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http://www.imperiusdominatus.com/2012/07/6th-ed-primer-tyranids.html


In 5th edition rules, Tyranids were a bit meh. I wonder if 6th ed has been any kinder to them?

HQ


Hive Tyrant


Wings are pricey, but the Tyrant is harder to hit, making the big guy more survivable. Use with ironarm psychic power for sweeping attacks.

Heavy venom cannon is slightly more worth it thanks to blast templates vs vehicles. Speaking of ranged weapons, devourers are still king, AP- no long hurts them.

Psychic shooting attacks got a slight nerf as everyone has deny the witch.

Old adversary probably isn't as good as it used to be, doesn't help that it offers re-roll 1's to hit, when Tyranids have that rule anyway thanks to scything talons.

The Swarmlord


Still a big, slow and expensive monstrous creature.

Two powers from swarm leader special rule has been slightly nerfed; preferred enemy & furious charge.

Was meh before and is still meh now.

Tyrant Guard


Bit expensive, but works well for Tyrants on foot. Note that precision shots, challenges and look out sir! work when a Tyrant has joined a unit of Tyrant Guard.

Tervigon


Still awesome. More survivable as it only needs 25% cover, handy for it's big ass.

Tyranid Prime


Cool little guy. Sometimes a bit hard which unit to place him with.

Parasite of Mortrex


Slightly more survivable thanks to I.C close combat rules. Can challenge and gib another I.C or character into Rippers . Too expensive, really.

Elites


Hive Guard


Awesome.


Lictor


Can bring in reserves more earlier thanks to reserve rolls change. Still meh.

Deathleaper


Still handy against enemy psykers. More survivable as has shrouding special rule. That's about it.

Venomthrope


Still meh.

Zoanthrope


Now less chances of having it's anti tank shot stopped by psychic defence. Can switch powers if you like, but really, who is going to switch that warp lance? Hive Guard are still better.

Doom of Malan'tai


Still a gimmick unit.

Pyrovore


Lol!

Ymgarl Genestealers


Only these Genestealers can assault when they arrive from reserve. Still pretty cool, but fights with the superior Hive Guard for elite slot.

Troops


Tyranid Warriors


Krak missiles and anything else which is S8 or above still loves these. Cover saves made these guys less survivable.

Genestealers


Still good in combat, but nerf to to assaulting from reserves and infiltrating has bummed these guys over big time. Don't expect to see Genestealers much any more.

Termagants


Meh in a vaccum (no Tervigon support), bit better with Tervigon support.

Expect to see troop slots filled with Termagants.

Hormagaunts


Bounding leap rule is now pretty useless as cannot assault after running, only useful for getting objectives in a hurry.

Still handy little fellas, expect to see these instead of Genestealers.


Ripper Swarms


Meh.

Mycetic Spore


Still the same.

Fast Attack


Tyranid Shrikes


Flying Tyranid Warriors, they die exactly the same way. Meh.

Ravenors


Beasts made these guys kick ass. Like the Tyranid Warriors, they do not like anything S8 and above. Shooting weapons are now viable, as they won't be running to get into assault quicker. Probably one of the best fast attack units.

Sky Slasher Swarm


Meh.

Gargoyles


Still pukka, though the combo of old adversary from a flying Hive Tyrant isn't as effective as it once was.

Harpy


Gone from the junk heap to the king of fast attack in a Tyranid army. A hellvua lot more survivable, as enemy units need a 6+ to hit it when shooting at it. Just keep it flying and blasting away with twin-linked blast weapons.

Spore Mine Cluster


Only take if you have spare points and you need to burn them up.

Heavy Support


Carnifex


Still good as a gun beast; devourers are wicked, HVC is better than it was, thanks to blast rules. Adrenal glands giving I4 when charging with is no longer possible, so adrenal glands aren't needed.

Old One Eye


Still meh.

Biovore


Meh, lot better choices than the Biovore.

Trygon


Still cool, though adrenal glands are no longer worth it - still wounds mostly on a 2+ and will use smash against vehicles.

