Hive Tyrant or Swarmlord?

[Blackcloud6]

I painted up a second hand Tyranid Swarm set with a few extra. I used them once in a learning game against my son's SMs and then only once again as part of a special event I game mastered where they were just thrown in to throw the players off balance.

The Swarm kit is weak on HQ units so this weekend I bought the Hive Tyrant kit. Which one out of the box should I make? The Hive Tyrant or the Swarmlord? Wings or no wings?

I'm leaning towards the Swarmlord because he is a bad-*** even though he costs much more in points.

What do you think?

[DarkLink]

The flying Hive Tyrant with dual TL Devourers is by far the best thing in all of Tyranids, hands down. Competitive Tyranids, in fact, revolve around taking multiple detachments in order to net as many as 5 flying Tyrants (with a barbed Hierodule for good measure). The Swarmlord isn't bad, but if you're asking which is better, it's the shooty flying Hive Tyrant.

[ReveredChaplainDrake]

Tacking Electroshock Grubs onto the Flyrant caught on pretty quickly after Knights became such a big deal, but the main chassis (wings, 2x TLed BL Devs) remained largely unchanged. I got so annoyed and cynical about that build, I started calling it "The Flyrant".

[Blackcloud6]

The flying Hive Tyrant with dual TL Devourers is by far the best thing in all of Tyranids, hands down. Competitive Tyranids, in fact, revolve around taking multiple detachments in order to net as many as 5 flying Tyrants (with a barbed Hierodule for good measure). The Swarmlord isn't bad, but if you're asking which is better, it's the shooty flying Hive Tyrant.

Thanks. What makes the flying Hive Tyrant so good? What kind of forces go with him?

[DarkLink]

Basically, FMCs are really tough to kill. Basically everything in the game must snap fire to hit them, Grounding Tests are a joke now, and he's already durable with T6 and 3+ armor. And against the few things that can actually scare him, you can Jink for a free 4+ cover save.

The only real drawback to FMCs is that you can no longer assault straight from flying. So assaulty FMCs are terrible. Dual TL Devourers, however, is brutal shooting. 12 BS4 TL Str 6 shots is no joke, and FMCs get 360 degree line of sight. Because of this, you basically just fly circles around the board and put 12 Str 6 shots into anything you want, all game, and there's not much your opponent can do about it.

Flying tyrants operate on their own, independent of anything else. They don't need external buffs. They are psykers, though, and they have synapse, so while you've got your multiple tyrants flying around you can still take full advantage of that, so they're a good thing to have in just about any army regardless. You just want to make sure you've got other synapse, since you do tend to fly the tyrants away from the rest of your army. If you have access to Forgeworld, that means Malanthropes. Malanthropes are another lynchpin unit, as they're tough, hand out Shrouding, and have Synapse.

Competitive tyranids kind of breaks down like this: Barbed Hierodule, 2-3 Malanthropes, max Flying Hive Tyrants, then some stuff designed to hide in cover with a 2/3+ cover save from the Malanthropes who run out and grab objectives. There's probably a little bit of a remainder to fill in with something, but that's the core of it.

[Blackcloud6]

Darklink thanks much, good advice. I've faced enough flying Deamons to ruin my day to understand their power, but I didn't put 2+2 with FMC and the Hive Tyrant.

[Broodingman87]

Ultimately It comes down to what you're facing locally, If you're dealing with Flyers I can see a using the FMC build.

To play devils advocate, the Swarmlord is greatest beat stick in the book. I've found that he only cares about one character and that is Draigo. What she is amazing at is walking through deathstars and characters. If deathstars and named characters are frequent in your group, you'll appreciate her power. Plus all the buffs, making sure you get your Toxicrene, Out-Flanks, etc.

In the last tournament I went to, I brought her along in my primary and I'm glad I did. She seems expensive but not compared to a Captain with Eternal Shield, Tigirious, an inquisitor, and three Centurions in a pod.

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BTW, I tried helped a buddy try out his new Bloodthirster. While surprised it had a D weapon and dropped a Carnifex brood is one round, the Swarmlord came and dropped it is one round.

[Blackcloud6]

Thanks much Broodingman87. The model is, sadly, still in the box. I'm so backed up on production...