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Not really new to playing Tau, however before i moved here i almost never saw any Eldar. Now its the main thing i face, and i keep finding myself in a rut when listbuilding (1500-2500pts usually) by defaulting back to what i am used to using, then forgetting that is a bad idea against Eldar.

I have:

HQ
2x Commanders (1 kitted with Buffmander appearance, other with magnetized guns for varied use)
Farsight (Not even sure where he showed up lol i just found him in my boxes)
Shadowsun
1x Ethereal
1x Cadre

Elites:
9x Crisis Suits
6x Stealth Suits
3x Riptides

Troops:
50x Firewarriors
16 Kroot
2 Devilfish

FA:
16 Pathfinders w/o fancy guns
5 Piranha
Too many gun drones lol

Heavy:
2x Hammerhead
1x Skyray
3x Missilesides
3x Oldschool Railsides

Previously all i faced was tyranids, random MEQ, necrons, CSM, or IG. Now its Eldar 9 out of 10 of the time. No matter how i try to tweak my list, i always end up right back to what i had in a sense lol.

An example list for 1750pts

This list will not work against either waveserpent spam or wraithknights. Yet i keep defaulting back to it somehow lol. Usually i deepstrike the plasmasuits to pick off elites and/or vehicles while having the Iontide, Firewarriors, and Broadsides shoot up anything with numbers. Problem is, very little in this list can even harm a wraithknight without 6s or theres never a vehicle to hunt since hardly any vehicles you see are NOT a waveserpent, so meltas are pointless. Not even that effective against his elites, since they always have a 4++ anyway after i pierce that 3+.

Also case youre wondering, the Ethereal is with the broadsides and the Buffmander is with the crisis suits. I usually bring them or an HBC riptide, but i always seem to bring the buffmander somehow lol.

Given the models i have (rather not buy more for the time being, trying to get a record of my income/expenses so i know exactly what i can goof around with) how would i tweak my list so it doesnt have this major void that is Eldar tactics? Theyre probably the only codex i dont understand at all, as they seem to have every style of unit in the game save drop pods.

Your list is by no means bad, the main problem against eldar is keeping your markerlights alive long enough to drop the serpents. A wave serpent will make very quick work of pathfinders, and that 4++ cover save is hard to get past. You need a lot of S7+ guns, as many as you can put down on the table. Once you drop a few, the troops are easy picking with all the S5 you have(Eldar are T3 short of wraith unit[6], bikes and phoenix lords[4])

Against that list, serpent/knight spam will keep back using the long range to pick off the pathfinders and broadsides, then go in for the kill. A wraithknight will try to instakill your riptide and/or assault it.

Your skyray is a key player against eldar. This is a tough source of mobile markerlights, and 6 seeker missiles can ruin a serpent or even threaten a knight. Ignore knights early on, and count your stars that you have base weapons that can hurt a knight. Your missiles can gambit a serpent down, which is a start. With Av13 and a 4++ cover save, the eldar will have to work hard to touch the skyray. If it goes down, it will have earned the shots it took.

Missilesides are strong as well, and since you are going for an FW gunline, they harbor your ethereal. The only barrage weapons eldar have will kill your ethereal outright, so take care of those ASAP. I would take an EWO to take out deep striking hawks, which will do serious damage to your fire warriors. Unless your up against shining spears, few eldar units can assault broadsides and make it. To boot, most lack power weapons and the strength to really hurt your sides, while you will overpower them with sheer strength, toughness and armor. That said, counterfire defense will help against knights...

Eldar have a fair amount of pinning weapons, so leadership is key. Consider 'ui's for the fire warriors in case you get pinned. Also, consider taking a large squad of sniper kroot to hunt wraithknights(and even though it is a longshot, snipers can glance a serpent) just be sure to watch out for hawks and serpent shields. I would go with 3 12 man squads, then buy some sniper kroot with a hound. You have a LOT of troops as is, and they can't do much to serpents, while hardly threatening a wraithknight.

Kit your elites for tank/MC hunting, meaning melta against eldar. With ignore cover, twin linking and tank hunter/monster hunter melta is your go to gun. S6 plasma is really only worth it if you see a ton of wraithguard, otherwise you are always better off with the fusion guns. If you take all fusion guns, you only need 1-2 target locks, and with the buffs mentioned above you could trash 2 serpents at once, or finish off a wounded knight.