Mawloc


Still a one hit wonder, though at least deep strike mishap is kinder, if it does go off the board.

Tyrannofex


Expensive gun beast, at least power weapons cannot hack it to bits and certain force weapons will struggle to kill it.

That's it for Tyranids, guys. Do Tyranid players think the 'Nids have got better, or just as mediocre as before?

Honestly, terrible advice, no explanations, and zero understanding of legibility and spacing. Can you rewrite this with more detail, and back up to your claims?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, copy and pasting from your blog does not translate well to a forum. Rather desperate method to get more readership, I must say.

That's a bit harsh. At least he posted the content of the blog here. There's others here who aren't even that generous. Personally, I don't mind blog advertisements so long as there's more than just "hey look at my blog".

Concerning the content, I am kind of disappointed. mercer, I usually enjoy your observations on IG, but this is kind of lacking. Can you go into more detail on why what you say is bad actually is bad?

Swarmlord becomes amazing when he turns in his psychic powers for Biomancy. 4 rolls and at least 3 of the powers are fantastic for him, and he can cast two a turn. Unless you are facing a farseer with runes of warding, he just devours anything he touches, especially if you get Iron Arm and Warp Speed. Get a Tervigon with Endurance to cast it on his unit and march him towards the biggest, scariest thing facing you.

Seems a bit rushed Merc :(.

For example: Why do you say the Harpie is the best FA in the game?

It is more survivable, but how much so? Do you interpret the "grounding" rule to mean that the you still count as swooping once shot down?

It only takes 18 snap shots (regardless of weapon type) to ground a Harpie. Most troop units can accomplish that. From there you lose your cover save (remember that all current rumors point to the harpie being quite large and on a flying base, so it will seldom get a cover save on its own without jink) and incur an "automatic" wound. If you interpret the grounding rule as "turning off swooping", then the harpie quickly becomes as fragile as 5th edition.

Is Vectored strike really that good at harming fliers, tanks or infantry. You average 3 strength 5 AP 2 hits? I don't recall this bypassing cover saves?

Please take these as questions rather than arguements

Shadelkan wrote:Honestly, terrible advice, no explanations, and zero understanding of legibility and spacing. Can you rewrite this with more detail, and back up to your claims?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, copy and pasting from your blog does not translate well to a forum. Rather desperate method to get more readership, I must say.

As I said in my other post, the primer will be short and sweet as these codexes have been around some time now. Also do you really need me to tell you a turd is a turd and why it's a turd?

Spacing is copied from blogger and how it turned out. I didn't have time to sort the spacing out. Not sure what the problem is with double spaces between headers anyway.

daedalus wrote:That's a bit harsh. At least he posted the content of the blog here. There's others here who aren't even that generous. Personally, I don't mind blog advertisements so long as there's more than just "hey look at my blog".

Concerning the content, I am kind of disappointed. mercer, I usually enjoy your observations on IG, but this is kind of lacking. Can you go into more detail on why what you say is bad actually is bad?

If people think there should be more detail, then I can easily add that. Though I still stand by my point that people should know what's good and what's not in a codex, only a few things have changed.

Maelstrom808 wrote:Swarmlord becomes amazing when he turns in his psychic powers for Biomancy. 4 rolls and at least 3 of the powers are fantastic for him, and he can cast two a turn. Unless you are facing a farseer with runes of warding, he just devours anything he touches, especially if you get Iron Arm and Warp Speed. Get a Tervigon with Endurance to cast it on his unit and march him towards the biggest, scariest thing facing you.

wyomingfox wrote:Seems a bit rushed Merc :(.

For example: Why do you say the Harpie is the best FA in the game?

It is more survivable, but how much so? Do you interpret the "grounding" rule to mean that the you still count as swooping once shot down?

It only takes 18 snap shots (regardless of weapon type) to ground a Harpie. Most troop units can accomplish that. From there you lose your cover save (remember that all current rumors point to the harpie being quite large and on a flying base, so it will seldom get a cover save on its own without jink) and incur an "automatic" wound. If you interpret the grounding rule as "turning off swooping", then the harpie quickly becomes as fragile as 5th edition.

