The Wraithknight is a champ, haters be ware!
Reecius here from Frontline Gaming to stick up for my boy, the Wraithknight!
Much like the maligned Dreadknight (although for different reasons) the Wraithknight has been cried about online more than anything else in the Eldar release. As the internet produces a lot of whining, crying and unfounded complaining in general, this is really saying something.
So, I got my Wraithknight assembled (fully magnetized for all kind of options!) and have been trying him out. All I have to say is: Boss!
Yeah, you heard me, the Wraithknight is a boss.
If you can find your umbrella to shield your self from the tears of the complainers, you will see that the Wraithknight is an absolutely fantastic utility unit. Plus, I just wuv the big lug, really a brilliant centerpiece model.
- He’s hard to kill, duh. Toughness 8 with 6 wounds is no joke. It is criminally easy to get saves for MCs too, so he will almost always have some kind of cover save.
- He provides much needed heavy AT and decent AA. Strength 10, AP2 shots are the Bee’s Knees! Or you can kit him for other tasks too, but really, Eldar don’t need help with AI duty, even heavy infantry. The Heavy Wraith Cannons are where it’s at, IMO. They also have the added benefit of causing ID on a 6, and a lot of the big nasty monsters in the game no longer have EW, so this is more useful than you may think.
- He fights well. He packs a good amount of max strength attacks, and his I5 is nice! Can he get tar pitted in a unit? Yeah, but come on, haha, the point of playing well is to not let things like that happen. And, with his speed, it really shouldn’t.
- Which brings us to point 4: He’s fast! Jump infantry movement stats are fantastic and really, really help to make him a multi-threat unit. He flies around the table blasting stuff and kicking the crap out of folks. I play him as a free safety, going where I need to bolster my attack and he is great for that.
- Divination powers for him are super useful (but when are they not?) Forewarning is great, Misfortune helps so much for those heavy units in cover but Prescience is really bomb diggity. I cast it on him almost every turn as the boost in shooting and assault really, really helps him out. Since he is often in position to shoot and assault, you get a lot of mileage out of the power.
The key to using this unit, like almost every unit in the Eldar dex, is to play him to his strengths. Obviously don’t be an idiot and charge him into a blob squad. Obviously try to eliminate Venoms and such ASAP.
Have him go after heavy tanks, have him go after tough units like Paladins and Oblits, etc. With Guide or Prescience, he stands good odds of dropping a flyer. You want to present your opponent with a lot of threats, not just big dog Wraithknight by his lonesome. In an army with multiple, viable threats, he drops on the priority scale.Played well, he will become a mainstay in a lot of lists. He has the speed to go on the offensive if needed, to fill gaps in a failing defense or attack where needed. He packs the much needed str 10 guns Eldar typically lack, and he will judo chop most things in the sack in combat.
In my opinion and so far in practice, this unit has really impressed me and I play on running on in all of my builds alongside the Jetseer, War Walkers and Warp Spiders, who are all just fantastic units.
And he’s cheaper than a properly upgraded Dreadknight, which is a big win. Dreadknights are good, but their upgrades are definitely overpriced.
That’s not correct. A competive dreadknight is usually eiter a cheap one with just heavy incernator at 160 points, or a more expensive one with teleporter also, at 235. The base version of the wraithknight is 240
What about a nemesis greatsword?
Don’t lecture me on competitive uses of a Dreadknight. A cheap version is too slow in an army with plenty of alternative units that fill the same role. The main value a Dreadknight brings is its speed, which puts it at 235 minimum. Even at that point value, it’s less durable than a Wraithknight, and survivability is the main problem with a Dreadknight. Throw on a Greatsword, which is well worth it, and you’re up to 260.
Guess i have to lecture you more then.
1. Greatsword is nice but gets the knight to expensive. I have never seen the sword in competive lists.
2. Your statment about the cheap version is not accurate. Its a little slow yes, but plz remember deep strike. A lot of good players have placed high in Nova, BOA, Adepticon and other GT, with 2-3 knights without teleporter.
