Hey everyone, Adam here and I want to talk about my favorite codex, Eldar.
Ok, not really my favorite but I do want to talk about them. Specifically the 5 Eldar units that you are not, apparently, allowed to take. With that said, lets get started, shall we?
5. Wraithlord
There was a time when everyone was afraid of the Wraithlord. With Strength 10 and Toughness 8, it was literally the king of the hill. Add in a star cannon and it was a beast of a unit. good shooting, excellent in close combat, it was a surprise when your opponent didn’t field one. Thanks to the introduction to the Wraithknight, nowadays you will rarely see him. With much the same stats, but with much better offensive capabilities, the wraithknight easily replaces this unit at not much of a greater cost. You’ll most likely see him in a Eldar Warhost detachment, if at all. The king is dead, long live the king!
4. Avatar
Another victim to the Wraitlord, the Avatar of Khaine rarely sees the field. In the past, his fearless bubble, immunity to melta/flamers, and his melta attacks made him an excellent HQ choice for the Eldar. In the latest edition the Avatar has been shuffled to the Lord of War slot. It normally wouldn’t be so bad, unfortunately a better unit also occupies that slot, the wraitknight. A better unit, at a very efficient point cost, the wraithknight is a much better choice for that slot. In today’s meta, with lord of war restrictions, you will almost never see the Avatar except on someone’s shelf.
3. Storm Guardians
Storm Guardians were first introduced as part of the 13th Black Crusade World-wide online GW event, it has since been retconned. They were part of the Ulthwe army list from the supplement that also gave us the original Space Wolf Wulfen. Since then they have been folded into the general Eldar Codex. As a result, with the rise of the jetbike and scatter lasers, you don’t see this unit in play. Even regular guardians are better off due to the weapons platform and access to the D weapon. If you can make them work, then more power to you.
2. Shining Spears
If you never seen, or heard, of this unit before it’s because no one ever used them even in the past. Created in 3rd edition, jetbikes were still a better choice than Shining Spears even back then. The only time you’ll usually see this unit is as proxies for jetbikes, or if they ran out of all their other aspect models. If you do see them, double check that they are using them as Shining Spears, make sure to take a picture of this unicorn and place it next to your picture of Elvis and the Loch Ness Monster.
1. Wave Serpent
How the mighty have fallen! At one point, in 6th edition, you were surprised if you faced an eldar army without at least 1 Wave Serpent. There are a number of units (jetbikes) that do a much better job than than new Wave Serpent. As GW is want to do, they swung the pebulum on the Wave Serpent so far that they aren’t used at all. I guess they sold enough of the kits that they made their money back and now need to cover the cost of the new jetbikes, but that’s my tinfoil hat theory. Whatever the case may be, the 7th edition Eldar codex hit the Wave Serpent and hit it so hard their grand kids feel it. Seeing this unit in the opposing army means two things. One, they haven’t played using the 7th edition codex yet, or, two, they are looking for a challenge.
That’s the list. There are a couple more units that didn’t make the list, such as banshees and dire avengers, but this is the top of the heap. Now languishing at the retirement home that is your shelf, hopefully you can find some use for these units. Maybe as trophy toppers or fancy door stops.
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