Is Vectored strike really that good at harming fliers, tanks or infantry. You average 3 strength 5 AP 2 hits? I don't recall this bypassing cover saves?

Please take these as questions rather than arguements

I didn't say the Harpy was the best fast attack in the game. I said it's probably the best fast attack Tyranids have got

The Harpy is more survivable because when it's swooping (which it should be) enemy units need a 6+ to hit it. The 5+ cover save is ok, but not awesome, but better than nothing.

Vector strike, it's ok if you've got a S6 monstrous creature, but even against av10 you're going to need 4+ to glance it, so average really.

Mercer, by that kind of thinking why would anyone even have to look at the blog?
If someone knows what's good or not then why do they need someone else to confirm that.

You've not delved into anything helpful or tactical or something that your average joe might have missed.

Who cares about deny the witch when you can take 18 Zoanthropes at 2000p they can take the most powers out of all, and some really strong one.

The swarmlord is now very tough. Ironarmed and the one that gives you more attack (Can't remember)

Wings make them 6 times more survivable, so they're a must really, but then again you could take Hive guard.

There's people who haven't played Tyranids before .

Well you will care about deny the witch, because every unit has a chance (small chance!) of nullifying that Zoanthropes.

Swarmlord is only tough if you get iron arm, you have to roll for that power don't you?

Not sure what you mean about wings and Hive Guard? What exactly are you referring to?

mercer wrote:The Swarmlord

Still a big, slow and expensive monstrous creature.
Two powers from swarm leader special rule has been slightly nerfed; preferred enemy & furious charge.
Was meh before and is still meh now.

He's just as fast as any other melee unit, including the Trygon (yes, the Trygon gets re-rolls so is slightly faster, but it's not as significant now).
Yeah, the Swarm Leader rule isn't nearly as good anymore, but he's still a tank and brutal in CC.

Venomthrope

Still meh.

I wouldn't say "meh" I'd say he's good but outclassed by Hive Guard and Ymgarls.

Doom of Malan'tai

Still a gimmick unit.

An effective gimmick unit.

Ymgarl Genestealers

Only these Genestealers can assault when they arrive from reserve. Still pretty cool, but fights with the superior Hive Guard for elite slot.

I wouldn't say Hive Guard are superior, I'd say they're about equal and which one you use depends on your list. Especially with how effective melee is against transports now.

Tyranid Warriors

Krak missiles and anything else which is S8 or above still loves these. Cover saves made these guys less survivable.

Put a Prime with them. He can Look Out! on a 2+ and there's no requirement to fill wounds on a single model. So you can spread a bunch of wounds out across a Warrior unit and get lots of attacks in.

Genestealers

Still good in combat, but nerf to to assaulting from reserves and infiltrating has bummed these guys over big time. Don't expect to see Genestealers much any more.

Broodlords are awesome now.

Hormagaunts

Bounding leap rule is now pretty useless as cannot assault after running, only useful for getting objectives in a hurry.
Still handy little fellas, expect to see these instead of Genestealers.

Especially with the change to Rage, they don't need Synapse support really at all.

Tyranid Shrikes

Flying Tyranid Warriors, they die exactly the same way. Meh.

Yeah, 12" move plus a 2d6" charge and one of the few weapons that ignores armor saves is meh. Especially if you throw the Parasite in the unit for a 2+ Look Out!

Harpy

Gone from the junk heap to the king of fast attack in a Tyranid army. A hellvua lot more survivable, as enemy units need a 6+ to hit it when shooting at it. Just keep it flying and blasting away with twin-linked blast weapons.

My only problem with him is that he's limited to being a infantry hunter - because you can't hit other flyers with blast weapons.

Carnifex

Still good as a gun beast; devourers are wicked, HVC is better than it was, thanks to blast rules. Adrenal glands giving I4 when charging with is no longer possible, so adrenal glands aren't needed.

The best anti-tank we've got overall imo. Throw on Crushing Claws and it's (average) 8 attacks at STR9 with +1 on the damage table. Per fex - and you can have 3 in a squad that can play range dancing games to spread wounds.

