DE Tactics: The Glass Cannon

Pictures are worth a thousand words.. even if it's a crappy MS Paint drawn one.

Rathstar asked in my tournament blog post:
Could you give more information on how you were able to fire at the Tau battlesuits while still getting cover from their return firepower. I suppose the raiders were just poking their front past a building, but how did the ravagers get cover while still firing all three weapons?

As a Dark Eldar, being able to inflict maximum damage while preserving your delicate units is vital.  Since DE is the premiere glass cannon army in the game, we're not supposed to be able to slug it out with the other races.  We must use our cunning, our guile and our superior intellect to triumph over our enemies.


Without further RP, let me insert a picture of strategic dominance here:

The picture is crappy, I know, but the arrows, the colors and the triangle blocks says everything.

The blue symbolizes the Ravagers.  Notice how I'm able to draw line of sight and range to his battle suits on the far right and negate 75% of his army's shooting by LoS alone.  Note the blue line coming from his army.  Sure, he gets a cover save on those suits, but I'm forcing enough wounds that cause instant death that he has to react to that and reposition.  The only thing in his army that had LoS and range was those Broadsides on top of that building.  Even so, they couldn't see more than 50% of the vehicle so I had cover.

The pink arrow displays where my Ravagers went after their targets were neutralized.  I placed one of my Raiders by the windows by building 3 (where the red star is) so he had absolutely no LoS to my Ravagers from his deployment zone.  With 12" to shoot, I was able to pick off any stragglers that moved left or right from where he deployed while denying LoS or gaining cover saves from that central building.

The purple boats and arrow displays where some Raiders (my Ravagers also moved there later game) went to take pot shots at his army on turn one.  LoS wise, his entire right flank was blocked save for 3 suits which I had cover on.  The only thing that could shoot me with confidence was the Broadsides on top of the building, but target priority means that he won't be shooting my turbo-boosting Trueborn on his right flank (where that white paper is in the picture), the Ravagers in the back, or the Warrior Raider threatening an objective on his left flank (green star, behind cover of the rock).

This right here, is how you defeat a superior shooting army.

• Use LoS to negate as much fire as you can while opening up fire lanes of your own.
• Make sure everything has cover, even if it means putting one Raider in harm's way to save 4-5.
• Use your boats to block LoS if possible.
• If he has a cover save already, don't be afraid to shoot through terrain, your own units or windows since your objective is to inflict as many wounds as possible.

What about my 3rd game vs. the CSM with mass Oblits?

I took about 5 seconds to do this, so please, cut me some slack.  I am not an artist, what I am is the most cunning Archon to have ever lived.

This is how I dismantled his army Oblit by Oblit:

The green whirls symbolize where 2 Ravagers and some Raiders were at the start of the game.  I moved them there because from the ground level, the Oblits drawing the red arrow couldn't see through that at all.  What I could see was the Oblits sitting in cover on top of the building.  Since they were in cover anyway, I shot through the windows, inflicted some wounds and put 'em down.

The yellow arrow shows where a good chunk of my boats went.  Two of them turbo-boosted (one of which was Trueborn w/ Blasters) while the rest moved to that location and shot the Oblits that were sitting where the yellow X was.  By positioning them there, I was able to cut LoS from the top teal arrow (behind that tower, you can't see 'em here) and at best, draw a cover save if they were still alive...

..Which they weren't because the boats on the top of the picture; the ones with the light blue swirls, went behind the rocks there to get cover from the yellow X Oblits and direct LoS of fire on the Oblits behind the building.  Since they weren't in cover, they were completely destroyed.

I concentrated all my shooting so that entire squads of Oblits were destroyed, keeping them as 1 unit so they can only shoot at one target at a time.  Next round, they shot down a Wych Raider and that was the only thing they did before they died.

Once again, let's recap:

• Use LoS to your advantage and deny as much of it as possible.
• If they get a cover save anyway, don't be afraid to shoot through things like windows.
• Make sure everything gets cover while maintaining clear fire lanes.

And to close this off, some minor questions:

Q: Will I keep Vect?
A: Yes, but only at 1850-2000 point games.  At 1750, I downgrade to a Archon w/ combat goodies.  I'd rather have more points for more troops at lower point games than a uber Archon.  His 4+ Seize opens strategic windows and all sorts of mind games, but I find it really hard to fit him at 1750 without losing my Succubus.  I will be playing a game without him today at 1750 and I'll let you guys know how that goes.

