Boss

From DoomWiki.org

In video games in general, a boss is a particularly large or difficult computer-controlled character that must be defeated at the end of a segment of a game, whether it be for a level, an episode, or the very end of the game itself.

Doom/Ultimate Doom[edit]

The bosses in The Ultimate Doom episodes are:

Episode Mission Boss
Knee-Deep in the Dead E1M8: Phobos Anomaly pair of barons of Hell
The Shores of Hell E2M8: Tower of Babel Cyberdemon
Inferno E3M8: Dis Spiderdemon
Thy Flesh Consumed E4M8: Unto the Cruel

Doom II/Final Doom[edit]

Doom II and the games based on it all have the same boss:

Game Level Boss
Doom II: Hell on Earth MAP30: Icon of Sin Final boss
TNT: Evilution MAP30: Last Call
The Plutonia Experiment MAP30: The Gateway of Hell

(MAP30: Last Call can be completed without killing the boss).

Doom 64[edit]

Doom 64 and its new episode in the 2020 re-release, The Lost Levels both technically share the same boss:

Mission Boss
MAP28: The Absolution Mother demon
MAP39: Final Judgement Sister Resurrector

Heretic[edit]

Bosses in Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders:

Episode Mission Boss
City of the Damned E1M8: Hell's Maw Iron liches
Hell's Maw E2M8: The Portals of Chaos Maulotaurs
The Dome of D'Sparil E3M8: D'Sparil's Keep D'Sparil
The Ossuary E4M8: Shattered Bridge Iron liches
The Stagnant Demesne E5M8: Field of Judgement Maulotaurs

Hexen[edit]

Bosses in Hexen: Beyond Heretic:

Hub Level Boss
Shadow Wood Hypostyle Death wyvern
Heresiarch's Seminary Heresiarch's Seminary Heresiarch
Castle of Grief Gibbet Heresiarch
Necropolis Menelkir's Tomb Menelkir
Necropolis Traductus' Tomb Traductus
Necropolis Zedek's Tomb Zedek
Necropolis Dark Crucible Korax

Strife[edit]

Bosses in Strife: Quest for The Sigil:

Mission Boss
MAP09: Castle: Programmer's Keep The Programmer
MAP10: New Front Base Macil (at the player's choice of time)
Macil's Spectre
MAP12: The Temple of the Oracle The Oracle's Spectre
MAP16: Fortress: Bishop's Tower The Bishop
The Bishop's Spectre
MAP25: Catacombs: Ruined Temple The Programmer's Spectre
MAP27: The Lab The Loremaster
The Loremaster's Spectre
MAP29: Entity's Lair The Entity
3 Sub-Entities

Doom 3[edit]

Bosses in Doom 3:

Map Boss
Alpha Labs - Sector 4 Vagary
Hell Guardian of Hell
Central Processing 2 Sabaoth
Primary Excavation: Artifact Dig Cyberdemon

Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil[edit]

Bosses in the Doom 3 expansion, Resurrection of Evil:

Map Boss
Erebus - Level 2 Helltime Hunter
Erebus - Level 6 Berserk Hunter
Phobos Labs - Sector 2 Invulnerability Hunter
Hell Maledict

Doom 3: The Lost Mission[edit]

Bosses in the Doom 3 expansion The Lost Mission:

Map Boss
Hell Outpost Guardian of Hell

Doom (2016)[edit]

Bosses in Doom (2016):

Map Boss
Lazarus Labs Cyberdemon
Titan's Realm Hell guards
Argent D'Nur Spider Mastermind

Doom Eternal[edit]

Bosses in Doom Eternal:

Map Boss
Doom Hunter Base Doom hunters
Sentinel Prime Gladiator
Urdak Khan Maykr
Final Sin Icon of Sin

Special characteristics[edit]

Except for immunity to the splash damage, Doom bosses generally have no special traits or abilities distinguishing them from other monsters.

Heretic bosses have several special features. They cannot be morphed by the Morph Ovum, tossed by the iron lich's whirlwind attack, nor be telefragged by the powered-up firemace and, except for the iron lich, are immune to the splash damage. To conform their large size, they receive less damage from the powered-up hellstaff's rain of fire. Iron lich in particular also takes reduced damage from the powered-up dragon claw's ripper projectiles. Once D'Sparil is dismounted, if he is hit with a phoenix rod's projectile or a powered-up hellstaff projectile, he has a 37.5% chance of instantly teleporting away instead of receiving damage.

In addition, a special flag (MF2_BOSS) prevents lesser monsters from engaging in monster infighting with them, if provoked.

Special effects[edit]

In most of the levels above, defeating the boss monster(s) causes the level to end. In E1M8: Phobos Anomaly (Doom), however, killing all the barons lowers all walls with tag 666. In E4M6: Against Thee Wickedly, killing the cyberdemon causes a metal grate (four columns with tag 666) to blaze open, providing access to the exit switch.

The same function (A_BossDeath in p_enemy.c) is used in MAP07 of Doom II-based games to lower floors with tag 666 when all mancubi have been killed, and to raise floors with tag 667 when all arachnotrons have been killed. Similarly, in MAP32 (but using a different function), killing all the Commander Keens causes doors with tag 666 to open. Thus, these monsters can be considered bosses in the levels for which they play a special role.

In Heretic, the death of the last standing boss monster on a level in any episode other than the first episode invokes the special function (A_BossDeath), which kills all remaining non-boss monsters (by calling the P_Massacre) and, similar to Doom, activates sectors with tag 666.

See also[edit]