Old One Eye

Still meh.

If only he was an upgrade character for a Fex unit...

Trygon

Still cool, though adrenal glands are no longer worth it - still wounds mostly on a 2+ and will use smash against vehicles.

The change to Fleet slowed him down to only slightly faster than a Carnifex. And more expensive.

Tyrannofex

Expensive gun beast, at least power weapons cannot hack it to bits and certain force weapons will struggle to kill it.

I'm torn between trying him as an anti-infantry unit that can smash tanks in CC or keeping him as long range AT...

mercer wrote:

Shadelkan wrote:Honestly, terrible advice, no explanations, and zero understanding of legibility and spacing. Can you rewrite this with more detail, and back up to your claims?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, copy and pasting from your blog does not translate well to a forum. Rather desperate method to get more readership, I must say.

As I said in my other post, the primer will be short and sweet as these codexes have been around some time now. Also do you really need me to tell you a turd is a turd and why it's a turd?

I'm shocked no one has mentioned how awesome our bone swords and rending claws got. I imagine alot of 2+ armor saves taking the field now... and we have a better answer for that now more than most armies. Having said that I think that warrior squads will actually have a place and rending claws on ravenors and ymgarl stealers will see a lot more action.

I now have 18+ psychic powers to choose from on my psykers... that is awsome! Biomancy on my Hive Tyrants and Tervigons, Zoanthropes get telekenesis (Infinity Gate+Vortex O Doom... yes please)

Gargoyles with prefered enemy got amazing, plus their boost with that I10 first attack

25% cover saves for our monsterous creatures

Dakkafexes now have a place as our anti-air units, dust em off boys

I would say everything is looking up for the Hive Mind. Not to join the bandwagon Mercer but ya pretty weak review of how much better our army got. Tons of new things to exploit now. Not top tier I would say, but a lot more fun.

Shadelkan wrote:

Actually, yes, because there will be plenty of players who will disagree with half your advice. A player looking for advice will wonder who's right, you or them? Backing up your claims solidifies them, anything short of that and you're advice is just as good as someone who hasn't played nids and is rifling through the codex for the first time. I'm starting to wonder if that's what you did.

Spacing = legibility, having something that is annoying to read gives you less readership. I don't doubt a second that quite a few people looked at this thread and didn't reply, purely because it was terribly formatted.

People disagree all the time. Like everything else, this is only a opinion. I don't need to say what is still the same from 5th to 6th ed.

Spacing has nothing to do with legibility at all. It's not even annoying, I couldn't understand if it was text speak or words with no spaces between them. It appears you're being petty just to make a point, one that isn't that useful.

Laughing God wrote:I'm shocked no one has mentioned how awesome our bone swords and rending claws got. I imagine alot of 2+ armor saves taking the field now... and we have a better answer for that now more than most armies. Having said that I think that warrior squads will actually have a place and rending claws on ravenors and ymgarl stealers will see a lot more action.

I now have 18+ psychic powers to choose from on my psykers... that is awsome! Biomancy on my Hive Tyrants and Tervigons, Zoanthropes get telekenesis (Infinity Gate+Vortex O Doom... yes please)

Gargoyles with prefered enemy got amazing, plus their boost with that I10 first attack

25% cover saves for our monsterous creatures

Dakkafexes now have a place as our anti-air units, dust em off boys

I would say everything is looking up for the Hive Mind. Not to join the bandwagon Mercer but ya pretty weak review of how much better our army got. Tons of new things to exploit now. Not top tier I would say, but a lot more fun.

How did a bone sword get awesome? It's a power weapon with a special rule so got nerfed and is AP3. Rending doesn't need mentioing, effects of AP2 is common knowledge.

Ravenors should have rending claws anyway, previously they wasn't good and shooting, so should be running and have rending claws for assault purposes.

Gargoyles I cannot see being amazing. Preferred enemy works for shooting and combat, they have less chance for blinding venom in combat. Hammer of wrath isn't very good on a S3 unit. Big bonus Gargoyles did get is that they can tackle vehicles a bit easier now.

