Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Kill Team(8E) Xenos (section)

==T'au Empire==
===Why Play T’au Empire===
*'''Pros'''
**Long-range weapons make the range penalty less of an issue.
**They can still fire overwatch for each other.
**Strength 5 shooting as standard across the board means you hit like a cast iron skillet against the head of an abusive husband, and the easier time wounding helps mitigate guardsman level accuracy.
**You're the only faction in the game with standard units that can fly. (Excluding units introduced in expansions such as Commanders or Elites)
**You get Kroot via the Kroot Mercenaries faction.
**Pulse Pistols are now kinda useful in melee and EVERY Fire Warrior & Breacher can take them for free. So as long as they survive the initial charge, they might actually be able to give those ork boyz up in their face a rude surprise. It's a slim chance, but as [[Ciaphas Cain]] would say, a slim chance is better than none. 
**Rail Rifles 

*'''Cons'''
**Tau are just as squishy in melee here as they are in 40k, and on a small battlefield that's an even bigger problem for them than usual. Fast moving melee units like Sicarians, Wyches, Harlequins, Reivers, Genestealers and especially Lictors will wreck your shit if you don't make ''maximum'' use of terrain and fire lanes to keep them far, far away.
**With one shot that suffers from range penalties with the Tau BS of 4+, markerlights are nearly useless and cannot be relied on to help you hit things most of the time. Additionally, the benefits of markerlights can be replicated by many faction tactics, specialisms and commander aura effects.

===T'au Special Rules===
*'''For the Greater Good:''' The same as 40K, anyone within 6" of a charged friend can Overwatch, models cannot fire Overwatch again, nor Retreat, that phase once they use this ability however. This can be really dangerous because it's relatively easy to have 2 or 3 people at that distance without even trying. Specially dangerous if one of them is a Gun Drone or a Stealthsuit.
*'''Bonding Knife Ritual:''' -1 to Nerve tests if another warrior of the same type with this rule is within 3" (save drones). Best used with Fireteams. After the first FAQ, it has now been limited to T'au  of the same type (i.e. Firewarriors only bond with Firewarriors, Breachers with Breachers, Pathfinders with Pathfinders and Stealth with Stealth ... that's caste society for you).
*'''DS8 Tactical Support Turret (Fire Warriors and also Breachers, but the Designers commentary clarified that you still only get one):''' Not only the [[Craftworld]]ers can bring turrets. This baby is equipped with either a Missile Pod or a Smart Missile System and is taken as an additional piece of equipment for one of your Fire Warriors. When the Shas'la deploys, the turret does so too at 2" of him, but if their gunner is over 2" for any reason, the turret is lost. Note that the turret is an independent model and shoots as such.
*'''Camouflage Fields (Stealth Battlesuits only):''' -1 to hit against models with this. If you combine this with XV25 armor, T4 and cover, Stealthsuits are surprisingly tough.
*'''Markerlights:''' A "weapon" carried by many of your units, it can be fired instead of any other weapons the model has in the shooting phase. It does no damage, instead you get buffs when targeting that model in that phase.
**1 Markerlight: Reroll hit rolls of 1
**2 Markerlights: +1 to hit if target is obscured.
**3 Markerlights: Ignore penalties for moving with Heavy Weapons or Advancing with Assault Weapons
**4+ Markerlights: +1 to hit.

===T'au Faction Attributes===
Every model have to be from the same sept for gaining the benefit of a Sept Tenet. The exception to this are the Kroots, that can be added to any Kill Team, but they don't benefit from the bonus.
*'''T'au Sept - Coordinated Fire Arcs:''' When a model uses the For The Greater Good ability, or when they fire Overwatch while they are within 6" of a friendly model, they successfully hit on a roll of 5 or 6.
*'''Vior'la Sept - Strike Fast:''' Models can treat Rapid Fire weapons as Assault weapons when they advance. In addition they don't suffer the penalty for shooting assault weapons after advancing.
*'''Bork'an Sept - Superior Craftsmanship:''' Models do not suffer the penalty for long range.
*'''Dal'yth Sept - Adaptive Camouflage:''' If a model doesn't move, it is considered obscured for all enemy units.
*'''Sa'cea Sept - Calm Discipline:''' Add 1 to leadership for all models. In addition, you can reroll hit rolls of 1 for shooting attacks.
*'''Farsight Enclaves - Devastating Counter-Strike:''' Re-roll wound and hit rolls of 1 for shooting attacks that target an enemy model within 6".

