Gladiator

The gladiator attacks.

The gladiator is an armored Hell knight- or baron-like enemy that appears in Doom Eternal. It is a boss exclusive to the Sentinel Prime level, and is the only encounter in that mission. It protects the medallion that holds Deag Grav's soul, so the Doom Slayer must defeat the gladiator in order to kill him. The gladiator carries a large shield and attacks with a combination morning star and flail weapon, and is fought in two phases.

It resembles the Hell nobles of the original games more strongly than their Doom (2016) or Doom Eternal counterparts, though it is distinguished by the presence of a metal eye patch and armor. The gladiator was first shown momentarily in the second trailer released on January 14, 2020.

Tactical analysis

In the first phase of the fight, the gladiator moves slowly and stays behind its shield to avoid damage. When the shield's eyes flash green the gladiator will attack with its flail, but when the shield's eyes blink then it may fire a projectile which the player can dodge with a sideways dash. The player should fire their weapon when the shield's eyes flash green and the gladiator attacks; hitting the gladiator may cause it to stagger, allowing the player to land heavy punches by pressing the glory kill button. It is possible to bypass the shield by firing explosive weapons (rockets or grenades) toward the ground behind the gladiator as well, but these attacks will do only minimal damage. Once the gladiator's health is depleted, the shield can be destroyed with a glory kill.

In the second phase the gladiator becomes faster and more aggressive, replacing its destroyed shield with a second flail; however, it is now more vulnerable to damage. Like the first phase, it is possible to stagger the gladiator by attacking when its eye flashes green, allowing the player to inflict more damage by pressing the glory kill button. When the gladiator spins one of the flails, the player should avoid attacking as any projectiles will be deflected (possibly hitting the player instead). In addition to striking with and throwing the flails at the player, the gladiator can also throw the two flails so that the player is trapped between the chains; it then fires a series of energy waves which the player must jump over or step between, before charging towards the player. Once the gladiator's health is depleted, it can be finished off with another glory kill.

During the fight, fodder demons will appear which the player can kill for health, armor, or ammunition. The gladiator can also summon heavy demons as its health is reduced.

Glory kills

• The Slayer stabs the shield through its eye socket, causing it to release the souls contained within and explode. (First phase)
• The Slayer picks up one of the gladiator's flails and uses it to pulverize its head into a bloody pulp. (Second phase)

Lore

After the fall of Sentinel Prime to the forces of Hell, the Hell priests repurposed the Coliseum from a place of trial by combat, where prisoners of the Argenta were given a chance to prove their worth as soldiers, into a place of blood sport to entertain the debauched remnants of their civilization. The ancient Gladiator was sent to the Coliseum to act as an executioner. Wielding an accursed shield containing the souls of its many victims and its unnamed "master", the Gladiator has never been defeated and is effectively immortal until the shield is destroyed—even if its body is completely destroyed, it will simply form a new body for its soul to occupy.

Gallery

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  The Gladiator's collectible toy.

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  Closeup of the Gladiator's shield.

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  Gladiator seen in the Collectible Viewer.

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  Gladiator seen from the side.

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  Gladiator near death, about to be glory killed.

Cut content

Golden boss variant

Similar to the Doom hunter, a "gold" version of the gladiator was intended to appear in the unreleased Master Level version of the Sentinel Prime level. Despite the name, it was to be visually identical to the normal enemy. It would have possessed new attacks and features. The flail in both phases would have left a fire trail that dealt damage. In the first phase a new attack would occur with a three shield combo in which the eyes do not glow green; if any demon was touched by the shield, then the boss would receive a buff totem effect. In both phases, when the boss was below 65% HP, it would spawns two soldiers with blasters and one Hell knight, and in the first phase an attack would appear with four shields at this level of health. Once under 45% HP, two prowlers and one dread knight would spawn. Differences also existed in the energy field trap behavior.

Trivia

• When the gladiator's shield is about to explode, it can be heard to shout "kar en tuk," which means "rip and tear" in the Argenta language. This suggests that the shield's captive souls are encouraging the Doom Slayer toward victory.
• According to Hugo Martin development of the gladiator boss fight took two years.
• The collectible toy for the gladiator uniquely has armor, shield, and flail in blue; as opposed to the brown on the actual model. This colorization is derived from the original concept art of the gladiator, which depicts it with blue tinted armor and weapons.