Hi 40kO,
My friend Nomad and I have put together an article and are looking for feedback before submitting it. Let us know what you think!
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A Review of Stratagems in Codex: Craftworlds
In this article, we will introduce the stratagems in Codex: Craftworlds, discuss how they might be used, and review them.
Our review panel:
Blazinghand: Blazinghand has played Ulthwé Eldar since 3rd edition, sometimes running Footdar and sometimes running Mechanized Eldar.
Nomad: Nomad is an old hand at painting and playing WH40k. In 8th Edition he plays Saim-Hann.
We divide stratagems into seven groups:
Craftworld-Specific Stratagems are specific to a Craftworld.
Pre-Battle Stratagems affect deployment or the army list, and are used before the start of the first turn.
Reactive Stratagems are used on the opponent's turn to react to something they did.
Movement Stratagems improve the mobility of Eldar armies.
Psyker Stratagems affect psyker powers or psychic checks.
Shooting and Assaulting Stratagems increase damage output in the Shooting or Assault phases.
Healing Stratagems heal a unit.
Beyond simply making this article a little easier to read, these divisions make it easier to think about stratagems and have them ready at hand in combat. Since there are so many stratagems and so many different situations in which they might be useful, having them organized in one's mind can help with proper application.
Section I: Craftworld-Specific Stratagems
Alaitoc: Pathfinders (average score: 2)
Blazinghand - 2/5
The obvious comparison for Pathfinders is Lightning-Fast Reactions. Pathfinders is less reactive, and must be used at the start of a shooting phase, making it easy for your opponents to play around. An ALAITOC RANGER is already quite difficult to hit. This will not improve a Ranger’s defenses against a Guardsman. Nonetheless, thanks to Troops having Objective Secured, this Stratagem could be useful in a pinch to hold that crucial objective through your opponent’s shooting phase, especially if their base accuracy is good.
Nomad - 2/5
Only a 2/5 because it was 1 cp. Not really useful due to rangers natural hard to hit bonus, on top of Fieldcraft.
Biel-Tan: Court of The Young King (average score: 2.5)
Blazinghand - 3/5
Marginal with a non-CC focused Aspect Warriors, but makes CC-focused Aspect Warriors much better. I’m not sure that it’s worth taking an Avatar just to run this stratagem in its fullest strength, but making it easier for units to get off charges can make the difference between winning and losing a game, and getting a 16% or 33% increase in damage output is valuable. If this cost 1 CP, it would be incredible. At 2 CP, it’s good in the right army. Probably worth it just for the difference between “maybe” sticking a charge and “probably” sticking a charge.
Nomad - 2/5
Looks great with an Avatar, not so hot without.
Iyanden: Guided Wraithsight (average score: 4)
Blazinghand - 4/5
For 1 CP, this is a great Stratagem. The Spiritseer’s Spirit Mark ability affects enemies near the Spiritseer, not allies, which means it can be tricky to get your Spiritseer in range to use it. However, if you can pull it off, it acts more like Doom than Guide: any model shooting at enemy near the Spiritseer can get the benefit. Increasing that range from “claustrophobic” to “manageable” alone would be excellent, but increasing the benefit as well effectively means that several of your units will benefit from Guide if they shoot the target. With the greater radius, you could affect multiple enemy units and have potentially your entire army benefiting from Guide.
Nomad - 4/5
Spicy with a Wraith army.
Saim-Hann: Warriors of the Raging Winds (average score: 3)
Blazinghand - 4/5
This Stratagem was devised for Shining Spears, basically. Strong if you need that extra bit of range. This makes Turn 1 Charges a lot more plausible, since theoretically you get an average threat range of 29 inches with your Shining Spears charging in. The re-rolls are not that amazing if you’re already planning on running an Autarch Skyrunner. Worth it to catch an opponent out, though. Shining Spears don’t have trouble getting stuck in usually, but for a chance at a turn 1 charge, the price is right.