===T'au Ranged Weapons===
*'''Burst Cannon:''' Stealthsuits and Crisis basic weapon. 18" Assault 4 S5 AP0 D1. Classic Dakka option, take 3 on a heavy crisis suit to laugh as you need to find more dice.
*'''Fusion Blaster:''' 18" Assault 1 S8 AP-4 Dd6 with fusion shenanigans, basically a Tau meltagun with a bit more range. If you're able to get into 9" of someone, (and with Stealthsuits it's not that difficult) you can one-shot everything. Even Lictors. Remember that for each point of damage it's an additional roll for injury.
*'''Ion Rifle:''' Either 30" Rapid Fire 1 S7 AP-1 D1 or 30" Heavy d3 S8 AP-1 D2 if overcharged, but kills you on 1's to hit. Not a bad weapon that relies on its versatility.
*'''Markerlight:''' Our dear 36" Heavy 1 laser pointer. Take into account that, due of how shooting works in KT, it's reccomended to use it with Ready men.
*'''Missile Pod:''' One of the two options for the DS8 turret. 36" Assault 2 S7 AP-1 Dd3.
*'''Photon Grenade:''' ''Remember that you have them and that only one of your team can shoot it each phase.'' That -1 to hit on combat is great when they'll get to you. Remember that you can use them in FtGG-induced Overwatch to support those who doesn't have them, like Stealthsuits or Drones.
*'''Pulse Blaster:''' 15"/10"/5" Assault 2 S4/5/6 AP0/-1/-2 D1. Having to be within 2.5 inches to use close range without penalty means this gun SCREAMS for you to use Borkan.
*'''Pulse Carbine:''' 18" Assault 2 S5 AP0 D1
*'''Pulse Pistol:''' Free for Fire Warriors & Breachers, so always take them. It may not give you a ''good'' fighting chance when the bad guys get up in your face, but it will give you a fighting chance. Assuming you survive the initial charge. Possibly hilarious if you do manage to score a lucky pistol shot and drop that nasty combat specialist that thought a Tau would be an easy kill. 12" Pistol 1 S5 AP0 D1
*'''Pulse Rifle:''' 30" Rapid Fire 1 S5 AP0 D1
*'''Rail Rifle:''' 30" Rapid Fire 1 S6 AP-4 Dd3 Each 6+ to wound roll causes a mortal wound in addition to the normal damage. This can occur even on 5+ in the hands of a Demolition specialist (or 4+ if the target is obscured). The tricky part is connecting the shots but thats where Comm specialist and recon drones come in...
*'''Smart Missile System:''' The other option for the turret. 30" Heavy 4 S5 AP0 D1. You can fire without sight at 6s to hit.
*'''Kroot Rifle:''' The default and only for Kroot Carnivores. Basically a bolt gun with a bayonet to give a +1S in melee. Before errata, could be taken on Battlesuits also.
*'''Flamer:''' 'Nuff said.
*'''Plasma Rifle:''' 24" Rapid Fire 1 S 6 AP-3 D1. As usual, worse than other races with the changes to 8th ed, but still has some value as an armoured GEQ hunter.
*'''Cyclic Ion Blaster:''' 18" Assault 3 S7/8 AP-1 D1/1d3. The tau "I can't believe its not plasma" is one of the more expensive kill team weapons, costing more than a Pathfinder, but hits substantially harder.  Combine with ATS and laugh at primaris marines as they get wounded on 2+ with -2 to their armor save.

===T'au Melee Weapons===
''[https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/026/366/pather.jpg We don't do that here.]''
Shower thought: Cadre Fireblade can order teammates to fire Pulse Pistols twice. This must be tested.

'''Kroot Rifle:''' Gives the Kroot +1 S in combat.

