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I fielded a Tyrannofex with a Rupture cannon against a BA player yesterday and here are his results:

Turn 1: Hits a vindi, but fails to scratch it.
Turn 2: Shakes the same Vindi.(Unit of 2 Hive guard standing next to him laugh at his attempts and blows a 2nd Vindi's cannon off with a glancing shot).
Turn 3: Misses(Said Hiveguard unit explodes the cannonless Vindi)
Turn 4: Misses Vindi
Turn 5: Misses Vindi
Turn 6: Misses Vindi

It was a real letdown. I'm starting to think about ditching that loser and bringing my Dakka'fex back to play. He has never let me down!

Thoughts? My real concern is losing his anti-tank(like he really helped ) to only having 2 units of 3 Hiveguard(I love my unit of 3 Venomthropes!).

This was the list I used:

Hive Tyrant
Scything Talons, Lashwhip, Bonesword, Regen, Adrenal Glands, Armored Shell, Old Adversary, Leech Essence, Paroxysm
265 Points

3xTyrant Guard
Lashwhips
195 Points

Tyranid Prime
Rending Claws, Pair of Boneswords, Regen, Adrenal Glands
110 Points

3xHive Guard
150 Points

3xHive Guard
150 Points

3xVenomthropes
165 Points

20xTermagaunts w/Devourers
200 Points

27xHormagaunts w/Toxin Sacs
216 Points

Tervigon
Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Catalyst
195 Points

Tyrannofex w/Rupture Cannon
265 Points

2xBiovores
90 Points

2001 Points

Really bad luck maybe.

From what I've seen Tyrannos are very... unreliable for the 265 points

For the points sunk into tyrannos, I think either podded fexes or trygon primes could be more effective

The T-Fex is far too expensive for 2 BS3 S10 shots a turn. Overall its just an expensive pylon out there.

im a bit odd with my nids, 3 podded fexs into my enemy, with gargoyles as support and the parasite.... very hit or miss

as to the tyranofex, is this the first time you used it? im not saying you suck or anything, just that if its the first time give it a couple more tries before ruleing it out.

That's just bad luck buddy. 2 shots at bs 3 is pretty decent and spread out over 6 turns the chances of that many misses should be pretty rare. I bet you wouldn't notice when a particular termagaunt did the same thing. I think the fex's price tag got to your brain. The best unit in the world can't be saved from some bad rolls.

I've heard success stories and I've heard failure stories with the big boy. The successes I've seen involve hit actually doing damage (bad luck on your part) and in the late game as he charges with the rest of your army throwing down templates and tying down units in assault. Shooty he may be but a good shooter he is not.

Personally, there are few good Tyranid units in a vacuum. You have to use your abilities properly and have a bit of luck along with it. For example, walk him up with the Tyrant. Paroxysm lets his average WS become useful again once they reach range, and any Monstrous creature attack are good at eating small, thinned out squads.

cromwest wrote:That's just bad luck buddy. 2 shots at bs 3 is pretty decent and spread out over 6 turns the chances of that many misses should be pretty rare. I bet you wouldn't notice when a particular termagaunt did the same thing. I think the fex's price tag got to your brain. The best unit in the world can't be saved from some bad rolls.

I don't play Tyranids at all but this is pretty much it right here. I've been in games where my partner's Rhino survives a turn of 3 MM, 2 Las, 1 TL AsC shots because of the opponents horrid roles and my partner saved 1 or 2 of the shots with the smokes cover save. All of those weapons should easily kill a Rhino...

Also through personal experience (I play Mech BA) I have shot 3x RBs TL AsC into the same squad of bikers and killed nothing...statistically I should have at LEAST killed 1 model lol...6 of the shots were misses and with TL I missed all 6 again. This rarely happens but it's all I remember. I'm sure the TL has saved me so much more than that 1 horrid bad luck moment

Even with that Tyrannofex in your list you are already light on anti tank, Hive Guard struggle with anything higher than AV12 + have range issues. If a Land Raider shows up there isn't much you can do about it currently. You also don't have many MCs which can beat their way through vehicles in assault either, just the Tyrant really, the Tervigon can but you generally hang back a bit with them. While not ideal, MCs killing vehicles in assault is a way Nids often have to fall back on to deal with heavy armour.

