How do you run your seer council?

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**Cult of My Boy Blue**

Gearing up for a tourney and trying to determine the best way to run my Seer Council. Played two games and both games I have gotten stuck in a combat twith them.

Right now I am running

2 Farseers \1 with Stone to lower casting cost by one
5 Warlocks

All on bikes of course and all with Spears...

So this is really my warp battery they can cast a ton and pretty much deny most armies of Psychic phase.

As stated the first game I got into combat with a dread... had a 3+ invul and could not get out of combat whole game...
last game got into combat with Demons... 15 seekers... I had invisibility up...

So after two games I love the warp ability I need advice on how to run them... should I be sitting back or should I be attacking...
Do I need to change my load out?
Add another character?

Thanks for any help!

**ninjafiredragon**

Im not much of a fan of seer councils in the new dex, not as killy and dont survive as well imo.

**Yarium**

I loved my Seer Council in a recent tourney. They were insane-o, even just being on Foot. Eldrad was included and he was a beast. Every game I took; Sanctic for Warlocks (it's okay if they die from their own powers), Runes of Battle on a Farseer, and Telepathy/Invisibility on Eldrad. If I were to optimize them, I'd likely add a special character that grants Hit & Run - probably a Harlequin Shadowseer, just to make sure they can't get stuck in combat.

Note - Sanctic for the Warlocks was phenomenal. There's so many good powers in that list for the Seer Council - even Hammerhand - as the +2 Strength is very important when using those Witchblades and Singing Spears in close combat against vehicles.

**Rune Stonegrinder**

I've run one in a few fun games and they do very well in non-competitive, if your looking for competitive look away from the seer council. High point cost low body count.

I run mine like this

Eldrad - Fate
Farseers -Telepathy

10 Warlocks-Santic

plus

Ally Farseer - Stone - Fate

With a little luck you end up with 3++, Invisibility, fortune, and 2 Eldrich Storm

EDITED I have a handful of spears but not on everyone.

**PanzerLeader**

If you want to play them in a tourney, add Baharoth for hit & run.

**Thaylen**

1 Farseer on bike w/ Singing Spear + Stone
- This guy usually takes Runes of Fate

1 Farseer on bike w/ Shard of Anaris
- This guys Usually goes telepathy for invis, dominate (synergy if I can get horrify), terrify (same synergy with horrify), and shriek. If I am fighting an opponent that has lots of AP I may send him down sanctic instead.

7 Warlocks on bikes with singing spears.
-These guys go for Runes of battle to hunt for Protect/Jinx, Destructor/Renewer, Embolden/Horrify.

**Cult of My Boy Blue**

ninjafiredragon wrote:
Im not much of a fan of seer councils in the new dex, not as killy and dont survive as well imo.

Out of all those wonderful responses I have to point out... why... .why even post if you are not going to add anything.

Any other choices for HQ that would be a good add to the Seer Council?

**Rypher**

In all honesty, Baharroth is your best bet. Fearless, hit & run, and the ability to not scatter when deepstriking is golden. Getting Gate on the council and throwing out psychic shrieks, eldritch storms, cleansing flames, etc allows them to be extremely aggressive and able to clear out multiple threats.

I run mine with multiple shadowseers for utility and more combat prowess, as well as a lot of psychic shrieks / phantasmancy powers.

**ninjafiredragon**

Cult of My Boy Blue wrote:
ninjafiredragon wrote:
Im not much of a fan of seer councils in the new dex, not as killy and dont survive as well imo.

Out of all those wonderful responses I have to point out... why... .why even post if you are not going to add anything.

Any other choices for HQ that would be a good add to the Seer Council?

I added the point that I dont think they are that effective, my advise being to bring something else

**WarbossDakka**

Deep fried sunny side up.

Basically 2 Farseers and 7 Warlocks all on Jetbikes for me, usually with spears cos they look SO COOL!

**Lurker**

Yarium wrote:
I loved my Seer Council in a recent tourney. They were insane-o, even just being on Foot. Eldrad was included and he was a beast. Every game I took; Sanctic for Warlocks (it's okay if they die from their own powers), Runes of Battle on a Farseer, and Telepathy/Invisibility on Eldrad. If I were to optimize them, I'd likely add a special character that grants Hit & Run - probably a Harlequin Shadowseer, just to make sure they can't get stuck in combat.

