Detachment Tactics: Seer Council

During the initial release of the 10th Edition Aeldari Codex, James “Wings” Grover and James “Boon” Kelling reviewed the codex and each of the Detachments therein. After three months of competitive play, James “Boon” Kelling returns to the Seer Council for an updated look at the Detachment.

There has been a belief that the Seer Council Aeldari Detachment is a bad detachment, not just when compared to the other Aeldari offerings but as a general entry into the competitive meta. In our original review of this codex, James “Wings” Grover and I broke down the new book and each of the eight new detachments in detail, doing our level best to forecast their impact on the meta. While we did not rank them, our analysis has held up well as the results have played out. That is, Eldar would enter the meta good but not broken overall, that some detachments stand out above the rest – Aspect Host and Ynnari being the two big ones. While I personally refused to review the Ynnari rules due to my completely unreasonable disdain for that sub-faction, Wings nailed them bang-on as a potential problem owing to their Lethal Intent mechanic.

Two detachments that we did not spend much time highlighting in the codex review but received more positive consideration in the Detachment Focus articles were the Windrider Host and Seer Council – the former because of the direct power and maneuverability that it brought to mounted detachments; the latter because of its somewhat mystifying lack of a clear edge or advantage but a set of otherwise powerful stratagems. That seeming disconnect in design piqued my curiosity; I did not agree with many observers that Seer Council was a bad detachment and so set about trying to understand it more deeply. What I have found is that contrary to it being a bad detachment, I think Seer Council is actually an overlooked star of this codex and my experiences to date have only reinforced that notion – and yes, that includes Ynnari. I’ll break down those experiences, my understanding of this faction to date, and where I think it will go from here.

Brief aside, I recently made a guest appearance on the Craftworld Eldar podcast hosted by Brent Concilio where we both discussed this very topic – I highly encourage those interested in Seer Council or Craftworld Eldar in general to check out that discussion and Brent’s YouTube channel.

What Does Seer Council Do?

Any Detachment in Tenth edition derives its unique style of play from three things:

• Detachment Rule
• Enhancements
• Stratagems

These three categories applied to the core datasheets can radically alter how list construction and unit selections will play on the table. With Seer Council what you get out of these three categories can probably be summed up as follows:

• Detachment Rule: six command points that are tied to specific stratagems
• Enhancements: two non-notable enhancements, one situational enhancement that focuses on command point manipulation, and one that maximizes use of the Detachment rule’s free command points.
• Stratagems: all require an ASURYANI PSYKER to activate and most limit their use to non-wraith infantry – two defensive buff stratagems, one direct damage stratagem, one mission play stratagem, one movement stratagem, and one offensive support stratagem.

On the surface this is just not an inspiring set of rules to build around. The detachment rule offers no direct benefit to the datasheets and what’s worse, the rule is entirely tied to ASURYANI PSYKER units such that if you do not build with them, or lose them during the game, you gain zero benefit from this detachment. None. A general review of the list of Aeldari psykers gives a mixed outlook – the Farseer Skyrunner is probably your worst option; it is neither Infantry nor does it provide a strong ability boost to the army as -1 to be hit is only nice if you can withstand to be hit at all (Eldar cannot). Spiritseers have limited utility if you still plan on bringing wraith-infantry or Wraithlords, but their use will be niche in this case. They can provide a Lone Operative opportunity but that is strictly tied to Wraith units, and at least part of the synergy there is a nice-to-have, but not a must-have and the main benefits can be granted by alternative, cheaper options.

