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12[[WMG:[[center: [- ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' '''[[Characters/Warhammer40000 Main Character Index]]'''\
13'''[[Characters/Warhammer40000Imperium Imperium of Man]]:''' [[Characters/Warhammer40000ImperialFounders Founders]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000Primarchs The Primarchs]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000Astartes Adeptus Astartes]] ([[Characters/Warhammer40000AstartesChaptersFirstFounding First Founding Chapters]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000AstartesChapters Other Chapters]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000AstartesCharacters Characters]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000PrimarisSpaceMarines Primaris Marines]]), [[Characters/Warhammer40000ImperialGuard Astra Militarum]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000Sororitas Adepta Sororitas]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000Inquisition Inquisition]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000Mechanicus Mechanicus]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000CurrentImperialFactions Other factions]]\
14'''[[Characters/Warhammer40000ForcesOfChaos Forces of Chaos]]:''' [[Characters/Warhammer40000ChaosGods Chaos Gods]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000ChaosPrimarchs Chaos Primarchs]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000ChaosMarines Chaos Marines]]\
15'''[[Characters/Warhammer40000XenoRaces Xeno Races]]:''' [[Characters/Warhammer40000Aeldari Aeldari]] ([[Characters/Warhammer40000Asuryani Asuryani]], [[Characters/Warhammer40000Drukhari Drukhari]]) | [[Characters/Warhammer40000LeaguesOfVotann Leagues of Votann]] | [[Characters/Warhammer40000Necrons Necrons]] | [[Characters/Warhammer40000Orks Orks]] ([[Characters/Warhammer40000OrksCharacters Characters]]) | [[Characters/Warhammer40000TauEmpire T'au Empire]] | '''Tyranids''' ([[Characters/Warhammer40000GenestealerCults Genestealer Cults]])]]-]]]
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17----
18[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_tyranid.jpg]]
19[[caption-width-right:350:The Great Devourer]]
20%%
21->''"An alien threat has risen from beyond the abyss, a swarm so vast that it blots out the stars. This horror fights neither for power nor territory, but rather to feed a hunger so insatiable that it will eventually devour the entire galaxy."''
22-->-- '''Inquisitor Lord Kryptman'''
23
24'''{{T|ropeCodifier}}he''' HordeOfAlienLocusts.
25
26In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', the Tyranids are an extragalactic swarm of aliens that doesn't just overrun worlds, but consumes everything on them right down to the bedrock, including the oceans and air. Tyranids are more of a virus than a species, as they instinctively scan the DNA of what they eat and apply useful evolutionary upgrades to their swarms, ensuring that they only grow more deadly with each victory. Everything they use, from ranged weapons to spaceships, are [[OrganicTechnology symbiotic organisms]], to the extent that it can be hard to tell where a Tyranid "gun" ends and the creature carrying it begins.
27
28Though the individual creatures in the Hive Fleets are little more than beasts, Tyranids are controlled via synapse creatures by the race's HiveMind, which is ''extremely'' intelligent. While the classic Tyranid strategy is to overwhelm their foes [[ZergRush with weight of numbers]], the swarms have also been seen to ambush armored columns in narrow passages that turned tanks into helpless sitting targets, employ burrowing organisms to launch surprise attacks behind enemy lines, or use winged creatures to sow discord and confusion. Of particular note are the specialized Tyranids known as Genestealers. They implant their DNA in victims, turning their children into [[HalfHumanHybrid Genestealer/human hybrids]] who will eventually form a cult on their homeworld that undermines the planet's defenses while psychically summoning the swarm. Three Hive Fleets have been encountered thus far: Hive Fleet Behemoth nearly overran the Ultramarines' homeworld of Macragge and killed their entire 1st Company; Hive Fleet Kraken all but wiped out the Eldar of craftworld Iyanden; and Hive Fleet Leviathan is currently rampaging through an Ork empire, as well as threatening the Blood Angels' homeworld of Baal... and these are likely just the vanguard of more Tyranid swarms still en route to the galaxy. The optimistic take on the Tyranids is that they are moving on our galaxy after cleansing one or more other galaxies of life. The pessimistic take is that they are [[InvadingRefugees running from something worse]].
29
30The tabletop Tyranid army is a mix of swarms of highly-expendable critters able to swamp even Imperial Guard or Ork forces, backed up by lumbering monstrous creatures capable of tossing tanks around with their tusks or blowing up heads with psychic powers. They also contain units of specialist creatures able to infiltrate or move quickly in order to keep the enemy occupied in close combat while the rest of the army closes in, and the biomorph system allows units to be upgraded to deal with specific targets rather effectively. The Tyranids' two main weaknesses are comparatively few ranged units, as well as the reliance on a few synapse creatures to keep the swarm together. The latter is offset by the fact that the presence of said creatures makes the rest of the army fearless, and the former rarely comes into play as the standard Tyranid strategy is to roll over the enemy like a tsunami.
31
32The Tyranids have been a part of the ''Warhammer 40,000'' universe since the 1st Edition of the game and have received rules in every edition since. The Tyranids have made appearances in a number of [[GaidenGames spin-off games]] and computer games including the 1993 board game ''Doom of the Eldar'' that focused on their invasion of the Craftworld Iyanden. The Tyranids of Hive Fleet Kraken were also the antagonists in Games Workshop's first ever worldwide campaign, the ''Battle for Ichar IV''. The 8th Edition rules for the Tyranids can be found in November 2017s ''Codex: Tyranids'' with additional rules published in November 2019's ''Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal''. The story for the 10th edition ruleset is called ''Leviathan'' and revolves around a massive campaign against that Hive Fleet.
33
34----
35!!Notable Tyranid tropes include:
36[[foldercontrol]]
37
38[[folder:Hive Fleets]]
39* TwoDSpace: {{Averted|Trope}} with a Hive Fleet that attacked the galaxy towards the end of the 41st Millennium. Imperial scholars were initially perplexed by Tyranid attacks taking place far behind the "front line" of Tyranid activity in the galactic "east," until they realized that the Hive Fleet, codified as Leviathan, had ''flanked'' the galaxy and was attacking "upward" from "underneath" it.
40* AbnormalAmmo: ''Everything'' the Tyranids fire. The most conventional are things like {{spike|Shooter}}s, [[PlasmaCannon bio-plasma]], and [[HollywoodAcid acid]], but even those are outnumbered by LivingWeapon ammo which in turn is launched by (or more properly [[WeaponizedOffspring birthed from]]) another LivingWeapon.
41* AbsurdlySharpClaws: While most Tyranid claws are able to penetrate some level of armour, rending claws are renowned for their ability to cut through even the heaviest patterns of PoweredArmor. This is represented in the 7th and 8th Editions of the game by a reasonable Armour Penetration characteristic that can be further boosted if they roll a 6 to wound.
42* AcidAttack: Tyranid bioweapons often include powerful organic acids. This typically take the form of probosces or cannon-like structures capable of shooting streams or globs of acid over long distances, but other variants include powerful acidic drool delivered through bites and corrosive blood used to damage anyone who tangles with the so-equipped drone in close quarters.
43* AcidPool: Digestion pools created and maintained by the Tyranids on invaded worlds. Tyranid organisms (especially ones which have been consuming the local environment) will throw themselves into the pools to be rendered down into biomass to be reabsorbed by the hive. Smaller digestion pools will eventually be drained by capillary tendrils through the ground to empty into a vast digestion ocean. This ocean will then have feeder tendrils dropped into it from hive ships from orbit, as a kind of temporary suction-based SpaceElevator to finally absorb the biomass back into the fleet.
44* AchillesHeel:
45** At least in the fluff, the one massive weakness that any Tyranid swarm will have, regardless of whatever it has evolved to combat, is that the smaller forms need the larger synapse creatures around to organize them and relay orders from the Hive Mind. Kill the synapse creatures, and the smaller forms they were controlling go berserk and get disorganized, making them easier targets. It's notable that in a book filled with misinformation or outright lies, ''The Infantryman's Uplifting Primer'' does mention that taking out the larger 'nids first is generally the most effective way to defeat a swarm.
46** Another significant weakness they possess is a marked vulnerability to [[KillItWithFire fire]], and not just because every single Tyranid unit, weapon and ship is biological. Tyranids need to consume biomass, both from enemy casualties and their own dead, in order to both strengthen the Hive Fleet and replenish their losses. Thus, using incendiary weapons to incinerate biomass leaves nothing for the Tyranids to use, depriving them of a vital resource.
47** The Necrons are one to them on a faction-wide level. The Necrons can't be consumed for biomass, have no vulnerability to genestealer infiltration, aren't affected by the Shadow in the Warp, and their gauss weaponry atomizes biomass so the Tyranids have nothing to reclaim. On a strategic level, Necron Tomb Worlds can be barren rocks unable to sustain life, which means the Tyranids gain nothing from fighting on them, [[PyrrhicVictory even if they win]].
48* AdaptiveAbility:
49** As part of their fluff, this is what makes the Tyranids so dangerous; they constantly mutate and evolve to counter any weapons or tactics brought to bear against them, as well as [[CannibalismSuperpower absorbing the genes of other lifeforms to increase their options]]. Prior editions hinted that every Tyranid lifeform encountered is an offshoot of one of the main races; Zoanthropes are born from Eldar, Biovores from Orks, the basic genestealer from humans, and Tyrant Guards from Space Marines.
50** However, this is also a weakness; in theory, a successfully strained Hive Fleet could be pushed so hard that they use up all of their harvested biomass faster than they can replenish it, and/or end up mutating into MasterOfNone strains in their quest to become JackOfAllTrades. This is exemplified by Hive Fleet Gorgon, the only canonical Hive Fleet to focus on the Tau, so far. Because the Tau, unlike the Imperium, are constantly redefining and reinventing technology and tactics, Gorgon was pushed to extinction; unable to replenish its biomass as fast as it was depleted, and incapable of producing the larger, vital synapse creatures needed to control its smaller, more simple-minded spawn, the Tau were able to whittle it down. The surprise addition of an Imperial Fleet, and a hasty, reluctant treaty between humans and Tau, was the final nail in the coffin. Gorgon found itself torn between which race to evolve to counter and unable to focus, so it was torn apart and driven into deep space, where it took decades to recover. At the same time, they can end up pushing themselves into CripplingOverspecialization fighting a single, specialized enemy, and end up highly vulnerable to another, such as when the Tau used Kroot skirmishers in the jungle to harry the Tyrannid, driving the Hive Mind to counter with highly agile, arboreal bio-forms, which the Tau then lured out into an open battlefield and mulched with heavy firepower.
51* AirborneMook: The malleability of the more basic Tyranid organisms means that it's fairly easy for the Hive Mind to create airborne variants of them.
52** Gargoyles are essentially just Gaunts, the basic foot troops of the swarms, with a pair of wings tacked on. Nightgaunts are a similar variation, but with scything talons instead of the Gargoyles' organic guns.