Q: What sort of changes will I make to this list?
A: Nothing.  I'm really liking it so far.  I still need to play against a hordes army though.

Q: Were the Blasters on the Warriors used at all?
A: Yes they were.  Not so much in the first game because I was using the Raiders defensively and keeping them on the constantly moving objectives, but the second game they were just dominating the dudes out of transports.  If you're in a strong position to take advantage of the Blaster's range, go for it.  24" of mobile threat is where you want to be if the objectives were deployed further up.

Q: How did you find the upgrades on the Raiders and Ravagers?
A: I'm definitely going to keep NS/FF on my Ravagers and I'm probably to keep NS on the Warrior Raiders and FF on the Wych Raiders.  Basically, FF on anything that's going to be getting close to the enemy where NS won't help and NS on anything that's staying back, or have the luxury of staying back.  Warriors float somewhere in the middle so NS offers a lot more short-ranged protection for them vs. Flicker Fields since I intend on staying in cover anyway.

Q: In your experience, is it better to go for the defensive grenades or more units?
A: More units every time.  In my particular list, I need all the mans I can to stay alive and remain combat effective.

DE: What are my troop options?

Based on the games I've played so far, I'm going to say that I absolutely need at least 5 troop units.  With MEQ armies, I don't feel comfortable playing without at least 30 scoring boots on the table.  For example, I always go with 3 squads of 10 full Grey Hunters for my Space Wolves and 3x10 ASM for my Blood Angels.  In the recent tournament that I played, the fact that a exploding Raider can kill half my dudes confirms my predictions.

For this reason, I don't see min squads of troops working.  Unless...

• You have FNP on your units to begin with; such as Wracks or Haemonculi-joined units.
• You're running 5 Warriors in a Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons w/ Night Shield and just sitting back.
• You're running 5 Warriors in a Raider just for the Dark Lance and 24" scoring.

Other than this, I see big squads of units worth it 100% if you're taking non-Haemonculi units like me.  My Kabal doesn't run any Haemonculi because I believe that killing my opponent is more satisfying than running FNP token monkeys.  Now don't get me wrong, Haemonculi and Wrack troops is still very satisfying.  For example, my friend Nick ran Haemonculi with Wracks in the same tournament and he was able to soak up a lot of damage with them.  Each of his Wrack squads were in MSU (Multiple Small Units) configuration in Raiders.

This leaves us with two distinct playstyles of Dark Eldar:  Big units or MSU-style play.

Now bear with me while I think outloud:

• If small units of Wracks can soak up so much damage with their T4 and FNP then wouldn't 10-man units of Wracks soak up a lot more?  Exploding Raiders only wound them on 5s (T4 and open-top).
• Small units of Warriors in Venoms don't really contribute to the battle unless they have Blasters.  Wracks sitting in Venoms don't really contribute to the fight unless they take a Liquidfier.  Both of these can also sit in Raiders for extra Dark Lances, but Venoms are definitely more accommodating with their inbuilt Flicker Fields and 2x Splinter Cannons.
• So the ideal configuration would be Warcks w/ Liquidfier in a Venom w/ 2x Splinter Cannons and Night Shields.  They will sit back and shoot anything outside of transports and act as rear-guard scoring units or GTFOff my objective units with their troop-threatening template and poisoned shooting.
• This ideology shifts somewhat when you get up to bigger units.  We all know that T4 FNP is much more survivable than T3 5+ Warriors, but Warriors supply the unit with a Blaster and Splinter Cannon in a Raider.  Wracks can only take 2x Liquidfiers at their most optimal unit size per cost.  This means that they're quite limited in function and not nearly as flexible.
• Warriors deliver ranged shooting in both anti-infantry and anti-tank, but they sacrifice durability.  Wracks provide the durability but lack the ability to engage tanks or offer ranged support.
• This pretty much means that 5x Wracks in Venoms is most ideal and 10x Warriors in Raiders is best.  The Wracks' Venom should have Night Shields and sit in the back with Splinter Cannons while the Warrior's Raider should move mid-field and apply anti-tank pressure and shoot poisoned shots out of the Raider if the target presents itself.
• If you're not taking scoring Wracks, you should probably just go for big units in Raiders because they add more for you.

