Difference between revisions of "Dragon claw"

From DoomWiki.org

[unchecked revision][checked revision]
(Screenshot)
(The balls look similar to the firemace's projectiles and it confused me whether it damaged ghosts or not, I figured it would be useful to specify after I tested to clarify.)
(26 intermediate revisions by 14 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
[[image:Heretic-DragonClaw.png|thumb|right|256px|Dragon Claw in Heretic E1M4]]
 
[[image:Heretic-DragonClaw.png|thumb|right|256px|Dragon Claw in Heretic E1M4]]
The '''Dragon Claw''' is a [[weapon]] in [[Heretic]]. It appears to be a glove made of a dragon's skin and claws, and takes [[Claw Orbs]] as ammo. The Dragon Claw rapid-fires [[hitscan]] energy bolts. When enhanced by a [[Tome of Power]], its firing rate is slower, but each shot splits into a ring of [[projectile]] spiked balls that tear through [[enemies]]. This weapon is always effective on [[Ghosts (Heretic)|ghosts]].
+
The '''Dragon Claw''' is a [[weapon]] in [[Heretic]]. It appears to be a glove made of a dragon's skin and claws, and takes [[Claw Orb]]s as ammo. The weapon appears first in [[E1M2: The Dungeons (Heretic)|E1M2: The Dungeons]] where it is obtainable via a secret area. Since it is the final one of the few weapons found in the shareware episode, it can be discovered on every later level as well, [[E1M4: The Guard Tower]] being the first map where the weapon lies in a non-secret area.
 +
 
 +
The Dragon Claw rapid-fires [[hitscan]] energy bolts. Each bolt deals 4-32 damage. Single shots have perfect accuracy while continued firing is less accurate. When enhanced by a [[Tome of Power]], its firing rate is slower and each shot costs 5 orbs instead of just one, but when a shot hits something, it splits into a ring of eight [[projectile]] spiked balls that tear through [[enemies]]. The balls deal 0-1 damage every tic they are inside an [[Iron Lich]], and 1-8 damage every tic they are inside any other enemy; this makes the weapon very effective against large groups of non-Lich enemies. Despite their appearance, the spiked balls deal damage to [[Ghosts (Heretic)|ghosts]] as well. This weapon is always effective on ghosts. It is also the most advanced weapon found in Heretic's first episode. Maximum capacity is 200 shots, or 400 with the [[Bag of Holding]].
 +
 
 +
== Strategy ==
 +
In non-powered mode, the Dragon Claw has a similar relationship to the [[Elven Wand]] as Doom's [[chaingun]] with the [[pistol]], but there are a few notable differences.  Each shot of the claw uses a different damage output formula from the wand, with lower lows and higher highs but dealing higher damage on average.  Unlike the chaingun, single shots can be fired.  Also, the wand and claw do not share an ammo pool with each other.
 +
 
 +
The unpowered Dragon Claw is good against creatures who are susceptible to stunlocking, serves as an excellent weapon for eliminating ghosts, and can be used to snipe enemies from afar by tapping the fire button.  It is easy to tell whether the weapon is hitting targets because an impact on a target creates a larger blue splash compared to the blue sparkles of impacts on walls.  Because it is a hitscan weapon, it can also be fired through solid decorative obstacles that would absorb projectiles, sometimes allowing the player to attack from behind cover.
 +
 
 +
When powered up, the claw is best reserved for large clusters of enemies in open spaces, in contrast to the [[Hellstaff]] whose powered mode is most effective dealing with large groups of enemies in tight spaces.  Using the powered claw against lone or small groups of enemies is generally a waste of claw orbs.
 +
 
