Ethereal
From RelicWiki
Ethereal | |||||||||||||||||
Race | Tau | ||||||||||||||||
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Version | Dark Crusade v1.2 Soulstorm v1.2 | ||||||||||||||||
Build Info | |||||||||||||||||
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Unit Stats | |||||||||||||||||
Hitpoints | 950/2 | ||||||||||||||||
Armour | Commander | ||||||||||||||||
Morale | 300/10/50 | ||||||||||||||||
Unit Mass | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
Move Speed | 16 | ||||||||||||||||
Sight Radius | 30 (detection 30) | ||||||||||||||||
Attachable | No | ||||||||||||||||
Weapons | |||||||||||||||||
Ranged | None | ||||||||||||||||
Melee | Ethereal Honour Blade |
Contents |
Ethereal
"Banish your fears."
The Tau Ethereal Caste is surrounded by mystery, but is believed to be the de facto leaders of the Tau Empire. Although not trained as warriors, they do sometimes join the Fire Caste on the front lines to oversee the battle. Seeing as the Ethereals are the most important figures in the Tau society, such an event generally raises the fighting spirit among the troops. However, the Ethereal can also provide more concrete support by lending his personal Shas'Ui Bodyguard to serve under the Tau Commander as well as providing bombing coordinates to the Air Caste. In addition, the Ethereal can detect infiltrated units.
Holograph Bugs in Dark Crusade
Holographic Projections are supposed to have the same health and armor as the original, but there are a number of bugged units in Dark Crusade. Vespid Stingwing Strains have 250, Pathfinder Teams have 250, Kroot Shapers have 1000, Kroot Hound Packs have 1200, the Greater Knarloc has 6500, Drone Squads have 800, Drone Harbingers have 2500, and Hammerhead Gunships have 3200 and also have vehicle high armor.
Tactics
The Ethereal's primary purposes are to provide passive bonuses to Tau units and summon a free Shas'Ui Bodyguard squad. The presence of an Ethereal grants 200 extra HP and morale to every Tau unit and building, even Harbinger Drones and Snare Traps (only in Dark Crusade), which boosts most Tau units' health by more than 50%. Shas'Ui Bodyguard squads possess the longest base range of any infantry unit in the game and have extremely high durability.
The Air Caste Strike ability is powerful, but difficult to use. It takes a full 20 seconds for the strike to expand from its center to its edge, but it covers a tremendous ground area once it is fully spread out and functions very effectively at area denial for its duration.
The major challenge with Ethereals is to keep them alive. The best way to do this is to keep the Ethereal in your base, at the rear of your army, or hiding in a Devilfish Troop Carrier, although the latter option will disable his bonuses to the Tau army. The latter option is necessary against Imperial Guard, whose Vindicare Assassin can quickly eliminate the Ethereal. A holographic projection of your Ethereal can be used to draw fire while the real one makes an escape. The holograms can also be used as decoys to absorb damage, good candidates are Krootox, the Greater Knarloc and Hammerhead Gunships. Another note is that holograms of Pathfinder Team can be useful too, as their shots still slow down the enemies that they hit, as well as also being useful as (temporary) detectors. The Ethereal is one of the only three units in the game that gain their keep whether in or out of battle, the other two being the Eldar's Avatar of Khaine and the Sisters' Living Saint.
Ethereals are also capable melee fighters as far as Tau go, but it is best that this only be a last resort due to their frailty and importance in providing a boon to Tau units, and the fact that if he dies, this will also severely weaken your forces.
Abilities
For The Greater Good
For The Greater Good | ||||
Requires | Nothing | |||
Target Types | All friendly units and buildings | |||
Range | 0 | |||
Area of effect | Infinite | Cooldown time | Passive ability | |
Effects | An innate and passive ability that adds 200 health and morale to all Tau units except Snare Traps and Harbinger Drones (In Dark Crusade all units are affected). However, should the Ethereal be killed all friendly units and buildings within a radius of 150 suffer 100 points of physical damage, 500 morale damage, and don't call out their status for 10 seconds. | |||
Summon Shas'Ui Bodyguard
Summon Shas'Ui Bodyguard | Hotkey: S | |||
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Requires | Nothing | |||
Target Types | Own unit | |||
Range | 0 | |||
Area of effect | 0 | Cooldown time | 120 s | |
Cost | 2 | |||
Effects | Summon a team of Shas'Ui Bodyguards. Limit of 1 squad. | |||
Holographic Projection
Holographic Projection | Hotkey: H | |||
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Requires | Nothing | |||
Target Types | Any Tau squad or vehicle | |||
Range | 10 | |||
Area of effect | 0 | Cooldown time | 45 s | |
Effects | Summons a holographic copy of the targeted unit. The copy's attacks do no damage and it takes triple damage from all weaponry, but take no morale damage. Most units have the same health and armor class as the copied unit (see above). Cloned units will automatically disappear after 60 seconds. | |||
Air Caste Bombardment
Weapons
Ethereal Honour Blade
Ethereal Honour Blade | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cost | Default Weapon | Range | Melee | Setup Time | 0 s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Build Time | Default Weapon | Accuracy | 100% | Refire Rate | 0.8 s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Area of Effect | 0 | Requires | Nothing |
The Dawn of War Player's Guide
The Dawn of War Player's Guide - Thought of the day: Knowledge is power, guard it well. | ||||||||
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