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Im kind of poking around in the tau section of 40k. I've played some games here and there at 1k with them and have watched some competative bat reps with them. I was wondering what really builds the top tier tau lists? Battle suits, riptides and commanders seem to be typical units along with marker drones. What has been doing well with tau for tournaments and such? Nothing is set in stone but Id like some opinions. Thanks in advance!

Broadsides and Riptides are probably the best two units in the Codex. You can take the Firebase Support Cadre as an ally to practically any army and the FBSC will make it better, due to how good Missilesides and IATides are.

In regards to pure Tau, Crisis Suits, Skyrays and Buffmanders are good. Farsight Bomb is still viable (but took a bit of a nerf with the Infiltrate update).

I'd suggest not understimating markerlights. Many people just grab 1 or 2 squads of pathfinders and try to rely on that incredible BS3... I'd rather go for Tetras (forgeworld) or commander with marker drones (get those from crisis, not the fast attack squad). Too few MLs will make your opponent's life easier; too many will hinder your effectiveness.

The flyers aren't good; only the Barracuda (forgeworld) is competitive (Remoras are good, but too expensive). And Tau is the army with easiest access to AA, so don't bother much with flyers anyway.

Crisis are the workhorse of Tau. Try to equip them with the same weapon (i.e. 2 Fusion Blasters) instead of mixing weapons.

Kroot are good tarpits if an Ethereal is nearby giving them Stubborn or just cheap speedbumps. Don't think Kroot will win you a game, but will hinder your opponent. If you face a lot of deep strike enemies, cover your field with them to avoid surprises.

Hug cover. We are the masters of ignoring cover, but our units are fragile (any krak missile will kill a Crisis suit on the spot).

Go for the objectives. Tau can be mobile (not fast, sadly), so completing objectives must be priority. Use bait to confound your opponent (kroot and piranhas are good for this)

If the opponent has a deathstar, outmaneuver it. Kill the rest of the army and throw cheap stuff at the deathstar.

Pulse Rifles are better than Pulse Carbines. We don't have Assault Transports anyway.

Drones never give points, so don't be afraid to suicide them if you need a speedbump/eat a overwatch (sometimes even Tau do charge... with a strategic reason behind it, of course)

Put your units within 6" of each other, and not just 1 model. Suppressing Fire is a very good faction rule. Be sure to avoid

Understand your meta and play accordingly. No reason to put Melta on everything if few tanks and Monstrous Creatures show up.

Commanders and Ethereals are your best HQs. You can safeguard an Ethereal inside a bunke/bastion/Devilfish and still use the aura.

Read the Rulebook! Read the codex! And the FAQ (both codex's and rulebook's)! Reading is good for your brain - better yet if reading something you like.

Ask for potential house rules your meta uses. Some forbid Super-Heavies, others Forge World, others more than 1 of each Detachment...

Paint your miniatures. They don't need to follow the 'Greyter Good' and you'll like it. Don't forget to thin your paints before.

Infiltrate has changed for ICs - Shadowsun can only join Stealth Suits or Kroot during deploy/reserves. So no more outflanking Crisis, Farsight Bomb with 4+ cover (at least when deep striking) and stuff like that.

Don't be afraid to lose, but try to learn with each one. Write down your mistakes and your opponent's good moves and try to adapt your lists and strategies. Tau don't keep doing the same thing forever if it was already a failure before.

And, most of all, find people you'll enjoy playing with.

Tbh the only unit in the tau dex that sucks in entirety is the Vespid, the rest have their uses even the *gag* fliers.....

Competitively though youre looking at a suit list. Riptides for their durability and long range AP2, Broadsides for their moderate durability and heavy rate of fire at half-table range, and Crisis suits for your mobile gun platforms/strikeforces/marker drone hubs.

That doesnt mean go Farsight and field nothing but suits....though i imagine you could get that to work lol. You still need other non-suit units such as a lot of firewarriors, pathfinders/tetras for markerlight support, and kroot and/or piranha for speedbump tactics.

Biggest thing to remember about tau is markerlights are key. I dedicate a commander + crisis suit team to be the bulk of my markerlight support every game, comes close to 500pts to do it the way i do it but that unit is insanely reliable. I tend to buy the Shas'ui upgrade for my firewarriors just so i can add a markerdrone or two to each squad for cascading markerlight support (also to not put all my ML's in one basket since thats a big mistake).

