I don’t use them as tanks after I have started fielding Alloy SHIVs, and they can’t tank before reaching the 700 xp required for Will to Survive. Link to motivation for below Marauder build: I will need one murder assault for EXALT missions and one dedicated covert operative. They aren’t good against robotics, but the rest of the squad takes care of that. Didn’t like Close Encounters much on my previous playthough.
They get Hit and Run if they have 14 or 15 Mobility, Rapid Fire with 13 mobility.
Reducing all incoming damage with 40% on top of that makes them practically unkillable for 2 turns. Having Titan Armor, Extra Conditioning and Iron Skin, they have 17 armor 4 Damage resistance when exposed, 7 behind full cover. With Reinforced Armor, Psi Screen and Combat Stims, they can rush into the most dangerous situations and still be fine thanks to a Command for the more exposed one of them to take the Stim. The two assaults can rush in and make alien really sorry they ventured close to me. I love having two of the, while the rest of the squad is focused on long distance fightning.
They are specialist in taking out Mutons after the main threats have been eliminated, as well as taking care of those occastions when you got 6 Outsiders on your hand.