How to Play Aeldari in Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition

The structural change is Detachment Points. You get a DP budget — roughly 2 DP at 1,000 points and 3 DP at 2,000 points — and spend it on detachments that each cost 1 to 3 DP, so you can combine detachments.

The Aeldari Faction Pack layered this onto the codex and, unusually, added seven new detachments on top of the eight codex ones — most notably folding the Corsairs (Eldritch Raiders, Corsair Coterie) and Harlequins (Serpent's Brood, Fateful Performance, Twilight Flickers) into the core faction, plus a new Armoured Warhost grav-tank detachment and a reworked Path of the Outcast sniper detachment. That's 15 detachments total — one of the widest ranges of any faction. There's no full 11th-edition codex yet, so a future book could change things.

Battle Focus is the Aeldari army rule. At the start of each battle round you gain a pool of Battle Focus tokens (roughly 2 / 4 / 6 at Incursion / Strike Force / Onslaught). You spend a token to let an eligible unit perform one of six Agile Manoeuvres — extra moves, falling back and still acting, reactive repositioning, and the like. Each manoeuvre is generally once per phase, and a unit can only use one Battle Focus ability per phase, so the tokens are a rationed mobility economy: the Aeldari don't out-muscle you, they out-position you.

Common misconception: many older articles call the army rule Strands of Fate (the fate-dice mechanic). That is out of date. Strands of Fate is no longer the army rule — a revised fate-dice version survives only as the flavour of the Seer Council detachment, where the dice reduce that detachment's stratagem costs. For a normal Aeldari list, plan around Battle Focus tokens.

Your DP budget scales with game size: about 2 DP at 1,000 points and 3 DP at 2,000 points. Costs:

• 3-DP detachments (Warhost, Aspect Host) fill your whole 2,000-point budget with one strong package.
• 2-DP detachments (Windrider Host, Guardian Battlehost, Spirit Conclave, Seer Council, Ghosts of the Webway, Devoted of Ynnead, Eldritch Raiders, Corsair Coterie, Serpent's Brood) leave 1 DP spare for a support.
• 1-DP detachments (Armoured Warhost, Fateful Performance, Twilight Flickers, Path of the Outcast) are the glue — bolt one onto a 2-DP core.

One restriction to note: the two Harlequin ACROBATIC detachments (Fateful Performance and Twilight Flickers) share a Unique Tag and can't be taken together.

Fifteen detachments span the whole faction. Highlights by role, with DP costs:

• Warhost (3 DP) — the flexible all-comers generalist. Start here.
• Aspect Host (3 DP) — elite Aspect Warrior shrines.
• Windrider Host (2 DP) — hyper-mobile jetbikes that hit and fade.
• Guardian Battlehost (2 DP) — disciplined infantry objective play.
• Spirit Conclave (2 DP) — durable Wraith constructs.
• Seer Council (2 DP) — Farseer/Warlock psykers (home of Strands of Fate now).
• Ghosts of the Webway (2 DP) — the codex Harlequins hit-and-run detachment.
• Devoted of Ynnead (2 DP) — Ynnari and the death-god's followers.
• Eldritch Raiders (2 DP) — aggressive Corsair raiders (charge after Advancing).
• Corsair Coterie (2 DP) — Corsair objective-raiding.
• Serpent's Brood (2 DP) — Harlequin transports with Sustained Hits.
• Armoured Warhost (1 DP) — grav-tanks that advance and still shoot.
• Fateful Performance (1 DP) — Harlequin close-combat.
• Twilight Flickers (1 DP) — Harlequin evasion and objectives.
• Path of the Outcast (1 DP) — Ranger snipers from concealment.

Pick a core from your collection and playstyle:

• All-comers / unsure → Warhost. Jetbikes → Windrider Host. Aspect Warriors → Aspect Host. Wraiths → Spirit Conclave. Corsairs → Eldritch Raiders or Corsair Coterie. Harlequins → Serpent's Brood or a 1-DP Harlequin detachment.

If your core is a 2-DP detachment, spend the leftover DP on a 1-DP support (mind the Harlequin tag rule):

• Armoured Warhost to add mobile grav-tank firepower.
• Path of the Outcast to add concealed Ranger snipers for board control and character-hunting.
• Fateful Performance or Twilight Flickers to fold in a Harlequin element.

Example at 2,000 points: an Eldritch Raiders Corsair core (2 DP) + 1-DP Path of the Outcast pairs fast aggressive raiders with hidden Rangers that pick off enemy characters.

Two habits win Aeldari games. First, spend Battle Focus tokens with intent. They're limited, so use Agile Manoeuvres to win the positioning battle at the decisive moment — a reactive move to dodge a charge, a fall-back-and-shoot to escape and still fire, or an extra move to seize an objective — rather than dribbling them away. Second, lean into mobility, not attrition. Aeldari units are fragile; the plan is to strike, reposition, and never present a good target. Trade space for tempo and out-score.

And since 11th edition lets you run two detachments, remember you can use both detachments' stratagems — a 2 + 1 split quietly widens your toolbox.

If you're new or returning, build a Warhost list first. It's the flexible all-comers detachment, it works with almost any Aeldari collection, and it teaches Battle Focus token management without extra sub-systems. Once you're comfortable, experiment with a 2 + 1 DP split — a Corsair, Windrider or Aspect core plus a 1-DP support — to find your style.

Because Aeldari are on a Faction Pack rather than a full 11th-edition codex, watch for a future codex that could re-tune detachments and points. Until then, everything here reflects the current, live rules.