So how do you make chainsaw usefull?

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

Poor poor chainsaw.

 

Despite it´s iconic appeareance in Classic DOOM, the weapon always had a novelty status among Doom players. While it is usefull than standard fists at dispatching pinkies up close, it quickly looses it´s edge once the players get their hand on the berserk.

 

So what are your ideas to make chainsaw a little bit usefull?

 

My idea would be, that similiar to pwads such as Valiant, that upgraded the chaingun into superchaingun, we could do the same for good ol Chainsaw.

 

As a fan of Gundam there is a type of weapon that mobile suits (humanoid tanks) use, called heat axes:

 

Simply speaking, it´s just your good ol steel axe heated up to 1000 degrees (Celsium) thanks to some sci-fi thing-a-magick that enhances the weapons stoping power.

 

The idea would be to take this concept and apply it to chainsaw. For example the berserk could be modified to enhance not just player fists, but also his chainsaw, like some kind of energy pack that would heat the blade of the weapon.

This would make the weapon usefull in dispatching beefier enemies like lone Barons of hell or even Arch-viles or hordes of pinkies, but would still remain as an emeregency weapon, just more competent in it´s job.

The fists meanwhile could have their damage increased, while their speed is slightly lowered, to distinguished one weapon from another.

 

Your thoughts?

 

[Jacek Bourne]

Give the player no ammo or berserk and face them against enemies with low health or with a high pain chance.

[spineapple tea]

The chainsaw isn't meant to be that powerful though. Its main goal is to be a last resort if you have it.

[yakfak]

put cacodemons, revenants and blue armor on yr level

allow the player to make their own fun

 

edit: there's also the Warhammer 40k chainsword if yr making high-tech melee weapons, it'd be fun :3 i just wanted to say that the chainsaw is already cool

Edited April 27, 2021 by yakfak

[roadworx]

you can't :)

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

14 minutes ago, N1ck said:

The chainsaw isn't meant to be that powerful though. Its main goal is to be a last resort if you have it.

Yeah but even berserk is more usefull and if you ever get to a point in level where your only weapon is chainsaw (without berserk fists), you might call it quits.

 

Quote

you can't :)

Oh :(

[out_of_service]

Learn how to master the art of Chainsaw-Fu.

[1Destro3456]

1 minute ago, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

Yeah but even berserk is more usefull and if you ever get to a point in level where your only weapon is chainsaw (without berserk fists), you might call it quits.

 

 

Maybe, if the remaining enemies have high painchance or really low health and enough health and it doesn't last too long I might not call it quits

[lokbustam257]

Turn it into a bigger and better version of the fist, you know, Heartland's Fire Axe.

 

 

Or, you can multiply the fire rate by x20, like Doom 64's chainsaw

[Old-Doomguy]

Well the saw in Doom classic is just a last resort, and a novelty. Making it powerful would indeed add a new layer to the game, but the gameplay has to be adjusted accordingly as well.

 

Ie there need to be more melee/short range enemies that doesn't two-shot you. It's not fun going up against barons/revs with a chainsaw becasue you don't have much room for mistakes, thus the melee-attacks that Doomguy has to offer isn't suitable for anything other than pinkies and zombiemen/imps.

[idbeholdME]

What? Chainsaw is plenty useful. Basically a melee, ammo free chaingun. Being able to painlock a huge chunk of the enemy roster is not powerful enough for you? The only time I would use berserk instead of a chainsaw would be against Hell Knights, Barons and Arch-Viles.

 

Although it has to be said that the reliability of the painlock goes down noticeably when playing with -fast.

Edited April 27, 2021 by idbeholdME

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

Quote

Being able to painlock a huge chunk of the enemy roster is not powerful enough for you?

No! WE NEED MORE DAKA!

[idbeholdME]

3 minutes ago, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

No! WE NEED MORE DAKA!

In that case, painting it red might make it go faster :D

[Wagi]

Fix collision detection, and up the pain chance so you can safely attack enemies without them hitting you back.

 

Alternatively, make it so it drains enemy health.

[Skootroot]

No guns, no ammo, no fist, Only chainsaw.

