Howling Banshees
SWORD: what Howling Banshees kills
Damage for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 85 pts kill ~71 pts in one activation.Typical melee unit: 55 per 100
Best against heavy infantry, weakest against heavy vehicles and monsters
Into each enemy type
Units near it by SWORD
Across the game· melee units
SHIELD: how hard Howling Banshees is to kill for its points
Toughness for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 85 pts take ~216 pts of enemy units to kill.Typical melee unit: 307 per 100
Units near it by SHIELD
Across the game· melee units
What reviewers say
4 reviewers- The best close-combat marine killers for the points 3 of 4
- Great with Jain Zar or an Autarch 3 of 4
- In many winning lists 2 of 4
- Weak into units that cut damage 1 of 4
Compare
| Unit | Letter | SWORD | SHIELD | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howling Banshees85 pts | A | Top 11% | Bottom 23% | 58of 112 |
| Troupe85 pts | B | Top 2% | Bottom 16% | 18of 112 |
| Striking Scorpions75 pts | C | Top 29% | Bottom 38% | 23of 112 |
With a leader
| Solo | Led | |
|---|---|---|
| SWORD | 111 | 111 |
| SHIELD | 254 | 254 |
| Solo | Led | |
|---|---|---|
| SWORD | 111 | 111 |
| SHIELD | 254 | 254 |
Per 100 pts: on its own, then with the leader joined.
How we got these numbers
What we ran
Howling Banshees, 5 models, 85 pts, with 4 Banshee Blade, 1 Executioner, 5 Shuriken Pistol, in Aspect Host (Path of the Warrior: Re-roll hit 1s). On its own: no leader, no stratagems, no other units' auras. Counted as dice: the detachment's rule.
SWORD
Enemy points it kills in one activation, per 100 pts of its own, against a mix of targets weighted like top tournament lists.
85 pts → kills ~71 pts → 83 per 100SHIELD
Enemy points it takes to kill it, per 100 pts of its own: the points of the cheapest units from top lists that kill it 80% of the time. It's per point, so a costly unit has to be much tougher to score the same.
~216 pts → 254 per 100Top and bottom %
Where each number ranks among the game's 572 melee units. How we score.
The letter
The average of 7 reviewers' newest Aeldari tier lists: Proxy Hammer (post-dataslate unit tier list) (8 Oct), CraftworldEldar (meta watch of the best lists, dataslate review, starter guide) (17 Oct), Goonhammer / tabletopbattles.com (Competitive Innovations: 9 winning lists and 10 summaries, and the September balance review) (17 Oct), Battleborn 40k (dataslate points review with the channel's Aeldari player) (4 Oct), 6 Plus Plus Gaming (detachment tier list) (29 Oct), Night Geist Gaming (five of his own lists, run through a damage tool) (27 Oct), 1d6chan (community 11th-edition tactics wiki) (2 Oct). A reviewer who would rather not be counted: tell us.
Lists
112 public Aeldari tournament lists, September – November 2026, from grimstat-corpus (CC BY 4.0). Also from Listhammer. Organisers and players: ask us and we'll take a list or an event down. Numbers run 2 Nov.