Hey all, Danny from TFG Radio here, and yes, I’m back already with a more focused deep-dive into this beautiful new Tyranid codex. There is so much to chew on in this monster of a book, but like any good organism within the Hive Fleets, I will do my very best to go through it. Be sure to get those pre-orders in for all the new Tyranid goodies through Frontline’s webstore!
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If you didn’t know, Hive Fleets are essentially the Chapter or Sub-Faction Allegiance in the Tyranid Faction. Each Hive Fleet has its own style of consuming biomass, so some Fleets prefer Big Bugs, others Little Bugs, some shooting, and some choppy. Besides a standardized color scheme, choosing a Hive Fleet opens up a lot of specific rules, and there’s just about a standard Hive Fleet to make any playstyle happy. Let’s go!
Wait, before we get started, it is important again to detail how Hyper-Adaptation works. Every Hive Fleet has one main adaptation that never changes, but it also includes a secondary Hyper-Adaptation that can be changed at the start of the game. You can switch this secondary adaptation out for one from 1 of 2 lists, depending on Hive Fleet, and there are three total lists available (although again, each Hive Fleet only has access to 2 of 3, which can matter quite a bit).
Hunt:
- Adrenalised Onslaught – +3 consolidate.
- Heightened Reflexes – Units may fall back and shoot in the same turn, but suffer a -1 to hit penalty for doing so.
- Augmented Ferocity – +1 to charge rolls.
- Synaptic Goading – Endless Multitude units gain a free 6″ pre-game move.
- Ambush Predators – Units are able to perform Heroic Interventions as if they were characters.
Lurk:
- Exoskeletal Reinforcement – Units treat AP-1 as AP0.
- Naturalised Camouflage – Gain an additional +1 to armor saves when in a terrain piece that provides the benefits of cover.
- Territorial Instincts – Monsters with 10 or more wounds count as 5 models and all Monsters gain Objective Secured.
- Unfeeling Resilience – Count as double wounds for purposes of going down tiers in your profile.
- Synaptic Ganglia – Reroll Deny the Witch tests and increase the range of psychic powers by 3″.
Feed:
- Stablising Membranes – An unmodified wound of 6 increases the AP of a ranged attack by 1.
- Exoskeletal Stabilisation – Models do not suffer the penalty for advancing and firing assault weapons, moving and firing heavy weapons, or Monsters firing heavy weapons into targets within engagement range.
- Unstoppable Swarm – You can ignore any or all modifiers to your move, advance, and charges.
- Wreathed in Shadow – You cannot be Overwatched and your opponent cannot Set to Defend.
- Relentless Hunger – Each time a unit fails a charge, it can move 3″ instead of standing still.
So with this list in mind, it’s important to judge Hive Fleets based on which secondary adaptations they can take. Some would be exceedingly strong in one Hive Fleet while others may not.
Behemoth
Primary: +1 to Strength in melee if it charged, was charged, or heroically intervened in that turn.
Secondary: Reroll charges.
You can swap the secondary for Hunt or Lurk.
Warlord Trait – Monstrous Hunger
In melee, an unmodified wound of 6 causes 1 mortal wound in addition to any other damage.
Psychic Power – Unstoppable Onslaught
Warp charge 7. One friendly unit within Synaptic Link range gains +1 to wound in melee.
Relic – Monstrous Musculature
Add 1 to the Damage of all melee weapons
Stratagem – Unparalleled Ferocity 1/2CP
Use in the Fight Phase when an INFANTRY unit (no characters) is selected as a target of melee attacks. Models in that unit may fight on death. If the unit is Endless Multitude, 2 CP. If not, 1 CP.
Alright, so taking this all together, it is easy to see how Behemoth is absolutely about aggression, prioritizing charging and being in melee. The primary adaptation is awesome as +1 strength means that Hormies are wounding on 4s against most other infantry and 5s against T6-7 rather than 6s, and it even means Gargoyles and Termies can actually try to push some damage through. If you do invest in Adrenal Glands, then Hormies can get up to S5, which means they are wounding T4 on 3s or even 2s if you get the power off. It is also a huge blessing to Warriors and Raveners who at S5 can suddenly go up to S6 (or 8 for Warriors with Boneswords). Melee Warriors are especially scary here as for relatively cheaply, they can come in with 4 or even 5 attacks at WS 3+, S8, AP-2 and D2, perfect for cutting through infantry but also strong enough to take on vehicles. Standard talon Carnifexes also love this for the extra strength, getting them to S7 with those sweet AP-3 D3 attacks, especially when you have 8 of them. If you want the benefit of Adrenal Glands without spending the points (or in some cases, doubling-up), Behemoth is awesome for this.