53** Shrikes are a variant of the common Warriors equipped with membranous wings, intended to serve both as highly mobile shock troops and to oversee other flying organisms who might otherwise become separated from ground-bound synapse creatures.
54** Sky-slashers are a winged variant of Ripper swarms, used for skyborne {{Zerg Rush}}es.
55* AlienKudzu: As a Tyranid invasion of a world ramps up, self-replicating organisms are landed on a planet to begin initial biomass consumption, as well as pumping out smaller scale creatures for both scouting and undermining defenses and helping to [[{{Terraform}} render the rest of the world's biomass into a more easily edible form]].
56* AllWebbedUp: The result of the strangleweb bio-weapon, which sprays [[CoveredInGunge a viscous mucus-like substance over targets]]. Shortly after projection, the substance hardens into a solid resin while shrinking down and constricting. Fragile targets can be crushed by this, and the more a target struggles and moves, the more opportunity the web has to constrict around it.
57* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Or rather, Always Extremely Ravenous. While the HiveMind of the Tyranids possess some obvious, albeit utterly alien, intelligence, there is no way of communicating with it, no way of dissuading it, and no reasoning with it. It is driven to violently consume biomass, and nothing can change that.
58* AmplifierArtifact: The Resonance Barb is a parasitic bio-artefact, introduced in the 8th Edition ''Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal'' {{sourcebook}}, that increases a psyker-beast's connection to the hive mind, enhancing its mental power and allowing it to use, and [[CounterSpell deny]], extra psychic powers each turn.
59* AntiMagic: All Tyranid synapse creatures dampen psychic abilities around themselves with the Shadow in the Warp, but Hive Fleet Kronos, as the Hive Mind's chosen response to mounting daemonic incursions, is the most advanced. Its suffocating presence smothers psychic powers, withers daemonic creatures, and closes Chaos portals.
60* ApocalypseHow: Every planet they conquer gets a Class 6, and unless some way is found to break the Hive Mind, the same ''will'' happen to the entire Milky Way galaxy.
61* ArtEvolution: The Tyranid models from [[http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y163/schepphimself/TyranidWarriors.jpg 2nd Edition]] are very humanoid, standing upright and wielding weapons in their hands. The ones from [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/d/d9/Tyranid_Warriors.jpg later editions]] are much more bestial, possessing tails, leaning forward like birds or dinosaurs and using weapons that are outgrowths of their bodies. Earlier Tyranids have more biological variety too, until their redesign gave the race a more unified look, such as adding boney ridged crests on almost every head.
62* AttackAnimal: The lesser Tyranid creatures qualify, having little independent intelligence and only minimal (though often brutal) instinct to guide them. However, they have "handlers" in the form of synapse creatures, which are both more individually intelligent and capable of interfacing with the HiveMind at greater distances, giving psychic "commands" to the lesser creatures as long as they remain nearby.
63* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Type 3 for some Tyranid melee units, which have their arms below the elbow replaced with long [[SinisterScythe scythe-like]] talons, tapering down to [[SharpenedToASingleAtom a monomolecular edge]] like most of the blades in this setting. Note that older editions also had some units in which a bone-like blade was simply gripped in hand in the manner of a sword (and the Swarmlord special character still does this) but ArtEvolution has merged most of these weapons into their wielder, putting them into this trope.
64* BlueAndOrangeMorality: While they are an immense menace to the galaxy at large, their motive is basically summed up as "we're hungry", which is hardly an evil impulse. They just don't seem to care at all about every other living organism in the galaxy. It's telling in a universe where Chaos has its hand in everything that the Tyranids managed to be immune to their whispers. Chaos holds no appeal to the Hive Mind, and the sheer immense psychic power behind it makes Chaos impotent to psychically affect individual creatures.
65* BreathWeapon: Some critters can make bio-plasma attacks, vomiting up a blast of white-hot energy accompanied by a piercing screech.
66* BugWar: If your Tyranid problem has gotten beyond the Genestealer Cult stage, [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt you're pretty much screwed]].
67* BulletSeed: A near-literal case with many of the more rapid-firing {{Living Weapon}}s wielded by some Tyranid organisms. Except that the "seeds" are things like tiny beetles which bore into flesh, or little worms which secrete acid and melt themselves into a target.
68** A literal one is the Barbed Strangler/Stranglethorn Cannon. It fires a seed pod that sprouts into a mass of fleshy tentacles in an instant, strangling whatever is within its reach. It has immense strength, but poor armor penetration because stronger armor can simply shrug off its attempts.
69* ChestBlaster: An option for some offensive biomorphs. Tyranid models will occasionally mount flesh-hooks or devourers underneath some folds on their underside between their forelimbs.
70* ColonyDrop: Hive Fleet Jormungandr employ a unique method of planetary invasion, seeding asteroids with tunnelling and vanguard bioforms and then launching them at a prey world. Those asteroids that make it through the world's orbital defence network spread Tyranid creatures across the planet that, which then go into hiding until the majority of the Hive Fleet makes its assault, striking the prey from an unexpected quarter.
71* CombatTentacles: Ranging from lash whips and flesh hooks on the battlefield creatures to tentacles on ''spaceships'' for boarding actions.
72* CombatPragmatist: Unsurprisingly, since the HiveMind has no need, use or real understanding of something like fair fighting, no more than a hungry animal would. As long as the result is more biomass for the Tyranids, it will employ any means necessary. One classic example of this was when the Avatar of Khaine attempted to challenge the Swarmlord synapse creature to a [[CombatByChampion duel]] on Craftworld Iyanden. The Swarmlord promptly sicced [[JustYouAndMeAndMyGUARDS a dozen Carnifexes on it]], quickly overwhelming it.
73* ACommanderIsYou: Spammer for horde Tyranid army lists, Elitist for armies focusing on monstrous creatures, though usually a given army is a mix of both. Tyranids are very tactically flexible with a lot of possible approaches for building an army, but their melee power is among the best in the game, rivalling the Orks. Their Synapse ability also means they do not conform to standard morale rules and are very hard to drive from the field. Tyranids also have elements of the Technical, as they have a very potent psychic toolbox to work with and a lot of mid-game deployment options, but also have lackluster shooting and a variety of complex and situational rules.
74* CounterAttack: Any unit which inflicts wounds on a Pyrovore, Toxicrene or Haruspex in close combat suffers mortal wounds itself from their acidic blood.
75* DeadlyGas: Tyranid spore chimneys (rigid towers grown from the ground) spread microbial spores on the wind to take seed and grow into more Tyranid bio-forms. Some Tyranid units also have biomorphs that cause them to discharge neurotoxic gasses that are lethal to non-Tyranid lifeforms. Then there is the Venomthrope genus, which produces a deadly gas so thick and opaque it is hard to even make out its profile through it all.
76* DodgeTheBullet: The creatures of some hive fleet have developed such [[SuperSenses highly advanced senses]] and reflexes that they are capable of tracking incoming fire and dodging out of the way at lightning speed. The Senses of the Outer Dark Hive Fleet Adaptation from the ''Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal'' supplement represents this by giving such creatures a chance to ignore any wounds caused by Overwatch fire[[note]]defensive shooting taken when a unit is charged[[/note]] when they charge into combat.
77* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Due to the [[OrganicTechnology organic nature]] of Tyranid weaponry and upgrades, some parts of the models and artwork for the race can seem unfortunately phallic at times[[note]]the version of the Biovore released during 4th Edition looks like it has a scrotum hanging above its head[[/note]].
78* DropPod: The mycetic spores or tyrannocytes are essentially OrganicTechnology versions of these concepts. Living creatures violently birthed from hive ships with other Tyranid organisms nesting inside them, they crash into planets and disgorge their living contents. Even then, they often have some further utility, such as bio-weapons to defend the area, or the ability to (slowly) move or burrow, sometimes spouting microbial spores onto the wind or becoming another womb for gestating more Tyranids.
79* DumbMuscle: Most Biotitans that lack synapse are this, as their sole intent is to cause as much carnage and destruction as possible. Giving them a smaller brain not only helps them survive otherwise fatal headshots, but also means that they have only one overriding purpose in life (and are oh so very easily pissed off).
80* EatingOptional: Most Tyranid organisms don't actually have a functioning digestive system, as they're bio-engineered killing machines and such a thing would take space and energy away from muscles, reinforced endo- and exoskeletons, weapon-biomorphs, etc. If they aren't killed by the enemy first, they will eventually starve to death. Many of them still have instinctive behaviour to feed, though, as it makes them attack the enemy even when not under control of the synapse creatures. The Ripper swarms are the most obvious example, as their whole purpose is to eat any biomass they come across in order to transport it to the reclamation pools to be digested and fed to the Tyranid hive ships. A major exception is the Haruspex, which is specifically designed to eat everything in its path as part of the Hive Mind's strategy to consume as much biomass as possible. Organisms meant to operate away from the Hive Fleets for extended periods of time, such as Genestealers and Lictors, are also given digestive systems due to needing to be functional creatures instead of simply living weapons.
81* EldritchAbomination: The Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines remarked that the Tyranids are merely avatars of the Hive Mind, and at its very core is something that he described as an [[HorrorHunger "immortal hunger"]]. They can kill swarms of Tyranids, drive away and destroy Hive Fleets, but he is at loss at how could they possibly fight, let alone kill, such an entity ultimately behind the Tyranids.
82* ElementalBarrier: The 2nd Edition Voltage Field biomorph surrounded the Tyranid creature with a crackling energy field of electrical power that not only protected them (giving them a 4+ unmodifiable save) but also had a 50% chance of shorting out enemy defence shields in close proximity. The electrical power also boosted the Tyranid creature's Strength.
83* EmpathicWeapon: In a quite literal way. The {{Living Weapon}}s employed by the smaller Tyranid genus types symbiotically bond with their wielder, melding their flesh together and growing spinal cord-like attachments to mesh their nervous systems together. In this way, the weapon itself acts as a sort of secondary "brain" for the creature, giving the limited intellect of its primary brain the knowledge and skill necessary to use the weapon. The Pyrovore takes this to an extreme; the weapon is sentient but the body is not. The Exocrine is essentially a big walking weapons platform for an organic artillery cannon.
84* EnemyCivilWar: It is suspected by some in the Ordos Xenos that the different Tyranid Hive Fleets are actually competing with one another for resources. This theory was seemingly validated during the Siege of Fecundia, where the besieging hive fleet went out of its way to attack a group of Tyranids from another hive fleet that the Imperium had captured for research purposes. [[spoiler: This vital revelation turned the tide of battle for the Imperium, as they were able to boost the signal strength of a captured synapse creature in order to disrupt the rival hive fleet]]. Sometimes Hive Fleets will even direct their units toward each other in isolated areas to duke it out, likely to test their mutations to see which one is superior.