Note - Sanctic for the Warlocks was phenomenal. There's so many good powers in that list for the Seer Council - even Hammerhand - as the +2 Strength is very important when using those Witchblades and Singing Spears in close combat against vehicles.

Sanctic for warlocks? So many good powers?

BAD
Banishment = too situational. Purge soul doesn't seem too hot with LD 8

PERHAPS
Gate of Infinity = Great, if you're not on jetbikes
Cleansing Flame = Needed? Seer Councils are already pretty good against unarmoured targets.
Hammerhand = I'm surprised this is needed with armourbane (Strength 3 + D6 + additional D6 for armour bane). That's an average of a glance against tanks and with the amount of attacks, 10 on two dice doesn't seem impossible to achieve a series of glances against heavy walkers.
Vortex of Doom = I don't have much experience with this...

GOOD
Sanctuary = yep. No arguments (other than +1 to the amour on the other table can be very beneficial)

I can't see it being any better than the Runes of Battle. In fact a good argument could be made that it is worse (but I don't really have the time to make that argument)

Thoughts?

**Cult of My Boy Blue**

I think you make a great argument here. I often go for Invisibility then go over to battle. Too many armies can negate the other Telepathy powers. Divination seems hit or miss as well.

But hey Marines can get any power....

**Yarium**

Lurker wrote:
Sanctic for warlocks? So many good powers?

BAD
Banishment = too situational. Purge soul doesn't seem too hot with LD 8

PERHAPS
Gate of Infinity = Great, if you're not on jetbikes
Cleansing Flame = Needed? Seer Councils are already pretty good against unarmoured targets.
Hammerhand = I'm surprised this is needed with armourbane (Strength 3 + D6 + additional D6 for armour bane). That's an average of a glance against tanks and with the amount of attacks, 10 on two dice doesn't seem impossible to achieve a series of glances against heavy walkers.
Vortex of Doom = I don't have much experience with this...

GOOD
Sanctuary = yep. No arguments (other than +1 to the amour on the other table can be very beneficial)

The only ones on the list that are "bad" are Banishment (nearly always bad, except for when it's awesome), and Hammerhand if it doesn't matter against your opponent's list. However, in my games, my opponents brought armour and the +2 Strength made a huge difference. An average 3+2d6 roll is only 10 - only enough to glance most rear armors, not do it that well to be honest (you've got about the same chance as using a Krak grenade - not bad, but not great for what you've spent points on), and taking on tougher things tempts you with possibility while still being too dangerous (Knights). +2 Strength makes the average roll a 12, penetrating almost all rear armor, holding up against Dreads, and even threatening Knights with a much more dangerous unit.

Purge Soul is probably another poor, but again, I've seen worse (and this is yet another reason for me to pair a Shadowseer up into this group!)

Cleansing Flame can be bad in some matchups as well, but you'll almost always have targets for it.

Everything else is useful. Vortex is super-killy, Sanctuary gives awesome bonus to survivability (especially when paired with Fortune and Eldrad - 2+ rerollable Inv, and maybe also having Invisibility to boot), and I've yet to see a game where Gate wouldn't be useful (though note, this was a Footseer Council - not yet Jetseer... working on that).

I don't know about you, but having an 87% chance at getting something at least good, and getting a 75% chance of getting something great, is definitely worth it.

Note, that was just my experience at a single tourney of only 3 games.

