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

==Stratagems==

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<tab name="Battle Tactic">
*'''Trench-Fighters (1 CP)''': {{W40kKeyword|Plague Marine}} Only. Use in the fight phase. Models equipped with a plague knife may make one additional attack with it. Be aware that if you replace your Champion's plague knife with a Daemonic plague blade he won't get an extra attack with it.
**Encourages taking big units of 10 Plague Marines to get the most out of it.
**This is amazing. Plague Marines already have 2 attacks base and Plague Knives are -1AP. Even just five marines put out 15 attacks with this and its great to counter attack or punish people who think your Marines are gonna be easy to deal with in melee. Combos well with other boosts to Plague Weapons.
*'''Creeping Blight (1 CP)''': Use in the fight phase. Select one {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard}} unit. Until the end of the phase, an unmodified wound roll of 6 with a plague weapon becomes AP -4. You can use this on a full unit of Plague Marines with Flails of Corruption, which <strike>shouldn't happen ever</strike> is fucking badass, this can be terrifying and since most melee characters already have an AP of -3 this should be used on a big melee-based unit with low AP if you ever use this stratagem. If you pair this with the Inexorable Warlord trait, their knives are now Ap -5. 
*'''Fire Fever (1 CP)''': {{W40kKeyword|Helbrute}} Only. When this brute is used in the shooting phase it can only target one enemy unit, but those shots all have +1 to hit and wound rolls. Not quite as drastic as a re-roll, but definitely still helpful if you grabbed two guns for it.
*'''Vermid Whispers (1 CP)''': Use in the shooting or fight phase. Select one {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard Terminator}} unit. Until the end of the phase, they add +1 to any hit rolls they make, same as the Loyalist's Fury of the First stratagem.
*'''Haze of Corruption (2 CP)''':  Select one {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard Core}} unit during the fight phase. Any time they kill a model in combat, any overkill damage they make will spill over and hit another model without needing to make any rolls. This will make throwing things like power fists or plagues even more painful for a mob.
** Sadly it’s core restricted, as otherwise daemon prince with sword would cut guardsmen and orks like there is no tomorrow, BUT it’s also great other way around - having this on D2 attacks vs 3W targets (say deathshroud vs gravis) means you need to inflict 3 wounds, instead of 4, to kill 2 models. It’s all about efficiency, though for 2CP you won’t be using it that often...One funny thing to do is take Plague Marines kitted out for CC with flails, Cleavers, and Maces, and the amount of excess damage will paste entire large squads. 
*'''Eternal Hatred (2 CP)''': Select a {{W40kKeyword|Bubonic Astartes Infantry}} unit during the fight or shooting phase. They add 1 to all their to wound rolls for the rest of the phase. This is where Veterans of the Long War went and it will always be useful.
*'''Mutant Strain (1 CP)''': {{W40kKeyword|Poxwalkers}} only. Use in the fight phase. Unmodified hit rolls of 6 inflict 1 mortal wound on the enemy in addition to normal damage, but unmodified hit rolls of 1 cause the poxwalkers to suffer 1 mortal wound after the fight is resolved.
**This is really good with the Harbingers Plague Company The Wrathful Dead strat. For another CP, you get roughly 40 attacks rerolling all hit rolls and getting mortals on unmodified 6s to hit. Once you roll the first time, pick out the 6s and then pick up all of the other dice and roll again to "go fishing" for mortals if they're against a tough target or keep all of the 4+ hits and roll the rest. Sure you might get some mortals back, but this is a good way to make The Harbingers surprisingly scary against terminators that think they can just weather the small attacks. 
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<tab name="Epic Deed">
*'''Befouled Incubators (1 CP)''': Select one {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard Character}} during the Fight phase. Every time this model kills an enemy model during this attack roll a d6 and on a 3+, the enemy unit suffers an additional mortal wound (to a max of 3). Honestly not quite as potent as Haze of Corruption but it is cheaper.
*'''Release the Toxins (2 CP):''' Once per Battle. Select one {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard Character}} with a Relic of Decay during the Command phase. Roll a d6 for each enemy unit within 7"; on a 2-5 it suffers a mortal wound, but on a 6, it takes 1d3.
*'''Diseased Effluents (1 CP)''': Use during the Command phase. Select one {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard Character}} (who isn't a {{W40kKeyword|Daemon}}) who is engaged with an enemy unit. For the price of one mortal wound your dude suffers, you can roll a d6 and on a 2+ one enemy unit engaged with the character suffers 2d3 mortal wounds unless it's a {{W40kKeyword|Vehicle}} or {{W40kKeyword|Character}}, which reduces it to 1d3.
** Ridiculous on Typhus since he can do this, then do his destroyer hive, then smite, then curse of the leper. Anything left standing after that still has a serious dent in it and half of it can't be blocked by deny the witch. Combine this with the Plague Skull of Glothila on another character and people will remember why they don't get close to Death Guard.
*'''Eruption of Filth (1 CP)''': Use when a {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard Character}} is killed in any phase. Instead of any other self-destruct abilities the model may have, they now a d6 for every unit within 3" without the {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle}} keyword. On a 2-5, they suffer a mortal wound, but on a 6 they take 1d3.
