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Hi,
I did a similar post about this on the tau pirhana . I'm new to 40k and want to know things about the units I will be facing in my first game. I will be versing tau and I am an eldar player. The tau opponent is bringing a riptide(oh really) in a 1000 point match. If you see this post http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/605122.page it is one of the lists I am going to bring. I would like to know how to beat the mighty battlesuit. He is equipped with a burst cannon and 2 plasma rifles, what type of units is he going to be able to kill? How big of a threat it and what weapons should I use against it?
Thank you in advance!

Starcannon war walkers or any decent ap2 will cause them issues. Even a lowly guardian blob with bladestorm can take one down. Warp Spiders are probably your best bet.

As a long standing Tau player, I've now got to the point where I rarely take a Riptide.

For the points that they cost there damage output is too limited, especially if you play the standard Tau Codex so don't have the earth caste option to stop you from overheating a third of the time.

I find that they only prove to be useful against less experienced players who spend their entire game trying to kill it, whilst ignoring the rest of the army.

You can kill a single Riptide if you concentrate fire on it, especially if you have access to AP2 (Wraithguard) or poison (Dark Eldar allies), or you can tie them up in close combat.

However, i'd recommend that you ignore it and kill the rest of the Tau army, especially if he's taking something that will cause your more problems (Markerlights, Broadsides, Crysis Suits, Skyrays, Longstrike etc)

WhiteZombie wrote:
As a long standing Tau player, I've now got to the point where I rarely take a Riptide.

For the points that they cost there damage output is too limited, especially if you play the standard Tau Codex so don't have the earth caste option to stop you from overheating a third of the time.

I find that they only prove to be useful against less experienced players who spend their entire game trying to kill it, whilst ignoring the rest of the army.

You can kill a single Riptide if you concentrate fire on it, especially if you have access to AP2 (Wraithguard) or poison (Dark Eldar allies), or you can tie them up in close combat.

However, i'd recommend that you ignore it and kill the rest of the Tau army, especially if he's taking something that will cause your more problems (Markerlights, Broadsides, Crysis Suits, Skyrays, Longstrike etc)

This.

Riptide strenght lies in it's speed, durability and range. Apart from that you are talking about a 200 point model that is reliant on a single BS3 shot that will do probaby nothing against a vehicle if he doesn't risk an autowound. Oh did i mention that said shot fumbles 1/6 of the time? Iontides are absolute beasts when they get TL, without that they are good pieces since they either shoot at you for 6 turns or you have to devote some major fire power in their direction, but not the broken thing they were once in 6E. If you have the correct tools to bring it down then do it, if not then just limit it's mobility by having possible tarpitting units spread around. If 10 guardians get in meele with it they can stay there for the rest of the game.

Burstides are this with the added problem that they lose a lot by not activating the reactor, they were the ones most hurt by the loss of TL. Just beware of your fliers, a charged burstide may down your crimson hunter even without VT.

As a necron player, i figured that the ignore it option is actually a good bet. I've killed a couple of them, but it was often a case of "well it's the only thing i can comfortably kill this turn, so it dies *now*"

I usually kill them with annihilation barges and a handful of guass. That equates to scatter lazers and a few shurikans. Pretty much the same way you would deal with anything big and scary-ish


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Also, a wraithknight will eat a riptide alive, in both shooting and melee

Kill shield drones. Force morale checks.


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If he passes, tarpit vs ignore.

Multi-charge fire warriors and riptide, make sweeping advance.

Starcannon x2 War Walkers are about the only thing that I know of that can eficiently kill a Riptide in 1 volley. Unfortunately, every Starcannon is a Bright Lance or Scatter Laser I'm not taking, so I usually ignore Riptides...

Durability is a strength of its own. Twice now i have lost tourneys because the only remaining things on the board are riptides and they shoot the unit carrying or capturing an objective. Ignoring them is not an option.

Everything in Eldar that is good against riptides is also bad if the riptides get a chance to shoot back. Unfortunately its the most durable model in the game, so it often gets the chance to shoot back.

War walkers are bad vs tau. Everything can hurt them and they will not last more than a turn or two. They are also expensive.

Psychic Shriek is phenominal vs riptides. It short range, but the lower ld on riptides means you get a lot of ignore-armor wounds. You can sometimes 1-shot the riptide right there.

Massed bladestorm shots work, especially with doom.

Wraithguard work, but need transport to get there.

Otherwise the best plan of action is to ignore them or lock them in melee. Even guardians charging a riptide is a better course of action than having them sit there shooting it while it destroys parts of your army.

Agree about psychic shriek. Wraithcannons are also decent as you might instagib the thing. The best plan is to assault it. It is garbage in combat, so even guardians can beat it. The main thing is that you can sweep it down, so if you score a wound or 2 and it whiffs, it is liable to fail morale and then with I5 eldar will run it down.

A seer council can easily shred a riptide in a charge, but a large squad of jetbikes, or any fast/dedicated CC unit has a decent chance. Warp spiders are great against it because they can hit and run, while chipping with their death spinners. Keeping it tied up in CC is worth the risk and losses to overwatch.

Anything that is based on Leadership or Initiative will be a problem for a Riptide.

Also, Wraithcannons. I have gotten to the point where i dont even bring my riptide against my eldar friend because LITERALLY every single damn game he instasporks it by rolling a 6 to wound and i fail a 5++. Or a ball of troops that dumped out of a waveserpent gets a crapload of pseudo-rending shots.

Eldar are probably the only army that can easily deal with a riptide across the entire army. I usually only face one or two things that im not worried about it hurting my riptide reliably.

Be sure to keep your models at max unit coherency to decrease the riptide's effectiveness with its large blast.

