This week’s Hammer of Math continues T’auchat by looking at the viability of the different Battlesuits in the context of what is out there to kill.
The T’au were defined by Battlesuits long before they gained a superfluous apostrophe in their name, and the latest edition of Codex: T’au continues that tradition. T’au players have access to a wide variety of units with the BATTLESUIT keyword, which can also be taken advantage of in a special Detachment called the Retaliation Cadre. Older players will recognize the Retaliation Cadre as a reskin of the Farsight Enclave subfaction, refit to the new edition’s rules.
The primary benefit of this detachment is that attacks against a target within 12″ gain +1 Strength, and attacks made against a target within 6″ gain an extra point of AP. This synergizes well with The Shortened Blade Stratagem, which for 2CP allows a unit arriving from Deep Strike to be set up anywhere more than 3″ away from an enemy model. Commander Farsight also provides synergy with this rule, giving +1 to the Wound roll when a unit he is leading attacks something within 9″.
The Target Profile
Continuing the work I did previously with the Toughness and Save distribution in Competitive Innovations in 40k, here are the distributions of characteristics through 2/28/2024. I will add more in future articles; as of now we’re up to 93 lists. Compared to the last distribution the T4/3+ has seen a significant jump along with the T5/3+ and T10/3+ profiles. AP -2 remains the most efficient value with the prevalence of 4+ invulnerable saves.
Crisis Battlesuits
One of the biggest changes in the 10th edition release of Codex: T’au is that Crisis Battlesuits have been split into three units, each with a static loadout, as opposed to the mix-and-match style of squads that was common in previous editions. This gives us three flavors of Crisis Battlesuit, and each flavor comes with its own special rule which is more suited to the unit’s loadout. All three datasheets feature a T5, 3+ profile with 4 wounds and 10″ of FLY movement. The Sunforge variant also includes a 4+ invulnerable save. They all hit at BS 4+, but that can easily become a 3+ when attacking a Spotted target.
Sunforge
Crisis Sunforge Battlesuits are armed with a pair of fusion blasters (12″, 1A, S9, AP -4, D6, [MELTA 2]) and can re-roll the Wound and Damage roll when facing a MONSTER or VEHICLE unit. We know that they benefit from Mont’Ka, and +1S from Retaliation Cadre would provide a significant benefit given the weight of T9 and T10 targets.
Fireknife
Crisis Fireknife Battlesuits can carry a combination of missile pods (30″, 2A, S7, AP -1, D2) and plasma rifles (18″, 1A, S9, AP-3, D3). They can ignore any modifiers to Hit rolls and can either re-roll 1s or the entire Hit roll depending on whether the unit is damaged or not. The balance between range and number of attacks is an interesting one, with the added damage and AP of the plasma rifle being more useful against heavily armored targets. Against T4/3+/2W targets the missile pod and plasma rifle are basically the same. As with the fusion blasters, going from S9 to S10 provides a significant benefit in a Retaliation Cadre. There doesn’t seem to be a compelling reason to use a plasma rifle over a fusion blaster if you intend to be within 12″ of the target.
Starscythe
Crisis Starscythe Battlesuits carry a combination of flamers (12″ D6A, S4, AP 0, D1, [TORRENT, IGNORES COVER]) and burst cannons (18″, 4A, S5, AP 0, D1). If the target isn’t a MONSTER or VEHICLE then the AP is increased by 1. The flamers continue to be a nasty threat in the T’au Codex, offering more expected wounds against lightly armored targets and being equivalent against a T4/3+ profile. This disparity becomes more evident when you consider how prevalent cover is in 10th Edition 40k with the flamers effectively getting an extra point of AP. Going from S4 to S5 also helps against the T4/T5 sweet spot.
While the optimal choice will depend heavily on how the distribution of characteristics continues to change, at the moment it seems like Crisis Sunforge Battlesuits are a powerful and viable threat against a variety of relevant targets. The options for the Fireknife are a bit murkier, with the additional attacks of missile pods countering the added damage and strength of plasma rifles. With the Starscythe, the flamer seems to be the superior option to the burst cannon. The fusion blaster, plasma rifle, and flamer all benefit considerably when leveraging the bonus strength from a Retaliation Cadre, and may be preferable in that detachment.
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