 +
== Data ==
 +
 
 +
{{col-begin|width=auto}}
 +
{{col-break}}
 +
{| {{prettytable}}
 +
!colspan="2"|Dragon Claw data
 +
|-
 +
| [[Thing types|Thing type]]||53 (decimal), 35 (hex)
 +
|-
 +
| [[Mobj|Enum]]||MT_MISC14 (63)
 +
|-
 +
| Appears in||[[Shareware]] Heretic<br>[[Heretic]]/[[Shadow of the Serpent Riders|SSR expansion]]
 +
|-
 +
| Radius||20
 +
|-
 +
| Height||16
 +
|-
 +
| [[Thing types|Class]]||[[Weapon]]<br>Pickup
 +
|-
 +
| Flags||{{c|1}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000001}} (hex)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags list|| 0: Can be picked up
 +
|-
 +
| Flags2||{{c|0}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000000}} (hex)
 +
|-
 +
| Spawns||MT_BLASTERFX1 (powered projectile)
 +
|}
 +
{{col-break|gap=0.5em}}
 +
{| {{prettytable}}
 +
!colspan="2"|Weapon attributes
 +
|-
 +
| Weapon slot||4
 +
|-
 +
| Included ammo||30 (45 on [[Skill level|skills]] 1 & 5)
 +
|-
 +
| Max ammo||200 (400 with [[Bag of Holding]])
 +
|-
 +
| Ammo use|||1 (regular)<br>5 ([[Tome of Power|powered]])
 +
|-
 +
| Ammo type||[[Claw Orb|Claw]] & [[Energy Orb]]s
 +
|-
 +
| Shots per minute||350.0 (regular)<br>190.9 (powered)
 +
|}
 +
{| {{prettytable}}
 +
! [[State]]!![[Sprite]]!!Frames
 +
|-
 +
| Before pickup||WBLS||1 [A]
 +
|-
 +
| Wielded||BLSR||1 [A]
 +
|-
 +
| Firing||BLSR||6 [BCDCBA]
 +
|-
 +
| Refiring||BLSR||3 [DCB]
 +
|-
 +
| Wielded (powered)||BLSR||1 [A]
 +
|-
 +
| Firing (powered)||BLSR||6 [BCDCBA]
 +
|-
 +
| Refiring (powered)||BLSR||3 [DCB]
 +
|}
 +
{{col-end}}
 +
 
 +
{{col-begin|width=auto}}
 +
{{col-break}}
 +
{| {{prettytable}}
 +
!colspan="2"|Regular ranged attack
 +
|-
 +
| Type||[[Hitscan]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Damage]]||4-32
 +
|-
 +
| Sprite||FX17 (impact)
 +
|-
 +
| Frames||5 [ABCDE] (impact, line)<br>7 [FGHIJKL] (impact, thing)
 +
|-
 +
| [[Sound]]||BLSSHT (firing)<br>BLSHIT (impact, thing)
 +
|}
 +
----
 +
{| {{prettytable}}
 +
!colspan="2"|Projectile smoke
 +
|-
 +
| [[Mobj|Enum]]||MT_BLASTERSMOKE (65)
 +
|-
 +
| Velocity||0
 +
|-
 +
| Radius||20
 +
|-
 +
| Height||16
 +
|-
 +
| Sprite||FX18
 +
|-
 +
| Frames||5 [HIJKL] (in flight)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags||{{c|262672}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00040210}} (hex)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br> 9: No gravity<br>18: Partial invisibility
 +
|-
 +
| Flags2||{{c|8320}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00002080}} (hex)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags2 list|| 7: No teleport<br>13: Cannot push other pushables
 +
|}
 +
{{col-break|gap=1em}}
 +
{| {{prettytable}}
 +
!colspan="2"|Powered ranged attack
 +
|-
 +
| Type||[[Projectile]]
 +
|-
 +
| Enum||MT_BLASTERFX1 (64)
 +
|-
 +
| Velocity||184 [[map unit]]s per tic<br>(6440 map units per second)
 +
|-
 +
| Damage||2-16
 +
|-
 +
| Radius||12
 +
|-
 +
| Height||8
 +
|-
 +
| Sprite||FX18 (impact)
 +
|-
 +
| Frames||7 [ABCDEFG] (impact)
 +
|-
 +
| Sound||BLSSHT (firing)<br>BLSHIT (impact)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags||{{c|67088}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00010610}} (hex)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br> 9: No gravity<br>10: Drops off ledges<br>16: Projectile
 +
|-
 +
| Flags2||{{c|128}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000080}} (hex)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags2 list|| 7: No teleport
 +
|-
 +
| Spawns||MT_BLASTERSMOKE (smoke)
 +
|}
 +
{{col-break|gap=1em}}
 +
{| {{prettytable}}
 +
!colspan="2"|Ripper
 +
|-
 +
| Type||Projectile
 +
|-
 +
| Enum||MT_RIPPER (66)
 +
|-
 +
| Velocity||14 map units per tic<br>(490 map units per second)
 +
|-
 +
| Damage||1-8
 +
|-
 +
| Radius||8
 +
|-
 +
| Height||6
 +
|-
 +
| Sprite||FX18
 +
|-
 +
| Frames||2 [MN] (in flight)<br>5 [OPQRS] (impact)
 +
|-
 +
| Sound||HRNHIT (impact)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags||{{c|67088}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00010610}} (hex)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags list|| 4: No blocklinks (Inert)<br> 9: No gravity<br>10: Drops off ledges<br>16: Projectile
 +
|-
 +
| Flags2||{{c|384}} (decimal)<br>{{c|00000180}} (hex)
 +
|-
 +
| Flags2 list|| 7: No teleport<br> 8: Missile rips thru solid
 +
|}
 +
{{col-end}}
 +
 