85* EnemyToAllLivingThings: Well, all ''other'' living things. Tyranids are inimical to all other forms of life, often [[AlienKudzu choking it out via their own reproduction]], and even their bodies are toxic for other lifeforms to ingest. They're considered so bad that -- aside from the Genestealer Cults that are Tyranid spawn -- [[EveryoneHasStandards no faction will partner with them]], and that [[EnemyMine many enemy factions will team up in the face of the threat they pose no matter how much they hate each other]].
86* EvilEvolves: Characteristic of the Tyranids is that they evolve and [[AdaptiveAbility adapt to overcome stubborn resistance]]. Some of these adaptations are taken from [[PlanetEater consuming worlds]], where the Norn Queens in the fleet [[LegoGenetics sift through the collected genetic data looking for useful characteristics]] to incorporate into future generations. Others are adaptations that occur in the field, allowing the swarm to overcome specific difficulties by targeted mutation. Such evolution, though, inevitably tends to result in some NecessaryDrawback weakening them in one regard while it strengthens them in another. As the smaller creatures have a much shorter lifecycle and gestation time, a hive fleet that is heavily adapting will tend to be composed of a [[ZergRush greater proportion of smaller units]], leaving a shortage of [[HiveQueen synapse creatures]]. This can become a potential weak link in their force structure, which is why not all hive fleets take that approach.
87* ExplosiveBreeder: Larger organisms {{avert|edTrope}} this, as they take a non-trivial amount of time to gestate and fully mature, especially the brain-heavy [[HiveQueen synapse creatures]]. However, the smaller and less neurologically complex Tyranids can breed extremely quickly, with the swarm able to reinforce its supply of lesser creatures in a matter of days, provided it has sufficient biomass.
88* ExtremeOmnivore: Tyranid Hive Fleets consume any and all organic material they encounter, leaving their prey-worlds nothing but lifeless, airless rocks in their wake.
89* FatteningTheVictim: As well as [[HostileTerraforming seeding Tyranid flora]], the masses of spores that the Tyranids release into a prey planet's atmosphere during an invasion encourages the native life to proliferate so that the ecosphere produces the maximum amount of biomass for the Hive Fleet to consume.
90* FireBreathingWeapon: The flamespurt is a bio-weapon used by Pyrovores and the 2nd Edition version of the Gargoyle. A living flamethrower, the bile that the flamespurt disgorges burns on contact with the air and can reduce most prey species to ash in moments.
91* FlechetteStorm: Spinefists, one of the Tyranid's many SpikeShooter type weapons. [[DualWielding They are always wielded in pairs]], and [[BlowGun use compressed air built up from the wielding creature's own lungs]] to propel the spines. This means that the larger creatures with greater lung capacity can [[MoreDakka fire spines substantially quicker]].
92* FragileSpeedster: As Tyranids do not rely on conventional grav-tech to gain flight or have powerful engines, they instead have to resort to good ol' hollow bones and wings for their fliers. Thus, Gargoyles, Harpies and flying Warriors tend to have weaker armor than their ground-based counterparts, representing how fragile they can be. Tyrants subvert this somewhat, as they are able to project a psychic field around them that's just as durable as armor, making them {{Lightning Bruiser}}s as a result.
93* GiantEqualsInvincible: Or they might as well, as far as Tyranid [[{{Kaiju}} bio-titans]] are concerned. With [[DeflectorShields warp fields]], [[HealingFactor rapid regeneration]], and [[DeadlyGas neuro-toxic spore emissions]], it generally takes something like a [[HumongousMecha Titan]] to fell one of these gargantuan beasts.
94* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Is this in both metaphorical sense and a literal sense to the universe at large; where every single faction (barring the Tau) have their origins connected to Chaos and/or the Old Ones in some way shape or form, it's telling that the horde of alien space locusts not only have no connection to them, but can actually cause the gods to ''piss themselves in terror through their collective mental chattering''. While every other race run the risk of being attacked by Daemons when using psychic powers, Tyranids are completely immune to this (although the in-game mechanic remains unchanged, and is explained as a psychic feedback to the hive mind rather than a daemonic incursion).
95* GodzillaThreshold: The 'Nids serve as one for every other race in the setting. How bad it is, you ask? How about [[TheProtagonist The Imperium]], [[SpaceElves Eldar]], and ''[[TheLegionsOfHell Chaos]]'' banding together to fend them off and [[KillerRobot Necrons]] working together with Space Marines-level '''''BAD'''''?
96* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Only one known character (Chief Librarian Tigurius of the Ultramarines) has actually made psychic contact with the HiveMind and ''not'' been rendered utterly insane immediately, or outright died from the psychic shock. He described it only as "an immortal hunger", spread across and uniting quadrillions of beings.
97* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: With every other race in the setting. The Imperium and Eldar just want to survive, Chaos has a bone to pick with the Imperium, the Tau want the Greater Good, and Orks just want to have fun. Tyranids just want to consume, and while there have been desperate alliances between the races, there's no negotiation with the 'nids. Kill or be consumed. The Allies matrix in the 6th and 7th edition rules allowed every other faction to form Alliances of Convenience with one other faction. Tyranids, in contrast, couldn't even form ''desperate alliances'' with anyone other than their Genestealer Cult minions. They're hated across the galaxy.
98* HealingFactor: Rapid regeneration has been an upgrade for the larger Tyranid bioforms since the 2nd Edition of the game. How the rules represent this ability changes depending on the edition, with the 2nd Edition rules allowing the creature a chance to regenerate injuries whenever its Wounds characteristic has been reduced to 0, while 8th Edition has the "Rapid Regeneration" Stratagem that allows a Tyranid to regenerate a random number of wounds whenever it is used.
99* TheHedgeOfThorns: Weaponized with the Barbed Strangler and its larger Stranglethorn Cannon cousin. It launches a dense seed organism, and whatever it hits gets quickly devoured for mass as it shoots out thorny vines in all directions, ripping apart the target and lacerating and snaring all around it. After a brief period its life is expended and it falls dormant, with anything surviving the initial burst wrapped in hard, brittle, sharp vines.
100* HiveDrone: The bulk of the Tyranid forces consists of drones under the HiveMind's control and with animal-level intelligence at best, and are often not intended to live for longer than a single battle or campagain; in fact, most are produced without any kind of digestive system. Averted by synapse creatures, which receive a greater degree of independence in order to control sections of the swarm or operate behind enemy lines.
101* HiveMind: This is the Tyranids' most dangerous aspect; the entire race, at least from the Norn Queens through the synapse creatures, has a shared mind that is incredibly intelligent and has enormous psychic power. Chief Librarian Tigurius of the Ultramarines is the only human pysker who has made contact with it and survived (everyone else died or went insane), and could only describe it as "an immortal hunger". While the Hive Mind of the Tyranids is immensely intelligent and able to coordinate enormous actions across entire systems and subsectors with terrifying efficiency, it tends to have some limitations, at least on the strategic level. Hive Fleets seem to operate under general orders and objectives and are relatively inflexible in how they carry out those actions. Kryptmann essentially tricked an entire Hive Fleet into attacking in a controlled direction by capturing and using as bait several specimens of genestealers that were drawing the fleet forward. If a Hive Fleet is damaged enough that it can no longer form any sort of coherent force, then it will fall apart into splinter fleets whose sole purpose is to simply attack and consume inhabited worlds with no further strategic goal in mind.
102* HiveQueen: Synapse creatures serve as the directors of the swarms and foci of the hive mind, although only the rarely seen Norn Queens are female. Probably. Often, killing a synapse creature will cause powerful psychic backlash that will kill other nearby Tyranids, while the survivors will be left scattered and directionless.
103* HollywoodTactics: Averted. They may look like dumb animals, and use superior numbers, but the Hive Mind is a tactical and strategic super-genius.
104* HordeOfAlienLocusts: After the invasion, they even "recycle" their own soldiers, living and dead.
105* HorrifyingTheHorror: This is both invoked and subverted, depending on the faction:
106** On one hand, The Shadow in the Warp is so potent and terrifying it's been known to drive men as jaded and wicked as Chaos Sorcerers to insanity.
107** On the ''other hand'', the Tyranids too, are at the mercy of a few select factions:
108*** The most famous one being the Necrons, as they represent the ultimate antithesis of the Tyranids. The Necrons are so old, advanced and utterly devoid of souls or biomass, that entire ''Hive Fleets'' outright ''avoid'' Tomb Worlds because their very nature frightens the Hive Mind.
109*** Another faction that the Tyranids often stay away from are the Leagues of Votann. Outside of that one fateful encounter where the Nids won. The Leagues are incredibly advanced, with half of their army consisting of robots and have machines that could rip apart planets, let alone Hive Fleets. In fact, the Squats are so undeterred by the Nids (Despite calling them the Bane), that they actively ''hunt'' Hive Ships for resources. Yes. [[AlwaysABiggerFish The Great Devourer becomes prey within League space.]]
110*** In Devastation of Baal, the Thirstwater from Baal Secundus is so dangerous and abstract, that Tyranids utterly ''avoid'' them. Yes. Even ''Tyranid adaptation'' has its limits, especially against the insanity of Thirstwater. Even ''Hive Tyrants'' are utterly scared of the eldritch moisture-sucking nature of Thirstwater.
111* HostileTerraforming: The effect [[AlienKudzu Tyranids have on planets they invade]], pre-consumption, involves some rather unpleasant alterations to the existing biosphere. This serves to "tenderize" the planet, making the biomass easier to process and consume when the hive fleet moves in after the defenses have been neutralized.
112* HungryMenace: Again, the Tyranids are driven by an undying urge to feed. They are very [[ItCanThink crafty]] but their intelligence only serves that one purpose--they have no higher values and can't be negotiated with.
113* HyperactiveMetabolism: The Accelerated Digestion Adaptive Physiology, from the 8th Edition book ''Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal'', enhances the metabolism of a Tyranid Monster unit to such an extent that it is able to almost instantly heal injuries by eating the bodies of those it kills, regaining a lost Wound whenever it kills an enemy model in close combat.
114* InsectoidAliens: The look of the Tyranids is heavily influenced by insects, having six limbs, chitinous armour and some of their warrior-organisms sporting mantis-like claws. The race is also organised in imitation to insects, with a HiveMind and operating in swarms for instance.
115* ItCanThink: The larger "synapse" Tyranid creatures certainly can. However, these creatures take more time and biomass to develop than the smaller ones, and thus there tend to be fewer of them, while the others must make do with more animalistic intelligence. However, as long as smaller creatures remain near the bigger ones, they can benefit from its intelligence thanks to their HiveMind.
116* ItsRainingMen:
117** Tyranids typically arrive on a planet's surface via "mycetic spores" dropped from space, especially the larger creatures which take more time to mature. Smaller ones are typically born "in the field" via the [[AlienKudzu consumption of the local environment]].
118** Tyranid Gargoyles are variations on the gaunt genus with wings to carry them aloft. Their role is to [[DeathFromAbove swoop down on enemies from above]] and keep them occupied while larger creatures move into position. When Gargoyles have to move long distances, they will accompany a larger, [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon-like]] flier called a Harridan, clinging to its underside to save on their own energy.
