If you’ve spent any time messing around with the brutal Doom The Dark Ages total conversion mod, you’ve almost certainly run face-first into the Doom The Dark Ages Hellknight before. It’s one of the mod’s most iconic, and most infuriating, additions to the classic Doom enemy roster, blending medieval dark fantasy flair with the classic Hellknight’s signature brute force. I still remember my first encounter with it on a custom cursed castle map: I unloaded a full shotgun clip into its chest, and it just kept advancing, swinging that massive rune-etched axe like I was a gnat bothering it. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to either take it down efficiently or play as it if you’re using the popular playable class add-on.
Key Abilities of the Doom The Dark Ages Hellknight You Need to Know
This isn’t the same Hellknight you fought in base Doom 2016 or Eternal. The mod team completely reworked its kit to fit the dark medieval theme, with plate armor and fantasy-themed attacks that catch most new players off guard. It has 30% more base health than a regular Doom Hellknight, plus a suite of unique abilities that make it a threat at every range.
First is its melee cleave attack, a wide axe swing that hits all targets in a 180-degree arc in front of it. It deals enough damage to kill an unarmored player in one hit on medium difficulty, and it can hit you even if you’re slightly to the side of the Hellknight. Next is the rune fire projectile it fires from the glowing red rune on its forehead, which ignores 30% of your armor value and leaves a small damage-over-time burn on hit. You’ll see the rune flash bright red half a second before it fires, so you can use that tell to dodge if you’re paying attention.
It also has a charge ability that lets it close 20 meters of distance in less than two seconds, faster than your default sprint speed. If it connects with the charge, it will stun you for a full second, usually followed by a cleave attack that will finish you off. Last is its passive damage resistance to all bullet-based weapons, including pistols, assault rifles, and regular shotgun shells. That’s why my first attempt to take it down with a regular shotgun failed so miserably—most of my shots were only dealing 70% of their normal damage.
How to Counter the Hellknight in Solo Play Runs
The good news is that for all its power, the Hellknight has very clear weaknesses you can exploit to take it down without wasting half your ammo reserve. Explosive weapons are your top priority when fighting it, because its passive bullet resistance doesn’t apply to splash or explosive damage. Even a basic grenade will deal full damage to it, which makes them a great backup if you run out of rocket ammo mid-fight.
There are three tried-and-true loadouts that work for every difficulty level, including the permadeath-enabled Cursed difficulty:
- Double-barreled shotgun + rocket launcher: Get in close for a one-shot stun with the shotgun, then follow up with two rocket hits to the chest to take it down before it can recover. On Cursed difficulty, add one extra rocket or a single weak point shot to the forehead rune to finish it off.
- Plasma rifle + holy sword mod: The plasma melts its armor resistance in 4-5 shots, removing its passive damage buff entirely, then a single heavy swing of the holy sword will finish it off without risk of self-damage from explosives. This is my go-to loadout for tight corridor maps where rockets might blow up a wall and trap me.
- Crossbow of wounding + grenade pouch: For players who prefer ranged combat, the crossbow’s armor-piercing bolts deal full damage to the Hellknight, and you can throw a grenade at its feet to interrupt its charge attack if it gets too close. This loadout works best on open maps where you have room to back away while reloading.
Don’t try to outrun it in open spaces, its charge is faster than you think. The best place to fight it is in areas with short corridors you can use to bait its charge into a wall, which stuns it for two full seconds. I’ve used that trick to take down three Hellknights in a row on Cursed difficulty without taking a single point of damage, so it’s 100% reliable if you get the timing right. Just make sure you don’t bait the charge into a wall that’s close enough for its cleave attack to still hit you.
Playable Hellknight Builds for Multiplayer Matches
If you’re using the playable Hellknight class add-on that’s popular on most modded servers, you can turn that brutal enemy power into a playable kit that dominates both deathmatch and objective-based game modes. The class has three skill trees you can put points into: defense, offense, and agility, with two main meta builds that work for almost every play style.
The tank build for objective-based matches puts all 10 skill points into the defense tree, boosting your passive damage resistance by 40% and increasing your melee cleave range by 25%. You can capture control points while taking fire from three enemy players at once, and your cleave attack will wipe out grouped enemies trying to retake the point in one swing. This build is also great for co-op runs, where you can draw aggro from all the regular enemies while your teammates focus on taking down bosses or solving map puzzles. The only downside is that your movement speed is 15% slower than base, so you’ll need to use your charge ability to get around the map faster.
The DPS build puts 6 points into offense and 4 into agility, boosting your rune projectile damage by 30% and cutting your charge cooldown in half. This build is perfect for free-for-all deathmatch modes, where you can pick off low-health players from afar with rune fire, then charge into groups to clean up with your cleave attack. You’ll want to carry a backup throwing axe for close quarters fights, since the rune projectile has a small splash damage radius that will hurt you if you fire it too close to your target. I’ve lost way too many 1v1 fights because I got caught reloading my rune arm right as an enemy rounded the corner, so don’t make that same mistake.
Common Hellknight Mistakes to Avoid (For Both Players and Fighters)
Even experienced mod players make simple mistakes when dealing with the Hellknight, either when fighting it or playing as it. Fixing these small errors will make your runs way smoother, especially if you play on higher difficulty levels.
For players fighting the Hellknight, never stand still for more than two seconds when it’s active on the map. Its rune projectile has travel time, but it’s almost impossible to dodge if you’re standing still, and the armor ignore effect means it will chunk your health even if you’re fully geared. Another common mistake is wasting the chainsaw on it— it only deals 10% of the damage it deals to regular enemies, so you’re just wasting fuel that you could use to clear out hordes of imps or zombies. Always aim for the glowing rune on its forehead too, that’s its weak point, and hitting it deals double damage, cutting your required ammo use in half.
For players using the playable Hellknight class, don’t waste your charge attack on single enemies if there’s a group nearby. The cleave from the charge hits all enemies in your path, so you’ll get way more value saving it for grouped enemies instead of using it to chase one low-health player across the map. Also, don’t forget that your passive damage resistance doesn’t apply to holy damage, so run away from any player carrying a holy sword or holy crossbow instead of trying to tank their hits. Even a fully specced tank build will go down in three hits from a holy weapon, so it’s not worth the risk.
At the end of the day, the Doom The Dark Ages Hellknight is one of the most well-designed additions to any Doom mod out there, balancing raw power with clear weaknesses that reward skill instead of just luck. Whether you’re trying to take it down on a solo survival run or dominate multiplayer lobbies as it, the tips in this guide will help you get the upper hand every time. Next time you load up the mod, test out the counter strategies or builds we mentioned, you might be surprised how much easier your runs get.
