Skill level

From Doom Wiki

Each game skill level provides general difficulty settings that allow a greater variety of players to enjoy the game, allowing novices to face fewer opponents even with advantages for the player, and giving those who have mastered the game a challenge against many monsters, possibly with enhanced aggressiveness. Each skill level bears a colorful name suiting the character of the particular game being played and can be selected when the game starts or through additional options, particularly the -skill parameter.

Contents 1 Doom and Doom II skill levels 2 Heretic skill levels 3 Hexen skill levels 4 Strife skill levels 5 Doom 64 skill levels 6 Non-Doom engine games 6.1 Doom 3 skill levels 7 Notes 8 See also

[edit] Doom and Doom II skill levels

Skill	Menu name	Source code1	Thing placement2	Ammo3	Special
1	I'm too young to die.	sk_baby	The same as in sk_easy	Double	Players take half normal damage
2	Hey, not too rough.	sk_easy	Least numbers or strength	Normal
3	Hurt me plenty.	sk_medium	Default numbers or strength	Normal	Used unless otherwise defined by the player
4	Ultra-Violence.	sk_hard	Greatest numbers or strength	Normal
5	Nightmare!	sk_nightmare	The same as in sk_hard	Double	No cheats4, fast and respawning monsters5

[edit] Heretic skill levels

Skill	Menu name	Source code1	Thing placement2	Ammo3	Special
1	thou needeth a wet-nurse	sk_baby	The same as in sk_easy	+50%	Players take half normal damage
2	yellowbellies-r-us	sk_easy	Least numbers or strength	Normal
3	bringest them oneth	sk_medium	Default numbers or strength	Normal	Used unless otherwise defined by the player
4	thou art a smite-meister	sk_hard	Greatest numbers or strength	Normal
5	black plague possesses thee	sk_nightmare	The same as in sk_hard	+50%	No cheats4, fast monsters5

See the Doom and Doom II table above for specific notes, as there are no differences in general, except that +50% means one and a half times as much ammo is added to the player's current total when a corresponding item is picked up.

[edit] Hexen skill levels

Skill	Menu name (fighter)	Menu name (cleric)	Menu name (mage)	Source code1	Thing placement2	Special
1	squire	altar boy	apprentice	sk_baby	The same as in sk_easy	Players take half normal damage
2	knight	acolyte	enchanter	sk_easy	Least numbers or strength
3	warrior	priest	sorceror	sk_medium	Default numbers or strength	Used unless otherwise defined by the player
4	berserker	cardinal	warlock	sk_hard	Greatest numbers or strength
5	titan	pope	archimage	sk_nightmare	The same as in sk_hard	No cheats4, fast monsters5

See the Doom and Doom II table above for specific notes, as there are no differences in general.

[edit] Strife skill levels

Skill	Menu name	Thing placement2	Ammo3	Special
1	Training	The same as in skill 2	Double	Players take half normal damage
2	Rookie	Least numbers or strength	Normal
3	Veteran	Default numbers or strength	Normal	Used unless otherwise defined by the player
4	Elite	Greatest numbers or strength	Normal
5	Bloodbath	The same as in skill 4	Normal	No cheats4, fast monsters5

See the Doom and Doom II table above for specific notes, as there are no differences in general.

[edit] Doom 64 skill levels

Skill	Menu name	Thing placement
1	Be Gentle!	Least numbers or strength of opposition
2	Bring it on!	Lesser numbers or strength of opposition
3	I own Doom!	Greater numbers or strength of opposition
4	Watch me die!	Greatest numbers or strength of opposition

[edit] Non-Doom engine games

[edit] Doom 3 skill levels

Skill	Menu name	Special
0	Recruit	The Marine takes 75% of the base damage. A few less monsters than usual are encountered.
1	Marine	The Marine takes 90% of the base damage.
2	Veteran	The Marine takes 170% of the base damage.
3	Nightmare	The Marine takes 350% of the base damage, and the player's health steadily drains until it's 25 or below. Starts with the Soul Cube in Doom 3, or all Artifact powers in RoE. Must be unlocked by first completing the game on any other skill level.

[edit] Notes

• In addition to the five Doom standard skill levels, in vanilla Doom a skill level of 0 can also be specified, but only using the -skill parameter. Doing this empties maps of all things apart from the player starts. This does not work in many source ports. It also renders many levels that have boss trigger effects or use teleporters impossible to finish without the aid of cheat codes.

• Early versions of Doom did not support "Nightmare!" skill. The initial mail-order releases were version 1.1 and only included the first four skill levels. The widely circulated version 1.2 added "Nightmare!" skill support. "Nightmare!" was added with the characteristic dark humor of the Doom games in response to any comments saying the game was too easy on "Ultra-Violence." After selecting "Nightmare!" from the main menu, the player is asked "Are you sure? This skill level isn't even remotely fair." The player must then confirm that he wants to play on Nightmare mode, a step which is unique to this skill level.

• The name of the fourth skill level, "Ultra-Violence", comes from a phrase in Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange, via Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film version [1].

• In the Doom alphas, "I'm too Young to Die" was called "I Just Want to Kill", hence the name M_JKILL for the graphic for skill 1.

• The "I'm Too Young To Die" skill level was re-named "I am a wimp" for some console ports.

• Some skilled players have created new challenges by defining custom rules, such as pacifist (not hurting monsters) and Tyson (fists, pistol, and chainsaw only).

[edit] See also

• Doom engine
• Parameter