Mapmakers, what is your least used monster? Nazis and Keens don't count

I don't think there is a "least used monster" in my mapping time, sans maybe non-turret arachnotrons, which is a crime, but I promised myself I'll dedicate quality time to their worthy existence someday.

Never used the romero head or cubes, so there's my answer. 

Arachnotrons, and I'm not really sure why.

The highest I'll go with Cyberdemons and Spider Masterminds is 3. and they're typically either the usual arena fight against them, as far mongering enemies forcing players to leave an area or are little death turrets that have to be killed via telefragging or BFG 9000, Sigil style.

Pain elemental. It's a bad enemy and whenever I only do place them I try to put them in the least annoying situations which is hard to do because all situations with them are annoying

I almost virtually never post a lost soul

Monster Spawners



but in all honesty, the Spectre. I don't feel like it adds anything to the Doom experience. 

The Spider Mastermind is probably my least used enemy followed by the Cyberdemon. Meanwhile Arvh Viles, Pain Elementals and Spectres are probably next on the list. With Pain Elementals one or two is fine as they will fire lost souls at you. I will occasionally include a Pain Elemental within a group of Cacodemons and the elemental will not hesitate to infight the Cacodemons or against it's own Lost Souls. Try and kill the Pain Elemental first. They are a good enemy for large areas such as as outdoor areas where the player can move around more freely and fire his plasma gun, etc.

7 hours ago, DynamiteKaitorn said:

[...] forcing me to add extra ammo to my map which means either A: the ammo count is fairer [...]

Wait, you want to keep the ammo unfair? D:

Spider Mastermind for me, think I've use it in one map only (though twice in that map); I find them hard to use well.   Next would be a toss up between Arch-viles and Pain Elementals as I'd rather use other monsters most times.   Everything else is easier to get right with their usage.

Probably Masterminds like everyone else in this thread and also I'm not the biggest Baron guy? They're neat enemies when used well, I just never find myself making a fight where I really need them

Honestly for me i would have to say the spooky boners because when i make maps i try to make it fun and hard at the same time (unless it's a plutonia map i'm doing then i toss them in to just be an ass). 

Besides them i would also have to say the baby spiders, heavy gunners and lost souls. 

Baby Spiders: I don't really use them because i have no use for them unless it's required for a community map then i will. 

Heavy Gunners: Again unless it's for like a plutonia map or there required for a community map. I use them but i don't make super dickish with them. 

Lost Souls: If i wanted to make the player pissed and tell me i'm an asshole then i will use them other wise i try not to use them offend if i can help it.

My least used enemies are Lost souls,

I dont see any positive things about this monster. I rather place Pain elemental which spawns them

Arch-Viles.

1 hour ago, Pistoolkip said:

but in all honesty, the Spectre. I don't feel like it adds anything to the Doom experience. 

Really? They are pretty much the only stealth monster, aside from lost soul (having no wake-up sound). I've definitely jumped in my chair because of them on occasion... but I guess if you were not mapping with spooky intentions then you wouldn't have much use for them.

I try not to leave any gaps in my monster usage, but I think I am most sparing with arch-viles. They are one of the coolest monsters, but their overuse is really annoying to me (especially those long and tedious ssg vs archie battles).

Specters and Lost Souls.

2 hours ago, Pistoolkip said:

Monster Spawners



but in all honesty, the Spectre. I don't feel like it adds anything to the Doom experience. 

I started really enjoying what Spectres can add to a fight when did this:

1) Make a small, maze-shaped sector with a low light level.

2) Surround the sector on all sides by a brighter sector set to glow.

3) Fill the maze with ambush spectres along with a selection of lower-tier enemies.

Especially in non-GL renderers (or when using the proper brightness settings in said GL renderers), the Spectres become almost invisible, yet still possible to see. But the glowing lights make it hard to predict where they're moving, forcing the player to rely on audio cues. It's even better if you make it so that there's nowhere where the player can just back themselves into.

Specters, i kinda forgot they exist.

15 hours ago, Chezza said:

John Romero's head.

 

What? You mention that one.

 

Ok fine, Spider Mastermind. Big spongy enemy that needs big open spaces otherwise barely moves. Doesn't even move when shooting. Glorified large hitscan turret. Only fun in specific circumstances, like shocking the player with a monster closest and acting as a blocker to a path.

Isn't Romero's Head not technically considered a monster in the game's code? IDK if that's true but I remember it.

least-used from the stock monsters for me would probs be the Spider Mastermind and Cyberdemon. They feel like boss monsters to me, and a boss monster demands a suitable arena, and not every map needs that kind of thing in it.

Hmm, from what I've been reading lately, it's apparently not Barons.

I guess I would have to say it's Spider Masterminds, but that's mostly because they're difficult to use effectively without building a map around it specifically.

17 hours ago, MrGigglefingers said:

what is your least used monster?

Statistically and scientifically speaking, the following monster has been least used by any mapper on Earth since the last 

25 years.

My answer would be very similar to other answers, so instead, I'll say how I do use my most rarely-used monsters.

