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You really need to be mix and matching septs in tau lists to maximise the traits for conpetative tau imho. Tau front rank, borkan second rank with suits fitted into appropriate sept battalion.

5 pathfinders can put out up to 15 pulse shots and 5 marker shots a turn... Forget marker lights and all the math of 1's (though all the drones are really good). But points wise 53 points for 5 PF, pulse drone, putting out up to 15 str 5 shots and 5 ML shots for someone else.

Borkan vs Tau is pretty situational. There's no question that Borkan is great, because it is. All the other septs needs to futz around with drones to, rather unreliably, get the same range benefit for the infantry. Against a gun line Bork'an is probably the best choice. Against anything melee oriented on the other hand, Tau is obviously going kick a whole lot of can. Melee isn't maybe the bulk of the top tier lists, but it's there. Tau also has the character access, which helps balance things out overall.

In less competitive metas,or ones that feature more assault elements are more common I think Tau might be a clear winner.

xmbk wrote:
Take Pathfinders for the Ion Rifles. ML are overrated. And the drones are hardly incredible. You just shoot them first if they matter, ignore them if they don't. Most of the special drones are kind of silly.

What the hell are you smokin' bro. Recon drone is a free gun drone. Pulse accelerator gives you greater range for triple tap. Grav inhibitor makes for a pretty useful gunline protector since folks are already wary of charging a Tau gunline unless they know they'll make it into combat. This makes that chance even lower. All three of those, minus the recon, are pretty damn easy to hide. Add in two more gun/marker/shield drones and you've included a sweet number of ablative wounds for your gunline plus all the buffs they provide.

Tsilber wrote:
5 pathfinders can put out up to 15 pulse shots and 5 marker shots a turn... Forget marker lights and all the math of 1's (though all the drones are really good). But points wise 53 points for 5 PF, pulse drone, putting out up to 15 str 5 shots and 5 ML shots for someone else.

Not sure what you're trying to say here, but that doesn't actually work. If you fire the Markerlight, you aren't shooting with anything else. The only extra shooting you'll get is with drones.

Well, everything is better if you assume it can't be shot at. Recon is certainly nice, but they are all drones - easily targetable and killable. They are ablative wounds for models that cost roughly the same points. The real strength of pathfinders is the Ion Rifles, along with some ML that you probably wanted anyway.

Bork'an fire warriors with pulse accelerator drones have 42" rapid fire guns with 3 shots at 21" with fireblade support. The accelerator drone can be almost 50" away from enemies.

Thats fairly safe from most enemy attacks.

Pathfinders with Ion rifles are actually a great deal as far as points per wound on tougher targets go. Considering that at least a few of them will be carrying markers you can guarantee re rolling those 1's when overcharging as well, making them a great self contained unit with the option to support other units by marking something. Sure they're fragile but they can usually outrange most enemies anti infantry firepower, I really have no issue with sniper units or bigger guns lining up on these guys instead of my more expensive back line.

Not saying they beat Ethereal's at everything, but they're flexible and provide decent bang for the buck. Between Orbital markers (Sa'cea), Uplinked markers, Fireblades/marksmen and a few Pathfinder squads I actually feel confident in getting 5 hits on a major threat in the first and maybe second turn.

The Ethereal's value on the other hand seems to grow with every large squad of Firewarrior's you add to your castle/gunline; so probably preferable once you can clump a handful of full sized squads around him.

Boy with that range boost, and pulse and cadre, Borkan fire warriors just got pretty good IMO.