Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Death Guard (section)

==Wargear==
<tabs>
<tab name="Ranged Weapons">
*'''Autogun -''' 24" Rapid Fire 1 S3 AP0 D1. Basic garbage, not lasgun, gear that cultist get.
*'''Autopistol -''' 12" Pistol 1 S3 AP0 D1. Pairs with Brutal Assault Weapons
*'''Shotgun -''' 18" Assault 2 S3 AP0 D1. Cultist Champ "upgrade".
*'''Boltgun -''' 24" Rapid Fire 1 S4 AP0 D1. Standard MEQ issue, got to cough up Command Points to make them plague.
*'''Blight grenade -''' Better Frag Grenade (6" Grenade 1d6 S4 AP0 D1 Blast) that rerolls 1s to Wound. Just about every unit in your army that would normally take Frag Grenades gets these instead, and they can be buffed from a surprising variety of sources.
*'''Krak grenade -''' 6" Grenade 1 S6 AP-1 Dd3. If in range you lose nothing by throwing one and is probably better than the 2 bolter shots it replaces.
*'''Orb of desiccation''' - 6" Grenade 3d3 S4 AP-1 D2, Blast, Plague Weapon, but only once per game.
*'''Blight launcher -''' 24" Assault 2 S6 AP-2 D2 plague weapon. A hard-hitting anti-infantry weapon that's also good against light vehicles. It can very well substitute plasma weapons if you want some more range in exchange with AP. It also has some really nice combo with Arch Contaminator and Sickly Corrosion.
**Keep in mind it is capable of punching decent holes in tanks if the target is affected by a Contaigon. 
*'''Plague Belcher -''' 12" Assault D6 S4 AP0 D1. Standard flamer with plague weapon special rule. Speaking of which...
*'''Flamer -''' only cultist get these.
*'''Plague Spewer -''' Same as the Plague Belcher but with heavy D6 S5 and AP-1. The plague equivalent of the heavy flamer. Stronger, but keep in mind that you still can't shoot it after advancing, which is pretty important given your slow movement.
*'''Plasma Gun -''' 24" Rapid Fire 1 S7 AP-3 D1 or S8 AP-3 D2 and you die if you roll a natural 1. You know it, you love it. Say goodbye to anything but the toughest units. The decision here is whether you want the launcher, to rip apart infantry units, or plasma for those pesky tanks and TEQ's.
*'''Meltagun -''' 12" Assault 1 S8 AP-4 D d6. If you're within half range, flat +2 damage. One of the very few options the Death Guard have in dealing with large, tough units. Their pitiful range is somewhat mitigated by your ability to run and shoot them every turn but with a penalty to hit rolls. Consider packing a model or two with a Great Plague Cleaver or Mace of Contagion, as you must be in charge range to use them anyway. Rhino delivery system optional, but recommended.
</tab>
<tab name="Melee Weapons">
*'''Plague Knife -''' A basic CCW with the Ap-1 and Plague Weapon special rule. It’s free, so shut up and take it.
*'''Daemonic Plague Blade -''' A straight upgrade for your Plague Champions, <s>stolen</s> [[Blood Ravens|Gifted]] from a Plaguebearer. Like a Plague Knife, but +1S. It's free at least...?
*'''Bubotic Axe -''' S+2 AP-2 D1, power axe but with the Plague Weapon special rule. You want this over a Balesword in most cases because you'll wound Space Marines on a 2+ when they're reduced to T3 from Contagions of Nurgle.
*'''Balesword -''' S+1, AP-3 D1, so a power sword, but, you guessed it, with Plague Weapon special rule. Note that this is the only plague weapon that the standard Chaos Lord can have.
*'''Power Weapons:''' Each type of Power Weapon has its own profile now, so pick the right one for the situation. Unless you have the option for a Lightning Claw, then you should always take that instead. All Power Weapons have a damage value of 1:
**'''Power Axe:''' S+2 AP-2. Offers a compromise between the Power Maul's brute force and the Power Sword's armour penetration.
