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

===Lords of War===
[[File:DaemonMort.png|200px|thumb|right|I have returned...]] 
*'''[[Mortarion]]''' - '''''Tremble, mortals, the Rotten Angel cometh!''''' After languishing in mediocrity all 8th, Mortarion is finally the beefcake he deserves to be and is probably going to be the centerpiece of many Death Guard or even regular CSM armies. Standing at W18 T8 3+/4++ (5+++ if he's your Warlord) and Disgustingly Resilient, Contagions that are 9" from the first turn onward, and ''four'' Warlord Traits (more info below) including the FNP one, he will prove quite hard to bring down. He has one of the best anti-horde weapons in the game, his huge scythe ''Silence''. It can dish out Ax3 (21 base!) SU (8) AP-2 D1 Plague Weapon attacks per fight phase, which will annihilate tarpits like there's no tomorrow. To deal with anything heavier, ''Silence'' has a second profile' Sx2 (16) AP-4 D1d3+3, Plague Weapon. He still carries his old ''Lantern'' pistol that can a decent amount of spread-out damage as it hits every unit in a straight line between him and the one he aims for (including the one he aims for but not himself) up to 12" - he only rolls to hit once, and if he does, each unit is hit exactly once, and it's S8 AP-3 D3. He still carries phosphex bombs that deal out 2D6 S5 AP-1 hits (they're not Plague Weapons, but because their range is less than his Contagion range, targets are always hit at -1T). Cherry on top, he's a psyker (yeah, the very thing he hated back in the day, but hush, no more tears, only Nurgle's happiness now). He knows 3 powers from the Contagion discipline, and 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 {{w40kkeyword|FLY}}, meaning he can hit things like Stormravens and Thunderhawks in melee. Just go and think about that for a second. Anyway, all in all he’s a really, ''really'' strong big daddy. Use him whenever you can.
**'''Choosing your warlord trait for Host of Plagues:''' Of the 7 contagions you can pick, 3 rely on a specific company being around (and hence don't do anything for Mortarion personally, instead only making him a vector for the Contagion).  Here are the 7 for ease of reference, with the ones Mortarion can benefit from at the top:
***'''Shamblerot:''' Each enemy non-{{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} unit within Contagion Range of this unit at the start of your opponent’s Movement phase suffers an average of 0.67 mortal wounds if a non-{{W40Kkeyword|character}} and 0.33 if a {{W40Kkeyword|character}}.
****Functionally speaking this is simply extra output for him in melee - it doesn't happen until after the enemy attacks and won't help morale checks fail, but you can almost always count on something you charge still being within contagion range at the start of its Movement phase.
***'''Gloaming Bloat:''' While an enemy unit is within Contagion Range of this unit, it cannot fire Overwatch or Set to Defend, and each time a model in it makes an attack, it can't re-roll hit rolls or wound rolls.
****Since you have no practical way to charge targets from ''more'' than 9" away anyway, this is just a straight defensive buff with the caveat that a target that can't or won't Overwatch/Set to Defend and has no re-rolls won't even notice you have this.
***'''Sanguous Flux:''' While an enemy unit is within Contagion Range of this unit, every model in the unit suffers -1 Ld and -1 to Combat Attrition tests.
****Provided you're fighting an enemy that can practically suffer Morale losses, this is Shamblerot but better, in terms of the amount of harm you'll inflict - the problem is how hard it is to fight something where Morale losses ''matter'', as opposed to fearless or nearly fearless squads or single-model units.
***'''The Droning:''' While an enemy unit is within Contagion Range of this unit, at the start of your opponent’s Movement phase, halve that enemy unit’s Move characteristic until the end of the phase.
****RAW does nothing, as units don't have Move characteristics (and as the Space Wolves and Deathwatch can tell you, it's ''very'' possible to have a unit of mixed Move), but ''presumably'' this means halve the Move characteristic of each model in the unit.  Mortarion has the movement (and contagion range) to deliver this where you need it about as credibly as possible, but to do so you need to fling him all the way forward, which may not be tactically viable.  Remember, he's ''expensive''.
***'''Ferric Blight:''' While an enemy unit is within Contagion Range of this unit, each time an attack is made by a friendly {{W40Kkeyword|INEXORABLE}} model against that enemy unit, improve the Armour Penetration characteristic of that attack by 1.
****Useless for Mortarion, but the best of the three murder-buffs.
***'''Eater Plague:''' While an enemy unit is within Contagion Range of this unit, each time an attack is made by a friendly {{W40Kkeyword|WRETCHED}} model against that enemy unit, an unmodified hit roll of 6 automatically wounds the target.
