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A SEARCH on Swooping hawks netted a lot of old articles that were speculative. It's been nearly a year.

I'd just recently read, and of course, have forgot where I'd read it, that Swooping Hawks were highly recommended for tourney play.

So, I get that the Grenade Pack is part of it, and On Going Reserves too, but how exactly, do SH become an important part of a good eldar list?

I own the unit and would like to use 'em. But how?

If I used them it would be for their Heywire grenades.

5 guys is 90p I think, they can deep strike into some sneaky terrain out of LOS.
Then jump forward to kill a land raider or so.

Their lasblasters is rather meh, some kind of stormbolter.
The grenade too, noting to rely on.

The grenade attack can be made regardless of line of sight, and it ignores cover. S4 AP4 ignores cover large blasts are pretty handy against pretty much every army that isn't space marines. Blows up pathfinders and fire warriors, blows up other Eldar not inside of wave serpents, blows up just about any scoring unit in Nids, blows up Orks, etc. Solid attack all around.

Lasblasters are essentially mega lasguns. It's only S3 Ap5 but 3 shots per is very nice, especially at BS4. Solid anti-troop weapon.

Haywire grenades on every last guy is exceptional. Anything with an AV value dies if assaulted.

Exarch can be given a gun with the Blind rule. Exceptional tool against most the armies that give Eldar issues, like Necron and Tau.

Perfect deep strikes are deadly. Combined with all their other special rules, they are just a really well-balanced unit that's a great anti-troop/harassment unit that can also obliterate armor. Don't expect them to do much against MEQ/TEQ and MCs, but then again that's not why you bring them.

Anti Light troop and vehicle. Personally I deep strike a team of 6 and frequently I pin units, blind them or wipe them out. No scatter makes them very reliable and they can move and shoot etc even after deep striking which is great.

I use them to clear a unit thats hard to get or thats hugging an objective.

Give them a chance. A unit of 6 with a blinding exarch is well wort the points in my opinion.

 Swastakowey wrote:
... and they can move and shoot etc even after deep striking which is great.

Sort of...

They cannot move after deep strike, but can use Battle Focus instead.
Use it to drop in LoS, then shoot and run into cover. Don't forget that you can throw 1 grenade per unit in place of shooting their gun.

The skyleap only happens at the start of a Movement phase, and not in the turn they drop. So, you'll get 2 drops out of them on a good day.

Their guns are good, if a bit weak.

With the accurate deep strike, you can land next to a stranded IC, if their unit gets wiped out.
If it comes to it, used them as counter-assault, and block a charge to at a squishy unit you want to protect.

Swooping hawks are excellent choices for a tournament list. They primarily bring crowd control, being the bane of anything in 4+ armor or worse, but still having enough dakka to threaten smaller, heavier squads(devastators and devastator like squads). If your up against heavy mech, they are quite fast and deadly with haywire grenades.

A six pack is all you need. If you just want a blast and dakka, you can skip on the exarch but I almost always take one. Having BS5 means your grenade pack is slightly more accurate. It also gives BS5 to throw a grenade(plasma or haywire). If you have points, spring for the sunrifle. Ap3 and blind help against power armor or anything with low I. Drop in, kill something, then run for cover. If you survive, either gun down a swarm, or rush a tank.

Every time I use my hawks, they always do something. I think of them as the cleanup crew. They kill the hordes of chaff that I don't want to waste my serpents on, or finish off tanks my S6 cant hurt/reach. With their precision deep strike, you can get squads in hard to reach places, or reach camping artillery tanks.

not forgetting a guaranteed linkebreaker on your last turn if you plan well...
and attacking 2 targets. Template a unit, deploy out of sight and lasblaster another squad...

@Serling

You really must put together an Eldar Tactica...



I know that Phoenix Lords aren't for everyone, but Baharroth and 10 of these buddies is the most effect Lord usage I have gotten out of the book.



What also hasn't been mentioned is that both the grenade and the guns are 24" range...which with nonscatter deepstrike is huge!

You can reliably pop down 1-2" away from LoS blocking cover...blast away...and battle focus into safety...far from the reach of your foes.

You do have to shoot the same target you blasted, if possible. Meaning drop 24" away from the target, blast it, then battle focus 1" away to shoot at something else.

The other thing with hawks is the ability to create cover. A precision deep strike + battle focus will allow the hawks to spread across an enemy squad, giving units shooting said enemy the ability to focus fire on something not 5+ cover the hawks provide. Sneaky trick that's good on forcing saves.