Content by Azraphael99 and T0nkaTruckDriver, Written by Azraphael99 and T0nkaTruckDriver, Edited by T0nkaTruckDriver
Jack of All Trades Master of One (or Two)
Crisis Suits are arguably the most versitile unit in the entire game of Warhammer 40K. They have a dizzying array of weapon and support options allowing them to be fielded in anti-swarm, anti-power armor, or anti-vehicle roles. They are fast, durable, and strong, can Deep-Strike, and look damn cool to boot. In fact, one of the biggest pitfalls of fielding Crisis Suits is equipping them for too many battlefield roles. Just because you can equip a suit with a Flamer, Plasma Rifle, and Fusion Blaster doesn't mean you should! There are only 6 turns in a game and very rarely would a suit such as this ever get a chance to fulfill all of the roles you've equipped it to handle. Therefore, when bringing units of Crisis Suits, it's best to give them 1-3 tasks and have them stick to 'em. This assures that they won't find themselves over-extended. Just keep in mind that the more tasks you give a Crisis Team, the more expensive it is to equip them and the less effective they'll necessarily be at their other tasks. I've listed a few common battlefield roles for Crisis Teams below:
Punching Through Power Armor: Being able to field the only mobile Plasma Rifle in our arsenal, the Crisis Suit is uniquely suited to handle Power Armor and Terminator Armor. Adding Fusion Blasters to a Crisis Team enhances their effectiveness in this role, but requires that you get up close and personal about it.
Mopping Up Light Troops: Flamers, Burst Cannons and Missile Pods all excel at this. With their Toughness of 4 and Strength of 5, your team can assault in to finish off anything that's left. In general though, the large volumes of pulse fire that our Shas'la can generate are probably better in this role allowing the Crisis Teams to focus on other objectives.
Light Vehicle Popping: It seems that this is what the Missile Pod was built for. It's 36" range lends a measure of safety to your Suits equipped for this role.
Heavy Tank Hunting: Combine a twin-linked Fusion Blaster with the ability to Deep-Strike and Predators and Whirlwinds will be shaking in fear. The Shield Generator also helps in this role, as you're undoubtedly going to be seeing quite a bit of return fire. Due to our inability to field the heavy-hitting Broadsides in a fully Mech list, our armies often find themselvs lacking in vehicle killing power. Crisis Teams kitted out for this role can help take up the slack.
Crisis Suit Options
Crisis suits posess three open hardpoints on the suit, and a few have the potential of mounting Hardwired components as well. This gives an incredible array of possible weapon combinations, but it also makes Crisis Suit design more of an art than a science. What works well for one person may or may not perform as desired for another.
Weapons
Plasma Rifle: Listed first as it's arguably the best 'all-round' weapon to take on a suit. With the 'recoil compensator' rule, these guys have long range and high firepower (1 shot at 24", or 2 at 12" regardless of movement) with high strength and low AP. It's a workhorse gun, capable of engaging everything from Termies and transports on down to infantry, with only one signifigant drawback: Cost. Being nonspecialized and equally effective across the board means that the Plasma Rifle is the most expensive weapon option available to crisis suits, while not particularly excelling at anything beyond killing marines.... and that it doesn't do in large quantities.
Missile Pod: A premere long-range vehicle killer, the missile pod is a great addition to any suit. With multiple shots and a very high strength, the Pod only lacks AP to be as good a choice as the Plasma Rifle. That said, it glances AV 10 on a 3, and is capable of hurting up to AV 13 and instakilling T3 troops. Its primary role, however, is that of a transport-killer, and for its cost it excels in that.
Fusion Blaster: A 12" melta-equivalent, with exceedingly high strength and AP. Its disadvantages are range and number of shots - but if high power is required, this is the gun to take. Cheaper than the missile pod, but harder to use - it rips through even heavy vehicles like tissue paper at close range, and annhialates Terminators with instakills that ignore their armor. A great gun all around, but its learning curve is steep.
Burst Cannon: An unusual choice for a suit, the Burst Cannon is a spectacularly good anti-infantry gun, generating a large volume of pretty fair AP shots at a solid (18") range. There is no weapon better suited for a crisis suit's mobility in the anti-infantry role, and its cost is low enough to make it a viable option even against MEQ's. The real disadvantage here is the existance of stealth suits - suits that carry a burst cannon at less than half the cost of a comparably equipped Crisis suit while being harder to kill. That said, the BC is a viable choice if you need more infantry-hitting power.. or even light vehicle (As the weapon is str-5, enough to penetrate up to AV 10 and glance up to 11, on a lucky role) potential, despite the gun's primary focus.
