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FIreknife used to be so popular, but now with the recent changes both to burst cannon and fusion blaster's the crisis loadout options opened up in a couple different ways.

One thing I just CANNOT wrap my head around is people using plasma rifles over the new fusion blaster.

Fusion is 6 inches of less range and doesn't have rapid fire but:

-Pairs well with burst cannon range wise, also pairs well will the amazing new gun drones
-Has melta
-AP 1 and 2 more points of strength
-Makes suits into effective tank hunters while still maintaining a sick troop killer when paired with the burst cannon.

I feel people see fusion and instantly get really narrow minded about it's application's but why can't I be shooting termies with it aswell and have it be comparable if not better than the plasma while wrecking tanks with it aswell?


The new fusion rocks.

I will give you my experience as to why I have stopped running fusion.

No need for suits to hunt tanks with a railhead and riptide in my list. Together they can pop anything headed my way unless im facing a full mech list (very rare.)

Rapid fire dual plasma is just crazy good. Give them EWO and laugh at any MEQ drop pods.

Unless you plan on deepstriking fusion teams the range is a big deal. Something sitting on my line not shooting for 2-3 turns is wasted points.

I never quite got the hand of WHY fireknife was popular to begin with, it was so counter-productive and the guns didn't match at all, against anything.

That being said, plasma and fusion are two very, very different guns.
Its all a matter of what you expect.
Heavy armor? pack fusion.
MEQ/TEQ blocks? pack plasma.
Packs of necron warriors or light transports? missiles.
Hordes of infantry? burst cannons.

Point is, against termies and marines plasma wins because it gets twice the shots when you really need them, nothing else.
Sure, fusion got more strength, but its usually overkill. and it has more range, but getting into 12" is bound to happen if you want to or not.

I only feel bad for the CiB and the AFP, they really lost their shine with the new codex. even if I could take them in squads and dual-wield, I would find it hard to justify them unless I outright know what my opponent is bringing and the fit just that tiny niece.

 BoomWolf wrote:

I only feel bad for the CiB and the AFP, they really lost their shine with the new codex. even if I could take them in squads and dual-wield, I would find it hard to justify them unless I outright know what my opponent is bringing and the fit just that tiny niece.

I do miss the "proto-bladestorm" on the old CIB. I used to take AFP/CIB on my commander just to see the look on the opponent's face when I got within 18". Everything that was not a marine just died. In some ways I feel kind of sad that my commander is now so much more effective with a drone controller in a pack of marker drones rather than getting suicidally close to the enemy.

I feel the CIB is pretty much obsoleted by ion rifle pathfinders, and I'll probably never use those anyway. I blame playing with the old Tau codex and getting spoiled, but those small blast templates look awfully tiny and unreliable once they start scattering...

As to the original question, I usually go fusion, but only because I have one extremely specific requirement of killing a t4 creature with 4 wounds and a 3+ invulnerable save. For a TAC list I'd probably go dual plasma or plasma/burst cannon.

The only thing that raises an eyebrow with the CiB is the fact it overcharges into a single small blast.
A large blast, or 3 small blast would make sense, and I would take it just for blast-happiness. but a single blast? the overcharge effectively does not exist in my eyes.


Also back to the original question, yes, fusion has perks in ID and the fact it CAN hurt tanks, but often I just go for the plasma for that extra anti-infantry kick. but I also tend to pair it with burst cannons (for versatility in target acquisition)

I should try to switch it around and see, maybe fusion will work better for me.

Also, speaking on CiB, I just got an idea. as necrons tend to give me a bad time, maybe I should get a CiB/Fusion commander with the ATS, and go hunting their crypteks and HQs rather then try to chew through immortal blocks?

EWO = You can only fire one weapon, so a single plasma rifle will be okay but not amazing.

id rather deck them out with pure plasmas. 12" rapid fire, yea its only 12shots instead of 24 but better strength so even against Nurgle marines youre wounding easily and it has the AP to pen any armor save. Burst cannons even with the vast more shots wont wound things it doesnt pen as well, and face it theres only like 3 races that dont utilize 3+ armor saves commonly, and even they have groups that have 3+ or better (orks, necrons, or tyranids).

Riptide with IA and a couple Ionheads will deal with sheer numbers an can deal with armor quite well too. If i have the points i'll take a Railhead just to guarantee that AV12+ vehicle dies.

Only time my Crisis teams have focused vehicles was when there was a CSM spider (whatever its called) causing havoc and getting lucky as hell 5+ invuls against my riptide/railhead. So i plasma'd its butt.

The S8 on fusion isnt needed unless youre aiming at vehicles (which, like stated several times before, riptides and railheads do that fine) or the once in a blue moon multi-wounded terminator. Which aside from HQ choices in termie armor or MANz for orks i cant think of any.

Razerous wrote:
EWO = You can only fire one weapon, so a single plasma rifle will be okay but not amazing.

I'd argue that this is incorrect, but since this is the tactics forum lets at least say that some people play interceptor only allows you to fire one weapon, while others play it that you can fire multiple weapons.

