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I just got my Hive tyrant in the mail (yay me) first one ever, very exciting. I had Grand plans to convert him into a Swarmlord (cause i like to challenge myself) and i like the numbers and abilities that he had to offer, but as i read over all the helpful advice on DakkaDakka I am coming to realize that maybe Swarmlord is not a competitive piece.
So if you just got your first Hive Tyrant and your first pack of Green stuff, with all the experience you have had playing 'nids, how would you field him?

If you run a Swarmlord Tyrant Guards are almost manditory, which makes him unfeasable in small games. Personally I run a CC tyrant with Armoured Shell. Flyrants are also powerful. Personally, if you must go with ranged weapons, do NOT use ones that have Blasts. His abysmal BS for a character means that it will likely never hit.

I dont play thaat much so feel free to ignore me, i also havent got the latest codex so may be very different. But i tend to field in a couple of ways, first with a couple of tyrant guard to shield it so it can get into combat, this with a carnifex and a broodlord leading genestealers is quite effective. The broodlord can tie up and hopefully get rid of some of the enemy from behind, lesening the fire on the Tyrant or they'll divide the fire between the carnifex and Tyrant.

The second way is with scything talons and wings, with some winged warriors and a load of gargoyles for screening. Again accompanied by an assault from behind by a broodlord and one or two carnifex gives the enemy alot to think about, shoot at the fast approaching Flyrant? the infiltrating tank killers (never played a game where the genetealers havent killed at least one) or the carnifex?

id use him as a tank. try and take up as much fire with him as possible so your monstrous genestealers and hormagaunts(if you have them) can rip the unprepaird enemy into tiny pieces.

There's numerous ways to use him and everyone is going to tell you why something is better than something else. Almost always, your list dictates how you "should use" your Hive Tyrant.

For instance, in my list, I run a lot of Genestealers, some hormaguants, two tervigons, the Doom of Malantai and two units of Hive Guard. I don't run Tyrant Guard. I give my HT a Heavy Venom Cannon (I don't agree with the poster above that he will never hit. In fact, mine has done some great damage), Armoured Shell and Hive Commander.

I'll explain why. I didn't give him the things I mentioned because I like them or because they're strong - I gave them to him for specific reasons:

1.) No tyrant guard - in my meta, there are tons of missile launchers. 3 units of 5 Long Fangs anyone? Well, Armoured Shell doesn't care much about missile launchers. Not only that, but if they're shooting at the Hive Tyrant with their big guns, they're not shooting at the tervigons who are churning out termagants and giving my stealer units FNP. The Hive Tyrant is as much of a distraction as anything. If they shoot him down, great. Sure, he's a 230 pt. distraction, but he's not just there to die - he has a few tricks up his sleeve.

Also, to the point about no tyrant guard - if I'm worried about lascannons or plasma, I stick him behind cover or the tervigons as best I can. Like I said, I'm not afraid to lose him, so it lets me be a bit reckless with him.

2.) Heavy Venom Cannon - well, my Hive Tyrant supports my units from behind. He walks up behind the tervigons, termagants, genestealers, etc. and supports them. Many people run Hive Tyrants as an offensive role, but that is secondary to me. This does a few things - one, it removes some of his threat. If they don't see him closing in as quickly, they don't target him as often. Secondly, he protects my backfield. Just last week Snikrot and a unit of Kommandos met their untimely end at the edge of my Hive Tyrant's bonesword. Thirdly - psychic support and synapse. He keeps backfield bugs in line and, if someone breaks through my lines, Paroxysm helps me get back on the offensive. With all that said, keeping him in the backfield would be foolish if I didn't have at least something to reach out with. So, I took a Str. 9 cannon to support the 12 Str. 8 shots coming from my hive guard. It may scatter, it may not. But it can glance/get through AV14 before my genestealers even get to it.

3.) Armoured Shell - see 1.

