2k Kraken Cranial Feasting

[alx51]

Hi Zimko, thanks for the details about the match-ups, very interesting !

Do you think flyrant is still worth it in this list, or does it become a liability now that losing him prevents you to use synaptic imperatives ?

If so, what would you do with the 350 points used for him and his guard ?

(ps : I play in europe, and here with WTC terrain with lots of terrain providing dense and light cover exocrines are worth considering).

[zimko]

The Flyrant is absolutely still worth it. This list does not rely on Synaptic imperatives past turn 2. Leviathan lists need the imperatives for Hive Nexus but not Kraken. Another player at the tournament ran a very similar list to this but instead of the Flyrant, Tyrant Guard and Genestealers he had a 3rd Tfex with VAmmo, Deathleaper and Tyranid Prime. He did well but after our match against each other he agreed that the Flyrant was the better choice. A Flyrant allowed me to hit and run and force him to make a long shot play that didn't pan out, which led to a huge victory for me. In most of the games I lost the Flyrant in turn 2 but by that point I already used the Zoanthrope imperative. The rest of the imperatives help but aren't game changers and the list can function without them.

[alx51]

I see, thanks for your answer !

[vejby]

Sept 7, 2022 16:00:35 GMT zimko said:

Sept 7, 2022 7:58:37 GMT N.I.B. said:

I asked in another thread, but were can I buy those huge GT ruins? GW ruins aren't big enough, ironically.

zimko, did you run with the list you have on page 1 in this thread?

Yes the list on page 1 is what I ran.

Goonhammer just posted an article about the NOVA Open and my final game is featured in the bonus showdown.

www.goonhammer.com/competitive-innovations-in-9th-nova-reanimation/

I read the article on Goonhammer, which mentioned the Kraken strat to just add 8" to the movement stat a couple of times, but doesn't using the strat still prevent the unit it was used on from charging unless you 'onslaught' them? The strat still says "when advancing", so I do not see any way out of having to get that power off succesfully. The article mentions usings it on some venomthropes to hunt down another unit, which I assume means they wanted to charge.

[No One]

Yes, but...with neuro+buffs and synaptic links, it's not hard to have onslaught be "guaranteed"

[zimko]

Ya I used Onslaught on those units. The Tervigon is aggressive enough to be within 12" of the unit that advanced 8" which allows me to chain the link back to the Nuero who is safely outside deny range and has +2 to cast. In that game I did not take a psychic secondary because he had a lot of ways to stop powers so my Neuro also had 3d6 to cast. It's basically a guaranteed cast but I try to keep a CP available to reroll just in case I roll 3 1s or something.

[dkng]

Sept 10, 2022 17:59:17 GMT zimko said:

roll 3 1s

And that happens way more often than once every 216 times

[kubimaniac]

I would really like to try this playstyle but I only have 1 tervigon. With what could I replace the 2 tfexes? Could I use an exocrine or harpy or do you suggest something else, like more warriors for example?

[zimko]

Exocrines might be able to pull off the same sort of threat that Tfexes do. The thing about Tfexes is they have a 9 inch move and can use it to get onto objectives and establish fire lanes. Exocrines can do the same but they're slower and not as threatening to things like dreadnaughts or knights. Being able to spike 20ish damage is a real threat to some things, and the odds aren't that bad for doing so. It's just a few dice rolls.

Harpies I feel play a very different role. They can't hold objectives and die easily compared to Tfexes.

[dkng]

Exocrines are more versatile and less likely to do nothing compared to Rupturefexes. The latter are very susceptible to -1 to hit and invuls. Exos have a great ability to ignore cover and we all know how troublesome SMs in cover can be.
Still a direct comparison is a tad moot as those two fellows serve different purposes. Rupturefex is a heavy, anti-tank hitter and Exo is an anti-elite eraser. I just think Exo is better at 'Fex's job than Fex at Exo's. But... do Tyranids really need more anti-elite? Or a heavy punch, even if somewhat clumsy at times, is what they will make more use of? I think because of that Exo is not so popular, even though it's a good unit.

[piersonsmuppet]

Considering that Tfex hits vehicles (even with ++) harder than the Exo and still kills as many black runed CSM Terminators as an Exo (potentially more if they have a +++), I’d rather have Tfexes in Kraken since the melee portion can go deal with AoC infantry.

[zimko]

Ok, back to analyzing my list. I have a Major in 4 weeks and 2 RTTs before that to practice in.

Here's my current list that I took to NOVA and had a lot of success with.

Kraken Battalion
HQ
- Neurothrope: Warlord, Resonance Barb, Catalyst, Onslaught, Paroxysm
- Tervigon: Adrenal Glands, Maw Claws, Heightened Senses, Neuroparasite
- Winged Tyrant: Warlord, AGlands, Reaper, Horror, Psychic Scream
Troops
- 29 Termagants
- 10 Termagants
- 5 Warriors: Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Deathstpitters, DBoneswords
Elites
- 4 Venomthropes
- 4 Venomthropes
- 3 Zoanthropes: Neuroparasite
- 3 Tyrant Guard
- 5 Genestealers
Heavy Support
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon

1998 pts, 2 cp

The weakest link in this list, I think, is the Genestealers. In most matchups they're mainly just hiding and holding an objective. They very rarely killed something, or I reserved them and tried to kill something. Their main utility is for mission 11 where I get a CP or 2 by having them there, but is it really worth having this unit for 1 mission? That is what I intend to find out at the next RTT.