Let's compare this to Runes of Battle:

Primaris - Conceal/Reveal; If you're on bikes, hell yeah this is awesome! 2+ rerollable Jink is hard to say no to. If you're on Foot, it's just a meh power.
Destructor/Renewer - We're Eldar, something hits us, it's probably just instant-death anyways.
Embolden/Horrify - Considering your also rolling on Runes of Fate and Telepathy, you're going to have lots of other chances at getting Fearless (and in the case of Fate and Telepathy - actually Fearless+), so this is really only going to be useful for offensive purposes. I guess if you were doing the Grotesque Mask combos it'd be good.
Enhance/Drain - Again, you're already Eldar, and while you're okay in combat (my Footseer council took out a squad of 6 Wraiths - but I had already killed the Spyder), they're not super stellar. Enhancing them a little bit isn't going to make a big splash.
Protect/Jinx - More again, you're already Eldar. Protecting the Seer Council does very little (except when on Jetbikes, but then you did already get Conceal/Reveal), and Eldar weapons are either very high or very lower AP - so -1 to saves doesn't do a heck of a lot.
Quicken/Restrain - Useless if on a bike, and only mildly useful if on Foot.
Empower/Enervate - +1 Strength is so much worse than +2 from Hammerhand. Reducing your opponent's Strength can be good I guess.

So, this seems to be the opposite of the Sanctic power for a Jetseer Council (great primaris, one really good power), while the rest are pretty bad. For a Footseer council, almost none of these are really that effective for you.

**Will1541**

Step one: Take the formation. It dictates the majority of the list but the passive is going to be very important.

Step two: Take the actual Seer Council Team. Grab Eldrad, give the other Faseer a Spirit Stone, and sprinkle Spears to taste.

Step three: ...

Step four: Profit

But Seriously, the bonuses on the team are ridiculous. With 3 Farseers rolling Runes, you're practically guaranteed Eldritch Storm, Cast this first every time, watch your opponents vainly try to roll 4 sixes, and relax with knowledge you can't be denied for the rest of the phase.

There are only a few poor abilities for the warlocks. Conceal is bland (Reveal is niche) but Renewer is good, embolden can be nice, enhance is delectable, Jinx is sweet since you wound a lot anyway, quicken is great, and empower is nothing to scoff at. So overall, one poor roll and the primaris sucks.

You pull charges on 3+, you can reroll if it goes bad, you regain more from Eldrad's staff, you can lower the cost with the stone, rolling Fortune makes you suprisingly resilient, Renewer is effective with Eldrad bring EW, T:4, 3++, and multi wound. PLUS, because you took formation, you're pretty damn mobile without the bikes.

Final note, if you put more warlocks in the guardian squads, you're talking 18 warp charge a turn

**Cult of My Boy Blue**

So no other HQ's that provide that added buff and Hit and Run ...

Baharroth was the only suggestion?

**silent_death**

I will post what Embolden posted on an other form. (He is a wonderful player that just started his path on the seer council)

Seer Council tips, tricks and the learning curve!

My list once again: (to save you all scrolling up! )

Dark Eldar; Combine Arms Detachment:

Archon: Webway Portal; Armour of Misery 110
5 Kabalite Warriors 40
5 Kabalite Warriors 40
Bastion: Comms Relay 95

Craftworld Eldar; Craftworld Warhost Detachment:

Windrider Host:
Farseer: Skyrunner; Singing Spear 120
Warlock: Skyrunner 50
Vyper 40
4 Windriders: 4 Scatter Lasers 108
4 Windriders: 4 Scatter Lasers 108
4 Windriders: 4 Scatter Lasers 108

Outcast:
5 Rangers 60

Living Legends:
Baharroth 170

Heroes of the Craftworlds:
Eldrad 195

Seer Council:
Farseer: Skyrunner; Spiritstones of Anath'Lan; Singing Spear 135
Farseer: Skyrunner; Singing Spear 120
7 Warlocks: Skyrunners 350

Total: 1849

The Seer Council is a complex beast! Essentially ALL the characters join the Seer Council, so thats the 7 Warlocks and 2 Farseers which using the Seer Council Formation rules cannot leave the unit, but can cast on a 3+ which is huge, then Eldrad, Baharroth and the Windrider Host Farseer joins into the original Council. The Archon is a bit more complex, which sums the unit up, complex.. which is both an advantage and disadvantage, firstly, unless your opponent has played one before, they're unlikely to know how to deal with it. But to get your own head around it is hard enough, or, it has been for me at least. With 5 psychic trees to roll on, Runes of Battle, Runes of Fate, Divination, Telepathy and Daemonology Santic. Getting the right balance of powers is hard, as powers are random each game, you have no idea what you're going to get and in what order, or if you're even going to get the power you really want, unless its a primaris power and each game you're going to have different combination of powers. So you have to keep all your tactical thoughts flexible, always.

