JY2 is back with another guest article on the Strengths of the New Nid dex to balance out some of the negativity out there (myself included in that statement). As always, be sure to check the Tactics Corner for more great articles!
The Strengths of the NEW Tyranids – The Foundation for Competitive Tyranids
So far, the early consensus for the new Tyranids is that they’ve gotten worse. They’ve lost a lot of their good “stuff” from the previous codex and a lot of their units have actually gotten worse. Some examples of the “nerfs” done to the new Tyranids include:
- No more access to the rulebook psychic powers. That means no more Biomancy or Telepathy.
- They lost key units like Ymgarl genestealers, Mycetic spores and in particular, the Doom of Ma’lantai.
- The Instinctive Behavior table is now more punishing. Whereas before, if you fail the test, you either did nothing or you charged with Rage, now if you fail your IB test, you can actually Fall Back, be Pinned or even take damage!
- Key units have gotten worse or more expensive. Examples include Tervigons, who are now more expensive, do not have access to Biomancy, cannot buff termagants with Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs anymore, whose explosion will kill Gants within 12″ instead of the previously 6″ and newly spawned Gants now cannot move or assault. Gargoyles with Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs are now more expensive than before by 25% and Mawlocs can actually Mishap if they don’t kill the models that they hit when they come up. Trygons have lost the ability to re-roll hits, Zoanthropes now have the Brotherhood of Psyker special rule and Swarmy is no longer the hard-hitting monster that he used to be. This list goes on.
- Scything talons no longer give you re-rolls to hit and boneswords no longer ignore all armour saves
- Tyranids have lost much of their mobility that used to make them so dangerous. Gone are the Mycetic Spores. Gone are the Ymgarls. Now you practically have to footslog the new bugs. By losing their mobility, Tyranids have also lost a lot of flexibility.
But enough with the negativity. This article isn’t about the forecasted doom and gloom about the new Tyranids. As a competitive player, my natural tendency is look to the strengths of the army and I am actually liking what I see. I think that Tyranids do have the building blocks for a good army. How good that army will be remains to be seen, but I feel that new Tyranids may surprise some people. So how have the new Tyranids gotten better?
Part I – The Strength of the Tyranids
Overview
Psychic Powers:
Most will see the loss of Biomancy and other rulebook powers as a large detriment. However, the Tyranid psychic powers really aren’t that bad. Catalyst is a gem and perhaps the best Tyranid psychic power. The Horror is actually great against non-Fearless units with lower Leaderships (think Riptides and such). Onslaught gives them some extra range. Paroxysm is useful against shooty armies and Psychic Scream can turn any unit into a mini-Doom of Ma’lantai. Finally, Warp Blast is now available not only to Zoanthropes, but to Tyrants and the Swarmlord as well. Tyranid psychic powers are actually quite good and that helps to lessen the sting of losing Biomancy.
Regeneration:
Regeneration on a Tyranid monstrous creature is amazing now. Before, you only regenerate on a roll of a 6. Now, you regenerate 1 Wound each turn on a 4+! Now I don’t recommend Regeneration on every TMC (Tyranid Monstrous Creature) in the army, but definitely for key units like a Tervigon or maybe even your Flyrants.
Tyranid Melee Weapons:
While Tyranids have lost the ability to re-roll hits (or re-roll 1’s to hit) with the scything talons, now almost any pair of melee weapons can combine to give them +1 Attack. So that meant the dual boneswords by the Swarmlord gives him 5 Attacks now compared to 4 before. 2 scything talons, scything talons + rending claws, scything talons + crushing claws or even scything talons + boneswords (or bonesword + lashwhips) will give +1 Attack. Base units that benefit from this (assuming they don’t trade in their melee weapons for shooting attacks) include the Swarmlord, hive tyrants, lictors and the Deathleaper. Moreover, most TMC’s can take a tail biomorph for an extra attack.
Reduced Costs:
With a few exceptions, the majority of the Tyranid units have gone down in cost. Some of them have even gone down substantially. For example, the Tyrannofex with Rupture Cannon is 60-pts cheaper than before. Flyrants with twin-linked devourers and mawlocs are down 30-pts and the base carnifex is down 40-pts! More importantly, Tyranid gribblies such as termagants and hormagants have gone down in points for their base costs. Now, both hoard Tyranids and Nidzilla builds have become more viable.
