Have you ever played a game and thought: “Man, there’s way too many customization options to keep track of?” Well, that’s certainly the case with DOOM: Eternal. With Weapon Mods, Runes, Sentinel Crystals, and Suit Upgrades, you’ll probably be spending quite a bit of time going over your loadout screens for an FPS shooter. However, don’t panic - today, we’ll be going over Suit Upgrades in DOOM: Eternal section by section, while ranking them so that you’ll know which ones you should get first!
Fundamentals
Ah, platforming. Maybe you don't like it, but DOOM: Eternal's got plenty of it!
This section focuses on intrinsic aspects of gameplay, including movement and weapon swap speed.
4. Grappler: Faster ledge grab and monkey bars
Not a bad upgrade by any means, just mostly situational. You’ll rarely be climbing ledges and monkey bars while fighting demons, which is indeed the core gameplay; having it is useful, and can definitely help in those one-off situations where you do climb ledges and use monkey bars while fighting demons. However, for the most part, platform navigation isn’t something you need to invest points into right at the start.
Rating: 6/10
3. Hot Swapper: Faster weapon switching and mod swapping
Okay, this one’s really good. Hot Swapper, although it tweaks something that seems really small, opens up doors to a variety of quickswap combos - one of the best-known, Precision Bolt and Ballista (commonly abbreviated to PB + Ballista), is incredibly effective at taking down heavies and super heavies in a matter of seconds. That, combined with how it’s just generally useful to swap quickly between weapons and mods mid-fight, firmly places this upgrade as one of the best.
Rating: 8.5/10
2. Hit and Run: Dash refilled on Glory Kills
In keeping with the theme of movement and Glory Kills, Hit and Run is an excellent upgrade that only continues to make Glory Killing demons better, a mechanic introduced in DOOM (2016). Dash is such an important part of Eternal’s movement; being able to refill it with Glory Kills only adds to the combat loop of your gameplay.
Rating: 8.5/10
1. Faster Dasher: Dash refills more quickly
This upgrade is good for the same reasons that Hit and Run is good - it refills Dash at a better, more efficient rate. Anything that refills Dash better is automatically good, and the best part is that Faster Dasher does it for FREE! This easily puts it at one of the best and most useful upgrades in DOOM: Eternal, and you should get it as soon as you can.
Rating: 10/10
Exploration
The automap's probably DOOM: Eternal's greatest feature. How did you ever live without one?
This section focuses on the explorative aspects of DOOM: Eternal’s gameplay.
4. Item Classifier: Reveals all progression items on the Dossier
Absolutely useless. You don’t really need to know exactly what each progression item on the Dossier is; a better upgrade would be to reveal the POSITION of all progression items, and besides, once you get the automap from the Automap Station, the position of all items is revealed anyway.
Rating: 1/10
3. Bigger Fog Lights: Larger automap reveal radius
Slightly better! Revealing a larger radius on the automap is indeed useful until you find the Automap Station, but until then, Bigger Fog Lights is all you’ve got. Honestly, it’s not useless - it can help you navigate terrain and understand the map layout better, at least until you get the Automap, which just reveals everything.
Rating: 5/10
2. Item Finder: Reveals the position of all progression items on the automap
This is the upgrade that basically invalidates the Item Classifier. Revealing the position of all progression items on the Automap is an IMMENSELY useful upgrade, especially when you consider that not all of these progression items are necessarily secrets - some of them can be Praetor Tokens or Sentinel Crystals, which are essential for other upgrades in the game!
Rating: 7/10
1. Slayer Atlas: Reveals the automap station location on the automap
This is easily the best upgrade in Exploration. Knowing where the automap station is makes finding it way easier, and having the automap makes navigating DOOM: Eternal’s sometimes confusing levels much easier - especially when you’re trying to find some progression items that seem a little out of reach.
Rating: 9/10
Environmental
That green stuff? Hate that stuff.
This section relates to environmental components of DOOM: Eternal’s gameplay.
4. Hazard Protection: RAD Suit takes less damage from Toxic Sludge and Toxic Water.
Hazard Protection is alright, you know? It’s okay. Thing is, the RAD Suit can be constantly recharged with pickups that are at comfortable intervals from each other, so as long as you move fast enough, you’ll rarely take damage from toxic sludge and water as it is. It’s because of this that Hazard Protection isn’t that useful, and you’re probably better off investing your points elsewhere.
Rating: 3/10
3. Regenerating Barrels: Barrels that have exploded will respawn once after a short duration.
Honestly, this isn’t that useful. Having barrels that respawn, while okay (you can use them as explosives against demons, luring them close to it before firing a single shot to make it detonate) doesn’t really measure up in practice. You’ll probably have killed all the demons in an area before the barrels respawn to make any good use of them, and besides, your weapons deal more damage than the barrels ever will anyway. Basically, this upgrade offers diminishing returns once all demons in an area have been dealt with.
