Razorfiend
Razorfiends are large Tyranid Cruisers that are aggressive in their attacks, storming out from the Hive Fleet in response to any threat to the massive Hive Ships, often using claws and tentacles to make direct attacks on ships in an effort to physically smash them to pieces. Cruiser-sized Tyranid Bio-ships are seldom found far from the Hive Ship, however, and it has been theorized that they receive their nourishment from them in some manner. Which begs some in /tg/ the question on what GW means by 'replenishing', with some /d/eviants suggesting that it is done like cows udders, which would mean that a Hive Ship has the biggest confirmed tit in the Galaxy if true. Like the Void Prowler, the Razorfiend has a metric shit-ton of sub-types to choose from.
Breed[edit]
Basic[edit]
Bio-Corrosive[edit]
The most well-balanced of the Razorfiends. The Bio-Corrosive has one of each weapon save for torpedoes, making it a very flexible vessel to use and engage in. At close range it could fire its Pyro-Acids whilst at longer-ranges, it could utilize its Bio-Plasma.
It is, therefore, one of the multitudes of various standard weaponry mixes in the Cruiser class of Tyranid ships, the Bio-Corrosive Razorfiend swaps in a set of Bio-Plasma batteries to give a touch of lance based weaponry for those heavier armored/shielded targets.
With so many subtle variations to the ships in the Cruiser class, without much to separate them, it may be hard to find unique reasons to highlight one ship over the other. On the plus side, you will find plenty of options to tailor your fleet to do very specific types of damage or stacking certain special weapons, should you choose.
It is armed with 1 Heavy Pyro-Acid Battery Artillery, 2 Bio-Plasma Batteries and 2 Pyro-Acid Battery Weapons.
- Length: 6-6.5km; approx
- Mass: 15.5 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Millions of organisms
- Acceleration: 2 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Bio-Acid Projectile[edit]
Different than the Void Prowler cousins and not to be confused with the Bio-Acid Razorfiends. The Bio-Acid Projectile Razorfiend is the torpedo-version of the Bio-Corrosive Razorfiend that is meant more for longer ranges due to its torpedo presence.
If you'd rather have some extra boarding action with your mixed battery option ship, the Bio-Acid Projectile Razorfiend brings a 6 rack of torpedo tubes in place of the Pyro-Acid artillery to supplement the Tyranids strong assault actions.
Remember that Tyranid line ships can replenish spent charges for the Torpedoes and Launch Bays, using the Reclamation Pools ability, consuming some troops as a cost. In addition, when the troops run low, you can use the Spawning Sacs ability to replenish troops fully up to the current casualty step.
It is armed with 6 Bio-Torpedo and Seed Spore Launchers, 2 Bio-Plasma Batteries and 2 Pyro-Acid Battery Weapons.
- Length: 6-6.5km; approx
- Mass: 14.9 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Millions of organisms
- Acceleration: 2 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Carrier[edit]
Corrosive Infestation[edit]
The first Tyranid bio-ship that is also effectively a carrier. The Corrosive Infestation Razorfiend is a torpedo-heavy carrier with some decent close-range defences.
Even with the Tyranid's already overall close-range attack profiles, the Corrosive Infestation is deliberately a close-range assault Carrier. Thanks to the Bio-Torpedoes, this might be the preferable option if you think you'll be wanting your carriers fighting up close with the enemy as opposed to far away.
The Corrosive Infestation Razorfiend is extra useful when you aren't stacking carriers, but want some amount of squadron deployment to supplement your fleet. This is due to the fact that since it can launch torpedoes unlike the other Cruiser Carrier, it can use them to distract defence turrets for the assault boats to make it to their targets. In the opposite fashion, the Corrosive Infestation Razorfiend can send out interceptors to cover for their torpedo launches to prevent them from being shot down.
If you are forgoing on having multiple carriers to deploy complimenting squadrons of interceptors/assaults in large numbers, consider this vessel for your needs.
It is armed with 6 Bio-Torpedo Launchers, 2 Launch Bays carrying Harpies and Ether-Swimming Broods and 2 Pyro-Acid Battery Weapons.
- Length: 6-6.5km; approx
- Mass: 15.2 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Millions of organisms, thousands of spaceborne creatures
- Acceleration: 2 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Bio-Infestation[edit]
The Bio-Infestation is the more longer-ranged version of the Corrosive Infestation (Relatively speaking for Tyranid standards).
As mentioned above, the Bio-Infestation Razorfiend is one of the two Cruiser sized carrier vessels, this one more suited for longer range engagements. If you aren't too focused on making use of the Bio-Plasma as a primary weapon, you can focus on keeping the Bio Infestation Razorfiend in frontal orders, firing it's Pyro-Acid from a range where it can stay stealthed, while it also routinely launches squadrons from its hidden position of safety.
It is armed with 1 Heavy Pyro-Acid Battery Artillery, 2 Launch Bays carrying Harpies and Ether-Swimming Broods and 2 Bio-Plasma Battery Weapons.
- Length: 6-6.5km; approx
- Mass: 15.5 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Millions of organisms, thousands of spaceborne creatures
- Acceleration: 2 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Ordnance-Boat[edit]
Base[edit]
The Base Razorfiend is actually counted as an ordnance-boat due to the sheer amount of Pyro-Acids it wields. Making it quite a dangerous vessel to face at close-range due to all that Dakka.
