Editing Mortarion (section)

==Tabletop==
After [[Magnus the Red]] got a Daemon Primarch model, rumor was that either Mort or Angron would receive one next. In early 2017, an image of Daemon Mortarion started floating around the internet. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BceinBiT9jQ A recent video] on Warhammer TV confirmed that he will have a model, as well as plastic Plague Marines. He came out in force to help the first ever Death Guard codex as the third 40k Primarch release.

===Heresy===
[[File:FW_Mortarion.jpg|260px|thumb|right|Here's his mini teaching all of us how to properly wield a scythe. Kudos to GW for doing their research for a change.]]

{| class=wikitable
! || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Mortarion:''' || 7 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 5 || 5 || 10 || 2+/4++
|}

Mortarion is a tough opponent: with the Primarch rule, T/W 7, flat dice wounds like poisoned and fleshbane wound on 6's, rerollable IWND and Toughness tests, 2+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save, he's basically a Gargantuan Creature for all intents and purposes. He negates Maledictions affecting him or his unit on a 4+, ''(which isn't a Deny the Witch, so Adamantium Will doesn't help and you get his 5+ DtW after, though it works out to being exactly the same as nullifying them on a 3+ anyway)'', Death Guard gain Stubborn and Poisoned (4+) on all frag grenades and missiles which is pretty sickening. For weapons he has the Lantern pistol which is almost a pistol meltagun, phosfex bombs (an unlimited supply of them, and he can throw them at double the range!), frag grenades and Silence, a S7 AP 2 no longer unwieldy power scythe with sweep attacks that causes Instant Death and reroll failed penetration rolls. Great for getting rid of that annoying Praetor or captain. Notably, he's also one of the only characters in fiction who knows how the hell you're supposed to hold a scythe! Take that, Poldark!
 
They also gave him the Shadow Of The Reaper rule. It makes enemy units take a fear check at -1 leadership. By itself in normal 40k rules, it's situationally great, making it pretty mediocre on the whole, but in the pre-ATSKNF 30k setting, it's much more useful. But much more importantly, it gives him a special move in the shooting phase: if Mortarion isn't locked in combat or embarked and doesn't shoot or run, he can take a leadership test and teleport 10 inches away from his current position. It does not count as moving, does not scatter, and does not prevent him from charging (But he does count as making a disordered charge. Not that big of a problem, seriously). There are some other caveats, but he effectively has a minimum 18" charge range without factoring in his base size, and he is fleet to boot. [[Awesome|Because he's fucking terrifying.]]

Mortarion is among the top 3 best Primarchs for his points, as SotR lets him reach combat by turn 2 unless you fail your Ld test. Furthermore, Stubborn is an absolute game-changer in 30k, as it drastically reduces your odds of breaking in Assault and Poisoned allows you to functionally ignore [[Iron Hands|certain legions]] [[Imperial Fists|Toughness shenanigans]] (and it makes it easier to hurt Mechanicus). He doesn't really need a transport or retinue, giving you more points to put towards dakka, and provided you're smart enough to avoid concentrated AP2 you're very likely to see the end of the game. He can't fight Land Raiders, but with 5 S7 Sunder attacks you shouldn't underestimate his ability to fuck up Dreadnoughts. Ultimately, his biggest strength is that unlike [[Angron]] or [[Vulkan]] he is an effective force multiplier who gives a lot to his army while needing almost no support in return.

His model is equally as badass as his rules, if you can get past the fact that he doesn't have a rebreather (it's a part of his armor's chest piece now, which still begs the question, why not just give him a rebreather and shut fa/tg/uys up on the subject?). Although the designer probably thought that he didn't really need to breathe, and he's probably immune to anything poisonous anyway (on Prospero the Khan had to go in totally suited up, whereas the Death Lord just strolled in dressed just the same as normal, and Girlyman established that Primarchs can breathe in an incredibly thin atmosphere - he can apparently fight in near-vacuum for hours on end without a helmet, because [[Heresy|fuck physics]]). (Even in-universe, Guilliman's ability to fight in the void without a helmet and little oxygen has Imperial scholars going "WTF?")

