Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Sorcerer of Nurgle

Here are general tips for playing the Chaos Champaign in Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, on HARD Difficulty. A list of all our Warhammer: Mark of Chaos articles can be found here.

Sorcerer of Nurgle Skills

• Same skills as an Exalted Sorcerer of Nurgle.
• You get every skill at rank 0 as long as you fulfill the prerequisites.
• Any skill with no skill prerequisite deserves special attention because you can bank your points and get 5 ranks of it immediately when you reach the necessary level, instead of spending your points on low-level skills you may not want.
• Look for passive skills that require no mana, because one or two really good skills on a hero will monopolize use of the mana pool anyway.
• Command skills are very strong here at all levels, even more useful than a Champion of Nurgle.
• The key skill here is Fear No Pain, BUT read the drawback on that skill. Other than that, Favoured Poxes when you are tanking a regiment to provide a distraction for Axe Throwers. However, you probably don't need to level up Favoured Poxes at all as combat is typically over very quickly.

Combat Skills

Spell Focus (Level 0)

• Reduces the cooldown of all spells by 6% per level.

Favoured Poxes (Level 0)

• Reduces the target enemy's armour and chance to hit by 15% (+3% per rank) for 30 seconds.
• At 5/5 this is 30%. Probably best against ranged units who have a lower chance to hit to begin with.
• Enemy heroes generally don't have very high Armor and all heroes have a very high chance to hit.

Favoured Poxes > Venom Armour (Level 15)

• The hero gains Venom armour which poisons melee attackers. The poison damages affected units each second for 5 seconds with 1% chance + 1% per rank.

Favoured Poxes > Venom Armour > Sumptuous Pestilence (Level 25)

• Slows the target enemy unit by 50% for 10 seconds (+1 second per rank) and periodically damages units with 3% chance to hit.
• 15 seconds at 5/5 ranks. The probability of a model surviving 10-15 seconds without taking any damage is ~74% to ~63%.

(no prerequisite) > Spell Mastery (Level 5)

• Increases the range of all spells by 4% per level.

Spell Mastery > Vengeance of the Gods (Level 15)

• Any unit who kills the hero is affected by the Vengeance of the Gods. Movement and attack speed are reduced by 5% for the rest of the battle.
• I'd rather spend points on a skill that helps my hero survive than one that is only good when he's dead.
• On the battlefield, who lands the killing blow can be very chancy. Could be a half-dead hero or a model in an almost-destroyed regiment.

(no prerequisite) > Indomitable Constitution (Level 5)

• Increases HP by 1 per rank.

Duel Skills

These skills are only available during a duel. All other skills that need to be activated are disabled. Therefore, any points put here may be unavailable most of the time, and specializes your hero into an anti-hero build. Even so, it is hard to say whether you will get enough mileage out of a duelist hero because after a bout, he may have low health and no be able to handle a second bout. Damage is typically done by attrition unless you have invested a lot of points.

Stream of Corruption (Level 0)

• Blasts the opponent with a Stream of Corruption causing 1 HP damage. The spell has a 10% (+10% per rank) chance to poison the opponent for 5 seconds, causing 1 HP loss every second.

Stream of Corruption > Fervent Palsy (Level 15)

• Curses the opponent to suffer 1 extra damage from each magical attack for 6 seconds (+1.5 seconds per rank).

Stream of Corruption > Master of the Winds (Level 15)

• Decreases the cost of all spells by 2% per rank.
• Does not appear to work on Combat or Command spells.

Stream of Corruption > Master of the Winds > Nurgle's Rot (Level 25)

• 8 second cast.
• The hero infects the target for 15 seconds and has a 40% chance (+10% per rank) to inflict 1 HP damage to the target every second.

Supernatural Resilience (Level 0)

• Decreases the attacker's chance to hit by 10% per level.
• Not clear how long this lasts, but -50% at 5/5 ranks is huge. However, it is a significant investment in skill points just for Duelling.

Supernatural Resilience > Miasmic Pestilence (Level 5)

• The hero surrounds himself with a noxious fog that reduces the chance to hit of attackers by 10% and has a 10% (+5% per rank) chance to infect the attacker for 1 HP damage for every incoming attack. Lasts 10 seconds.

Supernatural Resilience > Miasmic Pestilence > Fear Master (Level 15)

• The hero's attacks cause 10% extra morale damage per rank to the enemy.

Command Skills

Passive Command skills work on the hero if they are not attached to a regiment.

Pestilent Shield (Level 0)

• The hero's and the attached regiment's defence against ranged attacks are increased by 5% per level.

Vigour Mortis (Level 0)

• Every successful attack of the hero and the attached regiment will restore 1 lost morale point (+0.2 per rank).
• NOT a passive skill.

Bellowed Exhortations (Level 5)

• The hero's and the attached regiment's stamina increases by 3% per rank.

Bellowed Exhortations > Backstabber (Level 15)

• The hero's and the attached regiment's chance to hit from the behind is increased by 5% per level.
• Text actually reads "... to hit from the behind...". To hit with their ass?
• Hard to say whether it first requires the regiment to be attacking the enemy from the rear to receive this bonus.

(no prerequisites) > Tenacity (Level 5)

• Increases the armour of the hero and the attached regiment by 0.4 per level.
• At 5/5 ranks this is +2 Armor. Combined with an already armoured unit, you can give them hero-rank armor of 5+. Even so, you probably still want to develop Fear No Pain for added protection.

Tenacity > Magical Ward (Level 15)

• Increases the hero's and the attached regiment's magic resistance by 0.5 per rank.

Tenacity > Magical Ward, Vigour Mortis > Fear No Pain (Level 25)

• The hero and the attached regiment fears no pain for they are immune to all physical attacks. lasts 10 seconds + 1 second per rank.
• Up to 15 seconds of immunity against most conventional units and even heroes. If you can time this properly you can do lots of interesting things like block melee units and heroes, run toward artillery, or safely flee a regiment.
• The protection is supposed to be absolute. Get rank 0 of this just for the insurance factor. The prerequisites are useful in any case.
• This sounds like a fantastic spell, except that enemies will immediately choose another regiment to attack as soon as you cast it. If they are already engaged in melee with your regiment, then it's less of an issue since you are now delaying them while your supporting regiments continue shooting. If you turn it on against a ranged attacker, then you will shift attention to another nearby regiment, and you need to decide if that's what you need tactically at the time (e.g., the sorcerer and/or his regiment are severely injured and you need to extract them).