Tyranid Tactica: The Hive Tyrant - a VERY in-depth view

Naturally, the first unit I have chosen to feature for this tactica series is the Hive Tyrant – the Hive Mind’s chosen representative on the battlefield. If you haven't read the first article in this series, please do. The Hive Tyrant is also a common HQ choice for many Tyranid armies for two reasons:
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It is the only HQ choice in the codex GW decided to make an official model for … and the Hive Tyrant is the ultimate support platform for the tyranid army, capable of taking abilities with army-wide benefits, powers that can take the fight out of the best enemy units and weapons options that can make it a force multiplier for your combat units.
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Is the Tyrant a combat unit or a support unit? I cannot stress this enough, despite its really awesome, combat-oriented stat line, the primary role of the tyrant is SUPPORT. It is single-handedly the best support unit in the codex if not the game for many of the reasons listed above, so let’s talk options and tactics.
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Army Wide Special Abilities: The Tyrant has three abilities it can take, two of which can benefit much if not all of your army and give you a built-in tactical ace-up your sleeve – let’s take a look.
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Indescribable Horror: Let’s take out the garbage; this ability wouldn’t be bad if it was built into the tyrant already. As it stands, why would I invest any points into something that keeps some units from assaulting my tyrant (or him and his guard) some of the time?
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Old Adversary: This ability works well in some list builds, but you need to take your army’s composition into account before you consider this ability. For instance, if your build involves getting the enemy into combat with a ton of hormagaunts, non-double scything talon carnifexes, ect (otherwise WS3 units you want in combat who don’t already benefit from a re-roll to hit), then Old Adversary is a good consideration and if you play your game right, you will reap the benefits of preferred enemy. Other builds however, such as Trygon/ genestealer spam, don’t need old adversary as much due to the dual scything talons and high natural WS of the units involved, along with the multiple deployment options of those units.
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Hive Commander: This is a great ability for its points cost when taken in a build that compliments its effect. If you run an army that involves non-podded hordes scuttling across the table, with no innate abilities to deploy off table, then this may not be the ability for you. If you run an army that uses pods, involves a mass of units like stealer, trygons or any other deep striker/ outflanker units, this is certainly the ability for you.
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Don’t get Type-casted: Now, 3+ is nice to come in and it also counters guard’s Master of the Fleet, but that doesn’t mean that your army has to come in via reserves just because you have this ability – the real key point here is that it unlocks your ability to tailor your attack to your opponent, making this a great ability for take-all-comers lists. The idea is then to build a list that is both strong on the board and strong in a scenario that calls for deep striking. More on this later.

Psychic Powers: The tyrant is a potent psychic and his abilities once again compliment his role as the ultimate support unit in the tyranid army.
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Paroxysm: What a wonderful power! You brought an Assaulty Hammer unit? Have fun at WS1 hitting my guants on 5’s. Oh, did I deep strike next to your battlesuit squad armed with plasma rifles; have fun hitting me on 6’s. This power really is a force multiplier, it allows your assault units to take on larger (or more dangerous) enemy units than normal because they will likely be hit less by the enemy, making them more survivable while, at the same time, they are hitting more – making them more killy – increasing their chance of killing the enemy unit outright from fearless saves or from cutting them down.
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Paroxysm also makes deep striking in the vicinity of a nasty enemy shooting unit less of a bother as it means they won’t be shooting you (at least with any accuracy). This means that shooting unit either moves or dies. Whether you nerf an enemy assault unit or cut the accuracy of a shooting unit, this power is likely to catch the enemy off-guard or will make him alter his initial plans, which can force him to make mistakes – which often leads to tyranid victory!
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Leech Essence: The usual second choice for tyrants, Leech isn’t going to be a game changer most of the time, but it can give you a chance to regenerate one of the tyrant’s wounds without wasting points on regen, it can kill a couple guardsmen or a space marine here or there, but mostly it is a nice second power to have and I’ll leave it at that.
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The Horror: An often overlooked power, I regard this the same way I regard Leech – it can be nice to have, but I wouldn’t count on it doing a lot. It could potentially lead to you dropping in and making some guardsmen run away or maybe even some wolves – but I wouldn’t bank on it. In a take-all-comers list, you can count on facing fearless armies, where the horror will do nothing, unlike Leech which at least can be useful anywhere.
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Psychic Scream: The poor man’s Doom of Malan’tai, this ability seems cool, but really lacks the luster the Doom’s ability has by 1) being a psychic power, 2) not happening at the beginning of each shooting phase and 3) not being taken on 3d6. So this leaves us with a power that will generally be ineffective or maybe kill one or two guys in what most of the time, will be your low LD, horde-type armies anyway. So, moving on …
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The Gear: The Hive Tyrant has a lot of options – Let’s break it down to what works with what build and what is just generally badass. I will start with wings and Guard as those two choices will define a lot of the other gear choices.
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Wings: They are expensive, but depending on your army build, they may be mandatory. Walking hordes will have little use for these – some folks want to use them to drop the tyrant into midfield when he is actually needed, but the walking armies can leave little room for him to land and that is an awful big investment for so little payback. The real list for the flyrant is a list built with fleet and cav units, such as Trygons, genestealers and Ravagers. The Tyrant can use his support abilities to make these units even deadlier, maximizing their potential, but he needs to be as fast as they are. His lack of guard isn’t a big deal in this scenario as the enemy will have other priority targets rather than the Tyrant to deal with. The same can be said for drop lists, where he can drop in with the storm. If your tyrant isn’t going to have wings, then I would recommend giving him …

