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The Stormsurge can be equip with a monstrous str 10 ap 2 large blast template called the Pulse Driver Cannon. Or it can have a unique instrument of destruction called the Pulse Blastcannon that can become str D if the enemy is close enough! With their anchors they can shoot one of these weapons twice, both are great but which one is better to you?

Personally, I like the blastcannon which if I am not mistaken its considered the weaker option for obvious reasons. Two long range str 10 ap 2 large blast templates is something to fear especially when it has ignore cover due to marker lights but its not as good as the blast cannon. When I can afford mine I will have it magnetized and occasionally use the Driver Cannon, thats why I used the emoji because you none Tau players should be jealous and I am not saying its bad I just think the blastcannon is better 60% of the time.

Most people like the driver cannon over the blastcannon because if you are fighting the traditional way and most effective way with Tau you stay away from the enemy, and thats why the blast cannon is better! The closer they get the more dangerous this weapon becomes. Four str d shots with ignore cover bs 5 is scary to everything in the game even the wraith knight is scared to end its movement 9 inches away from a pulse blastcannon. In my mind I hear myself saying in an arrogant voice, "Thats why you stay 10 inches away from it before you charge it, OBVIOUSLY"!

I than respond to my voice,"Are you going to choose to stay further away from my gun line? If so thank you, for the extra turn of shooting and fyi my stormsurge is pulling up the anchors and now it is over 20 inches away from you or maybe closer if I feel like stomping you to death"!

My opponent might choose to stay away from me because he is afraid of 4 str D shots which if all of them hit they have a 51% chance of rolling a 6 and we all know what happens when you roll a 6 on the str D chart! People should and will fear the 51% chance and the other units around your Stormsurge will be safer because of this fear.

"The Blastcannon is amazing when in str D range but that rarely happens", this voice has a good point. The weapon potency at the other ranges are still very good in my opinion. If you haven't noticed I talk to myself and I ask myself 3 questions when I am determining if a 40k weapon is good, the first one is does it hit the target accurately? Secondly, does it hurt the target easily? Lastly and most importantly does it ignore a basic Space Marine armor save? So to me the Pulse Blastcannon is a good weapon against units within 20 inches. 4 str 10 ap 3 small blast templates is good, no feel no pain, 2+ to wound, instant death to most things, no armor save for most thingsI "Still not ap 2 and its small blast", this voice points out the obvious stuff. The voice is correct and I will not argue against it between 10-20 inches the driver cannon is better!

Between 20-30 inches the Blastcannon is at its best, despite not passing my 40k weapon test! It doesn't pass my test of being good because I created my test based off of averages and at this range the blastcannon is what we people who like stats call an anomaly! The funny part about the blastcannon at this range is that its good because as an anomaly it forces the law of averages to work!

Four str 9 large blast templates on one unit will force your opponent to roll so many dices that the law of averages will happen and you will like the results. Sometimes anomalies happens and 5 terminators die instead of 2 when you roll 12 dice! At that range it synergizes with the stormsurge's other weapons, 8d6 str 5 attacks combine with 4 large blast str 9 templates will force a lot of saves. Now, Ethereal Kenpachi who is the pupil of Aun'va will help you fear the str 9 large blast template and help you realize why you should join the Greater Good! I didn't write that last sentence sometimes the voice can take control of me don't worry about it though!

Yes, you should worry and I will explain, typically Commander Recardo uses 2 marker light hits to boast his stormsurge bs up to 5, because your armor save is better than your cover save he use the two marker lights that is usually reserve of stripping you of your futile cover to increase our glorious warriors bs up to 7 now the template will not scatter on an average dice roll. I favor Kauyon over Mont'Ka and as a result of this Commander Recardo uses a technique called coordinated firepower. Your army is no longer alive which is proof of its power but because Astartes are supposedly on the way you resist. Can't you see its futile with this technique the stormsurge's bs is up to 8 at worse it will scatter 4 inches and you must add the 10 str 5 shots and 4 str 7 shots from our brave fire warrior squads. Let me give you an estimation of our devastation because we have face your armored warriors before!

