Unit of the week: Zoanthropes v2 Synaptic Link

[Spacecow]

Goodmorning,

The start of the week heralds a new



We had some HQ, Melee and shooting units.

Time for a psychic powers heavy unit.

The zoanthrope / neurothrope.

I must be honest , I haven’t run them since 8th ed came out.
I made a new test army list with them in a adaptation fleet detachment to see how they fare.

How many would you run? 3 or the full 6?
Is it worth running them with the new adaptations you think? Anyone tested them yet?

Love to heat from you all

And have a merry biomass!

Edited September 13, 2021 by Xenith

[IronDreddKnight]

I prefer to run mine as Neurothropes for the following reasons:

- They’re durable with a 3++ and character protection.

- They’re cheap synapse beacons.

- Reliably cast powers with re roll 1’s.

- Can cast two psychic powers.

- Heals wounds via smite.

- Point for point more efficient than zoan’s.

- Second cheapest HQ to help fill out detachments.

[Spacecow]

So I recently ran a brood of 3 zoanthropes and one neurothrope in a game together. Wanted to test how they’d do and if I should run 6 instead.

 

In all honestly the neurothrope is enough. I slotted him in as a filler HQ and it did it’s job.

 

Zoanthropes weren’t completely bad and it had its use. But I felt like I could’ve used the points for something better.

 

So I’m going to refrain from building another 3 for now.

 

Maybe 9th edition will give them a proper nudge.

[IronDreddKnight]

Ive recently found my self casting duplicates of my 3rd edition zoey. Im planning on testing 2x6 units with neuro support.

 

(Im not committing to spending £180 to get enough models)

 

Ive read about a few lists have had success with max units. So Ive given them another look.

 

Pro's that are grabbing my attention are:

 

- they can potentially deal 15 mortal wounds per turn. (full squad,10+ roll and psychic scream)

 

- 18 wounds per unit with a 3++ invulnerable save.

 

- they provide a large and durable synapse footprint.

 

 

My concerns is the 480 points it costs.

 

Im of the opinion that zoey's only pull away from neurothropes in usefulness when they are 6 strong. So once 1 zoey is destroyed, i might as well of taken a neurothrope as far as out put is concerned. On the flip side, its still an 18W 3++ unit that cant be ignored.

[Spacecow]

Taking in consideration you can’t keep casting the same psychic powers besides smite (+1 on test per extra use)

 

I’m already running a broodlord, swarm and or a flyrant.

 

So it’s rapidly redundant in list building . It’s also not that fast moving and horrendous in melee.

[IronDreddKnight]

Taking in consideration you can’t keep casting the same psychic powers besides smite (+1 on test per extra use)

 

I’m already running a broodlord, swarm and or a flyrant.

 

So it’s rapidly redundant in list building . It’s also not that fast moving and horrendous in melee.

Kraken is a good hive fleet for zoey's the 3D6 advance roll really moves them along. Then double that roll with opportunistic advance. You can also use metabolic overdrive if you still need to close the gap. These movement hacks help you choose which enemy unit is closest for smite and psychic scream.

[Spacecow]

I know of these :)

 

I meant more in the greater picture. There are other units that are more versatile for point cost than zoanthropes.

I love how they look and feel sad cutting them out of most of my lists.

[Xenith]

@The Unseen's experience of Zoanthropes in an (albeit small) game:

 

 

Got 2x 500 pt escalation league games in
Feel a lot like my concerns that 500 pts would lead to skew lists were entirely proven true.

Lost first game vs a nid player who brought a 6 man squad of zoanthropes buffed with some custom hivefleet traits and a neurothrope that meant they healed 1 wound a turn, spat out a 24" D3+3 smite at +1, and rerolled 1s on psychic tests, and never failed casting catalyst.
Was so running psychic scream and regular smite on the neurothrop.

So you have 18 T4 3++ 5+++ bodies floating at you, spitting out 3d3+3 mortal wounds a turn, backed up by 4 warriors for filling a patrol and a single biovore, who he deliberately kept moving so it would miss MORE often, because then he could plop the spore mine down and score engage on all fronts with them.

I lost pretty hard because the zoans are basically unkillable, and the mortal wound output meant I was tabled turn 3, as I just didn't have the shot volume to kill them and they rolled hot on 3++s all game.

Tried out 3 bladeguard but in that game they charged into the zoans and I think managed a single wound, and then they were immediately mind-bulleted.

 

Two juicy nuggets there - Small games with hard to kill units. I love zoans and want another 3 to try this out. The other is the biovore tactic which we should abuse until GW FAQ's it away because Tyranids can't have nice things. 

[WarriorFish]

It'd only really work in smaller games and you may find it soon doesn't work at all as nobody wants to play you any more... :P I haven't seen Zoanthropes on the table since their change to a squad and now I have brushed up on them I can see why It's a bit disappointing, it's not a cheap unit but their output seems lacklustre? Unless you spring for more but then there's the cost factor again.

