Jwolf here. Last week someone asked in the comments for Xenos against Tyranids, so here is my take on Eldar against Tyranids.
Eldar have several significant disadvantages when dealing with the new Tyranid Codex.
-First, Eldar do not have a Battlecannon. This makes killing T4 Warriors a lot more time consuming.
-Second, Eldar have no Flametanks or Multiple Rocket Pods, so they have no efficient vehicle-mounted way to clear hordes of fearless Gaunts.
-Third, Eldar have lots of expensive Aspect Warriors, none of whom can fight very well against Warriors, and they are all hopelessly outmatched by Trygons.
-Fourth, Tyranids are going to be appearing all over the board, which greatly reduces the strength of Eldar mobility.
-Fifth, Deathleaper and Shadows in the Warp will make even Eldrad fail some Psychic tests, meaning that things like Seer Council are less survivable and the generally dependable Eldar Psychic Powers are weakened yet again.
With all that, you might think that I predict bad things for the Eldar from the new Tyranid Codex. I honestly think Eldar have a better chance against new Tyranids than they did against the old ones, but this requires some different choices to take advantage of the new weakness to Instant Death. Here are my ideas for Eldar in the New Bug World:
#1 Fire Dragons: Aren’t necessarily used to kill the big things; Fire Dragons now look for groups of T4 Tyranids to kill as a priority, with T6 bugs as a back-up. An exception can be made for Hive Guard, who have to take a powder or they’ll be in the middle of the board, killing Grav Tanks.
#2 Eldar Missile Launchers: Belong on Wave Serpents now. Maybe these are used against Monstrous Creatures, maybe they are used on T4 midfielders, but either way, Missiles are back.
#3 Wraithguard: Are the new Fire Dragons. A unit of these in a Wave Serpent go hunting big Tyranids. Nothing like a 50/50 chance to instant kill that regenerating Tyrannofex.
#4 Bring out your D-cannons: A D-cannon battery, especially a guided one, can put the fear into Trygons, which not much else in your army can do.
#5 The Troops choice of choice is definitely Storm Guardians. Dual flamers and a Destructor Warlock mean these are the small bug removers, and cost effective to boot.
#6 Wraithlords rule the wasteland. Yes, Tyranids have a lot of scary Monstrous Creatures, but they are almost all S6, which means the Wraithlord’s Toughness gives him an advantage. Add in his ability to eat a swarm of Gaunts and you have a very effective midfield defender.
#7 The Avatar is now an objective marker. The Swarmlord makes the Avatar into a sock monkey, and plenty of normal units can hurt the Avatar reliably. Since you can’t count on getting him Fortuned once he is in Close Combat, he is going to die and die quickly.
~Those are my ideas for Eldar against the new Tyranids; I’m sure some of you Eldar veterans have other good ideas; please share them with the class.