119* {{Kaiju}}: The largest Tyranid organisms, such as the Hierophant, Dominatrix, Hydraphant, and Viciator, are classified as "bio-titans" as they are dozens of meters tall and wide and pack firepower and melee weapons comparable in strength and destructive power to their mechanical equivalents in other armies.
120* KeystoneArmy: The [[HiveQueen synapse creatures]] are the ones with strong enough psychic reception to form a continuous connection to the HiveMind, while all the lesser creatures have to make due acting on crude instinct or being directed by nearby synapse creatures. As a result, targeting the synapse creatures can cause a Tyranid army's higher level tactical direction to fall apart, turning them into simple (if savage) beasts to mop up. However, this only lasts until other synapse creatures replace the fallen ones. A force defending against Tyranids needs to know when to press its advantage and when to fall back and hunker down against their otherwise [[ZergRush overwhelming numbers]].
121* KrakenAndLeviathan: The bigger hive ships are this of the SpaceWhale variety. Also forms an [[AnimalThemeNaming animal]] and [[ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming mythological]] ThemeNaming scheme for the hive fleets.
122* LargeAndInCharge: Larger Tyranid organisms are more likely to be the synapse creatures directing the swarm, leading to the Imperium's official policy on combating them: shoot the big ones.
123* LifeDrain: A Neurothrope allows its unit to heal lost wounds if they kill an enemy with the Smite psychic power.
124* LivingGasbag: Tyranid spore mines float through sacs filled with lighter-than-air gases, with jellyfish-like tentacles hanging below them and thin but rigid series of small overlapping chitinous plates surrounding its float-bladder. The Tyranids launch them from the biovore species to float over the battlefield and find targets. They tend to end up hovering just above the ground and have limited locomotion, but when a non-Tyranid draws near them [[ActionBomb they explode]], the sharp pieces of their shell scything out like shrapnel and spreading toxic spores and caustic fluid as they do so.
125* LivingShip: As with all their equipment, the ships that the Tyranids use to travel between prey-planets are living beings. These ships vary in size from the smaller escort drones to the massive Hive Ships that can grow [[MileLongShip larger than the battleships of other races]]. Tyranid ships also often sport large claws and tentacles that they use to engage the ships of prey-species at close range and are usually depicted as having [[WombLevel disturbingly fleshy interiors]].
126* LivingWeapon:
127** The Tyranid units themselves are these, as they are explicitly bred as living combat tools.
128** To a more specific degree, the weapons used by smaller Tyranid units symbiotically bond with their wielders into a single organism.
129* LongRangeFighter: The warrior lifeforms of Hive Fleet Kronos have been noted to wield a disproportionate number of ranged bio-weapons compared to other Hive Fleets. This adaption is due to Kronos' specialisation in combating daemons and other Chaotic forces that excel at close assault.
130* MagicIsAMonsterMagnet: In ''Pharos'', misuse of the eponymous xenotech attracted the Tyranid to the Milky Way.
131* MasterSwordsman: Hive Tyrants, of swords made out of razor-sharp-bone with a psychic brain at its base yes, but still [[MasterSwordsman swordsmen nevertheless]]. The Swarmlord cranks this up to absolutely ludicrous degrees, weilding ''four'' such swords at the same time, and so blindingly fast with them that a virtually impenetrable wall-of-blades is what your sword will clash into if you try to fight it hand-to-claw.
132* MonstrousCannibalism:
133** The Tyranids consume all lifeforms they come across, including their own {{Mooks}}, absorbing the biomass to create more warrior organisms for their next assault.
134** Hive Fleet Hydra will intentionally seek out the remains and survivors of previous Hive Fleets that have been defeated, consuming their predecessors to fuel the Hive Fleet's infamously rapid reproductive abilities.
135* MonstrousMandibles: Nearly all Tyranids have them in some form or another, even Lictors who don't even have jaws.
136* MookMaker:
137** Tyranid hive ships, for starters, make every smaller creature and even other hive ships themselves.
138** On the ground, Tyranids seed invaded worlds with brood nests, which consume the local resources brought to them and churn out smaller creatures on-site, allowing them to change their force composition in the field.
139** Taking this one step further, some Tyranid creatures themselves are {{Mook Maker}}s themselves, such as the Tervigon, which spawns Termagants from various womb-pustules on its belly while on the battlefield.
140* {{Mooks}}: Gaunts are the most common foot-troops of the hordes. They're individually fairly weak, but their relative simplicity allows them to be manufactured quickly and in huge numbers and makes them easy to customize and modify. Consequently, Gaunts are deployed in vast hordes intended to overwhelm enemies through sheer attrition and to protect more valuable organisms, and come in a great variety of specialized subtypes tailored to numerous different environments and battlefield needs.
141* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Though some critters mix things up with feeder tendrils.
142* MotherOfAThousandYoung: Hive Ships are storehouses of all the genetic information needed to spawn every other Tyranid organism. While they might birth a few directly themselves, more often they birth the seeds which land on a planet with a rich biosphere and in turn birth more creatures as they consume the local environment.
143* MultiArmedAndDangerous: All the Tyranids are evolutions from a basic six-limbed shape, and most use all of them, except for some like the serpentine Raveners and the winged Gargoyle who have a pair of vestigial legs.
144* NamedAfterTheirPlanet: Since the Hive Fleets' true origin is a mystery and they have no name for themselves, they are named after Tyran, the first Imperial world that they consumed.
145* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
146** Not for nothing were the Tyranids nicknamed "the Great Devourer". Whole planets are left as completely lifeless rocks, stripped of any and all biomass and minerals that could be useful.
147** Other xenos species have different names for them. The Aeldari call them the "Great Dragon", the T'au call them "Y'he", and the Kin of Votann simply call them the Bane.
148** The Swarmlord, Hive Tyrant, Tyrant Guard, Red Terror, Broodlord, Old One Eye, Death Leaper and the infamous Carnifex all get a special mention. Even names that don't have obvious meanings, like the Trygon, sound ominous.
149* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: This applies to the few special characters the Tyranids have (see below), because they don't have names or identities as humans do.
150* OrganicTechnology: It's interesting looking back over the model range to see how what once were distinct weapons became fused to their wielders.
151* OurGargoylesAreDifferent: Gargoyles are a variant of the common Gaunt troops provided with a pair of membranous wings, organic guns fused to their arms, and acidic spit. They're typically used as expendable airborne troops with which to mob aerial enemy vehicles and sow terror and confusion among infantry.
152* OutsideContextProblem: Arguably one for the setting, even more so than Chaos. They're an extra-galactic threat, having already consumed other galaxies and now they want ours. They're also the only faction that is truly ''united'': countless trillions of organisms all devoted to infiltration, consumption, evolution, and migration. Power, glory, the favors of gods... absolutely meaningless to them. The Tyranids seek ''only'' to devour, and once they're done, they'll move on without even looking back. The only times the Tyranids fight each other is when Hive Fleets are testing their different adaptations to determine which is stronger, or in the rare cases where a splinter fleet has suffered some severe degradation like rampant Chaos mutation.
153* PlanetLooters: They consume entire biospheres, stripping planets of all organic life, water, atmosphere, and useful surface mineral deposits. While the planet itself survives, by the time the Tyranids move on, all that will remain of it is an airless, infertile sphere of bedrock.
154* PoisonousPerson: All Tyranids poison the environment as part and parcel of their invasion strategy. Hive Fleet Gorgon specializes in this, to the point of whipping up brews toxic enough to kill ''Plague Marines''.
155* ProjectileWebbing: Stranglewebs are a type of bio-weapon in the form of a spider-like creature that fires nets of sticky mucous that adhere to targets and rapidly constrict around them, usually crushing them to death. Some are coated with poison to make them more lethal. They're typically used to capture organisms to be carried back to the Hive Ships for analysis and incorporation.
156* ProportionatelyPonderousParasites: Larger Tyranid organisms will often have smaller organisms attach to ([[MookMaker or birthed by]]) them, detaching to engage targets. The smallest of these are the AbnormalAmmo in the {{Living Weapon}}s wielded by other Tyranid creatures; the largest are other hive creatures which live aboard their {{Living Ship}}s. In between, you have things like Gargoyles clinging to Harridans for long flights, or other creatures which live on bio-titans.
157* PsychicStatic: One of the most dangerous aspects of the Tyranids is how the Hive Mind casts a "shadow in the Warp" ahead of it, which is strong enough to [[YourHeadASplode overwhelm any psykers]] on a planet targeted by the Hive Fleets. This is very bad news, since psykers are required for astropathic communication and navigation, which means when the 'nids are on their way, there's no chance of sending a call for help, and no way for it to arrive. Some Imperial scholars believe that the cause of this is the absolutely ''massive'' amount of psychic "bandwidth" that the Hive Mind requires, simply drowning out all other psychic voices in the area. It's described as a million voices all chattering in unison.
158* PuppeteerParasite: The Cortex Leech, a little-known ripper genus. It's a small, fast-moving creature which leaps up to a victim's face, then extends flexible antenna into the victim's [[OrificeInvasion mouth, nose, ears]], and {{eye|Scream}}s. These feelers burrow into the brain, and turn the victim into a drooling puppet of the HiveMind.
159* RentAZilla: Tyranid bio-titans, giant beasts which stay mobile via the hivemind's psychic strength both lifting them and protecting them with warp-shields.
160* ResurrectiveImmortality: Those Tyranid organisms that have a modicum of individual consciousness, such as Hive Tyrants, can never be truly killed as, if their physical form is destroyed, their mind is absorbed back into the greater Hive Mind before being regrown and unleashed upon a prey world once again. The end result of this is that, if a powerful Tyranid creature is defeated in battle, it can use the knowledge of its death to devour those that brought it down.
161* TheRival: They're considered by the Forces of Chaos to be a "rival predator". The immaterial bodies of Daemons offer no sustenance to Tyranids and thus they're of no interest to the Hive Mind, but Daemons have been known to attack Hive Fleets because they're aware that the Tyranids' ultimate goal (devouring every living in the galaxy) would result in their deaths too as they would have no negative emotions to feed on.
162* ShortLivedOrganism: Tyranid war forms are usually birthed without digestive systems, so even if they wanted to they wouldn't live beyond the battle they were bred to fight. Most are killed in vast numbers hours if not minutes after they're pumped out onto the battlefield, while the few that still live when a planet is fully overrun just walk into the digestion pools.
163* SmokeOut: The warrior beasts of some Hive Fleets are able to release clouds of crystalline spoors from their carapace to create a cloud of disorientating fog that allows them to escape from combat with greater ease. The Spormist Spines Hive Fleet Adaptation[[note]]introduced by the 8th Edition ''Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal'' {{sourcebook}}[[/note]] represents this on the tabletop by giving such units greater manoeuvrability after Falling Back from combat.