****Useless for Mortarion and has particularly poor synergy with the wide variety of to-wound buffs you have in your army.
***'''Nurgle’s Fruit:''' While an enemy unit is within Contagion Range of this unit, each time an attack is made by a friendly {{W40Kkeyword|MORTARION’S CHOSEN SONS}} model against that unit, the target does not receive the benefits of cover against that attack.
****Useless for Mortarion and ''almost always'' strictly worse than Ferric Blight.
**Like Magnus, Mortarion's command aura only grants re-roll 1s to hit. However, he can give a single {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard Core/Character}} unit (that includes himself) re-rolls on all hit rolls each Command phase. He gets to pick whatever contagion from any company at the start of the game and always uses both of his contagions at max range, although bear in mind he can only personally benefit from some of them - some contagions only benefit their specific company, and Mortarion isn't in one. There's no reason whatsoever to hold him back, since you can achieve a re-roll 1s aura with a regular chaos lord. Morty is at his best being in close combat with his enemies while his sons support him and do objectives. 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 out of ole Morty. That said, if he does somehow go down he explodes like a vehicle for a few parting mortal wounds.
**Having four warlord traits does have a minor drawback though, you can't double up on any of them for the rest of your army.
**It's worth noting that because Mortarion has both the {{W40Kkeyword|Nurgle}} and {{W40Kkeyword|Daemon}} keywords, he can be targeted by the Nurgle daemon powers with a similar story for {{W40Kkeyword|Heretic Astartes}}. So if you think that Miasma of Pestilence to protect Morty isn't enough, then ally in a Great Unclean One or Herald of Nurgle and give them Fleshy Abundance to keep Morty topped off on wounds and even more difficult to kill. Or give him Virulent Blessing and watch him shred through armour and infantry alike even faster.
**He also loves you (except you, Typhus, fuck you).
*** Don't forget the Nurglings! Mortarion ALSO has d6 additional attacks at S2 and no AP, but they'll also benefit from Virulent Blessing, and are Plague Weapons to boot, for potentially even MORE mortal wounds!
***Hilariously, for being a huge daemon primarch, Mortarion is exceptional at dealing with infantry. The reaping scythe is nearly always better against anything with more models than wounds or a decent invuln save. With contagions Mortarion will wound anything T8 or lower on a 3+ or better with the reaping scythe and if he has diabolic strength this extends to anything T10 or lower.  Bear in mind that the Reaping Scythe profile deals 21 A*D while the Eviscerating Blow profile deals 35 A*D - as soon as you're murdering anything W3 or higher, the Eviscerating Blow profile starts to become more and more compelling, with the usual caveats about potentially wasting damage depending on exact numbers (e.g. against a W4 target his EB only deals 32 A*D, while the RS stays at 21 - the numbers get particularly wonky whenever the target's Wounds aren't a multiple of 6).

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====Forge World====

All of the following units are well beyond the realm of being reasonably priced, most of them getting 200 point (or more, in the case of Scabby) increases on top of their already ridiculous points costs. As such, they should not be taken in competitive play, even some of the better units (Fellblade, Scabby) as Death Guard probably have a lite version of that unit for less than half of the cost (Morty or Mamon for Scabby, Land Raider or 3 Myphitic Blight Haulers for the Fellblade).

*'''Scabeiathrax the Bloated''' - My oh-my is this guy one tough son of a bitch. At T9 with 22 wounds (which can be healed with the Nurgle Discipline), a 4+ Invulnerable save for being a Daemon Lord, and the Disgustingly Resilient special rule, you will need a crap ton of heavy firepower to put him down. And if he dies, on a 4+ a unit within D6" suffers D6 mortal wounds. His close combat abilities are not to sneeze at either. He has Horrific Vomit, which is a 2d6 flamer at S6 AP-2 with Damage D3 that can be fired into close combat. Then, he has the Blade of Decay, a S+2 AP-4 sword that does a flat 6 damage. To round it all out, he gets D6 additional nurgling attacks at S2 AP0. He can cast 3 powers and deny three powers and knows Smite plus two Nurgle powers. Finally, he lets Nurgle Daemons use his leadership within 6" of him. Oh, did I forget to mention he forces a -1 to hit modifier on all friendly Nurgle Daemon units within 6"? Yeah, you want this guy. The only thing stopping you from taking him in every game is he's 777 points, and he's a LoW.
