Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

===Troops===

* '''[[Fire_Warrior|Strike Team]]:''' Your main gunline infantry. In the past, you may have been hard-pressed to find the compulsory 2 5-man units lurking in cover somewhere while large bots dominated the board. Now, you're encouraged to take them for the extra CP and firepower they offer to your army. If you want to spam them, make sure you also get a Pulse Accelerator drone from the Pathfinders, a Fireblade to increase their volume of shots, and an Ethereal to buff their leadership and give them FNP, and markerlights for re-rolls and +1 to hit. High strength keeps them capable of wounding more easily, but low BS and higher cost compared to other armies' infantry hold them back, though even a single marker light on their target helps compensate. Still very effective in numbers - go MSU with them, which maximizes the benefit of their free turret (in power level games), among other benefits. They also have Photon Grenades that do no damage, but any hit {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} unit suffers a -1 To Hit until the end of the turn (why these things don't work on bikers, cavalry, etc is a mystery best left to GW). Toss one during Overwatch and hope you get lucky. Also, ''literally'' turn the worst possible morale test result into an auto-pass with their Bonding Knife Ritual rule, which acts just like +1LD outside of interacting with re-roll buffs more strangely. Treat this unit as not having the option for the carbine; it is a) worse than the rifles and b) if you want the carbines you have better options in pathfinders or drones. (NOTE: the last two aren't troops, so keep that in mind for your detachments.)
** If you're facing an enemy that's going to charge your Fire Warriors consider having pulse pistols to give that melee unit an emergency punch if they can't disengage.
** A unit of 12 is surprisingly sturdy thanks to the 4+ save. If you put them in cover they can weather a lot of firepower before going down. By comparison, a Strike Team can be affected by a Pulse Accelerator drone and a Fireblade, to give them 3 shots at 18" (or 1 at 36"), as opposed to the 3 shots at 12" that the Pathfinders would get, or the 6 that the Gun Drones get at 9". Gun drones cannot be affected by Pulse Accelerator drones, suffer more from morale losses (taking tests after a single loss, compared with the 3 of Fire Warriors), Drones can only shoot at the closest target, and Pathfinders have 1 worse armour save. Units of 5 are also perfect for filling troop choices: 5 man is 35 points (or 38 with a markerlight on the Sergeant), which is cheaper than a Guard infantry squad. Two 5-man teams, a Fireblade, and a Pulse Accelerator drone exactly fill a Devilfish, which is no coincidence and a great way to pay Troops taxes.
** Bork'an Sept: Our 30" guns buff out to 36" due to the Sept tenet. With a Pulse Accelerator drone that range goes out to 42", rapid-firing at 21"! Alternatively, you can use the Sept Trait as an excuse not to buy a Pathfinder team, if you're looking to avoid them.
** Vior'la Sept: Perhaps the only exception to Pulse rifles being superior to pulse carbines. Vior'la allows you to fire your weapons after advancing without penalty. The downside is that it turns your pulse rifles from rapid fire 1 to assault 1. The pulse rifles still have range but the pulse carbines will be getting more shots off. Even with a Fireblade, the rifles will only be firing 2 shots at 15", a dangerous distance and the pulse carbines will be firing 3 shots at 9", which I would still be hard-pressed to do but you're more likely to eliminate the unit. And with a PAC drone, your carbines are now doing 2 shots at 24" and 3 at 12", after advancing without penalty. Now obviously you don't have to advance every turn, and pulse rifles maintain a lot of flexibility with Vior'la, but if you want to take the movement phase away from a very mobile opponent like assault-heavy blood angels, consider pulse carbines.
** '''[[Tau_Drones#Tactical_Support_Turret|DS8 Tactical Support Turret]]''': Can no longer be picked up and moved, and gets destroyed if you lose coherency, but can be re-deployed via Stratagem if you swim in CP. Costs 0 points itself, but you still have to pay for its gun. In points matches it's better to pay for more fire warriors than take turrets if you expect to be in rapid fire range. The missile pod is lackluster but performs adequately against light vehicles. Maybe a more viable choice now, given that most everything for our army has dropped in points cost.
** '''[[Tau_Drones#Guardian_Drone|MV-36 Guardian Drone]]''': Gives any Strike Team units in range an invulnerable save, and a better one to any nearby Breacher Teams. Drones can be targeted by fire, so keep them out of the line of sight or in bigger packs. The save on strike teams only helps against AP-3 or better (AP-4 or better in cover), soo... DON'T. If your opponent is stupid enough to shoot melta and lascannons at your troops, you don't want him to get discouraged.

