Akaiyou
16-02-2009, 04:23 PM
HIVE TYRANT
My analysis
BIOMORPHS
Acid Maw - YES - Is better than Bio-plasma, make your hits count in CC the first turn of combat could be seen as your golden opportunity to cripple whatever you assault before you get killed.
Adrenal Glands (I) - MAYBE - good for CC
Adrenal Glands (WS) - MAYBE - good for CC
Bio-Plasma - MAYBE - Acid Maw is simply better and you can't take both. Bio-plasma also gets no benefit from Monstrous Creature status and on a Tyrant this makes it ineffective against tanks being only strength 6/7 + D6 for penetration. However on a Winged Tyrant this can find some use if you need to chase down vehicles moving at crusing speed or higher
Enhanced Senses - YES - Must have for shooting.
Extended Carapace - NO - Too many points, Warp Field better on a Winged Tyrant. It's possible to get cover saves for the unit if you add in Tyrant Guard on a walk tyrant.
Flesh Hooks - MAYBE - Useful only for CC Tyrants. And only against units huggin cover.
Implant Attack - YES - great for CC specially against characters. Do not take if you are not planning on fighting multi-wound models.
Symbiote Rippers - NO - Pointless upgrade.
Toxic Miasma - NO - not so great anymore so simply do not take this unless you are building a character killer Tyrant and want to max out
Toxin Sacs - YES - always take this biomorph!
Winged - YES - Extremely useful makes your Tyrant really fast able to reach opponents faster.
WEAPON SYMBIOTES
Close Combat
=========
Lash Whip & Bonesword - MAYBE - If you want Catalyst this is great. It's a good upgrade on a CC or MIXED Tyrant (walk and shoot). Otherwise there's better stuff.
Rending Claws - NO - useless upgrade, specially with new Rending rules.
Scything Talons - YES - Best choise for CC.
Ranged
=====
Barbed Strangler - Maybe - Good anti-infantry and ranged, but unless facing tons of large units you risk missing completely or greatly most of the time.
Venom Cannon - YES - Great against light/medium tanks and able to instant kill T4 multi-wound models.
Spinefists - NO - That's a waste for a Tyrant.
TL Barbed Strangler - Maybe - Better anti-infantry than a single strangler. The re-roll can be golden when you only have 1/3rd chance to hit
TL Devourer - YES - overall the best shooty weapon for the Tyrant vs infantry. 2 of these will decimate any type of infantry.
TL Deathspitter - MAYBE - Haven't experimented with these but could be useful. I'd still rather let warriors handle these tho.
TL Venom Cannon - MAYBE - If you want to guarantee the damage then take it. Otherwise you have better options as this can be a VERY pricey configuration.
PSYCHIC POWERS
Catalyst - NO - If you want this power use Bonesword.
Psychic Scream - YES - Very useful against non-fearless units. This power works best when you keep a squad of zoanthropes with the same power close.
The Shadow In The Warp - NO - All other powers are more useful.
Warp Blast - YES - Always a good choice on a CC Tyrant if you want to do some light shooting before getting in combat. Otherwise always take the next power.
Warp Field - YES - hands down the best psychic power since it's our only way of getting an invulnerable. however be warned that since we can now get cover saves from our own units this has lost some of it's usefulness but all in all it works really well with a Winged Tyrant of any kind. If you are adding wings, take this power!
Recommended Configurations To Use
GENERAL RECOMMENDATION
The tyrant is powerful very powerful but you need to really think about how you want to use his power in your army. Either use him to compliment the rest of your armies or use slap wings on him and use him to hunt specific targets. The winged tyrants are very useful and you should always first make a winged tyrant and then a walking one. There's good reason why there's a 0-1 limit on winged tyrants.
