Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Chaos Daemons (section)

===<span style="color:#387439;">Daemons of Nurgle</span>===
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The Daemons of Nurgle are surrounded by an aura of pestilence and disease that infects all nearby, and their talons and blades drip with thrice-ripened plagues. The merest touch of such a weapon in the presence of such a creature can cause a mortal to wither and die in seconds.

The big synergy winners this edition. They lack widespread weapons with good AP but high toughness and Disgustingly Resilient will make these units your tanks and tarpits. They are not particularly accurate but can dish out multi-damage attacks with fitting buffs and some hot rolling. However, they will have trouble with armored targets and when facing off against multi-damage attacks, especially now that Disgustingly Resilient was taken away from them and replaced with a mere Toughness and Wound bump. Finally, they will struggle to catch fast-moving enemies unless you build to counter that.<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

====<span style="color:#387439;">Warlord Traits</span>====

{{W40kKeyword|HERALD}} units can only choose from the first 3 warlord traits. 

#'''Heaving Mass:''' +2 Wounds. Simple, adds a bit more before dropping brackets and forces additional rolls before your enemy can snipe your leader dead.
#'''Acidic Ichor:''' If your warlord takes a wound in melee, the unit that inflicted the wound takes a mortal wound on a 4+ at the end of the Fight phase. Horticulous Slimux gets this.
#'''Virulent Touch:''' All hits automatically wound any non-Titanic enemies. Epidemius gets this.
#'''Plaguefly Hive:''' -1 to hit your warlord in melee if the attacking unit is within 6" and they can't do actions.
#'''Overflowing Fecundity:''' Unmodified wound roll of 1-3 always fail against this warlord.
#'''Pestilent Miasma:''' At the start of your turn roll a dice for each enemy unit. On a 2+, they suffer a mortal wound. They suffer 1d3 MW instead if the result was a 6. Rotigus gets this.

====<span style="color:#387439;">Stratagems</span>====
*'''Chortling Murrain (1 CP):''' Single use. Pick one enemy unit within 6" of a Sloppity Bilepiper and roll a d6 for every model in it; for each roll that beats the model's Toughness, they suffer a Mortal Wound.
**It does good at driving away mobs of guardsmen and gaunts, but this won't do a lot to an angry pack of boyz or space marines.
*'''Pestilent Inspiration (1 CP):''' One psyker learns ALL the psychic powers for one turn. Weird how this isn't something Tzeentch gets, but this is a massive gift.
*'''Relics of the Great Garden (1 CP):''' Another generic "extra relic" strat.
*'''Revolting Constitution (1/2 CP):''' Whenever a {{W40kKeyword|Plaguebearers}} unit is attacked, they cannot be wounded on a roll of 1-3. The fact that this can be used on any phase makes this particularly annoying, as it will limit the effectiveness of anything high-strength, especially if they have Blast.
**Costs 2 CP for a unit with PR 12 or higher.
*'''Slime Trail (1 CP):''' Pick one unit of Beasts or Horticulus Slimux. When an enemy attempts to fall back, roll a d6; they cannot fall back on a 4+.
*'''Swarming Flies (2 CP):''' Enemies take -1 to hit one unit.
*'''Crushing Bulk (1 CP):''' Pick one Great Unclean One, Beasts of Nurgle or Plague Drones that just charged and roll a d6 for every model in the unit, adding 3 for a GUO. The enemy suffers d3 MW on a 6+, improved to 3 on a 9+. 
*'''Plague Banner (2 CP):''' During the fight phase, one {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle Icon}} unit that fights deals a MW on a natural 6 to wound.

====<span style="color:#387439;">Exalted Great Unclean Ones</span>====
Same as abilities like Chapter Command, you no longer need to spend CP to power up one of your nameless Great Unclean Ones. Instead, you can spend points/PR in order to improve these fat shitsacks.

