A Guide to the Weapons and Monsters of Doom 2
by Colin Glassey

Since I spent the time to go through every level of Doom 2 I might as well 
write some of my observations down.  There are books that go into more detail 
and have maps but, if you would rather not spend the money, you can read this 
instead.  FYI: I played Doom 2 on a 486/66 w/16 MBytes of RAM at the Hurt Me 
Plenty Difficulty Level.

1) The chainsaw.  This is useful when you are low on shotgun shells and there 
are some pink demons to kill.  As long as you can avoid getting attacked from 
more than one direction, you should advance against the demon while running 
the chainsaw.  The chainsaw does not seem to be as effective in this game as 
it was in Doom 1.  The chainsaw can be used against the floating eye or flying 
skulls to good effect. In Doom 1 I used the chainsaw against the flying 
skulls, but in Doom 2 I tend to use the plasma rifle or the double barreled 
shotgun instead.

2) The pistol.  This weapon is inferior in every way to the machine gun.  Of 
course, in Death match games you end up using it a lot, but it still is a very 
poor weapon.

3) The shotgun.  There are now two versions, single barrel and double barreled 
(switch between them by pressing 3).  The shotgun is a great weapon and 
generally the one I use by default.  One shot from the normal shotgun kills 
all humans (except for the machine gun dummies), and the brown demons. The 
shotgun can be used to kill things that you are close to but of which very 
little is visible (such as soldiers partially obscured by walls).  The Doom 
program is not as smart as it could be in figuring out damage in this 
situation (as opposed to other weapons which it is very good at figuring).  
You can even use the shotgun to attack monsters that are at a different 
elevation from you.  It takes a lot more shots to kill such monsters but it is 
better than not being able to hit them at all.

The double barreled shotgun is best used when you are dealing with pink or 
invisible demons, the machine gunner, or the flying skulls, it can kill these 
monsters with just a single blast.  Since the double barreled shotgun is slow 
to reload, it is best used when you can retreat some distance with the 
monsters following you.  Apparently, the double barreled shotgun does three 
times the damage that the normal shotgun does.

4) The machine gun.  This weapon has a number of features which make it very 
powerful: 1) It has unlimited range and its fire is instantaneous.  This makes 
it the best weapon when you have some long distance shooting.  It is superior 
in this way to the plasma rifle since the plasma bolts don't move all that 
fast.  2) It only takes two or three shots to kill a normal soldier, you can 
fire those shots with just one press of the fire key.  3) While most monsters 
are being shot, they can't do anything other than retreat (the exceptions are 
the demon lords and other big monsters).  This means that if you have the 
bullets, you can shoot at a floating eye monster until it dies without taking 
any damage.  You must keep the monster under fire continuously, if you miss or 
there are breaks, the monster will have time to get off a fire ball or two.  
4) Bullets are very small and can be fired just past the edge of a wall or 
through very small openings.  Bullets can be used from firing positions that 
other weapons can't fire from.

The down side to the machine gun is that it goes through bullets very 
rapidly.  Even with a backpack, the most bullets you can carry is 400.  It 
usually takes me about 70 bullets to kill a floating eye.  Obviously, when 
faced with four or more floating eyes, other weapons are needed. Even though 
you find lots of clips of bullets in Doom, these only hold five bullets so 
running out of bullets is a constant problem when you use the machine gun 
extensively.

5) The Rocket Launcher.  To my mind this is the most powerful weapon in the 
game.  You can fire rockets very rapidly one after the other (unlike the 
BFG).  It does lots of damage in a fairly large area (only the BFG does more). 
However, there are several down sides to the launcher: the most important is 
that this is the one weapon you carry that can hurt you.  If you launch a 
rocket and it explodes close to you, you will suffer lots of damage.  I have 
been killed on several occasions when I panicked and launched a rocket that 
exploded right in front of me.  Another problem is that the rocket is not very 
accurate and if you miss the target, the rocket will sail on by, not exploding 
until it hits a wall or something else.  A further limitation on the use of 
the rocket launcher is that there are not many rockets lying around.  There 
are fewer rockets than any other type of ammo in the game.  I make sure to 
save my rockets for the worst monsters (the Cyber Demon, Demon Lords and big 
fat guys) and the worst situations.  However, I do not use the Rocket Launcher 
against the flying skulls, or the skull spitter because they can move toward 
you so fast that you might fire the rocket and have it explode close to you.  
By the way: the rocket launcher is a great weapon for Death match games 
because it just takes a single hit (or a near miss) to kill another player.

6) The Plasma Rifle.  In Doom 2 the Plasma rifle is a more useful weapon than 
in Doom 1.  First, it is very powerful and can fire very rapidly.  When you 
are faced with a large number of floating eyes or flying skulls or brown 
demons, the plasma rifle is an excellent weapon.  The plasma rifle is good at 
short to medium ranges, but at longer ranges, the fact that the plasma bolts 
take some time to travel means the odds go up that you will miss your target 
(as opposed to bullets which hit as soon as they are fired).  When attacking 
humans, you are better off using the machine gun because the plasma rifle is 
not any more effective against humans than bullets.

The other advantage the plasma rifle has is that monsters hit by the plasma 
bolts are unable to do anything (the same behavior as when they are hit by 
bullets from the machine gun).  It is still the case that the large monsters 
(like Demon Lords, Big Fat Guys, and Arch-Viles) can and will attack you even 
if you fire continuously at them.  Note that auto-fire from the plasma rifle 
does use up cells very rapidly.

