Card Game DB
Sign In
Create Account
Welcome to Card Game DB
Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more. If you already have an account, login here - otherwise create an account for free today!
Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more. If you already have an account, login here - otherwise create an account for free today!
0
Great Devourer Set Review - Warlord and Synapse
Aug 21 2015 12:00 AM |
steinerp
in Warhammer 40k: Conquest
Conquest Great Devourer warpack review
Before I get started I would like to thank like to thank the reviewers that submitted their initial reviews in an extremely timely fashion. This was a huge set to review and I really appreciate the effort people put into formatting it correctly. I had minimal editing that needed to be done. If you are interested in submitting a review in the future let me know.Also because of the size of this set, I will be releasing it in four articles. The first will focus on the warlords, their squads, and the synapse creatures. The second will be the units, the third will cover the rest of the nid cards and the final will be the non-nid cards.
I will take a minute to get on my soapbox and encourage everyone to report all the games you play at 40kconquest.blogspot.com. The more people we have reporting games, the more accurate it is. You can also go there to see stats on games others have reported to see if anything we say in these reviews turn out to be true or not.
Ratings
The rating scale as follows was offered to reviewers:
1- Very poor - Very bad for the foreseeable future, but may become a usable card one day in the meta.
2- Bad - Not a good card to play generally, but may have its role in some very specific deck builds. Not likely to be seen in a tourney winning deck.
3- Average - Will make some tourney winning decks, but not in every deck it is eligible for. Think hard before including.
4- Strong - Almost certainly a strong include for almost every deck that is eligible to include it.
5- Excellent - A definite auto-include of exceptional strength.
For Warlord cards, we use other Warlords as point of comparison, and account for their signature cards in their strength.
For Signature cards, they are rated in isolation, as if they were a Loyal card you could choose to include or not, but at the fixed number of cards required by the Squad.
Also note, that in terms of multiples included, a card does not have to be a 3x to be a 5/5 auto-include. Some cards are clearly designed to be included fewer times, and cannot be rated less strong because of this.
Synopsis
I’ll do the synopsis in the final article
The Reviews
Old One Eye
Steinerp – 3/5
Unfortunately not quite tough enough to get into the fray himself and once he is bloodied his entire signature squad becomes close to junk. Fortunately he is tougher than most when healthy.
Asklepios - 4/5
Despite the great healing ability, 6HP is quite fragile.6/6 on resources/cards is also a hard thing to put a read on. On face level, it could be said that you're "paying 1R1C for a synapse creature" which sounds like a massive bargain, but that ignores the deploy turn disadvantage on turn 1, and the reduced chance of getting a sought after card in turn 1 (61% down to 54%, for a search with mulligan rule, for a 3/50 card), and the much harder to calculate negative effect on getting a playable hand overall that having 6 cards compared to 7 has. For my own part, I'd gladly take a 7/7 start with no Synapse Creature! On the other hand, his signature squad is good, and as we've seen for Baharroth, you can have an awesome ability and be sunk by bad signature cards, and as we've seen for Straken, a really mediocre ability can be recovered a great deal by really decent signature cards.
I Fight Dragons – 3/5
Solid stats and a potentially very potent ability if managed properly. The lack of shield icons on Tyranid cards has me worried about his relative health and once he’s bloodied he becomes neutered in almost every respect.
Kingsley - 4/5.
This warlord focuses on early aggression with reduced risk, which is a solid gameplan. I expect that he will put up strong results, though the synergy is a little more complicated than that of The Swarmlord. Note that you want to take odd numbers of damage if possible to maximize the efficiency of your ability here.
Corvus – 3/5
Like Kugath, he can be a frustratingly unkillable duelist. I worry that he will flounder at either of two extremes. If your enemy avoids fighting him and you can't leverage his Hormagaunts' reaction, his tricks will go unused. If your enemy bloodies him, his attachment's reaction is blanked and every other signature card loses a huge chunk of its value. Maybe his bursty assassination potential is better than I assume, but he initially looks to be the underdog Warlord for Tyranids.
Lurking Hormagaunt
Steinerp -5/5
1 hit point should be easy to kill right? Not so much as the key here is that OOE doesn’t have to be at same location and the damage can be from anything doesn’t have to be just a regular attack.
