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Okay so I have a box of Wraithwarriors lying in front of me and I dont know how to build them. Help me decide! Here's what I think:

Wraithblades with swords: MUCH tougher banshees that dont die before reaching their targets (con: can't shoot and only useful against tanks with weak rear armor; almost useless against walkers)

Wraithguard with cannons: tougher Firedragons (con: suck in close combat. period.)

Wraithguard with d-scythes: kickass close range annihilators (con: almost useless against tanks, useless against walkers)

Wraithblades with axes and shields: kickass close combat tarpit units that can also survive in the open (con: can get swarmed over by light infantry)


My thoughts in detail:

The Eldar equivalent to Space Marine Terminators and Necron Lychguard. In the previous dex, which boosted them from expensive, useless units to tough-as-nails sons of b’s, they had one purpose only: make dangerous stuff disappear. In the new codex, they have become more versatile. To begin with, the standard Wraithguard-wielding-Wraithcannon (lets call these boys Cannonguard) have gotten 3 points cheaper. However, you can no longer field 3 man units as the minimum squad size has risen to 5. With the advent of plastic Wraithguard (we had been waiting for a loooooong time for this) there’s no reason for 3 man units anymore…Wraithguard are affordable now. So the standard Wraithcannon loadout exists to either destroy armor, monstrous creatures, or heavy infantry, although Fire Dragons can do these equally well, albeit take a lot less punishment. Cannonguard are essentially Fire Dragons with insurance – no need to depend on melta range and you can take a (ranged) beating. However, Wraithcannons have been changed somewhat. Against infantry, they are no longer Strength X and wound on 2+, but are S10. So this is actually a boost, as now your Wraithcannons can potentially insta-kill any multi-wound character upto T5 without even having to roll a 6 to wound, as long as they fail their invulnerable or cover save at least once. Against vehicles, the Wraithcannon profile has also been changed in that they no longer glance vehicles on a 3 or 4, and penetrate them on a 5 or 6, but merely penetrate them on a 6 IF they havent done so already in a lesser roll. Mostly this applies to the otherwise S4 of D-scythes, but also circumvents any vehicular special rule that would otherwise make a tank receive glancing hits only, e.g. the Serpent Shield. So Wraithcannons are now only worse against glancing AV14, but better at everything else (incl. penetrating AV13 and under, and glancing AV12 and under)

For quite a sizable amount of additional points per model, you can kit Wraithguard out with D-Scythes. This essentially replaces their 12” weapon with a flamer that can vaporize anything upto and including terminators. However, not only is your 5 man squad 50 points costlier, but you’ve also lost your tank-busting capability and severely diminished your MC hunting capability – only when you are charged by an MC can you overwatch and land between 5 and 15 auto-hits. Should the MC (who gets wounded on a 6) even fail a single inv. save, he is a goner. Which is why an intelligent opponent won’t charge your D-scythe Wraithguard and instead just stay more than 8” away from them. I personally see D-scythes as a costly, useless option – there are plenty of other troops in the Eldar army that excel at taking out light infantry, and even against heavy infantry do we have ample amounts of weaponry that safely do the job from afar. However, against tanks and MCs, we lack punch – if the MC has a 2+ save, even a unit of charging Shining Spears is useless; Dark Reapers can’t do anything, even if they are carrying Starshot missiles, and our Rangers still grant the creature its 2+ armor save 5 out of 6 times. So really, the only weapons that can reliably take out MCs are Brightlances, Starcannons, Firedragons and our own MCs such as the Avatar, Wraithlord or Wraithknight. Massed Brightlances/Starcannons can only be mounted on fragile War Walkers; the Crimson Hunter & Falcon’s Pulse laser / Brightlance combo is too expensive and also only somewhat effective in quickly bringing down MCs…at best, they can make their points back. This is the reason why we need Fire Dragons and Wraithguard…drop them off near an MC and watch them bring it down in 1 turn of shooting.