Do NOT rely on 1-2 units of ~8 pathfinders for markerlights. They maybe cheap, but theyre not reliable. Markerlights are a heavy weapon so they cant move like drones can and fire at full BS, and theyre waaaay squishy. Not to mention people tend to notice marker drones but nowhere near as quickly as pathfinders. You mention "this is a pathfinder squad" its immediately marked for death first lol. You can bring them, but dont depend solely on them.

As the above posters stated. Markerlights are the post important unit in a Tau army and you need at least 3 reliable sources at 1850.

Heres an example of the markerlights i would generally take in my 1850 lists

Tau Commander w/ 2x Marker Drones, C&C node, PEN Chip, MSSS, Iridium Armor, NWSJ, VRT, Drone Controller - 199
3x Crisis Suits w/ 6x Missile Pods, 3x Target Lock, 4x Marker Drones - 219 (Joins the commander)

2x Tetra with Sensor spines (separate units)

that gives you 6 BS5 TL markerlights that can fire at a different target to the rest of the unit and it makes double use of your buff commander who is simultaneously buffing the Crisis unit and the marker drones. Add shadowsun to make this unit near unkillable.

The Tetras are very mobile and provide 2 BS3 TL markerlights, used together these can be very effective and the markerlights are generally get used by the crisis team who cant benefit from their own markerlights due to lack of networking. making them BS5 TL Ignore cover Tankhunter/Monster Hunter!

Tetras also allow precision deepstrike as soon as they are on the board so outflanking them and then dropping Crisis suits from the sky is a very viable tactic for killing those hard to reach units.

There is also a Forgeworld piece of wargear that allows a commander to take a networked markerlight which can be extrewamlly effective in units like farsight bombs,

 Messy0 wrote:
Tau Commander w/ 2x Marker Drones, C&C node, PEN Chip, MSSS, Iridium Armor, NWSJ, VRT, Drone Controller - 199
3x Crisis Suits w/ 6x Missile Pods, 3x Target Lock, 4x Marker Drones - 219 (Joins the commander)

I will say that I run a similar unit with my FE, and when not taking an ethereal or farsight, I tend to double up. The only real difference is that I run a Commander with 2 Missile Pods, 2 Marker Drones, a Drone Controller, and a Target Lock for 152 pts.

Also, pathfinders are viable, but you may want to get an aegis so they can survive a bit longer. The tower doesn't need to be included unless you are planning something special, but it can further buff your army - a comms relay if you are DSing your suits, an Ammo Dump if you are going to be making a longstrike or skyray firebase, etc.

 carldooley wrote:

 Messy0 wrote:
Tau Commander w/ 2x Marker Drones, C&C node, PEN Chip, MSSS, Iridium Armor, NWSJ, VRT, Drone Controller - 199
3x Crisis Suits w/ 6x Missile Pods, 3x Target Lock, 4x Marker Drones - 219 (Joins the commander)

I will say that I run a similar unit with my FE, and when not taking an ethereal or farsight, I tend to double up. The only real difference is that I run a Commander with 2 Missile Pods, 2 Marker Drones, a Drone Controller, and a Target Lock for 152 pts.

Also, pathfinders are viable, but you may want to get an aegis so they can survive a bit longer. The tower doesn't need to be included unless you are planning something special, but it can further buff your army - a comms relay if you are DSing your suits, an Ammo Dump if you are going to be making a longstrike or skyray firebase, etc.

I run the same as you when using FE but i also add the Talisman for the awesome psychic defense so hes 177 pts.

Talisman is just an autotake if you are using Farsight sup at all. I tend to slap it on a Riptide since hes allowed to take sig stuff in Farsight's armies and he sits in the middle of my forces giving that bubble o 4+ Denies.

Havnt used farsight in awhile though. Its not directly stated since its in the supp before 7th but its a grey area if theyre still allowed to ally into normal tau or if they have to be a whole second FoC. So i just havent been bothering, bout all i did it for was the EPCA Bursttide anyway lol

the talisman is only an autotake if you don't want to take a culexus or two.

 Messy0 wrote:

that gives you 6 BS5 TL markerlights that can fire at a different target to the rest of the unit and it makes double use of your buff commander who is simultaneously buffing the Crisis unit and the marker drones. Add shadowsun to make this unit near unkillable.

Sadly, with the new FAQ, you can't do that unless everyone is already on the field. Infiltrate charaters can only be deployed (including reserves) with units with Infiltrate as well. So only Kroots and Stealth Suits.