The reroll charges secondary is very, very strong, especially if building an out of reserve melee list, which Behemoth does quite well. A melee Flyrant (or Trygon Prime) can be truly annoying as it drops, gets reroll charges but then you can also use Shard Lure for an extra d6, drop the lowest, or even position a Lictor for the +2 to charge the target. You can then also redeploy the Flyrant for another drop later, giving your opponent only one real chance to take it down before it gets to do its thing somewhere else. You can also do this with a Trygon Prime, and if you really go heavy into what Behemoth has to offer, you can have a Trygon Prime with 12+d3 (thanks Adrenal Gland stratagem) S9 (on the charge with Adrenal Glands) AP-3 D3 (thanks to Monstrous Musculature) attacks that also do a mortal wound on a wound roll of 6. That’s pretty beefy, and it can have access to reroll to wound thanks to being a Monster, and yah, can also redeploy as it is a Burrower unit.
If that’s not your bag, then swapping this out for just a flat +1 to charge is also very workable for any build, but for me, seeing as how Behemoth really, really buffs little bugs by giving them more strength and a power for +1 to wound (and a fight on death strat), Synaptic Goading is likely the best overall choice in most games. It allows you to almost guarantee 2 first turn charges with Hormagaunts between Onslaught and then the Hormie specific stratagem, and 60 bugs suddenly on the other side of the board is a big issue to handle for most armies. Even if not going first, just getting units to move and open up lanes for your movement phase later helps take some of the headache out of positioning with a swarm. You also get access to Lurk for Territorial Instincts, making a Behemoth monster-mash list super viable and fun.
For melee monsters, as shown with the Trygon Prime, Monstrous Musculature is just awesome, but it works well for Tyrants or even Tervigons. You can actually make a scary melee Tervigon to support the little bugs that has either 4+d3 attacks at S12 AP-4 D1+2d3 or 10/12/14 attacks at S9 AP-3 D3. That’s a lot of heat for a bug factory, and while Hormies are super strong in Behemoth, Termies can do work too, especially as a mid-to-late game push. I really do like either the Yo-Yo Trygon Prime or the Melee Mama Tervigon builds that Behemoth provides.
Their psychic power is just good. A flat +1 to wound for little bugs makes them scary, seeing as you can get even a Termie without any upgrades to wounding on 3+ against T4 is pretty awesome, but when thrown with full buffs on Hormies, they become a massive blender. In terms of just sheer damage potential, I don’t think there is any other combo in the book that can put out as much raw wounds as a Behemoth Hormagaunt unit with full buffs. And then they get to fight on death too!
Overall, Behemoth is super plus good, and it is in my mind, one of the best (if not THE best) choices for running a little bug army. Plus, you can still do crazy mega-monsters if you want for fun and still have them be scary.
Kraken
Primary: +1 AP in melee when you charge.
Secondary: Advance rolls become 3+d3 (unless affected by Opportunity Advance/Bounding Leap)
You can swap the secondary for Hunt or Feed.
Warlord Trait – One Step Ahead
Each time your opponent spends a CP, on a 5+, you gain 1 CP.
Psychic Power – Synaptic Lure
Warp charge 5. Target one enemy unit within Synaptic Link range or within 18″ of the caster. Until next psychic phase, friendly Kraken units reroll the charge roll against that Unit.
Relic – Chameleonic Mutation
-1 to hit the bearer and no rerolls to hit.
Stratagem – Opportunistic Advance 1 CP
Use in the Movement phase. Each time the Unit advances, it simply moves +8″ (cannot be combined with Bounding Leap). The Unit can also ignore the -1 to hit penalty for moving and firing an assault weapon.
So Kraken is still about speed, but now it has a bit less speed and a bit more kill. The primary trait of +1 AP on the charge makes just about everything scarier, namely Hormagaunts who go up to AP-2 on the charge, but even other choices greatly benefit like Warriors (going to AP-2 with talons or AP-3 with Swords) or Raveners who at just 90 points for 3 can suddenly dish out 21 attacks at S5 AP-2 D1 that also reroll 1s to hit. That’s not bad output at all for just 90 points, and even investing for a full squad of 9 means a unit is doing 63 attacks. Even Gargoyles or Termies get that little AP-1 which can help, especially in the later game. A big unit of Raveners can become a great first turn sling shot as they move 12″, can advance either d3+3 or a flat 8 with Opportunistic Advance, and then charge if you get Onslaught off on them, giving you a big unit of Raveners and a unit of Hormies crushing into the lines on Turn 1. Just for math’s sake, 270 points gets you 9 Raveners that do 63 attacks that also have a total of 36 wounds at T5 4+ save with a -1 to hit in melee. That’s a good mix of offense and defense, especially since it is only 30 points more than 30 Hormies (who have more attacks at less AP and less Strength with way less survivability) or 30 points less than 30 Hormies with Adrenals. The 1-2 punch of a big unit of Hormies and a big unit of Raveners in Kraken can do some work, and since Raveners are Burrowers, they can redeploy if they survive the initial rush.
