Tau got a big revamp of their traits with the new book, so let’s take a look at which ones are worth thinking about and which ones you can pass on. Click to read on, or check out the Tactics Corner for more reviews and strategies.
Tau actually have two sets of warlord traits in their book, which is becoming increasingly more common, but for most players you won’t ever notice this- one list is for actual Tau characters, the other is for Kroot ones. And, of course, there are the warlord traits unique to each subfaction- we may mention some of them in passing here, but we discussed them in the subfactions article, so go back and check that out if you want to get a better look at each of them.
Also like most factions, Tau have a stratagem (Promising Pupil) that lets you give an extra warlord trait to one or more additional characters for 1CP each; given how improved the new set of traits are, almost all of your armies will be making extensive use of this, typically the maximum number of times. And now, with all of that out of the way, let’s start looking at the traits themselves.
The Traits
Precision of the Hunter is first up on the list and boy howdy, talk about starting on a strong note. It lets the warlord (and only the warlord) reroll all hit and wound rolls for their attacks- and given how much work Tau characters can do, this is absolutely huge. Like with most codices, Tau characters also don’t benefit from reroll abilities, so this can be a critical way to ensure that your Commander’s attacks land where you want them. In particular, note that this works in all phases of the game- both shooting and melee, but also in overwatch. Sticking this on a Commander is practically mandatory due to its effectiveness with all weapon types and loadouts, and it’s particularly brutal with the Thermoneutronic Projector where it can mitigate the otherwise-low Strength of the weapon.
Through Unity, Devastation gives an aura for friendly Core units that grants 6s to wound an extra point of AP. This was the best warlord trait Tau had previously, and though it is mostly better (working on all targets rather than just one), it probably won’t impress a lot due to the plethora of other choices. Still, it’s not bad to have and if you find yourself with an “empty” character, it can do some good work. This is Aun’va’s fixed trait.
A Ghost Walks Among Us is probably one of the weaker choices overall, though it’s not awful. It gives an automatic 6″ advance as well as -1 to hit; if you really want to go all out with a resilience build this definitely is one more piece of the puzzle and the auto-advance isn’t a bad thing either, but there are so many other great choices that up your damage output that I don’t think you’ll see this often. This is Darkstrider’s fixed trait.
Through Boldness, Victory is another big hit, letting you pick a Core unit within 9″ and give them automatic wounds on 6s to hit with shooting. This bypasses the increasingly-common “no reroll” and transhuman effects that we are seeing in many factions and both Crisis and Broadsides are very hard-hitting Core units that benefit a lot from this ability (though do note that Broadsides have access to it through a Support System.) This is Longstrike’s fixed trait.
Exemplar of the Kauyon is a redeploy trait, letting you pick either three units (if you are Kauyon) or one unit (any other situation) and redeploy them on the table or into strategic reserves at no cost. While being tied to Kauyon for maximum effectiveness can be a bit of a drag sometimes, the ability to deploy aggressively and then feint away if you don’t get the first turn is a powerful tool and it can get really silly with stuff like Stormsurges. This is Shadowsun’s fixed trait.
Exemplar of the Mont’ka is the last of the Tau traits, and another strong offensive tool. You pick one Core unit within 9″ each command phase, and if it shoots at a target within 9″ (or 12″ if you picked Mont’ka) that unit can reroll all wound rolls. This is a huge effect to have access to, and while there certainly are ways to turn it off, that comes at a cost and isn’t universally available. The effect is probably more powerful overall than Through Boldness Victory’s ability, but the range limitations and other factors mean that the two are roughly even overall, so the overall decision will come down to your specific list. Or, you know, just take both. This is Farsight’s fixed trait.
Master of the Hunt is first up for Kroot traits, and gives an aura that lets Kroot within 6″ ignore cover when shooting at the enemy, so long as their target is within 12″. It’s… fine, all things considered; your Kroot don’t really want to be that close to the foe, but also if you are it maybe gives them a small chance of getting to put in some damage.
Pack Leader is probably where the real money is if you’re investing into a Kroot character with a warlord trait- it’s another 6″ aura that lets nearby units roll an extra d6 for charging and discard one of the dice. Kroot have several abilities and stratagems that support getting into fights, and while they may not be great at that role, if you are going to try and run them in any numbers you need to lean into that as a strength.
Nomadic Hunter also grants a 6″ aura, this one giving Kroot that didn’t fall back that turn the ability to count as remaining stationary for purposes of shooting. This gives a decent little mobility boost, since you can now advance and shoot with the various units, and combined with their good movement stat it actually lets you get quite a distance around the board.
Overall Thoughts
The Tau warlord trait selection went from practically-worthless to incredibly strong and diverse. Although there definitely are some misses on the table, for the most part they play well into the faction’s strengths and give you a ton of unique options to choose from, most of which you will want more than one of during a typical game.
Precision of the Hunter stands out as a big choice that will see a lot of use, although it does compete with several of the faction traits for its niche (specifically Borkan’s Seeker of Perfection and Farsight’s Master of the Killing Blow.) I think that the Precision mostly wins out over those two, although there definitely are some advantages to each of them- Seeker works best when you have tons of weaker weapons like Burst Canons, since it both improves AP across the board and also gives more chances for mortal wounds. Master, meanwhile, is better if you are expecting to face targets with wound-limiting abilities such as Ghaz, C’tan, or Phoenix Lords. But in the majority of situations Precision will be your go-to for upping damage output, because rerolls are incredibly powerful as a tool and because it serves so well on any style of weapon- quantity-focused weapons love being able to threaten any target and the consistency of putting wounds on things, while quality-focused weapons appreciate the guarantee of their shots going through even in the face of penalties.
The fact that the named characters from the faction mostly have a lot of strong traits built in also makes taking them (and sometimes being forced to choose them as the warlord) doesn’t feel like hamstringing oneself, as these characters can provide some excellent tools to an army and not simply losing out on a warlord trait in order to take them is a good feeling. Darkstrider and Aun’shi are the only two who get somewhat-subpar traits, but even these two are not worthless and do fit in with their roles in the army anyways.
I think Tau can be very happy with the new crop of warlord traits here, and I don’t think that any of them feel particularly unbalanced in and of themselves- there are definitely some issues with the faction being able to stack a ridiculous number of buffs onto some units, particularly Crisis, but that is largely separate from the warlord traits themselves, so hopefully we won’t see any drastic changes to them when the inevitable balance patch drops.
Next week we’ll cover another somewhat-longer subject, namely the signature systems (i.e. relics) of the Tau codex. As always, remember that you can get your wargaming supplies at great discounts every day from the Frontline Gaming store, whether you’re looking to start a new army or expand an existing one.
