Imp

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Revision as of 20:55, 29 October 2007 by Ilovefoxes (talk | contribs) (Notes)


Imp fighting Doomguy in E1M1: Hangar

The Imp is a small humanoid demon, the most common monster encountered in id Software's IWADs. He is brown in color, with red eyes, a few white spikes on his body, and noticeable white claws on his hands and feet.

The Doom instruction manual says:

You thought an imp was a cute little dude in a red suit with a pitchfork. Where did these brown bastards come from? They heave balls o' fire down your throat and take several bullets to die. It's time to find a weapon better than that pistol if you're going to face more than one of these S.O.B.s.

The Imp first appears in E1M1: Hangar in all skill levels.

Combat characteristics

An Imp attacks by ejecting a single fireball, which does not inflict blast damage. At melee range, he can also employ a somewhat more powerful clawing attack.

Tactical analysis

The Imp moves slowly, as do his fireballs. The player should practice until evading both sorts of objects becomes completely straightforward (except perhaps under highly unusual circumstances, such as a teleportation trap in close quarters).

An Imp can be killed by one shotgun shell (usually) or six bullets (often). As the above quotation implies, facing down multiple Imps with a pistol takes concentration, but it can be done, given sufficient maneuvering room and adequate footwork on the player's part. (In fact, the Imp's relatively high pain chance sometimes makes it difficult for him to retaliate at point-blank range.) Using the chainsaw against an Imp is much trickier than against a Demon, as the Imp is much more adept with his clawing attack than the generally more oblivious Demons. Imps often come in packs, and the super shotgun is particularly effective here.

Although his ranged attack and hit point total give him some purchase against zombies, the Imp can easily find himself overmatched in monster-monster battles. A single Imp fighting a sergeant has cause for optimism, but a Demon or Spectre can almost always outslug the first two or three Imps he engages in melee, and two blows from any larger monster is normally too much for an Imp.

Imp fireballs move 50% faster than normal when the Nightmare! skill level or the -fast command line parameter is used.

Notes

Internally the Doom source code gives the type name MT_TROOP and the sprite prefix TROO to the Imp, not to the Trooper. This is because Imps were called "Demon Troopers" in the Doom Bible.

Interestinly, one alert sound from Imp (DSBGSIT1) is very similar to one used by the Duke Nukem enemy Sentry Drone (SNAKRG).

Data

Attributes
ID # 3001 (decimal), BB9 (hex)
Hit points 60
Speed 8 map units/frame
(93.3 map units/second)
Width 40
Height 56
Reaction time 8
Pain chance 200 (78.13%)
Mass 100
Bits 4194310
Bits list

1: Obstacle

2: Shootable

22: Affects Kill %

Sprites & sounds
Sprite name TROO
Alert sound DSBGSIT1 or
DSBGSIT2
Action sound DSBGACT
Pain sound DSPOPAIN
Death sound DSBGDTH1 or
DSBGDTH2 (normal)
DSSLOP (gibs)
Melee attack
Damage 3-24
Sound DSCLAW
Ranged attack
Type Projectile
Speed 10 map units/tic
(350 map units/second)
Damage 3-24
Width 6
Height 8
Sprite name BAL1
Sound DSFIRSHT (firing)
DSFIRXPL (impact)
Damage done by an Imp's clawing attack
File:TrooFHistogram.png
Damage done by an Imp's fireball

Appearance statistics

The IWADs contain the following numbers of Imps:

Game ITYTD and HNTR HMP UV and NM
Ultimate Doom 487 771 974
Doom II 488 905 1223
TNT: Evilution 861 1206 1357
Plutonia 371 406 436

Doom RPG

In Doom RPG, the imp appears as a class of monster. There are three variations, identified by color:

  • Impling (green)
  • Imp (normal colors)
  • Imp Lord (red with green eyes)

See also