Quit Exarchs: Iyanden is Biel-Tan

[eagleboy7259]

Step 1) Quit Exarchs - I've always been one of those people who believed that exarchs (with the exception of striking scorpions) are generally overcosted and/or useless. The new exarch powers (with the exception of hit & run) only help the exarch out, and when you consider that they're 1 wound models in power armor, it doesn't really make me happy to pay that price.

Step 2) Spiritseers - They're generally only 20-30 points more expensive than your typical exarch and with Iyanden you can take 1-5 of them as an HQ choice. They are typically weaker in assault and shooting, but the provide your squad with psychic defense and the witch staff offers some protection for your Howling Banshees or Fire Dragons against assaulting MC's. Yes you can use at least one of these guys with either your Swooping Hawks, Warp Spiders, or Jet Bike units if you give him Faolchu's Wing. (I know that locks you into the generic Eldar Remnants of Glory, but thats not necessarily a bad thing.)

I know that any Guardian or Wraith unit could get access to these powers for half the price with a Warlock, however Ld 8 is not necessarily reliable, and neither is only 1 warp charge. Having two rolls on this table gives you a pretty good chance of getting the power you want. I generally consider all of the Runes of Battle powers to be pretty good / useful, perhaps with the exception of Destructor / Renewer, but even that comes in handy some times (keeping IC's & MC's alive). The great thing is that with the exception of the Iyanden Primaris power, they're all warp charge 1, so you can be casting two a turn.

Embolden / Horrify - Being fearless is good (better than paying for Iron Resolve's 1+ Ld), putting your opponent at -3 leadership in assault is better if you think you can win it. Very good at helping to destroy units on the charge. If your farseer got stuck with Mind War, you can pair it with Horrify to pick off MC's and IC's

Enhance / Drain - in 90% of assaults, using Enhance will let you hit on a 3+. Usually Eldar are of high enough WS and I to go first and land hits, but since the majority of our book (and the game system) is also WS 4, Enhance is welcomed. Not nearly as effective as Guide since it does nothing for shooting, but nearly as effective in CC.

Protect / Jinx - absolutely the best. It was already pretty nifty, with the possibility of giving your Guardians a 4+ save or T6 2+ Wraithguard. But instead, imagine 10 terminator armor Warp Spiders or Striking Scorpions running around in your opponents backfield. Or using power swords to chop through terminators. If you're playing against a horde army, you can cast it to allow the nearly compulsory scatter lasers and shuriken weapons to be even more killy.

Quicken / Restrain - moving faster is better, so is slowing down somebody who wants to chop your head off. It's not one I'm horribly fond of, but it has its uses.

Empower / Enervate - great with Banshees and Scorpions. I haven't mathhammered it out, but I'm pretty sure that in many instances its nearly as effective as casting Doom. The boon is that you don't have to tie your Farseer to a dedicated assault or short range unit. Its also not shabby for anybody who might get assaulted (a S3 space marine is a lot less scary than one with S4)


What about Farseers? I still take one, but I'm beginning to second guess about this. I don't find Telepathy too useful and Runes of Fate has a lot of powers I could go without. I really just want Doom, Guide and Fortune but I usually end up with double Guide and some awful power I end up not using (Death Mission). Even Guide I'm beginning to dislike, as the rest of my army usually consists of Guardians, War Walkers, and Wave Serpents that don't really need it due to more reliable scatter laser. Add in that they're not really more effective in assault or shooting than the Spiritseers so I'm beginning to use those points for different HQ's or other things.

Hopefully this was helpful / useful to somebody. I didn't shelve my aspect warriors when the new book came out, and using the Iyanden codex has helped me to be more successful, so hopefully you have the same luck.

[David Crossley]

I know that locks you into the generic Eldar Remnants of Glory,

Only for that particular Spiritseer though.

[DarkLink]

What about Farseers? I still take one, but I'm beginning to second guess about this. I don't find Telepathy too useful and Runes of Fate has a lot of powers I could go without. I really just want Doom, Guide and Fortune but I usually end up with double Guide and some awful power I end up not using (Death Mission). Even Guide I'm beginning to dislike, as the rest of my army usually consists of Guardians, War Walkers, and Wave Serpents that don't really need it due to more reliable scatter laser. Add in that they're not really more effective in assault or shooting than the Spiritseers so I'm beginning to use those points for different HQ's or other things.

Guardians still need Guide, Scatter Lasers don't TL a unit. More importantly, dual SL War Walkers can't Twin Link themselves. You can't shoot one SL first, then TL the other and shoot it second. You must shoot them both simultaneously before other weapons, so neither are TL'd. War Walkers are phenomenal, but you still need to Guide them.

And the idea that they don't benefit from Guide just because they're BS4 now? Silly.

[Dave Mcturk]

played 10 lock bike unit... random power generation ... ended up with 6 conceals and 4 plus one strength to hit... not much use to a dead parrot...and only passing powers 60% of the time s**ks... really not convinced about locks at all ... much preferred have 6 destructorz 1 embolden and 1 enhance !