Last Stand - Tau Commander

The Tau Shas'O Commander is a DLC Character for Last Stand, and as such, locked behind a pay-gate. If this reminds you of something, then congrats - you too, are aware of the irony.

At any rate, the Tau Commander is an immensely fun and useful character, with the ability to be set up in any of dozens of different fashions, making him somewhat unique as far as Last Stand heroes go. He always has a jet ability of some sort, and can fulfill many different tactical roles, depending on loadout and situation. His biggest drawback is that he has no melee attack whatsoever and if engaged, can do little but try to helplessly block enemy melee attacks or try to flee. Bearing this in mind is crucial to getting the most out of the Shas'O Commander.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Tau Commander has no melee attack. If he is engaged in melee, he will try to block enemy melee attacks, but he has no ability to fight back in close-combat without the aid of wargear options, so do your best to get the fuck out of dodge using your Jet ability if enemies close in, unless, of course, you're packing the Flamer and/or Kinetic Shield.

Weapon Options

The Tau Commander has 2 weapon slots - one for weapons, one for shields. All options for both are listed below.

• Plasma Rifle: The Default plasma rifle is, like all default weapons, utter shit and should never be used except as part of a joke. Its sole purpose is as a place-holder so that the Tau Commander cannot be sent into combat unarmed and thus unable to do anything.
• Command-Issue Plasma Rifle: Unlocked from the start, this basic, no-frills weapon is a central Tau Commander weapon. It does good damage, has decent range, can be fired on the run, has a decent rate of fire, and has the armor-piercing trait - all wonderful things to have in a weapon. It tends to be very middle-of-the-road and is invariably out-performed by other weapons at various ranges, but it makes for a damned fine "all comers" weapon that has relatively few drawbacks to speak of.
• Flamer: A criminally-under-used unlocked-from-start weapon that does only modest damage, but has a huge area of effect, ignores cover, and has no accuracy loss when fired on the run. The Flamer is excellent for killing packs of mooks, especially cover-camping shits like Eldar Guardians and Grav Platform Teams. It also makes a great weapon when using the Tau Commander's jets; the Tau Commander will start firing even before he hits the ground, giving a truly unpleasant surprise to anyone that happens to be near his landing zone. Perhaps most importantly, the Flamer is one of the only guns that the Tau Commander will reliably try to fire in close-combat, so don't be put off by the Flamer's relatively poor damage. Also worth noting: The Flamer has an unlisted small armor-piercing trait that ignores 20 of a target's armor.
• Fusion Blaster: This belter of a weapon unlocks at level 3. Boasting vastly higher damage and scarily high DPS, as well as the Armor-Piercing trait, the Fusion Blaster, at a glance, seems too good to be true. Firing only a little slower than the Plasma Rifle for a vastly higher damage output seems like a great trade-off... And it is, in some situations. Unfortunately, the Fusion Blaster has much shorter range than the Plasma Rifle, and generally will not fire when the Tau Commander is in motion. Additionally, with a slower refire rate, the Fusion Blaster, when it does miss, will sting all the more. The Fusion Blaster absolutely excels at fighting armored foes - tanks, walkers, wraithlords, enemy Heroes, and the errant Carnifex, but is generally a much poorer choice than its stats suggest against almost everything else.
• Airbursting Fragmentation Projector: This overly-elaborate Tau Grenade Launcher unlocks at level 9. Firing powerful, long-ranged shells, the Airbursting Fragmentation Projector does only mediocre DPS, owing to its sluggish refire rate, but it affects an area, ignores cover saves, and does fairly good damage when it fires and can fire on the move. Rather poor in close-combat and somewhat weak against fast-moving foes, the biggest upside to this beast is that it's an indirect-fire weapon - there's nothing stopping you from launching Airburst shells over intervening terrain to hit enemies hiding behind - something incredibly helpful since the Airbursting Fragmentation Projector is one of the Tau Commander's longest-ranged weapons as well. Bear in mind its weaknesses in close-combat and targetting highly-mobile foes, however, and it will serve you well - especially if you have an ally that can cause suppression or Snare Mines.
• Burst Cannon Gatling fetishes unite - your favorite weapon in the Tau Armory is available once more, and at level 16. A somewhat easy-to-underestimate weapon, the Burst Cannon does pretty decent damage at long range, but is far better for its suppressive fire effects, which slow and cripple foes under the effects, and it boasts both long range, and the ability to fire on the move. Its main drawback: it's functionally worthless against armored foes, though it will still slow them down. With proper upgrades, the Burst Cannon can actually become quite effective against most infantry, and is a huge boon to teams that are lacking in anti-infantry punch, and it winds up being one of the nicer weapons in the long run.

The Tau Commander's shield slot is normally used for equipping Shields that boost his health and armor rating, and provide other useful benefits. It can also be used to equip the Networked Weapon Interface, in case you want to scream: "fuck shields!!" and go for even more shooty goodness.

