I'm leaving aside the issue as to whether wraithguard in the ghost warrior detachment can become troops right now. The point of this post is just to have a little fun respecting the rules that dropped yesterday. So the focus is on the two special rules attached to the formation: wraithwall and rage.
So any friendly model that would gain a cover save (by way of intervening models) from a unit part of the ghost warrior detachment is granted a 4+ save. This is a very beneficial rule in my opinion. In essence it gives the Eldar player a mobile ageis defence line that can contest objectives (at minimum) and fire 15 strength ten shots a turn to name a few benefits. The wraithguard themselves are fairly tall meaning quite a few units from the Eldar dex would benefit from the cover save. Units like like warp spiders or warwalkers become a lot more durable when they can capitalize on a constant mobile 4+ cover save. Also, the living wraithwall can obtain battle focus when using an Iyanden spirit seer.
Warwalkers in particular seem to work well with the new detachment. The Eldar player essentially has 3 extra heavy slots to work with. So now an army can take 3 squads of warwalkers on top of the 2 wraithlords and single wraithknight. The warwalkers also help shore up a weakness inherent to wraithguard: finding a point efficient way to provide anti-infantry firepower. Plus in a pinch if the warwalkers get assaulted they benefit from the rage special rule.
Looking at the rage rule, the wraithlords and wraithknight will really shine now. In the last few games I've played with my Iyanden list the swordlord has been the MVP. Working in tandem with the wraithknight the swordlord often advances up the field unmolested as my opponents will focus on my wraithknight. Once the wraithlord makes it to the enemy lines it rolls over the opponent. Wraithlords/knights with rage become very good. A stock wraithlord for 120 points becomes a beast with rage. Re-rolling all to hit rolls in the first round of combat greatly improves the standard WS 4 stat they carry. That means more character challenge hits that are often doubling out an opponent on a roll of 2+. If the wraithlord becomes a beast with rage, the wraithknight becomes a monster. Initiative five re-rolling 4 attacks at strength 10 is a big improvement over the stock version of the wraith knight.
So for 480 points the two stock wraithlords and wraithknight provide you with 12 toughness 8 wounds that can be positioned so as to assure any intervening cover save they provide will be a 4+. You can then layer your army so that the wraithknight can tank wounds and provide a cover save to all models behind it. Being such a large and fast model you can really take advantage of this rule. The wraithlords become all the better now that they don't have to dip their toe into cover to get a save. They are also quicker as one does not have to roll for move through cover and they get an improved cover save to boot. They can provide a 4+ cover save to the wraithguard behind themselves that in turn provide a 4+ cover save to the warwalkers behind them.
So if I were to brainstorm a list using the new formation it might look something like this (going with the Bay Area Open format as it is the next majour tourney coming up):
HQ:
Spirit Seer - wraithforge stone, helm of xellethon
Troops:
5 x 3 jetbikes
Heavy:
3 x 2 warwalkers - scatter lasers
Ghost Warrior Detachment
3 x 5 wraithguard - stock
2 wraithlords - stock
1 wraith knight - stock
Total Points: 1750
Total Troops: 5 (or 8 depending on whether the wraithguard become troops)
Total Strength 10 Shots a Turn: 17 (that can be spirit marked)
Total Strength 6 Shots a Turn: 48
12 toughness 8 wounds that can be healed every turn
3 MC's that will rage through the enemy lines.
While not a standard army and perhaps not the most optimal I think the above list could catch a lot of people off guard. It is durable and deceptively fast with the jetbikes and battle focus. Anyway just food for thought. It may all be moot however if the general consensus is to ban the new data slates.
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