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

===HQ Units===
*'''[[Hive Tyrant]]:''' Now with BS 4. The Hive Tyrant is often regarded as the "leader" of the Hive because they are gigantic monsters with synapse power. Synapse keeps all the little monsters from running around out of your control, therefore the Hive Tyrant is the boss. Unfortunately, Hive Tyrants are very expensive in the 7th edition, clocking in at 1.65x the cost of any no-name Space Marine HQ base but lacking invulnerable saves or the ability to join any squads (Tyrant Guard are a special case, Hive Tyrants are never Independent Characters and cannot leave a unit of Tyrant Guard once they join it) and tend to get focus-fired to death when on their own. Their upgrades are also pretty expensive, but they sport a good range of versatility that can make or break the Tyrant on the battlefield such as wings or toxin sacs. Hive Commander and Old Adversary are worthy upgrades, HC gives a friendly unit Outflank, while OA is Prefered Enemy (Everything!) in close combat only now. And it's no longer an AoE upgrade. However, Tyrants can now take multiples of those. Indescribable Horror is okay, but many armies either ignore Fear or have high Ld. If you consider taking one of these without either wings or tyrant guard in a game bigger than 500, punch yourself in the face - hard.
**'''Winged Tyrants''': now count as FMC and can soar above the battlefield raining down death or landing into assaults. A note on the new glancing rules for vehicles; it's quite easy to get to the softer side and rear arcs on most vehicles with the tyrant's newfound mobility, and 12 Twin-Linked Strength 6 shots average 5.333 [Whoo hoo BS4] hull points on AV10 and 3.556 hull points on AV11. Splendid! In 7th edition, wings make the Tyrant MUCH more survivable. Tyrant can no longer get a 2+ armor save so tyrant guard are a must as everything with the word power in it will shank him. Since Nids lack effective anti-air, Wings are the only real option now that they can no longer use Armored Shell. It bears noting that Flyrants are much cheaper, and with slightly more viable FA FMCs the possibility of saturated flying circus gets scary especially with double chart [not that anyone does that]. They also get two powers translating to a 1:3 chance of getting Warp lance. Flying Tyrants with the Ymgarl factor are actually a viable choice since they can now ignore air defence batteries for the one turn that they need to destroy them.
**'''Walking Tyrant:''' If you ''do'' choose to footslog (and there's a reason it's called foot slogging), there are a few misleading loadouts to recognize. Heavy Venom Cannons are a waste of the Tyrant's potential. People consider combining the Stranglethorn with the Miasma Cannon for anti-infantry. Don't do this. It is expensive at 40 points. The Miasma cannon is only a SMALL blast, and if you want to get in range to be using its template mode, then you might as well be using the Devourers with Brainleech Worms. ''Speaking of Devourers,'' don't take these. If you're using short ranged guns, you might as well be taking Wings for a few reasons. While you're in combat, you're wasting the points you spent on Devourers while simultaneously inhibiting the Tyrant's full combat potential. While you're outside of combat, your ''expensive'' Tyrant Guard remain only as extra wounds instead of close combat beasts. Equip your Tyrants for what they'll be best at -- close combat. Give him Old Adversary and call it a day. If you're playing against high initiative armies, give him a Lash Whip and Bonesword.
***'''Another Opinion:''' A Hive Tyrant without Wings is more reliable in getting to close combat. The reason why you should give him a Stranglethorn Cannon is to give him a ranged weapon so he can shoot at the enemy back, plus Pinning helps your swarm a lot. A recommended loadout is to give him, as previously mentioned, the Lash Whip and Bonesword with either the Stranglethorn or the Miasma Cannon. The latter is much better, as for only five points more than the Venom Cannon, it has poisoned (2+), and it can be converted into a template, which also wounds on a 2+. Although it can't do much against vehicles, its versatility makes up for that. The cannon makes him versatile and he has enough attacks to go against other Monstrous Creatures and Walkers. If you just want to rip and tear infantry and the like, the winged Hive Tyrant is a better choice overall.
**'''[[Tyrant Guard]]:''' They're S5, T6 with 2 wounds, 3+ armor, Rending Claws and Scything Talons. If you're planning on footslogging the Swarmlord across the board, Tyrant Guard are your means to get them there. They're really handy, but would 3 wounds and/or a 2+ armor save be too much to ask for? They are stated to be pound for pound the most well armoured tyranids; for fuck's sake, the Hive Mind decided not to give them eyes so the enemy couldn't shoot those and they stole the space marines' fused ribs and black carapace (although the black carapace improves neural connectivity with worn armour, rather than durability)! Still, Tyrant Guards can automatically take Look Out, Sir wounds from the Hive Tyrant and Swarmlord without rolling, so you can now place them in the back and troll your opponent with 5th edition wound allocation! Additionally, they can now take a lashwhip/bonesword or crushing claws, which will give them S6, ap2, armourbane, and unwieldy. It's an interesting use for Tyrant guards, but conditional, especially if you opt for the Tyrannocyte (as the Tyrant will fill one up by himself due to the transport capacity).
***'''Bizarre Note:''' In the list that won LVO 2015, two Flyrants from the Leviathan detachment *each* took a single Tyrant Guard w/ Adrenal Glands. Now, this may sound absolutely insane; after all, wouldn't attaching Flyrants to an infantry unit defeat the point of them having wings? There are no rules that actually ''require'' you to run Tyrants and Tyrant Guard in the same unit, so the player just ran the two solo Tyrant Guard as objective-grabbers/campers while his flyrants did their thing. With a 3+ save and toughness 6, it would take dedicated heavy weapons to shift them off, and with enough other targets...
***'''Stupid note:''' Due to a poorly worded FAQ to the BRB, they can't RAW be attached to a hive tyrant anymore. Hopefully no one you play with would seriously try to enforce this, unless they are a WAAC (win at all costs) asshole, and completely missed the entire point of Tyrant Guard existing.
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:*Exerpt from jy2 on DakkaDakka Tactics:
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The Hive Tyrant is the heart of the competitive Tyranid army, especially when you give him wings and some guns. He works best with Wings, 2x twin-linked Brainleech Devourers and Electroshock Grubs. He is a major force-multiplier that helps the Tyranid army in so many categories, including:

1. Reliable anti-tank with Devourers and Electroshock Grubs.

2. Excellent mobility as a flying monstrous creature. Can threaten enemy targets almost anywhere on the table.

3. Mobile Synapse.

4. Psychic support for the army.

5. He is a major offensive threat in the army and the best shooter in the army.

6. The best anti-air offense in the army.

7. Bullet magnet that can soak up a lot of enemy firepower and still survive. This helps to make the rest of the army more survivable.

The major weakness of the shooty flyrant is that he will have problems against 2+ save units due to the lack of AP2 shooting. He is also mediocre in Assault. He can beat non-dedicated assault units, but you really don't want him getting into combat with any dedicated assault units due to a lack of an Invulnerable save on it.

There are also 2 other Hive Tyrants. The close-combat Tyrant and the walking Tyrant (or walkrant). The cc-tyrant isn't really an optimal load-out because, once again, the lack of a Invulnerable save in close combat is a weakness when going up against enemy dedicated assault units. Also, if the cc-tyrant kills the enemy on the wrong turn (i.e. kills it on the Tyrant's turn), then he is open to getting shot at while on the ground by then enemy. In a competitive Tyranid army, there is no question that the shooty tyrant outclasses the cc-tyrant. The shooty tyrant can contribute to the Tyranid offense without putting itself at unnecessary risk, whereas the cc-tyrant cannot contribute to the Tyranid offense unless it puts itself at risk.