What do you think is superior, Marker Drones with Commander or Drones inside a Crisis team with a Commander? The second one saves me a FA slot, but it is fairly risky as it will draw all the fire.

In a suit army I will need adequate field presence, seeing as the average Crisis can take as much abuse as two Marines glued together. You think FW in Disruptor Pod Fishes is good enough? Or better go with Kroot?

When going for a mobile Tau army, take Broadsides either way? Fire Support Cadre BS shoot way better than FSE Deathrain Crisis, but the Formation costs 610 with all the mandatory upgrades. Add more Riptides and ML support and there will be little points left. Are BS really worth it as opposed to maxing out Drones (like Remora), Sensor Towers, Crisis, Riptides and FireFishes?

What setup would you take on Crisis suits with and without BS in the back?

Vector Strike wrote:

 Messy0 wrote:

that gives you 6 BS5 TL markerlights that can fire at a different target to the rest of the unit and it makes double use of your buff commander who is simultaneously buffing the Crisis unit and the marker drones. Add shadowsun to make this unit near unkillable.

Sadly, with the new FAQ, you can't do that unless everyone is already on the field. Infiltrate charaters can only be deployed (including reserves) with units with Infiltrate as well. So only Kroots and Stealth Suits.

So if i understand correctly shadowsun cant join them during deployment, so she now has to move into the unit turn 1? which is fine if you get first turn and she infiltrates inside your own deployment zone next to the unit. Otherwise we have a slightly more vulnerable unit for the top of then 1 and then she can move into the unit on the bottom of turn 1.

Trade_Prince wrote:What do you think is superior, Marker Drones with Commander or Drones inside a Crisis team with a Commander? The second one saves me a FA slot, but it is fairly risky as it will draw all the fire.

In a suit army I will need adequate field presence, seeing as the average Crisis can take as much abuse as two Marines glued together. You think FW in Disruptor Pod Fishes is good enough? Or better go with Kroot?

When going for a mobile Tau army, take Broadsides either way? Fire Support Cadre BS shoot way better than FSE Deathrain Crisis, but the Formation costs 610 with all the mandatory upgrades. Add more Riptides and ML support and there will be little points left. Are BS really worth it as opposed to maxing out Drones (like Remora), Sensor Towers, Crisis, Riptides and FireFishes?

What setup would you take on Crisis suits with and without BS in the back?

commander with Crisis and Drones from the crisis unit is the most points efficient way of running it. You get TL BS 5 markers, buff the crisis and save a FA slot. Not to mention the drones are cheaper. I run 6 drones in the unit so thats a saving of 12 points compared to taking them in a FA slot.

I like both kroot and fire warriors for different reasons, mobility wise, fire warriors can be great as they have an effective 36" range on the move. Kroot are dead unless they are in cover which makes them quite static.

Ramora are just to expensive but i do like running them in smaller friendly games. And just because you are running a mobile list, its ok to have some static elements like broadsides. Although i would almost argue that a Duel missile crisis with a buff commander and drones is better than a full broadside unit. Has almost as much fire power (minus the SMS which i take on riptides) and far more mobility and utility.

Heres an example of the list im using at the moment. Extremely mobile, excellent ability to redeploy once the game has started and a good balance of Shooting and CC (even if i do say so myself =P). Played around 5 games with this list so far in a competitive environment and all wins.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/634003.page

I don't suppose whether or not anyone puts any weapons on their buffmanders? whether it is just a flamer (or two) for overwatch or a fist for when you get stuck in combat?

Onagar gauntlet is funny if you have a spare 5 pts

 carldooley wrote:
I don't suppose whether or not anyone puts any weapons on their buffmanders? whether it is just a flamer (or two) for overwatch or a fist for when you get stuck in combat?

Flamer for overwatch purposes (5pts why not, plus i had a slot open anyway) and Gauntlet if i got points for the lawls.

My buffmander got flanked by immortals coming out of a deepstriking Monolith last game. There were only 2 left after my army killed the lith and most of the immortals so i charged them with commander buffy's team and "FALCON PUUUUUUUNCH!!!" away lol - nowhere near ideal but its funny as hell.

Gauntlet typically wont ever be used, but still take it because it can be gamechanging. I splatted a Daemon Prince with it once....and i am NOT joking....rofl.... (he wiffed most of his attacks and i invulsaved the ones he connected with, i landed my single punch and he wiffed his invul yay!)