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

==Arsenal of Expansion==

===Battlesuit Ranged Weaponry===
These are chosen for Crisis suits, including the Commander and his Bodyguards. Differently from the previous Codex, Cyclic Ion Blaster and Airbursting Fragmentation Projector aren't experimental weapons anymore.

'''Note:''' You can make a weapon Twin-linked for some extra points and it will take up a second hard point (same as last codex), or you can take multiples of the same weapon at the base cost for each. Example: You could take a Plasma Rifle for 15 points, Twin-Linked Plasma Rifle for 20 points, or two individual Plasma Rifles for 30 points (15 points each). Nowadays people usually just take two of the same non-twinlinked weapons, trading versatility for efficiency, but loading a suit with two different guns so it could deal with a higher variety of threats is still a valid tactic.
* '''Flamer:''' Good old reliable and cheap. If you have points and hard-points to spare, stick them on. They are a good deterrent for weaker units trying to tie up Battlesuits; a twin-linked flamer, with its re-rolling to-wound goodness, is amongst the best systems you could have for overwatch, costing less than all other guns and leaving a hand free to fire another weapon. Expecting lots of close encounters with infantry trying to engage in melee? You take a flamer.
* '''Burst Cannon:''' Like a Tyranid Deathspitter but with one extra shot. Good for dealing with light infantry, and when combined with a flamer it's awesome at tackling hordes. However, you get lots of S5 AP5 shots elsewhere, and combined with drones and the new higher squad size, its main advantage, high rate of fire, isn't a need as before. But it's quite cheap and perfect for small squads: 3 Crisis with 6 gun drones can easily glance [[Rhino|most]] [[Chimera Transport|transports]] to death while remaining excellent against infantry, all of that for less than 200 pts. Most vehicles have rear AV10, so with good positioning they won't even need the gun drones. Drop in, remove 3-6 HP or murder 16 GEQs, a very troll-worthy tactic. And it's even better with markerlights - owing to its high rate of fire this weapon will be more likely to come into its own <u>with other wargear</u> made to take maximum advantage of it. So, if you are going to take them, consider putting two of them as non-twin-linked weapons on a Crisis to chug out ''eight'' shots per turn, and indulge your Gatling fetish, [[Heterosexual Sex in the Missionary Position|you sick bastard]]. Enjoy the look on your opponent's face when your three suits drop THAT many dice, or watch enemy [[Ork]]s go green(er) with envy at the absolutely XBOX HUEG amount of dakka you put out. 
**If you're gonna go Farsight Crisiswing, outfitting a team with double Burst Cannons (and gun drones for a taste) can be perfect at clearing hordes, like Conscripts, or cheap and fast tarpit units like DE beasts or Chaos Spaw...WAIT, NO I DIDN'T MEAN-AJRSPLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBLBL
* '''Airbursting Fragmentation Projector:''' The only Barrage weapon in the codex, the AFP slings flamer-equivalent (including Ignores Cover) pie plates at 18" range. This weapon was pretty iffy in the 6E book when you could only have one: even where it was good, it was too vulnerable and too likely to be anywhere but where it's needed. Now that you can take more than one, it actually has some merit. It costs as much as three flamers, but doesn't need line of sight. Useful against the same classes of target that you'd use flamers on, now from a much more comfortable distance. Cannot be twin-linked, but you can take two per suit, just remember Blast weapons cannot overwatch. All in all not bad, but you're generally not hurting for ways to ferret GEQs out of cover, and using a Multi-spectrum takes away its main advantage over other weapons.