Eldar are not easy win button army . The interwebs hate this. I am happy that the game is taking this direction. You are spot on. Cheers
Glad you liked it!
awesome review Reece :-). On another note, as you are a nid player could one zoanthrope cast Gate of infinity and then another cast objuration?
no need to answer, i think ive worked it out (no in short)
I agree Reecius that the model is awesome, and that it will be hard to kill.
Based om my early impression i disagree that it is competive. The reason is that its damage output, cc and range, is to small for its points.
For example in cc, the knight, if charging, will kill on average only 2 space marine.
If it gets into a dreadknight, the wraithknight (not charging) would make on avarage 1,1 unsaved wound. The dreadknight (not charging) will on average give 2,2 unsaved wounds back. With force weapon that will be a killed wraitknight.Dreadknight is faster and cheaper. And dont get me into other races MCs, like nids, chaos, and CSM…
You also have the problem with the eldar force slot. There are many good options in the heavy slot. Fire prism, war walkers and wraitlord just seems better. Even Dark reapers and nigh spinner is decent.
But time will tell i guess. Plz make som Battle reports Reecius. Maybe a 2 wraithknight build vs something hardcore. I will accept proxies . 🙂
i will be watching for shure.
of course the dreadknight and marines will get shredded by shuriken weapons or warp spiders. Then there are dark reapers who make marines go away in a hurry.and fire dragons for dreadknights. How bout wraithgaurd weapons. Any of these will not have a problem getting into position with the massive mobility of the eldar. How easy is it to catch that wraithknight whos moving 12 a turn.The thing is all these will probably be in the eldar army so its not even some wonking skewed list.
Exactly! It is not a unit all on its own, it is a part of a larger machine.
It’s what one might call a ‘force multiplier’. The strength of the whole becomes even stronger than the sum of its parts. 🙂
You said it. That is what Eldar are all about. Nids work like that in many ways, too. Unit combinations to torque up the power of the whole.
I don’t think a two WraithKnight list would be effective.
A single Wraithknight is very effective, from my experience. He can be where he needs to be and do what he needs to do.
He’s big enough to attract attention, but that attention is also deserved. You can also kit him out to deal with any kind of issue your army is lacking.
I’ve been taking the 300pt Suncannon and Scatter Laser guy and have been impressed. He’s made his points back every game so far. Although, for him to be effective on the board, I don’t think that should be the measure of his success. How much does he distract my opponent? A lot. He really is a fox in the hen house.
Taking two wouldn’t be as effective, as you need space in your list for other premium selections in Heavy Support… save Dark Reapers, they’re all top notch.
1) 3 Support Batteries for 90pts, add in a concealing warlock to make it 125. That’s 13 T7 wounds.
2) Nightspinner with Crystal Targetting Matrix. Turbo across the board and Torrent some things with your S7 or S8 flamer.
3) Fire Prism. 60″ range that shoots whatever you need.
4) War Walkers, with almost any load out… these things are stellar.
5) Wraith Lord. The Wraithknight’s little brother. He doesn’t attract too much attention with his big brother on the board.
yeah im leery of two. The damage that all the heavy spots put out is too great to pass up. One seems best bet for me. but if you are are going for a very fast jetbike\serpent build then two can give you the AT punch to clear the way for your stuff.
I think you are getting hung up where a lot of folks do: on the up front numbers. Yes, he isn’t ultra impressive like a Hell Turkey at first glance, however, you need to think about him within the context of the over all army. Eldar units typically don’t function in a vacuum, you have to use them in concert with other units.
If you send it up the field solo, it most likely will disappoint, but if you have it go after what it is good at killing, it will perform admirably, IMO.
I think that somehow people still havent got the old codex out of their heads. When you actually face the new Eldar they are going to kick you in the quad
Yeah, you have to rethink the way you play the army! It is a different army now, better in most ways, but different.
He is bigger than a Bastion? Auto-include!
Right?!