The secondary trait is solid, but there are generally better choices. If running little bugs, Synaptic Goading is just always the best choice as that extra 6″ of movement not only allows for earlier and easier charges, it also allows you to start to control the board more from the very start. If not doing a full swarm, Unstoppable Swarm is great for ignoring all movement penalties, allowing you to use your speed to much better effect. Even the +1 to charge can also be critical, and it allows for an out of reserve melee build where you can pop up and get that AP bonus right away. I could even see going a more mobile gunline style build with Termies and Gargoyles where you take Exoskeletal Stabilisation to be able to constantly advance and fire without worry or even Stabilising Membranes for some extra value out of your shooting.
One Step Ahead is a solid Warlord Trait as Tyranids love their CP, so being able to get some extra over the course of the game is always going to pay dividends. Putting this on a Venomcannon Flyrant with Chameleonic Mutation means that your Warlord can fly around, dish out some ranged death, get you CP, and be pretty resilient to harm. Otherwise, just throwing it on a Neurothrope who is hiding is still very workable. Speaking of Chameleonic Mutation, this is a cool relic if you want either a gunboat style Tyrant that wants to sit back and shoot while still being hard to shift at range or even a melee Flyrant that wants to fly in and immediately start doing work, all while being annoying as hell to kill. A Bonesword Flyrant with Chameleonic Mutation and Adrenal Glands has 5 (or 5+d3) attacks at S11 Ap-5 D3 on the charge with 2 extra S8 AP-4 D1 talon swipes that reroll 1s to hit that is also 12W T7 3+/4++ and -1 to hit with no rerolls against it. That can certainly ruin someone’s day, especially since it moves 16″ on its own, so it only needs an 8″ charge on the first turn if your opponent deploys on the line. You can also throw this on a Tervigon for just a super tank of an HQ that is hard to target to begin with, and if they do manage to take down the Termagants protecting it, they still have to contend with the -1 to hit and no rerolls.
Synaptic Lure is a solid power that is easy to cast, and giving reroll charges to a specific unit again helps make Kraken pretty solid at out of reserve charges. It isn’t the most overtly powerful power, but it can certainly help in the right builds.
Opportunistic Advance is still a great stratagem for just a flat out 8″ bonus move, making units like Gargoyles guaranteed to get you Engage on All Fronts or take a No-Man’s Land objective and keep it for a while. Of course, if you get Onslaught off for Advance and Charge, you can pretty much get some deeeeeep charges with almost any threat. Whether it is for pure board control or flat out aggression, Opportunistic Advance is just an awesome stratagem that is immensely flexible and rewards canny generalship.
So overall, Kraken is still solid, and while the Kraken Rocket with Swarmlord is gone, you can still get a big boost of speed out of 2 units, or rather 1 unit of Hormagaunts (who do well in Kraken) and another unit. The extra AP doesn’t seem too awesome, but there are a lot of great threats in our army (Hormies, Warriors, Raveners, even Tyrant Guard!) that would love an extra AP on their attacks. Kraken can really excel in a mixed arms style force where you have some melee threats, some shooting, some monsters, some swarms, and in general, have the tools to handle a lot of different threats with a big boost of speed in the pocket when necessary.
Leviathan:
Primary: Synapse creatures can only be wounded on Unmodified 4+. Non-Synapse within Synaptic Link range can only be wounded on Unmodified 3+.
Secondary: Each unit gets 1 free reroll to hit in shooting and melee.
You can swap the secondary for Hunt or Feed.
Warlord Trait – Perfectly Adapted
Once per battle reroll for either a hit, wound, damage, advance, charge, save, psychic test, or saving throw.
Psychic Power – Hive Nexus
Warp charge 7. One friendly unit within Synaptic Link range of the caster gains the Synaptic Imperative of another friendly Synapse creature within Synaptic Link range of the caster. This can be the same one you’ve used and only that model gains the benefit, and it also gains the benefit of any other Synaptic Imperative currently up.