====Mortarion VS other Primarchs:====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (especially with Mortarion who can mathematically always go the entire game in a Primarch duel), with that in mind this section is how Mortarion fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities, with the exception of Blind, are taken into account (Blind is ignored because it never changes the outcome of the fights, the winner is still the winner with or without it) and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Mortarion VS Horus
**Horus will use Worldbreaker (as wounding on 2's is better than re-rolling to wound) and hits 3.999 times, wounds 3.332 times, 1.666 after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.111 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight.

* Mortarion VS Angron
**Round 1: Angron has Hatred, so on the first turn he will instead hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.777 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.222.
**Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 1.333 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion just barely loses this fight by one turn as his extra wound almost allows him to outlast Angron.

* Mortarion VS Fulgrim
**Fulgrim hits 5.333 times, wounds 2.666 times (Fireblade)/1.777 times (Laer Blade), 1.333 times (Fireblade)/0.888 times (Laer Blade) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778/0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Mortarion loses this fight either by a little or a lot depending on whether or not Fulgrim has Fireblade or not.

* Mortarion VS Ferrus
**Ferrus with Forgebreaker: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1.666 times with Forgebreaker and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.999 total), 0.999 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.444 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus with Bare Hands: hits 2 times and 0.5 with his servo arm, wounds 1 time with his hands and 0.333 with his Servo-Arm (1.333 total), 0.666 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111 times at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.416 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.083.
**Even though Mortarion is tough in the end Ferrus wins pretty easily thanks to his superior save and damage.

* Mortarion VS Konrad Curze
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.221 times, 1.11 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins as even though he does less damage he'll outlast Curze.
**Note: If Curze Hit & Runs Mortarion loses. With +1 attack on the charge, HoW and his knives, Curze kills Mortarion in 9 rounds while Mortarion would need 11 (counting Overwatch).

* Mortarion VS Vulkan
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.415 wounds after saves and 0 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion loses as mathematically he's incapable of harming Vulkan.

* Mortarion VS Lorgar 
**Lorgar hits Mortarion 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 1: Mortarion hits 2.961 times, wounds 1.752 times, 0.876 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.543 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Round 2: Mortarion hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Even with forcing Mortarion to re-roll 5's and 6's for the first round Mortarion still beats Lorgar. He also loses to invisible Lorgar Transfigured just like every other Primarch (mathematically he causes 0 wounds to him).

*Mortarion VS Perturabo
**Perturabo hits 2.666 times (both types), wounds 1.333 times (Normal)/2.221 times (Forgebreaker), 0.666 wounds (Normal)/1.11 wounds (Forgebreaker) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111/0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and 0.222 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins but only if Perturabo doesn't bring Forgebreaker.

* Mortarion VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.136 times, 0.568 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.0124 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins

* Mortarion VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn hits 2.666 times (Normal)/1.333 times (Sundering Blow), wounds 1.48 times (normal)/1.183 times (Sundering Blow), 0.74/0.59 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185/0.035 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins in 12 turns as Dorn does a lot less damage in return.

* Mortarion VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.221 times (Scourge)/1.666 times (Shadow-walk), 1.11 wounds (Scourge)/0.833 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556/0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Mortarion hits 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 1.666/1.11 times, 1.11/0.74 wounds after saves and 0.777/0.407 wounds after IWND.
**Mortarion wins either way in this fight, he causes more overall damage, has more wounds, and regenerates faster. In addition even if Corax runs away Mortarion's ability to teleport will mean he'd catch Corax very quickly after he re-appears so he cannot run away to heal which would render this a stalemate.
**Note: Corax could attempt to "cheat" his way to victory thanks to his special rules, especially Sire of the Raven Guard (which grants him Super-Furious Charge) and Hit & Run. With this he could disengage at the end of Mortarion's assault phase, in order to charge him again during his turn. Using this tactic he would Shoot with his pistols for 1.9444 hits, 0.648 wounds, 0.108 wounds after saves, then charge in with Hammer of Wrath gaining 0.333 wounds, and 0.0555 wounds after saves, then attack with the Panoply which hits 4.5 times (scourge), wounds 3.375 times, 1.6875 after saves and 1.132 with IWND for a total of 1.296 Wounds. This, combined with Shadow-walk during Mortarion's assault phase in order to mitigate his retaliation barely lets Corax win if he goes charging scourge in round 7, then scourge again in round 8 as he strikes before Mortarion, compared to 8 rounds needed for Mortarion to kill Corvus (this is including Overwatch with The Lantern).
**Though this looks like a close fight at first glance, this tactic relies completely on Hit and Run (which is more akin to Corvus's fighting style), as well as assumes the Charging always works out in Corvus's favour and so the strategy will mathematically fail over the eight rounds needed to kill Mortarion (as there's mathematically one turn that either Hit and Run or Charging will fail when Mortarion consolidates away from Corvus's consolidation) giving the victory to Mortarion again. But that's actually the same chance of Corax Blinding Mortarion (Not included in the fights), so the odds are still the same.