4.) Hive Commander - this one is easy. I have a few units that I wouldn't mind outflanking sometimes (hormagaunts, a tervigon) and this allows me to do that. But, more importantly, it gets the Doom and any outflanking stealers in quickly. This also adds to his support role.

So, as you see - my choice in Hive Tyrant is a direct reflection of the list I run. I didn't say, "How should I use my Hive Tyrant?" and build a list around him. I built a list and then found that a Hive Tyrant suits it for what I want him to do.

Dunno if this helps at all, but it is tiny glimpse into my listbuilding.

It's best to have multiple Hive Tyrants. Since they can be changed to support your army however you want them to, just having one seems a bit of a waste. Either that, or learn to magnetize, and make use of all of his weapon options that way.

Personally, I like melee Flyrants and shooting Tyrants. Walking Tyrants are too slow to get into combat, so making it a melee unit is a bit of a waste most of the time. Armoured shell and some guns would serve it better, as well as Tyrant Guard. Flyrants however, can get into melee. Go nuts. Preferred enemy, standard scything talons and lashwhip/bonesword, Paroxysm. It'll maul whatever it touches.

As said by puma713, the Hive Tyrants build depends entirely on your army build and your local meta. Never forget, 40k is a local game, not a global game. While a lot of people may prefer one type of Tyrant because their local meta dictates it, your local gaming groups may play entirely differently. Build to your advantage, not the internets.

Tyrant guards are only manditory if you decide to go with the Swarmlord, who only has a 3+ armor save and cannot take Armoured Shell or Wings. Armoured Shelled Tyrants are a different matter.

I still think the HV is wasted on the Tyrant. For one it's very costly and scatters a bit too much due to the Tyrant's BS3. Anything large enough to be hit by it probably wont be impacted by the loss. The Tyrant's stats are geared for assault, so make the most of his (expensive) points by getting him in there. Hive Commander though is great if you're running reserves (which I do, in the form of a Trygon and outflanking stealers).

Also, I tend to forget the Tyrant's Psychic Powers, and most of them are quite powerful (in fact if I just remembered to use them, I could have curbstomped my enemies). Use those to your advantage and choose carefully (although you dont really have that problem with the Swarmlord, who has all of the powers).

Not sure if I'd run a HVC on a Tyrant, but two sets of Devourers can be an effective firebase for the rest of the army if you need the fire support. As said, it depends on the rest of your army.

As for the Tyrant being built for assault - he is, definitely. That doesn't mean he's only useful in assault, and he can still dish out plenty of hurt after walking in with a couple of devourers thinning a squad out.

Lash whip and bonesword, on foot, armored shell, leech essence, paroxysm, hive commander, acid blood, toxic miasma and old adversary if I have points to spare. Tyrant Guard I go back and forth on, but I way prefer a CC Tyrant for the way I roll. He, my warriors, my hormagaunts, venomthropes, and a carnifex make up my usual ground horde, and he gives them a good CC and synapse backbone, which lets me freelance the devilgants, raveners, trygon prime, and any other unit I drop in a spore.

If you need to trim points, Scything Talons is a cheap alternative to Old Adversary. Given that most of your army will have Scything talons anyways, Prefered Enemy is not that big of a deal.

I a seeing no suggestions for Thorax Swarms, does that mean they are no good?

I field mine on a base

With wings and scything talons too....
I try to keep pts down though so I can use alot of models.

I dont like the Thorax swarms because you will loose the option of either Armoured Shell or Wings, which are great assets to the tyrant. If you're that close to the enemy, you'll want that extra point of armour save. Footslogging to that distance also doesnt seem to be worth it (whereas Devourers have much longer range).

I personally don't see the point of not running the free lashwhip and bonesword. With WS6, you'll be hitting most enemies aside from other characters on a 3+. Even with 1 set of talons, you're rerolling half of your misses. Against characters, you'd want the chance to instant death them from the bonesword.