Damn, lost control again I am back lets be conservative and say the Driver Cannon template covers 4 models with each hit. With 4 templates you get 16 hits that wounds on a 2+ which is around 13 saves. The cluster rockets on average should pump out 28 str 5 shots add the pulse rifles your looking at 38 str 5 shots at bs 8 which will on average against a marine forces 22 saves if you add the turrets your looking at 25 saves all of these calculations are conservative estimates but your soldiers deaths are testaments, now do you want to continue to wait for these so called Astartes or join the Greater Good?

Thats why I like the Pulse Blastcannon over the Pulse Driver Cannon but thats just my opinion what is yours?

The Blastcannon with VT and EWO let's you Str D fyers, Skimmers, and pesky Jet Bikes. Also, you'll be in Stomp range. For a mobile GMC, the Blastcannon is the better option.

On the other hand, the Pulse Drive is your go to option gor use with anchors. If the goal is to sit and kill, it's the Pulse Driver.

I prefer to run amuck, so Blastcannons forever.

SJ

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
I prefer to run amuck, so Blastcannons forever.

SJ

I like the way you worded that I prefer to run amuck! I just think that the blastcannon is more versatile now if you make a list where you want to sit and chill every game with the surge than the driver cannon is better but if you know Kauyon the way I know Kauyon you would like to have options!

I prefer the D-Shotgun. Better to have that and not need it in my opinion. WraithKnights and the like necessitate aggressively crossing the distances and brining maximum firepower to bear.

I thing the 15 point upgrade is quite escellent. But lets face it: we can kind of already do that sort of damge in other much less expensive ways. What the Surge does is lets it happen in more way and on a tougher chassis with Stomp.

That D-shot gives you an actual chance to stop a wraithknight or imperial knight before it assaults and kills you. Helps to cover CC, which is where the stromsurge is weakest.

Blast cannon does not hurt Grav centurions that land just out of its range. That's why the pulse driver is used by competitive players. I never sit and plant, but getting str 10 ap2 wherever I want it is just too reliable.

The blastcannon can work but its problem is that it has match ups where it doesn't work. Such as fighting CC deathstars like Thunderwolves. If you attempt to move forward to get in D-range you are just putting your Stormsurge in charge range of the deathstar and it will die instantly. But any rangers outside StrD the deathstar will just shrug off meaning that the Blastacannon is completely useless in this match up. But the Pulse Driver is still functional in this match up and all match ups because it can always fall back on playing gun line and shooting at 72" safely out of range of the deathstar.

That's why the pulse driver is ultimately better. It doesn't have any bad match ups while the Blastcannon does.

Not sure why your Surges don't have bubble wrap to block direct charges. That's pretty much a standard regardless of Driver or Blastcannon. No Surge should be considered in a vacuum, unless you are running nothing but Surges. Counter-arguments like the one above on TWC are functionally meaningless when you always have options in addition to the single weapon choice being discussed. Bubble wrap and the Surge's own secondary weapons are still in play.

SJ

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
Not sure why your Surges don't have bubble wrap to block direct charges. That's pretty much a standard regardless of Driver or Blastcannon. No Surge should be considered in a vacuum, unless you are running nothing but Surges. Counter-arguments like the one above on TWC are functionally meaningless when you always have options in addition to the single weapon choice being discussed. Bubble wrap and the Surge's own secondary weapons are still in play.

SJ

Its hard to bubble wrap a unit that's vaulting forward 12" to get within 10" of a unit for some StrD

A few markerlights and Destroyer Missile is Str D at 60".

SJ

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
A few markerlights and Destroyer Missile is Str D at 60".

SJ

Did you not read the what the thread is about? We are specifically talking about the Blast Cannon versus the Pulse Driver.

 CrownAxe wrote:

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
A few markerlights and Destroyer Missile is Str D at 60".

SJ

Did you not read the what the thread is about? We are specifically talking about the Blast Cannon versus the Pulse Driver.

I not only read what the thread was about, my first post on it is the second responce. Did you even bother the read any of the posts in this thread?

