WS: 4, BS: 4, S: 10, T: 8, W: 3, I: 4, A: 2, Ld: 10, Sv: 3+
The things that make this undead construct so nightmarish for the Eldar opponents is the combination of T: 8, W:3, Sv: 3+. That's a pain to kill. You have zero chance to even wound this thing unless you're using a weapon with a Strength of 5 or more. On top of that, its got 3 wounds. They're quite the indomitable force.
Eldar Wraithlords are Monstrous Creatures, and take up a Heavy Support slot. Let's look at some of their abilities:
Fearless: Not being alive can help out... I guess. Also, given its high Toughness and Armour Save, it's unlikely that it will lose a close-combat round, or take wounds should it lose.
Wraithsight: Similar to Wraithguard, the Wraithlord must be within 6" of a friendly psyker or risk being inactive for a turn (determined by rolling a 1 on a d6). The obvious way to get around this is to have it tag along with a Farseer or unit with Warlock. Also note that the range is 12" if the psyker in question has the Spiritseer upgrade.
Monstrous Creature: Easy targets, yet extra killy in Close Combat.
Equipment:
Wraithlords cost 90 points. On top of this, you must buy the rest of their equipment:
Starcannon (30 pts): Great anti Elite (or SM) weapon, given its AP 2
Brightlance (40 pts): Arguably the Eldar's best anti-vehicle weapon, due to its Lance rule, meaning it will Glance on a 4 and Penetrate on a 5+ against a Landraider.
Scatter Laser (20 pts): Great anti-infantry weapon; S 6, Heavy 4. insta-kills anything with a Toughness of 3 (IG!)
Shuriken Cannon (10 pts): Also a good anti-infantry weapon; S 6, Assault 3. Shorter range than the Scatter Laser, but also half the cost. If you have the points, take the laser.
Eldar Missile Launcher (25 pts): The most versatile option, allowing both Krak and Plasma (Frag equivalent) missiles.
Wraithsword (10 pts): Allows re-rolls to hit in Close Combat.
You must take one of them, and are allowed to take a second (of all but the sword). Duplicate weapons become Twin-Linked. Now, because the Wraithlord is a Monstrous Creature, it can fire up to two weapons (Heavies too) on the move. Because of this, I would recommend not Twin-Linking your weaponry, and rather taking another weapon of a similar role to enhance your firepower.
What role should you use with your Wraithlord?
The Weapons Platform. Giving your Wraithlord two long-range shooting weapons gives you the option of shooting from afar, and being a rather destructive nuisance to your opponent. If you feel your Army list needs more anti-vehicle, go with the Bright Lance and Missile Launcher combo. With a S 8 Lance, and a S8 Missile both firing, you have a serious threat every turn.
If you're looking for more anti-infantry, take any combination of Scatter Laser, Starcannon, and Shuriken Cannon, depending on how much anti-Elite or anti-powerarmour you need.
The SwordLord. One thing I've done before a few times is take a Wraithsword/Bright Lance combo. This Wraithlord will tromp directly towards enemy vehicles, firing off the Bright Lance, and charge them if it can get close enough. A charging Wraithlord has 3 Attacks, all at Strength 10. This is death to vehicles. It only takes getting them in slapping range once to instill the fear in your opponent. A SwordLord is admittedly not the most effective at causing destruction, as a savvy opponent can kite, avoid and eventually bring it down with focused fire. However, even in these situations, it's a great distraction. It's sure to last a few rounds at the very least, and you can use it to herd your opponent around the map and keep the more destructive firepower away from your other units, like a Fire Prism or Falcon Grav-Tank.One effective anti-SwordLord tactic I've seen used is to tar-pit it with a good number of small crap units. If it gets into melee with a bunch of nothing units like Termagaunts, it's wasted. At best, it can only kill 2 gaunts a round (3 on charge) and will not finish off the squad before game's end. A great tactic to keep in mind if you face Eldar regularly, or if you field Wraithlords regularly. Be wary of the small things that can tie you up in a useless combat.
So, what are the most useful ways in which you've used or seen a Wraithlord used?
Ah, good ol' Wraithlords.
ReplyDeleteI think you've glossed a few weak points of 'em, though.
Cover: lascannons and missile launchers have a decent chance at hurting 'em and ignoring armor, and it's not exactly easy to get 'em cover. You have to have an Avatar or grav-tank in the way; there really isn't a lot else that will do it.
CC: if the enemy unit is large enough and has a 'hidden' powerfist, you'll lose the Wraithlord. Wraithlord squishes one, then eats PKs to the shin and dies. Wraithlords are awesome to throw into CC against enemies with S3-4, since they'll win hands-down. Or flub their attacks.
