December Detachment Review: Warrior Bioform Onslaught

Welcome back to our daily detachment review articles and buckle up because today’s is a wittle cwazy. If you couldn’t guess by the name, it’s a Tyranids detachment focused all around warriors.

The detachment rule is very simple: Tyranid Warriors and Winged Primes gain a 5+ invulnerable save. In addition, Tyranid Warriors also gain batteline and OC 3 (WOOF).

Now, I’m not Tyranids guy. Not even close. But what I do know is the common complaint that Warriors are super squishy. Does this fix that? I assume yes. Toughness 5 with a 4/5+ and 3 Wounds is certainly a profile.

Becoming battleline is pretty funny in a way. Before if you took max squad sizes of box Warrior units, you could take 36 bodies. Now its 72. I don’t know, that makes me smile.

Enhancements

The enhancements are all very (very) good, but some seem expensive. Again, I’m no Tyranids guy, so take my words with a grain of salt: Warrior spam might be really good and some of these being costed how they are likely is a symptom of that.

Synaptic Tyrant is the first enhancement and for 10 points it’s super simple. A Neurotyrant can lead warriors. This effectively gives a Warrior unit (I’m guessing a ranged unit) +1 to hit, with sometimes +1 to wound if the enemy is battle-shocked. It also lets you keep the Neurotyrant safe with a unit, as opposed to his normal state of being brought by himself and hidden in the back. Given how crazy good the Tyrant is on his own, and how cheap this one is, it’s getting an A

Ocular Adaptation is a 20 point enhancement that goes on a Winged Tyranid Prime. It gives +1 to hit for the unit. #Based #WarriorPilled . Solid A.

Sensory Assimilation is also 20 points an the inverse of Occular Adaptation. Also goes on a Winged Tyranid Prime and gives -1 to hit against that unit. I suspect this is probably fine? 20 points feels like a bit much for this when brother can just charge from behind a wall, but it’s value is still obviously there. B-, I’ll likely get flak for this.

Elevated Might is Advance and Charge. It goes on any Tyranid model. Advance and Charge for the entire unit. Now your mind might go straight to putting on something that leads warriors, to which I laugh, point at a Winged-Hive Tyrant and start barking at you like a dog across the table while I roll a 6 to advance turn 1, charging you on your home objective. The only thing stopping this from being a higher ranking is the cost. A+ regardless.

Stratagems

This detachment will see play by the way. If that’s not clear already, and the stratagems only help that. I suspect hobby lag will be one of the few things holding it back.

Before we go over the stratagems (all of which are 1 CP) I should mention that two of them use the endless multitude keyword. So I’ll quickly list what those units are:

Gargoyles
Hormagaunts
Termagants
Neurogaunts

If an alert censor went off in your brain that Gargoyles are part of that list, you’ve been paying attention.

The first stratagem is Synaptic Amplification which lets in either your shooting phase or the fight phase pick a Tyranid unit from your army as the target and give them re-roll 1’s to wound. If you picked a Warrior unit, they also get re-roll 1’s to hit and can pick an Endless Multitude unit within 6″ and give them the re-roll wound ability.

With shooting Warriors this is a fun cute thing, and helps with the wounding more than the hitting. You won’t hate it. But with melee Warriors you actually get the bonus of their adaptive instincts ability. Which lets them pick to either re-roll 1’s to hit or re-roll 1’s to saving throws. With the stratagem already giving you the first ability, you become both more potent and more durable. Strong A

Spontaeous Hypercorrosion adds +2 strength to shooting weapons or +1 strength to melee weapons for Tyranid Warriors and Winged Tyranid Prime models in a unit. Strength 11 Venom Canon’s make me upset. And Melee warriors becoming strength 7 (reminder that they’re synapse) with twin linked is certainly one of the profiles of all time. A+

Restorative Impulse lets you bring back a Tyranid Warrior model. This is bad 95% of the time. Use for random clutch OC plays. D-

Synaptic Micronodes lets you sticky an objective marker in the movement phase with Warriors. You’ll use this every game, without fail. A+

Parasitic Payload gives your ranged Warriors ignore cover and then lets you pick a unit you hit with those attacks, your whole army ignores cover against that unit. Tyranid shooting already big hurty. I’m going to go out on a limb here, and remember how many times I’ve been hurt by Tyranid shooting (emotionally) and call this an A+

Synaptic Shield lets you give -1 to wound to a Warrior unit in the shooting phase if the attacks strength is higher than your toughness. If the Warrior unit is within 6″ of an endless multitude unit, they also gain this benefit. I have a feeling that GW discovered the “within 6″ of X” mechanic and we’re going to see it lots. This is one of those good ones where the benefit is only better under those conditions and not worse without. Big A

Yeah these are all extremely usable minus Restorative Impulse. All of them being 1 CP means that you can combo off relatively consistently on your turns. Especially if you’re bringing a Hive Tyrant for the CP reduction.

Lists

Again, and for the last time, not a Tyranids guy. But Mr. Scott Fox and Logan Wathen are, so I’m letting them take the reigns on this one.

Josh Attempts Tyranids

CHARACTERS

Neurotyrant (105 points)
• 1x Neurotyrant claws and lashes
1x Psychic scream

Winged Hive Tyrant (200 points)
• 1x Monstrous bonesword and lash whip
1x Tyrant talons

Winged Tyranid Prime (65 points)
• 1x Prime talons

BATTLELINE

Gargoyles (85 points)
• 10x Gargoyle
• 10x Blinding venom
10x Fleshborer

OTHER DATASHEETS

Biovores (50 points)
• 1x Chitin-barbed limbs
1x Spore Mine launcher

Ripper Swarms (25 points)
• 1x Chitinous claws and teeth

Tyranid Warriors with Melee Bio-weapons (150 points)
• 1x Tyranid Prime
• 1x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons
• 5x Tyranid Warrior
• 5x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons

Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-weapons (130 points)
• 1x Tyranid Prime
• 1x Devourer
1x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons
• 5x Tyranid Warrior
• 2x Barbed strangler
1x Devourer
5x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons
2x Venom cannon

Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-weapons (65 points)
• 1x Tyranid Prime
• 1x Devourer
1x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons
• 2x Tyranid Warrior
• 1x Barbed strangler
2x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons
1x Venom cannon

Pretty straight forward. Take all the enhancements. Hive Tyrant go brr. See Warrior, take Warrior. See Warrior, take Warrior. Do not eat the sand.

Scott Fox’s List and Thoughts

CHARACTERS

Broodlord (80 points)
• 1x Broodlord claws and talons

Neurotyrant (105 points)
• 1x Neurotyrant claws and lashes
1x Psychic scream

Winged Tyranid Prime (65 points)
• 1x Prime talons

OTHER DATASHEETS

Biovores (50 points)
• 1x Chitin-barbed limbs
1x Spore Mine launcher

Exocrine (135 points)
• 1x Bio-plasmic cannon
1x Powerful limbs

Genestealers (150 points)
• 10x Genestealer
• 10x Genestealers claws and talons

Tyranid Warriors with Melee Bio-weapons (150 points)
• 1x Tyranid Prime
• 1x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons
• 5x Tyranid Warrior
• 5x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons

Tyranid Warriors with Melee Bio-weapons (75 points)
• 1x Tyranid Prime
• 1x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons
• 2x Tyranid Warrior
• 2x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons

Venomthropes (70 points)
• 3x Venomthrope
• 3x Toxic lashes

Scott was kind enough to give us some early hot takes on the detachment as well, spoiler alert we disagree on some things:

“It riffs pretty heavily off Synaptic Nexus and a couple of other detachment options.

Still, this is really quite nice as they’re notoriously squishy. OC3 is a win, especially when you can revive one to possibly flip an objective.

The enhancement to get a brick of Melee Warriors hitting on 2 is solid. Melee Warriors will also get to hit on 2 if they’re with a Neurotyrant (Neurotyrant gives +1 to hit to units it leads), but getting the Neurotyrant through walls will be a pain.

You might finally see a Ranged Warrior or two on a table this edition. Advance and Charge. Perfect.

Reroll ones to hit and, conditionally, wounds. It’s a crappier version of a Synaptic Nexus strat +1 to melee strength. When is this not good? Love it. Warriors going to strength 7

Resurrection: Sure. Totally useful Ignore cover: nearly useless… but I could be proven wrong. -1 to wound is great… but in the shooting phase only? Boo.

Still, I’ll take it. At the end of the day: the detachment, in various ways, helps these guys not die immediately, which is nice, and gives them options to punch up. My biggest fear as this will spike the cost of a warrior unit, which is currently priced well enough to take one or two units in a few other detachment.”

Logan “I don’t own Warriors” Wathen list and “Thoughts”

CHARACTERS

Winged Tyranid Prime (65 Points)
Occular Adaptation (20pts)
• Warlord
• 1x Prime talons

Winged Tyranid Prime (65 Points)
Sensory Assimilation (20 points)
• 1x Prime talons

Winged Tyranid Prime (65 Points)
Elevated Might (30 points)
• 1x Prime talons

OTHER DATASHEETS

Biovores (50 Points)
• 1x Chitin-barbed limbs
• 1x Spore Mine launcher

Tyranid Warriors with Melee Bio-weapons (150 Points)
• 1x Tyranid Prime
◦ 1x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons
• 5x Tyranid Warrior
◦ 5x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons

Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-weapons (130 Points)
• 1x Tyranid Prime
◦ 1x Devourer
◦ 1x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons
• 5x Tyranid Warrior
◦ 5x Devourer
◦ 5x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons

Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-weapons (130 Points)
• 1x Tyranid Prime
◦ 1x Devourer
◦ 1x Tyranid Warrior claws and talons

Logans thoughts are much less substantial: “It’s a meme list, bad detachment. I have no warriors lifestyle.”

Thank you Logan.

Final Thoughts

This detachment is probably the best one we’ve seen so far. It has the tools to play the game of Warhammer. Maybe Warriors are still too squishy, if so, then this detachment actually sucks. But if the 5+ invulnerable save is enough, then we’ll be seeing this a lot once people get their warriors painted.

Today’s article was certainly out of my depth, thankfully I play enough skilled Tyranid players on the weekly to know what’s happening. Tomorrow however, is Thousand Sons. I’m praying its Tzaangore based so that I don’t have to learn 13 new flavors of Doombolt.

It’ll definitely be Tzaangor based.

Be safe everyone. Drink lots of water. Thanks for reading.