Commando (Doom 3)

The Commando from Doom 3 looks vastly different from its Classic Doom Counterpart, wearing no shirt or armor, but wearing a futuristic helmet of a style reminiscent of World War II German helmets and a pair of camouflage army pants. They have a slightly different origin than other zombies, having been human marines transformed into brutal super warriors by the demonically possessed Dr. Betruger. They still maintain fragments of their human language as they can be heard growling the words "You!" and "Die!".

There are two types of Commando in Doom 3, one of which carries no firearm, but has a tentacle for a right arm. The other one has both its human arms intact and carries a chaingun. They are both extremely dangerous foes and are among the higher ranking Doom 3 monsters.

Combat Characteristics
General: Both types of Commandos are considerably tougher than their classic counterparts, capable of surviving a direct rocket hit. Suprisingly, when compared side by side, the Tentacle Commando is larger than the Chaingunner Commando.

Tentacle Commando
This guy charges straight at the player, moving faster than player's sprint speed. Whenever he gets within range, he will lash out with his tentacle arm, using it as a sort of whip. Occasionally, he will perform a short range leap attack which is nearly impossible to dodge and when he gets close enough not to rely solely on his tentacle "whip", he will punch, headbutt, and kick the player. Nothing except a killing hit can stop his charge or interrupt it.

They can easily be taken down by crouching under their initial tentacle attack and shooting them with the shotgun before they recover. Note however that while their tentacle cannot hit a crouching marine, their feet certainly can, so be prepared to dodge the resulting kick if your initial shots do not kill it.

Chaingunner
Arguably the single most dangerous non-boss monster in the game, he will only stop shooting if hurt significantly (when this occurs, he will make an "ow" sound, and run for cover) or killed. He carries a chaingun, which he fires in a single prolonged burst, and chases after the player when he is not firing. Occasionally he uses cover like the Z-Secs. Unlike his tentacle colleague, he has no melee attack.

Tentacle Commando
This guy is nearly impossible to shake off, so the best tactic is brute force. Using either the chaingun or the plasma gun against him is the most effective technique. Ducking whenever he attempts to hit the player with his tentacle is the only viable means for dodging his basic tentacle attack as the tentacle extends almost instantly. If you are crouched, he can kick you, but he is generally quite a bit slower to do so than to use his tentacle.

If he performs a leap attack, the only thing players can do is to keep firing and attempt to move sideways and backwards, hoping either to kill him before his attack strikes home or to successfully dodge the attack, the latter being a very rare occurrence. Players should always avoid getting within melee range with him as his melee punches and kicks are vicious and very difficult to dodge.

If surprised, one point-blank shotgun blast to the head will kill him instantly. Using this method, if the player can see him charging from a great enough distance, it is usually easy enough to sprint towards him with the shotgun and head-shot from point-blank for a one-shot kill. In RoE, the Double Barreled Shotgun is the optimal choice, since it kills them with ease.

If you do not want to waste ammunition on the Tentacle Commando, it is also relatively easy to kill him with the chainsaw. If the Commando leaps at you, duck, and attack him. If your aim is good, you can kill him before he starts to kick you.

Chaingun Commando
If ever there was a good reason to use the rocket launcher, this is it. Keep in mind that Commandos are so tough it takes two rockets to bring them down, unless they are hit in the face. Players should aim at the ground in front of the commando, and always keep a wall between them and the Commando. Alternately, players can use either chaingun or plasma gun against him, circlestrafing while firing repeatedly, as the chaingunner's spin-up delay in firing will delay his aim long enough to allow the player to be a step ahead of the spray.

Combat Details

 * Health: 170 (tentacle), 225 (chaingun)
 * Attack Damage: 12 (tentacle), 3 per round (chaingun)
 * Locations: Monorail - Delta Labs Sector 3, Delta Complex, Central Processing (both sectors), Caverns Area 1
 * Cheat Spawns: "spawn monster_zombie_commando (tentacle), "spawn monster_zombie_commando_cgun" (chaingun commando)