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Just wondering everyone's build for the flyrant? Damage dealers, support, shock troop?

I'm currently running:
Flyrant- 2x devourers, regen. (prarox and leech)
Bringing him to nearly 300 points, Ive decided, drop a devourer, because i normally don't get to use both cause i vector strike. drop regen, because i have leech. bringing him to about the 250 mark. Is this a good call? Especially as i try and run 2. (1000-1500pts) But if im using leech and vectoring, then is it worth all the points?
I haven't tried any of the new powers, are they worth looking into? I'm not tempted yet.

Ive had a few games, and they are awesome, normally stick one on the board, and one in reserve. because they get targeted alot, and its a struggle to keep them in cover turn 1, i like a big fat hammer on the board at half time. Is it worth sticking them both in reserve?

I recommend going for Biomancy over the codex powers. Tyrants (and Tervigons) find a lot to like in that branch.

With Iron Arm you have a T7 to T9 tyrant, which makes it pretty hard to kill.
Enfeeble is great for dropping T4 characters down to T3, so your tyrants normal attacks and devourers can inflict instant death on them.
Endurance is a better version of Catalyst.
Life Leech is basically a more reliable version of Leech Essence, which your tyrant already has.
Warp Speed gives you extra attacks, which is never a bad thing.
Haemorrhage is kind of terrible unfortunately.

FMCs don't work well in singles, but where you have a mass of targets. Regen is too expensive on tyrants, I'd only run it on a normal prime where it's 10 points.

Tervigon and zoanthrope codex powers are pretty good, but the tyrant ones were always pretty lacklustre and I would swap them for biomancy every time.

I really think it depends on your army build.

I'm currently play testing starting 2 Flyrants on the board.
My build is 2x Devourers, one with OA, the other with HC.
I think that's 285 each.

The problems I have is that if I go second and theres no night fighting and very limited cover i get utterly raped, especially if he has the majority of his army starting on the board that has ranged weponary and barrage.

Flyrants aren't as survivable as you would think, swooping due to the grounding test isn't that good either.
So the Tyrants really need looking after and using wisely, at least until the rest of your army drops in.
I've been too eager to get forward as quickly as possible to put down the immediate threat (manticore or equally scary).

I'm actually finding Biomany to not be that favourable. Iron Arm is ok if you get it. Rolling a 1 on a D3 really doesn't help you that much.
Whereas some of the powers from Telekenesis are more helpful. For instance, the Dome power giving everything a unit a 5+ invuln save.

I normally start on the board with 2 Flyrants, a unit of Gargoyles and a Tervigon.
I try to secure Dome with the Tervigon who will walk up behind the Flyrants and Gargoyles.
If I get Dome on the Terv I will go Biomancy on the Flyrants.

The idea is to have a Flyrant with Iron Arm up in front with Gargoyles around him and the other Flyrant behind.
Tervigon giving Flyrant in front a 5+ invuln save and hopefully some Endurance chucked in there as well.

So ideal situation would be Flyrant with 5+ Invuln save, Str/Tough 9 plus FNP, It will not Die from Endurance.
Making it to my turn 2 with the Flyrants still alive is very important as its a considerable point sync. I've let them die too easily early on in a few test games.

dont the tyrants have to start off the board since they are flyers?

some good points. Things i agree on;

Regen is... well, a little pointless, not so much over priced. its based on the wound and toughness of the beast, in this case its fine. but still, your either swooping and not getting touched, or you are the focus of every units shooting by which case, you wont have an opportunity to use regen. I do however take regen on 6 wound monsters, that has helped numerous occasions. (im talking specifically the trygon)

Single flyrant. A few games later and my opponents know what to target turn 1. (we are now at 8 games without me having first turn.) TL lascannon and autocannon fire puts them down unfortunately quickly before they get chance to swoop. So 2 is almost a must after what, 1250pts?

Biomancy. I like the looks of it! Flyrant is pretty much a supportive psyker, so this makes him a little tastier. Still yet to try them though.

If i can throw an old question out there, Tactics on deployment? if theres just one? and if theres 2? Field or deepstrike?

I had a convo the other day with someone who deployed them both if he could keep them out of sign turn 1, let his opponent counter-deploy and them swooped them off the board into reserves, leaving the nasty guns away from his other units for a turn. Seems good, worth a try?