Asklepios - 4/5
2 cost signature squads always help smooth out a deck's cost curve, and 1/3/1 is decent enough stats, reminiscent of Alpha Legion Inflitrator's 1/4/1, but with a very cool ability making up for the lower attack value. Obviously there's a synergy with warlord ability, and other signature cards. Another nice trick here is to split the damage into two packages, then shield each separately.
I Fight Dragons – 4/5
I personally love this unit. Send Old One Eye to Snipe a pirate while these guys do work at first planet and ship him all the damage you don’t just shield outright. Then Old One Eye can heal it later after swinging into the pirate. Cool.
Kingsley - 4/5.
A strong unit boasting excellent synergy with Old One Eye. If he gets bloodied, this unit becomes quite bad, but it’s a great bully as long as Old One Eye has health to soak its damage - and given Old One Eye’s regeneration, having that health is quite likely!
Corvus – 3/5
At their best, they're cheap, resilient units that hit for 3. At their worst, they're cheap, fragile units that hit for 3. Getting the most out of them means keeping your warlord safe and giving him a chance to attack then ready, which could be tricky.
Awakening Cavern
Steinerp -2/5
Great ability but too expensive.
Asklepios - 3/5
Readying any unit you control is a really flexible and useful ability. Obvious synergy here is to give your Warlord the ability to trigger his warlord ability at any time during the round there is an action window, which could make Old One Eye inordinately hard to bloody in emergent play, as well as giving him a second attack. Bear in mind though it doesn't increase the amount of healing you get that phase, it just makes the timing more flexible. Could also make Lurking Hormagaunt or Savage Warrior Prime bite a bit harder, or make an AoE 1 into that twice.
However 3 cost is hefty.
I Fight Dragons – 3/5
This is just a solid, good-stuff support. Once in play, you will use it every turn. The problem lies with finding the time to play it out without sacrificing a lot of tempo do to its high resource cost. Sometimes you will just have to forgo playing it in favor of more army units on the board.
Kingsley - 4/5.
This card is expensive but the effect it provides is very strong, allowing you to heal Old One Eye on command and to gain an advantage with an extra attack in close fights.
Corvus – 3/5
It's... fine. Getting 3 cost supports into play is a huge headache. It has fewer restrictions than Cato or Aunshi's supports, and triggering One Eye's reaction at will can be key, but it's still not amazing.
Ferocious Strength
Steinerp – 3/5
Good card but balancing damage optimally can be tricky and is a dangerous game with OOE as once bloody the rest of the squad drops quickly in value especially since you see this card twice a game at most.
Asklepios - 5/5
Spike damage potential is always a great thing, especially with just 1 cost, and this card will make canny opponents very nervous about dealing damage to Old One Eye, which is just as it should be.
I Fight Dragons – 4/5
This event is what makes Old One Eye scary, in my opinion. It’s the equivalent of what Fetid Haze is to Ku’gath. Just nasty when played at the right time and since it lasts until the end of the combat round, you can ready your target with Old One Eye’s Signature Support or Dark Cunning and swing again. Literally Brutal.
Kingsley - 3/5.
This card is good but risky, and only synergies well with some synapse units. Overall it’s a solid piece to have in your deck and will make many opponents sweat, but it’s not quite as impressive as some other signature events.
Corvus – 3/5
A good way to leverage the advantages that Tyranids have from starting the game with two high HP bodies. It also does a good job of punishing enemies that try to bloody your warlord too slowly. Awakening Cavern or Dark Cunning will sometimes let you snap off more boosted attacks for added value.
Great Scything Talons
Steinerp – 3/5
Again a good card, but becomes +1 HP once he is bloodied.
Asklepios - 5/5
This is yet another 1x signature attachment that could be make or break for a warlord. Yes, the attack boost is delayed and telegraphed, but the +1HP is also critically useful, and the ability is enough to really mess up combat math.
I Fight Dragons – 2/5
+1 HP is nice, but this attachment doesn’t really do much until the second round of combat when the damage bonus kicks in. Better if you have your signature support out but also becomes much worse once your warlord is bloodied. You might sometimes pull shenanigans with triggering Iridial before you swing which is just a fun interaction.
Kingsley - 5/5.
