The Ultimate Tyranid's Comparison

[Theik]

As a word in advance, this is a pretty darn long post. After my initial kneejerk reaction of "man this codex was money wasted", I took the time to compare exactly the differences between the previous codex and this one. If I sound biased at certain points, well... that's too bad, I guess. I like big bugs and I'm not a fan of flyers, but other than that, I've tried to list every single change I could find, for better or for worse.

The ultimate Tyranid Comparison

Weapons
First up, let's talk about the weapon changes, as this ties in with the rest of the entries. First and foremost is that Tyranid now have paired weapons. If a unit has a pair of scything talons and a pair of crushing claws, for example, it gets +1 attack just like a model with two hand weapons would. This means that models that "lost" an attack didn't generally lose it, it was simply rolled into this change.

• Heavy venom cannon no longer at a penalty against non-open topped vehicles.
• Deathspitters lost the -1 leadership modifier vs end of phase morale check.
• Lashwhips gone from enemies in base contact set to initiative 1, model gains +3 initiative.
• Boneswords gone from no armor-saves allowed & instadeath on failed leadership to AP3 and instant death on a 6 to wound.
• Rending claws now an AP5 weapon.
• Scything talons lost the reroll part of their rules and gained AP6.
• Crushing claws changed from strike at initiative 1 and +d3 attacks to +1 strength, ap2, armourbane and unwieldy.

Hive Tyrant
The Good
Ballistic skill increased from 3 to 4.
5 points cheaper
Now a level 2 psyker instead of level 1
Cost of wings down by 25
Cost of thorax biomorphs down by 15, electro gained haywire, shredder gained shred (ironically, despite the name it did not have this before)
Cost of cannons down by 5
Cost of twin-linked deathspitters down by 10


The Bad
Basic equipment loadout changed from Scything Talons & Lashwhip/Bonesword to double scything talons
No longer has access to any BRB psychic powers
Hive commander lost the +1 to reserve rolls
Old Adversary went from giving preferred enemy to units within 6” of the Tyrant including himself, to giving the Tyrant preferred enemy in close combat only
Lost access to 2+ armor save
Cost of regeneration up by 10

The So-so
Indescribeable horror went from making a leadership test to assault the hive tyrand and his unit to rolling 3d6 for its fear tests and discarding the lowest. Good or bad depending on what army you face, I suppose.
Cost of adrenal glands up by 5, in exchange for gaining fleet
Implant attack gone, effect rolled into boneswords
Access to the new bio-artefacts
Can take a tail biomorph for 10 points

Theik’s Verdict
I was always a fan of the walkrant and not so much of the flyrant. Those who do like the flyrant are in luck, they get their flying bug at a whopping 30 points cheaper than before bare bones , with an increase of 1 BS. The walking tyrant is in an even bigger pickle than before however. It has lost its ability to get a 2+ armor save, it comes out at 15 points more expensive than before to get back your lashwhip+bonesword, and it has lost a lot of its utility.

I liked having the walkrant with a lash whip and old adversery, throwing it in alongside cheap trash that was likely to die on their own, and it would allow them to strike first and reroll 1s to hit and to wound. With the changes to lashwhips and old adversery, the walkrant no longer buffs those around him and is an all-around worse supporter thanks to the lack of BSB powers.

I would have liked to see an increase to the Hive Tyrants versability, not a decrease as is currently the case. While the new rules of weapons give it an extra attack in melee if you kit it out purely for melee, it comes at an increased cost and increased squishiness. I expect to see few of them and ever more Flyrants in the sky.

Tyranid Warriors
The Good
Access to fleet with no point increase
Now have access to assault grenades-esque fleshhooks.
Toxin sacs 2 points cheaper

The Bad
Still going to die to the first strength 8 blast weapon that looks at them funny

The So-So
They can now be equipped with a combination of weapons, rather than giving warrior the same weapons.
Now counts as very bulky, despite the lack of tyranid transports. I assume this is for tyranid vs tyranid fights, to keep the Red Terror from gulping down warriors.
Droppod went the way of the dodo

Theik’s Verdict
The warriors have remained mostly the same. Kitting them out as pure melee gains you an extra attack over the previous edition, but I’m not certain if I’d truly bother swapping out ranged ability for an extra attack. The ability to kit your warriors out differently could have been a massive boon, but considering the changes to lash whips, the idea of giving the front-liners lashwhips and the ones behind something cheaper doesn’t help quite that much.

Overall they did not change all that much and considering not too many people were fond of them before, I doubt they will be now.

Genestealers
The Good
Adrenal glands are 1 point cheaper
You can now have 20 genestealers + 1 broodlord, rather than 19 genestealers + 1 broodlord.
Changes to weaponry mean genestealers are now AP5.

The So-So
Broodlord lost implant attack in exchange for being able to take regeneration for 30 points
Scything talons now cost 2 points more, but result in the model having +1 attack over previous edition

Theik’s Verdict
Eeeeh… I don’t know. I’ve never really been a fan of genestealers. Sure, they’re iconic and what not, but I have a feeling that they tend to get shot to pieces too quickly. I suppose with the advent of stronghold assault you might be able to trick somebody into fielding an aquilla strongpoint and infiltrating your genestealers into it, shooting their own army to pieces and ducking as dice are flung at your face, but troll-tastic opportunities of stealing unoccupied buildings, I’m not really sure I’d take them even with the ability to get an extra attack at 2 points.