===T'au Support Systems===
Support systems for your XV8 and XV85 battlesuits
*'''Advanced Targeting System:''' Increases the AP of your guns by one (AP0 becomes AP-1 and so).
*'''Counterfire Defence System:''' Lets you re-roll those sweet overwatch rolls. Is it more valuable than adding another gun? Maybe. But flying units like your battlesuit bros can also Retreat and then still fire in the shooting phase (where you’ll need a 4+ to hit as opposed to just 6s for Overwatch), so maybe not.
*'''Drone Controller:''' Drones hitting on 4's is pretty scary. When you have enough enough of them this is an auto take.
*'''Early Warning Override:''' Lets you shoot at an enemy model which is placed 12" away on any phase, but with a -1 to hit. Cheap way to prevent some nasty Terminator teleports near your super expensive battlesuit.
*'''Multi-tracker:'''  Re-roll ones when shooting at lots of boys. With all the ways to do that already, less exciting than it could have been.
*'''Shield Generator:''' The classic 4++ save. Same cost as the iridium upgrade, combine for your own terminator!'''
*'''Target Lock:''' Same as the XV25 version, you can advance and fire assault weapons without penalties.
*'''Velocity Tracker:''' +1 to hit flying models. Amazing in mirror matches, useless against footsloggers.
*'''XV8-02 Crisis Iridium Battlesuit:''' Not technically a subsystem and only available on the XV8 but similar. The classic 2+ save. Really obnoxious on a leveled veteran, making the shield generator obsolete against everything except meltas

===T'au Units===
*'''Fire Warrior (Leader [Shas'Ui], Comms, Medic, Scout, Sniper, Veteran)''' Your regular bluie. Able to equip the Pulse Rifle for long distance or the Pulse Carbine for closing in. Of both choices, the Rifle is somewhat better because the Pathfinders are a cheaper choice for carbines, and the drones bring two for less points. And don't forget the Stealthsuits and their burst cannons. Also, take into account that they're still Fire Warriors and their stats are not impressive. Sooo... no, they're better far and high if you can and supported either in fireteams and/or in FtGG! distance. Also, Close Range at 15" with S5 Rapid Fire 1 it's not something that should be ignored. It's also recommended to be the ones to have the DS8 turret because they're the most likely to not to move much.

*'''Fire Warrior Breacher:(Leader [Shas'Ui], Demolitions, Comms, Medic, Scout, Veteran)''' Breachers are a very powerful Moderate Risk/High Reward option for T'au. Their pulse blasters normally hit just like a bolter, it self not a bad if average gun, but when within five inches hit like a freight train, hence moderate risk with a higher payoff. With some brainpower you can run around the battlefield as a mini distraction carnifex for your T'au snipers while at the same time delivering some very respectable ordinance. But due to how long range shooting rules works, you'll be -1 to hit at Close Range setting unless they're within 3" (Or you're using the Bork'an Sept).

*'''Pathfinder (Leader[Shas'Ui], Sniper [Gunner], Comms, Demolitions, Medic, Scout, Veteran)''' A pathfinder with a rail rifle, though expensive, can become a terrifying threat when mixed with the sniper specialization. Set him in the back to cover your more aggressive units like Breachers, or to simply block off firing lanes. However if you just need bodies Pathfinders are also your best best. Cheaper than a Fire Warrior and comes free with a markerlight its your best option for filling out a roster.
** A level 2B Sniper spec Pathfinder with a rail rifle, when readied and using the level 1 sniper stratagem can shoot two S6 AP-4 damage D3 shots at 15" while hitting on two's rerolling ones. This is T'au shooting at it's very finest and can take out any model in the game provided the shots connect.
** Something to consider in Matched Play over Campaigns is a Pathfinder Gunner with the Rail Rifle and the Demolitions specialization. Only Death Guard get a FNP without some sort of janky stratagem, so being able to pump out Mortal Wounds on a to-wound roll of 5+ (or 4+ if the target is obscured) isn't something to ignore. Pair him with a Recon Drone and a Comms specialist Pathfinder and you're set to remove units across the whole board.

*'''XV25 Stealth Battlesuit (Leader [Shas'Vre], Comms, Heavy, Scout, Veteran):''' Stealth suits have one of the most expensive base cost in the game at ''20 points'', only surpassed by the Lictor itself. However they're full of goodies: 8" movement, 2 wounds, 3+ save, Fly, Burst cannon by default and always -1 to hit aganist them. They have mobility, endurance, firepower and only lacking in combat and options, but that's the T'au for you. Take one or two.

