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.

I'm curious what Tau players or people who have played against Tau think. What are the best HQ choices for Tau: Just a Commander, just an Ethereal, or both a Commander or an Ethereal?

Thanks in advance

SG

If you are being the hunter contingent, then the commander is definitely the way to go since is required in core formation. Where the only way to get ethereal is through the command formation.

Ethereals have a nice buff set, and though they're super squishy still, you don't have to worry about half your army bailing when he dies any more.

That said, they, like the other Tau HQs have a very situational usefullness, while the commander you can kit out to serve a number of useful roles.

For me they serve two fundamentally different roles in my army so it comes down to what you want them to fulfill. In my typical army the Ethereal serves as the heart of the "Anvil" portion of my force. Surrounded by Fire Warriors, Broadsides, Hammerheads, Pathfinders, and even Kroot, the Ethereal takes shelter in a Devilfish while benefitting the nearby infantry with his Leadership aura as well as his elemental buff like Storm of Fire. The Ethereal keeps the infantry holding the line and synergizing with the Fire Warriors shooting.

The Commander is often times arriving in from deep strike with my Crisis Suits to amplify their shooting. Standard buffmander setup can turn a unit of dual plasma XV-8s into a face melting machine with his twin linked, ignore cover, and selectable USR buffs. Most often operating behind enemy lines attempting to strike at critical elements of the enemy force and acting (with other crisis suits) as the Hammer portion of my army.

Now to say which is better is difficult because both are serving an important role in the army but neither can do what the other does. Some lists will have the Ethereal to focus on the gunline but forgo a Commander while others focus more on the mobile elements and don't need an Ethereal for any focused strong point. With the new Taucurions Detachments your going to be seeing a lot of Commander Suits as they are a requirement for things like the Hunter Cadre and the Retaliation Cadre. If you want an Ethereal in a Taucurion then your most likely going to need to take an extra CAD with just an Ethereal and 2 minimum size troops (they can be the Ethereal's personal bodyguard Fire Warriors if you want to be fluffy about it).

That's if someone dosent try and cheat you out of your raw Benefits.

I haven't seen the latest codex but in the last one Ethereals were buffers, which is both good (in that they didn't actually need combat equipment to be good) and also bad (they had a giant target painted on their blue-alien asses). Tau Commanders, on the other hand, were much more durable and could fight on the front lines, and their deaths didn't completely cripple your army (it's still a setback, but not moreso than losing two or three common battlesuits).

This all comes down to how your army is. If the Ethereal's buffs far outweigh the responsibility of babysitting him for your army then he was better than the commander. If you need raw firepower, the commander was way better. In addition, both act as fire magnets, but the Ethereal's squishy-ness compared to the commander makes him a far more pleasing target, so your opponent was more likely to go after him.

If you planned this out ahead you can use the ethereal as bait much more effectively. On the other hand, while a Commander is powerful, a Riptide is usually a bigger threat, so the commander can "sneak in" damage while the enemy is distracted by a riptide, since while he can't do as much damage as a riptide, he can still crush a lot of things if not kept in check.

Ethereals did not change one bit from the 6th to 7th codex.

It's going to depend on the composition of your army. If you're big into Firewarrriors, then an Ethereal is well worth it's cost. The commander is more of a swiss army knife unit, that can be used to buff others or as a fairly strong combat unit on his own.

Commanders are the typical choice, but there's no particular reason not to run both.

I like to field both - Commander DSing with Crisis and Ethereal with 2-3 Fire Warrior/Breachers advancing in Devilfishes.

Commander is generally better as you can outfit it in a lot of different ways in order to support your army. Anything from a Buffmander, to Mark'O, to straight up Tankmander.

Ethereals aren't bad, it's just the 1 victory point is kind of a bummer, and they force you into more of a troop based army. However, if you like the idea of going with Ethereals, take the Ethereal formation with Aun'Va and some Shield drones. All of a sudden the squishy Ethereals have 4++/6+++/Aun'Va++++ saves, which makes them rather resilient, in addition to the two guards. You also make your buffs that much stronger, so if you take a ton of troops you all of a sudden create a lot of awkwardness for your opponent.

You still risk three victory points, which kind of sucks, which makes me wish the formation made it so you only lose one, or one per a certain number of them, but hey, can't have everything I guess.

The Ethereal can be useful but I have never had it anywhere near as useful as a Tau Commander. If I take an Ethereal, it's usually as a second HQ and usually only if I have a lot of Fire Warriors on the table.