New Warhammer 40k Tyranids are here – from Stratagems, Datasheets, and army rules; here is our codex review guide on how to play them.
The Tyranids are back and hungrier than ever with the new Tyranids Codex 10th Edition, and it’s bringing a fresh wave of bio-horror to the tabletop. This isn’t just another update; it’s a full-blown evolution, with reworked synapse rules, monstrous detachments, and enough biomorph options to make your opponent’s head spin before the Hive Mind eats it.
From the smallest Ripper Swarm to the towering Norn Emissary, the Warhammer 40k Tyranids Codex focuses on adaptability, swarm synergy, and brutal close-range dominance. Whether you’re commanding endless broods or elite bio-titans, these Tyranids rules make the hive fleet feel more alive and more lethal than ever.
Let’s break down the key detachment abilities, standout units, and new combos so you know exactly how to play Tyranids in 10th Edition.
Why Play Tyranids: Warhammer 40k Tyranids Codex Overview
Originally published in December 2023. Updated on October 28th, 2025, by Rob Baer with the latest Warhammer 40k Tyranids Codex 10th Edition rules, leaks, and information.
If you want an army that rewards adaptation, synergy, and overwhelming biological force, the Tyranids Codex is your new feeding frenzy. The Hive Mind thrives on coordination and pressure, letting you control the pace of the game through Synapse and relentless regeneration. From Ripper Swarms to Norn Emissaries, every creature serves a purpose in the grand ecosystem of destruction.
Tyranids rules blend swarm tactics with monstrous might. You’ll overwhelm opponents through layers of psychic terror, melee dominance, and mid-game regeneration. The army plays best when you keep units in Synapse range, time your Shadow in the Warp to perfection, and flood the table with adaptive threats that grow deadlier as the battle goes on.
With monstrous detachments like Crusher Stampede and Vanguard Onslaught, or regenerating forces like the Assimilation Swarm, the Warhammer 40k Tyranids Codex gives you six unique ways to evolve your playstyle and crush your prey.
Tyranids Codex 10th Edition Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
- Synapse provides Tyranid players incredible control over Battle-shock, keeping your swarm stable and aggressive.
- Shadow in the Warp can cripple enemy morale and swing objectives in your favor.
- Six distinct detachments, from Unending Swarm’s unit recycling to Crusher Stampede’s monster synergy, allow for wildly different list builds.
- Units like the Norn Emissary, Winged Prime, and Neurotyrant offer strong centerpieces for varied strategies.
- Regeneration and board control make Tyranids surprisingly durable for a melee-heavy army.
Weaknesses
- Once Synapse creatures are gone, your core rules, control, and buffs crumble fast.
- Elite armies with strong ranged firepower can pick apart key nodes before the swarm closes in.
- Managing overlapping Synapse auras, buffs, and regeneration effects can be complex in longer games.
Tyranids Rules and Playstyle: Mastering the Hive Mind
The Tyranids 10th Edition Codex is built around three pillars: control, adaptation, and escalation. You win by dictating tempo: forcing Battle-shock, reclaiming objectives, and regenerating faster than your opponent can remove threats.
Detachments like Vanguard Onslaught reward speed and assassination plays, while Crusher Stampede lets your monsters hit like living artillery. Unending Swarm brings back units to keep the tide rolling, and Assimilation Swarm focuses on healing your big bugs as they devour the field.
The Tyranids Codex 10th Edition isn’t just about numbers; it’s about evolution. Every synaptic pulse, every adaptive stratagem, every reborn brood pushes your army toward its inevitable conclusion: total consumption of the enemy.
If you like armies that grow stronger mid-battle and force your opponent to fight for every inch of ground, the Hive Mind has a seat waiting for you.
How to Play Tyranids in 10th Edition: Complete Codex Guide
The new Tyranids rules turn the hive fleet into a nightmare of coordination and control. Synapse keeps your swarm steady under fire, while Shadow in the Warp lets you fry enemy morale like a bug under a magnifying glass. It’s the perfect combo of brain and brawn, giving the Hive Mind total dominance over the battlefield.
Compared to the Tyranids Index, this version feels more cohesive, more punishing, and way scarier for anyone unlucky enough to stand in the way.
