Doom Eternal Guide: What to Unlock First

There’s a lot to do in DOOM Eterna l, and often the game even gives you a choice of what to unlock by finding the next rune, mod bot, or Guardian crystal. You decide for yourself how to develop your character, what weapons to upgrade, and so on.

While all of these upgrades will actually improve your character, some of them will do much more than just that. The first one we recommend checking out is the Sticky Bombs for the standard shotgun. While the fully automatic modification is also effective (and available early on, since you’ll find two Modbots right away), Sticky Bombs are indispensable when taking down Cacodemons. Almost every enemy in DOOM Eternal has a weakness. And for Cacodemons, these are Sticky Bombs, which should be thrown directly into their mouths. You can also use the standard Frag Grenade, but it’s much easier to use the Sticky Bomb. After it explodes in the Cacodemon’s mouth, it will temporarily stun it, allowing you to use a Glory Kill.

That is, when choosing between these two modifications, it is best to invest upgrade points in sticky bombs.

Other essential upgrades include:

  • Heavy Weapon: “Precise Arrow” (easier to destroy enemy cannons).
  • Plasma Weapon: “Thermal Blast” (useful, passive skill that charges over time).
  • Rocket Launcher: “Target Lock” (effective mod for moving enemies).
  • Ballista: “Crossbow” (think of this as a last resort against large targets).
  • Machine gun: “Energy shield” (great for when there are a lot of enemies and they are all shooting at you).

As for Guardian Crystals, which increase health, armor, and ammo while also granting passive skills, I recommend focusing on increasing your ammo limit first. At least until you reach level three.

Ammo is a valuable resource in DOOM Eternal. By sawing through enemies with the chainsaw, you will get a lot of ammo. The small capacity will lead to all your efforts going down the drain. And in general, ammo will run out very quickly and you will want to expand their capacity in the Slayer’s pockets. A passive skill that attracts prey from a distance is also a good option.

When it comes to Praetor armor upgrades (the round tile with several upgrades divided into categories), we recommend investing in the most expensive upgrade in the Frag Grenade tree first, so you have two grenades at once. Then move on to the regular category and buy all the upgrades that increase the Slayer’s mobility. Because movement is life in DOOM Eternal!

In the case of runes, things are not so clear-cut. You can only equip three of them, and the clear favorite among all nine possible ones is a saving throw that allows you to withstand a fatal blow and slow down time. As a second rune, I would recommend choosing one that allows you to better control the Executioner’s movement in the air. The third option is a rune that increases the speed of performing Glory Kills. And you will have to perform such kills often.