Blood Bowl - Nurgle Team Guide

A new season of Blood Bowl is upon us, and many teams have had big changes to long-established rosters. Not least among those is that of the vile worshippers of the Chaos god of decay, Nurgle, who have a multitude of new gifts. In this article we’re going to run the rule over the whole roster and tell you how to get the best out of the repulsive rotters.

Nurgle's Rotters are a storied team in the Blood Bowl lore, being one of the first Chaos teams to devote themselves to a single god. Nurgle's blessing is a mixed one when it comes to Blood Bowl - it tends to make followers big, bloated, and slow. Your players will have the durability and power of a steamroller... and also the agility and ball handling skills of a steamroller. But that doesn't mean you can't cause real damage on the pitch - let's look at this team and how to play it.

Pros

Strong and resilient
Packed with passive skills that frustrate and thwart your opponent
Strong development options and power ceiling

Cons

One of the slowest teams in the game
Poor agility and ball-handling
Starting roster has no Elite skills

The Roster

Nurgle Rotters by Wagz

Rotter Linemen

A Rotter is a plague-ridden shadow of whatever creature it was in its former life, and they play like it. Rotters are slow, have poor agility and passing ability, no useful skills, and are likely to fall to bits when they take any significant hit. On the plus side, they are strong enough and tough enough to act as effective meatshields, and cheap enough to be used for that job, or as foulers, without fear. Despite their downsides, Rotters can Secure The Ball, so acting as an emergency ball-carrier is still within their remit.

Block or Wrestle are your natural first skills for Rotters, with Block being favoured. Tackle is a strong second skill complement to both. With Devious access on Primary, Rotters can also be built as strong foulers, with Dirty Player the best option.

Nurgle Bloaters by Choza

Bloaters

The Chaos Warriors of the Nurgle team, Bloaters are very expensive, but also strong, highly armoured, and tough as old boots. They come loaded with skills guaranteed to frustrate your opponent; be it Foul Appearance, or Stand Firm, or Disturbing Presence, Bloaters have a way of obstructing every kind of play your opponent wants to make. Because of their strength, they are also one of your most important offensive tools to dominate opponents and make holes for your team to exploit.

Block and Guard are the most important skills for Bloaters, with Mighty Blow at some point. Bloaters also have lots of interesting options through mutations, with Monstrous Mouth, Tentacles, and Claws all providing further utility.

Nurgle Pestigors by @geopaints_ on Instagram

Pestigors

Reduced to two in number in Third Season, the Pestigors are now probably your most valuable positionals in real terms. These Nurgle Beastmen are your fastest and most agile players, and with a strong all-rounder statline, and broad skill access on Primary, they can be built in many different ways. Unfortunately, with only two on the team, at least one is almost certainly going to have to be used as a dedicated ball-carrier, and the other needs to be ready to take on the same role. That said, they still excel as Blitzers, thanks to their higher MA and Horns, so building one for this role remains a good use.

Block is the best first skill for any flavour of Pestigor. For a Blitzer, Mighty Blow, Tackle, and Claw are all strong options. Frenzy can also be added to this combo. Sure Hands will help no end for carrying, and Guard remains a great all-round support skill.

Nurgle Rotspawn by @geopaints_ on Instagram

Rotspawn

The most unique (and disgusting) Big Guy, the Rotspawn is also a powerful control tool and linchpin of the team. In Third Season Rotspawn gained a powerful new trick: Pick Me Up, which lets them auto-stand nearby prone teammates on a 5+. For a slow team who like to get in the mix like Nurgle, this stands to have a real impact in maintaining the team’s momentum, and adds another reason to keep your spawn in the heart of the action.

Guard is the comfiest first skill for Rotspawn, but saving for Block is a strong consideration. Stand Firm is another useful skill, while Break Tackle opens up some spicy plays.

Lord Borak The Despoiler by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

Star Players

With Third Season’s release, Nurgle (and Chaos teams in general) have fewer options in Stars than they once did, but thankfully that still includes some really good ones. Lord Borak is your most expensive option at 270k, but worth every penny as he brings a potent combination of strength and damage skills. For cheaper options, Nurgle have three dedicated stars:

Bilerot Vomitflesh is a super-bloater who adds fouling and vomiting to his toolbox
Guffle Pusmaw is a Bloater who comes with Monstrous Mouth and some ball-handling skills
Withergrasp Doubledrool is a do-it-all utility lino who excels at attacking the ball.