Now what about Wyches?
Absolutely vital - at least 2 units of 10 in Raiders.

The reason why is because you're playing Dark Elves and you desperately need a reason to close the distance with something dangerous.  They're also scoring so you can always capture/control objectives on your opponent's side of the field.  Wyches threaten things like Devastators to no tomorrow and it gives your opponent a high priority target to shoot at.  The best way to run these units is by including a killy HQ with them because it increases their target killing potential by a ton.

In terms of Wyches, the only problem I have with them is that they die if their Raider blows up.  Everyone inside takes a S3 hit and with a 6+ save, things go quite poorly for them.  If you attach a Haemonculi to them and give them FNP, it increases their survivability by a lot.  In terms of effectiveness, the Haemonculi you bought to take the Wracks should go with the Wyches and the Wracks should be in the Venoms.  You now have offensive and defensive scoring troops in Fast transports and I think that's the way to do it.  Your opponent will have to shoot at the Wyches while assessing the mid-field Warriors and the long range Wracks.  Add this on top of your turbo-boosting Trueborn with Blasters and 3x Ravagers and things get really stressful really quick for your opponent's target priority.

The tournament results are in!

First, the list:

1848
17 kp

HQ:
Asdrubael Vect = 240
Succubus (Agonizer, Haywire) = 90

TROOP:
9x Wyches (Raider FF, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 205
9x Wyches (Raider FF, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 205
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185

ELITE:
4x Trueborn (Raider NS, 4x Blaster) = 178

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125

This is the list I eventually went with and I'm very satisfied with it.  Before I say anything else, let me outline the mission types that we played.

1st Round
Spearhead Deployment
Seize Ground 5 Objectives
At the beginning of turn 2 and 4, roll a scatter dice for 2d6 and replace the objectives (except for the middle one)
Nominate a HQ; killing that one gives you bonus points
You get bonus points if the HQ he nominates lives when the game is over

2nd Round
Pitched Battle
Annihilation
All HQ, MCs and Vehicles (including Dreads) are worth 3 points (Squadrons count as 1 choice)
All Troop choices (not including vehicles) are worth 2 points
All Elites, Heavies and Fast Attack are worth 1 point.
Killing double his kill points gives you a decisive victory.

3rd Round
Spearhead Deployment
Seize Ground (3 Objectives)
One objective is in the middle and each player places an objective in the quadrant to the left or right of him.
Capturing all the objectives gives you a decisive victory.


BR first game vs. Tau Battlesuits + Broadsides
+1 Attack for combat drugs

This is his deployment.

This is my counter deployment.

These are the only photos I took in this battle because I didn't want to bore my opponent with picture taking. Let's get down to the nitty gritty.

I gave him 1st turn and deployed fairly aggressively (but safe).  I then seized the initiative with Vect's special rule so my gamble was good.  During first turn, I used the red, yellow and green terrain to gain optimal shooting positions and shoot with my Dark Lances while gaining a cover save on everything.  I think I used terrain exceptionally good this game because the entire game was basically me gaining cover saves and shooting his suits down in return.

This screenshot was taken before he put infiltrating kroot on the table, but they basically came out on the top left of the table, by the green, the middle (past the red star) and the right side of the table at that building on the far bottom right.  He had 4 units of 10.

The shooting killed a lot of Kroot by the green and at the bottom because of the Warriors.  Dark Lances from the Ravagers and Raiders killed 3 suits and sent some more to go to ground.  The Broadside return fire and Crisis missiles was negated by cover saves although they did manage to immobilized Vect's Raider and a Warrior Raider.  I also turbo-boosted the Trueborn with Blasters up by his Piranhas and the Raider soaked up tons of damage.  It went down as a wreck but the Trueborn continue to serve me well all game.  Next turn had Vect's group and the Succubus' group run up to two of his Kroot units and assaults.  More cover saves and Ravager/Raider lances downs more suits and gives him poor LoS to shoot me back  I get cover on everything again and my one Ravager rolled a 6,6 and a 5 on 3 penetrating hits.  The assault ends with the Kroot being eaten alive and both melee squads now have FNP.  The Trueborn down a Piranha and so does a Raider.

