risso

Risso is a naval combat unit that appears on water maps and serves as a high-damage, short-to-medium range gunship for tier 1 naval forces. It combines two weapon systems — a paired bullet mount and a homing missile mount — to deliver heavy burst damage against structures and units while operating only on deep water tiles. Risso is intended to be used where bodies of water allow naval operations; it trades limited mobility options for exceptional DPS among tier 1 units and comparatively large HP.

Risso’s armament consists of a twin bullet weapon and a homing missile launcher. The twin bullet mount fires as two barrels at about 2 × 2.3 shots/sec with roughly 9 damage per bullet, providing rapid direct damage against thin targets and structures. The missile mount fires homing missiles at about 2.4 shots/sec, each doing 12 direct damage plus 10 area damage in a small explosion roughly 3.1 tiles across. Neither weapon has piercing, so their effectiveness against dense swarms of high-armor units is reduced compared to piercing-equipped naval units.

Risso’s gameplay role is as a hard-hitting, frontline naval attacker or defender. Its high DPS and comparatively large health (noted as the highest for T1 on Serpulo at 280 HP) let it chew through static defenses and lightly armored units quickly, provided it can get within its effective range. It is especially effective when enemy defenses lack long-range anti-naval coverage. However, Risso cannot operate on land and must be deployed where there is access to deep water; on maps without convenient coastlines its offensive utility is limited.

• Use Risso in concentrated naval assaults where you can bring it within range of enemy cores or turrets without being funneled into chokepoints; it excels at destroying defenses that are not covered by long-range turrets like the Ripple.
• Defensively, Risso can supplement or replace turret lines on watery maps, reducing the need to supply ammo to stationary defenses and responding to enemy waterborne waves directly.
• Beware of long-range anti-naval turrets and turrets with good accuracy against fast targets; walls and island chokepoints can blunt Risso’s approach and allow coastal turrets to whittle it down. Close-range high-accuracy turrets (for example Arc-style designs) and Ripple-like long-range weapons are effective counters.
• Risso’s lack of piercing makes it less efficient against large swarms of lightly armored units; pair it with complementary units or focus fire to avoid damage dilution.
• Over successive updates Risso’s stats have been tuned: item capacity was increased from 30 to 40, its missile fire rate and bullet fire rate have seen reductions, its movement speed was standardized (converted to tiles/sec), and range adjustments were made (notably shortened then slightly increased). The unit’s command limit was removed in later builds.

Risso takes its name from Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus). It is the only unit in its line named after a dolphin while its sister naval units are named after whales.