Quake Champions: Doom Edition



Quake Champions: Doom Edition (also known as QC: Doom Edition or QCDE) is a gameplay mod based on featuring custom classes, weapons and monsters. It originally was designed for Zandronum 3.0, with compatibility for GZDoom from 1.8.6 to 4.3.3 and Delta Touch.

Current releases come with a fork of the Zandronum source port called Q-Zandronum providing improved netcode, Quake-style movement and Quality-of-Life improvements, whilst maintaining compatibility with Zandronum and GZDoom. QC:DE boasts balanced gameplay across the single player, numerous PvP and cooperative game modes.

It was granted the Multiplayer award at the 2018 Cacowards.

Main features

 * Can be played with its own fork, Q-Zandronum. A special patch is provided taking advantage of the new features of this engine.


 * Can be played as a standalone game. Resources from the FreeDoom project are utilized to make this possible.


 * 31 unique champions, each with their own active and passive abilities.


 * 11 weapons from Quake Champions, plus one.


 * Monsters from Doom, Doom II, Doom (2016), Quake, ' and '.


 * Map completion bonuses (nicknamed "lootboxes").


 * Extremely flexible difficulty: apart from traditional skill levels, different classes can be harder or easier to play in single player.


 * Damage numbers show how much damage you deal to everything. They can be switched off, too.


 * Rocket jumping, crouch-sliding and nail climbing, it's almost like Defrag scene never died.


 * Zandronum 3.0 compatible. Use Doomseeker or any other server browser to find games in progress.


 * Delta Touch compatible.


 * GZDoom 1.8.6 to 4.3.3 compatible.


 * Player-versus-environment compatible -- and designed for that. This includes single player, multiplayer cooperative and survival.


 * Player-versus-player (PvP) compatible -- and rebalanced for that. Deathmatch, Team DM, Capture the Flag, Domination, Last Man Standing all supported.


 * Duel-oriented, with occasional tournaments commentated live by Quake Champions casters.


 * New PvP game modes: Freeze Tag, Elder's Soul (Terminator), Instagib, Unholy Trinity, and more.

Maps


QCDE comes with two mapsets for Deathmatch and Last Man Standing modes: Aeon Deathmatch for QCDE (AeonQCDE.pk3) and QCDE maps (QCDEmaps2.7.pk3).

AeonQCDE is a version of AeonDM edited to contain QCDE weapons and specific map markers. QCDE mapset consists of 43 contributions created specifically for QCDE by DBThanatos, RoosTer, Mr.Enchanter, Ivan Dobrovski, Abysswalker, Mr.Rocket, Ivory Duke and Killerkouhai.

Unofficial maps have also been made by mod's community, such as RoosTer's Invasion mapset.

Champions (Playable characters)
All champions have individual health/armour caps, referred to as stacks. Champions themselves are divided into three classes:


 * Light (A.K.A. squishies): Smaller than average hitbox, low stack, generally fast.


 * Medium: Standard doom hitbox, medium stack, medium speed.


 * Heavy (A.K.A. tanks): Big hitbox, large stack, slower movement.

The stacks are “lower” compared to Doom, and light champions seem rather fragile, since they have low caps for health and armour. However, this is countered by their abilities. Light champions have ways of healing or escaping dangerous situations — as opposed to tanks, whose abilities are more about dealing with danger face-to-face.

The fact that stacks are relatively low overall is compensated by healing items giving much more health than traditional Doom pickups, and armor being much more common. Therefore, it's possible to lose health quickly, but so long as an escape route is available, lost health can be gained back in a heartbeat.

Classes in single player
In GZDoom, player pawn size is always set to standard, so players don't have to worry about hitboxes.

For single player in older source ports, only “Medium” champions are recommended. Light Champion hitboxes are very slim, allowing them to fit through bars or other tight crevices where players aren’t supposed to fit. Conversely, Heavy Champion hitboxes are considerably bigger and won't fit in the tightest of places where the player might be expected to go. It's still possible to play any class, but if map progression is broken, the responsibility is on the player.

