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Death GuardArmy page › All 36 units

Plague Marines

Battleline · 5 models, 90 pts or 7 models, 125 pts or 10 models, 175 pts
Lists46% · in 74 of 160 public lists, September – November 2026
SimulatePlague Marines against any unit, in the calculator

SWORD: what Plague Marines kills

Damage for its points

87SWORD
per 100 pts

Its 175 pts kill ~172 pts in one activation.Typical melee unit: 49 per 100

Into each enemy type

Whole meta87SWORD per 100 pts
Hordes85SWORD per 100 pts
Line inf. ★90SWORD per 100 pts
Heavy inf.80SWORD per 100 pts
Light veh.71SWORD per 100 pts
Heavy veh.64SWORD per 100 pts

SHIELD: how hard Plague Marines is to kill for its points

Toughness for its points

432SHIELD
per 100 pts

It takes about 21% of a top army's turn to remove 100 pts of it. To remove all 175 pts: about 570 pts of enemy units, 4 times in 5.Typical melee unit: 284 per 100

For its points432SHIELD per 100 pts

What creators say

4 creators
  • Core battleline that holds and flips objectives 3 of 4
  • Tough for their points 2 of 4
  • Cheaper, and every model has a knife 2 of 4
  • Best sitting on an objective 1 of 4
  • Terrible at shooting without a Plaguecaster 1 of 4
  • Maybe skip the characters and buy bodies 1 of 4

Units near it

Per 100 pts, its nearest in Death Guard and across the game

SWORD

In Death Guard

Typhus88
Plague Marines87
Defiler86
Helbrute80
Malignant Plaguecaster80

Across the game· melee units

Typhus Death Guard · just ahead88
Plague Marines 87
Angron World Eaters · level with it87

SHIELD

In Death Guard

Plagueburst Crawler454
Plague Marines432
Plaguebearers431
Helbrute425
Chaos Predator Annihilator418

Across the game· melee units

Trygon Genestealer Cults · just ahead435
Plague Marines 432
Skull Cannon Chaos Daemons · level with it432

With a leader

Plague Marines with Malignant Plaguecaster175 + 60 = 235 pts together
SWORD per 100 pts, scaled
Plague Marines aloneMalignant Plaguecaster's rulesMalignant Plaguecaster's attacks
Squad128 ÷ 175 pts =73per 100
With leader233 ÷ 235 pts =99per 100▲26

The leader adds 105 pts of kills a turn (56 from rules, 49 from attacks) for 60 pts: more per point than the squad alone, so the leader pays for itself here.

SHIELD per 100 pts, scaled
Plague Marines aloneMalignant Plaguecaster's rulesMalignant Plaguecaster's wounds
Squad756 ÷ 175 pts =432per 100
With leader870 ÷ 235 pts =370per 100▼62

The leader adds 114 pts to what the enemy must spend (0 from rules, 114 from wounds) for 60 pts: less per point than the squad alone.

SWORD and SHIELD against 100 top lists, the squad and the pair compared at one size. The leader's points are always counted.

How we got these numbers

No detachmentWhat people fieldNo leaderNo stratagems

SWORD 87 · 175 pts kill ~172 pts in one activation

SHIELD 432 · about 21% of a top army's turn to remove 100 pts of it

To remove it: about 570 pts of enemy units, 4 times in 5

Ranked among the game's 566 melee units · How we score ›

What we ran
  • Plague Marines, 10 models, 175 pts
  • 2 Blight launcher, 3 Heavy plague weapon, 9 Plague knives, 2 Plague spewer, Power fist, 3 Plasma gun
  • Not counted: leaders, stratagems, other units' auras
The letter: 4 creators
The lists: 160