“Depravity, Destruction, Delirium; Doom”. The pixelated hellscape of Doom, released in 1993 by iD Software, will be burnt into the memories of every player as a pioneering FPS experience, alongside iD’s Wolfenstein 3D. Both are seminal works in the gaming industry since they introduced the first-person perspective as a legitimately thrilling platform for players who could now fully immerse themselves in the game. Where Wolfenstein 3D trod familiar ground with Nazi soldiers and conspiracy theories, Doom captivated us with its strange danger of a demonic plague. The perfect level advancement, the borderline-psychedelic analogue graphics, the quiet protagonist, and his limited-yet-lethal weaponry put you to the test during epic boss encounters, forcing you to rely on strategies rather than Hail Mary bullet sprays.
Everything that made the original Doom legendary is tweaked with next-gen graphics and level ideas in the 2016 soft reboot, giving us a better-realized version of iD’s original vision. Doom (2016) is a never-ending nightmare, featuring barren landscapes littered with roving souls, scary animals, and a grim hope of resolution. Of course, no post-apocalyptic shooter is complete without some extremely vexing foes, and Doom’s big bads will have you smashing your console over and over again. Here are the Top 15 Most Destructive & Powerful Doom Monsters for our Doomguy to slay.
Dark Lord
Let’s start with the end; or the beginning, according to Doom lore. The Dark Lord answers the peculiar question; what would happen if Tony Stark was a massive Robert Baratheon fan. Just look at those horns! Jokes aside, Doom Eternal’s Ancient Gods extension introduced us to the progenitor of the Doom universe; and he’s all kinds of scary & demented. His regular appearance is unsettling enough- demonic symbols covering his body with two, glowing red eyes that pierce your soul. It’s when he dons his mech-suit that things get crazy; it looks like the Hulkbuster armour and has powers similar to Strange Supreme’s. Doom Slayer’s encounter with Davoth takes him through 3 locations and 5 rounds, with each round making the Dark Lord more feral & fast-paced.
In the first round, he’s able to perform two brutal melee attacks- a shield-bash and Crucible slashes- both of which instantly drain your health bar, so distance is key. He can also discharge a Sentinel Wolf to chase and attack you or fake you out with a slash-attack to steal your health, so stay vigilant. As the rounds progress, his powers increase. By the time the final round rolls in, he’ll be spawning spirit monsters left, right and centre, while discharging projectiles and bombs to keep the Slayer constantly on the move. One misstep and that’s it for you, so keep moving!
The only chink in his armour (so to speak) is the green-tinted charge-up he performs before slashing at the Slayer. Attacking him then will leave him stunned for a few seconds, giving you your best (and perhaps only) window of attack. Pro-tip: use the Sentinel Hammer as much as possible and keep replenishing your resources by constantly attacking demon spawns; trust us, you’ll need everything you’ve got.
Icon of Sin
With a name so badass, it only makes sense that the Icon of Sin is one of the most difficult demons to deal with in Doom Eternal. If you ever thought that immobile bosses were easier to deal with, this manifestation of space-time consuming sin will rain down hellfire on your beliefs and remake them with your ashes. It’s like the Minotaur became a thrall of Hades, was decked in Hell Runes and then given pure-white armour as a sick twist on the concept of morality. Doom Slayer has to go through each part of his armour & body across 2 hellish rounds, that include some of the game’s most vivid depictions of violence and dystopia personified.
The first round sees the Slayer strip the Icon of its armor, attacking each part till it is destroyed. Players must be careful though; once a part is removed, it stops taking damage, so don’t waste your bullets on a gauntlet-less arm. You gotta be careful in general, because if you don’t move quick enough, the Icon will get you. He might be stationary, but he packs a hefty punch and his ranged attacks are deadlier than his physical ones. From the pentagram symbol on his head, he shoots a concentrated beam that can track you to an extent, making it lethal at short range.
