Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

===Fast Attack===
*'''Pathfinders:''' A unit of Pathfinders can't go wrong. 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 everyone else. They are also Scouts, quite useful to outflank or get into position. Beware though, their armor save is only 5+ (made for recon rather than gun lines) which means that they are particularly vulnerable to things like bolters if caught in the open, so camp these guys in cover while shooting markerlights so the enemies can't do the same. They can optionally take Devilfish, but those are no longer compulsory to take with them like they were in earlier editions. Up to three models can take Ion and Rail rifles, but only do this if you have an additional markerlight source. Don't be faked out by the special weapons - the Rail rifle is for busting heavy infantry and MCs (S6 is marginal on vehicles even with AP1), while the Ion rifle is for bunging holes in light to medium armor (think of it as baby's first autocannon, but you can have three). They have several options:
** '''Special Drones:''' These drones can only be taken by Pathfinder squads, and only one of each can be taken but they don't count against the two drone limit for the leader's drones.
*** '''MB3 Recon Drone:''' Expensive, but it gives the unit a burst cannon which is always nice, and, more importantly, incorporates both a Homing beacon and Positional relay, so worth taking if you have deep-striking reserves. As a bonus, it does not take up any extra space when being transported by a Devilfish, and can employ its reserve-guiding equipment while embarked.  
*** '''MV33 Grav-inhibitor Drone:''' Slows down any charging foe, reducing assault moves by D3. Great for giving the unit a little more time to get the hell out of dodge if your enemy really wants to commit to eliminating them (and let's face it, if they do you have successfully trolled them into doing so from markerlight-related [[rage]].) While it's good on smaller maps and games, anything past 1250 pts and they will probably be shot to pieces with large blast templates and cover ignoring weapons to kill them ASAP, making this drone a less than stellar selection.
*** '''MV31 Pulse Accelerator Drone:''' This boosts all pulse weapon fire from the unit to extend its range by 6". This effectively means that those pulse carbines your Pathfinders are carrying go from 18" Assault 2 weapons to 24" Assault 2 weapons, potentially out [[dakka]]ing line Fire Warriors. Unfortunately, burst cannons are not classified as pulse weapons any longer, so the range on the Recon Drone is not increased. While your Pathfinders should be more about dropping marker tokens than shooting up the enemy, you can really make the enemy pay for trying to take them down with this.
** '''Team Leader:''' For another 10 points you can upgrade one member to a Shas'ui. The primary benefit of this is to provide better Ld so your spotters don't run away, add a few more equipment options such as a blacksun filter for one more point that the whole unit can use (which is not as essential as it used to be as Markerlights only have a range of 36" and ignore all saves and hence don't care about Night Fighting), and bring along two extra drones from the standard drone list. Be aware that filling up the entire squad with pathfinders, special drones, and two regular drones will put them above capacity for riding in a Devilfish.  
** '''Pathfinder Team Aurora (Burning Dawn):''' 10 Pathfinders with the three pathfinder-exclusive drones.  The sarge and 6 others own Carbines, one gets an Ion Rifle and the last two get a Rail Rifle. The Shas'Ui Ignores cover and gets Relentless while the team benefits from the Bonding Knife Ritual.

*'''TX4 [[Piranha]]:''' Extremely light and cheap Open-topped Fast Skimmers. They come with two attached Gun drones and a Burst cannon, which can be swapped for a Fusion gun for anti-armour harassment. They're so cheap and pack so much dakka that they're your '''best source of S5 fire''', costing 8.29 points per hit as opposed to Carbine Fire Warrior's 9, while being more resilient (T7 2W equivalent, plus two T4 wounds from the drones when detached) and much more maneuverable (up to 30"). Front AV11 and a squad size of up to 5 (the biggest vehicle squad in the codex) renders them immune to bolters and they'd serve as a rather nice wall to block LOS and assaults, being as disposable as a Rhino (but being cheap dakka you'd be better off protecting them instead). Oh, and they can carry two seeker missiles - hunting TEQs is the only thing they don't excel at.
**'''Fun fact:'''  The majority of the cost of a Piranha is made up by Drones, with the actual skimmer costing a mere 12 pts (that's 6pts per S5 shot). Thus, for 200 points you can get five Piranhas in a squadron and detach a squad of 10 gun drones.  This gives you a 140 point Gun Drone Squad (that doesn't take up a Fast Attack slot or count for kill points) and a 60 point squad of 5 11AV Front skimmers with Burst Cannons. There are many reasons to detach the drones: place the drones in front of Piranhas with Disruption pods for 4+++ without needing to Jink, and the drones are vulnerable to template weapons because the Piranha is open-topped anyway. Also you could attach a Drone Controller Commander to the Gun drones to maximize the point return, equip the Piranhas with Fusion blasters and go separate ways to fulfill different roles. That's maybe the best use ever for a Fast Attack slot.
**'''Tireless Hunter (Burning Dawn):''' Fusion Blaster Piranha that gets Supporting Fire (but that doesn't pass to the Drones) and +1 BS.  For five more points, that's neat.