Relic – Preceptic Node
Each time an enemy is set up within 18″ of the bearer, you can select one friendly CORE or Character unit within 6″ to fire on the unit arriving from reserves. This relic can only be used once per phase.
Stratagem – Combined Assault 1 CP
Use in the Fight phase. Select one enemy unit within Engagement Range of two or more Leviathan units. Improve the AP of attacks by 1 for units that target the enemy unit.
So Leviathan has already made some waves with their new adaptation, and well, for good reason. Having perma-Transhuman on all Synapse creatures makes this Hive Fleet the most resilient possible, and really, that’s the juice. Getting the weaker Transhuman on Gants or such isn’t that big of a deal as they are most threatened by volume of fire that is still probably wounding on 3s or better anyway, but the full 50% of wound rolls fail is just money on a lot of units. Warriors especially become insanely durable as they are already T5 with 3 wounds and a 4+ save, plus they have access to a cheap strat for -1 damage, so they are already not the easiest unit to kill, but now add in that you can only wound them on a 4+, and a lot of quality firepower that should scare them doesn’t. Warriors are also solid damage dealers with reliable shooting and decent melee, so 40+ of them is a considerable threat. This also makes Zoanthropes that much more annoying as while they only have a 4++, only being wounded on a 4+ means that volume of fire is far less problematic for them. And of course, Hive Tyrants and Swarmlord already have solid defense, so adding in permatranshuman, and they are going to be absolute rocks to handle. This is easily the most obviously powerful and useful adaptation, and it also pairs really well with what else Leviathan can do.
Their secondary trait is fine, never bad, but honestly, it doesn’t hurt much at all to swap out. I find that if doing heavy Warriors, Exoskeletal Stabilisation is great to allow Warriors the chance to advance farther up while still laying down considerable firepower with their Deathspitters, and if you get Onslaught off on one unit, they can still then go in and charge, swinging around those boneswords. At 25 points a pop for Dual Boneswords and a Deathspitter, you have 3 shots at S5 AP-2 D1 and 4 swings at S5 AP-2 D2. That’s decent, and if you are taking big units (like 6-9), paying 15 points to make them S6 in melee and move a bit faster is certainly sweet. They are also CORE, so you can add a ton of buffs. A full ball of death, that is 9 Warriors with guns/dual boneswords and Adrenals is 240, but it pumps out 36 WS 3+ S6 AP-2 D2 that can either reroll 1s to hit (Tyrant or full rerolls with Swarmy) or reroll 1s to wound from a Prime, and then Goaded to Slaughter synaptic Imperative from themselves for an extra hit per 6 to hit. That’s a lot of quality attacks that can also go up to 45 attacks for 1 CP, and oh, it is still 27 Permatranshuman wounds. Oh, and let’s not forget the 27 S5 AP-2 D1 shots they throw out too before the charge. Warriors are really going to be tough as hell in Leviathan.
The Warlord Trait isn’t that great to be honest, which is fine because there are certainly others worth taking, The psychic power is insane, and it pretty much shapes how a Leviathan psychic build is going to work. Namely, you take a Maleceptor, who is also perma-transhuman, and you cast Hive Nexus so that it always has its own Power on, namely Psychic Oversight so it can advance and still perform an action, so it can pop Encephalic Diffusion and if you roll a 7 or better, you do 3 mortal wounds to the closest enemy unit within 12″, and then get to cast two more spells, likely Smite and Psychic Scream for even more mortal wounds and even more chances to pop your aura. This is great for getting the Maleceptor right into the thick of the fighting and just pulsing a unit to death.
This only gets more juicy on the turn that you can already have Psychic Oversight up, so you can trigger the Neurothrope’s Imperative for +1 to cast, so now you are only needing 6s to proc the extra damage, but wait, there’s more, you can also still use the Neurothrope’s ability to give the Maleceptor an extra d6, drop the lowest, on any psychic test that it takes, meaning you are now fishing for 6s on 3d6, drop the lowest. This makes the Maleceptor just a beacon of mortal wounds, that also isn’t easy to kill thanks to a 4++ and permatranshuman. You actually get to do this full combo twice, once when the Neurothrope’s Link is active for the army, and then once when the Maleceptor’s is up, so you get 2 full turns of maximum power before having to choose only 1, which for getting the most out of the Maleceptor, is generally an extra dice for their powers. You can get more if you start using CP, but hey, probably only need 2 turns of this anyway. Cause yah, the Zoanthropes still get to do their thing, and they are brutal. In general, if doing this, you are always going to have a Neurothrope with Resonance Barb to make sure you get the power off.
