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Having just started playing the game again for the first time in 6 years alot has changed. As such i decided to change race as well, from tyranids to tau. Looking at the commander for my HQ choice i was wondering what would be a god setup for a tanky build. I was thinking plasma rifle, iridium armour, shield generator and stimulant injector. I also want a second weapon but can't decide between airbursting fragmentation projector and cyclic ion blaster. He also comes with one drone but not sure about what to pick, thinking shield drone rather than generator. Suggestions please.

xana666 wrote:
Having just started playing the game again for the first time in 6 years alot has changed. As such i decided to change race as well, from tyranids to tau. Looking at the commander for my HQ choice i was wondering what would be a god setup for a tanky build. I was thinking plasma rifle, iridium armour, shield generator and stimulant injector. I also want a second weapon but can't decide between airbursting fragmentation projector and cyclic ion blaster. He also comes with one drone but not sure about what to pick, thinking shield drone rather than generator. Suggestions please.

It is almost alway better to put 2 of the same weapon on the commander instead of 2 different ones. And if you are planning to use your commander for a more aggressive build (aka less than 20" away from opponent), you are gonna need to put him in a squad of crisis suits. He isn't very good by himself.

notredameguy10 wrote:

xana666 wrote:
Having just started playing the game again for the first time in 6 years alot has changed. As such i decided to change race as well, from tyranids to tau. Looking at the commander for my HQ choice i was wondering what would be a god setup for a tanky build. I was thinking plasma rifle, iridium armour, shield generator and stimulant injector. I also want a second weapon but can't decide between airbursting fragmentation projector and cyclic ion blaster. He also comes with one drone but not sure about what to pick, thinking shield drone rather than generator. Suggestions please.

It is almost alway better to put 2 of the same weapon on the commander instead of 2 different ones. And if you are planning to use your commander for a more aggressive build (aka less than 20" away from opponent), you are gonna need to put him in a squad of crisis suits. He isn't very good by himself.

Does two of the same weapon makes it twin linked, or give you twice the shots? And the plan was to stay at range, but play more aggressively, hence the plasma rifle, does the rest of the load out look ok though?

No it doesn't. It just gives you an additional weapon to fire I think. So 2 Plasma Rifles instead of one.

 War Kitten wrote:
No it doesn't. It just gives you an additional weapon to fire I think. So 2 Plasma Rifles instead of one.

Hopefully because that is really good, do you know for sure though and surely the model will only come with one of each weapon, not two.

The Commander's 5 ballistic skill is really good and you should look into ways to share that love as far and wide as you can.

People will commonly recommend the buffmander but I prefer a slight variation:

Commander, drone controller, 2x missile pods, target lock, 2x marker drones.

Put him in a unit with ...
2x crisis suits, 2x missile pods each, target locks
Crisis shas'vre, MSSS, CCN, NWSJ
6x marker drones.

He and his suits will put out great ranged damage with the buffs from the shas'vre, while the 8 marker drones will benefit greatly from the BS 5.

Alternatively for a more aggressive unit the same loadout with no target locks, gun drones and burst cannons (or cyclic blasters) could be a good point sink to drown infantry.

xana666 wrote:

 War Kitten wrote:
No it doesn't. It just gives you an additional weapon to fire I think. So 2 Plasma Rifles instead of one.

Hopefully because that is really good, do you know for sure though and surely the model will only come with one of each weapon, not two.

I am 100% positive he can use 2 of the same weapon. There is no one debating that and GW said he could in an FAQ. However, He only comes with one of each weapon in the commander kit which kind of stinks. So you either have to pretend or try and buy an extra weapon online somewhere like eBay.

It's actually both. Because of an artifact in how the suits uses to be equippable a few codexes ago

Note the weapons with multiple different points values.

A crisis suit can equip one plasma rifle for 15 points.

-For an additional 5 points and the cost of one more space in its available loadout, it can twin-link that plasma rifle. This is represented on the model as two plasma rifles.

-Or, for 15 points and another space on the loadout, you get another by-itself plasma rifle.

In both cases, it a represented by two plasma rifles on the model.

notredameguy10 wrote:

xana666 wrote:

 War Kitten wrote:
No it doesn't. It just gives you an additional weapon to fire I think. So 2 Plasma Rifles instead of one.

Hopefully because that is really good, do you know for sure though and surely the model will only come with one of each weapon, not two.

I am 100% positive he can use 2 of the same weapon. There is no one debating that and GW said he could in an FAQ. However, He only comes with one of each weapon in the commander kit which kind of stinks. So you either have to pretend or try and buy an extra weapon online somewhere like eBay.

It seems so although people still think otherwise, going to to that then, much better for damage.

 Captain Joystick wrote:
The Commander's 5 ballistic skill is really good and you should look into ways to share that love as far and wide as you can.

People will commonly recommend the buffmander but I prefer a slight variation:

Commander, drone controller, 2x missile pods, target lock, 2x marker drones.

Put him in a unit with ...
2x crisis suits, 2x missile pods each, target locks
Crisis shas'vre, MSSS, CCN, NWSJ
6x marker drones.

He and his suits will put out great ranged damage with the buffs from the shas'vre, while the 8 marker drones will benefit greatly from the BS 5.

Alternatively for a more aggressive unit the same loadout with no target locks, gun drones and burst cannons (or cyclic blasters) could be a good point sink to drown infantry.

I do something similar to this, but I split the commander off from the crisis suits so that the Missile Crisis suits can utilize Combined Firepower with other units AND use the markerlights. This method gives you a cheap and really effective "Fast Attack" choice for the Hunter Contingent. Bs 5 markerlights ftw.