*'''Drone Squad:''' Up to 12 drones in any combination you want of Shield, Marker or Gun drones. What's the deal with them? A few Shield drones could protect the rest of the squad, but keep in mind all drones die the same to bolters while costing the same - maybe you'd want more shooting drones instead. Marker/Gun drones are more combat capable versions of Pathfinders/Strike teams: they have +1T (and better save compared to Pathfinders), +2I, can move and fire markerlights/have TL carbines which patches their BS2, and are Jetpack infantry (Deepstrike & JSJ), their enhanced mobility kinda patching their lack of special toys those squads can bring. Now add a Drone controller BS5 Commander and they'll be worth being 3-5 pts more expensive than Pathfinders/Strike teams. Consider attaching a Buffmander, 12 BS5 TL JSJ Markerlights [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|will be noticed]], the same as Cover-ignoring Pinning S5 against GEQs. Or you could use marker tokens from other sources to boost their BS. Be warned, though, a unit composed entirely of drones cannot score, not to mention their higher cost will be felt.
**If you want no more than 10 Gun drones and you have the points to spare, better take them from a Piranha squad.



*'''AX3 Razorshark Strike Fighter:''' (Attack Flyer) One of two new aircraft for Tau, sporting average aircraft stats (11/10/10 3HP) a quad ion gun. Normally, it shoots at S7 AP4 at 30" and is assault 4, but because it's an ion weapon, it can be overcharged (for the price of Gets Hot) turning it into an S8 AP4 Large Blast! Even funnier, the gun is mounted on a turret to the rear, meaning that any deep-striking aircraft that thought they could get the jump on it will be thoroughly surprised, - upgrade the burst cannon to a missile pod for even more 360 degree fire arc fun.

*'''AX39 Sunshark Bomber:''' (Bomber) The other new aircraft with similar stats to the above, but trades the quad cannon for blowing pulse bubbles (S5 AP5 Large Blast) onto unsuspecting targets below every turn unless you roll a 1, in which case your bomber can no longer produce bombs. It also comes with the networked markerlight for lasing targets and a pair of interceptor drones to fuck up enemy aircraft.
**Comparing the Sunshark to the Razorshark, the Interceptor drones are <s>arguably better</s> completely worthless and here's why: the drones' Ion Rifles are Rapid Fire, meaning that you have to choose between having half the range or shots of the quad gun. Their Twin-Linked is offset by the drones only being BS2. They have the turbo-boost rule but '''they're not Flyers''', meaning a single bolter drill will make short work of them if you detatch them. "But what about the blast mode," I hear you ask? 7th Ed changed the Skyfire rule so that Interceptor no longer lets them target ground units normally. Now, recall that you can't fire Blast weapons as Snap Shots. Now recall that Blasts can't target flying units- [[FAIL|so you can't use the blast mode at all.]] Add the facts that the Razorshark's ground attack weapon is better and it's actually cheaper and the Sunshark becomes truly pointless.
**Being a bomber hurts with Death From the Skies.  Overall, you're better off with a Forge World flier for air superiority or... any of a number of choices for anti-flier, anti-tank, or anti-infantry rolls.