The relic is great as you are typically going to want to rock Warriors, so having them able to open up on a threat that drops near your Warlord is great, and it costs no CP, so it is just a solid, solid relic. If you are really trying to save CP, then yes, Resonance Barb on the Neurothrope is the best option, but having an out of activation shooting attack is never bad to have in the back pocket.
Combined Assault is more or less fine and extra AP is great if you can get multiple Warrior squads into the same target as AP-3 is much sweeter than AP-2, but it is not absolutely essential. Overall, what makes Leviathan is specifically a psychic list that is a lot of Warriors, Zoanthropes, 2 Maleceptors, and then Hive Tyrants. This is definitely one Fleet where I will almost always take Swarmy as his ability to make a giant ball of Warriors fully reroll to hit and count as double models for Obsec is pretty tasty. It is a list that is shockingly durable and puts out a blistering amount of Mortal Wounds while also having Fearless, permantrashuman infantry that is Obsec to take the board. This is going to be a meta list for sure, at least in my opinion. It is rare when I don’t have enough Bugs to run something, but I may need some more warriors here.
Leviathan SS+ tier for sure, at least in the psychic build. If not going that route, it does fall off a bit.
Gorgon
Primary: Poison 4+ in melee except against Vehicles and Titanic targets.
Secondary: One free reroll to wound in shooting and melee.
You can swap the secondary for Feed or Lurk.
Warlord Trait – Lethal Miasma
At the start of the Fight phase, roll one d6 for each enemy unit within 3″. On a 2-5, they suffer 1 mortal wound, and a 6, they suffer d3 mortal wounds.
Psychic Power – Poisonous Influence
Warp charge 7. Select a friendly unit within Synaptic Link range, and until next psychic phase, a unmodified roll of 6 to wound in melee inflicts 1 mortal wound (maximum 6).
Relic – Hypermorphic Biology
Add 1 to Toughness and if they have tiers, always count as double their wounds for the purposes of tiers.
Stratagem – Hyper-Toxicity 1 CP
Use in the Fight Phase when a TOXIN SACS unit fights. Each time it makes an unmodified 5 to hit, the attack automatically wounds.
So Gorgon remains all about that poison, and it is good, it is real good. Having a flat 4+ to wound really makes little bugs so much scarier to many targets. While yes, against a vehicle heavy list, this isn’t so cool, but against anything with infantry or just non-vehicle units, even a termagant is going to wound half the time, and that means forcing saves. This is a really solid adaptation that again, is really about little bugs as the big buys generally don’t need this, especially since it doesn’t work on vehicles.
The secondary trait is solid and certainly usable, but having access to both Feed and Lurk means that you probably want to swap it out. If leaning into Monsters, you can get Obsec, and you can also lean into psychic with Gorgon by taking Synaptic Ganglia for the extra +3 inches of range and rerolls to Deny the Witch, which can make you a great counter to more psychic heavy armies. You can also go with ignoring movement penalties, and yah, in general, I’d probably always swap this out for something else.
So what plays well here? Obviously, swarms. Hormagaunts love them some poison as it lets you save on Adrenal Glands, but it makes Gargoyles and Termagants much scarier in melee, and since they shoot pretty well, this gives you a lot of threat vectors, more so than others. I actually like Gorgon as a non-Maleceptor bomb psychic army as Synaptic Ganglia is great for Zoanthropes who absolutely want their Smites to be 21″, so they can start throwing those bombs down first turn. I could really see a Swarm with psychic list here that is throwing out considerable mortal wounds in multiple phases. Especially when you consider their psychic power is amazing at getting 6 mortal wounds (a unit of Hormies is pretty much guaranteed to pull off the full 6), you can build an army that has a lot of little bodies that can threaten in multiple ways as well as psychic power to get through really solid armor saves. That’s a nasty combination to be sure.
Their Warlord trait is fine, but not really useful. You could go both fluffy and funny by giving it to a Malanthrope for 2 chances per fight phase of doing mortal wounds to anything within Engagement Range, or you can also do a super tanky Tervigon that has this and the relic for T9 and double wounds for tiers, for a big, hard to shift Gant factory that has a big base, so can catch multiple units with the aura. Again, a little corner case and likely not super optimized, but fun nonetheless. Hyper-Toxicity is great as a stratagem, but it really forces you into Hormies with Toxin Sacs, which makes them 9 points a model, which is pricey but worth it as getting 33% of your attacks converted to straight wounds is pretty awesome, especially if you have Swarmlord for full rerolls, which means you can fish and fish and fish for those 5s. Getting 45 straight wounds through, plus maybe some extra to roll for, is pretty good, and since this isn’t limited against vehicles or titanic, this is a way to still get a big squad of Hormies to just punish a vehicle as even just getting 30 autowounds means that a 2+ save vehicle (now a 3 thanks to AP1 on those talons) is going to take 10 wounds, just from the autowounds themselves, and lord help a vehicle with only a 3+ that goes to a 4, as suddenly they are taking 15, meaning most vehicles are dead and even a Knight is suddenly reeling.
