Fairy Tale Spotlight: Monsters of Doom, Part 4

-Lost Souls-

If the creators of Doom ever tried to make the demon equivalent of a mosquito, the Lost Soul fits that criteria perfectly. They look like flaming skulls, and they attack by rushing at you at frightening speeds. Lost Souls are pretty weak, but they make up for that by showing up in groups. And it's the groups that you need to worry about. Every single one of them is going to relentlessly dash at you as your health depletes little by little. And because of how tiny they are, it can be easy to lose track of them. I even suffer from this from time to time.

Because of their unpredictable nature, I usually like to get rid of them first. They were, after all, intended to be an annoyance. Good job. They are indeed extremely annoying. My usual tactic is to break out the minigun and take little potshots at them until they blow up. They tend to stun-lock and even fly backwards real easily. Why not the pistol? Let's be honest; the pistol is a bit too slow. The minigun fires two rounds per tap, so its a bit more efficient at taking these little nuisances out. Don't waist good ammo on these guys. Just use what you need to be rid of them and move on. Threat Level: 2 of 10.

-Pain Elemental-

Of course, this had to be the next one. Ladies and gentleman, this is my personal biggest annoyance. I hate them with a passion. I always prioritize their destruction. The Pain Elemental looks a bit like the Cacodemon, but they have more of a dark gray pallet and are far, far uglier. The interesting thing about this monster is that he doesn't have an actual attack. What he actually does is produce Lost Souls. Seriously, there is no greater sin than this.

Imagine if you ran into the person who admitted to being the one who brought mosquitoes into this world. You probably wouldn't like him very much. That's how I feel about the Pain Elemental. All he does is barf up Lost Souls, and for that alone I want him dead. And to make matters worse, when you do manage to kill him, he explodes into three more Lost Souls. Even in death, he's an asshole.

At the moment I realize there is an Pain Elemental in play, I immediately switch to my plasma gun. If I don't have one, it's gonna be rockets, but the plasma gun is really the most entertaining. I'll lay into those assholes and every Lost Soul he spits out until the room is clear. It's not a matter of ammo waste; it's hate. I hate them. And the only way I am going to enjoy myself is with an excess of force. As a side note, the Pain Elemental can only produce up to 21 Lost Souls. Now imagine being in a small room with 21 mosquitoes. Enough said. Threat Level 5 of 10.

-Revenant-

Oh ho! Here he is! He's probably my favorite of the whole lot. The Revenant may not be the hardest monster in the long list of Doom enemies, but he is undoubtedly the one with the most moxie. From the moment you hear his iconic screech, you know shit is about to get real, and it does. It always does. The Revenant is a screaming skeleton straight out of your most favorite nightmares. And he's here to give your day a brand new coat of red. Mighty generous, if you ask me.

The Revenant is a skeletal creature with two big missile launchers mounted on his shoulders. His missiles can home in on you half of the time. The other half they just fly perfectly straight until they hit a wall. If one of these missiles happen to be a homing one, they will fly at you relentlessly until they either hit you, or you are able to kite it into one of the many obstacles. It's harder than it sounds, but with practice it gets much easier.

The Revenant also has what may be the most entertaining and wonderful melee attack I have ever seen in the history of video games. First of all, these monsters are fast. I had no idea skeletons could even snort cocaine! Dear lord, these skeletons have absolutely no problem just power-walking right up to you and giving you a bony punch to the face! The sound it makes... That hilarious WHACK sound. Oh, it's glorious!

There is just something so wonderfully personal about the Revenent in both its design and actions. They act like they have a personal vendetta with you. They are just dying to kill you, and they aren't going to wait. I seriously cannot fight them without smiling. There bones can be ground down into pure powder testosterone. I can't get enough of them!

As aggressive as they are, it's all balanced with the fact that they aren't very good at taking damage. They go down pretty fast. Sometimes a single super shotgun blast will do the trick, although that is a bit rare. It might make more sense to use a rocket or the minigun, I prefer the super shotgun simply for the fun of going in up close and personal. I love the fight with these guys. And nothing beats kiting one of their homing rockets right back into their ugly faces. Try it out. It's hilarious. Threat Level: 5 of 10.

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