1 Hive Tyrant @ 196 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Winged; Twin-linked Devourer (x2); Warp Field
- This guys is a total monster against infantry, will land about 9 - 10 wounds on damn near any kind of enemy infantry. Rating 10/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 221 Pts
Acid Maw; Adrenal Glands +1 In; Adrenal Glands +1 WS; Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Extended Carapace +1 Save; Flesh Hooks; Implant Attack; Toxic Miasma; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Scything Talons (x1); Venom Cannon
- I've found this build to be very effective and flexible. It's a walking version of the winged CC tyrant but better because he can hurt tanks and instant kill multi-wound T4 models with the venom cannon. And he can do this while pressing forward towards CC where he can take down hard to kill enemies and character hunt. Rating 9/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 149 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Twin-linked Devourer (x1); Venom Cannon
- Dual purpose Tyrant. Best use as a forward synapse unit can damage light tanks and cause good damage to infantry before possibly assaulting them. He can pump 9 shots into infantry with about 6-8 wounds guaranteed each time. keep him behind other models to get cover saves. A very inexpensive tyrant with good capabilities vs vehicles and infantry alike Rating 8/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 137 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Twin-linked Barbed Strangler
- Cheap! And highly useful against all types of infantry. the str 5 big template will let you wound most things on 2s or 3s, and still hurt the tougher infantry models on 4s. With the possibility of pinning any unit it damages. The highlight is that he's so cheap easily making his points back. Rating 8/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 225 Pts
Acid Maw; Adrenal Glands +1 In; Adrenal Glands +1 WS; Implant Attack; Toxic Miasma; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Winged; Scything Talons (x2); Warp Field
- Character killer. He's really strong but that will work against you, opponents normally get scared when they see him approaching and will try to shoot him down so move him behind cover if you need to make him run behind other models to get a cover save and procted him until you are in range to attack. Rating 8/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 129 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Barbed Strangler; Twin-linked Devourer (x1);
- Cheapest tyrant. Great for moving synapse, within 18" of an enemy infantry unit will decimate whatever it hits. Rating 7/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 177 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Twin-linked Venom Cannon
- Anti-Light/Medium armor Vehicles. This guy can keep any mid armor vehicle at bay! Do not expect to destroy vehicles but rather expect to easily incapacitate them. He comes in handy working together with a group of sniper fexes against heavy MECH armies. Rating 6/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 157 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Barbed Strangler; Venom Cannon
- Dual purpose Tyrant able to take on light tanks and infantry from a good range! Very useful and versatile. However has a MAJOR flaw of not having any specialty. the strangler sucks against vehicles and the vc sucks against infantry so you'll have flexibility but every time you shoot it, one of your guns will be pointless. Rating 5/10
[hr]
TYRANT GUARD
My analysis
BIOMORPHS
Flesh Hooks - YES - Very useful, low point cost.
Implant Attack - NO - Do not take this UNLESS you are certain that you can get these guys into CC with Multi-wound models. Most players will steer their characters away from a Tyrant Guard brood so it tends to be a waste of points.
WEAPON SYMBIOTES
Lash Whip - MAYBE - Situational, works very well against things with a lot of attacks but is pointless against normal units which you are likely to be fighting most of the time. Also ST are just a better upgrade.
Scything Talons - YES - Best choise for CC gives better chance at RENDING.
Recommended Configurations To Use
I recommend a full squad of 3. I find that anything below a full brood is just not very effective and gets taken out with ease. leave 'em standard with ST and maybe upgrade them with fleshhooks if you have extra points after building your whole army.
My analysis
BIOMORPHS
Acid Maw - YES - Is better than Bio-plasma, make your hits count in CC the first turn of combat could be seen as your golden opportunity to cripple whatever you assault before you get killed.
Adrenal Glands (I) - MAYBE - good for CC
Adrenal Glands (WS) - MAYBE - good for CC
Bio-Plasma - MAYBE - Acid Maw is simply better and you can't take both. Bio-plasma also gets no benefit from Monstrous Creature status and on a Tyrant this makes it ineffective against tanks being only strength 6/7 + D6 for penetration. However on a Winged Tyrant this can find some use if you need to chase down vehicles moving at crusing speed or higher
Enhanced Senses - YES - Must have for shooting.
Extended Carapace - NO - Too many points, Warp Field better on a Winged Tyrant. It's possible to get cover saves for the unit if you add in Tyrant Guard on a walk tyrant.
Flesh Hooks - MAYBE - Useful only for CC Tyrants. And only against units huggin cover.
Implant Attack - YES - great for CC specially against characters. Do not take if you are not planning on fighting multi-wound models.
Symbiote Rippers - NO - Pointless upgrade.
Toxic Miasma - NO - not so great anymore so simply do not take this unless you are building a character killer Tyrant and want to max out
Toxin Sacs - YES - always take this biomorph!
Winged - YES - Extremely useful makes your Tyrant really fast able to reach opponents faster.
WEAPON SYMBIOTES
Close Combat
=========
Lash Whip & Bonesword - MAYBE - If you want Catalyst this is great. It's a good upgrade on a CC or MIXED Tyrant (walk and shoot). Otherwise there's better stuff.
Rending Claws - NO - useless upgrade, specially with new Rending rules.
Scything Talons - YES - Best choise for CC.
Ranged
=====
Barbed Strangler - Maybe - Good anti-infantry and ranged, but unless facing tons of large units you risk missing completely or greatly most of the time.
Venom Cannon - YES - Great against light/medium tanks and able to instant kill T4 multi-wound models.
Spinefists - NO - That's a waste for a Tyrant.
TL Barbed Strangler - Maybe - Better anti-infantry than a single strangler. The re-roll can be golden when you only have 1/3rd chance to hit
TL Devourer - YES - overall the best shooty weapon for the Tyrant vs infantry. 2 of these will decimate any type of infantry.
TL Deathspitter - MAYBE - Haven't experimented with these but could be useful. I'd still rather let warriors handle these tho.
