Today Games Workshop dropped the Tyranid Index and gave us our first real look at what an army as a whole will look like in 10th Edition. As a long time Tyranid player this is an exciting time for me and I'll be recording my thoughts below. As we do not have point values yet, it is hard to tell exactly how good some units will be, so this will just be an initial impressions style review.
Army Rules:
Synapse
I was initially quite down on Synapse, but after seeing more of 10th Edition revealed, I am coming around on it. Its a hard one to rate without first hand experience as its difficult to get a sense of how big an impact Battle-shock will be. Obviously the rule is great, but Tyranid units also have lower Leadership to compensate for this so its not just pure upside. The extra dice will at least make your Battle-shock tests more reliable and less swingy. As an extra incentive to stay within Synapse range, many of the stratagems get better if used on units inside Synapse.
Shadow in the Warp
Again, this is a hard one. It feels like it will be quite powerful but there is also no guarantee it will actually do anything or the entire enemy army could fail their Battle-shock tests but the one unit you actually cared about could pass. It's good, but I wouldn't rely on it or build any battle plans around it.
Detachment Ability:
Hyper Adaptations
These are nice, especially as you choose them after you have seen the enemy army. If your opponent runs a skew list then this will punish them heavily. I can't wait to forget my units have these rules every game I play for the next few months. Precision might be a bit of a trap at times as it will cause you to often spread your wounds around a unit instead of just killing a model. As a general rule, I will likely lean towards the Lethal Hits option as there isn't a whole pile of good anti-tank/monster options in the Index.
Stratagems:
Rapid Regeneration
A strong effect, with a cheap cost. Obviously try to use this on a unit in Synapse range and it's best to use it on a unit with a larger wound pool. This will get used a lot.
Death Frenzy
A strong effect, but you need to roll a 4+ to get the benefit. This will make it incredibly risky on single entity units so I would avoid using it on them unless you are getting the effect for free somehow. It is cheap and the effect is strong enough to swing a round of combat completely. Genestealers led by a Broodlord will be a prime candidate for this.
Adrenal Surge
Combo's incredibly nicely with the Detachment ability. It is expensive but you are able to target two units if they are within Synapse range so it gets some decent value out of that. This is another one I can see getting used a lot, especially vs skew lists that the Hyper Adaptations already punish. As it is expensive, it is a good stratagem to use for any free stratagems you are giving out.
Overrun
Again, it's a cheap one. It is situationally quite powerful so it is definitely worth remembering so that you can pull it out of your pocket when you do need it. I can't see this being used too often however, but it is good when relevant.
Synaptic Insight
This combo's very well with Adrenal Surge and I would try to make use of that every time. It's main use will probably be to add Precision to attacks when that would be relevant, when it would have been wasted as the Detachment rule selection. Sadly, Lethal Hits and Precision is not a combination you are likely to get use out of from the Detachment rule due to the target restrictions.
Endless Swarm
Sure. It's cheap and a good effect. It returns just enough gaunts so as to not be irrelevant but I do feel that it is ultimately just not going to be one that gets used often. There is just too much competition.
Enhancements:
Alien Cunning
Redeploys are always strong and this will be no different. Interestingly, it also allows you to take more Strategic Reserves than you otherwise would be able to which could come up.
Perfectly Adapted
Good, but not great. There are better options. Best taken on something with ranged weapons so you can start getting use out of the re-roll early.
Synaptic Linchpin
Probably the weakest option. If I am able to take three Enhancements in a 2000pt game then this is going to be the one always sitting on the bench.
Adaptive Biology
Very strong. Stick this on a big monster with lots of wounds and you cannot go wrong.
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