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Nanami

Weapon of Choice

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Here's another of my dumb threads. But I'm just wondering how everyone plays. Everyone has a different style and approach to Doom and its weapons and monsters. Here, I'll begin with how I typically approach the monsters.

* Zombiemen - Pistol. Chaingun is fine, but tends to waste 1 extra ammo every time you want to kill one. Shotgun is fine if you have lots of ammo.
* Shotgunners - Chaingun. For large groups especially. Shotgun is good. Maybe even double barrel shotgun. Remember, any shotgun ammo you waste can always be redeemed here.
* Chaingunners - Chaingun! The single barrel shotgun can take one out in one shot if you're lucky and at close range. SSG for slightly longer range.
* Imp - Shotgun is all you need. One shot, one kill. SSG is overkill to me.
* Demon - One SSG shot is enough to kill a demon. And sometimes even kill the ones behind it. Rockets work well, especially in large groups if you need the speed of the rocket launcher. Actually, demons are easy to kill. Chainsaw or fist, even if you don't have berserk, work fine as well.
* Cacodemon - Shotgun or SSG. Actually, shotguns are my favorite guns. Cacodemons are so easy to dodge that even if they're in large groups, I'll fight with a shotgun or SSG.
* Hell Knight - SSG. Half the health of a Baron, so half the damage required. A few rockets work well too.
* Baron of Hell - Rockets if at all possible. SSG if no other choice. With UD, I try to use rockets. Actually, Plasma Rifle works great as well. Close range single BFG will finish one off.
* Pain Elemental - BFG or rockets. If neither of those are available, I get VERY close and use whatever else I have. Pain Elementals don't seem to have clawing damage. I may be wrong, but each time I've played, it's seemed that way.
* Lost Soul - SSG from close range, rockets from long range.
* Revenant - SSG x2 usually ends their rampage. Rockets are good as well, but they can dodge since they're fast. Chainguns work well because they have a high pain chance and are easy to stop.
* Arch Vile - BFG. I try to get rid of these quickly. Rockets if you need to save ammo for your BFG. SSG if you have somewhere to jump behind.
* Arachnotron - SSG or rockets. Arachnotrons have a high pain chance so it's easy enough to interrupt their stream of plasma blasts.
* Mancubus - Rockets or BFG work. SSG if you have good ammo and can dodge well. You do need to be close for either shotgun to work well.
* Spider Mastermind - Rockets, plasma, BFG... Just don't get close.
* Cyberdemon - BFG!! Anything else takes too long or is dangerous. Second choice is Plasma Rifle. Low pain chance means even a BFG might not make him stop shooting.

Well that's just how I play. I usually change weapons pretty often. The above information isn't as accurate for mixed crowds. I probably wouldn't attack a room of Revenants and Mancubuses with a SSG. =)

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Insomniac said:

High pain chance? WTF?

Each critter has an atribute (from 0 to 255) to determine how often they "twitch" and show a pain animation when you shoot them. Every time you hit them, if the game rolls 1d256 under that number, they twitch. Cybie's is very low; caco's is very high.

I usually use the chaingun or plasma rifle against cacodemons. That high pain chance means you can keep them pinned in one place and keep hosing them until they die.

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Pain chance is a monster's tendency to "flich" when shot, ie Cacos have a very high pain chance, so they will be parylized when you take a chaingun to them.

EDIT: The other person beat me to it :/

I use the good ol' fashion shotgun for everything.

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IMJack said:

I usually use the chaingun or plasma rifle against cacodemons. That high pain chance means you can keep them pinned in one place and keep hosing them until they die.


I try to conserve plasma ammo, but yes, on some levels if I'm pinned in or facing too many, or both, I'll use plasma rifle. They have a sort of "helplessly floating" effect when hit, so it's easy to push them away. Chaingun does the same. And actually, even using the shotgun I can usually keep them from attacking me. But I admit, automatic weapons are great for enemies with a high pain chance, since they never get to attack you! ^_^

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* Zombiemen - shotgun usually..
* Shotgunners - ditto
* Chaingunners - these too the shotgun. or maybe chaingun. if desperate, and in groups, rocket launcher.
* Imp - shotgun
* Demon - usually shotgun, maybe SSG
* Cacodemon - SSG
* Hell Knight - SSG, never rockets
* Baron of Hell - same as HK, these biznatches are easy.
* Pain Elemental - chaingun, or plasmagun
* Lost Soul - chain gun/plasma gun in large crowds. shotgun for strays.
* Revenant - SSG if cloes. rockets, plasma gun, or chain gun if open/far away.
* Arch Vile - most often SSG.. rockets if no cover.
* Arachnotron - SSG if close/ can get close, otherwise it is rockets
* Mancubus - SSG, maybe rockets
* Spider Mastermind - BFG, rockets if no plasma
* Cyberdemon - BFG, or rockets.


plasma gun is usually used when I just have it.
I rely heavily on the shotgun/SSG..