*'''Drones (None):''' One may wonder why take one of these instead of more troops. Simplest answer is as a source of 7 point flying ablative wounds for your leader and specialists. Beyond that, it depends on which drone you're looking at.
**'''MV1 Gun Drone:''' 2 Pulse Carbines shooting 4 S5 shots a round. Since 6s are auto hit in KT, you gain no further penalty from being both at long range and obscured than you would for either. The second gun makes it strictly better than a Burst Cannon since you can roll on the injury chart twice (two different weapons). All-all-all a 7 point gun drone is an incredibly cost effective source of Fly (which is very powerful in Kill Teams) and 4 S5 shots which can potentially roll twice on the injury chart.
**'''MV4 Shield Drone:''' While shield drones might be central to many [[troll|strategies]] in full size 40k, their usefulness is greatly reduced in the smaller scale of Kill Team, where points are at a premium. 7 points for a unit whose ''only'' purpose is to get shot for someone else is rather hard to justify, especially when every other drone can do that too, in addition to shooting and/or other special abilities.  The only thing the shield drone has going for it here is a save that makes it more likely to handle being shot more than once.
**'''MV7 Marker Drone:''' It might seem appealing to have a source of markerlights that doesn't come from a unit fighting for their life. However, markerlights, since they require hit rolls and you'll be hitting on 5's against most models in cover, are a mugs game. Adding insult to injury, in order to receive benefit from a markerlight, you will need to have shot it first in the phase, which means you'll have needed to ready the model with the markerlight as well, which means you'll be letting the enemy take consecutive turns in the shooting round before you fire real guns back at them- therefore increasing the chance that you'll have less models to return fire. In summary, rail rifles are good, but you have to be rather careful, since being at 15 inches, means you'll be in range of multiple factions that can kill you in a single round of shooting. Splinter cannon sniper dark eldar, Scion's with volley guns and more, all of whom will be perfectly happy to take you out with a decisive shot, let alone return fire during the readied shooting phase.
**'''MV36 Guardian Drone:''' Bringing a Guardian drone is worth serious consideration. A 6+ invuln save might not be worth much, but Tau aren't terribly tough to begin with so any extra save roll you can make for your blue boyz helps, and 7 points for giving ''everyone'' in a 6" radius that extra save is a steal. Particularly useful for a team of Breachers.
**'''MV33 Grav-Inhibitor Drone:''' You need at least one pathfinder to bring one of these. Reduces charge distance of enemies within 12" by D3.
**'''MV31 Pulse Accelerator Drone:''' You need at least one pathfinder to bring one of these. Ups the range of pulse pistols, carbines, and rifles by 6", but only for units within 3" of the drone.
**'''MB3 Recon Drone:''' You need at least one pathfinder to bring one of these. On top of packing a burst cannon, it lets a nearby pathfinder ignore hit and injury penalties due to an enemy being obscured. Partner up with a rail rifle armed pathfinder to snipe cover-campers.  

*'''Kroot Carnivores:''' Behold your one close combat unit! Despite this Kroot aren't really worth it as they will break quickly and they're the same price as Gun Drones and unless Kroot sprout wings they get outclassed
*'''XV8 Crisis Battlesuit(Demolition, Heavy, Sniper, Veteran, Comms):''' expensive big ol gundam, NOW CAN OPEN DOORS and be shielded by drones, very fun to play but not a competitive masterpiece; gun options are expensive as hell and easily skyrocket his point value.
**Following the FAQ, he can become a glasscannon deathstar: giving him sniper specialism, and buffed from a comms, he can potentially be hitting on 2+ rerolling 1s with 3 rocket pod/cyclic ion blaster/plasma/etc....
**Or can be used in the poorman’s option to save points/cp and give him 3 flamers and demo specialism.
**The flamers may not seem like much, but on tiny killteam tables you can reliably delete 1-2 models per turn with triple flamer suits because of the immunity to hit modifiers and d6 shots per flamer, as well as the free advance every turn because flamers are assault.
**Tau plasma have become shit with new edition, but a sniper crisis for 42 points can dish 6 hits teleporting in front of the enemy; not a cheap suicide model, but effective nonetheless.
**Iridium is a very expensive option, drones are 3pts cheaper but per faq now you can transfer wound NOT SAVED, so an iridium crisis with near a shield drone is hard as a deathshroud terminator'''

