A eldar needs help

[SWEET LIBERTY MY LEG]

Hi guys

I really like the eldar (i play them in the tabletop too), i am having an hard time with them, what are the best units/builds overall? i usually start with DA then i go for scouts and for WG and WB, i have trouble specially vs blobs. any suggestion?

[Napauleon]

eldar sucks, turtle hard, save 9 elite points, go straight to the ulitmate big guys or
get crowd control elites like macha, jain zar or kyre and play aggressively

[Napauleon]

and try to battle with webway gate

[LighT]

At top level 1v1 hardly anyone plays them:

-They are more micro intensive than other races
-Balance-wise they are the weakest race

Having said that, a new upcoming August balance patch will hopefully help the current balance situation.

[FoolishNinja]

build 3 DA with grenade doctrine
build webway gates
upgrade your shield for units
poke the enemy, and run away before your shields break
do it as long as possible
they will lose economy wise

eldar has strong elites, such as jain zhar
and no, eldar is not weak

[LighT]

Originally posted by Foolish Ninja:

build 3 DA with grenade doctrine
build webway gates
upgrade your shield for units
poke the enemy, and run away before your shields break
do it as long as possible
they will lose economy wise

eldar has strong elites, such as jain zhar
and no, eldar is not weak

Clearly not top level 1v1 advice, but good general advice.

Yes they are at top 1v1 level. Just go see how active the top Eldar are on the leader boards compared with other races.

[FoolishNinja]

enlighten me then. how would you play as eldar?

[DivineEvil]

Eldars are not strong pick for direct combat. The key with them is controling the map and using their awesome mobility to attack in undefended points, harassing hard, making ambushes and teleport entire armies behind enemy defense lines. Webway Gates is what allows Eldars to outplay other races, so keep them everywhere you realistically can, no matter the cost - its not as influential as Drop Pods or WAAGH, but its persistent.

The absolute worst thing you can do as Eldar is being passive. Always look for opportunities to damage enemy economy, unit production or harassing/finishing damaged units. Your workers can teleport without vision, so you can build anything anywhere as long as there's no enemies there at the moment, and you can link two production buildings to move units around.

If you do not use these features, then you're in disadvantage. Strike enemies when and where they don't expect and apply psychological pressure non-stop. Marines and Orks thrive when you give them the time to prepare and plan ahead. Use Rangers to spot what units enemy have and where to predict their actions and best course of counter-play.

Eldar Units are relatively brittle, which means that you'll have to operate on edge between unharmed and decimated. A good degree of practice is necessary to micro-control multiple squads, but the fuctionality of Eldar global mechanics means microing is pretty much the only thing you should care about anyway. A couple of squads of any infantry is hardly useful, so its important to pick one kind and amass it over dozen squads to reach their optimal potential with the help of Fleet of Foot mobility and map awareness. Always have at least two Warrior Portals in different areas to reinforce and grow your forces. If your tactical squad is being countered heavily, save some resources and use it to attack behind the lines and deal as much damage as possible before being destroyed - then replaces them quickly with a new squad, that counters the enemy and keep it hidden before its too late for the enemy to react.

Out of all current units, only Vipers are arguably useless, although you can still benefit from their Doctrine to set slowing mine-fields for a powerful ambush with ranged units or hunting undefended artillery (which is rare). Otherwise, Vipers are pretty pathetic as combat unit without Doctrines, and next patch is expected to buff their durability substantially - wait until then.

[SWEET LIBERTY MY LEG]

Note:i heard that falcons are great fro cleaning up blobs, but they are pretty expensive

Also harrasing a space marine economy is nearly impossible cause they always drop pod+banner the ♥♥♥♥ out of my face (plus eventually flamers) how i deal with them?

There is something better than the eldrich storm? seriusly, it does literally nothin

[SWEET LIBERTY MY LEG]

Originally posted by DivineEvil:

Eldars are not strong pick for direct combat. The key with them is controling the map and using their awesome mobility to attack in undefended points, harassing hard, making ambushes and teleport entire armies behind enemy defense lines. Webway Gates is what allows Eldars to outplay other races, so keep them everywhere you realistically can, no matter the cost - its not as influential as Drop Pods or WAAGH, but its persistent.