The walkrant can be used as an anchor to a primarily ground-based Tyranid force. He can be quite survivable if you attach some Tyrant Guards to it. However, this type of tyrant lacks the mobility of the flyrant and, as a result, lacks flexibility as well. It takes him longer to contribute (whereas the flyrant can contribute right away) and also allows the enemy more time to shoot at it and its army while it slowly marches up towards the enemy. You could put the walkrant in a Tyrannocyte spore to give him some mobility, but if you do so, then you will be better off putting the Swarmlord or a dakkafex in there instead. From a competitive standpoint, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to take a walkrant over a flyrant.

Grades: A+ (dakka flyrant), B (shooty walkrant), C (cc-flyrant), D (cc-walkrant)</div>
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*'''[[Tervigon]]:''' Tervigons were the bread and butter of the last Tyranid codex, but now they've sadly taken the brunt of the nerfing. While they are listed as an HQ choice, they should always be taken as troops because there's a reason why no other codex can have ObSec Psyker Monstrous Creatures (hint: it's cheesy). Of course, there's a catch to this -- you need to have 30 Gaunts in your army for each Tervigon you want to field as a Troops choice, and the Gaunts can't move or assault on the turn they spawn. On top of the 35 point increase for the Tervigon itself, that means that the cost of using a single Tervigon as a Troops choice has gone up by 105 points! Tervigons are really simple to use too, as besides just keeping them on objectives, all you have to worry about is when to spawn and when you know her time is up. If you care at all about the Tervigon's ability to actually fight in close combat, feel free to throw Maw-claws of Thyrax on it for 10pts. 15 pts is okay for Crushing Claws, but at the same time the Tervi's Initiative is 2 whether you take Claws or not. Still, 15pts isn't awful for the considerable anti armour power (not that MCs in general need any help against armor in assault.  Consider taking the Reaper instead, it pushes the Tervi up to initiative 5).  Also, keep in mind that Brood Progenitor no longer gives Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands to entire broods of Termagants, but Counter Attack instead, and the buff is now a 12" bubble. Counter Attack no longer requires a Leadership test, so now the buff is worth using on your Termagants. That said, any termagants spawned from the Tervigon will be codex gaunts.  There's no way to give them other upgrades and the newly spawned gaunts won't be able to move or assault on the turn they're spawned, making them easy targets for anything with access to pie plates. On top of that, if the enemy is smart enough to aim for the Tervigon with a high strength, AP3 or better weapon and actually pops her, all those gaunts are going to get faceraped harder than ever before now that the psychic backlash radius is doubled (so weigh the cost/benefits of taking Regeneration on her, it tends to be helpful, most armies are unlikely to kill the entire monster in one turn giving her a chance to heal quite a lot). They're still worth fielding as Tervigons still help out the army, but you can't run an army of them anymore as it'll be very expensive. Can still be your warlord if you have no characters which, seeing as you're playing tyranids is quite likely, so it's best to use them as buffers for your Gaunts and non-synapse units (With the Primaris blessing). Alternatively rules as written; you can now spawn (after the move) on a turn you outflank the mama-bug with the Tyrant's Hive Commander ability.  tl;dr - Take Tervigon as Troops, spawn Termagants, move them to a different Synapse Creature before they get Backlashed, profit.
*'''Tyranid Prime:''' Last edition the Prime was a middleweight boxer fighting in a lightweight division. Now he clocks in at 125 points. His only upgrade, aside from the Wargear table, is Flesh Hooks. In addition you can take anything from the Bio-Artifacts, basic bio-weapons, and melee bio-weapons. However, once all is said and done, the only upgrades you want to look at are Boneswords, Lash Whips, and the Norn Crown. The upgrades are pretty explanatory; ignore everything else because they're either too expensive or ill-suited for the unit. The most important aspect to discuss is its special rules. Synapse Creature, Shadow in the Warp, and Independent Character. These rules constitute for the exaggerated price of the HQ. Putting the Prime in a unit will make it ''the only implacable Synapse'' unit in the codex. This allows the Prime for Look Out, Sir exploits too. Place it in front of Gaunts to allocate wounds to the models just behind him. Unfortunately, Independent Characters can't join Monstrous Creatures, so no Tyranid Prime hanging out with the Carnifexes. Overall, an expensive support HQ that will earn its points back if you utilize its full potential.
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*Exerpt from Unyielding Hunger on DakkaDakka Tactics:
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The Tyranid Prime is the cheap man's HQ. It is not a Tyrant. It will not wade into a horde of soldiers and kill anything with impunity. It will not easily kill any major special characters and most generics that have been kitted out. The Tyranid Prime is not there to lead the horde from the front, but to support it.

