Darktide has many deadly encounters for players to face inside the hive city Tertium. From heretics, traitors, spawns of Chaos, and the festering plagues of Nurgle. One among the countless threats you will face is Nurgle’s corruptive influence, and with numerous humans and Ogryns becoming heretics, it’s unsurprising they have bargained with the ruinous powers. Rejects are called to purge this city and restore it to the Emperor’s glory with the help of the Inquisition.
Darktide has several bosses, also known as monstrosities, and the Plague Ogryn is likely the first boss you will encounter. In this comprehensive guide, we will show you how to bring down this bloated abomination as quickly as possible to ensure your team’s survival.
What is a Plague Ogryn in the Warhammer 40K Universe?
In order to understand what a Plague Ogryn is, you first must understand what a typical Ogryn is. An Ogryn is an Adhuman mutant subspecies of the Imperium of Man. Typically mutants are hunted and outcast by the Imperium of Man due to the Inquisitions standards. Still, Ogryns have proven themselves as incredibly loyal and strong allies, even if they lack intelligence. Ogryns are bigger and stronger than an average human. They stand roughly ten feet tall and have the strength of a dozen men.
Ogryns are more durable than normal humans. They are capable of shrugging off blows that would destroy an ordinary guardsman several times over. These traits make Ogryns incredible shock troopers and are often deployed on the front lines in the Astra Militarum. These qualities are mostly kept if an Ogryn is infested with the Gifts of Nurgle.
Plague Ogryns are heavily mutated by the Chaos God Nurgle to become bloated harbingers of disease. These mini-bosses are swollen with enough plague to make them larger than normal Ogryns. Moreover, thanks to Nurgle’s gifts, they become even more resistant to damage, making them abnormally tanky.
Plague Ogryns become living unbreakable bulwarks of disease and should not be underestimated, even if they possess a simple and barbaric mind.
Fighting a Plague Ogryn in Darktide
Fighting a Plague Ogryn is like fighting against a living battering ram, but Vermintide 2 fans will agree that the Plague Ogryn feels familiar to Rat Ogre. The Plague Ogryn’s deadliest ability is their charge, which can only be interrupted by a highly staggering move like the Ogryn Skullbreaker’s Bull Rush, which gives you an achievement for successfully interrupting them.
As for the Plague Ogryns attacks, they have a three-hit combo chain, which can fully deplete your Stamina if you have under four bars. Plague Ogryns also have an AOE stomp attack, which hits everyone in front of them. This attack is easy to dodge and doesn’t hit players from behind.
Plague Ogryn Weaknesses in Darktide
The Plague Ogryns weakness is its head; depending on its attack, animation can be difficult to hit if you stand behind it. Unlike fighting the Beast of Nurgle in Darktide, where you want to strike it from behind, you want to stay in front of a Plague Ogryn to strike its huge head easily. Plague Ogryns also might be the tankiest monstrosity in Darktide, as that’s their main strength of being a frontline breaker.
The Best Strategy for Fighting Plague Ogryns in Darktide
Stay in front or to the side of a Plague Ogryn when fighting it from ranged. If the boss fixates on you, stay close but slowly dodge backward. Their melee swings and stomp can be avoided. If you create too much distance, the Plague Ogryn can switch targets or begin a charge. Yet, if you have a high stagger weapon like the Thunder Hammer, you can counter their charge with Bull Rush. If not, you may be pushed away from your team.
Aside from their stomp attack, Plague Ogryns don’t have any large AOE abilities like the Beast of Nurgle. Beyond that, they can switch targets if someone does enough damage to them or their initial target gets too far. Also, like all bosses, Plague Ogryns are significantly easier to fight when in an open area. If you are in a situation where you and your team can retreat to a more open space to evade the boss, always take that opportunity.
Related Guide: Great Combat Tips and Tricks for Darktide Players to Learn
Plague Ogryns Rely Heavily on their Charge Ability. Dodge It!
Also, all bosses are easier to eliminate if you aren’t in the middle of a horde. Yet, Plague Ogryns are predictable, which makes their moves easy to dodge once you get the hang of it. If you must face a Plague Ogryn during a horde, they become far more difficult to defeat. Their moveset requires you to dodge backward frequently, and that can push you into some Pox Walkers.
