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So I've just tried Warriors for the first time, as I had some spare points so I thought, yeah why not.

I ran 4 warriors with Devourers and Lash Whip and Boneswords in a pod.

With the game finished and me pondering over the result its got me thinking a bit more about the Warrior and their cousins. I've been noticing that high volumes of Str8 weapons have been in decline in my games, in favour of more DAKKKA.

I didn't really get a full feel for their abilities as they were tar pitted by Spawn along with my Warlord Flyrant Turn 3, and my opponent succesfully cast Invisibilty on the Spawn so it wasn't the best match up. They still did well though.

So I know look to the wealth of knowledge I know is out there amongst the Nids players, what tricks and tactics can be used with the 3 units, what are the best ways to run them have people found? Pods, no pods? Upgrades? Squad sizes? Bring a Prime?

Appreciate your responses in advance guys.

Are these guys really that underused?

One of the best ways to use Raveners, perhaps the best(at least I think) is to take 2-3 Lictors, you cam place them within 1in of an enemy, amd the next turn any other deep striking units can come in within 6in of the Lictors, and not scatter!

Now, the Lictors may not get the attack, as they cannot assault, but they can shoot, and it will be effective. And besides, next turn when lets say, 9 Raveners, drop in, it wont really matter.

Some points, try and avoid power weapon heavy units, the Lictors need to live for the Raveners to come in. Unless, you know the assault is yours, which is should be. The Raveners ei get all their attacks out and leave few things left. Give them a set of scything talons and rending claws. This will assure the maximum amount of damage.

I would suggest however, that you take out the not as elite units with this tactic. Leaving a huge gap in the enemy lines where there used to be a whole unit, can be very disorienting when it happens in one turn.

As for Warriors, I have found they are best when running a Termagant spawning list. Give them some Venom Cannoms to help with some big fire, and send them in with a Tervigon. On the close combat end, take some Geenstealers and get the Warriors into combat asfast as possible, with the Geenstealers. Even if the Genestealers are dead, attack and finish off the same unit.

With Shrikes, im not too sure. I have seldom utilized them, and had little success when I do. I hope the rest helps though!

The only problem with using the lictor trick is if they both come in from reserves the same way, maybe using a trygon/prime and tunneling up would be a better trick for these?


Thinking of a list something like this
+ HQ + (350pts)
* Hive Tyrant (260pts)
, 2x Twin-linked Devourers with Brainleech Worms Wings

* Tyranid Prime (90pts)
Devourer, Pair of Boneswords

+ Elites + (452pts)
* The Doom of Malan'tai (130pts)
* Mycetic Spore (40pts)

* Ymgarl Genestealer Brood (161pts)
* 7x Ymgarl Genestealer

* Ymgarl Genestealer Brood (161pts)
* 7x Ymgarl Genestealer

+ Troops + (770pts)

* Termagant Brood (50pts)
* 10x Termagant

* Termagant Brood (50pts)
* 10x Termagant

* Tervigon (215pts)
Adrenal Glands , Catalyst, , Cluster Spines, Dominion, Onslaught Scything Talons , Toxin Sacs

* Tervigon (215pts)
Adrenal Glands , Catalyst, , Cluster Spines, Dominion, Onslaught Scything Talons , Toxin Sacs

* Tyranid Warrior Brood (240pts)
* 4x Tyranid Warrior
4x Devourer, 4x Lash Whip and Bonesword
* Tyranid Warrior with heavy weapon
Lash whip and Boneswords Venom Cannon

+ Fast Attack + (175pts)

* Ravener Brood (175pts)
* 5x Ravener (175pts)
5x Rending Claws 5x Scything Talons

+ Heavy Support + (250pts)
* Trygon (250pts)
Toxin Sacs , Upgrade to Trygon Prime

I find that Raveners are very good, especially since they changed the rules for Beasts. They won't stand up to a hardy, dedicated assault unit, but they have the maneuverability to get around such units and threaten infantry.

As for Warriors and Shrikes, I find that they're too expensive and fragile to rely on. I might camp and objective with a small unit of Warriors, but do anything with them is a risk.

I have been finding Ravenors and Shrikes quite useful. The 5+ hurts on the shrikes but being jump troops, I find that DS them behind cover lets them get a turn of shooting survive the incoming fire and get a nice assault off the next turn. Ravenors much the same except I can DS them in to terrain since they are beasts with out fear.

