Wraithknights?

Hey everyone!

My Dark Eldar army is growing steadily and I have been thinking of adding Rangers as troops, and a Wraithknight bullet-magnet to my list (which you can view here). What's your opinion on Wraithknights as an element of an Eldar allied detachment?

(Specifically, I'll be running Venom Spam)

To put it simply, they are awesome. They give you Str. 10, something our army doesn't have. Also, a very solid assault unit. As an added bonus, there are some armies in the game that simply cannot reliably deal with them. A very good addition to your army.

Let's not forget they're fast! One of the best utility units in the game IMHO.

I myself have been thinking about adding one, in the more expensive single scatter laser, sun cannon setup. Three twin linked terminator killing blasts is just horrendous   

I keep thinking that in a Venom Spam list it would make for a sweet centrepiece and bullet magnet -- imagine all those small open-topped vehicles swarming the enemy lines, almost like hornet nests flung at someone with a stick while being charged by a raging dog

I got my first taste of the holy good Eldar unit tonight in a game and it was very impressive,.

Don't bother with the sun cannon... Keep it stock

Yeah on paper the sun cannon looks awesome but giving the fact that you can only fire 2 weapons, we'll give me those heavy wraith cannons! xD

I like the Wraithcannons as well. Strength 10 is something our army doesn't have. We have plenty of Anti-Infantry through poison. Giving the Wraithknight doesn't allow it to fill a role we don't already have, but instead, enhances one of our strengths.

I Couldn't agree more Yeeman.

I would like to add that it costs 40 points for that gun. If it was a free swap, I might consider it. Not worth it in my opinion for 40 points. The Invuln is too situational when you could just toe in a piece of terrain and get a 5+ cover save. In CC the Invuln is nice, but not 40pts nice.

I like shooting the Strength 10 at a vehicle and charging the occupants. Works great. Plus Tau Commanders, Daemon Princes, and the Khan are not fans of Wraithcannons!

The sun cannon has its place but only when building a list around it... And typically as the 3rd knight in the force! I can't stress how good the blind effect of the shield is though...

The Wraithknight is pretty cool no doubt. Personally, I like War Walkers. They likewise provide something that the Dark Eldar do not have (outflank, STR 6 Spam). That said, I have never actually encountered a Wraith Knight.

How does the Wraithlord stack up against the Wraithknight, or is there really no comparison. I've misplaced my Eldar Codex at the monment.... opps.

The wraithkight is better in every meaningful way. That said it also costs exactly twice as much so it should be. I'll be running wraithlords because I picked up a wraithseer the other day and it can buff wraithlords and wraithguard/blades but not wraithknights. (FNP on a T8 3+ monster is hilarious against everything that isn't DE. Also, shoulder mounted d-cannon. Enough said)

Arg, I was ready to write off the wraithlord too, until I read that last bit and now is wanna try that too in a game. How much does the wraithseer cost point wise?

You can't run the seer variant in an allies force as the rules for it require you to have another hq from memory...

Yeah sorry that's in a eldar primary list. The wraith seer with the loadout I described is 225 I think? but it has a shoulder mounted D-cannon Ws5 S10 4 wounds and a spear that lets it reroll armor penetration rolls. It also has an UNLIMITED RANGE feel no pain buff spell for wraiths.

Say what! I must not let this information shake my resolve of keeping Dark Eldar as my primary lol.

Massaen wrote:

The sun cannon has its place but only when building a list around it... And typically as the 3rd knight in the force! I can't stress how good the blind effect of the shield is though...

Yeah, it struck me as something that was good at clearing out a squad of infantry with ease when poison doesn't do the job - personally I've always found the shooting from my Venoms to be supremely underwhelming, so the ability to ignore armour saves from everything would be invaluable for me. Heck, might be the next thing I buy, I could do with something stupidly big and stompy in my list (there's my inner ork coming out again!) But I'd agree with building the list around it, you should only take the option I'm extolling if you already have your anti tank totally sorted. I personally don't fancy my chances of two lance shots really doing that much either, unless you're prepared to leave a Farseer hanging out nearby - three dark lances on my Ravagers seem to average two hits most of the time, and I know two shots would just miss when I needed them most! I play to my own bad luck...

From a modelling perspective, I really like the idea of having the suncannon because of the sheer size of it - I'd want the Wraithknight bracing it with his other arm if possible, so some slicing might be in order if I'm brave enough. Or maybe I'll just have him lifting his leg up to look at a guardsmen he's just squished, could go either way   

I'm in the process of painting my Wraithknight at the moment and I've gone for dual Wraithcannon. The Suncannon/Shield combo is just too expensive in my opinion. If it was a free upgrade and the scatter laser was more reasonably priced (20 points? Seriously?!) then I'd probably magentise the 'Knight but I doubt I'll use that option so I'll just stick the wraithcannon on!

I've been using a wraithknight for a short while now, got plenty of games in against the new nids with heavy wraith cannons but I gotta say after recently trying the sun cannon its insane. Besides instant death on MCs here and there from the hwc the two shots are just nowhere near the level of damage that the sun cannon + scatter laser is capable of. It literally turns the knight into a titan capable of evaporating even hammernator units (6 in one turn so far) or out shooting riptides while closing for assault.  It actually does comparable damage to the hwc against mc's too barring those rare ID shots. The anti tank from 2 s10 is nice but there are plenty of things that can threaten the knight or limit his effectiveness, the worst take the form of tarpits, poisoned shooters, killy ICs etc so I found the sun cannon more devastating all around while dealing with these or when suitable hwc targets don't exist. Plus the knight has no problem assaulting armour.  I highly recommend trying both builds before gluing, or at least magnetizing.

Brom wrote:

The anti tank from 2 s10 is nice but there are plenty of things that can threaten the knight or limit his effectiveness, the worst take the form of tarpits, poisoned shooters, killy ICs etc so I found the sun cannon more devastating all around while dealing with these or when suitable hwc targets don't exist. Plus the knight has no problem assaulting armour.  I highly recommend trying both builds before gluing, or at least magnetizing.

That was my thinking too - the knight actually stands a better chance against AV 12 in close combat than it does in shooting due to being strength ten and having five attacks on the charge, and against AV 13 and 14 it makes up for the lack of lance with amount of attacks. Lascannons and Vindicators are nowhere near as much of a problem for it as a tooled up monster hunting terminator squad or a poison packing close combat squad.

Yes exactly, plus once you use the sun cannon you will realize the hvy wraith cannons are nowhere near as threatening from your opponents perspective. Erasing a unit a turn tends to do that.

Brom wrote:

Yes exactly, plus once you use the sun cannon you will realize the hvy wraith cannons are nowhere near as threatening from your opponents perspective. Erasing a unit a turn tends to do that.

I tend to run Eldar as allies so a) points are at a premium and b) I want it to do something I can't do with the rest of my army. I can, pretty much, duplicate the effects of a Suncannon with a Dissie Ravager. I don't have anything that can match 2 Wraithcannon.

That being said, I may attempt to magnetise the 'Knight so I can use both options if I feel the urge. I just wish it was a free upgrade, or that it cost 20 points for both the upgrade and the scatter laser.