His return fire was uneventful and my turn saw more assaults into his Suits.  Fleet is really awesome with this army and it gave Vect's and the Succubus' squad plenty of room to move around.  The Succubus ran into some Broadsides and Vect ran into some Battle Suits.  The Trueborn moved up and shot dead the right most Broadsides with instant kills.  Warriors shoot dead a good amount of Kroot and the Raider's mobility kept me scoring despite the moving objectives.

The game basically went downhill for him here because all his shooting was negated by carefully placed cover saves, LoS (from the buildings) and Flicker Fields.  Eventually he managed to down 2 Ravagers and 3 Raiders, but I already had the field and plenty of kills under my belt.  The Succubus and her unit eventually kills his left over Kroot to obtain F3 (FNP, FC and Fearless) and Vect's squad reached F3 from killing his HQ in a Battle Suit unit.  He tries to contest with some Drones and Kroot but my Succubus and Warriors weren't having it.

3-0 Objectives for me, I take the first game with 20 total battle points (Massacre).

Summary:

• Good use of terrain and movement kept most of my army safe from return fire while opening up fire lanes against a superior shooting army.
• Careful use of Line of Sight can negate a lot of shooting.
• Wyches with the Succubus and Vect tore through everything in melee.
• Concentrated Dark Lances will force enough cover saves to insta-gib the Suits you want dead while LoS and placement will negate return fire.
• I could of played my Warriors in Raiders more aggressively because most of the time they were camping on objectives.

BR second game vs. Reserve dual Autarch Eldar list
Rolled a 1 and got extra run for combat drugs

The only thing I have to say about this game:

I'm not even going to BR this game.. I'm going to list some stuff that happened and you be the judge:

• First, his list hard counters mine.  I'm a Alpha Strike army and his army denies that completely with 2+ reserve rolls in round 2.  His army consisted of 2 Fire Prisms, 2 Wave Serpents with Fire Dragons, 3x2 Vypers, 2 units of Jetbikes w/ Shuriken Cannons with Autrachs, and a Nightspinner.  That's an insane amount of S6 shots and plenty of AV12 and anti-armor.  My AV10 open-top vehicles and T3 dudes (S6 denies FNP) is going to suffer based on list alone.
• When he came in, all of his stuff was placed so my use of LoS and cover was largely negated.
• Look at the mission rules again:  Every single one of my vehicles gives 3 kp.  A list with 9 AV10 open-top vehicles love this one.
• On the turn that he came in, he disabled 2 Ravagers and 5 of my Raiders.  By turn 3, all my vehicles were destroyed or blown to hell.
• The Succubus' squad failed a tank shock and ran off the board.
• A Warrior squad randomly decided to run off the board as well because of casualties taken in shooting.
• On my return fire, I did something like 7 glancing and 8 pens on a Wave Serpent and he saved them all with 4+ cover.
• The intended combo was:  Kill the WS, charge the Fire Dragons with my Wyches.  Instead what happened was:  WS survives 15 S8 AP2 Lance shots and my Wyches run off the board via Tank Shock.
• Vect's entire unit of Wyches got shot to hell and thus he decides to combat a Autarch (Shining Spear) by getting the jump on him.  I inflict 5 wounds on him, he saves 4, hits me back and wounds me with 2 normal attacks.  I fail my Shadowfield on the first wound, took another wound, lose combat by 1, roll a 11 and then a 3 and got ran down by the Autarch that rolled a 5.
• The only enjoyment I had in this game was him tank shocking a Warrior squad of mine with 2 tanks and my Blaster guy killed them both in Death or Glory.

Summary:

• Mission was heavily against me.
• His list hard counters mine.
• My rolling was abysmal and his rolling was vastly superior.
• He wins 20-3.

BR second game vs. CSM w/ tons of Oblits

Rolled re-roll wounds with combat drugs

This is what it looked like after 2 turns.  He was getting ready to pull that last Oblit.

His list:
2x Lash Sorcs splint in 2x Chosen units w/ Meltas in Outflank
A squad of Plague Marines sitting in cover
7 Oblits
A unit of Noise Marines in a lone Rhino
2x Lesser Daemon units, 5-strong

I win the roll to go first and I use the same deny LoS, get cover and shoot my army without getting counter-batteried strategy.  Let's just say that after my first turn of shooting; 4 of his 7 Oblits were dead.  Two were located not in cover by the bastion, 2 on top of the Bastion and 3 inside the bastion fences.

