Dark Lord

Davoth, also known as the Dark Lord and apparently the same being as the Nameless One&mdash;also called the Lord of the Fourth Age&mdash;is the ruler of Hell. He first occurs in Doom (2016) in the form of a demonic voice, and is first seen at the end of The Ancient Gods, Part One when he is forced to assume physical form and shown to be almost identical in appearance to the Doom Slayer.

Originally believed to be a creation of the Father, it was revealed in The Ancient Gods, Part Two that the Dark Lord was the first being and creator of the Father, the Maykrs and the Slayer. His lieutenants are the Archdemons, who enforce his will unquestioningly.

Origin and betrayal
Davoth originated as the ruler of the realm of Jekkad which preceded all other worlds. Although Jekkad was considered a paradise, Davoth sought to grant his people the gift of immortality as he was Jekkad's only immortal inhabitant; when his own efforts failed, Davoth created the Maykrs and the Father to devise a solution as their machine minds could work on the problem in unison. Although the Maykrs eventually succeeded, they deemed the knowledge too dangerous to share with Davoth as they had concluded that he would eventually become a threat to all of existence. The Maykrs worked together to seal Davoth and Jekkad away, then rewrote their history to portray the Father as their creator and Davoth as his wayward servant. Angered by this perceived betrayal, Davoth was consumed by vengeance and gradually warped into the Nameless One; in turn, Jekkad became a realm of chaos and evil that in time would come to be known as Hell.

In time, Davoth's legions of demons managed to reach into other worlds and conquer them. As the conquest continued, the Father confronted him and tore out his life sphere, preventing him from taking a physical form. The Father was reluctant to completely destroy his creator and instead had the life sphere stored in Ingmore's Sanctum high above the Blood Swamps; he then had his own life sphere stored alongside it. Although the Nameless One could not lead his armies in person, he continued to command them through dark whispers and was able to influence the minds of others, particularly those who were susceptible to corruption. This power allowed the Dark Lord to initiate a plot to destroy those who had betrayed him, using a weapon that they themselves would create.

Creating the Slayer
At some point after Hell's alliance with the Maykrs began, the Dark Lord planted the prophecy of a "chosen one" in the Khan Maykr's mind - an unknown being who would appear among the Night Sentinels and rise to threaten her rule. Eager to destroy this perceived threat, the Khan directed the construction of the Divinity Machine, unknowingly using a fragment of the Dark Lord which had been stored by the Father in the coffins of Urdak, in hopes that the machine would identify the chosen one before they became a threat. When Taras Nabad came under siege, the Dark Lord planted visions and seditious thoughts in Samur Maykr's mind to convince him that the Khan was leading her people to ruin. Unknowingly compelled by the Dark Lord, Samur brought the Outlander, a powerful warrior who had mysteriously appeared on Argent D'Nur and quickly worked his way up the ranks of the Night Sentinels, to the Divinity Machine, reversing its polarity to empower the stranger and turn him into what would become the Doom Slayer.

Doom (2016)
Prior to the events of Doom (2016), the voice of the Nameless One contacted Olivia Pierce and offered to ease her constant pain in exchange for her assistance in opening a portal to Hell on Mars. During the game, the same voice is heard threatening her over her failure to keep the Slayer from being reawakened, and repeatedly urges the demons to oppose the Slayer during his excursions into Hell.

It is widely presumed that the Nameless One must be the same entity as Davoth, the Dark Lord, and most of the lore of Doom Eternal points to this conclusion. However, a similar voice to that of the Nameless One occurs in Urdak during the death of the Khan Maykr, screaming the word, "No!", as her life sphere dissipates. Game director Hugo Martin has stated that this voice is not the Dark Lord, but a different, unseen entity, and accordingly, the caption for the voice changed multiple times during Doom Eternal's update history. In Update 2, the caption's name was changed to "Dark Lord", but in Update 5 it was restored to "Mysterious Voice". It has been noted that, as it was the Dark Lord's intent for the Slayer to destroy the Khan Maykr, having him object at this point would be inconsistent story-wise.

