Out of the recent Dataslate the biggest change come out for Tyranids with the loss of transhuman for Tyranid Warriors…finally.
Games workshop dropped the Dataslate that has been delayed for two weeks with a small whimper from the 40k scene (you can read it here). The general consensus being, it’s underwhelming. I disagree. Peep the biggest and greatest addition to the Dataslate right here ladies and gentlemen:
THEY PUT A SUMMARY OF WHAT CHANGED IN THE DATASLATE. YES! VICTORY! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THANK YOU!
Sorry, jokes aside, this dataslate is lackluster unless you know the effect of the changes that just dropped. Tyranid Warriors losing transhuman is actually huge for the meta because it does the one thing that should have been done during the first FAQ, nerf warriors hard.
Tyranids have been running rampant to put it kindly, mostly due to how obnoxious their datasheets are. The Harpy, even though it’s gone up in points is still THE MOST cost efficient way to dump Heavy Venom Cannons into your opponent while dropping MW’s on them.
As a Tyranids player (my first army), I am not only ecstatic about the recent nerf from GW to the army but also relieved. This is also coming from someone who has 18 Tyranid Warriors all GW plastic. I’ve spent my dues on this army and Tyranid Warrior spam was one of the most banal aspects of playing the army.
To put it short, Tyranid Warriors were too good in Hive Fleet Leviathan to NOT take. It was so good in fact that it became the staple Tyranids army. Look at any top 3 placing Tyranid army and you’ll see the same thing: 2x Harpy, Tyranid Warriors 18+ (nsfw), Zoanthropes, Flying Hive Tyrant and the rest is filler. This was your core with Warriors and the Harpy being the strongest parts of the army.
Oh I’m sorry, Leviathan’s trait to give units with Synapse Transhuman was the strongest part of the army…along with being able to freely re-roll a hit roll.
Before the nerf, Tyranid Warriors were probably the strongest and worthwhile unit in the entire game. What more could you want? An Obsec unit with assault guns you can run up the board, they were fearless, they always had transhuman, you could keep giving them a 5++, additionally a 5+++, core, 3 wounds each with access to -1dmg strat, T5, ALL WEAPONS ARE FREE (sans bio-weapons which are just 5pts.), group of 9 got 36 attacks, Adrenal Glands give them S8…all for just 30pts per model.
Transhuman made the unit so obnoxiously difficult to deal with and once the unit touched anything in your army it was more than likely dead. Nevermind anything else in the Tyranid army. Don’t get me wrong, Hive Fleet Leviathan is still incredibly strong, it’s just no longer gatekeeping with Tyranid Warriors which is fantastic.
Hopefully they nerf the Harpy next when it comes to points because bro, that unit should not exist. It’s honestly a crutch for the codex because it’s so damn good. Putting it in Leviathan means out of 6 shots with it’s heavy venom cannon it’s going to re-roll one of them making it a super reliable anti-tank option that can also just shit out mortal wounds or spore mines.
Additionally, giving one of them transhuman with an adaptive physiology in Leviathan makes it such an annoying unit to kill. You have to sink way more than what you want into it just to get rid of the unit that’s going to fly over your infantry, kill half of it and then shoot at something else while a second one is flying around doing the same thing. You could even choose to run Stranglethorn cannons to save on gun costs which is still a really good gun that has more volume of fire.
This abomination needs to go. I’m sick of seeing it in every Tyranids list.
Maybe we’ll start to see some changes with the different Hive Fleets people will start to bring. More Kraken lists, I’m impartial to Jormungandr and (hail) Hydra myself.
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