The only reliable high strength ranged weapons available to Tyranids are the Tyrannofex Rupture Cannon and the Zoanthropes Warp Lance.
Much of the Internet seems to think the Tyrannofex is too expensive to have just to kill tanks and thinks I* should have Zoanthropes instead.
* by 'I' I obviously mean anybody reading the posts in question. I'm in no way claiming that there is a massive internet campaign to make me personally buy Zoanthropes...
Zoanthropes
The Good
1) S10, AP 1, Lance Weapon
2) Oh wait, there was only 1...never mind...okay, if I must give a balanced response..they're cheaper than a Tyrannofex...happy now?
The Bad
1) Zoanthropes use up an important Elite slot that I really need for Hive Guard
2) They're not that tough...Before anybody starts mentioning 3+ Invulnerable Saves here lets remember that 2 Wounds, T4 and a 3+ Save still means a squad of Imperial fucking Guardsmen can probably 'torrent' one to death.
3) Short range
4) Slow as fuck unless your Deepstriking them and we all know how reliable that is without some kind of Homing device or special rule**
** the simple fact is, the reason you probably wanted a Warp Lance was so you could kill Land Raiders and if you don't turn up till turn 3 then that Land Raider has already delivered something killy into the middle of your army.
Tyrannofex
The Good
1) Long Range
2) T6, 6 Wounds and a 2+ Armour save takes some killing.
3) It's secondary ranged weapons are quite nice anti-infantry which gives the unit some duality.
4) Its still a great big Monstrous Creature so can tarpit units or 'mop-up' in combat as well
The Bad
1) 265 points is a fair chunk of your army.
Okay looks like I'm going to have to resort to Mathshammer to decide this one.
Tyrannofex
2 shots at BS3 so we get 1 Hit
0.33 Chance of a pen
0.11 Chance of a Wreck or Exploded result.
Obviously with cover from smoke (or whatever) that drops to a 0.055 chance of 'killing' a Land Raider.
That isn't very good so I must be wrong and the Zoanthrope is better...or is it...
Zoanthrope
S10, AP1, Lance
1 shot, but first we need to pass our psychic test so were down to 0.82
Now we need to hit so 0.547 chance to hit
0.365 chance to pen,
0.183 chance of a Wrecked or Destroyed result.
So it's a bit better, of course cover drops that to 0.0915 which is still better than the Tyrannofex...
Until we take psychic defence into account,
A psychic hood has (for the most part) a 33% chance of stopping a psychic power so suddenly its dropped to 0.061 Vs. a Librarians Psychic Hood or 0.0458 Vs. a Space Wolf Runic weapon.
So admittedly a Zoanthrope is very slightly more likely to kill a Land Raider. It is however vastly more likely to arrive after it doesn't really matter as the Land Raider has delivered it's cargo or to get shot to pieces before it's in range.
I think I'll keep my Tyrannofex if nobody minds...
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