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I'm starting a new tau army and wanted advice is shadowsun worth it. Because she has limited close combat options and only tank busting weapons which won't get far. What are viable tactics for it?

From what i have heard the best tactic for Shadowsun is not taking her at all... Just kidding.
Though she is an oddity.
Her guns are most effective within 12"(I think can't remember the range) and her special shield majig doesn't really help at that range. As for CC... well the less said about that the better.

Pretty much, 12" range guns and a stealth field do not combine well.

The uses of her vary, some people use her as an anti-armor deepstrike. The other use is to keep her in the middle of your lines for her leadership benefits and to bust armor that gets close.

In general though, none of the Tau Special Characters are worth using. Farsight is probably the best of the three, but the Force Org restrictions he places on the army are not worth the benefits he brings, imo

Afaik, shadowsun really isn't worth it. How many points are you spending for 2 meltagun shots?
Farsight can be interesting, as he allows the farsight bomb, which is just crazy enough to work in theory.

Well, Shadowsun is built like a suicide melta suit. She's too expensive for suicide, and her stealth field is ineffective if she deep strikes on melta range....

She's ironic. her best attack is to deep strike into the heart of the enemy motor pool, and her best way to stay alive is to stick to long range. I guess the best way would be to lead a large squad of melta (possibly twin linked) suits with her, each with target locks, and try to destroy as many threats as possible first turn, soak up wounds, and throw a giant wrench into the enemy's battle plans.

The Stealth Field actually works well with her Meltas because it lets her hit one flank and make it harder for the other flank to retaliate. Yeah if you stick her in the middle she's gonna die, but what isn't?

She is bleeeegh! Tried her in hundreds of games. Although she has drones that= more wounds she be kak! All our characters are kak, but play her if you wish

micahaphone wrote: I guess the best way would be to lead a large squad of melta (possibly twin linked) suits with her, each with target locks, and try to destroy as many threats as possible first turn, soak up wounds, and throw a giant wrench into the enemy's battle plans.

As her three drone are a retinue, and mandatory, she can not join other suits until the drones are all dead. Melta will not be in range on the first turn if they start on the board, and deepstrikes don't happen (potentially) until turn 2

Aduro wrote:The Stealth Field actually works well with her Meltas because it lets her hit one flank and make it harder for the other flank to retaliate. Yeah if you stick her in the middle she's gonna die, but what isn't?

I hear this sometimes, and I would agree, if the other army couldn't move before shooting. I have never played an opponent that was so spread out that they couldn't move 12" and have a very good chance of seeing shadowsun. It may be hard for the opposite flank to retaliate, but it's usually not difficult for the center to do so. It complicates matters that most vehicles in 40k carry a load of troops which are, in most cases, left relativly unscathed from the exploding vehicle and free to retilate on their own.

But if the rest of the enemy army redeploys solely to take out 1 small unit then it probably isn't in the best position to deal with the rest of your army. Having said that I think she lacks a lot of utility and would never field her. Its weird that all the Tau special characters are tooled up for close combat/close assault roles with which the rest of the army has real trouble keeping up. Shadowsun would be much nicer if you could kit her out with missile pods instead of fusion blasters (roll on next codex, perhaps)