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Which is better? BL is weaker but has more shots at 24", on top of being an assault weapon (not that big a deal if the rest of the squad cant fire when advancing). I'm leaning towards blight launcher being slightly better for its cost, due to the difference in str being less of a deal in 8th.

What do you guys think?

I am thinking plasma, but it really depends on what you want to be shooting at.

As far as i can tell, the only time plasma are better against anything (i mathed out guardsmen, marines, terminators, rhinos, and land raiders) is at 12" or less while overcharging. At long range, or when firing normally, the plasma is worse against everything.

So i would say this makes the blight launcher the better choice.

Don't death guard rapid fire at 18" if battle forged? Codex p96

Overcharged against highly-armored, non invulnerable targets of T4 under a RE-roll of 1 aura, Plasma is way, way better. So, if you want to be shooting up marines, that's the ticket. Non-overcharged, the extra strength only makes a difference vs T6 and T7 targets, but lots of light vehicles are T6.

You can trial shooting both guns at different targets here: b4cchus.pythonanywhere.com for nice, side-by-side graphs.

For example, here is 2 plasma and 2 blight launchers, under re-roll 1s aura, shooting against a Marine outside of the rapid fire range (remember, the Rapid Fire for Death Guard is 18") -- even here the Plasma isn't that far behind, in fact it's a little more consistent:



Of course, once within Rapid Fire range, plasma wins out hands down:

I believe the only time blight launchers win out vs plasma is if making heavy use of the plague weapon keyword, such through Arch-Contaminator. The extra 6" of rapid fire range on an already great utility gun makes it tough to beat. Access to an extra plasma via champ pushes this home even further. Launchers are awesome, plasma just seems even more so.

BLs are for run and gun. Plasma is for sit and shoot.

You are correct, but how often do you imagine the infamously ponderous plague marines running anywhere? Isn't that what drones are for?

I use the launchers in my melee units and plasma in my not melee units. So far it has seemed to work well.

Depend how much of that AP and D3 damage matter to you, though i wouldn't trust that D3

For example Blight Launcher 1 Wound model would be overkill. Still very good though, it's Assault 2 = auto Rapid Fire 1. It's down to what you are shooting at.

But then sometime you want that extra AP, -3 to make it harder for your opponent to roll Sv. Again, down to what you shoot at.

So here is the thing, Overcharge Plasma if you have Lord for 1 Reroll, Blight Launcher if you don't have that 1 reroll. For me my lord always on front line, so that Bright Launcher is better.

Also Plasma better vs Vehicle. Again, down to what you shoot at.

Overall I like Blight Launcher, it's that middle ground to kill those annoying multiple wounds 5 toughness that you just need that extra Str to surpass wound roll. Very well design weapon.

Another thing in favor of the Blight Launcher is that with Arch Contaminator it makes it better. I still think Plasma has a place, and I love taking it in all my lists, even more so with Inexorable Advance giving us that sweet 18" RF. So to me the question to ask is: Am I needing to move fast with this unit? If yes go for the Blight Launchers, if no go for the Plasma. Special mention for Melta though... also works with Inexorable advance and can be a great added anti-tank tool. Plus the new kits are coming with one of each.

So what are people’s findings about plasma vs blight launchers? What is everyone using now and what are your opinions.

with an arch contaminator chaos lord for both my PBC's and marines I use squads of 2 blight launchers and 1 plasma. I think I did the math somewhere and believe that most of the time the blight launchers win out this way, except possibly when overcharging in rapid fire range. I can't find my spreadsheet, though.