New player with some questions

[Blade of Sigismund]

I recently started putting some tyranids together and am having a hard time figuring out the plays. There are a few obviously good/playable units, namely:

 

- tyranofex

- exocrine

- zoanthropes

- horuspex

- biovore

 

However, it seems like almost everything else is very weak in damage output. I get they're not supposed to be elite killers, but hormagaunts averaging killing 2 marines from a 20 bug charge seems kind of ridiculous. Same with termagaunts. Genestealers look like they will kill one unit then get shot off the table, and everything else is basically monster mash with no shooting.

 

Is this something that is expected to change when new rules drop? Or is there a combo that I'm missing?

 

It just seems strange to have so many cool units not be worth taking.

[Brother Nathan]

Welcome to nids. So firstly nids are first with marines to expect a new codex. Due autumn. Not had a 10th codex yet so we dont know if/how they will change existing. I dont think they will. But how they interact with new units may. Points are also constantly changing. Ie screamer killer is currently way to expensive compared to carnifex. Some units are too cheap ala zoans. But thrn nids are sitting mid table so dont expect too much change. 

 

As for strength/weakness... i think your stats are sligghtly off. 20 gaunts. 60 attacks. 30 hits. 10 wounds 5 failed saves... dosent take in hyper adaption...(an extralikely 10 attacks against infantry or 10 auto wounds vs tanks) but its also still not why we take... any of our troops. They are chaff. They score points. Take objectives in numbers that require focus to take them off it and are fast.... and cheap. Especially if in synapse so they dont just fail battleshock. 

 

If you check out the unit of The week entrysyou may see how some units beakdown and have been used previously. The old ones will be out of date but give ideas to uses and new ones will come up soon. Nids dont play like marines. Such comparisons dont work. Its rare my troops survive t2... but i only take them as distractions for my damage dealers though they can still score points which is more important than killing. 

[ZeroWolf]

Never underestimate your opponents reaction when you send a block of gaunts at them, they will dedicate resources to dealing with them that gives you free reign with the rest of your forces.

 

This is doubly true if you make use of stratagem.

 

Also, welcome to the Hive!

[Xenith]

Hello and welcome to both the Tyranids army, and the awesome Tyranids section of the forum!

 

I see the exact same thing you do - most nid units damage output has dropped considerably (along with a lot of other stuff in the game) and we have a few units that can actually do stuff. The counter to this is that a lot of our stuff got much cheaper, so you can flood the board with things.  

 

One thing to remember with Tyranids is that your units will die. There's nothing that can stop that, but the trick is making them die on your own terms, in the most awkward way possible for your opponent. 

 

On 7/16/2023 at 10:40 AM, Brother nathan said:

its also still not why we take... any of our troops. They are chaff. They score points. Take objectives in numbers that require focus to take them off it and are fast.... and cheap

 

This, pretty much. Hormagaunts have a max threat range of 28", which is huge. They can reliably charge something 19" away from them, which is a big no-go zone for the opponent - chances are they will be more scared of the gaunts than is warranted by their damage output, however the real threat is being able to project 10+ OC2 bodies onto an objective that your opponent is holding 19" away which is more than likely to flip it and cost them points, or gain you points in one of the many 'secure no mans land' missions in the new deck. 70pts to maybe get you 5VP and deny your opponent 5 primaries for a 10pt swing is worth the 70pts they cost! 

 

On 7/16/2023 at 5:32 AM, Blade of Sigismund said:

I get they're not supposed to be elite killers, but hormagaunts averaging killing 2 marines from a 20 bug charge seems kind of ridiculous.

 

Again, marines are still technically elites - 60 attacks against guard or a 20 man GSC blob will do 60A, 30 hits, 15 wounds, 12 failed saves and probably flip the objective. 

[Arson Fire]

10th edition tyranids are an army geared more for outscoring your opponent than for tabling them. In a straight up firefight nids will generally lose, but they have a bunch of stuff for objective play to help win the mission.

Horde units for flipping and holding objectives.

Infiltrating lone operatives like lictors, which can start on a midfield objective and be tricky to remove.

Biovores launching spore mines across the table to perform secondary objectives (this works currently, but I'd guess GW will alter spore mines eventually to disallow it)

Not to mention a bunch of stuff for forcing battleshock tests to reduce your opponents hold on objectives.

 

Nids do have some good heavy hitters, but generally they're used to pick off specific threats rather than to just blow apart your opponents army.

[bluezenscorpion]

I played Tyranids in fourth edition. I have not played them in tenth yet, but I am building a new army to try out. My old tactic was to use large blobs of troops as a tar pit (I may not kill them, but they can't kill me) until something stronger could come in and finish the job. My big guns (Carnifex and tyrants were all we had then) would do what they could. It was a balanced mix of swarm and monsters, I think my 1850pt list at the time had 115 models. I plan to follow a similar tactic when I get my new army up and going. As others have mentioned it is a matter of having different units perform different tasks on the battlefield.