It really depends on what you want to attack with the fusion vs plasma, I think they fill different roles. I run a couple fusion suits because I need to make sure I have an answer to AV14. If you already have a tool against AV 14 the plasma is probably going to be better in most other situations due to increased range and additional shot within 12".

Interceptor itself doesnt disallow multiple weapons. However the Riptide is the only nonvehicle that can fire interceptor/overwatch with multiple guns. Why?

Multi-tracker specifically says SHOOTING PHASE. Riptide is an MC thus has a different 2-weapon rule overriding it. Tau suits can only fire 1 gun for interceptor/overwatch.
Thats why im contemplating even getting it on missilesides because its only 1/3 of the missiles they can fire (including drones) and its usually against a flier.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
Interceptor itself doesnt disallow multiple weapons. However the Riptide is the only nonvehicle that can fire interceptor/overwatch with multiple guns. Why?

Multi-tracker specifically says SHOOTING PHASE. Riptide is an MC thus has a different 2-weapon rule overriding it. Tau suits can only fire 1 gun for interceptor/overwatch.
Thats why im contemplating even getting it on missilesides because its only 1/3 of the missiles they can fire (including drones) and its usually against a flier.

Thanks for that...so many little things I'm learning about my own army. I'll file that one away for future reference.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
Interceptor itself doesnt disallow multiple weapons. However the Riptide is the only nonvehicle that can fire interceptor/overwatch with multiple guns. Why?

Multi-tracker specifically says SHOOTING PHASE. Riptide is an MC thus has a different 2-weapon rule overriding it. Tau suits can only fire 1 gun for interceptor/overwatch.
Thats why im contemplating even getting it on missilesides because its only 1/3 of the missiles they can fire (including drones) and its usually against a flier.

There is a long, on-going debate about this exact topic. There is no correct answer. Also, the rules regarding MC shooting 2 weapons is worded the same (during each shooting phase). It's probably better to err on the side of caution and say that we can only shoot 1 weapon...at least until the next FAQ, where it will hopefully be addressed.

On topic: Someone recently suggested that I go with the Helios loadout (Fusion and Plasma) and it's been working great for me. You get enough shots to put some serious hurt on MEQ/TEQ, while still threatening vehicles. They generally want to fire at the same target, unless you're up against vehicles (in which case 2-3 meltaguns is typically enough anyway).

Personally, I run my Crisis team as follows:

Commander: Fusion, Cyclic Ion, Drone Controller, Target Lock
Shas'Vre: 2 Plasma, Advanced Targeting System
Shas'Ui: 2 Fusion, Target Lock
6 Gun Drones

I find that the Plasma works very nicely with the Gun Drones, as it's all about high-volume, high-strength weaponry. It also goes particularly well on a Shas'Vre, since it gives you over a 3/4 chance at short range of getting at least one Precision Shot with a S6 AP2 weapon.

With regards to the CIB: I like it because it kinda does everything I want that guy to do, even if it's not the best choice for anything but shooting sub-MEQ infantry. Three S7 shots are pretty decent at stripping HP off lighter vehicles, it adds to the VOF of the unit as a whole when it's not Target Locking (useful if all vehicles are disabled, also useful on Overwatch), and sometimes the blast is a very nice option (anecdotal: killed four Nobz with that blast alone yesterday, thank you Instant Death!)

Imagine how crazy a Stealth team would be if each suit could take 2 drones, not just the character.

6 Burst Cannons ('d leave the fusions out, this is for anti-infantry not big things) and 12 Gun Drones lol....thats 24 + 24Twinlinked S5 Ap5 shots, the latter being Pinning.
Probably why they CANT do this rofl.

Guess it could work with Crisis suits but thats a fair bit expensive too (same amount of guns, but 82pts + whatever the cost of your third weap/support slot per model is a bit more than 30 + 1 supp item lol).

I'll stick to Plasmas. Riptide pi plates and Ionheads deal with numbers just fine.

I like both Fusion and Plasma. Fusion because it pops tanks like nobody's business, and because it also IDs T4 models (which can be huge). Plasma because it gives you that extra 6" range, and that extra shot within 12". Here's how I usually do my loadoauts:

Suit option 1):
TL Plasma Rifle
Plasma Rifle

Suit Option 2)
TL Fusion Blaster
Fusion Blaster

Suit option 3)
Fusion Blaster
Fusion Blaster
Target Lock

Usually I try and go for combinations of Option 1 and 3 (like 2x #1 and 1x #3 in a squad). I also like option 3 for my commander suit as it's more reliable BS5 and #3 doesn't twin-link.

I am a Fan of the Dual Fusion + Target lock or Shield generator depending on how i use them.

Something i've been doing recently is three suits, two with two missiles and one plasma, and the other with both support systems and retro thrusters, then a couple drones for extra wounds.

The missile barrage is awesome against light vehicles, and ignores cover plasma is useful when someone gets close.

It's quite a fun little squad