40K: The Warlord Traits of the Eldar
The Eldar have 11 Warlord traits to work with – come take a look at them and see what they can do!
The Warlord Traits of the Eldar reflect their different options and styles pretty well. There are 6 “generic” traits and an additional 5 that are Craftworld specific. Regardless of the list you’re wanting to run, there is a trait out there you can take advantage of – even if it’s pretty straight forward like An Eye on Distant Events. The trait doesn’t have to be super complex to be effective! You could even say they are Eldar Elegant…
Let’s dive into the Warlord Traits of the Eldar!
“Generic” Eldar Warlord Traits
Ambush of Blades
Ambush of Blades is great if your Warlord is going to be in the thick of the fighting. Slap this on a Close-Combat Autuarch and lead the charge with Striking Scorpions or Howling Banshees and cut the enemy to ribbons. (Phoenix Lords can’t have Warlord Traits…sorry.)
An Eye On Distant Events
This one is probably my favorite “generic” trait. You simply can’t shoot at the Warlord with your Overwatch shots. Again, this pairs nicely with getting charges off. Facing a unit of Auto-hitting Flamers? Use your Warlord to “take” the enemy’s Overwatch shooting and then charge in with another CC focused unit to actually mop-up.
Falcon’s Swiftness
Falcon’s Swiftness is another great “generic” trait. What Warlord couldn’t benefit from an extra 2 inches of movement?! Are there better traits out there – well, keep reading to find out. At the same time if you simply don’t know what to take then you can get down with the swiftness. (Hint: Autarch on a Jetbike. Zoom. Zoom.)
Fate’s Messenger
Hey you get an extra Wound and you get a “Feel No Pain” roll on top of that. Again, this one is perfectly adequate. It’s not flashy and it’s not game breaking but it will help your Warlord survive longer.
Mark of the Incomparable Hunter
Congratulations! You win the award for the longest trait name. And hey, this trait is also generically useful! If your character has a deadly shooting attack, why not use them to snipe out enemy characters. This pairs really nicely with other units that can snipe characters. You know the ones…
Seer of the Shifting Vector
This one is a free re-roll for a single hit roll, wound roll, save roll, Psychic test or Deny The Witch. It’s only once per battle round. Personally, I’ve very “meh” on this one just because you have Command Points for these. Then again, it is once per BATTLE ROUND. You could save quite a few CPs with this Warlord Trait.
Craftworld Specific Warlord Traits
Alaitoc – Puritanical Leader
Auto-passing Morale tests is pretty solid. Then again if your Eldar and you’re taking Morale tests you’ve failed the first rule of Eldar: Don’t get hit!
Biel-Tan – Natural Leader
Re-roll all failed hit rolls for a unit within 3″ of your Warlord. Now, Beil-Tan also has re-roll 1’s for all Shruiken weapons as a Craftworld Attribute. So is this over-kill? Only if you’re stacking this on units with Shruiken weapons. You can use this on vehicles like Falcons or Wave Serpents. Or even those tiny Wraith guys… what are they called? Wraithknights? Re-rolling the misses for BIG guns seems like a good idea.
Iyanden – Enduring Resolve
Are you really worried about shutting down the enemy Psychic phase? Well, Iyanden’s Warlord trait allows you to get an additional chance to deny a psychic power. This applies to non-psykers as well which is kind of neat. The enemy might not be expecting your Autarch to deny a power. If they can already stop a power they get to try to deny one more power per phase. Neat.
Saim-Hann – Wild Rider Chieftan
If you want to go head-hunting this Warlord Trait is perfect for that. First off it allows you more control over your pile-in/Heroic Intervention moves. It also gives you an additional attack against a character. Not too shabby. Now you just have to charge in there and start swinging for the fences!
Ulthwe – Fate Reader
At the start of your turn you get a free Command Point on a 6. If you’re feeling lucky this could be pretty great. But if you’re feeling lucky, shouldn’t you have plenty of Command Points because you’re not needing to spend them?! Hmm…doing some quick math, I don’t know if I really like this trait. Good thing the Eldar have some other strong “generic” trait to choose from!
Well that’s it for the Eldar Warlord Traits – what do you think? Do you see any clear winners? What about big losers? Let us know in the comments below!