The absolute worst thing you can do as Eldar is being passive. Always look for opportunities to damage enemy economy, unit production or harassing/finishing damaged units. Your workers can teleport without vision, so you can build anything anywhere as long as there's no enemies there at the moment, and you can link two production buildings to move units around.

If you do not use these features, then you're in disadvantage. Strike enemies when and where they don't expect and apply psychological pressure non-stop. Marines and Orks thrive when you give them the time to prepare and plan ahead. Use Rangers to spot what units enemy have and where to predict their actions and best course of counter-play.

Eldar Units are relatively brittle, which means that you'll have to operate on edge between unharmed and decimated. A good degree of practice is necessary to micro-control multiple squads, but the fuctionality of Eldar global mechanics means microing is pretty much the only thing you should care about anyway. A couple of squads of any infantry is hardly useful, so its important to pick one kind and amass it over dozen squads to reach their optimal potential with the help of Fleet of Foot mobility and map awareness. Always have at least two Warrior Portals in different areas to reinforce and grow your forces. If your tactical squad is being countered heavily, save some resources and use it to attack behind the lines and deal as much damage as possible before being destroyed - then replaces them quickly with a new squad, that counters the enemy and keep it hidden before its too late for the enemy to react.

Out of all current units, only Vipers are arguably useless, although you can still benefit from their Doctrine to set slowing mine-fields for a powerful ambush with ranged units or hunting undefended artillery (which is rare). Otherwise, Vipers are pretty pathetic as combat unit without Doctrines, and next patch is expected to buff their durability substantially - wait until then.

Thanks for the help, as i write in the bost above, how i harras a space marine with drop pods+banners?

aye i read about that buff, you think that they will become usefull?, cause i really like vypers

Also, what are in your opinion the best elite+doctrine?

[DivineEvil]

Originally posted by InVerno:

Note:i heard that falcons are great fro cleaning up blobs, but they are pretty expensive

Also harrasing a space marine economy is nearly impossible cause they always drop pod+banner the ♥♥♥♥ out of my face (plus eventually flamers) how i deal with them?

There is something better than the eldrich storm? seriusly, it does literally nothin

I prefer to start with Falcons almast always because of how they decimate any sort of infantry. They also are skimmers, which means you can use them to transport infantry anywhere you want. Do not use them on their own - they're more of a fire-support for the infantry and a mobile reinforcement point, than a tank. Many people making a mistake of sending them in front - use Avengers (which are disposable and have CC) or Banshees (which can Blind the enemy) for that instead, then pull them up.

You can hear the specific sound when a Marine launches a Pod - simply move your squads away to avoid being smacked. If you've forced a Marine to use his Pods/Banner against harassment, you win. Simply focus the units landed or retreat - you've lost nothing, and enemy has his abilities on CD. Just wait until they get their deployed units to the main force (which they always do) or attack somewhere else. A Marine will never match an Eldar in mobility and his abilities are inactive for a long while.

Eldritch Storm is a control ability, not a damage one. It is needed to keep the enemy in place while your ranged units decimate him. You always need to use it prior to attack on in a current battle. Always pick some unit to create a Conduit - simply select the Storm and right-click the unit. This will add very powerful AoE true-damage strikes to the massive AoE slow. It is useless on its own indeed, but it cannot be evaded/countered like Marine's or Ork's one can be. Slow effect is cumulative.

So far I only haven't really made use of the Wraith Lord, because I haven't took it as an objective to embrace the Wraith family (prefer hovers personally). Other Elites are all useful in their own way and in conjunction with different units, so its up to personal play-style. I favor Jain Zarr, Warp Spiders and Taldeer.

Jain Zarr is a natural leader for Banshee killer squads, which can prevent any open-field infantry movement alone. Even with another kind of focus, her ability to slice trough enemy squads with Q and engage them in melee almost instantly with W is very powerful in early-game with any ranged support. Note that you can launch Q and time W to collide with it on return to land directly into enemy lines causing CC. Later in game, simply use her to clean the stealth cover from detectors/scouts and attack undefended resource points.