Target markerlight support to decrease Riptide's effectiveness.

Finally, ignore it.

Without support, Riptides have very little damage output compared to, say, equivalent points of broadsides or even crisis suits. The advantages of unsupported Riptides are their durability and their ability to move quickly to contest objectives. Back in 6th, Riptides were easily supportable by either taking Eldar Farseers, adding in a Buffmander, or doing a full-out O'vesa-star. Riptides could also contest against troops. Lastly, even with their horrible WS, a riptide could still smash up a vehicle in CC. This edition, the only support Riptides can get is Markerlights, which have all the standard weaknesses (being on easily destroyed bodies or only available in limited numbers). Objective Secured also means that the Riptide's late-game contesting power is worse, although it being able to score means that you can grab objectives with it instead of just contesting. Finally, the Smash changes mean that Riptides aren't reliable vehicle destroyers the way they were previously.

So, in short, kill the markerlights and then you really only have to worry about it contesting something non-Objective Secured, or it being a durable tarpit against anything not AP2 high strength in melee (although it's very vulnerable to being swept iirc).

Thx for the advice, I'm not worried about the burst cannon, are the plasma rifles really strong, if not I'll ignore it and take out the markerlights with my large blast prisims.

Eldar D-weapons, you guys have nothing to fear from an MC.

And when all else fails, a squad of guardians got a decent chance to lock a riptide in.
And anything that causes fear might make him loose his nerves. MCs got fear, not fearless.

Hey! Also an Eldar player here and the things that can kill a Riptide are plenty in our codex. Wraithknight is murder against Tau in general, except vs Farsight bomb. Fire Dragons, War walkers (I'd stick with BL against Tau rather than Starcannons, because they're still very good vs Riptides and are also better against other things in Tau army), Wraithguard, Wraithblades, Shining Spears with Monster Hunter/Starlance Exarch are all amazing at the job.

Going by your list, use Bladestorm and Monofilament (Spiders) to kill it, but only after you kill off Markerlight sources and Broadside teams. Otherwise, your Fragons will put a big dent in a Riptide and if you can pull off an assault with them, meltabombs will finish it off. Really, Riptides took such a huge hit with7th, I'm glad my WK lost only easy access to 5+ cover, which was an unintended gimmick in the first place.

WhiteZombie wrote:
As a long standing Tau player, I've now got to the point where I rarely take a Riptide.

For the points that they cost there damage output is too limited, especially if you play the standard Tau Codex so don't have the earth caste option to stop you from overheating a third of the time.

I find that they only prove to be useful against less experienced players who spend their entire game trying to kill it, whilst ignoring the rest of the army.

You can kill a single Riptide if you concentrate fire on it, especially if you have access to AP2 (Wraithguard) or poison (Dark Eldar allies), or you can tie them up in close combat.

However, i'd recommend that you ignore it and kill the rest of the Tau army, especially if he's taking something that will cause your more problems (Markerlights, Broadsides, Crysis Suits, Skyrays, Longstrike etc)

This. The first time I ever fought Tau was in my first gaming League at my local store. I quickly learned that I was no equipped to kill it, and thus ignored it and focused on everything else, and ended up winning. And in my second league I fought Taudar later on in the Top 8. One thing to keep in mind about the Riptide, it is a Monstrous Creature that is NOT, I repeat, NOT fearless. I dealt 2 wounds with a Warscythe in melee against two commanders, 2 drones, and a riptide, and My Overlord Swept the entire unit.


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 Vineheart01 wrote:
Anything that is based on Leadership or Initiative will be a problem for a Riptide.

Also, Wraithcannons. I have gotten to the point where i dont even bring my riptide against my eldar friend because LITERALLY every single damn game he instasporks it by rolling a 6 to wound and i fail a 5++. Or a ball of troops that dumped out of a waveserpent gets a crapload of pseudo-rending shots.

Eldar are probably the only army that can easily deal with a riptide across the entire army. I usually only face one or two things that im not worried about it hurting my riptide reliably.

Yeah, I freaking hate how much ap2 Eldar have access to. I have to ignore the riptide for the usual reasons, but also because, as Necrons, I don't have NEARLY enough ap 2 in my army.


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 doktor_g wrote:
Kill shield drones. Force morale checks.


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If he passes, tarpit vs ignore.

This is why I think it is stupid to bring drones, especially with Broadsides. The only way I have ever killed them is by not touching them except their drones, and they run off the board.

 Araenion wrote:
Hey! Also an Eldar player here and the things that can kill a Riptide are plenty in our codex. Wraithknight is murder against Tau in general, except vs Farsight bomb. Fire Dragons, War walkers (I'd stick with BL against Tau rather than Starcannons, because they're still very good vs Riptides and are also better against other things in Tau army), Wraithguard, Wraithblades, Shining Spears with Monster Hunter/Starlance Exarch are all amazing at the job.

Going by your list, use Bladestorm and Monofilament (Spiders) to kill it, but only after you kill off Markerlight sources and Broadside teams. Otherwise, your Fragons will put a big dent in a Riptide and if you can pull off an assault with them, meltabombs will finish it off. Really, Riptides took such a huge hit with7th, I'm glad my WK lost only easy access to 5+ cover, which was an unintended gimmick in the first place.

warp spiders, are they good enough to kill it within 2 turns judging they survive?

Nothing much to add...but don't Avengers have acess to a "insta-kill" sword? That plus Monster Hunter sounds like a surprise that will sting...

That would be a could combo..

pinecone77 wrote:
Nothing much to add...but don't Avengers have acess to a "insta-kill" sword? That plus Monster Hunter sounds like a surprise that will sting...

It needs to wound and have the target fail a LD test so I wouldn't bet on it.