Plague Ogryns will also use their charge ability to close the distance on players if there isn’t someone in melee range. This move can disrupt and isolate a member of your party if they can’t avoid it in time. It can also push them out of position to be mowed down by enemy gunfire. This can also be quite devastating if you have to fight the Plague Ogryn in Darktide on a bridge or other precipice.
If you have someone experienced in dodging and blocking against a Plague Ogryn, have them lead the Ogryn away. In that case, your teammates can clean up the adds before taking on the boss.
Other Tips, Tricks, and Advice
Know what talents you have equipped on your character. Stick to your class’ strengths. Know the strength and weaknesses of your weapons. For example, an Auto pistol is excellent for suppression and pushing back small hordes of enemies, but it will barely scratch a Plague Ogryn in Darktide. If you have yet to learn any strengths of your class or weapons, you will likely have some difficulties bringing them down.
If you mainly focus on melee, don’t worry too much about where you strike a Plague Ogryn. Yet, striking their head will do more damage. You will have an easier time hitting them from the front or the side if you aim for their head. However, if you are the Plague Ogryn’s primary target, retaliate with a few swings between their attacks. If you don’t, you will lose a good chunk of your HP if you don’t focus on dodging or blocking.
Related Article: Everything You Need to Know about Curios in Warhammer 40K: Darktide
Additional FAQs
They serve as random encounters to spice up your missions from time to time, but there aren’t any rewards they drop from slaying them. Defeating any boss in Darktide (except for ones that are the mission objective) won’t reward you with anything unless you have a contract to kill them from Sire Melk’s Requisitorium.
You can escape the bosses in Darktide on some levels, but the majority of the time, you should bring them down as they are more of a roadblock than a challenge if you face them without a horde.
Classes in Darktide are designed around filling a role and bringing strengths that other classes struggle to fill. Bosses are far tankier and take a significant amount of effort to kill in comparison to Vermintide’s bosses.
In Darktide, you should work with your team to kill every boss, especially since they are designed to be taken down with your team. It is possible to solo a boss, but especially on greater difficulties like Heresy mode, you will need your team to bring down bosses.
Ogryns are great front liners, Zealots are one of the best melee fighters, Psykers are the best at eliminating elites and specials, and Veteran can bring down any ranged threat easier than other classes. Play to the strengths of your class and your weapon, and all enemies or bosses will become easier to defeat.
Any character class can take on any boss in Darktide. It’s not like banishing a Deamonhost, where they will melt any member of your team regardless if you are tanky or a glass cannon. However, Psykers have Brain Burst, which aims for the head by default.
Unlike the Beast of Nurgle, whose weak point is on their back, the Plague Ogryns is their head. So long as a Psyker is left uninterrupted to repeatedly cast Brain Burst, they will deal a lot of damage to a Plague Ogryn.
Refer to this guide. If you are having a difficult time defeating one, it’s likely you aren’t adequately equipped to take one on, or you are not using your dodge enough. Firstly, again, every weapon has strengths and weaknesses. Some ranged weapons won’t be very effective at taking down a Plague Ogryn if they naturally aren’t great at single-target encounters. Secondly, every weapon has a limited amount of dodges you can spam in a short time frame, as well as a certain amount of Stamina.
Stamina can be altered, but the number of dodges can’t. Also, you can’t dodge melee while using a ranged weapon, so take the time to learn how many dodges you can spam before you enter a short cooldown. Learning the bosses’ attacks will also take more time since you cannot actively fight them or measure how much damage you deal since none of the bosses are currently available in the Meat Grinder.
If you are still having trouble beating Plague Ogryn in Darktide, you should check out our beginner guide to see if there are any important tips or tricks you may have overlooked.
Summary of How to Defeat a Plague Ogryn in Darktide
That’s our short guide on how to bring down a Plague Ogryn in Darktide. Ogryns are loads stronger than humans, and the Gifts of Nurgle make them vastly tankier than their loyal counterparts. Even if this bulwark of flesh and disease is extremely resistant to damage, enough of it bleeds, so we can still kill it.
Stick close, aim for the head, and don’t get overwhelmed and tossed around by its powerful swings or its charge attack. If you enjoyed our short article, check out our guide for playing the Ogryn Skullbreaker in Darktide to know what it feels like to wield such brutish strength. Good hunting, Rejects!