Termagants
The Good
1 point cheaper
Strangleweb 5 points cheaper
Spinefists and spike rifle now free (aka 1 point cheaper)
Devourer 1 point cheaper

The Bad
Adrenal glands and toxin sacs 1 point more expansive
You now need 30 of the buggers for every tervigon to count as a troop choice
No longer get to leech from a tervigon’s toxin and adrenal sacs

The So-so
Access to fleet

Theik’s Verdict
On the one hand, you can no longer use a tervigon’s adrenal glands and toxin sacs, but on the other hand, you’re not really taking the little things for their ability to get smashed to pulp in close combat anyway. The required +10 termagants to buy a troop choice tervigon will cause the unit to cost 20 points more than before, but you do get 10 termagant bodies in return. In addition, you are now free to equip them with spinefists and spike rifles as you see fit at no additional cost.

I can’t see myself moving away from termagants as a troop choice simply because having a tervigon as a troop is such a huge deal when you plant its fat behind on an objective, even despite the fact that I now have to paint 10 more termagants to do so.

Hormagant
The Good
1 point cheaper
Bounding leap makes running more reliable than before

The Bad
Toxin sacs up 1 point
Instinctive behavior combined with low leadership has these guys requiring more babysitting.

The So-So
AP6 now

Theik’s Verdict
I don’t know, I’ve never been sold on Hormagants and I can’t see myself taking them now. If you want to buy them with toxin sacs you are down the exact same cost as before. With a leadership of 6, the new instinctive behavior feed makes them rather unreliable unless constantly watched over by synapse creatures.

My idea is that the main reason you want troop choices is to hold down objectives and I simply don’t feel comfortable leaving a unit on an objective if it has a 50/50 chance of injuring itself every time it fails a synapse test and charges things it shouldn’t the other 50% of the time.

If I have to keep an extra model near them just so they hold down the fort and attack the right target if approached, I might as well simply buy a different troop choice and save myself the hassle.

Ripper Swarm
The Good
Spinefists are 1 point cheaper
Mindless rolled into instinctive behavior

The Bad
3 points more expensive
Adrenal glands 2 points more expensive, in exchange for fleet

Theik’s Verdict
Where almost every unit took a punch to the face by the instinctive behavior changes, the ripper swarms actually benefit from it. While they are still quite likely to fail their behavior tests, with a leadership of only 5, they used to take wounds based on the difference of what they rolled and what they needed, resulting in an average of 1 dead ripper swarm per turn if left unwatched.

Now the little critters have a 50/50 chance of not taking damage at all if they fail, and when they do fail it’s likely to result in less dead rippers because you need to roll 4s to wound and get a 6+ armorsave.

That said, I don’t feel very comfortable paying 13 points for something that will very likely die long before reaching the enemy.

Tyranid Shrikes
The Good
5 points cheaper

Theik’s Verdict
Tyranid warriors with wings! Fun as that might sound, getting no armor save against bolters and being unable to hold objectives, I see very little reason to keep these guys around, especially now that we have other things in the fast attack slots that are better at what they do. All the other changes are identical to ordinary warriors.

Raveners
The Good
Spinefists are now 2 points cheaper

The Bad
Spinefists now shoot 3 times instead of 4, due to Raveners losing 1 attack in their profile

The So-So
Lost acute senses, so you can no longer reroll for outflank, if anybody actually bothered with that
Can take a red terror for 85 points on top of the maximum of 9 raveners.

Theik’s Verdict
Not sure what to think here. Spinefists got cheaper but also got worse. The red terror is a funny gimmick but really not worth the points if you ask me. At leadership 6 you can expect these guys to fail their synapse test a little more than half the time, and that means you are going to need something to babysit them.

I’ve always thought of Raveners as surprise troops that can deep strike somewhere in the opponents flank, shoot them for a turn and then tie everything up in melee combat and that never required me to have a synapse unit nearby. Now you are tempting the dice gods if you don’t have a babysitter for them however, for when they fail their synapse test they may very well hit themselves and sit there as target practice for a full turn being unable to do their job.

Where they may very well have died long before they got into combat before thanks to a combination of one turn shooting and then overwatch, you can now not even count on them soaking up that one overwatch because they might decide they taste better themselves than those squishy fire warriors.

Sky-slasher Swarms
See normal swarms, make them jump infantry and remove the ability to capture points. I’ve never given these things a glance before and I can’t really imagine myself doing so in the near future, especially not with the new flyers around in the fast attack slot.

Gargoyles
The Good
They now cause blind in melee

The Bad
Adrenal Glands & Toxin Sacs both went up 1 point
Instinctive behavior may now result in your Gargoyles going to ground and being unable to shoot, where as before you could at least count on them to shoot at the closest enemy.

Theik’s Verdict
I don’t personally use gargoyles, I never did because they did not fit the idea I had for my army, and I was never too impressed by their abilities. The fact that they have now gained blind might make them worth having around in an attempt to lower the weaponskill and ballistic skill of enemies in assault.

Harpy
The Good
+ 1 wound
+ 1 attack
25 points cheaper
Twin-linked heavy venom cannon 5 points cheaper
Can now use spore cyst once every turn
Spore mines are more reliable as they no longer move randomly
Sonic Screech improved from halving initiative to -5 to minimum of 1
Actually has a model!

The Bad
No longer has stinger salvo or cluster spines for free, must now pay 10/15 more
Still drops out of the sky if you shine enough markerlights at it

Theik’s Verdict
This beast got a good decrease in points for an increase in durability and damage, as well as giving it the ability to leave more spore mines on the field if it so pleases. Sadly enough it still suffers from the ludicrous rules that state a flying monstrous creature can fall out of the sky from hits that do not cause wounds and this can result in your monster getting grounded if the dice gods are fickle.

I don’t like monstrous flyers for that reason and I don’t really feel the need to take what is basically an anti-infantry flyer in my army that has no trouble with infantry, but I could see this beast being used more than before.

