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Just would like to confirm that im doing this right, hive guard that are under the influence of instinstive behaviour must shoot the closest visible unit. If i slap them behind a wall and they cant anything, does that mean they can shoot anything now assuming that the targets are within range of their guns? We are playing it atm that they still must shoot the closest unit even if they cant see them.

technically RAW, IB makes it so they cannot shoot at all if they cannot see a target. But I would say that is supposed to be closest unit as RAI.

The visible restriction is probably supposed to allow you to shoot the nearest possible valid target (since you cannot target the closest unit if you cannot see it). When your gun doesn't need los all units are valid and IB would force you to target the nearest.

Note that it's the same for charging while under IB, you can only charge the nearest visible enemy unit even if there's one out of sight and nearer.

If you want to use Impalers without LoS you're going to need to provide synapse cover.

Their general ability to target things that they can't see is clearly intended to override the general requirement that they only shoot things that they can see. I don't see any reason to take it as overriding the "visible" part of the IB rule.

Also note that a FAQ clarified that abilities like this do not allow characters to be shot at just because they're the closest unit -- they still have to be the closest visible unit.

That's why I mentioned charging - all units can charge targets they can't see, but IB still restricts you to charging the nearest visible target.

Dionysodorus wrote:
Their general ability to target things that they can't see is clearly intended to override the general requirement that they only shoot things that they can see. I don't see any reason to take it as overriding the "visible" part of the IB rule.

Also note that a FAQ clarified that abilities like this do not allow characters to be shot at just because they're the closest unit -- they still have to be the closest visible unit.

I'm not 100% sure from your post, but if you're implying that Hive Guard out of Synapse are allowed to ignore the IB rule requiring them to fire only at the closest visible target, then I strongly disagree. RAW, a model suffering from IB 'can only target the nearest visible enemy unit if it shoots'. If there are no visible enemy units within range, then it cannot shoot.

I believe this is absolutely intentional, as it forces both Biovores and Hive Guard to either have a Synapse babysitter or else get their asses out from behind cover to go see what they're shooting at.

Yes, I agree with all that. The "mortar" type rule is only supposed to over-ride the normal shooting restriction, not the restrictions built into rules like IB or characters.