The lore of Doom (2016) also pointed out that there had been other Lords of Hell, naming at least two others: the Serpent and the Guardian. If Davoth was a primordial being and the creator god, this element of lore comes into question: what the timing of the rule of other Dark Lords may have been, and whether they ruled exclusively or shared their power with the Nameless One, being manifested physically while he remained a mere spiritual presence.

Doom Eternal
In The Ancient Gods, Part One, the Slayer travels to Ingmore's Sanctum and retrieves the Dark Lord's life sphere, intending to bring it to the Luminarium in Urdak in order to force him to take a physical form; the Codex states that the Dark Lord can only be destroyed when he has a physical body, but should this happen then every demon outside of Hell would be immediately destroyed as their connection to their reality is severed. When the Dark Lord is restored, he is revealed to be identical in appearance to the Slayer, even bearing the Slayer's mark on his back. The Father states that "he is you [the Slayer], in their world" and that the Dark Lord is not so much a king as he is a warrior, the only being strong enough to control Hell.

Part Two follows on immediately from Part One with the Slayer trying to shoot the Dark Lord, which has no effect as combat is forbidden within the Luminarium. The Dark Lord tells the Slayer to face him at Immora before departing through a slipgate; by the time the Slayer reaches Immora, Davoth has gathered an army of demons and is wearing a large red suit of power armor in the shape of a demon, fitted with two plasma cannons, a grenade launcher and an energy sword and shield. After fighting through the city, the Slayer reaches the Dark Lord's throne room and challenges him to ritual combat - during the battle, the Dark Lord reveals that he was the first being (which the Father confirms following a demand from the Dark Lord), and was betrayed and sealed away by his creations. Despite knowing he has been lied to by the Father, the Slayer defeats the Dark Lord and kills him by stabbing the Doomblade into the artifact on his chest, causing his life sphere to be released and to explode.

Codex entries from Part Two confirm that the Dark Lord foresaw that the Slayer would pursue and destroy the Khan Maykr once her alliance with Hell was exposed; she would be destroyed by a weapon she had helped create, giving the Dark Lord the vengeance he sought. Because of Samur's actions in hiding the Father, the Dark Lord also intended for the Slayer to destroy him as well. The Dark Lord knew that he would eventually have to face his creation, but intended to meet the challenge instead of fleeing.

Tactical analysis
The Dark Lord normally attacks with a plasma cannon at range, and tries to hit you with an energy sword up-close - it is important to dodge his melee attacks as much as possible, as successful melee blows will regenerate the Dark Lord's health based on how much damage is inflicted on the Slayer. The Dark Lord has five health bars; each time his health is depleted, perform a glory kill on him to begin the next phase of the fight.

Fighting the Dark Lord is similar to battling a marauder; he normally carries a shield that deflects incoming fire, but will drop the shield momentarily when he performs a particular melee attack. To damage the Dark Lord you must get close and wait for him to turn away and flash green; attacking at this moment will stun the Dark Lord for a few seconds, and you should immediately follow up with a slam from the Sentinel Hammer to keep him stunned for longer and give you more time to deplete his health; quick-switching between the super shotgun and ballista is a good way to deal significant damage. If you get close to the Dark Lord and he readies a melee attack but does not flash green, dash away immediately - attacking when the Dark Lord is not vulnerable will also cause him to regain health.

Throughout the fight, ammo, armor and health are scattered around the arena; if you need more supplies quickly, use the flame belch and chainsaw on the zombies around the arena to replenish yourself. The Dark Lord can also summon wolves that each drop half a hammer charge when killed.


