Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Death Guard (section)

===Elites===
*'''[[Noxious Blightbringer]]''' - A debuff machine with a plasma pistol, Disgustingly Resilient, a cursed plague bell (D2 poisoned close combat weapon), and blight grenades. Units within 7" of him are at -1 Leadership, and friendly Death Guard models in the same radius roll 2d6 and pick the highest when Advancing (which is the reason to take him). Would not be surprising to see this model proxied as a Plaguecaster, as it looks magnificent. Being Elite, the Blightbringer also doesn't eat into your HQ budget. That said, being Elite he also doesn't help you fill HQ slots.
*'''[[Foul Blightspawn]]''' - [[Nurgle|77]] points, 5″, WS/BS 3+, Strength 4, Toughness 5, 3 Attacks, 4 wounds, Leadership 8, 3+ save. His weapon, the Plaguesprayer, is a 9" Assault 1d6 S2d6 AP-3 D3 Plague Weapon that autohits like a flamer, which means that with a good enough roll for its S and number of shots it can trash anything from MEQs to vehicles. The Unholy Death's Head grenade he carries can be used by him (or another friendly DEATH GUARD Character within 3" of him) to upgrade their Blight Grenade/Hyper Blight Grenade to Grenade 2d6 once per game. He's no slouch in assault either, due to his ability Revolting Stench (yep his power is stinking). It causes enemy units within 7" of him to lose the ability to fight first in the Fight phase, even if they charged or have rules that would otherwise allow them to fight first. For glass cannon melee units that rely on being the first to strike in the Fight phase to compensate for their poor durability (like Daemonettes, Howling Banshees, and Emperor's Children Chaos Space Marines), this can leave them defenseless at the worst possible time. This also doubles as a bit of cross-god synergy: send a Blightspawn in with some Slaaneshi daemons or Emperor's Children marines, and you'll ensure that they ALWAYS Fight First, for real this time.

**If you want to go hunt monsters and tanks with him to make the most of his Plaguesprayer's high damage, I'd recommend putting him near a Warlord with the Arch-Contaminator trait. You've got a 40% chance with T7 and a 68% chance with T8 to wound on 5s. Otherwise he's best suited to take care of medium-to-low toughness units with multiple wounds, like Characters or Terminators. 
**Here is a table showing the overall to-wound chance of the Plaguesprayer vs. various toughness values. Note that as a plague weapon it rerolls wound rolls of 1, and in range of the Arch-Contaminator aura it rerolls all failed wound rolls.  This is important to keep in mind whether you are fielding this model yourself or playing against someone who is; the random 2d6 Strength characteristic obfuscates how hard this thing hits.  At the tabletop, think of it as somewhere between a Plasma and a Melta weapon.

{|class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+ Plaguesprayer To-Wound Chance
! Toughness || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 16
|-
| Regular || 95.1% || 89.7% || 80.5% || 71.8% || 63.2% || 56.7% || 49.2% || 44.3% || 38.3% || 24.8%
|-
| Arch-Contaminator || 96.1% || 93.2% || 87.7% || 82.5% || 75.8% || 70.6% || 63.3% || 59.1% || 53.0% || 37.5%
|}
*'''[[Biologus Putrifier]]''' - Same stats as the Foul Blightspawn. He's only got a plague knife for melee, and his shooting leaves much to be desired- sure, his Injector Pistol is S4 AP-1 D6 damage (1 against vehicles), but it has a pathetic 3" range. It's his grenades that make him worth it: his Hyper Blight Grenades are S4 instead of S3, deal 2 damage, and inflict an extra mortal wound on a wound roll of 6- and any other friendly Death Guard units within 3" get their blight grenades upgraded in the same way. As an added bonus, when killed he explodes like a vehicle on a 4+, inflicting a mortal wound on any non-NURGLE units within 7" of him.
**It doesn't take a genius to figure out that pairing his Hyper Blight Grenades with the Foul Blightspawn's Unholy Death's Head is a combo that's highly effective for its cost. The combination is also strongly supported by the fluff for good measure. 
**This also goes very well with the Stratagem that lets you throw an ass-load of blight grenades in one shooting attack.
***Also, while the "ass load of grenades" stratagem is great, you don't necessarily have to do this all the time. Each unit can throw one grenade and the dozens of HQ characters and mini Elite slot characters that DG armies will no doubt end up running, can each throw a blight grenade. So the bulk of your army may well be able to throw half a dozen grenades in a single shooting phase without even using a stratagem.
