diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix
index 60d4856cae6f..967782485fb0 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ rec {
                      if vam != null && vam ? knownPlugins then vam.knownPlugins else
                      if pathogen != null && pathogen ? knownPlugins then pathogen.knownPlugins else
                      vimPlugins;
-      pathogenPlugins = findDependenciesRecursively (map (pluginToDrv knownPlugins) pathogen.pluginNames);
+      pathogenPlugins = throw "pathogen is now unsupported, replace `pathogen = {}` with `packages.home = { start = []; }`";
       vamPlugins = findDependenciesRecursively (map (pluginToDrv knownPlugins) (lib.concatMap vamDictToNames vam.pluginDictionaries));
       nonNativePlugins = (lib.optionals (pathogen != null) pathogenPlugins)
                       ++ (lib.optionals (vam != null) vamPlugins)