====T'au Commanders====
*'''Cadre Fireblade (Leadership, Logistics, Shooting, Stealth, Strategist):''' An improved Fire Warrior in every respect, most notably his BS2. He's got FtGG like the regular Fire Warriors as well. Note his aura tactic, allows any unit to fire an extra shot with pulse weapons at 1/2 range. Can anyone say 6 S5 shots each from a wall of gun drones?
**'''Fireblade Twinflame:''' A unique Cadre Fireblade (Who'd have guessed). In addition to the extra shot aura the regular Fireblade gets, Twinflame gets a 1CP Aura Tactic lets units around him use his Ld and a 0CP tactic that gives you D3 CP when he dies.
***'''Level 1:''' Overwatch on 5+, applies to FTGG
***'''Level 2:''' Enemies re-roll 6s rolled against Twinflame in Fight phase.
***'''Level 3:''' Friendly models within 3" get a 6+++.
***'''Level 4:''' Can force a reroll when determining whether or not a mission ends. 
**With his BS2+, packing only a Pulse Rifle and exclusive to a game mode with plenty of hard-to-kill targets, the Cadre Fireblade (and his Variants) might actually represent something completely unique in Kill Team: A decent use-case for Markerlights.
*'''Dahyak Grekh (Blackstone Fortress) (Stealth):''' He has a good distance and offers plenty of S4 shooting between his pistol and rifle which doubles as an S+1 melee weapon (Which with his S3 still leads to S4). He doesn't give a fuck about concealment obscuring his aim while also making enemies take -1 if they shoot at him while in cover. If you set up booby traps at the start of the game, you can add another one.
*'''Ethereal (Leadership, Logistics, Strategist):''' He may be able to take Equalizers for a low cost, but he's not Aun'Shi and should very much lead from the back. You're taking him for his numerous Aura Tactics, so make him a Leadership specialist and take all the advancements that improve those. Hover Drone isn't necessary, but it's there if you need him to quickly move to wherever his buffs are needed most.
*'''Commander in XV85 Enforcer Battlesuit (Elites) (Fortitude, Leadership, Logistics, Shooting, Strategist, Strength):'''  At 90-100 point value and with an exaggerated profile for kill team, the ability to be shielded by drones, and guns that can kill a Custard per turn, the XV85 is a a god among mortals. Use him however you like. As a hammer in a deathmatch, or to sit on objectives with impugnity or using his Fly and 8" move to clear keep enemies off all of them. He can do it all. 
*'''[[El'Myamoto|Darkstrider]] (Elites) (Legendary Hunter Level 2 Only):''' Essentially a Cadre Fireblade with a unique Specialism and some slight tweaks. Swaps his Rifle for a Carbine, drops to a 5+ save but gets an extra inch of movement. His unique auras lend themselves to buffing your Railfinders rather than Drones like the Fireblade.
**Like the Cadre Fireblade, has a BS2+ and a markerlight and might be actually have a use for it, unlike the regular rank and file T'au.