*'''[[Plague Surgeon]]''' - Dr. pimple popper. It's ironic that out of all the Traitor Legions, it was the Death Guard of all people that kept their [[Apothecary|Apothecaries]]. Like their Loyalist counterparts, they're mainly intended for support, but instead of reviving dead units, they allow re-rolling 1s for Disgustingly Resilient rolls for '''Infantry''' units within 3" of them. This may seem underwhelming, but since the benefit is per unit he can buff an entire Poxwalker blob if he's near only one model of them. He also adds 1 to all his hit and wound rolls when targeting ADEPTUS ASTARTES Infantry and Bikers in the fight phase; while it may seem like a bad idea to get him stuck in, he carries a Balesword (a Plague Weapon equivalent of a Power Sword), so he can actually hold his own in close combat with the right support (like that Poxwalker blob he's buffing, for example). It is needed to point out however that his bonus is not as big as it could sound, increasing a 33.333% probability to shake off a wound to a 38%.
*'''[[Tallymen|Tallyman]]''' - The mortal version of a Spoilpox Scrivener and Epidemius. A cheap (62 points (55 as of CA 2018)) Dark Apostle-like unit that allows friendly Death Guard within 7" of him to reroll failed hit rolls in the fight phase, but since he only has a plasma pistol and grenades he should probably be kept out of melee himself. His other, odder gimmick is called Seven-fold Chant- every time you use a Death Guard-specific Stratagem with a Tallyman in your Battle-Forged army, roll 2d6; on a 7, you don't spend the CP used for the Stratagem. While this is a nice bonus, you shouldn't count on it actually triggering all that often since it only activates on a specific number - specifically, your odds of this happening are 1 in 6. Still, he's cheap enough to be worth using even with the unreliability of Seven-fold Chant. Just think of him as a more cost effective Dark Apostle (since he's cheaper, his reroll radius is 1" wider, and you really don't need the Leadership buff on your Fearless Poxwalkers anyway) and he's worth it even without the Chant.
*'''[[Deathshroud|Deathshroud Terminators]]''' - A returning favorite from the Death Guard's 30k version, and still a potent bodyguard after 10,000 years. Even more sluggish than the rest of the Death Guard due to their Cataphractii Terminator Armor reducing them to 4" of movement and cutting Advance rolls in half, but they can deep strike to make up for it. Between their 2+/4++, their ability to intercept hits for Death Guard Characters within 3" (hits not wounds, meaning they still can take their 2+/4++ and Disgustingly Resilient saves), Disgustingly Resilient, having two wounds, and adding an extra attack to any nearby Death Guard Characters (except for Mortarion), they're practically a requirement for keeping your Warlord as indestructible as possible. In battle, they're no slouches themselves, thanks to their Manreapers and Plaguespurt Gauntlets (a Hand Flamer, but Pistol 1d6, not 1d3). They used to cost a lot (67 ppm), but as of CA2019 they are a more reasonable 42.
**<s>A good way to get these guys into combat is deep strike them with a unit in-between them and their target, use '''''Cloud of Flies''''' and move + charge next turn.</s> No longer an option since the spring FAQ; '''Cloud of Flies''' can only be used during the own movement phase. Deep strike happens at the end of the movement phase.
**<s>Or if you don't mind using a '''chaos''' list add a detachment with a regular old chaos sorcerer and drop a '''warptime''' on them.</s> No longer an option since the spring FAQ; deep striking units cannot move for any reason, including via '''warptime'''.
**Deathshrouds may be incredibly expensive, but it does pay to look at what you're getting with these. The Manreapers are effectively Power Fists without a To-Hit penalty, striking at S8 re-rolling 1s, AP-3, and D3. These things will cleave through any tank you point them at, never mind what they'll do to Primaris Marines and other tough multi-wound infantry. And unlike, say, Custodes, who easily get bogged down in numbers, their Plaguespurt Gauntlets provide an answer to that problem.
***To put these guys in perspective, a squad of 6 of them can easily kill Girlyman in a [[Anal circumference|single turn]], delivering 9 wounds. Alternatively, with a bit of psychic support from a Malignant Plaguecaster ('''Blades of Putrefaction''' + '''Putrescent Vitality''' on the Deathshroud), they can down a [[Imperial Knight|Knight]] [[Rape|in 1 turn, dealing 24 wounds]].  Prescience them for a 2+ to-hit with DTTFE triggering on 5's.  Now the train runs on whole grain imported from Lordaeron.
*'''[[Blightlord Terminator|Blightlord Terminators]]''' - While the Deathshroud is best suited to acting as a bodyguard, the Blightlords act more like classic Chaos Terminators with a few Nurglite twists. Like the Deathshroud, they've got Cataphractii armor with all the benefits and drawbacks that brings them, but instead of buffing Characters, they treat their melee attacks as having -1AP on a 6 to wound (e.g. AP-2 becomes AP-3). While they don't get Manreapers, they can equip just about anything else a Plague Marine can use, as well as Reaper Autocannons, allowing them to fill any kind of niche. Also interesting is that they can take Combi-Weapons, including Combi-Plasma. And there is something to be said for a full squad of Combi-Plasma that can double-tap from 18" away. 
