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 PrinceRaven wrote:
They should be out of combat in a few turns though, and having only lost something like a quarter of the brood to the Riptide's pathetic CC abilities.

Keep in mind that in subsequent turns the gargoyles' damage output decreases considerably, as they will be taking casualties also losing their charge bonuses to attacks. 20 of them will realistically tarpit the riptide for the entirety of a standard game of 40K before they would do enough wounds to kill it outright.

Not that it will do that much more damage but you forgot Hammer of Wrath.

I've used poisoned Termagants to great effect tarpitting and killing Riptides. Since they're free from a nearby Tervigon it's really effective.

Locally, a SM player has been running Grav-Centurions in a Land Raider. If the four Cents get into range of a Riptide, it's typically dead that turn.

Poked one with a Huskblade once. That was kinda funny.

 tetrisphreak wrote:

 PrinceRaven wrote:
They should be out of combat in a few turns though, and having only lost something like a quarter of the brood to the Riptide's pathetic CC abilities.

Keep in mind that in subsequent turns the gargoyles' damage output decreases considerably, as they will be taking casualties also losing their charge bonuses to attacks. 20 of them will realistically tarpit the riptide for the entirety of a standard game of 40K before they would do enough wounds to kill it outright.

They're still doing about a wound per round of combat on average, so it should theoretically only take them 3 turns to kill a Riptide, maybe less. Either way, that Riptide's dying before the Gargoyles are.
Still, probably a better idea to multi-charge, butcher a Fire Warrior squad and then sweep the Riptide.

I have taken one out with lascannons. It helps when they over charge their nova reactor and fail though too.

 tetrisphreak wrote:

xghostmakerx wrote:
20 Gargoyles + poison sacs = Dead Riptide

Not quite - back of the napkin mathhammer says:

20 gargoyles = 40 attacks.

26.8 hits (2/3 chance to hit) with 6.5 of them being 6's.
20.8 to-wound rolls on 4+ = 10.4 additional wounds - total 16.9 wounds.

2+ armor save = 2.70 failed saves
5+ feel no pain = 1.81 failed saves

So, rolling average doesn't even see you scrape 2 full wounds of a riptide with that unit. Now what it does do, however, is keep that pesky riptide locked in combat until the end of the game, so it doesn't shoot at you. That is as good as dead, but still not dead.

If they buy the FNP, then it is 1.81 as you say. However, unless you can catch up on wounds, that's a morale test that could break the unit. Regardless, 160 points of fearless gargoyles will tie up that Riptide for the game.

A clever tactic is to multi-charge with a bunch of gargoyles and then drop the doom within 6" of all the units in the combat. I killed a big squad of wraithguard, a wraithknight and a guardian squad this way once.


If you've bought into the "CC is terrible in 6th, only take shooting units!" mentality of the internet, then you probably just need to kill the markerlights and deal with the Riptide. Unless you've got grav-cannons or JotWW then you probably shouldn't spend too much time gunning him down.

Exorcists and outflanking meltas do the trick for me.

They aren't easy to kill, but unsupported their damage output is quite low.


Now, note that I field my Riptides with Stim Injectors for FNP, and I like to field multiple to the tune of half of my points is wrapped up Riptides and an allied Buffmander(Iridium, Stim, Shield Generator, Pen, MSS, C&CN, Onager, Neuroweb, Vectored Retro Thrusters). Also, I almost never attempt to put up the Nova Shield. There are a few situations I would, ie vs Grav Spam list. The FNP makes my Riptides extremely hardy, but people seem to be able to kill them as I offer few options for the first turn or two.

Here is a list of all the things that have killed my Riptides, at least that I can remember.

DE Poison, it take 90 Poison Shots to kill a Riptide without FNP, 135 with.
DE Dark Lances, Destructors, and Blasters. It takes 13.5 shots without FNP, 20 with.
DE Beastpack. Failed to sweep due to Buffmander Stubborn, died to mass wounds and rending.

Eldar Wraithguard. ID.
Eldar Wave Serpents, Spiders, Bladestorm.

Daemons Lord of Change. Failed to sweep due to Stubborn, killed after a couple of rounds of combat.
Daemon Lord of Change. Swept.
Daemon GUO with Balesword.
Dameon Plaguebearers.

