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My buddy Just started playing nids and he needs help building a decent competetive list and i dont have Experience with nids. I know that the Monstrous creature list used to be pretty fun. any body got some ideas for a list for him?

At 1850 he wants dual dakka flyrants for HQ. Lots of troops (termies or hormies) and a good amount of synapse (warriors and/or zoanthropes). Venomthrope broods are a strong choice for cover saves for when he advances the ground units.

Heavy is prob the best slot for Nids. Can bring Dakkafex broods, Tyrannofexes, or even Biovores. They are all solid choices depending on how he plans on playing his list.

If he wants to do lots of flyers, the Skyblight formation is pretty strong from what I've read. I haven't tried it myself.

can you write out a list for the flying tyrants? and the shootyfex

Or i guess i could just dick around and make up one for him

Here is 2k list someone posted w/ skyblight - Drop off Horms and all but 30 Gants add A terv and drop a Mawloc and you would be fairly close to 1850. You could also drop the Gargs in Skyblight to 10 each. I would want to fit a Zoan in some how.


HQ 230
Hive Tyrant with Wings, 2x TL devs w/blw 230

Troops 375
Hormagaunts x27 135
Termagants x20 80
Termagants x20 80
Termagants x20 80

Elites 90
Venomthrope 45
Venomthrope 45

Heavy Support 280
Mawloc 140
Mawloc 140

Formation 1025
Hive Tyrant with Wings, 2x TL devs w/blw 230
Harpy with Heavy Venom Cannon 140
Harpy with Heavy Venom Cannon 140
Hive Crone 155
Gargoyles x20 120
Gargoyles x20 120
Gargoyles x20 120

Have you tried army builder? It's a great resource for making lists without needing to buy all the books.
If you want a semi-competitve nid build, the most popular look something like this:

HQ:
2 tyrants with wings, TL devs w/ BL

Elites:
Venomthrope
Venomthrope
2 Zoanthropes

Troops:
20 terms
20 terms
20 terms
20 terms

This gives you a strong build to start with. Then you can mix it up with the Fast and the Heavies. Tyrannofexes, Carnifexes, Trygons, Mawlocs, and even Biovores all can be run pretty effectively. Harpies, Crones, and Gargoyals will also do well. Some people prefer horms, some like running 30 terms and a tervigon as troops. It's pretty open for semi-competitve list.
One hint for nids: don't get bogged down in upgrades. Nids win through having tons of bodies and MCs on the field. Usually its better to have 2 of something base than 1 really supped up model.

 Freytag93 wrote:
Have you tried army builder? It's a great resource for making lists without needing to buy all the books.
If you want a semi-competitve nid build, the most popular look something like this:

HQ:
2 tyrants with wings, TL devs w/ BL

Elites:
Venomthrope
Venomthrope
2 Zoanthropes

Troops:
20 terms
20 terms
20 terms
20 terms

This gives you a strong build to start with. Then you can mix it up with the Fast and the Heavies. Tyrannofexes, Carnifexes, Trygons, Mawlocs, and even Biovores all can be run pretty effectively. Harpies, Crones, and Gargoyals will also do well. Some people prefer horms, some like running 30 terms and a tervigon as troops. It's pretty open for semi-competitve list.
One hint for nids: don't get bogged down in upgrades. Nids win through having tons of bodies and MCs on the field. Usually its better to have 2 of something base than 1 really supped up model.

Word...the Codex is kinda "blah" so a lot of the building is "blah" as well... The Heavy slot(s) are an area where people can get creative, as differant choices give differant play experiances. You can also "customise" in the Fast attack slots (This is where Skyblight armies go to...)

So I might sketch down almost the same list, with a few changes based on my own preferances, then toss in stuff based on my own style. Presto! A "custom" army A lot of the "choice" comes down to what do you own/buy...if you purchase a Brood os Carnifexes, you should dang well use them!

So has your friend made any purchases? If not I suggest a 1000 point force. Once a few games get played, it will be easy to add in more of what "works". 1000 pts is also a very good "base" army for adding in a Formation, as most run 350 to 850

If you'all do go for Carnifexes, it might be a very good idea to Magnitise, so you can modify as experiance guides.

he already has a decent amount of nids. two harpies and a handfull of Carnes a hive tyrant and mostly genestealers but some gaunts and maybe 9 warriors



Automatically Appended Next Post:
i dont know exactly what all he has but hes got maybe 4k points worth. he just got most of it for cheep during the last codex.

DirtyTecker wrote:
he already has a decent amount of nids. two harpies and a handfull of Carnes a hive tyrant and mostly genestealers but some gaunts and maybe 9 warriors



Automatically Appended Next Post:
i dont know exactly what all he has but hes got maybe 4k points worth. he just got most of it for cheep during the last codex.

Cool! Then I'd suggest the Heavys be something like Two Broods of Carnifexen x2 in each. That takes a lot of points so the last one should be cheap (ish) If he can get 30+ Gargoyles, it sounds like he can try out Skyblight. Which is the most well regarded Formation build right now.

Sadly its hard to use Genestealers with the current rule set But maybe that'll change come 7Th There are some Carnifex Formations in Dataslate 3, so that might be another place to look for ideas

Sounds good ill try to let him know about it all

I jotted this down while I was eating breakfast...
"Carnival of Carnifexen"

Winged Assasain, or Winged Dakka'rant 230
Winged Dakka'rant (Twin Brain Leeches) 230

Termigants,x20 80
Termigants, x20 80
Termigants, x20 (I built mine as Spinegaunts, he can also toss in Devourer "Devilgaunt" with extra points) 80
Hormigaunts, x20 100 ( Drop this to x16, and save 20 points... ) (Or replace with Warriors: Vanilla, Cannon for 100 points..)

Zoey Brood, x2 100

Carnifex Brood: Dakkafexen, x2 300
Dakkafex Brood, x2 300

I believe that is 1500 even. Just modify the costs based on the Carnifexen used in the Broods At higher point levels, I'd look to add more durable Synapse, and a third Heavy.

If he likes the flyers, the Skyblight formation is extremely strong. It consists of something like this:

3 Flyrants w/TL BL Dev

1-3 Hive Crones
2-3 Harpies

3 units of 10+ gargoyles

Fill in the rest of the points as you like.

I would recommend throwing in a venomthrope in a bastion and some cheap troop choices (either a tervigon with the required gants or a couple small warrior squads)

Some people also have fun with Biovores, Dakkafexes (Carnifexes with the same weapon load out as the Flyrant), or Mawloc(s).

The nice thing about nids is that they can do a lot of things well right now. With very few exceptions, you can throw together a moderately competitive list that is as fluffy as you desire if you command it smartly. Do you want to swarm? Go for it. Do you want to shoot a lot of guns? Surprisingly it can work. Do you want to go Nidzilla? Also a thing. The only thing to realize is that if you're playing an army that wants to assault, the name of the game is damage mitigation on the way in. Wings are the best thing you can do to accomplish that (or deep striking/inflitrating).