Gibs are the little bits of internal remains (organs, flesh and bone) from a victim when their body ends up being torn to pieces, usually through an explosion. Gib death can refer to the victim dying upon this final state, while the term, "gibbing" can apply to making the victim undergo gib death.
Gib death occurs when the victim has suffered from an overkill attack that instantly drains their hitpoints to less than the negative amount of their original health. For instance, an Imp having a total health of 60 hitpoints, would require a single attack that drains their final health to less than -60 HP to gib them.
Three enemies being gibbed, plus two gib corpses on the ground, in E4M8: Unto the Cruel
Only seven characters in Doom have an animation to denote a gib death: the player, Zombieman, Shotgun Guy, Heavy Weapon Dude, Wolfenstein SS, Imp, and Nightmare Imp. A single special death sound, DSSLOP (a squishing sound), is used for all of these.
During gameplay, there are various methods of gibbing enemies. The rocket launcher and the BFG9000 are the easiest ways, although setting off explosive barrels nearby the intended target or punching while under the effects of berserk can also work well. Getting telefragged also results in gib death, as it deals 10,000 damage.
The Zombieman, having the lowest health of only 20 hitpoints, has the highest chance of being gibbed. Two shots from a plasma gun, or a single clawing attack from either a Hell Knight or Baron of Hell will often gib a Zombieman.
An Arch-vile can resurrect a gibbed corpse as though it were not gibbed, although the animation is different. If an Arch-vile resurrects a gibbed Lost Soul, when it spawns, it will be invincible. This is a glitch that occurs in Ultimate Doom and Doom II.
In Doom 3, gibbing is only limited to Zombies and dead humans, as other monsters (even the Imp) burn away immediately upon death. If the player constantly attacks corpses, or launch an overkill attack (i.e. Shotgun blast at close range) on Zombies, their bodies will explode before the remains disappear.
In DOOM, gibbing seems to work with most enemies, as it is inspired by Brutal Doom. The remains will eventually disappear but at much slower rate than in Doom 3.
In Heretic and Hexen, the threshold to suffer a gib death is lower, set at half the health, rather than full health. For example a player is gibbed at -51 health and lower, instead of -101 health. The various player classes, as well as the gargoyle and weredragon for Heretic, and the affrit, ettin, centaur, chaos serpent (both green and brown), reiver, and stalker, as well as Zedek, Traductus, and Menelkir can all suffer gib death. In addition, if Corvus or Baratus is gibbed, his skull will fly into the air. When this happens, the camera detaches from the player's body and attaches to his skull, allowing him to see his own remains.
In Strife, the humanoids (player, peasant, beggar, acolyte, rebel) and the reaver can all be gibbed.
Notes[]
- Gibs is short for the English word giblets, or fowl innards. Adrian Carmack is credited with coining the term as applied to gaming, and Doom is one of the first games that gibs appeared in.
- Although the Cyberdemon only has a normal death animation, it bears much resemblance to an actual gibbing death animation (exploding into a bloody pulp).
- In the Game Boy Advance and SNES ports, gibs are notably missing and only the normal death animations are featured.
- In Doom 2 Beta, Arch-viles were able to raise gibs into Lost Souls.