As is typical of any "all macros" load-out of vessels in any faction, the Razorfiend base variant takes the highest DPS numbers in its class. Normally it would have higher crit chances too but there seems to be (I could be wrong here) some underlying penalty to the Pyro-Acid weapons when compared to other macros, it is assumed due to the fire causing a special effect. In exchange for these high numbers, the Razorfiend takes the second-highest spot in points cost, losing first place by just one point to the Bio-Infestation Razorfiend.
It is armed with 1 Heavy Pyro-Acid Battery Artillery and 4 Pyro-Acid Battery Weapons.
- Length: 6-6.5km; approx
- Mass: 15.7 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Millions of organisms
- Acceleration: 2 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Corrosive Projectile[edit]
The torpedo-heavy version of the Base Razorfiend. The Corrosive Projectile is a very powerful close-range asset due to the presence of six torpedo launchers mixed in with its Pyro-Acid Batteries.
Because of this, the Corrosive Projectile Razorfiend is probably the most morale crippling vessel loadout in the Cruiser section for the Tyranids. As assault actions can really hurt morale of enemy vessels and so can fire aboard effects, things of which the Corrosive Projectile has in spades.
Even though the Razorfiend can cause more fires overall, single-target wise it can't fire its prow at the same target as it's broadside due to lack of overlapping arcs. Continuing on, the fact that the torpedo tube can lay down 6 assaults all at once (18 total potential troop damage) with another 4 assaults from it's boarding action (another 12 troop damage) within seconds. Afterwards, you can turn to point those broadsides at the enemy to drain the morale faster with the Corrosive Projectile Razorfiend.
It is armed with 6 Bio-Torpedo and Seed Spore Launchers and 4 Pyro-Acid Battery Weapons.
- Length: 6-6.5km; approx
- Mass: 15.4 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Millions of organisms
- Acceleration: 2 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Lance-Boat[edit]
Bio-Projectile[edit]
A lance-boat that just so happens to also be a torpedo-boat. This is basically the bigger brother of the Bio-Projectile Void Prowler. Having all the same armaments but more.
For most factions, having some powerful short-range lances on a torpedo equipped craft meant for short-range combat, would be highly complementary considering basic charge torpedoes usually deal high damage with an armor negating the effect. Unfortunately, the Tyranids have no standard explosive charge, instead of having a single type of boarding charge. This kind of hampers the idea of stacking AP weapons by grabbing a torpedo rack, since there is no prow lance for the Tyranids to utilize and there are no claws in the Cruiser class to mix with these Bio batteries.
This is not to say that having only boarding torpedoes is bad, it certainly isn't especially considering the short range of Bio-Plasma means you'll be spending a lot of time up close. Of course, there really aren't any Tyranid ships you want to use at range typically speaking anyways.
It is armed with 6 Bio-Torpedo and Seed Spore Launchers and 4 Bio-Plasma Battery Weapons.
- Length: 6-6.5km; approx
- Mass: 15.2 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Millions of organisms
- Acceleration: 2 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Bio-Acid[edit]
Like the Bio-Projectile Razorfiend, the Bio-Acid Razorfiend is an upscaled version of the Bio-Acid Void Prowler. It is a lance-heavy Cruiser with a nasty close-ranged punch.
The Bio-Acid Razorfiend is the standard weapon, lance boating vessel in the Cruiser class. You can find another quad set of Bio-Plasma batteries mixed with a torpedo rack with the Bio-Projectile Razorfiend, but there is no prow mountable Bio-Plasma Artillery for the line ships, like there is for the escorts, to go full lance boating for complete weapon penetration.
It is armed with 1 Heavy Pyro-Acid Battery Artillery and 4 Bio-Plasma Battery Weapons.
- Length: 6-6.5km; approx
- Mass: 15.6 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: Millions of organisms
- Acceleration: 2 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2[edit]
The Tyranids Cruiser vessels are similar to their Light Cruisers in that they are given a handful of weapon varieties to create a "weapon pool" then every possible mix and match of that weapon pool is turned into one of the available Razorfiend variant Cruisers.
There are some notable differences found in the tier up in weight class. For starters, you get the typical extra weapon bays but you also get a different mix of weapons. In the Cruiser-class, you won't find any Claws or Feeder Tentacles, instead, the ships focusing mostly on more typical weaponry like their special macro and lance guns, along with torpedo tubes and the first appearance of Launch Bays within their fleet.
The Cruisers get their usual uptick in hull points and shields. What's important here stats-wise, besides the high assault damage and defending troops, is the increase in shields that carries over to an increased maximum number of "defence turrets" along with the special damaging ability granted by Spores.
| Vessels of the Tyranids | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spaceships | ||
| Battleships | Hive Ship (Ancient One) | |
| Cruisers | Void Prowler - Cruiser (Razorfiend Dark Prowler - Void Fiend) - Devourer | |
| Escorts | Escort (Escort Drone - Vanguard Drone Ship Kraken) | |
| Logistics | Narvhal | |
| Landships | ||
| Bio-titans | Viciator - Dominatrix Hierophant - Hydraphant | |
| Airships | ||
| Flying Fortress | Harridan | |