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* Zombiemen - shotgun, chaingun, berserk
* Shotgunners - shotgun, chaingun
* Chaingunners - shotgun, chaingun
* Imp - shotgun, chaingun, berserk
* Demon - super shotgun, berserk
* Cacodemon - super shotgun, berserk
* Hell Knight - super shotgun, berserk
* Baron of Hell - super shotgun, berserk
* Pain Elemental - chaingun, BFG
* Lost Soul - chaingun, super shotgun, berserk
* Revenant - plasma, super shotgun
* Arch Vile - super shotgun (because it's like playing russian roulette, == fun)
* Arachnotron - super shotgun, rockets
* Mancubus - super shotgun, rockets
* Spider Mastermind - BFG
* Cyberdemon - super shotgun unless in cramped situations where I'm more or less forced to use BFG

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Fredrik said:

Berserk to everything.


I'll never be skilled enough to berserk all the monsters in Doom. o_O

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Chainsaw: Only against spectres and pinkies.

Pistol: former humans with pistols - I usually perforate them with the chaingun as I've yet to play a fun wad where there isn't too much ammo. Imps - sometimes if I use the sb shotgun on imps and the imp through some dark trickery manages to survive the blast I whip out the pistol and finish off the bastard. In essence, the pistol is my "finish 'em!" weapon.

Single barreled shotgun: everything weaker than a commando - sometimes (though not so often) I use it to finish off tougher enemies after I have given them a sound beating.

Double barreled shotgun: Just about everything the game throws at me (except the Icon of Sin), though I don't often use it against Archviles, cybies and spider masterminds.

Chaingun: Everything weaker than a Baron of Hell basically. I often use it against possessed soldiers and imps, sometimes I even use it against revenants and Hell Knights.

Rocket launcher: Everything tougher than a lost soul except pain elementals.

Plasma Rifle: Everything other than former humans and imps.

BFG: Large crowds of every monster except for large crowds of pistol soldiers, small groups of tougher enemies, individual Barons and Archviles and of course, Cybies and SMs.

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DOOM Anomaly's list of weapon choice Dee-lee's:

  • Zombieman/FormerHuman- pistol/Chainsaw
  • Shotgunner/FormerSargent- pistol/shotgun
  • Chaingunner/FormerCommando/HeavyWeaponDude- Shotgun
  • Imp- shotgun
  • Demon- SSG/Chaingun/Chainsaw/B.fist/Fist
  • Spectre- SSG/Chaingun/Chainsaw/B.fist/Fist
  • LostSoul- SSG
  • Cacodemon- Shotgun/SSG/Chaingun
  • HellKnight- SSG
  • BaronOfHell- SSG/RocketLauncher
  • Revenant- Chaingun
  • PainElemental- SSG/Chaingun/Chainsaw
  • Mancubus- SSG/RocketLauncher
  • Arachnotron- SSG/chaingun/RocketLauncher
  • Arch-Vile- RocketLauncher/SSG
  • SpiderMasterMind- PlasmaRifle/BFG9000
  • CyberDemon- BFG9000/SSG/Fist
  • S.S.Wolfie- Chaingun
  • CommanderKeen/BillyBlaze- SSG/B.fist/Chainsaw
  • JohnRomeroHead/IconofSin- RocketLauncher
  • Shootactivatingwalls- Fist/B.fist/Chainsaw/Pistol
  • RadiationBarrels- pistol/Fist
  • GhostHellspawn- RocketLauncherSplashDamage
  • OtherDoomers- PlasmaRifle/SSG

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Nanami said:

I'll never be skilled enough to berserk all the monsters in Doom. o_O

Neither will I be :)

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Some tactics.

I tend to gravitate towards using the super shotgun, if possible, or the shotgun, if not, on almost everything. Although, if there's a lack of ammunition obviously you have to adjust your approach.

If you have a berserk box, punch demons and spectres, especially in low ammunition maps or you have no super shotgun. The chainsaw is effective against one or two, but any more and while you've got your blade stuck in one, another one gets round and bites your backside. No thanks.

I mean, isn't shotgunning a whole crowd of demons boring? They all take three, or maybe if you're lucky, two shots. It's not anything like as satisfying as the one-shot-per-kill crowd of imps vs. shotgun battles you can have (e.g. MAP08, Tricks and Traps)

Next, the chaingun is surprisingly adept at picking off single small targets a long way off. Aim carefully and tap the fire button. This is definitely something to do when you're low on health or ammunition.

Monsters on ledges, shelves, pillars, towers, or in otherwise naturally constrained groups, and it's all about the rocket launcher. Splash damage. Free Air Miles for gibs ;)

Sometimes, if you get caught in a small space with a large monster the plasma gun is pretty much a necessity. You can get away with the chaingun in such a situation, but only if it's a monster with a sufficiently high pain chance.

