Editing Warhammer 40,000/10th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

==Unit Analysis==

===Characters===
*'''Cadre Fireblade:''' A squishy boy that helps your Strike and Breacher teams with his volley fire buff, granting all models in the unit he leads another attack. His own pulse rifle is no slouch either, dishing out D2 and granting AP-3 on critical wounds. Can join Strike Teams or Breacher Teams.
**Amusingly, the Cadre Fireblade's extra attack buff counts towards the attacks from gun drones the unit may be equipped with. Even more shenanigans is that the Fireblade critical wound AP buff triggers on his gun drones, too.
*'''Commander:''' Your basic Shas'O remains as valuable and flexible as ever as each one can pack up to three additional slots for support systems and guns on top of the burst cannon they start our with. With the simplified points system, this means that you can really pick out whatever you want without paying heed to any restrictions short of your desires.
**Note that the Battlesuit Support System, Shield Generator and Weapon Support System only work on the suit using it, so this won't do anything for their retinue of Crisis suits. If you're looking to support the squad, you'll need to take some drones.
<tabs>
<tab name="Crisis Battlesuit">
Your most basic commander, but hard to refuse when they let a squad re-roll 1s to hit with their guns.
</tab>
<tab name="Coldstar Battlesuit">
Gains an extra wound as well as M12" - that speed is now shared with any crisis suits they join on top of gaining ''[Assault]'' on their guns so everything will always fire on the move, even missile drones.
*Starts off with the High-Output Burst Cannon, which is essentially a burst cannon with twice the hits.
</tab>
<tab name="Enforcer Battlesuit">
Slower at M8" but gets a 2+ save and an extra wound. The best to hit any high-powered forces as the AP of any guns that target their retinue worsens by 1. This makes anything like imperial plasma guns a lot less effective in taking your guys on, even with the overcharge.
</tab>
</tabs>

*'''Ethereal:''' A hero who's never meant to be in combat. He's only got a token stave to fight with and no guns to speak of. Instead, he can give you a free CP each turn and offers his squad of fire warriors a 5+ FNP to make them a bit stubborn. 
**While he can grab a hover drone, it's only a novelty to grab unless you're planning on having them scoot away the moment their squad gets blasted off the map. Instead, focus more on the other drones he can grab since they get an allotment of two. This can help free up drone choices for the retinue.

*'''Kroot Shaper:''' A leader for any pack of kroot carnivores (sadly the Farstriders seem unable to join them). They give their squad a 6+ FNP for some measure of protection, but the moment they kill an enemy in melee (which can be a bit easier than you think when that S5 melee weapon gets +3 extra attacks on the charge) that gets boosted to a 4+ FNP. You should never bother sticking with the Kroot Rifle, the Pulse Rifle is a straight upgrade.

*'''Firesight Team:''' Honestly shouldn't even be here - He's just a guy who's stuck to some sniper drones that are just accessories. Even when he's down to his last wound, he can still snipe out enemy characters, getting a re-roll to hit if he gets guided via FtGG.
**Another unit buffed in 10th, the power of Infiltrator/Stealth/Lone Op means you can park them where you want and it will be a pain to remove.  The lack of ''[Anti-Infantry]'' means the ''[Devastating Wounds]'' will be rare.  Despite the hit re-rolls if guided, don't be afraid to use the Firesight to Observe for someone else as they do have the Markerlight keyword, too.  ''[Heavy]'' allows them to shoot at BS3+ on their own.