His return shooting downs the Succubus' Raider after it turbo-boosted and the explosion kills 6 Wyches.  More shooting kills more Wyches and only the Hekatrix and the Succubus remain.  My Trueborn w/ 4x Blasters turbo-boosted by the building and is in range to Blaster him to death next turn.

My next turn sees the Succubus and the Hekatrix charge the Plague Marine squad and kill 4 of them with the Hekatrix dying in return.  My Dark Lances and Trueborn destroy all the Oblits.  I stun his Rhino.

His turn outflanks me with a squad of Chosen and downs Vect's Raider in an explosion.  3 Wyches die in the process.  His Lesser Daemons also charged my Succubus but I go first and cut down his Plague Marines and obtain FNP.  She survives the Lesser Daemon attacks with 1 wound left.  He loses 3 Daemons in the process.

My next turn breaks open his Rhino, combined Raider fire, Splinter Cannon fire and Blaster fire kills all the Noise Marines.  His Chosen squad dies horribly to Vect and Ravager fire and the Succubus wins combat vs. the Lesser Daemons and rallies into cover.

My opponent concedes and it's another massacre win for me.

I finish the tournament in 4th place (out of 17?) with 43 battle points.  If it wasn't for my horrible mismatch in Round 2, I would of taken the entire thing I think (1st place guy was like 48 points).  The other armies present was a Ork army, a Mech IG army with Hydras (this looked tough), a generic Marine army, a BA army, 2 more CSM armies and a Daemonhunters army.  There were some other armies there too but I forgot.  Any of those save the IG army would of been a better game for me and I'm confident I would of done well.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with my performance.  My friend Adam (the guy I played in the 2nd round) and I decided never to talk about that game again and we all knew it was a bad MU/fluke of a game.  He came in 2nd at the tournament.

My final thoughts on the Dark Eldar list that I took is:

• The Succubus w/ the Agonizer is a fantastic buy for 85 points.
• Get into combat with Wyches ASAP and with the right setup, they'll plow through things no problem.
• Vect is a monster in CC and his 4+ Seize definitely helped, but I think I could of taken the games without him.
• He is, however, excellent at mind games because your opponent knows there might be a chance he can lose his first turn.  That's why with my list, you can counter-deploy a little more aggressively just in case.
• Blast Pistols are a great item to have when fighting MEQ since it helps even out the average # of MEQ killed right before an assault w/ Wyches.
• Using smart use of terrain and getting cover saves on your vehicles is absolutely critical.  It was the entire reason why I was able to outshoot seemingly horrible matchups for me.
• Take at least 5+ troop choices because you need as many guys alive as possible to secure objectives:  Wyches go after his and your Warriors harass/protect yours.
• Play the army aggressively:  The only reason Tau was able to apply more pressure to my Ravagers was because I had the Warrior Raiders sitting too far back.  If I was more aggressively, he would of had more targets.  Besides, you can always 24" back to the objective.
• The catch for Dark Eldar is that they're able to flood the field with many high priority targets:  Ravagers, Wyche Raiders, Warrior Raiders, Vect, the Trueborn..etc.
• Trueborn is best in small squads, I'm convinced.  Unless you're taking Splinter weapons with the Duke, 4x with Blaster or 3x w/ 2x SC is the most optimal number in a Venom.  Since there's no model out of the Venom right now, I'll stay put with just a Raider.  I do admit that the Venom is the optimal transport for them though.
• Dark Eldar will suffer horribly in kill point games.  Mech IG suffers too.. but AV10 open-top suffers the most.

That's all I got for now, thanks for reading guys.

The Kabal is finished

This is a full army view.

Totals up to:
3x 10x Warriors w/ Blaster and Splinter Cannon
3x 10x Wyches w/ Hekatrix w/ Agonizer and PGL
2x 7x Trueborn w/ 4x Blasters
1x Archon, built with Huskblade and Soul Trap
1x Duke, using the DE Lokir Felheart model
6x Raiders, using the Shark Fin sails
3x Ravagers, using the barbed thorns

This is the Archon and some Trueborn w/ Blasters - I used some left over Shredders for some Blasters.

This is my Duke with his body guard.

Here's a shot of all the Raiders and Ravagers.

These are my newly assembled Ravagers - I just finished them last night at 3:00 am.

Here's my battleline of Kabal Warriors.

These are my crazed and horny Wyches.

And these are the dice I plan on using with them.

