Doom Eternal weapons: how to master all the gun types
All weapon mod challenges
Early on in Doom Eternal, you'll pick up your first weapon mod. These are secondary fire effects and there are a maximum of two per weapon. You can swap them on the fly if you've unlocked both of them, so they can make a standard shotgun either throw sticky bombs or turn into a fully automatic shotgun. But there is a way to make them even better.
Doom Eternal weapons guide
From the second mission onwards, you'll begin to earn weapon points. They are obtained through standard combat encounters, but can also be earned via boss fights, secret encounters, and special hard arenas called "Slayer Room challenges". This Doom Eternal weapons guide will give you all the information you need such as which weapon mod perks are available, and how to get weapon mod mastery skills.
Contents
Weapon mod perks
Weapon points can be spent on upgrading your weapon mods to add a few more effects. Almost all weapons have two weapon mods available to it, though the Super Shotgun only has the Meat Hook. There is one other gun in the game, but it doesn't have any weapon mods available (Not that it needs it).
If I have any recommendations for which perks to unlock as soon as possible, both of the Heat Blast perks for the Plasma Rifle are solid upgrades. When you get the Super Shotgun, try to nab both of the available perks for it as it gives you another way to burn enemies without having to wait for the recharge time on the flamethrower.
The following table has all of the weapon mod perks available, their effects, and their costs. I highly recommend using the search function for this table, using the weapon mod name as the search term.
| Weapon mod upgrade | Upgrade effect and Weapon Point cost | Weapon mod |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Rack | Sticky Bomb reload speed +20%. (Cost: 3) | Sticky Bomb (Shotgun) |
| Bigger Boom | Sticky Bomb explosion size +45%. (Cost: 6) | Sticky Bomb (Shotgun) |
| Quick Recovery | Full Auto mode recovery speed +50% (Cost: 1) | Full Auto (Shotgun) |
| Faster Transform | Full Auto mode transform speed +50% (Cost: 3) | Full Auto (Shotgun) |
| Fast Feet | Movement speed while in Full Auto mode +20% (Cost: 5) | Full Auto (Shotgun) |
| Mobility | Precision Bolt movement speed +15%. (Cost: 3) | Precision Bolt (Heavy Cannon) |
| Fast Loader | Precision Bolt reload speed +20% (Cost: 6) | Precision Bolt (Heavy Cannon) |
| Quick Recharger | Micro Missile reload time -35% (Cost: 1) | Micro Missiles (Heavy Cannon) |
| Instant Loader | Micro Missile load time -75% (Cost: 3) | Micro Missiles (Heavy Cannon) |
| Primary Charger | Kills with the Heavy Cannon boost Micro Missile damage by 30% for 5 seconds (Cost: 5) | Micro Missiles (Heavy Cannon) |
| Quick Fire | Firing delay after using Heat Blast -25% (Cost: 3) | Heat Blast (Plasma Rifle) |
| Super Heated Round | Heat Blast charge per shot +25% (Cost: 6) | Heat Blast (Plasma Rifle) |
| Faster Beam Charge | Microwave Beam charge time -66% (Cost: 3) | Microwave Beam (Plasma Rifle) |
| Increased Range | Microwave Beam targeting range +50% (Cost: 6) | Microwave Beam (Plasma Rifle) |
| Proximity Flare | Rockets trigger a flare when near targets that will be damaged by Remote Detonation (Cost: 3) | Remote Detonate (Rocket Launcher) |
| Concussive Blast | Remote Detonations now generate large, non-damaging concussive blast to interrupt demons (Cost: 6) | Remote Detonate (Rocket Launcher) |
| Fast Reset | Lock-On Burst recharge time -37.5% (Cost: 3) | Lock-On Burst (Rocket Launcher) |
| Quick Lock | Lock-on speed +50% (Cost: 6) | Lock-On Burst (Rocket Launcher) |
| Quick Hook | Meat Hook recharge time -25% (Cost: 3) | Meat Hook (Super Shotgun) |
| Fast Hands | Super Shotgun reload speed +33% (Cost: 6) | Meat Hook (Super Shotgun) |
| Full Speed | Arbalest mode movement speed +30% (Cost: 3) | Arbalest (Ballista) |
| Stronger Explosion | Arbalest explosion side +60% (Cost: 6) | Arbalest (Ballista) |
| Charging Blast | At max charge, Destroyer Blade mod will emit a blast wave that falters demons (Cost: 3) | Destroyer Blade (Ballista) |
| Rapid Chains | Destroyer Blade recharge time -20% (Cost: 6) | Destroyer Blade (Ballista) |
| Rapid Deploy | Mobile Turret mode transform time +50% (Cost: 3) | Mobile Turret (Chaingun) |
| Fast Gunner | Increased movement speed while in Mobile Turret mode (Cost: 6) | Mobile Turret (Chaingun) |
| Faster Recovery | Energy Shield recharge time -37.5% (Cost: 3) | Energy Shield (Chaingun) |
| Dash Smash | Dashing into heavy demons will cause them to falter. (Cost: 6) | Energy Shield (Chaingun) |
Mastery skills and tasks
Once you have spent enough weapon points to earn all of a mod's available perks, you'll have a chance to unlock that mod's "Mastery" skill. These are incredibly powerful effects that can, just as an example, turn a gun from a rather average machine gun into a mini-rocket launcher.
