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Back in 7th, the Xiphon was simply ok. Not too great but not bad either.
Given the changes to the mechanics to flyers, how does this unit stack up now.
It used to have only 2 hull points but now it has 11 whole wounds which is a large increase, and is still just a little bit over 200 points, but do the mechanics changes make this unit good or bad now?

Also the same question for the Fire raptor. Is it too pricey for being over 400 points base?

Is there really nobody who has played them or come across them so far?

I've wondered the same myself, Legio. Stat wise, the Xiphone packs a decent punch, and might be useful in targetting the proliferation of flyers that seems to be going on. I'm pretty new back to the game though, that's just my opinion.

I think the Xiphon looks excellent. It’s a flying predator that’s hard to hit, has potms (by another name) for no reason (it never had it before and other flyers don’t get it), and gets +1 to hit things that can fly. Its hull costs less than a predator, though all-in it ends up being more because of the missile launcher – which is a pretty useful extra gun.

I bought one at Warhammer world this weekend. I haven’t used it yet, but on paper it looks very good. It clearly outclasses the Stormhawk and is perfectly happy to go after guys on the ground as well as planes. It’s the last thing an Eldar player wants to see.

I don’t mind that it’s a lot tougher than it was. I always thought it should have had 3hps in 7th, as it’s pretty big – much bigger than the storm talon/hawk.

It also looks like the weird lovechild of an X-wing and a Viper Mk II. I’m probably going to try and convert mine into an X-wing, mostly for lols.

I’m not so sure about the fire raptor. It certainly has immense firepower, but it’s also very expensive. You’re getting lord of war-level firepower, but not lord of war-level durability. It’s only about 50% tougher than the Xiphon for double the price. I keep thinking about building one but I’m not sure whether it would see much use. I just shudder at spending that many points on anything.

I think FW should have made the storm eagle and fire raptor lords of war instead of flyers, and given them about 20 wounds each instead of 16. When you see them next to storm ravens they don’t look like they only have 2 more wounds.

I’ve played a few games now with a storm eagle. I think that on the whole it’s probably not quite as good as a storm raven – unless you need the transport capacity. The vengeance launcher is basically just a twin heavy bolter, though the four lascannons and twin multi-melta did good work. The raven would have the twin multi-melta as well, and replaces the 4 lascannons with very similar missiles and a versatile selection of turret weapons – all of which are good. I’d definitely take the two hurricane bolters over the vengeance launcher. The eagle does have two more wounds, but at the cost of 68 more points. Both are probably good, though the raven is locked into more of an anti-tank role and not much use against hordes.