How to Play Death Guard in Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition

In 11th edition Death Guard run their 10th-edition codex plus an 11th-edition Faction Pack rather than a brand-new codex. The core identity is unchanged: slow, tough, contagion-spreading Nurgle infantry and daemon engines. The Faction Pack layers new options on top.

The headline additions are three new detachments and a set of quality-of-life fixes. The most important theme is mobility. Death Guard have always struggled to get their short-ranged contagion auras where they need to be, and 11th edition addresses that directly: new detachments hand out forward deployment, extra contagion range, and the ability to advance and still shoot.

A number of vehicles (Land Raiders, Predators, Rhinos, the Plagueburst Crawler and the Miasmic Malignifier) also picked up new keywords under 11th edition's tidied-up keyword system. Confirm the exact keyword and weapon changes against the current Faction Pack, as this is the kind of detail that errata revisits.

Death Guard's army rule is Nurgle's Gift, a board-wide contagion aura. Enemy units within Contagion Range of your Death Guard models become Afflicted: they suffer a Toughness penalty and one chosen plague effect (options broadly cover worse hit rolls, worse saves, or worse Movement/Leadership/Objective Control). You pick which plague is active, and it makes everything near your army easier to kill and harder to use.

The clever part is that Contagion Range grows as the game goes on - reported as roughly 3" early, expanding to 6" and then 9" by the later rounds. So Death Guard get scarier the longer a game runs, which suits their grinding style.

Note a common misconception: the classic "Disgustingly Resilient" damage-reduction is not the current army rule - it now lives as a stratagem and in the sheer bulk of Death Guard datasheets (high Toughness, multiple wounds, good saves). Durability comes from your stats and CP, while Nurgle's Gift is the army-wide engine. Verify exact ranges and effects on the app.

11th edition builds a list around a Detachment Points (DP) budget. At a standard game size you have a pool of DP to spend on 1-3 detachments, and each detachment has a DP cost. Bigger, more powerful "do everything" detachments cost more; narrow, specialist ones cost less, so you can either take one strong detachment or bolt a cheap specialist onto a core one.

For Death Guard the reported picture is that the generalist Virulent Vectorium is the expensive option at 3 DP, while the three new Faction Pack detachments - Contagion Engines, Flyblown Host and Paragons of Putrescence - are cheap at 1 DP each. That makes the new detachments natural "support" picks you can splash alongside a heavier core.

When you field a detachment its rule applies army-wide, and you gain access to its stratagems and its enhancement pool. Exact DP costs for the other codex detachments were not verifiable here, so check the current Faction Pack and the 40k app before you lock a list.

Death Guard have a wide detachment menu. Broadly:

• Plague Company - the flexible "toolbox" detachment (a revamped index-style option). Strong, forgiving, and good at spreading contagion onto objectives you hold.
• Virulent Vectorium - the premium all-rounder (reported 3 DP). Sticky objectives and army-wide consistency; the default competitive pick.
• Contagion Engines (new, 1 DP) - mobility for your war machines, letting daemon engines advance and still fire.
• Flyblown Host (new, 1 DP) - forward-deploying Plague Marines that start up the board.
• Paragons of Putrescence (new, 1 DP) - extends your Characters' contagion range so the aura reaches further.

The codex also includes Champions of Contagion (infantry/character focus), Mortarion's Hammer (a swarm of daemon-engine vehicles), Tallyband Summoners (leaning on Plague daemons), and Shamblerot Vectorium (Poxwalker/horde flavour). We describe those in general terms only, because their exact current wording was not verifiable from a citable 2026 source - confirm them in the Faction Pack.

Match the detachment to the list you want to build and how much DP you want to spend.

• New player or unsure? Start with Plague Company. It is the toolbox: forgiving, rewards holding objectives, and teaches you the core contagion-and-grind gameplan without a narrow list requirement.
• Balanced, competitive infantry-and-engines list? Virulent Vectorium is the premium generalist (reported 3 DP), giving sticky objectives and consistency - it wants most of your DP budget.
• Vehicle-heavy / daemon-engine list? Contagion Engines (1 DP) fixes their mobility so Bloat-Drones, Helbrutes and Blight-Haulers can reposition and still shoot.
• Want early board presence? Flyblown Host (1 DP) pushes Plague Marines up the table turn one.
• Aura-focused, character-led list? Paragons of Putrescence (1 DP) extends contagion range so Nurgle's Gift bites sooner.

Because the new detachments are cheap, a common shape is a strong 2-3 DP core plus a 1 DP specialist. See the Death Guard army hub for models.

The single biggest mistake new Death Guard players make is trying to play them like an aggressive army. They are not. Death Guard reward patience and positioning.

The key discipline is respecting Contagion Range tempo. Your aura is short early and expands as the game goes on, so in the first turn or two you should be advancing into position and screening, not throwing units away for early kills. By the mid-game your contagion is reaching 6-9", the enemy is Afflicted across a wide area, and your durable bodies start winning every attrition fight.

Practical habits: keep your Characters central so their auras cover the most models; hold the middle of the board and dare the opponent to dig you out; and don't over-commit - your passive contagion and staying power do the work if you simply refuse to break. Also mind the clock, because Death Guard involve a lot of dice (saves, feel-no-pain-style rolls, contagion checks). Rehearse a brisk turn sequence.

Death Guard are a friendly army to start because their signature units are also their best. A good foundation is a block of Plague Marines (your core Battleline and the units most detachments buff), a screen of Poxwalkers, and at least one big centrepiece daemon engine - the Plagueburst Crawler is the iconic pick and a genuinely strong artillery/anchor unit.

From there, elite terminators (Deathshroud as bodyguards, Blightlord Terminators as a durable hammer) and characters like a Lord of Contagion, Biologus Putrifier or Typhus round out a list. Mortarion himself is a spectacular but expensive apex centrepiece for later.

Start-collecting / Combat Patrol-style boxes are the most cost-effective entry - browse current 40k boxes for Death Guard bundles. If you are choosing your very first army, our best 40k army for beginners guide can help you decide whether the grind-and-attrition style suits you.