Regarding difficulty, playing single-player or cooperative with Medium champions is playing QCDE in “normal” mode. Playing with Light champions is more of a challenge, and playing with Heavy ones is a bit on the easier side because of their large stacks.

Active and passive abilities


Abilities define the play style of the characters. For example, Kane, being inherently fast, has even greater speed while crouch-sliding, which allows both to deliver firepower right into the enemy's lair and retreat, possibly using Stroyent Injection which instantly restores his health in case his plan goes awry. As the opposite example, Terminator hardly ever needs to retreat, as his ability to passively restore ammo alongside a freely triggered rocket barrage ensures that he can deal with any threat without slowing the pace.

Some ability effects differ slightly between PvE and PvP (Deathmatch, CTF and the likes). Usually, PvE abilities have a stronger, more pronounced effect, and a fittingly longer cooldown time between uses. This increases the value of "time shards"—the hourglass-shaped bonuses that reduce cooldown by 10%.

List of champions
31 playable classes are present, each with a unique active ability and one or two unique passive abilities:


 * Ranger (Medium) -- Dire Orb, Rocket Resistance
 * Doomslayer (Medium) -- BFG-9000, Double Jump
 * Corvus (Medium) -- Wings of Wrath, Elven Vitality
 * Bitterman (Medium) -- Power Shield, Bandoliers, Stabilized Homeostasis
 * Galen (Medium) -- Unholy Totem, Channeling
 * Duke Nukem (Medium) -- Freeze Thrower, Huge Ego
 * Sarge (Medium) -- Veteran
 * Grayson (Medium) -- Leash Thumper, Personal Dropkit, Bounty Hunter
 * Blazkowicz (Medium) -- Kraftsman, Blitz
 * Gordon Freeman (Medium) -- Antigravity Discharge, H.E.V. Suit, Extraction
 * Painkiller (Medium) -- Black Tarot, Demon Morph, Painkiller Weapon
 * Kane (Light) -- Stroyent Injection, Crouchslide
 * Caleb (Light) -- Life Steal, Life Essence
 * Menelkir (Light) -- Dark Servant, Hex
 * Nyx (Light) -- Ghostwalk, Walljump
 * Durandal (Light) -- Simulacrums, Unified Vitality, Infra-Chromatic Unveil
 * Lo Wang (Light) -- Nobitsura Kage, Peacock's Blessing, Tiger's Rage
 * Eleena (Light) -- Dopplegänger, Leap, Training Weights
 * Lucienne (Light) -- Cleansing Fire, Blessing, Immolation
 * Hunter (Light) -- Voodoo Guardian, Sixth Sense (PvP only), Spoils of the Hunt
 * Postal Dude (Light) -- Diseased Cow Head, Cracked Lungs, Crouch Jump
 * Terminator (Heavy) -- Barrage, Ammo Regen
 * Zedek (Heavy) -- Quietus, Cannonball, Iron Feet (PvE only)
 * Inquisitor (Heavy) -- Reflection, Thrust Dodge, Still Defense
 * Sorgaul (Heavy) -- Primal Rage, Armor Hoarder
 * Keel (Heavy) -- Grenade Swarm, Stockpile
 * Eradicator (Heavy) -- Scanner, Inductive Healing, Murderface
 * Vor Matur (Heavy) -- Horror, Excess Matter, Corrosive Blood
 * Major (Heavy) -- Air Strike, Wall Climb, Tall Lean & Mean
 * Serious Sam (Heavy) -- Complementary Ammo, Seriously Loaded, Serious Minigun
 * The Intruder (Medium) -- His Sparks, Treasure Hunter, Wendigo's Curse

Active abilities are:


