DOOM Eternal throws you into hellish battles against demons and expects you to survive — even on the Normal difficulty, this game offers a pretty stiff challenge compared to most other singleplayer FPS. After plowing through armies of undead, imps, and cacodemons — I’m here to offer my best demon-slaying tips for the opening 6~ or so hours. Maybe 9~ hours if you like taking your time and grabbing every collectible in sight.
For a game that’s so brutally straightforward, this game has a whole lot of wrinkles you need to know about. Whether you’re searching for secrets, cheat codes, runes, or Sentinel Crystals, you’re constantly bombarded with choices. Pick these upgrades. Select these Weapon Mods. Spend these points. There’s a whole lot to experiment with, and it’s all awesome. No matter how you play, victory can be achieved.
But you might want to keep a few of these tips in mind. For your own sanity.
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Don’t waste your precious chainsaw fuel if you don’t have to! The Chainsaw is an instakill attack that has its own separate ammo (fuel) — and you’ll need more fuel for tougher enemies. The Arachnotron costs x3 Fuel to instakill, while fodder enemies only cost x1 Fuel. All enemies drop the same amount of ammo when hit with the Chainsaw, so save your Fuel for weaker enemies if you’re running low.
- NOTE: But don’t be afraid to use that Chainsaw constantly. You’ll find fuel everywhere, and ammo is way more limited in DOOM Eternal.
Check your map often! Any nearby collectibles will appear on the map, making them way easier to spot. You won’t miss any secrets if you check your map often. Look for “?” marks — and later, you can purchase Exploration Praetorian Suit upgrades to show all the collectibles on each map.
If you die too many times, you can activate Sentinel Armor for extra help again boss battles. This feature is available in all Difficulty Modes except Ultra-Nightmare and Extra Life Mode. You’ll know you’re in a boss battle if the map location has a yellow tint to the Demonic Infection.
Certain Weapon Mods are better against enemies — the Shotgun Sticky Bomb can instantly stagger Cacodemons if you shoot one in its mouth, while the Heavy Cannon Precision Bolt can easily take care of the Arachnotron’s Turret. Some weapons are better against certain enemies too; the Plasma Rifle can overcharge demons wielding shields for an instakill.
You’ll unlock the Flame Belch after Mission 1. The Flame Belch gradually refills over time, and enemies blasted with the Flame Belch drop armor instead of health. Just set them on fire and leave them alone — they’ll continue to drop armor as long as they’re on fire. Or you can kill them for a huge burst of extra armor.
In Mission 2, you’ll find Rune upgrades. Not all Rune effects are equal — certain Runes are way better than others. In particular, the Saving Throw and Chrono Strike are two of the best Runes. Saving Throw gives you a second chance at life when you die, and Chrono Strike lets you slow down time while mid-air so you can pull-off precision shots.
Once an enemy has been put into a stagger state, they can recover — but they’ll also return to a stagger state if you melee them or do any damage at all. If you stagger a bunch of enemies at the same time, you can re-stagger them easily if you remember who’s weakened!
Reach the end of a mission to unlock Fast Travel. Open the map and select [Fast Travel] to teleport to any of the previous locations you’ve visited. It’s extremely handy for going back to explore areas you can’t easily reach and finish grabbing all the collectibles. Just remember that you won’t unlock this option until you reach the end of the level.
To unlock a weapon’s full power, you’ll need to collect Weapon Mod points. There are 10 Weapon Mod points in each mission, and you’ll unlock them for clearing more of the Demonic Corruption meter — you can see demon infestation spots on the Map Screen.
To make your weapon as powerful as it can possibly be, earn Weapon Mod points, unlock all the upgrades for the mod, and reveal hidden Mastery challenge. Completing the challenge gives you a special upgrade. For example, unlocking both upgrades for Shotgun Sticky Bomb mod to unlock the ‘Destroy 25 Arachnotron Turrets’ Mastery Challenge. Do that, and you’ll be able to fire 5 Sticky Bombs before reloading.
Sentinel Crystals are rare collectibles that give permanent upgrades to the Doomguy — there are three types of upgrades; Health, Armor, and Ammo. If you unlock two linked upgrades, you’ll get a special effect. Some of the effects are better than others. I recommend getting the effect that helps you collect pickups from further away. It’s always useful in a fight.
That’s all the tips we’ve got so far. There’s a whole lot of complexity to find in DOOM Eternal. This is just scraping the techno tip of this hellish iceberg. Keep following Gameranx as we delve deeper into the many secrets of DOOM Eternal!