HQ’s
Flyrants:
Wow….these guys are amazing! They are going to be the cornerstone of every competitive Tyranid army and you will see two of them. They are now 30-pts cheaper than before for a winged tyrant with dual twin-linked brainleech devourers. Moreover, they are now Ballistic Skill 4 (compared to BS 3 in the previous edition) and Mastery Level 2 psykers as well!
Old One Eye:
While never a great unit, he has come down by 40-pts in this edition.
Tyrant Guards:
Tyrant Guards are the same as before. The only difference is that they are cheaper by 10-pts each now. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that Lash Whips have been nerfed. Now, they don’t lower the Initiative of the opponent. Instead, they only increase the Initiative of the bearer.
Troops
Tervigon:
The Tervigon has been nerfed in every which way. They’ve gone up in price, they no longer have access to Biomancy, they can no longer buff nearby termagants with their biomorphs, a dead Tervigon kills gants in a 12″ radius (instead of 6″) and they now require you to purchase 30 termagants in order to make them a troop choice. Of all the units in the new codex, Tervigons are probably the units that were hit the hardest with the nerf bat. However, despite all of that, they are still a necessity in a Tyranid army, both as a durable beacon of synapse and as a troop generator as well. You won’t see players spam Tervigons anymore like they used to. However, you will still see most competitive lists run at least 1 Tervigon, maybe even 2.
By the ways, Tervigons have improved in 2 areas. The first is that regeneration does make them now more survivable. The 2nd is that they are now Initiative 2 and a little more survivable to Jaws of the World Wolf.
Termagants:
They are now cheaper. A unit of 30 termagants costs 30-pts less than before. They are also more customizable with their guns. However, the drawback is that they no longer benefit from the Adrenal Gland and Toxin Sac upgrades of a Tervigon. Instead, they have to pay for those biomorphs, which are now double the costs of the previous edition. In any case, they will be the building block for troops in a competitive Tyranid list.
Hormagants:
Same with the termagants. The base price of each Hormagant has gone down. However, the cost of their biomorphs have gone up. Slightly cheaper if you run them naked or with Adrenal Glands, but once you throw in Toxin Sacs, the cost becomes the same as the previous edition.
Elites
Venomthrope:
The Venomthrope is a gem in this edition. It’s cost has gone done by 10-pts. However, its major improvement is that now it has and gives all friendly Tyranids within range Shroud. So deploy your MC’s near it behind terrain and instead of a 5+ cover as was in the previous edition, now you are looking at 3+ cover, with 2+ cover behind ruins. He is going to be a must-buy for any and all Tyranid Nidzilla builds.
Lictor:
Still not a great unit, but they are cheaper by 15-pts each. In addition, now they get +1 Attack due to scything talons and rending claws and it’s got Fear and Infiltrate.
Zoanthrope:
The Zoanthrope has become both better and worse in this edition. The Brotherhood of Psykers rule is definitely a minus as now, a single successful Deny the Witch can stop all of their shooting. However, on the plus side, a mindstrike missile will only cause 1W to the Zoans even if it hits multiple models within the unit. But the real improvement here is that they are now 10-pts cheaper and are Level 2 psykers. I see competitive players running units of 1 Zoanthropes as cheap beacons of synapse and unit-buffers/force-multipliers.
Fast Attacks
Gargoyles:
They actually got nerfed in the new edition. The base cost remained the same. However, their biomorphs have now doubled in price. Despite the price increase, they are still a viable unit and I still see many Tyranid players running them. Lots of them. Flyrants and gargoyles still make a good combo.
Tyranid Shrikes:
Still not a great unit, but it is worth pointing out that they are now 5-pts cheaper per, and their biomorphs – Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs – are cheaper as well. So a unit of 5 Shrikes with scything talons, rending claws, adrenal glands and toxin sacs are now 40-pts cheaper than before and in addition, they get +1 Attack for having rending claws and scything talons. Maybe worth considering for a mobile source of synapse other than a flyrant.