===T'au Tactics===
*'''[Core] Uplinked Markerlights (2CP):''' If an enemy unit gets hit with a markerlight, you stack D3+1 markerlight counters on them instead of just 1.
*'''[Core] Breach and Clear (1CP):''' If a Fire Warrior Breacher shoots at an obscured enemy unit, re-roll failed wound rolls against that unit until the end of the shooting phase.
*'''[Core] Recon Sweep (1CP):''' Pick a Pathfinder to move 2D6” in the shooting phase instead of shooting.
*'''[Core] Stimulant Injector (1CP):''' If a unit (no drones) loses a wound, roll a d6 for that wound and all wounds after that in this phase. On a 5+ that wound is not lost.
*'''[Starpulse/Annual] The Baited Trap (2CP):''' Use when charged. Model hits his Overwatch shots on a 4+ instead of a 6+, for the remainder of the phase.
*'''[Starpulse/Annual] Tandem Hunting Pattern (2CP):''' Two Readied models within 4" of each other may both fire during the Ready Fire! step, before any other player may choose a model to shoot!
*'''[Starpulse/Annual] Multi-Spectrum Sensor Suite (1CP):''' Use when shooting with a model. Enemy target gains no benefit for being obscured. (Mimics Recon Drone Ability)
*'''[Starpulse/Annual] Inheritors of the Galaxy (1CP):''' During the Moral Phase, if you are standing inside a defense line (wall of martyrs terrain) You may subtract 1 from Nerve Tests. 1 CP covers every qualifying model in the Morale Phase. This is also labeled a Sector Imperialis Tactic.
*'''[Starpulse/Elites] Neuroweb System Jammer (1CP):''' Pick an enemy model within 12" That model must subtract 1 from 'to hit' rolls made during the shooting phase.
*'''[Starpulse/Elites] Focused Fire (1CP):''' After inflicting an unsaved wound, for the rest of the phase you can add 1 to wound rolls for models that target the same enemy and are within 2" of the model that inflicted the original wound.
*'''[Starpulse/Elites] Support Turret Replacement (2CP):''' Respawn your DS8 Tactical Support Turret, if it has been removed from the battlefield. Has to be placed 2" of its original owner.
*'''[Elites] Manta Strike (Reserve) (1CP):''' At the end of the movement phase, choose up to three models that are any combination of Battlesuits that are not Infantry but can Fly, MV1 Gun Drones, Mv4 Shield Drones, or MV7 Marker Drones that were set up in Reserve and put them anywhere on the battlefield 5" away from any enemy models
*'''[Elites] Stealthy Hunters (Reserve) (1CP):''' At the beginning of the first battle round, choose up to three Kroot Carnivores that were set up in Reserve and place them anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" away from any enemy deployment zones
*'''[Elites] Stealth Fields (Reserve) (1CP):''' At the beginning of the first battle round, choose up to three XV25 stealth battlesuits that were set up in reserve and place them anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" away from any enemy deployment zones
*'''[Annual] Prudent Retreat (1CP):''' Use this Tactic after a model from your kill team has fired Overwatch. The model Retreats (even if it has already moved in this phase)

===T'au Commander Tactics===
*'''[Commanders] Volley Fire (Aura) (1 CP):''' Use at the start of the battle round if you have a non-shaken Cadre Fireblade. Friendly models within 6" can fire an extra shot with their pulse pistols, pulse rifles, and pulse carbines when firing at someone within half the weapon's range. <s>4 pulse shots per rifle/carbine, anybody?</s> 'an extra' meaning +1 NOT changing the profile from RF1 to RF2. 3 shots total; think how +strength abilities and power fists interact.
*'''[Commanders] Failure is Not an Option (Aura) (1 CP):''' Use at the start of the movement phase if you have a non-shaken Ethereal. Friendly units within 6" can use this model's Ld instead of their own until the end of the round. 
*'''[Commanders] Sense of Stone (Aura) (1 CP):''' Use at the start of the movement phase if you have a non-shaken Ethereal. Grants FnP on a 6+ to models within 6" of the user until the end of the round.
*'''[Commanders] Zephyr's Grace (Aura) (1 CP):''' Use at the start of the movement phase if you have a non-shaken Ethereal. Models within 6" of the user can re-roll advance or charge rolls until the end of the phase. 
*'''[Commanders] Storm of Fire (Aura) (1 CP):''' Use at the start of the shooting phase if you have a non-shaken Ethereal. Models within 6" of the user can re-roll 1s to hit until the end of the phase.
*'''[Twinflame] Voice of the Greater Good (Aura) (1 CP):''' Use at the start of the movement phase if you have a non-shaken Cadre Fireblade. Friendly units within 6" can use this model's Ld instead of their own until the end of the round.  
*'''[Twinflame] Inspiring Sacrifice (0 CP):''' : Use this tactic when a T'au commander dies. You gain 1D3 CP.
*'''[Elites] Master of War (Aura) (2CP):''' This tactic can only be used once per battle. Use this at the start of a battle round. Pick one of the 2 following auras to be applied to your XV85 Commander for the rest of the battle round: 
**'''Kauyon:''' Friendly models within 3" cannot move for any reason but get to rereoll failed hitrolls.
***The ultimate gunline
**'''Mont'ka:''' Friendly models within 3" are treated as if they had not moved in the preceding Movement phase, and get an +1 to hit rolls for shooting attacks
***Advance with impunity and hope for a decisive strike, but risk getting wrecked because you got too close.
*'''[Elites] Fighting Retreat (Aura) (2CP):''' Use this at the start of the shooting phase. Models with 3" of Darkstrider may shoot this phase even if they fell back or retreated this battle round.
*'''[Elites] Structural Analyser (Aura) (1CP):''' Use this at the start of the shooting phase. Pick an enemy model visible to Darkstrider. All friendly models within 6" of Darkstrider get +1 to wound for shooting attacks against that enemy model.

