Unit of the Week series: Lord of Contagion

[Wolf Lord Loki]

Hi guys

 

On to the next part of the Unit of the Week (possibly fortnight).

 

Lord of Contagion.

 

There are 2 models out there. The original from the Dark Imperium and Lord Felthius

 

Let's have your thoughts on what weapons it would be best to equip and how you would best use this glorious leader

[dice4thedicegod]

The standard loadout appears far superior to the felthius equipment.

 

He’s basically typhus without the psionics, right? Possibly quite useful note that wrath of magnus would be a nasty secondary against us and abhor witch is looking more relevant for us currently.

[Irate Khornate]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Lord of Contagion still unavailable for purchase?

[Marshal Loss]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Lord of Contagion still unavailable for purchase?

The Lord Felthius model is available direct from GW, they re-released him not that long ago. The sculpt from Dark Imperium is still unavailable.

[Wolf Lord Loki]

So bit of back ground on the Lord of Contagion

 

Comes equipped as standard with just a plague reaper which is a massive double strength weapon that does 3 damage [this is the standard load out of the Dark Imperium model)

 

This can be swapped for a Manreaper which is has two attack profiles a reaping cut (for more hits) and a piercing strike (more damage) And/ Or and orb of desiccation - which is a fancy one use grenade

Standard load out of the Lord Felthius model

 

In addition the Lord of Contagion also increases the range of his contagion abilities by 3"

Edited October 19, 2021 by Wolf Lord Loki

[Tokugawa]

I prefer the dmg3 plague reaper. The manreaper is exactly the same as the weapon of a Deathshrould sergeant(also WS2+ and A5), sounds weird.

[KingYertle]

Conceptually I like the Manreaper with its ability to Reap for 10 Attacks, and if you add on a pathogen for MW os 6s or MWs on kills he can be a real horde killer.  But what keeps drawing me to this loadout is the OoD Grenade as it is the only way to get the LoC a ranged weapon.  (Pathetically he has no Blight Grenades yet the LoV does).   3d3 Blast ap-1 D2, hitting on 2s, can be a nasty surprise vs MEQ.   The grenade is a great target for the Blightening to get 6 Pistol shots at when locked in combat, or Overwhelming Generosity to toss the grenade 12 inches coming out of deep strike.  Unfortunately, at 125 points he is not cheap, and in a world of 60 point murder elves who can one shot him in combat its a tough sell to add on expensive pathogens to his already high base cost.  

 

I do enjoy the +3 inches to his contagion range, which is far superior to the LoV +1AP on Ranged wound rolls of 6s IMO.  Using the Strat to increase the Contagion Round, his T2 aura is a  solid 9inches, which helps get good millage out of certain Contagions like Gloaming Bloat.

[Wolf Lord Loki]

So who would you accompany a Lord of Contagion with?

 

My first thought is Blightlords, as the Deathshroud are killy enough and can aready boost their own contagion range.

 

I suppose he could work with plague marines but some how feels off

 

And poxwalkers well if you wanted him to be with them then why not take typhus

[Relentless]

I usually stick him with a plaguecaster and whatever my biggest unit of terminators is and march him up midfield. Hit him with gift of plagues and he has a turn one 10in contagion range of gloaming bloat.  Makes for a very annoying obstacle to avoid or try to kill.

[Tokugawa]

Anything, maybe except for PBC. You need to move big blob of units towards center or close objective location.

[Wolf Lord Loki]

Not a lot of love for the Lord of Contagion

 

Is it because with so few upgrade options that it's a very point and click beat stick?

 

Does anyone have suggestions for the upgrade plagues to give him or shall I move on to the next Unit?

[Special Officer Doofy]

He's a melee beatstick in a faction with no charge mechanics whatsoever and a 5" move, and for 30 points more you can take a Daemon Prince. There are more and more HQ characters now that are damage 3 without the -1 to hit (like the previously mentioned Daemon Prince).

 

I see very little reason to use one. The DI one is a cool model, but unless we get a charge mechanic mine will NEVER see the table.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Putrid Choir

[Tokugawa]

He is really good on durability with 2+ 4++ and 6w. And the most popular HQ choice in non-Morty tournament list.

 

The thing made him better than a LoV is 3" more contagion. You don't need to make him work as some "beatstick". DG don't really need muscleman characters.

[Special Officer Doofy]

You say that, but over 50% of my games are against shooty admech. Contagions don't do much. I need to kill his stuff asap because our "durability" is losing to codex creep. If I can't tag his stuff and start chopping it to bits, I'm not making it in the long run. But to each their own. Tournament lists do often include him. I personally rather pay 30 more points for the more killy Daemon Prince who can cast, deny, move more, higher toughness, more wounds, and more attacks.

 

I'm curious to if/when they make the DI one available for purchase separately.

[KingYertle]

The LoC is an expensive "beat-stick" that could benefit from a points reduction.  A reduction of his points combined with an across the board reduction in the cost of Pathogens would make it a more interesting unit.

 

I don't think we need a Charge Bonus Mechanic to make him viable.  But I also Don't view him as a Herohammer unit that can go out on his own and kill stuff.  IMO He excels at boosting Blightlords/Possessed with his re-roll and Contagion auras, and provides a deadly counter punch when your opponent try's to dislodge you from an objective in with melee.   

[Wolf Lord Loki]

What Pathogens work well with him?

[Tokugawa]

I suggest "none". If you really want to spent 20pts here, virulent fever is ok, especially on manreaper.

[Amon777]

In a non-morty list I like running both a DP and LoC. The manreaper is probably the better of the two options due to the flexibility. Combine with the orb it comes with the plague skull relic and you can deepstrike and do some good damage. I'll pair mine with blightlords who will also deepstrike unless I'm facing something like infiltrator spam. 

[Plague _Lord]

Why take a LoC when you can take Typhus and get a plethora of buffs like psychic powers, poxwalker buff, mortal wounds, better profile and better weapon.

I see no sense in taking the LoC - his only use could be deepstriking with some terminators but then again you are counting on a 8'' charge with potentially no reroll (since you'd probably rather have those terminators stuck in).

[Special Officer Doofy]

9" charge from deepstrike.

[tychobi]

Slow beat stick is slow and therefore irrelevant Edited October 28, 2021 by tychobi

[Iron Sage]

He's a melee beatstick in a faction with no charge mechanics whatsoever and a 5" move, and for 30 points more you can take a Daemon Prince. There are more and more HQ characters now that are damage 3 without the -1 to hit (like the previously mentioned Daemon Prince).

 

I see very little reason to use one. The DI one is a cool model, but unless we get a charge mechanic mine will NEVER see the table.

He is a difficult warlord to kill though. In my games, he usually never dies. Daemon Princes are more vulnerable. So if you fear your warlord being taken out, imo, he is a decent choice. But indeed, his main problem is the movement and the lack of a stratagem that boosts his charge. His profile is really good though and his weapon is quite fearsome too. Like @Tokugawa, I prefer the Plaguereaper. But in all honesty, I have only used the Felthus model once, and MCB82 has a point with the grenade I suppose. But I prefer the Dark Imperium config at this moment in time.

 

As for who he accompanies, that tends to be a unit of blightlords usually. But in games where I have taken both him and a daemon prince, I always make him a warlord for resilience purposes. Unless I play with Mortarion, but then I can't afford both him and a DP anyway...