Spore Mines
The Good
5 points cheaper
Now go where you want them to go
Can now potentially deal a strength 10 AP4 hit

The Bad
Now deploy using normal deep strike rules
Only explode in assault

Theik’s Verdict
At first glance, these things don’t look so bad. You can no longer use them to deny deployment areas to the enemy which I suppose is only fair and was never really their intended use, but after further reviewing their rules, I find myself wondering just how exactly they work.

Spore mines explode at initiative step 10, I get that. But there is no mention of them exploding if you shoot them at point blank range and you have to charge with them (halving your charge distance) if you ever want them to explode. In addition, they now use the normal deep strike rules and this is where it seems the rules have left massive gaping holes. Following the rules for deep striking, you could scatter onto a unit and would then suffer a deep strike mishap, quite likely putting your spore mines on the other side of the map at your opponent’s behest. But even if they land outside of the 1 inch rule and do not mishap, they simply sit there doing nothing. They can’t charge on the turn they deep strike, so in the opponents turn they can shoot them to death or simply move away from them.

It strikes me as rather odd that these spore mines can only explode if they charge in combat, at which point they are almost guaranteed to die to overwatch, and then they won’t even explode. I’m pretty positive that this was a major rule oversight, but hey, who am I to argue with the Hive Mind on his mine-related-choices?

Hive Guard
The Good
Impaler cannons now ignore cover
Can now take a S5, AP5 blast haywire weapon

The Bad
-1 BS
5 point cost increase
Suffers from new instinctive behavior rules

The So-So
Can now take adrenal & toxin glands

Theik’s Verdict
I really do not know why these guys were hit with the nerfbat in the way that they were. Alright, being able to fire at things outside of their line of fire is nice and all, but did that really leave them at the point where they had to become more expensive and less shooty?

In addition, these guys will now require a synapse babysitter for optimal use, as they will simply go to ground if they fail their hunt behavior test. If they do not go to ground, they have to fire at the closest enemy target that is within line of sight…. Which is most likely nothing at all.

I assume that this is another rule oversight because you really don’t want your ignore-lines-of-sight models somewhere in line of sight of the enemy, but just the risk of your unit not being able to shoot warrants putting a synapse nearby, effectively making them cost even more than before.

Lictor
The Good
15 points cheaper
Gained fear
Has an extra attack and AP5 because of the changes to tyranid weapons

The Bad
Still a support unit that would benefit from a Space Marine-esque combat squads ability to split up after deployment to cover more ground with its support abilities.
Lurk behavior might screw up your formations

Theik’s Verdict
With the lictor being 15 points cheaper than before and gaining fear, AP5 and an extra attack without having to give up anything in return, the only major problem I see with this unit is its instinctive behavior. While the chances of the Lictor failing its instinctive behavior test and then being forced to fall back are fairly slim, the chance is still there. Odds are you want your lictor to deep strike in enemy territory away from synapse creatures for the very purpose of deep striking things there next turn, and if you fail your instinctive behavior test the next turn and roll a 1-3, you will be forced to automatically fall back, which may leave your intended deep strike targets out of reach.

At L10 it’s not going to happen often, but when it does happen, it may very well mean you have spent 50 or more points on something that did not do its job in the slightest.

Zoanthrope
The Good
10 points cheaper
Psychic powers are used once for the entire brood, meaning less rolls and less chance to fail.
Always has access to warp blast, + one additional power

The Bad
If you do fail a psychic test this means up to three wasted attacks depending on the brood’s size rather than just one
Lost access to BRB psychic powers
Warp lance now AP2

Theik’s Verdict
Overall the Zoanthropes got cheaper and are slightly less prone to blow themselves up because they do not roll for perils of the warp quite as often, which in itself may very well make up for the lost psychic tables they used to have access to. In addition they are the sturdiest infantry synapse creatures with their 3+ invul, making them far easier to hide somewhere to give synapse to things than a large bulky tervigon, and far less likely to die to a strength 8 AP 2 weapon than a warrior.

Despite the fact that I really like the idea of a tongue-wrapping eaty-chewy-thingymabob, I find myself having a hard time not taking this guy. It is your only chance to get a synapse creature in the elite slot, and with the new rules, you are most likely going to need it. Any turn they don’t spend shooting they could be buffing up their synapse range by 6” with the primaris power, which may very well prove crucial.

Venomthrope
The Good
Now gives shrouded instead of a 5+ cover save
10 points cheaper

The Bad
Instinctive behavior could potentially force the creature to fall back, ruining your cover save
Still a support unit that would benefit from a Space Marine-esque combat squads ability to split up after deployment to cover more ground with its support abilities.
Not as good as an assault supporter anymore due to lash whip changes

Theik’s Verdict
The venomthrope got cheaper and its shroud got a lot more effective, giving you a 5+ cover save that actually stacks with area cover. It still has to stay in unit coherency however, which greatly limits your ability to spread the cover save around without using up all your elite slots.

In addition, the venomthrope is squishy with only a 5+ armor save and 2 wounds, meaning it is likely going to get sniped away by ignore cover weapons. If they ever fall out of synapse range things are going to get even worse for you, as the creature is now instinctive behavior lurk instead of feed, which may result in it being forced to fall back and leaving a lot of your troops suddenly exposed.

Considering I have no plans of fielding Tyranid Warriors, I may very well join a Tyranid Prime to a Venomthrope to give it a majority toughness of 5 and a 3 wound, 3+ armor save body to hide behind, although this trick may prove too expensive in the long run, I have not yet tried it out.