So that leaves the foot Farseer, various flavor of Warlocks, and then Eldrad. All of these can be good picks, but which type and how many will depend on how you want to build your list. The foot Farseer has a very nice set of abilities that helps to mitigate one of the downsides of Aeldari in general, which is the decreased reliability of their damage output compared to the index. The obvious boost is the army-wide +1 to hit, but no less useful is the ability to flip a hit, wound, or damage roll to a ‘6’ after the die roll in each phase. This is particularly useful when the Farseer is leading a unit of Guardians (either type) and wants to make the most of a Fusion Gun or Bright Lance (overwatch too!). The next character, a Warlock, can be a cheap caddy for the staple-pick enhancement Lucid Eye and can add some heavy flamer-style output to a Guardian squad and a situational defensive buff. More commonly seen across all detachment types are the Warlock Skyrunners – same price as a foot Warlock, though lacking a character keyword, but possessing significant speed. These have been effective in many types of Eldar lists for mission play, but their speed and psyker traits grant them extra utility in a Seer Council list that will rely on that keyword to function. The last type of Warlocks are the Conclaves, they can drastically boost the defensive and offensive profiles of a unit of Guardians while providing a ‘safe’ pskyer bubble. Alternatively, they can act independently to provide you with additional unit activations or a smaller footprint unit to leverage a redeploy. Finally, there’s Eldrad. I saved him for last because I believe he is the hinge point for this entire detachment – we’re going to come back to Eldrad, but first let’s talk about command points.

In general, when you build a list with a detachment in mind you will want to maximize the army’s benefits and minimize its weaknesses. I think players will sometimes confuse this and think about datasheets in isolation when building a list rather than considering the army as whole and how that detachment will function in that list. If you take the former approach, then you will find nothing here. It is a bad detachment. However, if we step back for a moment and assess the codex agnostic to detachments and pick out its strengths and weaknesses, I think we arrive at the following conclusions:

Strengths

• Near-universal speed that allows for an Eldar player to choose when to engage and is also critical to secondary mission play.
• A wide array of capabilities across the faction that can allow for flexibility, redundancy, and adjustment to an evolving meta.
• A strong faction rule that further boosts movement capabilities.

Weaknesses

• Primary mission play (Ynnari excluded).
• Inconsistent damage output with a particular limitation on good, long-ranged anti-vehicle/monster.
• Difficulty in absorbing losses; low durability.

When we examine how Seer Council layers into these, we have to understand the stratagems, because they are the total focus of this detachment’s rules:

• Presentiment of Dread: Force a command check at -1 during the command phase.
• Forewarned: Opponent is -1 to hit and -1 to wound in the fight phase.
• Unshrouded Truth: Movement phase immediate redeploy of a unit with no engagement restriction.
• Fate Inescapable: Ignore cover, critical wounds add an additional AP.
• Isha’s Fury: Psychic grenade that is 9”, does not require line of sight, and wounds on a 3+.
• Psychic Shield: Lone Operative at 18”

So then placing these into the perspective of how they support the strengths of the faction or mitigate for its weaknesses, I examine them as follows:

• Presentiment of Dread: Marginally supports primary mission play by either facilitating your own scoring or limiting your opponent’s scoring. Mitigates for a critical weakness.
• Forewarned: Strong defensive buff that can improve a unit’s meager durability in combat and will keep it on the table when it may have otherwise been removed. Especially useful when combined with the wide array of invulnerable saves and either low quality (WS and S) but high volume, or low volume but high quality attacks. Situationally mitigates a weakness.
• Unshrouded Truth: Strong. Beyond the obvious redeploy advantage of gaining position and firing angles, the stratagem allows for full knowledge of secondaries when deciding on whether and which unit to redeploy for scoring purposes. Particularly important in the late game when you might otherwise be lacking units or are out of position with your remaining units. It also solves a classic Eldar problem of being buried by a jail list that will not let you escape without weathering devastating countercharges. The benefits here are multiple in that it maximizes an Eldar strength in speed, enables units to leverage their capability for damage output to their fullest extent, and when used with units like Dark Reapers can provide part of the answer to long-range anti-vehicle/monster.
• Fate Inescapable: Subtle damage boost that will synergize extremely well with the types of units you will want to include in the list.
• Isha’s Fury: Strong. This one strat can be both a deterrent and an excellent source of chip damage – it is the type of strat that you want to be slamming every turn if you are in position to do so. The beauty of this strat is that it can pair so well with an overwatch. It boosts the damage output of your army and can limit the impact of an unplanned or unavoidable loss by making it more of a trade.
• Psychic Shield: Situationally useful, but this strat is extremely strong in mitigating the weakness of primary play. Using the terrain angles, counter-charge threats, and this strat you can effectively mitigate the challenges that Eldar have in holding primary. Alternatively, it makes for an excellent way to shelter a powerful hammer unit like the aforementioned Dark Reapers.