I'm in the process of making my own cheat sheet, to try and help myself remember what the aim is, as its quite hard to remember what you're trying to do in the heat of battle. But I will get to that later.

My learning curve with tips and tricks picked up on the go!

Although I've not looked much further than our very own Warmaster Forum, I cannot see any other player using the Seer Council, so tactica's and information I can steal has been very hard to come by, so I'm pretty much winging this! Haha, but I love the list and it does feel good to use something not many, if anyone is actually running.

The basic plan of my version of a Seer Council is to shriek the hell out of the enemy infantry units and monstrous creatures, using guide/prescience to twin link the shriek making it quite reliable once cast. Then to make the most of Shriek, Terrify and Horrify are fantastic powers, plus the Archon has Armour of Misery which is great, units within 6" are reduced by 2 on there basic Leadership, combining all of these makes for nasty psychic combos!

Getting the most out of the Armour of Misery and Shriek is the key to success, hence the Bastion, with a Comms relay and Webway portal on the Archon. This allows me to deploy minimal units on the battlefield and deep striking the Seer Council, while still being extremely hard to table before the Council arrives, I will be using LoS blocking terrain all over the table, Rangers with Infiltrate and Shrouded as standard are also hard to shift, the single Warlock is extremely easy to hide. Many lists don't have much that can destroy a Bastion easily turn1 or even turn2, so deploying units in the Bastion can be a solid plan. But I'm getting off topic. Basically I can deep strike the Seer Council anywhere on the table without scatter using the Archon with Webway and I'm unlikely to be stopped from doing so. This allows me to use the Armour of Miseries 6" area of effect to its maximum! While the Bastion protects me and win the Comms Relay gives me a very reliable chance of turning up turn2 if I don't roll re-roll reserves as a Warlord Trait.

Having the ability to deep strike brings a big degree of tactical flexibility to the list, as it can just as easily deploy on the table. Again, using the Bastion as protection from a turn1 Alpha strike when being seized on or not going first but still wanting to be on the table. The Seer Council is more than mobile enough to be where it needs to be with a 12" move and 36" turbo move from the Skyrunner models in the unit which can string back to the slower models in the unit or even the good old 2D6 move in the assault phase.

I have had a lot of joy turn4 when Skyleaping Baharroth off the table in turn4 and landing him on an objective somewhere else on the table, which has scored me a few extra victory points and also means they can saturate the table with MSU towards the end of the game with Farseer, Eldrad Archon and Baharroth all having the potential to slit off.

What powers are best?
This depends on the opponents list/what you roll to start with. I always start with Eldrad on Telepathy, looking for Invisibility, with 4 rolls on that psychic tree he has the best chance to get it. Assuming he does, the next most important power is Fortune. With those two cast, the Council is practically untouchable. I look for fortune from the Seer Council Farseers which cast Warp Charge 2 power on a 3+ which makes it much easier to cast and preferably with the Farseer with Spiritstones to make it really easy to cast. I like to throw about 11-12 dice at both of these powers to ensure they are cast, with a re-roll they are super reliably going off.

After I have these two then its Shrieks, I always go for at least 3 Shrieks even if I've not got the powers I wanted/needed because without them the Seer Council doesn't actually kill much/anything.

Once you have those basic powers, depending how early you get them, you can have some real fun! This list struggles against flyers and flying MCs, so powers like Guide/Prescience are great for the Windriders to twin link them. But Cleansing Flame does the real damage! Against the Necrons I shot down the Nightscythe with this, rolling 8 hits and rolling 6's to glance it to death. Obviously it doesn't do much vs AV12...

Gate of infinity is really handy and can be nasty surprise, I did this against the Necron player also, where I finished off a unit of Warriors and still having about 5 WC left, cast Gate and jumped across the table to kill off the Tomb Blades which were hovering around an objective! Which totally threw my opponent off guard for the rest of the game he was always double checking the back of his units and would play super cautious with characters in his deathstar.

