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The Tyranid release and pre-release rumors were met with a lot of indignation, if not outright outrage by a lot of Nid players this last January. Indeed there were a lot of point changes, kit changes, new rules, psyker tables, new units, the whole shebang. To break this all down, I’m going to divide it all up with a summary of changes, their immediate impacts, and then the bottom line impact at the end. The fluff was pretty generic, and while it organized the existing canon into a neat little history, it didn't add much to the picture (side-by-side with the Space Marine codex, the new Nid books is much smaller). As such, I won't really go into that unless requested.
New units (and ones that got the chop)
First, who’s gone? Several unique beasties were removed, including The Parasite of Mortrex and The Doom of Malan’tai. The only Tyranid transport, the Mycetic Spore, is also absent from the new book, and the Ymgarl Genestealer is also gone for good, replaced with a bio-artifact version which can be bought for certain HQs.
New are the Haruspex (an assault grinder who gains wounds for inflicting them), Hive Crone (flyer), and Exocrine (a monstrous artillery beast). While other plastic kits were released like the Harpy, they were all for units that were still present in the previous codex.
Point Changes
The codex was completely rebalanced with point changes on virtually every unit, both big and small. Most upgrades reduced in price, and the gear that increased also had a stat increases. Since so many changed, I’ll keep myself to the highlights.
HQ
Tyrant Guard: Dropped 10 points
Old One Eye (Yes, he’s an HQ now): Dropped 40 points
Tyranid Prime: Raised a whopping 45 points, made basically worthless having gained no stats or abilities.
Deathleaper (ALSO an HQ now): Dropped 10 points
TROOPS
Termagants: down 1 point
Hormagaunts: down 1 point
Rippers: up 3 points (started out only somewhat viable, now less viable)
ELITES
Hive Guard went up 5 points, essentially everything else dropped 10-15 points.
FAST ATTACK
Harpy dropped 25 points
Spore Mines halved to 5 points
HEAVY SUPPORT
Carnifexes: Dropped a whopping 40 points per model!
Biovores: dropped 5 points, accompanied by a heavy stat boost.
Mawloc: dropped 30 points
Tyrannofex: dropped 75 points!!! Seeing a trend yet?
Rule/Gear Changes
Instinctive behavior became quite a bit more dangerous to the Tyranid player. “Feed” gives a 50% chance of dealing a number of wounds equal to the number of models in the unit (devastating to Hormagaunts). Lurk gives a 50% chance for the unit to fall back. Hunt gives a 50% chance of the unit going to ground. All told, the new rules are much more impactful than the ‘negative’ aspects of instinctive behavior in the previous edition, and can be quite punishing to any unit caught out of synapse.
While attacks were slightly lowered on many Tyranid units, this was compensated by allowing two sets of close combat weapons (all Tyranid weapons come in arm pairs) to grant an extra attack. This functionally serves to makes the monstrous creatures an all-or-nothing affair, either ALL shooting or ALL assault.
Tail weapons are back, with Hive Tyrants, Carnifexes, and most other Monstrous Creatures able to take a tail weapon that offers an extra attack at a specific S and AP.
Scything Talons took a solid nerf, and no long enable re-rolls to hit. They are now simply an AP6 close combat weapon which comes standard on most monstrous creatures. The only reason to take them is to complement another set of close-combat weapons for that extra attack without costing extra points.
Lash whips no longer reduce the enemy’s initiative, but provide a +3 buff to the owner. Bone Swords don’t get any bonus in pairs anymore.
Tyranids got a selection of Relic-esque items to keep it current with other releases, but honestly most aren’t terribly useful and are prohibitively expensive in points.
Warlord traits are honestly not very useful, with exception to Synaptic Lynchpin (add 6” to synapse range) and Adaptive Biology (FNP after first wound). Everything else is either VERY niche-based or in some cases potentially harmful to your own forces.
