40K: Psychic Awakening III – Tyranid Bio-Artifacts

Today, we burrow into the recent Tyranid Bio-Artifacts from Psychic Awakening III: Blood of Baal. Hey everyone, Danny from TFG Radio here,

Meet the Bio-Artefacts

Yep, we get a few new ones, and it is nice to finally have a few relics worth taking.

Resonance Barb

The bearer may cast one additional power, deny one additional time, and gets +1 to cast. This is what most of the interwebz has been buzzing about, and for good reason.  This is our best, most useful relic.  One additional cast, one additional deny, and +1 to cast is just a damn near perfect suite of abilities to turn 1 psyker from good to great.  As most of our powers are 6 or under, this really skews the math in our favor that you are going to get a Catalyst or Onslaught off. Especially since Onslaught can be so damn brutal and turn-changing, making sure that it goes off is a priority.  If you are also trying to do a Psyker spam style list, this also helps as a late-turn source of smite as the +1 makes the 8 or 9 much more manageable although by no means guaranteed. Now who to give it to? The first option is to make the Super Neurothrope.  Why? Well, it has a natural reroll 1s on psychic tests, so with the +1, that’s added value.  The problem here is that a Neuro only knows 1 spell beside Smite, so it will actually not be able to cast 3 powers a turn as it only knows 2.  You can fix this by using our new stratagem that lets it know all the powers from another HIVE FLEET psyker, and this can actually be sweet as you can have the Neuro cast all the important spells for the turn with the +1 to cast and reroll 1s.  This does require CP though. A broodlord is an interesting choice as it is somewhat in the opposite direction of a Neurothrope. It only has 1 cast base, so giving it the extra cast means that it can actually smite and cast whatever power it knows. As Broodlords are fast threats, this is a good way to make a reliable mortal wound battery with some decent melee threat behind it as the +1 to cast Smite and Psychic Scream is generally going to get you 2d3 mortals, and if this clears a small screen to a juicy character, even better.  Broodlords are not super hard to kill though, so it could be trading your Resonance Broodlord for less value long term that you want. You can also go with a Flying Hive Tyrant for a very reliable, very mobile gunboat that pumps out some heat in both the shooting and psychic phase with 3 powers a turn, perfect for a smite, scream, and then either a buff or debuff, depending on the situation and your power chosen. This also gives you to 2 deny attempts off of one model that is good at getting close to the action and being within range to stop enemy psychic ability.  The downside here of course is that you can target a Tyrant. You can also throw this in a Tervigon, and this lets it cast smite and a buff, but eh, this is not as exciting as other options. Plus, I generally like taking Chameonlic Mutation on a Tervigon to keep it alive even longer.

Xenogenic Acid

Replaces Toxin Sacs. On an unmodified 5+, deal 1 mortal wound in additional to normal damage. This is an interesting way to boost a Trygon Prime as it really is the only choice that maximizes this ability.  A Hive Tyrant with double scything talons or boneswords could do some work, but with only 5 attacks, that’s not really getting you much here. A Prime though has 7 attacks at WS 3+ rerolling 1s (or 2+ if you take a custom Hive Fleet), so you can actually get more value out of a Prime. This is a nice way to add some extra kill to either big models or infantry as the mortals are going to do what they do either way, but with only a 33% chance base, that’s not ideal. Unfortunately, it is unmodified, so you can’t stack Behemoth’s new power to get extra mileage.   You can of course trigger Reroll to Wound and fish for the mortals, and if you are only going for the 5+, that increases your odds to about 54% of hitting a mortal wound.  If against infantry, this can get you more actual damage as chances are you are wounding on 3s or 2s, so you are unlikely to reroll into a bunch of 1s and 2s, but remember, it could happen, and averages never feel average.  This can be a smart way to kill a 3++ Smash cap as just a few of those mortals have to go through before just 1 failed save equals a dead captain. This is a cool way to make a Prime a bit more of a badass, or even go real sideways and give it to a Double-Talon Tyranid Prime for less value for almost 90 points less in cost.