Hammerhand, on first glance it looks like a rubbish power for a Seer Council which is predominately armed with Fleshbane attacks, but +2 Strength is great when charging vehicles and you're Str5 with Armourbane! Empower from the Warlock powers with +1 strength is a diet version of this!

Terrify, another power that doesn't look great, until you start combining with Shriek! But Horrify from the Warlock powers is even better!

Dominate, reducing a units leadership them Dominating them is great when you have other targets to deal with, this can easily buy a turn which can be critical.

**Yarium**

Cult of My Boy Blue wrote:
So no other HQ's that provide that added buff and Hit and Run ...

Baharroth was the only suggestion?

A Shadowseer from Harlequins would confer Hit & Run for the low-low price of 60 points! (plus everything else you'll need to bring... so quite a bit more than 60 points actually...)

**Cult of My Boy Blue**

Yeah I do run a Harlequin formation so that is not out of the question.

Shadow thank you for posting that info that is interesting.

Have another test game on Thursday... see what happens with some changes.

**Gangrel767**

Last Night I ran this vs Tyranids. Did extremely well:

Seer Council Detachment
2 Farseer - Jetbikes, Singing Spear
5 Warlocks - Jetbikes, Singing Spears

Part of a CAD
Farseer - Jetbike
Baharroth

Their overall combat damage was low, but the psychics more than made up for it. I also ran The Heroes Path, so I have a 2nd level shadowseer in there as well, with the -2 LD bubble. Psychic Shriek was incredible.

**zerosignal**

I've seen people run the Shard of Anaris to give you better results in challenges and also confer fearless on the unit - any comments on this?

What is the best way to support the council? I'm trying to decide what to run in a 2000 point game, and I'm so torn as I like the aspect host + cloudstrike (but ideally you need autarch or a comms relay for that) but also love the seer council...

Also considering the good old wave serpent, as part of an aspect host (fire dragons x2, maybe dark reapers for the third - expecting to face ravenwing and I need a way round the jink saves!) - BS5 bright lance and serpent shield shots (with Ignores Cover!!) seem a bit good!

Edit: I just realised the runes of battle primaris is going to be pretty huge against the Darkshroud... \o/

**Gangrel767**

This is the whole list:

Symphony of destruction (1849pts)

Harlequins - Codex (Formation Detachment)
Formation
The Heroes' Path
Death Jester
Shadowseer - Mastery Level 2, Shuriken Pistol, The Mask of Secrets
Solitaire - Harlequin's Kiss

Eldar Craftworlds: Codex (2015) (Combined Arms Detachment)
HQ
Baharroth, The Cry of the Wind
Farseer - Shuriken Pistol, Witchblade, Skyrunner

Troops
3x Windrider with Scatter laser
3x Windrider with Scatter laser
3x Windrider with Scatter laser
3x Windrider with Scatter laser

Fast Attack
Hornet Squadron *
2 Hornet - 2x Pulse Laser
Hornet Squadron *
2 Hornet - 2x Pulse Laser

Heavy Support
Nightspinner - Twin-linked shuriken catapults

Eldar Craftworlds: Codex (2015) (Formation Detachment)
Formation
Seer Council

Skyrunner Seer Council
2 Skyrunner Farseer - Shuriken Pistol, Singing spear, Skyrunner
Skyrunner Warlock Conclave
5 Skyrunner Warlock - Singing spear

I have only played this list once, but it is definitely something I'm going to keep playing to hone it.

**The Shrike**

zerosignal wrote:
I've seen people run the Shard of Anaris to give you better results in challenges and also confer fearless on the unit - any comments on this?

What is the best way to support the council? I'm trying to decide what to run in a 2000 point game, and I'm so torn as I like the aspect host + cloudstrike (but ideally you need autarch or a comms relay for that) but also love the seer council...

Also considering the good old wave serpent, as part of an aspect host (fire dragons x2, maybe dark reapers for the third - expecting to face ravenwing and I need a way round the jink saves!) - BS5 bright lance and serpent shield shots (with Ignores Cover!!) seem a bit good!