Psyker powers are a mixed bag. While Tyranids no longer have access to the main rulebook tables (bye bye Biomancy!), the powers they do have are absolutely terrifying, especially considering a Hive Tyrant is a Level 2 Psyker by default! The primaris power adds 6” synapse, which is always incredibly useful. The rest of the powers are exceptionally good, and include Warp Blast, the Zoanthrope’s calling card, and Psychic Scream, a nova attack which can cause a ridiculous number of unsaveable wounds a la Doom of Malan’tai.
Strengths and Weaknesses in the new Codex
With point drops in key areas, both Nidzilla armies and swarm armies are both much more efficient than in the past.
Heavy support is the slot to max out with the new codex. There really isn’t a bad option! Carnifexes, at a measly 120 points base, are a must-have, and the impenetrable Tyrannofex is a whopping 75 points cheaper. Mawlocs, while made more vulnerable by Deep Strike mishaps, are also significantly cheaper than before. Biovores not only received a drop in points but gained a wound, an attack, and +1I! Additionally, instead of dropping a single spore mine for a missed shot, they drop up to three! They were good before, but Biovores are outstanding now.
Fast Attack choices are always a bit iffy with Tyranids, because most of them require synapse, and fast synapse is hard to come by. With wargear and psyker abilities to boost Synapse range in the new edition, this is a bit easier to use now. Shrikes are cheaper, but still delicate with a 5+ save. Gargoyles’ Blinding Venom actually blinds, and for 6 points a model makes for an excellent kamikaze to attack and blind an enemy’s heavy shooters that endanger the rest of your infantry. Spore Mines are a bit less random (moving at your direction, with coherency rather than solo). They’re also half the price, and can cause up to S10 damage, depending on the size of your unit.
Any unit subject to “Feed” became much more vulnerable to synapse failure in the new book, especially Hormagaunts, which were changed from “Hunt” to “Feed”. On failing their Instinctive Behavior, they have a 50-50 shot of inflicting wounds on themselves equal to the number of models in the unit; potentially wiping out the entire unit in one fell swoop! As such, Hormagaunts went from a relatively simple fire-and-forget Troops option to being only really useful as buffers for Synapse creatures, especially considering their Scything Talons are worthless as gear.
The only AP2 shooting weapons are owned by the new units, the Haruspex and the Exocrine (I wonder why that is, GW?). That said, monstrous creatures are always AP2 in assault, and are all less expensive this edition. Take advantage!
Certain units are made completely useless by their points cost. Specifically the Tyranid Prime (for the cost, you can get a brood of FOUR warriors!) is only 40 points shy of a Hive Tyrant, and will probably cost the same after upgrades. Rippers cost more per base than 3 Termagants, but for that cost can’t shoot, have worse weapon skill and ballistic skill, lower initiative, and worse leadership. You are far better off getting an equivalent number of points in Termagants. Same goes for Sky-slashers and Gargoyles.
Unit synergy is key! With only Zoanthropes having an invulnerable save, the rest of the army needs to rely on cover, or suffer badly under fire from even medium-strength weaponry. Use your little critters (Gaunts, gargoyles) as screens for your big critters (Tyrants, Warriors, Carnifexes) to provide them a 5+ intervening-unit cover save. You can make this exponentially more effective by employing a Venomthrope to gives Shrouded to both units (meaning a 3+ cover save for the rear critters and a 5+ cover save for the bullet-shields). That’s crossing the open! Almost every unit in the book has Move Through Cover or is granted it by virtue of being a Monstrous Creature, so plow straight through terrain; it’ll keep you alive, and really won’t slow you down.
Bottom Line
Despite some inhibiting rule changes, the amount of point-drops and the changes in a lot of the gear available have significantly opened up the options for Nid players, particularly in the small-medium point range. It takes more minis to flesh out the armies, but overall I believe the codex is much more effective than the previous edition, and is certainly still competitive.
If there is any point you feel I've neglected, feel free to mention it and I'll take down some more notes!
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