The Hive Mind has been hard at work sprucing up its smaller beasties with stronger guns and faster, tougher bodies, and now it’s moving onto the big lads. We’ve already seen how smash-inclined monsters are getting bulked up, and the sit-back-and-blast variety will be feeling the same love.
The Tyrannofex’s rupture cannon has long been one of the largest living weapons deployed to the battlefield, and its latest incarnation is a certified Titan-killer. This ingenious weapon fires two massive projectiles in quick succession, the first coating the target in acidic goo before the second penetrates their armour and dissolves to cause an almighty explosion from within.*
Much like the T’au Empire’s mighty Stormsurge, this main gun can punch through an Imperial Knight in one go (with a bit of help from Lady Luck), while anything smaller is inevitably reduced to a twisted ruin. It has a respectable rate of fire, so even squadrons of lighter vehicles are at risk of annihilation – something we have a sneaky feeling the Tyranids learned from fighting Speed Mobs in the Octarian War.
Big guns aren’t just for killing big targets, though, and when quantity rules over quality, the fleshborer hive is king. With improvements to range, armour penetration, and rate of fire, it’s become a daunting prospect for even the largest mobs of infantry.
The Hive Mind shows a remarkably fourth-wall-breaking ability to adapt to changes in Warhammer 40,000’s ninth edition, taking advantage of Monsters’ ability to fire Heavy weapons on the move to up-gun several of its larger Assault weapons. The heavy venom cannon now truly lives up to its moniker, more reliably sending a hail of acidic crystals punching through troops and tanks alike.
Peer into the Shadow in the Warp for more secrets from the upcoming Codex: Tyranids this week, including a rare study of the new Parasite of Mortrex. Details can be hazy coming from the front, so sign up to the Warhammer Community newsletter and have everything dropped right in your lap the moment it’s here.
* Could the Tyranids have learned a few tricks from the humble bolt round? Any comparisons between the two are undoubtedly maximum heresy.