Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Tau (section)

===Elite===
*'''[[Battlesuit#XV8_Crisis_Battlesuit|XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit]]:''' God's Gift To Tau. These guys are your mainstay. Their weapons are varied and versatile, and are specialized for various situations. They can take any combination of weapons and wargear unless otherwise stated. These guys will fill up your elites slots. The Crisis suits are famous for the Jump-Shoot-Jump - moving out of cover, shooting, and jumping back into cover, denying return fire and annoying the enemy, an excellent tactic. Each suit may take up to three hard-points but it's no longer a requirement that all three slots be filled. Hard-points are made up of Ranged Weapons and Support Systems(see "[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Tau#Tau_Armoury|Tau Armoury]]" section). Typically a Crisis suit will have two weapons and a support system, but there is no rule against three weapons or even three support systems, or any other ratio you fancy. Obviously some combinations are more effective than others. Note that if a single weapon system is selected twice, it could count as a single twin-linked weapon (filling two hardpoints) at only +5 pts or two separate guns at full cost - though you must state it in your roster and point it to your opponent (it may be a good idea to mount TL pair on one hardpoint to make it more WYSIWYG). Crisis suits (and other large suits) come with Multitracker and blacksun filter pre-installed so you can choose that extra system you've always wanted. If one of your team upgrades to a Shas'vre then he unlocks access from items from signature systems. Probably one of the most past by improvements, yet comforting additions to 6th; Shas'Vre come in at Leadership 9, meaning if you lose a couple of expendable wounds (for instance in the form of bin lids) you don't panic, forget you're in a huge powered gundam wing and run off the board! 
**'''This is extremely important!!''' Tau Crisis suits are T4, which means they suffer heavily from rocket sniping. If you value your suits, take at least two drones to absorb the inevitable S8 AP3 shot. Everything in the damn game has some version of a "fuck your crisis suit" weapon (except Tyranids, even the Tyrannofex's Rupture Cannon hits at AP 4, so Crisis Suits are safe), be prepared. As all drones have the same price, consider carefully, what type you want for your Crisis suits:
***'''Shield drones''' are just ablative wounds, that are slightly better at being ablative wounds. 4++ could help them to survive twice as long against heavy fire, but against AP5 or higher they would go down as fast as other drone type, as they lost their 3+/2+ mimicked armor save from previous codex, and you cannot allocate only those wounds you want on them. Take them if you expect a lot of S8 or and/or low AP4 shots fired on your Crisis suits.
***'''Gun drones''' are not only T4 Sv4+ cold expendable wounds for your Crisis suits, but also TL pulse carbines, which packs considerable firepower in 6e, and may even pin shit if you're got lucky (don't count on it, though). BS2 is not a big problem, as with twinlink they have 55% chance of hitting something (think of it as BS 3.5) without markerlight support.  With a suit equipped with a drone controller, they become BS3, and with a Commander with drone controller, [[Troll|BS5]]. Which, with twin-linking, is effectively BS10, meaning your drones rival the galaxy's best snipers. Additionally, being twinlinked they tend to deal more hits on overwatch, or when snapfiring at flyers/fmc's. Definitely worth it when combined with infantry hunting Crisis teams (flamers, burstcannons), and even on more heavily armed teams could be fine if combined with target locks (they are fairly cheap after all).  Group of 3-5 gun drones on targetlocked team could reliably blow [[Dark Eldar|AV10 vehicles]], or those with AV10 on the rear (read: almost all of them) with some smart maneuvering and with some luck could even glance to death [[METAL BOXES|AV11]]. Again, this is even more useful, when Crisis team have target locks and can focus their firepower on something more important. If you're planning to jump around heavy cover or include Shassera to your Crisis team, Gun drones would benefit from 4+ cover (or up to 2+ with Shassera in cover), becoming as survivable as Shield drones, while retaining their firepower.
***'''Marker drones''' are tricky ones. BS2 with no twinlink or networking seems useless, but they are designed to CHAIN markerlights when focus firing a target - you're spending 2 markerlight tokens to give your Crisis team awesome BS5, and 2-3 marker drones at BS4 could reliably regain those tokens to be used on the next Crisis team and so on. Aside from it, they could be used as emergency markerlight source if your main markers was destroyed or tied, and of course, as ablative wounds, like all other drones.
** One completely unexpected result of 6th ed was the Rambo Crisis Squads.   With Crisis suits now costing 22 points, it's now a perfectly viable option to take your Cheap as Chips naked (or naked plus flamer) Crisis squad and use them for GLORIOUS COMBAT. Why? Because 3 Crisis suits naked costs 66 points! If one was to compare them with Assault Marines, you're looking at higher natural str, more base attacks, double wounds for about the same price and at the expense of lower WS and lack of Hammer of Wrath, which considering that unless you have the misfortune of fighting Grey Knights or Daemons, you're going to hit most things on a 4+ anyway. In effect you have a unreasonably durable tarpit unit on a super budget, best used against assault threats to your fire warriors (needless to say, anything with a large quanity of power weapons is to be avoided, but that marine squad? Fuck yeah). Of course, given the fact that you're expending an entire precious elite choice won't sit well with many, but given 6th Ed Detachment rules and the scary viability of running an Ethereal/Fire Warrior combo army rather than a Crisis suit orientated list, this may prove viable. You might be tempted to whack a Shas'vre in there with a Neurochip for Furious Charge and counter attack shenanigans, but at the end of the day, the main value of this squad is exactly how cheap it is. Don't do it. 