Edit: I just realised the runes of battle primaris is going to be pretty huge against the Darkshroud... \o/

1) Shard is a must because Fearless is a must. The challenge thing is just a bonus that will rarely help. Think about these situations: You have bottom turn and get alpha struck. You lose a few Warlocks. Now you have to take a morale check.....unless you're Fearless. Another scenario: You're facing a Daemon player with Screamerstar. You each have comparable warp charge. He denies your sole source of invis, so next turn, you are getting charged by Screamers with AP2 attacks. You are going to lose that combat; Fearless prevents you from getting swept.

2) I would consider an aspect host with Swooping Hawks, Warp Spiders and Dark Reapers. Hawks are great at wiping weak backfield objective sitters and then jumping off the table to ongoing reserves. Warp Spiders are versatile and resilient because of how slippery they are. And Reapers ignore jink with AP3. Huge. The new Ravenwing are amazing and obviously you are going to have to deal with scat bikes. Of course, it all depends on how all-in you are going with the Seer Council. You can run the formation alone with 5ish warlocks on the light side, or you can go wild with the council on bikes with 7+ Warlocks + Eldrad + Bahharoth + Farseer. The lighter version is a support/defense tool in a wider army. The heavy version essentially is your army, with a few supporting elements to do some dirty work.

**Okapi**

I actually like Runes of Battle on my Warlocks. Renewer, Enhance, Empower and Embolden and Quicken are all decent buffs for the Council, and all of the debuffs and attacks are situationally useful. Horrify in particular is very useful with Mind War, Eldritch Storm and Psychic Shriek.

**KillswitchUK**

silent_death wrote:
I will post what Embolden posted on an other form. (He is a wonderful player that just started his path on the seer council)

Seer Council tips, tricks and the learning curve!

My list once again: (to save you all scrolling up! )

Dark Eldar; Combine Arms Detachment:

Archon: Webway Portal; Armour of Misery 110
5 Kabalite Warriors 40
5 Kabalite Warriors 40
Bastion: Comms Relay 95

Craftworld Eldar; Craftworld Warhost Detachment:

Windrider Host:
Farseer: Skyrunner; Singing Spear 120
Warlock: Skyrunner 50
Vyper 40
4 Windriders: 4 Scatter Lasers 108
4 Windriders: 4 Scatter Lasers 108
4 Windriders: 4 Scatter Lasers 108

Outcast:
5 Rangers 60

Living Legends:
Baharroth 170

Heroes of the Craftworlds:
Eldrad 195

Seer Council:
Farseer: Skyrunner; Spiritstones of Anath'Lan; Singing Spear 135
Farseer: Skyrunner; Singing Spear 120
7 Warlocks: Skyrunners 350

Total: 1849

The Seer Council is a complex beast! Essentially ALL the characters join the Seer Council, so thats the 7 Warlocks and 2 Farseers which using the Seer Council Formation rules cannot leave the unit, but can cast on a 3+ which is huge, then Eldrad, Baharroth and the Windrider Host Farseer joins into the original Council. The Archon is a bit more complex, which sums the unit up, complex.. which is both an advantage and disadvantage, firstly, unless your opponent has played one before, they're unlikely to know how to deal with it. But to get your own head around it is hard enough, or, it has been for me at least. With 5 psychic trees to roll on
, Runes of Battle, Runes of Fate, Divination, Telepathy and Daemonology Santic. Getting the right balance of powers is hard, as powers are random each game, you have no idea what you're going to get and in what order, or if you're even going to get the power you really want, unless its a primaris power and each game you're going to have different combination of powers. So you have to keep all your tactical thoughts flexible, always.

I'm in the process of making my own cheat sheet, to try and help myself remember what the aim is, as its quite hard to remember what you're trying to do in the heat of battle. But I will get to that later.

My learning curve with tips and tricks picked up on the go!

Although I've not looked much further than our very own Warmaster Forum, I cannot see any other player using the Seer Council, so tactica's and information I can steal has been very hard to come by, so I'm pretty much winging this! Haha, but I love the list and it does feel good to use something not many, if anyone is actually running.

