Don’t let the FPS game’s name fool you, because Doom: The Dark Ages has some rather explosive tools of destruction, and the best weapons come with upgrades that make standard perks look rather pedestrian in comparison.
So much so that determining which are the best Doom: The Dark Ages weapons and upgrades is a rather difficult process. After all, it’s full of exceptional gear that allows you to rip and tear through hordes of demons. However, not every weapon is created equal; some are just scaled better in terms of raw power and buffs to make the legions of hell quiver at your feet.
Best Doom The Dark Ages weapon
The best Doom: The Dark Ages weapon in terms of raw power is the Rocket Launcher. Its raw damage output is the best among all the base weapons, and its upgrades focus on healing you while you’re hit by explosions caused by being too close to the impact zone instead of being damaged by it. You’ll want to choose the Blood Sacrifice perk if you want increased range for the splash damage, or Cooked for more powerful rockets after parrying projectiles.
However, this is a rather late-game weapon. Luckily, if you want raw power, the Shotgun is a decent starting gun thanks to its armor-recovering perks. Also, its Super variant, which you get a little way into the campaign, will blast away even the toughest enemies with ease once you get all the upgrades. There’s also the disappointingly named Ballistic Force Crossbow (BFC), which obliterates anything in front of you but has scarce ammo available throughout the campaign.
Best Doom The Dark Ages upgrades
With 11 total weapons available to upgrade, there’s plenty to spend gold, rubies, and Wraithstones on. Thankfully, you don’t need to find every gold bar to get all the upgrades in the game, but there are a handful where you can toggle between different modes at any Sentinel Shrine. In addition, there are four separate Runes to enchant your shield with that come with their upgrades and three melee weapons of varying levels of handiness.
Best upgrade choices
Here is a list of the best Doom: The Dark Ages upgrade choices for every applicable weapon in the game:
- Combat Shotgun #1 – Smelt increases the number of armor pickups you get for burning demons, while Blast causes them to explode on death. Combined with the second perk, Smelt is by far the most helpful.
- Combat Shotgun #2 – Flare-Up is the perk to pick. It instantly burns any of the fodder demons, thus allowing you to repair your armor. Tune Up sounds good on paper, but you’ll end up rinsing through ammo.
- Shredder – Pincushion allows you to focus on one target, then detonate the rounds with either a parry of a Hell Surge attack or a successful Shield Throw. These will then scatter and hit any nearby target. Ricochet does hit demons if you shoot an enemy affected by a Shield Saw’s drilling, but it triggers less often.
- Impaler – Chronospike gives you a slowdown effect that helps line up headshots. With the chaotic gameplay, it can be difficult to be precise, so it’s generally preferred over Salvager, which powers up your next shot whenever you pick up Impaler ammo.
- Accelerator #1 – This is a bit of a toss-up. Stabilizer reduces the spread, while Modulator increases the rate of fire at max charge. Combined with the second perk, Modulator is more useful, but only just.
- Accelerator #2 – Heatblast is the most fun perk of the two. Releasing the button at max charge to fire a massive blast that gets you more Accelerator ammo is immensely more satisfying than Mega Cell, which has the max charge take longer to cool down.
- Ravager – Ignition is the clear winner here. Having no penalty for moving while firing and taking less time to reach the maximum fire rate is better than Slow Burn, increasing the fire rate at the cost of taking longer to reach it, while amplifying the movement debuff.
- Rocket Launcher – Blood Sacrifice is the riskier of the two as it increases the splash damage of missiles upon their detonation. However, if you keep the Cannibalism perk active by parrying enemy attacks, these will heal rather than hurt you. Cooked is a decent enough option by increasing raw damage, but Blood Sacrifice improves your rate of survival enough.
Best Melee weapons
The Power Gauntlet is the fastest and most versatile of the three choices. The Dreadmace can instantly kill an enemy standing before you, but its general recharge time is too long. On top of that, the upgrades you get for the Gauntlet can add a fourth hit to your melee combo, while bolstering the final hit and shocking an enemy with the first.
That said, the Flail is the best option for those not using a shotgun as their primary weapon, as it can generate armor from enemies. With all the upgrades equipped, each strike will engulf enemies in flames and produce armor shards for you to grab, while its ability to break shields faster is immensely valuable later in the game.
Best Shield Rune upgrades
There are a total of four runes you will collect as you progress through Doom: The Dark Ages‘ campaign. You trigger each effect by parrying Hell Surge projectiles. The Ground Fissure affects the most enemies of the four Runes with its damaging wave, Holy Swarm throws daggers at enemies, and Heaven Splitter strikes nearby foes with lightning bolts to stun them for a short time.
However, of all four options, the best one is the Auto Turret. It concentrates its fire on a single target in front of you. A fully upgraded Auto Turret is especially handy for dealing with those peskier foes, such as Revenants, Witches, and especially the Cacodemons. It also causes any hit enemy to drop small health packs, improving your overall survivability against the Cosmic Baron or Komodo, whose relentless melee attacks are bookended by projectile attacks.
