Stats • Leveling • Weapons • Abilities • Upgrades • Strategy
- Note: written during 3.19 balance, take note of your current version as things may change in the future.
Overview[]
The Hive Tyrant is a very powerful and tough commander with limited ranged options but fearsome melee capabilities. It emits a Basic Synapse reducing incoming damage and suppression but unlike all the other commanders has no activated ability from the start.
Movement[]
Like the Ork Warboss and the Chaos Lord the Hive Tyrant is a massive creature that cannot garrison buildings and crushes cover. The ability to crush cover has both good and bad sides. It can be very useful in some situations as gives you tactical options usually not available to other races until Tier2. You can destroy cover at strategic points of the map denying your opponent the damage reduction it offers. You can destroy cover in your retreat-path to allow your infantry a slightly quicker route home. You can also open up new paths on maps with crushable walls, allowing you to move more swiftly around the map or the ability to outflank enemy set-up teams. It also allows you to instantly destroy Ravener Alpha tunnels, Capillary Towers and Eldar Forcefields. Remember that as far as the game is concerned it doesn't matter if that tunnel or forcefield belongs to an enemy or an ally, if you walk into it... it's gone.
The downside is that sometimes you don't want to crush cover, rather you'd prefer it stays there so your squishy ranged units can benefit from it. Be aware of your surroundings and the effect your Tyrant will have on it as he rampages across the battlefield.
Roles[]
The Hive Tyrant is primarily a melee tank. Able to take and dish out substantial amounts of damage. You have several wargear options available that increase damage and survivability but very limited ranged options.
Abilities[]
Charge[]
The Hive Tyrant is commonly upgraded with the Extended Carapace granting it the Charge ability. This opens up a range of tactical options for your otherwise rather slow and ponderous commander. It can be used defensively by charging away from the enemy before retreating, knocking back any enemies nearby and saving you from taking that painful extra damage on retreat, but is most commonly used to disrupt or kill retreating units.
It can be used to quickly close the distance to a set-up team to either disrupt them to do as much damage as possible before they retreat or to simply catch them before they have set-up and began firing by tying them up in melee. With the damage from the charge itself you increase your chances of taking out models or wiping the unit. Try to position your charge so that the set-up team is knocked away from the direction of their retreat path. With some good positioning and luck this will let you get an extra swing or two in as they retreat.
Charge can also be used to prevent a cap or de-cap. If used to knock a unit away from a point they are trying to cap, be sure to briefly start to cap the point yourself before engaging in melee. By doing so you'll reset the "capping meter" and slowing the enemy down. Even if the unit in question is tough enough to survive the attention of your Hive Tyrant in melee they will have lost valuable time in doing so and will have to reconsider if it's worth finishing the cap or better to retreat and cut their losses.
Charge can also be used to disrupt and damage retreating units, a well timed charge right into a blob of retreating enemy infantry will be devastating for your opponent. Not only do you damage them, they are also knocked back giving your other units more time to deliver their payload of violent toxins, voracious slugs and poisonous crystals from range or simply a few extra seconds to catch up and tear them to shreds in melee or just give your slow moving Spore mines the time needed to get themselves into position to wipe the unit! Again, if possible, try to charge so that the units in question are knocked in the opposite direction of their retreat path. This isn't likely to be possible very often due to the fluid movements of combat, but if you manage the rewards will likely be great.
Note that you can damage and knock your own units aside. The drawback of a 6 tonne monstrosity charging into combat is that it doesn't much matter if the small squishy creature in the way is friend or foe...
To be continued...