Von Ryan's Leapers
SWORD: what Von Ryan's Leapers kills
Damage for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 55 pts kill ~36 pts in one activation.Typical melee unit: 55 per 100
Best against hordes, weakest against light vehicles and monsters
Into each enemy type
Units near it by SWORD
Across the game· melee units
SHIELD: how hard Von Ryan's Leapers is to kill for its points
Toughness for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 55 pts take ~251 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- More objective control than a Lictor 2 of 4
- Several bodies spread the damage 2 of 4
- The cheapest forward unit, and tough with it 2 of 4
- Take the enemy expansion early and score 1 of 4
Compare
| Unit | Letter | SWORD | SHIELD | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Von Ryan's Leapers55 pts | S | Top 30% | Top 6% | 132of 217 |
| Venomthropes55 pts | C | Bottom 24% | Top 8% | 1of 217 |
| Lictor60 pts | A | Top 36% | Top 27% | 65of 217 |
How we got these numbers
What we ran
Von Ryan's Leapers, 3 models, 55 pts, with its datasheet's weapons, in Invasion Fleet (Hyper Adaptions: Swarming Instincts). 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.
55 pts → kills ~36 pts → 66 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.
~251 pts → 456 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.