I like Gorgon a lot, and I think as a swarm plus psychic army, it can do a lot of work. It is not as blatantly strong as Leviathan or even Behemoth, but as a Swarm fleet, it is going to do work in a lot of games. The biggest issue here is that it just has really bad matchups, but if you build right, namely taking a lot of mortal wounds, you can still manage.
Jormungandr:
Primary: MONSTERS get Dense Cover against ranged attacks that originate more than 18″ away. Non-Monsters get the same if the attacker is more than 12″ away.
Secondary: Each time a Unit is targeted by a weapon with the BLAST rule, the target unit counts as half as many models.
You can swap the secondary for Hunt or Lurk.
Warlord Trait – Insidious Threat
In the command phase, select one unit within Synaptic Link range. Until your next turn, their attacks ignore cover.
Psychic Power – Lurking Maws
Warp charge 7. Select an enemy unit within Synaptic Link range or 18″. Whenever a Jormungandr unit attacks that unit in melee, they get an additional +1 AP.
Relic – Infrasonic Roar
Select one Unit within 12″ of the bearer and roll 3d6. If you roll equal or higher than their leadership, the enemy unit cannot perform actions and any actions it is currently performing fail.
Stratagem – Buried in Wait 1 CP
Use in the Declare Reserves step. Put one Non-Titanic unit into reserve. You can use this twice in Strike Force games and 3 times in Onslaught games.
So, Jormungandr is more or less the same, but unfortunately, that’s not so great. Getting Dense Cover for -1 to hit isn’t too bad, especially as it allows you to mostly skip taking Venomthropes/Malanthropes. The larger range though for Monsters does mean that it is relatively easy to counter-play, but if you are looking to do the Carnifex Gunline, Jormungandr can still do it with some effectiveness. Especially with Carnifex’s just having a flat 2+ armor save to begin with, having 6+ Venom Cannon/Deathspitter Carnifexes sitting in the backfield, launching bombs down the way with a 2+ save and -1 to hit to return fire is spicey. If going that route, you definitely want to swap out their secondary for either Territorial Instincts or Exoskeleton. Getting Obsec on the Carnis helps with the objective game or ignoring AP-1 is great for Hormies and Warriors. Due to the bonus to defense in the ranged game, Jormungandr really like to sit back and blast more than rush up and do damage.
Monsters like Tyrannofexes benefit from this trait as with T8 and a 2+ save, having the extra -1 to hit can make them even more resilient, and with the Warlord trait not being that exciting, it does help out the Tyrannofex the most as they have no way to ignore Cover. The relic can be clutch, but honestly, it is not really worth it over any of the stock relics, and Buried in Wait is a cool way to get a close range monster like a flamer Tyrannofex into the scrum quickly or as a way to save points by dropping in a big unit of Warriors somewhere. Warriors are probably the better idea as they are Obsec, get easier use of the primary trait, and still just good on their own without much support, especially when parked in cover. In my head, a solid Jormungandr list is going to have shooty fexes with an Exocrine or 2 in the back and Warriors pushing forward with a few Warrior bombs to drop in to help threaten the backfield.
Overall, Jormungandr can still function much as it did before, and with our upgunned weapons, that’s not bad, but still, this is the one hive fleet that doesn’t feel particularly effective or unified as its psychic power is about melee but its primary bonus is best for a gunline.
Kronos
Primary: Add +4″ to all ranged weapons.
Secondary: +1 AP when firing at a target within half range of your weapon.
You can swap the secondary for Feed or Lurk.
Warlord Trait – Soul Hunger
When an enemy pysker is within 18″, it will perils on any double.
Psychic Power – Symbiostorm
Warp charge 7. Select one unit with Synaptic Link range. Until next psychic phase, add +1 Strength to the Unit’s ranged weapons.
Relic – Null Node
In your Command Phase, select one enemy unit within Synaptic Link range. That unit cannot reroll hit or wound rolls, and it cannot perform Psychic Tests.