Give the iontide a fusion blaster so it can help out against serpents and knights-it probably wont be targeting light troops very often.

Swap the shield drones to the buffmander to help protect your warlord and hit and run on a 4 instead of 3. The shield generator is a bit overkill unless your expecting a ton of wraithguard/knights, as the S10 cannons or d scythes can instant kill you. Regardless, just have shield drones to eat those shots and hopefully stay out of range. If your worried about assaults by infantry, consider a counterfire defense system or a second flamer. Do take the neuroweb jammer if you have the points, as it will easily make its points back if it wounds...anything.

Consider finding points to add a hammerhead with longstrike. So long as you can ignore cover with your marker support, he will ignore cover with a shot that should penetrate a serpent. He also helps overwatch for your warriors, and an S6 ap4 large blast can hurt eldar on foot.

 Dr. Serling wrote:
Your list is by no means bad, the main problem against eldar is keeping your markerlights alive long enough to drop the serpents. A wave serpent will make very quick work of pathfinders, and that 4++ cover save is hard to get past. You need a lot of S7+ guns, as many as you can put down on the table. Once you drop a few, the troops are easy picking with all the S5 you have(Eldar are T3 short of wraith unit[6], bikes and phoenix lords[4])

Against that list, serpent/knight spam will keep back using the long range to pick off the pathfinders and broadsides, then go in for the kill. A wraithknight will try to instakill your riptide and/or assault it.

Which is exactly what happens. Im usually either gambling losing high cost units or markerlights to take out said wave serpents, or hiding and hoping hes dumb enough to come closer rather than pelt what he can lol. This can be resolved with practice, im assuming, as i know one of my usual flaws is i dont focus fire very well since i expect more damage than i actually do half the time.

Your skyray is a key player against eldar. This is a tough source of mobile markerlights, and 6 seeker missiles can ruin a serpent or even threaten a knight. Ignore knights early on, and count your stars that you have base weapons that can hurt a knight. Your missiles can gambit a serpent down, which is a start. With Av13 and a 4++ cover save, the eldar will have to work hard to touch the skyray. If it goes down, it will have earned the shots it took.

Definitely. Usually i throw those seekers at the wraithknights if i get an early shot, elsewise i shoot it at wave serpents. Last game i played i fired them at BS5 at his Avatar and insta-gibbed him muhahaha (not ignoring cover, but didnt matter). Ive learned the hard way that if i dont fire those things by turn 2, that thing gets lit up so hot it evaporates, but if i shoot the missiles it gets ignored and tends to pull off some pretty nasty feats sometimes.

Missilesides are strong as well, and since you are going for an FW gunline, they harbor your ethereal. The only barrage weapons eldar have will kill your ethereal outright, so take care of those ASAP. I would take an EWO to take out deep striking hawks, which will do serious damage to your fire warriors. Unless your up against shining spears, few eldar units can assault broadsides and make it. To boot, most lack power weapons and the strength to really hurt your sides, while you will overpower them with sheer strength, toughness and armor. That said, counterfire defense will help against knights...

They have barrage? Actually never seen eldar barrage, its always prisms or random small plate gun thats shooting blasts. Ive never been a fan of EWO on broadsides, as i can never find a definitive answer to "Am i stuck firing at that unit with my models that didnt/couldnt fire, or guns i didnt use in the next shooting phase?" so i go with CF since i have a huge ball of FW anyway and face it BS2 Twinlink is WAY more lethal than BS1 Twinlink lol. Sheer fact that i have CF has made people think again about assaulting that blob.

Eldar have a fair amount of pinning weapons, so leadership is key. Consider 'ui's for the fire warriors in case you get pinned. Also, consider taking a large squad of sniper kroot to hunt wraithknights(and even though it is a longshot, snipers can glance a serpent) just be sure to watch out for hawks and serpent shields. I would go with 3 12 man squads, then buy some sniper kroot with a hound. You have a LOT of troops as is, and they can't do much to serpents, while hardly threatening a wraithknight.

I like kroot actually, and i forgot i had 2 hounds sitting in the soup being depainted. I dont have more than 16 because despite being a low point, cannon-fodder unit the cost is insane and i can never justify getting more than i got (which was 2nd hand to begin with). I have had that 16man squad of kroot snipers do some amazing things before though, i should look into bringing them even though thats all i got.
Also, side question, Markerlights benefit kroot BS too right? I honestly cant remember as it seemed like a reading between the lines type of thing.

