The Killer Serpent
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|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Siwal Ruins | ||
| Briefing | A powerful Tyranid creature has been spotted, Commander. This insidious beast is an especially powerful Ravener. It has burrowed through multiple Imperial Guard outposts, wreaking havoc with morale. The beast's power means it likely spawned from a primary hive, one that could provide us with a valuable genetic sample. Killing this Ravener will bring us one step closer to finding a primary hive. | ||
| Objectives | Destroy the Tyranid structures Kill the Ravener | ||
| Intelligence | Scans indicate the presence of hive nodes – Tyranid biological turrets. Elite hive creatures expert in hand-to-hand combat defend this target. | ||
| Notes | Stronghold: Enemy forces are fortified in a central location Bio-Feedback: Victory reduces infestation (-2) | ||
| Reward | Remote Detonation Pack (accessory) | ||
Walkthrough
This walkthrough assumes Primarch difficulty.
This mission is simple and the map is small. It's hard to fail, but it's easy to lose a squad to a Ravener surprise attack. Bring something that can handle a Carnifex – either a missile launcher, or a Rosarius + power weapon + plasma gun combo, and explosives to take down the Brood Nests and Hive Nodes.
So you start at northeast – recommend heading west to get over the Carnifex part. There will be a rush of smaller Tyranids first, and the Carnifex will attack when you push toward the Imperial Shrine. Kill it and bomb the nest just south. If you don't have the Shrine yet, go get it. If you do, go get the Comm Array before killing everything and finishing the mission.
Scout around with Cyrus if you have him and bomb the Hive Nodes with demo charges stealth-style. Have Avitus and Tarkus set up to mow down the inevitable swams of little Tyranids that come from intact Brood Nests. The only trouble comes from elite ranged units – Zoanthropes and venom cannon Warriors – that do absolutely insane damage on Primarch. These must be killed with High-Powered Shot or distracted with a melee unit, which means Assault Jump (risky) or Iron Halo. Approaching normally means you die. Infiltrated scouts are recommended to avoid being killed as soon as you spot these.
So you do this and take your time advancing, blowing up nests as you go. When you are done with the central Tyranid base (the area with three objective markers), you should still be missing the boss Ravener. He will only appear when you wander to the area south of the main nest structure, coming up through the ground and probably killing a whole ranged squad before you can do anything. When you catch up, however, he will go down quickly (it's not a real boss with the big health meter, just a basic Ravener).