Tyranids Codex YouTube Reviews:
If you’re looking for reviews on YouTube, be sure to watch your favorite presenters talk about their take on how to play Tyranids and their new codex book at the links below:
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Warhammer 40k Tyranids Codex Detachment Rules Explained
Now, let’s get into all the new detachments; the six Tyranids Detachments for 10th Edition 40k are:
- Invasion Fleet (same as index cards)
- Crusher Stampede
- Vanguard Onslaught
- Unending Swarm
- Assimilation Swarm
- Synaptic Nexus
Synaptic Nexus Tyranids Rules and Enhancements
Starting with the detachment rules, you can either get invulnerable saves for most of your army, add to your advance and charge range, or make them better at hitting. Just remember, this is only while in Synapse range, so there are plenty of Synapse creatures hanging around all over the place.
For Enhancements, they have some exciting options. With added strength and AP, it reduces damage and can stop units from dropping down onto the battlefield.
Synaptic Channeling is nice to get your detachment benefits when you run a unit up and get ahead of the rest of your army. Override Instincts are quite strong as you can fall back and shoot for just one CP.
Vanguard Onslaught Tyranids Codex 10th Edition Detachment
The Vanguard Invader detachment is basically what happens when Tyranids decide subtlety is just another form of murder. These sneaky bugs specialize in blitzing key targets off the board before the enemy even knows what hit them. With Genestealers, Broodlords, and a swarm of flying nightmares in the mix, you’re not just creeping through the shadows; you’re diving headfirst into the enemy’s worst day.
If your idea of fun is sprinting across the board, charging out of nowhere, and doing it all again next turn, this is your detachment. You can even make Deathleaper your Warlord for that extra “gotcha” flavor, or go full chaos gremlin with a Winged Tyranid Prime packing the Chameleonic Enhancement and the Assassin Beasts Stratagem.
And don’t sleep on the tricks; giving a unit stealth and permanent cover turns glass cannons into guided missiles. For just 1 CP, Vanguard Onslaught lets you delete enemy characters mid-brawl, while Unseen Lurkers helps your swarm slip into range without turning into bug soup. It’s sneaky, it’s savage, and it’s pure Tyranid energy.
Assimilation Swarm Tyranids Detachment Guide
If you like your bugs beefy and bouncing back for more, the Assimilation Swarm detachment is your new best friend. Every Harvester unit turns into a walking regen station, patching up wounds or spitting out fresh bodies as long as they’re holding objectives.
The enhancements double down on that resilience, making your army feel like it’s running on infinite snacks. Reclaim Biomass is pure chaos; your opponent finally drops a big bug, and you just slurp it back up for 1 CP like nothing happened.
Then there’s Secure Biomass, letting you hit on 5+ with Lethal Hits, because sometimes the best defense is an unending wall of murder-chitin.
Unending Swarm Tyranids Rules and Tactics
The Unending Swarm detachment is all about drowning your opponent in claws, teeth, and bad decisions. Load up on combat units, push them forward, and let the tide do the talking, it’s pure hive mayhem. The enhancements crank up your speed and melee bite, turning the board into a feeding frenzy.
And for 2 CP, you can straight-up bring back a wiped unit for round two (sorry, characters, you stay dead). Swarming Masses sweetens the deal with sustained hits on 5+, because apparently “too many attacks” isn’t in the Hive Mind’s vocabulary.
Crusher Stampede Tyranids Codex 10th Edition Breakdown
If you’re the type who thinks subtlety is for prey, the Crusher Stampede is your happy place. This detachment turns your biggest, meanest bio-monsters into wrecking balls that only get nastier once they’ve been scratched. The more damage they take, the harder they hit; and in 10th Edition, MONSTERS and VEHICLES are tougher than ever, so they’ll be stomping around for a while.
If you’re going with the Crusher stampede, you’ll want all the big monsters.
Building your army is easier, too, so go wild with Carnifexes, Mawlocs, and Tervigons until the table shakes. Ominous Presence keeps your big bugs scoring objectives like champs, and Corrosive Viscera lets you melt enemies with mortal wounds, no dice needed.
Top it off with Rampaging Monstrosities for re-rolls to hit, and you’ve basically built a rampaging kaiju pit that eats tanks for breakfast.
Invasion Fleet Tyranids Codex Tactics and Rules
You’ve probably seen these rules before, but they’re still absolute bangers. You can tune your hive to go anti-infantry, anti-tank, or anti-character; basically, pick your flavor of carnage. Giving a massive bug a 5+ or 4+ Feel No Pain is downright rude for your opponent since it pretty much doubles the effort it takes to put it down.
