Hive Guard Brood
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| The centauroid Hive Guard stands its ground |
Went up in
points slightly and lost a point of BS. The loss of the BS4 hurts a bit, but
the nerf was deserved to be honest. Still a great unit due to their powerful
guns, they provide some much needed ranged anti-armour to the army. The default
gun puts out two S8 shots that Ignore Cover and do not require Line of Sight.
For 5 points this can be upgraded to a new weapon that fires a S5 AP5 Haywire
blast. Unfortunately the range is only 18” compared to the Impaler Cannon’s 24”
which can make quite a difference. I can’t think of many scenarios were I would
rather have the Shockcannon, so I’d just stick with the Impaler Cannon. The S8
combined with the two special rules make it an incredibly versatile weapon;
particularly against skimmers. For whatever reason, GW saw fit to give Hive
Guard access to Toxin Sacs and Adrenal Glands (while Raveners still don’t).
They’re cheap, but don’t bother. Hive Guard were not made for close combat.
Overall, a
fine unit. Definitely one of the better Elites choices.
Lictor Brood
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| A Lictor stalks its prey |
Eleven
special rules. That’s impressive. Similar to Genestealers, the Lictor has some
great offensive stats but isn’t winning any prizes defensively. To make up for
this the Lictor has the Stealth rule which increases his Cover Save by 1 and
combos quite well with a Venomthrope. Lictors have a few options for deploying;
Deep Strike (which they do not scatter from), Infiltrate (opening up the
possibility of Outflanking), and regular deployment. Obviously the two real
choices you have are Infiltrating into a forward position and Deep Striking.
Deep Striking has the benefit of being able to deploy exactly where you want
without your opponent knowing quite where it’ll be, while Infiltrate has the
benefit of starting on the board to make use of Pheromone Trail. This allows
him to act as a Homing Beacon, allowing other Tyranids to not scatter on Deep
Strike within 6” of him. This can’t be used the same turn that he himself Deep
Strikes, so you’ll need to Infiltrate to take advantage of this. The obvious
combo for this rule is with Mawlocs, but it can be used to good effect with
several units, even Spore Mines!
After going
over these I feel I was a bit too harsh on the Deathleaper. I’ve decided that I quite like Lictors and can definitely see
myself using them in some army lists. I’d rate them as our fourth best Elite
choice so they have some competition.
Zoanthrope Brood
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| A Hive Fleet Kraken Zoanthrope fries a Guardsman's brain with its psychic might |
Were the Hive
Guard deal with transports and medium vehicles, Zoanthropes main purpose is to
deal with heavy vehicles such as Land Raiders. They are a Mastery Level 2
Brotherhood of Psykers. However, the power they come default with, Warp Blast,
becomes Assault X where X is equal to the number of models in the brood. They
also generate another power from the Tyranid Discipline which gets cast as
normal for a Brotherhood of Psykers. This is slightly worse than having each be
its own independent psyker, but it wasn’t unexpected and isn’t damning. You
only need to be in range and Line of Sight with one of the brood now, but you
really feel it when you mess up your Psychic Test (or the opponent passes their Deny the Witch), and non-Warp Blast power
output is drastically reduced. The loss of the Mycetic Spore hurt Zoanthropes
as they are a slow unit and the range on Warp Blasts anti-vehicle mode is
relatively short. They’re one of the better units to use Onslaught on.
Having said
that, they are pretty cheap, retained their 3++ Save and provide Synapse. My
meta is different to the internet’s usual, with plenty of AV14, including Land
Raiders which tend to drive forwards to deliver their payload (negating the
short range of Warp Blast). As Instinctive Behaviour has become more of an
issue, and Synapse Creatures more vulnerable due to the loss of Biomancy, I’m
finding that I need to take more Synapse Creatures than I did last edition. As
a result, I am finding that Zoanthropes really add something to my army that it
is missing and because of this I’d rate them pretty highly; probably our second
best Elite choice behind Hive Guard. Your mileage may vary of course as it could
just be down to my meta and personal list building that makes me value them
this highly.