** something to note, with the combo of '''Veterans of the Long War''', '''Blades of Putrefaction''' and their '''Aura of Rust''' these guys get the bonus AP on a 4+ and are causing bonus mortal wounds on a 5+. 
*'''Possessed''' - You might be tempted to skip past these blokes, but not so fast. Thanks to their two wounds and Daemon save, they are actually about as tough as normal Plague Marines, even though they lack the Disgustingly Resilient rule both the plague marine hosting the daemon and the daemon itself have to make the Possessed. D3 attacks with what amounts to Power Axes is only slightly inferior (6/7) to a Plague Marine with a Bubotic Axe. In this comparison, the Possessed are cheaper and faster, deal almost as much damage, and can be affected by a Herald of Nurgle if you're willing to include one. Small units of them are both cheap and effective, both as melee units and as distractions, and every round they take is not directed at your Blight Launchers.
*'''Helbrute''' -You know it, you love it. These are your Dreadnought equivalents and you can kit them to just about anything, but between inexorable advance and their weapon options, you're probably going to go ranged. 7 Power Level because of course we needed another number 7. By default it comes with a fist and a multi melta. The melta can be swapped for a variety of ranged weapons including twin heavy bolters for horde munching, reaper autocannons for threatening tougher stuff at a distance, plasma cannons that are always overcharged, and for long range anti tank it's your best source of lascannons and missile launchers. Alternately the gun arm can become a second fist arm, adding 1 to the number of attacks it can make (note: due to all units being "equipped" with their unarmed attack per the core rules, this fist is unnecessary according to RAW) and coming with an underslung combi bolter that you can upgrade to a heavy flamer. Meanwhile the fist arm can be swapped for a missile launcher or a mix of melee weapons including a hammer which, compared to the fist loses its underslung gun and takes a -1 to hit penalty, but has 1 more AP and rolls D6 for damage, but since it has the same strength you shouldn't bother, the fists will be more consistent. Another melee option is the power scourge which makes three attacks on its own even if you make all your other attacks with a different weapon and hits like an overcharged plasma with 1 less AP. While Helbrutes can be nasty in melee, you're really going to want to kit them for range because lascannons and missile launchers are some of the longest range weapons this army has, and the Helbrute can have both for less than 150 points. In case Helbrutes weren't great enough to take just with their wargear, they also can fire on the move without penalty, have a stratagem that lets them double tap if they don't move, and every phase in which they take damage they roll a D6 and on a 6 they get a free round of shooting attacks if they're not in combat, or melee attacks if they are. Never leave home without one, and consider taking more. As of CA2019, they cost 12 points less and have gained Hateful Assault, gaining +1A if charging, charged or on interventions, and they have still not fixed the rule that makes the second fist unnecessary.
** Alternate opinion: Even though it seems to be great, you might want to not take them after all. Twin lascannon and missile launcher are good anti-tank weapons, but not for us, we are not gunline army. 3 shots hitting everything on 3s and wounding most of enemy vehicles on 3+ isn't that great after all, and you can't really modify the outcome in any reliable way. You might get lucky and shoot down a Leman Russ in 1 turn, or you might not do anything at all for the entire game (or those 2 rounds that Helbrute lasts for). Not having Disgustingly Resilient and an invulnerable save makes you very fragile, and this is exactly what you shouldn't be as Death Guard.

====Forge World====
*'''Chaos Decimator''' - 8th edition has shown our favorite pseudo-dreadnought some real love. Movement is a fast 10" with WS 3+ BS 3+, S7, T7, W8, A5, SV 3+ 5++ with no degeneration as wounds go down. You regenerate a wound at the start of each of your turns, and gain +1 attack if you keep both melee weapons on. It still has all of its old weapon loadouts while sadly losing its cool flamer special rule from 7e. Stock Claw is +2S AP-3 D3 with a Hellflamer doing Heavy D6 S5 AP-1 D2 Auto Hits. The Decimator Storm Laser is as you would expect from last edition, 24" Assault 5 S6 AP-2 D1. The once horrible Soulburner Petard now has some real use with 24" Assault 2D3 S- AP0 D1, causing auto MORTAL wounds on successful hits, while to hit rolls of 1 cause Mortal wounds to the Decimator. It states that you cannot take more than 1 mortal wound a turn via this rule, so you are fairly safe using it due to your regeneration. Butcher Cannon is still reliable with 36" Heavy 4 S8 AP-1 D2 causing -2 LD to enemy unit should a casualty be sustained. C-beam Cannon has also gotten some new life, 72" Heavy 1 S6 Ap-3 D3, you gain +2S and +D3 for every 24" you are away from the target, AND if the enemy suffers a casualty due to your original shot, the same unit suffers 2D6 additional S6 AP0 D1 damage. Overall the Decimator handled the transition to 8th nicely and are more attractive now than they were in 7th even with the lack of Deep Strike capabilities.