 * Phase One - stay close to the Dark Lord (but not too close) to avoid being blasted by his plasma cannon and attack when the opportunity presents itself. After the Dark Lord regains his balance, back off and wait for him to summon a wolf which you can kill to recharge your hammer.
 * Phase Two - the Dark Lord will teleport you and him to Earth. He will now summon two wolves at a time, and can launch bombs that bounce a few times before exploding. The Dark Lord can also dash at you with his shield - if the shield flashes blue, immediately dash to the side twice to avoid the attack and get out of range of any follow-up slams.
 * Phase Three - this is the same as Phase Two, but whenever the Dark Lord summons wolves he will also summon an orange Hell knight; ignore it if possible and focus on the Dark Lord (any summoned demons that are hit by the hammer will instantly die, and the knight will probably be within range when you use the hammer on the Dark Lord).
 * Phase Four - this phase begins after a short cutscene, ending with the Dark Lord teleporting you and him to Ingmore's Sanctum. The Dark Lord can now summon a group of four demons, including a mancubus, a pain elemental, a baron of Hell and a tyrant; unless you are in serious danger, continue saving your hammer charges for the Dark Lord and depleting his health as quickly as possible.
 * Phase Five - this is the same as Phase Four. Deplete his health as quickly as possible while keeping an eye on your own health and armor.

Strategy
Although there are similarities between fighting the Dark Lord and a Marauder, there is a significant difference between both. Whereas the Marauder will continuously try to get closer to the player to melee assault them, the Dark Lord will keep its distance and attack from afar as much as he can afford to. Player must get closer to the Dark Lord in order to trigger his melee attacks so as to create an opening to deal damage. Of all melee attacks he uses only the side swipe exposes him to being stunned, neither the downward swing nor the shield dash will work for a counterattack and they both must be dodge by dashing to the sides, as even the downward swing has misleading range and can cause players to be hit if they try to dash back.

The overall structure of the fight therefore should be to avoid the long range attacks of the Dark Lord while getting closer. Carefully observe the melee attack to be used by the Dark Lord and either dash away or attack accordingly. If HP/Armor or Ammo are lacking, kill the ever spawning Possessed. Players are recommended to use the Super Shotgun as the standard weapon to employ, as it can easily kill the Dark Lord's summoned wolves and it can be used in conjunction with the Ballista for massive damage through quick-switching. It's hook can also be advantageous to resupply with the Posssesed.

As the battle progresses the Dark Lord will get harder and more aggressive, employing new attacks. Summoning more demons along or apart from the wolves incorporate its shield attack (from phase to onwards) and worse of all, drastically increase the HP regained through its melee attacks. Phase four onwards, the Dark Lord can summon a horde of demons which can be easily destroyed with the Sentinel Hammer. Players are, however, encouraged to resist the temptation to group kill them instantly, especially if the Dark Lord is nearby (which is typically the case when summoning them) as using the Sentinel Hammer, disables the player from doing anything else during the sequence, and they can leave themselves exposed to the Dark Lord's melee attacks while being largely unable to evade as a result of the brief delay after using the Hammer. At this point in the battle, being hit by the Dark Lord's melee can almost regenerate his entire HP bar and thwart the player's progress. As such it is recommended to isolate the bigger threats (like the Tyrant or Baron) and then deal with them if they are too problematic. Fortunately neither has as much HP as the originals and they also fade over time.

With 5 HP bars (and most likely more if he successfully regenerates), this will be largely a battle of attrition and patience. Player must take advantage of every opportunity that arises to deal damage, but they must also avoid recklessness lest they ruin their progress by regenerating the Dark Lord's HP. There are fortunately several checkpoints throughout the fight. Circle around the stage for all the HP, Armor and Ammo that players might need before tackling on the Dark Lord openly. Whenever the Dark Lord is stunned, always use the Sentinel Hammer to extend its stun and leave him open to more damage. As such it is recommended that players always have their Hammer charged before trying to attack the Dark Lord so as to guarantee the maximum damage possible.

Trivia

 * In the "Hall of Excellence" in the Advanced Research Complex level of Doom (2016), one of the overhead screens has "All hail the Dark Lord" written on it.