* Mortarion VS Roboute Guilliman
**Round 1: Guilliman hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (With Hand of Dominion), 1.042 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.486.
**Round 2 and after: Guilliman hits 3.333 times (Thanks to Preternatura Strategy), wounds 2.777 times, 1.388 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833.
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0,833 after saves, 0.417 wounds after Armor of Reason, and after IWND they become 0.083 wounds.
**Guilliman wins in 8 turns as Mortarion's damage is almost irrelevant.

* Mortation vs. Leman Russ
**Mortarion: Hits 1.66 times, wounds 1.1 times, Leman's invul save brings it down to 0.55 and IWND brings it down to .363
**Leman Hits 4 times, wounds 2.64 times (with his Axe), Invul save brings it down to 1.32 and IWND brings it down to .8712.
**Not even a contest, as usual with the Space Wolves Primarch. It will take Leman just over 8 rounds to drop Mortation (8.03 to be precise) while it will take Mortation over 16 rounds to kill Leman, so even without the Sword (and Sever Life) Mortation is a goner. Leman is the executioner Primarch, so all the Primarch lose to him.

* Mortarion vs Jaghatai
**Jaghatai hits 4 times, wounds 1.333 times, 0.666 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111
**Mortarion hits 3 times, wounds 1.5 times, 0.5 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.166.
**Mortarion wins after several ice ages.
***Jaghatai could probably bag this fight if he hits-and-runs, but it'll stick take a loooooong time.

* TLDR version: Mortarion's good against Vanilla Lorgar, Hammerless Perturabo, Alpharius, Rogal Dorn, Corvus Corax and bad against Horus, Angron, Fulgrim, Ferrus, Lorgar Transfigured, Vulkan, Curze, Perturabo with Hammer and Guilliman, putting him quite in the middle of the road for Primarch duelling.

* Dirty Trick: Use Morturg and put Endurance on Mortarion, if you do this Mortarion can beat everyone (including Lorgar Transfigured) except Horus, Fulgrim (with Fireblade) and Vulkan as his damage output will exceed theirs or his extra wound will allow him to outlast them and/or they will be unable to hurt him at all mathematically. The reason Horus Vulkan and Fulgrim still win is because Mortarion will eventually be unable to hurt Horus thanks to Disabling Strike, Fulgrim just causes too much damage (and some of his attacks ignore FnP) and Vulkan's Instant Death hammer ignores FnP.
</div></div>

===Heresy 2E===
{| class=wikitable
! || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv || Points
|-
| '''Mortarion:''' || 7 || 7 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 7 || 5 || 6 || 10 || 2+/4++ || 425
|}

Morty remains a very hardy opponent in the new edition, with 7s in Movement, WS, S, and T. On top of the many benefits being a Primarch provides, he also gets a 4+ IWND roll, a 3++ Adamantium Will save and Hatred (Psykers). Preternatural Resilience makes him even harder to hit, as he forces any Fleshbane, Rending or Poisoned weapons to hit on a 6+, stripping a lot of advantages from plenty of weapons, though Breaching weapons like Plasma remain a threat.

