Battlesuit

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Tau Portal

Battlesuits^1,2 are used by the Tau and are one of their most advanced pieces of technology. They incorporate many weapons systems and armour comparable to a Space Marine's and can easily lay down a withering hail of fire to destroy both infantry and vehicles. These Battlesuits have specific roles and abilities within the Tau army.

Crisis Battlesuit

The Crisis Battlesuit provides several advantages to a Fire Warrior wearing it. It increases the strength, endurance, toughness, and armor of the wearer.¹ It also has 3 hard points to attach weapons and support systems.¹ It also incorporates a Jetpack into the design, which allows for greater maneuverability and flexibility on the battlefield. It also supports many upgrades to further increase its versatility on the field of battle.

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit with Missile Pod and Plasma Rifle

The XV8^1,2 is the most common variant of battlesuit used by the Tau and also serves as the basis for the XV88 Broadside variants.

Sept Armament Variations

Each Sept has a different way of fielding battlesuits,³ although they all have the common goal of destroying the enemy utterly. They work either in teams of three or singularly, known respectively as Ta'ro'cha and Monat. Some of these are:

XV81 Crisis Battlesuit

The XV81 Crisis Battlesuit variant is made for commanders and armed with a back mounted Smart Missile System and various other weapons.

XV84 Crisis Battlesuit

The XV84 Crisis Battlesuit variant is made for commanders and armed with a spine mounted Markerlight and Target Lock and various other weapons.

XV89 Crisis Battlesuit

The XV89 Crisis Battlesuit variant is made for commanders and is more heavily armoured than other battlesuits. It should be noted that the Tau do not have a numerical designation for the number 9 or 8, using a base-eight system (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7). Its correct 'Tau' designation should be XV131.

Stealth Battlesuit

Stealth Battlesuits, also called Stealthsuits, employ a holographic disruption field to make them hard to spot and target.¹ Like the larger XV8 Battlesuit, the Steath Battlesuits incorporate a Jetpack in their design.

XV15 Stealth Suit

The XV15 is the first known implementation of the Stealth Battlesuit. It incorporates a built-in Burst Cannon. The team leader battlesuit may also incorporate a Markerlight.

XV22 Stealth Battlesuit

Screenshot of Commander Kais in a XV22 Stealth Suit as used in the videogame expansion Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade

The XV22 is a new stealth battlesuit in field testing. the first "2" is the suit weight class and the second "2" indicates that it is being tested. Though not widespread nor mass produced (only O'Shaserra, Commander Shadowsun, uses it in the game), it is not to be taken lightly. With dual weapons (not twin-linked; O'Shaserra uses dual fusion blasters) and a shield generator it's a force to be reckoned with. The suit also employs a multi-tracker, advanced target lock, stealth field generator, and advanced sensory equipment.

In the computer game Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, the Tau Commander has an XV-22 Battlesuit, but it does not have a stealth field generator as standard, although players can acquire one.⁴ This may be because the stealth field generator is not a standard addition, as no details are mentioned in its name save that it is the size of a standard stealthsuit and is an experimental model.

XV25 Stealth Suit

XV25 Stealth Teams are small teams of 3 to 6 experienced fighters equipped with XV25 Battlesuits. They operate as the "lone wolves" of the Tau army, using their stealth armour to infiltrate and rain fire upon their targets. Stealth teams most commonly employ Burst Cannons, though advancements in XV25 Battlesuit technology may allow for fusion weapons to be used. Stealth Suits also have integral stealth field generators and advanced sensory equipment.

Broadside Battlesuit

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit

Broadside Battlesuits are based on the same chassis as the Crisis Battlesuit. However they exchange the Jetpack for better armor and heavier weapons.¹

• In Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, Broadsides have the ability to "dig-in" to create emplacements.⁴.
• In Dawn of War: Soulstorm Broadsides must entrench themselves to bring their twin railcannons to bear.

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit

Broadside Battlesuits are armed with the heaviest weapon in the Tau arsenal, the Railgun. They are fielded in teams of 1 to 3 suits and armed with twin-linked Railguns and either a Smart Missile System or twin-linked Plasma Rifles. They also mount a support system. They may also take various upgrades to improve their fighting skills.

XV88-2 Broadside Battlesuit

The XV88-2 is a variant of the Broadside battlesuit with the Railguns slung under the arms rather than over the shoulders and the support weapon is mounted on the shoulders rather than under the arms. This variant is produced by Forgeworld.

XV-9 Hazard Close Support Armour

This new battle armour is an original battlesuit design with the aim in providing a powerful counter attack to Tau forces as well as make use of it as a stable weapon platform for the battlefield.

XV-9-04 Armour

This variation of the XV-9 Armour possesses Phased Ion Guns which are a merger of the rapid firing Cyclic Ion blaster technology with the Ion cannons typically mounted on vehicles. With its placement on a battlesuit platform, the long accelerators of this weapon allow its pilot to engage an enemy at long range with projectiles that react on an atomic level. This allows these pilots to decimate both armoured infantry as well as vehicles.

XV-9-01 Armour

Another version of the XV-9 with a different weapons loadout, the 01 variation makes use of fusion guns interlinked into the battlesuits hightech systems. This allows the pilot to initiate a Fusion Cascade which encompasses a target in powerful melta energy. This battle armour can only fire in bursts which means that each subsequent shot is less powerful than their Imperial equivalent but makes up for this in sheer amount of times it can be fired.

Related articles

• Armour
• Tau Structure
• Tau Weapons
• Support Systems

Sources

• ¹ Codex: Tau (3rd Edition)
• ² Codex: Tau Empire (4th Edition)
• ³ White Dwarf 263(us) Crisis! Tau Battlesuit Teams. A look at the strategies of the Tau battlesuits. by Pete Haines and Phil Kelly
• ⁴ Dawn of War: Dark Crusade computer game.