====Epic Heroes====
*'''[[Aun'Va]]:''' The Morale-Boosting hologram. While he has those two buff guys as bodyguards, he remains just as unfit for melee as any other ethereal with the added malus of being unable to join anyone else. That said, he's got plenty of defenses between a 4++ invuln, ''Lone Operative'' and an innate -1 penalty to hit and wound him with a single-use 2++ save to hold off a single-use kill-strike. His one benefit is a 6" bubble that lets friendly units add +1 to Leadership and battle-shock rolls.
*'''[[Aun'Shi]]:''' The only Ethereal who can fight worth a damn with his S5 AP-1 D2 stave with ''[Sustained Hits 1]'', gaining either ''[Precision]'', ''[Devastating Wounds]'' or improving to ''[Sustained Wounds 2]''. This gives him some ability to fight enough to compensate for any squad of  fire warriors being pansies and threaten things the Kroot can't. On top of this, he gives his squad +1 to OC, making the fire warriors excellent for capping.
*'''[[El'Myamoto|Darkstrider]]:''' Super pathfinder, gets a pulse carbine named "shade" that deals two damage and attacks from the pathfinders he leads get +1 to wound. And on top of that, units entering the board from reserves cannot set up within 12" of him.
*'''Commander [[Farsight]]:''' Quite the beatstick now. His plasma rifle gets two shots and then there's the dawn blade, now with a strike and sweep split profile: the former gets 4 attacks at S10 AP-2 D3 while the latter gets 8 attacks at S6 AP-1 D1; all his attacks, ranged and close, hit on 2s. On top of that, he can re-roll hits and wounds in a single fight phase in the game and the Crisis team he leads gets +1 to wound on anything within 9".
*'''[[Longstrike]]:''' Surprisingly has a full statline for his Hammerhead instead of how Chronus or Pask (back when Pask existed in the game) merely commandeer a tank and boost its stats. That said, all he does is give one other Hammerhead within 12" ''[Lethal Hits]'' on its guns each turn.
**More proof of the inconsistency of weapon profiles in the 10th ed indices, Longstrike's ABC lacks the AP-1 that a regular Hammerhead or Skyray has. /sigh. Also take care of granting the ''[Lethal Hits]'' to a Railhead as that will not give you a chance to trigger ''[Devastating Wounds]''.
*'''Commander [[Shadowsun]]:''' Her flechette launcher can't be used in engagement range but gets 5 shots while her missile pod lacks AP and has a shorter range; she does pack a pulse pistol hitting on BS3+ and her two S10 18" Fusion Blasters are based af. Attacks against her are also at -1 to hit ''and'' wound and she allows a unit using a strat within 6" of her to recover 1 CP on a 5+. She can also shoot while falling back and allows all Tau units within 6" of her to re-roll 1s to hit. Clearly more of a support character with some tank-hunting sauce.

===Battleline===
*'''Breacher Team:''' The close-quarters fire warriors now really need to be within charging range in order to work, as their pulse blasters now only have one profile for their guns with S6 AP-1 ''[Assault]''. They can re-roll to wound any enemy they shoot, but without any way of keeping objectives capped, they'll only be able to keep that spot warm until someone else can camp there.
**The DS8 support turret will almost never see use due to how much the unit will be moving. A guardian drone will be a priority for these guys because they will almost always be in the line of fire.

*'''Strike Team:''' The classic Fire Warriors took a bit of a hit, with their pulse rifles losing their AP as well as their range taking a bit of a hit. That said, they still remain a decent threat against most things and got a surprising buff via being able to hit on a 4+ when firing overwatch while sitting on an objective - making them just as capable of shooting until the very last moment.
**A surprising ability that got added was the DS8 support turret - Rather than being some static emplacement that locks the Fire Warriors into place, it instead gives you some extra shots with with ''[Indirect Fire]'' and ''[Twin-Linked]'' whenever they sit still. Being a long-range unit, this will almost always be there.