I've used mine with Scatter Laser/EML and Bright Lance/EML as fire platforms, and taken flamers for the close-in love.
In terms of weapons, I just can't bring myself to take a Starcannon, since everyone and their rippers have cover. Kind of defeats the point of AP2 most of the time. Shuriken CAnnons? A bit on the shorter-ranged side, but I suppose if you really want all the S6 shots...
And I agree with you on twin-linking the big guns. THere's no point to do it; BS4 is plenty accurate.
I've mostly kept them with guns and in my backfield, just because they make people edgy when moving near objectives. I also tend to run an Avatar with them, to add more MC targets and because the Wraithlord is like as not to need help getting out of CC.
I remember when I played one of my first games, as Eldar, the Wraithlord was the only one that did any harm to your army. As I recall, I disabled your Rhino, and then tied up your Dreadnought for the rest of the battle. Thus, the Wraithlord is one of my favorite units to take. :)
ReplyDeleteI think it's good as a weapons platform, though the headache is when you roll a 1 for the Wraithsight...
ReplyDeleteI wonder how you guys keep any psykers around a Wraithlord...
I've faced Wraithlords a lot and have found them to be nothing more than a distraction. With only two attacks, a wraithlord is a meh option against anything but tanks - don't get me wrong, it's a great monstrous creature and a great option for the Eldar, but it's best to ignore them and squish the really mobile bits of the Eldar first. Thanks to the Eldar's T3 that's usually achievable - at which point the Wraithlord looks awfully outnumbered.
ReplyDeleteI've also found 'fletchette dischargers' a useful component against wraithlords as they can wound on a 4+.
Don't forget harlequin shadowseers are also a psyker so they count for negating the wraithsight check. Running harlies behind a WL works nice. Of course one could also just run them alone and take a chance on the sight- playing chaos dreadnoughts makes only failing on a 1 a godsend...
ReplyDelete@Raptor1313: I'm not so sure you need cover. With a Toughness of 8, and 3 wounds, The amount of Lascannon/ML shots they'd take provides a distraction at the least away from your vehicles.
ReplyDeleteI agree on the merits of taking multiple MC's. Avatar or even more Wraithlords.
@Katie: ;)
@Alvin: Depends on the role. A weapons platform WL can easily chill out with a Guardian squad (can attach a warlock), or hang out with a foot-slogging Farseer, or even a harlie Shadowseer, as Fritz points out.
@Suneokun: Absolutely agree on the distraction. Can be useful as such, but if you equip with two Heavy Weapons, you don't have to go chasing tanks ... they can be rather effective pelting vehicles from afar with BL/ML combo, or even anti-infantry with a SL/SC combo.
@Fritz: Oh yeah, Chaos Dreads have it bad. I'd take Wraithsight over that any day. ...though I don't tend to leave my Wraithlords alone.
and I had forgotten about the Shadowseer. I need to give the harlies some more love, they've clearly been working well for you. :)
Dammit, I keep forgetting to change profiles. The above "Brian" is me.
ReplyDeleteT8 is only so much protection against heavier weapons. Guard ordnance need only touch you to have a decent shot of knocking off a wound.
ReplyDeleteVendettas are capable of one-rounding a Wraithlord, as their height makes cover saves for MCs hard to come by.
..plus, I think I've demoralized a few folks with the durability of the Wave Serpent such that they're like "Wait, I can hit it at full strength, wound it, AND have a decent chance of actually making it dead?'
I had not considered the value of the Harliequins as psyker-containers, but there is that.
I tend to favor the ML/BL combo, or ML/Scatter laser. The latter still has some anti-infantry punch with the plasma missile, but can hunt lighter vehicles as well.
The biggest problem I have with these beasties is how they can push over a dreadnought, which is suppossed to be on equal footing. Why? Because an Armour Value is always easier to beat at High S than a high T value with multiple wounds.
ReplyDeleteI Tag team a Wraithlord/Avatar combo with 10 Wraithguard + psycher for a dominating fearless mess. The avatar can take out tanks by himself or tie up any unit, the Wraithlord can do the same, plus flame hordes or simply march block that unit that wants to tie up Wraithguard.
ReplyDeleteThe variety of attacks creates such a distraction and is great to deliver a bunch of 2+ wound insta death attacks.
I think if you are going sword lord you want to leave other weaponry at home (bright lances). You want him in combat with the enemies elite units or tanks, so I like the idea of simply running him across the field. Plus if he gets bogged down, he was only 100 points instead of 140.
ReplyDelete