*'''Unclean Machine Spirit (1 CP):''' The heretical version of Power of the Machine Spirit. Select one {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard Machine Spirit}} unit during the command phase, this unit is now counted as if they're at max wounds for the rest of the turn.
**Extremely situational, unless you are running some forge world stuff, as only the Land Raider has that keyword in the core codex.
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<tab name="Requisition">
*'''Champion of Disease (1 CP)''': Before the start of the battle, select one {{W40kKeyword|Bubonic Astartes Infantry}} with a champion included. That champion now gets one of the following relics: Reaper of Glorious Entropy, Plague Skull of Glothila, Plaguebringer or Suppurating plate. Like the one for Sergeants in the Loyalist army, this is used once in a Combat Patrol, twice in a Strike Force or three times in an Onslaught.
*'''Gifts of Decay (1 CP)''': Use before the start of the battle. You can have a second Relic of Decay for 1 CP. Like the one for Loyalists, this is used once in a Combat Patrol, twice in a Strike Force or three times in an Onslaught.
** In combination with Champion of Disease, in a 2k point game you can get up to 5 relics.
*'''Plaguechosen (1 CP)''': Praise Nurgle, a way to get an additional warlord trait, with no duplicates. Like the one for Loyalists, this is used once in a Combat Patrol, twice in a Strike Force or three times in an Onslaught.
*'''Grandfatherly Influence (1 or 2 CP)''': When mustering a Chaos Spawn unit, you can trigger this to grant the unit +1 Toughness and Disgustingly Resilient. This costs 2 CP if the unit has more than three models.
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<tab name="Strategic Ploy">
*'''Sickly Corrosion (2 CP)''': During the fight or shooting phase, after a {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard}} model scores a hit with a plague weapon. Until the end of the turn, any attacks against that hit that unit can re-roll a wound roll of 1.
** This is great because it is on a model basis. If you have a squad of PMs and one has a blight launcher, use this strat to hit the target with the blight launcher first, and then the rest of the bolters get to reroll ones to wound for them and other squads that decide to shoot at the target. Kind of like putting the Virulent Rounds strat on multiple units and not just on bolters. 
*'''Belching Fumes (1 or 2 CP)''': During an enemy shooting phase, select a {{W40kKeyword|Myphitic Blight-Haulers}} unit. During the rest of the phase, all shooting attacks against them lose one shot outright to a minimum of 1 shot. This costs 2 CP for a unit of three models.
** So what is this useful for? Really, it's low shot count but high damage/strength weapons. Maybe not pro-gamer-move, but it can really mess your opponent's offensive capabilities. And is fun. One thing to note, that Space Marine Eradicators don't reduce their shots by half due to this, as they fire a single one shot weapon twice if they all targe this unit.)
*'''Blight Bombardment (2 or 3 CP)''': During a Command phase where you have a {{W40kKeyword|Death Guard Warlord}}, you can place a marker anywhere on the board. On the next command phase, the bomb hits and you roll a d6 for every unit within 6" of the marker, adding 1 if the unit was {{W40kKeyword|Infantry}} and subtracting 1 if the unit was a {{W40kKeyword|Character}}. On a 2-6, the unit takes d3 mortal wounds, upped to a d6 on a 7+. This costs 3 CP unless you have that fancy new Lord of Virulence, in which case it's down to 2 CP.
** Hilarious (Though not necessarily effective.) when combined with The Droning or Daemon’s Toll. Laugh as your opponent struggles to run away as your suicidal unit gleefully holds them in place.
** Can be surprisingly effective as a screening tool. Many units have trouble crossing a 12” bubble in one turn, meaning you can simply use the threat of the bombardment to block a flank for a turn.
*'''The Dead Walk Again  (1 CP)''': Use at the start of the Command phase, and can only be used once per qualifying unit. Pick a unit of {{W40kKeyword|Poxwalkers}} and roll 7d6 - On each 3+, a zombie rises again with a single wound and can be thrown into engagement range right away. While not quite as flavorful as raising the corpses of fallen foes, this is a good bit easier to weaponize.
*'''Cloud of Flies (2 CP or 4 CP)''': During an enemy shooting phase, select a {{W40Kkeyword|Bubonic Astartes INFANTRY}} unit. Until the end of that phase, it cannot be the target of ranged attacks unless they're the closest unit or within 12" of the attacking foe. This costs 4 CP if used on a {{W40Kkeyword|Death Guard Terminator}} unit.
**This essentially gives your footsloggers the old 8th ed {{W40Kkeyword|CHARACTER}} rules, making them immune to shooting attacks. Also protects important characters from sniper weapons. It pairs remarkably well with a unit or two of Nurglings, who can use their Mischief Makers ability to get right up close before the battle even begins. Possessed also love this, considering how vulnerable they are to ranged attacks.
** While 4 CP is a heavy cost for Terminators, we are realistically getting a lot of CP per turn with the Tallyman, and watching the opponent move all of their tanks to get line of sight on your terminators that dropped in and are now holding an objective and then declaring at the start of the shooting phase that they can't be shot now is a wonderful feeling. It can really make the difference between winning and losing the primary objective. 
