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The raveners seem to be lacking but i beleave they have a chance to be useful in some way.Being 40points bace equal to terminator points per model it dosn't have the suriveability as terminators.It might be able to kick out more damge with ranged and cc but it seems its hard to keep them alive long enuf to be effictive or useful. I don't have my codex in front of me and i don't rember what their armor save is they have two wounds but I'm not too sure how much that helps. If they get the chance I think they can deal out some damage.
Haven't thought of a good tactic with them yet but I'll post one as soon as I come up with one.

Main issue is ugly models, and being metal doesnt help either :/

My issue is the cost for one of them thats metal.
I seen some painted that looked good and some very nice conversions.

but mainly how to use them

I think 46pt raveners is where-its-at.

The death spitter matches closely to its charge range & with 5 WS5 I5 rending attacks on a charge, its a killer.

Its survieability comes from the ability to fleet & charge 12" and shoot from a decent range, pretty much all of that not caring about cover (being tyranids & getting the move through cover USR) and the AP5 of the death spitter. This in turn affords the ravener a 4+ cover save back, when combined with the 2 wounds and immunity to instant death makes it, like the warrior, a tough cookie.

Well.. death spitters if you plan to use them later on, deep-striking in otherwise forget that (40pts/model) & use them with a few large broods of hormagaunts. They wont fail the raveners like gaunts do with fexes and they will close a 19-24" gap very quickly, avoiding the 12"ish no-mans-land of rapid fire and flamer template death.

One squad of 4-5 would be enough to compliment those hormagaunts, somthing to take on the command squads, +2save, monsterous creatures & AV11 back-armour vehicles.

Tyranid warriors can nearly compete with the ravener stats @ 35pts a model but they have one less base attack & cant deepstrike. They also have to swap either rending/sything talons for a ranged weapons unlike the raveners whom can get it in addition to everything else (and have BS3). More importantly raveners are actualy a decent choice for your fast attack while your elite slots are better placed for ranged warriors or fexes.

Ravenors are nice but;

They aren't scoring,
point for point genestealers are the better buy,

Aside from the scoring utility.. which you shouldve already bought when you get to filling your fast attack or/and elite slots... point for point they arent all that much worse than genestealers.

You get the beast rule & 2 wounds per model. Very significant.

I noticed that genestealers tend to drop from raged fire unless they are in cc and raveners can shoot back

Are the raveners better off with out ranged just for point cost?

I tend to find that shooting with Raveners is underwhelming. They have fleet and are better used in assault.

They make a nice counter charge unit to cover ranged units, and even so make a threat that can easily claim cover saves.

One of the worst things that can happen when you shoot with them is killing the target unit. Admittedly rare, this only helps me avoid choosing ranged.

ymmv

They are underwhelming for the points. You can make more survivable Warriors for the cost who also provide Synapse, or flank some Genestealers to get at those pesky Lootas and other killy ranged units.

As to the metal thing: take some Tyranid Warriors, cut off the tail, and Greenstuff a snake tail over a paper clip shaped to your liking.

I don't have immediate photos of said project, but you'll save a ton of money while having the ease of working with plastic.

I've modelled my ravenors with Warrior Heads and Scything Talons, Genestealer Claws, and the metal body, tail, and lower claws.. looks signifigantly better and much easier to work with.