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In the CWE codex, how good/useful are Warlocks, as squad leaders, and as the HQ squad?
And what ways would you use them?

Most folks say they are only good on jetbikes in a seer council.

I intend to try running them as squad leaders, to give units the odd bit of psychic spice. Their primaris is OK. handy to be able to improve the unit's cover save. probably need to be lucky for the reveal version to be work.

the other power they get is random, but could be very useful. eg restoring wounds to a wraithknight.

so, either buffing a small squad of windriders, or a guardian blob, i think they are not bad.

I've found Warlocks to be pretty useful. Not essential to have, but definitely useful.

As upgrades to Guardian Squads, they're mostly used to give you more Warp Charge to be used by the Farseer, and then if / when the Guardian unit gets into close combat, the Warlock gives the Guardians some added punching power with its Witchblades. The Guardians will still likely get mowed down by whatever's assaulting them, but at least it helps them do a few casualties. For Guardians that are camping on an Objective, the Conceal power is great.

They're also useful as upgrades to Windrider squads. They have more opportunities to use their offensive powers if you roll them, since the Windriders are more mobile.

Very effective retinue for a farseer when on bikes, and good on bikes or on foot in a seer council. Good with guardians but not stellar; better when in a war host so you can use their cover buff more effectively by darting from cover to cover. Similarly useful with 6+ jetbikes for both the buff to their jink cover save and bonus to leadership. Randomly useful at other times due to the powers rolled, but being stuck with the squad you purchased them for lessens this.

Warlocks as unit upgrades are IMO not worth it; you could get a power that helps, you probably won't. Shrouded is a great bonus, but it can lead you into a trap of wanting to cast it on all your units and blowing all your Warp Charge dice. Warlocks function best as a bodyguard unit for a Farseer, whether that Farseer is on foot or mounted.

Hows about using the Seer Council Formation, for that sweet Ulthwe feel?

I get the feeling that they would function best as Skyrunners, though, which is annoying given how expensive the Warlock/Farseer Skyrunner models are.

I've seen a list do very well in competitive play that was based around a diverse range of Eldar infantry, many of which had an accompanying Farseer.

They are great in a Jetseer Council.
A Council is harder to crack than a coconut.
This was true in the past when a Jetseer was able to choose the powers. Fortune is mandatory.
But today, a Council lost an edge since without fortune (or invisibility) its toast.

wuestenfux wrote:They are great in a Jetseer Council.
A Council is harder to crack than a coconut.
This was true in the past when a Jetseer was able to choose the powers. Fortune is mandatory.
But today, a Council lost an edge since without fortune (or invisibility) its toast.

The Jetseer Council was a great deathstar back in 6th edition, but now with superheavies it's lost a lot of appeal. Invisibility is more mandatory than Fortune; re-rolls won't save you against another melee deathstar or even a cranked-up Daemon Prince, as you'll only be re-rolling the 4++ and being instakilled on a failure. There's also the popular tactic of getting an Imperial Knight to lock them in combat, as the Seerstar can't hurt it.

Personally, I've found success using a 3-member Warlock conclave as a bodyguard unit for my Farseer. It's relatively cheap, providex extra Warp Charges, and allows for some LoS and ablative wound defense for the Farseer.

My army got:

2xfarseer
2x scatterbikes
2x3 D-cannons + warlock
2x3 D-cannons + warlock
wraithknight
3x 7 warpspiders

defence line with comm

+ coteaz with inquisitor and plasma acolytes

I do like the warlocks because the always got schrouded as their primaris power and thats really nice when they're standing behind a defence line.
with the D-cannons the could give the artillery a +1 save, or make them fearless, or run a extra 3 inch (with fleet) or heal a wraithknight wound. If their enemy units coming in hard (bikes or droppods) within 18 inch the can also curse them with -1 save or -3 leadership (psychic schriek!) and other stuff. think of it this way: I got 4 psychic powers for each warlock with a garanteed schrouded or banisment, 2+ warp charge, and two bodies for the D-cannons which means I can let 1 extra guardian die in the front of the artillery. Also once killed of a MC's with one witchblade hit, sweet! Its a nice little toolbox which you don't always need but can be really nice to have..