164* SpikesOfVillainy: Tyranid creatures are almost universally covered in chitinous spikes and sharp edges. As one Creator/GamesWorkshop player once said in a battle report:
165-->''You can talk all you want about strategy and unit choice, but [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer when it comes down to it]], all Tyranid tactics end up as "spiky death".''
166* SpikeShooter: Several weapon types, such as Stinger Salvos, Cluster Spines, Impaler Cannons and Spike Rifles, function by shooting spikes of sharpened bone, sometimes lacked with venom, over considerable distances.
167* SprintShoes: Adrenal glands are symbiotic organs that attach themselves to many Tyranid organisms; as they grow, they pump bio-chemicals into their hosts' bloodstreams that increase their speed and reaction time during battle. While in-game effect of these glands and their variants depends on the edition, the 8th Edition version boosts the creature's move distance while Advancing[[note]]running[[/note]] and charging.
168* StarScraper: Capillary towers are an ''organic'' version of these. As the ecological transformation of a Tyranid invasion begins to reach a "critical" stage, these begin to grow out of the accumulated biomass and rich minerals that the invasion has been rendering down into [[AcidPool digestion oceans]]. They gradually grow to a height of several kilometers, and act as anchor points for hive ships, who extend feeding tendrils down to latch onto them and draw up the rendered biomass through them, like drinking up the biosphere through a giant straw.
169* SuicideAttack: The Hive Mind will often direct weaker and expendable troops, such as Gaunts and Rippers, into throwing themselves into air vents, exhaust pipes or exposed gears and wiring of enemy vehicles and structures, finding their disablement to be more than worth the loss of some cannon fodder.
170* SupernaturalFearInducer: The Tyranid PsychicPower "the Horror" floods the minds of nearby prey creatures, making them panic and cower in fear. How this is represented in the game varies by edition but generally makes enemy units more likely to run away while the 8th Edition version also makes it more difficult for the enemy to hit the Tyranids as they fire in panic.
171* SuperPrototype: The Tyranids' "Characters" in general are this rather than true individual characters, but it's entirely literal in the Doom of Malan'tai. The "mass-production" unit derived from its template (the Neurothrope) isn't quite as powerful as the prototype.
172* SuperSenses: Many Tyranid bioforms have senses far sharper than those of their prey, able to discern the position of those they hunt with near supernatural accuracy. How this is represented in game changes depending on the edition but generally involve upgrades that confer bonuses to the creature's Ballistic Skill or To Hit rolls.
173* SuperToughness: Certain Tyranid bio-forms are evolved to be able to withstand immense amounts of damage, having incredibly hard bones, thick armored interlocking carapaces, dense bundles of muscles, and redundant nervous systems. However, forms of this nature require a lot of investment of biomass and take long times to gestate, so there are comparatively few of them and they are typically only committed where they are needed. The [[WeHaveReserves expenditure of the lesser creatures]] is typically how the hive determines where that need is.
174* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: The Tyrannocyte, introduced in 2015, is nearly identical to the older Mycetic Spore, a unit introduced in the 5th Edition Tyranid codex but were later removed in the 6th Edition codex in 2014.
175* TakingYouWithMe: When killed, most Tyranid monster-sized organisms (except Carnifexes, Maleceptors, Tervigons, Malanthropes and Dimachaerons) lash out in their death throes, inflicting wounds on nearby enemies just before they expire.
176* TentacleRope: Tyranid flesh-hooks are a variation of these, except instead of lashing around a foe, they ''dig a boney meat-hook into them''. They also function as a [[GrapplingHookPistol Grappling Hook Launcher]] for scaling obstructions.
177* ThemeNaming:
178** Many Tyranids are named after relatively obscure words for unpleasant and domineering women: harridan, termagant (and its older form, Tervigant, when it referred to a pagan god that medieval Christians believed Muslims worshiped), harpy, and dominatrix, though many of these are also puns or references--termagants were a type of ground unit from the 1970s Metagaming game ''Chitin: 1 The Harvest Wars'', and harpies are, of course, a type of mythological flying beast.
179** The Hive Fleets, for the most part, have been named after mythological beasts and monsters. The three most major Hive Fleets to date have been Behemoth, Kraken, and Leviathan, and smaller Hive Fleets have included Jormungandr, Medusa, Scylla, and Tiamet. There are even two with literary names: [[Creator/HPLovecraft Dagon]] and [[Literature/{{Beowulf}} Grendel]].
180* TooManyMouths: The Hive Mind thought it was a good idea to warp the Dimachaeron's thorax into a gigantic maw.
181* UnbreakableBones:
182** Tyranid swords and other close combat weapons are made from hardened bone that is tougher than steel.
183** In older editions, larger Tyranids (most notably Carnifexes) could have bonded exoskeletons, where the gaps between non-moving bones filled up with more of the same substance. The most notable area is the ribcage, where instead of a cage of bones, it turns into basically a sub-dermal shell. In-game this had the effect of raising the creature's toughness. Another upgrade, Extended Exoskeleton, works in a similar way but instead grows larger chitin plates on the creature's back, covering more vital areas and granting a higher Armor Save. Needless to say, both options were very popular until they got removed.
184** The bio-forms of Hive Fleet Tiamet have the toughest exoskeleton of any Tyranid lifeform ever encountered. The diamond-hard carapaces of the Hive Fleet's organisms allow them to survive firepower that would annihilate the lifeforms of other fleets.
185* TheVirus: Or more precisely, The Bacterial Microbe. Several of the initial Mycetic Spores launched during a Tyranid invasion release these microbes around their point of impact. The microbes potentially infect nearby lifeforms, causing mutation, death, and rapid decomposition. This in turn grows into colonies of brood nests to birth more Tyranids, and jutting spore chimneys which spout more of these microbes into the air to let the wind carry them elsewhere. Eventually, [[AlienKudzu all native life is choked out by this process]] and the world becomes a wasteland of digestive pools and vein-like bio-mass capillaries.
186* WalkingWasteland:
187** The Venomthrope and Toxicrene Sporecaster Organisms constantly spew thick clouds of highly toxic, semi-sentient, microscopic spores that break down organic tissue at a prodigious rate. These spores are so deadly that they will infect everything in the surrounding area, tainting the soil and poisoning the atmosphere until the entire world is rendered uninhabitable. In 8th Edition, models in close proximity to a Venomthrope or Toxicrene have a 1 in 6 chance of suffering [[UnblockableAttack mortal wounds]].
188** While all the warrior-forms of Hive Fleet Gorgon carry [[PoisonousPerson highly toxic spores within them]], the leader beasts of the swarm are surrounded by clouds of an even more potent strain of spore that chokes and infects all non-Tyranid life in the surrounding area. In the 8th Edition of the game, the Lethal Miasma Gorgon Warlord Trait causes every enemy unit close to the Warlord a 50/50 chance of suffering a mortal wound.
189* WeaponWieldsYou: The Venomthorn Parasite[[note]]introduced in the late 8th Edition {{sourcebook}} ''Psychic Awakening: Blood of Baal''[[/note]] is a fungal Bio-Artefact that not only increases the symbiosis between weapon and creature, but can also take control of both forces them to unleash a [[MoreDakka monumental amount of firepower when it senses an enemy]], always firing the maximum amount of shots possible for the weapon during the Shooting phase.
190* WeHaveReserves: Graphical representations of the hive fleets portray the overall force as being roughly as large as the ''Milky Way itself''. It is often underlined that the denizens of the galaxy have no way of fighting off the full might of the Tyranids.
191* XenomorphXerox: One of the clearest inspirations for these guys is [[Franchise/{{Alien}} the Xenomorph species]], sharing many of the same basic tropes associated with their predecessors, though they skip the parasitic incubation process and go straight into the "murder and consume everything in sight" route.
192* YouAreWhoYouEat: The Tyranids can make use of the genetic code of the worlds they consume. For instance, the Zoanthrope "Doom of Malan'tai" got its name and extra psychic power from eating a bunch of Aeldari ''souls.''
193* ZergRush: The most basic Tyranid battle plan is to overwhelm the enemy with floods of small fighting creatures like Termagants and Hormagaunts.
194[[/folder]]
195
196!! Types of Tyranids
197
198[[folder:Leader Organisms]]
199
200!!Hive Tyrant
201
202[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hive_tyrant_40k.jpg]]
203
204----
205* GeniusBruiser: Huge monsters that are also fairly intelligent.
206* LargeAndInCharge: They are one of the types of Tyranid creatures that direct the swarms in battle, and are also taller than the normal grunts of the species.
207!!Neurotyrant
208
209[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neurotyrant.jpg]]
210
211----
212* MyBrainIsBig: Like the Zoanthrope and other psychic Tyranids, the Neurotyrants possess enormous brains.
213* PsychicPowers: The Neurotyrant is one of the Tyranids' strongest psykers.
214
215[[/folder]]
216
217[[folder:Followers]]
218
219!!Ripper Swarms
220
221[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ripper_swarm_10th.png]]
222
223----
224* AirborneMook: Sky-slashers are a winged variant of Ripper swarms used for skyborne {{Zerg Rush}}es.
225* TheSwarm: The "ripper" genus is a family of many kinds of small Tyranid organisms which primarily exist to gather biomass for the swarm. They are weak and possess little offensive ability on their own, so they are typically only deployed after resistance has been cleared out to consume passive prey. Their quick-breeding allows them to multiply in numbers such that they form a rolling "wave" of living creatures that leave only desolation in their wake. A defender should hope that they were killed by one of the larger creatures as opposed to simply wounded [[EatenAlive by the time the rippers get to their body...]]
226* WeaponizedOffspring: When other Tyranid attacking forces have been devastated, Rippers have been observed to burrow into the ground and undergo spontaneous metamorphosis into a wide variety of other Tyranid genus. This leads some Imperial scholars to speculate that the Rippers are in fact an immature or larval form of Tyranid.
227
228!!Gaunt Broods
229
230[[quoteright:472:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hormagaunt_10th_4.png]]
231[[caption-width-right:472:Hormagaunt]]
232[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/termagant_10th.png]]
233[[caption-width-right:350:Termagant]]
234[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neurogaunt.png]]
235[[caption-width-right:300:Neurogaunt]]
236[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barbgaunt.png]]
237[[caption-width-right:300:Barbgaunt]]
238
239----
240
241* FragileSpeedster: Hormagaunts are a Tyranid species meant to swamp the enemy in close combat, and to accomplish that they are bred to be very, very fast and agile. However, they are also quite frail, which is why the Tyranids [[ZergRush send them in great numbers at once]]...
242
243!!Tyranid Warrior
244
245[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_warrior.png]]
246
247----
248* AirborneMook: Shrikes are a variant of the common Warriors equipped with membranous wings, intended to serve both as highly mobile shock troops and to oversee other flying organisms who might otherwise become separated from ground-bound synapse creatures.
249* DualWielding: Melee-focused Warriors can make use of dual boneswords.
250* MookLieutenant: Their role as synapse creatures means that they direct the numerous swarms of lesser Tyranids (usually the Hormagaunts/Termagants) into battle.