*'''Vespid Stingwings:''' Once the other bad joke of the codex, Vespids have been buffed.  As with the fusion blaster, 6 extra inches on their Neutron blaster will put you at a much more comfortable distance, namely out of assault distance.  With a new 4+ Sv on top of T4, they've become on par with Space Marine scouts for survivability.  As they now have Move Through Cover, Stealth in ruins, and Hit & Run at I6, they can jump out, kill MEQs, and escape in the assault, pretty much becoming the nightmare bugs of anything without terminator armour. Vespids jump around in groups of four to twelve, but they're only Ld6 so a Strain Leader (Ld''9'') is almost mandatory. Overall, a dedicated MEQ killer - do notice they're cheaper than Crisis suits (18 pts vs 35), if a little less resilient, less flexible and with less dakka. Could be seen as "made in china" Crisis suits, they still get the job done. No effect vs. TEQs, though, so watch out.

====Forge World====
*'''[[Battlesuit#XV9_Hazard_Battlesuit|XV-9 Hazard Team]] (FW - IA3, 2nd):''' God's Second Gift To Tau. [[Overcosted|Kinda]]. These tough-framed bruisers contain experimental weaponry meant to excel in close range, but their price is so high you could get similar results from simply buying 2 equivalent Crisis suits, especially when using other than the default weapons, and 7E favours MSU. What makes them stand out however is their defensive grenades, which may save their skin if you roll badly on the thrust move after closing in. T5 helps them survive in Rapid Fire range and prevents the usual missile sniping, as well as making Stims all the more useful, and their VRTs plus higher-than-Tau-average I3 will get them out of melee if the enemy manages to close in (but take drones for I4). Being veterans of close range they also come base with Bonding knife and WS3...hooray. Not to mention they'll free Elite choices to use for anything other than Crisis suits (unless you play Enclaves). No option for Team Leader Ld9 tho. The downside is that greatness is expensive and you will feel it, especially since buying a Support System is mandatory. 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:''' The base loadout. Four on one suit means eight twin-linked shots, which lessens the need for markerlights. This is the only setup that is cheaper than 2 equivalent Crisis suits (if only due to the VRT). Two of them in a team will seriously mess up any ground unit out there, from Marines to Tyranids. Plus, Burst Cannons are fragging bad-ass, feel free to give into your gatling fetish, [[Heterosexual_Sex_in_the_Missionary_Position|you sick fuck]]. Grab one Drone Controller and go to town.
**'''Phased Ion Gun:''' Baby's First Assault Cannon but without the Gatling barrel arrangement, with S4 AP4 and Rending. Previously it was nearly the only way to get Rending as Tau, but with new codex you get Riptides and shitton of sniper rifles. Unlike must other Ion weapons this one lacks an overcharge profile, along with any reason to use them - Burst cannons are better for forcing tonns of saves, and if you're looking to get lucky and rend, better take Fusion Cascades.
**'''Fusion Cascade:''' The Fusion Cascade is the go-to weapon for heavy infantry hunting. Favouring rate of fire over raw strenght, this melta weapon is only S6 but it's Assault D3, which makes it behave more like a plasma rifle, as you'll need a bit of luck to penetrate high AV even with melta rules and AP1. Especially because Cascades didn't recieve the +6" range boost regular Fusion Blaster got, so those VRTs might be used more than what you are comfortable with. Still, they can decimate terminators and light vehicles alike. And best of all, it's not plasma, so you can tell [[Matt Ward]] and his [[Plasma Syphon]] 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. Because it ignores armour saves this is actually the weapon that ''synergyzes the most'' with Advanced Targeting or Counterfire. Generally your best bet as it's effective against everything. Then again, for the same price you could get 2 Crisis suits with dual Plasma guns, and remember only 1 suit needs the VRT.
**'''Pulse Submunition Rifle:''' With longer range and higher S but ultimately lower AP than an Airburst projector, the so called "shotgun" is also an excellent anti-horde weapon that ignores cover. A unit of 3 XV-9s equipped with 2 submunition rifles each can drop 6 pie-plates on the table every turn from 24" away (their longest ranged weapon), which will absolutely devastate Ork and Tyranid blobs. However, this setup is very expensive at 20 points per rifle (you could bring a team of 2 Crisis suits with an AFP each plus another one with a flamer for the price of one dual PSR XV9), and is not very reliable against MEQs (though you can still force them to throw tons of saves). Nowadays, with the sheer amount of templates available to the Tau army, PSRs are nearing obsolescence. However, they are more cost-efficient than twin-linked burst cannons if you can average 5 models under each template. The only exception is GEQs outside of cover (but seriously, when does that happen?), which require 7 models under each blast template (because even guardsmen get their saves).
:Consider what an Iridium Commander with a command and control node, a multi-spectrum sensor suit or both can do for a team of three XV9's.