* '''Cyclic Ion Blaster:''' A cross between a Burst cannon and a Missile pod, this is a 18" range, 3 shot S7 weapon in normal mode, and becomes a + 1S Blast when overcharged, the only downside of that being the chance to burn your little weeaboo fingers, and you can't twin-link it to avoid it. It's an extremely versatile weapon, in fact, having only one less shot but 2 more Str gives the Burst cannons insecurity issues, being better at dealing with vehicles without compromising lots of anti-infantry power, unlike missiles, with the AP4 that will make IG officers cry (''more''). While S8 will ID the unlucky MEQ, you're still better using the normal mode against AV13, volume of fire compensating the reduced strength. Its only real problems are power armored enemies, cover campers and AV14, but that's a job reserved for [[Plasma#Tau|more]] [[Melta#Tau_Melta_Weapons|specialized]] [[Gauss#Railgun|guns]]. If you like to put 2 different weapons on a suit to make it good against a wide variety of targets, at least one of those weapons should be a CIB. ''Great with an EWO.''
* '''Fusion Blaster:''' 6" extra to the range might not seem like a lot, but it is. This makes deep striking and cracking open the soft caramel center of vehicles all that much easier. Properly measured, it puts you on average 16" away from the vehicle that you just exploded at the end of your assault phase, making charges from units left to defend them far less likely. Also, don't forget that AP1 is still AP1 - Fusion Blasters have an important secondary role IDing Terminators ([[Plasma_Syphon|''Suck on that, Paladins'']]), high-toughness units and MC/GCs. Low shot volume hurts, but markerlights can compensate.
* '''Missile Pod:''' More like Autocannons, really. The longest ranged weapon your battle suit can have, it's excellent for sniping walkers, light vehicles and the odd monstrous critter or two (ones with low armor saves, to be exact). Due to the low output of shots, however, Battlesuits equipped with these should avoid firing at larger-sized squads unless they have no better option.
* '''Plasma Rifle:''' Before the inclusion of the Riptide, this was the Tau's only source of reliable AP2 weaponry. The new codex has not stopped their usefulness. They have good range, don't get hot, enough Str to wound marines on a 2+ and are Rapid-fire. If you find yourself fighting a lot of marines, necrons, jetbikes and monstrous creatures (which you WOULD in a current meta) a full squad of double-plasma suits is just the right tool to bring it down, with a bit of markerlight support to cut though cover saves.

===Support Systems===
These can be taken by nearly all battle suit variants, albeit to varying degrees; Broadsides and Stealth suits, for instance, can only take one. Items marked as "(standard issue)" come with all Battlesuits, do not need to be purchased, and do not count against a suit's support system limit. They are included just for the sake of completeness. 

* '''Advanced Targeting System:''' Allows an equipped model to use the Precision Shot Special Rule. Consider equipping them with this plus a burst cannon and a cyclonic ion blaster to maximize the odds of sniping special weapons and characters from enemy units as a kind of tactical-level Mont'ka maneuver. Remember this CAN be taken on Broadsides for even more trolltastic sniping fun.
* '''Blacksun Filter (standard issue):''' Tau night vision, it grants the Night Vision special rule (obviously) and immunity to Blind, which is nice, since Blind become more common nowadays and could seriously fuck your I2 everything up. Unlike certain options (like searchlights) available to other forces, this does not give away its user's position at night, but doesn't illuminate the target for the rest of your army, like those options do. But because a unit only needs one model with the rule, if you brought multiple Commanders/Battlesuited characters you could attach them to some fire warriors until the dawn. Once a separate option, this now comes as standard issue equipment built into all Tau Battlesuits for free and without occupying a hardpoint.
* '''Counterfire Defense System:''' Increases a model's Overwatch fire from the normal BS1 shot for snap-fire to BS2. For my money and hardpoints I'd rather bring a Flamer - you'd get more hits and wounds in most cases. Or save some space and have Markerlights do the work, which can improve snapshots beyond BS2. It's a personal choice though, can be useful if you decide to go TEQ hunting with some plasma rifles. Also a good choice if you feel like investing in support systems on your Stealth suits. Keep in mind they don't change BS of Drones. Also if you like playing chess and having all your pieces in the right place at the right time, you can keep Supporting Fire crisis suits close to essential units but just out of assault range. Don't forget to put forward veiled insults and subtle taunts to force that poor idiot who plays orcs to charge your gunline, despite having three crisis suits with Counterfire Defense Systems and two Burst Cannons each right there.
