Summoner

The summoner.

This article is about the monster in Doom (2016). For other games, see:

• Spirit

The summoner is a new demon from Doom (2016), and is that game's iteration of the classic arch-vile. It is a tall, levitating, blueish-purple- and red-colored demon with a bony crown-like ring around the top of its head. When attacking, it takes on a pose reminiscent of the original monster, with its arms held up above its head in an arc, channeling energy through its hands. It has two insect-like elytra attached to its back.

Tactical analysis

Health: 1400

Chainsaw Fuel Usage: 3

Unlike the arch-vile from Doom 3, the summoner can continue to spawn demons rapidly until it is defeated. It will teleport around the area it appears in, using projectile attacks that deal medium to high amounts of damage to whatever it hits. It can summon every kind of standard enemy that has appeared up to that point in the game. Unless the player prefers the company of several Hell knights, it should be killed without hesitation. If there is a berserk power-up available or if enough chainsaw fuel is on hand, these are not at all overkill for use on it.

Attacks

Attack	Too Young To Die	Hurt Me Plenty	Ultra Violence	Nightmare
Energy Wave	?	?	?	?
Energy Burst (AOE)	?	?	?	?

Lore

The UAC captured several summoners as part of the Lazarus Project's tethering expeditions. The summoner was difficult to subdue, requiring its Hell energy to be sapped on a continuous basis. Lazarus researchers described the demon as having a primarily defensive role dedicated to bringing other demons into the fray of battle. The summoner is capable of opening rifts to Hell in order to bring other demons to its own plane, and is also capable of sending them back, as this was noted as the most likely mechanism by which the UAC-created spectre was able to escape back to Hell and breed. UAC anatomical studies suggested that the summoner is a highly advanced form of the imp due to similarities in their mechanisms of attack.

While the Argent waves it uses to attack normally kill humans, a small number are instead transformed into Possessed. This does not seem to be a random process, and there is evidence that the Summoner intentionally selects the most resilient of its foes for conscription into the armies of Hell.

Summoner

Glory kills

Ten glory kills against the summoner exist:

• A staggered summoner can be grabbed by the arm and punched in the stomach, then punched in the face to break its head into pieces.
• From its left side, the monster's arm can be ripped off and used to hit its face, which also breaks the head.
• From its right side, the Slayer sweeps the demon off its feet and slams its body to the ground with both hands.
• Coming up from behind, the Slayer twists and breaks the monster's neck.
• When landing from above on the summoner's chest, it falls to the ground and has its head crushed by foot.
• When landing on the summoner's back, it also falls and the Slayer breaks its neck and head by hand.
• When using a chainsaw (from either in front or behind), the Slayer thrusts it into the demon's head to separate the head and part of the body.
• When using a chainsaw (from either in front or behind), the Slayer saws the waist of the creature into upper and lower halves.
• The berserk Slayer lands on the chest or back of the summoner, it falls to the ground and has torso and head crushed by foot.
• The berserk Slayer hits and breaks one of the summoner's legs, and then punches the torso of the summoner into pieces.

Pre-release

A pre-release version of the monster dating to the Doom 4 1.0 period of development.

• The summoner was known as the arch-vile in pre-release versions of the game, with all of its codex entries referring to it as such. This was changed very close to the game's release.

• According to Joon Hyung Kim, the summoner was designed to be perceived as feminine in contrast to most other demons. The shoulders and skirt-like protuberances of the summoner are based on gowns worn by wealthy women during the late Middle Ages, which were characterized by their puffed shoulders, also known as gigots. Also according to Joon, the summoner would have had an introductory cutscene like most other demons.

• In The Art of DOOM, a concept art of the summoner reveals a planned shield that it could create around itself.

• In Noclip footage of a tech demo the summoner can be seen to fire blue projectiles and leave traces of its teleportation in a way matching concept art from The Art of DOOM, and not red like in the final game. The monster makes different sounds in the footage as well, perhaps leftover sounds of its counterpart from the canceled Doom 4 1.0.

Trivia

• Spirits, which first appear in The Ancient Gods, Part One, are the essence of slain summoners sustained by their hatred for the Doom Slayer.
• The insectile features and levitation capabilities of the summoner are similar to traits of the Mother Demon from Doom 64, a monster which also had a close relationship to the arch-vile in both its attack and in its storied capability to resurrect demons from the dead. This design influence remains officially unconfirmed, but other influences from the game are known to exist, making it a distinct possibility.
• The summoner is not normally available in SnapMap, making it the only normal enemy not available. However, the summoner was originally intended to be available in this mode, as it has strings, menu entries, and descriptive text in the resources. As a result, a hacked map was uploaded which contains one, from which it is possible to copy-paste the monster into other maps. It is not fully implemented, however - while it can attack as normal, it will never summon any monsters.

Sources

• DOOM - Bestiary (archived 🏛)