Difference between revisions of "Armor bonus"

Revision as of 16:20, 30 November 2022

A group of four armor bonuses in The Plutonia Experiment MAP18: Neurosphere.

Two lines of armor bonuses close by the exit room in Doom 64 MAP04: Holding Area.

An armor bonus (or spiritual armor according to the manuals) is a powerup that is introduced in E1M1: Hangar of the first Doom episode Knee-Deep in the Dead, alongside its health equivalent, the health bonus. Appearing in the very first room of the game, the two items are likely to be the first to be picked up by the player. It has the appearance of a bronze-gray helmet with a green glow emanating from within. In Doom 64 it retains a similar color scheme, but the design closely resembles the helmet and visor worn by the player character. Picking one up increases the player's armor percentage by one percent up to a maximum of 200 percent (or, in versions of Doom prior to 1.2, a much larger value). In Doom 64 and in console ports such as the Atari Jaguar and Sony PlayStation versions, on the other hand, it increases armor by 2% per helmet.

Green armor and blue megaarmor provide different levels of protection (one third and one half of damage, respectively, are absorbed per hit); armor bonuses do not change the type of protection currently in effect. If a player that has no armor picks up one or more armor bonuses, they grant one third protection, as the standard armor.

This item is counted in the items percentage displayed at the end of each level.

Data

Appearance statistics

In the IWADs the armor bonus is first encountered on these maps per skill level:

The IWADs contain the following numbers of armor bonuses per skill level:

Notes

• Armor bonuses are worth 2% in all ports derived from the Atari Jaguar codebase, including the Sega 32X, 3DO, Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Game Boy Advance editions.
• In Doom 3, the armor bonus is called an armor shard. It increases the player's armor rating by 5 units, up to a maximum of 125 units.
• In Doom RPG, the armor bonus is called an armor shard. It increases the player's armor rating by 4 units.
• After the score system was removed following the Doom press release beta, skull chests were reworked into armor bonuses, as seen during a visit to id Software, where armor bonuses use the sprite of skull chests.