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What is the best Carnifex set up with the new codex?
(sorry if this thread has already been done, I did search for one and didn't see anything)

Like anything I think it depends on what you're trying to do with it.

For basic smashy goodness, I think the Trygon is a better assault unit with a better WS5 and more attacks plus Fleet.

For straight up shooting, I think the Tyrannofex does a better job of killing armor.

For my money, this means you can either play your Carnfiex as 1) a hybrid unit kinda like a Dreadnought or 2) deepstrike assault anti-Land Raider or T4 insta-killer.

For choice 1) I think S. Talons + Stranglethorn is probably the best bet.
For choice 2) I'd keep the 2x S. Talons (to help with killing fast moving armor) and pod him. You can do the Bio-Plasma if you want, but it seems awful expensive.

So basically there are units that are much better at shooting/assault. . . quick question, how good are they at the dread role?
(curious cause my friend started nids last edition and has 3 carnifexes, and in our game today the got destroyed)

is drop-podding them very effective? since don't they revert to instinctive behavior if out of synapse?
Thanks

Dakka fex may have a new position in this codex, DS & pop the a*s of those armour boxes.

I've never tried the Dread role but it makes for a decent enough mobile threat. You walk up the board blasting your S6 pie plate into infantry and then hopefully assault something like a walker or Land Raider up close. You can try it with the HVC instead but that weapon is really only useful for stunning a vehicle (which can be important).

The whole issue with a Pod + Carnifex is that it forces you to deal with it on the turn it lands and with 2 S. Talons its not a total pushover in assault. It would be used in a similar way to Ironclad Dreads for Codex Marines.

As for the DakkaPred, that is a very good role that I forgot about (thanks ED209, OCP would be proud!) 190 points gets you 12 TL'd S6 shots. Thats 9 hits which can fry AV10-12 and stun the crap out of AV12. It also puts out enough wounds on other MCs and elite infantry that you're sure to get a few dead guys. The key here is that you don't want it to be charged, so some kind of screening force can be useful.

I think:

Carnifex
w/Two Pair of Scything Talons, Bonded Exoskeleton, Frag Spines, Adrenal Glands, and Bio-Plasma

Mycetic Spore
w/Cluster Spines

Or:

Carnifex
w/Scything Talons, Stranglethorn Cannon, Bonded Exoskeleton, Adrenal Gland, Frag Spines.

There was a fair bit of discussion around tyranid anti tank over here in this thread: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/278511.page Where DevianID made a very good point about how a dakkafex is actually better at taking out light armor than a Terrorfex. So I am definitely with ED209 and Minigun here. Dakkafexes are very useful.

I am not impressed by the frag spines upgrade though. It's only against thunderhammers/powerfists in cover that it is likely to have any big impact.

Mellon:

Recall both the rules for Adrenal Glands and Living Battering Ram. When both are added to the Initiative of a charging Carnifex, then it is attacking at I1(4). The Frag Spines will ensure that these rules will not be affected by attacking the sort of thing a Carnifex should attack, stuff in difficult terrain.

Oooh, the Adrenal glands was what I missed. I was actually a bit confused to see you suggesting something that didn't have an apparent use, so I'm glad you straightened me out :-)

I like dual talons and bioplasma in a pod with poisoned attacks.

Yeah, I think either dual talons, or pure dakkafex, are the way to go. Two pairs of scytals are so much better than one.

What do people reckon to Old One Eye in a footslogging MC-heavy list? His double regeneration could absorb quite a lot of anti-MC fire.

thehod wrote:I like dual talons and bioplasma in a pod with poisoned attacks.

really poisoned attacks. . . don't carnifexes wound most things on a 2+?

but trygons tend to be better at close combat then the fex. . . . do trygons take up HS slot?

Huffy wrote:

thehod wrote:I like dual talons and bioplasma in a pod with poisoned attacks.

really poisoned attacks. . . don't carnifexes wound most things on a 2+?

Putting Toxin Sacs on a Carnifex is paying points to make it less likely to wound things in melee.

At Str 9, the only things you don't wound on a 2+ are Wraithlords and C'Tan. If you give a Fex Toxin Sacs then it will only wound on a 4+. It will get to reroll the fails, but that's still worse than a 2+ to wound.

Aduro wrote:

Huffy wrote:

thehod wrote:I like dual talons and bioplasma in a pod with poisoned attacks.

really poisoned attacks. . . don't carnifexes wound most things on a 2+?

Putting Toxin Sacs on a Carnifex is paying points to make it less likely to wound things in melee.

At Str 9, the only things you don't wound on a 2+ are Wraithlords and C'Tan. If you give a Fex Toxin Sacs then it will only wound on a 4+. It will get to reroll the fails, but that's still worse than a 2+ to wound.

doesn't it make it a reroll a 2+ (not by my brb at the moment)

It's a contested point in 40k. Some people think that Poison means wounding on some set threshold number, and re-rolling that set threshold number if you fail to wound the target. Others think that Poison means wounding on some set threshold number, unless your Strength is equal to or greater than the target's Toughness, in which case you get re-rolls.

As mentioned, taking Toxin Sacs when playing in the first way is paying points for a detriment to the Carnifexes' close combat ability. Which is crazy. Why pay points to make something worse?

Poison is defined in the Codex as 4+, so yeah... It's a detriment to Carnifex's.

Other things to think about: A squad of Carnifex's with ST's, and a Tyranid Prime with lashwhips/bonesword. Anything in base with the prime is going at I 1, all of a sudden those Carnifex's are going before everyone

FoolWhip wrote:Poison is defined in the Codex as 4+, so yeah... It's a detriment to Carnifex's.

Other things to think about: A squad of Carnifex's with ST's, and a Tyranid Prime with lashwhips/bonesword. Anything in base with the prime is going at I 1, all of a sudden those Carnifex's are going before everyone

that's not a bad move, but wouldn't that be a tad expensive, especially if you want to field trygons, and the other big bad bugs(that I can never remember the names of)
. . . . yeah I don't think the carnifex is as much of a major player in the nid army anymore. . . . . the dread option may be the most cost efficient option since drop-podding them makes them a large target the next turn