Relic and Sega have released more information about Dawn of War 3's Eldar faction. These elfin warriors are referred to as the "swordwind" because of their love of hit-and-run tactics, which they accomplish using webgate portals and units that can run really fast.
Units include the Dire Avengers, who are shooty battle line units that hopefully last a little longer than the Guardians of DoW 1 and 2. They can throw grenades that deal knockback. Dark Reapers, Rangers and Shadow Spectres provide high-damage ranged options, and the latter wield focus-fire weapons that are excellent against vehicles. I played against these units for our hands-on preview in the current issue of PC Gamer, and the flying Shadow Spectres were a scary counter to the imperial knight. Howling Banshees return, with a scream that slows enemies and blades that can trouble the toughest Space Marines.
A new hero has been detailed. Wraithknight Taldeer is a large Eldar mech made of magic bone that houses twins—one living, one dead—in spiritual union. Taldeer is not to be confused with the enormous wraithknight super unit with huge cannons attached to its arms. Instead Taldeer is a wraithknight warrior with a big sword. She can can dash through units with it to scatter lines. She can also jump in with a sliding attack. In the screenshots below it looks like you can support her with a unit of melee wraithguard, giving the Eldar some much needed heavy-melee options.
The Eldar are led by Farseer Macha. In Dawn of War 1, she looked like this. In Dawn of War 3, she looks like this.
I visited Relic recently and discussed some of the thinking behind Macha's redesign with Dawn of War 3's art director. Early in the concepting process they decided to opt for "a bit more of a Celtic-warrior type vibe." A piece of concept art showing circular structures around her head also heavily influenced the final design. "It’s the focal loci of the mind and getting drawn towards those mental psychic powers that are on display."
Those powers manifest in the form of the Singing Spear—a familiar item to 40k lore-hawks. She can plant it to project a comforting aura into the vicinity, or she can throw it and put units between her and the spear into invulnerable stasis for a time. She is vulnerable in combat without the spear, so there area counter opportunities for fast-attack melee squads such as assault marines.
Looking for more Dawn of War 3 info? Here's our first hands-on, first in-game footage, and a run down of the Space Marine faction. Hopefully we'll see the Orks soon enough.