* '''Drone Controller:''' Formerly necessary for a unit to use drones, that functionality has become built-in. This new little bad boy works to ''enhance'' the drone's function, meaning the drones in your unit use the same BS as the bearer, making Markerlight hits that much easier to get. If your squad is taking any sizable amounts of drones (unless they are all shield drones) then think of including this as it will make up its point quickly.
* '''DS8 Tactical Support Turret:''' New support that only Fire Warriors (both Strike and Breacher Teams) can use. It can be deployed in a turn where the team stands still. It acts as an extra gun (actually either a missile pod or a smart missile system) for all intents and purposes, but it's immobile.  However, in the event that nobody's nearby enough to blast or enemies are too close, it can be recalled to be deployed elsewhere.
* '''Early Warning Override:''' Battlesuit aimbot program, providing Interceptor. While your first thought would be to combine it with a Velocity Tracker, it's too expensive to be effective against anything save absolute cheesemongering (i.e. all-air lists). Instead use the Interceptor rule for what it was designed: to shoot down reserves at the end of THEIR movement phase. Do not forget to bring your tearcup when your Riptide blows apart tightly packed teleporting Terminators or drop-podded Sternquards with single Ion accelerator blast. A decent option, all things considered. ''Great with a Cyclic Ion Blaster.''
* '''Multi-tracker (standard issue):''' Sensors and targeting systems which allow a unit to manage the fire power of two weapons simultaneously, like a Battlesuited John Woo action hero. Once a separate hardpoint-filling option, its popularity (bordering on ubiquity) has made it a now standard issue piece of equipment built into every battle suit, so comes free with the unit and does not occupy a hardpoint.<p>'' Note: Recent FAQ confirmed that it does work on Overwatch. The 3-year skub war over this issue is finally over.
* '''Positional Relay:''' This allows outflankers in reserve in your army move in from the same board edge as the bearer provided he is within 6" of it, including your opponent's edge. Used correctly this could allow you control of most of the board. However there isn't much need for lots of these in your army - ''setup for Kroot Konga line, anyone?''. Expect to use it more often on larger point games. Note that this piece of gear also comes as standard with the Recon drones that can accompany Pathfinder squads, so weigh that in consideration for this if you are already taking them.
* '''Shield Generator:''' Another that remains unchanged. It grants you a 4+ invulnerable save. Basically it's a one upped version of the Stimulant injector. Combine the pair and add shield drones for a model that just simply refuses to die.
* '''Stimulant injector:''' Again another item that is no longer one per army. This will give the equipped model Feel no Pain. It's not cheap and it's even costlier on Riptides/Ghostkeel, but it prevents a wound on a 5+ that is only denied by Instant Death. Get it if you have the points and the unit in question is likely to see [[DISTRACTION_CARNIFEX|a lot of fire]] and needs the endurance, like the aforementioned Riptides so they don't kill themselves.
* '''Target Lock:''' Allows the model to fire at a different target from the rest of the unit. This tool, while cheap, is often over-used. More often than not the one extra weapon does not make the difference. The only real time its effectiveness comes into play is when used in conjunction with fusion-blaster wielding, deep striking, jihad shouting, suicide squads. Deploy them onto the back armoured line of a foe and watch him cry. Remember to have your china tear cup at the ready. You can't use this to shoot at units emerging from a wrecked transport because you must declare targets prior to rolling any dice. Alternatively, it works really nice with Marker drones, whose markerlights are no longer Networked.
* '''Vectored Retro-thrusters:''' No longer one per army, this gives the model both Fleet and Hit & Run. Useful if you get bogged down in combat and need to redeploy quickly. The only downside is a poor I means that you won't always pull out in time, unless you have Drones with you (which are I4 for some reason) or stick it in a Farsight Bomb (Farsight is I5). Vespids have I6, but not only they already have H&R, ''why are you sticking around with them?''. Would be great for Broadsides, Ghostkeels and Riptides stuck in CC, but they can't buy this. <b>Note:</b> You only need 1 suit with this system in order to give the entire unit the benefits of Hit & Run, but you need to give this to everyone in the unit if you want to gain the benefits of Fleet. Because you wont be running or assaulting with Battlesuits, you don't care about Fleet, so take only one. Still, positioning is key so the model carrying doesn't get killed before running away.
