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Does taking 3 Heldrakes still work? Will I be able to destroy Riptides and Wave Serpents?

It is very difficult currently but it looks like chaos is gonna get a huge boost in the next edition so wait and see

Well, I know a guy who did very well with 3 Helldrakes, 3 Maulerfiends, and Necrons as allies (2 Night Scythes).

The short answer is yes, the long answer is more complicated.

You're not going to win all the time, take that for granted. Tau and Eldar players tend to have optimized lists which have answers for just about everything you are going to bring.

There's no one way to beat Tau and Eldar, but there are some points to the game that the game easier on CSMs. I assume this is going to be true in the 7th edition as well.

1) Be strategic when setting up the board. Make it hard for them to shoot you on your side of the table. Set up terrain so it blocks line of sight, then move everything up there. I have several large foamcore buildings I bring with me to games versus these armies specifically because there's no good line of sight through them.

2) Consider artefacts. Black Legion armies can get the Eye of Night, an artefact that does d3 automatic penetrating hits to vehicles caught under it's large blast radius. This has won me several games against Eldar.

3) Against Eldar - kill all the Psykers first. A friend of mine has Cypher in his list and loads up on Plasma Chosen every game. He infiltrates them specifically to kill psykers. Even taking a few off the board at the start of a game can have a huge impact on outcomes.

4) Against Tau - kill Pathfinders and anything with marker lights first. I have a Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought with a conversion beamer specifically for fighting Tau, he's always focused on the squads with markerlights in games.

5) Heldrakes are good, but sometimes bikes / spawn are better. Getting Heldrakes for a few turns during a game is a big deal, but there are other things that can go into your fast attack slots.

No, you need to ally crimsonad laughter or black legion to get that 4th drake n Belakor... lolz i m kidding!

Spawn spam. I went up against this with my Tau/Enclaves list and just couldnt take out rnough spawn.

I think it was roughly
Lord on a bike woth MoN
Sorc on a Bike

Some plague Marines

3x6 Nurgle Spawn running stright at my lines! Once they got there they just chewed up my riptides and Crisis suits. Really powerful list.

 Messy0 wrote:
Spawn spam. I went up against this with my Tau/Enclaves list and just couldnt take out rnough spawn.

I think it was roughly
Lord on a bike woth MoN
Sorc on a Bike

Some plague Marines

3x6 Nurgle Spawn running stright at my lines! Once they got there they just chewed up my riptides and Crisis suits. Really powerful list.

Whatever you take, you need fast moving units which can do some damage.

Serpents are vulnerable in cc and therefore are often protected by a Wraithknight.

Against Tau, you need to take down the markerlights asap. Infiltrators could get this job done.