Pyrovore
The Good
5 points cheaper
+1 wound
+1 attack
+1 initiative
Pyrovore’s Volatile rule no longer affects other pyrovores
Potential to do a strength 5 hit in assault

The Bad
You most likely will never use that extra attack you got because acid maw now requires you to exchange all your attacks for a single ap2 strength 5 hit.
It is still a pyrovore

Theik’s Verdict
It’s cheaper, it’s tougher, it’s faster, it can hit harder than before and it can no longer blow up other pyrovores with its volatile special rule, but I’m still not certain what exactly I’m supposed to make of the guy. It gained a wound but to benefit from its volatile rule you want it to go up against enemies that will instant kill it. It gained an attack but will never actually use that attack against anything barring perhaps an imperial guardsman. All in all, I don’t know what to do with this guy and I’d rather spend the points and elite slot elsewhere.

Ymgarl Genestealers
The Good
Mentioned in the Genestealer page
Have an artifact named after them

The Bad
Are not actually in the codex

Theik’s Verdict
Mweh, never had any interest in them anyway. They were created to fill a slot two other creatures (genestealers and lictors) were supposed to fill but didn’t do well enough. It’s a shame that they’re gone with no new way to assault things in the new codex, but ah well.

Doom of Malan’tai
The Good
It gets an honorable mention on the Zoanthrope page
It killed a lot of pointy-eared Eldar who had it coming

The Bad
Not actually a unit in the codex anymore.

Theik’s Verdict
I’m not really certain what to make of this one. The Doom of Malan’tai was a one-trick pony and not even an interesting one at that, but I don’t quite get why that justifies scrapping it out of the codex and then mentioning it anyway in the Zoanthrope page. I don’t buy into the whole “GW did it to spite people who bought chapterhouse Malan’tai models” approach some people have been going, but it does seem odd to drop a unit for no real reason.

Parasite of Mortrex
The Good
Gets an honorable mention
Who doesn’t love Alien-esque chestbursters?

The Bad
Yet another named bug gone legs up
Damnit GW, I converted one of my own, now what do I do with it?

Theik’s Verdict
Not sure on this one either. It was a fun unit with a neat flavor to it that really didn’t see that much use. I suppose that might be why it was removed, it had no model and people didn’t use it a whole lot, but I don’t really think that less-is-more when special characters are concerned.

Swarmlord
The Good
A named character that actually survived the jump to the new codex
Now a level 3 psyker
Can give monster hunter instead of acute senses

The Bad
Bonesabres do not force invul rerolls
Lost outflank rerolls
Lost BRB psychic powers
5 points more expensive
18” synapse range now takes up a warlord trait

Theik’s Verdict
I don’t really have anything to add here. Not much changed for the big guy, I’m certain he is still going to see more field-time than any other walking tyrant despite the fact that he now comes at a whopping 5 points more.

Old One Eye
The Good
40 points cheaper
+1 attack from new weapon rules
Gets a tail biomorph
+1 initiative
Now 1d3 hammer of wrath hits

The Bad
New crushing claws do not scale as well with his berserk rampage

The So-So
Now an HQ slot

Theik’s Verdict
I am personally not sold on this carnifex fellow. His gimmick is that he is supposedly more durable than other carnifexes, but he really isn’t. If he is your warlord he gets a 5+ feel no pain at the start of his next movement phase after he’s been wounded. That’s… really not that impressive, this means with concentrated fire he’ll go down before that feel no pain even has a chance to kick in, considering it won’t become active until after all the shooting has already happened. It’s a fluffy mechanic, but was why couldn’t he gain it right after the first wound, really?

As for his alpha leader… I don’t know, I think I’d rather have an extra synapse creature rather than have a 12” bubble where other creatures are leadership 8, that still leaves plenty of risk of fickle dicerolls causing your hormagants to eat eachother or your termagants to run off the field.

Deathleaper
The Good
10 points cheaper
“Assault Grenade” fleshhooks
Gained fear
Can only be snap-shotted
+1 attack from new weapon rules

The Bad
Lost nightfighting rules
Lost difficult terrain modifier on enemies within 12”
Lost rending on rolls of 5
Lost fearless
Lost ability to rapidly redeploy

The So-So
Mind eater warlord trait
Now an HQ slot

Theik’s Verdict
I want to like this guy, I really do. I always found him to be an interesting character that added some creepy flavor to the Lictors as an assassin that could basically be everywhere at once, but that is no longer actually the case. The fact that enemies can only snap shot at him is pretty impressive, this means he can’t be targeted by any template or blast weapons and goes a long way to helping him survive despite the fact that his survivability is very much a luck-of-the-draw snap-shot situation. Only cover will keep him save from bolters.

The ability to gain +2 victory points from killing an enemy independent character in a challenge is interesting, but do you really want a 3 wound, armor save 5+ toughness 4 character that can’t even join a unit as your warlord? If he even makes it to an enemy unit in one piece people will no doubt simply decline the challenge and try to tarpit you to death, although his close-combat abilities are pretty darn impressive. Still, he is a squishy warlord and a non-synapse one to boot. You’re going to look pretty darn silly when your warlord fails his synapse test and runs of the board.

Tyranid Prime
The Good
“Assault Grenade” fleshhooks
Access to bio-artefacts

The Bad
45 points more expensive
Regeneration 20 points more expensive

For the rest, see the same as Tyranid warriors

Theik’s Verdict
I don’t really know what this guy did to deserve becoming 45 points more expensive, especially now that synapse is far more punishing than it was in the previous codex. He did gain the ability to equip bio-artefacts, but many of these are most likely too expensive to put on one of the weaker HQs in the codex.

Still, there are some uses to him, I guess. He’s the only independent character in the codex, thus the only character that can join a unit. He is not unique and his smaller footprint allows you to hide him behind monsters easier and he is less of an obvious “shoot here to make my army fall apart” than say a hive tyrant.

