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Okay so I am not a current nid player, but am looking to understand more about them and hopefully start my own force of them in the weeks to come. The formations I guess confuse me slightly, so I don't know if this list I wrote is legal, or maybe it is but through using formations and allies? This list is basically me asking if an army like this could function well enough... Nothing super competitive just a force using a lot of bugs I like and what not. Along with it being legal or not of course. Thank you for all of you help with this!

Tyranids 1850

HQ
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs

Swarm lord-285


TROOPS
30 hormagaunts-150
30 hormagaunts-150

ELITE
Zoanthrope-50
Zoanthrope-50

HEAVY
1 Dakkafex-150
2 twin link devourers
1 Dakkafex-150
2 twin link devourers

Mawloc-140

Dubd797 wrote:
Okay so I am not a current nid player, but am looking to understand more about them and hopefully start my own force of them in the weeks to come. The formations I guess confuse me slightly, so I don't know if this list I wrote is legal, or maybe it is but through using formations and allies? This list is basically me asking if an army like this could function well enough... Nothing super competitive just a force using a lot of bugs I like and what not. Along with it being legal or not of course. Thank you for all of you help with this!

Tyranids 1850

HQ
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs

Swarm lord-285


TROOPS
30 hormagaunts-150
30 hormagaunts-150

ELITE
Zoanthrope-50
Zoanthrope-50

HEAVY
1 Dakkafex-150
2 twin link devourers
1 Dakkafex-150
2 twin link devourers

Mawloc-140

Well it is super scarey, but it is not "battle forged". That is not a requirement, but it may be hard to find games if you are not. A "normal" CAD is 1-2 HQ's and you have more than that. If you use the Leviathan Formation you can have 3.
But then your Troops are not Objective secured. (you get to re-roll Instinctive Behavior instead) You also need three Troops for Leviathan as well (not a problem)

You also should include one or more sources of Shrouding as well. It is just too dang useful not to have.

One way to add more HQ slots is to use a Formation, such as SkyTyrant, or Hyper Toxic Node. Sky Blight also adds a Winged Tyrant, but requires a huge number of items, so that it dominates the build.

One very strong Formation that is not too expensive is Living Artillery Node. It adds no HQ, but it gives re-rolls, and frees up two Heavy slots, and Heavy is one of the best sections of the Codex.

Okay that is good to know about that formation, so using that leviathan formation here is a similar idea, I think it might be over 5 points but I can cut a guant or something. How does this look??

Tyranids 1850

HQ
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs

Swarm lord-285


TROOPS
20 hormagaunts-100
20 hormagaunts-100
20 hormagaunts-100

ELITE
2 Zoanthrope-100
2 Zoanthrope-100

HEAVY
3 Dakkafex-450
2 twin link devourers

Mawloc-140

If your foots logging a swarm lord with no guard your gonna need a venomthrope or two or he's a dead bug

warren0110 wrote:
If your foots logging a swarm lord with no guard your gonna need a venomthrope or two or he's a dead bug

Word, you'd be better off if you drop Swarmy, and put in a third Winged Tyrant, and use the savings to get a Venothrope.

Late entry: You have an unused Heavy slot, so you can split off one of the Dakkafexen..

What pinecone77 said, definitely drop the swarm lord unless you take a group of tyrant guard with him. Also, with a hormagaunt heavy list like this, venomthropes are welcomed.

So something more or less along the lines of this? Am I confusing my thropes maybe?? Hahah not sure which ones I should be looking at or not. Here is an update. Thanks again this is a tremendous help!

Tyranids 1850

HQ
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs


TROOPS
20 hormagaunts-100
20 hormagaunts-100
20 hormagaunts-100

ELITE
2 Zoanthrope-100
2 Zoanthrope-100
3 venomthropes-135

HEAVY
2 Dakkafex-300
2 twin link devourers

2 Dakkafex-300
2 twin link devourers

Mawloc-140



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay so I believe I mixed up venomthropes hahah. So how about this, has a lot of carnifex (my favorite bug can you tell). But I think giving what was said this list should perform decent using a lot of the models I love in the tyranid army.

Tyranids 1850

HQ
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs
Flyrant-240
2 twin link devourers
E grubs

TROOPS
20 hormagaunts-100
20 hormagaunts-100

ELITE
1 venomthropes-45
1 venomthropes-45
1 venomthropes-45

HEAVY
3 Dakkafex-450
2 twin link devourers

3 Dakkafex-450
2 twin link devourers

Mawloc-140

Those look very nice, but you are forgetting Synapse, with it Nids are unstoppable killing machines, without...they are IG at best. But you really need several sources, take a look at two slots of Venothrope, and one of Zoey, and/or a Warrior Brood, and you will be a lot happier with how your force plays.

The reason the Tyrants are not enough is that they need to be zooming around messing stuff up, so they are out of range most of the time.

The "perfect" build doesn't exist, it depends on your local meta, and your personal style.