Last Stand - Hive Tyrant

The Hive Tyrant is the Last Stand hero for the Tyranids.

Overview

The Hive Tyrant is a remarkably versatile heavy hero, capable of summoning minions, fighting adeptly at close or long range, and taking more abuse than any other hero, bar none. Perhaps more than any other hero in Last Stand, the Tyrant is a true multi-role unit, whose power is limited only by one's imagination and wargear. On the downside, the Hive Tyrant is both the largest and slowest hero in Last Stand, easy to hit with templates and with relatively poor agility for most builds. Unequivocally one of the most powerful heroes if used with care and skill, the Hive Tyrant has a lot to offer, especially to those willing to stick with it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to its sheer size, the Hive Tyrant walks through cover - it gains no defensive benefits from hiding in it. The only reason to seek cover at all with the Tyrant is if you want to cut down on the number of shots that can be shot at you from a given direction.

Armor

• Carapace - Default
  • Armor: 105
  • Traits: Fearless (Suppression Immunity), Unshakable (Knockback immunity)

• Poison Cysts - Level 1
  • Armor: 150
  • -14% Speed
  • Ability: : Toxic Miasma (25 Energy: Emit a toxic cloud that poisons a large area. Nearby enemies take damage over time equal to half of the Hive Tyrant’s maximum health over 20 seconds.)
  • Traits: Fearless (Suppression Immunity), Unshakable (Knockback immunity)
    • Perhaps the most useful armor available, this is your go-to armor for killing large swarms of enemies. Nothing can keep up the damage quite like the Toxic Miasma.

• Extended Carapace - Level 1
  • Armor: 144
  • -14% Speed, +50 Health
  • Ability: Bio-Plasma (10 Energy, shoots a ball of bio-plasma at a target, does splash damage)
  • Traits: Fearless (Suppression Immunity), Unshakable (Knockback immunity)
    • Bio-Plasma is quite damaging to be sure, but it really isn't much use when you already have the Cysts available at the same time. It is, however, extremely effective when combined with Implant Attack, which turns it into a solid disruption tool, especially for builds which lack ranged attacks otherwise.

• Bonded Exoskeleton - Level 6
  • Armor: 134
  • -14% Speed, +75 Health, +50 Health to minions, +2 Minion Health regen
  • Traits: Fearless (Suppression Immunity), Unshakable (Knockback immunity)
    • Pretty good if you're making a minion-focused Tyrant.

• Articulated Carapace - Level 13
  • Armor: 114
  • Ability: Horror (20 Energy, Forces enemies to fall back)
  • Traits: Fearless (Suppression Immunity), Unshakable (Knockback immunity), Swift (+15% Speed), Minion Swift (+25% Speed to minions)
    • People may question the point of this, as it's not much better than the default Carapace, but the speed you get is carried over to any minions, making this a very helpful item for minion Tyrants, and Horror can keep hordes from reaching you too quickly.

• Reinforced Chitin - Level 17
  • Armor: 98
  • - 14% Speed, +25 Health, +80 Minion Armor
  • Traits: Fearless (Suppression Immunity), Unshakable (Knockback immunity), Reactive Armor (Tyrant temporarily gains +10 Armor each time it is attacked, stacking up until +300)
    • IMPORTANT NOTE: This wargear is bugged. The Reactive Armor trait simply does not work.

• Thornback Carapace - DLC
  • Armor: 190
  • - 14% Speed
  • Traits: Fearless (Suppression Immunity), Unshakable (Knockback immunity), Barbed Armor (Any who attack the Tyrant take 20 damage for each attack)
    • Not really that superb an armor on its own, especially early on, but is amazing for Feedback Tyrant builds due to its massive armor rating and Barbed Armor trait.

Weapons

All the weapons the Tyrant has take up both hands, so you'll have only one choice out of a rather vast and rather surprising list of weaponry available.

• Scything Talons - Default
  • Melee Weapon
  • 8.2 DPS

• Enlarged Scything Talons - Level 1
  • Melee Weapon
  • 16.0 DPS
  • Traits: Minion Armor Piercing (Minion attacks can ignore enemy armor up to 100), Minion Combat Expert (+30% Melee and Ranged damage)

• Venom Cannon - Level 4
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 13.0 DPS
  • Traits: Armor Piercing (Attacks ignore armor up to 240)
    • Absolutely fucking devastating. One of the best ranged weapons in the entire game due to its fire rate and monstrous Armor Piercing rating. Also makes your Melee Attacks armor-piercing, which means a Tyrant with this ranged biomorph can out-melee the likes of Enlarged Scything Talons.

• Heavy Talons - Level 10
  • Melee Weapon
  • 16.0 DPS
  • Traits: Knockdown (Attacks can knock down enemy infantry), Minion Unshakable (Minions are immune to knockback)
    • The only real neat trick this gives is the Unshakable minions. The knockdown part isn't really THAT helpful to you.

