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So any tips on what units to use or avoid when starting a Nid army?

Don't be loyal to the Nids' Codex or you'll be limited to Flyrant Spam. Ally with Genestealer Cult.

Nah, Nid's are better then most people give them credit for. I tend to just put a 150+ gaunts on the table and a bit of a synapse web then just sit on the objectives. Not many people can kill that many obe sec gaunts and to do damage I bring a few biovores and mawwacks.

Agree with Mew28.

Nid list building is about building in distractions and redundancies.

-My lists tend to have 2 groups of 15 hormagaunts that run up the sides of the board. If people focus on the little guys they miss my big guys. If they try to bring down my big guys, a group of 15 hormagaunts can eat through a lot of infantry very quickly just from the number of dice you will be throwing. Adrenal glands help because the extra +1 str means many more dice will wound.

-You want overlapping synapse nodes. It's not enough to have 1 synapse guy in the middle. That guy will get targeted and die. Have any 1 unit being supported by at least 2 synapse models at any time. If the enemy focuses on your synapse then all your other little and big monsters can get through and do their jobs.

-Flyrants are your star unit. But I think it's generally unfair to bring more than 1 for every 1k points in your army. TL Devourers are our best gun. Electroshock grubs to take out the heaviest armor.

-Nids biggest weaknesses are a lack of AP2 and a lack of long range. The living artillery node covers this. 1 exocrine (either a ap2 large blast or 6 ap2 shots at 24"), 3 biovore (3 large blast at 48") and a group of warriors with a biocanon. As long as the exocrine and biovores are in the warriors synapse range they get to reroll scatter and all shooting attacks get pinning. Pinning will almost never matter depending on what armies you generally face (but can help a lot with those hormagaunts charging in) but the reroll scatter on the biovores is great. This is the one formation I feel like Nids REALLY need

-Zoanthropes are really great. One of, if not the only, invul save you will have. Good synapse unit. Warp blast helps kill the av 13/14 gak like land raiders. I don't bring them in groups of 3. A group of 2 and a brood of 2 gives me 2 more warp dice and a second synapse node to keep the synapse web spread out and strong with those overlapping areas of synpase I was talking about.

 mew28 wrote:
Nah, Nid's are better then most people give them credit for. I tend to just put a 150+ gaunts on the table and a bit of a synapse web then just sit on the objectives. Not many people can kill that many obe sec gaunts and to do damage I bring a few biovores and mawwacks.

Except if you don't get first turn your opponent will nab those objectives then screw about and try to slow you down during your turns so moving all those Gaunts becomes a drag and you struggle to finish games.
Or you get paired with massed large blasts and simply get blown off the table.
Or somebody terminates all your synapse critters and your gaunts eat each other or mill their way off the board.
There's plenty of...not good but plenty of reasons Nids don't do so great in Tournaments.

There is a major difference between playing the game and playing in tournaments.

Nids are running off a codex from 6th that wasn't great in 6th with none of the power creep since the necron dex brought in decurions.

Yeah, they don't do great at tournements outside of a few very specific builds. But nids run better then most would expect in any game that isn't about laying down the cheesiest cheese.

Units I avoid:
Tyranid Prime
Genestalers (the Tyranid codex version, they actually look good in Genestealer Cults because there they have an Uncut)
Haruspex
Pyrovires
Shrikes
Raveners
The Red Terror
Harpies
Trygon
Trygon Prime

Units I use most often:
Flying Hive Tyrant w/ 2X TL Devourers (best unit in the codex, have at least 2 and use them every game...you're going to need all the help you can get honestly)
Tervigons (for fun more than competitiveness)
Warriors (for synapse and because they unlock alot of formations)
Termagants
Zoanthropes
Venomthropes
Hive Crones
Carnifexes
Mawlocs
Exocrines

I may one day convert a couple Mucolid Spores for my troops. After playing Tyranids for a while now, I always have the most fun running Nidzilla (as many monstrous creatures as you can get). Termagants are fun and all, but they are a PITA to paint because you need lots and lots, and they are kind of a PITA to push that many little bugs across the board.

I'll say Venomthropes are almost a must IMO. You're going to need cover saves playing Tyranids, and that's what they provide.

 Lance845 wrote:
There is a major difference between playing the game and playing in tournaments.

Nids are running off a codex from 6th that wasn't great in 6th with none of the power creep since the necron dex brought in decurions.

Yeah, they don't do great at tournements outside of a few very specific builds. But nids run better then most would expect in any game that isn't about laying down the cheesiest cheese.

Sort of this.