Kit your elites for tank/MC hunting, meaning melta against eldar. With ignore cover, twin linking and tank hunter/monster hunter melta is your go to gun. S6 plasma is really only worth it if you see a ton of wraithguard, otherwise you are always better off with the fusion guns. If you take all fusion guns, you only need 1-2 target locks, and with the buffs mentioned above you could trash 2 serpents at once, or finish off a wounded knight.

So melta is better than plasma? Now that i think about it, youre right. I default to plasma because it has more shots (rapid fire) and kills anything short of tough as nails vehicles or big bugs easily. But eldar vehicles are side 12, and wraiths are at least T6, so yea S6 wouldnt be that effective. Good point, thanks. I originally veto'd it out because of the wave serpent shields blocking pen shots almost 100% of the time it feels like.

Give the iontide a fusion blaster so it can help out against serpents and knights-it probably wont be targeting light troops very often.

Usually i keep the SMS on the Iontides because after the initial 1-2 shots across the table, which is way beyond fusion range, all hes doing is pi plating troops or elites with an armor save. SMS = added shots vs actual power. And his wraithknights scare the crap outta me so i REALLY dont wanna get that close to use the fusion lol. I see the synergy since both are AP2 or better and high strength, its the range factor that makes me pause.
EDIT: Also, i seem to always find at least 1 psyker with either misfortune or puppet master and i kinda dont like the idea of putting a 72" big gun close enough for that damn seer to snag a free shot lol

Swap the shield drones to the buffmander to help protect your warlord and hit and run on a 4 instead of 3. The shield generator is a bit overkill unless your expecting a ton of wraithguard/knights, as the S10 cannons or d scythes can instant kill you. Regardless, just have shield drones to eat those shots and hopefully stay out of range. If your worried about assaults by infantry, consider a counterfire defense system or a second flamer. Do take the neuroweb jammer if you have the points, as it will easily make its points back if it wounds...anything.

My thing about shield drones vs shield gen is usually i am facing a TON of S8+ weaponry. One guy in particular loves his wraithguards to death, even though theyre only 10" range. Shield drones can be cut out with high rate of fire, but no real strength/value weaponry...shield gen cant. I put the shield drones on the Ethereal because otherwise that unit doesnt have an invul at all. I could probably find points to add a drone on top of the shield gen, but i feel very uneasy about getting rid of it if hes a tank AND high priority target because of warlord + unit buffs.
Also i spaced out the NSJ i usually have that on either buffmander or my Commander O'Dronn i bring at higher points when i got my Piranha thing going on (duo bursts + gun drones = a LOT of S5 BS5 shots thats already pretty freakin close so might as well have NSJ on him). Rarely does anything, hilarious as crap when it does lol.

Consider finding points to add a hammerhead with longstrike. So long as you can ignore cover with your marker support, he will ignore cover with a shot that should penetrate a serpent. He also helps overwatch for your warriors, and an S6 ap4 large blast can hurt eldar on foot.

That kinda leads back to my original thought on Meltas. Serpent shields and pen shots. I know if he shoots it it doesnt get the 2+ ignore pen roll, but it would be tailoring to a specific player as to whether or not its used that way or as an actual SHIELD for once lol. One guy uses it to spam numbers, the other never fires it....ever...lol. Guess i could have it pop fire prisms and/or force wounds on knights/avatars too.

Thanks for the tips. I will definitely make that crisis bomb a full melta squad. Seems like the rest of my issues is positional play and focus fire, since you make it sound like my list is totally fine outside the crisis loadout choice.

More or less, yeah. Eldar work by everything coming together and synergy. If you start to take apart a few units, most lists can fall. Really focus things down, the worst thing you can do is slowly try to glance each serpent down, or pepper a wraithknight with random fire. Skyray is better at hunting serpents and the avatar(which is immune to melta BTW, so keep that in mind if you stock up on fusion). The Avatar always has a 5++, so cover is rarely an issue. Eldar barrage are the support batteries, the shadow weavers will hit your army at S7 with rending, and a unit of 3(max) costs under 100 points. You can keep the counterfire as a last ditch against the wraithkngiht or whatever...I completely forgot about the supporting fire, making your army nigh unassaultable. A squad of 16 sniper kroot will put out 4 wounds on a knight, at least one rending before markerlight support. As I understand, they can benefit from the lights. Eldar have no 2+ armor, and S6 plasma won't really threaten your wraiths/avatar all that much. The fusion on the riptide is more of a contingency plan, but I understand the missiles for playing keep away. Your commander can JSJ, so staying away from wraithcannons should be easy enough- don't tank when wraiths are out hunting. Keep the drones for emergencies, but if your dropping in close I see the argument for the shield.

