Editing Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Tyranids (section)

===Troops===
*'''Genestealers''' - Genestealers are very solid units. They have a 5+ save, which is easily punctured by any Space Marine worth a damn, but their decent combat ability makes up for that. They can easily shred plenty of enemy units (up to and including Baneblades if you can get to their rear armor) in close combat thanks to rending, high initiative, great weapon skill, and an acceptable number of attacks. 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, was7, s/t5 nightmare with close combat oriented psychic powers. 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.  
*'''Hormagaunts''' - Hormagaunts, due to being cheap and having cheap access to poison, are among the most devastating attackers in the Tyranid army. 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 troubling susceptibility to No Retreat wounds and a stark lack of frag grenades. However, keep them from fighting with inopportune targets and get them Feel No Pain from a Tervigon and these little bugs will really tear it up on the battlefield. They can also equip adrenal glands to glance tanks and transports into submission on the charge. Plus, you can field them in absolutely massive broods, rivaling full sized guard platoons in sheer size.  
*'''Rippers''' - Tyranids have numerous traditional weaknesses, among them are 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+, they can't hold objectives, and they die if they fall out of synapse. To say they are good for anything would be a stretch. Only worth taking if you use the Parasite of Mortrex, since for 277pts or so you give Morty a nice extra 21 wounds, with 36 more attacks on the charge at a 4+ poison. And if your Rippers are running low, just move off into some of your newly spawned Rippers and keep going on.
*'''Termagants''' - Termagants are pretty much nothing compared to hormagaunts and genestealers. Their guns are short range, their ballistic skill is average, they fight as well as Guardsmen in close combat, and their saves are worse. In fact, they cost just as much as a Guardsman does, and since Termagants can't ride transports there isn't much that can be done with them. However, for every one brood of Termagants purchased, one Tervigon can be purchased as a troop choice, and Termagants receive all kinds of irrational buffs from being next to a Tervigon. Therefore, despite their mediocre to poor abilities, they actually aren't uncommon in the 5th edition. Like Hormagaunts, they can be fielded in numbers so large the gameboard will look like an unending sea of bugs.
*'''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 Demolisher cannon and they all evaporate. They have access to power weapons, 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.