He shoots fireballs from his appendages and can use a demonic spell to convert all demons present on the battlefield into a carpet of electricity, dealing compiled damage to the player, before being replaced by more demons. Once his armor is removed, he gains the ability to summon friggin’ ground-melting meteorites and heavy-duty demons that will keep you on the move non-stop. Long story short: move fast, take cover, and spam those infinite Crucibles if you want a grasping chance at survival.
Cyberdemon/The Tyrant
A demon from Hell augmented with the destructive capabilities of human technology; the Cyberdemon aka The Tyrant embodies the twisted marriage between science and esoteric forces, that forms the basis of Doom’s conflict. The 2016 re-imagining builds upon this classic Doom villain by giving it a terrifying backstory and a serious makeover. The Tyrant is a hulking behemoth, with pale-pink flesh, moose-like antlers & 4 beady eyes that crown an ever-hungry mouth. His entire body is covered in natural armor, with his limbs getting the best (or worst) upgrades from the UAC.
His right arm has a large, blade-like bone at the wrist which deals devastating melee damage and also allows him to hurl, check notes, walls of hellfire straight at the Slayer. His left hand has been replaced with an orange rocket launcher specially engineered by the UAC, to rapid-fire missiles and a ridiculously strong laser blast. On his back is an advanced mortar system that can easily raze the arena with quick-succession aerial bombardment.
And with his insane health bar, it’s gonna be a very long game of cat-and-mouse if you decide to engage him in a conventional attack pattern. Fighting The Tyrant is one of the longer boss fights in Doom, as it stretches across two rounds and demands up-close confrontation. On the other hand, defeating this cosmic aberration will give you two of the most satisfying Glory Kills of the entire game, and that alone is worth gritting your teeth through it.
Baron of Hell
Don’t let their title of nobility fool you; the Barons of Hell are more like Frank Herbert’s Vladimir Harkonnen than the ones who signed the Magna Carta. Listed as the personal guards of the Dark Lord in UAC’s codex, they are ferocious fighters with a bloodlust unparalleled to any other demon that exists in Hell and has never been sighted by a surviving expeditionary force. Enormous, red-skinned monstrosities with goat-like hooved feet, curved horns, and a propensity for jump-stomping your ass into the dirt, don’t let their lumbering frames fool you.
They might walk slow, but can cover enormous distances with their leaping hinds and will crush you into oblivion if you’re not attentive enough. Barons are naturally larger and faster than their lesser brothers and also possess the ability to generate Hell-energy fireballs, much like an Imp’s, albeit more powerful, which can be hurled at a target to create Slayer soup in an instant.
Often appearing in pairs, taking down Barons can be tricky because of their erratic and destructive attack patterns; one leap-attack and the next thing you know your legs have been ripped off and your head’s been crushed by a Baron. So keep your distance and string up them headshots, circle-strafing them with a hail of bullets. Alternatively, you can use a fully-charged chainsaw or the BFG9000 to effectively one-shot the creature, but that Glory Kill requires some practice to perfect. Pro-tip: Like any Top Dawg, Barons HATE the sight of their inferior relatives. So the next time you tussle with one, lure it amidst a horde of enemies and catch that much-needed breath as they battle it out amongst themselves!
Pinky Demon
There are times when the saying “nothing can stop the original” cannot be further from the truth; this is one of those times. Doom’s classic demon gets a full-bodied makeover while retaining enough of the original’s traits to still be recognized as ‘Pinky’; the Doom community’s name for this base-level enemy type. Fun fact: iD Software canonized this fan name, hence the title for this segment! But it isn’t all fan-service and gameplay insignificance; the Pinky Demon will bum-rush you to death if you lose sight of it for a split second.
It looks like Blob infected with the Doomsday virus: a grotesquely misshapen mound of pink flesh with bones protruding from its appendages in jutting, spike-like formations, and a fang-filled mouth with tusks that can maul you. Their natural armor is thick and devastating, transforming their charging bodies into battering rams that can outright kill you. If somehow you survive the charge, they will proceed to gorge on your flesh without hesitation. So, when you see one heading towards you, it’s best to just get out of its way.