Bradford1111 wrote:I had a convo the other day with someone who deployed them both if he could keep them out of sign turn 1, let his opponent counter-deploy and then swooped them off the board into reserves, leaving the nasty guns away from his other units for a turn. Seems good, worth a try?

Sounds good and worth a try, only useful for going first to get him to counter deploy but could be very effective.

Going second is tough because you have to take two rounds of firing before you can start getting your army either dropped in from spores or up the table into position where your opponent starts to consider other things a threat.
I think the only option for going second with Flyrants is to play it safe and hide behind cover, not to make the mistake of rushing a gun line just for chance of shooting something.

I'd probably try and deploy down one table edge far from his gunline and heavy units to increase my survivability and to also try and get him to stretch his amry out a bit so when I do attack I don't have to take the full wraith.

Anyone else got some bright ideas about deploying Flyrants whether going first or second?

Double Flyrant I think is only just viable at 1750.

Test out Biomancy. Iron Arm, Endurance rock. Telekenisis also has some nice powers. You may want to switch between diciplines based on what army your facing or build of your list.

I just dropped OA off my Flyrant because its rare for me to have him in a position where other units can benefit from it.
Also considering dropping HC and testing. Mainly because if I'm going to be testing off the board tactics the +1 for reserves wont be added whilst he is off the board.
Also considering what Warlord Trait table might benefit these kind of tactics.

If it works out better I've just knocked both my Flyrants down to 260 each which I think is a much better point cost considering how quickly they can go down.

killerpat wrote:dont the tyrants have to start off the board since they are flyers?

They are flying Monstrous Creatures. They have their own rules and do not use the Flyer rules. They can start on the board, have 2 different movement modes, a special attack, and no skyfire :(.

Rather than Skyfire, they have Vector Strike, which works great when you consider that while they never get skyfire, enemy flyers won't be getting it either when shooting at them.

LordofHats wrote:Rather than Skyfire, they have Vector Strike, which works great when you consider that while they never get skyfire, enemy flyers won't be getting it either when shooting at them.

model with skyfire can hit FMC with normal BS.

Gah. New rules. For some reason I had it in my head fliers can only skyfire other flyers. Not sure why :/

So pushing this thread back on topic...

Any further insights to loadouts for Tyrants?

Any thoughts on deployment and other strategies for FMC's?

Why is no one recommending a lash whip/bonesword combo for the tyrant? Opponent goes at I1 and ignoring armour saves is nice, especially after getting a free hit at I10.

SoloFalcon1138 wrote:Why is no one recommending a lash whip/bonesword combo for the tyrant? Opponent goes at I1 and ignoring armour saves is nice, especially after getting a free hit at I10.

Agreed, there seems to be two classic builds at the moment and could be used in tandem with one another -

Flyrant with x2 TL Devourers.

Tyrant with armoured shell, lash whip and bonesword.

I feel the general consensus is that a solo Flyrant isn't very viable unless he has some friends in the sky like another Flyrant and/or Harpies.

My personal preference is agains't the walking up to your opponent style of playing Nids.
I'd rather drop right on your door step and stick a devourer where the sun don't shine.

SoloFalcon1138 wrote:Why is no one recommending a lash whip/bonesword combo for the tyrant? Opponent goes at I1 and ignoring armour saves is nice, especially after getting a free hit at I10.

Because you already get an I10 hit for being a Monstrous creature, and CC attacks are already AP2 since you have the smash rule (remember it doesn't matter if you do the s10 1/2 attacks, models with smash always attack at AP2 in cc).

As for enemies going at I 1, that is a good bonus. However I've noticed that most of the damage dealing units that ignore your armor with any chance of wounding (power fists, power axes) go at I 1 anyway. So, all 3 'buffs' granted by the LW/BS combo are really unimportant for a hive tyrant to worry about. Tyranid warriors, on the other hand, are utter beatsticks in CC with the whip/sword upgrades. I'm glad we have a sprue for such weapons but not happy that it's $20 USD to kit out 3 bodies. Boo.