Stratagem – The Deepest Shadow 1 CP
Use in your opponent’s psychic phase when an enemy psyker fails a psychic test. Select one psyker unit from your army within 18″ of that enemy. That enemy unit suffers d3 Mortal Wounds, and the friendly Psyker units gains the following Aura: whenever an enemy psyker fails a psychic test, they take d3 mortal wounds.
So the core of Kronos remains unchanged: shooting and messing with enemy psykers, but instead of rerolls, you just get flat out more reach and power. +4″ on every ranged weapon is shockingly good, especially when you consider that most Tyranid shooting is medium range at best. Getting Fleshborers up to 22″ of range is pretty sweet, and with a Termagants base move of 6, that’s actually 28″ of threat, and of course, on Gargoyles, it means you can line up a full volley easily. Getting Deathspitters up to 28″ is also tasty, and of course, getting heavy weapons up to 40″ is great too, but the shorter ranged weapons are really where the biggest improvement is. Flamer Tyrannofexes are going to love this for even more range, but one of the clear winners are actually Pyrovores. With their newly improved statline and weapon, getting the power wash up to 16″ is a lot more reach, especially for S6 AP-2 D2 autohits, and even getting the wide spray up to 22″ makes it easier to start tapping forward units, but if you keep the secondary, it also becomes much easier to get the Pyrovores within 11″ for S4 AP-2 D1 autohits. Another fun combo is the Haruspex and their tongue which goes up to range 16″, but since it ignores Look Out Sir and is flat Damage 3, you can tag a character (perhaps one already weakened by failed psychic tests) right out from where they were safe. There is also the fun pairing of this with the Toxicrene, giving its ranged weapon 12″, so much easier to use the Strat to make the enemy target that Toxicrene rather than anything else. Thornback Carnifexes shine here as going with Devourers and Stranglethorn, you have a lot of shots that can also get into half range easily, and so then you have a chance at AP-2 Devourers, which is sweet, and AP-4 Stranglethorn.
If you don’t much care about the additional AP in shooting, Synaptic Ganglia is there if you are bringing Zoanthropes or even Exoskeletal Stabilisation to really let you scoot around the board with your units and lay down fire without worrying about that pesky -1 to hit. On Termagants, that gives them a total threat of 28″+d6 every turn, so getting all 30 shots onto the same target becomes very doable. This is one of the times where I am generally in favor of the standard secondary trait as it is just money on most guns, especially if leaning into volume of fire.
If you can get an enemy psyker into Soul Hunger range, it is a great Warlord Trait as forcing Perils on any double is great. This is probably best on a Broodlord or Neurothrope, something that can stay closer to the front but still safe behind a wall of chaff. Again, this also pairs well with Null Node, which can just be devastating if you are facing an opponent that relies on buffing one unit to hell as you can essentially remove all of their consistency. Again, a Broodlord or Neurothrope is great for this as they can hide behind the Gants and be in the position to catch what you need to catch. I would generally prefer the Neurothrope as it is more resilient, and it is not there to do damage, just be as annoying as possible, and if it dies, well, it was only 100 points.
Symbiostorm isn’t that amazing anymore, but then +1 Strength to a ranged weapon can matter, making Fleshborers S6 and the like. Again, this can really do work on say a unit of Pyrovores to get their 2d6 spray up to S5, great for suddenly wounding Marines and the such on 3s rather than 4s. It is still a power that you want to remember, but you don’t need to build around it like before.
Deepest Shadow is no longer as strong, but making it an aura can help against very psychic heavy armies where there are going to be a lot of different psychic tests, so you actually can get more mileage out of it now than you could before, but it doesn’t have that sweet “test only on 1 dice” thing that we used to have. Still, armies like Grey Knights, Thousand Sons, and even other Tyranids have to be mindful of this as it can start weakening key psychic units quickly.
Kronos with some big shooters in the back and a lot of Termagants is going to do work, especially since 100+ Termagant shots add up when they have additional range, may have additional AP, may be S6, and then all the other Hive Fleet agnostic buffs that you can throw down on them. Pyrovores really shine bright in Kronos as well, and with their different attack sets, they actually help answer several problems, and if going against another Tyranid horde, they are going to do a ton of work. While Jormungandr can do a shooty build well, for sheer damage output, Kronos is still King.
Overall, a solid Hive Fleet if you like to shoot, and swarms of Gargoyles and Termagants are going to do a lot of work in a Kronos list. In my mind, Kronos is probably the best anti-Tyranid Tyranid fleet out there.
Hydra
Primary: +1 to hit in melee when you outnumber your opponent (vehicles/Monsters count as 5 models).