Guards: Tyrant Guard are ablative wounds and, if it comes to it, extra CC power for the foot tyrant. They help the walking tyrant cross the board to fulfill his mission and in the scuttling horde lists out there where he has plenty of units his own speed, guards help the tyrant build his death star. If you plan to take Guards, give them the lash whips if you want your tyrant to be able to shoot. If you don't want to shoot, take a guard and run every turn in order to keep up with your force.
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Lash Whip and Bone Sword: The Lash Whip and Bone Sword are standard and are pretty awesome for the Tyrant’s support role. A winged Tyrant can easily use them to move to a potential combat that might be difficult for his dedicated cc unit, join into the charge and lower the initiative of the biggest threat just by being in base to base with it. The bone sword helps further by possibly inst-killing those pesky Librarians before they get to swing on your trygons! They can be handy for the walking tyrant as well, but I think his limited movement will make these weapons less than ideal.
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Scything talons: With the naturally high WS of a tyrant, the standard set is usually enough (now he only misses on 2’s). Two sets will make him re-roll everything, though the effectiveness of this over one set with bone swords and lash whips is negligible.
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Devourers with Brain Leech Worms: Perfect for the Flyrant who wants to drop in and either gun down a low LD squad and make them run or for the tyrant who wants to come in and shake vehicles. Two sets make you even shootier, but also make you more expensive. One set with the Lash Whip and Bone Sword can make for a multi-purpose tyrant, but I would rather stay with the standard build.
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Deathspitters: Even twin-linked, I would leave this one alone. I have played Tau before and if I wanted some Fire Warriors, I would just play them again.
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Heavy Venom Cannon: So, you want to snipe vehicles? This is a good option for the walking tyrant as he can walk around with his guard and stun, immobilize and pop enemy transports and tanks. It isn’t too bad for the winged tyrant in theory due to rear armor shots, but you will likely be in assault most of the time and all the cannon does is jack up the points-cost of an already pricey tyrant.
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The Stranglethorn cannon: This weapon gives you the chance to pin enemy units down and while it sounds really good, you have other means available to the tyrant to nerf enemy units, so why not use them. If you do want to try it out, run it on a walking tyrant and have plenty of other units that can pop vehicles so he can take advantage of the troops – but I would generally leave this weapon at home for the tyrant.
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Biomorphs
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Adrenal Glands: Tyrants can already drag down and enemy’s initiative, but can he reliably pop heavy tanks in combat? This is a good upgrade for a winged Tyrant if you have 10 points.

Toxic Sacs: Not really a great choice for take-all-comers because you basically choose from wounding on 2 most of the time or re-rolling 4’s … I’ll take the 2’s.

Acid Blood: A fancy trick and an expensive one. Most units that are going to single-out a tyrant and try to kill it in CC will have to be quick to get away from being counter assaulted and likely won’t worry too much about this upgrade.

Implant Attack: Another expensive fancy trick not needed for most tyrants.

Toxic Miasma: Expensive and not a big need for it in take all comers lists.

Regeneration: Very expensive for something that MIGHT work on a 4 wound model, combined with Armored Shell, it can be annoying, but most of the time, this upgrade is not needed.

Armored shell: Expensive, just take guard if you are that scared of taking wounds.

Thorax Swarms: Very expensive for what little they do. I would leave this option at home as well.

Examples:
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The Flyrant: Hive Tyrant with Wings, Bone Sword, Lash Whip, Scything Talons, Hive Commander, paroxysm, leech essence (255)

This Tyrant is geared for a multiple deployment army (an army that can do well on the board or can be nasty deep striking). Throw him in with a trio of Trygons, some outflanking genestealers and anything else that is fleet and large enough for him to hide behind. He can then either come up the board behind them, ready to provide paroxysm or lash support against hammer units, take out a transport for the trygons to eat and can be in multiple places quickly. He can also deep strike in with all the big nasties to provide a “shock and awe” assault against gunline armies. His scything talons mean he will seldom miss when adding his two cents to assault and if needed, he can provide outflanking abilities to a squad of troops that normally don’t have it. This tyrant is all about flexibility and choices, both in field functionality and in terms of deployment and gameplay.
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If you want to remove Hive Commander, try Old Adversary and drop down and surround him with podding gribblies to protect him, just watch out for the old Master of the Fleet, as your DS won’t go exactly as planned. Also, never run Old A with a bunch of Trygons, as it wouldn’t make much sense!
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The Walking Tyrant: Hive Tyrant on foot, Bone Sword, Lash whip, Heavy Venom Cannon, Paroxysm, Leech essence, 2x Tyrant guard (315) or with only 1 guard (255)
This Tyrant can be expensive, but it will walk down the field, stunning vehicle for your hordes to mop up. Anything that gets too close, will suffer from paroxysm. This build’s primary benefit is the fact that the enemy is going to dump shots into it to make it go away while it hopefully manages to pop a vehicle or two. The downfall is that it moves slower than most of your army (trygons fleet, hormis bound, ect.), which is why I left out Old Adversary. Honestly, if I wanted to make a cheap tyrant, I would give him the basic layout, a guard and run every shooting phase until mu army got where it needed to be. Unfortunately, this will likley leave my enemy out of paroxysm range the turn my army gets to the enemy - which is why we suck it up and pay for wings. Not being able to drop in hurts this build a lot and if I had to, I would pick the flyrant everyday.
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In Conclusion: Damn this is a long article! Alright, in conclusion, you have a lot of choices, but the strength of the tyrant is in his ability to open up your deployment options to fight your opponents on your terms – making the Nids possibly the most flexible (and maybe the most competitive) armies in the game. His support capabilities are outstanding and his presence on the field can push the game in your favor and make the enemy curse through his teeth. I obviously prefer the winged Hive Commander and I think that layout is the optimal build for this unit, but I encourage you to try other builds, try them some more and then come to your own conclusions. Never forget that he is a SUPPORT element and should fill that role as best as possible. Have fun and Happy Feeding! Comments always welcome.