Hive Tyrant
SWORD: what Hive Tyrant kills
Damage for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 195 pts kill ~101 pts in one activation.Typical melee unit: 55 per 100
Best against heavy infantry, weakest against hordes
Into each enemy type
Units near it by SWORD
Across the game· melee units
SHIELD: how hard Hive Tyrant is to kill for its points
Toughness for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 195 pts take ~555 pts of enemy units to kill.Typical melee unit: 307 per 100
Units near it by SHIELD
Across the game· melee units
What reviewers say
4 reviewers- Its aura lifts the units around it 4 of 4
- Keeps the army's command points flowing 4 of 4
- Carries enhancements well 1 of 4
- Still cheap, still hits hard 1 of 4
- Tyranid shooting got worse, and it was the shooting enabler 1 of 4
- Has to play cagey 1 of 4
Compare
| Unit | Letter | SWORD | SHIELD | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hive Tyrant195 pts | S | Bottom 45% | Bottom 40% | 79of 217 |
| Winged Hive Tyrant185 pts | B | Bottom 27% | Bottom 34% | 16of 217 |
| Hyperadapted Raveners165 pts | A | Top 12% | Bottom 18% | 99of 217 |
Leading a squad
| Solo | Leading | |
|---|---|---|
| SWORD | 52 | 44 |
| SHIELD | 285 | 387 |
Per 100 pts: on its own, then for it and the squad together.
How we got these numbers
What we ran
Hive Tyrant, 195 pts, with 1 Heavy venom cannon, 1 Monstrous bonesword and lash whip, in Subterranean Assault. On its own: no leader, no stratagems, no other units' auras. Counted as dice: its own abilities, the army rule and the detachment's rule.
SWORD
Enemy points it kills in one activation, per 100 pts of its own, against a mix of targets weighted like top tournament lists.
195 pts → kills ~101 pts → 52 per 100SHIELD
Enemy points it takes to kill it, per 100 pts of its own: the points of the cheapest units from top lists that kill it 80% of the time. It's per point, so a costly unit has to be much tougher to score the same.
~555 pts → 285 per 100Top and bottom %
Where each number ranks among the game's 572 melee units. How we score.
The letter
The average of 4 reviewers' newest Tyranids tier lists: Auspex Tactics (12 Sep), Into the Hive Mind (12 Oct), HivemindHobbies (18 Oct), Maelstrom Gaming Studios (26 Oct). A reviewer who would rather not be counted: tell us.
Lists
217 public Tyranids tournament lists, September – November 2026, from grimstat-corpus (CC BY 4.0). Also from Listhammer. Organisers and players: ask us and we'll take a list or an event down. Numbers run 2 Nov.