Armies in 5th: Psychic Powers: Tyranids

Well onto Tyranids. Tyranids have a lot of psychic powers spread over different units and are an army which doesn’t like their powers being stopped! The units which can use psychic powers are the Hive Tyrant/Swarmlord, Tervigon, Zoanthrope/Doom and Broodlord. The main two are obviously the Tyrant and Tervigon with most armies fielding at least one of these guys. We’ll break it down by unit in order of the best to worst.

Hive Tyrant

Paroxysm - WS/BS 1 for target unit within 12”. Very effective and rending a unit useless in the next shooting phase and in combat (Guants love assaulting WS1 units). Problems obviously lie in its short range (18” please!) so it’s impact on the opponent’s next shooting phase is generally minimal and it’s a psychic shooting attack. This means the Tyrant cannot cast this and let guants assault the unit then assault another unit (though multi-assaults are possible). Even with these drawbacks though, Paroxysm is a very powerful and useful spell. Few Tyrants should leave home without it.


Leech Essence - Not really powerful but is basically a cheap form of regeneration. It’s offensive ability isn’t fantastic but the ability to drag your Tyrant back up to W4 generally easily is well worth it and can make the Deathstar unit of Tyrant & Guards difficult to remove. A very good utility and back-up spell to Paroxysm but also suffers from the short range  of 12” and shooting attack profile. Can be annoyingly wasteful though when there are no wounds on your Tyrant.

Psychic Scream - not really powerful but it has the added benefit of not being a targeted spell so can assault any unit. Better than the Horror due to ability to affect multiple units and can be decidingly annoying to low Ld armies. Low range and no Ld modifiers make it unlikely to damage anything though.

The Horror - the Tyranid’s poor form of tank shocking except without the clumping effect…why bother. Forcing a single unit to take an Ld test can be useful on a last turn to make them run off an objective but again suffers from low range and being a psychic shooting attack. You’re better off assaulting the unit.

Hard to go beyond Paroxysm and Leech Essence for the Tyrant as the other two spells just seem so useless in comparison. Remember the Tyrant is generally a support and buffing unit first which Paroxysm really adds to and Deathstar unit second (odd, I know).

Tervigon

Catalyst - The be all and end all of powers! The ability to cast FNP on any unit is pretty valuable. Guant screens can suddenly become very survivable and any MCs which aren’t hit with low AP weapons can be very painful to bring down. Warriors/Raveners with this in combat are simply hard as nails unless up against instant-death weapons and can cover for the low saves across units which are important such as the aforementioned Guants, Warriors and Raveners and also Harpies + Hive Guard.

Onslaught - often an overlooked spell it can extensively extend the range of your Hive Guard but more importantly can get your shooting units into side armor arcs (particularly important against IG). Unfortunately the Tervigon cannot cast two spells in a single turn (no upgrade either, here it might be useful!) so Onslaught is generally relegated to a first turn use or against faster mech armies.

Dominion - People forget about this spell and it’s free. Extending Synapse range to 18” can be very important with faster units which range ahead of the Tyranid force but is very situational in comparison to Catalyst and Onslaught and generally used late game to prevent units from moving off objectives due to instinctive behaviour.

Tervigons should never leave home without Catalyst or Onslaught, and I mean never. I’d generally recommend Catalyst first but Onslaught is very important for Hive Guard. My best advice? Take them both! Tervigons really don’t like psychic defenses though. These powers are very important to keeping the swarm ticking by keeping the important unit of the Turn alive for longer or getting units into better firing positions. The nullification of these spells can be highly aggravating.

Zoanthrope/Doom

Warp Lance - The ultimate in anti-tank for any army the only drawbacks are it is a psychic power and 18” range. Zoans generally need Onslaught (another psychic power) or a Spore to make the best use of this power and psychic defense can really shut them down. However, if Tyranid players are looking for an answer to heavy mech outside of combat, this is their answer.

Warp Blast - Longer range, low AP and blast are nice but Tyranids don’t really need assistance in anti-infantry. Mass MC attacks and combat are generally enough to take anything down backed up by generally impressive shooting (depending on list style). It’s a nice duality purpose weapon for the Zoans against hordes but not the reason you should be taking these guys.

Cataclysm - everyone forgets about this power I think and takes Doom for Spirit Leech and the damage this does to Doom may be way people choose to forego it. Again, Tyranids don’t really have much need for more anti-infantry, it’s built into their codex but AP1 is nice. Not really an anti-tank weapon thanks to blast status but @ S10 AP1 could be troublesome for some opponents and adds some anti-tank capacity to the unit.

Zoanthropes are taken for their Warp Lance, simple as that. Warp Blast offers some decent anti-infantry but that’s about it. Seriously consider the need of Warp Lance in your army though as psychic defenses will ruin the effectiveness of this unit and they are vulnerable to instant death. Doom really revolves around it’s spirit leech ability which is okay but not fantastic (even if it does affect units in transports) and thus isn’t really taken for Cataclysm. I personally prefer Hive Guard/Deathleaper over both of these units but Zoanthropes certainly have their place thanks to Warp Lance.

Broodlord

Hypnotic Gaze - Ability to potentially shut down special weapons suck as Mark of the Wulfen, Power Fists/Weapons, etc. or Independent Characters is a handy power but like most Ld + D6 rolls unreliable. Most combat wielding models generally have Ld buffs due to being leaders so it’s not always going to work. Add in psychic defenses and don’t rely on this to make your combat work.

Aura of Despair - The new codex’s answer to yesteryears psychic choir. If combats are going to be close and you want the unit to run (not always advisable), this can be useful, especially since it’s cumulative. Genestealers would generally prefer to remain in assault though and since it can’t be used during your opponent’s assault phase, has minimal applicability I think outside of increasing the chances a unit will run late game but as mentioned before, leaves the Genestealers open to being shot (doesn’t matter if it’s the bottom of T7 though).

Broodlords are taken for their combat prowess, not their psychic abilities. They have some uses which can be fun and help the squad or battle-plan but don’t rely on them to do anything.

Overall, the Tervigon & Tyrant are the best psychic units for Tyranids. Zoanthropes don’t really have the weight of fire once cover and psychic defenses are accounted for and with the increasing saturation of psychic defenses…I just think Hive Guard are better. Again though, they certainly have their role just not my cup of tea. Broodlords are really an afterthought to the psychic pool and again, Tyranid players really want to focus their psychic might through Tervigons & Tyrants who can really provide benefits to their army. All Tyranid synapse creatures also have Shadow in the Warp. With a 12” range this is generally sub-par psychic defense but increases the chances of perils of the warp which is nice. I’d prefer a Deathleaper personally to fiddle with psychic defense (and improve your chances against Hoods) but Shadow in the Warp is built into your army which is nice.