The catch is that there is a challenge you must complete before you unlock that mastery skill. Luckily, the Fortress Of Doom hub area, which incidentally you can find some hidden secrets in our Final Sin and Fortress Of Doom guide, has a basement prison where the Doomguy likes to keep some demons prisoner. The point is that progress to also carries over even if you die in combat or reload the checkpoint, so if you want to be really cheeky, you can blow up an Arachnotron's turret before reloading to do it over and over.
You're shown it after the second mission and you can come down to slay some demons as much as you wish. Here are all of the mastery skills and the challenges you need to complete to unlock them all:
| Secondary fire mode | Weapon type | Mastery skill | Mastery task |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sticky Bomb | Shotgun | Launch five sticky bombs before having to reload. | Destroy 25 Arachnotron turrets with sticky bombs. |
| Full Auto | Shotgun | Killing a demon with the Full Auto mod will drop shell ammo. | Kill 15 Pinkies with Full Auto mode. |
| Precision Bolt | Heavy Cannon | A headshot kill will set off a powerful, secondary blast that deals damage to nearby demons. | Get 75 Precision Bolt headshot kills. |
| Micro Missiles | Heavy Cannon | Fire micro missiles indefinitely without having to reload (still consumes ammo). | Hit three enemies with a single salvo of missiles, 15 times. |
| Heat Blast | Plasma Rifle | After triggering a fully charged Heat Blast, plasma projectiles will have a damage boost for a short time. | Kill two demons with a single Heat Blast, 30 times. |
| Microwave Beam | Plasma Rifle | Demons that are detonated by the Microwave Beam will trigger a concussive blast that falters nearby enemies. | Kill at least one demon with the Microwave explosion, 15 times. |
| Remote Detonate | Rocket Launcher | If a rocket is detonated while the Proximity Flare is active, additional explosives will activate to create a larger area of effect. | Kill 60 enemies while the Proximity Flare is active. |
| Lock-On Burst | Rocket Launcher | A second lock-on target can now be acquired before firing rocket bursts. | Kill 15 Prowler Demons with the Lock-on Burst. |
| Meat hook | Super Shotgun | Meat hook now sets enemies on fire, causing armor drops if blasted with the Super Shotgun. | Kill 50 enemies with the super shotgun while grappled onto them. |
| Arbalest | Ballista | Arbalest will start recharging instantly after a direct hit. | Kill 20 Cacodemons with the Arbalest. |
| Destroyer Blade | Ballista | Fire Destroyer Blades before they have reached maximum width. | Kill at least three enemies with the Destroyer Blade, 15 times. |
| Mobile Turret | Chaingun | Mobile turret no longer stalls. | Kill 5 enemies with a single turret without overheating, ten times. |
| Energy Shield | Chaingun | Dealing enough damage with the Chaingun while the Energy Shield is active will launch it forward on release. Any demons hit by this projectile will falter. | Deal 20,000 damage while Energy Shield is active. |
Doom Eternal guides series
And those are all the weapon mastery skills and perks that you can unlock to rain fury on the demonic hordes. We have plenty of other guides that you can check out, including how to unlock all the secrets, what Praetor Suit Points and Sentinel Shards do, and locations for all of the collectables in each mission.
- Doom Eternal guide - Return to our main guide for the top 20 tips and tricks.
- Doom Eternal upgrades - What to spend Praetor Coins and Sentinel Shards on.
- How to unlock Doom Eternal secrets - Doom Eternal has a lot of hidden stuff, here's how to get it.
- Doom Eternal PC performance - How to get the best settings.
Collectables - Find all the collectables hidden in each mission.