*'''XV-109 Y'vahra Battlesuit (Forge World):''' Prepare.  For. Tears.  The Tau's second Riptide variant, this one rocking the fragile speedster trope; spotting one fewer Wound, and much less comfortable range for increased mobility and higher accuracy, it is the XV9 of the Riptide Trio. It is armed with a two-shot S6 AP2 flamer with half-torrent (6" instead of 12") and gets hot (never use the weakened one-shot AP3 variant; you have a 2+ save against gets hot), and a 12" S8 AP3 3-shot Ionic discharge cannon with blind and an extra haywire strike for each hit dealt. As you can see, it is designed to seriously wreck on the front lines. It is able to mulch any infantry up to and including terminators and one-shot land raiders, but only at close range. This means the risk of close combat. But, just like Hazard suits, it has built-in retro-thrusters, and can use its drone's initiative of 4 to reliably activate them. If you're afraid of rapid firing plasma or melta, don't be. It has a 4++ against shots from 12" or less. Ballistic skill 4 is essential given that so many other units are heavily markerlight reliant. Oh, and this thing can fly like a FMC, except without vector strikes and only once per two turns -  you can use it to gain better mobility, avoid close combat, or shoot the shit out of enemy flyers. When it flies or deep strikes it can also use flechette pods to kinda-bomb a unit in 6" with D6 shredding bolter shots - nothing great to talk about, but it doesn't take off your shooting attacks and doesn't affect your targeting. And of course it has its own version of Nova reactor results which are:
** 3++ ''in close combat only'', which is meh, since you're gonna avoid CC anyway and have a lot of tools tailored exactly for that purpose.
** Extra D3 shots for Ionic cannon, which is brutal against AV13-14 vehicles with your extra haywire strikes
** Escaping to reserves, which is mostly useful for escaping danger in turns you have no flying mode, or jumping out of assault in case you've failed Hit and Run test. 
** Jink while walking/4+ cover while flying - not really that useful, considering your 5++/4++, and the downsides of jinking.
::You can select any two support systems from the book (note how the FSE upgrades are specifically mentioned as a no-go, pretty much forcing FW to admit that FSE players will use this bad boy), but there really are only two choices that you should ever take: Stimulant injector and Velocity Tracker.  
::'''NOTE: Forge World has chimed in on the issue of drones and the FMC move. If you take the drones you CAN NOT make your 'swoop' move, you sacrifice mobility for durability.'''


*'''Mounted Great Knarloc Herd (FW - IA3, 2nd):''' If you have a fast attack slot open and need a massive distraction, take 3 of these. These are your new distraction Carnifex. For 85 points each, you have a WS4, S6, T5, W5, monstrous creature with Stealth (Forests) and fleet, but have the downsides of being only I3, Ld7, and a paltry Orkish save of 6+. Don't give them guns, they're not there to shoot, they're there to smash stuff.

*'''Goaded Great Knarloc (FW - IA3, 2nd):''' A singular version of the Knarloc Herd that has a chance of going crazy and killing its own units. Just skip it, and go for the Herd.

*'''Knarloc Riders (FW - IA3, 2nd):''' I want to like these guys, I really do, because come on, they're [[Awesome|freaking birdmen riding fucking dinosaurs!]] These guys beat Canoptek wraiths, when they charge.  They're also able to move 12, re-roll charge distance and then get hammer of wrath, something jump troops cannot do, and are 2 wounds now with T4. They're basically here for a distraction. Problem with Knarlok riders is not that they are bad, but almost any other FA choice is flat-out better. Anything that kills Orks (read: everything) will kill these faster, if only because there is less of them, somehow. Unfortunately, Forge World has stopped selling these Knarloc models as there was not enough demand for them, the only way to get them is from other retailers such as eBay.