As Night Lords mentioned 265pts is too expensive for a BS3 S10 2 shot weapon. If thats all you are using the Tyrannofex for then yes its a total waste of points. Fortunately you also happen to be a T6 6 wound 2+ save MC with several template weapons thrown in. With plasma falling out of favour a bit many armies really struggle to deal with them, and leaving them in the backfield not doing much damage makes the decision to ignore them pretty easy. To get the most out of them you need to play them aggressively, move up to get side shots on vehicles, threaten infantry with your secondary weapons and assault things as well. Up close any MC is hard to ignore, as long as you don't run headlong into a bunch of melta units (though the Venomthrope will help) you should be fine.

As an aside wouldn't you be better of taking the Swarmlord if you are going to invest that many points into a walking Tyrant? Venomthropes are good but they aren't so critical to your list that you need 3 imo, 2 would probably be enough.

Can I ask why plasma is falling out of flavor? There seems to be tons of it where I play.

In the past (read previous editions/older codices) Plasma was everywhere, it was the first choice special weapon as it was cheap, could double tap and assault and melta didn't get the get the +1 damage chart bonus. In 5th this has changed because of the boost to melta and their low cost (vs the high cost of plasma). Most 5th edition lists now used melta to kill vehicles, and if they need long range firepower most people take missiles (or Autocannons if they can get them) rather than Lascannons as they are cheaper and can also take out infantry. Plasma still gets used a bit, but very few Marine armies have much (Las/Plas Razorbacks aside) as once they take out the vehicles they can usually clean up without any need for it. IG still use it a bit, mostly as they can get plenty of special weapons into a list and you only need so many meltas. Plasma also suits them a bit better as they have no desire to get into combat or even leave their vehicles most of the time, so the added range and extra shot is good.

This is all a major boost to the Tyrannofex and the main reason its so hard to take down. It doesn't care about (the increasingly common) missile spam lists, laughs at small arms and S6/7 shooting (Multi Lasers/Scatter Lasers, Autocannons), and the short range and limited shot output of melta (if they can shoot you then you can charge them, which means they won't get many shots off) means they won't get taken out by melta unless you run headlong into 10+ of them.

syypher wrote:

cromwest wrote:That's just bad luck buddy. 2 shots at bs 3 is pretty decent and spread out over 6 turns the chances of that many misses should be pretty rare. I bet you wouldn't notice when a particular termagaunt did the same thing. I think the fex's price tag got to your brain. The best unit in the world can't be saved from some bad rolls.

I don't play Tyranids at all but this is pretty much it right here. I've been in games where my partner's Rhino survives a turn of 3 MM, 2 Las, 1 TL AsC shots because of the opponents horrid roles and my partner saved 1 or 2 of the shots with the smokes cover save. All of those weapons should easily kill a Rhino...

Also through personal experience (I play Mech BA) I have shot 3x RBs TL AsC into the same squad of bikers and killed nothing...statistically I should have at LEAST killed 1 model lol...6 of the shots were misses and with TL I missed all 6 again. This rarely happens but it's all I remember. I'm sure the TL has saved me so much more than that 1 horrid bad luck moment

I agree. My rolls are usually meh to terrible on average. But for some reason when I have to roll a KFF save on my vehicles Im a man possessed for some reason. I save like crazy. So I guess it evens out lol.

But yea at BS3 you should on average hit once a turn with him. I think a few more tests are in order. The first few times I used a boomgun it performed horribly. I literally rolled a dont press that 3 times in a row. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?! But now I have to say Im planning on an Ork build with 3 of them. Try it a few more times

Thanks Powerguy. I guess my friends just know to prepare for the nids with plasma not melta.

Anyways back on topic. Don't give up on the Tyrannofex. Like all units it takes time, patience and practise to get the most out of it. Learn how to use if effectively and don't disregard it just because of a few bad rolls.