Imperial Armour Compendium - Eldar Titans

Welcome back, scions of the Craftworlds, as we review the Eldar Titans: the Revenant and Phantom.  Our coverage of the Imperial Armour Compendium continues with your elegant, sleek, and deadly engines of war.

With Imperium and Chaos Titans it felt like a lot of changes and powerful buffs were given to the units, though not all of it went their way.  Unfortunately, at early glance it does not look like the same can be said of your Titans.  Strap in, attune your spirit stones, and let’s dive in.

Distortion Field

Your equivalent of a sort to void shields, that which keeps you alive.  Unlike your Imperium/Chaos counterparts you do not lose this save over time!  What’s more, your decaying save (based on movement) is now a permanent 4++ against ranged attacks.  That’s an extremely nifty bonus since now you’re guaranteed what was your maximum save in the previous rules and you aren’t forced to constantly move into awkward spots or give up tactical advantage to keep your precious save.  Further, since it’s not longer move based, the reduced movement from damage taken means you no longer suffer a forced decay bracket of sort to this save.

Wounds and Stats

We’ll start with the Phantom Titan which lost 4” off its maximum movement and lost the BS2+ in its top bracket.  Your S and T values are the same and your Sv. remains unchanged.  However, unlike your Imperium/Chaos counterparts, you did NOT gain any new wounds here.  In short, no buffs and a pair of nerfs.

The Revenant is in the same boat.  It lost 2” off the maximum movement and its BS2+ in the early stages.  Like the Phantom, there are no changes to S, T, Sv., or wounds.  That’s a serious bummer.  However, unlike the Phantom, the Revenant’s WS has improved by one point.

For taking a good handful of nerfs and receiving only a single buff, there is solace in that the points and Power Level for the Revenant were reduced by 25 percent.  However, the Phantom Titan increased its Power Level by 20 percent while points increased by 25 percent.  The Phantom really is the clear loser here.

Keywords, Abilities, Etc.

The Eldar Titans retain Ancient Doom, meaning your Titans will rip through Slaanesh units with abandon.  Steersman Prime on the Phantom is gone, meaning your re-rolls have gone away.  And Unstoppable Wraith-Titan has been replaced with War Engine for the Phantom and a combination of Revenant Jump Pack and Titanic for the Revenant; this allows the two Titans to continue to charge after falling back.

The <CONCLAVE> keyword has been replaced with the <CRAFTWORLD> keyword, which allow the Eldar Titans to take advantage of the powerful Craftworld attributes that are in the various GW publications, a very welcome change for Eldar Titan owners.

Weapons

We’re going to run through these pretty quickly.  Unlike Imperium/Chaos Titan weapons that have many profiles, we can take a quick focus on yours.

• Cloudburst Missile Launchers picked up range and blast but sacrificed their random damage and lost potential max.
• Revenant Pulsars gained a flat 6 attacks and lost random damage to become something that even Terminators and Heavy Intercessors will fear.
• D-Bombards picked up better minimum shots and keep their potential maximum shots while giving up their potential maximum damage but gaining the ability to melt most dreadnoughts with a single hit.
• Phantom Pulsars take the place of the Dire Pulsar and give up one point of maximum damage to become a flat D 5.
• Voidstorm Missile Launchers get a HUGE range boost, keep their profile, and are not penalized for shooting against flyers.

Final Thoughts

There is a serious mixed bag here.  Overall, it feels like the Eldar got hit with a stick this time around.  No stat changes that help these Titans (other than the Revenant’s WS boost) and a lack of new wounds makes them easy prey compared to the Imperium/Chaos counterparts.  There are some weapon changes that look like nerfs at first blush but bring a lot of consistency to damage dealing, as well as a few other buffs, so weaponry may be the Eldar’s biggest gain.  And of course, you now have the Craftworlds keyword (a huge boon) and your Distortion Fields are a permanent 4++.  It’s very hard to call this a win for the Eldar and it may be a bigger hit than many of the children of Asuryan are okay with.  Let us know your thoughts below.