Harpy:
Still not a great unit, but with a 30-pt discount for a TL-heavy venom cannon Harpy, it is worth considering, especially in a Tyranid Airforce build.
Hive Crone:
This guy shows a lot of promise. 4 36″ haywire shots (twin–linked against other flyers) and S8 vector-strikes? Hell yeah! He needs some playtesting, but on paper, he looks like a winner.
Heavy Supports:
Carnifex:
Ladies and gentlemen….we have a winner! Carnifexes will herald the return of Nidzilla, potentially one of the most competitive builds in the codex. They are 40-pts cheaper per Carnifex! That means you can potentially see competitive Tyranid players run 9 of them barebones in a list! Give them 2 TL-brainleech devourers and you’ve got a pretty effective shooter. Finally, you give them some tail biomorphs for some more close combat killiness. Overall, you can expect Tyranids builds to shift more towards Carnifex-builds rather than the Tervigon-spam of yesterday’s bugs.
Biovore:
Are you kidding me? The unit that I have loved ever since 4th Ed. tyranids have just gotten better. No, they’ve actually gotten much better. How so? They are now 5-pts cheaper per and….get this….they now have +1 Wound, +1 Initiative and +1 Attack!!! But it gets even better. The spore mines that they launch are now much deadlier as well. Now if the blast misses, instead of placing 1 spore mine under the blast marker, you place D3 mines instead! Thus, a unit of 3 biovores can potentially create 9 spore mines!!! Unlike before, where the spore mines moved randomly, now you can actually control where they move. And now for the cherry on top, they don’t just explode at S4. Rather, they explode at S4 +1 for each additional mine in the cluster. Thus, they can potentially explode at S10!!! Wow! 
Every competitive list should contain at least 1 unit of biovores, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see people running 3×3 of them at all.
Mawloc:
Like the Zoanthrope, this is another unit that has gotten both better and worse at the same time. Probably the most attractive feature of the Mawloc is its price tag…they’re now 30-pts cheaper! However, where they got hit hard is in their primary attack, the Terror from the Deep. Now when they come out on top of a unit, if they don’t wipe out the models in contact with them, then they actually Mishap! WTF?!? On the bright side, their Terror attack can potentially hit twice at AP2 and ignores cover. Moreover, when they get misplaced from the mishap, they can always use their Burrow rule to go back into reserves to try again next turn. Overall, I actually like this unit.
Tyrannofex:
While this guy was never really a competitive unit, his 60-pt price drop for the Rupture Cannon version makes him a very attractive buy. Give him regen and he becomes the most durable ground unit in the Tyranid codex. Definitely worth considering. Back in 5th, I ran the T-fex along with 2×3 biovores to some great success. I think I will have to revisit that build.
Exocrine:
Another intriguing new character, he gives the Tyranids their main source of AP 2 shooting. He’s not even the greatest unit in the Heavy Support slots, but I can see players running 2-3 of these guns as mobile gun platforms. With a Venomthrope and the Regen biomorphs, they can be very durable shooters.
Part II – Competitive Tyranid Builds
Coming up sometime in the near future will be Part II of my Tyranid article. In Part II, I will look into potential Tyranid competitive, tournament builds. Stay tuned….
With Carnifexes being good I might actually start a Nid army. Although I will wait for IQ to see if their bundle is good aswell
Go for it! It’s a much different playstyle from your usual Tau.
what about the trygon prime? he has synapse and shadows of the warp, but really importantly he has 12 str5 haywire shots at 18 inches.
A flyrant, with +1 on reserves, deep striking death leaper a trygon prime and two maw locks, backed up by gants and gargoyles. could be quite a lot of fun. It will really mess up opposing psykers, with one guy losing d3 to his leadership and all the others losing 3 due to shadows being placed by the flyrant and non scattering trygon prime which could also kill pretty much any tank with it’s haywire shots.
just some extra thoughts on what could be fun:)
Sorry, but some of those ideas are wrong. Trygon Prime shots are not haywire. They are just normal shots. They were meh last edition and they continue to be meh in this edition. They may be cheaper, but they’ve also lost the ability to re-roll hits in combat. Though they aren’t bad units by any means, IMO, trygons and trygon primes have been nerfed slightly. I’d still run them for funsies, but currently, the carnifex, mawloc and biovores have surpassed them in terms of efficiency.