===Infantry===
*'''Kroot Carnivores:''' Absolutely paper-thin, but they have their incredible speed (helped by ''Scouts 7"'' getting an advance move) and ''Stealth'' to keep them alive. Their Kroot Rifles add both a decent firearm and a decent melee weapon they can use to run down any GEQ and gain their 5+ FNP. Critically, they get a lot of synergy buffs with other Kroot (excluding Farstalkers) so if you're taking Carnivores, you're also taking their friends.
*'''Kroot Farstalkers:''' Think of them as independent, SpecOps Carnivores and you're not far off. They get a lot of different weapons, replacing their Kroot Rifles with Farstalker Firearms - identical save for that the latter has Rapid Fire; they also get two attacks with a close combat weapon while the Kill-Broker gets three with their ritual blade that hits at S5. That Kill-Broker can also trade his Firearm for a pulse rifle or carbine, which are straight upgrades. The unit also has a pair of Kroot Hounds with it but they don't do the same thing as other Kroot Hounds elsewhere in this list - they're just there to take wounds and provide some meager attacks. Critically, there is an option for one member to trade their firearm for either an AP-1 flamer or (a "Dvorgite Skinner") or a Londaxi Tribalest: 18" BS5+ A3 S7 AP-1 D1 [HEAVY, ANTI-VEHICLE 4+, DEVASTATING WOUNDS]. That's not to mention the Kill-Broker's Pech'ra, which grants the unit's ranged weapons Ignores Cover. Or that you pick an enemy unit for them at the start of the battle and attacks made against that unit from the Farstalkers get Lethal Hits and Precision against it.
*'''Pathfinder Team:''' Remain reliably mobile with ''Scouts 7"'' and are the shining example of the value of FtGG, not only natively getting the {{W40kKeyword|Markerlight}} keyword but also being able to mark two enemies if they're the observer. The Ion Rifle got a bit of a buff with its overcharge profile maintaining its AP-2 while the basic profile is stuck to AP-1, but it's now under the risk of ''[Hazardous]''. The Rail Rifle got a Strength buff as well as ''Devastating Wounds'' for extra power.
**The Drones are back to just being rules as well. The Grav-Inhibitor Drone makes enemies suffer -2 to charge rolls against the pathfinders like before, the Pulse Accelerator Drone adds +6" to the Pulse Carbines' range, the Recon Drone gives both a Burst Cannon to add to the firing line but also provides ''Infiltrators'' so you can set the team up wherever you need them.
*'''Stealth Battlesuits:''' The victim of GW's lack of proofreading, has rules for a Homing Beacon it isn't equipped with and can't take. Otherwise, nothing has changed significantly for them since 9th: burst cannons, MEQs, Fusion Blaster and "battlesuit support system" on every third model, blah blah infiltrate stealth. You know the drill by now, you know what they do and they're either your go-to or just taking up space.
*'''Vespid Stingwings:''' At 18" A2 S5 AP-2 D2 those Neutron blasters will really put the hurt on MEQs. With only one attack at S4 D1 AP-1, those claws, however, won't cut it. Hilariously, they can yeet themselves back into strategic reserves as long as they're not in engagement range.

===Beasts===
*'''Kroot Hounds:''' Even more paper thin than Carnivores, these hounds will get torn up if they don't have support. When they are supported though, any Carnivores within 6" of them and in Engagement Range of a target get +1 to wound.

===Drones===
Somehow, despite what happened to your battlesuits, you've retained access to "Drone" as a keyword, meaning these little guys are going to be immune all keyword-based attacks in the game, as they're too obscure to warrant otherwise.

*'''Tactical Drones:''' Flimsy drones, but they're very nimble and carry ''[Twin-Linked]'' pulse carbines with ''[Assault]'' so they're always firing on the move. Losing marker and shield drones has been a horrific loss, though.
**With OC 0, no FtGG, and ridiculous point cost, you are only taking these to confuse your opponent as to why you are taking such a worthless unit.

===Mounted===
*'''Krootox Riders:''' Tough mothers that pack a big gun. The gun has had a bit of sidegrade (36" BS4+ A2 S7 AP0 D2) while its fists are bumping (WS3+ A4 S6 AP-1 D2). Also, friendly Kroot Carnivores within 6" get +1 to hit.

===Vehicles===

All vehicles you have have {{W40Kkeyword|fly}} unless stated otherwise.

