Tyranid Impact on the Metagame

I keep hearing in places that the Metagame is shifting back to more of a mix of Plasma and Melta rather than all Melta. With the release of the new Tyranid codex I only see this trend continuing to increase.

Since Tyranids have not vehicles their entire army has to foot-slog it across the board. I know, I know - they have drop pods and can outflank, but this still leaves them vulnerable to shooting as once they pop out of the pod they can't get into HTH for a turn. And since there are so many juicy options for monstrous creatures with T6 the Plasma Gun is a no brainer against them. You get two shots that will wound on threes and ignore saves vs. one shot that wounds on a two and ignores saves. You also have the option of range with the Plasma.

This isn't to say that Melta is uselss against the bugs. Quite the opposite. With the loss of Eternal Warrior from Synapse the S8 Melta shot will insta-kill T4 models - of which there are quite a few. This just pushes the metagame back towards a mix in my opinion.

How does this shift affect other armies? Lets go down the list -

  • Chaos Daemons - Daemons don't really care about your high strength/low ap weaponry. Because of their invul save and the whole army having Eternal Warrior it doesn't really matter what you are shooting at them with. I say it is a wash on Daemons taking a mix. Sure you have a few more chances to hit but you also run the risk of getting hot. Not a game changer for the Daemons.
  • Dark Eldar - The Dark Eldar probably take a pretty small hit. Since they have really fast and really fragile vehicles the increased range and amount of shots will probably be noticable.
  • Eldar - This one is tricky. The Serpent field will be ignored by the Plasma gun and you can also wound an Avatar with a Plasma Gun and you can't with a Melta. The range will also help against the speed the Eldar have. You are also insta-killing most units with either weapon.
  • Imperial Guard - The guard will fare a bit better against Plasma than they will Melta. The range is of very little use as you want to close with the Guard as fast as you can. They also have TONS of tanks and a Melta is just more reliable than a Plasma gun at wrecking a vehicle.
  • Necrons - This one is tricky too. The Necron warriors will get their WBB roll from Plasma but not Melta, but the Monolith can't even be hurt by a Plasma Gun, and the C'Tan will be wounded by fives on the Plasma gun.
  • Orks - Ork vehicles go up like kindling when shot with a Melta gun. +2 on the damage table is not your friend (+1 melta, +1 open-topped). This will make the Ork vehicles a bit tougher.
  • Marines (all flavors) - This is the hardest one for me to try and figure out. There are just so many builds. Land Raiders and Iron Clads will fare better, but foot slogging forces (yeah right) will get hit hard by the Plasma. Rhino heavy forces will also take a bit of a hit from massed plasma.
  • Tau - The Tau is another race that isn't going to get hit very hard by this. They are so mobile that getting in to range can be a challenge with Melta and you can insta-kill their suits with Melta. The range on the plasma won't be as great because of their disruption pods giving them a save from so far off.
  • Tyranids - Probably the army that will get hit the hardest by massed plasma. Their tons of MCs almost require you to field at least a few Plasma Guns if you have a good feeling you will be going up against them.
What do you guys think? Am I way off on my Arm-Chair Generalship? Are you seeing a shift to a mixed Melta-Plasma in your areas or does Melta still reign supreme?