Warp Spiders are your defensive/ambush team. They're good at finishing up retreating squads, can slow in a large area with blinking into enemies and back, their DPS after blink is pretty terrifying and you can lead your army trough terrain obstacles. Most of all, Warp Spider Mines are ridiculously powerful! Four mines are enough to kill anything. They do that damage in AoE, and they also slow. Few mines placed smartly can stop an entire assault team. Anyway, you got the idea. Get Spiders and just keep placing mines everywhere you can as they come off cooldown. Place them in choke points, in Stealth Cover, in Heavy Cover, under enemy production buildings, in front of your own or enemy defenses, under enemy vehicles or giant Elites. Just place them whenever possible, and keep Spiders alive so they'd never stop mining. They will drive your enemy insane and paranoid, afraid to step another area without detectors.

Taldeer is heavily underestimated. Its a melee and relatively brittle giant Elite. However, her ability to jump in and stasis entire armies to selectively expose single units to damage is ridiculously strong in assault operations. Somehow many people think that she's an exclusion to the rule, that Elites are weak on their own, and waste her by sending her first or even alone - never do that. Engage enemies with line units first, see where the important targets are, jump in and eliminate them. If there's a lot of armor-counter there, just use E instead and walk conventionally to strike them down, then jump out if health is below 2/3. Conventional Wraith Knight is easier to use, but Taldeer together with a well-balanced army injected at the right moment is almost unstoppable and also deadly against all other giant Elites.

----

Eldar Doctrines are seemingly the least balanced at the moment. While Ork and Marine player usually have hard time picking between equally beneficial Doctrines, Eldar choose between largely situational or outright useless ones.

- Doctrines applied to hover vehicles are largely redundant, so the choice mostly narrows between different Infantry and Wraith features.

- Reaper's doctrines are garbage, but those applied to Avengers, Banshees, Rangers and Spectres are all good in their own way and reinforce their power. You can take one for each for a more balanced tactical flexibility or focus on specific infantry unit for extreme power, but with risk of high predictibility and counterplay, as your opponents will see them before the match. Make your choice based on what units you find yourself playing most of the time and depending on a game phase they shine in. Different doctrines for the same unit increase one or another facet of that unit.

- Those applied to Wraiths are pretty good too, but I rarely play them, so its hard for me to say if Wraithblade Swift Vengeance doctrine is good enough. Both Wraithguard doctrines are definitely a good choice.

- I always take Improved Listening Posts or Turrets, or both. These allow you to actually defend something in early stages and otherwise its hard to keep resource points unharmed. Turrets require Power to build and delay your tech, but you can place them anywhere. If you're about to play on a resource-abundant map like Manufactorium, take at least one of these. On small maps like Solarian Gate its better to invest into Infantry.

Forget about Energy Shields - they're only viable against other Eldars, as Marines and Orks would most likely get right into your face with tanky Elites, Drop Pods, catapult Boyz etc. and ignore Energy Shields altogether. You're better with positioning and micro-controling your army, than with anchoring it to Shields. Same is true for Improved Webways - it gives practically worthless benefits.

[Last Rites]

Macha is by far your biggest asset in the early game. Aside from doing very good damage she has unmatched utility for buffing your units and controlling the battlefield.

If you use her spear blast on your own units it gives them 75% dmg resist, and 25% dmg buff. It will win you engagements, and is brutally effective with banshees since the blast also damages enemies. Toss your spear at an enemy blob, charge your banshees, then BOOM. Win.

Then there is stasis. Pesky chaplain bothering you? Just freeze him and ignore, then kill the rest of his army.

[Grand Hazzard]

Originally posted by InVerno:

Note:i heard that falcons are great fro cleaning up blobs, but they are pretty expensive

Also harrasing a space marine economy is nearly impossible cause they always drop pod+banner the ♥♥♥♥ out of my face (plus eventually flamers) how i deal with them?

There is something better than the eldrich storm? seriusly, it does literally nothin

Banner has a long cd. So do the pods. A great tactic is to harass a resource node off the main path, forcing just such a counter as u described. Then just run away. The chapter banner doesnt move, and if wasted on small push your opponent will not have it available for the bigger more important push u make a few moments later.

[Enigmatic]

They are not that bad, It's just they have some tough points inbetween teching. Thier infantry quickly gets out classed in mid game as they can get squishy once shields drop and Banshees have hard time bugging out untill quick strike.