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Dunno how much this has been discussed but I am debating attaching a commander to a marker drone squad

Would this be a waste of an HQ slot, how much value do you place on bs 5 markerlights?

How would it be a waste of an HQ slot? With the right kit, the Commander doesn't need to fire at the same target as the drones, and merely provides a better BS, while the drones act as lots of ablative wounds for the commander. Also the rather good range on markerlights means that its unlikely that the commander would need to go out of his way to get best use out of the markerlights.

I love this setup. Pathfinders can be too squishy and I dont take Sky Rays right now.

Just thinking he would better suited to leading a squad. Have tons of extra drones and was thinking of converting them to marker drones.

Given the Tau ability for individual suits to shoot at whatever they want, rather than the unit target, squads are more useful to provide ablative wounds to your Warlord, rather than any great utility in terms of the squad dynamics in my view. Also you probably want 2 commanders if possible anyway, so use 1 as a markerlight buff and the other as a squad leader.

A load of BS5 markerlight drones is fantastic; there are many possibilities. First, the entire unit has JSJ, making it more survivable than Pathfinders off the bat (not to mention T4 4+) The added mobility synergizes well if you use other crisis teams in your list or generally focus more on mobility, though it still can abuse cover if you're using a gunline list.

Second, with the utility of markerlights being such that it is, more is better. Spend 2 negating saves, spend another 2 increasing a unit to BS5, that's 4 and one Fire Warrior team is unlikely to mop up that unit. With a decent sized squad of drones, you can easily pour on enough markerlights to boost 2 squads firepower enormously; you can wipe whole Necron units off the board each turn and deprive your foe of WBB.

That could allow you to do something crazy, like spend your other two FA slots on railrifle pathfinders or Barracuda's. That said, Commanders are the most expensive HQ you can take, really. You might just take Shadowsun instead. Another possibility is make the Commander a BS5 DC suit and 2 markerlight drones, and attach him to a standard crisis team with 6 markerlight drones in it.

Id like to add that you could go with body guard marker drones as as well. that way you can have up to 6 Bs 5 maker lights and a support suit to re roll 1s. sit them somewhere mid/back field with a ADL + quad/Icarus, and you have a strong starting fire base.

unfortunately all this gets super expensive. point constraints can kill lists