Pyrovore
 Expect huge amounts of derp and rage, punctuated by /tg/ extracting humor from it. |
Pyrovores are a Tyranid unit widely considered to be the worst unit in all of Warhammer 40k. They are representative of Robin Cruddace's awful, awful Tyranids codex, in which at least half of the units have absolutely no idea what they're supposed to be doing or are so abysmally awful at what they are supposed to be doing that no one ever takes them--and Pyrovores are the worst of the worst.
How Bad Is it?
Pyrovores are worse than Old One Eye, a DISTRACTION CARNIFEX special character in a codex that hates DISTRACTION CARNIFEXES, who is renowned for costing MORE than a Land Raider and dying to a stiff breeze... but at least he has a general idea of what the fuck he's supposed to be doing and would be good if he was half as many points.
Pyrovores are worse than Chaos Sp... uh, that one Chaos unit everybody thought was terrible... but at least they've seen a Phil Kelly-granted buff in the newest Chaos Space Marine codex.
Pyrovores are worse than Fire Warriors in melee, who are unceremoniously chopped up in seconds... but at least that's funny, and things have gone wrong when they're there.
Why're They So Bad?
The biggest problem comes down to the fact they're in the Elites slot, which is easily the most jam-packed slot in Tyranids. They're competing with Hive Guard (probably the best anti-tank infantry in the game), Zoanthropes (incredibly powerful psykers that can throw down an ABSURD amount of mental dakka each turn), Venomthropes (an excellent support unit that provides mobile cover, defensive grenades, and hilarious 2+ Poisoned attacks), Ymgarl Genestealers (basically the only unit in the game that can assault the turn they appear), the Doom of Malan'tai (an incredibly cheesy unit powered by the tears of Eldar players), Deathleaper (perhaps the best character assassination tool in the game short of a Vindicare), and Lictors (a unit that... okay, nobody likes Lictors, but at least they aren't this).
Additionally, they have one of the most schizophrenic loadouts in the game. Their attacks ignore all armor saves, which would be invaluable in 6th edition... except the rest of their stats make them absolutely awful in close combat, including I1, WS3, and only two attacks. They're too slow to keep up with an assault-based army (and largely pointless there anyway), and in a shooting army they compete with Hive Guard (which are basically the only way 'Nids can take down tanks). Their Flamespurt ability is AP 4, meaning you can't take out MEQ with it. They can explode, which could see them used as a suicide unit... except that affects your (pitifully weak, vulnerable to AoE explosions) units as well. Plus it's only when Instant Death is inflicted, which means melta or plasma... but it dies much easier to massed bolter shots.
So, all in all, the worst fucking unit the game. Completely pointless, no idea where it wants to be, competes with good units (units that are basically compulsory if you want Tyranids to win).
Fucking Cruddace.
Saving Grace
There is one saving grace to all of this. They look almost identical to Biovores (a unit that is a cheap source of assault pie plates that can also be used as a barrage), but they have a much newer, much less derpy model (although their gun does look strangely like an erect throbbing penis). As such, pretty much everybody buys the Pyrovore models and uses them as Biovores. But this has the possible side effect of convincing GW that the Pyrovore is actually good...