Tips and tricks for using a Great Unclean One!

Today we go over the poster boy for Plagues and sickness, the Great Unclean One.

uunfortunately in the new codex, Nurgle has been kind of pushed to the way side and I personally think the Great Unclean One is not very good, but can be quite fun to play none the less.

Stats:

The biggest thing is of course that toughness 9! Not exactly a common stat so off the bat catches your attention, unfortunately there isn't alot more resiliency on top of that. He does come with 22 wounds and 4+ daemonic save at ranged, but for some reason only a 5+ in combat...

He comes with a puke attack, which is just a heavy Flamer. With a 7" move and a massive base he can definitely be slowed down unfortunately...

But that is where manifestation comes in to play.

Wargear:

Bilesword:

You have two profiles here, mighty strike at str8 ap-3 d6 damage that automatically wound on unmodified hit rolls of a 6. That d6 damage is super unreliable unfortunately.

It has a sweep profile aswell, str7 ap-3 1 damage doubling his attacks. He can definitely dent or finish off bigger targets and hit chaff units.

Doomsday Bell:

Ding ding!! In combat it's str8 ap-1 2 damage, but you're not taking it for that. You're taking it to raise your daemonic plague zombies back from the dead. 

In your command phase you select a plaguebearer core unit within 12" of this model, you can return a destroyed model back to that unit. If the unit is infantry, you instead return d3. Bringing back a plague drone has some good value, but d3 plaguebearers is quite good.

12" range makes this fairly decent, and since you do this anytime during your command phase, and you score primary at the end of the command phase, this has some real good potential to flip primary.

Combine this with the Spoilpox Scriveners "Keep counting, meet your quota" ability, that allows you to put obsec on a core plaguebearer unit, or double obsec if they already have it. Every plaguebearer returned with the bell while having the scriveners ability on them is two obsec models which is pretty decent.

Plague Fail:

A short ranged attack, 7" assault d6+3 str7 ap-3 2 damage. It's actually a good profile just short range. 

Bileblade:

A melee weapon at str7 ap-3 2 damage that re-rolls wound, but that's not it. Each time the bearer attempts to manifest a psychic power, before doing so the Great Unclean One can essentially use the blade to take a chunk of flesh to offer up to Nurgle, this causes a mortal wound and gives him +1 to cast that power.

Nor actually that bad, especially when attempting to cast a power like Malodorous Pall which has a Warp charge value of 8 or potentially fish for that super Smite.

Exalted Traits:

So the Great Unclean One probably has the weakest set of Exalted Traits out of the greater daemons. While there is one decent one that atleast helps with his durability, there isn't any that scream "always take me!" In my opinion.

Bountiful Gifts:

At the end of each battle round, if this model is on the board, you retain up to two unspent Warp Storm points. 

This is ok, not worth spending the points on unless you having nothing else to buy. You can really build up those points with Gaze of Fate to save those points in the turns you don't need them, saving up to do multiple abilities in the following turn.

Hideous Visage:

While within 6" if this model, enemy units subtract one from their leadership characteristic and combat attrition tests. This does stack with daemonic terror but there is enough ways to get these leadership debuffs that you don't really need this. You can stack it with the warpstorm table for a -3 to leadership to help reduce those manifestation ranges though which is never a bad thing.

Revoltingly Resilient:

Each time a melee attack is made against this model, subtract 1 to the damage characteristic.

This is pretty good, though I wish it was at ranged aswell. Can make him incredibly hard to bring down vs armies with alot of 2 damage melee attacks.

Psychic powers:

Nurgle has some decent powers, and with the Pestilent Inspiration strat, you can have your Great Unclean One knowing all the powers from the Warp rot discipline for a phase.

Shrivelling Pox:

-1 to the toughness for a visible enemy unit within 18". This is of course fantastic and doesn't just work for Nurgle units targeting an enemy unit. 

This can really help for Flamers (especially if the target was T6 or T5 and the flamers have Infernal Flames cast on them), also great for Bloodletters and Daemonettes too!

Malodorous Pall:

The target unit cannot perform actions (and fail any they are currently doing) and lose the objective secured ability if they have it.

