I see a lot of negativity about this guy online, and I am not seeing why.
What’s not to like about big dog? He brings a TON to Eldar. Besides being a prince among models, he is a multi-threat unit that can fill a lot of gaps.
For one, he is hard as hell to kill. Does that mean invincible? No, of course not. But 6 wounds at toughness 8 is immune to most small arms and with a 3+ not much is going to phase him. With the ease of cover saves this edition, his big toe can be in area terrain and he gets a 5+.
As someone who uses Wraithlords, Swarmy, etc. all the time, I can tell you a model at tough 7 or higher is really, really hard to kill.
Poison and Rending weapons are a threat, but that’s OK, focus on taking them out first. That is the game after all: taking out each other’s threats first and better.
What the Wraithknight does bring is powerful shooting. The Suncannon and Heavy Wraithcannons are really, really good. Doubly so because Eldar don’t have those types of weapons otherwise. Take a Scatter Laser to twinlink that Suncannon and good night, that is brutal.
The Heavy Wraithcannons add a really useful tool. Strength 10, AP 2 is extremely good AT and with Guide/Prescience not bad AA, either. Plus, ID on a 6 means they are a nice tool for other MCs, too.
Also, these guys provide counter attack. Jump Jets make them super mobile and Strength 10 and I5 gives them enough punch to really threaten key units. You can get tar pitted yes, but again, don’t let that happen. I see this unit being a shooter first, counter assault second. If you play a hardcore shooting army like Tau or IG, this unit may be better off going upfield to smash face.
I plan on adding one to my list and running it bear bones (as I often do) plasting things with twin linked cannons and then jumping out to assault where enemy pressure is threatening to collapse my lines. I think this guy will not only look amazing but serve a really useful role in a well rounded list.
What do you guys think about the Wraithknight? Worth it or no?
hey bud, been playing eldar since 5th and i already have a wraith army, i have noticed also that the wraithknight is not feeling the love online as people are just a seeing a big guy their army dosnt have, i think when you really get down to business with this guy from a educated point of view is that hes a heavy support choice in a book full of super heavy support choices and when up against the right player you exposes its weaknesses correctly it will fall quickly. I’m hoping to see all the new eldar players who want the next GK codex will dissapear once they realise that the new eldar codex will still take careful planning and fast thinking that there not able to caperble of.
Fair points. And the internet is full of whiny babies, too, so there is that.
I think the Wraithknight is going to be a great addition to an Eldar army personally and plan to put that to the test on the table. We shall see if I am right!
the only thing I’m sad about is how , not usefull the sword is. it’s mastercrafted and takes away a suncanon or both D’s. with the amount of guide and presience rolling around an eldar host the scatter laser should probably be replaced by a star canon. if your going to buff a unit , may as well be the wraith knight:)
Also the Iyanden codex coming out will change a lot of things including making it possible to have your wraithknight be a warlord[not an Hq slot though] and having 5 spirit seers per hq slot. Crikey!!
Wow, that is crazy!
But yeah, I agree the sword is the worst choice other than to get a cheap 4++
It may have a use but it doesn’t add anything two wraithlords couldn’t do better.
He’s far too expensive for two Bs4 anti-tank shots.
He’s far too expensive for 3 plasma cannon shots.
He’s far too expensive for 4 Ws4 attacks.
If gets close to an opponent they’ll tie him up with something a quarter of his points cost and backfield he doesn’t justify his points in firepower.
I think you nailed it though, he only takes up one slot, not two. I plan o running 6 war walkers and want the third slot to my Wraithknight who will fill in as AA/AT and counter attack. For providing all of those tools, I really like him.
Just ask the Tyrannofex or Carnifex if the Wraithknight is too expensive. Real MC toughenss and strength, 6 wounds, real guns, and jump jets. Sigh.
I know, right? The Wraithknight is totally fairly priced, anyone who thinks he is too weak is crazy IMO.
I like him but I like the vibrocannons better for the points, if he was an elite section I would take him (I run DE so Eldar are just an ally), 3 vibrocannons are really sweet with guide for just 90pts
I actually prefer the Shadowweavers over the Vibro cannon, but all of the support weapons are solid.
How do 2 Wraithlords equal a Wraithknight?
Wraithknight @ 280 points has a str 10 shot & 3 str 6 blast shots
with a 5++, he has same number of wounds, 1 more INT, &
2 less ATKs but with a higher STR
2 Wraithlords @ 140 each only have 1 bright lance each & no
Invul save, so you need to go 40 points over just to have those
extra shots not to mention you take up 2 heavy slots.