You can turn him into a pseudo Ymgarl for 40 points which might be fun, but I’m not sure if that is going to be the best investment of your points.

Tervigon
The Good
Access to thorax biomorphs
Access to bio-artefacts

The Bad
Point cost up by 45
Clusterspine cost up by 5
Crushing claws not as useful
No BRB access
Unable to increase psyker level, so less versatile than before
Backlash distance up to 12” from 6”
Now spawns at the end of its movement
Spawned termagants can’t assault in the same turn anymore
No longer gives adrenal or toxin sacs to termagants in range

The So-So
Initiative +1

Theik’s Verdict
Holy mother of Tyranids, whoever rewrote this guy was a lot more rigorous reworking its mechanics than it’s mostly copy-paste lore. I don’t even know where to begin here. It is obvious that Game’s Workshop felt that the Tervigon was too common or they wouldn’t have hit it as hard as they did, but I do think they might have gone slightly overboard here.

Not only has the beasty become a lot more expensive and lost its ability to boost nearby Termagants with its glands, it now spawns Termagants at the end of its movement and they may not move or assault. This means that it will no longer be possible for a Termagant to leave a brood somewhere and head off, the brood will be stuck within backlash distance at the very least for one turn.

Not all is lost in the land of Tervigon’s however. Access to bio-artefacts and Thorax biomorphs allow it to dish out more damage at range, providing more benefit of a monster’s ability to fire two guns per turn.

At the end of the day though, I think every list is still going to end up with at least one tervigon, regardless of its cost increase, especially now that most of the other troop choices have become utterly unreliable for holding down objectives once outside of synapse range.

Tyrant Guard
The Good
10 points cheaper
Access to crushing claws
Access to toxin sacs and adrenal glands

The So-So
Can take a mixed set of weapons

Theik’s Verdict
I like the idea of Tyrant guard, they’re neat bulky models and they boldly go where no Tyranid without sight has gone before. Sadly enough, this new codex seems to favor the Flyrant even more than the previous edition, so I don’t think these guys will see a lot of playtime unless you’re running a Swarmlord.

Carnifex
The Good
40 points cheaper
Access to clusterspines
D3 hammer of wrath hits
Can now take different weapon options

The Bad
Lost an attack. This is compensated by the new weapon rules, but if you take a biocannon you will lose this benefit, making a hybrid carnifex less effective than before.
Instinctive behavior punishes you for taking larger broods

The So-So
Tail biomorph

Theik’s Verdict
Don’t get me wrong, I love Carnifexes and I would really like to add them to my list, yet it seems like the decrease in points also came with a decrease in overall effectiveness. They do have more options for shooting than they had before, but this is offset by shooty carnifexes being far less melee-tastic than the previous edition, the single ap nothing tail biomorph attack being a poor replacement for an extra S9 AP2 hit.

However, it is the new instinctive behavior tests that truly screw over the Carnifex brood compared to the previous edition. They got cheaper that much is for certain, but as soon as you go from one Carnifex to two, you are instantly required to have a synapse babysitter with them at all times. While a single Carnifex will ignore the 1-3 rolls on the behavior table, two of the big oafs will result in a Jurassic Park-esque fight sequence between your own two monsters while the enemy gets to take potshots for an extra turn.

That said, the decreased cost certainly makes dakkafexes better than before.

Biovore
The Good
5 points cheaper
+1 attack
+1 wound

The Bad
New sporemines are unreliable
Instinctive behavior

The So-So
+1 initiative

Theik’s Verdict
The Biovore got a decent increase to its stats and got slightly cheaper, so far so good. They are somewhat negatively affected by the fact that scattered spore mines have become a lot less useful due to having to charge (although I assume that a sporemine created by a scattered spore blast can at the very least charge right away in the assault phase, unlike deep striking ones), but the biggest problem is, yet again, instinctive behavior.

Biovores are a backline unit, that much is obvious, yet with a meagre leadership 6 the chances are pretty good (or bad, depending on your perspective) that they will fail their behavior tests. Because it is not fearless it might be forced to go to ground, however the true problem is quite similar to the Hive Guards. Biovores use a barrage weapon which means you can normally ignore line-of-sight, but read-as-written, the hunt rules say that they may only fire at the closest enemy unit in line-of-sight.

While I don’t think it was intended in such a way, this would prevent Biovores from firing their cannon as a barrage weapon whenever they fail their synapse test, meaning you would have to keep a synapse unit far back just to babysit your artillery.

Trygon
The Good
10 points cheaper

The Bad
Regeneration 5 points more expensive
Adrenal glands 5 points more expensive

The So-So
Tail biomorph
Access to acid blood

Theik’s Verdict
Really, not a whole lot changed for the Trygon. It has two pairs of Scything Talons which feels completely redundant with the new rules because having two pairs does nothing more than give an extra attack and, with the Trygon unable to switch them out for anything else, they could have just given it a single pair and an extra attack in its profile.

Nitpicking aside, the guy is pretty much unchanged. Units arriving from the tunnel still can’t assault in the turn they arrive, but at the very least this is one of the few units that isn’t particularly bothered by the new synapse rules. It might cause it to charge the wrong target because it happened to be closer, but at the very least it can’t eat itself because it is a single model.

Trygon Prime
The Good
10 points cheaper
Access to additional ranged weaponry through bio-artefacts

The Bad
Regeneration 5 points more expensive
Adrenal glands 5 points more expensive
Comes out one attack short compared to previous edition if you equip it with the new ranged bio-artefact.

