Arch-vile (Doom 3)

The Arch-Vile in Doom 3 is a large, off-white coloured humanoid demon, standing a head taller than a normal human even in its standard semi-crouched pose. Its elongated arms are both terminated in bloody tumor-like bloated hands with huge, inward-retracted claws. The Arch-Vile is a relatively high-level demon, possessing more than 5 times as much health as an Imp and about half as much health as a Hell Knight. As with its previous Doom incarnations, the Arch-Vile can be easily underestimated. Though not nearly as durable as "powerhouse" creatures like Hell Knights or Mancubi, the Arch-Vile's varied attacks and ability to summon other demons make it one of the tougher enemies to defeat for it will instantly summon demons after its appearance (most commonly, far away from the player's position). Many players feel the Arch-Vile needs to be killed as soon as possible, often with the Soul Cube, the BFG, or the rocket launcher.

Fortunately, Arch-Viles are usually encountered alone, although they can quickly summon additional demons as backup.

Combat Characteristics
Though it cannot revive defeated enemies like the classic version, due to their bodies burning away instead of leaving a corpse, the Arch-Vile makes up for this by being capable of summoning many of the non-boss demons (though Imps & zombie commandos are more common, Cherubs and Wraiths have also been noted). It can also slash its victims at close range, as well as fire a fast-moving column of fire that can seriously hurt the player, causing up to 20 points of damage. In some special cases, it is capable of making the ground erupt in flames underneath the player similarly to its original attack, but this time, it's possible to dodge it, although it requires that players constantly be on the move. First examples are encountered in Delta Labs Sector 2.

Tactical Analysis
Without possession of the Soul Cube, killing the Arch Vile is a top priority; charging the Soul Cube using his reinforcements is the only reason to hesitate in attacking it (this should be considered by advanced players only). At long range, the BFG is the best weapon, and a two-point projectile is recommended. Arch-viles are very slow and use no projectile weapons, making it impossible for them to shoot or evade the BFG projectile. Also effective are Chaingun, Plasma Gun, and Rocket Launcher. The Enforcer ("machine gun") is not recommended since it requires almost a full magazine of direct hits to kill it. At close range, the Shotgun or Combat Shotgun (Resurrection of Evil) are recommended. At close range, it will usually take three or four shotgun blasts, but it is just barely possible, though extremely rare, to kill it in two.