*'''Barracuda Air Superiority Fighter (Forge World):''' (Strike-Fighter)([https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/fw_site/fw_pdfs/Warhammer_40000/Death-from-the-Skies.pdf| FW Flyers]) A pants-wettingly terrifying air superiority fighter that packs raw, balls-out, firepower in a maneuverable package. It is the original Barracuda, relinquishing the customizations of its newer counter-part in exchange for 45 pts. Comes stock with two jink-ignoring Burst Cannons, an Ion Cannon, a TL Missile Pod and up to four Seeker Missiles. As it is the original configuration, it is still able to over-charge it's Ion Cannon and drop wonderful MEQ killing plates on all the good boys of the imperium. It is BS4 but lacks the strafing run rule. This flyer was a beast, but has given its throne to a new generation. Sadly, it's kinda fragile at AV 11|11|10 and 2HP, but its survivability is improved by Agile (3+ Jink save). Then, you give it a disruption pod for 15 pts, and chuckle at that 2+ jink. It's a great way to drop some nasty, high-strength dakka on ground and air targets. Was once a strong contender for best fighter in the game, but now leaves that title to the AX-5-2. It has absurd firepower that dwarfs the other Tau flyers (and indeed, most other races' flyers too) while remaining cheaper.

*'''[[Remora|DX-6 Remora Drone Fighters]] (FW - IA3, 2nd):''' These souped-up, more accurate, flying Heavy Gun Drones take on the battle roles of Skyrays, Heavy Gun Drones and Coldstars, all at the same time! Remoras come with Twin-linked Long-barrelled Burst Cannons (36" Heavy 6), two Seeker Missiles and a networked Markerlight. And to top it off they have Shrouded for a  permanent 5+ cover save with 2+ on Jink. It can't take Vehicle systems, but they can hover and also Deep strike. While individual Barracudas have undeniably better dakka, ''Remoras are versatile'', cheaper and can be taken as a squad of 1-5 (you'd need 3 of them to out dakka a Barracuda tho). Want to troll your enemy? 6's to hit and a 2+ cover save just to hit a light AV10 flyer that can take on bigger flyers should cause a lot of rage. Meanwhile, you can drop his flyers out of the sky with a punishing battery of seeker missiles and when he's out of flyers, start markerlighting ground targets to help out the rest of your army.

*'''Piranha TX-42 (FW - IA3, 2nd):''' Unlike the original Piranha, this is utter overcosted crap. It has an extra point of side armor but costs double than a regular Piranha. The price is supposedly balanced by having a TL Fusion blaster and access to weapon options like TL missile pods, TL plasma rifle or TL rail rifle, but it loses the Gun drones so it actually costs about [[Overcosted|3 times more than a regular Piranha]]. You'd think they can hunt different enemies depending on the loadout, but no, they're only ''decent'' at hunting TEQs and medium vehicles. 6th edition buffed Rail rifles and Fusion blasters a lot, but if you really want those weapons better bring Pathfinders, and everybody knows [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Tau(7E)#Farsight_Enclaves.27_Special_Rules Red Crisis suits] go faster.

*'''[[Tetra]]s (FW - IA3, 2nd):''' These light vehicles are to Piranhas what Pathfinders are to Fire warriors. They are Fast Skimmers with AV10 all around and 2HP, but Open-topped means every shot could be their last, and they only pack a TL Pulse rifle for self defense. Focused on scouting instead of main combat, their primary weapon is a Heavy 2 TL Markerlight and come with a Homing Beacon and Scout. Moving 42" first turn (Scout 12" + move 12" + Flat out 18") means that beacon is ''perfectly'' positioned for a Battlesuit drop on turn 2, who needs Farsight? You'd think Pathfinders are the best source of markerlight, right? WRONG. Tetras cost 23 pts per marker''hit'' while Pathfinders cost 22, but Tetras have a HUGE mobility advantage (their markerlights being effectively 48" range and can fire ono the move) as well as being effectively Toughness 6, albeit ultimately they're more fragile than Pathfinders by virtue of suffering more against low AP weapons. Pathfinders get more toys and pack more firepower, but it's not like Tetras don't get any: you can give them dispods and sensor spines for 3+ cover in ruins/jink (they're smaller than Piranhas), and zoom around hiding from enemy anti-tank fire LoS - just like any other marker unit it is a priority target for your enemy and will attract a lot of fire. Alternatively you can just leave them bare bones and add extra models into the squadron instead of spending extra points on upgrades (which are proportionally more expensive when compared to the Tetra's base cost).