Editing Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

===Fast Attack===
*'''Gun Drone Squad:''' Gun Drone Squads are generally inefficient. Whilst they have pretty good firepower and are pinning weapons, they have lower accuracy (offset slightly by sheer volume of shots due to twin-linked status) (Actually, less accurate than what? A gun drone with BS2 TL has a 5/9 chance to hit, slightly better than a Fire Warrior's 1/2), cannot score, and cost more. The advantages they have are that Drones count as Jump Infantry and thus can be used as distractions or part of the jump-shoot-jump tactic. In general, you are almost invariably better off with Fire Warriors or even Kroot.

*'''Vespid Stingwings:''' It's like all the crap in the codex was put here. These guys have a gun meant to make spess mehreens, kay-oss spess mehreens, and necrons go away, but at such a short range, and low armor save, you're going to get shot to shit in the ensuing firefight and any Necrons you kill will just get back up. Do not take Vespids.

*'''Pathfinders:''' One of two good sources for markerlights, and very cost-effective for the number of markerlights you get. These guys put out a large amount of markerlight support every turn, useful for your other guys. Their devilfish allows deep strikers within line of sight to reroll the scatter dice, good in case you just nuked your deep-striking death star with a mishap. They are also scouts, quite useful to outflank or get into position. Camp these guys in cover somewhere safe, and give their devilfish to someone else to use, thus saving you points on another devilfish. They can take rail rifles, but never do this, because then you can't markerlight. A unit of pathfinders can't go wrong.

*'''Tetras (Forgeworld Only):''' Where Pathfinders are the cudgel of markerlights, these guys are the scalpel. They zip in as fast vehicles, drop an accurate markerlight, and zoom away. They have a free disruption pod to help survivability, but low armor and open-top means that every shot could be their last. Keep them safe, and they will benefit you immensely. Now with the update out, their markerlights are much better. Throw on the targeting array and you'll have two guaranteed hits. Combine them with piranhas or hammerheads for major lulz. Edit: their markerlights are now heavy 4 OMG! Disruption pod no longer included, but so what? Pay the five points, and enjoy your unit of four tetras put out 16 markerlight shots a turn, potentially at BS4, potentially at multiple targets. Nothing quite like being able to put enough markerlight tokens on a [[Space Marines|SPESS MAHREN]] unit that you can force it to auto-fail a leadership check. Not bad for 200 - 220 points for a full unit.  

*'''Piranha:''' There are two versions of the Piranha
**'''Generic:''' Burst cannons basic, can be upgraded with fusion blasters. Low armor means they are fragile, but as fast vehicles they can block paths and provide anti-infantry / anti-armor harassment.
**'''TX-42 (Forgeworld Only):''' Heavier, with more armor and no open-top, but with a higher cost. These start with twin-linked fusion blasters which lets them put some serious hurt on tanks, but can be upgraded with missiles pods, plasma, or rail rifles. These guys can go hunting for different enemies dependent on loadout, though a crisis team may be better in regards of JSJ.

*'''XV-9 Hazard Team (Forgeworld Only):''' God's Second Gift To Tau. These bruisers contain experimental weaponry on a high toughness frame with vectored retro-thrusters to run away. The downside is that greatness is expensive, and you will feel it. But they look really, really fucking awesome and they make vehicle light armies (dark eldar, tyranids, orks, and chaos daemons) weep. Their weapons include:
**'''Burst Cannons:''' Four on one suit means two twin-linked sets. There are better options. If you seriously pick this you have some sort of weird gatling fetish. '''Not entirely true. when you are short on points, or dealing with MEQ/small unit size armies, this weapon begins to surpass the Pulse Submunition Rifle in effectiveness, so long as you have markerlights backing it up. It is still useful, but this option should be a points consideration more then a tactical choice.'''
**'''Phased Ion Gun:''' The phaser is Baby's First Assault Cannon but without the gatling barrel arrangement, with lower strength but decent AP and rending. '''This is also the only place aside from Shas'O'Ra'ali and the greater Knarloc's, that the tau can gain access to rending.'''
**'''Fusion Cascade:''' The Fusion Cascade is the go-to weapon for heavy infantry hunting. A melta weapon with lower strength but multiple shots, these can decimate spess mehreens and light vehicles alike. And best of all, it's not plasma, so you can tell [[Matt Ward]] and his plasma siphon to stuff it, which is great because it's one of your best ways to eliminate a threat that would otherwise render three quarters of your weaponry unable to shoot for shit.
**'''Pulse Submunition Rifle:''' The shotgun is an excellent anti-horde weapon that ignores cover, with good strength but low AP.
Something interesting to realize is the XV-9 is not denied its jump move after deep striking, unlike the XV-8, which lets you fuck up something's shit then get the fuck out of there before they can shoot back.
*While it may seem this unit is the "patch that saved the Tau Codex," it is rumored that they were designed by a wily forgeworld modeler wanting to 'make something cool for the tau'. If this is true, it was by far less design and more "I am bored" that the Tau army was saved.  

*'''Knarloc Riders (Forgeworld Only):''' I want to like these guys, I really do, because come on, they're [[Awesome|freaking birdmen riding god-''fucking''-damned dinosaurs!]] But they suck. Cavalry that can only be taken if Kroot Carnivores are taken, without good close combat ability besides fleet, ''and'' the chance you cannot overrun the enemy thanks to ''eating the dead'' makes for a substandard cavalry unit, and possibly the worst in the game.