DOOM: The Dark Ages Cheats and Tips
Your shield is more than just protection
At first glance, your shield might not look like much in comparison to, say, a rocket launcher. It is, however, your strongest tool in Doom: The Dark Ages — and by mastering it, you can face legions of hellspawns without too much trouble.
First, besides protecting yourself from incoming damage, you can use the shield to propel yourself toward a target. While this is initially introduced as an offensive maneuver, you can adapt it to quickly escape from a tight situation. When in danger, look for a faraway enemy and use your dash!
You can also interrupt enemies with the shield by dashing at them as they charge their attack. Another option is to throw your shield once this option becomes available. When it hits large demons, the shield sticks to them, stunning them for a few seconds. Use this time to run or finish them.
Parry everything
You can do more with your shield than just dash and stun. Parrying is an important mechanic in Doom: The Dark Ages, which you should always do when you see attacks highlighted in green — called Hell Surge attacks — coming. A shockwave. A giant arrow of demonic energy. It doesn’t matter. If it’s green, you can parry and deflect it back to its source.
The potential of parry Hell Surge attacks comes especially when you’re facing multiple enemies at the same time because the deflected Hell Surge projectile won’t hit only the source — it can kill whatever else is close to the source. And once you unlock some shield upgrades, this feature becomes stronger. (Although there is some timing to worry about when parrying, it’s nothing that you can’t tweak to your preferences in the settings.)
Weak enemies make you stronger
If you’re new to the Doom universe, some fights might feel overwhelming, especially when facing big bad demon boys who are followed by small minions that’ll annoy you throughout the whole fight. You must learn that these little fellows are there to actually help you, though.
In Doom: The Dark Ages, you can only recover health by killing enemies. Brutal, right? But when fighting a boss, you need to stay alive long enough to put them down. That’s when the weak minions come in. You must use them to restore your health. Whenever you’re low on health, run around the arena and find some weakling to kill before getting back to the real target.
Always check your map
It won’t take you long to realize how straightforward Doom: The Dark Ages’ maps are. Even so, checking your map constantly is crucial in this game as it will highlight the location of objectives and collectibles. For collectibles to appear on the map, you must first open the area. Once you get close to them, their symbol will be shown on the automap.
Keeping track of what is around you by consistently checking the map is a good practice to not ignore secret rooms and weird corridors. (In general, the harder to reach, the worthier the prize.) In the worst-case scenario, you’ll grab a Life Sigil and some gold, which are still considerably rare in the game.