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So I have been looking over the new Harlequins and Ynarri and I am very impressed with words of the phoenix and twilight's path. Both have the potential of putting our fast units across the table on turn 1.

Our jetbikes have 16" move so casting either power on a unit of skyweavers would give them a total of 32" for a move. Because they fly they can go over models. A nice combo would be to do a pincer attack where one unit attacks a character and the other unit attacks the unit the character is probably hiding behind. If the character dies you can soul burst your other unit to do an extra shoot/attack.

Looking at the solitaire he can not use blitz if he has been targeted by twilight's path. But he can be targeted by words of the phoenix make a blitz soulburst move and retain the 2D6 move bonus for his normal move. Assuming the average 2D6 is 7, you are looking at 38" worth of move plus a charge. This might be really good for hunting down long range units and keeping them from shooting. Most units will not be able to kill the solitaire and he can stall/whittle down the unit until they are dead.

Twilight path only says friendly harlequin unit, it does not say jetbike or infantry. So you can use it on a starweaver to move it up the board. Might be good a unit with fusion pistols to get in that 6" range.

Finally shadowseer and yvraine need to be on the ground to use their powers meaning you might want a unit for them to hide in. Harlequins are surprisingly durable in this edition. With the shadowseer subtracting 1 from the opponent's wound roll it is like they are toughness 5 getting a 4+ to wound for weapons <s5 and 3+ for weapons >s6. With a 4+ invul save in a edition full of ap, they are probably tougher than marines in most cases. But there is a trick you can do with a shadowseer and yvraine. The shadow see can twilight path and then Yvraine can words of the phoenix, allowing for three 8" moves. While this would probably be the last unit I would use those powers on, it can be nice to finish up a game. All of a sudden you have your harlequins 24" from where you started, taking an objective or cutting down the last of the resistance. It leaves your shadowseer and Yvraine out in the open but if it is the end of the game or the last game winning play, then it is not that bad. Shadowseer and Yvraine are both moderately tanky too, leaving them alone for a turn to catch up is not the worst in the world.

So what do you guys think?
What is our best fast unit to speed boost? Skyweavers, reaver jetbikes, shining spears or a solitaire? Maybe clawed fiends or hellions.
I think you need to make your core harlequins because just relying on words of the phoenix is too slow and sending just one unit at a time is kinda suicide.

Don't forget advances are part of the move now. So bikes/weavers can actually move 22" normally, or 44" with a double movement. And bikes can still charge if they're not Ynnari.
That's also a big difference between the two powers: with Twilight Pathways, non-Ynnari bikes could move 44" and still charge, while with WoP they can only move 32" if they want to charge.

Twilight Pathways' biggest issue is the 3" range. So you can't really move bikes 16"/22" upfield, then do it a second time. Unless you conga line.
You also usually want to use high moves like that to jump over enemy lines and target backfield units. A main problem with that strategy is you unit's footprint: if the opponent bubble wrapped his backfield units just a tiny bit, you won't have any spot to land your bikes close to their targets, especially if you go with units of 4+ bikes. So I think the solitaire is the one who benefits the most from it, as he just needs a 3" gap (1" base, 1" away from enemy units on every side).
Also, with foot harlequins you'll want to keep many units close to your shadowseers and troupe masters for the auras. Since they don't work on the solitaire, you loose a lot less by having him go by himself in the enemy deployment zone.

Psychic powers are also quite unreliable now, and very easy to deny. So, while double movement is a nice trick to reach difficult spots, it's not a reliable strategy.
The most reliable way to get double movement is to move a fast unit (bikes, weavers) within 7" of the enemy, blast it during the shooting phase, and do a normal soulburst.
But again, using soulburst to move upfield means you don't have Rising Crescendo anymore, so you can't move as much.

I don't get how you can use Twilight Pathways on a Starweaver, then disembark though. The Psychic phase is after the movement phase.

fresus wrote:
Don't forget advances are part of the move now. So bikes/weavers can actually move 22" normally, or 44" with a double movement. And bikes can still charge if they're not Ynnari.
That's also a big difference between the two powers: with Twilight Pathways, non-Ynnari bikes could move 44" and still charge, while with WoP they can only move 32" if they want to charge.

Twilight Pathways' biggest issue is the 3" range. So you can't really move bikes 16"/22" upfield, then do it a second time. Unless you conga line.
You also usually want to use high moves like that to jump over enemy lines and target backfield units. A main problem with that strategy is you unit's footprint: if the opponent bubble wrapped his backfield units just a tiny bit, you won't have any spot to land your bikes close to their targets, especially if you go with units of 4+ bikes. So I think the solitaire is the one who benefits the most from it, as he just needs a 3" gap (1" base, 1" away from enemy units on every side).
Also, with foot harlequins you'll want to keep many units close to your shadowseers and troupe masters for the auras. Since they don't work on the solitaire, you loose a lot less by having him go by himself in the enemy deployment zone.

Psychic powers are also quite unreliable now, and very easy to deny. So, while double movement is a nice trick to reach difficult spots, it's not a reliable strategy.
The most reliable way to get double movement is to move a fast unit (bikes, weavers) within 7" of the enemy, blast it during the shooting phase, and do a normal soulburst.
But again, using soulburst to move upfield means you don't have Rising Crescendo anymore, so you can't move as much.

I don't get how you can use Twilight Pathways on a Starweaver, then disembark though. The Psychic phase is after the movement phase.

Oh man, I though the psychic phase was at the beginning of the turn, like the hero phase in age of sigmar, that changes a few things. So yeah. no getting out of the starweaver, but you can still move the starweaver forward, twilight's path and move it again. Would be pretty good if you took fusion pistols.

The bikes lose a lot of mobility if you are trying to twilight's path, but with their large bases and long bodies a conga line is not unreasonable, especially if you have 4-6 bikes. Soul bursting the skyweavers or shining spears or reavers might be better. We have to deal with losing raising crescendo but soul burst is so strong I think it is worth it.

Yvraine is just extremely powerful with her being able to pick words of the phoenix. It has an 18" range which means it won't be denied on the first turn often. It also manifests on a 6 (5 after her +1 ability) which should be easy to pull off. The shadowseer is a bit weaker, which is a shame but his passive ability seems pretty great.

I think words of the phoenix and solitaire are going to be pretty top notch. Just such a massive move on a small model. He can really get where you want him to go and tie things up. Twilight's path on a starweaver full of fusion or some skyweavers will be nice too. Now that starweavers can charge you can put them into the fight as well to hold up a unit.

Oh and how would you rate shining spears and reaver jetbikes? Are skyweavers just better?

I agree that the best unit to speed boost is the Solitaire. He can ignore other models so can really get where you need him to be. It should be relatively easy to have the Shadowseer and Yvraine further than 24" from enemy psykers to avoid a Deny the Witch test, but still be within 3" and then 18" of the Solitaire, respectively.

Personally, I would try to get the Solitaire where I need with just Twilight Pathways. If you can manage to charge an aura character and kill it, you can then Soulburst another fight, pile-in to the unit nearby, and swing again. The first sentence of Choose a Unit to Fight With allows any unit that charged to be able to fight in the Fight phase, so the Solitaire gets permission to fight again even though he may not be within 1" of an enemy unit. Because he charged that turn, he also fights first. It's worth keeping an eye on the Khorne Berzerker FAQ because of the questions that arise when fighting twice in one phase, just so you can be aware of what you can and cannot do.

Also note that I don't think you can choose to use Blitz until you make a normal move in the movement phase. So you won't be able to use the bonuses with the psychic powers, which happen in an earlier phase.