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Is it just me or does the nid venom cannon or the heavy venom cannon seem a waste of points. It's lack of ability to hurt tanks and only being AP 4 make this weapon seem like a waste of time, at least for me. So I was thinking of possible ways to keep with the fluff of the gun and making it a useful choice for it's points cost.

Venom cannon: poison 3+, assault blast
Heavy venom cannon: poison 2+ assault blast

special rule: If the center of the blast template is over a non vehicle unit it is considered as an attack from a power weapon.
A shot from a heavy venom cannon glances vehicle armor on a 4+

Meh, I just use it as an IG infantry hose.

I personally think it should go back to the Assault 2 it used to be. Who cares if that's infringing on the impaler cannon? Also, 1 in 3 warriors should be able to take it, and tyrants/carnies should be able to take 2 sets (one heavy, one normal).

I've had good fun using one in my Warrior squad. I don't overly mind them being blast - sometimes I can get a good 4-5 models against my friend who is prone to bunching models up.

I don't see the point of making them poison though. Venom Cannons are already wounding most infantry on 2's, occasionally 3's, and HVC's wound almost everything on 2's already. Not to mention there's no precedent for them going poison.

I wouldn't mind seeing the -1 on the damage table being taken away though. There's just no reason anymore. It was there initially to stop Tyranids having good ranged anti-tank, but now with Impaler Cannons, Rupture Cannons and Warp Lance, it just seems like a relic from editions past. If they want to keep it blast, that's cool, but get rid of that old rule. Totally unneeded anymore, especially with the general buff to vehicle hardiness.

The only reason I would suggest poison is because it's crystallized venom and it would have no strength value against vehicles so they wouldn't need the silly -1 rule, just a glancing rule.

I just find it's very secondary to the strangle thorn, and with the impaler cannons and rapture cannons being available like you said, not a top choice. It is very much a bit out dated.

But making it poison makes it anti troop - which is the Stranglethorns job. I know I'd rather take an S6 large template weapon than a poison 2+ small template weapon for anti infantry. S6 is going to be wounding almost all infantry on a 2+ anyway, at worst a 3+ ouside of some very rare outliers (like Wraithguard), and hit more. And maybe cause pinning (this has actually saved my ass a few times).

Venom Cannons are long range anti tank. Any 'venom' could just be taken as being designed for getting through tank armour. What it needs is to have the -1 on the damage table removed. It would then be an okay mid-range anti tank weapon. Still not competitive, due to being a blast weapon, but better.

Making it assault 1 or 2 would be great. It would then be a rather good. mid-range anti tank weapon, and might start seeing use on Carnifexes and Hive Tyrants. It would synergise well with the Impaler Cannon and Warp Lance (short to mid ranged anti tank) and the Rupture Cannon (long ranged anti tank), giving Tyranids decent anti tank at all ranges. Even different types of anti-tank - if they made Venom Cannons 1 for every 3 Warriors, and assault 1, it would make units of 4-6 Warriors good anti-transport units as well.

It really just feels that Cruddace kept the -1 due to it always having it since 3rd edition (when Tyranids werent meant to kill tanks at range, and really, tanks weren't widely used) and blast (because blast is totally a good trait for an anti tank weapon).

The Venom Cannon and Heavy Venom Cannon are really, quite simply, easily fixed, and a product of Cruddaces lack of knowledge of 40k. Remove the -1 on damage tables, they're better. Change VC's to assault 1 and HVCs to assault 2, and they're actually good and worth their points.

FYI Loki, all weapons of the Tyranids is Assault, so basically the Venom cannon is already a Assault 1 weapon.

You missed the point. Removing blast, so it is simply assault 1 or 2, means you roll to hit using your ballistic skill, rather than using the scatter dice and reducing the scatter by your ballistic skill.

It would be a massive change. You'd lose the ability to hit multiple models in a squad, but gain a lot more accuracy, which is what you want from a weapon designed for anti tank work rather than anti infantry. Making them blast was the mistake.

I realize my wording could have been better. I was basically saying change them from assault 1 blast to just assault 1. Really though, the main thing they need to drop from it is the stupid damage table modifier.

No worries Loki, i just misunderstood and thought you didnt realise the cannon already had assault on it.

On the other hand i would like a anti-tank weapon on my warriors that is more reliable and can have 1 every 3, as for BS skill isnt really a problem as you can just have a squad of 9 warriors be joined by a Prime ( though its just from 3 to 4, but hey )

The Tyranids Fandex update on page 2 or 3 in this forums is really solid. I suggest giving it a look.

In dealing with the Venom cannon, I was fine having it be a mid to high strength gun with -1 to penetrate. Heck even making it so it can only glance anything that is not open topped is fine, as that is how it used to be.

However, unless 2nd ed was different, the Venom cannon was always a multiple shot weapon. This single shot blast garbage is out of place and pointless, and on top of that its more expensive as well!

VC are working as intended, its role HAS to change, or else how do they sell