===T'au Strategies===
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'''T'au Strategies:'''
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A lot of people view T'au as a faction that likes to hang back and dish out volley after volley of shots, but this is Kill Team baby. Think of the T'au as fat eldar who can't fight or run for shit and you'll have a slightly better time of shooting your opponents off the board.

Markerlights aren't so next to useless, but still shouldn't be used as often as they are in 40k proper. Consider using them when your opponent doesn't have much to do in the shooting phase to try and delete choice units off of the board; like their leaders, specialists, or units that are getting too close.

Their biggest strength comes from trying to shore up weaknesses by utilizing drones. Need more wounds? Take a shield drone! Need to spam bullets? Take a couple gun drones! The two most useless drones are the markerlight drone (with BS 5+, it's pretty much only hitting on 6's due to cover or long range) and grav-inhibitor drones (but only because they are kind of a niche use thing, too much of a unitasker).

Formations of units are probably your biggest thing to consider when playing T'au, because postioning for extra shots in overwatch and extra wounds from drones is really important to try and stay alive in the fight phase. Nothing sucks worse for a gaunt or guardsman to sit between your blueberry and a drone and pop both in the same combat step. So try to consider how you're going to position stuff to survive the fight phase as best as you possibly can. And remember that your little roombas can fly, so falling back and then spamming gunfire into the fool who charged you is pretty decent. Especially since you get to overwatch again!
You can also use the fact that Drones can fall back and still shoot to your advantage by charging a drone into a particularly scary model that has decent shooting capabilities but lacks the necessary oomph to get you in the fight phase. Then on the next movement phase, if they go first then they will fall back and be unable to shoot, you can then charge the same drone into them again to try and tie that potentially more expensive model up. But if you go first, then charge another drone into that model and fall back with your drone. Creating a 7 pt stunlock.

The Pathfinders are a really great investment. The standard unit is pretty weak, with their poor save, but make up for it by being cheap and still being able to wound most all things on a 3+ due to their S5 guns. The real reason to take them is to grab the Rail Rifles and the Recon Drone. 3 rail rifles can be devastating for your opponent to deal with and is coincidentally the number of specialists you can take (excluding your leader of course), so by al means make them all a sniper, a demo, and a comms specialist. If you aren't one to put your eggs in one basket, make the comms specialist a Sha'sui of some kind. Fire Warriors are a good choice for this, especially with the pulse rifle since you can choose to set down a turret and hunker down with your rail rifle bros and take pot shots at weaker units in range of rail rifles that you don't want to waste shots on. The recon drone is almost like giving your pathfinders a second comms specialist to play with, but just be sure that you use the bonus on a readied model since declaration of the bonus is at the start of the shooting phase and you don't want that guy to have to wait through a whole round of shooting before he gets a chance to shoot, because there'll be a good chance he'll be dead. The recon drone is also great because they have 2 wounds! Which translates to one of your models taking a free hit off of a multi-damage weapon- since it just turns the wound into a mortal wound and two whole wounds means you don't have to continue seeing if the drone dies or takes a flesh wound (somehow). So only use the recon drone's Savior Protocols to tank that one really devastating hit.

Speaking of Drones, their BS is shit so don't be afraid to fire at models behind cover and at long range. Any of your models (typically) will be shooting at 6's against those targets anyway, so quantity is its own quality here. If your drones have nothing better to do then just take potshots at some idiot that is bothering you but you don't necessarily want to waste better shots on (Like a rail rifle).