• Crushing Talons - Level 14
  • Melee Weapon
  • 14.6 DPS
  • +1 Minion Health regen
  • Traits: Feedback Zeal (Whenever a minion attacks, Tyrant gains back 3 Health)
    • Stacked with Bonded Exoskeleton, this gets to be incredibly useful for minion builds. Also has the highest special attack rate of any Tyrant Melee Weapon.

• High-Toxin Venom Cannon - Level 19
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 5.7 DPS
  • Traits: Zealous Leadership (Attacks with Venom Cannon heal minions up to 5% of total Health), Area of Effect (Cannon attack damages over small area)
    • Surprisingly weak for when it becomes available, but it can keep minions in the field for an almost embarrassingly long time if used correctly.

• Suppressing Stranglethorn - Achievement: Kill 20 enemies in 1 second
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 16.0 DPS
  • Traits: Suppression (Can suppress enemies)
    • Excellent area-of-effect damage, and excellent synergy with the Toxin Sacs wargear. Works very well if you synergize with other players who don't have suppression otherwise. Has a very high special attack rate for a ranged weapon.

• Behemoth Claw - Achievement: Kill 25 Superheavy Units (Avatar of Khaine, Swarmlord, Baneblade, Land Raider, Great Unclean One, Ork Battle Wagon)
  • Melee Weapon
  • 30.0 DPS
  • +50 Armor
  • Traits: Armor Piercing (Attacks ignore armor)
    • Wanna kill tanks? Wanna rip open Dreadnoughts? Well, this is your reward after taking down the Superheavies of the Arena of Khorne. It's got monstrous DPS, heavy armor, and the ability to rip. Things. UP. This is the only other weapon the Hive Tyrant gets with Armor Piercing.

• Devourer Cannon - DLC
  • Ranged Weapon
  • 7.4 DPS
  • Traits: Gestate (Units hit by Devourer Cannon take 30 damage over 6 seconds)
    • The gestate ability's the real shining point to this, as it'll decimate all sorts of light infantry - note that the gestate trait effects EVERYTHING IN THE SQUAD YOU SHOOT. Be careful when your fighting yourself in the Shattered Coliseum though, as it can (and will) ruin your day and the days of your allies.

Accessories

• Seismic Roar - Level 1
  • Ability: Seismic Roar (15 Energy, stuns nearby enemies)
    • Cheap and effective, and good for buying breathing room in a fight, but the long lag it has means it's not quite as good as other, similart stun abilities.

• Genestealer Nest - Level 1
  • Ability: Call Genestealer (10 Energy, summons 3 Genestealers as minions)
    • This is it. Your go-to minion for cheap invincibility with Bio-Feedback. They're pretty weak, but there's three of them, and they easily mulch armored infantry due to an unlisted Corrosive trait that makes them weaken enemy armor with each hit, and they attack very quickly. With upgrades, they can actually be quite powerful. With Heavy Talons, they can even act as impromptu medics.

• Toxin Sacs - Level 2
  • +20 Minion Health
  • Traits: Searing (Tyrant's attacks deal additional damage over time, scaling with the Tyrant's maximum health. Stacks with itself. Minions also get this trait.)
    • A great upgrade for not only the Tyrant, but all of your minions, especially the Tyrant Guard. Causes both your - and your minions' - attacks to do 10% of the user's max HP over 2 seconds. This burn damage is particularly vicious when from ranged weapons from the Tyrant, and, due to it scaling off HP, it works much better for the Tyrant Guard and Warrior than for the Ravener and Genestealers. Make a note that this biomorph will make your doppleganger in Wave 16 a much bigger threat, due to the comp getting higher max health.

• Tyrant Guard Nest - Level 3
  • Ability: Call Tyrant Guard (20 Energy, summons a Tyrant Guard as a minion)
    • The Tyrant Guard is the best tank you can get for a minion, as it takes a LOT to kill. He also gets a neat little bonus, as he can taunt enemies to draw attention from you. Easily the most useful overall minion and a reasonable close-combat combatant. His high HP means that he benefits the most from Toxin Sacs and will do the most damage if blown up with Explosive Decomposition.

• Warrior Nest - Level 7
  • Ability: Call Warrior (15 Energy, summons a Tyranid Warrior with scything talons as a minion)
    • Warriors aren't as tough as Tyrant Guards, but are faster, hit harder, have a useful disruptive attack, and have a built-in low-level Armor Piercing Trait. They're quite versatile, though often under-appreciated due to their tendency to melt under heavy enemy fire.

• Warp Field - Level 8
  • +50 Energy
  • Ability: Warp Field (Force field that makes attacks drain energy instead of health)
    • If you've relied on the Iron Halo in the previous campaigns, then you'll know what this does. The only drawback is that this doesn't turn off once you run out of energy, making it easy to mislead people into thinking the Tyrant's energy is worse than it is.