Back to tyrants - I too have found 2 successful loadouts depending on what you're facing:

Flying tyrant - Twin linked devourers (or just 2x scything talons). Roll biomancy. Pray for Endurance, Warp Speed, or Iron arm. Rush the enemy and let the shooty tyrant flit around wrecking transports, or just get the CC tyrant close and jump from combat to combat with warp speed or iron arm keeping you alive and deadly.

Walking Tyrant - Gotta take armored shell. Now that power weapons and force weapons don't deny a 2+ save, and a tyrant can pick out a power fist with a '6' to hit, you are prettymuch invincible in CC. With endurance or catalyst, you're also immune to small arms firepower and missiles. What? Someone is shooting dark lances or las cannons your direction? New cover rules allow 25% cover for MC's to get a save...and lascannons no longer ignore feel no pain on T6 models. Plus tyrant guard can take the hit, and go for a cover save/feel no pain as well. Endurance gives the whole walking unit regeneration (kind of). Definitely a tough nut to crack. As for weapons - I'm in love with twin linked devourers. If you must switch it up change out one set of devourers for a barbed strangler. However I don't recommend a CC walking tyrant -they take too long to get to the enemy lines and cause damage. Ranged weapons will come to bear by turn 2 and are thus more important.


If your tyrants (of either flavor) support the rest of the army by either causing a distraction or just plain wrecking tanks and heavy support teams, then the enemy will focus on removing them from the table, leaving your genestealers, hormagaunts, tervigons, and other engines of destruction to their tasks. If the enemy goes ahead and tries killing your models in the backfield/flanks, then the tyrants with wings will terrorize their lines and make them regret it.

All round, the tyrant is good again! Hooray!

Thanks tetrisphreak.

Some very useful insights.
For one I didn't realise Lascannons still allow FNP with T6.

In regards to tactics, for say a double Flyrant list, deployment or strategies for helping both survive, anyone have some thoughts on this?

I'm thinking, now this is dependable on phychic powers so by no means reliable, buff the crap out of one (for example (looking at the best possible outcome) One casts Iron arm on himself, the other Flyrant wacks endurance on the Iron armed Flyrant and then say a tervigon wacks TeleKine Dome on him too).
So you can heavily buff a Flyrant which makes him pretty hard to kill. In the above example he would be T7-9, FnP, It Will Not Die with a 5+ Invuln.
Which leaves you with one unbuffed Flyrant that will likely get shot to death in which case you could swoop him off the board.

Anyone think of tactics that are a little more reliable?

Good points being made, when do you roll for your powers? is it before deployment?
Actually not even thought about Armoured tyrant, its a good point!, still a few ap2 weapons knocking around but it makes him so much better in CC. kept getting killed by eldar banshees. always I10! ignoring lash whips. Grr.

Bradford1111 wrote:Good points being made, when do you roll for your powers? is it before deployment?
Actually not even thought about Armoured tyrant, its a good point!, still a few ap2 weapons knocking around but it makes him so much better in CC. kept getting killed by eldar banshees. always I10! ignoring lash whips. Grr.

After warlord table rolls but before deployment.

Actually, with Banshees and Lash whips you do a roll off to see which applies. And I think walking DakkaTyrants with guard are great. Old Adversary, shell and two devourers. Add a guard, or two or three.

The main problem with flyrants I've seen is that they have to make that damn "stay in the air" roll for every bloody hit by a unit. In essence, you can use bolters to knock him out of the sky and take a str 9 hit with no armour saves, that's pretty harsh for a guy with only 4 wounds. If the stay in the air rule only triggered on wound that would be different, but since it's on hit it's super easy to knock them out of the sky. They're still good, and FMCs as a concept are really great for us nids, its' just a huge point investment for the dakka flyrant without nearly enough durability. Granted you can always get multiples but that doesn't work for 1500~ point games.

What I play on testing is instead a harpy and a tyranid prime with lashwhip/bonesword in place of the flyrant. It't about the same point cost and what you get instead is a NASTY little HQ choice who still wrecks in CC, is still tough to ID, and can be LOS'd (by say.. a squad of broodlorded genestealers? He stays in front to give them the benefit of his 3+ Armour, making the stealers more durable, and in turn they give him infiltrate and 2 psychic powers). On top of that you still get a great little FMC who has a str 6 twin linked large blast, vector strike, ASSAULT GRENADES (holy poop!), and can drop bombs. Granted, you lose the ability to glance stormravens, but honestly, how often was that going to happen anyways? Better to use zoanthropes to try and roll up that power than to spend so much on a dakka flyrant.