This is an excellent attachment for Old One Eye, providing extra health to support his “tank†role and letting you hit back harder after regenerating. Keep in mind that this also works with a certain planet ability for potentially massive swings.
Corvus – 3/5
The extra HP on a regenerating warlord is great. The reaction can be bypassed by retreating after the first round of combat (except in the rare circumstance that you get Cavern out as well), which is a common occurrence anyways, or by bloodying One Eye, so the second half of this card's text is seriously lackluster.
“The Swarmlordâ€
Steinerp – 4/5
Takes Kith to a new level in terms of number of tokens but without the choke aspect. And with other investments those tokens are better as well. Does have downsides in that he loses utility going to planet 1 and those tokens are with him. Has more choices out the box so expect it to take longer to find his sweet spot.
Asklepios - 4/5
Less suited to a first planet game than Old One Eye, as that halves his ability text. Also 2 1/1 tokens, placed at adjacent planets, is a far far weaker ability than Kith's single 2/1 token played at the planet she arrives at, even if Termagants are better supported.
As much of the non-Signature card pool includes strong effects that synergise well, and this rescues this warlord, much as Aun'shi gets rescued by a lot of non-Signature Tau cards. That pushes him up to 4/5.
I Fight Dragons – 4/5
If Kith is any indicator, free units and solid stats make a good warlord. Add on the fact that the tokens will often be much better than just vanilla 1/1/0 units and you’ve got the makings of a very competitive warlord right out of the gates for Tyranids.
Kingsley - 4/5.
This warlord is powerful. As we’ve seen with Packmaster Kith, generating tokens is a great effect; Swarmlord generates more tokens and the tokens are often better. However, he requires some care with commits to get the most effect out of his ability. I could easily see Swarmlord turning out to be a 5/5, but I’m holding that back until more testing is complete.
Corvus – 5/5
Kith has shown us how good it can be to have a unit spawning ability built into your warlord. Yes, he loses value if he commits to outer planets. Yes, he doesn't bring anything with him to that round's fight. But... there's no real answer to 1/1 tokens when you're churning out this many in different places each turn.
Brood Warriors
Steinerp – 4/5
Not flashy at a 2/2 for 2 but that he can generate command icons even while exhausted and potentially can generate 4+/turn is pretty good.
Asklepios - 4/5
2 for 1/2/2 looks pretty poor, and it is, but that is decent ability text that could effectively create 2-11 command icons on a single 2-cost deploy, so it effectively fulfills the same role as other "2-for-2s". Also, its handy that some of that command need not be fixed till the command phase, as could be dependent on your commits with Swarmlord and Gravid Tervigon.
Because it is a 4x Signature Card we have to judge it in that context, and overall it has to be said that there's great synergy going on there.
I Fight Dragons – 4/5
If there’s two things Tyranids are lacking in out of the box, it’s command hammers and shield icons; and this gives you the former in spades sometimes. Depending on your choice of synapse unit, you can become a command powerhouse with this card’s aid. Also brings solid stats to boot.
Kingsley - 5/5.
One of the best signature units in the game. The command it provides is a great boon to the Tyranids and it has solid stats to boot. Keep in mind that the icons provided are on the Termagant tokens rather than the Brood Warriors themselves, so Superiority only removes one icon and the Brood Warrior effect works even if the Warriors are themselves exhausted.
Corvus – 4/5
In some ways it's just a relief to see a reasonably priced body in a signature squad. Given the limited command options for Tyranids their ability seems highly relevant.
Leviathan Hive Ship
Steinerp -3/5
I don’t like 3 cost supports as a rule but bringing back a unit each turn is good. Being exhausted isn’t awful either as it still gives out the bonus when exhausted. As squig bomb becomes more popular these look worse and worse.
Asklepios - 4/5
Recursion is very useful, especially when it’s directly back into play at a planet, and especially when it can reinforce mid battle. Including the signature squads, there's four solid units that can be recursed here. High cost is all that keeps this from a higher score, as it’s not something you'll deploy casually on early turns of the game, much as you don't open Ragnar's Warcamp.
I Fight Dragons – 3/5
Similar to Old One Eye’s support in regards to tempo loss to play, but this is an absolute monster with Swarm Guard and Termagant Spikers, making your opponent blow twice as many resources to kill them off.
