Most interesting enemy encounters in Doom 1 WADs?

[Plerb]

The lack of Doom 2's broader range of enemies makes it somewhat harder to design interesting fights. You're generally stuck with enemies that don't pose much of a threat, and boss monsters whose use cases are limited due to their high HP. That's not to say they can't be interesting, though. What are some examples of especially fun, challenging, and creative enemy encounters in Doom 1 WADs? Anything that uses custom enemies only counts if they're new, as opposed to Doom 2 imports.

[Plerb]

Damn, I guess this topic wasn't as interesting as the theoretical enemy encounters in Doom 1 WADs...

 

What inspired me to make this topic was, I made a combat puzzle arena in a Doom 1 map that I was really proud of. It's part of an E2 and Alpha themed vanilla episode I'm making. I just don't want to show it off too much yet because I want to wait until it's released! :P

[cannonball]

Hmm… this is a tough one and one I would struggle on because I have made so many maps under this IWad.

So perhaps not the answer you really want, but I will pitch Solar Struggle’s final map E4M8 by Pinkflamingo, purely because in my opinion it is the best iteration of using the Mastermind as a solo boss where the player has to traverse a crater with partial cover where they will face a series of smallish combat puzzles where you have sufficient ammo to kill the smaller monsters and have to avoid the sight lines of the Mastermind until you are given the resources to kill the spider. Even better is that after the mastermind dies you get a solid mosh pit of a final fight where monsters you may have left get dragged into the mess and as such maxing the map is hassle free.  About as good a final map for UDoom that you can get.

pic (I think I grabbed this from Adam Windsor’s playthrough but might be wrong)

Edited March 17 by cannonball

[LadyMistDragon]

I would look into E2M4 of Solar Struggle, not for any given fight necessarily but for how the Doom 1 monsters can be utilized to not feel like such a huge drag.

 

The map Green, Brown, and Blue is also worth looking into for its rocket-centered and barrel heavy gameplay.

 

Then check out E2M8 and E5M5 from Th1rt3en. I wish I could point to specific enemy encounters a little better but that's what comes of playing 80,000 wads and not remembering much.

[Li'l devil]

E2M6 on UV. There are four pinkies stuck in each other in one of the closets. One of my favorite fights.

[OniriA]

That time when I met a zombieman and shot it with a pistol.

[tonytheparrot]

Even if it's not a Doom2 wad, you can make dimensions map03's finale in Doom 1 if you enjoy that sort of thing  ;)

Edited March 18 by tonytheparrot

[Somniac]

 

Okay, its a custom enemy and they're basically a faster/deadlier pinky, but this was SO good. Genuinely made me jump out of my skin when I first played it. I'm sure there are others I could think of using the stock enemies, but this one is really memorable and deserves mentioning. Its probably my favourite Ultimate Doom wad.

[Plerb]

Glad to see some responses! I started playing Solar Struggle recently and am currently on E2M2. Also I love Nihility: Infinite Teeth, anything inspired by E2 and the alphas I'm a fan of! I'll be sure to check out some of the other wads mentioned at some point too.

[Faceman2000]

I think interesting encounters has less to do with the monsters themselves and more to do with the environment you face them in - Cannonball’s example highlights that, I think. NEIS (my all-time favorite wad) has some excellent classic Doom gameplay, but as far as specific encounters that stick out to me go, E4M4 Wartorn Precinct does an in credible job of making every single enemy feel oppressive. It doesn’t feel like there’s a safe spot anywhere on the map and each of the monsters get their place to shine in their unique combat role.