TL Venom Cannon - MAYBE - If you want to guarantee the damage then take it. Otherwise you have better options as this can be a VERY pricey configuration.
PSYCHIC POWERS
Catalyst - NO - If you want this power use Bonesword.
Psychic Scream - YES - Very useful against non-fearless units. This power works best when you keep a squad of zoanthropes with the same power close.
The Shadow In The Warp - NO - All other powers are more useful.
Warp Blast - YES - Always a good choice on a CC Tyrant if you want to do some light shooting before getting in combat. Otherwise always take the next power.
Warp Field - YES - hands down the best psychic power since it's our only way of getting an invulnerable. however be warned that since we can now get cover saves from our own units this has lost some of it's usefulness but all in all it works really well with a Winged Tyrant of any kind. If you are adding wings, take this power!
Recommended Configurations To Use
GENERAL RECOMMENDATION
The tyrant is powerful very powerful but you need to really think about how you want to use his power in your army. Either use him to compliment the rest of your armies or use slap wings on him and use him to hunt specific targets. The winged tyrants are very useful and you should always first make a winged tyrant and then a walking one. There's good reason why there's a 0-1 limit on winged tyrants.
1 Hive Tyrant @ 196 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Winged; Twin-linked Devourer (x2); Warp Field
- This guys is a total monster against infantry, will land about 9 - 10 wounds on damn near any kind of enemy infantry. Rating 10/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 221 Pts
Acid Maw; Adrenal Glands +1 In; Adrenal Glands +1 WS; Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Extended Carapace +1 Save; Flesh Hooks; Implant Attack; Toxic Miasma; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Scything Talons (x1); Venom Cannon
- I've found this build to be very effective and flexible. It's a walking version of the winged CC tyrant but better because he can hurt tanks and instant kill multi-wound T4 models with the venom cannon. And he can do this while pressing forward towards CC where he can take down hard to kill enemies and character hunt. Rating 9/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 149 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Twin-linked Devourer (x1); Venom Cannon
- Dual purpose Tyrant. Best use as a forward synapse unit can damage light tanks and cause good damage to infantry before possibly assaulting them. He can pump 9 shots into infantry with about 6-8 wounds guaranteed each time. keep him behind other models to get cover saves. A very inexpensive tyrant with good capabilities vs vehicles and infantry alike Rating 8/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 137 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Twin-linked Barbed Strangler
- Cheap! And highly useful against all types of infantry. the str 5 big template will let you wound most things on 2s or 3s, and still hurt the tougher infantry models on 4s. With the possibility of pinning any unit it damages. The highlight is that he's so cheap easily making his points back. Rating 8/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 225 Pts
Acid Maw; Adrenal Glands +1 In; Adrenal Glands +1 WS; Implant Attack; Toxic Miasma; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Winged; Scything Talons (x2); Warp Field
- Character killer. He's really strong but that will work against you, opponents normally get scared when they see him approaching and will try to shoot him down so move him behind cover if you need to make him run behind other models to get a cover save and procted him until you are in range to attack. Rating 8/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 129 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Barbed Strangler; Twin-linked Devourer (x1);
- Cheapest tyrant. Great for moving synapse, within 18" of an enemy infantry unit will decimate whatever it hits. Rating 7/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 177 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Twin-linked Venom Cannon
- Anti-Light/Medium armor Vehicles. This guy can keep any mid armor vehicle at bay! Do not expect to destroy vehicles but rather expect to easily incapacitate them. He comes in handy working together with a group of sniper fexes against heavy MECH armies. Rating 6/10
1 Hive Tyrant @ 157 Pts
Enhanced Senses +1 BS; Toxin Sacs +1 St; Barbed Strangler; Venom Cannon
- Dual purpose Tyrant able to take on light tanks and infantry from a good range! Very useful and versatile. However has a MAJOR flaw of not having any specialty. the strangler sucks against vehicles and the vc sucks against infantry so you'll have flexibility but every time you shoot it, one of your guns will be pointless. Rating 5/10
[hr]
TYRANT GUARD
My analysis
BIOMORPHS
Flesh Hooks - YES - Very useful, low point cost.
Implant Attack - NO - Do not take this UNLESS you are certain that you can get these guys into CC with Multi-wound models. Most players will steer their characters away from a Tyrant Guard brood so it tends to be a waste of points.
WEAPON SYMBIOTES
Lash Whip - MAYBE - Situational, works very well against things with a lot of attacks but is pointless against normal units which you are likely to be fighting most of the time. Also ST are just a better upgrade.
Scything Talons - YES - Best choise for CC gives better chance at RENDING.
Recommended Configurations To Use
I recommend a full squad of 3. I find that anything below a full brood is just not very effective and gets taken out with ease. leave 'em standard with ST and maybe upgrade them with fleshhooks if you have extra points after building your whole army.