State of the Tyranids

[burd]

Played 2k vs Bangles 1st match since the DS nerf which seems to have hurt bugs hard. 1st off I've always ran a mix of either 2 exos with a tfex or 2 tfex with an exo and a malanthrope babysitter 2 flyrants sometimes 1/swarmy/drop pod. With Genestealers trygon bomb. Long story short. This is outdated. Or are tyranids just destined to be shelved. And 2 devastator squads able to get 2 turns of free firing before anything is able to touch them is pretty dumb for any army not able to field a 48" 2 weapon profile missile launcher. I guess I'm playing murder mimes in clown cars. Someone please talk me down from the ledge

[Snaekhar Venomblood]

I’d be very surprised and enraged if Tyranids were shelved - despite the bombardment of bad rules from Cruddace in the past and the buffing of other armies they’ve still got fans, like me and you. I’d much rather see the poncy Blood Angels shelved first, because of their horrible biblical theme.

[gigasnail]

Exocrine and tfex aren't as durable as you'd think; if they can see to shoot they can be seen and shot and moving tears their output up. hive guard do better.

Stealers, especially kraken stealers, are ace. SL has one function and that is to launch stealers forward, and he can do this even if he is on 1W.

Flyrants are still great. Carnifexes are great.

If you're not bleeding edge competitive there are no bad units in the codex.

[kazetanade]

May 27, 2018 15:26:10 GMT burd said:

Played 2k vs Bangles 1st match since the DS nerf which seems to have hurt bugs hard. 1st off I've always ran a mix of either 2 exos with a tfex or 2 tfex with an exo and a malanthrope babysitter 2 flyrants sometimes 1/swarmy/drop pod. With Genestealers trygon bomb. Long story short. This is outdated. Or are tyranids just destined to be shelved. And 2 devastator squads able to get 2 turns of free firing before anything is able to touch them is pretty dumb for any army not able to field a 48" 2 weapon profile missile launcher. I guess I'm playing murder mimes in clown cars. Someone please talk me down from the ledge

Flyrants on the line are pretty good at reaching things. Trygon bomb is outdated yes.

Tyranid Fex spam was undefeated in London GT. There was a top 12 or top 16, was it sneggy? Can't remember. So Nids are still working fine. I tested a zoey/mally list few days ago and it did reasonable; so maybe you could relook into zoeys.

You havent played the 120 Termagant list yet. Maybe give that a try. Backed by 12 HG or something.

[burd]

My weekly game includes 12 Inceptors with assault bolters. Flyrants on the front line vs 2 5man devastator squads seems a lot like suicide. ... Space bugs that want to cut you up for food almost forced into a snooty horde smh

[gigasnail]

One of those flyrants at least can easily be -1 to hit, if not both. With good terrain that turns into a 2+/4++ at -1 to hit and 12 wounds and it looks a lot less like suicide.

Don't leave high value targets out in the open with no support.

[Hive Bahamut]

May 27, 2018 15:52:19 GMT gigasnail said:

Exocrine and tfex aren't as durable as you'd think; if they can see to shoot they can be seen and shot and moving tears their output up. hive guard do better.

Stealers, especially kraken stealers, are ace. SL has one function and that is to launch stealers forward, and he can do this even if he is on 1W.

Flyrants are still great. Carnifexes are great.

If you're not bleeding edge competitive there are no bad units in the codex.

I keep getting told Exocrines and Tyrannofex are the nastiest things we've had since codex drop. Until I remind my opponent they kill about a handful of infantry a game because out of range, and useless on the move.

The more games I play the more our monsters without ++ look like poop. Hive Guard definitely steal the show with SMA.

I think by the end of the new codex cycles we will be Nidzilla free (Tyrant class exempt.) Too many points locked into bricks that die/degrade into uselessness as soon as a twin Las equivalent looks their way. Combined with meh stats to degrade and model cost it's a no brainer. So guess what gets nerfed next FAQ?

IMO we would be trash tier without 2x actions. 2x move, 2x psychic, 2x shoot, 2x melee, are basically where my CP go. Oh and Caustic Blood is a beautiful Tyranid strategy. "Can't kill it so bleed on it."

[gigasnail]

Not being able to be shot, but still shoot > T8. HG have a lot going for them.

My exocrine have been disappointments in every game.

[wormlord666]

May 27, 2018 15:26:10 GMT burd said:

Played 2k vs Bangles 1st match since the DS nerf which seems to have hurt bugs hard. 1st off I've always ran a mix of either 2 exos with a tfex or 2 tfex with an exo and a malanthrope babysitter 2 flyrants sometimes 1/swarmy/drop pod. With Genestealers trygon bomb. Long story short. This is outdated. Or are tyranids just destined to be shelved. And 2 devastator squads able to get 2 turns of free firing before anything is able to touch them is pretty dumb for any army not able to field a 48" 2 weapon profile missile launcher. I guess I'm playing murder mimes in clown cars. Someone please talk me down from the ledge

I face BA often and they are strong now. But I often win. They like to charge, but we have the cheapest screens. Catch them there, caustic blood, smite, psychic scream, singel minded annilation etc and then they are not so tough.

Kraken Genestealers will charge about anything anywhere.