 * Dire Orb: Ranger's personal teleporter.
 * BFG-9000: Doomslayer's iconic weapon. melts armor or slows naked targets.
 * Wings of Wrath: Corvus' short flight at high speed.
 * Power Shield: Bitterman's extra armor that he can apply at any time. In coop and TDM, excess armor is dropped for allies to pick up.
 * Unholy Totem: Galen's land mine that heals allies.
 * Freeze Thrower: Duke's coolest weapon, complete with kick alternative attack. Slows down and eventually freezes enemies in place.
 * Leash Thumper: Grayson's signature attack from Bulletstorm, it lifts enemies in the air and immobilizes them temporarily.
 * Kraftsman: Blaskowicz can temporarily dual wield the Dieselkraftwerk and Laserkraftwerk from Wolfenstein: The New Colossus.
 * Antigravity Discharge: Freeman can activate a blast in his location that pushes nearby enemies and projectiles away. Its power increases with time and damage received. c
 * Black Tarot: Upon activation, Painkiller can fill three card slots with any combination of cards of his choosing for extra damage, extra protection and/or extra speed.
 * Stroyent Injection: Kane's instant healing and speed boost.
 * Life Steal: Caleb can heal by dealing damage for a short time.
 * Dark Servant: Menelkir can summon a mighty Maulotaur to do his bidding that disappears should its summoner die.
 * Ghostwalk: Nyx can disappear into thin air and reappear silently when she's least expected. She can telefrag enemies if she reappears in their exact spot.
 * Simulacrums: Durandal can teleport fake B.o.B.'s into the arena to blindly chase opponents until they explode.
 * Nobitsura Kage: Lo Wang slashes twice with his katana, sending short-ranged energy waves that deal heavy damage.
 * Dopplegänger: Eleena can create a clone of herself to confuse and distract enemies. Using the ability a second time teleports her to the clone's location.
 * Cleansing Fire: Lucienne can shoot fireballs that can damage and increase damage taken by enemies, or heal herself and/or her allies.
 * Voodoo Guardian: Hunter summons a skull that automatically fires at enemies. In PvP, enemies hit will leave a trail for her to follow.
 * Diseased Cow Head: Postal Dude throws a cow head that creates a poisonous cloud that lingers for a while, damaging enemies and ignoring armor
 * Barrage: Terminator's torrent of homing rockets.
 * Quietus: Zedek's final option, leaves flames that continue burning for some time after the hit.
 * Reflection: Inquisitor becomes invulnerable for a duration. Use again to become a huge shield for the team.
 * Primal Rage: Sorgaul gets regeneration, extra speed, and devastating melee attacks.
 * Grenade Swarm: Keel can fire up to 5 grenades, regenerating them one by one.
 * Scanner: Eradicator can activate a display in his HUD that shows the location of enemies, powerups, and weapons.
 * Horror: Vor Matur fires a blast that blinds enemies temporarily.
 * Air Strike: Major can summon bombs that fall on locations she marks by using the "fire" key.
 * Serious Minigun: Serious Sam brings out his trademark minigun to fill enemies with lead. Hourglasses don't reduce its cooldown, but grants ammo for the minigun instead.
 * Wendigo's Curse: Intruder becomes invisible while he doesn't fire or take any damage. While completely invisible, he leaves behind a trace of blood and becomes noisy. While in this state, he's more resistant and deals less damage. After being visible again, all buffs and debuffs are nulified.

