Been trying out the Eldar lately: ouch?

[Godwin]

I was kind of hoping for some nice long-range damage, but apart from the Ranger they're on average more short-range than any other faction, it seems like.

Played this game a lot in the past, took a break, then got T'au and Aeldari and Specialist DLC lately and ... man.. the early game for the Eldar is even worse than it was for the Astra Militarum (back then, I don't know if they've been improved lately).

It hurts so much.. and playing their campaign for the first time after a few tries.. complete a previous step, oh I accidentally already completed the next objective so quite big Necron spawns all around and specifically on my new city target webway which they demolish before I get the influence, and kill my heroes etc... well.. nvm then..
Should I restart AGAIN?
I'm really not feeling them.. and I've been gunning for the addition of the Eldar since day 1!
And now they play like this! Ouch!

Am I missing something?

[Noodlesocks]

I find in the early game it's better to rely on overwatch. Hide in terrain, let the enemy come to you, let the high damage soften the enemy unit. They won't be able to do a lot of damage when they shoot, then on your turn, you finish them off and switch your units around. They get tankier around mid game but their early game seems to favour ambush over defence and aggression.

I do feel like the faction was designed entirely for PvP though because the AI struggles with their tactics, economy and expansion and AI can't even use the gates to transport units. Of all the factions I do think Eldar need the most work.

[Godwin]

Yes, I understand that that's their strong suit, defend and run, however playing normal games you want to expand, hence move forward.
So, occasionally-but-too-often, you move into 2-3 enemy units (or 4-5!). And if you happen to have used a Ranger or Banshee ok, it's not dead, but then you can attack and get attacked a lot (die), or don't attack and hope they stay near and then attack and run after the attack the next turn, but then they quite often don't follow you. So they heal up again. So then you need to guess where they are again and move back forward. It's so SLOW.
And overall you're losing ground a lot playing like that. While expansion is the aim.

And it's not as if it's easy to get higher numbers with the faction. That would of course also help a lot.

Also, those Webways getting attacked all the time and you losing potential cities does feel bad. What if your ideal city is razed before it even becomes a city? Just kind of sucks. Not that bad, but..

Also, with the quests (storyline) on, the Necrons (and before that the Tyrranids) spawned RIGHT in the worst spots, and retreating meant losing the city I was going to get.
Did lose that anyway as other units appeared later during the battle (early Eldar have no counter to Triarch Stalkers, Annihilator Barges and Heavy Destroyers (and this was my first Quest playthrough so I had no idea what to expect)).

[TemplarGR]

Yeah, their early game is very weak, relying essentially on guerrilla tactics. They do have considerable offensive power and mobility but they tend to melt just by looking at them. Until you get your cities going and reach a higher tier, you need to be very careful, but as the game progresses Eldar become very powerful with great units.

[Jey]

The early of Eldars is actually pretty good.
It's simply a matter of not rushing like a blind idiot.
Don't start shooting at stuff just because, but plan for what could attack you next turn.
Spawn more guardians, use your plasma grenades (because of course you research them).


Eldar infantry is squishy, but it deals big damage, it's a matter of exploiting that.

[cary2010haha]

problem or eldar is their weak starts, and in the high difficult matches, AI destory most webway in frist few turns, making Eldar a siting duck after lose all webways for citys

overwatch just make it even worest, because every turn you arent attacking, you losing you cities in further


btw the tyranid also have the teleport borrow which can create as they wish, why eldar cant have anything could recreate webways

[KDubya]

Use your shining spear scout to explore. With its super jink it is pretty much unkillable and can absorb all the overwatch. Then use your attack then move to pull back. You have Banshees that have infiltrate as well as Rangers.

With the tier two research your Shining Spears hit hard and are really cheap. Use them to strike at vehicles until you get Fire Dragons hopping out of Wave Serpents.

Get the free gate activation tech at tier one and activate any gate getting attacked to gain game long scouting. Don't activate any gate that is not under attack or firmly in your control.

[Heart of Storm]

Eldar aren't really a long range faction in 40k - guardians, dire avengers, fire dragons, shining spears, howling banshees, warp spiders, striking scorpions and Wraith units are all about getting close to the enemy - the long range support they have comes from a few vehicles and Dark Reapers.

Eldar are get in quick, hit hard and move on, blasting the enemy at long range is what Tau do.

Once you get used to them I find Guardians are great, they hit like an absolute truck, you just need to be careful with how you use them, as others have said Overwatch and cover is your friend.

You're playing Eldar, you should be using shenanigans and trickery!

[Stardustfire]

err Hearth Eldar ARE a long Range faction in wh40k, they make Tau cry about a imba faction with more range than them when Tau shoud be the broken range advantage Race.

Problem is Gladius Programmers proved to have a noneexistant Army/State Balance sense in there choise of Units for the game and the conversion of the states of Units they used.

[TemplarGR]

I thought the Imperial Guard was the long range faction, artillery + air bombardment

[Slappy White]

You just have to be really careful early game and not stick your neck out too far. Get that second city early, even if it's not in the ideal spot, and protect it. keep everyone in the trees and keep a low profile until you can churn out waveserpents, which are sick as hell. 2 of those loaded up with fire drags, one healer, one hero, and wraithblades if you have them with quickly get to a city over water in the enemy backfield and wreck it in 2 turns. Even easier if you have the jetbike guy with doom on the city. Load the serpents back up and get the hell out of there before the army reacts. Go hide and hit another city where they don't expect it. You can do this over and over again without losing much of anything, Eldar are nasty as hell. once you can make wraithknights(T9), it's game over and you should be stomping everything into the ground easy