Post your Tips for DOOM

[Chip]

Sometimes playing DOOM, I learn many tips and tricks to improve my game. But, many newcomers may not know these tricks, so I decided that to help them out, I could write a whole guide on how to perfect your game, but then I realized I haven't perfected my game, so I decided to ask others to help me come up with good strategies to become a DOOM Master! This guide is not limited to the original DOOM games, though. You can post tips for DOOM, DOOM 2, Final DOOM, DOOM 64, WADs, Mods, Source Ports, editing, and anything else relating to Classic DOOM. I will not include DOOM 2016, Eternal, or DOOM³, since they are different in gameplay from the originals, and there are a bunch of strategy guides about them online. I will start off the list with a few I learned-

 

• (This one is pretty well known) Berserks last the entire level, not just while the red is on the screen. 
• If you are facing a boss, use the BFG up close. Although it might seem confusing at first, there are tracers on the BFG that scatter across the map to hit everything in view. If you are closer to an enemy, the more tracers will be directed towards them, and ultimately cause more damage.
• Even though you probably want to save that Cell Ammo for the BFG, in WADs where there is a cyberdemon or Spider-Mastermind too far away for all tracers of the BFG to hit, your best bet is to use the plasma rifle. It will stun the enemy with a few shots, meaning you will not need to take cover from their fire, and shoot more cells until they die. 
• On the other hand, when in a map with many enemies, use the BFG on them. Many of them will die with one shot, and the others will be weakened. Stand far away from them, since more tracers will hit more demons. 
• If you have a rocket launcher, and a plasma rifle, but no BFG, use the Plasma Rifle (unless you are low on ammo), as again, that will stun your enemy.
• Barrels will explode if you hit them, so if you do not have a rocket launcher, and there are a bunch of enemies, hit the barrel, as it can kill multiple enemies at once.
•  If you play on ITYTD, do not switch over to UV on your second playthrough, or else it will feel like an entire new game that is impossible. Gradually make your way up, or don't play ITYTD at all. It feels like a whole new game, where there is no need to search for ammo or health, but all the other difficulties after you get used to that are really hard. HMP or HNTR are always good to start a new game on.
• When demons hit each other with their attacks, they will start to infight, meaning that they will forget about you for a second, and start attacking one another until one of them dies. 
• This is different for Lost Souls, as they will hit the demon they want to attack, and then go for you again.
• Demons of the same race cannot attack each other unless one of them hits an explosive barrels and the explosion damages the other monster. 
• Dodge Arch-vile attacks by standing behind something else. Or else, half of your health will be gone, and you might die.
• save medkits and berserks for when you need them. If you are more than 80% health, do not bother grabbing them, as 20 points is not that much lost. 
• Same with ammo. Grab it only when you need it. 
• Arch-viles and Pain Elementals cannot start an infight, but if the Pain Elemental does, it will just spit a Lost Soul at the demon it wants to hit. 
• Although the chainsaw holds onto demons like the Cacodemon and the Pinky/spectre, do not use it against other mid-tier enemies, as it usually will not cling to it, and you will most likely be killed in a matter of seconds. 
• Strafe whenever possible. Every hit, even from an imp can be fatal.
• In the TC REKKR, use the Rune Bomb as often as possible. Ammo for it is common, and you can shoot several at once and hide from incoming fire while your enemy dies.

 

Alright, there are probably a bunch more I could post, but I can't think of any others right now. That's why I'm asking everybody to post something that could help people, and I will then add it all together, and post it on Doomworld for newcomers. 

[Eric Claus]

The pistol and chaingun are always accurate on the first shot.  This is less useful with the pistol but you should regulate chaingun fire with quick pulses unless you run into a large group you can just go ham on at close range.  You can snipe effectively this way, also the regular shotgun is good for this at medium to longer ranges, SSG is better closer where you can concentrate the pellets.

[croc_rock]

If you think UV is too hard (or don't want to play on it for any other reason), don't feel like you have to. there is no "right" way to play doom and the only people who would chastise you for it are turbo-nerds who you wouldn't want to talk to anyway.

 

Also, be sure to prioritize hitscanners. You can dodge fireballs but you can't dodge bullets.

 

^{finally, to defeat the cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies}

[Eric Claus]

  On 10/3/2020 at 2:56 AM, croc_rock said:

If you think UV is too hard (or don't want to play on it for any other reason), don't feel like you have to. there is no "right" way to play doom and the only people who would chastise you for it are turbo-nerds who you wouldn't want to talk to anyway.

 

Also, be sure to prioritize hitscanners. You can dodge fireballs but you can't dodge bullets.

 

^{finally, to defeat the cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies}

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To add to this and my earlier post, the chaingun and pump shotgun are great for dealing with hitscanners at range due to their low health, so pulse your chaingun to bring them down quick, even chaingunners won't last long with some good shooting.  Also, if they are grouped up far away, it isn't a bad idea to maybe hit them with a rocket or two if you can spare it either.

[Pseudonaut]

Doing saveless pistol-start runs will help you git gud. It works because you can't get through difficult fights by just reloading until you get favorable RNG, but instead, your ability to consistently deal with bad RNG is tested. I don't necessarily recommend this for blind runs since I tend to find that frustrating. Generally, I play the level with saves first, and I keep the saves in case I need to practice a specific part. I started doing saveless runs with the IWAD levels, specifically Doom 2, some of TNT, and eventually Plutonia. It's also a good way to make the game more tense.

