Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Tyranids (section)

===Troops===
Troops are where you are going to ''get your swarm on'', everything except warriors, mucolids, and rippers can be fielded in absolutely MASSIVE numbers (and even then they just sacrifice quantity for quality). The upgrades for your troops can really have an impact on how they fight but while the upgrade cost is small the bulk order of them can run you a lot of points, almost doubling the point costs of some choices. Everything works best when you keep them within a synapse from something like a Tyrant or Warriors, with Rippers it is not that bad as the Hunger result is one hit per model so you can take two rounds of self-NOMMAGE before losing any models & combat effectiveness (unlike Gaunts). Tyranid troops are basically the reason other races have weapons with crap AP values, you will lose them in droves, and yet STILL have enough to bury your enemy in bodies.

Oh, and as for the update, this is where a large number of buffs came in: Gaunts are one point cheaper, and they run d6 + 3 in the shooting phase. Make the most of it.

*'''[[Genestealer]]s:''' Genestealers are very solid units. They have a 5+ save, which is easily punctured by any Space Marine worth a damn, but their combat ability makes up for that. They can easily shred plenty of enemy units (up to and including Baneblades <strike> if you can get to their rear armor </strike> you always will seeing as they can only do any damage in combat where models always hit the rear armour of non-walker vehicles) in close combat thanks to rending, high initiative, great weapon skill, and an acceptable number of attacks (<s>Thanks to two pairs of claws, they get another attack :D</s> No they do not, you need to buy the Scything Talons to count as two weapons). However, despite all this, they aren't really the core player of the army. They come with infiltration built in, so their best use is often to keep the enemy bottled up. A squad or two of flanking Genestealers will cause most players to give pause to spreading out to the edges of the board. Additionally, you can also upgrade one genestealer to a broodlord, which is essentially a 3 wound, ws7, s/t5 nightmare with The Horror psyker power. Give the Broodlord adrenal glands and it can pop landraiders. All things considered you can't say many bad things about Genestealers. Thankfully, they can be fielded in pretty large numbers, not quite as massive as that of Gaunts, but enough to pretty much swamp anything in front of them.  Almost nothing in the game short of AV 14 armor survives more than one turn when faced with a full genestealer brood with a broodlord.
**Definitely give the broodlord +1A for 4 points. Because you need 6 S5 I7 WS7 Rending attacks on the charge.
**Another update!  Rending claws are S user AP5 rending.  It's only a slight change but helps when putting genestealers against weaker enemies (guardsmen, eldar, etc.)
**Genestealers will kill anything they touch (except for daemons or anything with an invuln which mocks their rending). They are, after all, probably the greatest assault unit in the game (unless they're assaulting into cover as they don't get flesh hooks anymore and will get a hiding before they strike from anything capable thanks to their naff 5+ save). Any opponent that knows this will stay FAR away from them. This makes genestealers a major psychological tool in addition to what some would say is the greatest unit in the codex.
**tl;dr - Take Genestealers+Broodlord vs armies that don't have a lot of units immune to Pinning.  Infiltrate them as close as possible to the enemy's gunlines and The Horror them repeatedly.  You won't be able to assault them the turn you Infiltrate, but you can assault the next turn. If they're immune to Pinning, well, you should have other uses for that Warp Charge.
**'''Children of Cryptus (Deathstorm):''' 8 Stealers with ScyTals and a Broodlord (Sadly the Spawn of Cryptus has no IC and no ScyTals).  For 11 points more, the Spawn becomes a Warlord (Which grants him Preferred Enemy) and gives the entire squad Stealth.  Overall a nice package, as it allows them better use for cover.
**If you really want to spam genestealers, run an allied detachment of Genestealer Cults. GC Genestealers cost the exact same but have +1 attack, stealth and a 5+ invuln. Take a patriarch (uber-broodlord) as the allied HQ and gain autopassing look out sir combat monster with S6 ap3 attacks a uprgradeable to ML2 to get even more fun (like spam summoning). Even better run the First Curse formation to get the above and a powerful buff table on top of that, where you could even get assault grenades!
*'''[[Hormagaunt]]s:''' Hormagaunts, due to being cheap and having cheap access to poison, are among the most devastating and effective attackers in the the entire game. Per point spent, they deal more damage, survive more wounds, and can even run across the board faster than anything else that can compete with them. Their only major drawback is a stark lack of frag grenades. However, keep them from fighting with inopportune targets and get them Feel No Pain from any psyker with Catalyst, and these little bugs will really tear it up on the battlefield. They can also equip adrenal glands to glance tanks and transports to death on the charge. Plus, you can field them in absolutely massive broods, rivalling full sized guard platoons in sheer size. You now only +2 attacks on the charge on a roll of 6 outside of synapse, otherwise enjoy your [number of models] S3 hits 50% of the time! (yes, they hit themselves). However, seeing as they are fast, good in melee, and cheap ObSec, they are very good at grabbing objectives, and holding them because of their outrageous numbers and melee punch compared to enemy equivalents (remember that grounded nids don't take Instinctive Behavior!).
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*Exerpt from Spoletta on DakkaDakka Tactics:
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Hormagaunts are usually seen as an alternative to the deep striking rippers as mandatory troops. Depending on your list composition of heavy hitters you may want those guys in.  Alternatively, you can go out all out on Hgaunts and TGants and play an horde style list.  Here is a list of things you want to consider when talking about Hgaunts:
*Hormagaunts may look like a cheap troop, but they actually are not. Remember that nids have Tgants, rippers and Mucolids for a cheaper troop choice. Take these guys only if you have a real reason, if not then there are better mandatory troops.
*Hormagaunts are fast. Not as fast as beasts or jump infantry, but for their cost they are indeed fast between fleet and leap. They will get into assault range by turn 2 many times.
*Do not expect vanilla hormagaunts to provide damage, that is not their role. They will make a mess out of certain units, but that will not happen commonly.