The So-So
Tail biomorph
Access to acid blood

Theik’s Verdict
The Trygon Prime seems to be like the prime candidate for the new bio-artefact that gives a 2+ poison shooting attack. It is perfectly capable of popping up somewhere and spraying acid around while shooting with its containment spines in the same turn, and it is one of the few monsters that can now take two shooting weapons where before it only had one. This does mean you lose a close-combat attack because you have to swap out one pair of scything talons, but I think that would be worth it, considering shooty seems to be the way to go nowadays anyway.

Mawloc
The Good
30 points cheaper
Possible 2 S6 AP 2 ignores cover large blasts attacks

The Bad
Regeneration 5 points more expensive
Suffers deep strike mishap if it still can’t be placed after the second blast

The So-So
Tail biomorph
Adrenal glands 5 points more expensive in return for fleet

Theik’s Verdict
I can’t really review the Mawloc without being biased because I’ve always had a weak for Dune’s sandworms and I’ve always had at least two of these guys in my armies simply because I love deep striking them everywhere.

The rules for the Mawloc have gotten a lot less confusing and less prone to abuse, although bad luck can now result in your Mawloc going belly-up from deep strike mishaps. Due to the new risk involved it is no longer as good at deep striking vehicles or monsters, chances of removing them so the Mawloc will fit are slim after all, but against squishy infantry it shouldn’t be too hard to remove enough models so that it will fit.

It has lost its ability to push other models around and to remove them from play through cheap gimmicks, but that is not that big a deal if you ask me. It has no ranged weapons and it can’t roll a 1-3 on its instinctive behavior, so this is one of the few models that can be left entirely to its own devises without any ill effects other than being unable to choose its assault target. Bring on the sandworms!

Tyrannofex
The Good
75 points cheaper, holy balls
Fleshborer hive 5 points cheaper
Fleshborer hive has +6” range

The Bad
Rupture cannon 15 points more expensive
Now has to pay 10 points for thorax biomorphs
Lost access to cluster spines

The So-So
Adrenal glands 5 points more expensive in return for fleet

Theik’s Verdict
Somebody at Game’s Workshop really wants people to play shooty nids it seems. Left and right the melee orientated bugs have received very little help, but this bad boy has gotten a hell of a lot cheaper. If you are going for a shooty army (and why wouldn’t you in this edition?), you can now fit more bugs for your buck thanks to the Tyrannofex being a lot cheaper than before. Being fearless it is also not too negatively affected by its instinctive behavior, making it one of the more reliable units if you don’t mind being unable to pick your target every now and then.

Haruspex
The Good
Only precision shot weapon in our army, albeit at short range
Potential to regain 2 wounds per turn
Great to tarpit mobs of low-quality troops
Finally a monster in the elite slot

The Bad
Without the ability to deep strike, it might take a while to deliver this beast to the frontlines

The Ugly
Admit it, he’s got a face only a mother could like.

Theik’s Verdict
I like this new bug. I like monstrous creatures, I’m a big nidzilla fan and this guy is a monstrous creature in the elite slot, just where I didn’t have any monstrous creatures yet! Sadly enough it isn’t a synapse beast, so you will have to balance out the need for synapse creatures (zoanthropes) against how badly you want another monstrous creature in your army, but it isn’t horribly expensive. It’s still an assault-focused unit in an assault-unfriendly game, but there’s not much to be done about that.

I imagine that it will be pretty good at tarpitting low weaponskill/strength crowds of infantry with its ability to regain two wounds (1 from regeneration and one from hunger), which in itself could prevent that unit from shooting at other things.

Hive Crone
The Good
A new flyer
Strength 8 vector strike
Tentaclids, supposedly

The Bad
Not particularly durable
How does the feed table even work with this thing?

Theik’s Verdict
Eeeeh… As already mentioned, I really do not like flying monsters because of their tendency to fall out of the sky even if they haven’t been wounded. Supposedly this beast will help with the Tyranid’s air superiority, but I don’t really see it.

A strength 8 vector strike is nice, but it is unlikely you will be able to hit a flyer with it simply because the threat range isn’t that big. The Tentaclids are okay, but to call them anti-air is a bit much. Haywire hits are an interesting concept, but how many flyers are you going to realistically shoot out of the sky with 4 one-use only haywire attacks that hit on a twin-linked 4? In the rare event that you roll a penetrating hit the weapon has no modifier on its roll and it is unlikely to cause an explosion.

For an increased cost you have a Flyrant with infinite haywire shots in addition to strength 6 assault 6 twin-linked shots at ballistic skill 4, a far more likely monster to take out airplanes before they can deal too much damage to your forces, while also providing synapse.

I also have no idea how exactly the feed table works for a swooping hive crone. Instinctive behavior tests are taken at the start of your movement, while a monster’s flight mode isn’t declared until the start of its move. I assume that this means that if it fails its behavior test it will automatically revert to glide mode because it wouldn’t be able to charge anything otherwise, but this isn’t specifically stated.

Perhaps I am biased because I’m not a fan of flying monsters, but to me it doesn’t seem to be worth its cost.

Exocrine
The Good
Versatile weapon, either assault 6 or large blast 1
Strength 7 ap 2
Ballistic skill 4 if it doesn’t move

The Bad
Did we really need this thing?

Theik’s Verdict
I don’t know how to feel about this guy, it feels to me like he was invented purely to create a duo-kit with the Haruspex rather than fill in a spot that actually needed to be filled. We already have a monstrous creature that shoots stuff from a distance in the form of a Tyrannofex, which got a lot cheaper and now goes at roughly the same price as an exocrine.

I suppose we didn’t have any strength 7 AP 2 blast weapons before, but I still feel that this weapon could just as easily have been given to the Tyrannofex with the +1 ballistic skill added to the weapon instead of the monster.

Still, more options never really hurt, I suppose.