His Warlord Trait ''Sire of the Death Guard'' seriously helps his forces, as it grants his troops immunity to Fear and Shell Shock and they no longer suffer penalties for Leadership due to casualties in melee. All of this ensures that his legion is always standing fast, and stacked with the Legion Trait, it means they will flinch at practically nothing as they march down the board, blasting away with their biggest guns. Adding to this is an extra reaction in the enemy assault phase.

While Shadow of the Reaper doesn't cause Morale issues (That's left to him having Fear (2) now), he remains capable of teleporting at will as he no longer needs to take a Leadership check to do so. The one holdback is that he now is unable to ditch any command squad or deathshroud he accompanies, which will force you to think twice about who you attach him to, if you have him accompanied at all.

For weapons, he retains Silence as his chief weapon, a massive Two-Handed S+1 AP2 power weapon with Sunder, Instant Death, and Reaping Blow (2). This means that he can easily carve apart any mobs he comes across. The Lantern also remains, a short-ranged S8 AP2 plasma pistol with Sunder so it doesn't need to worry about overheating or Breaching. He also carries 7 phosphex bombs, all for the sake of committing less terrifying warcrimes.


===40k===
This is Mortarion's stat line in 40k:

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
! Name || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv || Power
|-
| '''Mortarion''' || * || 2+ || 2+ || 8 || 7 || 18 || * || 10 || 3+/4++/5+++ || 24
|}

His movement/attacks are based on his wounds remaining.

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
! Wounds || Move || Attacks || Host of Plagues
|-
| 9-18 || 12" || 6 || 4+
|-
| 5-8 || 10" || 5 || 5+
|-
| 1-4 || 8" || 4 || 6+
|}

'''Toxic Presence''': Enemy models with 7" must subtract 1 from their Toughness characteristic.

'''Host of Plagues''': Depending on Morty's remaining wounds, roll a die for each enemy ''unit'' within 7"; on a success, the unit takes D3 mortal wounds.

So what do we get? With 18 wounds, a 4++ save, and Grandaddy's trademark Disgustingly Resilient rule, he will prove quite hard to bring down, and his survivability can be boosted further with Nurgle's stratagems. He has the best (at the moment) anti-horde weapon in the game, his huge scythe ''Silence''. It can dish out Ax3 (18 base!!!) S:U AP:-2 D1 Plague Weapon attacks per phase of combat (and incidentally, his WT lets him and everyone near him using a Plague Weapon reroll all failed to wound rolls), which will annihilate tarpits like there's no tomorrow. To deal with anything requiring more killing, ''Silence'' has a second profile being S:x2 AP:-4 D:1d6 Plague Weapon. His 'command aura' affects every enemy unit standing within 7" of him, giving them -1 toughness and they will receive 1d3 mortal wounds on a roll of 4+ (scaling down as he takes wounds, alas). He still carries his old ''Lantern'' pistol that can cause quite a bit of damage to lined units for it hits automatically every unit in a straight line between him and the one he aims for, but only once per shot. He still carries his phosphex bombs that deal 2D6 S5 AP-1 hits (They're not Plague Weapons, though), and he can perform a bunch of weaker attacks on top of his normal ones thanks to his retinue of Nurgling helpers. Cherry on top, he's now a psyker. (Yeah, the very thing he hated back in the days but, hush. No more tears, only Nurgle's happiness now!) He knows 3 powers from the Contagion discipline, he's able to cast two and deny three every turn. All this is in addition to the fact that he is the fastest piece in the army, moving 12" with FLY. And as ultimate finger flip, if he does somehow go down he explodes like a vehicle for a few parting mortal wounds. All in all a really, REALLY strong big daddy.

Unlike Magnus, Mortarion's command aura doesn't boost his sons but weaken his enemies so there's no reason whatsoever to hold him back. Do note however that while he's tanky he's far from invulnerable and always keep in mind that he is a massive fire magnet. Just like in 30k, you'll need supporting units and a plan to get the most of ole Morty. [[Deathshroud]] Terminators are a shoe-in for that role, of course, especially if Mortarion buffs them up first.

