What does r/tyranids think about our support units? Specifically I'm talking about units that help other units do their job. Right now I'm building a Kronos list and I'm looking for options to help protect my tyrant and bolster offensive capability. Are Tyrant guard worth investing in over venomthropes or simply some Warriors or Fexes to wrap around the tyrant?
Posted May 2, 2018, 12:45 AM UTC
The way I always looked at Tyrant Guard is as a separate unit your opponent will shoot at instead of your Tyrant for a round or two. It may sound weird but I think Tyrant Guard would be better if they changed the Shieldwall ability to a 4+ rather than a 2+. As it stands, with the 2+ you are almost guaranteed that your wound will go the guard anyways, and its far easier to wound them then to get an unsaved wound on a Tyrant. At a 4+ I think more people would take the risk of shooting the Tyrant rather than just plinking the Guard.
Also, when considering units that "support" others, both Old One Eye and Broodlord can be quite nice as adding some extra oomph to a like unit nearby. Old One Eye has become a favorite of mine to play with as he can't be targeted (9 W Character) and hits like a truck in melee. He gives other fexes +1 to hit in melee; Same as the Broodlord for Genestealer lists.
Despite the general dislike for them, I find Venomthrope broods to be fantastic - they're the only way to give our huge bugs like tyrannofexes and exocrines some hedge - and you know they *will* get shot at. You can park a brood between two of the big bugs and be a real pain in the ass for anyone shooting lascannons. As long as multiple units benefits from the aura, the 96 point cost is worth it. Also their strange pistols and melee weapons are cool and randomly do some spike damage due to the Dd3.
Just looking for some thoughts and ideas :)
Something Silly I thought of is casting catalyst on Tyrant Guard to give them an extra save when they take mortal wounds to save the tyrant. But how does shieldwall work? for each wound the tyrant suffers shieldwall procs or simply when it takes any amount of unsaved wounds?
Say the hive tyrant is dealt 3 wounds and saves two of them:
The hive tyrant would normally lose the wound. Instead, the tyrant guard may use shieldwall and intercept the wound on a 2+, taking a mortal wound to the unit.
Yes but what if the tyrant takes 3 unsaved wounds? do I roll 3 dice to see if my guard takes those wounds instead or do I roll 1 dice and take 1 wound?
You roll 3 dice. The ability triggers on each wound lost, not on each successful attack made against the Tyrant (that would be hella powerful tho).
ok thanks that's what I wanted to know.
It works and if you run swarmy in a leviathan detachment you can take his6+FnP and then intercept and the guards can take their 5+ FnP from Catalyst.
LOL that's pretty cheesy, now I'm imagining an army of leviathan tyrants and tyrant guard obnoxiously tanking fire.
[deleted]
1476 pts total, 3 patrol detatchments
HQ: 639 pts
Flying Hive Tyrant: 213 Devourers x2 Warlord trait: Adaptive Biology Psychic powers: Catalyst, Psychic scream
Flying Hive Tyrant: 213 Devourers x2 Psychic powers: Paroxysm, The horror
Flying Hive Tyrant: 213 Devourers x2 Psychic powers: Dominion, Onslaught
Elites: 672 pts
Tyrant Guard x6 = 224 Crushing claws Toxin sacs
Tyrant Guard x6 = 224 Crushing claws Toxin sacs
Tyrant Guard x6 = 224 Crushing claws Toxin sacs
Troops: 165 pts
Ripper swarm: 33 Ripper swarm: 33 Ripper swarm: 33 Ripper swarm: 33 Ripper swarm: 33
Whoa there Satan
How would the Tyrant Guard keep up with Flyrants?
You don't need to move the FHT's their full distance. Just inch closer every turn with all 3 detatchements until you're in their face then give them the snip-snip.
Have you tried reading the codex? Tyrant Guard can intercept wounds taken by Tyrants within 6" by rolling a 2+. If they succeed, the Tyrant doesn't lose that wound and the Tyrant Guard instead receives a mortal wound (which you can then ATTEMPT to disregard by rolling a 5+ Catalyst or a 6+ Leviathan army trait, but not both).
Thanks for the rudeness, also this doesn't answer the question.
Are Tyrant guard worth investing in over venomthropes or simply some Warriors or Fexes to wrap around the tyrant?
Any walking Tyrant is likely to get blapped off the table by lascannons (or equivalent), since they don't benefit from the 9-or-less wounds Character rule. You can try to prevent that with Tyrant Guard but Tyrant Guard are very expensive points wise.
Generally it's better to just give your Tyrants wings and invest all those points elsewhere.
And I'm not being rude - you'd know a lot of this info if you'd read the codex.
Since this post has people talking about the hive tyrant and tyrant guard, I know this would be a waste of points, even if it works, but does a Tyrant Guards Blind Rampage ability cap after one hive tyrant dying? or could multiple hive tyrants die within 6" and they just keep gaining attacks?
if I understand correctly then it can only activate once, but I am not certain.
It triggers once per Tyrant Guard brood per battle.
Aside from the boon of Synapse to ignore morale, I feel like our support units are a bit lacking in general.
Tyrant Guard come out to 12-14 points per wound so its certainly not a cheap investment to have them out there soaking up mortal wound damage for the Tyrants. The stacked FNP buff is a fun gimmick that works once, but opponents will simply shoot the Tyrant Guard first. If Tyrant Guard had some better defensive stats or were cheaper then they would be interesting.
I like the Venomthropes for their versatility. They are one of the few units in our codex that can actually buff stuff around them without thinking about what warrior strain it is. I swear, for a unified alien hivemind that perfectly orchestrates its hoards as a cohesive predatory entity, our damn rules has us fractured to bits. Old One Eye only helps Carnifexes, Primes only boost Warriors, and the Tyrant doesn't bolster anyone because reasons. But I digress, Venomthropes don't care what your army composition is as they will multiply the survivability of anything around them (in a decent bubble to boot).
Since Kronos is all about standing still and shooting alot, also consider the Malanthrope. His ability to hide in your swarm more than makes up for his smaller bubble effect and since you won't need to do too much moving, his slow speed isn't as big of a problem.
I will also sing the praises of the Sporocyst for Kronos. Since these things are already immobile, they are a natural fit for the boon and they can do quite a bit of work if your opponent doesn't bother to address them. Spitting out 3 spore mines or a mucolid creates a nice buffer and will certainly draw attention and fire away from other elements of your swarm.
I see where you're coming from.
Hey, DoTheMario, just a quick heads-up:
alot is actually spelled a lot. You can remember it by it is one lot, 'a lot'.
Have a nice day!
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Bad bot.
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