The basic plan of my version of a Seer Council is to shriek the hell out of the enemy infantry units and monstrous creatures, using guide/prescience to twin link the shriek making it quite reliable once cast. Then to make the most of Shriek, Terrify and Horrify are fantastic powers, plus the Archon has Armour of Misery which is great, units within 6" are reduced by 2 on there basic Leadership, combining all of these makes for nasty psychic combos!

Getting the most out of the Armour of Misery and Shriek is the key to success, hence the Bastion, with a Comms relay and Webway portal on the Archon. This allows me to deploy minimal units on the battlefield and deep striking the Seer Council, while still being extremely hard to table before the Council arrives, I will be using LoS blocking terrain all over the table, Rangers with Infiltrate and Shrouded as standard are also hard to shift, the single Warlock is extremely easy to hide. Many lists don't have much that can destroy a Bastion easily turn1 or even turn2, so deploying units in the Bastion can be a solid plan. But I'm getting off topic. Basically I can deep strike the Seer Council anywhere on the table without scatter using the Archon with Webway and I'm unlikely to be stopped from doing so. This allows me to use the Armour of Miseries 6" area of effect to its maximum! While the Bastion protects me and win the Comms Relay gives me a very reliable chance of turning up turn2 if I don't roll re-roll reserves as a Warlord Trait.

Having the ability to deep strike brings a big degree of tactical flexibility to the list, as it can just as easily deploy on the table. Again, using the Bastion as protection from a turn1 Alpha strike when being seized on or not going first but still wanting to be on the table. The Seer Council is more than mobile enough to be where it needs to be with a 12" move and 36" turbo move from the Skyrunner models in the unit which can string back to the slower models in the unit or even the good old 2D6 move in the assault phase.

I have had a lot of joy turn4 when Skyleaping Baharroth off the table in turn4 and landing him on an objective somewhere else on the table, which has scored me a few extra victory points and also means they can saturate the table with MSU towards the end of the game with Farseer, Eldrad Archon and Baharroth all having the potential to slit off.

What powers are best?
This depends on the opponents list/what you roll to start with. I always start with Eldrad on Telepathy, looking for Invisibility, with 4 rolls on that psychic tree he has the best chance to get it. Assuming he does, the next most important power is Fortune. With those two cast, the Council is practically untouchable. I look for fortune from the Seer Council Farseers which cast Warp Charge 2 power on a 3+ which makes it much easier to cast and preferably with the Farseer with Spiritstones to make it really easy to cast. I like to throw about 11-12 dice at both of these powers to ensure they are cast, with a re-roll they are super reliably going off.

After I have these two then its Shrieks, I always go for at least 3 Shrieks even if I've not got the powers I wanted/needed because without them the Seer Council doesn't actually kill much/anything.

Once you have those basic powers, depending how early you get them, you can have some real fun! This list struggles against flyers and flying MCs, so powers like Guide/Prescience are great for the Windriders to twin link them. But Cleansing Flame does the real damage! Against the Necrons I shot down the Nightscythe with this, rolling 8 hits and rolling 6's to glance it to death. Obviously it doesn't do much vs AV12...

Gate of infinity is really handy and can be nasty surprise, I did this against the Necron player also, where I finished off a unit of Warriors and still having about 5 WC left, cast Gate and jumped across the table to kill off the Tomb Blades which were hovering around an objective! Which totally threw my opponent off guard for the rest of the game he was always double checking the back of his units and would play super cautious with characters in his deathstar.

Hammerhand, on first glance it looks like a rubbish power for a Seer Council which is predominately armed with Fleshbane attacks, but +2 Strength is great when charging vehicles and you're Str5 with Armourbane! Empower from the Warlock powers with +1 strength is a diet version of this!

Terrify, another power that doesn't look great, until you start combining with Shriek! But Horrify from the Warlock powers is even better!

Dominate, reducing a units leadership them Dominating them is great when you have other targets to deal with, this can easily buy a turn which can be critical.

That's my ETC list

**BetrayTheWorld**

I like runes of battle on warlocks because it offers much greater tactical flexibility. Each power might be arguably less powerful than something available in another discipline, but with each "power" you roll, you actually get 2 powers. Being able to lower your bike armor to 2+, or penalize enemy armor is pretty huge. Turning TEQ into MEQ will often make for an easy cleanup.