* '''Breacher Team:''' The budget Vespids. They put out good firepower, as long as you are close enough to count their nose hairs. Don't expect them to live past their first shot unless you can tie down any potential threat with a Devilfish. Speaking of, Breachers are likely the best filling you can put into them and they synergize with each other big time. Move the Devilfish 12", charge a unit and tie it down and force it to waste a turn, then unload the Breachers and retreat the Devilfish from combat (thanks to {{W40kKeyword|FLY}} it can still shoot afterward too). The changes to disembarking ''before'' the transport moves make attempting a Breacher charge across open terrain extremely risky. It can still work, but careful positioning to utilize cover or breaking LoS is critical. Try for a flank instead of the bold center attack or prioritize enemy units that will get that one crucial turn of shooting before the Breachers close the gap; that or stay in your fish longer and hope they can survive the attention they will undoubtedly draw. Alternatively, you can simply move the Devilfish as close to the enemy as you need, disembark the Breachers 3" away, move them for another 6", and as long as you manage to put 4 Markerlights on the target unit, you can even Advance for another D6" and shoot your blasters without penalty, very likely putting the unit within their ideal 5" range. You can also do this with footslogging Breachers, which make quite a good screening unit, as they are something your opponent does not want to get close to on their way to your Pathfinders, Strike Teams, and other backfield units, though it is harder to pull off and lacks the synergy with the Devilfish.
** Given their boosted profile, you might think Breachers are great for throwing a wrench between the legs of any opponent who thought they were going to face a static gunline they could easily squash in close combat if they just make it across the field, but the enemy can just charge you outside the 5" super-effective range and if they hit your breachers with a fast-moving close-combat oriented unit, they're effectively dead.
** Breachers are pretty much the best unit to accompany with Darkstrider, as they will wound T4 (in other words: MEQ) units within 10" on a 2+ with Darkstrider's debuff, or wound T5 targets such as bikes (or squishy Eldar/Dark Eldar skimmers, making Breachers surprisingly good tank killers against them) within 10" on a 3+. And it goes without saying that Breachers are the best unit to utilize Darkstrider's "fall back and still shoot" rule, which seriously hurts when you hit the guys that just charged you with S6 AP-2 blasts. Devilfish has 12 seats, so just toss Darkstrider in there with two 5-man units of Breachers.
** Breachers do still get their improved invulnerable save from the Guardian drone, which can be shared between units for cost savings. They also have Photon Grenades that do no damage, but any Hit {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} unit suffers a -1 To Hit until the end of turn. Toss one during Overwatch and hope you get lucky. Do note though that if they're in a Devilfish with Darkstrider, they're going to be a large fire magnet and can easily be stopped outside of their effective range.
** Alternate take: Consider taking the flying bugs instead of Breachers w/Devilfish, for more range, movement, and deep striking, at the cost of 1 gun strength.
** Farsight Enclaves boost these guys immensely. With rerollable 1's to wound you'll have a field day killing anything lower than toughness 6.
** '''[[Tau Drones#Tactical_Support_Turret|DS8 Tactical Support Turret]]:''' Same as the Strike team version. An extremely bad investment as the unit will likely either be constantly moving or die shortly after placing it.
** '''[[Tau_Drones#Guardian_Drone|MV-36 Guardian Drone]]:''' Gives any Breacher team units in range an invulnerable save and an inferior one to any nearby Strike Teams. While cheap for what you get it's still a questionable investment, as your opponent is unlikely to shoot the Breachers with anything stronger than a Heavy Bolter and will just murder them with small arms and high volume/low AP weapons instead. Also, a free kill point if you already take Darkstrider and a Devilfish.
** Speaking of different game types, Breachers are pretty handy in Cities of Death and should also find a place in Zone Mortalis (when GW pulls their finger out and update that ruleset for 8th), what with Breachers being designed for indoor/CQB an' all.

* '''[[Kroot|Kroot Carnivores]]:''' Slightly cheaper bubble wrap than Fire Warriors, their 7" movement and initial <strike>infiltrate</strike> scout might allow them to be more usefully positioned to protect more valuable units. Not very good at either shooting or close combat, but what really kills them is their crappy morale (they are half as hard to kill as GUARDSMEN, yet are more expensive, and if you lose 5 of them, then you will lose another 1-5 Kroot on a 2+ without your opponent ever having to lift a finger). Kroot Shapers are a terrible choice themselves that utterly fail to address the morale issue, and getting an Ethereal just for babysitting Carnivores is a waste of points that yet again goes against the only reason why you would use them over Strike Teams or Breachers in the first place. with Ambushing Predators, they can counter-counter your Tau getting charged while they hide out of sight, other wise Look to their devolved hound kin, for a cheaper and much better option.