The Death Mark trait seems like it’s not working properly somehow. The 10% chance used to trigger after 2 turns but as far as I know that is not the case anymore with the new patch/ update.
The problem is that after dozens of battles I still haven’t seen it killing any enemy troops in the first 2 turns. Am I just extremely unlucky or is it the way it’s supposed to work?
I noticed the same. Maybe bad luck, otherwise it’s still a 2 turn wait…
Edit: Something is definitely wrong with it.
The way it is coded, it’ll never last past turn 5 because at that point it’s 50% to kill and 50% to wear off.
Methinks you’re just unlucky. I’ve been on both the giving and receiving end of Death Mark many times in recent weeks.
“in recent weeks” is not possible if the troop was released 3 days ago. 
Oh, crap. You’re on console. Me bad.
As far as I can tell, the checks for “stat cleanse” (10% per turn starting on turn 2) and Death Mark kill (flat 10%) are independent events. Something like:
if (rand(0.0, 1.0) < (turnCount * 0.1)) { cleanse(); }
else if (rand(0.0, 1.0) < 0.1) { die(); }
If that is the case, Death Mark can indeed last until turn 10.
Yeah I thought of that after I hit Reply, what if they are both checked individually?
If they are which check occurs first? I’d assume the cleanse does. However, I’m commonly fooled by assuming logic is applicable in GoW.
I use deathmark alot these days, and I’ve never seen it cleanse on the first turn. However, it has killed on the first turn.
You use it on offense a lot?
On offense I will use nothing that has even a small amount of RNG, but load up defense with RNG.
The AI misuses strategic Troops but has incredible RNG luck while RNG will take any opportunity it can to screw you.
Regardless of how it is calculated it is going to go past turn 5. Unless someone made a right bollocks of it.
I use it on offense probably 40% of the time because I get a giddy kick when death mark triggers out of nowhere. It’s just one of my quirky joys in GoW. 
I have a team that uses Death with EK. It’s won 100% for me because it doesn’t rely on the death mark triggering. If death mark triggers, it just makes the match end faster.
I also use it on defense on occasion. But, I do switch up and use different defenses from time to time.
Statistically speaking it’s not a moot point. Whichever check comes first is given the priority, therefore can be relied on happening more often.
Say Turn 10, 100% to trigger, whichever check happens first will occur and nullify the second check completely. This would be true at any rate if both effects would trigger on the same turn.
That doesnt have anything to do with it going past turn 5 but is something that should be clarified… and wont be.
Wouldnt be difficult to force a reroll if both outcomes occur. Which is the logical structure.
In regards to Death Mark, are there separate checks for cleansing and triggering?
If so, which check occurs first?
There has to be seperate checks
To be clear, the death check is a flat 10% per turn and never increases, while the cleanse check is 100% on turn 10. Your point stands that it makes the difference between being 100% safe or 90% safe on turn 10, though.
My empirical evidence suggests that the logic for status effects is as follows:
Multiply by 10% or ((number of turns -1)*10)%
Damn, Death Mark is a flat 10% every turn?
No wonder people are pissed when it works way too often for the AI