**Do not forget, your Crisis suits have 2 base attacks and S5 - charging AV-10 rear tanks with your Crisises could be a good move. 
**Charging shooty squads with poor melee (Centurions are the prime example, but things like Devastators or, say, Fire Dragons are OK too - just make sure their characters have no power fists) is also an option if you have retro thrusters, as it ties them up AND allows your Crisis suits to escape enemy fire and then jump right out melee at the end of his turn and then vaporize the poor fuckers. Make sure to allocate the few wounds you're taking to the drones.
**With taking multiple weapon options now no longer auto-twin linked, taking double flamers for 6 Flamer templates for the attractive price of 96 points a squad is now a very viable option against almost any army in the game (Deathwing and Grey Knights tend to be the exception)- that kind of firepower can dish out more hits than there are models in any given squad it gets within range of, and it ignores cover to boot. Sure best for OrKs and IG, but even marines will take substantial casualties under that many hits. With the new Thrust rules and clever use of terrain, you can easily dance around enemy squads while toasting them. You can even combine this with the Rambo squad if you decide to get Vectored Retrothrusters, although this does increase the price. 
**The Cyclic Ion Blaster gets a special mention. For the low price of 15 points, you can get a weapon that varies between being a souped up missile launcher and a Str 8 blast weapon. Only one per detachment, but even so, if you're looking to get a Crisis Battlesuit Team of the old style, to take names and tears, then this should always be a buy. The AP4 kinda sucks, but you can't have everything. 

*'''[[Battlesuit#XV25_Stealthsuit|Stealth Suits]]:''' Not quite the safe (or arguably decent) choice anymore. These guys can Infiltrate, Outflank or Deepstrike, so you can deploy them in almost any way possible. They still retain Shrouded and Stealth which stack to give them a 4+ cover save in open ground, and have benefited from Burst Cannons going Assault 4. But at T3 and mediocre BS, they will need markerlight support to make the most of their extra shooty. Sure the 1 in 3 Fusion Blaster is good, but with the rise of the Riptide (that can provide TL Fusion and a whole lot more), the viability of Stealth Suits, especially when you have more access to low AP weapons than ever before, has to be questioned. A team won't necessarily cost you the game as they are great for fucking up the shit of Guardsmen, Orks etc. Just be warned against MEQ's and TEQ's.
**If you take them, put a Fusion Blaster on the team leader (because you can) and give him a markerlight complete with target lock - BOOM! [[that guy]] can bust open a vehicle while the rest of the squad dakkas on someone else. Works hilariously well for opening transports and then softening up its contents with a burst cannon volley, followed by a thorough pulse rifling. Put an advanced targeting system on the team leader (which you can do since the target lock from the markerlight doesn't take up the support slot) and you can snipe special weapons on a 5+ when there isn't a vehicle nearby. Remember, stealth suits have built in multi-trackers so your team lead can shoot his markerlight in addition to his primary weapon.
**For added trolling, give your stealth team stimulant injectors and watch your opponent have a bitch of a time trying to dig shrouded, stealthed, FnP MEQs out of cover.
**Do note that they can take a homing beacon, and due to wording of its rules it could be used not only by your Crisis suits but also by Space Marine, Eldar and Corsair ally deep strikers. As you can safely infiltrate stealth suits almost into any cover on the board think about endless trolling potential of perfectly deep striking Lucius drop pod with Ironclad, a squad of Corsair Wraithguards, or even a Warp Hunter (hover tank out of fucking NOWHERE).
**For further lulz, you can simply infiltrate into an open spot of your enemies deployment and just annoy the fuck out of their back line with 16 s5 ap5 shots and 2 fusion blasters with target locks. Your opponent has to deal with this death squad taking some pressure of your main force.
** Note: If you have plenty of anti-tank choices, forgo the fusion blaster and go all burst cannons. Not only does this allow you to use the superior XV-15 miniature (smaller profile, easier to fit in cover), but your enemy will sob tears of blood as their squads are reduced to a fine powder. Also, consider taking Counter-Fire defense systems, and watch as the charging enemy sucks 24 shots at BS 2 instead of 1.  