Killing them is a much-trickier ordeal; your chainsaw will be able to cut through its hide but only if it has 3 fuel charges. Its exposed, fleshy backside is its only weakness which can be exploited with the Super Shotgun but will need clever manoeuvring on the player’s end. The best way to get rid of it is to trick it into hitting a wall/balcony railing, leaving it stunned and exposed to damage for a few seconds.
Cacodemon
Do you know how Mike Wazowski keeps ranting about wanting to become a top-scarer like Sully? Well, if he looked anything like this, he’d be filling up scare-jars like on a conveyor belt. Big demons are bad, fast demons are worse, but flying, plasma-spewing demons might just be the worst kind of scum roaming the Sloughlands of Hell in search of prey to quench their insatiable hunger.
The Cacodemon is every child’s nightmare realized: a floating monstrosity with shrivelled limbs, wart-red skin, one green eye and a MASSIVE, teeth-filled mouth that can swallow you whole. And indeed that is what it will try to do. This demon lithely floats towards the Slayer, lobbing plasma balls at him to slow him down. It can also do a rapid-fire version of this attack which will stop him in his tracks, allowing the Cacodemon to chomp down with a sickening crunch that shaves off an alarming portion of your health.
Despite their relatively-meek appearance, they can tank hits without flinching, so shooting at them without a plan is an instant no-go. Their weakness lies in their primary organ for consumption: their mouths. Lob a frag grenade in it to stagger the beast before executing a Glory Kill. Alternatively, you can also take it out from a distance by using the Ballista which is specialized for combatting aerial units. Whatever you do; don’t get caught!
Maledict
People who cut deals with figures from hell just can’t catch a break, huh. Ghost Rider got turned into a flaming skeleton, Light Yagami got a killer, soul-binding notebook and Dr. Malcolm Betruger got the full-Xenomorph treatment, complete with a nasty tongue-face! There is debate about the philosophical self of the Maledict: is it Betruger transformed into, merged with, or replaced by a demonic entity? What isn’t up for debate though is its blood-curdling depiction and malevolent intentions. Think corporeal Fallen Ones with a wyvern-like body, except the skin is bone and the wyvern can summon hellfire.
The Maledict brings the player into its own dimension- which is a horrifying skull volcano with a sky of fire in the backdrop- to take their Artifact. It engages them in a 2-round battle with the largest health bar of all Doom 3: RoE villains. In the first round, he has 2500 hit points and will constantly spawn Forgotten Ones to attack you. While they aren’t an issue by themselves, when combined with The Maledict’s fireball and flame wall attacks, they’re enough to keep you on the edge in this uncomfortable terrain. The fireballs aren’t so bad, but the flame wall is deadly and will burn right through you if you don’t avoid it. After depleting its health bar to 25%, you will trigger Round 2.
This time, the Maledict has 5000 hit points, isn’t flying around exposed, and will summon gigantic meteorites to bombard the landscape. You know, standard demon stuff. Keep your Artifact handy, because, despite its demonic origins, The Maledict is no match for Hell time, which will allow you to chain enough attacks to damage it severely and can even turn his meteorites against him if used right. If you do everything right and manage to deplete all of his health, it will trigger a cutscene that will give you one of the goriest Glory Kills in the Doom franchise; and this is years before they were even a thing!
Guardian of Hell
Killer Croc could’ve taken some styling tips from this flaming goliath because honestly? The Guardian of Hell puts the literal fear of damnation in us. A gargantuan entity that stands at 15 feet tall, this thing is all-muscle, with hooved legs, Morning Star-shaped lava-luminescent fists, back-armour that is also flammable, and a very long tail with, you guessed it, a mace-like tip. Its face is the incarnation of primal fear: tusked, fanged and eye-less to depict its primordial blindness. That’s not a concern for it though; it is impervious to all damage and can attack in all directions, making it functionally immortal. Try shooting at it and see for yourself, as it drains your health bar quicker than you can say “Guardian of Hell”.