That said, why would you take Hgaunts, what is their intended role? Well at this point it is necessary to distinguish between vanilla hormagaunts and upgraded hormagaunts.  Vanillla hormagaunts are the most commonly used and are great for screening, tarpitting, objective grabbing and assault linking.

#Screening: Since the rule clarification that you don't need to be 25% covered by a model to get the cover save but a toe in a ripper will suffice, these guys became an interesting alternative to the more commonly used screeners. While they cost 25% more than Tgants, they will never risk to slow down your dakkafex/exocrine/whatever. At the same time they cost 16% less than gargoyles (and are obj sec). Remember to bring a shroud source with you when doing this, or the hormagaunts will be an even better target than a dakkafex for the bolters on a point per average wound basis.
#Tarpitting: When tarpitting with nids it is either gargoiles or hormagaunts. Luckily both of them are really good at this. Gargoiles are better due to the jump infantry type and the blinding venom even if they cost more. If you want pure tarpitting go for them. Take hormagaunts if you also need them for their other roles.
#Objective grabbing: Here the best are the deepstriking rippers. Cheaper, easier to hide and deepstriking. Hormagaunts are close second though, with the highest speed between our obj sec troops and an high model count for conga lining.
#Assault linking: This is where Hgaunts are the best. Assault a model with a slaughter unit (Dimacherion, Carnifex, Toxicrene etc..) and at the same time multi assault that model and another unit with a unit of hormagaunts. You will get 2 benefits: first, your hormagaunts will eat up the overwatch, and secondly when that initially assaulted model gets slaughtered, you force a harsh leadership check on the second unit while in melee with a high initiative unit. Remember that glancing and penetrating hits count for resolution and tanks are indeed the best initial targets for this maneuver. Hgaunts have fleet and high initiative for a low cost, which makes them better at this than Tgants and Gargoyles.

As you can see, they are not the best at anything, but they are a good second choice for all of those roles, with point 4 an uncommon exception (which can win games, keep an eye out for it). So if you need just mandatory troops or strongly need one role in particular, skip Hgaunts. If you need an all round troop choice that can be spent in any of those roles then consider Hgaunts.

Upgraded Hormagaunts are almost never seen and there is a reason. They cost! For a 1W T3 6+ model they can get to ridiculous costs. That said:
*If you need anti rear AV 10 and can't honestly get anything better then AG Hgaunts can be an option. They are fairly good at it, but will bleed points like mad when targeted.
*If you expect to face high T targets like WKnights or Nurgle babies then consider Venom Hgaunts. If you can get them on their favorite target then they can get to tear jerking efficiency, if not they will again be point bleeders at the smallest sign of enemy fire.
*Do not consider AG + Venom Gaunts. Never.

