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Hello.

Currently I am a deathguard player but I’m looking for a 2nd arny to begin. With the choice being Tyranids.

I’ve yet to dive into the codex yet but I wanted to ask the forums what would be advised as a “go to” set of units to begin with.

The obvious hq and 2 troops thing springs to mind but any in particular for a newbie nids player.

Hive Fleet makes a difference,, but Genestealers will always be part of a Nids force. What style of play are you looking for? Also pl or points?

Here's a couple truths about Tyranids before you begin:

1. You'll be building and painting a lot of models.
2. They're a higher skill cap army than others.

A cool model to start with is a Broodlord. You don't really have to worry about choosing guns with him. And, he makes Genestealers better.

Genestealers are best when brought in squads of 20. They're very fragile, with only a 5++ to keep them save.

I would recommend starting with the new "Start Collecting" box. If you already understand how Tyranids work on a fundamental level and have an idea in mind for your army, just start with a Hive Tyrant.

My play style with them I’m not sure yet. Never tried them. In general I’m shooty. I Like hard to kill armies.

I noticed the skill level is much higher with these guys as there’s so many different auras to keep track of and lots of phychic to buff. Never really though of gene stealers tbh. I need to check them out. I always thought the go to unit would be gaunts. Flying hive tyrant appeals and the swarmlord.

I usually play power points as I’ve had only a handful of games in 8E. Hopefully switching to proper points internees future .

Any units to avoid?

 Carl4t7 wrote:
Never really though of gene stealers tbh. I need to check them out. I always thought the go to unit would be gaunts.

Genestealers are the highest valued troops because they're a serious threat to just about any target. Which makes them useful in most lists. You can kinda just chuck them into an army and expect to do some damage, even without worrying about adding a bunch of supporting units (although support certainly does help).
They also benefit greatly from nearly all hive fleet adaptaions. The only one which doesn't do much for them is Kronos, which is more oriented around gunlines.

Hormagaunts are fantastic for tying up enemies and stopping them from shooting. However no matter how many of them you have, they're never going to kill much. They have a specialised role, whereas the genestealers are more general purpose.

Termagants have two main uses.
One is as a pile of cheap bodies to screen your models from assaults. Sometimes people mix some devourers into a screening unit to give it a bit of punch.
The other is to give them all devourers and deepstrike them, murdering whatever is nearby with 90 shots (and then firing again using the shoot-twice stratagem if needed).
Fairly useful, but still a little more specialised than genestealers.

 Carl4t7 wrote:

Any units to avoid?

The only units I'd recommend against are Lictors, along with the special character Deathleaper. Sadly they're kinda bad in matched play. They don't do much by themselves, and their only real use was as a taxi to cheaply deepstrike in units of genestealers, but a recent FAQ prevented them from doing that.
Some other units are better than others, some are perhaps slightly redundant, but I can come up with a use for pretty much anything else.

Lictors are fine to get, its Deathleaper and Gargoyles that are traps.

I don't see gargoyles as all that bad. They serve a similar role to hormagaunts. Tying stuff up. Sorta redundant most of the time, but decent at their job.
Kraken ones in particular are pretty great. Screening units have a lot of trouble with them since they can fall back out of combat over top of the screen, then charge the units behind it (plus shoot).

What use do you have for Lictors? I can almost see Deathleaper as a deepstriking somewhat hard to kill objective holder, but for standard lictors I've got nothing.

Hormagants tho pile in and consolidate 6" thats huge compare to +1pts (compare to Hgants) for a DSing gant, for every 5 Goyles you can get 1 extra Hgant (so a unit of 20 goyles is 25 Hgants) and you can Tie up units much more effectively.

Lictors are great for some play styles that needs reinforcements or DSing other units, Helpful for Jormungandr lists, the 3 Jor list i played the 2 Lictors helped a lot. And if you need a Brigade they are there too.

Nids actually does Brigades well, at least IMO.