Secondary: +1″ of movement and consolidate an extra 3″.
You can swap the secondary for Hunt or Feed.
Warlord Trait – Endless Regeneration
At start of the Command Phase, the Warlord heals up to d3 lost wounds. You can only regenerate once per turn.
Psychic Power – Psychic Shriek
Warp charge 6. Select an enemy unit within Synaptic Link range (or 18″), and roll a d6 for each infantry or beast unit within 3″ of the target (roll 3d6 for each Monster within 3″). For each 5+, that unit takes 1 mortal wound.
Relic – Barbworm Infestation
The bearer can reroll wound rolls for shooting attacks.
Stratagem – Critical Mass 1CPUse in the Fight phase. Select a unit. Each time that unit fights a target that it outnumbers, you can reroll the wound roll.
Hydra is all about them little bugs, and boy howdy, it can make them do some work. A flat +1 to hit when you outnumber your target is not bad at all, getting Hormies up to WS 3+ is good, but again, even Termies or Gargoyles can get the benefit of this. Our medium Infantry like Warriors (or Raveners who are Beasts) can also get some mileage as they are a bit better at targeting more elite enemies, but since they can be up to 9 in a squad, chances are, they are going to outnumber their preferred prey, so that +1 to hit is a go. Obviously, big bugs are a bit left behind here, but that’s fine. If you are playing Hydra, it is because you want little bugs, and that’s what Hydra wants to do.
The secondary is also unique and powerful as some extra movement certainly doesn’t hurt (base 12″ move Hormagaunts you say?), but also giving more movement in consolidation means more board control, which is primarily what Swarms excel at. That said, you do have access to Synaptic Goading, which movement wise is likely better as a free 6″ move for the little bugs is going to be better than +1″ of movement. You do lose the consolidation part, but still, with enough bodies, you’ll get by. I really do love Synaptic Goading for a horde list, so I think this is what you are going to take more times than not.
Endless Regeneration is a solid trait that is perfect for a big Monster that is there to buff the little bugs like a Tervigon or a Walking Tyrant. Healing d3 wounds a turn is tasty, especially on a bug that has a lot of wounds to chew through and a strong statline. Barbworm is great if you are doing a shooting Flyrant, especially with Endless Regeneration, as you can skirt around the edge of the fight, blast 12 shots, reroll the wounds, and force some armor saves. It of course works with a Heavy Venom Cannon as well for less shots but more raw power.
Critical Mass is what helps make the army really punch up, namely getting reroll to wounds is just awesome for forcing armor saves. Hormies especially want this up and running, but again, don’t sleep on Warriors or Raveners as more concentrated blenders. Psychic Shriek is the other part of this puzzle as with plenty of little bugs, you are pretty much going to max out that 6 mortal wound cap, and then you still have Smite, Neuroparasite (against weaker chaff units) and Psychic Scream to throw out too. The Parasite is a great forward Synapse threat for this, making sure you can get enemies into your Synaptic Link range while staying safe behind Hormies. Hydra is sort of a sneaky psyker army as Shriek is a great power and when you throw a unit of Zoans to help add to some pop with Smite and Scream, you are going to do surprising damage. Much like Gorgon, unless you want just the unbridled aggression of Behemoth, Hydra excels as a Swarm plus psychic army. Plus, it’s innate ability isn’t really shut off by anything the way that Gorgon’s is.
So yah, Hydra is good because Swarms are good and Hydra makes them better.
So in the end, I think my top choices have to be Leviathan, Behemoth, and Kronos. Leviathan just has such resilience that it boggles the mind, Behemoth has raw aggression that can be used with a variety of threats, and Kronos makes shooting swarms viable, but a special shoutout to Hydra for being a sneaky fleet that most won’t expect. The only Hive Fleet that I feel a bit down on is Jormungandr just as it lacks some of the cohesiveness of the other Hive Fleets. It sort of wants to sit back and shoot but also wants to get in and fight, but this push and pull means that it doesn’t just quite synergize as well as the others. That said, I am positive Carnifex based gunline in Jormungandr is going to do just fine on most tables.
Well, that’s the Hive Fleets, but next time, I am going to deep dive the generic Warlord Trait and Relics, so stay tuned for plenty of Tyranid content leading up the big release on Saturday, the 16th. Of course, remember that I am sure to give away a new Parasite model on TFG Radio, so tune in for a chance at free swag. Finally, don’t forget about BAO coming up quite soon, and if local to SoCal, there’s also Battle For LA. As always, thanks for reading. Play games and be nice to each other!