Nomad - 2/5
Only got my 2/5 because move and fire heavy on bikes. Vypers got the Biker tag with the codex, and so the Saim-Hann trait is pretty handy for them. But not my style for a jetbike army, so I won't vote higher.
Ulthwe: Discipline of the Black Guardians (average score: 4)
Blazinghand - 4/5
A great stratagem at a cheap price. Probably not worth it on a 10-elf squad of Defenders, but definitely amazing on a 20-elf squad of Defenders with 2 platforms. In addition to effectively letting them move and fire heavies with no penalty, you could imagine a squad of 20 Defenders and 2 Shuriken Cannons advancing up the field (or emerging from the webway) and putting 40 shuriken shots into a hapless enemy with great accuracy. Could theoretically make Storm Guardians more accurate in assault, but doesn’t seem worth it. Also applies to anything with the GUARDIAN keyword, like a D-Cannon Platform, but probably not cost-effective there, since they split on deployment. Combined with an Autarch, this can allow for an impressive damage output from a large Guardian squad.
Nomad - 4/5
Good for those footdar blobs.
Section II: Pre-Battle Stratagems
Treasures of the Craftworld (average score: 1)
Blazinghand - 1/5
Decent if you want a second relic, but I don’t think you often want a second relic.
Nomad - 1/5
Dunno who would take two relics.
Webway Strike (average score: 5)
Blazinghand - 5/5
Amazing. One of our best stratagems. Note that it doesn't work with Banshee's increased charge range. Considering that one of the principle drawbacks of Eldar infantry is short range, being able to deep strike any infantry squad is very solid. You can't deep strike more than 2 units, unlike Cloudstrike which can be used as much as you want. It's most efficient, CP-wise, to deep strike one unit. Good candidates for this are squads of Fire Dragons, squads of Wraithguard, and 20-elf Guardian Defender squads. I personally like the Wraithguard a lot for this, since they can sometimes stand up to the follow-up fire the next turn. We have other units that can deep strike like Swooping Hawks and Warp Spiders for hunting infantry, which means that Fire Dragons coming in with this stratagem offer a new kind of threat that isn't possible without it.
Nomad - 5/5
Just great. Good flexibility, allows for some nice tricks.
Cloudstrike (average score: 3)
Blazinghand - 2/5
Most of our vehicles don’t need this. Could hide a super-heavy Scorpion from alpha strike, maybe. Compared to Webway Strike, you can use it as much as you want, but it still doesn't do it for me.
Nomad - 4/5
Excellent at only 1 cp to hide any of my tanks.
Phantasm (average score: 3.5)
Blazinghand - 3/5
Situationally useful, but won't work twice on the same opponent. Trying to bait out a bad deployment by overbalancing your own then correcting it might work, but probably this is most useful as a tool to react when you made a mistake with your deployment and didn't realize it until the end.
Nomad - 4/5
Could be good, only 2 cp to maybe alter the most important part of the game.
Section III: Reactive Stratagems
Forewarned (average score: 5)
Blazinghand - 5/5
If you have a Farseer, this is a better Auspex Scan. One of our best stratagems. “Elysian players HATE him!” I have used this in literally every game since the codex dropped. Noticeably superior to every other faction's version of this, due to lack of limitations on range and who can use it. A Farseer near a unit of Dark Reapers can make this good against anything. I often find myself firing off hover tank guns with this. Can seriously throw a wrench in the plans of some deep striking Imperial Guard units.
Nomad - 5/5
Too spicy to handle. Pair with big guns for lots of laffs.
Lightning-Fast Reflexes (average score: 4)
Blazinghand - 4/5
Strong, and stronger if you're Alaitoc. Infuriating when used on a tough unit the opponent NEEDS to kill. A steep price, but worth it for a crucial unit.
Nomad - 4/5
Great in a jetbike/hover tank army. Everything is a viable target. Keep your gun line alive just a bit longer.