Flamer: Considered by most a marginal choice, it's nonetheless useful in a few configurations, especially against low AV troops. The disadvantage is range; a flamer fires a template out to 8", so the closer you use it the better - putting your suit into assult vulnerability! That said, the flamer is absolutely devastating against armies like the IG and the 'nids, and can be a great alternative when fielded in numbers. Keep in mind that you can't get a flamer anywhere else in the Tau armory, either. Spooky over on Total Tau compiled an interesting table detailing the effectiveness of the flamer against Marines. It has been reproduced here:
| Burst Cannon | 2 |
| Fusion Blaster | 2.5 |
| Missile Pod | 1.66 |
| Plasma Rifle (1 shot) | 2.5 |
| Plasma Rifle (2 shots) | 5 |
It's generally not difficult to get 6 or more models under the template making the flamer more effective at killing T4, 3+ armor than even a rapid-firing plasma rifle! Of course, keep in mind that in order to utilize that effectiveness you need to be right in your enemy's face... generally not a good place for your valuable Elites!
Support Systems Make the Suit
Although expensive, the support systems available to Crisis Teams allow them to break just about every rule in the shooting section of the 40K rulebook.
Multitracker: Almost mandatory for any suit with more than one weapon... and who would want to bring only one weapon?! This handy piece of wargear allows you to shoot 2 weapons at the same target. When designing your suits, be sure to equip it with weapons that are good against the same target! A Multitracker will allow you to fire both a Missile Pod and a Flamer at the same target, but what target could you possibly want to fire both of those weapons at?
Target Lock: This allows you to shoot at a different target than the rest of your unit. In general, if you want to be shooting at different targets, it's a better idea to split your Crisis Team into two different units to save the points. However, if you're out of Elite slots, the Target Lock can give your Crisis Teams more flexibility.
Blacksun Filter: By allowing you to roll 4d6 x 3 for nightfight spotting distance, this piece of wargear is useful on Team Leaders and Commanders as a Hardwired option if you know you'll be playing a nightfight scenario. Note that the Blacksun Filter cannot be brought mounted in a hardpoint, only as a Hardwired option.
Shield Generator: Going along with the Mech Tau doctrine of preservation of Victory Points, this handy bit of wargear is the only Inv save in our entire army, and for that reason alone it should be considered. However, due to its extreeme cost, it is rarely an option on every suit in your army. Therefore it is best equipped to suits with especially dangerous battlefield roles. A Deep-Struck Crisis Suit with twin-linked Fusion Blasters and a 4+ Inv save is nothing to be scoffed at. Another strategy is to equip one suit in a Team with the Shield Generator. When a Las-Cannon equipped Tactical Squad fires into your Crisis Team you can allocate the Las hit to the model with the Inv save in the hopes of deflecting it. Generally though, a Shield Drone would be better for this job. Also, another thing to keep in mind is that by equipping a Shield Generator, you are essentially negating the benefits of any non sight blocking cover. Standing in woods/ruins does you no good if you have a Shield Generator since your Inv save is as good or better than any cover save you might otherwise get! If you're deploying on a terrain-heavy board, consider leaving this bit of wargear at home because by assuring you always end your assault move in or behind some cover, you essentially get the benefits for free.
Drone Controller: These allow the bringing of Gun and/or Shield Drones, providing both protection and additional firepower to the suit with the controller. Be careful though, a smart opponent will first pepper your Suits with small arms fire (bolters, etc.) in order to wipe out the drones before the Las-Cannons come in to insta-kill your suits. Drones also negate the "you can't pick me out" rule for your HQ choices allowing them to be shot at. Therefore, if you want your HQ to be immune to being targeted, perhaps consider the Shield Generator instead.
Conclusion
With their impressive statline, big guns and mobility, Crisis Suits are a deadly unit. Unfortunately, it only takes opponents a few games against a Tau army to figure this out and make them priority #1 for insta-kill weapons (Missile Launchers, Las Cannons, etc.). Since the majority armor save rule applies to Crisis Teams with attached drones, equipping them with protective wounds is an expensive and inefficient way to increase their durability. This necessarily forces Crisis Suits to rely heavily on terrain for protection from insta-kill weapons. Unfortunately, this reliance on terrain limits their mobility options, often making the shorter ranged weapons poor choices for Crisis weapon loadouts, as it's rare that you will have a suitable terrain feature for JSJ actions within 18" of your intended target. Equipping your Crisis Teams with longer ranged weaponry greatly expands their ability to operate around a piece of backfield terrain while still granting them range to a variety of encroaching enemy units. Therefore, if you like the idea of a Burst Cannon or Fusion Blaster equipped Crisis Suit, consider bringing these weapons on a Commander, whose IC status will protect him as he moves up the field to get in range. For normal Crisis Suits, the longer ranged Plasma Rilfes and Missile Pods are really the best weapon options.