The purpose of this thread is to offer a ranged build to the Plague Champion for late Tier 2 and Tier 3.
Right now it's hard to see a different build than the typical Plague Fist + Armor of Pestilence + Breath of Nurgle/Icon of Nurgle. The Bile Spewer and the Plague Sword are powerful in their roles, but niche.
The Bile Spewer it's a great weapon against high model low hp squads, (Imperial Guard, Orks, Tyrannids..) but these squads in T2 or T3 are going to outshoot the Plague Champion, for the lower Bile Spewer range and the slowness of the Plague Champion.
On the other hand, the default Plague Bolter is good, and can be useful against Infantry armor. But again, in late T2 or T3, with the proliferation of Heavy armor and Super Heavy Armor, the default Plague Bolter with his piercing_armour damage loses half of his effectiveness. Not sure if the DOT damage is affected or not by the armour type....
In resume, the Plague Champion don't have an adequate ranged build for late Tier 2 or Tier 3, almost forcing you to buy the Plague Power Fist if you want to use your Plague Champion in combat.
For these reasons, i want to suggest two different wargears to the Plague Champion
Bolter of Silent Diseases
T2
Icon:
Model:
Cost: 150 req/35 energy
This Bolter shoots Plague ammo, which causes very light damage but infects the objective with a variety of Nurgle diseases. The Bolter do 5 piercing_damage per shoot and the affected unit receives 6 plasma damage each second for 5 seconds. The DOT can stack. Rest of statistics are equal as any Bolter. 15 dps melee damage.
Purpose/Role: this weapon enhances the DOT damage of the Plague Champion and turn him into the most powerful ranged retreat killer in the game.
One can think that this weapon is an underpowered one because his direct damage is extremely low (even less than a single Plague Marine direct bolter damage). And his DOT, even is if very powerful, is on the level of the Sternguard hellfire ammo.
People tends to underestimate the power of the DOTs. Good players learn to be very careful with low hp squads/(sub)commanders when there is a PC on the field, and learn to retreat earlier their squads or force retreat the enemy PC first.
Have in mind that the DOT damage AFAIK ignores cover, garrisons and the retreat ranged protection. And the ranged damage taken reduction if one squad is in melee combat too IIRC.
With this weapon, the PC is going to do less damage than the default Techmarine bolter (like 30 dps vs the ~35 dps) . The damage per shot is lower than the default PC bolter.
So, why is the reason to buy this weapon? His constant damage in almost any situation.
Where the (for example) vanilla Techmarine bolter is going to shred his target in open field, his damage is going to be lower if the objective is in heavy/light/garrison cover. And of course, except if is a very wounded squad, the enemy squad could retreat without lose too much additional health/squad members.
On the other hand, the PC with the Bolter of Silent Diseases is going to do less damage in open ground than the TM bolter, but much more if the objective is in any cover. And of course, if the player underestimate the DOT damage, could lose more easily squad members or even the full squad if he don't retreat earlier his squad.
With this bolter, you forces the micro of your opponent, because he have to decide if he focus the damage on your PC to avoid the possible model loses if the combat turns against him and have to retreat wounded squads or in other squad like your heretics and forces him to be much more careful with low HP squads and even retreat them earlier to avoid model loses for the potent DOT damage.
In the beginning i said that this Bolter is created to give the PC a late T2 and T3 ranged weapon against HI and SHI, not Infantry. For this reason, and to avoid too much massacre in low hp high model squad I decide to make this DOT plasma_damage type, more effective against Terminators, Nobz, Super Units..
Counters: where suppression isn't effective because don't affect the PC, knockback or forcing melee with him are the best ways to avoid his DOT damage.
Questions!
- 1. The DOT damage type is affected by the armor, as any other direct damage?
- 2. In the same way, the DOT is affected by the retreat ranged reduction? In the other DOTs the damage have no type IIRC, but plasma is a ranged one, so maybe it could affected by the retreat protection. Same with cover/garrison/defensive buff which protect against ranged damage.
- 3. The DOT is too high or too low? In the beginning I have though in a 4 damage per second for 5 seconds, but for a T2 weapon I think it's too low.
- 4. The 5 piercing_damage per shot is there to avoid bugs, because I'm not very sure if the game engine accept attacks without damage but with additional characteristics. This damage could be eliminated if not.
Armor of Corrupted life.
T2
Icon:
Cost: 150 req/30 energy.
This armor, which was in the beginning owned by a Mars Techmarine, is filled now with the Nurgle's unholy life essence. This armor increases the DOT damage of any PC Bolter by 2 and gives to the Bile Spewer the ability to increase the damage taken by 10% to the affected squads (apart of his default debuffs) . Gives the Nurgling Trap ability, plague mines which slows vehicles and infantry. Also increases the HP by 150 and energy by 50.
Purpose/Role: increase the effectiveness of the PC ranged weapons.
- The default Plague Bolter it's a good anti-Infantry weapon with retreat killing possibilities, and is liked for a variety of players. With this armor, the PC retains his default bolter and increases his ranged effectiveness.
- The Bolter of Silent Diseases obtains more DOT damage, which with the BoSD and the Armor of Corrupted Life the PC have a 12 damage per seconds for 5 seconds against HI and SHI. (60 damage per shot in almost any situation)
- The Bile Spewer buff it's the most difficult to think: a damage increase will allow the PC to burn genfarms too much quickly; a range increase would be not bad, but... I decide to a damage taken debuff for the PC main role: defensive strategy.
Nurgling Trap
Icon
Cost: 40 energy, 4 seconds to construct it.
Burrows an Nurgling that explodes in a mucus puddle when enemy units come too close. When the trap is created, takes 2 seconds to activate and infiltrate itself. The Nurgling Trap slows enemy infantry or vehicles in radius 10 for 12 seconds
Purpose/Role: anticipation / terrain preparation for a future battle. The PC is a defensive commander, and can create a good bunker with his abilities + Nurgle Shrine + his Turret + heretics. But I feel he could have more terrain preparation to complement his defensive skills.
) is going to overshadow the Plague Sword in his role.