The Venomthorn Parasite

Model with a Stranglethorn or Heavy Venom Cannon only. Whenever the model shoots, it always counts as rolling the maximum number of shots. If you like the big shots, this is not a bad way to get some consistency out of a Hive Tyrant. A walking Tyrant is not always the king of the meta, but it can do work in the right setups. Getting a guaranteed 3 shots out of the Heavy Venom Cannon is good as its biggest issue is that it is only d3 shots.  If doing a bespoke Hive Fleet, this combos well with Synaptic Augmentation as you get to reroll 1 of the hit rolls, so by the math, you should be hitting at minimum twice each time, and hitting all 3 is not unlikely at all.  Of course, a Stranglethorn is also good at 6 shots at all times, which is like getting a 6 shot autocanon that also hits on 2s against big units.  In terms of potential kill, a Stranglethorn can do the most damage, but the AP-2 and S9 of the VC makes it far more reliable at wounding hard targets.  Still, a Stranglethorn is probably the better choice just for always getting 6 shots out of it. Again, if you like Hive Tyrants, this can be a good way to make a mostly mobile, high volume Tyrant, especially if you throw in Morphic Sinews for no advance/shoot penalty.  Get a Hive Tyrant with a Stranglethorn and Devourer, and you have a decent little shooter there. If Tyranid Primes could take a Strangle or VC, this would be a good way to make them a bit more usable, but alas, maybe in our next codex.

Pathogenesis

Add 8” of range to all ranged weapons the bearer has. Also, when it uses its guns, it can reroll 1 hit roll and 1 wound roll. An extra 8″ of range is pretty sweet, particularly on all ranged weapons rather than 1.  This makes Devourers far more threatening as their biggest issue is being only range 18.  This is also interesting on Deathspitters as getting up to range 32″ makes them almost heavy bolters, and it allows a flyrant to really ride the flank and still threaten a lot of the board. Again, if you like your shooting Tyrants, this is interesting as it allows Venom Cannons and Stranglethorns to threaten far more of the board that before.  It is also so somewhat cute on a Trygon Prime as the extra 8″ lets it threaten far more targets when it arrives, but eh. The free reroll to hit and reroll to wound isn’t bad, and again, on a Heavy Venom Cannon where you need every shot there to matter, it has value, but Tyranids are really more about quantity rather than quality, so it is not quite the advantage as it may seem.  You could pair with a custom hive fleet for one free reroll to hit from Synaptic Augmentation and then one from Pathogenesis, with a bonus reroll to wound.  Not bad on a Heavy Venom Cannon.  Is it better than just 3 shots at all times? Probably not.

Arachnacyte Gland

Replaces Adrenal Glands. +1 to advance rolls, and when the model charges, it rolls an additional d6 and drops the lowest. This is a fun one, and it really is about combinations.  This is the lightning fast jab that leads into the cross and eventually the hook, and while jabs aren’t flashy, they win fights.  Rolling 3d6 and dropping the lowest for a charge is mathematically better than a flat +1, and it only is more so once you throw in a reroll.  When you consider that Nids also get 2 new stratagem that boost charge rolls, this can be what starts that chain reaction.  You can either set this up with a Flyrant or Trygon Prime, both who can absolutely be the start to a brutal turn of long distance charges. Both the Prime/Flyrant can come in from deep strike, so 9 away, but with 3d6, pick the 2 highest, your odds are still not ideal.  If you go Behemoth for free reroll charges, so rerolling all the dice, your odds go to mostly good (but not guaranteed).  You can also use a CP reroll if you managed to snag a 6 on one dice, and this means you only need a 3 on the reroll (67%) to get the charge off.  Again, this is not a guarantee, but it isn’t bad at all. If you want some extra fun, have a Hive Tyrant kill a model out of the unit, letting you trigger Hunter’s Drive for an extra d6 and drop the lowest.  That’s 4d6 and take the two highest.  If you stick the charge, you can also then trigger Hive Instinct, and all of sudden, anybody charging that same unit is getting 3d6, take the two highest.  That’s some insane charging there. If you need to stick the charge out of reserve, having a Synapse shooting threat helps for the extra d6 (so Hive Tyrants and Warriors are the most likely suspects here).  If going Kraken, you can also use their psychic power on the target for free reroll charges against it if you don’t want to run Behemoth. You can even try to combo this into a first turn charge by putting a Flyrant on the board, advancing, getting Onslaught off, and then charging 3d6 and drop the lowest or even 4d6 drop the lowest thanks to Hunter’s Instinct.  If you really want a Flyrant up in their face or to combo off another long bomb charge from other fast threats, this Relic really helps you do it. This is another relic where it is hard to not take it in many builds, and it is definitely worth the CP to take this and the Resonance Barb.  As cool as the others can be, really, it is hard to the top the overall utility of Barb and Archo.

So that wraps this up.  See you all next time, and as always, thanks for reading.  

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