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Hello,

Hope all is going well! I am new to 8th (left at about the middle of 7th).

I’m wondering if someone could help me with list building. I am not sure what is competitive in regards to the current meta (anti-marine?) and for Tau in general.

I currently own the following:

1 Ethereal
7 Crisis Suits
12 Stealth Suits
50 Strike Squad Troops
40 Drones (Variety of Types)

3 Broadsides (Missiles)
1 Riptide (O’Vesa)

4 Hammerheads (Longstrike)
2 Devilsfish

And probably a bit more I am not remembering.

What kind of army do you think I should make? What is working well for Tau right now?

Thank you!

Missile broadsides are good right now, Riptides are probably Tau's best unit overall in competitive scenes, and drones keep them both alive. Fire Warriors are also a pretty good troop choice overall.

If you are just playing friendly games Stealth Suits can also be pretty solid. I also enjoy running Hammerheads in friendly games, but they tend to suffer since they don't get supported by drones like battlesuits do. Having Longstrike also really helps them.

Crisis Suits are not great. They did just get a stratagem in Psychic Awakening that helps them a bit, but they are still not a strong choice.

Ethereals are good, inexpensive HQ options, but the Crisis Commanders are really the best unit and best HQ in the codex. In fact, you could run some of your Crisis Suits as Commanders to help out.

Again, if you are playing friendly matches nothing you have is going to be tremendously bad. If you want to be competitive at tournaments you are going to want Riptides, Crisis Commanders, and drones to protect everything.

 Mud Turkey 13 wrote:
Missile broadsides are good right now, Riptides are probably Tau's best unit overall in competitive scenes, and drones keep them both alive. Fire Warriors are also a pretty good troop choice overall.

If you are just playing friendly games Stealth Suits can also be pretty solid. I also enjoy running Hammerheads in friendly games, but they tend to suffer since they don't get supported by drones like battlesuits do. Having Longstrike also really helps them.

Crisis Suits are not great. They did just get a stratagem in Psychic Awakening that helps them a bit, but they are still not a strong choice.

Ethereals are good, inexpensive HQ options, but the Crisis Commanders are really the best unit and best HQ in the codex. In fact, you could run some of your Crisis Suits as Commanders to help out.

Again, if you are playing friendly matches nothing you have is going to be tremendously bad. If you want to be competitive at tournaments you are going to want Riptides, Crisis Commanders, and drones to protect everything.

Hey thanks for the reply!

Do you know by chance if any of the Forgeworld Tau stuff is any good? Or any of the flyers?

Well, FW stuff is getting reworked soon, so at this point...who knows...

XV9 with duble BC are okay(not great).
Tigershark is okay.
Ta'unar can be fun, great model, drones shield him too.

But at this point, wait till update comes.

Some cadre fire blades could be really good for some Hitting on 2+ marker lights, also a nice cheap HQ choice.

Ghostkheels can be fun as well, I have several and I love running them.

Fire warriors are a great choice, super cheap and fairly effective with str 5 guns with a pretty long range.

Riptides are great, I have several and they are super tanks with good range, firepower, and they are very tanky.

Believe it or not, but you actually have most of the competitive stuff.

The only things I would stay away from (from a vaguely casual/beginner stand point) would be the hammerheads and the devilfishes. Not that they are BAD, more that you need to build a list around them and play very carefully.

Basically make sure you go for target overload. 15 firewarriors will not do much. 50 will dictate how your opponent deploys and moves.

If you are running your crisis suits, make sure you load them all with the same weapon, and keep a commander with them. Basic strategy is to deep strike them turn 2 (with a commander), then have them obliterate a squad with a combination of C&C Node and some markerlights. Support/protect with a squad of drones that deep strike with them

Would recommend picking up the new PA book, it gave a lot of buffs to battlesuit based armies.