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Coming in at the cost of a full Ion Accelerator Riptide with Interceptor, a Longstrike Hammerhead with disruption pods and submunition rounds seems extremely underwhelming. Yet every tau thread I read about praises this thing.

Why? If you want to take it for anti armor, it is a unique option but suits with dual fusion is just a way more cost effective answer. Plus it's only 1 shot. At bs5, ap1 and TH but still... One shot?

Why do so many tau players like this thing?

Can your Ion Accelerator Riptide with Interceptor reliably kill a tank? I thought so.

Plus against GEQ the Longstrike HH performs even better than the IA Riptide because TL-SMS + BS 5 pie plate > BS 3 pie plate.

The problem with dual fusion suits is they wont be doing anything until turn 2-3, and even then they might mishap or scatter off melta range.

you are familiar with overwatch? The Tau have an ability to fire in support of units within 6" of them that get assaulted, this ability is called 'Supporting Fire'. Most units though, can only make one overwatch, and if they fire in support of another unit, then they cannot take an overwatch themselves. Except Longstrike. He can fire overwatch for each friendly unit within 6" that gets charged. Tau vehicles actually can gain supporting fire, by purchasing a particular piece of wargear(Point Defense Targeting Relay), but it has a limitation of Str5 or lower, meaning no Ion Guns, Railguns, or Seeker Missiles - unless they are on Longstrike's Hammerhead.

Add to that, he is BS5, and confers tank hunters, he is considered a steal for what he gives. If HRRs had stayed Str10, he would be less so, but for darn near guaranteed tank destruction, Longstrike is hard to beat.

It's partly because it's the epitome of the one shot kill tank killer with high accuracy (effectively twin linked vs IG) and tank hunter for more reliable vehicle penetration. He is THE tank ace and it's fun to go tank hunting with him.

Rules wise he turns his Hammerhead from decent to very reliable plus gives amazing overwatch supporting fire that other vehicles can't do. His upgrade is affordable for how much benefit it gives. Market support for ignore cover and will almost always put an enemy vehicle out of commission in one way or another.

Just like VanKraken said, its fun to use him. I wouldn't say its the most competitive thing you can do, but certainly not the worst. A BS5 St 10 ap 1 shot with tank hunter has a high chance of straight wrecking anything it points at. And add on top the fact that he fire overwatch its even better.

I liked putting him in the Ionhead. I feel like it gives a little more flexibility, cant crack the 14 armor like the rail but can still pick on lighter armor and definitely on mc's and other tough units.

I honestly do not understand either where these people are getting the info that it can "reliably kill a tank".

against AV14, Longstrike has a 15% chance of killing it in one turn (46% chance for pen and 23% chance for a glance, then AP1 means 1/3 chance of exploding. With tank hunter). That is really not very good damage capacity for a 200 point model.

Even against AV13 longstrike only has a 21% chance of killing it in one turn (63% chance of a pen and 21% chance of a glance. With tank hunter).

notredameguy10 wrote:
I honestly do not understand either where these people are getting the info that it can "reliably kill a tank".

Can you give me an alternate solution for 200 points that does a higher percentage of killing a tank from afar without being a suicidal fusion suit unit?

 Sir Arun wrote:

notredameguy10 wrote:
I honestly do not understand either where these people are getting the info that it can "reliably kill a tank".

Can you give me an alternate solution for 200 points that does a higher percentage of killing a tank from afar without being a suicidal fusion suit unit?

The answer is there is none lol. Just because Longstrike is the only option for long-range High Str firepower doesn't mean he is good or reliable.

Statistically however, a squad of 3 Railsides in a firebase support cadre formation (aka tank hunter) is better than long strike for all but AV14 and the same points. (AV10-13 they do more hull points and have a higher chance to 1 turn kill)

notredameguy10 wrote:

 Sir Arun wrote:

notredameguy10 wrote:
I honestly do not understand either where these people are getting the info that it can "reliably kill a tank".

Can you give me an alternate solution for 200 points that does a higher percentage of killing a tank from afar without being a suicidal fusion suit unit?

The answer is there is none lol. Just because Longstrike is the only option for long-range High Str firepower doesn't mean he is good or reliable.

Statistically however, a squad of 3 Railsides in a firebase support cadre formation (aka tank hunter) is better than long strike for all but AV14 and the same points. (AV10-13 they do more hull points and have a higher chance to 1 turn kill)

He can stay far back and pick off tanks with ease. You can math hammer all you want, but my track record with him has just been outstanding and wrecks any AV. So hands down he is worth every point.

 syypher wrote:
Coming in at the cost of a full Ion Accelerator Riptide with Interceptor, a Longstrike Hammerhead with disruption pods and submunition rounds seems extremely underwhelming. Yet every tau thread I read about praises this thing.

Why? If you want to take it for anti armor, it is a unique option but suits with dual fusion is just a way more cost effective answer. Plus it's only 1 shot. At bs5, ap1 and TH but still... One shot?

Why do so many tau players like this thing?

You forgot S10 at AP1 to go along with that. The fact of the matter is that one shot has good odds of blowing something up with that one shot.