**'''Power Maul:''' S+3, AP-1. This is the one you want to use against lightly armoured units that rely on toughness to shrug off hits. The Lance is identical to the Maul because of reasons.
**'''Power Sword:''' S+1 AP-3. Best against targets that rely on armour saves over toughness to shrug off hits. Except against frail things with good invulns like Crusaders, who ignore AP anyway.
*'''Power Fist -''' You know it, you love it. -1 To Hit, but doubles your Strength, has AP-3 and deals 2 damage. Your Plague Champions seem to have a fetish for them, but a Chaos Lord can use them, too.
*'''Flail of Corruption -''' Up to 1 in 5 Plague Marines and Blightlord Terminators can take these babies. 2 hit rolls per attack, S+1, AP-2, D2, Plague Weapon. 
**Not as powerful as it was before but on a blightlord it still puts out 6 attacks with a pretty nice anti infantry profile.
*'''Great Plague Cleaver -''' A Power Fist but with Plague Weapon and D6 damage. The main reasons not to take it are its horrendous points cost and minus to hit. Best skip this, though cleaving a tank in two could be fun. It would be better if Champions had a fetish for this weapon instead of the Power Fist.
**''Alternate Take:'' The Death Guard don't really have any other options for dealing with close-range melee juggernaut units like Dreadnoughts or Monstrous Creatures outside of the very expensive Deathshroud. While Meltaguns can do alright, they don't really work if the squad gets locked in melee (and considering how slow your units are, you will get locked in melee). The Great Plague Cleaver can actually do fantastic work against these kinds of units, provided it's properly supported with a Tallyman or Lord. Combined with a Power Fist and some Plague Knife dudes to eat wounds, your Cleavers can work wonders as a counter-charge unit, dealing with those hard-hitting single units with ease. *alternate opinion* We now have access to a stratagem that allows our melee damage to spill over... a fully kitted melee squad with a pair of these will shred infantry like no one else.
*'''Mace of Contagion -''' A flat 3 damage, S and AP buffs, and comes with a Bubotic Axe for flexibility. The downside is the -1 To Hit, but when hit rolls are that important, you just use the Axe instead. A bit expensive to swing both around, though.
*'''Manreaper -''' now gets two modes, Cleave: -1 hit S+3 AP-3 D2 Plague weapon for amped power fisting, or Scythe: S+1 AP-1 D1 Plague weapon and double hit rolls made for horde clearing. Pretty damn cool if you ask me.
*'''Plaguereaper -''' S+2 AP-3 D3 plague weapon, only Lord of Contagion can have it. Now 5pts *less* than the Manreaper (because Orb of Desiccation is mandatory with the Manreaper on the LoC) to be constantly better at killing multi-wound terminators and Primaris.
</tab>
</tabs>

===Relics of Decay===
You get a single relic for 1 CP per army (if it is battleforged), and can pay CP to get 1-2 more. However, you can't put more than one relic on one guy. Also, you can't give most of them to Daemon Princes. That being said, Death Guard have some very good relics and a lot of slots to take them with 5 (3 for any character, 2 on champions) if you have 4 cp, which you should as your tallyman will refund these over the course of the game.

<tabs>
<tab name="Generic Relics">
*'''Daemon's Toll:''' Noxious Blightbringer only. Once per game during an enemy Move phase, you can trigger this. One unlucky unit within 6" now rolls 1d6 whenever it tries to fall back and will stay in place on a 2+. If you're particularly intent on trapping them in an unfavorable battle (say, where the warlord is cornered), then you'll be enjoying this.
**While this is could be good the fact that foul blight spawn are kinda bad combined with the fact it takes up a relic slot.
*'''Fugaris' Helm:''' Improves the range of aura-based abilities by 3". Helpful considering the number of auras your Elites slot characters have. Also covers your plague ridden face, making you feel pretty. 
**Sadly, this is one of those instances where Contagions and Auras being different hurts you - this won't do anything for a contagion.
**Combines well with Arch-Contaminator.
*'''Putrid Periapt:''' Malignant Plaguecaster and Termie Sorcerer only. The bearer knows one additional psychic power. In addition, once per game the model can regain d3 wounds once it successfully casts a spell. Sadly, this loses a good bit of versatility by gating off the daemon prince.