* '''Hammerhead Gunship:''' We now have the stats for the famed little Tau gunboat: it's quick (M10"), it's tough (T10 Sv3+ W14) and it's tanky with its OC3. The Railgun is neat and can deal a shitload of wounds at S20 AP-5 or gods forbid, convert them all to mortal wounds on a lucky wound roll. Trick is, that weapon has the Heavy USR too, so it hits on 3s if you don't move. If you insist on moving this tank (which makes sense, considering how fast it is and its OC stat), well, you've finally got an excuse to take the Ion Cannon: 60" BS4+ Ad6+3 Blast shots on either a standard (S7 AP-1 D2) or Hazardous overcharge profile (S8 AP-2 D3).
** Consider this; with the Kauyon Detachment, all ranged weapons gain '''Sustained Fire 1''' after the third turn, and when Guided, it becomes '''Sustained Fire 2''' - including this one.
*'''Piranhas:''' M14 T7 Sv4+ W7 Ld7+ OC2 with '''Scouts 9"''', very fast, much wow. Those drones attached to it apparently provide a special rule that forces an enemy unit within 12" of them at the end of its move to take a battleshock test. Aside from that, they get a special accelerator burst cannon with better AP (by 1) which can be traded for a better fusion blaster that has Melta 4 - that's hot! And if that's not enough, they can strap a pair of seekers onto their ride. You may be tempted to consider them over Crisis suits, wherein these are sturdier (higher T and W, worse Sv), faster, and can take out vehicles and light infantry with ease; where they struggle is with heavier infantry.
**Really, at their ridiculously low cost, these guys will pump more burst anti-tank firepower than anything else we have for their points.  The big question will be if you want to run them individually as a suicidal harassing unit or in groups of three to pick off infantry after blowing their seeker missile load. Note that doing so requires Seeker Missile spam - Crisis fusion is actually far more efficient if that's ll you're after, even including a Coldstar for M12.
*'''Skyray Gunship:''' What's better than infinite seeker missiles? How about getting to shoot three of them at a time? How about mounting them in place of the gun on a Hammerhead? If that's not enough, how about re-rolling all hits against Flyers? How about re-rolling one hit or one wound roll against anything else with any weapon you shoot? Yeah, it doesn't have the raw power of a rail gun but seeker missiles ain't no joke; you don't need a marker light for them anymore but that certainly wouldn't hurt... well, it wouldn't hurt ''you''. Whatever's being shot at though, that's a different story.
*'''Remora Stealth Drones<sup>IA</sup>:''' Naturally, they get ''Stealth'' for a measure of protection and ''Infiltrators'' to pop in from anywhere. On top of this, it has the ability to slide 6" after someone arrives within 9" of it, guaranteeing that it'll reach some measure of cover. It's equipped with an improved S6 AP-1 twin Burst Cannon, which it'll need as that's its primary armament. The missile is better-suited for blowing up a tank, but it's got only one missile, so you need to guarantee that it can make a hit.
*'''Tetras<sup>IA</sup>:''' A heavy bike at T7 W7 with a 3+ save. It's not very much in combat, but using it as an Observer for FtGG lets the Guided Unit re-roll all hits, making it excellent support.

====Dedicated Transports====
*'''Devilfish:''' The venerable Devilfish has been through so many iterations over the years but it remains as the premier Tau transport. If you need to get a squad somewhere real fast, this is your transport and now they have a special rule where you can disembark and shoot as if you've just made normal move.

====Walkers====
Notice that most Tau battlesuits have gained the Vehicle keyword so they are now vulnerable to anything with rules that affect vehicles.  The exceptions are Stealth Suits and by extension Shadowsun.