I do confess that my warlocks don't see a lot of action but the help with my first turn defensive position. I can put everything in reserves apart from my D-cannons (added farseers)+ coteaz behind a defence line. And with guaranteed schrouded + most likely sum invisibility and or fortune the can really deflect the enemies first turn.

 TheNewBlood wrote:

wuestenfux wrote:They are great in a Jetseer Council.
A Council is harder to crack than a coconut.
This was true in the past when a Jetseer was able to choose the powers. Fortune is mandatory.
But today, a Council lost an edge since without fortune (or invisibility) its toast.

The Jetseer Council was a great deathstar back in 6th edition, but now with superheavies it's lost a lot of appeal. Invisibility is more mandatory than Fortune; re-rolls won't save you against another melee deathstar or even a cranked-up Daemon Prince, as you'll only be re-rolling the 4++ and being instakilled on a failure. There's also the popular tactic of getting an Imperial Knight to lock them in combat, as the Seerstar can't hurt it.

Personally, I've found success using a 3-member Warlock conclave as a bodyguard unit for my Farseer. It's relatively cheap, providex extra Warp Charges, and allows for some LoS and ablative wound defense for the Farseer.

witchblades are armourbane, they will cut up an IK plenty fast.

ninety0ne wrote:


witchblades are armourbane, they will cut up an IK plenty fast.

Not at S3 vs. Armour 13 they won't. You need a roll of 10 just to glance. You won't hit it that often due to Warlocks' low weapon skill, and most of the hits that do go through will be ineffective. Meanwhile the knight carves you up with the D-Strength chainsword and stomps you into oblivion.

Also, if you fail to get one of the mandatory powers off, such as if you play an opponent with a bucket of psychic dice to throw, the jetseer star collapses like a black hole. Heh. See what I did there?

WS 4 is low? 5 locks and 2 farseers with prescience going and nothing else mathhammers to 2.6 hps, mix in the wrap around singing spear game and that math's to 2.2 additional hps from shooting. Add doom, empower or hammer hand and its much worse for the Knight.

Bikes kind of seemed like the game for me. One Telepathy Farseer and one Fate Farseer, your odds of getting a 2+ rerollable cover save aren't that bad.

ninety0ne wrote:
WS 4 is low? 5 locks and 2 farseers with prescience going and nothing else mathhammers to 2.6 hps, mix in the wrap around singing spear game and that math's to 2.2 additional hps from shooting. Add doom, empower or hammer hand and its much worse for the Knight.

The Knight's battle cannon is extremely dangerous if the council doesn't get off Invisibility (and under ITC rules even that's no protection). The Knight will absolutely obliterate then in CC due to sheer wound output and stomps.

Again. it's all contingent on getting off Invisibility. Fail that for whatever reason, and it's all over.

A list of powers and applications might be helpful. There's a lot of good posts above, but very much TL-DR.

I'll start with some specific yumminess:

From Daemon/Sanctic:
Versus daemons/chaos. Multiple Banishments from various Warlocks/Jetlocks distributed throughout your ScatBike

Sanctify: Buffing the whole Seer (footer) Council's save.



Runes of Battle:
Protect on a JetStar. Conceal, too, but there are many ways to Ignore Cover by enemies.

Horrify a target and have the farseer hit it with Mind War or Psy-Shriek. I got about 4 or 5 wounds on a Blood Thirster yesterday with this (Mind War), finishing it with a scatbike unit.

Renewer for a WraithKnight makes opponents sad. And as a Blessing, it can be cast on him when he is already in h2h.

Jinx in general. Facing Termies? Now Reapers laugh and salughter with glee. Jinx power armor and then hit with Cleansing Flame. It Ignores Cover, too.

Overall, I like the idea of Warlocks spread around to guardians and bikes, so stackable powers can really soften and cripple enemies.

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