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I'm thinking about starting Tyranids, I sold my Dark Angels a month ago to focus on getting better with my Eldar who have been a casual army, and ever since then I have not lost a game, and I am become monster in my scene. I want to do a non imperial army, and I always liked Zerg in Starcraft so Tyranids seem like a no brainer. I borrowed my friends army and got started.

The first problem I am having is weapon loadouts, I am familiar with the common Flyrant, what I have issue with is as follows:
Hormagaunts, is a big group of Devourer gaunts worth it? What's a common loadout for a 30 blob?
Tervigons- I've been told they're "no good" anymore, why? They still spit lil buds out like crazy.
Warriors- Ohhhh god what do I equip them with? They seem so fragile for being 30pts and Synapse.
Synapse- I'm sure i'll get the hang of this but it seems hard to keep all your units within Synapse range. What units do people usually bring to lay it down?


Any other tips are greatly appreciated, and unless i'm told otherwise, I want to add an Exocrene to my list, Assault 6 S7 AP2 sounds doooooope.

Well the dataslates are definitely worth checking out.

I like hormagants because they are so darn fast for tons of cheap troops, I like the way they look too, but most people don't include them in their power lists because termagants are likely more efficient. They basic termigant is cheap and effective for the price.

Tervigons are still awesome; it's just folks hanging on to previous codex and "tervigon spam builds" that say otherwise.

I don't run a power or "competitive" list but I always have fun with nids. I went more for the Starship Troopers mass of gaunts type feel, which is why I love hormagants.

I've never run the Exocrine, but nothing is as good as the Carnifex with 2 twin-linked devourers with brain leeches. That's 12 rerollable s6 shots. I run a brood of 3. :-)

Gants: I think you're confusing Horma and Termagants, but 30 Termagants with 15 Devourers are very effective.

Tervigons are "good not great" units. If you don't plan on going to a GT, they'll serve you well as they're very solid support choices and can help create more gants.

Warriors: Keep them cheap. As you mentioned they're fragile, so don't invest a lot in them. A barbed Strangler is great, and then maybe rending claws or Deathspitters can be fun to give a little extra kick, but more than that isn't needed.

Finally, Exocrines are good units, I would definitely reccomend one. I would look into the formations, especially the Living Artillery node, as it makes Exocrines awesome. Dakkafex are good choices too though as mentioned above.

Finally, I would reccomend a single Flyrant to start, and also to check out the Tyranid tactic thread in the tactics sub forum. Welcome to the hive!

2-3 flyrants, 3 other flying nids. 2 bases of small nids, 1 venomothrope. The rest of points should go in to flying mines and a biovore. Another option is to run some necron or IG ally both option make the nids work much better . necron give nids strong contesting units and a 6-7th powerful fast moving unit in form of barge lords and wrights , the IG can bring wyverns to help nids with chaff clearing. This is how nids are played here and all the people that do are happy with the lists.

Gunzhard wrote:Well the dataslates are definitely worth checking out.

I like hormagants because they are so darn fast for tons of cheap troops, I like the way they look too, but most people don't include them in their power lists because termagants are likely more efficient. They basic termigant is cheap and effective for the price.

Tervigons are still awesome; it's just folks hanging on to previous codex and "tervigon spam builds" that say otherwise.

I don't run a power or "competitive" list but I always have fun with nids. I went more for the Starship Troopers mass of gaunts type feel, which is why I love hormagants.

I've never run the Exocrine, but nothing is as good as the Carnifex with 2 twin-linked devourers with brain leeches. That's 12 rerollable s6 shots. I run a brood of 3. :-)

Yeah the new Sky something Brood with the Flyrant and the Gargoyles seemed really cool, and you're right on the money with why I want to pick up nids, I want to to paint a bunch of buggies, put +100 models on the table and mush them into something for fun. The Brood of 3 is another Staple I seem to see, and I'm totally okay with that too. I think my starting purchase after this holiday seasons savings are done is 1/2 of the Deathstorm box, Carnifex brood and a Tyranid Swarm box. I can borrow a Hive Tyrant until i'm on my 2-6 feet hehe.

jifel wrote:Gants: I think you're confusing Horma and Termagants, but 30 Termagants with 15 Devourers are very effective.

