Necrons vs Tyranids: which 40K army should you start?
The other Leviathan-box angle: Necrons are the durable, fast-to-paint attrition army; Tyranids are the swarming bio-horde. Here's how to choose.
SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. Games Workshop updates points and rules regularly — always confirm against the current official rules and your latest dataslate before a game.
Necrons and Tyranids are both iconic non-Imperial armies and both feature in recent launch material, so new players often weigh them against each other. They play very differently. This guide compares them on playstyle, difficulty, painting, and cost.
The quick answer
- Pick Necrons for a durable, low-model-count attrition army that reanimates its dead and paints fast — the friendliest of the two to start.
- Pick Tyranids if you love the swarm fantasy — endless gaunts led by towering monsters — and don't mind painting a lot of models.
Both are forgiving to play; the big practical difference is model count and painting workload.
Playstyle
Necrons grind: resilient units, Reanimation Protocols returning models, patient board control. Tyranids overwhelm: cheap synapse-linked swarms screening big monsters (Carnifexes, a Hive Tyrant), leaning on numbers and shadow-in-the-warp pressure. Necrons are a smaller, tougher force; Tyranids are a larger, more mobile tide.
Difficulty and painting
Necrons are the easier start: fewer models, a simple gameplan, and a metallic scheme that paints table-ready fast. Tyranids are forgiving on the table (swarms absorb losses) but demand more painting — a horde of gaunts is a lot of models, though a quick Contrast scheme helps enormously. If painting time is your constraint, Necrons win.
Cost to start
Both start with a Combat Patrol — compare live prices for Combat Patrol: Necrons and the Tyranids Combat Patrol. Tyranids can get pricier to expand into a full horde; Necrons are a tighter range to complete.
So which one?
Want the fastest, most forgiving, least-painting start → Necrons. Love the bio-swarm fantasy and don't mind batch-painting lots of models → Tyranids. Both are great non-Imperial choices; the deciding factor is usually how many models you want to paint.
Common questions
Are Necrons or Tyranids easier for beginners?
Necrons — fewer models, a forgiving reanimation mechanic, a simple gameplan, and a fast paint scheme. Tyranids are forgiving to play but require painting many more models.
Which has fewer models to paint?
Necrons, by a wide margin. Tyranids are a swarm army, so a full force means lots of gaunts — a Contrast scheme speeds this up but it's still more work than a Necron force.
Are Tyranids good for beginners?
Yes to play — swarms forgive mistakes — but the painting workload is the catch. If you enjoy batch-painting and love the bio-horror aesthetic, they're a great pick.
Written by SprueSentry with SprueSentry editorial (hand-authored, research-grounded), grounded in the cited sources — original commentary, not Games Workshop rules text.