Sorry, no more +1 on reserves with a flyrant. Currently, only the Swarmlord can manipulate reserves, but I still like the idea of a deepstriking Tyranid army….only I’d do it with burrowing mawlocs who deploy on the table, burrow on T1 and pop out on T2.
Can’t burrow until turn 2, so only coming in up on turn 3. They took the “only 3 terrors per game” mechanic and changed it to 2, unless the game goes to turn 7 of course. So you have to start him in reserve if you want to use the terror to full effect and hope the comes on turn 2. :/
You’re right. I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out.
I am so sorry about that, i read bio electric shock pulse and immediately thought haywire, lols…. grasping at straws, it’s the shock canon and the electro shock grubs that are haywire. and, darn it, you can only affect reserves with the swarm lord…. arse
No worries. I’ve made mistakes myself, like assuming the mawloc could burrow on Turn 1 or interpreting the spore mines through RAI rather than RAW.
But one good thing is that you can learn stuff here on the forums because people will correct you on them.
Glad to see that someone else also sees what I see! I think the new Tyranids are looking quite scary actually.
Yeah, they can actually be quite good IMO. Then again, I’m a glass half-full kind of guy. 😉
Uhm, I think you’ve gotten Spore Mines wrong. It is not D3 spores under the blast per biovore. The rule only mentions placing d3 spore mines for the first blast. The other 0-2 blasts from the barrage will not produce any spores as it seems. It never mentions however if the subsequent blasts happens or not though, so with some lucky rolling you could both have and eat the cake…
Still probably the only good unit that got noticebly better.
You may be right. What is confusing is that in the Floating Death rule, it mentions that the detonating cluster can go to a maximum of Strength 10. Thus, while RAW it doesn’t say so, the RAI seems to imply that each blast would generate spores.
In any case, it could use a FAQ. For now, I’d recommend discussing it with your opponent to see how you both think it should be played.
The S10 thing is probably for FW (meiotic spore) and simple CYOA and the FA spore (which can addmittedly only get to S9 via 6 spores).
I do hope they FAQ it to be for each shot but that is clearly not RAW.
I am assuming you are done talking about units and moving on to builds in part 2. What about the following?
Tyranid Primes despite the stupid price increase are still good. I guess you are assuming dual flyrant all the time but there’s something to be said for Primes with the boosts to carnifexes and venomthropes. Being the only IC synapse will make them worth having around simply for surviability. They are especially nice when joined to venomthropes (spread out the love).
Deathleaper is an interesting choice also. Not sold on him but he could prove useful.
Warriors are the defacto deck chair unit in my opinion. They always were viable at it in the old dex, you just never needed it with how cheap and effective troop tervigons + termaants were. Now that termagants run without synapse (rather then stay put on objectives) and tervigons do very little to boost termagants and cost so much more to field as troops (100ish points more). I could see building a MTO list and using warriors for troops, and using the extra points in added threats. Simply put tervigons are no longer very threatening and cost so much I am not sold on them being defacto anymore.
Raveners with a red terror to tank with T5 and 4+ save I think is worth testing out at least. Not outright sold on it though.
Now about the units you already mentioned.
Zoanthropes I am not sold on. Overall they have never impressed me until you could spam disciplines with them in 6ed — and now that is gone and spore are removed they seem shelf worthy. Could be wrong here I guess.
Gargoyles should probably run just adrenals, as givinng them fleet is awesome and having 6+ poison as an option with Blind is enough in those high T situations. Blind could prove to be amazing now since it reads now as if you force an I test per hit.
I have 0 interest in the flyers – T5 4+ save is way too squishy to me, especially perched up on that flyer base — if they could hide like a DP or Tyrant then maybe. I suppose if one wants to go flying circus then it is what it is but I have no interest in that with bugs.
Mawlocs could always mishap (or worse depending on interpretations). Well more specifically the old rules were so bad that once you resolved casulaties (cover saves allowed mind you) and moved models you were still not given enough room to always place the mawloc legally (eg 1″ away from enemy). They finally cleared this up and also removed the idiotic cover saves. Being that they are the cheapest per wound MC in book and are well geared to remove backfield threats like pathfinders and TFCs then I see them as solid choices depending on the army build.
