Doom hunter

The Doom Hunter is a new monster which first occurs in Doom Eternal. It is a half-demon, half-mechanical monstrosity, reminiscent of Sabaoth, armed with multiple weapons, including a large cannon, a dual-bladed chainsaw, two forward-facing guns which fire plasma projectiles, and a multiple-launch missile system. It hovers and moves via jets that fire below and behind it. The Doom Hunter has 2 forms, the first with the sled, and the other with the sled destroyed. In second form, he loses missiles, plasma cannons and shield, at the same time becoming faster and more aggressive. It has been referred to as an "arch-nemesis" of the Doom Slayer by id Software. A voice-over from Deag Ranak, one of the three Hell priests, indicates that the Doom Hunter is an ancient type of demon specifically created to hunt the Doom Slayer and the Night Sentinels. Though it once stalked the Earth millions of years ago in the Arctic, its present form was designed by this Hell priest, whom it now serves.

Tactical analysis
The Doom hunter first occurs in a boss fight at the end of the Doom Hunter Base level, first in a one-on-one conflict, followed immediately by a battle with two at once. The Doom hunter's shield, like other energy shields, is weak to the plasma rifle, particularly when combined with the heat blast or microwave beam mods; however, the shield will eventually regenerate as long as the hover sled is intact. When the shield cannot currently be attacked, the sled is always exposed and can be damaged with any weapons. The sled itself is particularly weak against the blood punch. It is notable that the first boss encounter with the Doom hunter has more health than the following encounters after its initial fight.

Once a Doom hunter's sled has taken enough damage, it will break down and the Doom hunter can be heard to say "critical damage." It will then permanently lose the ability to generate its shield and perform the attacks that depended on the sled's weapons (the plasma guns and the missile strikes), but will instead become faster and slightly more aggressive with its attacks. Breaking the sled is necessary, as the Doom hunter's first life bar represents only the condition of the sled. Once the sled has been destroyed, the boss bar will refill to represent the health of the Doom hunter's organic body and must be fully depleted again in order to defeat the creature.

After the Doom Hunter Base level, Doom hunters will begin to occur regularly as super heavy demons during particularly intense encounters.

Glory Kills

 * The Doom Slayer cuts through the Doom Hunter's head with the Doom Blade, vertically bisecting it.
 * The Doom Slayer punches the Doom Hunter before using the Doom blade to slice its body twice.
 * The Doom Slayer cuts the Doom Hunter's jet hover then grabs its left horn before plunging the Doomblade through the bottom of its head.

Pre-release
Though displayed as a concept render with a "final/refinement" designation during the 2018 game play presentation, the monster was not seen in action at that time. During the QuakeCon 2019 keynote, id Software showcased a teaser of the Doom Hunter in game play, revealing it as being able to use an energy shield to protect its upper half from attack, as well as displaying various facets of its attacks and behaviors in brief, including an ability to smash through obstacles in its path and to fire a missile barrage. In an interview it was stated the fight is two-staged. First, the player will have to disable his hover platform. As it is destroyed, the Doom Hunter will lose his missile launchers and plasma guns, detaching from the destroyed battle sled and hovering across the room, attacking the Slayer with its cannon and chainsaw.

Trivia

 * The Doom Hunter's designation as the Doom Slayer's "arch-nemesis" may be a reference to Nemesis, the villain of the Catacomb 3D series also developed by id. As with the Doom Hunter, Nemesis shares a skeletal design.