Deploy your flyrants last, use range and los to stay out of shooting and use chameleonic skin and venomthropes to stay alive.

You can beat them. We have a strong codex.

[kazetanade]

I dont get the crux of Burds complaints. He keeps bringing up stuff like oh my crene is shyt, oh I'm forced to play shooty, oh inceptors are ruining my games; all the above being untrue for most of us. Hell, my entire meta has already discarded primaris as a army, and inceptors and rievers are on the bottom of their lists.

I'm not sure where the problem is. Have you re-evaluated what the issues were in your games? Because Nids are still doing quite well for most people.

[Gulg]

I agree with bahamut. MC's can be focused down extremely fast without a ++. That is where the rule of 1 every 500 points comes in, but you will still lose some of them pretty easily since they can't really hide. I think the best lists are going to end up being mass gaunts, HG, neuro and malanthrope lists with splashes of other stuff. I would cream myself if they gave tervigons a look out Sir!

Kind of goes into my chaos daemon list (which I haven't tried yet) that starts off with 120 plaugebearers, 2 scrivners and 2 poxbringers (thousand suns psychers in the mix). good luck killing all those plaguebearers with -1 to hit 5++ and 5+++.

[Hive Bahamut]

So a couple of things. I noticed you are using a very similar list to one Ì tried a little while ago. A few things: I play monofleet for now until I get bored of that, no other reason. I have never taken the same list 2 times and I'm at about 50+ games now. We have that many choices. (Mind you I play GSC and Brood Brothers now Too.)

2x Exocrine and 1x Tyrannofex is a decent Firebase. Jormungandr for the ignore cover Trait +1 save is tempting but they HAVE to stay still so why not reward it further with Kronos reroll 1's? In my meta Jormungandr is useless on Monsters as almost anything shooting them is typically AP4-5. Also, if you aren't going first you are usually better hiding them. Which is why Hive Guard are just better than Exo's. I bought one with codex drop and kicking myself for not just grabbing anything else basically.

Pathogenic makes every lost save a dead Primaris.

Aggressors and Hellblasters are dangerous, kite the Inceptors with some trash screen (only 18" range on Aggressors and Inceptors) and make sure everything stays under spores -1.

Don't try to out elite them. They are expensive but Nidzilla is not going to do you any favours here. Use your board control/fearless minions and focus fire problem units.

Watch out for the banner. 4/3+ to activate upon death nearby. Lost a full squad of Hivestrains killing 3x Aggressors first game against them. Oops.

Primaris are slow, (Inceptors are not,) and apart from the Repulsive model that looks like a 6 year old got ahold of a glue gun and some guns, they have no means of getting around.

What Chapter are they using?
What Adaptation are you using?
Is there enough terrain?
Do you play standard missions, maelstrom, ITC, Etc?

[kociamafia]

Tyranids are still awesome,I do not understand the point being made here.

Also - Meta will change, minis will stay...Food for thought...

[brassangel]

On the competitive scene and in discussions among the pro level players, Tyranids are absolutely top tier after the FAQ. certain strategies of theirs were hit, but so were the best options for every other army. We still have vast deployment options and mobility, Carnifexes and Hive Tyrants do a ton of work in shooting, and Hive Guard are perhaps the second best output unit (point for point) behind psychic-buffed Dark Reapers. Oh, and we have spectacular game against Aeldari right now.

The restriction to 3x data-sheets max hurt us less than some armies. Tyranids have quite a few tier 1 units that simply weren't seeing play because armies had 7 Flyrants, 9 Dark Talons, 6 Shield Captains, 24 Wraiths, etc. Now they can't. A lot of those armies were forced to rebuild from the ground up whereas Tyranids just decided to try Carnifexes with HVC and twin DSP, or Warriors. Oh, and other Hive Fleets - turns out most of our sub factions are good while other armies have just one worth playing.

Deep striking stuff turn 2 isnt that big of a deal as we aren't getting alpha'd turn 1 either. And now we don't have to waste units screening.

Oh, and Tyranid Warriors are absolutely ace right now. Yes, Warriors. A lot of the main weapons in the tourney scene are dmg 2, and Warriors are more price efficient than any other unit in their class with the right load out. We Tyranids players were stuck in a mindset of them being expensive and auto-dying on 2's for so long that we refuse to play them (or play them correctly).

Aa was mentioned previously, Genestealers are absolutely great. They can not only STILL hit turn one, but there's nothing wrong with using them as a mid-to-late game wrecking crew too.

I know that, since the FAQ, Tyranids have gone UP in win % on the ITC and ETC circuits. Stuff that we relied on before changed, that's all. The Tyranids got no worse and got better against some of their previously tough match ups. We just have to give up our crutches and try something different. Especially since we have more CP's now.

[Hive Bahamut]

It really is criminal how many tools we have. Tyranids are in a great spot right now. Pick what unit you want, do everything twice. Hive Tyrants, Genestealers, Warriors and Carnifex are all great units! (We could even toss the Neu.. Zoanthrope and Biovore a bone still.) 4th edition goggles?

The Xenos Swiss Army Knife army on legs. Let's enjoy the sun. Maybe a glass for the .. Too soon?