The current Tyranid codex comes from that period in 6th ed. where GW dragged their rules designers in and slapped them on the wrist for Codex Creep after the Tau/Eldar/SM power spike which saw later codexes being relatively tame. (Seriously, compare AM, Orks, BA and Tyranids to the 6th ed. Tau and Eldar books.)

They're just before the Decurion era and just after the original 6th ed power spike.

Doesn't help that most of their formations are the early proto-formations when they were all digital only dataslates as well with nowhere near the benefits that more modern formations get and so much tax.

Magnets.

That's my biggest bit of advice for Tyranids.

You don't have to use them, however with an older codex they are well in line for another and the beasties in tyranid armies have quite a variety of weapon load-out choices. As a result rule changes can result in big shifts in what works; for example one time double heavy weapons on carnifex's was the way to go; then the next codex made duel heavy weapons illegal; then the next one brought them back again.


So to both avoid having models rendered illegal for play; and to also give you choices whilst you play so that you can choose different options without having to buy new models for every different combo.


Generally Tyranid warriors and anything bigger would be worth magnetizing for the weapon arms. Most of the larger kits can also be easily magnetized and there are many guides out there.
Of course how far you take it, if you choose to at all, is your own choice in things. One method can be to magnetize some so that you've got options for choice; and then perma fix more scenic models or just a core of choices.


I wouldn't bother magnetizing gaunts, they are too small and too numerous and generally speaking the investment in time and effort would be a more of a pain for most people; but they can be magnetized as well if you choose.

Forgive me I forgot to mention I was planning to ally with Genestealers, (since I have some IG tanks and troops to use).

What exacly is a flyrant, a flying hive tyrant?

Spam troops with some being meathsields for others and redunancy is key, got it.

Overlap snyapses, again I see the reduandcency

Devourers are the best guns electroshock grups the strongest armour, got it.
Needed arty to be long range, cool.
zoanthropes are useful, got it

Units I avoid:
Tyranid Prime
Genestalers (the Tyranid codex version, they actually look good in Genestealer Cults because there they have an Uncut)
Haruspex
Pyrovires
Shrikes
Raveners
The Red Terror
Harpies
Trygon
Trygon Prime

Trygon still looks awefully cool , might take just for the look.

Units I use most often:
Flying Hive Tyrant w/ 2X TL Devourers (best unit in the codex, have at least 2 and use them every game...you're going to need all the help you can get honestly)
Tervigons (for fun more than competitiveness)
Warriors (for synapse and because they unlock alot of formations)
Termagants
Zoanthropes
Venomthropes
Hive Crones
Carnifexes
Mawlocs
Exocrines

Ok

Because they function so differently peole refere to hive tyrants as flyrants or walkrants. So yeah, flying hive tyrant.

 Lance845 wrote:
There is a major difference between playing the game and playing in tournaments.

Nids are running off a codex from 6th that wasn't great in 6th with none of the power creep since the necron dex brought in decurions.

Yeah, they don't do great at tournements outside of a few very specific builds. But nids run better then most would expect in any game that isn't about laying down the cheesiest cheese.

Any army does all right if you let them.
In casual play you can even make Squatts unsquatted.

 Dakka Wolf wrote:

 mew28 wrote:
Nah, Nid's are better then most people give them credit for. I tend to just put a 150+ gaunts on the table and a bit of a synapse web then just sit on the objectives. Not many people can kill that many obe sec gaunts and to do damage I bring a few biovores and mawwacks.

Except if you don't get first turn your opponent will nab those objectives then screw about and try to slow you down during your turns so moving all those Gaunts becomes a drag and you struggle to finish games.
Or you get paired with massed large blasts and simply get blown off the table.
Or somebody terminates all your synapse critters and your gaunts eat each other or mill their way off the board.
There's plenty of...not good but plenty of reasons Nids don't do so great in Tournaments.

If you don't get first turn you are walking to the objectives just as fast. Only thing is you get to be in effective range sooner because they moved up.

Massed large basted can be dealt with by running a few venomthropes and normally tends to come from tank heavy list. Your neurothrope and hive tyrants can butcher them.

If you lose all your synapse you have either done something horribly wrong or it is late in the game and it dose not matter very much.

All the problems you listed can be dealt with by a bit of smart playing and planning.

Have fun with whatever you decide. Win or lose, play for the hive mind. Regardless of what people say on the internet, ultimately, you have control over your swarm and what works for some may not work for you and vice versa.

P.S. 390 pt Trygon Primes are fun. 8-9 attacks on the charge at I7 with reroll to wounds, preferred enemy, as well as ID on 6s for anyone is something most people don't expect. Also looks great.

CommanderRednaxela wrote:

What exacly is a flyrant, a flying hive tyrant?

Yep, that's what it means.