Tau Piranha: Fusion Blaster or Burst Cannon?

[RZetlin]

I got my first Tau Piranha, and I don't know if I should put a Fusion Blaster or Burst Cannon on it?

The Fusion Blaster would come in handy against tanks.

Though the light armor Piranha is at a disadvantage with the short range of the Fusion Blaster weapon.

[Slyde]

I would imagine that would be dictated on what the rest of your list lacks. If you are short on AT, a fusion gun could be a good choice. If you have plenty of AT already, then it would be a shame to not have all those lovely str5 shots.

[Shas'ui]

I think you should go with the burst cannon. A Piranha probably wouldn't last that long if you tried to get it into range to use the fusion blaster.

[BrianGeneral]

That's ridiculous. You have loads of Str5+ shots already if you have a good base of Stealthsuits and FWs, so why bother with Burst Cannons? (The best bet is that you got +1BS, if you ask me.)
With Decoy and T-Array, moving 12" each turn and try to hide behind terrain you can easily fry a tank without too much trouble and being shot. If it's in open areas, then leave the AT job for Heads and Broadsides, then Piranhas(preferably 2 or more) with FBs can go for some fun like frying enemy infantry or other targets or snatching objectives.
(Or I'll take no Piranhas at all in this case, they're vulnerable to be shot.)

[Piccolo]

Piranha serves 1 real role in the entire army. Filling a gap if your short on anti-tank, such as in pure mechanized lists. If you want more str 5 shots there are much more economical spaces to get it.

[wraithban]

Piranhas can be used to kill Land riaders with termies inside. Get three put em on all the hatches and fuision away, the smurfs just wasted a lot of points!

[General Nuke Em]

Except nobody is dumb enough to terminators in land raiders. If they are, you've won the game already.

[blaesa]

Actually, they can work just fine in Black Templar armies, and Assault Terminators in Land Raider Crusaders aren't that bad of an idea. Expensive as all hell, sure. But ineffective? Hardly.

[Brother Wolf]

And that is a discussion for another thread...

Back on topic, why not use rare earth magnets to keep both weapons available? I personally plan on using Piranhas with Fusion Blasters as fast AT platforms, but I hate wasting bitz.

[Invictus]

It's not like you're missing out on a lot of range. Fusion Blaster is 12" and the Burst Cannon is 18", you're in the same situation whichever one you pick.

You should always be moving at least 6" and firing to get glancing hits only on your Piranhas anyway.

[RZetlin]

I had the chance to open up the kit and read the setup instructions.

You can snap the weapon onto the skimmer without having to glue it on. This gives the option to switch between the two different weapons.