Now that I'm done building models for a LONG long time.. all I need is a name for these guys.  Kabal of the blank blank?  This will be hard..

1850 Tournament this weekend

It's going to be quite sick.  I haven't played in a tournament for quite sometime because of this ridiculous OT.. but as of today, I'm done with that!  Not only is this going to be my first couple of games with Dark Eldar, but it's also going to be a tournament.  Hopefully my 4th Ed. Eldar-ish skills haven't worn out completely.

Here's the list I plan on using:

1850
15 kp

HQ:
Asdrubael Vect = 240
Succubus (Agonizer) = 85

TROOP:
9x Wyches (Raider FF/AS, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/PGL) = 205
9x Wyches (Raider FF/AS, Hekatrix/Agnoizer) = 195
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185
10x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster, SC) = 185

ELITE:
5x Trueborn (Raider NS, 4x Blaster) = 190
5x Trueborn (Raider NS, 4x Blaster) = 190

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125

I will make another post Sunday or Monday night with the tournament results.  Tomorrow/Saturday night will consist of me putting together 3x Ravagers in preparation.  Go me!

PS - The picture has nothing to do with 40K, but the first person to tell me where that's from gets a cyber cookie.

My Swarmlord Tyranids list

Here's the list:

2000

HQ:
Swarmlord = 280
+2x Tyrant Guard w/ Lash Whips = 130
Warrior Prime (BS/LW) = 95

TROOPS:
10x Genestealers = 140
10x Genestealers = 140
14x Termagaunts = 70
14x Termagaunts = 70
+Trevigon (Catalyst, Onslaught) = 190

FA:
3x Raveners (Rending) = 105

ELITE:
2x Hive Guard = 100
2x Hive Guard = 100
2x Hive Guard = 100

HEAVY:
Trygon Prime = 240
Trygon Prime = 240

Strategy, deployment and game plan:

• Termagaunts form a wall of cover in 2 14x1 formations.
• They will cover the Hive Guard who will in turn, cover the Swarmlord & Co.
• The Warrior Prime will be moving from the Swarmlord's unit to absorb wounds with T5.
• Genestealers will deploy in reserve and will outflank with the help from the Swarmlord.
• A single Gene unit can also opt to deploy behind the Swarmlord and offer a strong counter-charge unit.
• Trevigon will be behind the Hive Guard ~around the Swarmlord and generate more cover.
• Catalyst will be cast on the Termagaunts giving the cover or be used on the Swarmlord's unit.
• Raveners will be a distraction/harassment unit that will apply pressure on any long range guns.
• Hive Guard will shoot at everything that needs to be shot and can-opened.
• Tyrgons will be in reserve and will come in to apply pressure on the opponent's flanks or rear.
• Hopefully things don't suck for me and I roll my opponents off the board.

Let me know what you guys think.

Summing up the IG Codex

The most realistic way to analyze IG from a competitive standpoint:

• Cheap CCS with options to take Plasmas, Meltas
• Colonel Straken with his ridiculous 12" bubble of Furious Charge and Counter-attack
• Astropath for +1 reserves and re-rolls to outflank
• Officer of the Fleet for -1 opponent reserves and re-roll his outflank
• BS4 Veterans as troops with Plasmas, Meltas or Demo Packs (S8 AP2 large blast)
• Dirt cheap HWTs and Guardsman that can be spammed
• Dirt cheap Chimeras for AV12 everywhere for everything
• Vendetta Gunships for 3 TLLC shots, fast, scouting, skimmer with transport options
• Valkyrie does the same thing but has missiles
• Psyker Battle Squad, full squad, 10 dudes, auto-rape morale
• Marbo surprise rape with a demo pack, anywhere you want
• Tanks, tanks and more tanks.  Tanks in squads too.
• S8 AP3 large blast everywhere.  Eat shit marines.
• Hydra Flaks for DE, Deathstrike for Rhinos and Basilisk for anything else.
• All the competitive options are questionably priced (by that, I mean underpriced).
• Everything else not mentioned is shit and need not apply.

Really makes you wonder what Robin Cruddace was smoking when he wrote the Tyranids codex.  He gave IG players everything they ever wanted to be competitive for years to come.  Good job, now everyone else has to catch up.

Also note that I'm not saying that IG are unstoppable or that they're overpowered.  They're just.. really good.. and this list is to show people why.