Dread knight

A dread knight.

The dread knight is a monster introduced 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 a similar attack pattern with its un-augmented cousin, but with a few key differences. The dread knight's arm blades give it a longer melee range than the Hell knight; it can also use the blades to throw an energy wave when the Doom Slayer is at a distance, but this can be evaded with enough maneuverability, especially because the start-up animation is very obvious (it will cross its arms in front of itself). When the dread knight performs a leaping slam, it releases a field of harmful energy around it to deter players from getting close while it is vulnerable.

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

Lore

In addition to the more obvious cybernetics installed by the UAC cultists, dread knights have their pleasure hormone emission tied to the use of their arm blades. Combined with endocrine modifications to amplify adrenaline production, this locks them into a permanent state of bloodlust that can only be relieved by killing.

Glory kills

• The Slayer strikes the dread knight in the face with a right hook, grabs its left shoulder and stabs it with the Doomblade through the lower jaw and out the top of its skull.
• The Slayer jumps onto the chest of the dread knight, using his Doomblade to slice the dread knight's neck.
• The Slayer punches the dread knight in the right side of its back, before extending his Doomblade, stabbing the dread knight through its spine.
• The Slayer extends his Doomblade, slicing off the dread knight's left arm at its elbow, before slicing off the dread knight's head.
• The Slayer jumps onto the back of the dread knight, grabbing the back of its head and smashing it into the ground below.
• The Slayer punches the dread knight in the back of the head, before extending his Doomblade and slicing the dread knight, lodging the Doomblade in the centre of the dread knight's chest.

Battlemode

The dread knight was added to Battlemode as a playable demon in Update 6.66. Favoring a "high risk, high reward" playstyle, the dread knight is nimble with potent offensive capabilities, but its attacks have cooldowns that can leave players exposed. The dread knight can slash with its arm blades at close range, throw energy waves for a ranged attack or use an explosive slam at mid-range; it can also launch a quantum orb which it can teleport to in mid-flight, damaging anything in the dread knight's path. The dread knight can also enter a temporary berserk state which replaces the energy wave with a highly damaging melee attack, as well as increasing its movement speed by 60%.

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 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.

Gallery

• 

  As seen in the collectible viewer.

• 

  Rear view.

• 

  The dread knight's collectible toy.

• 

  A dread knight appears on the cover art for the game

Trivia

• The dread knights' artificial bloodlust makes them similar to grunts from Quake.
• The dread knight appeared in Mighty Doom's key cover art. However, it is not present in the game.