Passive abilities are:
 * Rocket Resilience: Ranger's natural resistance to rocket damage, helps with rocket jumps.
 * Double Jump: Doomslayer's thrusters that he can activate in mid-air.
 * Elven Vitality: Corvus regenerates health passively.
 * Bandoliers: Bitterman can always carry more ammo than other champions.
 * Stabilized Homeostasis: Bitterman's HP and armor stacks degenerate much slower.
 * Channeling: Galen restores cooldown by picking up health items.
 * Huge Ego: Duke gets more health from health pickups.
 * Veteran: Sarge has classic Quake 3 stack: spawns with 125 health that ticks down to 100, and gets up to 200 health and armor from big pickups.
 * Personal Dropkit: Grayson can refill 50% of his currently equipped weapon by holding the "use" key, at the cost of 25 armor.
 * Bounty Hunter: Grayson gets armor every time he kills an enemy.
 * Blitz: If he doesn't take damage in 3 seconds, Blaskowicz's health will quickly regenerate to the nearest multiple of 25.
 * H.E.V. Suit: Freeman receives no environmental damage. Also, collecting LG ammo grants him armour, while collecting BFG ammo reduces his active cooldown time.
 * Extraction: When he's about to receive a lethal hit, Freeman is transported elsewhere in the map with 25 hp. This has a 60 seconds cooldown time.
 * Demon Morph: Upon collecting 66 souls (in PvP each soul is worth 11), Painkiller will turn into a demon.
 * Painkiller Weapon: Painkiller's gauntlet is replaced by the Painkiller weapon, which does more damage and has a ranged alt-fire.
 * Crouchslide: Kane can get a speed boost if he crouches at the moment when he lands from a jump.
 * Life Essence: Enemies killed by Caleb drop life essence pickups that can overstack his health.
 * Hex: Menelkir makes enemies killed drop hourglasses that restore cooldown.
 * Walljump: Nyx can jump off walls, decorations and enemies.
 * Unified Vitality: Picking up armour will refill missing portions of Durandal's health first.
 * Infra-Chromatic Unveil: Durandal can always see invisible or phase-shifting beings.
 * Peacock's Blessing: Lo Wang can quickly regenerate his health up to 60 HP by quickly tapping "right" twice and holding "use".
 * Tiger's Rage: If Lo Wang's HP is below 40, he does 30% more damage with all of his attacks.
 * Leap: Eleena can increase her jump height by holding the "jump" key.
 * Training Weights: Eleena moves much faster when she has no armor.
 * Blessing: Lucienne's armor overstack do not degenerate.
 * Immolation: Upon dying, Lucienne creates a powerful explosion that deals heavy damage.
 * Sixth Sense: When Hunter aims her crosshairs at an enemy, they create a trail she can follow (PvP only).
 * Spoils of the Hunt: When Hunter kills an enemy, she gets either a max HP, Armor or ammo increase that lasts until she dies.
 * Cracked Lungs: Postal Dude receives a +75 health overcharge upon collecting a Mega Health that doesn't decay for 40 seconds. After that time, unless he picks up another Mega Health, his overstack will quickly decay or he will take 25 hp damage if he has no overstack.
 * Crouch Jump: When jumping while crouching, Postal Dude will perform a high jump.
 * Ammo Regeneration: Terminator slowly regenerates ammo for his selected weapon. In coop and TDM, excess ammo is dropped for allies to pick up.
 * Cannonball: Zedek deals falling damage in the area where he lands from heights.
 * Iron Feet: Zedek is immune to environmental damage (PvE only)
 * Thrust Dodge: Inquisitor can accelerate in a direction by double-tapping the key.
 * Still Defense: Inquisitor receives less damage when not moving.
 * Armor Hoarder: Sorgaul gets more armor from every pickup.
 * Stockpile: Keel regenerates grenades by picking up any ammunition, including that which goes with weapon pickups.
 * Murderface: Eradicator's damage increases as he kills enemies.
 * Inductive Healing: Picking up medium and large healing items will also grant Eradicator some armor.
 * Excess Matter: Vor Matur has a massive HP pool, but cannot pick up armour. He also receives less knockback from hits.
 * Corrosive Blood: Blood sprayed by Vor Matur when taking hits does damage to enemies.
 * Wall Climb: Major can climb some walls by holding the "jump" key near them.
 * Tall, Lean & Mean: Major has a smaller hitbox than other Heavy champions.
 * Complementary Ammo: Medium and large armor pickups refill ammo for Serious Sam's currently equipped weapon.
 * Seriously Loaded: Serious Sam starts with all three starting weapons.
 * His Sparks: The Intruder gets a Speed Boost after killing an enemy.
 * Treasure Hunter: PvE Only. Intruder gains additional armor by finding secrets.

Monster replacement


The player can use monsters from Doom, Doom 4, Quake 1, Quake 2 and Quake 4. More than that, players can mix and match monster sets — for example, picking both Quake 2 and Quake 4 would be fighting against united Strogg forces.

All monsters emit damage numbers when hurt.

Monster randomization has two modes: classic, as known by the likes of Aeons of Death and other randomizer mods, and one theme per map, selecting only one of the enabled themes at random for each map.