Tervigons are "good not great" units. If you don't plan on going to a GT, they'll serve you well as they're very solid support choices and can help create more gants.

Warriors: Keep them cheap. As you mentioned they're fragile, so don't invest a lot in them. A barbed Strangler is great, and then maybe rending claws or Deathspitters can be fun to give a little extra kick, but more than that isn't needed.

Finally, Exocrines are good units, I would definitely recommend one. I would look into the formations, especially the Living Artillery node, as it makes Exocrines awesome. Dakkafex are good choices too though as mentioned above.

Finally, I would recommend a single Flyrant to start, and also to check out the Tyranid tactic thread in the tactics sub forum. Welcome to the hive!

Yes thank you for the clarification, since I'm new to Tyranids and there's barley any players in my area, I'm still tripping over unit/weapon names. Very good advice on the Warriors, just as I thought that I shouldn't kit them out, and yes, I will absolutely look for the Tactics thread and read up a bit, I just spent my lunch break trying to make sense of all the units we have.

 Deafbeats wrote:
I'm thinking about starting Tyranids, I sold my Dark Angels a month ago to focus on getting better with my Eldar who have been a casual army, and ever since then I have not lost a game, and I am become monster in my scene. I want to do a non imperial army, and I always liked Zerg in Starcraft so Tyranids seem like a no brainer. I borrowed my friends army and got started.

The first problem I am having is weapon loadouts, I am familiar with the common Flyrant, what I have issue with is as follows:
Hormagaunts, is a big group of Devourer gaunts worth it? What's a common loadout for a 30 blob?
Tervigons- I've been told they're "no good" anymore, why? They still spit lil buds out like crazy.
Warriors- Ohhhh god what do I equip them with? They seem so fragile for being 30pts and Synapse.
Synapse- I'm sure i'll get the hang of this but it seems hard to keep all your units within Synapse range. What units do people usually bring to lay it down?


Any other tips are greatly appreciated, and unless i'm told otherwise, I want to add an Exocrene to my list, Assault 6 S7 AP2 sounds doooooope.

Well, the basics...Tyranids generally do best when they avoid upgrades, and just buy more figures. So whenever you are not sure, this is a good fall back posision.

Ok, I'm pretty sure your talking about Termagants...I like Spinefist for these ladies, but that is for the look alone. You'll want "plain" "vanilla" ones for the Tervigon spawns, because for some goofy reason the Codex specifies.

Devourers are a very good, and very expensive upgrade, often called "Devilgaunts" (also Devilgants) I usually recommend going 50/50, or even 2/3, 1/3 It's cheaper, and you can take off the cheap ones as wounds, preserving your fire power. I often use Termagants in x20 Broods, then toss in 10 Devilgaunts if I want a Tervigon.

It's not so much that Tervigons got "bad", it's that they took a nurf, And got more expensive. One is still a credible purchase, but multiples is kinda...less than optimal. In keeping with the general principle of don't upgrade! I normally add a Thorax Hive, and call it done. That runs 205 pts, and gives you a Template weapon.(I almost always use Electro-bugs, for the Haywire) I really like to take Hive Commander, and Outflank her.

Warriors are a decent source of Synapse, and are often needed for Formations. I run them in Broods of 3. I always want a Cannon (I prefer Strangle) so bare bones that runs 100 pts, camp them in a terrain, and snipe with the cannon. If you want to upgrade a little, x2 Deathspitters is a nice one, and x2 Rending Claws is a nice boost to CC. Either way costs 10 points. You can kit like crazy, but they are so expensive to start with that it is a poor plan.

I like to use Zoenthropes as a source of durable Synapse (3++ save) that gives psyche buffs, and is ML2. Venothropes are another very useful "combat multiplier". Sadly they compete for the same slots. So the basic build is 2 slots of Zoeys, one of Veno. (my fav) Or one slot of Zoey, two Venos...Malanthrope is a FW "super" Veno that is pretty awesome but expensive (in dollars).

If you like Exocrene, you should look to pick up 3 Biovore, add in a Brood of Warriors (with a Venom Cannon) and you have the "Living Artillery" Node. It is very strong, and runs from 390 to 400, depending on kit/upgrades.


Good Luck! And welcome to the Hive Mind!