*'''[[Battlesuit#XV104_Riptide_Battlesuit|XV104 Riptide]]:''' [[Asmodeus|God's]] other gift to Tau. Designed by the Earth Caste, likely to troll the Gey Knights and their stupid bullshit Dreadknights. It will give new Wardian GK players a bit of... <i>ahem</i>, [[Troll|envy]]. Being a Jetpack monstrous creature and it sports a big statline (S/T6, 5 wounds, 2+/5++) to accompany its big guns (either a heavy burst cannon or ion accelerator), plus it can take another twin-linked battlesuit gun. Then there's its Nova Reactor, which can give it a special power per turn of your choosing on a 3+ - unless you fail, then your giant robot takes a wound that cannot be saved (but can be FNP-ed with stim-injectors). Special powers include buffing the invulnerable save to 3++, moving 4d6", firing twice in a turn with its bonus weapons or unlocking its alternate weapon profile: it makes the Heavy Burst Cannon Heavy 12 and rending, but gets hot which is awful with 12 shots or the Ion Accelerator overcharge S9 and ordnance. Ion accelerator with TL fusion guns is the go-to build for instakilling T4 multiwound cheesy units (Paladins, Meganobs, Tyranid warriors and other Tau battlesuits) or go vehicle hunting. Oh, and do not forget it's a monstrous creature, so even with terrible Tau WS and I it still can and would smash tanks in close combat if needed. Keep away from other monstrous creatures, close combat units with Power fists, War-scythes, Power klaws and poisoned weapons in both close and ranged combat. It's the only unit that can use Shielded Missile Drones. Only with T6 to prevent O'Ralai drone syndrome.
** But it must be remembered that the Riptide can and probably will blow its own brains out and that in the views of some may make it less desirable for its points cost, although, there are things you can use to stop it from blowing its brains out (don't use the nova reactor is a good one) like standing it next to a remote sensor tower so any get hot rolls can be rolled away or buying a stimulant injector to help reduce the chance of taking a Gets Hot wound down to two twenty-ninths.  Options which allow you to re-roll to-hit rolls of 1 like the Through Unity, Devastation Warlord Trait or Shadowsun's command-link drone will also help mitigate Gets Hot! related issues. Due to the BS cap being removed from markerlights, boosting the Riptide past BS5 can also prevent the vast majority of Gets Hot! mishaps.
**Give it an ion accelerator and early warning override and watch Deathwing armies weep.
**Although your shiny new suit has the capabilities to make anything carrying an imperial banner piss their pants, the Tau budget apparently couldn't afford decent targeting equipment on this beast. With BS3, that 2D6 scatter roll will not be forgiving to your Blast weapons. Avoid the embarrassment and marker-light this fucker up.
**With it's heavy and long range weaponry, there's an unfortunate tendency for players to treat the Riptide as a large, plodding machine designed to act like a massive Broadside, Riptides are in fact MORE mobile than their smaller Crisis cousins, with the option to Thrust to 4D6. This is important. While you can use your Riptide as a massive firesoak, and that's a good use of it, you can also use your riptide as a sneaky, highly mobile battlesuit of the old kind. Due to it's speed and highly durable nature, using a Nova Charged thrust to contest an objective late in the game puts an incredibly durable monstrous creature ontop of their objective. 
** Don't forget about what bonus weapon you're packing, especially with Ripple Fire (Double shots on the bonus). With smart missiles, this means that you shoot ''8'' twin linked, cover-denying, LOS-ignoring, S5 AP 5 shots, with Plasma Rifles, you get 4 twin linked S6 AP2 (if in Rapid Fire), and With a Fusion you get 2 twin linked melta shots. The first allows for some exceedingly powerful infantry punishment, the second poses a real threat to TEQs, and the Third is practically death for any tank within 9'' 
** Similarly, the Heavy Burst Cannon is often an unexpectedly effective anti-tank weapon. Sure it has Gets Hot Problems, But rending combined with that many shots can lead to interesting side effects. A Rend does a minimum value of 13, up to 15, With 8-12 shots, you can expect 1-2 pens on most things, and it can practically glance-to-death a fully functional vehicle in a single shooting phase.
** As mentioned above (and this might sound stupid) a Riptide is one of the few Tau units that can have a decent run at close combat... Being a Monstrous Creature gives him Fear (which can reduce the WS of enemy units) and Smash (AP2 hits can really ruin your opponents day) and a reasonable number of attacks.  Now before you start charging him into the nearest enemy just remember that if he's in combat he isn't shooting pie plates in people's faces, and that he isn't going to fare that well against a decently equipped assault unit.. But at the same time, don't automatically shit yourself everytime a freak with a jump pack and a chainsword looks at you funny (watch out for melta bombs).  I've found it quite useful to charge Riptides at enemy Tanks, which then tend to violently assplode.
**As awesome Riptides are, they are a bit too powerful for their cost. Taking one is OK, taking two might give you a mean look or two, but if you take three or more, you'r automatically that guy. Consider yourself warned.
** If you want to troll the crap out of your opponent and are playing the Farsight Enclaves list, model your riptide with TL fusion blasters and give him the Fusion Blades. Now you can make the enemy regret ever assaulting you with their precious furioso dreadnought.