Correct, Part 2 will be about the army builds themselves.
Even though the Primes have gotten much more expensive, they’re not really bad. However, the main reason why I can’t even consider them is because flyrants are too good and you absolutely need 2 of them to be able to compete against the top armies. You bring just 1 and….well, just check out Reece’s battle report. I wouldn’t mind running a Prime in a casual game, but when you’re talking about tournament builds, there is no question that dual-flyrants are the best fit (or flyrant + the Swarmlord).
Deathleaper is meh. He’s ok, but it’s hard to beat the tandem of a dual flyrant in a competitive Tyranid army.
Warriors are actually viable if you don’t want to bring a tervigon. 90-pts of synapse isn’t bad, especially if you can hide them. However, 1 zoanthrope maybe even easier to hide, and even with the nerfs, it’s troop generation ability of the tervigon still makes him worthwhile. But yeah, warriors are definitely doable. I’d just go MSU min-squads with them.
Raveners are the same as before. Use them if you like them, but a word of caution. To make them worthwhile, you need to invest a sizeable portion of your points on them and Tau will kill them quite easily, even with the Red Terror tanking the shots. Use them at your own risk.
Zoanthropes are cheap sources of synapse that can be easy to hide. Use them as force multipliers. You need a lot of synapse and zoans are a rather cheap investment for that. This is how I envision competitive tyranids. Zoans hiding in the backfield providing synapse and blessings. Tervigon advancing to mid-field, giving synapse and doling out 1 blessing. Flyrants attacking aggressively and providing synapse in the foreground. If you want, you can sub out the tervigon for tyranid warriors in the mid-field, but you need to have a lot of synapse in this edition.
I’d go with toxin sacs on gargoyles still. That will then make them threats against the big, popular guys.
Other than flyrants, I wouldn’t spam the flyers either. Unless the flyer can carry troops, then it is not worth spamming. I’d take at most 1 hive crone in my army.
Yeah, I like the mawlocs as well. Tyranids have shifted from an Elite-heavy army to a Heavy Support-type of army, which is kind of ironic.
I wish the Haruspex had more attacks. This “engine of devouring” will average 3 kills a turn when it charges. I’ll have to look at the exocrine as a maybe, but for me I’m thinking Carnifex wall.
Not sold on the flyers, they still have the same weakness to heavy bolter and, worst of all, Quad Guns. At least one more wound and a points drop might make them fieldable.
Will have to play with Mawlocs, but as I see it they will pretty much guarantee a mishap if they come up under a vehicle. Makes them risky for an all comers. Againsts a static infantry gun line like Tau it might be good, especially since the attack is resolved before interceptor.
I’m struggling to find the solid competitive builds in here. More playing needed
Yeah, I’m not sold on the Haruspex either. Give it at least 1 more attack and I’d actually start to recommend it. But for now, I’m going to have to playtest it. The Exocrine looks like a more exciting unit. I can envision players running 3 of these guys (or 2 + 1 unit of biovores). But yeah, seems like one of the more competitive builds right now would be a wall of carnifexes.
I’ve got a matchup tomorrow against Spam Adam’s competitive Triptide-Tau list. If I can beat them, then I definitely think that Tyranids can compete.
Please post up how that goes. I can’t get any games in for a few days and want to get some intel beyond mathhammering it
Will do!
Batrep will be on dakka but I will post the link here.
…and everyone keeps overlooking that we can fire weapon emplacements now. At least until they realize what they did and FAQ it.
That can come in very handle. Add a venomthrope in there and now you are looking at units behind the Aegis with 2+ cover as well!
Gosh, I hope they don’t FAQ it.
We don’t need more nerfs from the Nerf Gods. 😉
Couple things to consider… I like the look of the Mawloc now, and have been thinking about it a lot, so much in fact that my wife is getting worried.
To get his deep strike, you either need to start on the board and then burrow turn 2, guaranteeing a turn 3 strike. Personally I prefer the 66% odds of him coming in turn 2, AND turn 3 if you start him in reserve!
