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bartschy
12-22-2009, 01:07 AM
Hi,

I just startedbuilding my Eldar army and wonder how to equip the wave serpents.

The first one was easy it is for the dire avengers and got a Bright lance.

Have the tank pop the transport and than light up the unit with bladestorm.

The 2nd one is the Firedragons, they should be able to kill any armor they meet,

so I am not sure what to put ontop the transport.

Starcannons seem nice, but than who ever is standing in the wreckage or crater of the transport that just blew up will be in cover.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks

Marko

davel
12-22-2009, 01:59 AM
well shuriken cannons are good keeps points down and if your plan is to head full pelt on get your squad close the short range (relatively) is not a problem.
bright lance is a sound choice twin linking means it has a 75 percent chance of hitting
for dire advengers may be worth considering missile launcher with under slung shuiriken cannon. for missions which involve leaving troops to guard an objective. this makes your serpent in to a flexible tank. Plus the misile blast is defensive.
spirit stones are a must both for contesting at last min and getting squads to where they need to be.
the serpent sheild is excellent. with scimmer moving fast it means threat from melta (the new plasma) is much reduced.
When arming wave serpent think about
1 what squad your putting in it ( no good putting a bright lance on a dragon transport once their done there hopefully should be no tanks)
2 think about any think your army can't handle ( can't deal with hords then think scatter lasers)
3 tend slightly towards anti trrops as once serpent has done it's job it can ram.
some units need serpents dire advengers ban,scorps 5 wraith guard these with out are blasted from afar or avoided.
if you want mobile fire power think vypers as escorts. however I have yet to use them in 5th

happy crimbo

dave l

Nikephoros
12-22-2009, 06:03 AM
Scatter lasers are the best all around choice for wave serpents.

Chumbalaya
12-22-2009, 07:46 AM
TL Bright Lances and underslung Shuriken Cannon.

Eldar tank hunting consists of Dragons up close, and that's it. BLances are expensive, but you need the capacity to harm AV12 and up at more than 6" and without sacrificing your only unit.

The Shuriken Cannon gives you flexibility, a good number of S6 shots to thin hordes or stick more hits on a light vehicle or MC.

Duke
12-22-2009, 09:43 AM
I personally use an EML and underslung shuricannon.

With my dragons I use Scatter laser and underslung shuri catapult.

The reasaon I go with EML/ Cannon is because I can move and fire both... I blast off the st 4 template (pinning) and also the st 6 cannon... When I need to pop armor (especially light armor) I fire the st 8 missle.

Hope that helps

Duke

mercer
12-23-2009, 05:15 AM
I go two ways; brightlance & shuriken cannon or twin-linked shuriken cannon and shuriken cannon.

Brightlances can pop a transport or tackle monstrous creatures. Avengers back that up, and the shuriken cannon on the front is handy for infantry, light vehicles and tackling tougher infantry.

The all round shuriken cannon is a infantry mauler. I pop my fire dragons in this, send them after a transport, they pop it without a doubt and then the serpent wastes the survivors. I didn't see the point in having a anti tank unit inside a anti tank vehicle as one won't be able to do the job, and fire dragons will always get the job done 9 times out of 10.

Shas'O D'Narb
12-23-2009, 05:44 AM
Speaking very broadly, I think if Serpents are transporting Dragons to pop armour, then Falcons are being used to transport Avengers towards objectives late in the game after providing fire support during early-mid game. Therefore, if this is the case, the Serpents should either be kept very cheap with all shuriken cannons, or slightly more expensive with an EML so that it can fire the shuriken cannon and EML blast in support of the dismounting Dragons. Imho, using the Serpent strictly as a delivery system means that it should be kept nice and cheap, using the saved points for objective contesting upgrades and fire support weaponry in the rest of the army. This theoretically also has the advantage of possibly appearing less of a threat to your opponent, and thus perhaps drawing less fire.

islyfe
12-24-2009, 11:34 AM
All my wave serpents get tl-bright lance and underslung shuriken cannon, for reasons stated above. If you want a cheap transport you have the wrong army. Your tanks should be a threat after they drop off their passengers, not something the opponent wont bother shooting at.

karandras
12-24-2009, 12:23 PM
I go for Twin-linked Bright Lances and underslung Shuriken Cannon. If I am transporting Fire Dragons or Banshees, I add the Spirit Stone upgrade to make sure they get where they need to go.