Blood Angels Swept by three naked Assault Marines.
Blood Angels Swept by tooled out assault squad out of Land Raider.

Tau Massed Firepower, mostly Fusion/Plasma DS and Kroot Snipers.

Imperial Guard terrible rolling versus Quadgun, finished by Vendetta.
Imperial Guard Vendettas, Plasma Vets, and Melta Vets.

Things that almost killed them or would have given the chance...

Tyranids Poisoned Guants
Naked Tacitcal Marines
More FMCs
Wraithknigths
Zombies
Doom
Pink Horrors in CC...

And the list goes on...

Most likely you will be playing against Riptides without FNP. There are a few options to take them out. If you have a CC option you can reliably get into combat with them like a FMC, Fearless Horde, Assault Transport etc ignore them with your shooting and shoot their support elements and scoring. If you can't get a CC unit to them, then weigh your ability to kill them vs your resiliency to ignoring them. Usually, avoid clumping up and wait out the firestorm until your CC element can neutralize them. You may not kill them, but even 5 naked tactical marines can neutralize a Riptide for a considerable portion of the game as the riptide kills one per turn, worse if its Earth Caste.

Riptides fold in CC, and there is very little they can confidently defeat in CC. Any dedicated CC element will tear them apart and sweep them. A multiassault is just gravy.

Edit: The NOVA Reactor. I've often dealt 1-2 wounds to my own Riptides throughout the course of a game. Sometimes, one to each on the first turn before my opponent could even do anything. Don't assume they will get their NOVA every turn, smart players are conservative with their NOVA use.

I don't, I tie it up in close combat therefore effectively removing it from the game.

But sometimes, for the heck of it, Vendetta squadron.

Thatguyoverthere11 wrote:

 tetrisphreak wrote:

xghostmakerx wrote:
20 Gargoyles + poison sacs = Dead Riptide

Not quite - back of the napkin mathhammer says:

20 gargoyles = 40 attacks.

26.8 hits (2/3 chance to hit) with 6.5 of them being 6's.
20.8 to-wound rolls on 4+ = 10.4 additional wounds - total 16.9 wounds.

2+ armor save = 2.70 failed saves
5+ feel no pain = 1.81 failed saves

So, rolling average doesn't even see you scrape 2 full wounds of a riptide with that unit. Now what it does do, however, is keep that pesky riptide locked in combat until the end of the game, so it doesn't shoot at you. That is as good as dead, but still not dead.

If they buy the FNP, then it is 1.81 as you say. However, unless you can catch up on wounds, that's a morale test that could break the unit. Regardless, 160 points of fearless gargoyles will tie up that Riptide for the game.

A clever tactic is to multi-charge with a bunch of gargoyles and then drop the doom within 6" of all the units in the combat. I killed a big squad of wraithguard, a wraithknight and a guardian squad this way once.


If you've bought into the "CC is terrible in 6th, only take shooting units!" mentality of the internet, then you probably just need to kill the markerlights and deal with the Riptide. Unless you've got grav-cannons or JotWW then you probably shouldn't spend too much time gunning him down.

A riptide only has 2 attacks, correct? In which case you should cause a morale test every turn :-). And with the morale test needing to be twice a game turn, you're sure to run it down eventually. If not kill it. Better yet, I have seen Riptides running close in proximity. Multicharge both of them, focus all of your attacks on 1, and run them both down ;-)

I Wonder how dealing with a XV107 R'varna is going to be with its flechette discharger and 6" from base S2 EMP taser, along with T7.

Daemons have a lot of good tools. For CSM players or anyone who can ally with Daemons taking any greater daemon will give you a riptide killing tool. Daemonettes chew them to pieces. Be careful as smash attacks can ID T5 stuff like typhus and daemon princes.

For other options psychic shriek is the best. FMC or drop podded shrieks will get the job done

 necron99 wrote:
I just started playing Tau a couple of weeks ago and one of our ringers played me with the new SM codex. He rhino rushed my riptides and tank shocked two of them off the board - didn't see that one coming Live and learn I guess...

Isn't the Riptide a Monstrous Creature? That makes it Fearless, so it cannot be Tank Shocked away.

Not true. Not all MCs are Fearless.

 gwarsh41 wrote:
Last night I got into CC with one using my catacomb command barge. It punched itself in the face a few times, I whacked on it with my warscythe a little. 2 turns later it died.