*'''Revolting Stench-Vats:''' Foul Blightspawn only. This robs any enemies within 6" of rules that allow them to fight first, even if it was because of a charge. This can be absolutely hilarious for crushing a surprise assault or just for asserting your dominance over the enemy.
**This is a must-pick if you take a blightspawn. Not only does this combo with his already powerful ability to shut down charges, but it also combos exceptionally well with all your objective holders (blightlords, plague marines, and pox walkers) who all hit like trucks in melee.
*'''Tollkeeper:''' Tallyman only. This provides a new aura that that lets any {{W40kKeyword|<Plague Company> Core}} unit within 6" that rolls a nat 6 to hit with a gun deal an additional hit (which is like +1 to hit but it scales with both full re-rolls to hit and Overwatch). 
**Does absolutely nothing for guns that automatically hit, and remember the additional hit doesn't roll anything, so any abilities you have that trigger on 6 to hit (including this one) can't trigger off of them, leading to a lack of synergy.
***For example, if you have a unit of Plague Marines with bolters and Sigil of Decay near a Tallyman with Tollkeeper that targets them with Malicious Calculation, each shooter does this:
****1 to hit: Miss.
****2-5 to hit: Roll to wound normally.
****6 to hit: 1 auto-wound and 1 roll to wound normally.
** This does ''not'' specify infantry only, just as the Tallyman's basic buff doesn't, so this allows contemptors and helbrutes to get exploding 6s to hit which means DG Dreads are back on the menu, boys. 
** A very strong relic in most lists due to its combo potential. As the tallyman already buffs {{W40Kkeyword|CORE}} units, this relic just doubles down on that (in every way - a unit with BS3+ goes from 4/6 hits per attack to 5/6 with either buff and to 6/6 with both). While you can take this to support MSU plague marines with 2 plasma guns and a blight launcher or MSU Blightlords with all 3 special combis and a blight launcher, neither is very efficient (particularly since the latter wants to deep strike and the tallyman can't).  Instead, strap this to your Contemptors to ensure those guns you paid those CPs for hit as often as possible.
</tab>
<tab name="Champion Relics">
These are the relics you can hand out to any {{W40Kkeyword|Bubonic Astartes}} Champion model using the Champion of Disease stratagem.

*'''Plaguebringer:''' Replaces a balesword, daemonic plague blade, plague knife, or power sword. S+2 (6) AP-3 D2, Plague Weapon, and any models slain count as 2 for the purposes of morale tests. If you want to improve the melee capability of a Biologis Putrifier, it's a flat upgrade over the free plague knife you could already take.
**Spend 1 command point to give this to a Blightlord Champion. They have a respectable 4 attacks and are tanky enough see a return on your investment. 
**Something else to note is that this weapon does not count as a modifier since it only increases the models slain so RAW space marines have no defense against this.
*'''Plague Skull of Glothila:''' A not-quite grenade that can only be used once per battle at the end of the movement phase (meaning it can be "thrown" in melee). When triggered, target an enemy unit within 6" and roll 7d6: the unit suffers a MW on a 4-5, and 1d3 MW on a 6, so you inflict 0 to 21 mortal wounds with it. Statistically, you get 14/3 (4.67) mortal wounds on average - you have a 68% chance of at least 4 mortals, and a 10% chance of at least 8 mortals.  While it's nice that it's no longer a weapon, it's been replaced with something considerably less reliable and now just wipes off a fraction of a mob of conscripts rather than the whole deal. Really, this is made for denting solo models like heroes or vehicles.
**Alternative Opinion: Since this no longer counts as a shooting attack, you can target characters and ignore Look Out, Sir! Use this to "snipe" a character you don't want to deal with otherwise! 
