WEAPONS
WEAPON USAGE
There are eight weapons in Doom. A ninth, the double-barreled shotgun (AKA Super
Shotgun, Combat Shotgun, SSG), is found only in Doom2. Almost all have situations where
strengths or weaknesses are enhanced, providing an advantage to one of the combatants.
Knowing how and when to exploit weapon match-ups is another key to deathmatch success.
FIST--The weapon of last resort. A non-berserk punch kill
is the rarest accomplishment of the deathmatcher. If you have used a berserk pack then the
fist becomes more effective, with the ability to kill with one punch. Even then, getting
close enough to punch someone when they have longer-range weapons with which to keep you
at bay tends to be a losing proposition. If you can pull one off though, a fist kill does
have enormous psychological value. Two more notes about the berserk pack; first, do not
overlook that although the way grabbing a berserk disarms you is a pain, it also restores
your health to 100%. Second, even though your screen loses the (annoying) red tint after a
short time, the deadliness of your punch when you're berserk actually lasts until you die,
or the level ends, even after your screen stops being red. Apparently, the closer you are
when you punch someone after using the berserk, the more damage you will do.
Defending: Step away and shoot the moron.
PISTOL--Generally another last resort weapon. However, an
aspect of the pistol that you should not overlook is the coup de grace. This can occur
after a gunfight where both marines suffer wounds and the loser of the skirmish respawns
in the same area. The newly respawned marine, knowing the condition of his enemy, can
finish him off with the pistol. When playing original deathmatch, or AltDeath in a level
without a lot of health or armor, remember that having a pistol does not mean you are
weapon-less. A few well-placed pistol shots can cause damage, so let fly as you go for a
bigger weapon.
Defending: Shoot the moron.
CHAINSAW--Deadlier than the non-berserk fist, the chainsaw
kill has the same psychological value as the fist kill. Due to the close range required,
it's more than a bit humiliating being chainsawed to death.
Perhaps the chainsaw's most effective use in deathmatch is to
call out the camper/lurker (i.e. "Warriors come out to play-ay!!!!").
Heh.
Also, it seems that revving the chainsaw causes choppiness over a
modem connection, perhaps due to the constantly overlapping sound samples it generates. If
you're being chased by a well armed opponent while all you have is a chainsaw, what the
Hell, fire it up! Maybe his view will start hitching and spoil his aim. You never know...
Defending: Same as the fist.
SHOTGUN--Now we're getting somewhere. The shotgun packs a
nice punch--two good shots at an unarmored opponent can result in a kill. Since the advent
of Doom II, many neglect the old single-barrel in favor of the more powerful SSG. The
shotgun has two significant advantages over its big brother, though, and it's valuable to
keep them in mind. Those advantages are tighter pellet grouping, and a shorter reload
cycle. The tighter pellet grouping means the shotgun's pellets do not spread as far as the
super shotgun's, when shooting over a great distance. A well placed single barrel shot
will do a lot more damage than the double-barrel from across a large level. The shorter
reload cycle means the shotgun ready to fire a second time much sooner than the
SSG.
SUPER SHOTGUN--The main weapon of the deathmatch. The
SSG's ability to drop an opponent at short range with one shot makes it invaluable (it is
probably impossible to become an elite deathmatcher without this skill). Key to being a
good deathmatcher is versatility with all the weapons, but if you could only be good with
one, the super shotgun would be it.
One of the most important aspects of the operation of both
shotguns is their "instant strike" capability. When you fire a shotgun, there is
no point at which your "pellets" are in the air, in contrast to the rocket
launcher, for instance (where you can actually see a rocket after firing). The game simply
calculates where the shots will strike, and instantaneously applies the damage.
Defending: It is very tough to defend yourself against a
shotgun wielding opponent because the instant strike of the shotgun makes dodging
difficult.. The way to defend against the shotgun is by moving unpredictably, hopefully,
right before your opponent fires, to spoil his aim. Because knowing exactly when your
opponent will fire helps this defense enormously, take advantage of the predictability of
players who rapid fire the SSG by holding down the fire button.
CHAINGUN--Though a bit under-powered compared to most of
the game's other weapons, in skilled hands the chaingun can still be an effective weapon.
Ongoing chaingun damage accumulates quickly, and while being hit with chaingun fire, your
own movement and aiming become more difficult to control.
Defending: If you can drop him immediately, obviously, you
should. Remember that it will be harder to aim while being struck by chaingun fire. If you
fail to kill him with a shotgun shot, it is essential to get under cover while your gun
reloads. That principle is the same for whichever weapon you use to bring the chaingunner
down; his advantage is the continuous stream of fire.
ROCKET LAUNCHER--Bear in mind, rockets are dangerous to
both you and your opponent. The area damage when a rocket hits the wall near you is quite
effective, regardless of who fired it, so be careful of nearby walls as you fire rockets.
If your opponent is standing near a wall while you are firing rocket, you can certainly
use that to your advantage. A skill you want to achieve is the ability to send off salvos
of rockets in tight spaces without killing yourself, because it is in smaller rooms,
corridors, etc., that rockets are most effective. In open areas, skilled opponents are
surprisingly good at dodging rocket barrages; at the higher levels of deathmatching, it
takes skill and cunning to use rockets effectively. One rocket technique is simple
leading; anticipating where the target will be when the rocket arrives. Another is
bracketing, where you take advantage of your opponent's rocket dodging ability by firing a
decoy rocket (or six), and then firing off follow-up shots towards the direction you
anticipate them dodging.
