Prince Ahzrak

Prince Ahzrak.

Prince Ahzrak is a central villain in Doom: The Dark Ages and the commander of the demonic forces besieging Argent D'Nur. He is young and is in the process of rising through Hell's ranks. He has the overall form of a human, but has demonic features including horns, glowing red eyes, scars on his face, and a gash on his forehead shaped like an inverted cross concealing a third, yellow eye. He wears red flowing robes.

History

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Tactical analysis

Ahzrak is fought as a boss at the end of Final Battle, immediately after defeating The Old One. Empowered by the Heart of Argent, he is referred to as "Enhanced Ahzrak" throughout the fight. He is highly aggressive and mainly uses powerful melee combos; missing any parries with the shield saw will result in losing a large amount of health and armor. The fight is split across three phases.

Ideally, you should have both ammo upgrades for the chainshot, as well as at least the first upgrade for this weapon. You should also equip the dreadmace and have all the upgrades for it. A fully upgraded impaler also helps, with its Lobotomy upgrade being able to recharge melee attacks on headshots, taking only four headshots to recharge the dreadmace.

On higher skill levels you may want the combat shotgun with all its upgrades, mainly Smelt and Tune Up, and the ravager with the Vampirism and Slow Burn upgrades. However, you will mostly use the chainshot and impaler as damage is more important.

Attacks

Phase 1

Ahzrak starts the fight with six attacks:

• Dash-Slash - Ahzrak will prepare to swipe you with his spear two, three or four times, depending on the phase. This is always the first attack he uses in the first phase. Getting hit once will immediately cancel this attack. Parrying this attack three times in a row will stagger Ahzrak. Making a mistake during this attack will punish you heavily unless you time your parry with the next one as this attack becomes more deadly later on. In phase 2 Ahzrak may delay the next slash after the first one making parries with this attack a bit more difficult, so it is best to wait for the green flash to appear then hit the Block button, or block the delayed attack then time your parries as usual.
• Double Swipe - Ahzrak will run at you and swipe twice with his spear. Like the previous attack, parrying this at least twice will stagger him. Another version of this attack exists when he is at two-thirds health, which is two floor-sweeps and is essentially the same.
• Spear Lunge - Ahzrak will position himself before stabbing the player with the spear. This attack is also one of the deadliest as it will instantly destroy the shield if blocked, leaving you open for attack. It is recommended to wait for the flash and the ping noise, because this attack has quite a start-up time. Parrying this will instantly stagger Ahzrak.
• Overhead - Ahzrak will raise his spear to hit the player from overhead. This may be followed up with a lunge. Another version of this attack exists when Ahzrak is at two-thirds health, where he jumps into the air, overheads the player and then follows up with a swipe.
• Summon - Ahzrak will summon two blood priests from the ground. These are barely a threat as a few shots from any weapon will dispel them, with a shield throw getting rid of them instantly. They will drop health when killed.
• Air Slash - Ahzrak will prepare to swipe the air, creating a green horizontal projectile which travels fast. Parrying this will stagger him.

Phase 2

In phase 2, Ahzrak will changed to his winged form. He will unlock three new attacks and his aggression will increase.

• Hell spikes - Ahzrak will summon four orange spikes from the ground, which can damage you if you get too close to them. They can be destroyed with a shield throw to gain armor and health. If the spikes are not destroyed in time, they will explode and release fireballs in all directions. This is always the first attack used here.
• Overhead - Ahzrak will fly into the air before stabbing you. This is very similar to the lunge except it has no flash, but still staggers on successful parries. This also creates a shockwave.
• Spear Throw - If you are too far away, Ahzrak will punish you by throwing the head of the spear at you. This attack instantly destroys the shield if blocked and is always followed up with a lunge. Because of this it is worth taking the hit so you can prepare yourself for the lunge.

Phase 3

In phase 3, Ahzrak will reach maximum aggression and will unlock two further attacks.

• Fall of the Beast - Ahzrak will leap up into the air and then summon six blood priests around the edge of the arena. The priests will then rush towards you one at a time, with the delay between each priest getting progressively shorter; the priests can be parried, and the next priest to attack will be marked on the HUD if you are not looking towards it. Once this attack ends, Ahzrak will slam into the center of the arena and create a damaging shockwave followed by a multitude of blade-walls. The green blades can be parried. Once this attack ends Ahzrak will continue attacking as usual.
• Anger - Ahzrak will perform two swipes followed by three stabs, which can all be parried.

Ahzrak also gains new follow-ups and combos, such as spear throw > lunge > two swipes > overhead. This however, is done randomly.

Strategy

If you are familiar with the Dark Lord boss from the Doom Eternal, then the fight with Ahzrak is very similar. Ahzrak will constantly try to destroy you with a barrage of melee strikes, and punish you for being too far away. Meanwhile, you have to constantly parry his melee strikes to avoid a swift death. The simplest strategy is to fire the chainshot after each successful parry, and hit Ahzrak with the dreadmace whenever he is staggered. It is worth noting that when firing a weapon there is a delay before the shield comes out, so it may be best to use the chainshot when Ahzrak finishes his combo. In all three phases Ahzrak has a stun meter that is filled whenever he takes damage—when the meter is full, Ahzrak can be hit with a glory strike causing him to drop health and ammo.

After Ahzrak is defeated, a cutscene plays showing the Doom Slayer ripping the Heart of Argent out of Ahzrak's chest as King Novik watches, weakening Ahzrak back into his original form. Azhrak's link to Commander Thira is also severed, and the Wraith energy inside her breaks free and causes an explosion inside Ahzrak's Hell barge, destroying it. Thira then descends to the ground and the Slayer returns the Heart to Novik; he in turn presents the Heart to Thira, returning her to normal. The Slayer suit then detects Ahzrak's life signature from within Hell, setting the scene for the final level of the game—Reckoning.

Ahzrak and Witch

Main article: Ahzrak and Witch

Quotes

• "All the power of Hell cowering before one man."
• "We should focus on breaking the humans first..."
• "I can never rule as king, so long as you are the only one they fear."
• "We'll need something more permanent" - Response to Kreed Maykr saying, "We should kill him"

Gallery

• 

  Ahzrak's collectible toy.

• 

  The codex entry image.

• 

  Concept art by Emerson Tung.

Trivia

• His "Enhanced" form evokes imagery similar to that of ophanim, angels whose entire bodies, including their wings, are covered in eyes.