Grades: C (Vanilla Hormagaunts), D (Single upgrade Hgaunts), E (Double Upgrade Hormagaunts) </div>
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*'''[[Ripper]]s:''' Tyranids have numerous traditional weaknesses, one being blast templates. Rippers, being swarms, take double damage from blast templates. Having a toughness of three, they are morbidly weak to Instant Death as well. Their weapon skill is low, their saves are 6+ and they die less than 5E if they fall out of synapse and roll 1-3 on Instinctive Behavior (which they will). To say they at least aren't an actively inhibiting part of any army would be a stretch. At least they can now claim (and secure in combined arms FOCS) objectives, so they can at least be given purpose on the battlefield by hiding away in cover based objectives. You just have to hope your enemy didn't bring flamers.
** However, Rippers can now purchase deep strike for pennies. Of course, this hardly redeems them, but if you really want to have some, it does make them usuable as a halfway decent distraction unit than can simply go to ground every turn for immunity to Instinctive Behavior and +1 to cover. 6ed Swarms are not slowed by difficult terrain but must test for dangerous terrain as normal so keep that in mind.
*** These lil' gribblies are the [[Spanish Inquisition]] of the Troops slot.  Bump them up by one base, give them Burrowing and Spinefists, then watch your opponent scowl in disbelief as four Ripper bases deep strike into his backline and pepper a heavy weapons unit with 16 twin-linked shots.  They should kill 1 MEq or 3 GEq with this LOL-salvo and even if they don't, their target now faces a very real threat of another 16 shots in the following turn followed by being tied up in assault for the rest of the game unless dealt with.  What's more important; lil' gribs in the wire or bigger gribs elsewhere?  As they have the Swarms USR, Rippers are surprisingly resilient in assault in 7th providing that they can get there. Now that wounds from each initiative step are allocated by the player owning the target models, once all Rippers are in base contact with the enemy unit the owner can 5th-style spread the wounds around each base without initially losing any models.  The advantage of this, unless doubled-out and Instant Deathed, is that a unit of Rippers can hang in combat better than Gaunts as they initially take damage without having models removed, thus retaining 100% of their damage output for longer.  Just be wary of sending any heavily wounded surviving bases into danger (or even out of synapse) as they're very unlikely to use this trick twice and will best be used as pew-pew objective-holders once savaged.
*'''[[Termagant]]s:''' Termagants are pretty much nothing (base) compared to hormagaunts and genestealers. Their guns are short to mid range, their ballistic skill is average, they fight as well as Guardsmen in close combat and their saves are worse. In fact, they cost one less point than Guardsman. However, for every brood of 30 Termagants you have, one Tervigon can be purchased as a troop choice (there are few units of comparable cost that can remove a Tervigon from an objective in cover and most of those do not have Objective Secured), and Termagants receive counter-attack from being next to a Tervigon. Therefore, despite their mediocre-at-best statline, they are arguably the most competitive Troops choice on the tabletops of seventh edition when paired with the Tervigon. Like Hormagaunts, they can be fielded in numbers so large the gameboard will look like an unending sea of bugs. Give them devourers though, pay a pretty penny for a hive tyrant with Hive Commander, and have them Outflank on a side of the board and they can certainly dish out a lot of dakka! If you want Preferred Enemy, either bring the Swarmlord or some Malanthropes to grant them that special rule. THIS combo is slaughter incarnate to infantry.
**Something to keep in mind is that Termagants can now Mix and Match weapons. Due to the wonky wording, any model can replace their weapon with a different one, rather than a unit. Want some good [[Dakka|dakka]] but don't want to pay through the nose for having 30 Devourers? Just take at least half and let the other half keep their Flesh Borers! This means you can also experiment with Spinefists and Spike Rifles now that they're free.
*'''[[Tyranid Warrior|Warriors]]:''' Warriors are also a solid unit, but they have one problem: Instant Death. They have a 4+ save, three wounds, and a toughness of four, so against small arms fire they're as tough as Terminators. However, hit their squad with a Battle Cannon and they all evaporate, and autocannons will rip them into very small pieces. They have access to weapons that ignore armor saves, have decent guns, have good weapon skill, and overall have some pretty reasonable options. It's just not a good idea to make an entire army composed of Warriors since small numbers and being no-brainer targets will hurt them. Cover can be their friend and with Primes leading them, at least Str8 won't be such a problem. The question is, though, do you wanna risk your Prime?
**And we should probably mention that Boneswords are AP3 now. Don't bother pairing them together, take one with a Lash Whip and give them Rending Claws so they won't be limited to MEQs.
**If you do use Warriors, take a unit of three, equip one with a Cannon of your choice, include a pair of Rending Claws on two other Warriors, and have them sit on an objective at your deployment zone. They make a decent unit that can shoot Blast weapons while still be able to hold on their own if someone tries to assault them.
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*Exerpt from Unyielding Hunger on DakkaDakka Tactics:
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The Tyranid Warrior is the heart of the swarm and is used in many of the formations.

1. Super versatility allows it to take on a wide variety of jobs with little problem.

2. Has access to assault grenades

3. Synapse support for the army.

The Tyranid Warrior has lived a long and checkered past, having often been switched to worthwhile to worthless as meta constantly shifts around it. The Tyranid Warrior acts in much the same way as a cheaper, more easily disposable terminator. The crux of the problem comes from the toughness value of the warrior. At T4, a warrior is the equal of most marines, but costs just under 3 times the cost. Against S8 and greater, a warrior has very little in the way of defense. However, by keeping to small units it is much easier to mitigate losses to large strength weapons while also maximizing firepower. The standard option clocks in at 90 points and serves little purpose just moving up, unless working within other formations which allow Tyranid Warriors to augment and boost those around them. The recommended option is a small group of 3 with a bio cannon at 100 points. Depending on your strategy, a group of 3 entrenched in cover with a barbed strangler will have good chances of survival and can keep enemy flamers and heavy weapons pinned down as the rest of the swarm rapidly moves into their respective gun ranges. The other option that works well for hunting vehicles or multi-wound xenos or human characters is the Venom cannon. It is fully capable of working on AV12, though anything stronger will give you problems.

