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

===={{W40Kkeyword|Infantry Character}}s====
*'''[[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 D1 and deals 1d3 mortal wounds when it wounds {{WH40Kkeyword|Beasts/Cavalry/Infantry}}, but it has a pathetic 3" range. It's his grenades that make him worth it: his Hyper Blight Grenades are AP-1 and deal 2 damage, and any other friendly Death Guard units within 6" 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-{{WH40Kkeyword|NURGLE}} units within 7" of him.  He also buffs your melee: 1/turn at the start of your charge or any fight phase, pick a friendly {{WH40Kkeyword|<plague company> core}} unit within 6" - until your next command phase, that unit's melee attacks with Plague Weapons deal 1 mortal wound on nat 6s to wound.
**This also goes very well with the Blightening strat that lets a unit throw 21.5 blight grenade attacks.
***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 (3.5 grenade attacks) 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.
**Because his only aura is his Blight Grenade improver you can have him take actions like Raise the Banners or Spread the Sicknesss without much issue. 
*'''[[Foul Blightspawn]]''' - 75 points, M5″ A3 S4 WS/BS3+ T5 W4 Sv3+ Ld 8. His weapon, the Plaguesprayer, is a 12" Assault 1d6 S7 AP-3 D2 Plague Weapon that autohits like a flamer, which means that it's good enough to deal with MEQs to vehicles. The Unholy Death's Head grenade is cute and has blast. Maybe if he's close to an 11+ squad he can drop 12 shots on something, but his sprayer is way better in most cases, including against units of size 6=10. He's terrible in assault personally since he has no melee weapon, but you want him in the frontlines by the assaults due to his ability to make a unit within 3" fight last. 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. You will often want to give this guy a Deadly Pathogen, usually Viscous Death (if you're concerned you won't face vehicles) or Corrosive Filth (if you're confident you will).
*'''[[Noxious Blightbringer]]''' - A debuff machine with a plasma pistol, Disgustingly Resilient, a cursed plague bell (D2 poisoned close combat weapon), and blight grenades. This guy got the short end of the stick when compared to his other Foetid Virion buddies. He has three abilities but you'll probably only take him for his aura of +1 to move and advance to make your infantry faster. His other auras are nice... if they weren't 6 inch range. A Psyker can just move out of the 6 inch range to avoid the -1 to casting aura and then cast from 7 inches away.  Maybe they'll see play in a Ferryman plague company, then use the strat to pick and choose which ability you need. He does have a nice relic that stops units from falling back and can be really good in the right match-up, but then he's competing with other characters and better relics. 
*'''[[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 give a 6+++ to {{W40Kkeyword|Bubonic Astartes Infantry}} units within 3" of them, giving back some of the old DR from 8ed, and can pick one such unit to heal for 1d3 wounds, which is great for healing a wounded Chaos Lord who has just finished fighting, or a terminator unit. 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.
** Keep in mind that his abilities are not tied to Plague Company only, so you can mix and match Plague Companies and let him heal everyone regardless of detachment. 
** Math wise Herr Doktor performs very poorly with basic bitch plague marines, because their wounds are "worth" 10.5 points each and he costs 75, i.e. he breaks even in points when he's prevented 7 and 1/7 wounds from being lost, either from healing (which is hard - the Marines can't be healed at 2 or 0 wounds, so you need to have specifically ended up with 1 injured member, and he can't dish out his total healing, only 1 wound of it) or from his FNP, which alone needs to have 42.86 points of damage come in to break even, on average (so if 43 come in, you should usually block enough to make a negligible points profit). Losing half a full squad of plague marines a turn for four-five turns without losing the whole unit shouldn't ever happen. That being said, it’s a lot easier to get value from healing terminators and characters, making him pretty good in Terminus Est where Outbreak Assault lets you deep strike with said terminators. 
***By the same logic, he needs to have 33.75 damage come at Blightlords or 27 at Deathshrouds to break even.  
***TL;DR: The best use for a plague surgeon is a survival boost for a unit or two of terminators inside a terminus est force.
*'''[[Tallymen|Tallyman]]''' - The mortal version of a Spoilpox Scrivener and Epidemius. A cheap (70) Dark Apostle-like unit that allows one friendly {{W40Kkeyword|<plague company> core}} within 6" of him to get +1 to hit rolls (both melee and ranged); 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 turn with a Tallyman in your Battle-Forged army, roll 2d6; on a 7+, you get a CP at the beginning of the command phase. Interestingly enough. this works for not only your own phase but your opponent's as well. The more players in a game the more opportunities to get back CP. His relic gives an aura of additional hits on 6+ for shooting to  {{W40Kkeyword|<plague company> core}}, further discouraging you from ever taking a Sigil of Decay on your plague marines (that's the upgrade where your bolters auto-wound on 6 to hit; if you combine both abilities, on a 6 to hit you get an autohit that needs to wound and a normal hit that autowounds, i.e. the Sigil won't buff the autohits the relic generates).
**Only the relic gives him an aura, so that’s the only thing you lose if you have him take actions like Raise the Banners or Spread the Sicknesss.