Doom: The Dark Ages - 8 Best Weapon Upgrades

Summary

Creative upgrades in Doom: The Dark Ages enhance weapons like Rocket Launcher & Impaler
New combat mechanics focus on parrying, combining weapon upgrades for optimal playstyle
Weapons like Shredder, Cycler, Shieldsaw, Ravager have unique upgrades for effective demon battles

Doom: The Dark Ages is the latest entry in the long-running franchise of iconic FPS games, and is doing pretty well on Xbox Game Pass. While a high price tag and Denuvo implementation have led to underwhelming sales across platforms, the game itself remains true to the series’ roots, while innovating and updating the gameplay design compared to Doom: Eternal, its predecessor. One of the key changes in Doom: The Dark Ages is the combat system and weapons.

The Doomslayer has access to a diverse roster of weapons, and the combat is not centered around weapon swapping as much as it was in Doom: Eternal. Instead, it revolves around clever use of the parry mechanic, the shieldsaw, and combining weapon upgrades for the ideal playstyle. While both Doom (2016) and Doom: Eternal had weapon upgrades, Doom: The Dark Ages takes these upgrades to a new level, with each gun offering multiple playstyles and upgrade paths. Per the consensus among Doom: The Dark Ages players, however, some of these upgrades are better than others.

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8

Rocket Launcher: Cannibalism

An Efficient Way to Use the Rocket Launcher’s Self-Damage

Cannibalism makes the Rocket Launcher a powerful close range weapon against super heavies.

The Rocket Launcher is one of the most iconic and consistent weapons in Doom history. Many of the game’s weapons have evolved through the ages, but the Rocket Launcher has retained its purpose throughout the franchise. And that purpose is to blow demons up. One of the most distinctive aspects of the rocket launcher is its splash damage and self-damage. Its projectiles deal damage in an area of effect, and that damage even applies to the Doomslayer if he’s in the splash zone. Doom: The Dark Ages introduces an upgrade that allows players to take advantage of this self-damage.

The Cannibalism upgrade causes any self-damage from the Rocket Launcher’s projectiles to heal the Doomslayer. The rocket launcher also has an upgrade path that allows players to make the most of this upgrade’s vampiric properties, making the Rocket Launcher a viable weapon at close range.

7

Impaler: Lobotomy

A Hilariously Named Upgrade Gives the Impaler a Lethal Combo

The Lobotomy upgrade for the Impaler gives it a strong combination with melee attacks.

The Impaler in Doom: The Dark Ages is the equivalent to the Precision Bolt upgrade to the heavy machine gun in Doom: Eternal. But this time, it’s a separate weapon with its own unique upgrade path. It deals heavy damage with a single bolt and requires good aim to be useful. The Impaler’s upgrade options culminate with the Lobotomy upgrade, which requires a wraithstone to unlock.

With this upgrade, the Impaler becomes a powerful weapon combining melee and ranged attacks against super-heavy demons like the Agaddon Hunter or Tyrant. The Lobotomy Upgrade charges the melee attack faster every time players land a headshot with the Impaler. This makes for a strong combination wherein players can open with a melee attack against super-heavy demons, and then retreat to range while landing headsots and getting back within range to land a melee attack again. With the Dreadmace or the Flail as the melee weapon, this makes fights against stronger enemies a lot easier.

6

Shredder: Ricochet

Clears Out Swarms of Fodder Demons with Ease

The ricochet upgrade for the Shredder is useful in clearing large swarms of fodder demons.

One of the defining qualities of Doom: The Dark Ages is the large, open maps filled with demons for the Doomslayer to fight. While the super-heavies and heavies show up near points of interest, most sections are filled with swarms of fodder demons with one or two heavy demons around them. The Shredder is one of the best weapons to deal with such circumstances, particularly because of its rapid rate of fire and decent damage output.

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One of the first upgrades the Shredder unlocks is the Pincushion/Ricochet choice. Between these two, Ricochet is the popular choice in Doom: The Dark Ages, because of its ability to clear out large swarms of demons quickly. Combined with the Autotorret mod for the shieldsaw, players can quickly clear large swarms of fodder demons by parrying a Hell Surge attack, and then throwing the shieldsaw into a heavy demon and firing the Shredder at it. As per the upgrade’s title, the bullets will ricochet off the shield for extra damage.