1. It's the only Independent Character left in the codex.

2. It's one of the few to have the option to buy assault grenades.

3. It's moderately versatile.

4. It's cheap.

Lets be frank.You took this because its cheap. You didn't take it for durability because it has very little in that regard. A single lucky S10 hit is going to take him out. So, keep that in mind as you kit it because your looking at the only Tyranid HQ with a permanent kick me sign on it's much-more-expensive-this-edition back. If you are taking this, you had better be going for overkill in your other slots because you will need to pick up the slack.

To go into the basic options, you are looking at a Tyranid Warrior with boosted stat line but with some catches. The Tyranid Prime can only bring its stat line to real benefit inside a unit of Warriors who also benefit from several boosted stats. So, to put it bluntly, your paying the price of a Flyrant and then some for 12 wounds at majority toughness 4 with Look out Sir to keep your HQ alive. This will only make it a much larger target and fair easier to kill. So, why bother? Simple, Bio-artefacts. The Tyranid Prime can pick up the Miasma Cannon which with its stateline, is a fairly good option to get some shots in, and it can function in tandem with a small unit of warriors armed with a barbed strangler to ensure some good output. Beyond that, if you are feeling bold, the Norn Crown is an expensive but useful option to put on this thing. Just make sure to not go overboard on options, because this thing will have quite a bit gunning for it. For close combat, a light approach of Maw Claws of Thyrax, Flesh Hooks, and a Lashwhip and Bonesword will carry it through most conflicts fairly comfortably at 160 points with some good benefits if it goes hunting characters.

For transportation purposes, it can use a Trygon tunnel or a pod at a cost. The best option is to take a pod with a small retinue of 3-4 warriors and use them like a tactical squad of terminators. Upon landing, use the boosted ballistic skill to fire into whatever your target it, and prepare for assault in the next turn. The pod can also make up for the lack of bodies because it also has multiple devourers to help weaken the enemy unit. If you upgraded your retinue's melee weapons to rending claws, you can get a bit more mileage out of them and hopefully wipe out a unit in the following turn. Another option in the pod in a group of 17 toxigaunts which their Prime babysitter. A LW/BS and Scything Talon combination will cause large amounts of concern to high toughness multi-wound models. The Prime is given plenty of ablative wounds and the toxigaunts are ensured to make it into assault without risking a fall back or mauling each other, which helps ensure that whatever this unit is dedicated to taking down is tarpitted and killed.

Grades: A (Miasma Prime), B+ (Pod Prime), C (Vanilla)
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====Special Characters====

*'''The [[Swarmlord]]:''' The ancient unstoppable Swarmlord is a model begging to be a part of a "Deathstar" unit. Reason being that the Swarmlord is massive, devastatingly powerful, unreasonably expensive (in fact it got a price increase in the codex, but a minor one at 5pts), possesses a high demand for resources during the game, and has laughably stupid weaknesses for all it took to get the damn thing. The Swarmlord basically reads like a simple flow chart; is he in assault? if no: get into assault, if yes: win assault. Its most glaring weakness is hitting it with six Krak missiles or any equivalent will statistically put it down without a fight since every missile wounds on a 2+ and ignores the damn thing's armor save. However, the Swarmlord is a Psyker (Mastery Level 3) and has several special abilities that buff either himself or nearby units in varying ways. It also gets an invulnerable save in close combat and has a ridiculously high WS. If it is in close combat, it will seriously skullfuck whatever it's fighting. It also gets to add 1 to all its reserve rolls and can give its unit or a friendly unit within 18" Furious Charge, Monster Hunter, or Preferred Enemy till end of turn. But with only an invulnerable save in close combat, and lacking the ability to roll for a Warlord Trait or Eternal Warrior, it's nowhere even close to being the death machine it used to be especially without the old glory of biomancy. Also, they took away his ability to force enemies in close combat to reroll their invulnerable saves, so even in assault he's not the rape train he used to be. Still able to gimp almost anything tho.

