A little Valentines Day love haha
So in the meantime I am exploring my options for Eldar as my main force. So as I examine the parts of the Codex I would like to see myself make work I look at the venerable foe I run into a lot, The Warithlord.
Now every single time I have run into a Wraithlord I never use to have a problem with it. A handful of missiles and lascannon shots use to delete them turn one for me easily. Yet that was 5th and this is 6th which has a stronger emphasis on boots on the ground with S4 weapons. So with myself picking up a pair of these weird zombie robot/constructs from War of the Worlds I need to compare them to the other zombie robots I loved to run which is the dreadnought. So lets run through the basic facts and see who has an edge.....
The first main difference is the fact that the wraithlord is a MC while the dread a walker. yet with hull points they both have effectively 3 wounds a piece for the most part. Especially when we compare the fact that the toughness of a WL is 8 making a missile launcher wounding a wraithlord on a 4 and taking a hull point off a dread on a four. The Advantage of the WL in this case is the 5 and 6 could damage or explode the dread while the wraithlord will always be at full capacity. Without an ability to take off weapons a wraithlord is superior in all of these aspects. Also a waithlord has an armor save (3+) while a dread only could pop smoke once for a cover save. The WL can keep his 'tippy toes' in area terrain for a beneficial cover save while a dread needs to be obscured. Another edge to the Lord.
A dread is needs to take a DCCW to be S10 and can lose that weapon easily while the Lord itself always has S10 in close combat. The dread can also be immobilized bringing it down to rear armor for combat something a Lord will never worry about. Another Edge for the Lord.
A lord comes with options to take either 2 flamers or two shuriken catapults while the dread starts with a storm bolter that can be upgraded with 5 points to a Heavy flamer. The Lord needs to pay for another weapon but can take two or make the one twin linked. All costs comparable the Lord has better weapon options and can take more for just as cheap of a cost of a Dread. So another edge to the lord.
Realistically they both move the same but a Lord might be slowed by wraith sight (making a SS babysitter a needed annoyance. Also a dread can take a drop pod for rapid deployment. This is the one obvious edge a Dread has over a Lord.
All in all the Lord seems slightly better than a dread. But they both need to be adaptable and useful in the list concept in the first place or they will not be worth it. I am experimenting with taking the Super LRC from Dark Angels and sticking my Lords near it to benefit form the 4++ bubble. Pair this with fortune and the S6 spam nastiness a Lord can dish out shooting wise at range and it can be a lethal combo making it worth the cost in the list.
In the long run the Lord is a fairly inexpensive MC (Can be very expensive although without temperance) and worth it over a dreadnought. Yet it comes down to the use in the list....more on this later....
I agree with your analysis but here are a few more key things to consider.
ReplyDeleteWraithlord benefits from eldar psychic powers. Rerolling saves anyone?
However, Wraithlords do take up heavy support slots which are occupied by other great choices like war walkers, support platforms, and fire prisms.
The wraith lord can also be ID by force weapons or special rules and is suceptable to poison weapons. In reality you should compare them to other MCs the Dread comparison was apples to oranges IMHO. Against othwr MCs hes not so great for the points.
ReplyDeleteyes but unless the libie has a force axe he cannot be hurt by them (needs to be S5 to even chance at hurting T8) and you would go last and I can challenge you and stomp you first haha
ReplyDeleteA lot more than libbies have a force weapon....and force axes are abundant. They are good against certain foes but suck against others.... I love taking them out with thunder hammer termies.....they go squish fast.....just saying....lol....and I think I've got my Dark Eldar/Eldar combo...going with the beast packs like you recomended.
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience with Tyranid MC's vs force weapons, they're actually not as scary as you think. You have to be hit, wounded (typically on a six with T6, almost definitely with T8), and then they have to pass the psychic test. Considering that SitW and RoW basically both reduce a LD10 psychic test to about a 50-50, charging an MC into a squad with one or even multiple force weapons isn't really as suicidal as it may seem at face value. Even against 10 Purifiers with a Libby you're looking at basically one wound with a less-than-50% chance of ID from that wound.
ReplyDeleteHammernators, though...don't even bother haha.
After playing against them yesterday, not impressed, the massed shooting of the Eldar and Dark Angels against me was far better and far scarrier, the Lords did little and died easier than I thought they would. But man the fire power from the Eldar can be fierce!
ReplyDelete