 

They're fairly durable but the problem is that without being that much of a threat they're unlikely to attract the attention to make it count. When they do any opponent with half a brain will target them with small arms where the invulnerable counts for nothing. Would provide a solid synapse anchor for a list though, so perhaps there's a place here and throwing out supporting psychic powers for the swarm?

 

As noted above the Neurothrope seems much better generally, though as I like them and the models I expect I'll still get a squad (probably use the old metal as a Neurothrope).

[Xenith]

Now, chucking small arms at them I'm ok with - it takes 27 bolter shots on average to take down a single zoan, which would otherwise kill ~10 gaunts? With my possible preferred hive fleet adaptation of all stuff regains a wound, they're going to be around for a while, especially if you have a nearby Neurothrope. 

 

That said, it's ~240 odd points for 2D3+3 mortals per turn (taking smite+scream), however I'm not taking them for damage output, more to be a near invincible wall in the midfield shielding my neurothrope/prime. 

Edited September 8, 2020 by Xenith

[Alcyon]

Ooh, my gaming group is doing an escalation crusade in the new year and that sounds very nasty. Would be fun to rock people's worlds with an army that's so often the bottom of the competitive barrel (and it's a fairly bloodthirsty group in terms of competitiveness.)

 

Running Kraken and a bunch of Carnifexes advancing everything... sounds pretty fun to me.

[Xenith]

Since my last post here I've had a couple of small games with Zoanthropes, and they're absolute monsters. The 3++, combined with regenerating, and using the regain wounds hive fleet trait meant my opponent had to focus them or do nothing. They survived both games, held the centre ground and did a lot of mortal wounds. They're still slightly squishy and I had to keep them out of fire lanes, but they protected my Neurothrope amazingly. This was a unit of 3, and I got nervous when I dropped to 2. I think a unit of 4 is the sweet spot minimum that you won't have to worry about incidental fire.

 

Between a +1 to cast smite and warp scream from the Neuro, then another smite from the Zoans, you get ~6 mortals which will put a dent in many attacking units. Mine killed a unit of reivers, basically in combat. They dropped in, charged, failed to kill a zoan, then got smited to death and fell back. That's with a unit of 3.

 

A unit of 4 nets you an extra D3 hits on smite, which is essentially a free smite, which is great. If you can get Catalyst on them, suddenly that 27 BS3+ bolt shots it took to kill one doesnt statistically work, and you need another 9 shots for a ~2/3 chance to kill one.

 

I think GW has cottoned onto this, though, and they received a 25% point increase in the latest errata. It was good while it lasted, but I think they're still ok for those points. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Xenith

[The Pounder]

Yeah, I run a Neurophrope and a unit of 5 in a Kronos force. I’m not happy by the pts hike but will probably persevere with them.

[Xenith]

This topic was previously for the combined discussion of Zoanthropes and Neurothropes, however as Neuro's are significantly different enough from Zoans to have their own place in a list, they have been given their own discussion topis:

 

Unit of the Week: Neurothropes

[Xenith]

I'm still a big fan of Zoans in the edition, though the point hike has hurt them somewhat. I last used them in a 2000pt game as a unit of 6 and my opponent just couldnt chew through them, with the supporting Neuro bringing wounds back to the unit each turn. The Unit of 6 for the D3+3 mortals seems great, but on average, you get 5 MW compared to 4 if you have 4/5 models in the unit. I'd say 6 is great but if you need points then you can drop to 5. I wouldnt want only a unit of 3 in games >1500pts, though: while tough, they aren't invincible. 

 

In terms of use, run them up table with a Neuro to try and nail down an objective. With Kraken you can essentially guarantee an advance of 11/12" per turn to select your targets for smite, and get to an objective fast. Leviathan makes them a bit tankier, requiring a disproportionate amount of firepower to being one down. 

 

If you're looking for damage output, I'd look elsewhere, but if you need a unit to control the table and be had to remove, then I think these are a premier choice. 

[Xenith]

Time to bring the Zoanthropes up again!

 

With the latest supplement to Codex Tyranids, Zoans gained the Synaptic Link Ability Psychic Channeling, where the chosen unit gets to roll an additional D6 when taking a psychic test and discard one dice. Pretty powerful.

 

How do we feel about this upgrade? What units are best to use it on, is it worth bringing a prime for, or will you even be using it at all?

 

For 10 points I think this is great - it basically means you don't have to take the resonance barb for the +1 to cast, great as a self-buff even just on zoanthropes, greatly incresing the liklihood of a super smite, but great in general. 

 

I don't think I'd ever not take this, if I had the free link slots. 

[Brother Nathan]

Agreed. Great for 10 points if you have that spare and can stack nicely on some specific things especially targeting anything with 2 casts. Neurothrope with voidcrown anyone to try for those undenyable casts and healback the zoans. Does this affect phsy actions too? Course i do feel nid powers are mostly a bit lacking and could doo with a bit of a boost but id still try to take this

[Xenith]

Definitely combos well with the voidcrown to fish for undeniable spells, or with the Resonance barb to fish for super smites (3d6 pick 2 highest+1 has to be pretty reliable, right?)