Detachments like Aspect Host or Warhost are much more direct and straightforward in implementation; Seer Council has many more layers. You must consider the full context of the army list and the faction to unlock its power. Not discussed above is the bevy of core stratagems. The secret to Seer Council is that you have enough CP in the army owing to Fate dice to not just play your stratagems, but also to swap out secondaries, throw grenades, heroically intervene, etcetera – which brings me back to Eldrad. He is a must-include in this army. Not only does he also boost your damage output and synergize well with a Warlock Conclave, he also maximizes your detachment’s advantage. That advantage is, of course, your unparalleled command point economy. Throw in an Autarch here or there and suddenly you are playing with 21-23 command points in a single game. For a faction that is otherwise CP-starved this is an incredible advantage and a luxury that is nevertheless subtle and indirect in its power.

How Does Seer Council Play?

The playstyle isn’t for everyone. To be clear, Seer Council has a high skill floor and is demanding on the player mentally. There are extra resource pools to manage, every unit in the army has options that won’t present itself in other detachments. It is extremely easy to misplay or misposition and put yourself in a hole early. You will be exhausted getting the hang of this army. However, it is also an extremely rewarding army and as the decisions become easier (and quicker) and the more familiar you are with your list and its capabilities, the more enjoyable you will find it. This is an army that begs caution but can be extremely aggressive when required owing to its redeploy capability. Learning to play Seer Council well will ultimately make you better at this game as it will demand foresight, pre-planning, and precision – all the things that the best players in the game possess and routinely exercise. The payoff is an army that can adapt to just about any challenge, and can play a full five turns competitively even when it has been nearly-tabled.

I recently trotted out my Seer Council list to an undefeated finish at the 62-player, 5-round Icebreaker GT event. That list and discussion on it can be found in the next section. However, the game that most exemplified the strengths of Seer Council was a white-knuckled ride into a strong Deathwatch opponent. It’s a tough matchup – that army can match Seer Council on mobility and with redeploys of their deadly and durable kill team bricks. I made a critical mistake right away on turn one and then proceeded to lose over a third of my army. The game looked dire. However, what remained was still potent enough that when my opponent drew secondaries that would force him into the open, he opted instead to play for late-game and focus on killing my units rather than giving me the chance to cut down his force advantage. By selectively sacrificing screening units to Psychic Shield my remaining hitters (Guardian Deathstar, Conclave/Eldrad, and Reapers), leveraging the mobility afforded by Unshrouded Truth, and being opportunistic when an opening presented itself I was able to keep myself in the game long enough to make a decisive redeploy on turn four and then again on turn five with the Guardian Deathstar. Those movements, focused late on primary play, would end up winning me the game with a little help from Maugen Ra and his shooting phase Battle-shock test.

I sincerely believe that with any other Eldar detachment, facing such an early deficit, I’d have found myself clawing for a narrow loss rather than prying victory from defeat due to a lack of necessary tools afforded by the Seer Council. That’s the power of a Seer Council build – understated, indirect, but no less impactful.

My Approach to Seer Council List Building

I have seen multiple Seer Council lists that have been successful and yet different from my own. I believe there are multiple ways to build lists in this Detachment owing to the wide number of infantry options available in the Eldar battle line, but my process is detailed below:

Boon's List

I generally prefer balanced lists that give me some flexibility to plug-and-play with units in a secondary role if I take unexpected losses early. When building that list, I start by focusing on a minimum ‘activation’ counts, or how many units I can individually manage. I start my planning with a minimum of 14, no matter what tradeoffs I make, my list must have 14 activations. This is to ensure that I have enough units to trade, screen, and still have play in the late game. With that simple structure, I start identifying what capabilities I need to counter the major meta threats, and to what extent. Anti-horde, anti-vehicle/monster, redeploys, non-redeploy speed, screens, durability, etc. I have spoken about the Guardian Deathstar, and Rob even wrote up a whole article dissecting the capability of that unit – I remain adamant that is a good unit and gives you a solid source of damage output that can trade up, even at it’s high price tag. I won’t go into the details since that article exists, but suffice to say, this unit has won me multiple games.

