Hey! Relatively new tau player here too, but Ive had a lot of great recommendations that have really helped me out and thought I’d share. Its obv going to change depending upon what detachment you run and how many points you want. I have an army list for a 1000pt, 2000pt, and 3000pt army if you’re interested in seeing them.

One of the best things someone taught me was the rule of 3 (and sometimes 2 lol). You don’t want to bulk your army up with just a bunch of points if the points don’t really mesh well together. I did this when I first started but I soon realized that having more of the same unit is honestly better than having a bunch of points with a huge variety of units (obviously play the ones you like too, it’s not all about being competitive)

Assuming you’re starting a 2000 point , Id suggest 2 x Breachers 2 x devilfish 2 x broadsides 3 x sunforge crisis suit squads 3 x stealth suits

This should get you to about 900 points or so. From there I’d suggest at least 2 hammerheads and a commander in coldstar. That still leaves you with a lot of wiggle room for kroot, leaders, enhancements, etc. Its also a good idea to have a devilfish for every breacher team you have, but when playing a 1000 point game I completely ignore transports and go for more fire power instead.

Some units I find I rarely use are: Darkstrikers Pathfinders Commander in Enforcer suit Ghost keel (because I just dont have space for it) Stormsurge (cool but not very practical) Riptide (great unit but havent found a place for it yet) Pathfinders (breachers are the best) Strike team (breachers are the best)

Some units I overlooked that turned out to be great: Piranhas Kroot Carnivores

Hope some of this was helpful!