Wraithblades offer a different approach. Personally, I hate the dual Ghostsword Wraithblades…what are they trying to accomplish? At best, they are an improved (read: more resilient) version of Banshees, as you can get 1 for every 2 Banshees you would otherwise be able to field and that 1 Wraithblade will likely last longer than 2 Banshees do and even though it only has half the number of attacks, it wounds things far easier, but has no banshee masks to reduce enemy initiative. Their swords are still AP3, so if I really want to take out MEQ I will actually prefer to do it from afar using my Fire Prism or Dark Reapers. What I am more interested in, is Wraithblades wielding Ghost Axes and Forcefields. Now the Ghost Axe doesn’t give them +1 attack for 2 CCWs (as the Forcefield is a piece of equipment and not a close combat weapon) i.e. their attacks are halved, and on top of that, it reduces them to Initiative 1. However, it gives them 1 additional strength over the Ghostsword (making them better at wounding monstrous creatures) and makes their attacks AP2, being able to crack open even terminator armor. But that’s not the important bit. The important bit is…they get Forcefields. That means a 4+ invulnerable save when previously they had NONE. And at no additional cost over the dual Ghostsword option. This makes Ghostaxe and Forcefield-armed Wraithblades viable as (running) footsloggers. No need for a 120 point transport – in fact, for those points you can get 4 more guys and chances are you will lose less than four T6 3+/4++ Wraithblades before you reach your target, leaving you with a bigger squad than the 5 man team that jumps out of a Wave Serpent. It also makes them a good target as part of psychological warfare to soak up enemy fire and still not take casualties (ESPECIALLY when combined with a Fortune Farseer or a Protect Spiritseer...in fact, if you are planning to field the latter, then ranged Wraithguard make for a better option because your Primaris Power is a 5+ cover save anyway), while the rest of your force can reach their targets unscathed. Previously, you either used Wraithguard with transports to get them to blow stuff up with their short range guns, or marched them on the battlefield as a bullet sponge to keep the rest of your army safe - but AT weapons, plasma and such could still bring them down quickly. With invulnerable saves, you are putting your opponent into a real dilemma – should he waste his anti-tank shots on your Wraithblades when they have a 50% chance (potentially re-rollable) of warding them off? Or should he focus them on your tanks and let your running Wraithblades reach him in the next turn or two? The Ghost Axes still allow them to crack tanks, although I wouldn’t go against the Hammernators or Lychguard because they either strike first or have more attacks and wound easily and thus win in a prolonged combat against the Wraithblades due to them having identical or better invulnerable saves. Ghost Axe Wraithblades' only bane is getting bogged down by light infantry in close combat, something the standard Wraithguard also fear, but unlike their Wraithcannon wielding cousins, the Ghost Axe wielding Wraithblades need not worry as much if they get assaulted by more dangerous things. Out of all Wraithwarrior options, I believe this one is the most versatile one, as you can use them either as effective footslogging bullet sponges, tank hunters or with a little bit of luck, MC and heavy infantry hunters, too. Standard Wraithguard need a transport (or they'll get vaporized by plasma) and can only do these things within 12” range, but not in hand-to-hand, while their D-scythe wielding brethren are even more specialized, being extremely effective at only 1”-8” against infantry of all sorts, but little else – neither tanks nor MCs, unless they get charged by the latter.

Perhaps the best thing about Wraithblades is by taking a Spiritseer as HQ you can make ALL of them troops choices, thereby not only freeing up Elite slots in bigger battles that can then be filled with Fire Dragons, Striking Scorpions, Harlies and so on, but also making your Wraithwarriors scoring units. Enemy tough-as-nails unit occupying an objective? No problem. Drop a D-scythe Wraithguard unit near them and watch how their toughest warriors are swept off the objective like leaves in the wind when your Wraithguard turn on their leafblowers...err..D-scythes. Alternately, have the Forcefield Wraithblades run towards an unclaimed objective and watch your enemy try to kill them in vain, wasting incredible lots of firepower either way: high strength low ap shots reserved for your tanks are wasted on their 4++ saves, or light infantry firing on them and hoping for 6s means they soak up a lot of fire either way.

Remember: 5 normal Wraithguard or Wraithblades lead by a Farseer or Spiritseer are together about as costly as a Land Raider, but in the case of the Spiritseer, a scoring unit with a 5+ cover save or potential chance of having 2+ armor saves (Protect) and in the case of the Farseer potentially being able to re-roll ALL failed armor saves or ALL failed invulnerable saves.

Even with the Forcefields, I would still put either 6 Wraithguard or 5 +Farseer/Spiritseer in the Wave serpent. The mobility of that platform is well worth the points. If you go the melee approach, I would use the Axes. Otherwise I like the Dscythes.

I've run wraithblades for a bit, only ever with axes. They fit a fluffy iyanden army and can push out the hurt, but I feel they need psychic support to make it across the table.