Celestial Shield (average score: 4)
Blazinghand - 4/5
Good with large squads of Guardians, especially with Protect. Makes them very resilient. Some people have tossed around the idea of bringing in a 20-elf squad of Guardians via Webway Portal, having them unload into the enemy, then protecting them with Celestial Shield the following turn against the inevitable shooting response.
Nomad - 4/5
Again great on the big squads of guardians.
Section IV: Movement Stratagems
Matchless Agility (average score: 3.5)
Blazinghand - 3/5
Cheap, and can get you onto an objective at a crucial moment for the win.
Nomad - 4/5
Great stuff if I wasn't using bikes that auto get 6" on the Advance. Still good for getting those squishy tanks in the back repositioned if things go south for them.
Fire and Fade (average score: 5)
Blazinghand - 5/5
Amazing for sending opponents into conniptions of rage. A unit can't disembark and embark on the same turn, but you could Webway in 10 Fire Dragons, shoot, then hop them into a transport or out of LoS with this. Given that so many Eldar units have short range with their guns, this is particularly good for keeping those units safe. If nothing else, it's a chance to bring back the jetbike slide or your Warp Spiders' assault move.
Nomad - 5/5
Super tight for shoot and scoot on big guns. Guaranteed salt.
Feigned Retreat (average score: 4)
Blazinghand - 5/5
Everyone expects Assault to tie up shooty units. Surprise them with this. A must-have for expensive close-range shooting units like Fire Dragons. The very existence of this stratagem reduces your opponent's ability to tie units up in close combat. Obviously you could still get completely encircled, but this is still potentially quite good.
Nomad - 3/5
Tight if you get into a fight with something and want to blap it again. Not so tight if everything you have is <Fly> and is literally useless (not useless if you are running Saim Hann correctly with shining spears, because they can Fall Back and then Charge again in the same turn).
Section V: Psyker Stratagems
Concordance of Power (average score: 1)
Blazinghand - 1/5
Warlock Conclaves are bad, therefore this stratagem is bad.
Nomad - 1/5
You should feel bad for having a warlock conclave.
Unparalleled Mastery (average score: 3)
Blazinghand - 3/5
Useful for squeezing out an extra smite. Would be much stronger if Warlocks could use it.
Nomad - 3/5
Could be good, but usually already have cast everything that I need, or at least made the attempt. Eldar usually have lots of psykers, so this can be both good and bad.
Seer Council (average score: 4.5)
Blazinghand - 5/5
Excellent; WC 6 is significantly easier than WC 7, and easy to meet the conditions. This is especially good if you're planning to use a smite with your Farseer, and are hoping to get the extra smite damage. This also helps when you have an absolutely crucial Warlock power you absolutely must get off. The effect of re-rolling 1d6, I would note, is very close to getting +1 to a d6 roll. 2d6 and pick the highest averages about 4.5. So, this can be viewed as the equivalent of spending 3 command rerolls on the three powers your warlock and farseer will attempt this turn, for a much lower cost.
Nomad - 4/5
top notch. Eldar already are strong psykers, having this just adds to that. Great if you are casting lots of smites.
Section VI: Shooting and Assaulting Stratagems
Supreme Disdain (average score: 5)
Blazinghand - 5/5
Very strong, especially with Enhance. Great name for a stratagem, almost worth using purely for the name. This will chew enemies up. A unit with lots of attacks and +1 or +2 to hit, such as Enhanced Scorpions attacking an enemy in cover, or a unit with many powerful attacks, such Wraithblades using the Psytronome of Iyanden, can benefit enormously from this stratagem.
Nomad - 5/5
Use on every time. Exploding dice are always great.
Linked Fire (average score: 4.5)
Blazinghand - 4/5
Good if you are running multiple Fire Prisms. Reasonably priced.
Nomad - 5/5
Fire prisms are cheap now, and already get to shoot twice if moving slow. This is just icing on top, especially at only 1 CP.