Psychic Powers
We lost access to the BRB schools of psychic powers and that in itself is a pretty big smack in the face in terms of how versatile we can be. Without access to allies to fill in the weak spots (although we now do have access to fortifications!) it comes down to this one psychic chart to handle all our needs, so let’s see how it compares.

Primaris – Dominion
Increases the psyker’s synapse range by 6”. Most likely you’re going to be forced to take this one, simply because synapse tests are so brutal now.

Catalyst
Now gives feel no pain to both the psyker’s unit and one friendly unit within 12”.

The Horror
Now forces a pinning test instead of forcing enemies to fall back, and does so at a -2 leadership. While this still won’t help you against enemies that are immune to fear, it at the very least works more effectively against space marines. The ability to pin a unit from 24” can help you close in while the enemy can only fire snapshots.

Paroxysm
Compared to the previous edition the ability has gained twice as much range at 24”, but it only reduces WS and BS by d3 instead of reducing it to 1 like before. You could still stack it with different psykers to reduce it to a minimum of 1 eventually, but I imagine you’d rather want the other abilities.

Psychic Scream
This is now a nova with 6” range instead of 2d6, making it a lot more reliable. Each unit must roll 2d6 and add 2, then subtract their leadership and suffer the difference in wounds with no armor or cover saves allowed. This means it has more chance to wound units than in the previous codex, but being a nova means it can hit enemies in combat, which the previous codex was somewhat vague about.

Warp Blast
Relatively similar to the previous edition with the only change that warp lance is now AP 2 instead of 1. It takes 2 warp charges which means it isn’t available for most of your psykers, but it will absolutely wreck flyers if you are lucky enough to roll it with your flyrant, requiring a 2+ to glance and a 3+ to penetrate regardless of armor.




My overall view of the codex
Eh... I really don't know. Is the codex playable? Yeah, probably is. You can still plant fat Tervigons on objectives that will hardly if ever be removed from it, and the ever-popular Flyrant got even better and cheaper. On the other hand, this codex did absolutely nothing to assist us with assault being so punishing in this edition and in fact made it worse by forcing all our troop choices without deepstrike to walk across the map. While the shooting options got better across the board, we got even worse in assault by losing our scything talon rerolls, lash whips and boneswords being hit pretty hard without a cost reduction and crushing claws becoming a lot less impressive on several models.

The new bio-artefacts are interesting, but the majority of them are priced ridiculously high, making it unlikely that you will want to mix and match with them to customise your army, which further limits the creativity you can go with.

It is an army that can't ally with anybody, meaning that it requires a counter for every possible enemy by itself and that is where I feel it doesn't deliver. Many options are sub-par where as others are more obvious auto-includes such as Flyrants, resulting in the same boring army lists that plagued the previous edition. Being able to take fortifications now might make things slightly more interesting for us, but that still doesn't make me feel that this codex was any less of a codex+ instead of a new one. Most of the lore articles feel written in the same manner as I used to write my school reports, copy-pasting the work from my friend and then exchanging a few words and swapping sentences around, with whole sections being blatantly copy+pasted.

I also feel that the codex doesn't really do anything to address the problem that the army has had in the past and in fact made things even worse in several spots, but what bugs me the most is that the codex simply doesn't feel like it has internal synergy or fun mechanics.

Tyranid are supposed to be these rapidly adapting aliens that will out-think the smartest enemies, use endless waves of minions to drain the enemy's supplies and then strike with their big bugs. Aside from the Tervigon being able to spawn new minions and the somewhat half-assed "get preferred enemy after killing something" and "get feel no pain after being wounded", I don't really see this in the book. I would have loved to see interesting mechanics such as the ability to make a swarm of hormagants non-scoring in exchange for being able to constantly bring them back from the dead, or something along the lines of special characters getting a 4+ ward save against weapon types that have previously wounded them to represent the hive mind adapting.

Space Marines have their chapter tactics and and they shall know no fear, Tau have their markerlights and supportive fire and Tyranid have Instinctive Behavior. Yet where Chapter Tactics and Supportive Fire and markerlights are all additions to an army to reward you for thinking ahead and using strategy, Instinctive Behavior feels a lot more like a chore than a reward. There really isn't much of a reward for keeping your bugs in synapse range other than being able to actually control your units, which is not a fun mechanic in the slightest.

Theik out.

[Halollet]

Good review. You did miss that Carnifexes do get access to Spine Banks, so they do have assault grenades!

I agree that there's a lack of creativity that we've grown accustomed to in the Eldar, Tau, and Marine codexes. Makes me miss the old... what was it, 4th edition? Where you could mutated things like crazy? We need that back.

[Tynskel]

The "Bulky" and "Very Bulky" etc., is due to the ability to use Bunker and Fortifications, not because of some rumored transport.

[Tynskel]

I find the review flawed, and not well thought out.

Fearless creatures are immune to the "Fall Back" move in Lurk, for example.

Crone "Feed" table: 1-3 it is immune—single model. 4-5,6—you try to assault stuff.
The Haruspex is *not* the only precision shot weapon. *any* of the characters have precision buffs.

The access to Fortifications are the 'counter' to most issues in other codexes. Need to shoot down flyers? Take the quad cannon. Need to take down a wraithknight? Buy the fortress of redemption. Worried about your Venomthrope dying? Put him in a bunker.

The Complaints about the Bio-Artefacts are superficial: the artefacts in *every* army are expensive. If they were not expensive, they become gimmicks (see Standard of Devastation).

The Ymgarl Upgrade *only* works in Assault.
You didn't notice that The trygon prime can benefit from +3I, or that the 10 point rending claws that grant preferred enemy are nice.

Overall, I just see this review as half fasted and there are so many mistakes that I understand why you are not sure if this was a good codex or not.

