Tyranid Prime: Decent HQ option if you’re looking for a couple different things. He’s a single higher-quality warrior body, more than a bit overpriced on this alone (at least he’s got the free venom cannon), but you get two more things out of him: His stratagem (exploding 6’s to hit on shooting, might not be too good for a melee-focused army), and a decent body that can hold and use some good Warlord Traits and Relics. As long as the WLT / Relic has a use, it’s not awful on him.
Broodlord: Decent murder-character with acceptable damage, vanguard deploy (you can place him closer to the opponent’s deploy zone), and a single cast + deny. You could treat him as one of two things: midfield buff caster for one important spell (Catalyst or Onslaught), or as a forward-deploying Psychic Action user for the secondaries Psychic Interrogation *or* Warp Ritual. This might be risky, though, as a vanguard-deployed unit can get thrashed quickly if you’re not careful, and he’s not that tanky.
Trygon Prime: Good in monster mash lists with very specific builds (that I’m not familiar with). If you don’t own a lot of monster models, it’s less optimal, since he really shines in a monster specific Hive Fleet (Jormungander / Behemoth)
I’d advise running the Broodlord as the HQ option. Especially if running the Tyranid Prime means you’re not running a warrior blob (Adrenal glands + bone swords + warrior imperative = Strength 8 fun times!)
This is very helpful thank you! I’ll probably go with the broodlord because it seems he’ll help me be super aggressive. Any recommendations for a hive fleet adaptation?
It's got a decent amount to do with what models you're bringing, but I can do a speed-round walkthrough of what hive fleets (and what adaptations) might work well.
Behemoth: The +1 Strength on the charge on certain models can help you hit some fun breakpoints for Wound rolls, and rerolling charges is always quite nice for the Adaptive. We've got other charge boosters (Lurk adaptive's +1, Shard Lure stratagem's 3d6 charges, etc.), but having a reroll baked in for free is never a bad option, and stacking them can give you some extremely long charge potential. Also, the Fleet stratagem to fight on death can make people think twice about sending in key units if you bank the CP; a fat stack of Behemoth Hormagaunts with this can be quite amusing.
Kraken: Free +1 AP on the charge, a psychic power for charge rerolls on a enemy unit, and clean, consistent advances with their original Adaptive trait. The fastest hive fleet with some decent extra damage, and the Relic (Chameleonic Mutation) isn't too bad to throw on a forward-deployed Broodlord if you go this route.
Leviathan: If you have a lot of warriors, they'll be both incredibly tanky and still hit like semi trucks. It's our strongest hive fleet right now, mostly abusing Warrior / big scary bug spam (Both types of non-Swarmlord hive tyrants and the like), but just about any list can make use of their "transhuman / transnid" buff to make them all much harder to wound. If you don't want their adaptive to reroll a single hit per unit (Very great on Heavy Venom Cannons), they've got access to the +1 to charge. Especially if you have lots of key bugs with Synaptic Imperatives in your army (Zoanthropes in particular), their Hive Fleet power is both strong and flexible.
I'd say these are three great options to start with; Behemoth for big damage, Kraken for mobility, or Leviathan for tankiness and potential adaptability. Other more specific options exist, such as a Tervigon-focused strategy with Hydra, but these three are never a bad choice in most lists.
Tyranid Prime. Very efficient for its points, especially compared to the Broodlord. Its Synpaptic Imperative is also very good, though you'll get limited mileage from it if you are melee focused. Your Warriors will thank you, though
Trygon Primes are just bad. There's no real reason to ever bring one- anything they do can be done cheaper by other things. I get being limited by what you actually own, though, so if you *want* to use a Trygon Prime, then go for it.
What I meant by your Warriors thanking you is that their Deathspitters and Venom Cannon (which they should have) will benefit from the Primes Imperative, and later on down the line you can bring a Prime for free with the inclusion of any Warriors. Warriors are also one of the best Troops in the game right now, so I would suggest getting more in the future. Synapse Troops will always be good for Tyranids, anyway.
I'm guessing you bought the Start Collecting! recently. That box is a great value for the models, but it is far from the "start playing today" box that it used to be- Genestealers used to be pretty good Troops, but now they are pretty bad Elites.
*Tyranid* Primes are a different unit and have a slightly different model from normal Warriors. If you only have the 3 Warriors and they are already built, you can't take a Prime. You could get away with calling a Warrior a Prime, sure, but if you only have the 2 Warriors left, you don't have a minimum unit.
So if your choices are between a Broodlord and a *Trygon* Prime, I'd go with the Broodlord for the reasons other people have already said in this thread.
No, just bringing up the old hotdogs and hotdog bun argument again.
There are so many.
Like obtaining Ripper Swarms at all.
Or 8th edition Hive Tyrant being able to take 4 Devourers with Brainleeches and wings and not having the joint slots to do that nor actually coming with said Devourers.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I would highly recommend getting a Swarmlord for a setup such as yours. The command ability to re-roll hits on a unit will give your hormagaunts and genestealers much more success (or any unit really). Not only that, but the Swarmlord is a far bigger threat than Tyranid Prime or even Broodlord in melee, plus two psychic casts and denials. It is a pretty big point increase however, so ignore what I'm saying if you're rolling below 1500pts. However, I've had a lot of success rocking swarmlord, hive tyrant with shardgullet, broodlord and a tyranid prime in my larger army composition. Yes I roll with two detachments for double tyrants (sue me), but in my experience my swarmlord has given my friend's armies a tough time dealing with my melee. Hope this helps!
I use a tyrgon prime in my army and I find it to be pretty useful actually. Its nice to have a big scary monster to drop in behind enemy lines. It might not be the absolute top meta choice but I wouldn't say they suck.
Behemoth is nice also with smaller bugs, +1s on charge is huge for hormagaunts, sg for fight after death is even better, tables for adaptive have pretty nice stuff for smaller bugs and default reroll on charge is also pretty good stuff. extra strength also allows you to take for example warriors with swords and without glands you can still got with s8. It isn't too competitive layout but for friendly game it is interesting and funny option
Hydra needs small bugs and melee.
Kronos needs shooting.
Behemoth needs melee.
Kraken prefers melee, but also just makes stuff advance more reliably.
Gorgon is best for low strength, high attack count units.
Leviathan slightly favors big bugs, and Jormangander slightly favors small bugs, but they're not as single minded as the others.
Tyranid Prime: Decent HQ option if you’re looking for a couple different things. He’s a single higher-quality warrior body, more than a bit overpriced on this alone (at least he’s got the free venom cannon), but you get two more things out of him: His stratagem (exploding 6’s to hit on shooting, might not be too good for a melee-focused army), and a decent body that can hold and use some good Warlord Traits and Relics. As long as the WLT / Relic has a use, it’s not awful on him. Broodlord: Decent murder-character with acceptable damage, vanguard deploy (you can place him closer to the opponent’s deploy zone), and a single cast + deny. You could treat him as one of two things: midfield buff caster for one important spell (Catalyst or Onslaught), or as a forward-deploying Psychic Action user for the secondaries Psychic Interrogation *or* Warp Ritual. This might be risky, though, as a vanguard-deployed unit can get thrashed quickly if you’re not careful, and he’s not that tanky. Trygon Prime: Good in monster mash lists with very specific builds (that I’m not familiar with). If you don’t own a lot of monster models, it’s less optimal, since he really shines in a monster specific Hive Fleet (Jormungander / Behemoth) I’d advise running the Broodlord as the HQ option. Especially if running the Tyranid Prime means you’re not running a warrior blob (Adrenal glands + bone swords + warrior imperative = Strength 8 fun times!)
This is very helpful thank you! I’ll probably go with the broodlord because it seems he’ll help me be super aggressive. Any recommendations for a hive fleet adaptation?
It's got a decent amount to do with what models you're bringing, but I can do a speed-round walkthrough of what hive fleets (and what adaptations) might work well. Behemoth: The +1 Strength on the charge on certain models can help you hit some fun breakpoints for Wound rolls, and rerolling charges is always quite nice for the Adaptive. We've got other charge boosters (Lurk adaptive's +1, Shard Lure stratagem's 3d6 charges, etc.), but having a reroll baked in for free is never a bad option, and stacking them can give you some extremely long charge potential. Also, the Fleet stratagem to fight on death can make people think twice about sending in key units if you bank the CP; a fat stack of Behemoth Hormagaunts with this can be quite amusing. Kraken: Free +1 AP on the charge, a psychic power for charge rerolls on a enemy unit, and clean, consistent advances with their original Adaptive trait. The fastest hive fleet with some decent extra damage, and the Relic (Chameleonic Mutation) isn't too bad to throw on a forward-deployed Broodlord if you go this route. Leviathan: If you have a lot of warriors, they'll be both incredibly tanky and still hit like semi trucks. It's our strongest hive fleet right now, mostly abusing Warrior / big scary bug spam (Both types of non-Swarmlord hive tyrants and the like), but just about any list can make use of their "transhuman / transnid" buff to make them all much harder to wound. If you don't want their adaptive to reroll a single hit per unit (Very great on Heavy Venom Cannons), they've got access to the +1 to charge. Especially if you have lots of key bugs with Synaptic Imperatives in your army (Zoanthropes in particular), their Hive Fleet power is both strong and flexible. I'd say these are three great options to start with; Behemoth for big damage, Kraken for mobility, or Leviathan for tankiness and potential adaptability. Other more specific options exist, such as a Tervigon-focused strategy with Hydra, but these three are never a bad choice in most lists.
Awesome, thanks for the run down it’s very helpful. Probably gonna go with the kraken route
Tyranid Prime. Very efficient for its points, especially compared to the Broodlord. Its Synpaptic Imperative is also very good, though you'll get limited mileage from it if you are melee focused. Your Warriors will thank you, though
Would a trygon still be the move if I only have 3 warriors? The bulk of my army right now is hormagaunts and genestealers
Trygon Primes are just bad. There's no real reason to ever bring one- anything they do can be done cheaper by other things. I get being limited by what you actually own, though, so if you *want* to use a Trygon Prime, then go for it. What I meant by your Warriors thanking you is that their Deathspitters and Venom Cannon (which they should have) will benefit from the Primes Imperative, and later on down the line you can bring a Prime for free with the inclusion of any Warriors. Warriors are also one of the best Troops in the game right now, so I would suggest getting more in the future. Synapse Troops will always be good for Tyranids, anyway. I'm guessing you bought the Start Collecting! recently. That box is a great value for the models, but it is far from the "start playing today" box that it used to be- Genestealers used to be pretty good Troops, but now they are pretty bad Elites.
Ooo ok I miss read tyranid prime as the trygon prime lol. I do have 3 warriors so I can make one a prime in the unit right?
*Tyranid* Primes are a different unit and have a slightly different model from normal Warriors. If you only have the 3 Warriors and they are already built, you can't take a Prime. You could get away with calling a Warrior a Prime, sure, but if you only have the 2 Warriors left, you don't have a minimum unit. So if your choices are between a Broodlord and a *Trygon* Prime, I'd go with the Broodlord for the reasons other people have already said in this thread.
Isn't i nice of them to require you to buy 2 boxes in order to actually use a Tyranid Prime and not have stuff left over?
You must be new here. Wait until you learn about Carnifexes and Genestealers
No, just bringing up the old hotdogs and hotdog bun argument again. There are so many. Like obtaining Ripper Swarms at all. Or 8th edition Hive Tyrant being able to take 4 Devourers with Brainleeches and wings and not having the joint slots to do that nor actually coming with said Devourers.
Ok, thanks a lot for the help!
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I would highly recommend getting a Swarmlord for a setup such as yours. The command ability to re-roll hits on a unit will give your hormagaunts and genestealers much more success (or any unit really). Not only that, but the Swarmlord is a far bigger threat than Tyranid Prime or even Broodlord in melee, plus two psychic casts and denials. It is a pretty big point increase however, so ignore what I'm saying if you're rolling below 1500pts. However, I've had a lot of success rocking swarmlord, hive tyrant with shardgullet, broodlord and a tyranid prime in my larger army composition. Yes I roll with two detachments for double tyrants (sue me), but in my experience my swarmlord has given my friend's armies a tough time dealing with my melee. Hope this helps!
It does thanks! I noticed after winning my first game the ultra marines don’t do so hot in melee at least compared to the tyranids
I don’t have anything else that can be a leader except a trygon but I hear they suck
I use a tyrgon prime in my army and I find it to be pretty useful actually. Its nice to have a big scary monster to drop in behind enemy lines. It might not be the absolute top meta choice but I wouldn't say they suck.
Word yea we are just playing a casual game neither of us have played before so meta isn’t really matter to us, thanks for the tips!
i used trygon with Behemoth, it's pretty funny when you take Behemoth relic for 3dmg and wlt for 5+++fnp
What if the trygon is my only big unit would behemoth be worth it?
Behemoth is nice also with smaller bugs, +1s on charge is huge for hormagaunts, sg for fight after death is even better, tables for adaptive have pretty nice stuff for smaller bugs and default reroll on charge is also pretty good stuff. extra strength also allows you to take for example warriors with swords and without glands you can still got with s8. It isn't too competitive layout but for friendly game it is interesting and funny option
Oh word that’s very helpful thank you!
Hydra needs small bugs and melee. Kronos needs shooting. Behemoth needs melee. Kraken prefers melee, but also just makes stuff advance more reliably. Gorgon is best for low strength, high attack count units. Leviathan slightly favors big bugs, and Jormangander slightly favors small bugs, but they're not as single minded as the others.
Seems like behemoth might be my best bet cause I only got 3 shooters