Anyway, most of this stuff is only really necessary in maps where you know your ammunition is limited. If not, I usually can't be bothered switching away from the super shotgun :)

There aren't really any monster-specific tactics that I use, save only for knowing how many times I have to hit the thing I'm currently fighting with the weapon currently in use, in order to avoid using up too much ammo (on some maps, there's nothing worse than wasting half a battery because you hold the fire button down too long) I try and line up the monsters so that I get most value out of my shots, e.g. if I'm fighting two hellknights I'd circle round them until they are approximately colinear with me and then fire. Mustn't ever run out of ammunition, if you do then you'll be really, really lucky to survive.

It is indeed the case that pain elementals cannot harm you if you stand right in front of them. In fact, if you can get one trapped in an alcove you can basically stand in front of it and tickle it to death, because you're standing right in the spot where it wants to spawn lost souls so the game won't let it. But don't use the rocket launcher when one is around, you're liable to get blown up by splash damage due to there being a lost soul in your face just at the wrong moment.

There is a trick you can use on an archvile; there is a small delay between when it starts its attack sequence and when the fire forms in front of you. If, in this interval, you get behind cover, it'll lose its line of sight and the fire will not form. Hey, presto, monster rooted to the spot for a very long time, going through the motions, and unable to harm you or stop you giving it all 20 shots from your super shotgun at point blank range :)

Sometimes for fun I'll try to BFG spiderdemons in one shot. But you have to be right next to them when the gun goes off, and also at the right angle (the line joining your centre and the spider's must be parallel to the grid lines, due to the way the game does its collision detection and clipping) But most of the time I don't use a BFG, because it's so easy to waste all 40 cells by accidentally firing at the wrong instant.

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I don't usually think in terms of what weapon goes against each monster, although I often do use certain weapons against certain types. The chaingun, shotgun and SSG are more or less even weapons, but the SSG is the one I use most if there is plenty ammo, though the chaingun can incapacitate opponents (such as Revenants and cacodemons) and the shotgun is good at longer ranges (in relation to the SSG.) I use the pistol only if I don't have anything else, usually. The other powerful weapons (#5+) are good against big monsters or masses. Also, at medium range the SSG is as lethal as the rocket launcher and generally safer against very large mosters, particularly bosses, so it's best to leave the rocket launcher for battling hordes of medium to small monsters, in general (although this changes a bit in DOOM, with no SSG.) The plasma Rifle is good against anything, especially if you're in a hurry. The berserk fist is excellent against most monsters too, and I tend to use it pretty much if there isn't much ammo. Even Barons are a boxing target on a pinch... I'm not really good at punching Cyberdemons, though.

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I tend to almost always be on the shotgun..

I have enough skill that i can use rockets on pain elements without worrying.

in doom64 I had nearly 200 health and armor, and ran into a hall with a pain element above me, and it killed me. that fool.

In games with automatic weapons, I tend to use them as single shot weapons most of the time..

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Zombie-Pistol or shotgun. In large groups, I use the SSG or chaingun.
Shotgunner-I use the shotgun or chaingun, because if you give'em a chance, then they'll blast you, which up close is very hurtful.
Chaingunner-I tend to hide behind stationary objects or walls and stuff and snipe at them when I get the chance with the shotgun, SSG, or chaingun.
Imp-Shotgun, chaingun in large herds.
Demon-Chainsaw, shotgun, SSG (if I'm playing Doom2) , or chaingun. If they come in packs, and there's distance, then I use the rocket launcher.
Spectre-See above, only they gotta get close so I can see'em :P If they are close, that rules the RL out, so I whip my SSG or shotgun.
Lost Soul-I use the shotgun, or the SSG most of the time. Plasma blasts or RL shots tend to work on large droves of them.
Cacodemon-I get'em up close with the SSG or the chainy. Also the plasma rifle works wonders on them as well.
Baron of Hell-I use the chaingun, SSG, rocket launcher or any weapon above that (PR, BFG). I tend to use the BFG only if I'm desparate and have a surplus of cells to waste. Same goes for the PR. I use the shotgun only as a last resort, as it takes 14 hits to kill them (if you're lucky), and all that firing and pumping takes time. :)
Hell Knight-I just use the SSG or chaingun or RL. Anything else is overkill. They're not overly tough, anyway.
Pain Elemental-I use the rocket launcher or SSG or chaingun, and I don't let up; if I did, I would be stampeded by Lost Souls.
Revenant-I use the SSG up close, and the RL or PR from a distance. I use the BFG on large packs of them.
Mancubus-SSG, RL, or the chaingun, if I have the ammo. Three or more at once without any cover demand the PR or BFG.
Arachnotron-I use the SSG or RL. Anything else takes too much time.
Archvile-I use the SSG, or Rocket Launcher, if there's plenty of hiding places. Otherwise, up front I use the PR or BFG.
CyberDemon-I use the PR or BFG. Anything else takes up too much time.
Spider Mastermind-Usually the BFG, but if I don't have it, the PR suffices. If I don't have that, it's the RL, chaingun, or SSG.

