10 tips for getting started in Doom Eternal

Doom Eternal begs for a beginner's guide, even for experienced FPS players. New weapons, demons, and wild ideas are introduced throughout its entire runtime. By the end, it's hardly recognizable, a breathless anxiety-driven shooter about tamping down a seemingly limitless demon army. Between babysitting your resources, flinging around the arena like a racquetball, and finding the time to, you know, shoot things, Doom Eternal is a lot to take in. Let's smooth out that difficulty curve with a few tips and tricks. We'll point you to some neat options and extras to play with too. 

Stay moving and use the entire arena

Doom 101, I know, but it's extra important in Doom Eternal. Use the monkey bars and jump pads in conjunction with your dash and double jump to stay airborne and relatively safe. A nice vantage of the arena also gives you a sense of what you're up against, and with sneaky, thin demons like the whiplash with a liquid profile, knowing what kind of demon mix you're working with is incredibly important information if you want to go about dismantling them effectively. 

Always be belching

The flame belch sets enemies on fire and makes them spit up tiny green armor shards over time. When things are popping off, it's easy to forget the flame belch is there, but do your best to make a strong habit of using it as much as possible early on, and don't always use it with the intention of scooping up that armor right away. Set it (on fire) and forget it. Find a group of enemies, give a big fire burp, and let them generate that good-good while you bounce around and shoot things. Chances are you'll run over the armor again, on accident or on purpose. But if you need armor now, follow up a belch on some smaller demons with a nice grenade. 

Farm up resources between fights

Fights can leave you seriously lacking in health, shields, and ammunition, and Doom Eternal doesn't always put out a nice care package of pickups between arenas. But Doom Eternal does leave moaning piles of zombies all over the damn place. Set 'em on fire to generate armor and plink away at a few to set them up for a glory kill. Work through the bunch and save one for a chainsaw ammo shower to top off every resource in no time. 

Invest Sentinel Crystals into ammo upgrades early

If you're glory killing and moving enough, you'll keep your health above water. Ammo is a different story. It's selectively strewn about each arena or available via chainsaw, in which you treat a demon like a meat pinata to replenish stocks. Thing is, chainsaw fuel is limited. Most arenas have a refill laying around, but they're much rarer than health and shield drops, making ammo something you'll probably chew through quicker than most resources with fewer options for an easy replenish, at least at the start.  

Use the super shotgun to counter marauders

Marauders are designed to mess with your long established arena shooter habits. They control the cadence of a fight, not you. And they'll have even more control if you can't counter their flashing green attack effectively. The super shotgun is ideal here. Its wide pellet spray and high damage make counters much easier to time and aim than the rest of your weapons. Counter, stagger the marauder, and get a quick meat hook in for another shot if you can. Stay patient, keep circle-strafing, and you'll be fine. 

Read the codex for even more demon weaknesses

Whiplash demons are best countered with ice grenades due to their erratic movements and wafer thin profiles. Make 'em sit still for a minute. You can strafe faster than a tyrant can turn. The ballista does extra damage to flying demons. The codex is full of tiny tips that can make a big difference in a tight spot. 

Don't sweat doing everything in your first playthrough

Doom Eternal is looking like a mancubus at the meat buffet, overstuffed with secrets, collectibles, and optional challenges decorating the dark corners of every level. Most of the collectibles aren't too hard to find, largely because they're all marked on the map. Doom Eternal lets you collect and do everything with cheats enabled after finishing the main campaign, and a well-earned victory lap as a demon killing demigod is the perfect way to clean them all up. 

The exception are Sentinel Gates, extremely difficult arena fights that unlock a superweapon. Doom Eternal really wants you to earn it, and that's fine. Save them for the end, for when you've completely upgraded Doomguy's health, armor, ammo reserves, and have him decked out with all the suit upgrades and runes he'll need. Sentinel Gates will still be a challenge, but they'll be much more manageable.

Don't forget to spend Sentinel Batteries

If you're sitting on a pile of Sentinel Batteries but don't know where to spend them, head back to the Fortress of Doom and take a walk around. You spend those buggers on extra Doomguy skins and upgrades all around the ship. And they're not all at the back either. Two skins are hanging out in the wings of the Fortress of Doom, and one's holding a collectible hostage. Spend those batteries before hopping into the next mission, because it might be awhile before you finish up. 

The UI is your canvas, play with the options

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Change the colors of Doom's car dashboard with a suite of presets and transparency options. I like the cyberpunky neon of the Demons preset, but if flashy colors aren't your thing, Amber or Exterminator homogenize the indicators nicely. 

Enable the old Doom sound effects and weapon perspective for a good time

If you don't take the time to explore the options menu, these glorious tickboxes will stay buried. I recommend turning them both on, along with a big bundle of cheats after your first playthrough. Take a victory lap through an old school lens. You earned it.