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Has anyone ever used Rending Claws on their Flying Hive Tyrant?

The builds I see here are either 2xST or 2xTwDev.  I have only fielded the 2xST variant so far.  I agree that it's fantastic to have 5 attacks (6 on the charge).

However, I often find myself using the Flyrant against enemy MCs.  The Flyrant is my rapid-response element, and I like to careen it into anything that gets sent up the center of the board relatively alone.  Recently I have used it against a statured DP and an Eldar Avatar.

The Flyrant consistently underwhelms against MCs.  Those 6 attacks are often only hitting on 4's and wounding on 4's, plus dealing with invulnerable saves.  I ended up doing more damage to the Avatar with a pair of Raveners than with the Flyrant; my opponent agreed with me and and directed all of his attacks against the Raveners, ignoring the Flyrant until the Ravs were dead.

The DP I fought had Rending Claws, and consistently rolled one or two rends (above average yes; completely ridiculous, no).  This had a huge boost on the wounds he inflicted, especially against my T7 fexes.  My (glandless) Flyrant was afraid to charge him on the last turn.

So my thinking is that ST, RC and Implant Attack could be extremely nasty.  Each rend would deal 2 wounds automatically, to anything (wraithlord, DP, Avatar).  Is the extra attack from the ST *really* worth it over the probability of getting a Rend on 4-5 attacks?

I've always thought of Rending mostly in terms of negating armour saves, but here the auto-wound part is more significant.  I realize that the extra attack from 2xST is definitely worth it vs T5 and lower opponents, especially in large units.  I just don't find my Flyrant engaging large units as much as going mano a monstro with my opponent's biggest baddie.

Has anyone out there in dakkaland used this configuration to any success?

Someone has the line "Flyrant (or Tyrant), Rending claws and Implant Attacks > everything else" in his sig.
I think that pretty much sums it up: against MCs, the Rending really shines and just one or two failed Inv saves and the MC goes down.

Other than that, the rending is pretty much wasted against small(er) targets and a Tyranid army should have already anough rending attacks to scare MCs away. But that's you choice.

Greets
Schepp himself

Why rend when you have Implant attack? If you are really worried about MCs, that is your best option, usually you only need to cause 2 wounds to outright kill a MC with a 2XST flying hive tyrant

my wifes  flyrant is equiped with rending claws, sure it gets 2d6 AP against vehicles and it is counted as a power weapon attack but that sdoesn't help you against high toughness stuff like wraithlords where you still have to roll high to wound.

i like it with claws better than that single extra attack with 2 sets of talons. besides she has bio plasma on hers to get an extra attack in as well

 

this is how hers is set up-

hive tyrant-rending claws, scything talons, adrenal gland +1 WS, adrenal gland +1i, bio plasma, flesh hooks, toxin sac +1S, toxic miasma, wings, the horror, warp field

>

Ah yes. My Flying Daemon Prince with Talons. The reason the talons work is because I gave him spikey bits. Each turn 1 missed hit is a potential rend. It's great. I'd choose implant attack in your case. Implant attack with rending would be sick though.

Yeah, I was thinking that the combo would be really nice.

ST + RC + Implant Attack + AG(I) + AG(WS) + Toxic Miasma + Toxin Sacs +Wings + Psychic Scream = UUUUUBER.

The Psychic Scream is a bit of a compensation against hordes, against which I would otherwise want the extra attack from the 2xST. At this point I think that the Warp Field is too expensive for what it does. Especially when so many things ignore armour anyways, and a 6+ invulnerable ain't that great.

I'll have to point that beast up when I get home. I *think* that RCs are cheaper than STs for a Tyrant...

Donkey: good point about the spikey bits, I'd forgotten about those. So if your DP got 5 attacks on the charge, then with the re-roll he'd *average* one rend. Not bad, especially against T7 where you'd need a 5 or 6 to wound, depending on Dstrength or not.

Why rend? Just take implant attack. With implant attack, a flyrant owns almost any other MC.

I guess the point is that tyrants might have trouble against T8 creatures without rending

the problem i see with theimplant attack is the fact ouy have to do 3 things to get it to work

1.hit, 2 wound, 3 have a failed save.

 where as rending rolls of a 6 bypass 2 & 3 but only do one auto wound. as noted previous it will help against big stuff and the possiblity of an extra d6 against vehicles isn't bad either. 

 while we are on vehicles.....the one thing bio plasma helps with that nothing else does-hitting skimmers on 4+ with +1 strength instead of 6+ in CC

and yes the warp field is worth it....there is alot more stuff out there that is AP3 that you can just not be afraid of now with a normal amor save of 2+(experience with my deathwing army laughing off krakmissles and battle cannons   ) and the 6+ is better than nothing expecially in CC since your most likely to be hiding in terrain that gives you a 4+ or 5+ cover if they are shooting at you anyway.

Posted By Schepp himself on 01/12/2007 8:02 AM
Someone has the line "Flyrant (or Tyrant), Rending claws and Implant Attacks > everything else" in his sig.
I think that pretty much sums it up: against MCs, the Rending really shines and just one or two failed Inv saves and the MC goes down.

Other than that, the rending is pretty much wasted against small(er) targets and a Tyranid army should have already anough rending attacks to scare MCs away. But that's you choice.

Greets
Schepp himself

It was "Theorum of Tyranid Biosuperiority: Rending Claws + Implant Attack > Everything else".  This was after a Rogue Trader tournament I played in in which my unit of leaping, rending, implanting tyranid warriors was charged by a maxed out Iron Warriors Daemon Prince.  To be certain the DP killed half of my squad, but also to be certain, the Tyranid Warriors also put the prince in the dead book.  (note that this was in the last codex when you could still give warriors implant attack.  Why they got rid of that option is beyond me, but then so is the rest of the tyranid codex)  Furthermore throughout that tournament every unit I had that was given RC+Implant (the warriors and some genestealers) made a mockery of any multi-wound units/models they encountered.  Chaplains, wraithlords, etc. all were swept away in a brief roll of the dice. 

With that said, I can only condone the use of rending claws on a flying hive tyrant (and only ever on a flying tyrant) when you're expecting to face armies with important high toughness models.  This mainly means Eldar and those Necron players foolish enough to bring C'tan, or perhaps tyranid players that like to field very expensive t7 carnifexes.  Certainly rending is better in bulk, but since every army that gets rending attacks can deliver those attacks more reliably and typically in greater quantity than tyranids (which is an injustice in and of itself) you need to have a model that can deliver some high quality poundings swiftly. The tyrant is such a guy.

Still, I don't recommend rending claws on tyrants for general purposes.  Its a specialized fit for specialized circumstances.  Against the T4 3+ save armies, there's just no reason to have it.  And since those are well over 50% of the matches GW wants you to play, there's no point in taking anything but the most optimized configuration.

Disclaimer:  I've given up on 40k.  I haven't played a game in over a year and a half, so my understanding of the dynamics of tyranids might be flawed.