Overview
There are quite a few weapons in DOOM, which all have their own unique ways of killing demons. However, some still are better than others in terms of damage per second dealt, and I will be listing these weapons in to tiers, and explain every weapons strong and weak sides.NOTE: No multiplayer weapons will be listed in this guide.NOTE 2: This is in no way an official tier list, this is just one mans opinion on the matter.
Weapon tiers
Here are the weapons put in to tiers and explanations on why they are ranked as high or low as they are.
This is the tier list itself in an image
S 1. BFG-9000
I doubt anyone would be surprised to see this beast as the top dog. 1 single pull of the trigger and everything is in pieces. Another reason why it is so good is that it doesn’t share ammo with the plasma rifle like it did in Classic Doom, so you’re not constantly running out of ammo on your plasma cell using weapons.
With the rich get richer rune, you basically get infinite BFG ammo, making this an instant S tier.
S 2. The chainsaw
Not a weapon that you get to use often, but it can help you destroy the more formidable foes effortlessly while granting you lots of ammo in the process, making fighting the rest of the horde much easier. However, there is one down side to this weapon. As it is a chainsaw, you have to get very close to your opponent before you can slice them in half, which can be risky if they are capable of attacking from afar. Also, use it once on a bigger baddie and you’re all out of gas on it.
A 1. Gauss cannon
This weapon is in some cases capable of one shotting Hellknights as well as Revenants if you hit them in the head, and if they still stand or you hit them in the chest or legs, it will still deal massive damage to them, so you can finish them off with a weapon of your choice. There is also something funny that you can do with this weapon that you may have noticed yourself, and it’s debatable whether it was intentional or not, but if you jump and shoot it at the same time, at the right time, you can launch yourself in the air. Shoot downwards, and you’ll go up, shoot in front of you and you’ll be launched backwards. This can be very useful when you have to create distance but don’t want to stop killing, or if you just want to reach a platform that you wouldn’t be able to reach by just jumping. It can also prevent Doomguy from performing the recovery from a long fall animation if shot at the ground right before hitting it, which can be useful in some situations since demons can still harm you in the recovery state.
This weapon can however eat a lot of your ammo, so use it wisely, and don’t spend half of your time jumping around like a rabbit.
Also it can be a bit slow to recover after firing, so your best bet is to quickly switch to another weapon after firing.
(Recommended add-on: Siege mode)
A 2. Rocket launcher
This weapon is good in many situations. It can quickly take out a horde of imps and it is capable of killing pinkies very effectively without having to be behind them, simply shoot the rocket and wait until it is right above its back, and detonate it. It will die in 2-4 rockets. It is a useful and very powerful weapon to use against all targets, and can clear trash mobs like The Unwilling, Imps, and Possessed soldiers in a heart beat. Also it is the best thing to use against the Possessed soldiers with those damn shields. You could use a stun bomb from your plasma rifle on them to break their shields instantly, but a a single well placed rocket should take them out most of the time anyway.
You could also sacrifice usefulness for extra firepower with the lock-on burst add-on. This one locks on to your target and shoots 3 rockets at the same time, which can be useful if you are for some reason lacking in firepower. However, the Gauss cannon can dish out more damage than the burst can and in a much faster pace when paired with other weapons, so the only use I could find for this one is if you are out of ammo on your Gauss cannon, shotguns, and assault rifle and can’t use combos.
The weapon has a few downsides however. Using it in close quarters would obviously be very impractical, and you can end up killing yourself with it, and it can be hard to use against Summoners, as they teleport all around the place.
Also, I have had a few instances of “suicide-bombing demons” that run or jump out of nowhere directly in front of me while I am shooting the Rocket launcher, which of course kills the demon instantly, but damages me massively, so be wary of those.
(Recommended add-on: Remote detonation)
B 1. Super shotgun
A classic beast that can deal quite a bit of damage and can take out many smaller enemies out in a single hit without having to worry about damaging yourself like with the rocket launcher. It can also be useful when trying to wear down more powerful foes.
That is about it. One bad things about this thing is its longish reload animation, but you can skip it by quickly switching to another weapon and continuing the carnage.
With the mastery, you can shoot it twice before reloading, which is completely busted.
B 2. Heavy assault rifle
Your basic fully automatic bullet spewer, can be very useful when trying to get the smaller demons into a staggered state for glory kills, and if your aim is good enough, headshots can deal devastating damage, and you could possibly add the tactical scope to further increase your aim. You can also add the micro-missiles add-on on it, which is very useful when trying to chip away the health of the bigger baddies of the horde from a distance.
This weapon lacks many flaws, other than its weaker base damage and you could also damage and slow down yourself if you get hit by the micro-missiles you shoot.
(Recommended add-on: Micro-missiles)
C 1. Combat shotgun
Nothing special about this one. It can 1-3 shot Imps, and can be useful when trying to get smaller enemies into a staggered state to be glory killed for health in a pinch. Also with the charged burst add-on, it can be quite useful against the stronger demons. It also has the explosive shot add-on but this one is made obsolete by the rocket launchers remote detonation.
An obvious bad thing about this one is its relatively weak base damage and low fire rate, being only capable of 1-3 shotting imps. If the first hit doesn’t kill an imp while he’s running at you, you will surely get hit by him. Also spending too much time on a single small demon is time wasted that could have been spent taking on multiple smaller demons or bigger demons.
(Recommended add-on: Charged burst)
C 2. Plasma rifle
This can be a very useful weapon when you find yourself in a dangerous situation or you have been cornered. With the stun bomb add-on, you can stun any demons that threaten your life, and either create distance our blow their brains out on the spot. It can also be very useful against Imps and Possessed soldiers due to its fast fire rate. It also has the Heat blast add-on, which can be useful if you find yourself circled by the weaker demons.