Kingsley - 3/5.
Like Awakening Cavern, this support has a very powerful effect but a high price tag to compensate. It’s a little more conditional than Awakening Cavern, which is why I’ve given it a lower rating, but it’s not one that you’ll really be unhappy to see.
Corvus – 3/5
Resurrecting the units that boost the rest of your army is very powerful. The downsides are that the card is expensive, slow to recoup its cost, and won't have valid targets every turn if your opponent picks his fights carefully.
Indescribable Horror
Steinerp -5/5
Archon Terror that doesn’t have the unique restriction. Sure it won’t be routing a Trygon anytime soon, but even elites should be in range early in combats.
Asklepios - 5/5
Like Archon's Terror, an untelegraphed rout move is going to be batle or game winning. Yes, the limitation hurts a bit, but counting all tyranid units means we can include warlord, synapse and token units in on that, so it'll be unusual to be not able to find this card can't be played because of the limitation. Also, unlike Archon's Terror, it can rout Uniques, which is pretty useful.
I Fight Dragons – 5/5
It’s like Kith is going as a Tyranid for Halloween. Routing is strong; and in most circumstances, this is a stronger route than Archon’s terror because it can also snag uniques under its effect. I’m never unhappy to draw this card.
Kingsley - 5/5.
This is Archon’s Terror as your signature event. Need I say more? Unlike the real Archon’s Terror, this one works even on unique units, which will be nice given the focus on uniques in this box. You do need to have several Tyranid units to make maximum use of this, but The Swarmlord doesn’t worry too much about such matters.
Corvus 4/5
Most other warlords need to put up with weird enablers or just outright drivel in their event slot, and this guy gets Archon's bleedin' Terror? The unit count restriction is a lot less taxing when you realize your warlord and the right synapse unit can churn out 4 Tyranids every turn. It'll still be a downside early in the game, as well as later on if your opponent can manage your unit count with Warpstorm and the like.
Bone Sabres
Steinerp -5/5
I hear stealing another warlord’s ability is pretty good. Especially when it only costs 1, give you an attack and those tokens are significantly better than snotlings in most cases.
Asklepios - 4/5
Token generation keyed off the warlord is something we've already seen with Wyrdboy Stikk, though not as directly and explicitly as here. Adding +1 attack, and an affordable 1-cost makes up for this ability not being astounding.
I Fight Dragons – 3/5
As far as signature attachments go, this is mild. An additional attack makes your warlord pack quite a punch. It’s no Talissarian Tempest Blade, but it does more of what you already want to do well. Not necessarily a bad thing.
Kingsley - 4/5.
This effect is strong but doesn’t shine quite as brightly as some of the top-tier signature attachments, as using it often leaves you vulnerable to attack. I can see this being saved to shield more often than the Scything Talons will be.
Corvus – 3/5
A perfectly average sig attachment. You'll usually want to play it, it will be worth the cost, but you won't give a second thought to using it for shields in a pinch.
Savage Warrior Prime
Steinerp -4/5
The missing command icon hurts as all the other synapse help you change the command struggle math. Also hurt by the fact that he will die the quickest of the synapse creatures to die due to constant battling. Never a bad choice for a deck but has some bad matchups.
Asklepios - 4/5
There are no bad synapse units.
Preview of this synapse creature made a lot of people think Tyranids were going to be overpowered. Like Aun'shi with an Orbital City, this can double the speed of command sniping. However, like that combo, it doesn't prevent any command win through this trick.
Still, being guaranteed to have this trick from the outset is dead useful, and this card could seriously mess up some decks.
I Fight Dragons – 4/5
This gives you tons of flexibility: extra battle abilities, command sniping, planet 1 bullying while your warlord sets up elsewhere. Turns out, when you can pick more battles each turn, you tend to kill more stuff, who knew?
Kingsley - 5/5.
This card lets you assassinate an enemy capping unit and trigger a battle effect independently of your warlord, which is extremely powerful. Its lack of command icons is the only real weakness. If you run this unit, Fall Back! might be an especially good choice, as some decks (especially Space Marines) can jump on you after you pick off a unit, and losing your Synapse early can be a hard blow to take.
