I would say only Elites and Champions get fast executions, purely for balance, and despite lore. If we get a Harlequin elite, I am all for it. A banshee SHOULD execute quickly but it would be unfair. Save regular executions for humiliation after battle and that sweet sweet bonus XP.

In the old Execution discussion, I championed the cause for ALL basic executions being quick, excepting special unlockable or purchaseable ones which can either be quick and elegant or slow and humiliating. Others suggested XP reward to scale based on the duration of the execution. Still others (I don't agree with this at all) think players should be invulnerable while executing.

I don't think it's unfair to let Banshees execute quickly - that's kind of their job within the Eldar warhosts - Reapers put people on the ground, Banshees put a powersword through their neck.

I dislike this notion of trying to fit everything into Mon'keigh paradigms of combat - assault, tactical, heavy, support - that's just not how we Eldar fight. We distribute roles in combat - and execution speed is one way to really emphasize that.

Haha well yes, but you can quickly finish them off with a heavy attack. The execution is for the bonus and humiliation.

I admit I agree, I wanted executions to be fast. Most of them anyways.

That can be said about every faction not just Eldar.

Not really - a Raptor wouldn't be content to finish off the wounded - they want glorious battle, the clashing of chainsword teeth on plastisteel armor. They want to be the first strike - not the final blow.

Traitors and Devastators are like babysitters in my eyes, they run around trying to keep these lustful idiots from getting too far ahead of the front line, and getting themselves surrounded.

Ditto for the Orkz - orkz want *ahem* "waaagh" - they might specialize - but they're all in it for personal glory: they want to be the ones pulling triggers, even the smallest Ork wants to be the vanguard of a futile melee charge.

Maybe you could argue that an Assault Marine has the discipline to stay nearby and defend his ranged squaddies - but even in that case - they live for dropping their power boot on enemy skulls from 100 feet, followed closely by an overhead chainsword swing.

Our warhosts are a well-choreographed performance - a structure unlike any other - each aspect playing a well-defined role - and though the play that they perform may change: the character they portray does not. A Banshee is not a marauding lunatic craving blood, or a braying fool eager for glory or death, or even a zealous crusader seeking to validate their righteous superiority.

A Banshee is an Aspect first, and a Warrior second. They do not seek personal glory, they do not seek carnage, they do not rush headlong into death to search of themselves - as orks do. A Banshee is disruption incarnate - when all these others seek to strike her brethren - she is the sword that strikes. She is the scream that cows the hearts of men and ork alike - she is the aggressive defense.

She ties them up, that her kin may mow them down. She is distraction. She stands over the flanked and fallen - her blood red hair symbolic of that flowing final stroke she deals: not for herself, not for glory or pride, not even for mastery of her craft.

For duty - for that is what it means to be Aspect - she takes no joy in the kill, no joy that might tempt the Prince - she eschews the noble duel of rival martial artists. She only seeks to draw her foes eyes, that the Reaper may swing his scythe. That the Scorpion might sting. That the Hawk may dive.

This is how we Eldar wage war - a play rehearsed amidst unwitting participants - to scream and strike death is not the Warrior, but the Aspect she portrays: her character amidst her cast. To deliver the final blow is not her delight, it is merely a line she speaks - voiced in blood and terror - but lacking empathy or pride.

I have not been this passionate about anything in years.

General point: the devs have stated that at some point the executions will be made somewhat faster I think, but should remain risk-reward.

Reapers not executioners: I seem to disticntly remember a short story where an eldar that fit the dark reaper description doing just that, executing a prisoner with a cynical laugh and sardonic expression.

And I see Eldar warriors very much as emotional beings.
Their warmask only barely containig their lust for murder and slaughter.
An Eldar warrior strives for perfection. Without some drive, some aspiration, and yes, some pride, you don't reach such levels of performance. If there is no emotion in the dance, you don't need the dancer: a robot can execute the routine flawlessly.
We are talking about a psychic race that fights wars by partially impersonating a god of war and murder here..

And, Howling Banshees are shock troops, and have been described as such for quite a while. Not so long ago, they murdered Terminators. 'Tie enemies up'? 'Serve as a distraction'?
What about a stealth attacker? Pretty distracting no?
What about the swooping hawk? Supposed to become an annoyance, an ambusher, a pest, a 'distraction' fighter.
The warlock is a support unit...
If the banshee is a distraction, a tying up unit, we're not going to get a lot of 'killer' units.

Raptors are not glory seekers, they are terror troops, they hunt down the weak and vulnerable as a dark parody of wolves. Attacking out of the shadows vox casters echoing out a chilling cacophony of sound to deny their prey any vestige of hope or order. They then descend on their disorganized victims to rip them apart in a bloody display of screams and viscera, leaving behind a gruesome diorama of murder. A raptor doesn't receive a stimulus from simply killing them, they only truly feel alive when they are crashing upon them in a wave of terror. They are not a first strike force nor are they a final blow they are raiders attacking the fringes and weak points of whomever they find themselves up against, preying upon the slow, the weak, the undefended.

Meanwhile HAVOCS are those who have given into the adrenaline rush of raw firepower and have allowed chaos to bless them with the opportunity to become one with their heavy weapon, where many havocs have found themselves physically attached to their weapon of choice for mass slaughter.

If they get the E from Genshi in Overwatch (deflecting bullets that come from the front at where you aim) I will scream in joy^^.

I've said before Reapers should have slow and humiliating executions - I even mentioned them softly laughing all the while. I'm not saying they shouldn't have executes - but for a Reaper to execute you is a humiliation - something for which they do not do often, but in which they seek to embody the cruel appetite of death itself: such is their Aspect. It should be long, humiliating - and should leave them vulnerable. From a gameplay perspective, it should discourage them from running up to enemies in the open and finishing them while under fire - that is not what Reapers would do. A Reaper drops his prey and immediately targets his death - a fluidity and professionalism even the Mon'keigh do not match, a Banshee dashes past the fallen, to deal the killing blow. This is how a Warhost operates - each kill assisted by our kin - positioned precisely, coordinated perfectly, executed without hesitation.

We are a factory line for death - each doing our singular simple task - the input enemies - the output corpses. Only the Autarch - as supervisor - witnesses the full process end-to-end (the course of battle). The ranger sees, the reaper fires, the banshee kills.

We are also talking about a race who wear masks to shield ourselves from that same passion for excess. Who structures their entire society to temper passions. Who devotes every life of their entire race until the end of the galaxy - toward the singular goal of one day being able to follow their dreams again. We are talking about a psychic race who is so prone to excess they birthed a Ruinous Power: and who survive only by their ability to avoid repeating that mistake. A wry smile is all the contentment we can risk. Discipline is our only true shield against Slaanesh.

And they should murder Terminators. To say that they are a distraction is not to say they are weak - they merely do not need to test themselves if they have the alternative of turning their foe from the Scorpion that skitters through shadows nearby - or to draw them out where Reapers sow. Of course our Banshees can kill Terminators - need we demonstrate it endlessly in single combat? Or is not the greater insult to afford them no such honor as to duel us?

Should the Scorpion succeed - the only distraction they provide should be the gentle sigh of a soft sword-breeze before the mono-molecular teeth taste spinal column.

Swooping Hawks serve as misdirection too - they wear bright plumage and fire weapons of brilliant color to draw attention. They dazzle, and in their flamboyance they oppress with color and glitz. Like Rangers they are Recon. Like Avengers they are the fluid wave that serves as our front line. They draw attention purposefully, to distract - again so that our warhost my flank.

To distract and then to flank, this is the tenet of all Eldar combat. Always be stabbing your foe in the back.

A warlock is a witch first, a leader second, a warrior third. In their role as a leader, they may need to provide support to ensure their squads perform their function - but they are not a "support unit". That is a gross oversimplification of their role in our performance. A warlock is as the Crone - Morai'heg - they are fate given flesh. Sometimes fate supports an ascension to power - other times fate dooms worlds to destruction. Never trust fate to be in your favor - never mistake a Witch for mere support. The Witch is a character, not a combat role.

All Eldar units are killers - we just kill differently than the Mon'keigh. It's a team effort. To restate the whole point - we are not so simply categorized along Mon'keigh combat roles: none of us are purely assault, purely tactical, purely heavy, purely support - we are characters upon a stage - each a separate personality - all dangerous.