[Doom-X-Machina]

2 minutes ago, Wagi said:

Alternatively, make it so it drains enemy health.

That... is sick... so sick.

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

18 minutes ago, Skootroot said:

No guns, no ammo, no fist, Only chainsaw.

Chainsaw arm, evil dead style.

[Vaeros]

Ironically It's more useful than the pistol against low rank demons.

[Sergeant_Mark_IV]

Just give it quad pain chance (can easily be done by reducing the duration of its frames from 4 to 1) . It will give you a chance to use against nobles/fatsos/revenants/spiders, and guaranteed safe kills against pinkies and cacos.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Sergeant_Mark_IV

[magicsofa]

It's already useful against zombies, imps, pinkies, lost souls, cacodemons, and pain elementals...

[Pirx]

worst thing about the saw is that it gets stuck. so if a demon retaliates, you risk not being able to dodge quickly, like you would do with the fist.

[Bloxwess]

Response to title of post: Play Doom Eternal :D

 

Response to OP's idea: I think it's a cool idea, but if someone were to do this they would need to make sure they didn't make it too overpowered. The Berserk powerup is already pretty powerful as it is, and if you take the same damage multiplier from the Berserk and apply it to the chainsaw, it would be quite powerful.

[SilentD00mer]

Well, it is useful in the beginning of the level if you don't have the berserk and for small rooms, where you don't have much space to move... Maybe it can be useful to get some ammo from the zombies without making the fight too easy.

[Billy Baron]

I think it's more of a novelty. What you mean is probably closer to the first DOOM movie.....that's how many Hell Knights are going to care about your puny chainsaw.

 

Functionally, the chainsaw is a critically important weapon, like in parts of original DOOM ][ where it's necessary to saw the demons because of the lack of ammo or any bezerker packs. Maybe you only always play gzdoom, odamex, hide the meat, etc. and only ever have ammo that respawns. Now you have to play DOOM ][ over from the start with DOSBox because you missed the ammo shortages.....ooooh.

 

I wonder is that is how Prince came up with the song title "I sawed the Demons".

 

 

[Lizardcommando]

To keep it as close to the original gameplay as possible, I'd probably make the chainsaw hit faster and pull in enemies causing it to do that stun effect 99% of the time.

 

To change up gameplay completely, the primary function swings the chainsaw around and the secondary function makes the player charge forward with the chainsaw revving on full blast in order to do a devastating charging attack.

[StalkerZHS]

add a new item that'll give berserk not to the fists, but to the chainsaw

[Outrageous Videos]

you don't

[BaileyTW]

I guess for minor not too visible fixes you could extend the range of the short range hitscan attack it does to make it more consistent against larger targets. You could up the pain chance/second of it by doubling the rate of fire while reducing the damage per hit to keep it at the same damage, this way it isn't total madness to use it against a hell knight or baron.

 

A more visible interesting change? Give it knockback. The chainsaw already pulls you into the target as you hit, so you'll be moving in the direction of the attack while you use it. Could be a detriment but it would be very interesting and make up for the lack of mobility.

[NaturalTvventy]

The chainsaw is really good against demons, lost souls, and cacodemons.

[alLAN95th]

I personally disagree with your view on the chainsaw from Doom as being little more than a novelty.

 

The chainsaw may not be the best weapon to use against the enemies of the games, but it is far from being useless. It is also very fun to use in deathmatch, especially when you manage to kill multiple players in a row with one. Single player or multiplayer; you must have your chainsaw tactics in order or you'll end up dead, real quick.

 

With that said, I feel if it had its own type of berserk power-up (or just worked in addition to the fists with said power-up), that would make them far more useful. I also think it should've had a little more range to make it reach out just slightly further than the fists, but not by that much.

 

Some ideas for such a power up include:

 

-Chainsaw File (makes the chain sharper/duller to increase damage, sharper = berserk-like, duller = painlock them slightly longer)

-Oil/WD40/Seafoam (makes the chainsaw more efficient in attack or faster input, so speed type item)

-Chainsaw Muffler or Exhaust (makes the chainsaw far less noisy, essentially a silencer styled item)

Edited April 13, 2023 by alLAN95th