Editing Last Stand - Tau Commander (section)

===Drone Tactica===
Drones are a major part of Tau Commander strategy, and they offer major benefits. If you don't use your drone, you're doing it wrong.

'''Shield Drone:'''
* This drone is actually arguably the strongest of the three - if your goal is party support. It essentially halves incoming ranged damage, and in a fairly substantial radius. The drone's aura is clearly marked, and is selective enough to not effect friendly fire directed at enemies inside the shield range. Shield Drones do not stack with one another; they simply boost the radius.
** The Shield Drone is ironically the most durable drone; it takes a huge amount of ranged damage to actually kill one, though it tends to go down pretty quick in close-combat against tougher foes.
** Immediately, the obvious teammates that should come to mind with this drone is the Lord General and Hive Tyrant. The former gets minions and an emplacement, all of which can be protected by the bubble, whereas the latter offers not only minions, but potential screening against threats, especially with Poison Cysts. Other beneficiaries include the Chaos Sorcerer and the Mekboy, who either can support the front line, add minions for a firing line, or help buff the team.
** For the most durable team in Last Stand, pair a Mekboy with a Trophy Rack with a Hive Tyrant with Psychic Scream and a Tau Commander with shield drones. You'll be looking at well over 80% damage reduction to ranged damage!
*** The Shield Drone's EMP Field is best-used as a last-ditch "get out of trouble free" card; it will immediately lock down the shield drone (and indeed, all shield drones) for five seconds, essentially taking the enemies stunned by the stasis field out of the fight. It's extremely handy for backing up less mobile teammates, allowing them to get clear of incoming threats. The EMP field can actually be extremely powerful with Multiple Shield Drones and Controllers; If each Tau Commander fires one off right as the effect ends, you can essentially keep a massive area completely locked down ''indefinitely'' with some Ion Batteries.

'''Heavy Gun Drone:'''
* This simple piece of hardware fires off a barrage of burst cannon fire. Not all that strong - about as effective as one single Burst Cannon with no upgrades or suppression - but can help whittle foes down. Of the three drones, it's the most prone to drawing aggro and it's the only one capable of actually engaging in combat.
** Don't expect miracles from this drone, though it can be quite effective with a solid team behind it. Boosted by a Sorcerer's Icon of Pain, a Tau Commander's Command Aura, or an Imperial General's Take Aim!, it can inflict surprisingly heavy damage, making it a bit more killy if that's what's called for. It's otherwise best for just directing more [[Dakka]] downrange.
** It lacks the defense of the Shield Drone and tends to draw fire which means it's also the drone most likely to die in combat (other than the Markerlight Drone with the controller, of course). It's a cheaper drone, however, which makes it a bit more utilitarian. It's quite handy for getting enemies that are chasing you off your back (by giving them something else to concern themselves with).
*** All bets are off when the Overdrive of the Gun Drone is online; the Heavy Gun Drone fires much faster and is much more powerful, dealing roughly double its DPS. Whilst this isn't enough to make it as powerful as say, the Hive Tyrant's Ravener, but it's way better at cutting down single targets than it was before, especially ones that lack heavy armor. It's also even more likely to draw attention with this ability going. Even better, the ability is relatively cheap and has outstanding synergy with multiple drones; one drone controller can mean 3 gun drones that are now all in buzzsaw mode, firing a hilarious number of shots at once.

'''Marker Drone:'''
* This drone's the cheapest one and has the most clear-cut advantages and use. It flies around, marking targets with a markerlight for you. The benefits are obvious; it debuffs enemies against ranged damage, of which virtually all the Tau Commander's weapons are.
** The obvious benefits of pairing Marker Drone with Markerlight is obvious, but it's even better with multiple Tau Commanders, since you can all contribute to the Skyray Party. The benefits of the Markerlight are also handy for ranged heroes like the Lord General or Mekboy. Bear in mind that calling in a Skyray strike will also shut off all currently-active markerlights.
*** Marker Drone's benefit from the Controller is self-destructing; it goes off in roughly the radius of a Kinetic Shield pulse and deals enormous damage - and it's ''quite'' capable of friendly fire. As such, it's the only drone better off used singly with the controller; whilst other Tau Commanders can plant drones for you to explode, your control of them is relatively minimal and imparts too much risk. Use it sparingly with teammates! That said, it's extremely destructive and arguably usable as a de facto demo charge for the Tau Commander.