Doom Eternal: 10 Important Tips & Tricks For Beating Ultra-Nightmare
Beating Doom Eternal on a standard difficulty is impressive enough, but doing so on the masochistic Ultra-Nightmare setting is incredible. According to IGN it’s something even the developers haven’t managed to achieve and they built the thing.
Thanks to some speedrunners and long time Doom professionals like DraQu who have managed to pull it off there are some techniques the average gamer can learn from them to do it themselves. It’s still brutal and requires incredible skill, but these tips will make it a bit more bearable.
10 Practice On Nightmare And Extra Life Nightmare
First thing’s first, you need to learn how to beat the game on Nightmare without the permadeath system. This will teach you the ropes of how difficult each encounter is and what tactics are required to beat each scenario.
Once you get comfortable on Nightmare, ramp up the difficulty a bit with Extra Life. This is a permadeath system, but with the ability to give yourself more lives. Once you find yourself beating the game in this stage without losing too many lives then you can then take the plunge to Ultra.
9 Track The Enemy
It is absolutely vital you know where the enemies are at all times. You can only take so many hits before your health bar drops and you have to start over from scratch so avoiding as many hits as possible is key.
Learning to keep tabs on enemies and where they are when in the middle of a firefight will ensure you can dodge attacks, make sure your ones land, and prevent anyone from getting the drop on you. It takes some practice but you’ll notice your skill at the game will vastly improve.
8 Rarely Use Glory Kills
Glory Kills are an integral part of the game and you’re rewarded for doing them unless you’re in Ultra-Nightmare. The problem is two-fold, the rewards for doing a glory kill aren’t all that great in the first place and you put yourself at considerable risk doing them.
While you’re busy spending the second or two performing a glory kill the enemy has time to flank you and start attacking as you come out of the animation. Obviously do a glory kill if the enemy is alone and there’s no risk or you absolutely need the HP, otherwise don’t do them.
7 Ice Bombs Are A Blessing
Typically speaking, you’ll either be dealing with a horde of enemies or one big bad that has devastating attacks that can bring your ultra-nightmare run short. Ice Bombs are a great tool for crowd control or to buy yourself some time during a difficult fight.
When combined with upgrades like Permafrost or Frost Bite, you can freeze a group of demons for a decent length of time making them sitting ducks. They can also be lobbed at a large enemy and temporarily stop their brutal attack giving you time to get to cover. As soon as you get one of these, make sure to upgrade its powers as quickly as possible for maximum effect.
6 Flamethrower Armor Spawning Can Help
Speaking of armor, it’s helpful to keep it topped off as it’ll do wonders to protect your health bar for the shot or two you failed to dodge. One good way to do this if you can’t spare the Siphon Grenades or don’t have the Equipment Rune yet is with the Flamethrower.
By setting an enemy on fire just before they’re killed they spit out a few shards of armor. Again, on Nightmare, this won’t be much, but getting in the habit of doing this on the weaker or last enemies will net you a few points of armor that can add up to save your bacon.
5 Upgrade For AOE Protection
Explosive barrels are handy for saving yourself some ammo and explosives are a great way to get around shields or take out groups of enemies. They are also a great way to get yourself killed if something goes wrong.
To mitigate this, think about upgrading your Praetor suit to provide yourself protection from splash damage. It’s important against bosses and it’ll make you feel safer about using grenades or triggering explosive barrels.
4 Know And Visit The Secrets
Knowing where the secret locations are and how to unlock secrets is incredibly helpful when doing an Ultra-Nightmare run. Getting those Praetor Upgrade points and tracking down Modbots is key to survival.
Obviously, this doesn’t include the collectibles which should not be your priority on this run. It’s also strongly recommended you don’t bother with the Unmaykr weapon as, while it could be incredibly useful, the risk of completing the arena battles is just too high to make it worth it.
3 Saving Throw Rune
While any rune would be useful in this playthrough some are more valuable than others. Saving Throw rune can be tricky to obtain, but is incredibly powerful as it allows you to cheat death once in a playthrough.
This is huge and can really pay off in the harder sections of the game. You only get the one so don’t be too confident, but you’ll be glad you had it when a nasty Marauder encounter doesn’t go your way. Just be warned you’ll only have five points of health and no armor when you revive.
2 Chrono Strike
Another powerful rune you want to seriously consider getting is the Chrono Strike. This rune will allow you to slow down time while you’re in mid-air. It doesn’t last terribly long but those few slowed down seconds are huge when in the middle of a swarm of enemies.
This gives you time to avoid a brutal attack or eliminate a few targets before time returns to normal. It does take a while for the rune to fully recharge, but don’t hesitate to use it if you find yourself getting swarmed and your health is dropping.
1 Use Every Tool At Your Disposal
The final takeaway is that you should be utilizing every tool at your disposal when doing an Ultra-Nightmare run. Even the pros struggle remembering this when they get into a rhythm but using everything you have access to will make this run easier.
Use every gun, grenade, and rune you can reasonably get your hands on. Each has a purpose in this game and even the weakest weapons can save your hide if you run out of ammo or options. Become familiar with each of the tools at your disposal, use them, and you’ll find yourself staying alive better.
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