* '''Velocity Tracker:''' Another new toy. This thing allows a model to choose on a turn-by-turn basis whether it wants to use the Skyfire rule or not (so it can be fire at fliers one turn and ground units the next with no penalty to either). Slapping these on Broadsides may be everyone's first move but they don't do too badly on Crisis suits, Ghostkeels or Riptides (especially with the HBC) either. Combine with Early Warning Override to give flier heavy lists an early bus ticket home.

===Signature Systems===
Basically, these are the equivalent to the artifacts/relics of other books. They can be taken by the Commander, his Bodyguards, or Crisis Shas'vres, but it's a bad idea for the latter because these take up hardpoint space with him, unlike with the previous two (meaning you could be a complete retard and stuff all of them on one single Shas'O if you wanted). Only '''one''' of each can be taken per army.

*'''Command and Control Node:''' A 4th ed piece of tech that was killed off in the switch to 5th ed when Target Priority tests went the way of the dodo. Back from the dead and clocking in at 15pts, it makes all of a unit's weapons Twin-linked at the cost of giving up the bearer's own shooting. If you put this on your Commander you'll miss out on his sweet BS5, but at least it will be on your longer lasting model. Using this and Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite on a gigantic Farsight bodyguard squad kicks total ass. 
*'''Failsafe Detonator''' S5 Large Blast on death. Useful as a last 1 fingered salute to anyone assaulting you and not much more. Still, it's just 10 pts, you might as well put it on units you don't expect to survive the battle, like those Rambo Crisis suits, but by no means an auto-include.
*'''XV-8-02 Iridium Battlesuit:''' Adds 1 Toughness and gives a 2+ save. Don't waste this on a Crisis Shas'vre, save it for the Commander (your warlord if there isn't an Ethereal present). If you're absolutely desperate to have a bodyguard protect your 'o rather than having him tough it out himself, you should still use the Iridium and other defensive boosts on your Tankmander, while attaching a bodyguard and drones so the drones and 'vre(s) can take the fatal wounds with auto-pass LO, S.
*'''Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite:''' Like Command and control, you forgo shooting with this model in place of giving the model's unit's ranged weapons the Ignores Cover special rule. Take it on your Commander with the Command and Control Node, because if you're doing something else with it, you're probably wrong (see above regarding Crisis Shas'vre).
*'''Neuroweb System Jammer:''' At 2pts this little gadget is an auto-include. At the start of [[Troll|your enemy's]] shooting phase the bearer selects 1 enemy unit within 12" to have its weapons get hot until the end of the next turn. Even if you never use it it can still be funny to watch your foe create a wide area of space around the bearer.
**'''Note:''' This thing is hilarious against [[Imperial_Guard|wimpy Gue'La]], who become 3 times more [[Fail|likely to kill themselves]] than kill you, conscripts faring even worse. Eg: A Guardsman squad gets in rapid fire range for 'First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire' (40 shots). You'll lose 1 Crisis...while they'll lose 4.44 guardsmen and need to take a Morale check ''in their own'' shooting phase.
*'''Onager Gauntlet:''' Aka the Donkey Punch. The first close combat weapon for a battle suit. Shame there is only 1 and it only gives 1 S10 AP1 attack, but it's dirt cheap. It can be useful for opening tin cans or crumpling lower key characters in challenges. Just watch out however as you're still Tau and 1 attack that you may miss with isn't all that when you're T4 with a 3+ save, much less against power swords. On the other hand, [[Power weapon#Power_Fist|HIDDEN POWER FIST]]! Note that unlike similar weapons it does ''not'' strike at I1 should come as a surprise to anyone expecting a Tau commander to go down immediately in close combat to a monstrous creature without a good chance of taking the thing with them. ''Half the time you're still hitting last because of I3, though''. But it can save him from those nasty marine powerfists, which would ID him, and keeps you from having to "our weapons are useless" against walkers. Still, the main reason you're buying this is because '''a)''' You ran out of space for Fusion blasters, '''b)''' You really want to model a [[Fist of the North Star|mighty fist]] on your Tau snowflake, don't you?