25% cover is core rules, should be common knowledge.

This isn't a army review, it's a primer, primer means basic. I wouldn't say Tyranids are top tier at all, in fact one of their best units, Genestealers, got nerfed. :( .

mercer wrote:

How did a bone sword get awesome? It's a power weapon with a special rule so got nerfed and is AP3. Rending doesn't need mentioing, effects of AP2 is common knowledge.

Are you certain? Unless it's been FAQed, it's not a power weapon. It's a biomorph that allows for the attacks of a creature with one to ignore armor saves in melee combat.

I think he's saying rending deserves mention not because it got better, but because power weapons got worse.

mercer wrote:

Shadelkan wrote:

Actually, yes, because there will be plenty of players who will disagree with half your advice. A player looking for advice will wonder who's right, you or them? Backing up your claims solidifies them, anything short of that and you're advice is just as good as someone who hasn't played nids and is rifling through the codex for the first time. I'm starting to wonder if that's what you did.

Spacing = legibility, having something that is annoying to read gives you less readership. I don't doubt a second that quite a few people looked at this thread and didn't reply, purely because it was terribly formatted.

People disagree all the time. Like everything else, this is only a opinion. I don't need to say what is still the same from 5th to 6th ed.

Spacing has nothing to do with legibility at all. It's not even annoying, I couldn't understand if it was text speak or words with no spaces between them. It appears you're being petty just to make a point, one that isn't that useful.

Laughing God wrote:I'm shocked no one has mentioned how awesome our bone swords and rending claws got. I imagine alot of 2+ armor saves taking the field now... and we have a better answer for that now more than most armies. Having said that I think that warrior squads will actually have a place and rending claws on ravenors and ymgarl stealers will see a lot more action.

I now have 18+ psychic powers to choose from on my psykers... that is awsome! Biomancy on my Hive Tyrants and Tervigons, Zoanthropes get telekenesis (Infinity Gate+Vortex O Doom... yes please)

Gargoyles with prefered enemy got amazing, plus their boost with that I10 first attack

25% cover saves for our monsterous creatures

Dakkafexes now have a place as our anti-air units, dust em off boys

I would say everything is looking up for the Hive Mind. Not to join the bandwagon Mercer but ya pretty weak review of how much better our army got. Tons of new things to exploit now. Not top tier I would say, but a lot more fun.

How did a bone sword get awesome? It's a power weapon with a special rule so got nerfed and is AP3. Rending doesn't need mentioing, effects of AP2 is common knowledge.

Ravenors should have rending claws anyway, previously they wasn't good and shooting, so should be running and have rending claws for assault purposes.

Gargoyles I cannot see being amazing. Preferred enemy works for shooting and combat, they have less chance for blinding venom in combat. Hammer of wrath isn't very good on a S3 unit. Big bonus Gargoyles did get is that they can tackle vehicles a bit easier now.

25% cover is core rules, should be common knowledge.

This isn't a army review, it's a primer, primer means basic. I wouldn't say Tyranids are top tier at all, in fact one of their best units, Genestealers, got nerfed. :( .

Some things got nerfed most got buffed.

In the codex it says specifically "No armor saves may be taken" in the boneswords section... NO WHERE does it say they are powerweapons. So no they are not AP3... they ignore armor all together.

And I could be wrong but rerolling 1's to hit with blinding venom... how does that make it worse? Its giving you the chance to turn 1's into 6's... that auto wound.

It just seems to me you are BRIEFLY focusing on the bad and trying to cast aside the good... without much in depth look. No offence, just an constructive criticism.

Ah, ok, I thought it was a power weapon. So, they are still the same as before then....

How is re-rolling 1's worse with blinding venom? How about the old rules was re-roll all failed hits? What would you rather roll, 1's or all failed hits? Re-rolling 1's only is worse than re-rolling everything. I would rather re-roll all failed hits and auto wound than re-roll 1's only to auto wound, wouldn't you?

Not all focusing on the bad. Just telling it how it is. Re-rolling 1's is worse than re-rolling everything is it not?

mercer wrote:Ah, ok, I thought it was a power weapon. So, they are still the same as before then....