Rating: 4/10
2. Explosive Pinatas: Barrels will leave behind some ammo when destroyed.
Definitely more useful than Regenerating Barrels, but again, not by much. Sure, barrels leaving behind ammo is better than them leaving behind nothing, but you’ve got a perfect source of ammo farming available to you right from the get-go: the Chainsaw. The Chainsaw itself is also a self-regenerating weapon, with one pip regenerating after some time so that you can at least Chainsaw a fodder demon for ammo. Thus, Explosive Pinatas, while better than nothing, is completely overshadowed by a much better source of ammo - and that’s not even counting the plentiful ammo pickups sprinkled throughout Eternal’s levels.
Rating: 5/10
1. Thicker Skin: Immune to damage from barrel explosions.
Barrel explosions can be very dangerous if you’re not careful! Sure, easy to say when you’re not dealing with a lot of them at a time, but some sections of DOOM: Eternal have quite a few barrels in the area as you’re dealing with loads of demons. You don’t want to deal with barrels exploding and getting damaged; avoiding the demons is bad enough, and Thicker Skin helps you avoid such a predicament.
Rating: 7/10
Frag Grenade
Love the Frag Grenade! Excited every time I get it.
This section relates to upgrades for the Frag Grenade equipment launcher.
4. Scatter Bombs: Each demon killed by the grenade explosion spawns scatter bombs.
This is, indeed, a useful upgrade - until you consider that sometimes, Frag Grenades are so useful on their own that they’ll kill an entire horde of demons on their own, and the spawned scatter bombs do nothing. Or, perhaps you’re using it against a Cacodemon to exploit its weakpoint, and no explosion occurs. While useful, there are certainly a good number of scenarios in which this upgrade isn’t quite as useful - and why it earns the lowest ranking for the Frag Grenade section.
Rating: 7/10
3. Combustion Concussion: The grenade emits a second, larger, non-damaging explosion that falters demons.
Definitely better than Scatter Bombs; faltering is a mechanic that gives you just a second to breathe - or damage a demon even further. This is especially useful against constantly-moving heavies and super heavies, since it offers an opportunity to either run or deal more damage - either of which are perfectly valid in Eternal’s combat loop.
Rating: 8/10
2. Faster Frag Cooldown: Takes less time to cooldown after firing.
Now we’re getting into the really, really good stuff. Being able to reduce a cooldown for literally anything in DOOM: Eternal is an upgrade you should definitely get, with many of the best upgrades and customization options sharing that factor. Less cooldown equals more usage, and more usage of the Frag Grenade equals more damage - which, considering that the Frag Grenade is quite powerful, both as a weapon and as a weakpoint exploiter against Cacodemons, make this upgrade one of the best.
Rating: 9/10
1. Frag Stock Up: Fire twice before requiring a recharge.
Frag Stock Up is good for the same reasons as Faster Frag Cooldown - it lets you use it more. In the late game, you’ll be dealing with a lot of heavies and super heavies, particularly Cacodemons - with a weapon that can deal a sizeable amount of damage to these demons, as well as exploiting a weakpoint, this upgrade is just as good, if not better, than Faster Frag Cooldown.
Rating: 9.5/10
Ice Bomb
FREEZE!
This section relates to upgrades for the Ice Bomb equipment launcher.
4. Ice Drops: Damaging and killing frozen enemies will drop health.
Really, any option in DOOM: Eternal that contributes to health pickups (not Sentinel Crystals - being able to expand your total health pool is VERY good!) just isn’t that good. Glory Kills are already a great source of health, and can be pulled off at any stage of the game. While obviously a decent upgrade, there are better options than Ice Drops available for the Ice Bomb - thus putting it at the bottom of this section.
Rating: 5.5/10
3. Permafrost: Demons remain frozen for longer.
The whole point of the Ice Bomb is to freeze demons, so you can either kill them faster or not have to deal with them for a while. Permafrost is directly in line with this weapon’s ethos, and just like that, it’s pretty good - because it makes the weapon itself better. This gives you more time to deal damage to the frozen demon, or be able to step away from it for a second and prioritize other demons in the area - whichever you choose, Permafrost enables you to make that choice.
Rating: 8/10
2. Frost Bite: Damage dealt against a frozen demon is increased.
Frost Bite is the other half of Permafrost. If you want to freeze a demon for longer, you probably want to deal more damage to it, right? Well, Frost Bite helps you do exactly that. This will help you take care of bigger and badder heavies and super heavies without missing a beat, building you up to take on increasingly complex combat loops as you progress through the game to the final levels.
Rating: 8.5/10
1. Faster Ice Cooldown: Takes less time to cooldown after firing.
Faster Ice Cooldown is, again, good for the same reasons that Faster Frag Cooldown is: it reduces the amount of time you have to wait before firing again. Being able to use the Ice Bomb more means more freedom in prioritization in Eternal’s combat loop: is that Tyrant giving you too much trouble, especially with his friends? Freeze the Tyrant and kill his friends first. Want to kill that Baron of Hell without him attacking you? Freeze him and spam PB + Ballista.
Faster Ice Cooldown expands the combat options provided by the Ice Bomb by simply making it more available, thus easily making it the best upgrade for the Ice Bomb you can get.
Rating: 9.5/10
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