*'''Puretide Engram Neurochip:''' Select one of five special rules (Counter-Attack, Furious Charge, Monster Hunter, Stubborn, or Tank Hunter) at the start of Movement. The bearer has it until the next turn. The only ones of note are Monster Hunter and Tank Hunter, which will benefit the entire unit (make him join Railgun Broadsides for pure win), maybe Stubborn too if CC is unavoidable, but the 2 others are close combat related and only affect the bearer and therefore nigh useless.  Also consigns your pilot to life as a robotic tool of the Empire, but hey, Greater Good.
*'''Repulsor Impact Field:''' Another (anti-)assault gadget. It's like a flechette discharger for Battlesuits. It won't make an enemy unit think twice about hitting you though, but D6 ''I10'' hits might score you a wound before your opponent strikes. Bear in mind it hits ''each'' unit that successfully charged at them, not models touching the suit, so keep the wielder out of reach deep inside the unit. A unit that has at least one VRT, drones and the Repulsor field is a unit your enemy may charge at, possibly hurting itself, and then he needs to get into combat all over again. Those casualties will slowly add up, just like your unit's price tag. Better yet when the enemy tries to tie up with Farsight's I5. And taking flamers/Counterfire for overwatch just adds [[Troll|insult to injury]].
*'''XV-81 Prototype (Forge World):''' Once limited to Commanders, it is now available to all able to take Signature Wargear...so, mostly still commanders. The Model becomes Extremely Bulky, but in return, gains a Smart Missile System. Limits you to taking a maximum of two other weapon options, but who the fuck takes TL weapons on a Commander anyway? Does <i>not</i> stop you from spending your full four choices on support systems (though you still shouldn't put all the systems on one suit, for you'd lose everything should the model die). Plus, 25 points isn't too much to ask for this nice piece of equipment. Great with Early Warning Override: you could fire Interceptor shots and still use two other weapons the next turn. Or grab a just-in-case flamer along the weapon you really want to use - a veritable swiss army suit. Still, 2 more pts and you'd have yet another Crisis with flamer, so unless you planned for a Farsight bomb and run out of ''yet moar Crisis'' to deepstrike with, it's a little too much.
*'''XV-84 Prototype (Forge World):''' Also once limited to Commanders, the XV-84 contains a Networked Markerlight and a Target Lock. While it lets you support a low BS unit, the XV-84 would probably see its best use in a Farsight Bomb, giving them their own dedicated markerlight support - pretty much the only thing they needed. At 20 points, the suit is a relatively cheap addition to any force.

===Drones===
Only Drones that can be taken by more than one unit entry are discussed here. The rest will be discussed in their related entry, like the now Broadside-exclusive MV8 Missile drone. All drones discussed now cost 12pts (with the exception of Shielded Missile Drones, which cost 25pts each) and are all Jetpack Infantry. This is a big decrease for the marker drone, a minor decrease for the shield and a minor increase for the gun drone.

* '''MV1 Gun Drone:''' With the Pulse carbine being Twin-Linked Assault 2 and drone controller giving the drones the same BS as the bearer it has made them a much more usable option for some extra firepower. 
* '''MV36 Guardian Drone:''' Exclusive to Fire Warriors.  More unit friendly than the Shield Drone, it only gives itself a 5++ save, but the attached unit gets a 6++. It only really shines with the Breachers' Field Amplifier Relay (becomes 5++), but it can help your Strike teams when facing lots of blast weapons.