Spider Masterminds usually require a very carefully crafted encounter. I put one in my Tricks and Traps-like map, in an arena specifically designed with carefully lowering floors - some to offer temporary cover which vanishes, others which open up an escape path, and others which contain valuable health and ammo. Even so, I had to completely remove the Plasma rifle from being accessible.

Barons I use sparingly, but when I do it, it's most often at times when space is limited, and the high health of the baron can effectively force the player into tighter quarters.

Pain Elementals are largely annoying, so I put them in for cases where I specifically want to discourage the player from just running in circles to let in-fighting clear the enemies out. They're added to put time-pressure into the mix and force the player to put themselves at risk by engaging instead of the safer circling.

I find there's little point in using Spectres in rooms which are not extremely dark, so I reserve Spectres just for those instances. Conversely, in dim areas I rarely use a Demon in favor of a Spectre. The exception is when I'm configuring difficulty settings, and sometimes on lower difficulties I use a Demon instead of a Spectre.

Lost Souls I use when I want to be a little annoying, as pests or blockers to interfere with the player's movement or to distract them.

Aside from the Big Spider and Cybie, probably the Revenant, I can never dodge those danged homing missiles no matter how much I've memorized the method, and placing large hordes of them like Cobblestone is just plain nasty, especially since I can count a few mappers that place huge hordes of them in cramped, open fields with no cover whatsoever. If you like that, all the more power to you, but count me out of that.

The 'runners-up' are the Pain Elemental and the Chaingunner, the former because Lost Souls are patience-depleting, especially if there's no cap to them (and the ports I use count them as monsters, adding an additional layer of """fun"""), the latter because fuck constant hitscan attacks. Shotgunners already have enough bad news potential as it is.

12 hours ago, Doomkid said:

I've definitely used the SS Nazi far more than the Spider Mastermind in total over the years, but only because the hitbox is JUMBO.

I noticed alot of your wads are pt's and you change the ss alot did you know you can change the hitbox size of an actor with the radius variable whacked 

I used the same technique to change the plasma projectile size in my upcoming vanilla wad 

mostly been mapping for Doom 1 so um Hell Knight. I associate the Hell Knight with slaughter now, meat for big hordes, tends to be uninteresting in a traditional linear map unless it appears right next to you. that's my fake reason, though... the real reason is that the Baron is cuter

Barons and Imps are my most-used monsters because the berserk pack is my most-placed power-up 8)

Former Human/Zombieman. Don't find much use for it in my maps where there are stronger alternatives for hitscanners.

Hmm, arch-viles and spider masterminds, probably.  Revenants aren't too far after that.

25 minutes ago, Argent Agent said:

Former Human/Zombieman. Don't find much use for it in my maps where there are stronger alternatives for hitscanners.

Playing with Fast Monsters has made me fear the Zombieman. They get real mean there. I'd rather fight an Imp on NM than a Zombieman.

I do find that they're excellent fodder for large encounters, though. They don't trigger in-fighting nearly as much as Shotgunners or Chaingunners do, and a big enough group of them will do chip damage to the player, forcing them to keep moving or seek cover while not potentially screwing the player over completely if they get the drop on them the way a sneaky Shotgunner or Chaingunner might.

Probably any of the boss monsters. No Cyber-demons, and definitely no Spider-Masterminds. I can never find a proper place for them, and it's quite saddening, especially since I want to get better at making combat encounters.

Hell knights. I always thought of them as a cheap recolour, though I freely admit they do a rather good job of filling out that mid range monster tier role. Tough but not too damaging to the player, and not too bullet spongy. Juuust right.

Thinking on it, I probably don't use them the least, but they are definitely the monster that I want to use least. Perhaps you could say that I use them the least relative to how often they should appear in a map. (By this I mean, say Hell knights constitute 5% of the monster list in the iwads, but in my maps they might make up 2%. This 2% is still more than the 1% that I use PE's, but given that PE's might make up 1% of the iwad monster list, then it could be said that I use PE's far more than Hell Knights relatively speaking.)

On UV, spiderdemons (4), followed by cyberdemons (7), pain elementals (also 7), archviles (12), mancubi (16), arachnotrons (21), spectres (24), chaingunners (40), cacodemons (57), barons (59), hellknights (80), sergeants (86), revenants (89), lost souls (102), demons (109), troopers (134), and finally a big gap before imps (620). There is always room for one more imp.
 

As a player and not a mapper, it's interesting to see all of your perspectives.  I actually think I enjoy facing pretty much everything in the bestiary in the right circumstances, and the only thing I might say is mostly terrible is the spider mastermind, unfortunately.  Yet I wish mappers used dehacked or other tricks instead of avoiding stuff altogether.  Deathless gave lost souls half health which made them a lot better.  Judgment uses the "Spider Demolisher" which bolts a rocket launcher AND BFG to the damn chassis.  It's probably still hard to use it but at least its way more threatening.  Other than that I think all have their place, and I'm a bit surprised by some of the dislike of some of the monsters.  I think spectres really work in dark areas where they are most effective especially in gzdoom.  Oh well, the great thing is that different mappers have different proclivities so I get to face all the monsters all the time anyway!