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Hello everyone, I have a small eldar allied detachment and I am learning to use wave serpents.

Now yes they are very powerful, however I know I have been playing them poorly, and have seen many other people playing them poorly, so I figured I would ask the group and see if there are any little tips and tricks you guys recommend.

If there are guys inside that dont need to get out, hover at the 36 (or 24 with shuiken cannons) range and shoot everything.

Almost NEVER leave your shields up.

primary targets: Tanks with av 12 and lower. Infantry of all sizes (shoot the ones with worst armor first if theres no obvious target)

Avoid shooting (in favor of another target): Terminators, tanks with av13-14.

If the tank needs to unload guys, think about the urgency.
If the guys inside need to be unloaded as soon as possible then go flat out with the wave serpent and leave the shield up.

If its nice to unload them but not needed now, then slowly advance 6" a turn while firing everything in the wave serpent, until you need to unload them.

If I remember correctly, you have 2 serpents with wraith guard in them.
Another strategy I use is to flat out my d scythe wave serpent right in front of the squad I want them to kill, some times only stopping the 1" away. Generally they wont be able to kill it with shooting, (if you were able to eliminate the opponents anti serpent fire power) So they will try and assault the serpent. They will probably kill it. Now, sense you cant consolidate from tanks in combat, they are nicely grouped up for the d scythes to rape with.

The above is great advice. Also practice playing by yourself because no one likes Wave Serpents.

Previously said info is good. Somethings I would add:

Target prioritisation goes a long way. Of course this is true of any army, but with serpents it is even more so. Once the largest threats are gone you are free to blast away with the shields all day long.

Missilesides, devastator squads and any other squad capable of putting glances on your serpent should all be priority one (strategic issues aside). Fortunately many of these rely on their range to stay safe, which your serpents do not care much about.

Anything with ignores cover and anti tank weapons should be avoided or taken out above all else. Watch out for buffmanders, meltagun dominions and the like.

Another target to take out are fast units/vehicles. SM bikes or beast units have the speed to deny board, and eventually catch waveserpents. The less units the opponents have the better. Wraith guards with scythes can help here, but personally I'd rather save the serpents for avengers and firedragons.

Stay 24 away from targets, take out the dangerous stuff first, and you should have a fairly easy game.

Of course different armies have different interaction with waveserpents.

I personally do not mind them, as I usually play daemons (with lots of soulgrinders and beasts/cavalry), SM bikes (with a lot of bikes and meltaguns), and deathwing (with 2-3 landraiders). Any fast and assault capable army, or an army which fields armour with AV13/14 front and sides, will be able to play against your serpents (play against, not necessarily beat, but at least compete with). Gunlines and slow moving forces are easy pickings.

Adapt your strategy accordingly.

Well, I play Serpents since the 3rd ed.
In my Serpent army, the Serpents move fast to bridge the gap between Eldar and the enemy front ranks.
Twelve inch moves are often enough to achieve this.
My Serpents then stay at range between 18 to 24 moving slowly in order to shoot all their weapons:
Tl scatterlaser, underslung shuricannon and shield.
Passengers dismount if necessary to keep the enemy at arms range.

Oddly enough one of the biggest issues I have had is the strategy against other wave serpents.

Do I stay out of scatter range and then fire my shields or get within range and risk it?

 Leth wrote:
Oddly enough one of the biggest issues I have had is the strategy against other wave serpents.

Do I stay out of scatter range and then fire my shields or get within range and risk it?

If you are going second against 3 or more Serpents, keep your own in reserve. Serpents are very good at killing other Serpents so the key here will be getting the first shot off. Dont bother saving your shields, fire them every turn.

If going first, target his serpents down and/or force them to jink with heavy weapons. If you can gain an early lead on the serpent count, things will snowball quickly.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:

Another strategy I use is to flat out my d scythe wave serpent right in front of the squad I want them to kill, some times only stopping the 1" away. Generally they wont be able to kill it with shooting, (if you were able to eliminate the opponents anti serpent fire power) So they will try and assault the serpent. They will probably kill it. Now, sense you cant consolidate from tanks in combat, they are nicely grouped up for the d scythes to rape with.

If your opponent completely surrounds the tank in melee combat then the passengers inside die because they cannot make an emergency disembark.

 extremefreak17 wrote:

 Leth wrote:
Oddly enough one of the biggest issues I have had is the strategy against other wave serpents.

Do I stay out of scatter range and then fire my shields or get within range and risk it?

If you are going second against 3 or more Serpents, keep your own in reserve. Serpents are very good at killing other Serpents so the key here will be getting the first shot off. Dont bother saving your shields, fire them every turn.

If going first, target his serpents down and/or force them to jink with heavy weapons. If you can gain an early lead on the serpent count, things will snowball quickly.

That is actually the exact advice I got in a tournament the other day. I was told I am being to passive with my wave serpents.

wtnind wrote:

 ninjafiredragon wrote:

Another strategy I use is to flat out my d scythe wave serpent right in front of the squad I want them to kill, some times only stopping the 1" away. Generally they wont be able to kill it with shooting, (if you were able to eliminate the opponents anti serpent fire power) So they will try and assault the serpent. They will probably kill it. Now, sense you cant consolidate from tanks in combat, they are nicely grouped up for the d scythes to rape with.

If your opponent completely surrounds the tank in melee combat then the passengers inside die because they cannot make an emergency disembark.

Hell, even if you can only cover the rear hatch, they can't perform any actions on their next turn after they emergency disembark.

 Leth wrote:

 extremefreak17 wrote:

 Leth wrote:
Oddly enough one of the biggest issues I have had is the strategy against other wave serpents.

Do I stay out of scatter range and then fire my shields or get within range and risk it?

If you are going second against 3 or more Serpents, keep your own in reserve. Serpents are very good at killing other Serpents so the key here will be getting the first shot off. Dont bother saving your shields, fire them every turn.

If going first, target his serpents down and/or force them to jink with heavy weapons. If you can gain an early lead on the serpent count, things will snowball quickly.

That is actually the exact advice I got in a tournament the other day. I was told I am being to passive with my wave serpents.

I will add some more, Serpents can go down in assault pretty fast with their rear AV 10. If a fast enemy closes within assault range and you dont have the firepower to wipe it out, make sure to Flat Out to safety. It is almost always better to trade shooting for a turn if it means keeping the Serpent alive. Also Dont forget you can place them on top of impassible terrain such as can towers, rooftops, lava, etc. This will make you immune to most assaults. If your local terrain allows you to abuse this tactic frequently, take Ghost Walk Matrices on you Serpents so they wont have to test for dangerous terrain. If their are Ruins with smaller top levels, you can place your serpents there. If their base covers the entire level, (possible with many of the GW ruins) they can never be assualted as nothing will be able to reach base contact due to a lake of space.

wtnind wrote:

 ninjafiredragon wrote:

Another strategy I use is to flat out my d scythe wave serpent right in front of the squad I want them to kill, some times only stopping the 1" away. Generally they wont be able to kill it with shooting, (if you were able to eliminate the opponents anti serpent fire power) So they will try and assault the serpent. They will probably kill it. Now, sense you cant consolidate from tanks in combat, they are nicely grouped up for the d scythes to rape with.

If your opponent completely surrounds the tank in melee combat then the passengers inside die because they cannot make an emergency disembark.

The serpents are large, and I choose the targets to get close enough to assault.

Then I stay far enough away that they dont completely surround the tank. The serpent is a big tank, its hard to surround.