*'''Bountiful Gifts:''' Lets you save up to 2 Warp Storm Points so you can spend it on more tricks.
*'''Hideous Visage:''' A 6" aura that essentially doubles the effects of Daemonic Terror for summoning shenanigans and extra [[SQUAD BROKEN|squad breaking]].
*'''Revoltingly Resilient:''' Melee attacks against this bloated pusbags deal -1 damage.

====<span style="color:#387439;">Relics</span>====
*'''Corruption:''' {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle}} models only. Upgrades one melee weapon, giving it +1 damage and the ability to ignore any rules for damage mitigation.
*'''Effluvior:''' Upgrade a Plague Flail to Assault 3d3 S+1 AP-3 D3 with damage that can be spread past other models. Now fully able to route infantry with its assault pistol whip.
*'''The Endless Gift:''' {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle}} models only. Each turn the bearer regains a number of wounds equal to the round number.
*'''The Entropic Knell:''' {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle}} models only. Mark one unit within 12" of the bearer, they cannot use their auras and count has half their unit size for the sake of capping objectives. The first one matters more for characters, but the latter gives you a reason to spam this on squads, especially ones with some special relic like the Black Templars.
*'''Horn of Nurgle's Rot:''' {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle}} models only. Every time the bearer kills an enemy model in melee, roll a D6: on a 4+ you can add a model to a friendly {{W40kKeyword|Plaguebearers Infantry Core}} unit within 18". Pairs well with an offensive unit like a daemon prince (hiding in a plaguebearers unit).
*'''Tome of a Thousand Poxes:''' {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle Psyker}} models only. Know another power from the Warprot Discipline and anytime the bearer rolls a 7+ to cast a power from this discipline, the power can't be denied.

====<span style="color:#387439;">HQ</span>====
=====<span style="color:#387439;">General</span>=====
*'''[[Great Unclean One]]:''' This fat bastard's an incredibly resilient model, with 22 wounds and T9 with a 5+/4+ save .  He can cast 2 powers and deny 1 power and knows Smite plus two Warprot powers. Before accounting for any loadout choices, he also gets 7 Malefic Nurgling bites at S2 AP- and a 12" Assault d6 vomit stream at S5 AP-2 so it can potentially gnaw away at even marines and kin. Disgustingly strong in melee for his points, especially with the Crushing Bulk strat. Getting him there can be a problem, so consider starting him in reserves to minimize the risks of footslogging. Not bad but best to deepstrike because his mobility is painful at a reduced profile.
**For melee builds He gets a Plague Flail (which he can shoot into close combat with) which is S:User AP-3 and does 2 damage and a Bilesword which can switch between a direct S+1 AP-3 Dd6 that deals auto wounds on a natural 6 to hit and a crowd clearing S:User AP-3 sweep that doubles attacks.
**Alternatively, you also have the Bilevlade and Doomsday Bell. The Bileblade replaces the Plague Flail with a second melee weapon with AP-3 D2 that also lets you inflict MWs on the fatass for a +1 to casting. The Doomsday Bell sacrifices your Bilesword for a far less impressive S+1 AP-1 D2 whack that lets you raise a {{W40kKeyword|Plaguebearers Core}} model (d3 models for {{W40kKeyword|Infantry}}) to a unit within 12" each command phase. Taking these two together makes a far more support-focused greater daemon, but even taking the Bilesword and Bileblade can make for a serviceable battle psyker.
*'''[[Poxbringer]]''': The classic Herald of Nurgle, now with a new name to distinguish it from the other two Heralds. They took away his steed, but his balesword is AP-3 and can re-roll all failed wound rolls.  He is a psyker and can cast Smite or Stream of Corruption once he reaches melee. His bonus gives +1S, which is actually a big deal. Your plaguebearers wound Space Marines on 4+ with reroll and with the buff on 3+, even bikers on 4+. S5 is the sweet spot to wound T8 vehicles on 5+ instead of 6+ too so your plaguebearers become much more versatile.
*'''[[Sloppity Bilepiper]]''' New kind of Herald, gives +1 attack to GUOs and Nurglings within 6" and also allows them to run and charge in the same turn. Also, every {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle Daemon}} within 6" have to do Morale tests on 2D6 discarding the higher value, and the enemy within 6" failing a Morale test loses one model more than it should. Even if you don't plan on taking lots of Nurglings, the morale benefits alone are worth bringing this freakish jester along. Keep him protected, though. He doesn't have much in the way of direct combat ability.
*'''[[Spoilpox Scrivener]]''': Other new Herald that allows Plaguebearers within 6" of him to add +2" to their movement and +1 to their hit rolls. If the boost brings their roll result up to 7 (read: the buffed unit rolls a 6), they can attack again with the same weapon they used before. More attacks hitting and the chance for extra attacks mean more possibilities of an unsaved wound making it through, and the movement bonus doesn't hurt either while increasing your Plaguebearers hits by over 33%. In addition to the basic Herald plaguesword, he can also attack with his grotesque mouth (AP-1, but can only reroll wound rolls of 1) and disgusting sneezes (6", Pistol D3, S3 AP0 1 D, rerolls wound rolls of 1). Yes, he can kill things by sneezing on them.

=====<span style="color:#387439;">Named</span>=====
*'''[[Epidemius]]:''' Costs a bit more than a normal Herald and isn't a psyker (Smite!) but has quite a bit more punch and can take some more. But you want him for his army-wide buff (as always). Note that this time you have to destroy units, not models (because fielding 4x30 Boyz shouldn't have a downside)! Starting at 2 destroyed units by {{W40kKeyword|NURGLE DAEMONs}}, and it pumps up your offensive capabilities - defensive buffs start at 5 destroyed units. Sadly he misses the other +1S bonus of the normal Herald hence you should get both of them in a Nurgle themed army. If you don't like the old metal mini you can grab a disc of Tzeentch, spit on it, scratch it like a DJ, paint it green and glue a few nurglings and bells (from the plaguebearer kit) on it and then put a Herald of Nurgle on top.
*'''[[Cor'bax Utterblight]]<sup>Forge World</sup>''': The Forgeworld Character series Daemon Prince.  He's significantly tougher than a Daemon Prince of Nurgle at 12 wounds at T8, and a 4+ FNP against dmg 1 weapons. His base speed of 7" makes him slower.  He's a mixed bag in CC. Having 5 base attacks is good, and the gaping maw weapon is AP-3 with D3, and can instant-kill a model by beating their wound count in a D6.  If you take the Virulent touch warlord trait for +1 to wound and cast Virulent blessing for another +1 to wound. Furthermore, any roll of 5+ will cause 6 dmg.  Unfortunately, with the only S7, he's only good at taking on infantry, which means his high damage will largely be wasted unless you dedicate other units to buff him.  His profile degrades movement, S, and attacks, so he quickly becomes useless.  He also gives out no aura buffs whatsoever.  Clocking in at 180pts, he's not going to be able to get enough done on his own to justify the investment when you could've bought Mammon or even a plain DP for the same cost.
*'''[[Horticulous Slimux]]''': Ported over from [[Age of Sigmar]], Nurgle's Grand Cultivator retains his ability to make Beasts of Nurgle actually pretty decent, by way of giving to Beasts within 12" +1 to hit rolls, as well as allowing Beasts within 6" to reroll failed charges. Units that fall back within 1" of him take d3 mortal wounds on a 4+, and he's no slouch in melee either&mdash; he has a 4+ save that lets him rely less on the invulnerable save and Disgustingly Resilient, his lopping shears are a souped-up Balesword, and Mulch can add an extra S7 AP-4 3 D sucker punch to surprise more heavily armored opponents. 
**He can also create new Feculent Gnarlmaws within 3" of him at the end of his movement phase (if he didn't use Daemonic Ritual in the same turn), and a single {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle Daemon}} within 7" can heal a wound at the beginning of each your turn if any model died the turn before. A blob of allied Cultists will ensure that healing effect will trigger, even if your opponent doesn't use horde armies. 
**If you have the models (and spare 85 points per model), there's really no reason why Horticulous shouldn't keep planting a Feculent Gnarlmaw each turn.  They're damned useful, and it means that he'll constantly enjoy a 2+ cover save.
*'''[[Mamon Transfigured]]<sup>Forge World</sup>:''' Named Daemon Prince and the bastard responsible for the entire mess at Vraks. Can't cast spells but allows re-rolling misses of 1 in the Fight Phase for {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle Daemons}}. Has two melee weapons, a kick that ''really'' excels at murdering high-wound infantry, 5 S7 Ap3 D3 melee attack, and a 12" Assult 2D3 S5 AP-2 D2 Flamer.
**The updates of 9E have dealt a bit of a blow to Mammon. While his aura remains able to buff more than mere {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle Daemon Core}} units, his having 9 wounds means that he's now just over the edge of what can comfortably hide behind a mob of lesser daemons or allied heretics. Add his plodding movement to that and...well, you just bought a walking bullseye to your range.
*'''[[Rotigus|Rotigus the Rainfather]]:''' To make up for the [[fail|absence]] of [[Ku'gath|Ku'gath Plaguefather]], we now have a new named Great Unclean One. His main melee weapon, the Gnarlrod, is essentially a Bilesword with worse AP but more reliable damage (3 damage instead of d6), but he has d6 extra Fanged Maw attacks that mean he's still better in melee than the standard GUO. His real best weapon is the Streams of Brackish Filth, essentially a 2d6 S7 AP-3 flamer that rerolls wounds, which he can now shoot in melee thanks to 9th edition rules. Every time you roll a 7+ on a psychic test, the closest enemy unit suffers a mortal wound after using whatever power you were casting. Unlike the Death Guard's Malignant Plaguecaster, this doesn't have any range specified, so you could technically do it from the other side of the board. At only five points more than a Bilesword Great Unclean One, knowing one more power than a basic GUO, and being able to deny one more power as well, you might as well take him.

====<span style="color:#387439;">Troops</span>====
*'''[[Plaguebearers|Plaguebearers of Nurgle]]''' (9ppm) Slow but tough and ok in melee with their re-rolls to wound. If you want to hold the line, they are the right choice, especially with the new codex giving them T5 and two wound each. In packs of 20 (so get 30 to keep the bonus for a while), enemies have to subtract 1 from their attack rolls. Unfortunately, they lost the rusty sword abilities to auto-glance vehicles or poison monsters, and for that old shrouded rule, they need to be 20 or more but still cost defacto the same - somewhat a downgrade, but we got the FNP for that. Two or three blobs of 30 can flood the field and can be surprisingly (disgustingly) resilient and soak up a lot of fire and damage. When combined with a Poxbringer and a Spoilpox Scrivener, they can get a fair punch against tougher Infantry units in melee, hold objectives pretty well with numbers, or bind some annoying ranged units.
**Here's where some of that sweet, sweet synergy comes in.  Combine the Locus of Virulence (+1 damage if your wound roll is 6+), the Plague Banner (one-time pop to make plagueswords do 2 damage for one turn), the Virulent Blessing power (+1 to wound rolls, and if you roll 7+ to wound, you do double damage), and the Scrivener (Plaguebearers get +1 to hit, and a hit roll of 7+ lets them make an extra attack).  What do you get?  A combat phase in which plagueswords are 2 damage base, on a wound roll of 5 each plaguesword does 3 damage, on a wound roll of 6 each plaguesword does '''5 damage''', and if the hit roll is 6, each Plaguebearer makes another attack!  And remember, plagueswords let you re-roll failed wound rolls automatically.  This isn't even considering Epidemius' Tally shenanigans or the hit buff from a nearby Daemon Prince.  Fucking drown your opponent in wounds! Add a Poxbringer and they will wound MEQ's on 2+.
***Realistically you want to target big multi-wound stuff like vehicles, Knights, etc. with this, since the bonus damage is wasted on single-wound opponents (and larger-based targets let you get more Plaguebearers in close to swing). If you're targeting a vehicle with this one-turn damage extravaganza, coordinate the fight phase with a Plague Hulk. The Rusting Curse will effectively give your Plaguebearers AP-1.
**Take 20+ Plaguebearers, buff them with Miasma of Pestilence and park them completely within 7" of a Feculent Gnarlmaw or two.  They'll have a 4+ cover save, and your opponent is at -2 to hit them.  These guys become some of the best objective-campers in the game, because they'll never, ever die.  Maybe keep a GUO with the doomsday bell nearby, so on the off-chance some do kick, you can bring one back each turn.    
*'''[[Nurgling|Nurglings]]:''' (18ppm) Now, who forgot these buggers? These little shits get to deploy 9" away from the enemy DEPLOYMENT ZONE, and then act normally. Yes, that's right. They can move and then charge after doing this. Combined with the Disgustingly resilient rule (which they only get against weapons with damage 1 and they are multi-wound models...), they can easily tie down a shooty unit, or force them to fall back and waste a turn, granting your footsloggers valuable time. Sloppity Bilepipers will give them more attacks for better tarpit functionality. In addition, these very cheap tarpits make a decent objective holder, a screen to protect your units from deep-strikers, and a sneaky way to prevent knights from falling back (they are neither infantry nor bike).

====<span style="color:#387439;">Elites</span>====
*'''[[Beast of Nurgle|Beasts of Nurgle]]''' - Those gross attention whores may look underwhelming at first but their abilities may make them worthwhile. They are pretty cheap at 35 points, making them the most durable unit per point in the entire game and can be taken in units of 9. They make 6 S4 AP0 D2 attacks each and reroll all wound rolls. They can also make Heroic Interventions like characters and if the enemy retreats from them they take a mortal wound on a 4+. With 7 wounds each and a 4++/5++ combined with their ability to regenerate all lost wounds, they will stick around practically forever. However, the poor guy remains disgustingly slow. Best used alongside Horticulous Slimux as a bodyguard, since they can intercept foes who might tie the Grand Cultivator up while gaining greater accuracy and rerollable charges in the process.
**The Codex is seeing these guys getting a substantial glow-up, from now being S6 T6 to the now ridiculous 7 wounds that regenerate ''EVERY PHASE'', this now truly feels like an unfeeling mountain of flesh that can withstand whatever comes against them. Let us repeat: They will regenerate all wounds on '''EVERY PHASE''' so long as they do not die, meaning that you're absolutely going to need Eradicators or something of equally high damage to guarantee that these fuckers will die.

====<span style="color:#387439;">Fast Attack</span>====
*'''[[Plague Drones]]:''' Excellent. 4 Wounds at T5 with all the defensive trappings Nurgle Daemons enjoy anyway makes these insanely tough. Add to that the decent movement speed and the 4 damage 2 attacks each Fly dishes out and they become a force to be reckoned with. Can take a beating and nothing wants to be in melee with them. Their shooting sucks, but bad shooting is still better than no shooting whatsoever, right?
*'''[[Plague Toads|Plague Toads of Nurgle]] (Legends FW):''' Fly has been FAQ'd out of their profile. Their melee attacks are still brutal although their maw has been downgraded, dealing S5 Ap-1 D2 and hits of 6 generate more hits - nice considering they only get 3 attacks that hit on a 4+. Their grasping tongue got an upgrade too, although it's an assault d3 instead of pistol hitting at S5 and re-rolling to-wounds. Also T5, W4 and get the 5+++.
*'''[[Pox Riders|Pox Riders of Nurgle]] (Legends FW):''' Still tanky as hell with T/W5, fast-ish movement, banners, instrument, and the ability to get to a -2 to hit above six models. Gone are the degenerating profiles so a full unit will tank 22 lascannon shots, 135 bolter shots and/or 67 assault cannon shots ''without'' degenerating stats - awesome! Combine that with the weapons above and exactly 2 plaguesword attacks at S4.  Now think about the locus bonuses, character re-rolls, stratagems, and psychic powers you can add on top of this. They also come with 60mm bases, which makes them a huge board control unit.  You can make a huge bubble to hide daemon princes.  The drawback?  $$$$$$ These cost a firstborn to purchase from Forgeworld (£65 for 3).

====<span style="color:#387439;">Heavy Support</span>====
*'''[[Plague Hulk of Nurgle]]: (Legends FW)''' Went down in price to 190 pts, so it's closer to the cost of a Soul Grinder. S/T8, 14W, 3+, 5++ and 5+++ Disgusting Resilience; it's slow, unfortunately, with a 7" move that degnerates. You could summon it and its PL did go down but it's still 10 and that's not very reliable. Rusting Curse got buffed to affecting Vehicles within engagement range, and now it improves the AP of attacks against said vehicles by 1 rather than reducing vehicle saves.  Rot Cannon got buffed: 36" Heavy D6, S7 AP-3 D2 and you can re-roll to-wound against anything you shoot, rather than just infantry. Its vomit got a range buff to 12" while retaining its profile: Pistol D6, S5 AP-2 D1 where all shots auto-hit. The Iron Claw remains largely unchanged, Sx2 AP-3 D6 with the Warpsword being potentially good now with User S, AP-3 and a flat 3 damage which also allows you re-rolls to hit (much better than last edition for sure!)... Most people will probably continue taking the claw. All around, the Plague Hulk is a better 9E choice but still suffers from mobility problems. If you can get it close to vehicles, it will straight up ruin tank and artillery formations, but you have to get it there first and although it's tough, it likely won't survive the battering it receives on the way in.

====<span style="color:#387439;">Lord of War</span>====
*'''[[Scabeiathrax the Bloated]] (FW):''' My oh-my is this guy one tough son of a bitch. At T8 with 21 wounds and a 5+/4+ save befitting his station, 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 be [[Nurgle|sneezed]] at either. He has Horrific Vomit, which is a 2d6 flamer at S6 AP-2 D2 which can be fired in close combat. Then, he has the Blade of Decay, an S+2 AP-4 sword that does a flat D3+d3 damage and can re-roll wounds. To round it all out, he gets 2D6 additional nurgling attacks at S2 AP0. He can cast 2 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 melee 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 475 points, and he's a LoW.

====<span style="color:#387439;">Fortification</span>====
*'''[[Feculent Gnarlmaw]]:''' New Nurgle-themed scenery thing, which is treated as a terrain feature after it's set up. Costs 95 points but isn't a model.  {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle Daemons}} within 7" can fall back or advance and still be able to shoot and/or charge in the same turn, any {{W40kKeyword|Legiones Daemonica Nurgle}} unit completely within 6" that is not a {{W40kKeyword|Vehicle}} or a {{W40kKeyword|Monster}} gets what amounts to light cover, {{W40kKeyword|Chaos Character}}s within 7" can re-roll any dice when summoning {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle Daemons}}. and at the beginning of each turn you have to roll a die for each non-{{W40kKeyword|Nurgle}} unit within 3", dealing to each unit a mortal wound on a 4+ and D3 mortal wounds on a 6 (so 0.67 mortals on average).
**Plaguebearers are now specifically blessed by having one, as each command phase lets one pack of them within 6" roll 7d6, with each 6 resurrecting a Plaguebearer at max wounds. Considering that they're now quite tanky as hell, you now have a decent strongpoint to use as a reinforcement spot.
**Obliterators are {{W40kKeyword|Nurgle Daemons}}. Deploy them next to a Gnarlmaw to get a unit with a 2+ armor save that ignores the first two points of AP. They may not have Disgustingly Resilient, but they're still tough bastards that can spew out a lot of much-needed dakka. Better yet, make them Iron Warriors, for rampant technovirus and the strat to reduce incoming AP by 1. Congrats, you have a 2+ vs lascannons! 
**If you intend to summon Nurgle Daemons, take a Fortification Network with one of these. It'll help you summon said Daemons and will also give the summoned Daemons the standard Nurgle detachment buffs once they're on the table.</div></div>