The Doom Eternal Battlemode is id Software’s take on asymmetric multiplayer, pitting a single, fully-kitted Doom Slayer against two player-controlled demons. It’s as fast and frenetic as the single-player campaign with the added complication of pitting humans against other humans.
The same strategies you developed taking on Hell in the campaign won’t necessarily work here, because this time, your foes can learn, adapt, and alter their play in response to your own.
Battlemode is a real rush for this reason, so let’s break down how you can master the two sides at war here: Slayer vs. Demons.
Doom Battlemode Slayer Tips
There’s an adage about typical multiplayer games with a single player component: don’t play the campaign to prepare for MP. I think Doom Eternal throws that adage out the window, at least for the Slayer component.
Tip 1: Play the Entire Campaign Before Entering Battlemode
In the campaign, the Slayer has access to every weapon mod, from the under-barrel grenade launcher to the tracking rockets, scoped heavy rifle, and everything in between. You need to know what weapons work best for you, their intricacies and excentricities, and how you can apply them against all demon types.
Secondly, you fight every demon type in Battlemode. The heavy hitters — Archvile, Pain Elemental, Revenant, Mancubus, and Maurader — are all player-controlled, but you’ll run into plenty of other mob demons, as well. Players can summon AI-controlled Hellknights, Arachnotrons, Prowlers, and more, and in the later rounds, you might even see a Baron of Hell.
The trash mobs are plentiful as well, but you need to know their attack patterns and pathfinding, or you’ll lose track of the easy prey and fall victim to the much more dangerous enemies hunting you.
The most important lesson you’ll learn in the single-player mode as you prepare for Battle mode is just how fast you need to think. Doom Eternal might start slow, but as it ramps up, you quickly acclimate to the sheer breathlessness of the gameplay.
Or should I say, you acclimate to the speed or you fail. If you put in the hours learning how Eternal wants you to play it, you’ll be in a much better place when you enter Battlemode.
Tip 2: Prioritize Your Targets
Every demon has their strengths and weaknesses, and you would do well to go through the tutorials and learn what they can each do. You can learn how much health each has, how fast they move, and what kind of playstyle they’re best at.
You don’t have to play the demons to know which one you’ll usually want to take out first. In the lobby before each match, you’ll learn what you’ll be facing, and it’s at this point that you should decide who dies first.
Here’s how I organize my target list:
- Slayer denial and control: any demon who can dictate how the Slayer moves as opposed to the other way around, mostly Archvile and Marauder.
- Time wasters: demons who keep the Slayer’s attention long enough for heavier hitters to get in and deal real damage, mostly Revenant and Pain Elemental.
- Straight DPS: demons who specialize in raw damage first and foremost, usually the Mancubus.
Note that I used the words “mostly” and “usually” here. As players sink their teeth into the demon of their choice, where said demons fall in my list can vary. For the average demon player, however, I think this is where things stand.
Your goal as a Slayer should be to effectively remove the more important targets from the equation first. You don’t necessarily need to kill them, but you do need to make sure they won’t bother you. If you feel confident about taking out the other demon quickly once your main target’s dead, then, by all means, kill away.
Whether you kill one to scare the other or bring both down to near death, your focus should still remain on the primary threat. You might have to adjust that designation mid-game if one demon player is miles better than the other, but again, this demon tier list is probably your best guide.
Tip 3: Go Fast
I know this sounds obvious, but “going fast” is more than just dashing and jumping and killing. It’s also about precision and damage control. It’s about understanding the flow of the arena, the speed of your opponents vs. your own, how quickly your weapon projectile travels vs. how much damage it does, and so much more.
Boiling down the best speedy strats will ultimately depend on how you play, but my primary ones are to master the quick swap and maximize your weapon switch speed in combat. The two might sound similar, but they are quite different.
Quick Swap: As simple a mechanic as it sounds, Quick Swap lets you quickly change between two weapons with a single button press, bypassing the weapon wheel and number keys (on PC) entirely. There are numerous benefits to this, not the least of which is decreasing the downtime between firing each weapon.
For instance, you can swap to the Super Shotgun, blast something close, then instantly switch to the Balista for a second close-range blast. The same thinking applies to the other weapons in your arsenal.
Master the quick swap with the weapons of your choice, and you will be killing demons faster than you can imagine.
Weapon Switch: In Battlemode, ammo is at an even higher premium than it is in the campaign, and unless you’re on top of your ammo count at all times, your weapons of choice will run dry. This time, though, the demons can block your ability to restock, and without bullets, all you can do is lose.
That means you need to be able to accurately switch weapons quickly, so you don’t end up with a rocket to the face or a shotgun when you needed a rifle.
Beyond telling you that you need to learn this skill, there isn’t much I can do to teach you to do it effectively. It’s something I recommend you practice and practice often. This tip relies entirely on your abilities.
Those are my top tips for Battlemode in Doom Eternal, and they should apply for every match you play, regardless of demon team composition. I’ll be covering universal demon strategies next, so stay tuned for that article soon.
And be sure to take a peek at our other Doom Eternal content, too:
- Doom Eternal Review: Ripping and Tearing Never Felt So Good
- Doom Eternal Guide: How to Find Every Slayer Key
- Doom Eternal Marauder Tips: How to Beat This Tough Enemy
- Our guides hub keeps growing! Keep an eye out.
