XV104 Riptide Battlesuit

Two versions of the XV104, each with one of its primary weapons.

The XV-104 Riptide is what would happen if the Tau found a old DVD of Gundam and got a hard-on. A battlesuit "equivalent" (read: inferior) to the Imperial Knight, it is the Tau's largest Battlesuit outside of Forge World. Resembling the lovechild of a XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit and the ZZ Gundam (from the Mobile Suit Gundam series of the same name), this mecha was once pure awesome! While it was nerfed hard in the initial Indexes of 8e, the Codex is set to help it make a comeback.

Fluff

The XV104 Riptide was first introduced during the Third Sphere Expansion of the Tau Empire. When the Tau needed to break the siege at a pair of Hive Cities that the Tau were having troubl with. When everyone's favourite waifu Shadowsun was told of the failure to breakthrough, she decided to break out her new toys. This was the introduction of the ZZ Gund... sorry, the XV104 Riptide Battlesuit. Striding onto the battlefield undeterred by the shitload of dakka that was coming their way, the new battlesuits basically ripped the Imperial defenders a new one. When the Imperial troops sent guided missiles their way, the riptides were unscathed, protected by their Riptide Shield Generators. They approached the Imperial defences and blasted holes in them with their High Mega Canno... sorry, Ion Accelerators.

The Riptide soon spread through the Tau Empire, being the lure for thoudsands of preteen GW customers with too much money and not enough playtime. It soon reigned supreme over the fluff battlefield and the meta one. The reason given for its ludicrous $130 Australian Dollars price tag is that the Riptide's extremely tough and "impenetrable" armor is made from a super-rare material called Fio'tak. The real-life reason for the cost is that GeeDubs are ust screwing with you to get your money. They use a super-powerful engine called the Nova Reactor to overdrive their capabilities to the max, allowing them several things on the tabletop, most notable the ability to overpower their two weapons.

On the Tabletop

As of 8th Edition GeeDubs decided that they couldn't have the Riptide spam of 7e. So, as with all good things, it came to a end when they decided to make the Riptide take a Mortal Wound every time it uses it's Nova Reactor. Back in 7e they had a 1/3 chance to take a wound every time a Riptide used its Nova Reactor, but in 8e the damage is assured. The only way to avoid it is taking the Stimulant Injector upgrade, which gives Feel No Pain. This allows you a 1/6 chance to avoid losing damage, which is substantially less than what it was in 7e, and also costs a few extra points, which would be otherwise better spent on another of what should be two upgrade hardpoints.

In addition, the Heavy Burst Cannon is weak as hell. It gives a increase of one strength from the standard Burst Cannon found on XV-8 Crisis Battlesuits and more shots. The Ion Accelerator (which is arguably the better weapons choice) costs 104 points on top of the already expensive unit. This means that you'll mainly be using your huge-ass suit in a anti-infantry role, and not actually blowing holes in enemy Imperial Knights. In fact, this relegation to a inferior and already-redundant role means you'd be better off spending the absurd amount of money on a unit like the Hammerhead Gunship, which can put some dents in a enemy Titan for a cheaper price.

However, the Codex will be significantly improving all the Riptide's weapons with higher damage and shot count (e.g. the Ion Accelerator's normal stats in the Codex are the same as the Index version's overcharged stats, with the overcharged mode gaining +1 S and a flat 3 damage per shot) and a Stratagem that allows the Nova Reactor to provide two buffs at once, and is rumored to be greatly reducing the points cost of both the suit and its weapon options. So don't leave them on the shelves just yet.