*'''Crisis Battlesuits:''' Effectively, these are Tau TEQ and they've kinda always been except now you can really spam shield drones and make these guys super tanky (2 shield drones each means that every crisis suit will now have 6 wounds to burn through). You're gonna want to build them be the ''guided'' unit rather than the unit doing the guiding not to mention replacing that silly burst cannon with something more substantial. Their weapon selection allows you to tool for any scenario, more of a jack of all trades unit that benefits from the leadership of a battlesuit commander.
*'''Ghostkeel Battlesuit:''' It has the rare Smoke keyword, but loses it when using its battlesuit support systems. You're gonna have to decide whether you want this thing to be taking out MEQs or Vehicles/Monsters: the Fusion Collider is for the latter while the Ion Raker is for the former. Next, decide whether to keep the twin flamer if you anticipate things closing the distance on you or switch to a twin fusion blaster for more/added tank-busting. The twin burst cannon is a bit of a waste as usual.
**10th is the era of ghostkeel.  With the awesome combo of Infiltrator/Stealth/Lone Op, high T and W, and a twice per game ability to reduce the damage of an attack to 0, these things can take an outward objective and stay there.  The Fusion Collider version can make a great suicidal tank hunter, especially when guided by a Stealth Team.  But you will likely be better served using the range of the Ion Raker at a distance and force your opponent to come to you to remove the large threat giving them the middle finger.
*'''Riptide Battlesuits:''' long gone are those stupid rules that made this thing rack up wounds on itself - clearly the Earth Caste has been busy improving the Riptide's nova reactor safety. Now all it does is once per battle, one of the suit's guns gets [DEVASTATING WOUNDS]; this might be an issue with GW's legendary proofreading blunders but unless it's FAQ'd, this would presumably apply to secondary weapons or even missile drones. The only question remains is why: why would you buff one of those weapons when you could buff its primary weapon, which is either the Heavy Burst Cannon (36" A12 BS4+ S6 AP-1 D2) or the Ion Accelerator (72" A6 BS4+ S7 AP-2 D3; Overcharge profile grants one better S, AP and D with the addition of the Hazardous USR). What you choose will depend on where your gaps are in your army, so if you don't have anything to take out MEQs (somehow), then you're taking the HBC. Otherwise, the Ion Accelerator can do most of the former's job and more.
*'''R'Varna Battlesuit<sup>IA</sup>:'''
*'''Y'Vahra Battlesuit<sup>IA</sup>:'''

=====Non-Fly=====

*'''Broadside Battlesuits:''' Tough as rocks now, thanks to their T6 Sv2+ W8 and a 4+++ against mortals. Their heavy rail rifles have an improved profile benefits from a higher S12, retaining their 2 shots (hurray, no twin-linked), AP-4, Dd6+1 and devastating wounds; what's changed on them is the inclusion of the Heavy keyword, making shots hit on 3s if they don't move, which they probably won't - and all without an observer unit! Or they can trade that for the high-yield missile pod, which gains twin-linked in this edition. Options got kinda wild too, forcing you to pick two (but no duplicates) of either twin smart missile system or plasma rifle, a seeker missile, or a battlesuit or weapon support system. From there, you get to choose drones for your lads and the shield drone is the obvious standout, but don't dismiss the marker or missile drones - the latter are exclusive to broadsides and riptides.
**The lack of an invulnerable save (or the shield drone to pass it onto in other editions) means these guys will be hot targets for melta shots.  Best fielded in pairs to pick off a light tank or monster each turn. 
======Titanic======
*'''Stormsurge:''' Critically, no longer deemed a battlesuit as it lacks that keyword. Cluster rockets make its two smart missile systems look like bottle rockets and yet it has both - and infinite destroyer missiles! Right, so the big gun: it starts with a pulse driver cannon (72" Ad6+3 BS4+ S12 AP-3 D3 [HEAVY, BLAST]), which is clearly a weapon made to raze harder targets at range. This can be replaced with a pulse blast cannon (Capable of either scattering some hits against TEQs or a focused shot for demolishing tanks), which seems designed to take out something like a Knight that got too close for your liking.
* '''[[KX139 Ta'Unar Supremacy Armour|Ta'unar Supremacy Armour]]<sup>IA</sup>:''' The biggest land unit the Tau can field, it has a rock-hard statline, pushing past a [[Imperial_Knight#Dominus_Knight_Castellan|Knight Castellan]] for durability, and a whole bunch of guns, although it's been bumped down to entirely BS4+ compared to a BS of 3+ in 9th. It has two arm weapons, a top-mounted weapons system and a fair amount of burst cannons/smart missile systems for light infantry. The arm weapons are a tri-axis ion cannon which will wipe out squads of MEQ in an instant and can be supercharged for those tougher TEQ units and a fusion eradicator to devour light vehicles with, although its range is relatively short. The top weapons are interesting, you get three options: first is three pulse ordnance drivers for 24 shots total with 60" S5 AP-1 D3 and ''[Anti-Infantry 2+]'' so it'll kill infantry dead, second is two nexus missile launchers which are an all-rounder for most things smaller than a Rhino with a rare S8 AP-3 D2 profile. Last is the heavy rail cannon array with 120" A2 S26 AP-5 [[Rape|D16]] with ''[Devastating Wounds]'' so you can point at everything smaller than a heavy tank and go "bye-bye" in a single hit, although only having 2 shots means you will definitely want to keep this thing guided and fed with re-rolls from a unit like stealth battlesuits, you're paying 685 points for this model in the first place so you might as well give it all you can. Because of the changes in the game in terms of durability, objectives and terrain and because it has a much more reasonable points cost, the Ta'unar might be genuinely good now.