Bilerot would be my pick for increasing your pitch control and damage, while Withergrasp is a great addition to complement your Pestigors (or replace them if missing through injury).

Nurgle team by Mike Rathbone

Tactics And Playstyle

Despite their bulk, Nurgle are more of a control team than a straight bash team. Their plethora of passive skills can severely limit an opponent’s actions and cause their best plans to fail. However, at least as a starting team, they have few ways to actively exert pressure, and lack skills like Block. A solid control game and a plan to shut down and outlast the opponent through your strong passive skills and mass Regeneration is a safer bet in the early days. As the team develops, Nurgle can become much more actively bashy, with Block, Claw, Mighty Blow, and Dirty Player foulers letting them dish out damage more consistently; and in league play, the Brawlin' Brutes team ability will mean that you can develop your bashier players more quickly than before.

The main challenge with Nurgle is on offense, where their low movement and lack of natural ball-handers means a long, grinding drive is pretty much your only option. Advancing your cage will require a combination of your natural strength and blitzes to make spaces and follow them up. With your low speed and agility, positioning carefully will be of great importance; every square counts for Nurgle. It is also very easy for opponents to tie up many of your players, so you may need to use your Blitz actions to free players up and bring them back into play.

Ensuring the best use (and safety) of your two Pestigors is also critical. Without them, your ball-carrying ability rests on the Rotters, who are a poor substitute. You will have to balance their use as Blitzers and support players with the aim of keeping them out of the firing line.

Positioning of the Rotspawn is also a key element to mastering the team. Its ability to lock down opponents with Tentacles, and potentially stand up your own prone players, mean you need to plan its moves and placement carefully. And of course, as it has Really Stupid, you need to have a baby-sitter standing by for its activation.

Nurgle Team by @Geopaints_ on Instagram

Starting Team Builds

Nurgle saw some nice price cuts to what were formerly some of the most expensive positionals in the game, and with fewer Pestigors available, starting builds can now take all the key pieces.

League Play

1 x Rotspawn
4 x Bloaters
2 x Pestigors
4 x Rotter Linemen
2 x Team Rerolls

This is exactly 1m GC, and gives you all of your positionals. At only 11 players and 2 Rerolls it has little room for error or mishaps. If you want a bit more comfort, you can drop the Rotspawn to add two Rotters and the third reroll, which is also exactly 1m GC.

League Development

Your end goal will be to have all the positionals, the Rotspawn, at least 3 rerolls, and at least twelve players, though thirteen or fourteen is better. Nurgle can reach this goal relatively quickly, so you may get to a point where you can consider a fourth reroll too. You will find that thanks to Decay, Rotters can easily pick up crippling injuries; don’t be afraid to fire and re-hire, they are cheap and expendable.

Tournament Play

1 x Rotspawn
4 x Bloaters
2 x Pestigors
5 x Rotter Linemen
3 x Team Rerolls

This build comes in at 1.1m exactly and features just about everything you could hope for. If a rules pack gives you more money to spend, then a 13th player is a good option, but it may also be time to explore trading out lesser players for a star, or looking at other inducement options.

Tournament Skills

Nurgle desperately need Block on a few players, so this is a good place to start. At least two of the Bloaters and one of the Pestigors in the first instance. If a Tournament lets you take a Secondary skill, then putting Block on the Rotspawn is also a huge upgrade. If not, then Guard is a good choice. Bloaters who aren’t given Block can be given Guard, ideally, or Mighty Blow, if you want to push for damage.

Guard is an option for the other Pestigor, or Wrestle or Frenzy to make a powerful utility Blitzer. A Dirty Player Rotter will also be a great asset.

Tier

GW have placed Nurgle in their Tier 3, which means they get a good amount of help in Skills. I think this is a good reflection of where they are; a potentially strong team who are definitely crying out for skills in order to boost their active play.

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Tags: Blood Bowl | Tactics | Nurgle | competitive play | Nurgle's Rotters