I can’t see how I can justify losing the extra slot when there are
far to many things I want to use that slot for (War walkers)
if GW had been smart and made Wraithlords a unit of 1-3
I could see the argument for them but not the way they are.
I agree with this statement. It is the fact you only take up one slot that sold me. He isn’t OMG crazy but he is just a tad better at so many key things: mobility, initiative, strength, etc. that he is worth it in my eyes. He’s not JUST 2 shots a turn, not JUST 4 attacks in melee, etc. he is all of those things combined in a single FOC slot.
I actually like the wraithknight as well, but if I were to run eldar, I don’t see myself building an army around it (the WK). Rather I see it as a complementary unit that fulfills a niche role as well be a fire magnet for all the enemy’s heavy weapons. I’d probably run 1 only, just like I only ever ran 1 tyrannofex in my tyranid army back in the days of 5th.
I agree 100%.
Firstly, the Scattershield on a Fast Tough model is going to be one of the most underrated piece of wargear imo.
Look, against Tau, Necrons and to a certain extent Guard, shoving that guy into your opponent line and devilishly waiting for a player to make you pass an Invul save only to watch his army start taking a Blind Test. Most good players will have to move out of the bubble before shooting but that is another tool in its arsenal, dictating my opponents movement.
I think the 300 Point Wraithknight is all the awesome you need (Suncannon, Scattershield and Pulse Laser)
Okay, so you’ve shoved a Wraithknight into the lines of Tau, Necrons or Guard.
In the first instance, the Blind rule kicks on at 6″. There’s a few scenarios when his army might not be able to just walk out of range (difficult range, traffic jams etc). So you may be hosed by firepower.
Otherwise each of those three armies has ready access to either stubborn, fearless or huge resilience. You march a small squad of necron warriors, commissar / ATSKNF Guard or fire warriors (stubborn from an ethereal) – bam the Knight is locked up for a long time.
4 attacks Ws4 means against almost everything you’re swinging to hit on 4+ or 3+. That means 2 or 3 hits (if you’re lucky) and then realistically 2 wounds. Great!
By all means there are uses for a Wraithknight – linebreaker is not one of them. Frankly, distraction is a major one. I’d go minimum spend and use it to blow up transports / ping wounds of MCs and hope for Distort to kick. That way the opponent will hopefully throw 1500 / 1750 points of firepower at it while your actual threats get to work.
Blind isn’t something I would plan on, personally. It’s just a nice perk when it works.
And you don’t charge a Blob squad, that would be a poor choice. You charge Broadisdes, Commanders, etc. You pick the right battles to fight.
you do know tau are basically immune to the blind special rule because of blacksun filters only the tau fire warriors and cadre fireblade can’t get one, and everyone else can test on I4 + including fire warriors if you buy a drone.
I’m thinking bare bones Wraith Knight with no bells and whistles, myself!
I’m thinking swooping hawks provide a lot of answers to the Big Fella’s fear of poison/snipers. Hawks can take out those threats very handily and early allowing the Wraith Knight to shine. At any rate I’ve one built and ready for the table top. Rule of cool trumps common internet opinion.
I agree about the rule of cool!
I think Warp Spiders will also serve a very useful purpose in that regard.
That thing is HUGE i need a full layer of tank foam just for him. no way he is worth my energy to carry around the country in flight. TSA is going to have a field day with him ;p
Hahaha, that is the first good argument against him I have heard. But, you can always magnetize him!
I agree with you about the Wraithknight. The internet is going to hate no what. Heck they were complaining about the new codex before it hit the stores. I think its great and I think the codex is great and Iyanden is looking to be cool too 🙂
I am very curious to see what Iyanden is all about, there are rules in it, too.
All the positive which can be said about the big fellow is that the model is great looking.
When it comes to value for points/competetive view, he’s a utter fail. Shure he is a little hard to kill. The main problem is that his damage output in CC or by shooting, is just too low for his points.
It just smells to fast work; the sword with +1 S, which is useless (mc though) and being able to upgrade to more than 2 cannons, but as a MC you can only shoot 2 !
He should have been cheaper.
Reserve for fluffy armies and friendly play only.
I don’t think he is utter fail, personally. If you look at it as a binary of points to fire power, or points to assault, etc. but I think you have to look at it as a whole of what it brings.
I could be wrong of course, but that is my take at this point.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating 🙂 give him a go and see.
Well said! I am going to try mine out soon!
I’m looking forward to see you use the beast! Take on some Tau, I want to see those guys take a beating 😀 (like they’ve given my orks recently)
Death to the fish men!