Shas'O D'Narb
12-27-2009, 10:58 PM
I add the Spirit Stone upgrade to make sure they get where they need to go.
Absolutely, and it's worth mentioning that 'getting where they need to go' includes the spirit stones making tank shocks even better against Death or Glory.

davel
12-28-2009, 03:34 AM
to add further on to up grades unless you have invested some serious points on the wave serpents guns vectored engines are not worth bothering with. spirits sones are a must,then guns, then a high leadership charicter (helps prevents pinning is serpent is downed) then vectored.
though cheap transports are nor our thing beware of them eating up too many points.

dave l

Lindargo
12-28-2009, 07:22 AM
Here's what i use:

10 Dire Avengers in WS:
+Eldar Missile Launchers
+Shuriken Cannon
+Spirit Stones

5 Fire Dragons in WS:
+Bright Lances
+Twin Shuriken Catapults
+Spirit Stones

THis way, the DA's can concentrate on taking objectives and killing infantry, whist the FD's can concentrate on vehicles, the missile launchers use the blast option (STR 4) so that they can fire the Shuriken cannon as a main weapon, whilst the Bright Lances can be fired as a main and the (STR 4) Catapults fired at the same time (useful if firing at heavy infantry or light vehicles).

Hope this helps,
Lindargo,
P.S. Perhaps, if you wanted, the WS's could be swapped so that both squads can multi-task.

Evil-Termite
12-28-2009, 04:05 PM
I run my wave serpents with EMLs, and no other upgrades. When you are throwing down 4 to 5 transports in your army, adding in those extra upgrades costs you extra points that could turn into more bodies in your army.

If you are mounting up dire avengers and fire dragons, you will find that you don't have any medium/light vehicle killers. That's why I use EMLs. They can do that, and they also give you the long range anti infantry shots that you sometimes need.

My list has 3 wraithlords with EMLs, and 4 wave serpents with ELMs, and they work nicely for blowing up transports.

Cyberscape7
12-29-2009, 01:42 PM
I would personally use twin linked missle launchers. Not a lot of shots but if your carrying a tank hunting unit you might aswell have a tank hunting vehicle to help them.

Bean
12-31-2009, 08:00 AM
Personally, I'd use Scatter lasers or Missile Launchers and call it at that. Other upgrades aren't necessary, and tend to get expensive if you have a bunch of wave serpents. The wave serpent is a good tank, but you should still be trying to squeeze more of them into your list rather than decking out a smaller number of them--especially since none of their upgrades actually make them harder to kill.

For what it's worth, scatter lasers are better than missile launchers against AV:10 and AV:11, but worse against heavier tanks. They're about the same against just about anything else, until you get to multiple-model units with a 4+ or worse save, then the Missile launcher tends to take the lead again.

Polonius
12-31-2009, 10:31 AM
Personally, I'd use Scatter lasers or Missile Launchers and call it at that. Other upgrades aren't necessary, and tend to get expensive if you have a bunch of wave serpents. The wave serpent is a good tank, but you should still be trying to squeeze more of them into your list rather than decking out a smaller number of them--especially since none of their upgrades actually make them harder to kill.

For what it's worth, scatter lasers are better than missile launchers against AV:10 and AV:11, but worse against heavier tanks. They're about the same against just about anything else, until you get to multiple-model units with a 4+ or worse save, then the Missile launcher tends to take the lead again.

This is among the best responses. Bright Lances aren't what they used to be, due to their diminished ability to finish off vehicles in 5th. Fire dragons are the main tank busters of mech eldar, so spending points on them is buying good anti-tank. Spending points on lances is spending points on mediocre anti-tank. Of course, I have 4 serpents from fouth with lances still on them...

Stormlord Aeirling
12-31-2009, 10:48 AM
I take a mix of brightlances and EmL/shuriken cannons.

The brightlances are incredibly useful vs. high armor, while the Eml/shuriken cannons are more versatile, they can pop light vehicles and harass infantry.

I find scatter lasers to be pretty useless and try to avoid taking them unless i don't have the points for anything else. Same with shuriken cannons.

as for other upgrades, i generally take spirit stones, as i hate it when my advancing troops get slowed down by annoying stunned results.

I put virtually anything in my wave serpents, as alot of my army is meant to be mechanized. howling banshees, Dire avengers, Fire dragons, striking scorpions, storm guardians, they all get put in transports.

Duke
12-31-2009, 02:43 PM
I miss the old Scatter Laser + Shuricannon build. It was great!

Duke