However, it shares its ammo with the Gauss cannon, so you must conserve ammo and use the stun bomb only if absolutely necessary. Also trying to shoot demons that are quick on their feet may prove a challenge since the shots that you fire travel relatively slowly.
(Recommended add-on: Stun bomb)
D. Chaingun
This gun is not as powerful as it was in Classic Doom, but it can still be made into a great weapon with the Mobile turret add-on, which considerably increases your firepower, and makes it fairly powerful against stronger demons.
There are downsides however. It shares its ammo with the Heavy assault rifle, so you have to make a choice on whether to use the Assault rifle or the Chaingun. The Chaingun itself without the Mobile turret add-on is very slow and sluggish which results in a drastic loss of damage per second dealt.
It can, however, still be useful if you for whatever reason did not choose the micro-missiles add-on for your Heavy assault rifle and also have trouble using the Plasma rifle due to its slower moving projectiles. If this is the case, I would recommend using the Gatling rotator add-on so you can boost your fire rate from the start, since it starts out really slowly. Without the Gatling rotator, it’s pretty awful, and you do not want to use the Mobile turret for everything, since it costs tons of ammo to use.
In conclusion: It’s good, but there are better options.
(Recommended add-on: Mobile turret)
E: The pistol
It’s not a surprise this one is the last of the bunch. You only really use it in the first few levels, and then forget about its existence. However, it’s not fair to compare it to the more powerful weapons in your arsenal, since it’s just there to help you learn the ropes and become feared by all of demon-kind, so we actually owe it our thanks.
Remember to thank Doomguys pistol everyday!
Also, it has infinite ammo, that’s pretty impressive.
How to get the most out of your guns
Many of the weapons work the best when paired with other weapons. What I mean by this is quick switches between weapons result in higher damage per second dealt rather than keeping one weapon in your hands for longer than 5-10 seconds. This requires practice however and you must play with a keyboard rather than a controller in order to perform this technique , as switching weapons is must easier and faster with keybinds.
You can use the default keybinds for the weapons if you like, which are:
1. Chaingun
2. Heavy assault rifle
3. Combat shotgun
4. Rocket launcher
5. Super shotgun
6. Plasma rifle
7. Gauss cannon
8. The pistol
I personally use these binds since they work just fine and I don’t want to re-learn a new setup, but you are free to change these bindings into anything you like if you wish to do so.
(And you better do it early before you get attached to the default one like I did)
NOTE: The first upgrade to the dexterity section of your Praetor suit is a necessity to perform these techniques efficiently if you are playing the Campaign.
This is a simple strategy on how to take out a Baron of Hell
Single shot with the Gauss cannon,
quick switch to rocket launcher and fire it to its side and detonate it if the demon is within close range, direct hit if the distance is far enough that you wont damage yourself,
followed by a barrage of micro-missiles.
repeat cycle if target is still alive.
Now for something weaker like the Hell-knight, you can finish them most of the time with this combo:
Single shot with the Gauss cannon,
quick switch to Rocket launcher and direct hit them if far enough (if you fail to direct hit, detonate it),
followed by either Super shotgun or Charged burst with the Combat shotgun.
If they are still somehow standing, blast them once with the Gauss cannon and they should die.
This combo also works well against Revenants since they seem to have similar amounts of health.
Demons that I have barely mentioned at all in this guide are the Mancubus and the Cyber-mancubus, (Which I hate more than even the Archvile from Classic Doom) which are possible to kill by perfoming the same combo to defeat Barons of Hell with. Normal Mancubi go down with ease, but the Cyber variant may need some additional punishment, so feel free to get creative with your weapon combos.
If you are unable to perform some of these combos due to lack of ammunition, then you either pull out the Chainsaw or get a bit creative. Or just blast them with the BFG, it will never fail you.
I personally don’t follow these exact combos every time I play since I tend to get a bit creative, but they are just something you could start practicing with.
This has been a guide made by a mostly arcade mode player, and the techniques listed above work incredibly effectively on that mode, although on Campaign, their effectiveness depends on how much you have upgraded your weaponry as well as your Praetor suit. During early game, you would do better just using what you have since you don’t really need any special strategies yet due to the demons being the weakest types. And during early game, some weapon add-ons are better to have than others. For example, the Explosive shot for the Combat shotgun is better than the burst since it fires a single shot that does decent amount of damage unlike the burst which fires 3 shots, and since ammo is a bit scarce during early game, you would do better with the add-on that is the most ammo efficient.
Late to mid-game however, you can start to apply some of these combos into your gameplay, and determine if they are worth for you to use or if they are just too much of a hassle.
I will possibly post a few videos demonstrating how these combos are done later.
A few videos displaying my techniques
I apologize for poor quality I can’t seem to find a recording software that is able to record my screen without looking like a slideshow, but hopefully you can make out what is happening. Just don’t watch them in full screen.
These were played on the Ultra-nightmare difficulty on the Arcade game-mode.
Final words
While the ways of the weapons I have shown here are powerful, they may not really fit your playstyle.
I tend to play heavily aggressive to the point of not even looking at my health bar no matter how low it may be, and regardless I have been victorious way more times than I have been defeated.
This is how I feel like this game was meant to be played, with nothing but pure aggression, but sure you can play a bit more defensively and stay aware of your surroundings while still inflicting a decent amount of pain.
More effort went into this than I thought would, that’s for sure.
That is really all I wanted to say.
Thank you for having a look at this guide of mine.