Corvus – 5/5
Lets you experience that soul-crushing feeling of having Aun'shi bring out Orbital City on turn 1 every game. I worry that letting you hunt down a command unit, letting you trigger an extra battle ability every turn, and forcing your opponent to deal with a free 2/5 body on top of your warlord is just too strong. Prime runs the risk of eclipsing every other synapse option unless I'm really undervaluing the immediate command presence they offer.
Blazing Zoanthrope
Steinerp -3/5
Damage is at beginning of combat rather than commitment making worse than Ragnar despite the opposing warlord restriction being lifted. Regardless his hammer can shift command struggles
Asklepios - 4/5
There are no bad Synapse Units.
As a command sniper that can tip the balance on a matchup of 1-for-1 vs 1-for-1, and kill the enemy capper as a benefit, is a pretty useful card, and it even has the potential to make a difference in a battle proper, in the late game. The ability makes this card a 3/5. The command icon makes it 4/5. The weak fighting stats: well, you can't have it all.
I Fight Dragons – 3/5
Ragnar-lite. Good at command sniping and potentially kill troublesome units like Honored Librarian and Vior’la Marksman on commit. I don’t believe it will see a whole bunch of play at the moment but maybe a deck shows up that really helps leverage it into your favor.
Kingsley - 4/5.
The Blazing Zoanthrope is perhaps the best choice of Synapse to accompany your warlord into battle directly, and does an admirable job of this - it can also be used to win tied command struggles or to tie losing ones, while sniping at the enemy command unit to boot.
Corvus – 3/5
The Tyranid's roster doesn't have much in the way of ranged units, but this guy fills a similar role. Early in the game he can take potshots at enemy command units, and later on he's still a fast-acting and significant contribution in combat.
Gravid Tervigon
Steinerp -3/5
If your Swarmlord deck need more tokens or you want to try gaunts in OOE, this is the most effective token generator out there. However because he wants the tokens in the fight, he will often be going to 1 and that leads to short lives
Asklepios - 4/5
There are no bad synapse units.
Clearly a better card for Swarmlord, as its commitment can turn 1 command icon on a Brood Warrior into 4 command icons total. My only concern is that Swarmlord / Tervigon is a really unaggressive deck, relying on seeding planets downstream for future conflicts. However, the mere presence of a command icon on a unit that can be commited rather than deployed is really useful in itself.
I Fight Dragons – 3/5
Solid with “The Swarmlordâ€, mediocre otherwise. The value of extra termagant tokens is pretty much based on what Hive Mind units you have at the planet, but at worst you can treat this unit as 1/5/1 in stats, which is not too shabby; and at best you get 2 extra ranged attackers clearing their board.
Kingsley - 4/5.
While the Tervigon may look amazing at first glance, Old One Eye decks don’t typically run the Termagant synergy to support this, while Swarmlord decks are prone to hitting the token limit even without this guy. That said, adding an extra Termagant or two in a critical place can be key, and if you send this unit to a planet with Brood Warriors it acts as a great command snipe as well.
Corvus – 4/5
All the Termagant synergy cards are made infinitely better by the fact that you're guaranteed to get an endless stream of them from your warlord, and this guy compounds that advantage. I'm hopeful that the dedicated Termagant deck will want this guy and there will be variety in synapse unit choices.
Stalking Lictor
Steinerp -4/5
A walking, talking promotion that doesn’t require a unit to play it on and is always played after opponent has finished? Sign me up. Should be the default synapse for most decks, however the others all have their places. Doesn’t get a 5 because 5 is auto-include and the other synapse are definitely playable but as with the Savage, I’ll never mock you for taking this guy
Asklepios - 4/5
There are no bad synapse units.
This one is simple: its 2 command you can place down wherever you need it, and you hope it doesn't hit the opposing warlord, or have to go against Orbital Cities.
My personal feeling here is that this is the synapse creature of choice in the early Tyranid meta: not that its strictly better, but rather that its the most efficient at covering the faction's primary deficiency, which is very poor command presence.
I Fight Dragons – 4/5
What is there to really say? Two free command hammers that are re-positional and on a solid body. If you apply pressure elsewhere then your opponent also can’t afford to go hunt it down, either. A solid go-to synapse.
