Doom: The Dark Ages tips and tricks to help you slay endless demons

So, after plenty of time massacring demons for our review, we've put together a few tips and tricks for The Dark Ages to help you out both in and out of combat – let's get into it.

Doom: The Dark Ages tips and tricks

We've got seven different pointers to help you get started in The Dark Ages.

We'll go through the best ways to make use of your Shield Saw, how to approach using your melee attacks, and the importance of exploration and upgrading your weapons.

Here are our seven top tips for Doom: The Dark Ages.

Use your Shield Bash to clear groups

You might be tempted to just use your Shield Bash to attack individual enemies because of its lock-on feature, but it's actually best used for crowd control.

Your Shield Bash deals area of effect damage over a surprisingly wide area, and you can clear an entire group of mobs with one charge if used correctly.

If you enter an area and are confronted with a sea of enemies, start off with a charge into them, and you'll more than likely take most of them out immediately, letting you focus on any tougher mobs that are left over.

Be aware, however, that your Shield Bash will do almost nothing to enemies with shields or armour, so don't just charge in willy nilly.

Engage stronger enemies with a Shield Throw

Once you've cleared all the fodder with a Shield Bash, your Shield Throw can help make short work of almost all stronger non-boss enemies.

If a Shield Throw doesn't kill, it will become lodged in an enemy for several seconds, stunning them until it releases.

You can use this time to pile up damage on them, likely killing them before the stun even wears off.

This is especially effective once you upgrade your Shield Throw later in the game to increase that stun duration, trivialising many encounters unless you're playing on high difficulties.

Make use of weapon/shield combos

Thanks to your Shield Saw, Doom: The Dark Ages gives you more potential to make builds and combos than ever before – make use of it!

Each weapon upgrade path will have certain perks that combo well with your shield.

Your Rail Spike Gun, for example, can embed spikes into enemies that can be detonated by a Shield Throw for big burst damage.

You should be regularly upgrading your weapons and focusing on what makes them powerful. Have a few weapons to rely on for crowd control and some others to rely on for single-target damage.

Your shield is your most versatile tool in your arsenal, and there's no reason not to make the most of it.

Don't be afraid to use your melee

In The Dark Ages, you only have a maximum of three melee attacks, and you have to wait for them to recharge after using them.

This might cause you to use them sparingly, only saving them for the strongest monsters, but you shouldn't!

Firstly, your melee isn't just a powerful attack that shreds enemies, but it's also your most consistent way of getting more ammo, so when you're running low, even the lowliest mobs are worth smacking around a bit.

But more importantly, your melee actually charges back quite quickly, especially if you're making good use of your parries.

Just like your shield, later upgrades will also reduce the cooldown and increase the recharge rate that parries give you, so there's no excuse not to be swinging that flail around non-stop.

Alternate between parries and melee attacks

There are certain powerful mobs like Cyberdemons that will attack you with a series of parryable attacks.

The best way we've found to take these on is to get up in their faces and alternate between parrying and melee attacks.

Thanks to the slow-motion effect that parrying causes, you can immediately throw in a melee attack for some free damage.

Once your attack lands, you can then immediately parry the next attack, restoring your melee attack before unleashing another hit.

Not only does this prevent you from taking any damage, but it magnifies the damage you deal against these enemies, helping you bring them down much more quickly.

Check your Automap regularly

The maps in The Dark Ages are a bit less linear than in the last two Doom titles, so you may be more likely to miss things.

And with how important it is to find resources like Gold to upgrade your weapons, you want to make sure you're leaving every level having found everything you can.

Every time you clear out an area of enemies, do a quick check of your Automap to see if there are any secret areas nearby that you've missed.

Some areas can only be accessed by jumping off ledges, so can be easy to miss – you would be surprised how many upgrades you would miss out on otherwise!

Get your challenges done ASAP

Every level comes with a set of two or three challenges that reward you with extra Gold on completion.

These typically involve killing a certain number of enemies, using certain abilities, or finding a certain number of secrets.

With how important upgrades are in this game, you don't want to get to the end of a level just to find that you've run out of enemies to kill and still have a couple of challenges to complete.

Focus on getting your challenges done first and foremost, and once they're ticked off you can get busy on the rest of the level.

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