Standard wraithguard with cannons were my bread and butter. Iyanden with a spiritseer or two for battle focus and running around iKnight shields is always great as well as scaring any and all flyers and fmcs with their S10. Not likely to hit, but will at least force a jink or get lucky.

With Dark Eldar and their new portals, I'm a fan of 5 scytheguard + spiritseer. Archon with armour of misery and portal allows for precision deep striking, giving a -2 ld to help with the spiritseer's shriek. The scytheguard will then automatically be in range to whatever they want to flame. 5 + 2 smaller characters will allow for 4 to flame the turn they deep strike, and all the following turn as they spread out as needed.

tl;dr - go with wraithcannons if they are in serpents, take dscythes with dark eldar & webway portals, or take axes if you want a fluffy and fun list.

wouldnt scythes be just as good in wave serpents? I have fire dragons for AT duty, but no real cover ignoring massed AP2 firepower. And the scythes are like 8" compared to the cannons' 12

I assume you aren't willing to use magnets?

I personally would build units in the order of scythe then cannon then axe then sword. Which is a tragedy since the sword guard is the best looking in my opinion. It just has so little combat effectiveness.

For general purpose Scythes. Depends on the rest of your list. I field a unit of each ranged weapons. I dont bother with the melee versions. Put the D-Scythe guys on an objective and dare someone to come and take it.

D-scythe Wraithguard are also quite impervious to geting locked in close combat because any unit wishing to assault them would have to survive 5x D3 wall of death shots, so you are looking at an average of 7.5 S4 AP2 hits, i.e. 3.25 wounds, which could seriously put a dent on any 5 man non-stormshield terminator or 10 man tactical squad

Scythes in serpents are fine, yes, but then you're looking at quite the points investment. Granted, you get a serpent, but the scythe guard will do their job with or without one.

The other thing is that with distort, you can always fish for 6's against vehicles for an ignores cover penetrating hit.

Just magnetize them, doesn't take much

I got lucky and took out a Leman Russ with my 5 man d-scythe squad last game, 3 sixes out of 5 rolls probably won't happen too often though!

 Sir Arun wrote:
D-scythe Wraithguard are also quite impervious to geting locked in close combat because any unit wishing to assault them would have to survive 5x D3 wall of death shots, so you are looking at an average of 7.5 S4 AP2 hits, i.e. 3.25 wounds, which could seriously put a dent on any 5 man non-stormshield terminator or 10 man tactical squad

Actually, 5d3 is 10 on average, meaning 5 wounds.

Yes, they wipe out an Honour Guard squad with overwatch on average.

Fun times.

Heres some things to think about.

Wraithblades are to slow to get into combat. In friendly games can be fine, but competitive...no.

Wraith blades with Axes can be made into a decent (only decent) deathstar, but you need 7-10, attached hqs, and lots and lots of buffs. You pretty much need to build your entire army around them.

Wraithguard wiith cannons: Arent as good as fire dragons. They arent NEARLY as good at killing high AV targets (which is more commonly then not their purpose). And surprisingly are much more of a fire-magnet than fire dragons. They can survive a little better than fragons, but when your oppenent really wants to kill them (which they will) then they will die just to easily. This unit can be buffed with a spirit seer, which makes them actually good-great. Mostly because it makes them (and their wave serpent) troops. Also added accuracy and sometimes added maneuverability.
Great in friendly games, meh in competitive.

Wraithguard with D-scythes: Best choice here. Able to wipe entire squads off the board, and only have a few downsides. first is that the unit is a minimum of 340 points (and thats without holo fields),which is allot. Second downside is that they never last past one turn after disembarking, and even if they do, the enemy scatters and they wont get a good hit off again. Also, after there (admittedly good) over watch, they are trash in combat. If I were a space marine player I would be glad to send 10 tactical marines into the unit, losing 3-4 guys. Then making the wraithguard be stuck in combat the entire game. In fact, the only time their overwatch is really usefull is when their is 1-2 multi-wound models charging in.
Also theres new added dark eldar Tactica for them with deep striking shenanigans. Still havent fully been able to assess them yet, but I do believe its about as good as being in a serpent.
Final assesment: friendly games-OP Competitive games-good (but not great)

So yea. Best option is good for competitive games.
Fun, but not game changing OP.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
Heres some things to think about.

Wraithblades are to slow to get into combat. In friendly games can be fine, but competitive...no.