Its superhuman strength deals splash damage to the player as the Guardian pounds the terrain with its fists, which consequently fires off energy orbs in 8 directions. And if it slashes you, it might just be game over. The ONLY way to kill this eldritch abomination is to target its eyes; sorry, did we say yes? We meant Seekers. This triad of floating entities serves as the Guardian’s eyes and its only weakness. If you take out all three, it will be forced to create more from the energy orb it houses on its back, exposing its weakness for 5 seconds. That is your only window for dealing some actual damage, so prepare to unload your chain-gun as fast as possible. If your attack sequences and timing are spot-on, you should be able to take the Guardian down in as little as 3 rounds; if not, well…
Spider Mastermind
Is there anything more terrifying than a chain-gun-wielding robotic arachnid that can tear your head off with 467 bullets sprayed per minute? As it turns out, yes, there is. The classic, Doom, was headlined by the perfect foil for the Doomguy; a four-legged, Brainiac-inspired spider, whose bullet-to-head accuracy is higher than that of a teenager at a frat party. Trying to put down that mechanical menace was a hassle in 1993.
In 2016, it became close to impossible. The Spider Mastermind is a perverse culmination of the wrongdoings of mankind in the Doom universe, blending technology, biology, and demonic powers to channel them through a grotesquely-designed vessel that has one goal: destruction. With its unique physiology, the Spider Mastermind dominates whatever terrain it is in. Its mechanical legs grab and slash at the player with unbridled fury, and that’s just the melee attack. On its belly is an underslung gun that fires energy blasts similar to the Plasma Rifle in rapid succession, as well as a concentrated laser beam which is extremely powerful.
Its body modifications allow it to shoot that laser beam in multiple directions and angles, forcing you to duck and weave through the attacks. And that is not all; the Mastermind can flip itself over to protect itself while firing, saturate the field with lethal bombs, convert the flooring into an electrical field, and create spikes out of the pillars it summons to sneak-attack you. What will you do when you have nowhere to take cover? The only weakness it has is its exposed face, but shooting it is the last thing on your mind, as you run around trying to avoid getting hit fatally. It’s one of the most draining boss fights for sure, as you have to aim, shoot, dodge, and repeat with incredible finesse if you want to survive. If you do though, you’re rewarded with the most cold-blooded Glory Kill in the series.
Arch-vile
Curious about the burning pits of Hell but not keen on visiting them? Don’t worry; these boney, demonic pyromancers will give you a personal tour! The Arch-vile is, as its name suggests, the vilest kind of filth that populates Hell. Forged from Hellfire itself, these foul creatures are amongst demon-king’s smartest beings, which makes them natural leaders & rulers in their own realm. They harness the esoteric powers of Hellfire to charge up their attacks and hold a degree of sway over all other demons through their psychic link; subjugating and turning them into rabid attack dogs.
And they look like they’ve been plucked out of a nightmare; beefed up, been given fangs, with bone stretched over their muscles in the shape of armour. It’s enough to give a grown adult the creeps. Fighting an Arch-vile is more difficult than looking at it though; this demonic bugger is smarter and stronger than the rest, after all. Being a Super Heavy-class enemy, it is immune to the Slayer’s chainsaw and can withstand BFG projectiles, which puts you at an immediate disadvantage. You’re backed up further by the Arch-vile’s knack for teleporting out of danger, which can even detect an RPG lock-on from a mile away, rendering it ineffective. And if any of its fire attacks catch you, you’re gonna have a hard time getting back in the game.
At medium-range, it sends out shockwaves of fire to burn you away. At long-range, it summons a puddle of Hellfire underneath you. So fighting up-close is your best option. Oh, and another thing: he’ll be summoning roided-up versions of every demon in existence while hiding behind a firewall. There is no technical upper limit to how many he can summon. Asking you to approach it with caution seems like a moot point; strategize properly before engaging with one and keep on it until it turns to dust because that is the only way to kill them. Otherwise, they’ll kill you; and it won’t be pretty.
The Harvester
We can’t believe that the most demonic looking thing on this list is a multi-player exclusive character that is named after a crop-gathering machine. Still, we have to admit that The Harvester has one of the coolest character designs to ever feature in the Doom franchise, even if it looks more-or-less like a Summoner. Its skin is red-veined with blue and its body looks like an exoskeleton, with gauntlet-like wrist protection and a large yellow rune carved into its chest. Its skull is perhaps its most hideous feature, with skin pulled back over it like a feral skeleton, a pair of massive orange horns, and a singular eye, gleaming in its socket like an evil gemstone.
