how usefull are wraiths?

[cardXV]

I am interested to get people opinions on wraiths and how effective they are in combat

[PURGATUS]

not.

[MyMyst8k]

They may not be that effective in combat, but they can be awesome objective/table quarter grabbers.

[cardXV]

i have a hard time seeing them as useless... they are like hq units with jumppacks and no power weapons, i understand no power weapons bites but striking scorpions dont have power weapons either.

[Rogue428]

I only use them when I have points to fill up. IMHO, they are effective as objective/table quarters takers /contesters... use em as scoring units, otherwise, they actually tend to go down rather easily....a lot easier than you might think.

Maybe it is because I only use 3.... if you massed them.... say 3 squads of 3 and hit the same unit, that could be devastating.

But also kind of too expensive.

[smileytheelf]

My army I tend to use two units of 1. At that point since they completely ignore terrain and can turbo boost, you have alot of options for them. Don't think of them as being effective in HtH, cause they aren't. They are probably the best objective grabber in the game. The can also be used to tie up squads if you charge correctly, but not for more than a turn. I also use them for indirect ordinance hunting, because they are S6 with 4 attacks on the charge. They ignore terrain and move fast, so getting there isn't an issue. They have a 3+ invul, so surviving is usually doable as long as you are careful about movement. And against AV10 you have a very reasonable chance of cracking them, especially if they don't move. If you deployed effectively, you can often force your opponent to move into LoS of something else to escape the wraiths. Just my thoughts on them, but I won't leave home without at least one.

[PURGATUS]

Reason they're not effective in cc is because of their puny numbers, and shooting-centriccity of the rest of the army. A few things happen even before cc... aka they get shot, by small arms fire. Ever shoot at 3 marines with jumppacks? They die like 3 marines with jumppacks. Ever wonder what happens to 3 dead wraiths regarding WBB? You get to place them back into the nice little carrying case they came in.

This leaves cc. You have 3 models contributing 12 non-power weapon attacks on the charge, what that means is every wound you take, you lose ALOT of the meager cc you do have. Also, they go down just as easily in cc as shooting, 3 marines are not that difficult to kill in cc. IF you lose combat, you're gonna be outnumbered, and that sucks--even with a Ld 10.

As far as anyone else without the power weapons... they run in fatter units, your MAX size is 3... 12 attacks on the charge (maxed out) vs i dunno, scorpions, with 20 attacks on the charge (bare minimum). More cc potential.

For 123 points, 3 wraiths are not effective enough for me to field any. But you should (proxy) playtest them and see if you like 'em.

btw scorps can take a power weapon...