Dread knight

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A dread knight appears on the cover art for the game.

The Dread Knight is a new monster which occurs in Doom Eternal. It is a cybernetic version of the Hell Knight, with two energy blades attached to its arms.

Tactical analysis

The dread knight shares most of its attack pattern with its unaugmented cousin, but with a few key differences. The dread knight's energy blades grant it a longer reach than the Hell knight, and when it performs its ground slam a field of damaging energy lingers at the point where it lands. The dread knight can also fire an energy wave at long range, though it is not difficult to dodge if there is enough room to maneuver.

Although the dread knight has higher health than the Hell knight, it remains vulnerable to all techniques that are effective against its counterpart. In general, it should be viewed as the "middle" of the Hell nobles in terms of the threat that it poses.

Lore

A variation of the Hell Knight breed, the Dread Knight has been modified and hardwired for aggression. Armed with exo-prosthesis powering energy-blade augments, the Dread Knight is the lethal result of UAC Cultist engineering. Epinephrine regulators modulate the Dread Knight with an unbroken flow of rage-addled adrenaline, while its endorphin receptors have been synchronized to respond with the use of its arm-mounted blades. With each kill, the Dread Knight is injected with a flood of artificial dopamine. As a result of its augmentation, the Dread Knight is driven by a biochemically engineered state of pure, unbroken rage - suffering for which respite can only be found in the act of the kill.

Pre-release

The dread knight first appeared, unnamed and without elaboration, in the Doom Eternal cover art which was revealed in the immediate wake of the BE3 2019 presentation. The monster's name was rumoured after the release of a Slayers Club exclusive piece of art which referred to it as such, but this was not officially confirmed until the QuakeCon 2019 keynote presentation on July 26, 2019.

Glory Kills

The Doom Slayer punches the dread knight in the face to the right, grabs his left shoulder and stabs him through the jaw and into his skull.

Trivia

Their artificial bloodlust makes them similar to Grunts from Quake.