Venomthrope Brood
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| Tentacly |
Fairly
unthreatening on his lonesome, your opponents will learn to hate him. He
provides Shroud to everyone within 6”. As Zoanthropes have the only
Invulnerable Save in the Codex, Cover Saves are important to us. Plonk your
Monstrous Creatures in some area terrain near this guy and they now have a 3+
Cover Save. As a result, expect him to take a lot of fire so make an effort to
position him out of Line of Sight if possible. Many of the better armies at
present (I’m looking at you Tau) have means to strip Cover Saves from your
units so that is something to be aware of. If you ever find your Venomthropes in close combat, 2+ Poison and a high Initiative thanks to Lash Whips offer some self defence, but get a unit in their ASAP to bail them out.
There are
many great combinations with Venomthropes but one of the best is likely going
to be with Flying Monstrous Creatures. If they Jink near the Venomthrope
they’ll gain a 3+ Cover Save which should help keep the fragile Crone and Harpy
alive.
Great unit
which synergises well with the rest of the Codex. I’d rate these at just below
Zoanthropes but would definitely still advise taking them.
Haruspex
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| Gulp! |
Designed to
be an infantry shredder, its statline is pretty comparable to a Carnifex. It
loses 3 Strength but gains a Wound and Initiative. What makes it notable are
its special rules; on the turn it charges, for every wound it causes in combat
it gains another attack (these don’t generate more), and if it causes at least
one it regains a wound lost earlier in the battle. Regeneration could be worthwhile
on this guy to help recover wounds lost on his way to combat. He comes stock
with Acid Blood, Crushing Claws, and a Grasping Tongue. The Tongue is 12” S6
AP2 and can cause a Precision Hit if you get lucky. Nothing amazing, just treat
it and Acid Blood as an added benefit. Crushing Claws give you S7 and
Armourbane. With Adrenal Glands (which you should probably take due to Fleet)
the Haruspex can reach S8 on the charge. S8 Armourbane will make a mess of any
vehicles you come across, and allow you to Instant Death any T4 models. With
only 3 Attacks at WS3 I don’t see him doing well at anti-infantry. Even without
the only-on-the-turn-he-charges restriction his special rules wouldn’t make him
worth considering in my opinion. Perhaps I have missed something but he just
seems like a bad Carnifex. He just doesn’t have the WS or number of attacks to deal
with infantry, and that’s if he can even make it to combat. He has one wound
more than a Carnifex, but they are smaller, cheaper, and can be taken in a unit.
Despite all this, I imagine the Haruspex will still see some play due to the
fact that he is a Monstrous Creature in the Elite section. If so, I’d advise just
giving Adrenal Glands and sending him forwards. Our second worst Elite choice
in my opinion, but I could be selling him short.
Pyrovore Brood
Regarded as
the worst unit in the game last edition, he got a few improvements but still
isn’t great. While his stats got buffed, Acid Maw, Acid Blood, and his ability
to fire his Flamespurt all got nerfed; and those were the reasons you took him.
Without Torrent on his Flamespurt, or multiple attacks on his Acid Maw he just
isn’t very good at his job. The most notable thing about him is that his
Volatile rule is worded hilariously badly. When he gets Instant Deathed, every
unit on the board takes a number of S3 hits equal to the number of models
within D6” of the Pyrovore. Obviously isn’t the way it’s intended to work and
it’ll be one of the first things Errata’d. Honestly, still probably the worst
unit in the game. I wouldn’t ever bother with these.
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| A Pyrovore just got Instant Deathed |
Summary
Like last edition, most of our Elite choices are pretty solid, with
only the Pyrovore never going to see play. I personally will likely be using 3x
Hive Guard, 3x Zoanthropes, and then either another 3x Hive Guard or 2
Venomthropes.
That’s it for the Elite section. I’ll be covering Fast Attack next and
should get it up tomorrow. Thanks for reading and leave your thoughts and
opinions in the comments.
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