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11 The Aeldari are one of four confirmed playable factions in Total War: Warhammer 40,000. They are an ancient xenos civilisation, once among the most powerful in the galaxy, now diminished and fighting a long twilight war for survival. Their culture, technology, and warfare are millennia old and refined to an extraordinary degree, but they can no longer replace their losses the way younger, more numerous species can.
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44 Playstyle
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66 Creative Assembly has confirmed the Aeldari as a fragile but deadly glass-cannon faction that rewards careful play. Their units hit hard and are highly capable, but they cannot absorb punishment the way Space Marines do or replace casualties as readily as the Orks or Astra Militarum. Every engagement carries risk, and players who favour precision and pre-planning will find the Aeldari a rewarding but unforgiving choice. Lead designer Simon Mann has gone further than the standard glass-cannon framing, stating that the Aeldari play completely different from anything Creative Assembly has designed in the past. Their identity leans on advanced technology, psychic precision, elegant weaponry, and a willingness to retreat or avoid the largest battles entirely rather than meet them head-on.
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8+The reason their losses cannot be replaced is built into the setting rather than being a balance decision. The development team frames it plainly: every Aeldari killed is a soul taken by the Chaos Gods, and a soul lost is a soul not returned. That is why the faction is not built for massed combat, and why the design pushes players toward stealth, advanced technology and picking their fights rather than toward holding a front line.
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10+The designers describe the faction as operating from the shadows and from the spaces between them, manipulating opponents rather than confronting them, so that an enemy does not know where the Aeldari will strike until they reveal themselves.
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812 The Webway
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10-Aeldari mobility relies on the Webway, a network of dimensional pathways that lets them strike at chosen points across the battlefield and disengage before the enemy can mass against them. In the game's Campaign, Creative Assembly has indicated that Aeldari players can jump between Craftworlds floating in space, which serve as mobile bases and recruitment hubs. The Webway and Craftworld systems together are expected to make the Aeldari the most strategically mobile faction at launch.
14+Aeldari mobility relies on the Webway, a network of dimensional pathways that lets them strike at chosen points across the battlefield and disengage before the enemy can mass against them. In the game's Campaign, Webway gates work as a traversal mechanism that moves Aeldari forces quickly from place to place, including back to the player's craft world. The development team has described the craft world as an off-map staging piece and as the place where all Aeldari units are recruited. Shrines are built there, and it is those shrines that unlock access to the faction's more elite troops. Together the Webway gates and the craft world are expected to make the Aeldari the most strategically mobile faction at launch. The Aeldari also have fleets, alongside those other means of transit.
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1216 The Waning Race
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1418 The Aeldari's identity as a waning civilisation is a confirmed part of their faction description. Rather than focusing purely on galactic domination, the Aeldari are framed in pre-release materials as fighting to forestall galactic calamities and to preserve what remains of their people, using their esoteric technologies and the Webway in particular to operate at the margins of larger wars. This theme of decline and careful resource management is likely to inform their campaign mechanics, although the specific systems have not been detailed.
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20+The developers have also said that Aeldari objectives are not always conquest. A campaign goal may instead be to stop a specific calamity from befalling the galaxy, or to contain the spread of Chaos, while every other faction continues trying to kill you. Campaign victory conditions are described as asymmetrical across the four factions, and the Aeldari are the clearest case: where the Imperium and the Orks both want control of Armageddon, the Aeldari want something else that the studio has not yet detailed.
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1622 Sub-Factions and Warlords
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1824 Renowned Aeldari sub-factions and warlords are referenced as part of the faction system, but no specific Craftworld or named character has been confirmed publicly. The June 2026 PC Gaming Show reveal centred on the Astra Militarum and Orks, so the Aeldari roster is still to be detailed. Details are expected to be shared throughout 2026.
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26+Creative Assembly has since confirmed that every launch faction ships with two playable sub-factions, so the Aeldari will have two at release. Neither has been named.
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2028 Army Customisation
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2230 Like all factions, the Aeldari support deep army customisation. Players can personalise colours, iconography, wargear, names, traits, and tactical abilities within the visual and thematic identity of the Aeldari.