A change in Doom 2 is that there are lots more energy cells around than 
before.  Since you can carry 600 cells, and since each plasma bolt is 
(usually) more powerful than a bullet, the plasma rifle may be a better 
alternative than the machine gun in short range encounters.  The plasma rifle 
seems to lose some strength as the bolt travels.  This is yet another reason 
to use the plasma rifle only for short or medium ranges.  I found the plasma 
rifle to be especially effective against the electric spiders and the flying 
skulls.  When surrounded by monsters, spinning around with the plasma rifle 
blazing works better than any other weapon (even the BFG).

7) The BFG 9000.  This weapon packs the biggest punch of any single attack in 
the game but it is still hard to use and so slow as to make it a poor choice 
for most encounters.  If the BFG energy bolt actually hits the target you want 
killed, it will take a massive amount of damage.  Otherwise, you are better 
off using rockets or the plasma rifle.  Obviously when you have few rockets 
and lots of cells, this is a good weapon.  On one level I managed to kill a 
Cyber Demon with just three (or 4) well-aimed shots from the BFG, but that was 
only possible because I was invulnerable and up against a wall so the pounding 
of the Cyber Demon's rockets didn't knock my aim off too much.  Further 
experience has shown that the Arch-Vile is so dangerous that I almost always 
use the BFG to kill the Arch-Vile as soon as I find it.  Just one well-aimed 
blast from the BFG at close range is usually enough to toast an Arch-Vile.  
The Arch-Vile is very hard to kill with other weapons because it moves so fast 
and takes so much damage.  Another time when the BFG is the right weapon 
occurs when you are facing lots of enemies, since the BFG will damage every 
monster that is near the point of the explosion without doing any damage to 
you.  In these situations it is better than the rocket launcher.  I ended up 
using the BFG a fair number of times in the later levels (25 to 30).


Doom 2 Monsters (in order of difficulty) (Yes I know they have different 
"official" names but if you don't understand what monsters I am talking about, 
too bad).

Riflemen: weak, kill them with two or three bullets from the machine gun.

Sergeants: a bit tougher, three or four bullets or a single shotgun blast.

Brown Demons: If I can pick them off one at a time I use the shotgun.  If 
there are two, the double barreled shotgun will usually get them both.  If 
there are three to six, I use the machine gun or plasma rifle.  If there are 
lots, I use the rocket launcher.

Pink Demons: If just one, I use the chain saw.  If there are several but I can 
get them one at a time by retreating I use the double barreled shotgun.

Machine gun Dummies: Reasonably dangerous, trading machine gun fire with them 
gets you hurt so I use the double barreled shotgun (takes just one well aimed 
shot) or the plasma rifle.  These guys have the distressing ability to shoot 
at you even when you can't shoot at them (example: level 16).

Invisible Demons: I use the double barreled shotgun and shoot for where I 
think they are.  I have spent a fair number of shells trying to kill these 
fellows.

Floating Eyes: I use the double barreled shotgun at close range, at medium 
range I use the plasma rifle, at long range the machine gun or the rocket 
launcher.  Few things are more fun than hitting one of these beasts at long 
range with a rocket and having the floater sputter to the ground, dead.

Flying Skulls: Use the double barreled shotgun or the plasma rifle as they 
charge you at high speed.

Floating Skull Spitter: Rapid fire from the plasma rifle is the best way to 
destroy this nasty thing. Continued fire from the plasma rifle also helps deal 
with the skulls that appear as a result of the death of this monster.

Electric Spiders: A plasma rifle is very effective against these fellows.  The 
machine gun will also work but not as well.

Demon Lords: Use the rocket launcher while sidestepping his return fire.  I 
have found that demon lords are not so dangerous.  If you have the space 
available, you can dodge their green fire balls and blast them with shotguns 
till they die.  Stay out of range of their hand attack though, it does lots of 
damage.

Big Fat Guys: I always use rockets.  I also keep near a wall or doorway so I 
can avoid his return fire.  Given enough range and space, you can actually 
dodge their attacks just by moving back and forth.  You did save before trying 
this didn't you?

Skeletons: Use the rocket launcher or the plasma rifle.  If you get close, you 
can kill them with the double barreled shotgun, their kick does some damage 
but it is not nearly as bad as their fire ball. Their heat seeking fire balls 
can be dodged, but you need good timing.  The key is to stay next to a wall, 
let the fire balls get close, then quickly move to the right or left.  Usually 
the fire balls will smash into the wall where you used to be because the fire 
ball can't make course corrections very rapidly.  I have actually seen one 
case where I dodged a fire ball and it circled back and hit the skeleton that 
fired it!  Too bad it does no damage in the skeletons (?).

Arch-Vile: Get close and use the BFG on him as he is trying to burn you up.  
One good BFG shot should toast him, if not, well, you did remember to save the 
game didn't you?  Considering how dangerous these monsters are, it is a good 
thing that there are not many Arch-Viles in the game.

Mastermind Spider and Cyber Demon Lord: Lots and lots of rockets.  Both of 
these can take massive amounts of punishment but the Cyber Demon Lord is far 
more dangerous with his rocket attack.  The room in level 19 where these two 
both show up is a great deal of fun if you can get them to start shooting at 
each other.


Doom Cheats:  

Iddkfa     This key combination resets all of your ammo to the maximum allowed 
(less if you have never found a backpack).  It also gives you all of the keys, 
and all of the weapons.  It does not increase your health.

Iddt   This key combination is used while in map mode to change the map 
state.  The first state is just like you found the computer map of the level.  
The second state shows all of the monsters and goodies that are on the level.  
It also shows the fireballs of the brown demons as they move across the map 
(and the other fireballs?).

Iddqd   This key combination puts you in "God" mode.  While in "God" mode you 
cannot be damaged by anything.  Playing in "God" mode is rather boring.

Copyright Colin Glassey 1994   Doom and Doom II are trademarks of id Software.
