In a lot of games, I've seen that we doesn't have a Wave Serpent when/ where we need one, and usually it cost us the victory. Imho, it's because they are used as an assault/ hunting tank (because the twin linked shuriken cannons) as much as a deploy transport. Should they be reserved for troops deployment only, or the advantage they provide as "dps" tanks compensates for it? I'm not 100% sure. I know Serpents are useful for patrol and tank hunting, but maybe hawks and dragons could do the same work without risking a transport, or they could use a Falcon instead for fast travel. Just a bit of "art of war" talk. I want to know your opinions because I think it's important to learn how to best optimize our resources.
It doubles as a source of damage. It's a transport, but there's no problem with using it as an offensive "tank" that's extremely squishy.
It should only be getting used to fight other tanks when they're between where you are and where you want to be, or if they're very poorly defended. You shouldn't be getting into protracted fights with enemy tanks in a Wave Serpent, because we need them to keep pressure up on points. This goes for the transports for every Faction though. It just happens that ours is presently pretty badass at killing tanks at the moment. I think that'll be gone in the next patch regardless, so they'll go back to their primary role at that stage.
I believe it is best used to deliver Fire Dragons to a tank, just like in Table Top. When used as a dedicated armor hunter, it should be manned by 4 dragons. When attacking armor, two Dragons deploy to destroy the armour while the gunner provides cover and the pilot maneuvers as necessary. I've had excellent results with just two dragons, but for best results use 4!
You know I was actually just thinking it would be fun to get a group of 4 players or so to all just roam the battlefield in a Serpent, hopping out to quickly melt enemy vehicles.
Use of the wave serpent should not be 'restricted' to any role. The beauty of a fun game is diverse gameplay with the tools at hand. As such the Wave serpent should be free to be utilised to best acheive the squad's goals at that time; whatever that may be.
Just use it as both at the same time. While it's moving and the guns are manned, it's less likely to die. While it's moving, the spawns are not all from one direction and you can flank better.
I feel like the wave-serpent's offensive capability is too valuable to waste just sitting somewhere. It's actually at the point where I think it's better at killing things than the falcon which probably shouldn't be the case. It seems pretty effective roaming around an objective continuously on maps that allow it thus letting people spawn in a good spot whilst still making use of its firepower. In other news it would be really nice if the driver gun on eldar vehicles could actually be aimed with anything vaguely resembling precision.
The thing with WS is that it's good at: - Roadkilling. Seriously, any open place where infantery have to walk through is like going bowling. - Hunting Rhinos/Trukkas. Specially with a Fire Dragon Drop. - Escaping enemy Fire if it has a pilot. But it is very bad at "Sitting on a forward emplacement to deliver troops" because it dies so very very easily to Heavy Bolters/Autocannons. All it takes is one Devastator to find it and it's gone. This is why I sincerely thing the best you can do is to have a FD pilot it, drop you in your point, and then continue piloting it to keep it safe/use it as an anti-vehicle. Keeping it alive running near the point is so much better than letting it iddle and having it gone before you get to respawn.
The eldar vehicles are traditionally both, they are all built on the same, albeit modified hull. I expect things will even out once the heavier vehicles of other races come in, the landraiders and so on which will in turn call for the eldar fire prism to pop them which is one of the few eldar vehicles (warp hunter aside) to not also be a light troop transport. The Eldar unlike the other races however do not have any truly heavy armour, so should they fix the mechanics so bolter fire bounces where it should without causing damage that will be very telling in the end. Las-cannon and melta simply aren't seen amongst marine forces right now because of the stupid vehicle damage mechanics (leaving the heavy bolter as the go-to murder-all) but they tend to kill eldar vehicles fast.