** Annoyingly, despite his sword having 'Decay' in the name, it is not a plague weapon, and neither is the vomit. So no Blades of Putrefaction mega-bonus for you :(
*'''Chaos Sokar Pattern Stormbird Gunship:''' Pretty much the largest flyer/transport/model Forge World offers next to titans. Damn expensive in points and tangible money alike, it can ferry the entire army onto the battlefield. Has like 8 lascannons, a host of various missiles and bombs, void shields, and a few heavy bolters here and there for flavor. The void shields can extend and overlap nearby troops 8" away that jumped out if it has hovered. Has 40 wounds, T9, a 5++ after the void shields. Its insane points cost (2321 for the default, which is more than a warhound Titan) completely prices it out as you won’t be able to fill its transport slots short of a 3000 point game.
*'''Chaos Thunderhawk Assault Gunship:''' Baby’s first Stormbird, costs 1400 points so is more widely useful than its big bro (which, admittedly, isn’t hard at all) but still dies alarmingly fast for such an expensive unit - it has 3+/5++/5+ VS (deg). Its best weapon for survival is its toughness and -12” to the range of weapons shooting at it. Also puts out a surprisingly small amount of hurt - the same number of Heavy Bolter shots as a fire raptor (which is nearly '''FOUR TIMES CHEAPER''') and either a turbo laser destructor (to evaporate vehicles) or the Thunderhawk cannon (generally inferior due to unreliable shot output). It does start off at BS2+ however, so consider keeping a barebones chaos lord in it throughout the game to get those lovely reroll wound (no idea how a plane would feel sufficiently inspired by a 10000-year-old man with horns riding inside it to magically be better at shooting but hey welcome to 8th). The bombs are a nice touch at least, and it’s still '''''very''''' fast.
*'''Hellforged Mastodon:''' Have you ever wanted to transport 40 Marines at once while trashing flyers and generally being nigh-indestructible? Then the Mastodon is the LoW for you! With 30 wounds and a 5+ void shield, the Mastodon is a fucking tough nut to crack, made even more so if it somehow gets into the 6" range for its siege melta array's rerolls to kick in. Good thing too, being 1060 fucking points for a single unit!
*'''Hellforged Spartan Assault Tank''' - THIS IS SPARTA(N)! The Death Guards true answer to its slow speed. The Spartan is a beast! With 8 lascannons (Which can be exchanged for 2 Laser destroyers) and a twin heavy bolter (Can be exchanged for a Twin heavy flamer), plus capacity for a Havoc launcher or the standard pintle weapons. This beast also rocks a transport capacity of a whopping 25! That's 5 Death Shrouds, 5 Blight lords, A Lord of Contagion, a Malignant plaguecaster, Biologius putrifier, Tallyman and Foul Blightspawn. All in one simple sweet package! The only downside is that it is expensive (Still better value than a Land Raider) and that it is a Lord of War choice. Still awesome!
*'''Hellforged Cerberus Heavy Destroyer''' - Jesus, this thing is expensive but nasty. So on top of the rules, we've seen for the other Hellforged tanks, this beast sports T9, 22 wounds, a 2+ save and can always shoot or charge even when falling back. It also hits at S8 from its infernal hunger and rolls D6 for its containment breach mortal wounds (2D3 against psykers). It can take two heavy bolters or lascannons for sponsons and havoc launcher or combi-weapon for the pintle blah blah blah - let's talk about that FUCKHUEG gun sticking out of the front of it. It slings 4 shots down a 6-foot range with AP-6 and dealing an eye-watering 5-10D per shot (aka, 4+D6). The fun part, however, is how it wounds - it doesn't have a strength characteristic but instead, you roll 3D6 and compare against your target's leadership; if you equal or exceed that value, the target is wounded. This means that on average, you will wound '''ANYTHING''' in the game, which then takes an average 7 damage at -6 to their armour. Oh hey, if you kill anything with this tank in the previous turn with any of your guns, you get to roll 4D6 and choose the highest 3. Obviously, wipe something weak and then focus fire on trouble spots. EDIT: don't forget, it's also BS 2+...so it really works well against flyers.
**For countering this beast, the Warlord trait in the basic rules which adds +1 leadership in a 6" bubble (Inspiring Leader) is pretty impressive against this thing, as do other abilities which increase the leadership stat. Invulnerable saves work just fine against it. And lastly, it really can only target one enemy per turn (with 4 shots) so it won't be effective against opponents without elite targets (against grots, it will kill 4 grots per turn). Defensively, this (thanks to chapter approved) very expensive tank has no invulnerable save, so will die quickly to traditional anti-tank weapons.