 +
== Appearance statistics ==
 +
 
 +
In the [[IWAD]]s the Dragon Claw is first encountered on these maps per [[Skill level#Heretic skill levels|skill level]]:
 +
 
 +
{{col-begin}}
 +
{{col-break|width=50%}}
 +
{| {{prettytable}}
 +
!colspan="4"|Single-player
 +
|-
 +
!Game / ''Episode''!!1-2!!3!!4-5
 +
|-
 +
|''[[City of the Damned]]''||[[E1M2: The Dungeons]]||E1M2: The Dungeons||E1M2: The Dungeons
 +
|-
 +
|''[[Hell's Maw]]''||[[E2M1: The Crater]]||E2M1: The Crater||E2M1: The Crater
 +
|-
 +
|''[[The Dome of D'Sparil]]''||[[E3M1: The Storehouse]]||E3M1: The Storehouse||E3M1: The Storehouse
 +
|-
 +
|''[[The Ossuary]]''||[[E4M1: Catafalque]]||E4M1: Catafalque||E4M1: Catafalque
 +
|-
 +
|''[[The Stagnant Demesne]]''||[[E5M1: Ochre Cliffs]]||E5M1: Ochre Cliffs||E5M1: Ochre Cliffs
 +
|-
 +
|''[[Fate's Path]]''||[[E6M1: Raven's Lair]]||E6M1: Raven's Lair||E6M1: Raven's Lair
 +
|}
 +
{{col-break}}
 +
{| {{prettytable}}
 +
!colspan="4"|Multiplayer
 +
|-
 +
!Game / ''Episode''!!1-2!!3!!4-5
 +
|-
 +
|''City of the Damned''||[[E1M1: The Docks]]||E1M1: The Docks||E1M1: The Docks
 +
|-
 +
|''Hell's Maw''||E2M1: The Crater||E2M1: The Crater||E2M1: The Crater
 +
|-
 +
|''The Dome of D'Sparil''||E3M1: The Storehouse||E3M1: The Storehouse||E3M1: The Storehouse
 +
|-
 +
|''The Ossuary''||E4M1: Catafalque||E4M1: Catafalque||E4M1: Catafalque
 +
|-
 +
|''The Stagnant Demesne''||E5M1: Ochre Cliffs||E5M1: Ochre Cliffs||E5M1: Ochre Cliffs
 +
|-
 +
|''Fate's Path''||E6M1: Raven's Lair||E6M1: Raven's Lair||E6M1: Raven's Lair
 +
|}
 +
{{col-end}}
 +
 