More puzzling to many has been my preference for Vibro Cannons and Maugen Ra. I will concede that the latter is not a recommendation, but in my specific build he has worked out well to boost a Dark Reapers squad in a manner similar to an Autarch with Banshees. The unique abilities he brings are more tools in the toolbox, and I love that here. The Vibro Cannons, however, are here to stay. At just 60 points for a T6, 5W infantry model with a very small footprint, they are excellent tools for screening and mission play and have all the movement advantages of any other infantry unit. They are in a word, pesky. They can shrug small arms fire that would otherwise chip down or murder any other non-wraith infantry unit and thereby require a little more dedicated effort than an opponent may otherwise want to provide. Offensively they can be hit or miss owing to their variable profiles, but you will always have enough command points to reroll a critical number of shots, and when considering the combined effects of a War Walker’s AP boost, a Farseer’s hit boost, and/or Eldrad’s wound boost, even one or two can inflict serious chip damage on a hard target. If you do put all three into a unit, you can expect to be trading up. Since the third gun will come from the Guardian brick, it will often have the advantage of ignoring cover as well.  All-in-all they are cheap and effective and synergize well with the this list and Detachment. I will often play two of them out of reserve with the War Walker.

The last unit I’ll talk about is the Warlock Conclaves. I’ve been high on these since the start and would probably consider a unit of these in every detachment type, particularly if taking Eldrad. They should always be led by either Eldrad or a Farseer, but whether you play them independently or as part of a Guardian bodyguard, they are useful all-purpose tools owing to their Destructor and datasheet ability to boost it. In Seer Council they particularly synergize, owing to their psyker keyword, but also because the combined effect of their Destructors in the shooting phase, as well as overwatch, and the capability of Isha’s Fury provides for an excellent source reliable damage into a wide array of targets. I run two, one with the Guardian Defenders and a Farseer, the other with Eldrad acting independently. They are excellent tools.

The rest of the list is filled with units that bring good capability to fill various needs – classic Aspect warriors right? I think what I love most about this detachment is just how true to the style of Eldar play it really feels. Lists have a narrative structure to them while maintaining a competitive edge.

Final Thoughts – Is Seer Council Good?

Yes.

It comes with a steep learning curve, and it might be both frustrating or exhausting to master, but in my opinion this detachment is the height of what it means to play Eldar. Admittedly, it just won’t be for some players; not their style. But it plays utterly unlike anything else out there and if you stick with it, you will find that in your games you will routinely encounter new situations when the game dynamics demand a unique solution to the problem presented. Fortunately, the tools are there.

I will also give you a hot take to close. I believe this is the best detachment in the book. Ynnari gets a lot of attention in this meta from players and commentators alike, and it should – it is a powerful detachment and it’s widely played. It is easier to jump into, has a couple of big tricks, but it also has a glaring weakness in that it requires your opponent to play into your game. Giving your opponent direct agency in how you play your game (lethal intent) is a surefire way to roll through mid-tables and then lose to an opponent who understands that they can be patient and creative in how and when they destroy your units. Seer Council provides them no such opportunity, and unlike the more straightforward Aspect Host or Warhost, there is no single method of attack for Seer Council but a plethora of options available at all times. You are trading off direct power for tools, and you can leverage excellent datasheets to make the most of them. You are mobile from the first turn on, no matter how passive or aggressive you want to play. Moreover, with a psyker and a command point you can afford to put yourself out of position in the mid-game knowing that you’ll correct for it later. The combination of core and detachment stratagems and the command points required to leverage them are effective in ways your opponents will not expect or are difficult to plan to. If you’re prepared to learn, I highly encourage you to lean in on the Seer Council – it’s been a blast.

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