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I have just started building a Tau force in anticipation of the 8th edition coming out soon, and now my girlfriend has expressed interest in getting an Eldar army. I don't really know anything about Eldar, so I was hoping you might be able to help me out.

What would be a solid core set of figures that she could start with that would be flexible enough to be used in different Elder lists? Obviously with the new edition coming out it will be impossible to know exactly how everything is going to work, but if you could just give us some ideas on a good all around HQ choice, some troops, and maybe highlight some fun units from the other categories that would be great. Thank you!

Well to be honest... I would 100% be in a holding pattern given how soon this 8th Edition is coming out. It seems wisdom to simply sit on ones hands and wait it out. D weapons are gone and other changes make supr significant differences in what one would advise.

The things i feel like you cant go wrong with in any edition to date are Jetbikes. Even when they were fast attacks and even when they werent broken they were good enough to want in an army.

The focus on larger units is pronounced in this edition. It appears that becaue of the LD checks, you aren't going to want tiny units necessarily as often unless they are the single model types.

Ironically, Wraithlords might actually be good in this new iteration.

But again, this is not the time to make any investments in it. Just an opinion.

You literally just said that you know that everything is going to change with 8th coming out, so that should give you your answer, yes?

The only advice we can give you is the same advice we give everyone else - Buy the things you (or she in this case) think look the coolest. That way you'll still be keen to paint your miniatures instead of working on your 27th white scars bike or 6th ultramarine centurion like it's a job because they're strong even though you hate them.

I am aware the new edition is approaching quickly, so maybe I should have phrased my request differently.

I know things will change, so no guarantees can be made about a unit's overall usefulness; however, I am hoping to get ideas about what units have proven to be somewhat useful throughout the different editions of the game. Like the jetbike example in the first reply. They have always proven useful to some degree. What she would like to avoid getting are things that perform super specific roles which could be rendered less useful in the new edition. More well-rounded units and units that have a proven track record of good performance are what we would like to hear about.

Thanks again to you both for the information!

As long as you are playing on a friendly level, pretty much anything goes. So the get what you like advice is solid. Eldar are generally an army of specialists. The aspect warriors are a key element to the whole race. Not mater what the rules are, you should be able to count on fire dragons to kill tanks. Are they the best at that job, or is that a job that needs doing in the current meta are two different questions. But when it comes time to put a list together, they should be able to fill the AV role. Most of the other aspects are like that. Some are flawed, like Banshees under the current rules. They don’t actually do their job very well, but that might get fixed with a rules change.

If I had to make recommendation in a vacuum for something specific, I’d suggest one of the boxes that gets you some savings. The Start Collecting box is solid. Bikes are good, as is the jetseer. The Fire Prism/Nightspinner is just OK in the current rules, but is not bad overall. If you can grab the box with the DA and WS, that’s another good choice. We will probably always need troops, and unless they nerf transports back into deathtraps, someone always needs a ride. If you can find an old battleforce collecting dust on the shelf of the FLGS, that’s not a bad option. Especially if going for a guardian based list.

But first and foremost, get the mini that attracted you to the army. Even if it’s rules turn out being “meh” you can usually fit one or two sub-par units into a friendly list without crippling yourself. So if you like the look of rangers, for example, go for it! Who knows, they might be the new hotness is a few months, and the sculpts will always be the ones you love.

Besides jetbikes these are my long time favorites since i started Eldar in 4th.
Farseer: Wonderful force multiplier ever since.
Warwalkers: cheap weapon platform or flanking tank hunter
Waveserpents: transport mbt of doomness which never dies due to jink and holo (that's my opponent's interpretation )
I have a personal addiction to Dire Avengers too, no list without at least 10 in my book. But they are in a hardly needed niche in the current book so...
As is right now there are no bad choices in our book. Even the worst from our codex can keep up with other armies' mediocre to good stuff. Which makes 8th the more exciting.
Despite all that, buy what you like aesthetically is as always the best advice you can still make it work with other choices if it ends up being subpar ruleswise.

 Mud Turkey 13 wrote:
I am aware the new edition is approaching quickly, so maybe I should have phrased my request differently.

I know things will change, so no guarantees can be made about a unit's overall usefulness; however, I am hoping to get ideas about what units have proven to be somewhat useful throughout the different editions of the game. Like the jetbike example in the first reply. They have always proven useful to some degree. What she would like to avoid getting are things that perform super specific roles which could be rendered less useful in the new edition. More well-rounded units and units that have a proven track record of good performance are what we would like to hear about.

Thanks again to you both for the information!

Eldar have traditionally been very strong is almost every edition except for a bit of 5th where they fell to mid-pack to the wailing and a sea of tears from Eldar players. Various things have been strong over the years, but at the moment, as has been mentioned, the "worst" Eldar unit is still better than the decent units in other dexes and in some cases, better than the best units in a bad dex. You can literally just randomly pick units up to your desired points value and faceroll low tier armies with Eldar at this point.

As for not wanting super specific units, well, that's kinda what Eldar are all about, so you're a bit out of luck there. There's always going to be a need for high Str low AP shots, so a unit of Fragons are probably a winner and they will probably need a Wave Serpent to get them in range, so there's 2 units. A Farseer should always have value, especially with psy powers causing mortal wounds and eldrich storm being an iconic Eldar power, so there's another. Dire avengers as troops are solid enough that they shouldn't see a massive power drop and they probably want a Serpent too, so there's another 2 units.That'd be enough to assemble and paint by the time 8th drops and you can assess from there.

the new direction of 8th appears to point towards making as many models attractive to buy as possible. Models that suck dont sell. make none of them suck and you're golden.

they mentioned that maelstrom was still a thing and so maybe the cards will still be useable which would be awesome. which means mobile units make sense. which means faster units are probably good buys
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