Sorry for the OT but, im assuming your talking about MSS, i though it didn't work while embarked on a CCB

That was last edition. MCs aren't automatically fearless anymore.

Riptide is just a normal model with ld9? Nemesis dreadknights have ATSKNF. Daemons auto pass morale but are not fearless so they can go to ground.

if you play SW Jaws will take it right off the table most of the time

Huh. I guess I'm too used to my Wraith MCs!

Riptide Morale noted!

I just throw poisoned gargoyles at it.
With poison and HoW, it usually takes 4 wounds from it straight away.
Chances are it will either kill its self with the reactor or be pinned in combat until it dies.

I really dont get why people worry about them so much.
They are 200+ points when kitted and they are a solid choice, but still easy enough to bring them down.

I think the easiest one i killed was against a newer player running a pair of them who decided to throw one at swarmlord.
Ending is kind of obvious on that one..

With my daemons though, i find a thirster kills it off pretty quickly and without much effort or damage in return.

Battle Psyker Squad (less expensive) OR Warlocks with Horify Power (more expensive). Hit the Riptide with it.

Then use the Hemlock Fighter to Terrify it off the board. Twice. =)

Smite mode!

To kill Riptides you need a high concentration of high strength (or fixed effectiveness) AP2 fire that can reliably acquire and kill one. Plasma/Lascannons are very good choices, if you have a Codex gimmick like JOTWW then consider them, but don't bother with CC units. The Assault phase is inherently unreliable so at the very most consider that last.

No, its not easy to kill Riptides. Yeah, they fold in CC, but so what? This is Tau. If you reach a Riptide in CC your opponent did something wrong; in between their ability to mass overwatch fire, jump away in the assault phase and fire from 72'' away very easily CC cannot be counted upon to an even greater extent.

This is of course all well and good until you face the stupidity of Farsight Riptides that can re-roll their Nova Charge for a 90% chance to get a 3++, in which case you're boned unless by some chance you can win the game irregardless of their interference.

But oh, they're WS1, so that's totally fair.

Good units for killing Riptides:

Black Knights
Space Marine Bikers with Grav Guns
Imperial Guard Veterans with plasma gusn
Vendetta Gunships
Storm Raven Gunships
Sternguard with combi-weapon spam (but a bit inefficient honestly)
Grav Centurions (If you get close enough)
Pairs of Space Marine Lascan Devastator Squads or Tri-Las Predators
Leman Russ Executioner
IG Company Command Squad with 4x Plasma
A personal hypothesis; Assault Cannon Land Speeders

Sounds like a fair few options but in reality a lot of those choices are going to be of limited availability or effectiveness (overall), as well as of greater cost and requiring lists built around them.

The greatest successes I've had against Riptides have been with power fists.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
The greatest successes I've had against Riptides have been with power fists.

I'm suprized people are still using power fists, not seen any here in a while. (minus the last rouge trader where a guy was crimson fists)

Initiative tests are fun too. When the land speeder storm arrives and he goes blind let the fun begin!

patzerwv wrote:
Initiative tests are fun too. When the land speeder storm arrives and he goes blind let the fun begin!

Pfft, you think? Its Tau. Those normal rules that affect everybody else? 'Eh, what are they?' Tau battlesuits get Blacksun Filters by default, and thus immunity to blind.

Ive noticed recently a lot of IG armies have had trouble bringing the riptide down. I play both mech and gunline IG.

Mech cant get close enough to use plasma and melta. If you dont run vendettas your at a losing battle.

Thunder Hammers.
Devastator Centurions with Grav-Cannons.
Plasma Weapons.
Poisoned Weapons.
Sniper Weapons.

I've used all of these in the past to wreck Riptides. Honestly, I've never really had a problem with Riptides. I've even killed one with a Space Marine tactical squad. (My sergeants have melta bombs, and the Riptide couldn't kill the Marines fast enough to avoid getting the majority of his wounds bombed away.)

Wraiths and a D-Lord, between MSS, str 6 rending, and warscythes, they go down fast, and they typically don't kill much of my stuff in reply

Mass bolter fire seems to work just as well on it as it would on a terminator squad.

Otherwise any low AP shots seem to do ok. Most people Nova Reactor for 3++ but when i do my Riptide seems to just kill himself slowly when i try so i dont.