Secondly, yes, his strike has a chance to Mishap. Not 100% sure what the numbers are, but IF you don’t kill everything, that’s a 33-50% chance he’ll go straight back into reserve to strike again next turn, AFTER doing his 2 str6 AP2 large blasts! Admittedly he can also get put somewhere random on the board (explain the logic here???), or ofc the 17% chance he just dies….
I’m looking forward to trying him!
To my mind there are too many heavies to fit into 3 heavy slots!
Yeah, it’s funny how bugs have shifted from an Elite-heavy army to a Heavy Support-based army. The mishapping of the Mawloc isn’t so bad as long as you don’t roll a 1.
Am I the only guy who realized Tyranids can now man emplaced guns, because we no longer have to follow a dumb-as-hell FAQ?
Sorry. Just saw I over-looked bigpig’s comment. Thumbs-up!
I can see the good and the bad with this new codex.
We’ve been nerfed in some ways and we’re still the same in others.
The Tyranids are still a force to be reconned with.
I can see clusters of Hormagaunt with adrenal glands with 3 CC oriented Tyranid Warriors in their midst with a venomthrope to cover them.
I also see a large brood of Termagant with 3 shooty Tyranid Warriors with a Zoanthrope to back them up.
All of those behind a wall of Carnifexes, with 1 flyrant to hop between them and one Hive Crone to help against flyers.
That or a list entirely made up of monstrous creatures. They are asking for it in this codex! Those are the 2 builds that are going to be viable.
If you’re thinking of running hordes of gribblies, you may want to consider taking a Prime as one of your HQ’s and burry him deep within the horde (30 termagants are better for him). Just taking 3 shooty warriors isn’t really a good option unless you hide them. Otherwise, most armies can easily take out 3 warriors and a zoanthrope and then your gants would go crazy.
But I do like the concept of a thousand gribblies swarming up behind the carnifexes. 😉
So long & short of it is instead on being limited by only have 3 elite slots nids are now limited by having only 3 heavy slots. Too bad there’s nothing besides Tervigons to modify the FOC. Anything with feed will be a big liability as well as any MC that are not either synapse or fearless.
Yeah, they went from an Elite-heavy army to a Heavy-heavy army.
It would have been cool to see other units that could modify the FOC. If, for instance, the Deathleaper could make lictors scoring or Old One Eye could make carnifexes scoring, that would have been bad-a$$.
Can’t ‘Nids take fortifications now? The FAQ that says they can’t is out of date, so wouldn’t you be able to take ADL’s now?
Venomthrope in a Bastion for a big spore bubble 🙂
Yup or ADL with 30 Fearless gaunts, biovores, and a tervie who all have a 2+ cover. Lets not even start the shenanigans they could pull with a skyshield.
Woohoo! Bigpig FTW!
Not only that, but now you have a guaranteed LOS-blocker for your flyrant or tervigon.
You could also put a zoanthrope with Dominion either in or behind the bastion for an 18″ synapse bubble as well!
Hahaha, nice one!
They could always take fortifications. They just couldn’t fire gun emplacements.
But for now, they can, that is, until GW decides to nerf-FAQ them again (I hope not!).
Why could they not fire gun emplacements?? Currently no rule out there that says they can’t!
It was in the old Tyranid FAQ’s. Thank goodness that FAQ is now obsolete at least until the new Tyranid FAQ’s come out.
So the list I’m thinking on is for 1850 pts…
Dakka tyrant with regen
2 Bodyguards with toxin
Dakka tyrant adrenaline glands
2 Bodyguards with toxin sacs and adrenaline glands
30 Termagaunts
Tervigon
30 Hormagaunts
4 Warriors, toxin sacs, 2 rending and one pair of boneswords
3 hive guards
1 Venom thrope
1 Venom thrope
Exocrine
Mawlock
The Hive tyrants walks forward with the regen one more forward to soak fire. One Venomthrope goes with them and the other protects the exocrine and Tervigon. The warriors can be dropped for another mawlock or exocrine if you wish but I think the extra Scoring might be better. This is what I will test at least for the coming time. So far I have tried this army:
Dakka tyrant, 2 bodyguards
Deathleaper
3 Hive guards
3 Zoanthropes
20 Termagaunts
20 Termagaunts
18 devourer gaunts
30 hormagaunts
20 hormagaunts with toxin
3 warriors and barbed strangler
5 Shrikes with rending and toxin sacs, 1 with bonesword and lash whip.
Tyrannofex
It felt ok. The Tyranid psychic powers really should be good against Tau, I think. Shrikes and warriors still are weak though much better than before. Spamming critters didn’t really work and it takes much more time gaming. With regen the tyrant can soak pretty much fire.