*'''Break their Spirits (1 CP)''': When a {{W40Kkeyword|Death Guard Terminator}} unit kills an enemy model with the {{W40Kkeyword|Infantry/Swarm/Beast}} keyword in the fight phase, the rest of the unit suffers -4 Ld. Quite crushing for mobs even if you don't flat-out eradicate them with Deathshrouds.
** This can be good in various ways, but there are so many enemies that flat out ignore Morale, or if they fail, they ignore modifiers like Marines and rarely flee in general. Hopefully this will change as new codices come out, but if you really want to make it work this could potentially pair well with the Sanguous Flux warlord trait, the Plaguebringer relic, and a Blightbringer supporting. 
** One good strategy with this would be to bait your opponent into using their 2 cp Insane Bravery strat. You spend 1 cp, the opponent panics and uses their once a game strat, and now they've lost that tool and spent 2 cp to do it. 
*'''Dark Cravings (1 CP)''': During an enemy Charge phase, a {{W40Kkeyword|Foetid Bloat-Drone}} can perform a Heroic Intervention if the enemy model is within 6" horizontally and 5" vertically of it. This is quite surprising to pull off since nobody'd expect this, but you can totally mow down a unit with a good roll.
*'''Daemonic Gluttony (1 CP)''': Use on a {{W40Kkeyword|Death Guard Daemon Engine}} during the Fight phase. Any models this engine kills lets it regain a wound to a max of 3. This is super nice when you want to have a Bloat Drone stay longer than it's welcome
*'''Flash Outbreak (2 CP)''': During the Command phase select one {{W40Kkeyword|<Plague Company>}} unit. Until your next command phase, they can count as having one contagion from another unit from the same {{W40Kkeyword|<Plauge Company>}}. The range for your contagions also now count as if they were one round higher, enabling a wider spread.
**Unfortunately Mortarion doesn't have the {{W40Kkeyword|<Plauge Company>}} keyword, so you will need someone else with a contagion.
** This is one has a lot of strategic implications based on which Plague Company you are using. If you are playing as Ferrymen and you have a drone up in the enemy lines just Fleshmowing them in CC and they have 5-6 units around it, use Flash Outbreak and now all of those units are half movement. This is important for objective games. You can do the same with Inexorable Ferric Blight for better AP in cc for the drone and all of those units now being easier to kill for your shooting units. Maybe you have some Deathshroud on the other side of the board away from the Warlord they need some extra AP in cc. Now their Scythe profile is -4 or -2 depending on which profile you go with. 
*'''Putrid Detonation (1 or 2 CP)''': When a {{W40Kkeyword|Death Guard Vehicle}} dies, it can automatically explode. It costs 2 CP if the vehicle has more than 9 wounds. The smaller vehicles do just one mortal wound, but it doesn't affect our own units anymore, however the larger ones will.  This strat is still quite good when you need to pick away some wounds or a single wound from a nearby character. 
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<tab name="Wargear">
*'''Disgusting Force (1 CP)''': Use on a {{W40Kkeyword|Plagueburst Crawler}} during your Shooting phase. Their mortar now deals a flat 3 damage and after shooting, anyone within 3" of a target hurt by the mortar (and lacking the {{W40Kkeyword|Nurgle}} keyword) must roll a d6, taking a mortal wound on a 4+. 
** Keep in mind that you draw 3 inches from the UNIT and not a model. If you target a big blob of Ork boyz or a 10 man intercessor squad that happens to be by 10 other units and characters, that's a lot of potential mortal wounds. A blob of Ork Boyz alone could be within 3 inches of the entire army since orks bunch up quite a lot in their deployment zone. 
*'''The Blightening (1 CP)''': During the Shooting phase, up to three {{W40Kkeyword|Death Guard}} models' Grenade plague weapons lose the Blast ability and instead become Pistol 6 weapons that automatically hit targets within engagement range. The point of this stratagem is pretty clear: Throw your plague marines into the thick of it, pop grenades and see the enemy wither under short-range explosives.
**If you have the Tollkeeper relic, this can be really good outside of engagement range too since now you get exploding 6s to hit and you can make the marines 2+ meaning they are basically autohitting already. 
**Combine with Overwhelming Generosity for 12" pistols (and grenades - put this on 3 models in the same unit and that unit can fire 3 grenade pistols plus 1 regular grenade at 12").
*'''Foul Smokescreen (1 CP)''': Use during an enemy Shooting phase. When a {{W40Kkeyword|Death Guard Smokescreen}} is attacked, then all shots targeting it will suffer -1 to hit until the end of the phase. Definitely helpful considering how likely they will be under fire.
*'''Overwhelming Generosity (1 CP)''': During the Shooting phase, a {{W40Kkeyword|Death Guard}} unit that is firing a plague weapon adds 6" to the range of any plague weapons they're using for that phase.
*'''Virulent Rounds (1 CP)''': During the Shooting phase, you can make a {{W40Kkeyword|Death Guard Core}} unit count their bolt weapons as plague weapons. 
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