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Hi guys,

I'm thinking about starting an Eldar army, and would like some help with a starter list. I've never faced Eldar before, and so my knowledge comes completely from looking at their amazing models on the online store. Based on that, I've put together a list for 700 points, based on the "Start Collecting" box.

As I said I know absolutely nothing about how Eldar work, so please don't hesitate to rip this list/me to shreds.

From the starter box:

- Farseer on jet bike (is this called a Farseer Skyrunner)? No other upgrades.
- 3 Wind Riders, with Scatter Lasers.
- Fire Prism, with Prism Cannon and Shuriken Cannon.

Adding to this:
- Another 3 Wind Riders, with Scatter Lasers.
- 6 Swooping Hawks (I love these models), with an Exarch.
- Wraithlord, with 2 Shurikan Catapults, Brightlance, Starcannon and Ghostglaive.

This is around 700 points. How does it look? Is it competitive or useless, fair or over-powered? Would it be fun to play with?

Any help would be really appreciated

It should do OK.

You’ve got ways to deal with every threat. While you have some of the power units (scatbikes, farseer) you also have some mid range/poor ones. Of course, “poor” by eldar standards is still quite playable. But the fact that you are fielding a wraithlord should cut you a little slack from the cheese calls. Prism is not bad, but also normally skipped in more competitive lists. Hawks again are not bad, merely overshadowed by other units.

There are a number of things you could do to make it more competitive, or soften it up a bit. Getting a wraithknight instead of the lord would make it a lot nastier. Going 1-in-3 for the heavies on the bikes would soften it a bit.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I'm not a big fan of the Fire Prism (or any of the big slimmer models really) but as it's in the starter box it would seem a waste not to use it. Unless I don't get the start box and pick up the wind riders and farseer separately.

The Wraithknight is an incredible model, but would I get hated on for using it in a smaller battle?

Looks like a good mid-build. As said above it could be built to be a lot worse on enemies. You could always do what one of my groups friends did and field all Wraithknights with D weapons, Scatterbikes and Warpspiders on n00b friends, completely OP them a few times and then not have anyone want to play against you anymore. But yeah, you're probably looking to keep your friends willing to play. lol

Even the mid and lower tier Eldar are still quite capable against most armies better units. Eldar are definitely OP in 7th.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The thing that makes Wraithknights so brutal is the D weapon choice and 6 Toughness. The dual sword wield and all the extra attacks are not fun to deal with either. If just playing among friends I'd say sprinkle sparingly unless they have stuff that can actually mess with them. If you're going to play at a LGS or competitive then stack 'em in. A wall of them sucks to have to deal with.

JamesWright83 wrote:
Thanks for the reply. Yeah I'm not a big fan of the Fire Prism (or any of the big slimmer models really) but as it's in the starter box it would seem a waste not to use it. Unless I don't get the start box and pick up the wind riders and farseer separately.

The Wraithknight is an incredible model, but would I get hated on for using it in a smaller battle?

Don’t like the grav tanks? You are dead to me. (Falcons are why I started Eldar)

If you don’t like the prism, the nightspinner is also not bad. It take a little work to magnetize the turret to swap between them, but is very doable.

Wraithknights are probably the poster child for overpowered/underpriced models. You will probably catch flack for fielding them in anything but a competitive list. Unless you comp the rest of your list with tons of sub-par stuff. Even then, you might get some looks. And the lower point game you field it, the saltier it becomes. I don’t own one, but even if I did, I don’t think I’d ever field it at less then 1,000 points, and probably not even at 1,500. But then, I have issues with apocalyptic level stuff in “normal” play. It’s legal to do, just rubs me the wrong way. But every FLGS is different, so keep that in mind.

Haha my apologies - it's nothing personal to grav tanks. I'm not a fan of vehicles in general, I find them a pain to paint. I'll leave the wraithknight until I'm over 1000 points then I don't want to be THAT guy.

So I'm thinking:
Farseer on bike
2x3 wind riders
6 swooping hawks
Wraith lord
Something else to replace the fire prism - any suggestions? Maybe a couple of Vipers?

It’s ok not to like the tanks. On the painting front I’ve found that Eldar vehicles paint up in next to no time. It takes me weeks to get a rhino across my workbench, but just a couple of days for Eldar tanks. YMMV, of course.

I’ve had good luck with a pair of Vypers, running them both with 2xShurCannons. Lots of Dakka, reasonable points. Of course, mechanically you are probably better off just getting more jetbikes. While you could run them with brightlances for more AV, I think that job could be better done with war walkers. If you are willing to go FW, look into hornets.

If you are dropping the prism, I’d look into getting some more AV into your list. While scatter lasers can HP down almost everything, even they will struggle vs. heavy armor.

 Nevelon wrote:

JamesWright83 wrote:


Wraithknights are probably the poster child for overpowered/underpriced models. You will probably catch flack for fielding them in anything but a competitive list. Unless you comp the rest of your list with tons of sub-par stuff. Even then, you might get some looks. And the lower point game you field it, the saltier it becomes. I don’t own one, but even if I did, I don’t think I’d ever field it at less then 1,000 points, and probably not even at 1,500. But then, I have issues with apocalyptic level stuff in “normal” play. It’s legal to do, just rubs me the wrong way. But every FLGS is different, so keep that in mind.

Thank you for being a sensible player. That Toughness 6 and D Weapon capable is OP to say the least.