*'''Deathleaper''': Inexplicably made into an HQ unit, Deathleaper is per-point the most fragile unit in the codex, partially to compensate for the relative difficulty one can have in killing him. All shooting at him is reduced to a Snap Shot, so non-melee armies will have trouble with him (except [[Tau]] with their [[Markerlight]]s), and it makes him immune to blasts and flamers. Unfortunately, the special rules have very situational usage. One allows the Tyranid player to pick an enemy model and lower its leadership by D3, which is useful for negating bonuses from abilities like Rites of Battle (or psykers and all). Deathleaper tends to get used mostly in a Reserve Army for his Pheromone Trail (precision Deepstriking Mawlocs, heh heh heh...), acting as a buffer in anticipation of the Hive Tyrant/Swarmlord being shot. From there, he might act as a minor assassin unit. Although he's not for many armies, his utility can come into play. One special rule got added to him and the Lictors: Infiltrate. Not sure if this is a good thing or a so-so thing. Time will tell. He has hit and run, character, a lot of attacks and high ws which might be useful for assaulting, challenging murdering at I7 and running. Backed up with some genestealers especially with a broodlord against armies vulnerable against pinning

*'''Old One Eye:''' OOE is one of the most tragic models in the codex, and now even more so since it takes up an HQ slot better used for just about anything else. The model is very expensive at a shade over 200 points. The price tag is equivalent to a Land Raider, but OOE is only as tough and as durable as a normal Carnifex. It has the 4+ Regeneration ability at all times, which is rolled separately from IWND if you can find a way to give it to him. And if you make this guy your warlord he gets Feel No Pain the turn [[Derp|''after'']] he gets shot at. Although, if he does survive that he becomes very very hard to kill. His ability to let friendly units within his 12" bubble to use his Ld 8 for Leadership tests could help in a pinch, but don't rely on it, unless you don't bring any Synapse creatures. It can also roll one additional attack for every original attack that hits, but it can't [[Blood Angels|roll new attacks generated from new attacks]].  He becomes even worse in the new codex, now that crushing claws no longer grant D3 additional attacks, and the berserk rampage discounts hits caused by his nifty new D3 HoW hits; on top of that the +1 strength and ap 2 are redundant thanks to his already being an S 10 monstrous creature.  Unfortunately it does not out perform a normal Carnifex with crushing claws by much, and it is out performed by Trygons for less cost. In Apocalypse games he becomes more or less pointless.
**With the new Tyrannocyte releases it has made many units once again viable, this includes Old One Eye as he can deep strike near the target you want him to destroy. With the changes to crushing claws giving Armour bane and OOE's generating new attacks makes him a very good cc vehicle destroyer now that he doesn't have to slowly walk up the board. Remember he has to survive a turn before he can assault so plan carefully. I have used him a few times using this method and he has performed well e.g. killing out of reach basilisks. The tyrannocyte is proving to be a excellent addition helping the less competitive units have a chance, Does this make Old One Eye the go to HQ? Hell NO he's still the worst HQ, though now he has a niche that he performs quite well at. 

*Thanks to Deathleaper and Old One Eye being HQ choices now, you can field an entire army completely devoid of Synapse Creatures. While strongly not recommended, we suggest you play this list at least once for comedy value in a casual game for the [[lulz]].