As far as other HQs to take, there are actually several options. As others have said, Baharroth is a really good one. I take him with a foot seer council that I try for gate of infinity with, so that they can gate around the table without scattering. His hit & run ability is also good, he's no slouch in CC(though only AP3), and he gives you no scatter on deep strikes/gate of infinity.

A basic Autarch with the shard of Anaris is actually not a terrible addition. He's significantly cheaper than Baharroth, and with the Shard of Anaris he's more killy in a challenge. Further, he provides 3 valuable things to a seer council: 1. Fearlessness. 2. Basic Challenge Defence. 3. Challenge Defense vs. Culexis Assassins.

#3 is actually a big one. If someone get's a Culexis Assassin into your seer council, he will do some damage, especially in a challenge, unless you can mitigate that by having a non-psyker accept the challenge. Against a non-psyker, he loses the bonuses from preferred enemy(Psykers), and the instant death(psykers) from his attacks. An autarch will outperform Baharroth in a challenge with a Culexis because the Culexis ignores Baharroth's 2+ armor save, while the autarch get's the full benefit of his 4++. But ANY non-psyker beatstick will be better against a Culexis, unless maybe your psyker has eternal warrior.

A third option is to ally in DE, and take a succubus with webway portal and archite glaive. This ends up being cheaper than baharroth, while still providing no scatter deep strike/gate of infinity. Further, the succubus has a S4 AP2 2-handed melee weapon that can instead be used in a 1 handed mode for S3 AP3, depending on what you're fighting. She also has a 4+ invuln save. Both of these make her more able to benefit from things in the Sanctic discipline. If you get Hammerhand and Sanctuary, then she has a 3++ and attacks with 4 base attacks at S6 AP2(weapon skill 8). Now, on the downside here, this option is cheaper than baharroth if you're only comparing model to model. In order to take this option, you have to at least take 1 DE troop slot to get the allied detachment. It's not terrible. Adding a dash of poison shots to your reperatoire won't normally hurt anything. But it's at least a consideration.

And finally, a friend of mine is a proponent of using Maugan Ra in a seer council. In melee, he has a S6 AP3 weapon, and a 2+ armor save, but he really shines in ranged combat. If you make him your warlord, he gets both split fire, plus "whirlwind of death", which basically means your unit could fire at unit A, Maugen Ra could fire at unit B, then Maugen Ra could fire also at unit C. This is significant, since maugan ra's shots have access to some pretty tactically useful effects, such as pinning.

There are tons of possibilities when using the seer council as a base. If you really gun for the gate of infinity/non-scatter combo, you can even mix and match, making a unit that teleports around the map being really shooty. Teleport in the midst of the enemy with Eldrad(Sanctic), Farseer(Telepathy), Farseer w/Spirit Stone of Anath'Lan(Fate), 7 Warlocks(Battle), Maugan Ra, and Succubus w/Armor of misery & webway portal. Expensive unit? Yes, but it can pump out the jams:

1. Lands without scatter, able to place your models with laser precision, and so you put your models within 9 inches of 3 different units, and within 12" of a fourth, even more within 24".
2. Warlocks manifest destructor, a S5 AP4 flamer template with soul blaze.
3. Warlocks Manifest Horrify against a wraithknight.
4. Eldrad manifests Cleansing flame: S5 AP4 ignores cover. Autohits every unit within 9 inches 2d6 times.
5. Farseer 1 manifests psychic shriek on wraithknight: they suffer -5 to their leadership from armor of misery and horrify. (Average of 5.5 unsaveable wounds against Ld10)
6. Farseer 2 manifests eldritch storm(Cheapened with Spirit Stone) on a unit further away: Apocalyptic Blast, Fleshbane, Haywire, Pinning, AP3.
7. Unit Fires 9 S9 singing spears at a nearby tank(or WK if it's still alive).
8. Maugen Ra Fires at 2 other units with multiple rending and/or pinning hits.

Low model count? Yes. But they'll run a 1 round rape-train on a wraithknight and still have dakka to spare. This 1 unit could concievably kill, rout, and/or pin 9 other units in a single turn.