• Shield Hardpoint: Like all default weapons, the Shield Hardpoint is a place-holder and should not, under any circumstances, be used on its own merits. It offers no benefits, and solely exists to have items replace it. Avoid.
• Shield Generator: Unlocked from the start, this little shield gives a good health and armor boost - 50 Armor, 25 Health - and it makes available the Energy Shield ability. Energy Shield isn't terribly good on its own, erecting a barrier that takes damage instead of the Tau Commander's health, since the Tau Commander tends to rely on Energy so much, but this is the only available shield for about 6 levels, so if nothing else, it can be used for the health and armor boosts.
• Repulser Shield: Unlocking at Level 7, This shield gives the same health and armor boosts as the Shield Generator (+50 Armor, +25 Health), but instead has the incredibly useful Kinetic Pulse ability. For 15 energy, the Tau Commander generates a short-ranged shockwave that deals decent damage and hurls away lighter foes. This can be used offensively (jump into a crowd and activate it to hurl them away), or defensively (bunker down and use it to throw away enemies that love crowding you, like Sluggas and Banshees). This versatility makes it one of the best overall shields in the game, and a staple of many builds.
• Iridium Shield: Unlocked at Level 11, and boasting the largest health and armor boost of the shields (+75 Armor, +50 Health), the Iridium Shield is all about defense. Having the Iridium Shield equipped, due to its mass, gives the Tau Commander the trait Heavy, which increases the damage done by jumping on foes, but cuts the range of the Tau Commander's jump. This same trait is given by the XV8 "Armored" Crisis Battlesuit Armor, and if both are used, a Double Heavy state is acquired, which further boosts the damage and impact of the Tau Commander's jumps (the other effects, such as the range and stun duration, are unchanged). It does, however, lack the Kinetic Pulse of the Repulser Shield, however, as well as the always-useful Twin-Linked trait of the Networked Weapon Interface, so bear this in mind.
• Networked Weapon Interface: Not really a shield, this is an achievement unlock, earned by getting the Dynamic Entry achievement (kill 100 enemies by jumping on them). This unusual little unlock gives no health or armor, and instead gives your Commander the trait Twin-Linked, which duplicates whatever weapon he had in the primary weapon slot in his shield slot, allowing the Commander to fire 2 of whatever his weapon of choice was. A side-effect of the twin-linking is that both weapons are about 25% weaker - so you trade 25% of one gun's firepower to gain a second 75% damage gun. This upgrade benefits the Tau Commander's various weapons in different ways - the Burst Cannon and Flamer lose almost no damage from being twin-linked, so the upgrade is a flat damage improvement, whereas the Fusion Blaster and Plasma Rifle primary benefits are from being able to fire at more than one one round per cooldown cycle. The Airburst Fragmentation Projector gets a second pieplate to drop. You're trading offense for defense here, so make sure that whatever weapon you choose, to make the choice worth it.

Armor

All armors for the Tau Commander provide the Unshakable trait, meaning that the Tau Commander cannot be knocked down. Additionally, all of the armors provide some variation of the Jet ability, so getting around the battlefield is never a problem for the Tau Commander. His available armors are as follows:

• XV8 Crisis Battlesuit: Like all default armors, this one sucks. It gives 50 Armor Rating, Unshakable, and the Jet ability, however, so it sucks slightly less than other default armors. Uhm.... Yay?
• XV8 "Light" Crisis Battlesuit: This starting armor tends to be under-used, which is a shame because it's also incredibly useful. Giving 90 Armor, +25 Health, and the Jet ability, it also grants the Unshakable trait and the trait Low-Weight Composites, which increases his movement speed a bit. This can be deceptively helpful, and is definitely worth it for mobile offensive builds.
• XV8 "Armored" Crisis Battlesuit: Unequivocally the most-common armor used for the Tau Commander, and with damned good reason - it gives 120 Armor, +50 Health, the Unshakable trait, and the Heavy trait, which replaces your standard Jet ability with the Heavy Jet ability. This jet variant has a slower speed and shorter range, but does more damage when it lands and a longer stun effect. The survivability of this armor alone makes it a solid choice, and definitely worth using.
• XV8 "Agile" Crisis Battlesuit: Statistically almost-identical to the "Light" Crisis Suit, the "Agile" Crisis Suit unlocks at level 13. It gives 90 Armor, 25 Health, Unshakable, and the Stabilized Jet ability, which is both faster and longer-ranged than the standard Jet ability. Of all the Tau Commander armors, this one is arguably the most survivable - not for its armor or health boosts, but for its ability to get the hell out of dodge when things get too scary. The Golden Egg of Last Stand is always mobility, and the Tau Commander's armor that best emphasizes this trait certainly has it in spades.
• XV8 "Command" Crisis Battlesuit: This rarely-used but exceptionally-powerful armor is the last one to be unlocked, at level 17. It has no health boosts, but the passive upgrades it gives are obscenely useful, and it has better armor than most Tau Armors at 110. It gives the Jet ability, Unshakable, and two incredibly handy auras - one that boosts the Tau Commander's (and all nearby allies') ranged damage by 15%, and a second one that makes the Tau Commander and all nearby allies Fearless (and thus immune to Suppression). These traits conspire to make the "Command" suit one of the best supporting armors available to the Tau Commander, and a veritable magnum upgrade if he's placed alongside an allied Lord General, ranged-focused Hive Tyrant, or Mekboy. It can also effectively offset the damage loss of Twin-Linking.

Accessories

To Be Updated After Work!! -- Jaimas

Commander Items

TBA

Build Options

TBA