SJ

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
Not sure why your Surges don't have bubble wrap to block direct charges. That's pretty much a standard regardless of Driver or Blastcannon. No Surge should be considered in a vacuum, unless you are running nothing but Surges. Counter-arguments like the one above on TWC are functionally meaningless when you always have options in addition to the single weapon choice being discussed. Bubble wrap and the Surge's own secondary weapons are still in play.

SJ

I don't bother with bubble wrap. The surge is too good in close combat to care and it can stay away from most fast enemies that it doesn't want to engage ( force,instant death weapons, or D)

And there we are.

SJ

Competitive players tend to favor the Pulse Driver Cannon mostly for its range and versatility. You don't need to be in a specific range to be good against a certain unit; a Strength 10 AP2 Ordnance Large Blast can do damage to darn near anything in the game - it always pierces 2+ armor saves which is crucial. It puts the pressure on from turn one and is way better for Interceptor duties when, as mentioned earlier, pesky reserves arrive outside of the 'effective' range of the Blastcannon i.e. Centurions. It's the best generalist load-out as the four Destroyer Missiles can handle the tougher enemies like Imperial Knights while all the secondary weapons mulch through medium to light infantry/vehicles, leaving the Pulse Driver Cannon as the dedicated can opener/elite-unit hunter. The Blastcannon is a perfectly acceptable choice, it's just not the go-to option for competitive play but I wouldn't say that is because it is hugely inferior. Running Stormsurges around and Stomping things is fun when it also comes armed with a shotgun!

I'm a competitive player. I prefer the D-shotgun.

I said "tend to". Most "tend to" favor the Pulse Driver Cannon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Mind you, choosing between a Pulse Blastcannon and a Pulse Driver Cannon is legitimately one of the more difficult choices to make. Don't let my earlier comment dissuade you, they're both great choices, it's just that the PDC is ever so slightly more popular (and in my opinion, ever so slightly better).

Well here's the deal though. A stationary StormSurge, which isn't really what I'd recommend anyone do, is the on time you might want to go that route. But the Stormsurge is such a dynamic force up the field! I dont see many people plant their Stormsurge but the ones who do go for the longer range weapon. I just think you might sell it quite short by doing that.

You don't need to be stationary to use the Pulse Driver

 CrownAxe wrote:
You don't need to be stationary to use the Pulse Driver

Im aware.

 Jancoran wrote:
Well here's the deal though. A stationary StormSurge, which isn't really what I'd recommend anyone do, is the on time you might want to go that route. But the Stormsurge is such a dynamic force up the field! I dont see many people plant their Stormsurge but the ones who do go for the longer range weapon. I just think you might sell it quite short by doing that.

It all depends on the situation really. A big part of why the PDC is more popular is probably because many tournaments nowadays use the ITC rulings, meaning that you can crack Invisible death-stars and their T5 multiple-wound models with guaranteed S10 AP2 Large Blasts without having to risk mutual destruction in close combat. If it's a non-ITC setting where things like Ta'unars and Warhounds exist or just Wraithknight-spam among other things, the Blastcannon definitely becomes the better option as non-D weapons in the Tau arsenal will simply bounce harmlessly off of those for the most part. For general play, it's a toss up; double-firing with appropriate Markerlight set-up is ridiculous, but using the Stormsurge aggressively is also arguably its best overall use. It can really come down to your meta as certain armies won't tolerate a forward roving Stormsurge while others will.

Look at the number of shots each weapon puts out?

Pulse Driver Cannon
Turn 1:1
Turn 2:2
Turn 3:2
Turn 4:2
Turn 5:2

Total: 9 large blast shots

Pulse Blastcannon
Turn 1:2
Turn 2:4
Turn 3:4
Turn 4:4
Turn 5:4

Total:18 blast templates some will be str d shots instead of blast templates

If the large blast template of the driver cannon hits directly and gets 3-5 at best you get 6-10 hits. Then you roll a couple of ones they then get their invulnerable save, just not worth it to me!

Give me the blastcannon! Get too close 4 str d shots coming at you or I can relocate? Your opponent may play little cautious which will give the rest of my Tau army more time to shoot!