Fast, gives you Jink (up to 3+ cover with Holo-Fields)
Gives you 2 S8 AP2 shots and some more weaponry and can carry 6 models.
All this for a bit more than 100p. It's pretty good deal if you ask me, but also concidered as a piece of crap by most Eldar players. Why? Pretty much because Wave Serpent is better. A lot better, so in comparison the Falcon does seem a bit lame.

Which is why you get serpents instead

But that doesn't make Falcon bad, which is what I was telling here.
Also, the Serpent has better defense but Falcon can give you more firepower so it's not losing hands down.

More firepower?
Falcon - 2 S8 AP2 shots at 48"
Serpent - D6+1 S7 AP- Ignores Cover shots at 60"
If you take bright lances, the Serpent's will be Twin linked, the Falcon's will not.
The only advantage the Falcon has is being able to Glance AV14 without taking a bright lance. Just my opinion of these statistics, but I don't think the Falcon can give you more firepower than a Wave serpent.

Actually i have run the statisics and there is only 2 things the falcon does better, and even then its not by a whole lot.
Vs multiple wound t4 characters, and av 13 and 14.

I love Dark Reapers. The 10 or so games I have played with Eldar they always seem to get their points back and a whole lot more.

I must be doing something wrong which no one is contesting, I take Falcon's with scatter lasers. Fire them, get laser lock, twin links my Pulse Laser. Makes my Falcon's more reliable and deadly than the Fire Prism. (In my games anyway).

I take a single squad of Rangers if there is terrain I can place them in, then 2x Dire Avengers and 1x Guardians. I still wish they had increased the range of the shuriken catapults though.

If we had assault vehicles or could use the Dark Eldar's Raider's then I'd take Striking Scorpions or Howling Banshee's.

I like using Vyper's although War Walker's are also good.

Used the Avatar once, he's neat with what he can do, but he normally just ends up being shot to death before he's in range of anything he can face.

Bojazz wrote:
More firepower?
Falcon - 2 S8 AP2 shots at 48"
Serpent - D6+1 S7 AP- Ignores Cover shots at 60"
If you take bright lances, the Serpent's will be Twin linked, the Falcon's will not.
The only advantage the Falcon has is being able to Glance AV14 without taking a bright lance. Just my opinion of these statistics, but I don't think the Falcon can give you more firepower than a Wave serpent.

And if you fire the Shield, the Serpent loses it's greatest defensive ability.
Your choice.

I'm basically the eldar guru in my groups haha, so I will defend my beloved falcon! I used them last edition (gasp from audience) and it performed well in every game with a little far seer support. And even now, mines has a bright lance and cannon, so 3 s8 and 3 s6 is nothing to sniff at, and is the brain of elite infantry and multi wound models. It also adds some much needed variation! Every eldar player and their mum now runs a million wave serpents. But spamming has always been boring to me.

In our codex, it's hard to find a bad unit (except banshees ) so go with what you think is cool

Von Chogg

With everything Eldar, units work well together. No unit can (used to be able to) work solo, and gets help from other units.

Some provide covering fire (WW, Dark Reapers),
Some hold ground and take pot-shots (Rangers and Guardians),
Some charge in and wait for the others to back them up (Fire Dragons).
Fliers really need the Autarch to get them in early, or hold them back until AA is taken care of.
Even the CC units can work, if aided (Scorpions and even Banshees).

So, don't just spam units, but design your army with each unit supporting another.

That said, some are just better.
For their costs and uses, I always take Guardian Jetbikes (3-man with cannon) and Warp Spiders.
The GJB are weak in combat, so stay in reserve for a last-minute rush for the point.
Warp Spiders either bounce up the table between LoS-blocking terrain, or deep strike in, and clear a unit or two before zapping out of sight.