Hazard Suit use

[Galron]

These have always been my favorite unit since the first Taros book but how good are they in the current game? I only really see two of the weapon options as really usable and one only marginally so.

 

The quad Burst cannon build is my current favorite with ATS and a shield gen. Maybe or maybe not drones. My theory of use is as single units that drop behind enemy lines and harass rear line units. They are fairly mobile and survivable and putting out 16 shots isn't too shabby. A pair of these working in tandem should be pretty effective at causing havoc.

 

The Fusion Cascade is the borderline one. Its a lot of fusion shots BUT you have to get close to use them, uncomfortably close. For some reason they never updated them to be the 18" of standard fusion blasters. Makes for a fairly tough chassis to deliver them and d6 damage while unpredictable is still not too bad. I think a cold star does this better though with less shots.

 

PIGs used to be the bomb in prior editions but they have fallen badly by the wayside. Str4 and less shots(on a max roll) than a double barreled burst cannon? I guess it depends on how you value AP. They are -1 AP and a -4 on a 6 to wound. Add -1 to that if using  ATS. So yeah it could punch through armor pretty good, but I prefer higher rate and strength of fire. Averaging 8 str 4 shots isn't cutting it for me at D1.

 

Pulse Submunition? Once again, 8 str 6, no ap, d1 shots?  Someone actually thought this was a good idea.

 

Miss the days when drones gave you the option of jumping out of combat when charged. If you don't remember, prior to 8th and maybe 7th, if a Hazard suit had drones then if charged, the suit would drop his drones and jump back to safety to continue shooting the next turn. But having a 2" to enemy charge reduction isn't bad, I have had it work out well for my repulsor several times.

 

So how does everyone use theirs? In my tactics they fill a similar role to Ghostkeels for about 40ish points cheaper. Heavy survivable harassment and distraction.

[Focslain]

I still have to make mine, but plan is twin burst, submission, shield and either ATS or counter. Choice is more theme then strategy, but with the shots it should make a decent anti infantry model.

 

Not sure if adding pure shield or another marker/shield combo.

[Galron]

Well the new rules have dropped. The new tau tenet -1 AP is going to make burst cannons nasty. I already started using the new -1 AP doctrine with my scions and it made a word of difference. I might go for an almost all suit army at this point, using hardened missiles and upgunned.

[Panzer]

Well the new rules have dropped. The new tau tenet -1 AP is going to make burst cannons nasty. I already started using the new -1 AP doctrine with my scions and it made a word of difference. I might go for an almost all suit army at this point, using hardened missiles and upgunned.

 

Needs a FAQ since it's not clear whether the Up-Gunned Tenet applies to every Burst cannon variant or just to "Burst cannons". For now I'd go with just "Burst cannons" and not apply it to any of its variants.

[The_Chaplain]

 

 

Well the new rules have dropped. The new tau tenet -1 AP is going to make burst cannons nasty. I already started using the new -1 AP doctrine with my scions and it made a word of difference. I might go for an almost all suit army at this point, using hardened missiles and upgunned.

Needs a FAQ since it's not clear whether the Up-Gunned Tenet applies to every Burst cannon variant or just to "Burst cannons". For now I'd go with just "Burst cannons" and not apply it to any of its variants.

Yeah, it's a can of worms not too dissimilar to the scything talon ap change in Blood of Baal-- people assumed it worked on all size of talons, and then it got faqd to only work on hormagaunt sized talons. You just know someone is going to argue that heavy burst cannon riptides, hazards, tigersharks, etc. Will benefit until faqs come out too.

With that said, throw these kinds of armies (xenos/mono codex) a bone to help them compete against marines at this point.

[chapter master 454]

Well...it hurts that GW haven't done the move to "archetypes" proper by having conventions for this.

 

I would argue that the new tenet is rather odd though, to only affect burst cannons and only burst cannons would be very odd considering the other tenet that affects all missile weaponry (which they avoid using "missile" because for some reason screw the stormsurge). I would contend that sadly it doesn't work on "burst cannon" weaponry as it stands due to how it is worded and if meant for more than just Burst cannons then they would call it out by saying "burst cannon Weapons" and give a list of "burst cannon" weapons.

 

However if FAQed to give AP to all Burst cannon variants...oh mama...AP3 HBCs is just...well...disgusting.

 

However it would boost various other units to compete. Though that tenet smacks of "please stop taking gun drones on tanks instead of burst cannons"

[Panzer]

Burst cannons are a pretty common weapon though. You find them on Stealth Suits, Ghostkeels, the big Pathfinder Drone, Piranhas, Crisis Suits, Commanders, Devilfishes, Hammerheads and some of the Flyers.

Definitely worth a second look if you plan to use those units. I'm going to try it out with just lots of Stealth Suits and Ghostkeels already. Hell, I'm going to try out the one that allows Battlesuits to move&shoot with Heavy weapons without penalty just for my Ghostkeels too so I can give them ATS on top of the Burst cannon Tenet for AP-2 Burst cannons and AP-2 CIRs (okay my HRR Broadsides benefit from it too but they aren't really supposed to move around a whole lot anyway).

 

 

Anyway, to get this back on topic: With the new custom Sept Tenets I guess it depends on your choice of Sept. The Double-barreled burst cannon loadout is nice but really expensive compared to regular Burst cannon Crisis Suits. You get 3 regular Crisis Suits with 3 BC each for the exact same points as two Hazard Suits with DB BCs without Support Systems.

So the only advantage here would be the Support Systems. ATS is the obvious one, though regular Crisis Suits could benefit from the Up-Gunned Sept Tenet equaling things out if you aren't bound to any other specific Sept. Shield Gen sounds like a good idea too, however does it equal out 3 more T5 wounds? Especially when there are Shield Drones nearby? I'm not so sure about that.

 

However with the custom Sept Tenets the Fusion cascade loadout becomes a lot more interesting again. You can give the +4" range so they get up to 16" which is a lot less dangerously for them than before and makes screening against them much more difficult.

Then again, even without Support Systems two of them are a lot more expensive than 3 FB Crisis Suits and those would get boosted to 22" range with the same Sept Tenet so not very convincing either.

 

At the end of the day I'd say regular Crisis Suits, especially with the new Stratagems available, are the much stronger choice. Gotta wait for the announced new FW books and hope your Hazard Suits will get some love there.

Edited February 12, 2020 by Panzer