This is phenomenal, stopping a unit from doing data-intercept/banners/RND or failing any action that takes a turn to complete, and of course removing obsec is huge, being able to flip an objective!

Again, combined with the Scriveners command ability, putting obsec on a plague drone unit, getting one on the objective and then using this to take obsec away from an enemy unit has some great power!

Virulent Blessing:

+1 damage to melee weapons for a nurgle core unit.

This is decent for Plaguebearers and the riders on Drones, just helping with that damage issue they have making their swords damage 2. (Remember this won't affect the Rot Flies attacks due to them being malefic).

Nurgles Rot:

You roll 2d6 for each enemy unit within 6" of the psyker, if you exceed the highest toughness characteristic in the unit, that unit takes d3 mortal wounds. If the roll was atleast double the highest toughness characteristic in the unit, that unit instead takes d6 mortal wounds.

This is fantastic against low toughness armies like Aeldari/drukhari/harlequins, GSC etc.... Just roll this guy straight into multiple units and pop this.

Relics:

These are some of the best Relics available to the Great Unclean One, there is some options here giving you some nice builds.

Corruption:

You pick a melee weapon this model is equipped with, that weapon becomes a Relic. Increase the damage by 1, any attacks made using this weapon ignore any abilities that ignore wounds.

This is a great weapon, on the bilesword d6+1 damage or making the sweep attacks 2 damage. The ability to ignore wound caps and feel no pains is becoming increasingly more valuable, while he may not be the best choice for this, it is a good option to have.

Effluvior:

This replaces the plague flail, turning it from d6+3 shots to 3d3 shots. Gives it +1 strength and changes it from 2 damage to 3 damage.

The best part, is damage is carried over! 

This is a really good Relic, while it may only be 7" range, using a warp locus to drop him in 6" away to then hit a unit hard with this is a cool little combo. 

This does can help him be a real chaff killer alongside sweep attacks and Nurgles Rot.

The Endless gift:

At the beginning of your command phase, this model heals a number wounds equal to the current battle round number.

This isn't too bad, can definitely help with keeping him in the game for a little longer, if you drop him in turn 3, and your opponent can't kill him, he heals 4 wounds in turn 4 and then 5 in turn 5 which could make this guy a real pain to shift late game.

Horn of Nurgles Rot:

After making attacks with this model, pick a plaguebearer infantry core unit within 18". Roll a dice for each model the Bearer destroyed this phase, on each 4+ you can return one model back to this unit up to a maximum of 3.

Though you can't do this to the same unit you replenish with a bell, being able to rebuild multiple plaguebearer squads a turn will help in the battle of attrition and goes down the same line of being back more obsec models to steal objectives. Sweeping into cheap infantry can make this a near auto 3 returned plaguebearers.

Rotigus:

The Rainfather himself, he is rocking 24 wounds at T9, making him a slight bit tougher than a Knight! Though he still has the inherent issues a Great Unclean One has.

His Deluge of Nurgle ability causes d3 mortal wounds to the closest enemy unit within 24" if he casts a psychic power on a roll of a 7+. His gnarlrod gives him 6 attacks at str8 ap-3 damage 3, and automatically wounds on hit rolls on unmodified hit rolls of a 6. He can also sweep at str7 ap-2 1 damage with double attacks.

He has a more powerful flamer style weapon than the standard Great Unclean One in streams of brackish filth. 12" range 2d6 auto hitting shots at str6 ap-3 1 damage.

Overall Rotigus doesn't really offer you much more than a standard Great Unclean One and lacks some real character.

Overall, I think GW did the Great Unclean One dirty (excuse the pun). Though T9 and 22 wounds seems great, there is no other built in defensive stats, unlike the other greater daemons who can get minuses to hit/wound, better saves and ways to cap or ignore wounds.

I do think the big boy should have some other built on defensive ability, maybe like a feel no pain or a minus 1 to wound vs anything strength 6 or less, just to really bump up his durability vs smaller shots.

I think if you want to go hard mode and run mono Nurgle, building this guy as a defensive Plaguebearer Regeneration factory may be your best option.