 +
The IWADs contain the following numbers of Dragon Claws per skill level:
 +
 
 +
{{col-begin}}
 +
{{col-break|width=50%}}
 +
{| {{prettytable|style=text-align: center;}}
 +
!colspan="4"|Single-player
 +
|-
 +
!Game / ''Episode''!!1-2!!3!!4-5
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[City of the Damned]]''||''8''||''8''||''8''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Hell's Maw]]''||''10''||''10''||''10''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[The Dome of D'Sparil]]''||''9''||''9''||''9''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|[[Heretic|Heretic (registered)]]||27||27||27
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[The Ossuary]]''||''11''||''11''||''11''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[The Stagnant Demesne]]''||''9''||''9''||''9''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''[[Fate's Path]]''||''5''||''5''||''5''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|[[Shadow of the Serpent Riders]]||52||52||52
 +
|}
 +
{{col-break}}
 +
{| {{prettytable|style=text-align: center;}}
 +
!colspan="4"|Multiplayer
 +
|-
 +
!Game / ''Episode''!!1-2!!3!!4-5
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''City of the Damned''||''17''||''17''||''17''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''Hell's Maw''||''17''||''17''||''17''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''The Dome of D'Sparil''||''17''||''17''||''17''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|Heretic (registered)||51||51||51
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''The Ossuary''||''17''||''17''||''17''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''The Stagnant Demesne''||''16''||''16''||''16''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|''Fate's Path''||''5''||''5''||''5''
 +
|-
 +
|style="text-align: left;"|Shadow of the Serpent Riders||89||89||89
 +
|}
 +
{{col-end}}
  
 
{{Heretic weapons}}
 
{{Heretic weapons}}
 
[[Category:Weapons]]
 

Revision as of 17:28, 26 January 2023

Dragon Claw in Heretic E1M4

The Dragon Claw is a weapon in Heretic. It appears to be a glove made of a dragon's skin and claws, and takes Claw Orbs as ammo. The weapon appears first in E1M2: The Dungeons where it is obtainable via a secret area. Since it is the final one of the few weapons found in the shareware episode, it can be discovered on every later level as well, E1M4: The Guard Tower being the first map where the weapon lies in a non-secret area.

The Dragon Claw rapid-fires hitscan energy bolts. Each bolt deals 4-32 damage. Single shots have perfect accuracy while continued firing is less accurate. When enhanced by a Tome of Power, its firing rate is slower and each shot costs 5 orbs instead of just one, but when a shot hits something, it splits into a ring of eight projectile spiked balls that tear through enemies. The balls deal 0-1 damage every tic they are inside an Iron Lich, and 1-8 damage every tic they are inside any other enemy; this makes the weapon very effective against large groups of non-Lich enemies. Despite their appearance, the spiked balls deal damage to ghosts as well. This weapon is always effective on ghosts. It is also the most advanced weapon found in Heretic's first episode. Maximum capacity is 200 shots, or 400 with the Bag of Holding.

Strategy

In non-powered mode, the Dragon Claw has a similar relationship to the Elven Wand as Doom's chaingun with the pistol, but there are a few notable differences. Each shot of the claw uses a different damage output formula from the wand, with lower lows and higher highs but dealing higher damage on average. Unlike the chaingun, single shots can be fired. Also, the wand and claw do not share an ammo pool with each other.

The unpowered Dragon Claw is good against creatures who are susceptible to stunlocking, serves as an excellent weapon for eliminating ghosts, and can be used to snipe enemies from afar by tapping the fire button. It is easy to tell whether the weapon is hitting targets because an impact on a target creates a larger blue splash compared to the blue sparkles of impacts on walls. Because it is a hitscan weapon, it can also be fired through solid decorative obstacles that would absorb projectiles, sometimes allowing the player to attack from behind cover.

When powered up, the claw is best reserved for large clusters of enemies in open spaces, in contrast to the Hellstaff whose powered mode is most effective dealing with large groups of enemies in tight spaces. Using the powered claw against lone or small groups of enemies is generally a waste of claw orbs.

Data

Appearance statistics

In the IWADs the Dragon Claw is first encountered on these maps per skill level:

The IWADs contain the following numbers of Dragon Claws per skill level: