If you’re the kind of player who loves watching the table slowly turn into a plague-ridden swamp of despair, then good news—Death Guard are back with a vengeance.
The latest Codex is a beautifully grotesque update that keeps all the gross goodness we’ve come to love while seriously stepping up the strategic depth. Aiden Smalley, Death Guard ITC top-ranker and host of the Disgustingly Resilient podcast, has broken down what makes this book tick—and I’m here to unpack it with the enthusiasm of a Plague Marine offered fresh biomass.
This isn’t just a set of stat tweaks. It’s a full-bore return to form that rewards players who know how to grind an enemy down to rusted bones and bloody pulp, with plenty of lore-rich options that feel like you’re playing inside a Nurgle fever dream.
Contagions Reforged: Core Army Rule Changes
Let’s kick things off with the core of Death Guard’s gameplay—Nurgle’s Gift. This aura still reduces enemy Toughness within Contagion Range, which already makes units like Plague Marines hit harder than their statlines suggest. But now, on top of that, you get to pick one of three extra debuffs at the start of the game. You can make enemies harder to hit, sap their Objective Control while tanking their Move and Leadership, or corrode their armor so even weak weapons can punch through.
Every enemy unit inside that aura is now Afflicted, which acts as a trigger for loads of juicy synergies throughout the book. This adds a clever layer of strategy—choosing the right Plague effect for the match-up can be a game-winner. Suddenly, you’re making elite Space Marines feel like wet paper. T’au Fire Warriors-level wet paper. And it feels glorious.
Virulent Vectorum – The Balanced Brawler
The Virulent Vectorum Detachment is perfect for players who want a versatile, take-on-all-comers list. Its core rule lets you hold objectives even after moving off them—great for a slow army like Death Guard—and those objectives project Plagues too, making board control a constant pressure cooker for your opponent.
The enhancements here are potent. Revolting Regeneration gives a 5+ Feel No Pain that’s especially nasty on a Daemon Prince with his T12, 2+ Save, and 4++ Invuln—practically a mini-Mortarion at that point. Furnace of Plagues makes Lords of Contagion even more terrifying, adding Strength, Attacks, and Devastating Wounds, while also boosting their unit with Sustained Hits 1 and Lance.
Stratagems get serious love too. Disgustingly Resilient now works in both Shooting and Fight phases, and it pairs beautifully with a Daemon Prince’s new ability to reduce Strat cost once per battle round. And if you want pure ranged destruction? Try Creeping Blight—full rerolls to Hit and Wound on an Afflicted enemy. Combine this with Plague Marines loaded up with a Biologus Putrifier and a Malignant Plaguecaster, and you’re pumping out critical hits on 5s, lethal hits, and sustained hits. Trust me, whatever they shoot at won’t be standing afterward.
Shamblerot Vectorum – Wall-to-Wall Poxwalkers
If you want to go full swarm mode and drown your opponent in zombies, this one’s for you. The Shamblerot Vectorum lets you add a free unit of 10 Poxwalkers to reserves in Rounds 2, 3, and 4—and they’re now Battleline, so they score primaries. Oh, and yes, they can Infiltrate. That’s not just annoying—it’s game-changing.
You can soup up these undead hordes with a Noxious Blightbringer and the Witherbone Pipes, giving them more Objective Control, +1 Movement, and rerolls for Advance and Charge rolls. It’s not just about numbers—it’s about fast, sticky numbers. The Lord of the Walking Pox makes a unit act like it’s Round 3 for reserve purposes, meaning you can deep strike a block of 20 Poxwalkers turn one, or Rapid Ingress them onto the field for a brutal surprise.
For extra shenanigans, Hidden Amongst the Dead lets you Deep Strike a 10-zombie unit from reserves—perfect for secondaries. And if your opponent manages to carve through a blob? Smeared With Filth ensures the unit that killed them gets Afflicted for the rest of the game. Which, hilariously, sets them up as a homing beacon for Deathshroud Terminators, who can now deep strike within 6” of Afflicted enemies—and still charge. Your opponent might think they’ve solved the problem, only to find the real threat was hiding in the smell.
Final Thoughts: Lore-Heavy, Lethal, and Lovingly Disgusting
The new Death Guard Codex is a slam dunk for both lore enthusiasts and competitive players. It brings the creeping dread of the XIV Legion back to center stage with mechanics that feel like the Death Guard—slow, punishing, and unrelenting. You don’t race across the battlefield. You grind forward while your opponent’s best units melt into pus puddles.
Whether you want a well-rounded toolbox list with nasty combos (Virulent Vectorum) or the sheer audacity of board-flooding undead (Shamblerot Vectorum), this Codex delivers. It rewards knowledge, timing, and good old-fashioned attrition—and that’s what makes it one of the best army books we’ve seen for Warhammer 40K in this edition.
So if you’ve been on the fence, now’s the time to pick up the new Death Guard Codex, grab your plague knives, and get ready to rot everything in sight..
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