T'au Empire

How T'au Empire play

The T'au Empire is the game's dedicated shooting army, and it commits to that harder than any other faction. T'au have the best ranged output in 40k, backed by markerlight-style targeting support that makes that shooting far more accurate than the raw profiles suggest. In exchange, they are the worst melee army in the game by a clear margin.

The army plays a range-control game. You want to be shooting from where the enemy cannot reach you, and every turn your opponent spends crossing open ground is a turn you win. Battlesuits provide a mobility layer that lets you shoot and reposition, which is what keeps the army from being a static gunline.

Everything about playing T'au well is about not being charged. The moment a competent melee unit reaches your line, the affected units stop contributing.

Building a T'au Empire army list

Build in screens. Cheap units whose job is to be charged instead of your battlesuits are not optional — they are the reason the shooting gets to happen.

Take targeting support seriously. The gap between supported and unsupported T'au shooting is large, and cutting the support units for another gun platform usually makes the list worse.

The Fire Overwatch Core stratagem suits this army better than most: hitting on unmodified 6s is a real deterrent when the unit throws a large number of shots.

T'au Empire FAQ

Are T'au good in melee?

No — they are the weakest melee faction in the game, and this is deliberate. A T'au unit in combat is a unit that has stopped contributing, so preventing charges is the core skill.

Are T'au beginner friendly?

The shooting is straightforward, but the army punishes bad positioning severely. Learning to screen properly is the barrier, and it takes a few games.

How do markerlights work?

Targeting support significantly improves your shooting against a marked target. The exact mechanics change between editions and balance updates, but the principle — spend actions to make later shooting far more accurate — is constant.