Every new Doom game comes with new enemy types and weapons for players to experience. The new additions can make each new entry in the series harder than the last. This is especially the case for Doom Eternal, Id Software’s latest entry in the demon-slaying series.
In this installment, enemies attack much faster, hit harder, and you have less ammo to work with. If you thought Doom 2016 was hard on Nightmare, this game takes it to a new level. Fortunately, there are plenty of upgrades and tips you can utilize to make the game easier. Ranging from Rune selection to ability usage, here are 10 tips to become an overpowered Doomslayer in Doom Eternal.
10 Upgrade Dash
Doom Eternal is a large magnitude faster than Doom 2016 and even the original games. Demons throw projectiles faster than before and will constantly swarm the player.
That is why the Doomslayer has access to dashes, allowing him to dodge the hail of attacks instantly. Because the game gets so chaotic in later levels, it’s a good idea to spend your suit upgrade tokens on dash upgrades, allowing you to dash more frequently and right after a Glory Kill. With those upgrades, dashing is always an option, making combat significantly easier.
9 Max Out Combat Shotgun
Players immediately begin Doom Eternal with a Combat Shotgun instead of a weak pistol that becomes obsolete by the second level. This change alone is fantastic, but the upgrades the Combat Shotgun get this time around are incredible.
Starting the game, grab the Sticky Bomb mod to make the shotgun a pseudo-grenade launcher. When upgraded, you can fire a whopping 5 bombs before having to reload, which only takes a few seconds. If enemies close the gap, switch to your full-auto mod and blast anyone that gets in your way. Best of all, the full-auto mode will grant you shotgun shells on kill, allowing you to fire in this fashion forever if you slay enough demons.
8 Experiment With Runes
Runes have returned from Doom 2016, this time including more powerful effects right off the bat that don’t require upgrades. You can use three at a time, so there’s plenty of room to experiment.
Most of the Runes available are down to playstyle. For example, one increases the Glory Kill window you have on demons, while another grants equipment cooldown when your Flame Belch or Frag Grenade kill someone. A great choice for aggressive players is Blood Fueled, granting a massive movement speed increase after a glory kill temporarily. This is an incredible Rune for closing the gap between enemies to chain Glory Kills.
7 Complete Slayer Gates
Slayer Gates are a new addition to the series, acting as optional side content that is hard but rewarding. They provide a great opportunity to test your skills, complete mastery challenges, and obtain weapon upgrades.
How does this relate to making your character overpowered? Each Slayer Gate rewards a key that slowly unlocks a very powerful weapon. You will need all six Slayer Gate keys to unlock this weapon, but it is well worth it. Without spoiling the surprise, this gun makes a triumphant return from a previous Doom entry and gives the Minigun a run for its money.
6 Grab Ammo Upgrades
If you can complete Doom 2016 on Ultra Nightmare with your eyes closed, you might want to reconsider starting your playthrough of Doom Eternal on Nightmare.
Weapons like the Super Shotgun and Minigun have significantly smaller ammo reserves in this installment, encouraging you to frequently swap weapons and to use the revamped Chainsaw to spawn ammo. You can somewhat mitigate this ammo deficiency with ammo upgrades by collecting Sentinel Crystals scattered among the Fortress of Doom and various campaign levels. With all ammo upgrades, you won’t have to rely on your Chainsaw as much and can focus more on ripping and tearing.
5 Run Savagery
While Rune selection mostly boils down to preference, there are some Runes that are much stronger than others. One great example of this is Savagery.
Savagery is a Rune that greatly increases the speed of Glory Kill animations. This was also a Rune in Doom 2016 but didn’t see as much use. With how fast this title is, having full control of your character at all times is paramount. Some Glory Kills can take upwards of five seconds to complete, but this Rune will dramatically reduce that to two seconds or even lower. It gets you back in the fight faster while providing valuable health and ammo pickups you’d expect from Glory Kills.
4 Punch And Reave
Yet another powerful Rune, Punch and Reave will augment your Blood Punches to always drop health orbs when it kills a demon.
Enemies already drop health when you kill them, but this upgrade can single-handedly save you from a tough situation. If you get swarmed by enemies, punch the horde to spawn 15 health points for every enemy killed. It’s absurdly strong on higher difficulties where trading health is common.
3 Upgrade Ice Bomb
One of Doom Eternal’s newest additions, the Ice Bomb, is a unique grenade that freezes all but the strongest of demons, opening them up for a hail of retaliating lead.
The utility of freezing a horde of enemies can not be understated, but this ability becomes near overpowered when upgraded. Spending your suit points on Ice Bomb will increase its duration, recharge faster, grant health on killing frozen enemies, and cause frozen demons to take extra damage! No matter the difficulty you’re playing on, the Ice Bomb can single-handedly change the tide of battle. With these upgrades, you become a slaying machine that has near infinite health.
2 Use Chrono Strike
No matter your skill level, there are times where slowing down time for just a few seconds could grant a window for massive damage or get out of the way of a potentially lethal hit.
Meet Chrono Strike. This Rune will slow down time while you hold your alternate fire button in the air, allowing you to land all of your shots or dodge otherwise unavoidable hits. This mechanic is so powerful that it should honestly be a core mechanic. It grants you ample time to aim a precision shot with your Machine Gun to blow off a Mancubus’ Cannon or instantly kill certain demons.
1 Use Your Abilities
No other Doom entry plays quite like Doom Eternal. With the game’s newly added abilities and weapon mods, it can be hard to keep track of what’s possible at any given moment.
While not a loadout suggestion itself, using your abilities frequently is the best way to slay hordes of demons as the legendary Doomslayer. No matter the difficulty, you should always be using Flame Belch and your grenades. When you find a large horde of enemies, use Flame Belch to fill your entire armor bar. You can also swap your grenades out and alternate between them since they don’t share cooldowns. Do these things, and you will be the strongest Doomslayer in the game regardless of loadout.
NEXT: 10 Mods You Need To Try For DOOM (2016)
