Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So in my Tau army I'm going to be running 9 Crisis and a Commander, my local Meta still has a bit of mech and since I'm taking Railheads to deal with the Heavy Armour early on, I've been looking to Deathrains for Transport/MC wounding early on, Do you think that Deathrains are still viable in this edition? Whilst missilesides are a good choice they're less manoeverable and slightly more expensive, as well as competing with my HH. I was thinking of running a deathrain squad like this:

Commander W/2 Fusion, Puretide Chip, Iridium Armour and Target Lock
3 Deathrain Suits W/2 Shield Drones

This allows me to use the puretide chip to ensure i can get a vehicle down, and the commander could go forward and take care of heavy armour, although i understand i probably want to keep deathrains back, but it would help for Side Armour flanking if I moved them forward, your thoughts?

I never liked Deathrains, they just don't seem to put out enough firepower (lots of neat modelling opportunities, though. Personally, I think I would do the opposite of what you suggested: Missilesides for anti-transport, and crisis suits with TL Fusion (deepstriking, of course) to take care of heavy armor.

Thing is, I've never been a fan of suicide suits, though I can see the value of missilesides, I was going to take some Fusion but I don't want to really be DS'ing and that's where I think the deathrain comes into play. Can 2x Fusion Blaster suits be used effectively without DS'ing?

 GoDz BuZzSaW wrote:
Thing is, I've never been a fan of suicide suits, though I can see the value of missilesides, I was going to take some Fusion but I don't want to really be DS'ing and that's where I think the deathrain comes into play. Can 2x Fusion Blaster suits be used effectively without DS'ing?

That would depend on your board, I guess. Turn one they'll be out of range but 6" move + D6" run + 2D6" thrust can get you pretty far down the board, ready to take out stuff on turn two. They'll be a prime target however, so you'll ideally want them behind LOS blocking terrain by the end of that move. If you attach Shadowsun then they become a lot better at surviving and getting close, with Stealth and Shrouded and a 3D6" thrust move. 2+ cover saves in any terrain is nothing to be taken lightly, especially on T4 2 wound (3 on Shadowsun) suits packing 18" range melta guns who can split fire (give them target locks).

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 GoDz BuZzSaW wrote:
Thing is, I've never been a fan of suicide suits, though I can see the value of missilesides, I was going to take some Fusion but I don't want to really be DS'ing and that's where I think the deathrain comes into play. Can 2x Fusion Blaster suits be used effectively without DS'ing?

That would depend on your board, I guess. Turn one they'll be out of range but 6" move + D6" run + 2D6" thrust can get you pretty far down the board, ready to take out stuff on turn two. They'll be a prime target however, so you'll ideally want them behind LOS blocking terrain by the end of that move. If you attach Shadowsun then they become a lot better at surviving and getting close, with Stealth and Shrouded and a 3D6" thrust move. 2+ cover saves in any terrain is nothing to be taken lightly, especially on T4 2 wound (3 on Shadowsun) suits packing 18" range melta guns who can split fire (give them target locks).

I was going to be running a mech list so there should be plenty of devilfish to hide behind. Also I'm going to probably be running another 2 suit squads with Plasma/Fusion so that There is some backup if I need it.

Now that you can get the Hy missle pod on broadsidees i say no.

I had some success last night with a commander and 2 body guard, each with MP x 2 and a target lock. The commander also had PEN and a drone controller, and each had 2 marker drones. The drones could marker independently and the suits could target light vehicles and other high priority targets at will.

Although next time i think i may cut the bodygaurds and buy a small drone squadron for the commander to join for a similar effect for less points.

Deathrains are amazing in this edition. Simply take dual non-TL missile pods and a flamer, then blast things around. When a unit in range of them gets charged, use the flamers for support fire and laugh.

I run a formation as follows.

Commander with 2x Missile pods, Velocity Tracker, Stim Injector, Iridium battlesuit, Puretide chip, onager gauntlet (had 5 pts left in my list). 2x Shield drones if the list has points remaining.

The crisis team he rolls with has 2x Missile Pods and Velocity Trackers.

His unit packs a punch Dropping 16 S7 shots a turn, 4 of those being at BS5. All of them with skyfire. With T5, 2+ and FNP (5+) on 4 wounds the unit can take a beating.

The mathhammer for the unit allows vs av 12 flyer the following.

12 BS 3 + 4 BS 5 shots ~ 9 hits
9 S7 hits will net about 3 HP with 2 more if using tank hunters for an average roll of 5 hp dealt.
At this point a flyer will need to make 3 out of 5 5+ saves which while doable is beating the odds.
Basically this unit can drop a helldrake in one round of shooting, and any lesser flyer will be jinking (and still die).

Really, Deathrains got 2 new ways to run and both double the shot output. I don't see them being less effective than they used to be. Either 2 single MP for 4 shots a turn or make one TL for 2 normal and 2 TL shots.

Deathrains have and will continue to be a solid suit build, especially now that they can take two missile pods instead of twinlinked missilepods for increased firepower, and can be given velocity trackers to shoot down aircraft. They can tackle a wide variety of targets, and thanks to their range and mobility, can start firing at choice targets from turn 1 and continue to do so from relative safety, often making it to the end of the game unscathed. Its consistent and effective firepower that is often preferable to deepstriking and close range suits.

Give the Fireforge a try.

In the old edition people commonly ran Deathrain+ (TL MP Flamer). Swap the flamer for a fusion blaster and for 10 points more than the old deathrain you can now threaten any AV in the game.

I think the value this unit has in deployment is very good and can earn that 10 point differential back before the game even starts by getting in your opponent's head.

You can do one of three things

1) Deploy on the table and send missiles. Deepstriking dreads and surviving assault transports get the melta
2) Deepstrike at long range for side/rear shots with the missiles.
3) Deepstrike at short range to add the fusion (now with better range). You can go for the one hit KO and if you wiff, you're at least likely to strip hull points or shake the vehicle so it can't just blow you off the next turn.

This is a niche that still belongs to the fireforge and can't be easily replaced else where in the codex.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Phanixis wrote:
Deathrains have and will continue to be a solid suit build, especially now that they can take two missile pods instead of twinlinked missilepods for increased firepower, and can be given velocity trackers to shoot down aircraft. They can tackle a wide variety of targets, and thanks to their range and mobility, can start firing at choice targets from turn 1 and continue to do so from relative safety, often making it to the end of the game unscathed. Its consistent and effective firepower that is often preferable to deepstriking and close range suits.

Missilesides do this better for only 13 points more, which gets you the SMS and 2+.

I ran 2 xv8s with mp & TL mp on Saturday night in a game with a 3rd suit with TL mp and a neurochip did amazing vs 10-12av. Had multiple markerlight hits and most of the game they were hitting on 2s. I wouldn't give up on the setup. I ran missilesidescas as well with VT for flyers with missile drones. There sweet too.

While still viable, they lost their place with the new array of S7 shot, and the fact S5 spam is cheaper now.

It will work, but you don't really need it.