The walkrant won’t be a common build due to the loss of 2+ and the nerf to Old Adversary, but they make sense in a walking horde build. Just drop all of those upgrades on your tyrant guards. They will never make it into combat to justify the upgrades.
As for your 2nd list, synapse is going to be a bigger issue IMO, especially against the likes of Tau or Eldar (and even to shooty necrons).
Interesting, I have played with tyrant +bodyguards several times. With 2+ save it can actually be a problem because many times you want the opponent to shoot at them. The exocrine, tervigon and Troops must survive and so the hive tyrant must be shot at to save the rest of army. But the Hive tyrant is in CC often enough.
At least in theory.
I think that the adrenaline glands are a bit underestimated. Fleet on monsters is really good. But time will tell. I think that the mawlocks for 140 pts (cheapest monster wounds in the codex) will be important. T 6 saturation.
Agreed, spamming MCs is probably going to be where it is at. What they lack in individual strength, they will make up for in numbers.
Your Biovore miss. D3 Spores are created nearby. The spores can charge the same turn they show up, which is fun.
Now that’s just plain evil. 😉
BTW, I don’t think that is the intent of GW so better take advantage of it now before it gets FAQ’d.
Anyone got any idea how you get a Spore mine explosion beyond str 6?? If I read the wording correctly 6 is the maximum possible!
Never mind, I hadn’t see the Spore Mine clusters in FA.
Ok. You can find my battle report against Tau here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/573580.page
It’s not done, but will be in 1 or 2 days.
Look forward to it!
Good review, but I disagree with a few things.
Hive Guard: I think they got better. A tyrant with them now autopasses look out sir, which means walking tyrants, although they lost the 2+ save, have 6 free wounds to play with while moving into position for assault. Mixing weapons allows you to kit one guard to help in CC and use the other two to soak wounds while the unit gets into position. Not great because it relies on you sacrificing models, but it’s something…
Lictors: Seem much more attractive now. They guide other deepstrikers, can now infiltrate and are cheaper. Not as good as they would be if they can assault out of reserve, but they have their uses now.
Zoanthropes: No way they got better at all. Flat out a nerf. Minimum 5 rolls, 6 if FNP is active (psychic test, deny the witch, scatter/to hit, to wound, enemy save, [feel no pain]) in order for them to hit a unit. Too many rolls for them to ever be considered competitive. No guarantee you roll a useful power to use them to buff, and because of brotherhood they only cast the power once. They have a better save, but still get instakilled to S8 weapons like warriors and are more expensive and much less useful both in shooting and assault.
Biovore: Pretty sure they cannot drop 9 spores if they miss. Their rule says if the first blast marker misses place D3 spores and resolve the rest of the barrage as normal. If the other blasts from the barrage miss, no spores are placed. As you pointed out above, the floating death rule states additional mines provide +1 S, which comes into play when you buy spore mines as fast attack units (why would you?….seriously, just don’t.) Kind of neat the spores can move and assault, but honestly largely useless. At most they will maybe get half of the blast marker over enemy units, but will never make it past overwatch with toughness 1. Yea, they soak overwatch but you probably aren’t firing spores at something one of your units is in charge range for due to scatter potentially hitting your own models. Biovores are still king at sniping out special characters/special weapons, but spores still suck.
You also mentioned taking heavy venom cannons on the Harpy. I’d consider swapping them for a stranglethorn. Large blast and pins. In fact, there are a lot of weapons/abilities that allow nids to pin non fearless enemies now. Although it’s not a guarantee, I’ll take what I can to get my nids into CC without a penalty from charging through cover. Pinning seems like an option to help nids close the gap for charging a little easier.