251
252!!Ravener
253
254[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_ravener.png]]
255
256----
257
258* SandWorm: Raveners tunnel underground to bypass static defenses and literally undermine entrenched positions. For high value and seriously hardened targets, groups of Raveners will often be led by a Trygon, their far-larger cousin.
259
260!!Lictor & Neurolictor
261
262[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_lictor.png]]
263[[caption-width-right:300:Lictor]]
264[[quoteright:600:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_neurolictor.png]]
265[[caption-width-right:600:Neurolictor]]
266
267----
268
269* BrainFood: Any Tyranid creature with lamprey-like feeder tendrils in place of a mouth will be likely to eat brains. Lictors in particular are known for doing this, as it allows them to sift though a consumed organism's memories for information. This is part of a Lictor's role as a vanguard organism, helping the Hive Fleet gain intelligence on what worlds would be good targets for consumption and what kind of defenses to expect.
270* SuspiciouslyStealthyPredator: Lictors are the Tyranids' primary scouting units. They are able to stay perfectly still for days at a time, capable of changing their color to perfectly blend with the surrounding, and can alter their own body temperature to match the ambient level so as not to show up on infrared. Further, because they feed on the BrainFood of individuals in the area they are operating and gain some of that creature's knowledge by doing so, they know what things like security systems are and possibly where they are likely to be located as well. All this combines to make them creatures that are very hard to find if they do not wish to be found, and easily able to slip past even alert defenses.
271
272!!Von Ryan's Leaper
273
274[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/von_ryans_leapers_40k.png]]
275
276----
277
278* AscendedExtra: The leapers were only mentioned in lore from 3rd Edition. Come 10th edition, they are now given their own models and rules.
279* TheTeam: Whilst they share a similar function to the Lictors (both being stealthy ambush predators), the Leapers fight in packs compared to the lone-wolf function of the former.
280
281!!Zoanthrope
282
283[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_zoanthrope.png]]
284
285----
286
287* EyelessFace: From 3rd Edition onwards, the models and artwork for Zoanthropes, and the later-introduced Neurothropes, lack eyes as their monstrous [[PsychicPowers psychic abilities]] allow them to perceive their surroundings.
288* MyBrainIsBig: Zoanthropes have always had huge heads, the better to channel psychic power. Models from earlier editions had torsos, arms, and legs, and would stand and walk on the ground. ArtEvolution has pushed later models into being little ''besides'' a brain, with a long, snake-like body to house its brainstem. It now uses [[PowerFloats its psychic power to levitate]] over the battlefield, rather than walk.
289* PowerFloats: From 3rd Edition onwards, all of the models and artwork for the highly psychic Zoanthropes depict them with heavily atrophied limbs. They instead use psychic levitation to hover across the battlefields of a prey world.
290
291!!Biovore & Pyrovore
292
293[[quoteright:948:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_biovore.png]]
294[[caption-width-right:948:Biovore]]
295[[quoteright:911:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_pyrovore.png]]
296[[caption-width-right:911:Pyrovore]]
297
298----
299
300* ArtEvolution: The original Biovore and Pyrovore models had similar designs in that they both had an ape-like appearance and posture. Come 10th edition, they're given arachnid designs but retain the symbiotic bio-weapons on their backs.
301* DefeatEqualsExplosion: The stomach of a Pyrovore is full of highly volatile, acidic bile that can explode if exposed to the air. The 8th Edition of the game represents this by giving the Pyrovore a 50% chance of exploding when killed, dealing [[UnblockableAttack mortal wounds]] to nearby enemy.
302* SuperSpit: The saliva of a Pyrovore is highly acidic and is capable of reducing any organic or inorganic substance to a gelatinous slime that is easy for other Tyranid feeder organisms to consume.
303
304!!Tyrant Guard & Hive Guard
305
306[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_tyrant_guard.png]]
307[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_hive_guard.png]]
308
309----
310
311* DumbMuscle: Tyrant Guard, who are biological {{Stone Wall}}s, have small brains for the same reason Carnifexes do: [[JustifiedTrope less vulnerability to careful shots]]. The fact that they always operate in close proximity to a synapse creature (a Hive Tyrant) means that they can benefit from its intelligence via PsychicLink, and thus do not need to be very smart.
312* EyelessFace: Adapted to be the perfect guardians, Tyranid Guard bio-forms have a thick carapace covering their heads where their eyes and other sensory organisms should be, as such organs would be an obvious vulnerability. While this would normally prove a disadvantage to their role of guardians, all such bio-forms have a PsychicLink that allows them to perceive the world through the senses of lesser Tyranid beasts.
313* ImprobableAimingSkills: The Hive Guard, a heavily armored feeder tendril guardian, wields an [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice Impaler Cannon]], a weapon which fires long spikes with membranous fletching at extreme velocity. The Hive Guard in fact [[EyelessFace has no eyes]], but "sees" through other members of the swarm, allowing it far greater situational awareness than it would otherwise have. Further, the spikes themselves possess a rudimentary awareness, flexing their fletching membranes in flight to adjust their trajectory and further ensure a target is hit, even from extreme range and in bad conditions.
314* PraetorianGuard: Tyrant Guards are heavily armored, elite organisms used to defend Hive Tyrants and other key components of the swarms.
315* TakingTheBullet: Serving the role of bodyguards for Hive Tyrants, Tyrant Guards can choose to intercept a hit aimed at the Tyrant and suffer a wound in its place.
316
317!!Carnifex
318
319[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_carnifex.png]]
320[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_screamer_killer.png]]
321[[caption-width-right:350:Screamer-Killer Carnifex]]
322
323----
324
325* DumbMuscle: Carnifexes lack the hivemind connection of Tyranid synapse creatures. In their case this is a LogicalWeakness: their brains are small and well-protected to avoid having [[BoomHeadshot an easily exploitable weak point]] so they can withstand massive damage. Even then it is not much of a liability, as deprived of synapse guidance, its instinct tends to [[TheJuggernaut just keep plodding forward and knocking things over]].
326* EpicFlail: The Stone Crusher breed of Carnifex sometimes grows a large bio-flail consisting of hardened bone at the end of muscular tendrils in place of one of their claws. The Carnifex can use this bio-flail to [[HerdHittingAttack crush multiple foes with a single sweeping attack]]. This is represented in the 8th Edition rules by the Stone Crusher gaining an Attack for every model in close proximity.
327* TheJuggernaut: Carnifexes act as a linebreakers, plodding forward implacably as attacks waste themselves against their exceptionally dense carapaces, cutting down or bowling over anything that stands in their path like living battering-rams.
328* SuperSpit: The Screamer-Killer breed of Carnifex can produce a ball of bio-plasma within their stomachs that they can vomit at their prey. Although relatively short ranged, these balls of plasmic vomit do a comparable level of damage to the [[PlasmaCannon plasma weaponry]] of other races.
329
330!!Tyrannofex
331
332[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_tyrannofex.png]]
333
334----
335
336* BulletSeed: A literal case, the Tyrannofex's Rupture Cannon fires two rounds: a bloated tick... and a seed case. Fluff says the two react in a [[MadeOfExplodium catastrophic fashion]] when their chemical fluids are mixed upon impact.
337
338!!Tervigon
339
340[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_tervigon.png]]
341----
342* EnemySummoner: Tervigons are a walking Termagant factories, birthing them directly from their belly to go into battle. Throughout all editions, Tervigons can create new Termagant units and/or replenish existing ones, with the specific details varying depending on the edition.
343
344!!Haruspex
345
346[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_haruspex.png]]
347
348----
349
350* HyperactiveMetabolism: If a Haruspex kills an enemy with its maw, it can regenerate a wound as soon as the Fight phase ends.
351
352!!Psychophage
353
354[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_psychophage.png]]
355
356----
357
358* MageHuntingMonster: Psychophages are designed to hunt down and devour enemy pyskers, which they quickly metabolize into "psychocorrosive ash" that they project from vents on their backs.
359
360!!Maleceptor
361
362[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tyranid_maleceptor.png]]
363
364----
365
366* MyBrainIsBig: Maleceptors are psychic powerhouses used to overwhelm foes with raw Warp-power. To aid in this, they are implanted with enormous masses of neural tissue in their torsos that can be seen poking through holes in the chitin on their sides.
367
368!!Exocrine
369
370[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/exocrine.jpg]]
371
372----
373
374* WeaponWieldsYou: The symbiotic [[PlasmaCannon bio-plasmic cannon]] is far more intelligent that the Exocrine weapon beast that it is bound to and is able to supress the simple mind of its host so that it can move itself into an optimal firing position.
375
376!!Toxicrene
377
378[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/toxicrene_40k.jpg]]
379----
380* CombatTentacles: A Toxicrene sports twelve massive lashing tendrils filled with a potent venom.
381
382!!Trygon & Mawloc
383
384[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trygon_40k.jpg]]
385[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mawloc_40k.jpg]]
386
387----
388
389* DigAttack: The Trygon and Mawloc both have the ability to dig underground and execute devastating attacks on the troops above as they surface. The Trygon has enormous scything talons and is easily capable of engaging enemies in melee combat when it emerges. The Mawloc, on the other hand, attacks by swallowing enemies whole or crushing them under its bulk before feeding.
390* SandWorm: The Tyranids have something close in the Mawloc, a worm-like Tyranid with six powerful burrowing limbs alongside a long, chitin-plated serpentine body ending in a wicked earwig-like tail. Much like the classic trope inspiration, they are almost entirely blind and rely on sensation of vibration through the ground. Even a person standing stock still can be detected by a Mawloc, if their terrified heart is beating loud enough...
391* ShockAndAwe: Tyranids of the Trygon genus produce a strong bio-electric charge, which the creatures use to wreath their claws with crackling power. The Trygon can also discharge this energy in a high-voltage bio-electrical pulse can reduce the enemy to a pile of charred bones. The more powerful Trygon Primes have even evolved various spines along their bodies that allow the beast to harness this electrical energy and unleash it with greater power.
392
393!!Norn Emissary & Norn Assimilator
394
395[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/norn_emissary.jpg]]
396[[caption-width-right:600:Norn Emissary]]
397[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/norn_assimilator.jpg]]
398[[caption-width-right:600:Norn Assimilator]]
399
400----
401* GetOverHere: Norn Assimilators are gestated with a series of Toxinjector Harpoons that fire in two columns of three telephone pole-sized biological harpoons from nodules in their chest carapace. These harpoons can not only spear and inject lethal toxins into their targets, but they can then be used to reel in the helpless victim to the Assimilator's waiting claws. This is represented in game by giving the Assimilator a bonus to its charge rolls against a unit that was hit by its harpoons in the previous shooting phase.