*'''Hellforged Typhon Heavy Siege Tank''' - Your tank for when you absolutely need 1 unit dead. It comes stock with the infamous Dreadhammer Siege Cannon that dishes out 2d6 S10 AP -5 shots that each do 3 wounds on a failed saves, starting at 2+ to hit. The randomness of the number of shots makes it ok at best for dealing with squads that are 10 man or more, but that shouldn't be your priority with this thing. You want to be shooting and those special prize units of 5 or fewer models or rival tanks. This brings us to our next point, wargear. It may also bring Heavy Bolter or Lascannon sponsons and you can give it a Havoc Launcher (if you have the points, just take the Lascannons). Its no slouch defensively either T9, 22 wounds, and a 2+ save will keep it on the board far longer than your enemy will be comfortable with. Oh and it regenerates wounds from Close Combat.
*'''Hellforged Fellblade''' - Incredibly expensive, even more so due to the Chapter Approved points hike it got (897 points for the default loadout), but still the Baneblade's exponentially meaner cousin and the king of the 1500-2000 point game. It comes with a twin heavy bolter, two quad lascannons (that's 8 lascannons, people!), a demolisher cannon, and the Fellblade Accelerator Cannon, which is all kinds of rape. The FAC fires shells in 2 flavour: AE (Anti-Everything), which fires 2 shots at Strength 14, AP -4 and a flat rate of 6 damage per wound - whatever you hit with this shell will die, or be damged so bad it will become irrelevant thanks to degrading stats. HE (High Explosive) is anti-GEQ/anti-MEQ with 2d6 shots strength 8 ap -3 D1, making it absolutely perfect for killing MEQs (S8 and Ap-3 also make it decent against TEQs as you're wounding on 2s and dropping them to their 5++, but the D1 will halve the number of kills you get out), and you can also reroll the number of shots fired against units with 5 or more models in. The HE shells also suffer less than the AE shells as the tank takes damage and loses accuracy thanks to its higher rate of fire (so target vehicles early in the game, while you still have accuracy with AE shooting) The 8 lascannons are arguably the most deadly part of the loadout as rate of fire is king in 8E and you're putting out 8 S9 AP-3 Dd6 shots, making this an excellent knight killer. For dealing with T9 or above superheavies, the lascannons can be replaced for laser destroyers, which are 36" Heavy 1 S12 Ap-4 Dd6. You also roll a d6 every time an unsaved wound is dealt against this weapon, and on a 3-5 the damage is changed to 2d6, and on a 6 the damage is changed to 3d6. A pair of these are also cheaper by 40 points than a pair of qaud lascannons, but their usefulness takes a much greater hit than the lascannons as the tanks takes damage. It also has a demolisher cannon (24" Heavy d3 S10 AP-3 Dd6 (which becomes Heavy d6 against units with 5 or more models), and a twin heavy bolter (which can be swapped for a twin heavy flamer) to round the arsenal out (not including your choice of combi-weapon or havoc launcher goodness). All-in-all, keep this beast at around 24-48" range to get the most use out of its weapons, but watch out for high ap weapons as it doesn't have an invuln. To make up for this, feel free to stay at 100" and snipe the units with high ap weapons with AE shells. It's an insanely good take for non-apocalypse games, and only gets better as the points limit drops towards 1000 as there becomes less and less that can hurt it and less and less targets (allowing you to focus fire). Just don't expect to be having the room for any other expensive units (or just any units at all if you're playing 1000 points).
*'''Hellforged Falchion''' - Insanely expensive (well over 1000 points), but excellent for deleting titanic targets (seriously, Stompas don’t even get armour saves against this thing, not to mention them being wounded on a 2+. Sit there and laugh as your enemy’s 40-wound beat stick is destroyed before turn 2). 2d6 strength 16 shots, -5 AP, 2d6 damage. It'll wound anything T8 or lower on 2's, and the few T9 targets out there on 3's. Keep a lord/DP around to re-roll 1's to make the target's death all but a foregone conclusion. 2 quad lascannons (or two laser destroyers if you really want to wreck superheavies) plus a hull twin heavy bolter add to its already impressive firepower.
*'''Kharybdis Assault Claw <sup>[Forge World]</sup>''': Another Heresy era drop pod variant that "somehow" only traitor marines kept. This is like a "super" Dreadclaw, featuring slight improvements over the base dreadclaw, in most areas, plus what is basically 5x cyclone missile launchers with an extra -1 AP to both profiles. Melee weapon remains the same, but it gains a bonus melta attack too. Transport capacity increases to 20 infantry (10 terms), but can still only transport a single helbrute/contemptor. +3" movement, but it degrades (T8 with 20 hp). Bombing run variant is improved. Note that unlike a SM drop pod, since this vehicle has FLY, it can ignore terrain when Setting up from deep strike, so even as a basic drop pod, it's much more flexible. Model does have TITANIC.