Genestealers, yes or no?

[Thunderhost]

Recently started doing a bit of Tyranid play again and one thing that comes off as odd to me is Genestealers. High cost, including power but seemingly pretty close to useless. In replays 1v1/2v2 I haven't seen them used ever I think and my own experience with them is lackluster.
Am I doing it wrong or are they really just not worth it? Seems like they just melt away, even with ability and under synapse. It also appears they have pathing issues..
Any input appreciated

[saltychipmunk]

genestealers are a weird unit in that their skill set is either redundant or difficult to utilize.

in combat genestealers are essentially better but also more expensive versions of hormagaunts. both are low on the hp side, both are very much dependent on synapse, both bleed very easy, and both do very high damage.

The thing is if you have 1 or 2 upgraded hormagaunts there really is very little reason to get genestealers since even with 1 hormagaunt you are looking at minimum 3 melee units already and 4 if you have two hormagaunts. melee is good and all but that much melee means your army composition is dangerously one dimensional.


Now if you lost all of your gaunts .. which is completely possible then i would definitely buy one genestealer. But then again you can argue that id you lost your gaunts and stealers are basically bigger more expensive gaunts... wont the opponent already have suitable anti gaunt weapons ? and by extension .. buying more expensive gaunts might just be the equivalent to feeding a meat grinder.


You could also use them as an ambush unit , however in practice this is hard to utilize since most successful infiltration units need to be able to move around while invisible to really get the drop on targets. This usually means sticking the stealers on a vic point somewhere.
this also conflicts with the fact that they really are dependent on synapse to not die most of the time so using them independent of the blob is pretty risky.

[Dark Riku]

In short, Genesteelers can be awesome.
They are a melee superiority unit. Almost nothing can stand against Genestealers with adrenaline rush under melee synapse.
Best used for counter initiation or coming in just behind your first line.

[Thunderhost]

Alright gents,
Thanks for the input. Seems I'm using them wrong then. How do they scale btw?

[Shas'la]

The main draw of Genestealers is their crazy melee skill (starting at 80, 90 under melee synapse) which makes fighting other melee units go much more predictably, and, in combination with melee synapse and Adrenaline Rush, makes them almost impossible to take on even for vastly more expensive melee units.

That's the theory of it, at least.

[Black Relic]

The main draw of Genestealers is their crazy melee skill (starting at 80, 90 under melee synapse) which makes fighting other melee units go much more predictably, and, in combination with melee synapse and Adrenaline Rush, makes them almost impossible to take on even for vastly more expensive melee units.

That's the theory of it, at least.

Throw catalyst into the mix with a damage synapse ravener alpha and watch melee squads, including nobs, disappear (unless frenzy is up). Just watch after your genestealers. They will be take quite a bit of damage.

[Interdiction]

I also consider getting them if say I go triple termagants or lose my hormagaunts in t2,their damage is awesome but they can die quickly if you are not careful.

[Nurland]

Riku said what I think about the squad. Imho it is best used as counter initiation (crippling poison a jump squad that is after your VB or Zoan and let Jeanstealers work their magic).

The other option is to use something else to break the line and bring Genes in so that they won't take too much damage or get suppressed or something.

They are also good for ambushing lone capping squads as well.

[Toilailee]

Also remember that unlike with most melee units it doesn't really matter if genes are at half hp when they get to combat since they will heal up fast with their ability when they get there.

[saltychipmunk]

Unless they get knocked back by something.... which is actually what usually murders them. a scout shotgun blast or commander ability that disrupts them.