Editing Battlesuit (section)

==={{anchor|XV104|XV-104}} XV104 Riptide Battlesuit===

[[File:Riptide1.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The most spammable and rage inducing walker that the T'au have to offer.]]
[[File:Nova Reactor Energy.jpg|200px|thumb|left|"So this is the power of the Nova Reactor... Not bad, not bad at all..."]]
''Main article:[[XV104 Riptide Battlesuit]]''

A new, extra-large battlesuit (at twice the size of the XV8) that made its first appearance in the 6th edition codex, the Riptide is presumably what would happen if Octacon tried to build a Gundam (specifically the ZZ Gundam, what with its XBAWKS HUEG build, optional missile system and destructive but stupidly risky energy weapon). The Riptide's primary weapon can be either a heavy burst cannon or an ion accelerator (with twin smart missile systems, fusion blasters or plasma rifles as backup weapons), while its defensive prowess is supplemented by a portable shield generator. All of these can be made significantly more powerful if the prototype Nova reactor built into the suit is used to charge the weapon or shield; however, doing so runs the risk of overloading the generator, releasing deadly radiation that can injure or kill the pilot.

While incredibly powerful, the Riptide's primary drawback ([[fluff]]-wise) is that the materials used to manufacture it are rare. Thus, their numbers remain fairly small within the Tau Empire's forces. Not that you'd know since every goddamn Tau list has them flying out of their asses. Then again, there's only supposed to be about 1,000,000 Space Marines in the Imperium.

An extremely [[cheese|cheesetastic tactic]] on the tabletop with this fella is to model it to be as low as possible (like crouching forward) and then put it behind a piece of very big cover, like a bastion. It moves out during the movement phase, revs the Nova reactor, blasts nearby enemies into oblivion, then jet boosts back behind the bastion during the assault phase to block enemy LoS.