Rapid Regeneration keeps your monsters trucking for just 1 CP, while Death Frenzy ensures they take someone with them even when they drop. Adrenal Surge? Perfect for turning a tough fight into a blender session.
And Overrun lets your bugs scuttle another 6″ after combat, because apparently eating everything in one place isn’t enough.
Now, let’s dig into the new Tyranid units and how they bring the swarm to life.
Tyranids Codex Character and Unit Breakdown
Norn Emissary and Norn Assimilator in the Tyranids Codex
The Norn Emissary struts onto the battlefield with a 4+ invuln and a statline that screams “final boss”: 16 wounds, T11, and a 2+ save. This thing isn’t just tough; it’s cinematic.
One of them nearly flattened Lord Solar Leontus himself before Trajann Valoris and his golden boys barely managed to bring it down. Even then, the Emissary left a trail of shredded Custodes in its wake.
Its psychic attacks make it a true multitasker, blasting infantry, deleting characters, or punching holes in tanks without breaking a sweat.
The Norn Assimilator, on the other hand, trades mind tricks for pure muscle. It fires giant toxinjector harpoons that impale anything unlucky enough to be in range, then drags itself into combat with a bonus to charge rolls.
Getting hit by one is bad. Getting reeled in after? That’s just insulting.
Tyranids Lictors and Deathleaper: Codex Highlights
The Lictors and Deathleaper got killer new models (literally), but the Neurolictor steals the spotlight. This psychic assassin is basically the Hive Mind’s secret agent, mixing brain-melting powers with claws sharp enough to make even a Space Marine flinch. It doesn’t just kill, it psychologically ruins you first, turning morale into mulch before finishing the job with pure brutality.
Tied perfectly to Shadow in the Warp, the Neurolictor feeds on enemy panic, shredding Battle-shocked units and slipping through the chaos to delete key leaders with precision attacks. With Lone Operative, Stealth, and Infiltrator, it’s sneaky enough to pick its fights and usually survive long enough to cash in.
While it won’t one-shot a tank, its constant morale checks, debuffs, and CP farming make it a nightmare to deal with. Your opponent won’t just lose units, they’ll lose their nerve.
Von Ryan’s Leapers: New Tyranids Codex 10th Edition Unit
Infiltrators, Stealth, and Fights First should be really annoying for your opponents to deal with. Not to mention, they get to intervene for free and get a decent amount of attacks.
How to Play Tyranids: Neurotyrant
The Neurotyrant is basically the Hive Mind’s amplifier, cranking up Shadow in the Warp until every enemy brain on the table starts to melt from psychic overload. It doesn’t just mess with your opponent’s units; it dominates them with pure psychic terror. 
On top of a solid stat line and nasty weapon options, it brings a massive army-wide debuff that makes everything your opponent does just a little worse. More Leadership tests, more panic, more chaos; exactly how the Hive Mind likes it.
Barbgaunts and Neurogaunts in the Tyranids Index and Codex
With a big unit of these, they will get an insane number of shots (on average, you should get 3.5 per model, so five would give you 17-18 attacks).
Then, with the blast rule, the number can get really crazy. So, while they don’t have AP and only D1, they could still take out tons of infantry. Plus, they also minimize enemy movement, which is huge.
Well, all Tyranid armies and swarms need some cannon fodder, and these are looking to fit the bill, but only one attack in combat and no shooting makes them nothing more than models on the table to get objectives and disrupt the enemy; however, they do have one excellent rule.
They might look like glorified snacks for Guardsmen, but these little creeps have a clever trick up their spindly sleeves, they extend the Synapse Range of your heavy hitters like the Hive Tyrant and Winged Tyranid Prime.
Those weird growths on their backs? Yeah, they’re basically living Wi-Fi boosters for the Hive Mind. Run them up ahead of your big bugs to keep the signal strong between your fast melee monsters and your backline leaders, it’s smart, slimy strategy at its finest.
Final Thoughts on the Tyranids Codex 10th Edition
And that’s the beauty of the Tyranids Codex 10th Edition; every swarm, monster, and psychic scream feels like part of a bigger, hungrier plan. Whether you’re running endless waves of Gaunts or a Crusher Stampede full of walking nightmares, the Warhammer 40k Tyranids Codex gives you the tools to adapt, evolve, and devour anything that gets in your way.
The Hive Mind doesn’t do half measures: it learns, it grows, and it wins. So crack open your Tyranids Codex, grab your biggest bugs, and get ready to show the galaxy who’s really at the top of the food chain.
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