====Aircraft====
Both aircraft sport a pair of seeker missiles and a twin-linked missile pod. Because aircraft.

*'''Razorshark Strike Fighter:''' Packs a lot of dakka - accelerator burst cannon for soft targets and the quad ion turret to blast the harder ones. Anything harder than that and you have those seeker missiles.
*'''Sun Shark Bomber:''' Significantly less shooty ion weapon and it loses the ABC for pulse bombs that are... well, they're kinda meh. How it works is you pick one enemy unit it moved over in the movement phase and on a 3+, it takes a mortal wound. Even with the mortal wounds dished out, the Razorshark plainly does more damage.
*'''Barracuda<sup>IA</sup>:'''
*'''Tiger Shark<sup>IA</sup>:'''
**'''AX-1-0 Tiger Shark<sup>IA</sup>:'''
=====Titanic=====
* '''[[Manta]]<sup>IA</sup>''': The giant plane, capable of carrying close to an entire army all on its own (200 {{W40kKeyword|Infantry}} or {{W40kKeyword|Tactical Drone}} models, 4 Devilfishes, Skyrays, or Hammerheads, and 8 {{W40kKeyword|Battlesuit}} models with 8 or fewer wounds). That giant plane, however, is a very CP-hungry beast as any stratagems used on it cost triple the listed amount. Of course, it's loaded to bear, with standouts being the monstrous '''STRENGTH 32''' Heavy Rail Cannon that brings titans to their knees and the Long-Barreled Burst Cannon Array, which can easily eradicate squads all on its own before it can let any units that disembark benefit from re-rolling to wound on a single unit it shot at.

====Fortifications====
*'''Tidewall Shieldline:''' Okay, so here's the deal: these things are transports that grant the benefit of cover for Fire Warriors in them. What's more is that unlike other fortifications, Tidewalls have a (small) movement value. So you basically have a moving piece of cover in which to load a strike team gunline - what's not to like? Strike team with a missile turret led by a Fireblade in a moving terrain piece? Hell yes! Even better, you can give it 5 more wounds by adding a defence platform, which also doubles its transport capacity - meaning you can transport a Strike team, Fireblade, Breacher team and an Ethereal.
*'''Tidewall Droneport:''' Same moving cover transport above, but instead of increased goon capacity you get a--ahem--let's call it a "weapon system" that shoots 8 pulse carbine shots at every single valid target available. It's the quantity over quality approach compared to the next entry.
*'''Tidewall Gunrig:''' trades the pew pew from the above for a big BANG! The supremacy railgun would be really cool if not for the fact that it's hitting on 5's. Yeah it's twin-linked but you only get one shot and that USR only activates if you hit! Might work if you count the transported unit as a separate guiding unit but even then, it's not much of an improvement. You'd be better off guiding a railgun on a Hammerhead because unlike the gun on the gunrig, it has the Heavy USR and a natural BS4+.

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[[Category: Warhammer 40000 Tactics (10E)]]