How is re-rolling 1's worse with blinding venom? How about the old rules was re-roll all failed hits? What would you rather roll, 1's or all failed hits? Re-rolling 1's only is worse than re-rolling everything. I would rather re-roll all failed hits and auto wound than re-roll 1's only to auto wound, wouldn't you?

Not all focusing on the bad. Just telling it how it is. Re-rolling 1's is worse than re-rolling everything is it not?

Yes but (and I could be wrong) but with the old prefered enemy we were just rerolling to wound against targets, with rerolling to hit we get the advantage of blinding venom even if its just 1's.

Even if not I would still say gargoyles are quite good hitting at S3 intitiative 10 with possible auto wounds on 6's to hit with rerolls ones (because if your smart you will have a flyrant near by being given cover)

and yes while the rules remain the same for boneswords... they are MUCH more valuable in this edition than in the last. Ask all those armies stuck with ap3 power swords now, to just say "So, they are still the same" is not doing this weapon justice given how hard AP2 will be to crack now.

Laughing God wrote:Yes but (and I could be wrong) but with the old prefered enemy we were just rerolling to wound against targets, with rerolling to hit we get the advantage of blinding venom even if its just 1's.

Old PE re-rolled all misses in CC.
New PE re-rolls ones in CC or shooting.

Honestly, the power-weapon change to AP3 probably had the smallest affect on nids as compared to other armies. Why? It didn't change anything we have, as stated above. If it doesn't affect your damage output, then you have to look at how it affects your survivability. Other armies are rejoicing because they have a number of units that became significantly harder to kill without the right weapons because they depend largely on their 2+ save for survivability (Termies, MANZ, etc). What 2+ saves do nids have? The tyrannofex, which I suppose now COULD be used to tarpit squads with only AP3 weapons, but probably should still be kept shooting, and an upgrade for the tyrant, which you can't take if, as you should be doing, you're giving him wings.

Honestly, IMHO, the power-weapon change doesn't affect us AT ALL directly unless you were planning to use an assault tyrannofex, and the only indirect affect is that some people
may decide to spring for the AP2 weapons in all-comer lists, slightly reducing the points they could spend on other things.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Harpies, from what I've seen so far, are still only really useful for one thing: destroying large groups of foot troops with a save of 4+ or worse (5+ if you kept the stranglethorn cannons). As has been mentioned previously, their vector strike is subpar against vehicles, and their low attack value means that even when smashing, on average they still won't do anything to a non-stationary vehicle in assault.

On the other hand, HVCs are MUCH better against vehicles now, so flying them past a vehicle for a twin-linked S9 shot at rear armor could be viable, just be aware that next turn the harpy will have to either glide, or be in a place that probably isn't very useful.

All in all, I'd have to say that the usefulness of a Harpy depends largely on what type of lists you see at your FLGS. If it's MEQ, there are much better ways to spend almost 200 points. If it's large mobs of Orks on foot, IG blobs, gaunt/stealer swarm, or somebody running loads of fire warriors or eldar guardians for some reason, then the Harpy will be absolutely devastating.

Honestly, I've got to jump on the bandwagon and say that there are a lot of new bonuses that weren't included in the OP. First, I have to say that the changes to fleet and assaulting were a little better for most units, and amazing for others. A lot of people say that the inability to run and assault is a disadvantage, but it seems that no one realizes this allows you to fire your weapon and still assault 8-18" with rerolls on your charge. This really shines on Raveners with deathspitters, as a 5 man squad can fire 15 S5 shots and assault 14-24" with rerolls-brutal!

While the power swords don't affect our army organization much, they do have a large effect on what our enemies bring to the table. in tournament play we can all expect to see a lot more 2+ armor saves that take advantage of power weapon immunity, and we can shut them down with our old school force weapon-esque boneswords. couple this with a lash whip, and it's terminator-krumpin' time.