* '''MV4 Shield Drone:''' It's a drone-mounted Shield generator, and it's actually cheaper and more effective to boot. As in cheaper than the support system version by 13pts, and if it fails, you merely lost a drone. It gives multi-wound characters a second chance at outlasting any scary S8 weapons that would insta-kill them. Even if not attached to Commanders it still makes a decent addition to any unit that can take it. Unless you have other plans or points are too tight, you cannot go wrong attaching a pair of these to Crisis suits, as they are tough enough to weather some anti-infantry fire, but not so robust that they can easily survive anti-armor weapons. The Shield drones will let them do so, at least long enough to neutralize the threat to them. If these are the only drones you take, then there is no need for a drone controller. A full Crisis team can take six of them without using up any support slots at all. Expect to cry when a Wyvern says "Hi!", tho.
* '''MV7 Marker Drone:''' A staple of many Tau armies has just seen a massive points decrease! Watch as markerlights rain down as heavy as the tears of your fallen enemy. 16 pts has been taken off the tab and it benefits greatly from improved BS granted by having a Drone controller in the unit. The downside that not many players have noticed yet is the loss of Networked markerlight, meaning you better have two units firing at the same target and maybe some Pathfinders too, if everyone is going to benefit from those lovely markerlight hits. Goes very well with Target Lock, tho.
* '''MV84 Shielded Missile Drone:''' A cross between a Missile Drone and a Shield Drone (hence the 8-4), combining the strengths of both types. Only Riptides and their variants can use them, but on the bright side they also have T6, so they don't reduce majority Toughness while still helping your battle suit to tank Grav shots.

===Vehicle Battle Systems===
* '''Advanced Targeting System:''' It gives "To Hit" Rolls of 6 Precision shot. A trollworthy thing if your Rail Gun can insta-gib an enemy HQ hidden within meatshields (2+ LoS says "not likely", but hey, a chance is a chance), but there are plenty of snipers in the codex that are better suited for that role. Doesn't make it any less hilarious though. Still, because most of vehicular firepower comes as Blast weapons or from drones, it might not see much use.
* '''Automated Repair System:''' On a 6 it repairs a Weapon destroyed or Immobilized result. It's cheap and could give you back what you once thought lost. Use if you have points to spare.
* '''Blacksun Filter:''' While these come as standard on Battlesuits, they still have to be paid for by vehicles. It lets you ignore Night Fighting and Blind effects. As it's so cheap, it's hardly points wasted even if you don't ever get to use it. Remember vehicles are not affected by Blind anyway. 
* '''Decoy Launchers:''' 4+ invul to glancing or penetrating hits caused by the Interceptor rule. By far the best use of this is on the flyers. Makes those nasty quad guns seem like a bad dream. Sadly it has little other use.
* '''Disruption Pod:''' It gives a +1 to your cover save, so it effectively acts like Stealth while still being stackable with it. Not as brokenly powerful as before, but still pretty damn good. 3+ in 7th in the open is great. Detach your drones and put them between your tank and your enemy and then yeah, 4+ cover without the disadvantages of Jink. Always buy it for your tanks, never for aircraft, unless you expect jinking a lot (which you don't unless you brought buckets of markerlights).
* '''Flechette Discharger:''' Fires a number of S4 hits equal to the number of folk in contact with it. Scares lightly armoured grenadiers (meltabomb vets, wyches and swooping hawks comes in mind), but MEQs don't give a shit about it.
* '''Point Defense Targeting relay:''' The S5 and below weapons can overwatch. Gives the vehicle Supporting Fire as well. Autotake on Devilfish (only if you grab SMS), and reasonable on Tanks if your local meta uses assault units. Perfect for Tetras and Sky Rays, if close to your units.
* '''Sensor Spines:''' Gives Move through Cover. Another case by case one. Useful for hiding tanks in cover, especially with Disruption pods, but almost worthless on fast skimmers and definitely worthless on flyers. Since Skimmers ignore Vertical Move Distance, use them to go from ruin cover camping to ruin assault range kiting in 3". If it fits, it sits!