Eldar Exarchs: Equipment & Weaponry Quiz

Answer: power weapon

Striking Scorpion Exarchs are usually armed with the traditional mandiblaster, shuriken pistol and scorpion chainsword combination. They can upgrade the chainsword to a bigger, more-fearsome Biting Blade, replace the shuriken pistol with a Scorpion's Claw, or instead be armed with matching chainsabres.

However, striking scorpions aren't trained in the use of power weapons. Those weapons are used by the Howling Banshees instead.

Answer: dragon's breath

One of the new weapons introduced in the latest codex, the Dragon's Breath flamer is an odd choice for a Fire Dragon Exarch. Whereas the rest of his squad are armed with vehicle-killing fusion guns, the Dragon's Breath is best used against lightly-armored infantry.

As mentioned previously, fusion guns, best used against heavily-armored vehicles, are the standard weapon of the Fire Dragon aspect warrior. The firepike is simply a longer-ranged fusion gun, while melta bombs are carried by all Fire Dragons and are short-ranged, anti-vehicle explosive devices.

Answer: triskele

The triskele is a bladed, throwing weapon originally based on the Silent Death, a trademark weapon of the Howling Banshee Phoenix Lord, Jain Zar.

The executioner cannot be used as a ranged weapon, as it is a huge two-handed blade not unlike a glaive that Banshee Exarchs can be armed with to be able to damage tougher opponents. Mirrorswords are just twin power swords that allow the Exarch to throw more close-combat attacks than the standard shuriken pistol + power sword combo does.

While the star lance can be used as a very short ranged-weapon, it is too heavy for a Banshee and is reserved for the jetbike-riding Shining Spear Exarchs.

Answer: spinneret rifle

While the death spinners can really pump out the most amount of high-strength shots among the choices, their nonexistent armor-penetrating capability render them incapable of actually delivering a penetrating hit on any vehicle.

The one-shot spinneret rifle on the other hand, has the one of the best AP values in the entire game and almost every hit with will be a penetrating hit.

Powerblades give the Exarch a lot of attacks in close-combat. However, his paltry strength renders him incapable of scratching even the lightest armor.

Answer: sunrifle

The new Sunrifle delivers twice as many shots as the stronger Hawk's Talon and the standard Swooping Hawk Lasblaster. The grenade pack, when it is eligible to fire, only has one shot.

Answer: star lance

While the power weapon isn't hampered at all by the lances' need to charge, the standard Eldar strength means that Shining Spear Exarchs will have difficulty causing wounds on many enemy characters. The laser lance and the shuriken cannon both have the same strength, but the cannon cannot really be aimed at characters as those tend to be protected either by the squad they're in or other nearby targets.

The star lance on the other hand, is an excellent choice for character-killing exarchs. On the turn he charges, an exarch that inflicts just one wound can most probably insta-kill most enemy characters up to space marine toughness.

Answer: shuriken cannon

Of course, the shuriken catapult being the traditional iconic Dire Avenger weapon, an Exarch can be given two of these fearsome rifles. A Dire Avenger Exarch's weaponry can be upgraded to a power weapon and a shimmershield for some close-combat staying power.

The shuriken cannon is not a weapon that a Dire Avenger Exarch can carry. Instead, this devastating weapon is used by Harlequin Death Jesters and to a lesser extent, Dark Reaper Exarchs.

Answer: shuriken cannon

Yep, one of the downsides of Dark Reapers is that they are a static firebase. Almost all of their weapons count as Heavy weapons, so therefore they cannot move and fire in the same turn. The only weapon that a Dark Reaper Exarch can actually move an fire with is the Shuriken Cannon, which is an Assault weapon.

Answer: Howling Banshee Exarch

Of course, the Swooping Hawks come with their traditional grenade pack, along with a batch of haywire grenades for vehicle-killing. Fire Dragons are armed with melta bombs for tough armor-cracking. Striking Scorpions are armed with plasma grenades for assaulting enemies in cover.

The Howling Banshees are neither armed with, nor need grenades. Their masks are more than sufficient to dismiss the need for any kind of initiative-removing grenades at all.

Answer: Fire Dragon Exarch

Shining Spears are definitely off the list, as one of their specialties is the close-combat charge with their laser lances.

Dire Avengers Exarchs, being extremely versatile, can be armed with character-killing Direswords or squad-defending Shimmershields.

Swooping Hawks Exarchs, while they have lost the super-HtH powers they had in previous editions, retain a possible power weapon upgrade.

Fire Dragon Exarchs on the other hand, have no special powers or equipment that make them decent HtH fighters. In the previous incarnation of the Eldar Codex, the Exarch actually had the Burning Fist power, which made his close-combat attacks count as power weapon attacks. As of the latest incarnation of the codex, this power does not exist at all.