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I haven't seen any Harlequin discussion so I wanted to kick some off.

How do you all think we should outfit our Troupe's now? Personally, I think the Caress is still the best weapon, as that Str 5 gives you the sweet spot to wound stuff on 3's and everything else barring T10 on 5's.

What do you think? Has someone bothered to math it out?

Furthermore, I think that pistols will play a way bigger role for the army in the new edition. Fusion pistols and Neurodisruptors are super tempting - both to take down big vehciles and monsters, and because they are so useful in close combat. I think the Haywire weapons are really lackluster (but maybe someone can convince me), so we will need those Fusion Pistols / Prismatic cannon most likely to take down the big stuff.

5 wound Troupe Masters / Death Jesters / Shadowseers / Soiltaire are excellent!

Skyweavers seem amazing too! 16" move w/ double advance with the ability to charge as well! They are also -1 to hit. Seems good. The Zephyrglaive lost some punch, as it's only Str 4, but including a single Star Bola for that grenade attack (d3 hits!) seems pretty useable now that it isn't one-use only.

What do you think?

Would love to see a 2000 pt army list, i hope the army list software hurries up!

There is some discussion (in the general 40k section) here and there.

I also like the caresses a lot, but the embrace also have their place.
With a troupe master to rerolls to wound, I think the embraces are a very solid choice. A bit cheaper, the lower strength won't hurt too much if you can reroll, and it has better AP.

The kiss is, just like the neuro-disruptor, so weak compared to the other options that I think it's a typo.

Fusion guns might be good, but only when cruising in a Starweaver so you can shoot while being protected. We'll have to see if it's possible to reliably get a Starweaver 6" away from a valuable target on T1, because 6 fusion guns could put some hurt in most vehicles/monsters.
I think foot-harlequin will advance most of the time, and get shot off the board more, so guns probably won't matter too much.

Also, while you can shoot them in melee, it's only during your own shooting phase. So if you're the one charging, it means you have to live through 2 whole fight phases before you can shoot in combat, which won't happen that often. And non-Ynarri Harlequins can auto H&R anyway.

Against multi-wound models caress is equal to kiss only in the most advantageous scenario (T 4 or 5, 2+ save). T3, T6+, or armor 3+ or worse and kiss pulls ahead. I would choose kiss for solitaire every time.

I'm loving the Shadowseers' aura buff more and more the more I consider it. It significantly improves our durability against small arms for any unit in range, which was the absolute biggest problem for me in 7th.