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The wargear for nids called Thornback makes a model count as double for the purposes of being or outnumbering. However in 5th ed the number of models no longer count for anything when winning or losing close combat.

Normal
Units taking this Morale Check suffer a -1 Ld
modifier for each wound their side has lost the
combat by.

No retreat
These units do not take Morale checks and will never
fall back. Instead, these units suffer a number of
wounds equal to the number their side has lost the
combat by (allocated as normal).

Yes, you are right.
Thornback is useless in 5th and so are a number of other wargear options spread over all the armies.

Nids have two useless biomoprhs for the same reason... Symbiote Rippers & Thornback.

however the sybiote rippers make for good basing now