The Swarmlord
SWORD: what The Swarmlord kills
Damage for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 210 pts kill ~120 pts in one activation.Typical melee unit: 55 per 100
Best against light vehicles and monsters, weakest against hordes
Into each enemy type
Units near it by SWORD
Across the game· melee units
SHIELD: how hard The Swarmlord is to kill for its points
Toughness for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 210 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- The army's one reliable command point maker 4 of 4
- Makes enemy stratagems cost more nearby 3 of 4
- Hits very hard in melee 2 of 4
- Good protection 1 of 4
- The Hive Tyrant is cheaper and a bit more useful 1 of 4
- A lot of points and not very durable 1 of 4
Compare
| Unit | Letter | SWORD | SHIELD | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Swarmlord210 pts | S | Top 46% | Bottom 27% | 108of 217 |
| Old One Eye130 pts | B | Top 34% | Top 5% | 32of 217 |
| The Red Terror120 pts | S | Top 27% | Bottom 36% | 110of 217 |
Leading a squad
| Solo | Leading | |
|---|---|---|
| SWORD | 57 | 46 |
| SHIELD | 264 | 367 |
Per 100 pts: on its own, then for it and the squad together.
How we got these numbers
What we ran
The Swarmlord, 210 pts, with its datasheet's weapons, in Subterranean Assault. On its own: no leader, no stratagems, no other units' auras. Counted as dice: 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.
210 pts → kills ~120 pts → 57 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 → 264 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.