There are dozens of horrific creatures and monsters you will encounter in Warhammer 40K: Darktide. Even more, as the taint of Chaos grows more potent in the depths of Tertium, more creatures are bound to slither out of the dark. One of the most horrifying and challenging to defeat in Darktide is the Beast of Nurgle.
Fat Shark might have a secret pact with the Chaos god, Nurgle. His corruption and forces have played a leading role in Vermintide and now Darktide. With Nurgle having a massive influence on the early amount of enemies in the game, it’s natural that we have to fight one of his creations, the Beast of Nurgle.
What is a Beast of Nurgle in the Warhammer 40K Universe?
A Beast of Nurgle is a daemonic slug-like monstrosity that spreads decay and festering rot across the battlefield. Beasts of Nurgle have bodies that resemble a putrid slug accompanied by green tentacles, a long whip-tail, and growths that burst from its back.
The Beasts of Nurgle are filled with nearly endless excitement for the forces of life and death. Thus, the creature acts and plays with its foes as if it were a household pet.
Even if its mind is simple and perhaps innocent, its body is a factory for spreading dozens of plagues simply from its presence. Since its body resembles a slug, it leaves an acidic trail when crawling across the battlefield. Its vomit and flesh-eating fluids can melt armor; simply touching a Beast of Nurgle can cause paralysis.
Even as horrific as this monstrosity is, the Beasts of Nurgle are extremely friendly and playful. Yet, from the rot and diseases they carry, they eventually kill anyone they wish to play with.
The Challenges in Fighting a Beast of Nurgle in Darktide
In Darktide, a Beast of Nurgle is just as horrific looking and sounding as its tabletop counterpart. The monstrosity is easily the slowest boss in Darktide, but its strength comes from its AOE and crowd control.
The Beast of Nurgle’s primary attack is spewing gallons of acidic vomit across the battlefield. It also leaves a rot trail behind as it chases players down. Standing in the vomit will slow players down while dealing consistent damage. While standing in the rot, your HP will slowly start to corrupt, reducing your maximum health.
Avoid their giant maw. Engage them at range if possible.
Typically a Beast of Nurgle will focus on one player at a time during combat in Darktide. Yet, enough damage will cause the creature to change targets. Those who fail to evade the monster or get trapped in its vomit might be grabbed and eaten whole.
If the Beast of Nurgle eats a member of your party, they cannot fight back and will take constant damage while rapidly corrupting their HP. If a Beast of Nurgle abducts a member of your party, they will continue to chase another player or slither away and spit them out somewhere else on the battlefield.
Be careful when attacking the Beast of Nurgle from the front. Getting close for a melee attack can land you inside its mouth. The giant size of Ogryn and their penchant for melee attacks means they are probably more susceptible to being grabbed and consumed, so watch out.
If you are not in a position to shoot its weak point, or your ranged weapon isn’t proficient at single-target damage, don’t take the risk by attacking it from the front. It’s significantly safer to melee the Beast of Nurgle from the side since standing in front of it puts you at risk for its grab, and standing behind it will get you caught in its rot trail.
The Beasts of Nurgle in Darktide are gigantic. Their size, combined with their wide vomit attacks, can trap and separate your team from one another. Their strengths for crowd control make them deadlier when paired with a horde of Pox Walkers. This is because it’s extremely difficult to scramble out of their slime pools while being clawed by a dozen zombies.
Related Guide: Everything You Need to Know about Curios in Darktide
The Beast of Nurgle’s Weaknesses
While the Beast of Nurgle looks terrifying and can be quite dominating in closed-in spaces, they have two large weaknesses that you should exploit the next time you encounter one.
Aim for the Weak Point on Its back
In Darktide, the Beast of Nurgle has a large yellow weak point centered on its back. Most players know this since every encounter with a Beast of Nurgle will have one of the players spout some quotes about targeting the monster’s back.
The weak point is huge, but it’s sometimes hard to hit because of their size and Darktide’s cramped hallways. The Beast of Nurgle becomes significantly easier to manage if you can fight in an open space, especially since you have more room to maneuver. For this reason, try to draw it out of hallways, or at least don’t get too close to its mouth with melee attacks.
Exploit the Slowness of the Beast of Nurgle in Darktide
The Beast of Nurgle is also the slowest monstrosity, which makes them the easiest to evade from. Unlike Daemonhosts or Plague Ogryn’s, who can teleport or charge you, Beasts of Nurgle can only crawl toward you.
Take advantage of their lack of movement speed to create space and lead them out into an open area. The Beast of Nurgle, despite being incredibly difficult to deal with if he has reinforcements, can become extremely easy to deal with if isolated.
Additional FAQs
Know what talents you have in your character build. Play to your strengths. If you don’t, and you just stick to one plan to fight Beasts of Nurgle in Darktide, you will likely suffer. This goes doubly for what weapons you brought into combat. If you brought in melee weapons, don’t try to fight back if the Beast is tracking you. You will likely get eaten. For more Darktide tips and tricks, check out our companion guide.
Well, fairly simply, you won’t get killed. While they are slow, and you can actually outrun them, it’s usually worth it to stop and slay them. Only some levels have breakpoints large enough to leave prior monsters behind, and many of these won’t allow you to continue while monsters are still engaging you.
Because this mini-boss has its weak point on its back and because getting too close to it will cause it to consume you and ultimately digest you if you are solo, it’s significantly harder to defeat a Beast of Nurgle solo in Darktide. You really need at least two teammates. Moreover, if Pox Walkers spawn, you’ll be happy to have your entire team with you to beat it.
Really any character class can take on these monsters. It’s not like beating the Daemonhost boss in Darktide, where they will quickly slay your glass cannon characters. Mobility and ranged damage is important, as well as slaying any Pox Walkers that spawn. For this reason, the best classes are probably the Zealot and Veteran. In particular, a ranged Veteran Sharpshooter build will provide a large ammo reserve and high mobility. Plus, his combat shovel or other melee is great for quickly dispatching simple pox walkers.
Refer to this guide. If you are having a hard time beating one, it’s likely because you aren’t doing a good job of staying at a safe distance. Additionally, if you don’t focus on Pox Walkers and other spawned enemies during the fight, you can get easily overwhelmed. Lastly, if you are the one being focused by the Beast of Nurgle, don’t worry about turning around and engaging it. Let your teammates take care of it for you. It’s slow, so if you focus on being mobile and slaying the occasional spawned monster, you should stay alive throughout the battle.
Summary of How to Defeat a Beast of Nurgle in Darktide
That’s our short guide to bringing down a Beast of Nurgle in Darktide. Don’t underestimate any of their AOE abilities, especially during a horde. Try to find ways to draw them out into open spaces to avoid getting bunched up in an attack.
Even if they are the slowest boss and become easy to deal with if they spawn solo, if a legion of Pox Walkers accompanies them, they will isolate and melt your team. If you enjoyed our short guide, check out our guide to what every weapon stat in Darktide means.
Good hunting, Rejects!
