Allied Eldar Night Spinner or twin-linked Fire Prism?

So I'm quite likely getting one of these for my list and I'm not sure what to build it as. I didn't previously know of the NS existence but Mush told me about it in another forum thread. Since then I've been looking into it but I'm not entirely sure of its merits.

It has a S6 Barrage Blast weapon that is twin-linked. Now, although its handy to be able to shoot at anything on the board even if you can't see it, I can't actually see this killing that many people each turn as its only a small blast and you need to rely on rending to ignore armour. If you're only hitting 3 or 4 models per turn your not going to get many rending wounds in a game. The ability to slow down enemies sounds cool, how effective is this? I've never had any experience with it.

As for the Fire Prism, it initially seems like a better weapon. Can hurt tanks, TEQ and hordes. It has no barrage rule so you have to be able to see your target but it can have a Farseer twin-link its gun with prescience which seems to make it a more effective option. Well, on paper at least.

What are everyone else's thoughts on these two?

mug7703 wrote:

I can't actually see this killing that many people each turn as its only a small blast and you need to rely on rending to ignore armour.

It's a large blast, the printing is just awkward on the PDF and the word "large" has ended up on the left next to the weapons range.

Mushkilla wrote:

mug7703 wrote:

I can't actually see this killing that many people each turn as its only a small blast and you need to rely on rending to ignore armour.

It's a large blast, the printing is just awkward on the PDF and the word "large" has ended up on the left next to the weapons range.

Hahaaa! Ah so it is. That makes all the difference. I couldn't really see why you were raving about its usefulness before. Hmm, that sways me more to the NS now. I large blast can get enough hits to have some rending wounds. How effective and useful is the monofilament web rule? Causing enemies to move as if they're in difficult and dangerous terrain seems useful. Has anyone had experience with this, or does anyone have any good advice about what units this is particularly effective against or situations where it's useful?

I love the Spinner! It is cheap and reliable

colinsherlow wrote:

I love the Spinner! It is cheap and reliable

Is it more reliable than a twin-linked Fire Prism?

Small blasts aren't good, they often hit only one model if enemy goes disperse formation, and they need only average roll to scatter far away.

NS can also fire behind ADL, denying cover save and snipe infantry characters. For example, you can get rid of Comissar in beefed up Platoon behind AGL (expierenced IG player would probably do something to counter it, for example, not packing everyone and anything close together). You know the usual consequence - forcing them off table by morale test.

What this weapon has is the barrage rule. This can be used to negate cover. Unfortunately it has no AP, but it has rending and S6 so it will lay down the hurt. It's dangerush terain rule is not so good in 6th as in 5th, but the slow is still nice vs certain units. You can use it to clear units away from a defense line gun. If you are first dipping into eldar I do not think it is bad. The model is looking great.

BTW: If you want twin linked prisem tank you need 2 of them right?

There's no way to take 2 prisms as allied detachment, unless you're playing with 2nd FOC which unlocks hellish amount of cheese and literally forces you to venom-ravager spamming imo.

Night spinner doesn't need AP, as the accurate S6 pie plate puts out enough volume of wounds to force saves, rending is just icing on the cake. As mentioned before barrage weapons can snipe models, that's what makes them more powerful. Also marines still get cover saves against the fire prism, so the AP isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Not to mention by taking the night spinner you can use your farseer to buff your ravager or something more useful instead of wasting the power to twinlink the fire prism.

At least that's the way I see it.

Nightspinner also isn't bad against armour, it can penetrate AV12 (only on 6's yeah), but more important - it can aim at side or even rear armor, those are usually relatively weak.

And vehicles suffer from monofilament too if i'm right.

I really need to add that if your group accepts Forge World 40k approved units then you can't do any worse than a Warp Hunter - best tank available to DE and CWE in my humble opinion.

If it came down to a choice between the Spinner and Prism, I'd go with the Prism. They are a little more flexible, and hit harder. Not being able to take two hurts. However outside of the Spinner vs. Prism, I gotta agree with Sky Serpent. As a long time Craftworld Eldar player who has used the Prism since 2nd edition, I have to say the Warp Hunter is what the Eldar have needed for a long long time. Not only is the model only marginally more expensive to purchase, it is just a beast on the battlefield. It is the perfect escort for transports carrying close range combatants (Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons, Wyches) but it is a fire magnet (and a fairly durable one) that allows your more fragile units to get into position and do their thing.

Paired with the long range hornets (EML or pulse laser) you've got a nasty front field/back field combination capable of pouring on serious fire devestating to both infantry and vehicle alike as well as drawing enemy fire away from your most essential units.

Hmmm...I'm still not decided. I don't know if my list needs more AI. Maybe 3 War Walkers is a better use of an allied HS slot. Mass S6 can hurt tanks, infantry and even flyers. It means more benefit from prescience as well.

Edit - Just checked out the rules for this Warp Hunter, it's incredible! The model is great as well however, does one need an Eldar Corsair detachment to take one or can you just run one with a Farseer and Jetbike Guardian squad?

Both Corsairs, and regular Craftworld Eldar can take the warp hunter. Its also 40k approved.

Cavalier wrote:

Both Corsairs, and regular Craftworld Eldar can take the warp hunter. Its also 40k approved.

It's also HIGHLY approved by any Corsair or CWE player that has used one. Or two

Hmmm....I may have found my detachment.

Jetbike Farseer w/guide, RoW - 120pts (swap for prescience)

3 Jetbike Guardians - 66pts

Warp Hunter - 125pts

= 311pts

Quite a reliable and versatile detachment that adds a lot to a DE army.

Looks ilke a very cost effective detachment, that'll plug nicely into any DE build. Not sure what you are bringing to the table for your DE force, but my only warning is you don't want your Warp Hunter to stand alone on the field. Just to give you an example of how I support my warp hunter here is my list:

Archon- Shadowfield, Huskblade, Soul Trap, Combat Drugs, Ghost Plate, PGL
4 Incubi in a nightshields Venom,
5 Wyches, Hydra Gauntlets, Hekatrix in a night venom with an agonizer,
10 Wyches, Hekatrix with PGL and agonizer in a Raider with Nightshields
10 Warriors, Sybarite, in a Raider with splinter racks and nightshields
Void Raven Bomber, flicker fields
Farseer with fortune
9 Dire Avengers + Exarch, Bladestorm in a Wave Serpent with shuriken cannons
9 Dire Avengers + Exarch, Bladestorm in a Wave Serpent with shuriken cannons
3 Hornets with 6 eldar missile launchers
Warp Hunter

The Warp Hunter, Wave Serpents make a sort of spearhead formation shielding my archon's venom, while the two raiders go behind them shielding the wych venom. Eldar vehicles while expensive can be very useful for shielding purposes and even blocking line of sight. While the Warp Hunter is presented front and center my opponent knows it is shielding a bunch of very deadly units.

The whole formation synergizes around close range assault, utilizing the warp hunter's aether-rift template attack, fortuned blade storming dire avengers, with a cc punch on the part of the wyches and incubi. My eldar detachment of wave serpents, and warp hunter give the dark eldar a lot more resiliency, and close range punch, and hopefully allowing my hornets to go relativley ignored.

Not sure if you have a lot of Eldar models to play around with but I just wanted to offer my list as an example of what a 50/50 points investement can look like when centered around a lone warp hunter.