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Lucky me, I got myself a lovely fleshy monstrosity for Christmas but I am rather stumped on how to make him up. As of now I am fairly sure I want to make him up as a Talos unless someone could give a convincing argument for the Chronus, but what I am stuck on is the build for the Talos. The problem is I am not sure if I would be using the Webway Portal every game and builds using the webway portal are different to builds without one. For example without a Webway portal you might keep him cheap and buy no upgrades for him, but coming out of one you will want him with a Heat Lance and a liquefier. The liquefier seems Hell'a fun if I rolled well on the AP but the reliability of Razor Flails is also very appealing. Should I bother with the Haywire/Stinger pods as I don't see them being much better then the splinter cannon (always firing 6 shots) or the heat lance in their respective fields, with the Splinter Cannon possibly being better because it's range helping it pick out a pain token early if he isn't running.

In other words, I need complete help on how to build my Talos. Maybe I could use a different build for a Walking Talos and a Portal Talos but I would have to learn how to magnetise or maybe I am dismissing the Chronus to early?

I run a pair of Taloi w/ splinter cannon, chain flails and an extra CC weapon. i used to run the pair w/ heat lances but found that by the time i was close enough to use the heat lance effectively i was close enough to charge anyway (and was more likely to wreck what i wanted to wreck)

i haven't used them much in a portal list, but found that it doesn't actually matter much since you're very unlikely to dump them w/in range of a liquifiable unit. you only have about a 14" range (6" from the portal + 8" template) and given you all but have to drop the portal on turn 1 (it's very likely that you'll get your reserves T2) you probably won't be very far up the field.

I tend to run mine in pairs.

The talos has chan flails, and haywire/heat lance for tank hunting and squad mulching, backed by a cronos with vortex, for infantry mulching and to buff the talos. Works well for me.

The other build i favour is liquifier and splinter cannon, for mop up duties after the dark lances open up the enemy tin cans.

I don't really bother with the WWP in 6th, though i liked it in 5th.

It depends on what deployment you are playing, if you are playing across the short board you can get the portal in range rather easily if you do the old sideways vehicle deployment.

If you are using a raider you should gain about 2" from that, then a 6" move, 6" disembark and then place the template at the front of the base. That shortens the distance by about 16" straight away.

Assuming your opponent deployed up to the list that should leave you only 8" away which is easily enough to get then on T2.

The problem now with 6th Ed is that you cannot charge from the portal so there isnt much point in kitting out for pure CC, you may as well kit the model out for whatever will be best coming from the portal.

I have never personally done a list like this but I would suggest a Talos with Liquifier and Splinter Cannon.

There is really not much point in the Cronos coming out the portal unless you are deploying units that benefit from FNP more than others.

You could of course dump a ton of Wracks out with Liquifiers but there is no guarantee it would work. At least with the Talos you get 6 Splinter shots (twin linked) and a Twin Linked Liquifier.

Splinter cannon and twin liquifier.
Crazy powerful in mellee, totally melts face and threatens units 42" away.
Chain flails and extra cc are a waste of points as it doesn't really help them beat anything they weren't going to beat before where as the twin liquifier actually has a 1/3 chance to ignore 2+ armor saves and 1/2 chance to ignore 3+.
If you roll low on the attacks keep in mind you can always just smash to str 10 as it's half rounded up then any modifiers so a roll of a 3 would smash to 2 str 10 + any bonus attacks for charging.

Cheers and grats on getting the best heavy support from the DE codex

WWP is useless in sixth edition. I like setting my Talos' (I run three of them) right up against the edge of my deployment zone mixed in with a Beastpack. First turn, you advance that Beastpack 12", and the Talo's can move right behind them for a 5++ save. That is their main problem, they can be taken out by a volley of krak missiles. Intervening models helps to alleviate that weakness. I also run an Avatar on my left flank and a Wraithknight on my right, for target saturation. If you only have the one Talos, unfortunately, I don't see it surviving to get into combat.

My go to talos build is TL liquifier and splinter cannon. The talos is a fire magnet, and easily dropped by any serious concentration of AT fire. So go cheap and killy-the cannon allows you to shoot at range, hopefully picking off a weakened unit to gain a pain token. TL liquifier is devastating at close ranges, and once you get to combat the flails are nice, but unless you roll a 1-2 you will do ok. Both AT options are underwhelming and increase the cost, the extra CCW is never worth it.

Built him up as a Splinter Cannon/Liquefier Talos and I have personally fallen in love with the Model. Now all I am wondering is should I spend time building a Webway Portal Model or are they never worth it? I play Tau a lot so I was thinking a Big T 7 Beastie coming in 8'' from their main line would be worth the shock factor. On another plus side I am left with quite a lot of really nice spare bits, so I was wondering would it be out of line if I bought some fantasy Ogres and stuck some Chronus tentacles and Talos masks on could I use them as Grotesques?

WWP is still useable, but massively massively nerfed.

You can get it to the midfield, if you are lucky on mission deployment, but you'd better get it there turn 1, because odds are your Talos will be walking in from the board edge turn 2 if you don't. You cant assault out of it, so the Tau will likely look up at your low-wounds T 7 MC, then just shoot it off the board,

It still has some utility as an instant wall (impassable LOS blocker) or for bringing something shooty through, but pain engines largely lack the range to be useful.

Which sucks, as i ran a WWP coven in 5th, and have had to adapt.


The Talos/Cronos kit is a goldmine for Grotesque conversions. I used AOBR warbosses and IOB rat ogres for mine, plus parts from the kits and other asstd stuff. Worked great for me. buying ogres retail would get awful spendy, but you could probably find second-hand ones on Ebay to chop up also.

The official Grotesque model isn't that large. My warboss ones are a lot bulkier (i use them to represent Rakath's buffed ones). My next unit will be based on buffed up AOBR nobz.