Overloaded Energy Field Projectors (average score: 3)
Blazinghand - 3/5
1 CP for a smite? Definitely could be worthwhile. The man downside is it requires you fired off your shield in a previous turn, so your Serpent must live for a turn without a shield to use this stratagem. The only reason this gets a lower rating from me is that I tend to discharge my Wave Serpent shields when they are closer to death, and a Serpent without a shield is a prime target for enemy anti-tank weapons, especially Autocannons and Plasma that are just looking for an unshielded target. After shield discharge, Wave Serpents can die before the next turn when they are allowed to use this stratagem. It is still worth keeping in the back pocket, however.
Nomad - 3/5
Eh, seems only marginally good. Not sure how common the Wave Serpent is, so my score here is probably not indicative of anything.
Starhawk Missile (average score: 3)
Blazinghand - 3/5
Situational but good. This isn't quite as useful on Eldar as the equivalent stratagem is on, say, Space Marines, since we have a variety of good ways of dealing with flyers.
As a special note for Dark Reapers, if you have an Aeldari Missile Launcher on a Dark Reaper Exarch, it usually won't benefit from the bonus to hit this Stratagem gives, because of Inescapable Accuracy. However, Inescapable Accuracy only applies during the Shooting Phase, which means that if you use Forewarned to have your Dark Reapers fire at a unit with Fly that just entered via deep strike, they no longer benefit/suffer from Inescapable Accuracy, because this happens during the Movement Phase. So if your Necron opponent brings in a Monolith, you activate Forewarned, and your Exarch has an Aeldari Missile Launcher, and you use Starhawk Missile, Inescapable Accuracy does not apply, which means your Exarch gets a bonus to hit. This could also become an issue if you have some Dark Reapers in a Ynnari detachment, and separately, a Craftworlds detachment, giving you access to this Stratagem. Then, in the Psychic Phase or Assault Phase, an enemy unit dies, allowing the Dark Reapers to Soulburst and fire. In this situation they would not benefit from Inescapable Accuracy, which means that a Starhawk Missile would modify their chance to hit.
Nomad - 3/5
If you really need to shoot that Flyer.....
Runes of Witnessing (average score: 2)
Blazinghand - 3/5
Anti-synergy with Doom, since they don't stack and Doom gives us a better effect. However, this is one of our few sources of re-rolls-to-wound and could make a difference. The fact that it's a bubble makes it better, but the fact that it's so expensive makes it worse. If it were 1 CP, this would be an amazing stratagem.
Nomad - 1/5
2 CP to get a weaker doom, near your Farseer, for only a single phase? I'll pass. At least it is a bubble and not a single target, must be why it is 2 CP.
Vaul’s Might (average score: 1.5)
Blazinghand - 2/5
The price is right, but requires 2 Support Batteries and only helps those 2 support batteries. Runes of Witnessing will likely give you more value, but is more expensive. And, Like runes of Witnessing, this has anti-energy with Doom. The primary issue is that unless your Support Batteries are running some pretty sweet guns (like D-Cannons) and shooting at some crucial, it's not clear this is worthwhile. Also, this requires you take Support Batteries.
Nomad - 1/5
How many support batteries do people run, anyways?
Section VII: Healing Stratagems
Tears of Isha (average score: 2)
Blazinghand - 2/5
Situationally useful. Better if you have a Wraithknight one wound below a profile, to pop it up a profile by surprise. It would be pretty rare for me to want to use this otherwise, but when it's useful, it could be a difference-maker.
Nomad - 2/5
Good for wraith armies, useless otherwise.
The Avatar Resurgent (average score: 1.5)
Blazinghand - 2/5
Needs an Avatar, which is still overcosted. Otherwise, this could be quite good.
Nomad - 1/5
Needs an avatar, needs an avatar to die, needs an avatar to die in the fight phase. Could come back with only 1 wound remaining. Over priced for the high variance involved.