One big tip for tyranids - MAGNETS

Tyranid warriors, carnifex, hive tyrants and most of the big models have a range of weapon choices. These choices can make the model a pure close combat monster, a half and half or a fully ranged creature with varying types within each group. Furthermore codex changes will often adjust which are the best weapons to take and can even make certain combinations of weapons legal or illegal (eg in the past it was legal to take two heavy weapons on carnifex, then it was ruled out, then ruled back in again)


Magnets on the arms of warriors and anything larger makes a serious saving and improves your ability to adapt and change your army to suit different play styles (and in the future rules editions). It's a huge saving as now you might only need to buy, say, 3 carnifex whereas trying to get every combo would be a huge number of the beasties - it also helps in transporting as with detachable arms you can, again, carry variety with you without needing a van.

Tyranids tend to suffer from this more than many other factions because the variety is on the bigger units far more so than on troop types; with bigger units costing more; taking time to build and also being bulkier to transport.


There are also a good number of duel kits that are fairly easy to magnetize into both model choices without too much difficulty; although how far you want to take magnetizing is totally up to you (if you choose to do it at all).

 Amishprn86 wrote:
Hormagants tho pile in and consolidate 6" thats huge compare to +1pts (compare to Hgants) for a DSing gant, for every 5 Goyles you can get 1 extra Hgant (so a unit of 20 goyles is 25 Hgants) and you can Tie up units much more effectively.

Lictors are great for some play styles that needs reinforcements or DSing other units, Helpful for Jormungandr lists, the 3 Jor list i played the 2 Lictors helped a lot. And if you need a Brigade they are there too.

Nids actually does Brigades well, at least IMO.

Yes the 6" pile in + consolidate for hormagaunts is great.
The deepstrike, 12" move, and being able to move over enemy models is also great for gargoyles. Yes they are more expensive, but it's a good ability that can penetrate a screen in a way hormagaunts cannot.



Barring missions with special reinforcement rules, there isn't much you can use a lictor for. I think you can spend that command point to get a unit of deepstriking spore mines 9" away from an enemy instead of their usual 12". EDIT: Oh wait, that doesn't work because spore mines aren't infantry.
Or you could be playing Hydra and using their Endless Swarm stratagem to resurrect dead units by the lictor instead of your board edge. Generally seen as a bad idea in matched play due to having to set aside points in your army for potential replacement units.

I'm failing to see how it helps in a Jormangundr list. You already spent a command point on a unit to make it deepstrike next to a mawloc, trygon, or ravener unit, and now you're spending another command point to make that unit deepstrike next to the lictor instead? That seems like an odd and incredibly situational thing to do. Am I missing something?

One further point, as this has confused some new to the faction - remember that whilst the new concept of Hive Fleets has come with this codex edition NOTHING forces you to use official paint schemes. Furthermore nothing stops you using your tyranids for whatever hive-fleet you wish; even if they are all painted with the same colour scheme.

Ergo treat hive fleet selection rather like selecting biomorphs - nice to model if you want, but in practical real world terms not important. The only important bit being able to tell which unit is which on the tabletop.

Thanks for the input. Lots to think about.

I just sent you a PM

 Carl4t7 wrote:

Any units to avoid?

I have most of the tyranid line and have played a fair amount of 8th. Only units I have had little to no success with are Toxicrenes, can't really find a use, and Haruspex, melee carnifex do his job better.

Also, get Hive Guard.

 Overread wrote:
remember that whilst the new concept of Hive Fleets has come with this codex edition NOTHING forces you to use official paint schemes. Furthermore nothing stops you using your tyranids for whatever hive-fleet you wish; even if they are all painted with the same colour scheme.

I'd like to call this out as being very wise. Pick your own scheme and go with it. If you need advice on layering colors to achieve a good effect, there are quite a few of us here who can help you.

If you most often play power levels, then take along look at Hydra it's pretty poor for matched, but rawks in pl. Due to its big strategy that lets you return destroyed unit.