I like that you are standing up for the big boy, but I have a couple of ‘wtf?’ points.
How is he an effective AA? As you stated he was, he has 2 shots base, and no skyfire
Against a DE opponent he will drop to weight of fire (poisoned weapons)
Currently I think he is overpriced for what he does/brings to the table, I still bought one (might never play him) and in regards to centerpiece yeah he is boss in that regards. Currently I taking a wait and see approach, is he useless, no. Is he steller, also no. Just kinda meh, and with the other options in heavy meh really isn’t good enough I think, when the others are WOW, KAZAAM!
Ah, fair play, I should have said that with Guide/Prescience he is effective AA. He gets effectively a 4/6 chance of hitting, and if he hits the Flyer MUST jink (apart from stupid Hell Turkey) or they will almost certainly get heavily damaged or destroyed.
The other heavy choices are solid though, I agree. It is not an easy choice.
I’ve found the Wriath Knight works wonders for a mech list. The tanks give him cover saves and he can fend off assaulting units that get to close to the serpents. Put him stock behind 3 wave serpents filled with 30 avengers and their is not much in this game the above combo can’t handle.
I can totally see that.
I run him in a similar way, as a free safety unit. He goes where needed with his speed and hits hard.
Me: Sorry TSA office this is not a bomb but a writhknight.
TSA: why u magnetize the model? We cant allow that to go on the flight. You might build a bomb on board. Turn around we going to strip and anal search you.
Me: no no. I hv my 4th adm right.
TSA: o no you dont here.
30 mins later.
TSA: Ok he is clean but that model is not going on carry on.
Not sure that a good idea.
If I fly and I don’t get a cavity search, I feel like I didn’t get my money’s worth!
LMAO!!! Awesome! 🙂
+1 for using the neon genesis evangelion pic.
I thought it was appropriate =P
Hey Reecius,
Good to see your review on the Wraithknight. I guess I’m one of the “haters” right now on it, I think it’s cost is just so much. However, I value your opinion a lot on the matter, and would be glad to change my view on it. I’m looking forward to continued tactics from you, on Eldar! I’m quite a bit rusty with them.
It just seems so expensive, and can have a lot of bad matchups, it’s really off putting to me on paper. I can’t say I have tried one out on the tabletop yet though. The Iyandan supplement my change my mind on it though.
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Wraithguard/Wraith Blades!
+1 for using the neon genesis evangelion pic.
^ this
He’s totally correct, base build wraithknight is cheap for the value…
It’s 40 points per T8 wound in defense alone
Terminators are the same cost for half the toughness, and for the same cost you only get 12 bolter shots out of them…12 bolter shots aren’t even better than 6 guardians shooting…
Likewise the 3 walkers are great, but they are effectively 50 points per wound (effectively T6), because they typically can only soak 3 hits from Anti tank wpns
WG are 32 pts per T6 wound..
Wraithlords build out to about 160 points now, putting them at 53 points per T8 wound, and they are eliminated upon the third wound, so for every two wraithlords, the WK pretty much gets an additional wound in the deal…
There really isn’t a better value for the defensive ability to shirk wounds in the game at T6 or better…? Weapons that can hurt him become scarce after a while.
I love your review on the mini titan. He is great as a center piece and a for to not be underestimated on the tabletop. Until you run into an effective player fielding this I believe you should hold such negative judgements. I approve of Reece’s review!
Haha, thanks!
tl:dr the comments.
I was wondering if you’d thought of putting a wraithknight on a skyshield for a 4++ save in addition to their already great resiliency. Now, not only do missiles only wound them on a 4+, but then they save half of the wounds!
Yeah, that is nuts! But, I have found that the best thing about the Wraithknight is its mobility. He’s so fast! Plus since he auto-passes dangerous terrain, you just jump from terrain to terrain piece and almost always have a 5+ cover. So far in my test games, he hasn’t even come close to dying, not even close. And every single game he has taken out way more points of enemy units than he costs. He is seriously good.