Warhammer 40K: This Week’s Meta Hotness – T’au Crisis Suits
Let’s take a look at a unit that was the boogie man of 9th edition for 3 weeks. Today’s Meta Hotness, the Tau Crisis Suit.
In the ever-shifting meta of 40K, armies rise and fall. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about armies that are hot or not, but a lot less time looking at units that are running the show. Today let’s start by taking a look at one of the hottest units currently running around the tabletop.
T’au Crisis Suit Basics
Tau Crisis suit – we all love to hate them right now but they could be the only thing standing in our way between the Juggalo’s of Space – the Harlequins. These things are pretty amazing as you can kit them out with some many different weapons and systems. Do you want to go full gung ho on no LOS shooting? Take the wargear that isn’t in the box set up and go to town. Or how about a ton of amazing Plasma Guns that don’t overheat? Got you covered there too. Heck even all the different wargear upgrades can make this a nutty unit with tons of defense, adding to hit versus fly (I hear pretty good versus Space Elves of all flavors – Vanilla, Chocolate, and Swirl), or just ignoring your rules.
Why are T’au Crisis Suits Good?
This unit is pretty bonkers due to much damage it can do, how much it can soak up, and the fact it is fast as heck. All of these things make it probably one of the best non-Harlequin based units in the game. The biggest frustration is that you can’t get all the weapons in a box which makes me think at some point they just change up what you can purchase. But hey who knows what weapons look like for T’au Crisis Suit anyway right? Just some kind of weird anime looking rifle with a doohickey hanging off of it should suffice. Oh and their floating wingman Shield Drone ready to take some saves for their big bad Robo suit daddy.
Saying a unit is hot is all well and good, but let’s take a look at how players are using it. Unit has been in a number of lists that have done well at recent tournaments. One list that uses Crisis Suits is the following run by Thomas Ogden,3rd place at Adepticon.
++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (T’au Empire) [68 PL, 1,147pts, 9CP] ++
Sept Choice: T’au Sept
+ HQ +
Commander in Coldstar Battlesuit [8 PL, 165pts, -1CP]: 1. Precision of the Hunter, Burst Cannon, Burst Cannon, DW-02 Advanced Burst Cannon, High-output Burst Cannon, Onager Gauntlet, Shield Generator, Stratagem: Promising Pupil
+ Troops +
Kroot Carnivores [3 PL, 60pts]
. 10x Kroot: 10x Kroot Rifle, 10x Quill Grenades
+ Elites +
Crisis Battlesuits [20 PL, 309pts]
. Crisis Shas’ui: Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’ui: Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’ui: Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’ui: Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’vre: Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Marker Drone
. 2x Shield Drone: 2x Shield Generator
Crisis Battlesuits [20 PL, 309pts]
. Crisis Shas’ui: Cyclic Ion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’ui: Cyclic Ion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’ui: Cyclic Ion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’ui: Cyclic Ion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’vre: Cyclic Ion Blaster, Plasma Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Velocity Tracker
. Marker Drone
. 2x Shield Drone: 2x Shield Generator
+ Heavy Support +
Broadside Battlesuits [17 PL, 304pts]
. Broadside Shas’ui: Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker
. Broadside Shas’ui: Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker
. Broadside Shas’vre: Heavy Rail Rifle, Twin Smart Missile System, Velocity Tracker
. Marker Drone
. 2x Shield Drone: 2x Shield Generator
++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (T’au Empire) [48 PL, 702pts, -4CP] ++
Sept Choice: T’au Sept
+ Stratagems +
Stratagem: Emergency Dispensation [-1CP]: Additional Relics
+ HQ +
Commander in Crisis Battlesuit [8 PL, 150pts, -1CP]: 6. Exemplar of the Mont’ka, Advanced EM Scrambler, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Plasma Rifle, Stratagem: Promising Pupil, T’au Flamer, Thermoneutronic Projector
+ Troops +
Kroot Carnivores [3 PL, 60pts]
. 10x Kroot: 10x Kroot Rifle, 10x Quill Grenades
+ Elites +
Crisis Battlesuits [19 PL, 242pts]
. Crisis Shas’ui: Burst Cannon, Burst Cannon, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’ui: Burst Cannon, Burst Cannon, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’ui: Burst Cannon, Burst Cannon, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Velocity Tracker
. Crisis Shas’vre: Burst Cannon, Burst Cannon, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Velocity Tracker
. Marker Drone
. Shield Drone
Crisis Bodyguards [18 PL, 250pts]
. Crisis Bodyguard Shas’ui: Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Target Lock
. Crisis Bodyguard Shas’ui: Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Target Lock
. Crisis Bodyguard Shas’ui: Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Target Lock
. Crisis Bodyguard Shas’ui: Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Target Lock
. Crisis Bodyguard Shas’vre: Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Airbursting Fragmentation Projector, Target Lock
++ Supreme Command Detachment +2CP (T’au Empire) [8 PL, 150pts, 2CP] ++
Sept Choice: T’au Sept
+ Primarch | Daemon Primarch | Supreme Commander +
Commander Shadowsun [8 PL, 150pts]: 2x High-energy Fusion Blaster, Warlord
++ Total: [124 PL, 1,999pts, 7CP] ++
Using T’au Crisis Suits
Thomas used Crisis suits as his main avenue of threat especially with the load outs above. He went from maximum damage options with the Plasma + Cyclic Ion Blasters, the no LOS shooting of the 3 Airbursting Fragmentation Projectors + Target Lock, plus even the sheer massed output of double Burst Cannons. This list has all kinds of weapon load out flavors all designed to hit things that fly and punish anything that comes out in the open. All of this is perfectly tuned for the upcoming Harlequin meta domination that is sure to come if the game isn’t tweaked.
The big thing you can say he went all in on suits as almost everything is suited up with and ready to do some critical damage. This isn’t a list you want to be caught out in the open but as all the suits can move quickly it is hard to hide from the output. I am glad we are not seeing multiple units with the AFB’s but I wonder if other armies will go with double load outs due to other events having more terrain to hide behind.
Congrats to Thomas for kicking buck and being one of the few Tau players in the top tables. Just think we thought Tau were the worst and then scary Elves came to town.
Let us know what units you think are hot right now, down in the comments!