• Implant Attacks - Level 9
  • +20 Minion Health
  • Traits: Combat Master (Tyrant has +30% Melee and Ranged damage), Minion Combat Master (Minion has +30% Melee and Ranged damage)
    • A great alternative to Toxin Sacs. Works extremely well for the Warrior and Ravener, and boosts the Hive Tyrant's damage considerably as well. The only way to get much effect out of Bio-Plasma. Less-risky to use than Toxin Sacs in Bloodied Coliseum due to the fact that this won't benefit your doppleganger more than you.

• Psychic Scream - Level 11
  • Ability: Psychic Scream (10 Energy, reduces attack and defenses of nearby enemies)
    • Without a doubt, one of the most powerful and unsung abilities in last stand. For 10 energy, it all-but-cripples the offense and defense of every enemy in a massive radius around the Hive Tyrant - and it only gets better the more enemies it hits. If you're not a fan of Feedback Invulnerability Spam, and you like an ability which helps all your allies, lean in this direction.

• Bio-Feedback - Level 12
  • +25 Health
  • Traits: Feedback Invulnerability (When a minion dies, Tyrant gains 5 seconds of invulnerability)
    • If you bring something cheap to kill like Genestealers, than this will easily be your uber-tool to glory. Decried as cheese by some, but considering how much Last Stand loves to have its enemies openly fucking cheat, those claims can be safely ignored.

• Explosive Decomposition - Level 16
  • +50 Health, +20 Minion Health
  • Trait: Minion Death Throes (When minions die, they explode, dealing damage over an area. Scaled based on minion's max health)
    • If you're more fond of kamikaze minions like Genestealers or Warriors, then this is a very useful item. The higher their HP, the more damage the explosion's poison does. Consider it a mid-level Toxic Miasma whenever one of your minions goes down.

• Ravener Nest - Level 18
  • Ability: Call Ravener (Energy, Summons a Ravener with a Deathspitter as a minion)
    • Absolutely devastating, the Ravener isn't too durable, but with its dual Deathspitters absolutely hurts like hell and it can periodically burrowstrike in order to disrupt crowds. Even better, when upgraded with the right gear, it turns from being a simply good ranged minion into a godless rape machine capable of gunning down a Carnifex in 5 to 7 volleys. Not to be underestimated.

Commander Items

More than any other hero, the Tyrant has perhaps the best Commander Items in the game with the deadliest boosts to his playstyle.

• Thornback - Level 5
  • Ability - Charge (10 Energy, Tyrant charges over to destination)
    • This ability gets a lot of shit for being inefficient; most of the shit it gets is deserved. It does no real damage, and its main advantages are that it's the only mobility boost the Tyrant has until Articulated Carapace, and the only Commander Item period until Level 15. It can actually be useful all game long even past this if you know what you're doing - after all, it's the only mobility boost a Tyrant gets - but due to its finicky nature and tendency to stop short if you hit level geometry or large enemies, isn't all that great for the most part.

• Synapse - Level 15
  • Reduces all energy costs by 50%.
    • Never has such a simple upgrade been so absolutely amazing. Synapse makes everything you do more viable - Toxin Misama spamming, Firing off Bio-Plasma, Psychic Scream, etc - It lowers the cost for absolutely everything and the advantages this provides to almost every build that doesn't specifically require the boost of Evolution or the mobility enhancement of Thornback can and will find a use for it.

• Evolution - Level 20
  • +2 Health Regen
  • Traits: Minion Resilient (+50 Minion Health and +2 Minion Health regen), Minion Swift (+15% Minion speed), Minion Combat Expert (+25% Minion Melee and Ranged damage)
    • It's rare that any Commander Item, let alone another of the Hive Tyrant's - is capable of out-performing the sheer, balls-out amazing power of Synapse, but by god, this one does. Evolution gives absolutely massive bonuses to your minions - roughly equal to having Articulated Carapace, Implant Attack, and Bonded Carapace's passives attached to your minions - ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Even better, it stacks with those, for extra awesome, and provides an always-useful health regen bonus to the Tyrant itself. Boosting survivability, boosting minions, and potentially turning even Genestealers into death machines, Evolution is one upgrade that is not to be underestimated. Unfortunately, you get it at level 20.

Tactics & Strategy

• On Achievements:
  • Heavy Hitter (Which unlocks the Behemoth Claw) is an achievement that tests your skill on the Anvil of Khorne, as that's the only place where you'll be able to take down Superheavy Units. Even if you're only able to kill one or two of them, you'll be making progress. The real bugger is just making it there.
  • Megakill! (Which unlocks the Suppressing Stranglethorn) is something that requires the use of either the Devourer Cannon or the Poison Cysts, as they're the only tools the Tyrant owns that can possibly kill 20 troops within a second of each other.

The heroes of Last Stand
Space Marine Captain - Chaos Sorcerer - Eldar Farseer - Hive Tyrant Lord General - Ork Mekboy - Tau Commander - Necron Overlord