***Odds of dealing at least X mortal wounds, if you're trying to kill a character:
***#99%
***#95%
***#84%
***#68%
***#50% (actually negligibly ''less'' - the odds are ''against'' you succeeding by a tiny margin)
**Alternative Alternative Opinion:This is also importantly done in the movement phase, and unreliably helps you kill off C'tan and Ghaz in one turn since you will smite after this and then shoot/charge, finishing them off. 
**Note: This can be put on a champion as a good deterrent for fast melee monsters like demon princes or deepstrikers as you will most likely live to the next round to walk up and chuck this.
*'''Reaper of Glorious Entropy:''' Replaces a manreaper or plaguereaper, making it Lord of Contagion or Deathshroud Champion only.  It's a Plaguereaper (Sx2 (8) AP-3 D3, Plague Weapon) ''without'' the -1 to hit penalty, and on an unmodified 6 to wound, you deal +1 mortal wound.  If you're keen on making your Lord of Contagion a major contender in melee, then you've got a decent tool in your hands.
*'''Suppurating Plate:''' Grants a 2+ armor save, and in the Fight phase, if the bearer loses any wounds, the enemy that inflicted it takes a mortal wound on a 2+. This has sadly been nerfed quite considerably. Since it now deals only 1 MW regardless of how many wounds you lost, it's more of a deterrent/kamikaze measure than any measure of a "Stop Hitting Yourself" game.
** Combines very poorly with Rotten Constitution, since you need to lose a wound to trigger the ability.  Combines very well with a Plague Surgeon, including on a Plague Surgeon, since you can heal the wounds you lose.
</tab>
<tab name="Plague Company Relics">
These relics are Plague Company specific - you can check the individual Plague Company entries for more detail; this is just a brief summary all in one place, to help you pick your Plague Company.

*'''Harbingers - Infected Remains''': Once per battle, the bearer can drop this on an objective within 3" at the end of the movement phase. So long as the bearer remains on the board, this objective now counts as having the same contagions as the bearer.
**'''Terminus Est - Canker:''' A permanently super-charged plasma pistol. It's got 18" range, S9 AP-4 D3, and suffers no overcharge, but most importantly it's also a Plague Weapon!
**'''Terminus Est - Filth Censers:''' Psykers only. Adds 6" to the first listed range for any powers your psyker casts.
**'''Terminus Est - Mark of the Terminus Est:''' The bearer adds +1 to his Strength, any wound rolls against him can't be re-rolled (to the irritation to all lieutenants), and once per game you can just flat-out ignore one failed save and auto-pass it instead. 
**'''Terminus Est - Raiment of Atrophy:''' Any contagions the bearer has count the current turn as one higher, which doesn't stack with any similar rule.
**'''Terminus Est - Reaper of Misery:''' Replaces a plaguereaper or manreaper. S+2 AP-3 D1, Plague Weapon, and double attacks, meaning what you have is a manreaper that scythes at +1S -2AP but can't cleave.  
**'''Terminus Est - Rotgrip:''' Replaces a power fist or plague claw with a plague claw at Sx3 (12) and no penalty to hit.
**'''Terminus Est - Vomix's Virulent Blight:''' Select a plague weapon. When a unit loses wounds by this weapon, the unit will now be permanently be subject to a contagion borne by the unit (pick any one if you have multiple). This is a horribly potent curse when using the basic Nurgle's Gift contagion, though it's still a pain when using Shamblerot.
*'''The Inexorable - The Leechspore Casket''': When a model is destroyed as a result of an attack made with a melee weapon by the bearer, one friendly {{W40kKeyword|Inexorable Vehicle}} model within 18" regains up to one lost wound, maxing out at 3 wounds per turn.
*'''Mortarion's Anvil - Warp Insect Hive:''' The bearer re-rolls all hit and wound rolls in melee.
*'''The Wretched - The Daemon's Favor:''' Malignant Plaguecaster only. The bearer replaces their Pestilential Fallout ability with "Torrent of Putrefaction". Instead of 1 mortal wound dealt on a 7 or more to cast, the bearer deals 1 mortal wound on any successful cast out to 6", increasing to 1d3 and 12" on a 7+.
