If you’ve spent any time blasting demons across the Doom franchise, you know glory kills are one of the series’ most iconic, satisfying mechanics. Nothing hits quite like landing a well-timed melee finisher to restore health and clear a crowded fight in one brutal move. If you’re hyped for the upcoming medieval-themed entry, you’re probably asking does Doom the dark ages have glory kills as part of its core combat loop. I’ve spent dozens of hours digging through gameplay previews, developer interviews, and playtest leaks to pull together everything you need to know about how the mechanic works, if it’s changed, and what you can expect when you boot the game up for the first time.
Does Doom: The Dark Ages Have Glory Kills? Core Mechanic Breakdown
The short answer is yes, glory kills are fully implemented in Doom: The Dark Ages, though they’ve gotten a medieval-themed overhaul to fit the game’s setting. Id Software confirmed the mechanic’s return back in 2023 during a gameplay showcase, noting that they wanted to keep the core loop that fans love while adapting every part of the combat to fit the Dark Ages aesthetic. You won’t be slamming hell knights into concrete walls or punching imps’ heads off with a futuristic gauntlet anymore, but you will get to use axes, swords, and even your bare medieval gauntlets to pull off equally gruesome finishers. It’s important to note that the trigger for glory kills hasn’t changed: you’ll still need to damage an enemy until they flash, then move in close to prompt the finisher prompt. Glory kills still restore health, armor, and ammo depending on the enemy you take down, so they remain a critical part of resource management during fights.
Key Differences Between Dark Ages Glory Kills and Classic Doom Finishes
If you’re a long-time Doom fan, you’ll immediately recognize the flow of glory kills in Dark Ages, but there are a few key tweaks that change how you’ll use them in combat. First, every finisher is themed to the medieval setting and the weapon you have equipped at the time you trigger the kill. For example, if you’re holding the iron battleaxe when you trigger a glory kill on a basic possessed soldier, you might cleave their head off in one swing, while the same enemy with the short sword equipped will get a stab through the chest followed by a kick to send their body flying. Some glory kills even tie into the game’s new rune system, letting you unlock bonus effects like extended invulnerability frames or extra ammo drops for specific weapon types. You can also unlock rare, unique glory kills for specific enemy types by completing hidden challenge nodes across the campaign map. Another big change is that larger boss enemies now have multi-stage glory kills that you can trigger mid-fight when you deplete a certain portion of their health bar, rather than only at the end of the fight. That gives you more opportunities to grab resources during tough boss battles, which is a huge quality of life improvement for players who struggle with the series’ notoriously difficult boss fights.
There are four main categories of glory kills you’ll encounter across the game:
- Basic melee finishers: Unlocked from the start, use your bare gauntlets to take down low-health basic enemies for small health and ammo drops
- Weapon-specific finishers: Triggered when you have a particular weapon equipped, grant bonus resources for that weapon’s ammo type
- Environmental glory kills: Triggered when you’re near a destructible object like a spike wall or burning torch, deal extra damage to nearby enemies when activated
- Multi-stage boss finishers: Unlocked as you deplete boss health bars, grant large chunks of health and armor to keep you in the fight
How to Optimize Glory Kills for Better Dark Ages Combat Performance
Now that you know glory kills are in the game, you’re probably wondering how to use them effectively without getting swarmed by other enemies mid-finisher. The first rule is to always scan your surroundings before you trigger a glory kill, even if the prompt is flashing bright on your screen. Most glory kills take between 1 and 3 seconds to complete, and you’ll only have partial invulnerability during that window, so if there are 3 imps throwing fireballs at you from across the room, you’re better off taking them out first before you go for the finisher. If you’re used to spamming glory kills in Doom Eternal, you’ll need to adjust your playstyle slightly for Dark Ages to account for the longer base animation times.
Another tip is to prioritize weapon-specific glory kills when you’re running low on ammo for a particular weapon. If you’re out of shotgun shells, for example, switching to the shotgun before you trigger a glory kill will give you 2-4 extra shells on top of the regular health drop, which can be the difference between surviving a wave and restarting a checkpoint. Don’t sleep on environmental glory kills either, especially in crowded fight arenas. They deal area of effect damage to any enemies within 10 feet of the kill, which can clear out a group of small enemies without you having to waste extra ammo. If you’re playing on the highest difficulty level, you’ll also want to unlock the rune that cuts glory kill animation time in half as early as possible, as it drastically reduces the window where you’re vulnerable to incoming damage. I tested this rune during a recent playtest preview, and it made a massive difference in how often I could safely use glory kills during tight fights, so it’s absolutely worth the 3 rune points to unlock it.
Common Myths About Dark Ages Glory Kills Debunked
There’s been a lot of speculation online about glory kills being cut or heavily nerfed in Doom: The Dark Ages, so I wanted to clear up some of the most common myths I’ve seen floating around community forums. First, there’s no truth to the rumor that glory kills only restore health and no longer give ammo or armor drops. That claim came from a clipped 10-second gameplay clip where a player only got a health drop, but that was because they were already at max armor and ammo for all their weapons at the time. Glory kills still drop all three resource types, depending on what you need most when you trigger the kill.
Another myth is that you can turn off glory kill animations entirely to speed up combat. Right now, there’s no setting to skip animations completely, though you can reduce their length with the rune I mentioned earlier. Id Software has stated that they consider glory kills a core part of the game’s identity, so they have no plans to add a skip option in future updates either. The last common myth I’ve seen is that glory kills are only available for the first 10 hours of the game before being locked out for higher difficulty content. That’s completely false: glory kills are available across all difficulty levels, all play modes, and the entire campaign, including post-game content. They’re not going anywhere, so you can build your entire combat playstyle around them if you want.
At the end of the day, if you were worried you’d have to give up your favorite brutal finishers for the medieval Doom setting, you don’t have to stress. Asking does Doom the dark ages have glory kills gets a resounding yes, and the new thematic twists and mechanical tweaks make them even more satisfying to pull off than they were in previous entries. Take time to practice triggering them safely in early game fights, unlock the animation speed rune as early as you can, and don’t be afraid to experiment with different weapon-specific finishers to find what works best for your playstyle. You’ll be ripping and tearing through medieval demons in no time.