Kingsley- 5/5.
The Stalking Lictor is straightforward and effective - in most situations, it offers a second command snipe, which should go well in almost any deck. In my initial testing the Lictor has proven to be my synapse of choice.
Corvus – 3/5
Killing a new command unit each turn seems better than just beating them on command then leaving. Add Prime's bigger body, the fact that he triggers a battle ability and also be used to clear out actual combat units, and this just seems like a weaker option.
Venomthrope Polluter
Steinerp -2/5
The worst of the synapse. Not worthless but ability is marginal. If big nid elite decks become a thing he might find a home there but until then he is probably the least consistent of the warlords
Asklepios - 4/5
There are no bad Synapse Units.
However, there are some seriously weird ones, and this is probably the one that is going to be most complicated to use. 1/1/4 makes it a sneaky command capper, and the ability is seriously sneaky, allowing flexible warlord sniping simultaneous with combat troop redistribution, clever feint games in command, messing with the warlord train to set up next turn, and so on. Personally, I suspect I lack the finesse to play this Synapse unit well, but I still rate it as strong: just really complicated!
I Fight Dragons – 3/5
Very interesting with what you can do here. You can reposition your units to snipe command, set up Hive Mind units for the planet you want, move that routed command unit back to a planet you want. It has some cool stuff it can do, but I don’t think it beats out a more focused synapse unit, at the moment.
Kingsley - 3/5.
Venomthrope Polluter isn’t a bad card, but it’s more conditional than the other Synapse units in my view, and the other units are so amazing that it seems tough to justify putting this in your deck. It’s conceivable that more advanced Tyranid play will bring the Polluter’s virtues into the light, but right now it seems like the odd man (or bug) out.
Corvus- 2/5
The ability to redeploy some of your forces is neat, but on average will have much less impact than some of the other synapse abilities on offer. Put differently, the other synapse units offer immediate value while this guy has setup costs (getting units in the right places) and an ability that's only situationally good.
7 Comments
Interesting on the synapse units.
I'd say that they're all 4/5 cards (as indeed I did) and that my own preference goes:
1) Lictor
2) Prime
3) Zoanthrope
4) Tervigon
5) Polluter.
I suspect most would agree polluter is on bottom of the list, but also suspect there'll be a lot of dissent on what the order of the remaining ones.
I put tervigon slightly ahead of zoanthrope but I'm ok with your ranking as well
Zoanthrope might go better in an Infest deck with the Genestealer Warlord once he's out.
I'd say there's not much in it between Lictor and Prime, depending on build/playstyle, and Tervigon has its place with Swarmlord, though I don't think it's necessarily the go-to with him, and the others still help his gameplay a lot.
SWP is so good with its stats, chance to snipe a unit and then trigger a planet ability. If you can avoid the enemy warlord, I think he can be the most powerful synapse.
I really like the Zoanthrope as it should (hopefully), tie command and then snipe the opposing unit. If the planet is infested, then shields are barely an option, and the damage is also decent against combat units.
The Tervigon, I feel, is largely uneeded. You already explained why. Nothing to add here.
Lictor is so straightforward and effective it should always be good, at all play levels.
Polluter will lose or win games. It's really weird. But I'm really eager to see how he evolves as new units and warlord are released
Great job, guys. Good read.
Your article is categorized under generic articles rather than in the 40K Conquest category. I think it might be easier for people to find it in the future if it were to be moved to the appropriate category.
Tervigon I'm finding hard to use out of Swarmlord, as its underpowered when not going to infested planets, and easy to intercept when it does. My liking for that card is diminishing rapidly.
I'm finding more and more Lictor or Prime are standing out above the others, and I'd now change my ratings to:
Lictor 4/5
Prime 4/5
Zoanthrope 3/5
Tervigon 2/5
Polluter 2/5
I need to test Zoanthrope more though, and I think a deck that builds heavily on infestation will find it stronger than the infestation-apathetic Prime and Lictor.
After lots of test games with SWP I can see why people like Lictor as an alternative but I still like starting fights. The mileage you can get out of SWP when Plannum is in play (or better yet, Plannum and the wildcard planet) is just insane.
The other 3 Synapse units just don't seem necessary in any deck, at least at the moment.