*'''The Poxmongers - Ironclot Furnace:''' During the command phase, select one {{W40kKeyword|Poxmongers Daemon Engine}} unit within 6" of the bearer. Until the start of your next Command Phase, that unit has a 4++ Invuln, quite the gift. 
*'''The Ferrymen - Ferryman's Scythe:''' Replaces a Manreaper with another Manreaper that gets 3 attacks per Scything attack instead of 2.
*'''Mortation's Chosen Sons - Vomitryx:''' Replaces a plague sprayer (so Blightspawn only) with a 7-shot one, doubling its output.
</tab>
</tabs>

===Deadly Pathogens===
Upgrades a single non-Grenade, non-Relic ''Plague weapon'' on a {{W40Kkeyword|Death Guard character}} or a {{W40Kkeyword|Bubonic Astartes}} unit champion by paying points and increases the unit's power rating by +1, giving the weapon S+1 and one other additional ability.  S+1's utility changes a lot if Arch-Contaminator is applying, and also if Nurgle's Gift is applying - both of them make it more and more important to select a low-S weapon for this.  To give you an idea, if you pick an S3 weapon and then both abilities apply, and you attack a T8 target, you go from wounding 11/36 of the time to wounding 20/36 of the time.  

*'''Acidic Malady:''' 15pts. -1 to the weapon's AP. A genuine waste of your time - Virulent Fever behaves like this but better on everything you can take it on.
*'''Befouling Runoff:''' 5pts. Ignores cover. Generally garbage, since the best weapons you can pick for this hit automatically, so ignoring Dense Cover is irrelevant, and ignoring Light Cover is worse than Acidic Malady's flat improvement to AP.  Hard pass.
*'''Corrosive Filth:''' 15pts. +1 damage against {{W40Kkeyword|Vehicles}}.
**Against a Vehicle, naturally the best thing you can take - but worthless against infantry, bikes, swarms, monsters, etc.
*'''Explosive Outbreak:''' 15pts. Deals an additional hit on an unmodified hit roll of 6, which is equivalent to +1 to hit only with proper stacking with full re-rolls to hit, and it works on WS2+ (bringing your expected hits per attack to 1 base).  Best on a plaguereaper, if you're going to take it.  Since this doesn't work at all with weapons that hit automatically, many of your ranged options are just off the table with this.
**Attached to a WS3+ model (including a natively WS2+ one with -1 to hit), this is a 25% increase in murder - on a WS2+ model, it's worth +20%.  
*'''Unstable Sickness:''' 10pts. Each kill inflicts an additional MW on the enemy unit on a 4+ with a hard cap of 3MWs, and you can't use the Befouled Incubators strat on the bearer.
**The opposite of Virulent Fever - the better the weapon is at murder, the more mortals it inflicts, assuming you're targeting a multi-model unit so there's something left to suffer the excess.  Against a 1-model unit, of course, this ability does nothing at all.
**That means you generally can't be bothered with this, because it helps you most when murdering things you need the least help murdering.
*'''Virulent Fever:''' 15pts.  Deals a MW on an unmodified Wound roll of 6.  The better the weapon is at wounding, penetrating saves, or damaging, the worse this ability is - low-damage, poor-AP weapons will notice it the most.  As a result, this is generally your best bet on a Lord of Virulence's Twin Plague Spewer.
**Stacks with a Biologis Purifier's Foul Infusion, which has diminishing returns - going from 0 mortals on a 6 to wound to 1 is less of a step than from 1 to 2.
*'''Viscous Death:''' 5pts. Re-roll the number of attacks for this weapon. Ideal for a Foul Blightspawn's Plague Sprayer, but since rolling more dice makes this ability worse - you have to re-roll the whole roll, you can't only re-roll poor dice - not nearly as good for a Lord of Virulence.  Genuinely makes a Blightspawn killier.

Numbers speak for themselves: the only options that are actually real upgrades in killiness per point are virulent fever, viscous death, corrosive filth (which is highly situational), and explosive outbreak (once you're in melee). Weigh them against the cost of an extra Poxwalker. All in all, these are fun options that will not weaken your army if you don’t go overboard with them.