Heeeeeeeeeeeelp

[wooibic]

Hello guys, I don't have much time to get into the hobby, and I have many doubts about how to use the bugs, I bought the new combat patrol and the start collecting and the new codex, but I see that you can arm the bugs in different ways, So I feel very confused if someone could help me by giving me like a list of exercises for beginners it would help me a lot.
Thank you so much

by the way I know that youtube exists but I have not found a video that understands much.

[dakka]

youtu.be/Ck2IsqL9cVM

Maelstrom Gaming have just uploaded this Tyranids begginers guide on youtube you might find helpful

[infornography]

whooo yeah, I put together a tactica once and it was a LOT of work but that was when the meta didn't shift super quickly. Now, any tactica we assemble would be very obsolete within a month or two. Short of writing up another one of those I think the best we can do is go over the best units and builds currently and any other units you are particularly interested in.

I'll start with an analysis of the units present in the most recent Start Collecting and Combat Patrol boxes.
Trygon can be built as Trygon, Trygon Prime, or Mawloc
Hive Tyrant can be built as Hive Tyrant (walking), Flying Hive Tyrant, or Swarmlord
Warriors can be built as 3 warriors or 2 warriors and a Tyranid Prime

Trygon - A strong unit that is capable of dealing a lot of damage in melee, but is far more fragile that it appears at first glance. Able to bring a troops unit with it into battle (stratagem) and can take Adrenal Glands to bring it to S8. Its profile is particularly well suited to dealing with elite ranged enemies in melee, but it can also take apart light and medium vehicles/monsters. Not a top shelf unit, but definitely capable and its ability to deliver troops to the front lines is something that could help a lot with some strategies.

Trygon Prime - Take a Trygon, make it HQ instead of Fast Attack, give it synapse, and tack on AP-2 on its ranged attack. Useful for delivering troops that need babysitting to the front lines. Has a handy Command ability that can make the charges a bit easier.

Mawloc - Giant snakeywyrm that bursts up from the ground and eats a bunch of infantry and can pop up much closer to enemy models, but if it does then it cannot charge. It has weaker melee than the Trygon, but can kill more things with poor armor saves and 1 wound.

With these three, they all look almost identical. The general wisdom is unless you are attending top shelf tourneys, as long as you can clearly tell your units apart, you can build this kit however you want and just call it what you are fielding it as. Adrenal glands are highly recommended though.

Hive Tyrant (Walking) - This unit is pretty amazing at versatility. If you do not magnetize the weapons options, you are doing yourself a disservice, you can also magnetize it to be changed to a Swarmlord pretty easily. One of our strongest units which can bring great value during every phase of the round. Combined with a 4++ you have a total package.
Lashwhip/Bonesword: The strongest melee attack available to the Hive Tyrant.
Scything Talons: Great for volume of attacks in melee and still a solid choice. If you take Scything talons you need to also take Adrenal Glands for the extra strength.
Heavy Venom Cannon: An extremely good gun for dealing with vehicles, monsters, or high class elite infantry. Currently rules as written allow you take two of this gun, it is expected that was a mistake that will be removed soon.
Stranglethorn Cannon: A solid gun for dealing with elites and light vehicles/monsters, but probably the least good option on the Hive Tyrant. Currently rules as written allow you take two of this gun, it is expected that was a mistake that will be removed soon.

Flying Hive Tyrant - A Hive Tyrant with wings and one bespoke weapon system. The Tyrant Talons are basically Scything Talons that deal half the damage. You can only modify one arm pair. Scything Talons for volume of attacks (again take Adrenal Glands with these), Bonesword/Lashwhip for high quality melee, and Heavy Venom Cannon for some top shelf ranged punch.

Swarmlord - Captain Cuisinart. The walking blender. Swarmy can deal a LOT of melee damage and is good against elites and all but the biggest vehicles and even then, he is still a threat. He can also hand out some solid buffs. Unfortunately his lack of options and in particular Heavy Venom Cannons can mean that his premium points cost is not worth it as compared to a regular Hive Tyrant.

Genestealers - Not a lot of options here. Just make sure every 4th model has Acid Maw and Flesh Hooks since they are free and unlock some handy strategems. The only real choices modeling wise are whether you use the extended carapace and/or toxin sacs. My gut says the extended carapace would be barely worth it. Toxin Sacs less so for +3 points per mini. All in all, genestealers are a solid unit but they have delivery challenges and are a bit overcosted.

Broodlord - A bigger, stronger, meaner, psyker genestealer. No real options here. He is what he is. Given how competitive the HQ slot is, he is probably a shelf sitter.

Termagants - Our basic infantry. They bring some pretty decent firepower for their size, but as a result, they are pretty expensive for how quickly they can and will die. They have 3 gun options, but only one really good choice. Fleshborers. Give them all fleshborers. There is a build that can make use of some strategems to augment devourers to be good, but you are paying more points and CP for the opportunity. It is unfortunate but these guys are likely going to be taken very sparingly with this codex and almost always with fleshborers and no other upgrades.