All of that being said, it should be remembered that Mortarion is [[Nerf|much weaker]] than he would have been in older editions. Apotheosis as a Dæmon Prince gets Toughness +1; a gift consisting in having a larger, monstrous build and supernatural endurance granted Toughness +1; and the Mark of Nurgle granted Toughness +1... in other words, Mortarion [[Nerf|could]] have been [[Munchkin|Toughness 10]], without the possibility to cancel the bonuses through Deny the Witch and assimilated (Collars of Khorne, Null Maidens, Cullexus, Psychic Hoods...), allowing him to shrug even missiles, thunder hammers and las-canon. All of this while attacking at a relatively high initiative (at least 3, and more like 5 or 6), having Feel No Pain 4+++ (5+++ as a Primarch, improved by Nurgle's gifts & mutations) or better and Invulnerable Save 4++ or better... meaning even a charging full squad of Assault Terminators with Chaplain would be in [[Chapter Master Smashfucker|a world of pain]]. This kind of [[The Guy Who Cried Grendel|extremely impressive feats]] would have explained in full why some Primarchs fell to temptation of Chaos, much like indeed [[Horus|the arrogance and vanity of Lucifer]] in [[Ecclesiarchy|Theology]] which caused him to [[Fulgrim|seek perfection in himself]] [[Angron|while rejecting reliance on what is outside of his own self]], an arrogance reflected by an high cost in points causing him to show up with less legionaries and bodyguards than he would have otherwise, and making Kaldor Draigo's feat of defeating him and carving Geronitan's name upon his heart actually really impressive.

===9th Edition===

With the coming of the New Codex, Mortarion has recived a massive update.

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
! Name || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv || Power
|-
| '''Mortarion''' || * || 2+ || 2+ || 8 || 8 || 18 || * || 10 || 3+/4++/5+++ || 25
|}

His movement/attacks are based on his wounds remaining.

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
! Wounds || Move || Attacks
|-
| 10+ || 12" || 7
|-
| 6-9 || 10" || 6
|-
| 1-5 || 8" || 5
|}

'''Toxic Presence''': This model counts the battle round as being number 4 for the purpose of determining the contagion range of the contagion abilities. 

'''Host of Plagues''': Pick A Plague Company warlord trait. Stacks With other Warlord traits this model has, can not take the same trait as another model in this army.

With the new codex Mortarion is one of the toughest, if not the toughest model in the game. He gets an astounding [[Anal circumference|3 warlord traits]] (The traits he gets are Arch Contaminator (re-rolls to wound on plague weapons), Revoltingly Resilient (5+ to ignore wounds), and Living Plague (enemy units within 3” can’t be affected by aura abilities from the opposing army), and a Plague Company trait. However he's not just nigh unkillable he is also one of the scariest melee combatants in the game. His scythe Silence went from S:x2 AP:-4 D:1d6 Plague Weapon, to S:x2 AP:-4 D:3+d3 Plague Weapon. Giving his re roll buff to himself he will [[Rape|kill anything]]. A full squad of terminators, dead, Smashcaptian, obliterated, Guilliman, he kills him in one round of combat. He also can manifest two powers, knows three, and can deny three. [[Awesome|He is now the Angel of death he should have been in 8th.]]

He's now a pretty decent leader choice for buffing your units, but as stated above he is meant to [[Rip and Tear|Rip and Tear]] anything and everything that gets in his way. Throw him all the way up into the front lines of your enemy, watch as their entire force does 3 wounds to him and then charge them and murder everything in sight. You'll end up on top eventually. He's very much so worth the points cost, in fact you can throw him into chaos soup and he'd still be frighteningly good.

Durability test: Mortarion is one of the toughest models in the game, here's just a reference for how tough he is. Assuming that all of these are hitting with a ballistic score of 3+ this is how many shots he can take from each weapon on average. Bolter shots: 729, Heavy Bolter shots: 243, Melta weapons: 58, Lascannons: 43, and 34 Melta shots in Melta range. WARNING do not, DO NOT, send him into the [[Aza'Gorod|Nightbringer]], he will get killed but hopefully you already knew that.