[Killermonkey]

I find the review flawed, and not well thought out.

Fearless creatures are immune to the "Fall Back" move in Lurk, for example.

Crone "Feed" table: 1-3 it is immune—single model. 4-5,6—you try to assault stuff.
The Haruspex is *not* the only precision shot weapon. *any* of the characters have precision buffs.

The access to Fortifications are the 'counter' to most issues in other codexes. Need to shoot down flyers? Take the quad cannon. Need to take down a wraithknight? Buy the fortress of redemption. Worried about your Venomthrope dying? Put him in a bunker.

The Complaints about the Bio-Artefacts are superficial: the artefacts in *every* army are expensive. If they were not expensive, they become gimmicks (see Standard of Devastation).

The Ymgarl Upgrade *only* works in Assault.
You didn't notice that The trygon prime can benefit from +3I, or that the 10 point rending claws that grant preferred enemy are nice.

Overall, I just see this review as half fasted and there are so many mistakes that I understand why you are not sure if this was a good codex or not.

That's a little harsh considering it is obvious a fair amount of time was spent typing this up and offering his opinion. I find his opinions helpful because the more thoughts we have on the subject the more accurately we can come to a conclusion about what is right. While there are a few errors that you pointed, overall it is pretty good and thank you for posting it.

My opinions on most of the units line up with yours except I am a bigger fan of the new fliers than you are. I think we can combine them with flyrants and have a scary airforce that will do good damage and provide an immediate threat while the rest of the army runs up.

[Theik]

Good review. You did miss that Carnifexes do get access to Spine Banks, so they do have assault grenades!

I agree that there's a lack of creativity that we've grown accustomed to in the Eldar, Tau, and Marine codexes. Makes me miss the old... what was it, 4th edition? Where you could mutated things like crazy? We need that back.

Thanks for pointing out the Carnifex mistake, you're absolutely correct. I didn't realize that it had moved from their old upgrade to the new spine banks.

Fearless creatures are immune to the "Fall Back" move in Lurk, for example.

I don't think this is actually the case. The rule specifically states that they are forced to fall back as if they had failed a morale check, it doesn't mention anywhere that being fearless will prevent this like it would have prevented a normal morale check. For hunt the distinction is made, but not for lurk.

Crone "Feed" table: 1-3 it is immune—single model. 4-5,6—you try to assault stuff.

There's no such thing as being immune to feed, if you have a single model and roll 1-3 you treat it as 4-5, which is what I mentioned in the creatures where relevant.

The Haruspex is *not* the only precision shot weapon. *any* of the characters have precision buffs.

As is the case with every army. It is the only normal unit with precision shots, and the codex doesn't actually have that many characters, with most broods having no option to take a sergeant-esque figure.

The Complaints about the Bio-Artefacts are superficial: the artefacts in *every* army are expensive. If they were not expensive, they become gimmicks (see Standard of Devastation).

The artefacts in most codexes are indeed expensive, but worth the price. Paying 40 points for a 6" synapse range increase in an army that is crippled by not having synapse is just plain bad writing.

The Ymgarl Upgrade *only* works in Assault.

Don't think so, actually. You pick the upgrade during your assault phase, and your assault phase happens regardless of whether or not you are actually in an assault.

You didn't notice that The trygon prime can benefit from +3I, or that the 10 point rending claws that grant preferred enemy are nice.

Every model that can take the artefacts can take these and I don't find them to be particularly impressive on the Trygon Prime to mention it. +3I is nice, but at the cost of 45 points? I'll pass.

Overall, I just see this review as half fasted and there are so many mistakes that I understand why you are not sure if this was a good codex or not.

Humans are only so good at keeping their concentration for large periods of time, so yes, perhaps I've made a few mistakes or failed to notice the changes, such as was the case with the Carnifexes which Halollet pointed out. If you don't find my comparison useful, feel free not to use it.

[Tyrendian]

Don't think so, actually. You pick the upgrade during your assault phase, and your assault phase happens regardless of whether or not you are actually in an assault.

the bonus only lasts for the phase - and you´re not terribly likely to take damage in the assault phase if you´re not in HtH...

[Theik]

the bonus only lasts for the phase - and you´re not terribly likely to take damage in the assault phase if you´re not in HtH...

I stand corrected, you're absolutely right. For some reason I read that it lasted until the following assault phase. I guess I was trying to inject too much common sense and actual value into the overpriced artefact. Will fix that.

[Spamthulhu]

I am pretty sure this army would be hard to win games with but nasty air attack army.

2 flyrants and a FA slot filled with flyers. Problem is keeping your mission objective forces doing what they need to do to win the game. Not one single reliable troop that doesn't have massive weaknesses. The warrior is the closest to that and they cost too much and without eternal warrior they just make easy targets to str 8 sources. Troops were the problem forever until they added the Tervigon/Termagant option. That fixed a lot of the Tyranids problems in that section, now it looks like the weaknesses are rolling back into the game.

My past experience with warriors hasn't made me love them. The only time they seem to live is if someone doesn't see a reason to remove my synapse. Usually it was when I had deep striking units in their face to distract them.

[bnimmrichter]

I agree that 6' synapse increase for 45 points is a huge bummer... Along with the fact that Tyranids have barely or if any invulnerable saves to actually survive a wave of fire for bio-artefacts to be worthwile. I am a huge Tyranid fan (around 9000 points I have so far), and I feel the way to go now is just cheap numerous squads of gaunts and gargoyles, and to be very aggressive. Yes we don't have access to very much deep strike, but with a fortification, and some venomthropes you can make most of your army up the board. And I remember someone saying as well, to accept the fact that 50% of your army will die and hope that the other 50% can still do something.