I don't to the Dakka Flyrant, I used STCs and get them into patrol paths along the board edge (out of range of bolters and such) and drop blast in relative safety.

Yes but then ur really hurting urself when it comes to flyers. Part of the purpose of the flyrant is to be AA (especially with vector-strike and the dakka), so staying on the edge really limits that.

Largo39 wrote:Yes but then ur really hurting urself when it comes to flyers. Part of the purpose of the flyrant is to be AA (especially with vector-strike and the dakka), so staying on the edge really limits that.

Yes, but that doesn't mean you can't move in with your flying swarm, vector-strike the fliers and then turn and drop a STC on the DEVs and retreat. All you really need the Tyrant is Stormravens.

Largo39 wrote:The main problem with flyrants I've seen is that they have to make that damn "stay in the air" roll for every bloody hit by a unit.

As far as i am aware, or as far as I've been playing it, you take a roll for every UNIT that hits, not every HIT from a unit.

Feel free to correct me but that is my understanding thus far.

Bradford1111 wrote:

Largo39 wrote:The main problem with flyrants I've seen is that they have to make that damn "stay in the air" roll for every bloody hit by a unit.

As far as i am aware, or as far as I've been playing it, you take a roll for every UNIT that hits, not every HIT from a unit.

Feel free to correct me but that is my understanding thus far.

Bradford, you are correct. Flying MCs are actually WAY more durable now compared to 5th ed, for the same points costs. 60 point wings make sense now.

Unit rolls to-hit (needing 6's)
Unit rolls wounds (if applicable)
Flying MC takes ground check (one d6)

Next unit goes, and so on and so forth.

Flyrant is ultra useful.

It's sheer pace up the table is scary coupled with twin link devourers.

It needs protection though, buffed through phychic powers.

It/they also need to be accompanieed by additional threats moving up the board.

It's a possibility to make one Flyrant T9 FnP, IWND + a 5+ Invuln for shooting attacks.
This increases his survivability but it's situational dependant on powers rolled.

Other tactics need to be accounted for and used if you do not get the powers you need to make him uber.

L0rdF1end wrote:Flyrant is ultra useful.

It's sheer pace up the table is scary coupled with twin link devourers.

It needs protection though, buffed through phychic powers.

It/they also need to be accompanieed by additional threats moving up the board.

It's a possibility to make one Flyrant T9 FnP, IWND + a 5+ Invuln for shooting attacks.
This increases his survivability but it's situational dependant on powers rolled.

Other tactics need to be accounted for and used if you do not get the powers you need to make him uber.

I run 2, with tervigons as troops to ensure catalyst is available. I roll the biomancy on the tyrants, buff them according to what spells they get, and throw feel no pain onto them with tervigons, then send them up the field. a trygon fleets behind them, with the tervigons spewing out scoring units onto objectives in the backfield, advancing to meet any oncoming threats/tanks. It's been a pretty successful formation so far - the enemy doesn't know what to target first!

L0rdF1end wrote: It's a possibility to make one Flyrant T9 FnP, IWND + a 5+ Invuln for shooting attacks.

Probably a stupid question, whats IWND?

Bradford1111 wrote:

L0rdF1end wrote: It's a possibility to make one Flyrant T9 FnP, IWND + a 5+ Invuln for shooting attacks.

Probably a stupid question, whats IWND?

"It Will Not Die", the new regeneration USR, that is even better than Regeneration.

barnowl wrote:

Bradford1111 wrote:

L0rdF1end wrote: It's a possibility to make one Flyrant T9 FnP, IWND + a 5+ Invuln for shooting attacks.

Probably a stupid question, whats IWND?

"It Will Not Die", the new regeneration USR, that is even better than Regeneration.

IWND is not better then regeneration. IWND lets you regenerate a single wounds on a 5+. Regeneration lets you attempt to regenerate each lost wound on a 6+ per wound.

The really nice thing is that they stack.