DOOM: The Dark Agesis a major breath of fresh air for the franchise, but with that comforting change there may be some… “uncomfortable” adjustments to be made.
Review: Doom: The Dark Ages
Id Software’s foray into the Slayer’s medieval past may be the franchise’s most entertaining installment yet.
We’ve found a lot of different strategies (and even a few hidden features and mechanics) that we really wish we had known about before starting the fairly-hardcore campaign. But thankfully for you, we have them all right here so you won’t need to worry about finding them yourself.
10You Can Recall Your Shield Immediately
Like a big, round Mjolnir
If you’ve gone and tossed your shield a far ways away, with only a split-second left to parry or block an incoming attack from a larger enemy, fear not! Pressing the “block/parry” button will instantly return the Shield to your hand, allowing you to parry the incoming attach with no issue.
This comes in handy heavily in scenarios with multiple large enemies, allowing you to stun one, move up to the other, and then block their close-range green attacks while the other enemy still recovers. It also works great for encounters with several ranged enemies!
9Watch Your Back for Attacks
You won’t hear them coming
If you’re facing off against a large group of enemies, and are locked in one-on-one combat with a big baddie, consider turning around and checking for any incoming projectiles or attacks (especially if you’re at low health).
We’ve been killed in the heat of combat too many times to count due to a rogue fodder enemy getting too close while we were busy getting sweaty trying to counter a mini-boss. Keep moving and don’t stand still for too long!
8Your Shield Can Break
Aw… great
We didn’t start experiencing this until the back half of the game, but your shield can be broken if it blocks too much damage in a short amount of time. This is especially common if you block to early for parrying a green attack, which will deal extra damage to your shield.
Thankfully, this is only a temporary obstacle, and it will just take a few seconds for the shield to recharge back to full health, allowing it to be used again. We recommend looking out for any upgrades that help with shield health.
7Sprinting Gives a Jump Boost
He should be an Olympic athlete
A lot of the walls that you can climb up in the game to reach secret areas are just a little too high for the Slayer to reach by jumping from below. This is because you’re actually supposed to sprint-jump, which gives you way more height than a normal walking or stationary jump.
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Make sure you have some lead-up room before trying to make the long and tall leap, and hold the jump button to climb up the ledge of the wall. At some heights, it can even help deal more damage (see the next tip for more details).
6The Slayer Does Reverse Fall Damage
Superhero landing!
Not only does the Slayer not take any fall damage whatsoever, he actually inflicts damage onto enemies when falling from a tall enough height. Upon landing from a high enough drop, the impact of the Slayer sends out a shockwave, eviscerating nearby fodder enemies and stunning larger demons.
When approaching encounters from above, look out below for groups of enemies and aim right for them to get some easy kills right out the gate.
5Every Weapon Has a Powerful Base Upgrade
Add elemental effects ASAP
Each gun in the game has an upgrade (either the first or the second tier at the Shrine) that adds a powerful attack modifier of some kind to it, changing the mechanical use of the weapon in combat,
These upgrades can vary from adding elemental effects like Burn or Shock to increasing the fire rate or damage over time of some guns. Be sure to use the right weapon variant after purchasing an upgrade!
4You Can Change The Game Speed
Speed it up or slow it down
In the difficulty settings for the game, there is a slider for a setting called “Game Speed” which does exactly what it sounds like: it speeds up or slows down the speed at which the entire game runs.
If you’re grinding collectibles, you can speed up the game to move faster around the map (this will also cause enemies to move and attack faster). If you’re struggling with timing your parries, you can slow down the game to widen the gap and practice your shield skills.
3Environmental Interactions Aren’t Always Obvious
Look out for yellow valves
We didn’t find a single one of these yellow valves during out first playthrough of the campaign, and many of them are crucial to uncovering secret areas throughout the game.
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There are plenty of interactables like these that have no form of highlight or map icon attached to them in any way. Keep an eye out for colorful objects like these, you might just find some sweet, sweet loot if you happen to spot one.
2Your Shield Can Slow Time
For unnecessarily precise aiming
If you hold the “shield throw” button, you’ll raise it up to aim it before throwing. But, if you continue to hold it for a bit longer, the entire world will slow down, giving you a chance to aim the shield more precisely (and without all the chaos of the battle you’re a part of).
We barely ever used this during out first playthrough, but its become incredibly helpful during harder difficulty runs of the game, and reduces the chance of fumbling around with the shield after missing a far away enemy with a throw.
1The Super Shotgun is OP
Fully upgrade this one first!
The best weapon in the game is, without a doubt, the Super Shotgun, which can one-shot Hell Knights and other mid-tier enemies when all three upgrades are purchased.
The best advice we can give is to save resources to buy all three upgrades for the Super Shotgun, which not only boost the reload rate heavily, but also increase armor damage (insantly over-heating shields from across the map) and multiply the number of pellets that are fired with each shot, increasing the overall damage immensely.
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