The Last Stand: Tyranid Hive Tyrant

Fri, 01/29/2010 - 12:34pm | by Thunder

Arriving with Chaos Rising will be two new heroes for The Last Stand. Today we feature the first...

Master of the swarm, the Hive Tyrant is able to summon a host of Tyranid minions to defend him and destroy his enemies. From disruptive Warriors to deadly Raveners, the Hive Tyrant receives specialized support from the units he can summon. This support is a bonus, not a requirement – the Hive Tyrant is perfectly capable of pulling his own gargantuan weight.

Size matters; the hulking Hive Tyrant has naturally high durability, and all his armor grants immunity to suppression and knockdown effects. These enormous benefits come at the cost of speed and agility. While his Raveners can burrow behind enemies to circumvent their cover, the Hive Tyrant is better off letting the swarms of enemies come to him.


Wargear Highlights


Seismic Roar

Acquired at level 1
Accessory

Grants Ability: Seismic Roar
Emit a roar which stuns nearby enemies.

Thornback

Acquired at level 5
Commander Item

Grants Ability: Charge
Biomorph that allows the Hive Tyrant to charge across the battlefield, knocking over everything in his path.

Evolution

Acquired at level 20
Commander Item

+2.0 Health Regeneration
Grants Minion Trait: Resilient
+50 Health and +2 Health Regeneration

Grants Minion Trait: Swift
+25% Movement Speed

Grants Minion Trait: Combat Expert
+25% Melee and Ranged Damage

 Poison Cysts

Acquired at level 1
Armor
Armor Rating: 160

Grants Ability: Toxic Miasma
Emit a toxic cloud that poisons a large area. Enemies in the area suffer damage over time equal to the Hive Tyrant’s maximum Health over 20 seconds.

Grants Trait: Fearless
Immune to suppression.

Grants Trait: Unshakable
Makes the wearer immune to knockback.

Warrior Nest

Acquired at level 7
Accessory

Grants Ability: Summon Warrior
Summon a Tyranid Warrior armed with powerful Scything Talons and able to knock back enemy infantry.

Heavy Talons

Acquired at level 10
Weapon

Grants Trait: Knockdown
Standard attacks knock down and knock back enemy infantry.

Grants Minion Trait: Unshakable
Unit is immune to knockback.

Developer Load Out

Blake Gilroy (Designer)

    Weapon
  • High-Toxin Venom Cannon

    • Armor

  • Reinforced Chitin

    • Accessories

  • Psychic Scream
  • Ravener Nest
  • Warrior Nest

    • Commander Item

  • Synapse

With this load out I’ve chosen two fairly durable minions that I can summon, both of which are capable of consistent damage output and disruption. My Reinforced Chitin adds an additional 80 Armor value to my minions, and combining that with my Psychic Scream, I’m greatly reducing any damage they take while increasing the damage enemies take.

I’ve strategically decided to stay away from the Hive Tyrant’s array of options for dishing out poison damage to focus more on damage mitigation for my minions. The High-Toxin Venom Cannon is another key component to this load out, providing healing to my minions with every hit. This keeps my warriors alive and knocking down enemies fulfilling a key support role for my entire team.

Keeping up a Psychic Scream and re-summoning any felled minions can be taxing on my energy pool, which is why I’ve chosen Synapse for my Commander Item reducing the energy cost of all abilities by half. This Hive Tyrant load out makes for a long-term indomitable presence on the battlefield.

Discuss.