Custom monster themes
QC:DE features an ACS-based API that allows third-party monster themes to be cleanly interfaced with the mod. As a result, over 40 monster sets have been developed by the community members, mainly porting monsters from other popular games into QCDE. Each monster set can be played exclusively, replacing all monsters, or in combination with other monster sets, built-in or third-party.

Several monster theme addons have been released officially by the mod's team, including Heretic, Marathon and Doom 3 monsters. A tutorial for making monsters compatible with QCDE is available on ModDB, as well as a template theme file to plug values into.

Lootboxes
During single player or cooperative games, killing all monsters and finding all secrets on a map is rewarded with a random tiered bonus, represented by a lootbox. Like in Quake Champions, there are three reward tiers on this surprise mechanic: Backpack, Chest and Reliquary. Lootboxes reward player for map knowledge and perseverance during secret hunting.

Backpacks contain rewards that are immediately useful, such as a random weapon, an ammo refill, or a megahealth. Chests contain more significant rewards, such as a strong powerup to be given on the next map, or sometimes, even two. Reliquaries, the most prized lootboxes, contain permanent improvements such as max health or max ammo increase.

In multiplayer games, every player gets their own lootbox once all monsters have been killed and all secrets found. It is therefore especially beneficial to party as a whole to complete the map perfectly.

It's worth noting that at no point do surprise mechanics of this mod ever cross ways with real world money. The lootboxes of QC:DE are completely free.

Original soundtrack


Soundtrack consists of the album Augmented of original metal music by Michael Markie and covers of songs from Doom, Quake 1 and 2 and Blood.

Excerpts have been featured as outro music for released videos, and as background music for Kane deathmatch video.

Competitive scene
Owing to its Quake roots, Quake Champions: Doom Edition has developed a competitive scene. Several duel tournaments with monetary prizes have been held. The most successful series, TastyCups, has seen 7 tournaments to date, the latest one in May 2020. TastyCups are organized and casted by Alex "Jehar" Popa, known for also casting Quake Champions tournaments.

Released videos

 * Original trailer
 * Latest version trailer (v2.7, DuskDude release)
 * In-depth tutorial about mod options
 * Cooperative Survival by Terminator and Galen
 * Terminator vs Doom monsters
 * Ranger vs monsters
 * Bitterman vs monsters
 * Kane vs monsters
 * FFA shown from Kane's POV
 * Caleb vs Nyx duel, shown from Caleb's POV
 * Nyx vs Sorgaul duel, shown from Nyx's POV
 * Team Deathmatch shown from Galen's POV
 * Capture the Flag shown from Kane's POV
 * Tournament duel between DBThanatos (as Grayson) and Sarabax (as Doomslayer), casted by Jehar on TastyCups #4
 * Tournament duel between Necrophag1st (as Lucienne) and Pikawa (as Terminator), casted by Jehar and BouvToTheMax on TastyCups #4

Credits

 * Created by: DBThanatos, Michaelis
 * Sprites: Captain J, Franco Tieppo
 * Character sprites: DrPyspy, YukiHerz, Abysswalker, Simploo, Revenatn, Nash Muhandes
 * Voice acting: George Exley, David M. Neyland, Gianni Matragrano
 * Testing: Ragequit, Jckfrbn, A_D_M_E_R_A_L, Abysswalker, Ivory Duke
 * Additional testing: ElRetardo, Barbarossa, VDRK, Bryina, DoomKrakken, Matsilagi
 * Official soundtrack: Michael Markie
 * Official manual: Barbarossa, Ivory Duke
 * Champion lore: Ivory Duke
 * Permission to edit Aeon Deathmatch: Decay, Razgriz
 * QCDE maps: DBThanatos, RoosTer, MrEnchanter, Abysswalker, Ivan Dobrovski, Ivory Duke, Killerkouhai, Mr.Rocket
 * HD portraits: Legendbourne
 * Voxels: Ivory Duke
 * Additional credits: DeXiaZ, Jimmy, Xaser, Breadbagfly, Chronoteeth, Mechadon, Zanieon, KeksDose, TwelveEyes