Rockets are often most effective in bunches (though the surprise
"surgical" rocket has its moments), and the best way to bunch them together is
to fire them in front of you as you run forward. This adds your speed to the rocket's (you
can learn so much about physics from this game). This technique becomes even more
effective if you fire the rockets ahead of you as you strafe run, creating a wall of
rockets.
More physics: Possibly the single most effective use of the
rocket launcher is when you whip around and, while running backwards, fire a rocket at an
opponent who's chasing you. The high closing speed of the rocket and your opponent will
leave him very little reaction time.
Be willing to pop off a random rocket here and there, especially
towards camping spots or down likely corridors, etc. You'll be pleasantly surprised by the
occasional luck frag (even if it is cheap).
A rather crude, but effective, rocket technique is when you are
nice and healthy (like 200% health 200% armor after picking up a megasphere), run around
with the rocket launcher, even in dangerously tight spaces. If you run face-to-face with
your opponent, let fly with the rocket at point blank range, which will probably kill him,
while just badly wounding you. Not something you would plan, but it's a frag. Similarly
there are occasions, disarming a BFG wielder in an AltDeath game, for instance, when the
suicide frag is in order. This is the same as described above without the neat 200/200
part that allows you to survive. Killing him counts as a frag, while killing yourself
counts as a negative frag, so the frag count stays even, but he no longer has the BFG, so
you are ahead of the game. Obviously, the point-blank rocket technique is perfect if you
are lucky enough to pick up an invulnerable.
Defending: DON'T PANIC! Dodging rockets just requires
nerve and some practice, just keep your eye on the rockets and strafe. Once you get it
down pat, you can become comfortable letting the rockets virtually pass over your
shoulders as you maneuver. Luckily, rocket-dodging is one deathmatch skill that you can
practice in solo play, thanks to our friend the Cyberdemon. Find one of the dozens of
add-in Doom wads that have some manner of Cyberdemon encounter in which to practice. E2M8
of the original Doom will serve quite well for this purpose. After a few hours of going
one-on-one (or one on many) with these rocket machines, you will have a much better feel
for rocket dodging.
Until you can dodge rockets in your sleep, it is probably best to
concentrate on defense, rather than offense, while under rocket attack. The Abraxas
technique: "Concentrating almost exclusively on defense while trying to close the gap
has had much better success for me than trying to drop the rocket firing mofo."
A method for eliminating a rocket firing enemy is to strafe run inside the stream of rockets to close for a shotgun
kill. Inside meaning if you initially dodge the rockets to the left, strafe run to the
left, hopefully staying inside the rocket path (that is, the rockets are passing to your
right). It's often difficult for the shooter to adjust his aim (in this case to the right)
quickly enough, and you can also sometimes cause an over-adjustment, which can result in a
wall suicide.
PLASMA GUN--The plasma gun takes more skill to effectively
use than it first appears. Because of how blinded you can be firing it, it's easy to think
you are hitting a target that you are missing. Meanwhile, your stream of plasma makes it
easy for your opponent to know where you are. The most effective use of plasma is when you
can make a straight on run at your opponent firing a stream ahead of you. Just as
described in the rocket section, this will significantly increase the speed of the plasma
you've fired. If you work it right, by the time you reach him, the whole stream will
arrive virtually at once, leaving him no options but death.
Defending: Plasma defense is similar to rocket defense.
Rockets make an excellent anti-plasma weapon, because the blinding effect of firing the
plasma can hinder the shooter's ability to see and dodge the rocket.
BFG 9000--The operation of the BFG is unique in the world
of gaming. No other device in any game that I know of has the complexity of the BFG, which
is why it's the only weapon in the game with its own FAQ. Get the FAQ, read it, learn it, live it. Think you
don't need to? Well, if you think you need to see the BFG blast or your opponent (or any
other of the common mistaken impressions of the BFG's operation) to get a kill then read
the BFG FAQ.
Defending: A point about BFG defense not covered in the
BFG FAQ is the preemptive strike. The best BFG defense in an AltDeath game is to
repeatedly pick up the BFG so you opponent can't. The best BFG defense in a deathmatch 1.0
game is to kill your opponent before he gets it.
THE SILENT BFG
This is also covered in the BFG FAQ, but I want to touch on this to hold to my promise
of revealing the tricks of the game. A limitation in the sound code in Doom means that
your marine can only emit a single sound at a time. This means that by timing your BFG
shot to coincide with landing from a height or pushing a wall (either of which will cause
a grunt) you can effectively silence the BFG. Reducing or eliminating the warm-up sound
that serves as a warning for a wary opponent makes this weapon considerably more
effective. Practice firing the BFG as you fall from a ledge, this one is pretty easy. Then
practice pushing a wall just after you fire it. Because of the long BFG warm-up (that so
often can be a disadvantage), you should be able to fire, push the wall, and still have
time to turn and find your target.
THE TELEFRAG--One other way of collecting a frag does not
really involve a weapon, but a technique. Passing through a teleporter immediately after
your opponent causes you to materialize in the same spot as he did. Since basic physics
(or billiards) demonstrates that two bodies cannot occupy the same point, something has to
give. In this case, it's the first one through the teleport, who, upon the arrival of the
second player, becomes V-8 (wow, I coulda had a...). It's considered very embarrassing to
be telefragged.
Defending: Avoid teleporting while being closely chased,
and always depart teleport exit spots as quickly as you can. Be careful before teleporting
that someone isn't lurking near the teleporter ready to do you in.
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