Welcome back, scions of the Craftworlds, as we review the Aeldari 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.