**Note that despite visual similarities to Helbrutes and Dreadnoughts, the Chaos Decimator does not have the {{Template:W40kKeyword|HELBRUTE}} keyword - this means that it will not benefit from Legion Traits.
*'''Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnought''' - S7 T7 W10 A4 Sv 3+ (hilariously, Loyalist version has 2+) (<s>Because they have been blessed by the Emperor!</s> because we haven't seen replacement parts since the Horus Hersey), the Contemptor remains as good as it ever was. It has a huge amount of options with your typical fist (deathclaw) and chainfist (chainclaw) available as well as some of the more Chaotic choices available. New to the menu is the Kheres Assault Cannon which the Chaos Warpsmiths finally found a working version of! As of the FAQ, you can now go double guns should you feel the need. Butcher Cannon (36" Heavy 4, S8 AP-1 D2, causes a LD -2 debuff on enemy units that it has inflicted casualties on) and the Kheres Assault Cannon are attractive choices. On a 5+ it eats an enemy it killed in melee for healing a wound, it has a 5++ against shooting and overwatch with a 4++ in melee, and gains +1 attack if you keep both arms as CCWs. A solid choice that is a natural step up from your standard Helbrutes. Has the Containment Breach rule, which punishes regular units with d3 mortal wounds within 6" and Psykers within 6" with D6 mortal wounds instead.
**FW FAQ: Now the Contemptor can replace both arms for ranged weapons if you so wish, and now you can take an Havoc Launcher too.
**Also per the FAQ, Chaos Dreads have the Helbrute keyword, letting them gain Legion traits.
**Their spiciest gun option is the soulburner. Advancing to cause 2d3 Mortals at 24" and then moving in to fight the next turn REALLY helps pull heat from your other big hitters.
**A pair of twin lascannons with no penalties for moving fills a huge gap in the need for ranged anti-tank.
***Before you do this, consider that for the same price in points you can field a pair of Myphitic Blight-haulers, who have a similar, non-degrading statline (with worse BS), access to Disgustingly Resilient, better mobility, can fire Heavy weapons without penalties, provide cover to nearby units and are each armed with a free melee weapon, a multi-melta and a rocket launcher for a similar volume of anti-tank dakka. And if you account for the actual price in cash, you can buy about five of those for the price of one FW Contemptor.
*'''Hellforged Predator''' - Confused to see this in the elites slot? So is everyone else! Anyway, it's a Predator that's an elite with some extra rules and guns. Standard Pred weapons with the ability to choose Flamestorm Cannon (8" Heavy 2D6 S5 AP-1 D2 Flamer), Magna-melta Cannon (24" Heavy D3 S10 AP-4 D6, roll extra dice if in 1/2 range), C-beam Cannon (72" Heavy 1 S6 AP-3 D3, +2S & +D3 for every 24" between shooter and target, causes 2d6 S6 AP0 1D additional hits if you kill a model with your first shot), and Plasma Destroyer (36" Heavy 2D3, S7 AP-3 D2). Can eat people in melee to regain one wound on a 5+, causes D3 additional attacks when it successfully charges, and has the Containment Breach rule, which punishes regular units with 2d3 mortal wounds within 6" and Psykers within 6" with D6 mortal wounds instead. It's a fine choice if you feel the need to have those special weapons on a Pred platform. The damage charts for this and other hellforged tanks are distinctive in that they actually get better in melee the more injured they get, meaning the more you need some wounds repaired the more likely you'll be able to eat some, although your movement does suffer so it gets less able to get into melee.
*'''Hellforged Sicaran''' - An even bigger vehicle in the elites slot? No it's not the Slaanesh dust kicking in, this is real life. The Sicaran is still a beast at T7 W14 3+, but as always we take it for its main weapon. Twin Accelerator Autocannon is kicking around at 48" Assault 8 S7 AP-1 D2, No penalty to shoot at FLY and every wound of 6 is jumped up to AP-3. It can move 14" between 7-14 wounds; imagine flying around the board shooting those Autocannons on 3+ (remember, it's assault, not heavy), ouch! Can eat people in melee on a 5+ to regain a wound, and has the Containment Breach rule, which punishes regular units with 2d3 mortal wounds within 6" and Psykers within 6" with D6 mortal wounds instead. Yes, you will still lose friends over fielding this.