As far as Harpies go, I really wish I could say they were worth the points-I really do. But even with the new flyer rules multiplying their durability by 6, they still just fly around the board and with their light bomber loadout, will get one good shot at light infantry, and just flap around squealing like little pigs for the rest of the game. And to take advantage of that squealing, you'll have to come down from your nice cover in the skies.

The new preferred enemy rule seems like a hindrance at first, like other new rules, you just have to adapt. True, you could already re-roll ones to hit in CC, but now you can re-roll wounds, and shooty armies become much more viable. my Tyrant with OA stays back with my Rupture cannon Tfexes and they are now a viable anti-tank force.

And Gargoyles are tied for my favorite fast attack choice with the Hammer of Wrath rule. Coupled with Toxin Sacs, My 25 man brood can land around 60 poisoned hits- not a pleasant concept for any unit. and that's before counting in their shooting attacks that they still get!

For HQ, At least one Hive Tyrant with wings and Biomancy is always a must- you have a 66% chance of rolling either endurance or Iron arm, which are both great durability powers, and youve got a 100% chance of getting at least one useful power, as they're all very good Hive Tyrant spells, with the exception of Haemorrhage, which I would drop for the primaris power.

The Swarmlord is still just as slow, but with Iron Arm AND Endurance, that guy can move as slow as he wants- he's damn near unkillable. He can grant preferred enemy to a unit within 18", making one squad have a pretty good shooting phase before their charge (Which is also boosted). Not to mention all your reserves arrive on a 2+ from turn 2 with this guy.

The power weapon. Hangs might have had the least effect when considering them used against Tyranids, but retaining one of the only 'ignore all armour' weapons in the game, which can be taken on something as fast moving as shrikes and has an added instant death test, is nothing to sneeze at. 2+ saves will become more common, and Tyranids can exploit it.

I think a lot of people underestimate the psychic powers output that tyranids can bring to a game.

Before the game starts you can "pick" your favorite psychic powers against the specific enemy army. I think a good Tyranid "chess" player can do really well with a psychic-army.

My favorite picks?

NR 1: Swarmlord

If you really need your close combat beast to be better?, go for all the biomancy powers. He's nearly unstoppable! In all other cases.. go for all the telepathy powers! with 4 powers you have a great change of getting Hallucination and/or (second pick) Invisibility.

NR2: Tervigon

Now that termagaunts dont get fearless wounds..The are great for tying up units. The tervigon itself got great powers (catalyst and onslaught) but can be very annoying with 3 Telepathy powers (you know you got 3 of these powers out of 4). When you pick 3 biomancy powers you have a great chance of getting a better "feel no pain" with a better reach (24 inch) and the "enfeeble" power that can give your enemy -1 toughness and Strenght.

Nr3: Hive gaurd

You need this anti-tank. At the right time you can give them preferred enemy (swarmlord) and reroll the 1's to hit for extra shots..

Nr 4: Trygon (prime)
I like the fact that this MC can now get in their faces on a 2+ (extra swarmlord reserve +1) at turn 2. A Trygon Prime can be very expensive but I like the extra Shadow in the Warp to mess up other psykers.

Nr 5: Zoanthropes with sporepod.

Warp Lance got better because high armor vehicles got better. At any time you can do without Warp lance...get sum nice psychic powers that can benefit your army. I like the Telepathy power: puppet master because Zoans got Bskill 4 and got a good change of using an enemies weapon for a turn. If you dont get powers you want you can also use the Primaris power Psychic shriek and kill sum expensive models within 12 inch when you drop.

My current armylist: (around 1700)

HQ Swarmlord with 2x Tyrant Guard
HQ Tervigon with catalyst, onslaught and toxin sacs

TROOPS: Tervigon with catalyst, onslaught and toxin sacs
TROOPS: 10 termagaunts


ELITE: 1 venomtrope(*)
ELITE: 3 hivegaurd
ELITE: 3 zoantropes in sporepod

HEAVY SUPPORT: Trygon Prime
HEAVY SUPPORT: Trygon Prime

*: if I got around 50 points left I like to pick a venomtrope.. If its nightfight first turn I got at least a 5+ coversave for all my units and get a extra bonus (stealth andshrouded).