Wraithguard have 8"-12" range. So I have difficulty seeing how they have any form of real advantage over Wraithblades - both need to be pretty damn close to an enemy to be able to do anything.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
Wraithguard with D-scythes: Best choice here. Able to wipe entire squads off the board, and only have a few downsides. first is that the unit is a minimum of 340 points (and thats without holo fields),which is allot. Second downside is that they never last past one turn after disembarking, and even if they do, the enemy scatters and they wont get a good hit off again. Also, after there (admittedly good) over watch, they are trash in combat. If I were a space marine player I would be glad to send 10 tactical marines into the unit, losing 3-4 guys.

If you send 10 tactical marines, you lose 5 guys on average from that overwatch. Tacticals, Assault Marines, Vanguard Vets and PAGKs all die at the same rate. The remaining 5 will have to go up against 5 WG who have the same initiative, the same armor save, but S6 and T6, so they wound all of the aforementioned units always on a 2+ while your weapons wound them on a 6+ unless you have power axes (5+) or power fists, which are usually limited to 1 per squad.


I was thinking that Scytheguard complement a Wave Serpent transport quite nicely - all the twin-linked moderate strength shots from the serpent go toward stripping off hull points from any tank that isnt AV13+, while the scytheguard mop up any and all sorts of infantry.

With a Spiritseer, they are objective secured, so all they need to do is move toward an enemy objective and sweep it clean off any enemy obsecs and they got it till the last wraith is gunned down; and the primaris of the spiritseer ensures these guys have a 3+/5++ at all times, and if they move into cover it gets even better, and then I still have 2 die rolls to get that +1 to armor save power which amounts to a 33% chance of getting it.

 Sir Arun wrote:

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
Heres some things to think about.

Wraithblades are to slow to get into combat. In friendly games can be fine, but competitive...no.

Wraithguard have 8"-12" range. So I have difficulty seeing how they have any form of real advantage over Wraithblades - both need to be pretty damn close to an enemy to be able to do anything.

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
Wraithguard with D-scythes: Best choice here. Able to wipe entire squads off the board, and only have a few downsides. first is that the unit is a minimum of 340 points (and thats without holo fields),which is allot. Second downside is that they never last past one turn after disembarking, and even if they do, the enemy scatters and they wont get a good hit off again. Also, after there (admittedly good) over watch, they are trash in combat. If I were a space marine player I would be glad to send 10 tactical marines into the unit, losing 3-4 guys.

If you send 10 tactical marines, you lose 5 guys on average from that overwatch. Tacticals, Assault Marines, Vanguard Vets and PAGKs all die at the same rate. The remaining 5 will have to go up against 5 WG who have the same initiative, the same armor save, but S6 and T6, so they wound all of the aforementioned units always on a 2+ while your weapons wound them on a 6+ unless you have power axes (5+) or power fists, which are usually limited to 1 per squad.


I was thinking that Scytheguard complement a Wave Serpent transport quite nicely - all the twin-linked moderate strength shots from the serpent go toward stripping off hull points from any tank that isnt AV13+, while the scytheguard mop up any and all sorts of infantry.

With a Spiritseer, they are objective secured, so all they need to do is move toward an enemy objective and sweep it clean off any enemy obsecs and they got it till the last wraith is gunned down; and the primaris of the spiritseer ensures these guys have a 3+/5++ at all times, and if they move into cover it gets even better, and then I still have 2 die rolls to get that +1 to armor save power which amounts to a 33% chance of getting it.

I know and I knew all this when I wrote the above post.
I was assuming the reader knew to put the wraith guard in wave serpents, difference is that the Close combat guard have to wait a whole turn before they assualt, letting the opponent, move away, shoot them, and pretty much let them dictate what happens. The shooty guard at least get to unload one turn of fire before that happens. Thats what makes the difference.

You have to realize, im not expecting the tactical marines to win the fight. They just need to stall 1-2 turns until I can maneuver away, or position my units to deal with the wraith guard. And theres no way the wraith guard are killing 6 marines in 1-2 turns.

or course with spirit seer they are ob sec. Which is why I said that in my above post. But getting to and securing objectives from the enemy is not as simple as unloading on top of it.

Powers are not as easy as you think to use. Not saying their garbage, just that its not amazing.

My assessment is still the same.

D scythes all the way.
It's a shock and awe unit.
Mount it into a Serpent
Point to the most juicy target and move the Serpent forward.
The best thing is that the WG can use their weapons when unit disembarks.

Also fyi I built mine as d-scythes, but if I ever need/want to run them with wraith cannons not one person has ever noticed/cared. The guns are really quite similar looking.