Fist

From Doom Wiki

An Imp makes the acquaintance of the berserk fist on E2M2: Containment Area

The fist is the only weapon in Doom which is always available. Punching is almost useless, however, unless the player has collected a berserk pack, which increases the power of the fists tenfold. A berserk punch is somewhat more effective than the chainsaw, although it does have the disadvantage of not doing continuous damage (which leaves the player open to counterattacks) and requires more careful aim than the chainsaw.

In vanilla Doom, if the player has a chainsaw, he cannot use his fists unless he also has a berserk pack.

The actual punch attack (hitscan) is begun two frames into the punch animation. The fist is not completely extended at this point, but consideration of this lag can help in timing punches effectively.

[edit] Notes

The player punches with his left hand; he also shoots the pistol with his left hand, but operates the chainsaw and shotgun with his right hand.

When not punching, the player's hands are shown to be wearing brown gloves (black in the splash screen). When punching, the player's right hand is unadorned, while his left hand carries a knuckleduster.

Even though punching in the air makes very little noise in the real world, compared to the sound of gunfire or a chainsaw, this will nonetheless alert monsters in open areas. Players who want to provoke enemies without wasting ammo can use the fists attack.

[edit] Data

Fist data
Weapon number	1
Damage	2-20 (20-200 with berserk)
Included ammo	Infinite
Shot type	Hitscan
Shots / minute	123.5 punches
Sound	DSPUNCH
Appears in	Shareware Doom Registered Doom The Ultimate Doom Doom II/Final Doom
Sprite	PUNG (wielded) PUFF (impact, miss) BLUD (impact, hit)

Damage done by a punch (non-berserk)

Blows needed to kill¹ (non-berserk)	Mean	Standard deviation	Min	Max
Barrel	2.34	0.74	1	4
Trooper	2.34	0.74	1	4
Sergeant	3.25	0.87	2	6
Wolfenstein SS	5.14	1.09	3	8
Imp	6.10	1.10	4	9
Chaingunner	6.99	1.24	4	11
Lost Soul	9.80	1.43	7	14
Commander Keen	9.80	1.43	7	14
Demon	14.45	1.91	11	21
Spectre	14.45	1.91	11	21
Boss Brain³	23.68	2.45	19	29
Revenant	28.46	2.98	23	34
Cacodemon	37.90	3.78	34	48
Pain Elemental	37.90	3.78	34	48
Hell Knight	47.14	4.59	41	57
Arachnotron	47.14	4.59	41	57
Mancubus	56.53	5.61	49	67
Arch-Vile	65.78	6.48	58	80
Baron of Hell	93.80	9.16	83	113
Spider Mastermind	280.65	27.18	254	329
Cyberdemon	374.07	36.27	339	439

Damage done by a berserk punch

Blows needed to kill¹ (berserk)	Mean	Standard deviation	Min	Max
Barrel	1.00	0.00	1	1
Trooper	1.00	0.00	1	1
Sergeant	1.11	0.31	1	2
Wolfenstein SS	1.21	0.43	1	3
Imp	1.21	0.43	1	3
Chaingunner	1.34	0.51	1	3
Lost Soul	1.45	0.57	1	3
Commander Keen	1.45	0.57	1	3
Demon	1.94	0.71	1	4
Spectre	1.94	0.71	1	4
Boss Brain³	2.95	0.84	2	5
Revenant	3.25	0.87	2	6
Cacodemon	4.24	0.97	2	7
Pain Elemental	4.24	0.97	2	7
Hell Knight	5.14	1.09	3	8
Arachnotron	5.14	1.09	3	8
Mancubus	6.10	1.10	4	9
Arch-Vile	6.99	1.24	4	11
Baron of Hell	9.80	1.43	7	14
Spider Mastermind	28.46	2.98	23	34
Cyberdemon	37.90	3.78	34	48

This table assumes that all calls to P_Random for damage, pain chance, and blood splats are consecutive. In real play, this is never the case: counterattacks and AI pathfinding must be handled, and of course the map may contain additional moving monsters and other randomized phenomena (such as flickering lights). Any resulting errors are probably toward the single-shot average, as they introduce noise into the correlation between the indices of "consecutive" calls.
Assumes that direct hits are possible, which does not occur in any stock map.