I think that one of the things that really hurts the WraithKnight is it’s size. Very few models in 40K can take an entire round of shooting and live to tell the tale. This is mitigated by making important units immune to fire in some way (be it fortune, correct model placement, or hiding it out of line of sight). However, with a wraithknight this is not possible unless you deepstrike it or have rediculous terrain. I’m not saying they can’t work, I’m just saying that they are not optimal for a codex with quite a few excellent heavy support choices.
That’s a fair point. This dude is not hiding, that’s for sure. He needs to depend on his latent durability to make it. Careful deployment will be critical.
I’m running him with a scatter laser, 5++ and the Heavy 3 S6 blast gun.
The scatter laser will make his otherwise poor BS quite good, hen he’ll take out large swaths of anything on the ground with S6 ap2 blasts. He’ll happily stay at range to do this, and probably attract a lot of attention.
With the scatter laser, you can save guide for other targets.
I actually fielded three wraithknights, five GJBx3 in reserve and a seer Council With two farseer, all With Spears for AA.
The Knight soaked alot of fire, and his mobility was king. End game alle three contested an obj each. My Council fortuned the Knight witch kept beeing shot at, and my Locks kept trowing renewer :).
It need more testing! but for example one Knights forced 17 ap2 wounds on deamonettes 🙂
Nice! I think the jump jets are going to be critical to this unit’s success. The arky is ultra mobile, he can keep up and packs a lean punch.
Please note that I like the Wraith Knight so much I ordered two. I look forward to playing them and getting them killed as my opponents will put everything into killing them. Thus keeping the Dire Avengers and others alive longer. Better still the Wraith Knights can lay some great firepower back and possibly earn their cost in two ways.
Thanks for some good ideas.
I agree, they serve a lot of different purposes and I can’t wait to try them out, myself!
Use a spiritseer or the one in the Wraightfighter (the flyer), to spirit mark an enemy unit, then any to hit rolls of a 1 can be rerolled. This applies only to any WK, WL, WG or WB!!! Scatter lasers, allow laser lock rule, but a WK has two Heavy Wraithcannons already so no point. On a WL a scatter laser and bright lance would be good allowing that bright lance to be twin-linked! 😀
Yeah, the synergy in the book is fantastic! I love all of the combos layered throughout. It really is a deep codex.
I saw a comment on Bols that said he would only consider taking the Wraithknight if it was T10 had a 2+/4++ ‘it will not die’ and was immune to poison.
I thought he was being ironic until he elaborated in a followup post saying its useless if it isnt immune to missiles.
Hahaha, and that is why I don’t read bols comments anymore. Great site, inane commenters.
Sound like a smart guy!
Im building my 2, lets see what some overkill does.
I think they will perform well! Let us know how they go, I am getting mostly positive reports of them in battle so far.
Used one in a local RTT on Saturday: Scatterlaser, Suncannon and Scattershield. A couple of things I learned from 3 games.
-Scattershield blind rule works on enemy and friendly models. This model will be shot at so think about what is outside of a tank hanging around him. Most Eldar only fail on a 6, but there are our buddies, the Tau, who aren’t so fast.
-Jump Monstrous Creature is very interesting. I’m seeing something that a lot of units can’t handle: a T8 critter assaulting them. Obviously avoid Fearless units, but I found this to be a useful way to get rid of some of the more shooty, less assault oriented units on the table. He gets the 1 free attack on the charge and then 5 more attacks. In some cases, it didn’t matter if I had to go at initiative 1, b/c my opponent couldn’t hurt it. Then they’d lose 3-4 models, break and get swept.
-With the Scatterlaser, the Suncannon never missed at all in three games.
-The Misfortune psychic power, well, sucks. I lost four wounds in a single turn b/c of this power, thus losing the model. Tau Missile Broadsides with Misfortune made me a sad boy.
-Our overall winner out of 18 ran DE/Eldar. He had 6 Venoms in the list. 72 Poison shots makes me cringe unless I have Fortune on this guy.
-Objective contesting. This is one of those models which can do it.
-Cover. While very tall, ruins easily gave him a 4+ cover save for 25% obscuring if folks are worried.
Is he worth 300 points? Probably not. I think the 240 would be ok. So, I look at it I am wasting 60 points for a really cool and fun model to put on the table.
My last two games against IG, I found the Knight very successfull. I jumped from one tank to another. The suncannon combined With laserlock is a killer aswell.
I am really into creating a list around a couple of Knights atm!
Honestly, i think most of the hate for the wraithknight is actually due to its on the shelf price. People want any excuse to not purchase such an expensive model, and who can blame them.
Fair enough!