These demons, as their name suggests, harvest souls to gain power. They shoot beams from their palms that, if connected with a target, pull out their life force. This life force is processed in the Harvester’s body to produce “Hell energy” which is powerful enough to resemble the damage inflicted by your trusty BFG. Taking them out is a game of staying out of its range. Though extremely effective, its beam attack is limited by its scope, so stay far and shoot often in order to survive them.
Marauder
This Super Heavy gives us a glimpse of what our protagonist would have ended up as if he wasn’t busy undoing all of his Maker’s prized creations. These reanimated versions of the fabled Night Sentinels have long forgotten their original purpose, allowing evil to creep into their hearts like the horns that now decorate their heads. Since coming back from the dead, the Dark Knights have but one goal: use the demonic energy of Hell to bring down you, the Doom Slayer, once and for all. And they’re fully capable of doing so. The left half of their bodies are heavily-armoured, with a pauldron, chest plate, and lobster gauntlet protecting them from incurring massive damage.
They also keep a double-barreled shotgun strapped to their left thighs. With their right arm, they wield the Argent Axe, a weapon capable of harnessing Argent Energy, which they also use to fashion a durable shield for themselves. All these pieces of equipment make the Marauder one of the best-equipped enemy units in the whole franchise, and one that is equally prepared for a drawn-out battle. Besides the requisite amount of melee damage he can deal, the Marauder has three attack ranges, and each range comes with its own drawback.
Fighting close-range is dangerous at the very least, thanks to his OP shotgun which will blast you into posterity. Long-range fights are slightly safer because the Marauder only hurl beams of energy at you, but you can’t get a decent shot in. Your only chance of dealing tangible damage is fighting it mid-range when he’s leaping to cleave you in half with his axe. Attacking mid-leap will stun him, allowing you to unleash hell (no pun intended). Otherwise, you’re pretty much stuck attacking a guy who can’t be frozen, chainsaw-ed, or blown to bits with a Big Effing Gun, so stick tight and time well.
Mancubus
As the age-old adage goes, we kept the best for the last, and boy is he a slobber-hogger. The Mancubus is your worst nightmare’s worst nightmare. The very embodiment of gluttony, it looks like a teenaged Cyclops that was forcefully overfed to the point where its body grew AROUND its natural armour, encasing it within his own flesh. One of the largest natural inhabitants of Hell, this lumbering oaf’s hunger is so great it will eat anything in its path; animals, buildings, humans, even rotting flesh, to match its idiosyncratic digestive cycle. The Mancubus is unique, you see.
Anything it eats will rot away eventually, thanks to its digestive system, which breaks down organic materials at a head-spinning rate. As a result, its body houses an incredibly noxious & flammable variety of bile, which can cause devastating damage when released. It does so via its arms, which are formed out of a chitinous outgrowth that has shaped itself into flamethrowers, allowing the Mancubus to hurl fireballs at the Slayer or blow-torch him if he wishes. If the Slayer gets too close, the Mancubus will execute a vent attack to create distance and deal devastating damage. It can also absorb damage like a sponge, so attacking it head-on is not a good idea. The only vulnerability it has lies in the very organ it aims to keep satisfied.
Because of its gluttony and eccentric physiology, the Mancubus’ being is rotting; putrid flesh is drawn over rancid organs, that is most likely being held together by the noxious bile in their systems. Their soft stomach cavity is held together by a clamp and is also the solitary weak spot on their bodies. Bust its guts open and the Mancubus will explode in a storm of acidic & flammable bile that deals instant damage to anything within its range. Though you might have to get a few shots in to confirm the blast, long-range engagement is the best option; you take it down, it takes some of its demon friends down, and no one dissolves in the poisonous digestive juices. That’s a win-win scenario for everyone, ladies & gentlemen.