Stealth suits are big and scary and hard to hit, so consider making one of them your leader so that you can actually do something with him instead of hiding him to farm command points. With a retinue of drones, a Stealth suit can lead from the front and bring the fusion cannon to melt faces off of people. If you're doing so then remember that that is going to cost you in the points department as a single drone with a stealth suit/fusion cannon combo will cost you 32 points, but boy howdy are those points worth it for a mobile fortress of death. Just remember to try and keep some drones hidden so that your opponent doesn't take those out first and makes your leader a sitting duck. If you plan on taking stealth suits for any reason the burst cannon is probably the way to go for most match ups, but going up against factions with good saves necessitates the AP of the fusion cannon. Also remember that your stealth suit can fly, AND the Shas'Vre can get three good old fashioned T'au Punches in before running away like a coward and shooting you in the face. This can result in hilariously lucky kills in melee, but please don't make this your main strategy. This is more of a thing your opponent will be unpleasantly surprised by because they chose to charge a unit that you put in harms way. The combination of multiple wounds, flying and -1 to hit them makes them a little more hearty than one would think in Kill Team.

Last but not least is the humble Fire Warriors. If you plan on taking Pulse Carbines, then just down grade to a pathfinder. Otherwise, take the pulse rifle or shotgun. If you take both, then please find the room to get two turrets since they are both really good options to use. If you take the rifles then be sure to put the one with the turret drone in a well defended place that is hard to charge or at least protect it with the other guys. Just don't get stuck in the mentality of sitting still, the weapons are rapid fire and not heavy so you can still move and shoot. This means finding sight-lines and getting within 15" in order to double tap you enemies. If you plan on taking the shotguns then consider taking some shield drones with groups of them and wrecking ball your enemy with your silly distraction Breachers. If your opponent ignores the Breachers they'll get chewed up by shotgun fire. If they don't then you'll probably be able to save those wounds with your 4+ save. But Breachers are a high-risk, high-reward unit choice. Just don't forget those pulse pistols for both unit choices as they are totally free.

Please do not forget to throw away your drones to protect your better models, that's kind of what they were designed for. Just be sure that you aren't throwing them away for no reason. If you think you can reasonably make a save (due to cover or some bullshit making your save roll not complete horse shit) then don't throw it on the drone and risk losing the poor sucker.


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'''Counterplay:'''
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The T'au are paper thin and their saves suck. Any amount of AP is fairly devastating on you local space-fish-communist, but be sure to note which units have which saves, because AP-2 on a pathfinder spells and autofail on the little guy. Just be sure that your high priority targets don't have drones with them because otherwise your shots will just kill a drone (or maybe not if they have a shield drone). Try to force your opponent into moving their wounds to drones to kill them off by using multi wound weapons, or just outright shoot the drones out the sky before shooting your main target. This is when pumping you start pumping the main target with whatever gun fire or knives you're using.

Remember that they can fire overwatch for each other, but once they do so they can't fire overwatch for themselves. So if you're a melee faction with a trash unit that can take the first couple rounds of fire then I suggest sending those in first to try and bait the shots out. That or just stand behind full cover before leaping out and tearing their poor faces off. Just don't get too cocky and take on a whole blob of them, because there will be a small chance they get lucky and hit you with a t'au punch and that'd just be about the most embarrassing way to die. Piling into their on the ground units after each combat with some units behind ready to charge into them again is a good way to only get shot in overwatch, just try to remember that drones and stealth suits fly.



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===T'au Example Teams===
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'''Standard Kill Teams'''
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*9 models, 96 points
**Shas'vre Stealthsuit [20pts] with Fusion Blaster [+4pts]/Markerlight [+0pts]/Targetlock [+1pt], 25 pts
**3 Pathfinder Gunners [7pts ea]with Rail Rifles [5pts ea] as Sniper/Demo/Comms, 36 pts
**Recon Drone, 7 pts
**4x Gun Drones [7pts ea] (flex), 28pts

Anything the Rail Rifles wound will probably die. Recon and comms to boost hit rolls to make sure they hit. Rest of Drones as flying wounds to accompany aggressive leader, or soak for sniper nest. Burst cannon may be preferred for hordes, as well as grav-inhibitor drone. Guardian drone may be considered if you need the 6++ saves.
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'''Commanders Kill Teams'''
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''For When Commanders Cost Points''

''For When Commanders Cost Nothing''

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