What paints do I need to paint Tyranids?
Which paints you need depends on the hive fleet, the Tyranid colour scheme. Games Workshop's guides name two to six paints for each of five fleets. The purple-and-bone Leviathan fleet is the one the Tyranid Paint Set is built for: £17.78 (sold out at the moment) for three Termagants, a Ripper Swarm, a brush and six paints.
The set holds the skin and carapace paints. The Termagant recipe below also needs four more paints (Abaddon Black, Mephiston Red, Bugman's Glow and Slaanesh Grey, which come to £9.00 together), Contrast Medium, which thins Contrast paint, and a Wraithbone spray to prime. The 10th Edition Paints + Tools set (£21.73, sold out at the moment) holds all six of the set's paints and three of those four.
Pick the hive fleet, then the paints
In September 2023 the Warhammer Community team, Games Workshop's news site, collected its painting guides for five hive fleets. Each fleet has its own colours, so the paints depend on which you pick. Paints with no link are not sold as single pots here at the moment.
| Hive fleet and look | Paints the article names |
|---|---|
| Leviathan. Purple and bone. | A Wraithbone basecoat shaded with thinned Magos Purple. Naggaroth Night and Abaddon Black on the carapace and claws, highlighted with Warpfiend Grey and Thunderhawk Blue. |
| Behemoth. Crimson, with a near-black carapace. | Mephiston Red, shaded with Carroburg Crimson and drybrushed with Jokaero Orange. The carapace is Corvus Black shaded with Nuln Oil, with Temple Guard Blue highlights. |
| Kraken. Deep bone with bright red carapace panels. | Basecoats of Wraithbone and Morghast Bone, then Contrast coats of Skeleton Horde on the body and Flesh Tearers Red on the armour. |
| Jormungandr. Mostly black, with a yellow-brown carapace. | Abaddon Black drybrushed with Eshin Grey, then Averland Sunset and Seraphim Sepia on the bright panels. |
| Gorgon. Bone carapace over green flesh. | A basecoat of Death Guard Green, drybrushed with Screaming Skull, which also highlights the carapace. |
The article calls Leviathan easy to apply to big hordes, Behemoth very accessible and Jormungandr forgiving, and says the simple Jormungandr colours let you batch-paint a large number of models extremely quickly. Gorgon has the shortest list, only two paints, though the article's video adds more detail.
Leviathan Termagants, step by step
The Warhammer Painting Team painted the Termagants in the 2023 Leviathan box this way. Steps marked in the set use a paint from the Tyranid Paint Set. The rest need an extra pot.
- Prime with Wraithbone spray, then paint over it with Wraithbone from the pot to get the right colour and tidy mistakes. Wraithbone is in the set. The Wraithbone spray is a separate £12.25.
- Flesh: one part Magos Purple thinned with two parts Contrast Medium, applied heavily with a large brush. Magos Purple is in the set. Contrast Medium is not, and we do not list it as a single pot.
- Drybrush Corax White lightly over the raised parts. In the set.
- Basecoats: Naggaroth Night on the carapace, Abaddon Black on the hooves, Mephiston Red on the eyes. Naggaroth Night is in the set. The other two are not.
- Symbiotic weapons, pipes and tongue: Bugman's Glow thinned with water. Not in the set.
- Carapace highlight: thin choppy lines of Slaanesh Grey, or a drybrush to speed through a big batch. Not in the set.
- Base: a Technical paint. The set's is Armageddon Dust.
Thunderhawk Blue, the set's sixth paint, is not in this recipe. The Leviathan guide in the table above uses it for highlights.
If you do not need the models, the 10th Edition Paints + Tools set (£21.73) is another route. Our listing says its paints suit Hive Fleet Leviathan Tyranids, and it also comes with clippers, a mouldline scraper and a brush.
Do all your Tyranids need the same scheme?
A Tyranid army does not have to be uniform: you could paint Lictors darker for stealth and Pyrovores bright red, and a very minimal scheme still looks fine.
If you want to try more than one fleet, start with the pots that repeat: Wraithbone starts both Leviathan and Kraken, and Abaddon Black is in Leviathan and Jormungandr.
Common questions
Is the Tyranid Paint Set enough to paint a Tyranid army?
Not for an army. It is built for the three Termagants and the Ripper Swarm in the box, in Leviathan colours. Even for those, the Termagant recipe needs four more pots (Abaddon Black, Mephiston Red, Bugman's Glow and Slaanesh Grey) and Contrast Medium. An army needs more of the same paints besides.
Which Tyranid hive fleet is easiest to paint?
Games Workshop's article calls Leviathan easy to apply to hordes and Jormungandr forgiving, with colours simple enough to batch-paint extremely quickly. Gorgon needs only two paints on its list. For a first fleet, Leviathan or Jormungandr are good choices.
What colour should I prime Tyranids?
For Leviathan the painting team primed with Wraithbone spray and then painted Wraithbone over the top. The Kraken guide also starts with a Wraithbone undercoat. Wraithbone spray is £12.25, sold out at the moment.
Can I use Contrast paint on Tyranids?
Games Workshop's guides do. The Leviathan recipe uses Magos Purple thinned with Contrast Medium, and the Kraken recipe uses Skeleton Horde and Flesh Tearers Red. Contrast works over a white or light basecoat such as Wraithbone, which is why the Leviathan and Kraken guides start with Wraithbone.
Hive fleet recipes: Warhammer Community, 1 September 2023 (painting guides for five hive fleets). Leviathan Termagant steps: Warhammer Community, 15 June 2023. Kraken undercoat: Warhammer Community, 6 March 2026. Tyranid Paint Set contents: the product listing on this shop. Army-wide colour advice: r/Tyranids threads, 2026. Single-pot listings checked 29 October 2026. Prices and stock: this shop, read live.