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

==Counterplay==
*'''Space Marines''': Space Marines main advantage tends to be their toughness 4. Thankfully, Death Guard don't care about that noise, due to the contagion aura reducing them to T3. You don't have the sheer killing power that Marines have in melee or shooting, but Plague Weapons mean you don't need 5 flavors of the same character to get rerolls, and your -1 to damage negates a good chunk of the Marine Arsenal. Plagueburst crawlers are your go to battle tank, due to being the best tank in the game period, and able to eat through Marines like Potato chips. Keep an eye on Raven Guard and Salamanders, who have very reliable ways of getting past Mortarion's toughness with +1 to hit and/or wound. Iron Hands also have a 6+++, so mortal wound spam is slighty less effective against them
*'''Black Templars''': The one exception to your martial supremacy over the Marines. Besides the fact that Templars can tell some of your psykers to fuck off, they are more mobile. You'll also never wound them on anything less than a 3+, due to Uphold the Honor of the Emperor giving them a 5++, so forget about melee Bubotic Axes/Power Fist 2+ to wound, or sniping their vehicles at all. Mortal wounds are an ok, but not perfect way around this problem given the 5+++. Volume of fire/attacks is the best way to defeat the Templars, and killing their support characters will leave them a still absurdly tough, but floundering mess.
*'''Dark Angels''': Dark Angels are a powerful matchup. While they probably won't defeat you in melee, they have both the ranged firepower to crush you and the mobility to steal objectives and run circles around you. If your opponent brings a pure Deathwing army, you can expect to win through manuever. Against pure Ravenwing, bring Plagueburst Crawlers, and consider some Blight Drones to detonate on units like Ravenwing Knights. Against Greenwing, you'll probably want to kill what you can and hold objectives everywhere else. For this, Chaos Spawn will come in clutch.
*'''Adeptus Custodes''': With the new Codex, Custodes are an army of Doomslayers. A Blade Champion with the Lockwarden Warlord Trait will tear new fleshy wounds in your diseased boys, and even Mortarion isn't safe. Beware the Sisters of Silence, for they can wound morty on a 4+, something few other models of their caliber can boast. The Psyk-Out Grenades Stratagem is an easy way to force Morty to perils, which is an excellent way to soften him up before a charge. Keep an eye out for the Sisters of Silence, beware the bikes/anything trying to get in melee, and try to spam mortal wounds to break through their invuln saves. Again, Plagueburst Crawlers are clutch here, with the high volume of fire being essential to breaking key Custodes units.
*'''Sisters of Battle''': Sisters are not nearly as terrifying as you'd imagine, lacking the juicy S9 weaponry most factions need just to do decent damage to your army. They have a universal 6++ that won't really protect them, but you'll want to watch out for sneaky tricks. Ministorum Flamers hit like trucks compared to any other flamers, and the whole army can deny powers on a roll of 5+, and have a few toys for hurting our daemons like Mortarion or our Drones/Plagueburst Crawler. Watch for Seraphim, as they are the most reliable way for Sisters to nuke something big and scary that they would prefer to not exist. Repentia will also thouroughly fuck anything ([[/d/|not in that way]]), so pepper them with gunfire and destroy the Rhino they're hiding in turn one. Smite, the supparating plate, and other mortal wound tricks won't work on Morvenn Vahl or anyone from the Order of the Valourus Heart, who both have fnp rolls specifically against mortal wounds.