Most people are going to dump the shield, but even if it is up, better to threaten a pen than try to get a lucky glance that will probably get saved, hence the melta. Yes, it is short ranged, but plasma is not much better. Missile pods are an OK way to play the ranged game if you want to JSJ, but it takes a fair amount to damage a serpent or knight.

Avatar is melta immune? Didnt know that, kinda never had it come up though. Glad you mentioned that before i saw his avatar in a nice juicy drop location, land perfectly, then learn i cant hurt him and he charges me lol. Gonna continue slamming seekers into it then, since thats the most reliable damage i got to it outside plasma spam or metric crapton of S5 shots and luck lol.

Wonder why ive never seen those barrage weapons if theyre so cheap. Pretty much only long range i see is wave serpents, wraith knights, fire prisms, or ..... actually dont even know the name but its 48" S8 AP3 guys.

i used to run missilepod suits, then i started running into issues of bad luck since their RoF isnt high enough to counter the lack of AP. I put it on troop crisis suits when i run farsight stuff but thats so they can take objectives and still hit something worth my time lol.

Go the Tau^2 route and it will serve you well. Farsight primary with Empire allies for buffmander. Deck out one of your riptides with ECPA and HBC and he can eat serpents pretty well. Even better with markerlights/buff mander. You could get a bastion and laugh at serpent spam with your untouchable broadsides.
Or ally in a couple wave serpents. Nothing kills serpents like serpents. . .

It's because the models are very expensive, especially if you take into account that you need to spend around 100 dollars just to get 90 points into your army. Also, if most Eldar players are playing a fast army, those Artillery guns will stay behind, so maybe it's a synergy thing.

Either way, a stronger(debatable, but it at least has +1 S) version of the artillery is the Nightspinner, a lovely little tank that has a Large Blast, Barrage, Monofilament(Rending on toughness based models and +1S if target unit's initiative is 3 or below) profile that it can shoot as a torrent flamer.

I'll agree with Dr. Serling, as I often do. I know that when playing against pure Tau, it's Riptides and Skyrays in tandem that give me most trouble. Riptides without markerlights aren't such a trouble, but when I have a choice at shooting AV13 skimmer or T6 W5 2+ MC, it becomes a tough one.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
Wonder why ive never seen those barrage weapons if theyre so cheap. Pretty much only long range i see is wave serpents, wraith knights, fire prisms, or ..... actually dont even know the name but its 48" S8 AP3 guys.

Dark Reapers. Those guys are pure evil

Yes, thats it. Granted they arent as bad as i initially viewed because the dude was passing them off as AP2 which was total BS. They gibbed a riptide because they wounded on 2s and "pen'd his armor" lol.

Still, even at AP3, they pose a threat to my vehicles and other suits. Paste crisis suits and pen armor, paste broadsides if i fail a 2+. I dont like them lol.

One time a guy playing my buddy claimed his Stormtalons were heavy 6 S7 AP2. He was like "damn I had no idea those things were so nasty"

The Dark Reaper's standard weapon is 48" S5 AP3 Heavy2. It takes an upgrade to give them a 48" S8 AP3 Heavy1. That is quite a point sink and should be a nice target of opportunity if you can manage to hit them with a marker light guided AP 3 or AP 2 weapon.

Zimko wrote:
The Dark Reaper's standard weapon is 48" S5 AP3 Heavy2. It takes an upgrade to give them a 48" S8 AP3 Heavy1. That is quite a point sink and should be a nice target of opportunity if you can manage to hit them with a marker light guided AP 3 or AP 2 weapon.

The thing is...most anyone who took dark reapers took them in something they can shoot out of or walked them on the board with slow and purposeful. Their fragility is their undoing. So most good players will compensate for it.

Yeah, I never put them outside cover

Usually theyre sitting on top of this bridge thing we have at the store thats basically two 4" tall platforms with a 7" tall bridge connecting them. Usually its a centerpiece but its often on the side too. Epic for my broadsides too lol.

They have become a must-kill for me. They shoot too much for how far and strong it is to be left alive lol