Mobility can be a bit of a problem for warriors, though there are ways to get around that. Each squad can have quite the presence on the board which is reinforced by their large size. Always make sure to keep them in cover or melee to avoid casualties. The maximum size is 9, but rarely should a person field more than 4-5 in a single squad, in order to ensure that the footprint remains small and they do not attract too much attention, as anyone who stares at them too long is going to start feeling itchy with their big guns. Once you get in close, you want to avoid standing around for multiple turns in the open shooting. Use your devourers and jump right into the mix, and even stock Tyranid Warriors should be able to hold their own for several turns. If you are going after a more melee concentrated brood, then consider keeping them rather small, and in transport. The only real transport options for the Tyranid Warrior are Trygon tunnels or a pod. Taking the pod will be your best bet in almost every circumstance. Give one warrior a LW/BS combination and consider him a sergeant. From there, you can go in several directions. You can give the remaining 2-5 rending claws and go full melee, or keep devourers on them to allow them to soften up before the assault, which in most circumstances will be your best bet. You do not need to give every warrior in a CC oriented brood every shiny option when it comes down to it. If you have the points for a Prime, see if you can't keep them all together.

In a pod, you can keep 5 warriors and a Prime. That is a bit point heavy however, so try and shave it where you can elsewhere. Your Prime should be doing most of the work, but take advantage of stat line boosts where applicable. Upgrade 2 more with rending claws and scything talons and keep the rest stock, and you have a much more durable attack platform. Use some wound shenanigans to keep them all rotating out to take damage, and you can also use the Tyranid Prime to tank S8-9 shots. Ideally, you want the brunt of all your melee damage to be taken on your stock warriors to free up the rending claw warriors to survive longer to roll those 6s.

Grades: B (Gunboat Warriors), B (Pod Warriors), D (CC Walk Warriors), D (Vanilla)
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**'''Phodian Hive Warriors (Deathstorm):''' Three Warriors with Toxin and Adrenals, with Venom Cannon, Boneswords, and LashSword each.  11 more points grants them not only the ability to charge through ruins at Initiative (Which is boss), but it also makes anything non-Nid in ruins within 12" take Dangerous Terrain, making them good with Area Denial.  In forest or desert boards, they're probably no different than basic Warriors.

*'''[[Mucolid Spore]] Pods''': Released alongside the Tyrannocyte and Sporocyst, these are basically T3 3W anti-MEQ spore mines with Shrouded, all at the cost of about a ripper base each.  They move like mines and blow up in S8 AP3 (which goes up in S if you pile more in, since 1-3 of them can be put in a troop slot).  The other big boon is that they can charge Zooming Flyers/Swooping MCs and, if they hit, score on Side Armor.  All said, these are seriously cheap flyer-denial units to bring if you want to give up a few Rippers.  Just keep them from attacking anything but the flyers or big units, as they're still spore mines.
**There are three main ways that Mucolids could be used from an army building perspective. 
***One, as a flier denial unit. Simply by spending 90 points you get 2 squads of 3 that, when contained in the main body of your swarm, are extraordinarily hard to kill, what with 3 wounds and a 3+ cover, T3 be damned. This leads to their continued presence and makes them work as a discouraging unit - they basically project a no-fly-zone where the enemy simply wont put his drop pods or aircraft for risk of the contents of the pod or the flier itself spontaneously combusting. 
***The second way is as a bare minimum troops fulfillment. With these things, in 30 points, mandatory troops are done and dusted, leading to more free points to spend on big things. This lowers the minimum cost of mandatory troops in the Tyranid book from 78 points (two squads of minimum sized rippers) to 30. And unlike two squads of 10 fleshborer termagants, a lone mucolid actually still represents a threat no matter where it ends up.
***The third method is to use them as deep strikers. 90 points worth of these things deepstriking in front of/beside/behind cover next to the enemy army is something that they ''cannot ignore'' without horrible things happening to them next turn. This can disrupt gunlines, draw out enemy key units, draw fire and generally make a right nuisance for 90 points. They could also be used as the anti tank support to a Tyrannocyte drop pod list's anti infantry. Three Tyrannocytes, one with a T-fex and two with 20 devilgaunts, the T-fex pod with venom cannons and the other two with barbed stranglers is a huge hitting force. Throw in 2 squads of 3 or 3 squads of 2 Mucolids and this Drop Pod assault becomes lethal on all levels. Add a precision deepstriking Lictor for precision deepstriking pods and mines behind cover.