402* GodzillaThreshold: The Hive Mind is typically a dispassionate entity that only thinks and acts in terms of "Will this action get me more biomass/genetic diversity?" However, if a specific being, fortification, or other strategic issue presents such a monumental roadblock to getting a satisfactory answer to that question that it gets the Hive Mind to actually ''notice'' the problem, it will order the Norn Queens that command each individual Hive Fleet to gestate an Emissary or Assimilator to personally deal with that issue as swiftly, efficiently, and mercilessly as possible.
403* HighlyVisibleNinja: Norn Emissaries are noted for being the personal assassins of the Norn Queens and the Hive Mind itself, created to silently infiltrate behind enemy lines to either take and hold positions of strategic importance or annihilate individual leaders of the enemy opposition... while being creatures that are over a story tall, on the same scale of size as an Imperial [[HumongousMecha Armiger-Pattern Knight]] or an Aeldari [[LivingStatue Avatar of Khaine]].
404
405!!Gargoyle
406
407[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gargoyle_40k.jpg]]
408
409----
410* AirborneMook: Gargoyles are essentially just Gaunts, the basic foot troops of the swarms, with a pair of wings tacked on. Nightgaunts are a similar variation, but with scything talons instead of the Gargoyles' organic guns.
411* SuperSpit: When fighting in close combat, Gargoyles spit [[PoisonIsCorrosive corrosive venom]] into the face of their enemies in an attempt to blind them so that the fragile creatures have a greater chance of bringing down their opponent in melee.
412
413!!Hive Crone and Harpy
414
415[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hive_crone_40k.jpg]]
416[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harpy_40k.png]]
417
418
419----
420
421* AntiAir: Hive Crones, the Tyranid equivalent of fighter jets, are armed with tentaclids that can reroll failed hit rolls against flying enemies.
422* BombardierMook: The undersides of Harpies are covered in specialized cysts that can create explosive spore mines to be dropped on enemy infantry while the Harpy flies overhead.
423* HarpingOnAboutHarpies: Harpies are a kind of flying Tyranid organism with broad leathery wings, a hollow body for lightness in the air, either organic guns or scythelike talons growing from their forearms, and the ability to drop payloads of explosive spores. The swarms use them mainly as a combination of bombers, strafers and mid-sized air support.
424* SuperSpit: A Hive Crone's main offensive weapon against ground targets is the Drool Cannon, which allows the flying monstrosity to vomit its highly-corrosive digestive juices onto its target, doing more damage than a [[FireBreathingWeapon heavy flamer]].
425
426!!Harridan
427[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harridantransparent_0.png]]
428%%
429* DroneDeployer: Harridans serve as an organic version of this for the smaller Gargoyles. Gargoyles don't have great endurance, so large numbers of them will hitch rides aboard Harridans as these fly towards warzones. Once they're close to the enemy, the Harridan sheds its load like a living bomber plane.
430* GiantFlyer: Harridans are the largest flying organisms of the Tyranids, with a wingspan of almost 40 meters. They also have no legs, and Imperial xeno-biologists debate on whether Harridans will die if they ever should be brought to ground, or if they can move like a snake.
431* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Harridan is basically the Tyranid equivalent of a giant [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphiptere amphiptere]].
432
433!!Hierophant
434[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hierophanttransparent.png]]
435%%
436* CastFromHitPoints: The Hierophant's Frenzied Metabolism special rule allows players to have the creature suffer wounds in exchange to temporarily making its bio-cannon stronger.
437* ImpossiblyGracefulGiant: There's no way those spindly legs should be able to hold up a creature that big, but they do.
438* {{Kaiju}}: One of the largest Tyranid species ever seen. It's around the size of an ''Imperator Titan''.
439* PoisonousPerson: Along with its bio-cannons and scything claws, the splits in the Hierophant's hide exude clouds of toxic spores, and it has sacs filled with a toxic gas that can be burst to spread the gas and take out large numbers of foes at once.
440
441[[/folder]]
442
443[[folder: Notable Beasts]]
444Although one would argue that a HiveMind race like the Tyranids shouldn't have special characters -- indeed, on a meta-level, this argument resulted in their lacking any in their fourth edition codex -- the Tyranids have always had unique units, beginning with the Red Terror and Old One Eye in third edition, then adding more in their fifth and sixth edition codexes.
445
446!!The Red Terror
447[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/redterrortransparent.png]]
448%%
449->''"Emperor knows what pit spawned the hideous apparition we came to know as the Red Terror. It first attacked the outer bastion and twenty-four men died before we drove it away with flamers. We never even found the bodies of Lieutenant Borales and Captain Lowe, just a trail of slime that led away from the command post and into the tunnels. It returned the following night, and the slaughter began anew, but this time we were ready for it… or so we thought."''
450-->-- From ''Twenty Days in Hell, the Retreat from Devlan Primus''
451
452First encountered by Imperial forces during the Tyranid invasion of the mining world of Devlan Prime, the Red Terror preyed upon the local miners for weeks and massacred the Astra Militarum forces sent to investigate reports of the xenos menace. Resembling an overgrown Ravener with a carapace of deep crimson and a maw large enough to swallow a man whole, the Red Terror is capable of tunnelling through almost any material with terrifying speed. Since the Devlan Prime invasion, powerful tunnelling beasts with carapaces the colour of spilt blood have been reported fighting for a number of different hive fleets across the galaxy, slaughtering scores of troops before disappearing beneath the ground once again.
453
454----
455* TheBusCameBack: The Red Terror was restored as a playable character in the 6th edition codex.
456* LegacyCharacter: On a meta-level. Raveners gained their ability to Deep Strike -- flavored in-game as them burrowing up from below to attack their foes -- and Trygons and Mawlocs gained their existence from this creature, who was originally the only one who could do it. Perhaps in homage, his entry in the 2014 codex notes that some Imperial scholars have suggested that the Red Terror may actually have been the first ever documented sighting of a Trygon and/or Mawloc.
457* ParanoiaFuel: InUniverse. What ''was'' the Red Terror? And what happened to it after Devlan Prime? Was it destroyed? Was it reassimilated and used to churn out the Trygons and/or Mawlocs? Or is it still out there, killing, and the Imperium doesn't know about it because nobody else has ever survived an encounter with it?
458* PutOnABus: The Red Terror was removed as a playable model in the 4th edition codex, under the logic that a HiveMind race shouldn't have special characters.
459* SwallowedWhole: Has the ability to do this, both in the background text and on the tabletop.
460
461!!Old One Eye, the Beast of Calth
462[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/old_one_eye.png]]
463%%
464A monstrous Carnifex that spearheaded the Tyranid assault on Calth, Old One Eye quickly became infamous for its ability to ignore all but the most powerful of weapons turned against it and for its extraordinary regenerative capabilities. The beast's rampage was only brought to end by an unknown Imperial hero, who seemingly killed it with a direct hit from a plasma pistol to the eye. Decades later, the corpse of Old One Eye was discovered frozen in the ice of Calth only for it to revive and go on the rampage once again after being dug from its glacial resting place. Although the Beast of Calth was eventually hunted down by Sergeant Telion of the Ultramarines its body was never found and, in the years since, Carnifexes with similar abilities and patterns of scars have been reported accompanying multiple Hive Fleets.
465
466----
467* AxCrazy: Even by Carnifex standards, Old One Eye is a frothing mad berserker.
468* ArtEvolution: Old One Eye had its own variant of the 3rd edition "Grinfex" model, complete with unique body, arm and leg sculpts (in fact the only piece it shared with the stock Carnifex was the scything talons). This held through 5th edition, but 6th edition instead redesignated the current Carnifex kit as Old One Eye. This is notable because the kit was never designed to be Old One Eye in the first place, but had a head that represented him perfectly (a standard Carnifex head missing a portion of its face, revealing the skull). This change was because Old One Eye's original model no longer looked like the current Carnifex, and because GW has been phasing out older resin/metal kits and the current plastic kit was a dead ringer for him anyways.
469* TheBusCameBack: It was restored as a playable character in the 5th edition codex and has been playable since.
470* EyeScream: It was a point-blank shot to the eye with a [[PlasmaCannon plasma pistol]] that brought down Old One Eye during the original Tyranid invasion of Calth, and gave it its name, burning away the beast's eye and incinerating its brain.
471* GiantAnimalWorship: The Genestealer Behemoid Undercult worships Old One Eye alongside its own Patriarch, having found it trapped in ice on the fringes of Ultramar space and believing it to be a prophet of a xenos god they call Behemoth.
472* GiantEnemyCrab: Kind of invokes this image, thanks to its crab-like pincered limbs.
473* HealingFactor: Infamous for it, InUniverse. In the third edition codex, it was the only Tyranid that could regenerate, whilst when it reappeared in the fifth edition codex, it had a version that worked more effectively than those of other Tyranids with the Regeneration biomorph, though it lost this in the 2014 codex.
474* LegacyCharacter: On a meta-level. Old One Eye's ability to regenerate and its unique crab-like crushing claws became standardly available biomorphs in all subsequent editions.
475* MonsterInTheIce: It was believed dead after being shot in the eye, but was later found frozen in a glacier and went on a new rampage after being dug out. It eventually went missing again, but its body is rumored to have become once again entombed in ice on a different world where it is worshipped by a Genestealer cult.
476* NamedAfterTheInjury: It's named after its missing right eye and the patch of exposed bone around it, which were burned away by a shot from a plasma pistol and appear to be the only things that its HealingFactor can't regenerate.
477* PutOnABus: Old One Eye was removed as a playable model in the 4th edition codex, under the logic that a HiveMind race shouldn't have special characters.
478* WoundThatWillNotHeal: The empty eye-socket and exposed skull-patch from its first "death" is seemingly the only thing it can't regenerate.
479
480!!The Swarmlord, Herald of the Hive Mind
481[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/swarmlordmodel.png]]
482%%
483->''"A new Tyrant joined the fray and, in an eyeblink, the whole character of the swarm changed. The ravening berserker-spirit that had driven the Tyranids onto the ridge was gone as if it had never existed. Left in its place was something cannier and infinitely more worrisome. It was then that I knew the battle to be lost."''
484-->-- Sergeant Torias Telion, Ultramarines 10th Company
485
486The most powerful and dangerous Hive Tyrant to lead the swarms of the Great Devourer, the Swarmlord is spawned whenever the Hive Mind requires a greater level of tactical knowledge and leadership than an ordinary Hive Tyrant can provide. First encountered during the Battle for Macragge, the Swarmlord is a master of both combat and strategy that has masterminded the consumption of countless civilizations. Although it has been reported killed in action multiple times, the Swarmlord has been reincarnated time and again by the Hive Mind, with each new incarnation incorporating the experience of its previous lives to make it even more deadly.
487
488----
489* CoolSword: Four unique serrated blades of organic bone/chitin sculpted around living crystals from outside of our galaxy.
490* DualWielding: Exaggerated in that the Swarmlord ''quadwields'' its bone-sabers.
491* HeroKiller: "Hero" is a bit of a loose term, but it does kill [[spoiler:the Overfiend of Octarius, breaking the back of the Ork resistance on the planet and allowing Hive Fleet Leviathan to finally claim a decisive victory in the Octariuan War.]]