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Pain chance = Stun Eg, they cant hit you when they show the pain anim (unless you change it with a deh patch >:) )

I usually use the shotgun/chaingun on mostly everything, except the 2 big bosses. They get rockets and plasma. BFG for super huge crowds.

I also use the chainsaw for lesser minions, and maybe a hellknight to be a bit risky. >:)

Edit: Oh yeah, shotgunning a Cybie is fun >:) (withouth the SSG mind you)

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You people are so racist. I choose which gun to use by ambience and amount of monsters around.

If I'm scared, I'll take out an SSG for protection. If I'm feeling brave, I'll break out a chaingun or SG. Other weapons are saved, for if I'm being pelted by 30 monsters, or if a huge boss is around.

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Epyo said:

You people are so racist. I choose which gun to use by ambience and amount of monsters around.

If I'm scared, I'll take out an SSG for protection. If I'm feeling brave, I'll break out a chaingun or SG. Other weapons are saved, for if I'm being pelted by 30 monsters, or if a huge boss is around.

We're conserving ammo, or just being plain risky.

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Zombies - shotgun, chaingun, SSG
Shotgunners - shotgun, chaingun, SSG
Chaingunners - shotgun, chaingun, SSG
Imps - shotgun, chaingun, SSG
Demons - chainsaw, berserk, shotgun, chaingun, SSG
Cacodemons - chaingun, SSG, plasma gun
Lost Souls - chaingun, SSG
Hell Knights - SSG, rockets
Barons - SSG, rockets, BFG
Arachnotron - chaingun, SSG, rockets, plasma gun
Pain Elementals - chaingun, SSG, plasma gun
Mancubus - SSG, chaingun, rockets, plasma gun
Revenants - SSG, rockets, plasma gun
Arch Viles - SSG, BFG (plasma gun if forced, rockets if in open spaces with cover)
Spider Mastermind - plasma gun, BFG (SSG if in tight spaces with cover)
Cyberdemon - rockets, plasma gun (SSG if forced, BFG for 'backstabbing' while he's distracted)

Best weapon IMO is (of course) the SSG, as you can kill anything with it.

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It very much depends upon what's available or upon what you need to save ammo for in a given map. Also how close/far from the monster in question you are has quite a bearing. Distance has a big bearing on choice of SG or SSG for example. In some maps the gameplay is more or less centered around your skill/choice with a given set of weapons.
This map is a great example BIG_GUNS_V1, some other great maps here too.
It's tough but the gameplay is supurb imo.

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Yes, it does depend a lot on what ammo is available, not just what you prefer. For example, I'm working on a demo for Plutonia MAP32, and although it'd be nice to just have the BFG out for the whole level (lots of Cyberdemons), there is rocket launcher ammo EVERYWHERE. If you want to have enough ammo to beat the level, you have to use the rocket launcher quite a bit, as well as invoking infighting.

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Nanami said:

I'll never be skilled enough to berserk all the monsters in Doom. o_O


Well, you can try that theory out with this wad that I played a while ago.

In theory it is possible to berserk everything except the big two, but it's nearly impossible to berserk an arachnotron 'cos of that impassable circle around them

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Ultimate DooMer said:

Well, you can try that theory out with this wad that I played a while ago.

In theory it is possible to berserk everything except the big two, but it's nearly impossible to berserk an arachnotron 'cos of that impassable circle around them

It's not impossible, just very hard. You have to hit it on the n-w-s-e angles, not the corners. Everything is a rectangular entity- n-x n-y n-z (n being a variable determining the entity's size) x and y are the same, z is the height, which can change. You can't hit the enemy on the corners. That, and it's hard to judge where exactly their "corners" are.

It's not easy but it can be done. You just have to know where to hit.

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It takes a long while, since his rockets keep knocking you back quite a bit. In Alien Vendetta map 20, there seems to be a Spider Demon stuck in the wall. I can get up to it an punch it to death without it firing on me. With berserk, it doesn't take as quite long as you might think.

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ravage said:

It's not easy but it can be done. You just have to know where to hit.


...and to somehow avoid being killed in the process, which is why I said it was nearly impossible. (in that wad I managed to hit it, but not enough times without being splattered)

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KoRn said:

cheat and punch a cybie to death... takes awhile..

Or even don't cheat and punch out a Cybie, if you haven't seen it this is just phenomenal!
Yep punching out an Anachnotron is definitely possible. IIRC this is one of the areas in which ZDoom noticably differs in comparison with Vanilla Doom.

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