[Eric Claus]

  On 10/3/2020 at 3:23 AM, Pseudonaut said:

Doing saveless pistol-start runs will help you git gud. It works because you can't get through difficult fights by just reloading until you get favorable RNG, but instead, your ability to consistently deal with bad RNG is tested. I don't necessarily recommend this for blind runs since I tend to find that frustrating. Generally, I play the level with saves first, and I keep the saves in case I need to practice a specific part. I started doing saveless runs with the IWAD levels, specifically Doom 2, some of TNT, and eventually Plutonia. It's also a good way to make the game more tense.

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This is definitely a good way to practice your resource management, but yeah doing it blind makes it hard as you don't know where what is to keep yourself kitted out.  Nice thing about this is you can do it with any difficulty to gain more of a challenge without necessarily moving up to the next actual rung.  The -fast flag works here too if you want a bump without going the whole way.

[Sergeant_Mark_IV]

When editing maps or mods on GZDoom, always have keybinds for quick access to navigation tools so you can navigate the map and test things better without having to open the console and type stuff all the time.

These are my personal binds:

Z = switches noclip2
m = resurrect
x = IDFA
Double shift = Set the player turbo to 255 (at almost three times your normal speed, exploring maps becomes much easier, specially when used in conjunction to noclip)
Double ctrl = set the player turbo to 100 (normal speed)

Also I keep the screen melt effect disabled. Sure it's cool but when you are testing stuff all the time this takes aways precious seconds of your day that can amount up to minutes and hours and days.

Edited October 3, 2020 by Sergeant_Mark_IV

[TheNoob_Gamer]

Useful movement stuff especially for speedrunning beginners.

 

 

[DOEL]

Something I've never really seen mentioned is *economy* of movement. That is, maximizing the use of your space with less movement. It's highly situational but say an arachnotron is firing at you, you don't need to strafe away at full speed but try strafing steadily and incrementally so you can keep aiming and firing at monsters down range.

 

Kill a cyberdemon in 2-3 BFG shots - dodge the first rocket, fire the BFG, dodge the next two rockets, hit them at point blank range with both the BFG ball and tracers. If timed right and with good movement, you should be able to kill them by doing this 2-3 times. Bonus satisfaction if this pushes the cyberdemon a good distance and causes them to play their pain animation.

 

Spider masterminds can be killed in 1-2 point blank BFG shots.

 

Hug pain elementals to abort their skull children. Using a rocket launcher against one isn't always a bad idea as long as authority in their direction is maintained by a steady stream of rockets.

 

Arch-viles immediately target whoever hit them last. If they're infighting pay attention to its attack timing, you don't want get zapped by hitting them. You can cancel all of the spash damage by hugging a ledge.

 

Avoid a mancubus volley at point blank range by dodging left - right - left.

 

Revenants in medium to close range will attempt to close in for a melee attack and will only fire a rocket in retaliation. Moving away slightly during a melee attack will dodge it.

 

Pinkies/spectres' bite can be dodged with even the slightist bit of movement away when they begin their attack. You can control a crowd by pressing against them and stepping back when they pause to attack.

 

Hell knight/baron of hell attacks are relatively slow and telegraphed with a somewhat consistent interval between attacks. With good timing you can get point blank SSG shots without taking damage.

 

Cacodemons have a more inconsistent and often quicker interval between attacks so they require slightly more attention than say a hell knight or imp.

 

The BFG is like a plasma shotgun. Its attack are only really effective at medium to close ranges. Though it can kill weaker monsters from long range. Mastering the art of firing the ball into a wall and popping out in front of monsters when the tracers activate can be a very useful skill.

[Maximum Matt]

  On 10/3/2020 at 7:32 AM, DOEL said:

Avoid a mancubus volley at point blank range by dodging left - right - left.

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That's crazy.  I seriously thought their attack pattern was random until recently, and that this tactic is actually reliable 

[CBM]

not sure if this counts as a TIP...

 

But a new version of Maverick is under way, the author (Zack Middleton) handed me a test version on email a few hours ago,

 

this version is one that he just made today with some additional import functionality, that I had asked him about yesterday.

Not sure if the changes have already been added to version control,

 

...if so then I guess others could get the same version by downloaded the latest source and compiling it.

 

But I am not involved in the development of Maverick so I couldn't say with any certainty :D

 

The new functionality:

It allows the merging of models by using tags as the pivot point of the imported model. I tested this on quake 3 models by adding both quake 3 and non quake 3 static weapon models to otherwise animated models ... and it works perfectly..

 

this will finally allow me to make and convert ALOT more cool 3D monsters to GZDoom

 

I must try and see what happends if I use other tags like tag_head etc, but I have no reason to think it wont work.... that alone will make head swapping, body swapping and leg swapping MUCH easier on MD3 models thus allowing even more options for the creation and editing of new and existing models...

 

ie. the cyberdemon with the mastermind legs

 

 

----

 

Also... please consider donating to him if you can. His editor is THE most important tool when it comes to making 3D models for GZDoom and/or prepping models for GZDoom

Edited October 3, 2020 by CBM