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I've got a game coming up against a friend of mine who plays eldar. I have never ever played eldar, and as until now no one in my meta played eldar, I havent bothered getting the codex. I know Dakka isn't for quoting gw material, so I'm just asking for general tips

How will flyers fare?
ML or las cannons on devs?
Do they have lots of AP 3 or better? (Should I hide in cover?)
Do I need to worry about armour saturation? (Bring lots of anti-tank?) or more worry about anti-infantry(bring fire/blasts?)
Any further thoughts on how best to approach eldar with fists would be great

Do you know what sort of list he plans on running (Iyanden, Ulthwe, Saim-Hann, etc.)? Each craftworld employs a different style and such would have different counters.

In general though;
Shuriken weapons - these are the staple of the Eldar and have a special rue that effectively gives them rending. This does not work against vehicles however.
Wave Serpents - our awesome (read: broken) transports. Wave Serpents being skimmers will have at last a 5+ cover save every time they move (most likely a 4+). Furthermore, penetrating hits from shooting at the front or side can possibly be knocked down to glancing. There are 2 ways to deal with this - melee (which if you are able to get into means the Eldar player has done something wrong) or quantity of shots. 4 Strength 6 shots is a lot more worrisome then a single Strength 8 shot. Sure the Strength 8 is more likely to Penetrate, however, you are then looking at a single save followed by a potential knock down. the 4 S6 shots, some will be saved and you still do a bit of damage.
Our flyers while quite maneuverable are also paper thin.
Also remember that we are T3 so it is much easier to wound us then most other armies (just like Horde armies).
Finally, Eldar are a scalpel, not a sword. Each of our specialists perform a certain job really, really well. If you can force them into a different role (such as assaulting Fire Dragons) they will fold.

unless they are running Iyanden (the ghost warirors) in which case there will be allot of T6.

if you see a wraithknight ask if its stock or if it has a suncannon. the stock wriathknight wont do amazing at shooting, basically 2 lascannons. not bad, but expensive for the 240 points hes paying for it. kill it in one turn, or dont bother shooting it.
now on the othert hand if it has suncannon, look out, as it will be putting out allot of S6 ap 2 blasts. in this case, kill as quickly as possible.

in generall we dont ahve a whole lot of ap 3.
if you see any dark reapers, or fire prisms,cover might be a good idea tho, as both of those are ap 3.

Actually, I find the suncannon to be a low priority target. Especially because the thing has a shimmershield at that point as well. What's some more S6 in a sea of S6/7?


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Also, tailoring for Eldar won't really help the OP improve his game that much. Although honestly, I'm not super sure of what an Eldar tailored marine list looks like. Can we somehow get troops cheaper than scouts? Didn't think so.

the differnece is the shots are ap 2 which matter vs marines. in a sea of s6-7 ap -, ap 2 makes a differnece

The Eldar already have this thing called a starcannon.

what do you want to put it on? warwalkers need BLs, serpents obvoisly scatter lasers, maybe vypers, but thsoe arnt really worth it.

im not saying thats the only way to feild a wraithknight, both wasy are good, but warning that that suncannon will eat up tac squads, termies, and basically all troops.

I guess my point is that the Eldar already have a ton of ways to eat up tac squads and troops. Ranged ST 10 is rare and potent.

How will flyers fare?
ML or las cannons on devs?
Do they have lots of AP 3 or better? (Should I hide in cover?)
Do I need to worry about armour saturation? (Bring lots of anti-tank?) or more worry about anti-infantry(bring fire/blasts?)
Any further thoughts on how best to approach eldar with fists would be great

Eldar have a paper-thin flyer called Crimson Hunter. They are hardly seen on the battle field.
They have lots of dakka with shuricannons and scatterlasers which are AP5 and AP6, respectively. But shuricannons have pseudo-rending (rending vs. infantry).
Eldar usually field S6 spam which is sufficient vs Rhinos and Predators (side shots). Against heavy tanks, Eldar use blight lances (tank mounted), Wraith Guard (very expensive unit) or Fire Dragon (seem not so common these days).
You need dakka to take down the Eldar Serpents which is very difficult these days. If moved, they get a 4+ cover save. Good luck!

 wuestenfux wrote:

How will flyers fare?
ML or las cannons on devs?
Do they have lots of AP 3 or better? (Should I hide in cover?)
Do I need to worry about armour saturation? (Bring lots of anti-tank?) or more worry about anti-infantry(bring fire/blasts?)
Any further thoughts on how best to approach eldar with fists would be great

Eldar have a paper-thin flyer called Crimson Hunter. They are hardly seen on the battle field.

More importantly they bring 4 Str 8 AP2 shots (2 of which are Lance weapons)

They have lots of dakka with shuricannons and scatterlasers which are AP5 and AP6, respectively. But shuricannons have pseudo-rending (rending vs. infantry).

All Shuriken weapons are pseudo rending.

Eldar usually field S6 spam which is sufficient vs Rhinos and Predators (side shots). Against heavy tanks, Eldar use blight lances (tank mounted), Wraith Guard (very expensive unit) or Fire Dragon (seem not so common these days).

In my experience the only time BLs are mounted on a vehicle is when they come standard (such as the Hunter). Otherwise they will be with Guardian squads. Or on Walkers.

You need dakka to take down the Eldar Serpents which is very difficult these days. If moved, they get a 4+ cover save. Good luck!

Only if they (and they should) take the upgrade. Single high power shots are basically useless against Serpents. A hail of S6-7 shots on the other hand...

Crimson Hunters are lethal, if you don't have interceptor then either bring 2 flyers or none against them as the Exarch version is very likely to drop any flyer he shoots at the turn he swoops in.

Tac marines are now a great bargain for their price so loading up with plenty of bodies is never a bad thing, doubly so against Eldar as the high your points per model the more they will be licking their lips.

You really want to keep them at arms length, most of their army doesn't want to charge you but it does want to drop within 18" and fill you with shurikens.

Eldar are blessed in the new codex in that there are several builds they can use that are all effective and rely on very different troop stats. Longer range is however universally your main advantage and you need to leverage it as you can't afford to let them dominate the tempo of the game with their speed.