Warriors - One of our best units right now. These guys are like tiny hive tyrants minus psyker capabilities. Highly versatile and fairly durable for their cost. They have some pretty great weapon options. It is highly advised that you magnetize them because they are likely to see the rough end of a nerfbat soon. Here is a breakdown of their weapon options.
Scything Talons: good for volume of attacks, but currently overshadowed by boneswords.
Rending Claws: good for AP, but not great overall.
Bonesword/Lashwhip: A decent option to add one of to a unit to unlock the strategem from the lashwhip, but more than 1 is a waste.
Dual Boneswords: Here is the sweet spot. This weapon option gives you good volume of attacks at high quality. Throw in some adrenal glands and these bad boys are swinging 4 times at S8 AP-2 and dealing 2 damage at a time.
Spinefists: an okay gun if you want to be in melee, but honestly you are better off with something else or even more melee weapons.
Devourer: an okay gun at range, but overshadowed by better options.
Deathspitter: This is the best basic gun Warriors have access to. And for now it doesn't cost any more than the less good options so this is your go-to.
Venom Cannon: This is the best advanced gun Warriors have access to. You can and should take one for ever three unless you expect your warriors to be stuck in melee most of the time.
Barbed Strangler: This gun is decent, and brings some good range. At least for now you can take one for every three along with the venom cannons. This might be FAQ'd away though so beware.
If you are taking a minimum sized unit for babysitting duty, taking one of each cannon and none of the regular upgrades is probably the way to go.
If you are taking 5 or more, Boneswords, Deathspitters, one BS/LW, and maxing out the cannons along with AG, FH, and TS is worth it.

And finally
Rippers - poor rippers. You don't really get a choice on how to build them other than how many you put on each base. Usually 3 is enough if you want to maximize playable models, more if you want them to look good. Right now rippers are probably the single most pointless unit in the game. At 15 points each they can't kill, don't have obsec anymore, can't perform many actions, don't count for rounding out a brigade, and are slow. The only potential use they have is to have one minimum sized unit pop up on an undefended objective with low LOS blocking terrain and hide. If they were substantially cheaper that might still be worth it but for 15 points? They are a joke. A bad one. The kind nobody bothers to laugh at anymore. They don't even rate a groan.

[Jbizzy]

Great write up @infornograhpy but two things I noticed about Trygon notes: Adrenal Glands give +1 str and +1" movement, no need for charge. Trygons COMMAND ability affects charge, not their synaptic link.

[bigpig]

Awesome effort Info. Repping the HIve

[infornography]

May 9, 2022 23:16:32 GMT Jbizzy said:

Great write up @infornograhpy but two things I noticed about Trygon notes: Adrenal Glands give +1 str and +1" movement, no need for charge. Trygons COMMAND ability affects charge, not their synaptic link.

Oops, my memory was stuck in our old codex for AG. I'll fix it. Thanks!

[dkng]

Where Horms?

[infornography]

Horms are not buildable using either of the sets listed, though I suppose you could kitbash them using the warrior scything talons and the termagants.

They are quite good, but very expensive pointswise for what you get. The only options you have with hormagaunts are whether to give them Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands. My personal take is that adrenal glands are absolutely worth it, toxin sacs are good but not as good. No matter how you build them they will be overcosted but could still be worth fielding in limited numbers.

[dkng]

Damn I didnt notice you were talking about the boxes

Aaand I love Horms, even though it’s not easy to love them

[infornography]

Yeah, doing a writeup of the whole codex would have taken me at least a week. Maybe two or three if I did it right with color coding and references. I just focused on the models he stated having. I am happy to provide a similar brief analysis of any other units in the codex though if there are one or two specific ones you are interested in.

[dkng]

May 10, 2022 16:16:42 GMT infornography said:

Yeah, doing a writeup of the whole codex would have taken me at least a week. Maybe two or three if I did it right with color coding and references. I just focused on the models he stated having. I am happy to provide a similar brief analysis of any other units in the codex though if there are one or two specific ones you are interested in.

Tbh I’m really interested in your take on Horms vs Gargs.

[infornography]

Gargoyles are the best costed Gaunt type. I still feel they are slightly overcosted but they bring an awful lot to the table.
They have Obsec now and incredible movement. They pack some solid ranged punch for their size. You don't get any options with them other than how many you bring. I think the sweet spot is somewhere in the mid teens and you use them to thin out a small unit holding an objective, then charge them, then use blinding venom to keep them from killing very many back in melee.

Compared to Hormagaunts, they are nowhere near as lethal. Hormagaunts can kill things especially with adrenal glands. Gargs are best for tying up enemy ranged units and stealing objectives out from under them. They also make pretty effective screens due to their significantly sized bases. I really see these two units as serving very different purposes.