492* HiveQueen: Zigzagged. It does have a greater level of individuality than any normal Tyranid, and it is created when the Tyranids need more direct control, knowledge and purpose than the Hive Mind can give. However, it is still merely an aspect of the Hive Mind, not the actual leader of the Tyranid race, and so killing it does nothing more than killing any other synapse creature.
493* TheLeader: Or at least, the closest to the concept that we can understand.
494* MagicKnight: A powerful psyker and also very capable of curbstomping just about anything that gets into melee with it.
495* NeverFoundTheBody: After the destruction of Hive Fleet Behemoth at the Battle of Macragge, the Swarmlord's body was never located. It's appeared on several battlefields afterwards, but it's unknown if it was killed and reincarnated, or simply managed to escape.
496* ResurrectiveImmortality: The Swarmlord differs from other Hive Tyrants in the fact it appears to be uniquely separate from the Hive Mind. Thought to be a very dangerous second opinion brought in only when the Hive Mind's usual strategies[[note]]'strategies' and not tactics, as the Tyranids constantly mutate and experiment to ensure tactical efficiency[[/note]] do not work on the foe it is currently fighting. What makes it unique is that while there are many Hive Tyrants, it's implied that there is only one Swarmlord at any given time, having its consciousness beamed across star systems on an as-needed basis. It's the sole Hive Tyrant that is not bound to any one hive fleet or ship.
497
498!!The Doom of Malan'tai
499[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wh40k_doom_of_malantai_5814.jpg]]
500%%
501A mutant Zoanthrope that fed on the life-force of other creatures, the Doom of Malan'tai was almost singlehandedly responsible for the destruction of the Aeldari craftworld of the same name. While the warrior-beasts of its hive ship assaulted the craftworld's defenders, the Doom tapped into Malan'tai's Infinity Circuit and devoured the spirits of the deceased Aeldari trapped within. Its power increased to titanic levels by its feast, the Doom became unstoppable, using its psychic abilities to slaughter those Aeldari who attempted to stand against it. When the ruined remains of Malan'tai was discovered years later it was nothing but a lifeless shell and there was no sign of the monster that destroyed it.
502
503----
504* DegradedBoss: After the Doom of Malan'tai was removed from the 6th edition Tyranid codex, in November 2014 it was replaced by the Neurothrope, its 'uncountable progeny', which is a generic squad leader for Zoanthropes.
505* DemotedToExtra: Although no longer a playable model, the Doom has an entry in the Zoanthrope info page in the 6th edition codex.
506* LifeDrain: In the fluff, the Doom did this to the souls in Malan'tai's Infinity Circuit. In-game, the Doom did this through its Spirit Leech rule, which was known to wipe out entire squads to give the Doom a ton of health back. The Neurothrope has a less-potent version of this ability.
507* LegacyCharacter: Much like Old One Eye and the Carnifex, it has been removed from the current edition and its ability instead appears on the Neurothrope upgrade for the Zoanthropes.
508* PutOnABus: For legal reasons, the Doom was removed as a playable model in the 6th edition codex.
509* YourSoulIsMine: Invoked in spirit, if not in word, by the Doom's assault on Malan'tai.
510
511!!Deathleaper
512[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/newdeathleaper.png]]
513%%
514->''"It's there, I know it is, lurking in the shadows, stalking me like an animal. It's death itself I tell you, just watching me, waiting… Oh blessed Emperor, why won't it just kill me?"''
515-->-- The ravings of '''Cardinal Salem'''
516
517The Hive Mind's ultimate assassin and psychological weapon, Deathleaper was first encountered on the missionary world of St. Caspalen where its campaign of terror so utterly destroyed the morale of the world's defenders that they could barely put up much of a fight once Hive Fleet Leviathan invaded. Since the consumption of St. Caspalen, Lictors matching Deathleaper's appearance have been encountered alongside the vanguard organisms of a number of different hive fleets.
518
519----
520* ChameleonCamouflage: Deathleaper has the most advanced chameleonic skin of any Tyranid organism, able to blend almost perfectly into its surrounding. How this is represented in-game varies depending on the edition but generally make Deathleaper more difficult to hit with ranged attacks.
521* DontCreateAMartyr: Although it is the greatest assassination organism that the Hive Mind has ever produced, Deathleaper will refrain from killing its target if their death would galvanise a world's defenders. During the invasion of St. Caspalen, for example, Deathleaper refused to kill the planet's spiritual leader, Cardinal Salem, and drove him mad instead. The resulting confusion and morale damage this caused ensured the planet was consumed within days.
522* LampshadeHanging: [[https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/06/12/celebrate-500000-instagram-followers-with-the-tyranid-deathleaper Games Workshop]] have poked fun that the Hivemind has, for whatever reason, given the new Deathleaper model a sort of biological tailcoat that gives its new model a somewhat "stylish" look.
523* ParanoiaFuel: InUniverse, this is its function.
524
525!!The Parasite of Mortrex
526[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mortrexmodel.png]]
527%%
528The Parasite was a unique flying abomination encountered on the fortress world of Mortrex, a linchpin of the Imperial defence of the Segmentum Ultima. The grotesque bioform earned its name and its legendary reputation for its ability to implant its victims with larval feeder organisms that would rapidly grow to maturity, devouring their host from the inside out. Within two weeks of its appearance, Mortrex was overrun by an unending tide of the Parasite's ravenous Ripper offspring.
529
530----
531* AscendedExtra: Come 9th Edition, the Parasite has been given a plastic model and new rules.
532* TheBusCameBack: For legal reasons, the Parasite was removed as a playable model in the 6th edition codex. However, it has been brought back in the 9th edition codex.
533* DemotedToExtra: Despite not being a playable model at the time, the Parasite had an entry in the 6th edition codex.
534* BewareMyStingerTail: It used its barbed ovipositor to implant Ripper eggs into its victims.
535* ExplosiveBreeder: The original Parasite produced enough Ripper offspring to overrun and consume the whole Fortress World of Mortrex in ''two weeks'', more or less by itself.
536* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: Can inject larval Rippers into victims through its tail-stinger.
537* MookMaker: Those killed by its Implant attack create new bases of Ripper Swarms.
538* UniquenessDecay: When it debuted in 5th Edition, the Parasite of Mortrex was described as a singular organism. In 9th Edition, they were revealed to be a whole genus of Tyranid fliers. Players are now allowed to field multiple Parasites of Mortrex in their armies.
539[[/folder]]
540
541!!Others
542
543[[folder:Zoats]]
544[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zoat_40k.png]]
545%%
546The Zoats first appeared in the galaxy as heralds of the Tyranid hive fleets, as a centaur-like slave race engineered by the Tyranids to serve as scouts and information-gatherers and to subvert target civilizations in order to lesser their resistance to the swarms. To do this, the Zoats were given a much greater degree of independence and intellect than common drones; however, this also tended to lead to their rebelling against the Hive Mind, their greater sense of self-preservation balking at the thought of reabsorption, and breaking free to pursue their own independent goals.\
547\
548Eventually, however, the Hive Mind ceased to produce Zoats altogether, giving their old role to the more reliable Genestealers. The majority of the fledgeling Zoat states and civilizations were either consumed by the swarms or wiped out by the Imperium, and in the modern day these creatures are all but extinct. Only a handful of individuals survive, enduring in hidden corners of the galaxy and pursuing unknown agendas.\
549\
550In real life, Zoats were an early unit type in the game's First Edition, during which nearly half a Tyranid force had to be made out of Zoats. They were never popular and didn't make the transition to the next edition, with only a few references to them being dropped in the background of the third edition. They afterwards remained entirely absent from the franchise until 2018, when a Zoat character was released for the board game ''Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress''.
551----
552* TheBusCameBack: After being absent from the tabletop for nearly 30 years, 2020 saw the release of an updated Zoat model for the ''Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress'' GaidenGame.
553* TheChessmaster: In ''Liber Xenologica'', zoats are described as subtle beings who manipulate other societies from behind the scenes, enacting complex schemes and seeding double and secret agents in order to guide worlds towards goals only they understand.
554* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: They were quietly dropped when the second edition was released. Details about their removal went unremarked until a footnote in the third edition explained their fate: being consumed by the Hive Fleets as they have [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived their usefulness]].
555* ContinuityNod: Hive Fleet Colossus, given a few references in various rulebooks, is described as having centaur-like organisms, conch-like hiveships, painfully grafted symbiotic weapon organisms, technological weaponry absorbed and incorporated from other races it has overrun, and the ability to telepathically community with each other and with other races. Though not explicitly called Zoats, the description fits, and [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080411104249/uk.games-workshop.com/tyranids/forgotten-fleets/6/ Games Workshop's own (old) conversion guide]] makes it pretty clear that is what they represent.
556* DroppedABridgeOnHim: The Tyranids created them as a semi-independent group to go ahead of the Hive Fleets as vanguards and disrupt targets for consumption. Their independence led to them [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters revolting against the Tyranids]], but they were quickly wiped out as the Hive Fleets caught up to them. The few who survived were spotted in Tyranid swarms, but their numbers dwindled as the Hive Fleets evolved to no longer need them.
557* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: They never made it past the first edition, as the [[CharacterizationMarchesOn March of Characterization]] from the Tyranids made them incompatible.
558* GasMaskMooks: Zoats can only breathe in very specific atmospheric conditions, and thus when not in a controlled environment like their ships they wear rebreathers.
559* MouthOfSauron: The Zoats were to be harbingers of the Hive Fleet, letting others know that the Tyranids were coming for them and encouraging prey planets to surrender to the inevitable.
560* OrganicTechnology: They use much of this, although to a less animated extent than the Hive Fleets. For example, their ships are organic, but not {{Living Ship}}s, having their hull grown like a shell, then hollowed out and having more conventional technology built into it. Their ability to freely combine both organic technology and conventional technology allowed the Tyranid forces to employ things like bolters and missile launchers, in addition to their more usual fare.
561* OurCentaursAreDifferent: The Zoats follow the typical centaur body form, but are reptilian creatures whose quadruped lower body resembles a short-tailed sauropod dinosaur.
562* ServantRace: They originated as lizard-like slaves to a HordeOfAlienLocusts.
563* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: Due to their possessing much more independence than common Tyranid biomorphs, Zoats often rebelled against the Hive Mind and attempted to establish their own realms in the galaxy, often actively coming into conflict with Tyranid swarms seeking to consume them.
564* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The Hive Fleets phased them out due to the Zoats being too independent-minded to make good agents.
565[[/folder]]
566----
567->''We cannot live through this. Mankind cannot live through this. In a single day they have covered the surface of this planet with a flood of living blades and needle-fanged mouths. Kill one and ten take its place. If they are truly without number then our race is doomed to a violent death before every shred of our civilization is scoured away by a force more voracious than the fires of hell themselves! Death! By the Machine God, Death is here!''

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