Warrior's I have not gotten out much yet in 6e. Running the strangler in any brood with shooting is going to be a must after the last round of faqs. A Prime will reduce the pain of most high S weapons thanks to his T5. To bad you can't put him in a pod.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I see you out a VC in your list. Have you really compared to the Strangler? Currently the VC just does not seem to have target and I don't see the extra 5 points worth the reduction in blast size for the increase in of +2S and and ap4.

I've had a bit of success with Shrikes of late in several games.
I dont DS however, I just find absorbing that round of shooting after they DS or getting charged once they land hurts them too much.
Terrain hopping them up the board I find much more useful especially and obviously with some BLoS pieces.
They are fast and manouverable and hit quite hard when they go in tooled up right.
I usually support them with a Winged Tyrant or the Parasite.
Havent run anything bigger than 1500 with them so its usually 4 max in a unit with rending (incase they come up against MEQs armor).
Keep them cheap imo - 4 on the charge should net you 16 attacks with rerolls if you take scything and WS5 is not to be scoffed at.
Agreed they are expensive and 5+ save isnt great but again with 4, thats 12 wonds to get through and backed up with the Tyrant/Para they have got the job done well for me to date.

The Warrior/Prime combo I have found to be mixed. They can be slow as footsloggers and if you run them you obviously lose their pretty potent shooting ability. They become almost like a semi mobile firebase but I think Hive Guard can do a better job.
They also suffer VS armor, str5 max on the Prime if you want them cheap struggles VS AV12 and above (Dreads, defliers and the like and T4-5 means they can get instagibbed).
You can of course give them rending or furious (?) but it puts their points up quite a bit.

I'd love to comment more but all my brain keeps repeating is:

No EW, no EW, no EW!

Oh they were so good before! I can't entertain the thought of running them for the exact same reason as I'd never run foot Nobz.

But bless you for trying, and keep us updated it they do anything.

How are Raveners best used? I'm thinking about getting some, but should I spend the points for Rending Claws? Deathspitter? Devourer? Spinefists?

Warriors, Shrikes, and Raveners are great as long as you temper your expectations and measure their point value in your meta. I pretty much explicitly play against grey knights in my meta, so warriors/shrikes/raveners can absolutely dunk on some terminators if they have dual boneswords, but they will not stand against prolonged fire.

The way I have come to play them is to intend for them to die; that way you're not disappointed by instant death. Same expectations with Lictors. I find that for point value, I would rather have more gargoyles.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Larmsword wrote:
How are Raveners best used? I'm thinking about getting some, but should I spend the points for Rending Claws? Deathspitter? Devourer? Spinefists?

Rending is nice for positional control on mech armor. The guns aren't necessary. If you want some dakka, buy things that have better (or in nids case, more) dakka.

 PipeAlley wrote:
I'd love to comment more but all my brain keeps repeating is:

No EW, no EW, no EW!

Oh they were so good before! I can't entertain the thought of running them for the exact same reason as I'd never run foot Nobz.

But bless you for trying, and keep us updated it they do anything.

I so miss our old codex. It would have been so much more fun in 6e.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

hubbsey wrote:

Rending is nice for positional control on mech armor. The guns aren't necessary. If you want some dakka, buy things that have better (or in nids case, more) dakka.

Yeah, that makes sense. I guess you could use the guns the turn they Deep Strike... but do you Deep Strike them normally? Or do you just zip them across the table?

 Larmsword wrote:
Automatically Appended Next Post:

hubbsey wrote:

Rending is nice for positional control on mech armor. The guns aren't necessary. If you want some dakka, buy things that have better (or in nids case, more) dakka.

Yeah, that makes sense. I guess you could use the guns the turn they Deep Strike... but do you Deep Strike them normally? Or do you just zip them across the table?

It depends on the army you're facing. Identify what will give you a better tactical advantage. If they have a really strong gunline, it might be a better value to run them across the field behind gribblies, so they can be depended on to take out more than one thing. If they have a weak gunline or hinge on important units (I'm looking at you, Long Fangs spam), I would deep strike them. In a mixed army, identify whether spot removal / fire disruption is better than a bigger horde.