Removing them would allow for a Biovore, Voracious Ammo on a Tfex, AGlands on the Tguard, and 1 more termagant.

Kraken Battalion
HQ
- Neurothrope: Warlord, Resonance Barb, Catalyst, Onslaught, Paroxysm
- Tervigon: Adrenal Glands, Maw Claws, Heightened Senses, Neuroparasite
- Winged Tyrant: Warlord, AGlands, Reaper, Horror, Psychic Scream
Troops
- 30 Termagants
- 10 Termagants
- 5 Warriors: Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Deathstpitters, DBoneswords
Elites
- 4 Venomthropes
- 4 Venomthropes
- 3 Zoanthropes: Neuroparasite
- 3 Tyrant Guard: Adrenal Glands
Heavy Support
- 1 Biovore
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon, Voracious Ammunition
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon

2000 pts, 2 cp

My toughest matchup so far has been Chaos. I've gotten a lot more practice against them but they are still dangerous in the hands of a good player. So I'm hoping a Biovore dropping move blockers might assist here, plus the extra mortals from Voracious Ammo. I think Rupturefexes are going to be decent into LoV so I'm hoping this list will stay viable once those lists start showing up.

[nidzy]

I have been playing with a sporocyst and 3 biovores in my kraken list and I love them. The sporocyst is hilarious with voracious ammunition.

[zimko]

Ok I played an 18 person RTT with the list. Placed 3rd, winning vs Emperor's Children and Tau. Then losing to an unorthodox Necron list with 3 Doomsday Arks, 2 Doomscythes, 2 Annihilation Barges, 2 Command Barges, 3 Spiders and the Silent King. He had a faction bonus that gave a lot of his stuff Transhuman. It was definitely beatable but I foolishly threw my Flyrant away in a bad trade so it was my fault I lost.

However, the main reason I was there was to try out the changes. And I gotta say... I hated the Biovore. The spores did the occasional mortal wound but they didn't do much move blocking. My opponents either ignored them or absorbed them without really worrying much about them. Now that's not to say it's useless. Mortals are always good. But when comparing it to what Genestealers provided for me, I'd rather have the Genestealers.

On that note, I really felt the hole of not having that extra forward objective holder. It's very nice to have a small forward deploying 5 man unit to sit on an objective in a corner somewhere. I missed it.

So I have another RTT this weekend. I'm going to revert the changes I made and instead try a different change. I'm going to remove a Venomthrope unit and add 20 termagants to the 10 man to form another large unit of termagants. I have multiple reasons for this change. The -1 to hit aura is very good in some matchups so you want a unit of venoms, but I often only need 1 unit for the aura. The other unit goes on offense. Against armor of contempt (and LoV) their low AP is felt. The volume is often enough to punch down a normal character but against 2+ armor they underperform. Another large blob of termagants will allow me to have a second wave to cover for the Tervigon while the first wave gets revived. More protection for the Tervigon means she can live longer and drive up her attacks with the relic. The tag team of Tervigon and Flyrant has been working well for me, so another unit of Termagants I think would get me another turn of killing with the Tervigon.

So here's the next list for this weekend's RTT.

Kraken Battalion
HQ
- Neurothrope: Warlord, Resonance Barb, Catalyst, Onslaught, Paroxysm
- Tervigon: Adrenal Glands, Maw Claws, Heightened Senses, Neuroparasite
- Winged Tyrant: Warlord, AGlands, Reaper, Horror, Psychic Scream
Troops
- 29 Termagants
- 30 Termagants
- 5 Warriors: Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Deathstpitters, DBoneswords
Elites
- 4 Venomthropes
- 3 Zoanthropes: Neuroparasite
- 3 Tyrant Guard
- 5 Genestealers
Heavy Support
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon
- Tyrannofex: Rupture Cannon

1998 pts, 2 cp

[No One]

zimko said:

He had a faction bonus that gave a lot of his stuff Transhuman.

Uhhh...you just talking quantum shielding?

However, the main reason I was there was to try out the changes. And I gotta say... I hated the Biovore. The spores did the occasional mortal wound but they didn't do much move blocking. My opponents either ignored them or absorbed them without really worrying much about them. Now that's not to say it's useless. Mortals are always good. But when comparing it to what Genestealers provided for me, I'd rather have the Genestealers.

Yeah, I just don't think you can move block with a single bio. I've been running a 2 man, and generally found them pretty effective (though can be a bit sad against some very mobile armies/if you roll two 1s): either because people outright avoid the 3", or because I've got enough models that I can ER block out the space sufficiently. And when they can't...90 pts for ~4-5 MWs (albeit delayed and with a bit of target restriction) isn't terrible.