Unofficial fan reference · game data patch 9.0.4 (Oct 15, 2026)
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Death Runners unit card

Death Runners

Melee infantry· Dual Sword Infantry· Tier 2· 72 models at Ultra size

Duel it in the combat calculator →

Death Runners are Skaven melee infantry: 5,760 HP across 72 models, armour 20, melee attack 32, melee defence 28, weapon strength 30. It costs 850 in the campaign and in multiplayer. Unit key wh2_main_skv_inf_death_runners_0. Patch 9.0.4, from the game's data tables.

Health

80 per model

5,760

bottom 1% of class

Armour

20

bottom 26% of class

Leadership

68

bottom 41% of class

Speed

54

top 4% of class

Melee attack

32

bottom 39% of class

Melee defence

28

bottom 26% of class

Weapon strength

8 base + 22 armour-piercing, +10 vs infantry

30

bottom 30% of class

Charge bonus

22

top 38% of class

Attributes

  • Vanguard Deployment

    This unit can deploy outside the deployment zone.

  • Stalk

    This unit can move hidden in any terrain.

  • Strider

    Speed and combat penalties caused by terrain are ignored by this unit.

Abilities

  • Concealment BombsHiding · Effective when flanking, Target is hiddenactive
  • Scurry Away!Augment · +10% Speedpassive
  • Strength in NumbersAugment · -10% Speed, +8 Melee Defence…passive

Upgrades

Bought with Mutagen

  • A Second Brain

    Flesh Augmentation · 25 Mutagen

    • Bound spell: "Death Frenzy"
    • Attribute: Encourage
    • Leadership: +5
    • Melee defence: -5

  • Bone Elongation

    Flesh Augmentation · 25 Mutagen

    • Melee attack: -5
    • Bonus vs Large: +10
    • Weapon strength: +20%

  • Hideous Disfigurement

    Flesh Augmentation · 25 Mutagen

    • Attribute: Causes Fear
    • Attribute: Causes Terror
    • Leadership: -5

  • Imperfection Removal

    Flesh Augmentation · 25 Mutagen

    • Melee attack: +20
    • Melee defence: -10
    • Weapon strength: +40%
    • Casualty replenishment rate: -100%

  • Mind Control

    Flesh Augmentation · 25 Mutagen

    • Attribute: Immune to Psychology
    • Leadership: +5
    • Melee defence: -5

  • Nasty Inbreed

    Flesh Augmentation · 25 Mutagen

    • Passive ability: "Feral Rage"
    • Armour-piercing weapon damage: +5
    • Charge bonus: +20

  • Spider Senses

    Flesh Augmentation · 25 Mutagen

    • Melee attack: -5
    • Physical resistance: 20%

  • Accelerated Mitosis

    Genetic Manipulation · 25 Mutagen

    • Random Uncommon Augments applied: +2 (only applies unlocked Augments)

  • Cancerous Carapace

    Genetic Manipulation · 25 Mutagen

    • Armour: +20
    • Spell resistance: 15%

  • Enhanced Muscle Fibre

    Genetic Manipulation · 25 Mutagen

    • Attribute: Strider
    • Melee defence: +5
    • Speed: +15%

  • Mors-tosterone

    Genetic Manipulation · 25 Mutagen

    • Passive ability: "Frenzy"

  • Muscle Enlargement

    Genetic Manipulation · 25 Mutagen

    • Armour-piercing weapon damage: +5
    • Melee attack: +5

  • Smart Feeding

    Genetic Manipulation · 25 Mutagen

    • Upkeep: -15% for this unit
    • Casualty replenishment rate: +15%

  • Soldier Serum

    Genetic Manipulation · 25 Mutagen

    • Unit rank: +5

  • Stalker Senses

    Genetic Manipulation · 25 Mutagen

    • Attribute: Stalk
    • Attribute: Vanguard Deployment

  • Final Evolution

    Metabolism · 50 Mutagen

    • Random Rare Augments applied: +3 (only applies unlocked Augments)

  • Necroparasites

    Metabolism · 50 Mutagen

    • Ability: "Necroparasites"

  • Troll Spleen

    Metabolism · 50 Mutagen

    • Attribute: Perfect Vigour
    • Passive ability: "Regeneration"

Campaign only, from the game's tables (unit_upgrade_to_unit_groups, unit_purchasable_effects), patch 9.0.4. Costs are before skills and technologies that make upgrades cheaper.

Counters

Good against

Vulnerable to

Computed from base unit-card values (no skills, items or abilities), one rule per line; examples are units with the most of that trait. How counters are worked out · Try it in the combat calculator

Gold for gold

COMPUTEDAt equal gold it beats 4.7% of the game's 194 infantry units in melee. Per 1,000 gold: 208 damage per second against Chaos Warriors; it lasts 28.1 s against one unit of them.

Beats, at a similar price: Warp-Grinders (2.08× faster), Skin Wolves (Armoured) (1.98× faster), Skin Wolves (1.67× faster)

Loses to, at a similar price: Plaguebearers of Nurgle (5.22× slower), Exalted Plaguebearers of Nurgle (4.61× slower), Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch (3.75× slower)

Equal gold, every model fighting at its weapon's attack interval, combat calculator formulas; no charge, mass, splash, leadership or abilities. “Similar price”: within 30% of its 850 multiplayer gold. Skaven units ranked.

Match-ups people search for: Death Runners vs Eshin Triads

Who can field it

  • Skaven · Clan Mors

Custom Battle lists factions under each race; every faction of a race fields that race's units (units_custom_battle_permissions rows of any of its factions). The name after the race is the faction the army builder uses.

The game also has 1 summoned or scripted copy of this unit that no building or mercenary pool recruits (wh2_main_skv_inf_death_runners_0_summoned).

Where these numbers come from

Read from the game's database tables for patch 9.0.4 (main_units, land_units, battle_entities, melee_weapons, projectiles…) as published in the WH3-Dump export (commit 099796e8). Formulas that turn table values into card values are checked against known units before they are shown — how we verify.