Soulstorm/Eldar

This page is about a Dawn of War: Soulstorm multiplayer and single-player units. For previous versions, see Dawn of War. For background information, see Eldar.

Commander

Farseer

Primary commander. Effective against infantry at range. Has great support abilities.

Harlequin

Specialized melee unit, great for disruption and commander hunting in packs.

Avatar of Khaine

The ultimate eldar unit. Requires a captured relic.

Infantry

Bonesinger

Builder unit. Constructs all Eldar buildings. Can teleport over short distances.

• Guardian Squad
• Ranger Squad
• Howling Banshee
• Dark Reaper Squad
• Fire Dragon Squad
• Warp Spider Squad
• Seer Council

Vehicles

• Falcon Grav Tank
• Vyper
• Wraithlord
• Nightwing
• Shuriken Grav Platform
• Brightlance Grav Platform
• Fire Prism

Buildings

Plasma generater.

Aspect Portal.

Webway gate.

Turrets.

Listening post.

Tips

Eldar are generally a well-balanced but weak race so they need advance strategy to move. First it is good to collect a big honour guard. The thing with Eldar is that their normal primary units are weak in all aspects except speed. So you have to use it very well. Then the more advanced the units get the more complicated it gets to handle them. For example, when I started playing I sent two squads of Fire Dragons against a squad of space marines... as you guessed BAD move. The Fire Dragons are best against buildings and vehicles, but are killed off when they are in melee combat. Melee combat belongs to the Howling Banshees, they can take care of anyone in melee combat, so effective that the species were killed off like flies. The warp spiders are essentially an ambush unit used in thwarting an incoming force by appearing behind them and shooting them. The dark reapers are effective against infantry from a long distance. The seer council are essentially all rounders and pretty effective to have lots of them.

Eldar's power is its insane mobility, you must use this to your advantage. Above, Eldar is described as a "generelly...weak race" this is completely untrue, they are a Tier 1 and Tier 2 powerhouse which drops off a bit in Tier 3. I understand that he might describe Eldar as weak because the basic unit does almost no damage but you must understand each units roles.

Roles of Units

Bonesinger:

Bonesinger's appear as simply a building unit, however they are required in Eldar armies. This is because you build Webway gates everywhere. Build Webway gates in all choke points on the map. Build your first Webway Gate in your base after you have made your aspect portal, then immediately skill Shroud. Then use the Bonesinger's teleport ability to quickly travel to a point of interest (critical location, relic, center of map) and drop another portal. Make sure you have portals at all entrances to your base(this will give you vision and also allow you to teleport your Howling Banshee Squads right on top of the enemy.

Guardian Squad:

The Guardian Squad does little damage, try to avoid fighting with them, use it only to scout and capture. I make two at the start of the game then queue up capturing a whole lot of Strategic Points by holding shift and then clicking on the Points I want them to capture. You absolutely must research Fleet of Foot. Basically you want your Guardian Squad running around with Fleet of Foot on capturing Strategic Points for the first 10 minutes of the game.

Ranger Squad:

The Ranger Squad is extremely good in Tier 1 game play, as soon as you have a squad, send it out to scout/capture Strategic Points, and don't forget to research the Stealth so they are invisible. Often there is nothing the enemy can do about this squad except let there builders/scouts get picked off.

Howling Banshee Squad:

Howling Banshee's are excellent in melee. In Tier 1 you want them in every fight. A brutal combo is a Ranger Squad and a Banshee Squad, this combo can be outnumbered 2:3 and still win in Tier 1. Later in the game (Tier 2 - 3) they make excellent tanks and allow squads that are better suited to range (Dark Reaper Squad) stay back and melt the enemy.

Dark Reaper Squad:

Dark Reaper's are a group of anti-infantry ranged squad that I usually skip. The only time I would get these if I was up against Eldar and needed some ranged damage because they kept running away when I got close. The reason I usually skip it is because getting close isn't really an issue when Fleet of Foot is skilled.

Fire Dragon Squad:

Fire Dragon's are an anti-vehicle/building squad, infantry unit and boy do they deliver. Buildings melt when Fire Dragons are going at them. This sort of power in Tier 2 is extremely strong. Sadly they don't do much damage against infantry but completely annihilate vehicles and buildings, this means they need someone both to tank the enemy at melee range and also someone to kill the infantry and Howling Banshees are the perfect candidate.

Falcon Grav Tanks:

Falcon Grav Tanks are a supportive unit that transports units around. While not strong by themselvess, the ability to do hit and run guerrilla tactics is very strong. I try and end the game in tier 2 by building 3x Grav Tanks, two will each have a squad of Fire Dragons and the other will have two squads of Howling Banshee's. Then I use the Fly Ability to jump over cliffs/walls of the enemy base and unload. Use the two squads of Fire Dragons to focus buildings while the Howling Banshees either kill the enemy or tank enough and buy enough time for the Fire Dragons to destroy their barracks/research building or even just go for the HQ.

Eldar Theory / Playstyle:

Eldar are a Tier 1 and 2 balanced race. What does this mean? It means you start off with the weakest units in Tier 1 and 2 (such as the guardian squad) and you need to take this advantage and milk it for all it is worth. Do NOT stay in base, build up a huge army and attack at 40 minutes. You want to build your Aspect Portal first and get 1 Ranger Squad (with Stealth) and 1 Howling Banshee Squad ASAP. With these units you play aggressive, trap them in their base, build an aggressive warpgate so you can continually deliver units right outside there base. Once you have a sufficient anti infantry force (2-3 Howling Banshees + 1-2 Rangers) Make two squads of Fire Dragons and destroy them at the 17 minute mark.

My Build order:

BUILD: Aspect Portal > CREATE: 2x Guardian Squad > SKILL: Fleet of Foot > BUILD: 3x Generator > CREATE: Ranger Squad > SKILL: Stealth > SKILL: Howling Banshee Addon > CREATE: 1x Howling Banshee Squad > Then go aggressive.