 DarthOvious wrote:

 syypher wrote:
Coming in at the cost of a full Ion Accelerator Riptide with Interceptor, a Longstrike Hammerhead with disruption pods and submunition rounds seems extremely underwhelming. Yet every tau thread I read about praises this thing.

Why? If you want to take it for anti armor, it is a unique option but suits with dual fusion is just a way more cost effective answer. Plus it's only 1 shot. At bs5, ap1 and TH but still... One shot?

Why do so many tau players like this thing?

You forgot S10 at AP1 to go along with that. The fact of the matter is that one shot has good odds of blowing something up with that one shot.

But it isn't good odds of blowing something up. 15% chance to explode AV14 and 20% chance to explode AV13. I do not consider that good for a 200 point model. Besides the fact that the most it can ever do is 1 hull point if it doesn't explode a tank

notredameguy10 wrote:

 DarthOvious wrote:

 syypher wrote:
Coming in at the cost of a full Ion Accelerator Riptide with Interceptor, a Longstrike Hammerhead with disruption pods and submunition rounds seems extremely underwhelming. Yet every tau thread I read about praises this thing.

Why? If you want to take it for anti armor, it is a unique option but suits with dual fusion is just a way more cost effective answer. Plus it's only 1 shot. At bs5, ap1 and TH but still... One shot?

Why do so many tau players like this thing?

You forgot S10 at AP1 to go along with that. The fact of the matter is that one shot has good odds of blowing something up with that one shot.

But it isn't good odds of blowing something up. 15% chance to explode AV14 and 20% chance to explode AV13. I do not consider that good for a 200 point model. Besides the fact that the most it can ever do is 1 hull point if it doesn't explode a tank

Notredameguy, my thoughts exactly. That's why I posted this thread. He just isn't as good at what he's supposed to do as the hype makes him out to be.

No, but whilst not devastating at antitank he is still pretty good. Because even if he doesn't cause an Explodes! result, the odds are he'll still do a penetrating hit, and that is still worthwhile because a penetrating hit can still 'mission kill' a tank; a weapon destroyed result on something like a vindicator, or an immobilized result on a land raider, and you have a very expensive box.

Yes, you could have a riptide with an ion accelerator. But said riptide, lethal as it is against most targets, does bugger all to an AV14 glacis plate at long range. Three rail rifle broadsides can just about compete - in a firebase, doubly so, but then that's a specific command benefit, plus they still can't do anything but glance a tank to death over several turns, whereas even a 'Crew Shaken' result can stop a battlecannon firing.

Finally, Longstrike's unique overwatch rule is (as far as I'm concerned) far more important than his antitank ability. The ability to lay down smart missile fire at an unlimited number of charging units per turn is a big, big deal, especially when you face armys with lots of small units rather than a few big ones (like summoning-based daemons, spawning-based tyranids and so on).

Stunning and immobilizing is also good enough. You're only not always happy with a result of 1 and 3.

A 200 point riptide can also whiff with its ion acc, doing 0 damage. IAnd even if you manage to get a direct hit on space marines behind cover, hitting 6+ guys, you'll on average kill 3 guys, which is like 42 points.

locarno24 wrote:


Finally, Longstrike's unique overwatch rule is (as far as I'm concerned) far more important than his antitank ability. The ability to lay down smart missile fire at an unlimited number of charging units per turn is a big, big deal, especially when you face armys with lots of small units rather than a few big ones (like summoning-based daemons, spawning-based tyranids and so on).

indeed. That's why I'd field him with the Ion Cannon instead of the Railgun - S8 AP3 blast against every charge is awesome

 Vector Strike wrote:

locarno24 wrote:


Finally, Longstrike's unique overwatch rule is (as far as I'm concerned) far more important than his antitank ability. The ability to lay down smart missile fire at an unlimited number of charging units per turn is a big, big deal, especially when you face armys with lots of small units rather than a few big ones (like summoning-based daemons, spawning-based tyranids and so on).

indeed. That's why I'd field him with the Ion Cannon instead of the Railgun - S8 AP3 blast against every charge is awesome

...err, you do know that blast weapons cannot fire overwatch, right?

I always deploy him, he doesn't always do his job. When I need a 2+ he will always roll a make me roll a one for example. Yet I put that more than to bad luck :p. When longstrike does well he eliminates enemy with ease. I will never forget when a power player tried to use his land raider against my tau, he was so confident he could beat me he tried to use the "side trick" then I got first turn and longstrike made it explode. For just that the little guy earned back both his cash and points!

 Sir Arun wrote:

 Vector Strike wrote:

locarno24 wrote:


Finally, Longstrike's unique overwatch rule is (as far as I'm concerned) far more important than his antitank ability. The ability to lay down smart missile fire at an unlimited number of charging units per turn is a big, big deal, especially when you face armys with lots of small units rather than a few big ones (like summoning-based daemons, spawning-based tyranids and so on).

indeed. That's why I'd field him with the Ion Cannon instead of the Railgun - S8 AP3 blast against every charge is awesome

...err, you do know that blast weapons cannot fire overwatch, right?

Ugh, thought he overwatch'ed at full BS. Sorry! Only used him once, back in 2013
At least I said 'I WOULD field him'