5

Cycler: Shock

Shock Damage That Clears Out The Battlefield

The arc lightning from the cycler's shock ability is helpful in controlling the flow of battle in Doom: The Dark Ages

Initially, the player base found the Cycler underwhelming compared to other weapons. Its alternative, the Accelerator, has a better rate of fire and is just as capable of dealing with plasma shields and fodder. However, the Cycler gets an upgrade that turns it into one of the most useful weapons on large battlefields. It deals higher concentrated plasma damage than the Accelerator, making it great for melting super-heavies with headshots. The Shock upgrade gives it a bigger boost in this regard.

With this upgrade, once a demon takes enough damage from the Cycler, it applies Shock. While Shocked, the demon will take increased damage from the Slayer’s attacks. When a Shocked demon gets killed, it arcs lightning towards the nearest enemy and inflicts Shock on them as well. This chain effect allows players to quickly clear large numbers of demons.

4

Shieldsaw: Auto Turret

Parrying Projectiles Has Never Been More Fun

The Autoturret upgrade for the Shieldsaw in Doom: The Dark Ages is a powerful tool to quickly defeat heavy demons

One of the unique additions to the combat in Doom: The Dark Ages is the shieldsaw. Not only does it serve as a defensive tool to block incoming damage and parry projectiles, but it’s also a weapon in and of itself. Its upgrade options add to this. Unlike guns, which require unique resources to upgrade, the Shield Saw can be upgraded by finding shield runes throughout the game. Each shieldsaw upgrade gives it a unique offensive ability, and Auto Turret is one of the best. Whenever the Doomslayer parries an incoming projectile attack, it triggers the Auto Turret, which fires bullets at the nearest target.

When the Auto Turret is fully upgraded, its damage output is significant. Heavy demons like Imp Stalkers and Arachnotrons are reduced to fodder-level. More often than not, it also enables a couple of glory kills to help the Slayer gain some health.

3

Ravager: Supplier

Infinite Ammo Glitch With a Simple Upgrade

The supplier upgrade for the ravager pretty much keeps the gun going all the time in Doom: The Dark Ages

The Ravager is one of the most beginner-friendly guns in Doom: The Dark Ages, but it gets unlocked quite a way into the game. It’s like a more refined version of the Pulverizer, capable of dealing a constant stream of damage with decent recoil and melting most Demons in the slayer’s path. With the trigger pulled, it starts off at a modest rate of fire, which keeps increasing up to a certain point.

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Unlocking the Supplier upgrade turns the Ravager into a complete monster of a weapon that doesn’t stop until the Slayer lets go of the trigger. With this upgrade, any demon damaged by the Ravager drops skullcrusher ammo, basically turning the Ravager into a powerful automatic weapon with unlimited ammo. It can take down some of the most powerful demons with relative ease, like armored mancubi, Hell Knights, and barons.

2

Shieldsaw: Heaven Split

A Shockingly Powerful Upgrade for the Shield

The Heaven Splitter upgrade for the shield saw makes launches a wave at enemies inflicting a state of shock.

This upgrade ties in well with the Cycler. Whenever the Doomslayer parries a projectile with the shield, it calls down a lightning bolt that applies Shock on the demon that fired the projectile. This wave also stuns them for a bit, making it easier for the Slayer to land heavy damage before they can react. For most heavy demons, this upgrade is pretty much a guaranteed kill on a successful parry. With super-heavy demons, still it gives players an opportunity to deplete their health bars significantly.

The shock applied by the Heaven Split upgrade is similar to the shock upgrade on the Cycler, triggering an arc lightning whenever the slayer kills the shocked demon. So this upgrade synergizes well with the Cycler, turning it into a demon-melting monstrosity.

1

Chainshot: Eldritch Blessing

Makes The Chainshot The Best Weapon In The Game

The Eldritch Blessing upgrade for the chainshot is by far one of the most powerful upgrades in Doom: The Dark Ages

The Chainshot has by far enjoyed the most popularity among players as the best gun in Doom: The Dark Ages. It’s got a decent amount of ammo, deals loads of damage to demons, and staggers them. It’s so powerful that a couple of Chainshot attacks are enough to kill a Hell Knight or Mancubus. A charged Chainshot is even more powerful, and an excellent tool in the right hands to quickly dispatch super-heavies like Agaddon Hunters, Tyrants, and Komodos.

The Eldritch Blessing upgrade for the Chainshot instantly charges the next Chainshot attack after the slayer parries an attack from a Demon. Considering how often players have to parry attacks in Doom: The Dark Ages, this means the Chainshot is almost always charged.