Besides bosses, Marauders are the fiercest enemies you’ll face in Doom Eternal. Taking down these shielded enemies can be incredibly frustrating, as they’re the only demons that can approach the Doom Slayer when it comes to speed. Their defense is almost impenetrable if you don’t know the right tactics to use, and trying to beat a Marauder in Doom Eternal can take precious time and resources you don’t have.
Luckily, there are several tactics you can use against Marauders in Doom Eternal that make relatively quick work of them. These strategies won’t precisely make fights easy, but they’ll give you a chance to survive.
How to kill Marauders in Doom Eternal
The first time you meet a Marauder is at the end of the level ARC Complex. Up to this point, you’ll have faced some tough demons, but none of them could prepare you for the Marauder.
To beat a Marauder in Doom Eternal you must:
- Get in close and wait for its eyes to flash green.
- Attack right as the eyes flash with the Ballista or Super Shotgun.
- (Alternatively) Stay at medium-range and use splash damage from shotgun grenades or remote-detonated rockets to chip away at the Marauders health.
- Kill the spirit wolves the Marauders spawn with shotgun grenades or the Super Shotgun
- Immediately glory kill the Marauder when it starts flashing orange.
For a more in-depth look at the process, continue reading below.
To learn how to beat Marauders in Doom Eternal, you need to get inside their heads. The codex has this to say about them:
“As civil war consumed Argent D’Nur, the Night Sentinels Guard was quartered by their faith. Torn between serving the Khan Maykr or revolting against that which they swore to protect. Those most disillusioned forswore their oath to the Sentinel royalty, abandoning their pact of allegiance made to the throne. These hardened warriors joined the separatist group led by the exalted Priest class, allying themselves with the Maykrs and their devout acolytes in an attempted coup against the Sentinel royal house. Those Sentinel warriors who fell in battle, having sided with the Maykrs, were ultimately denied finality in death. Resurrected by the Divinity Machine of Maykr design, these fallen Sentinels were returned from the dead, transformed by Hell’s power, and recreated with a singular purpose: to hunt the Slayer, now reborn as Knights in Hell’s army.”
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So, the Marauders used to be Night Sentinels. These are demons who have seen the Doom Slayer fight and know how to counter his aggressive fighting style. Their primary weapon against the Slayer is, ironically, an impenetrable Argent shield.
When facing a Marauder, they’ll remain on guard facing you with their shield activated. If you stay at medium-long range, they’ll send a spirit wolf at you which can harass you and cause significant damage. They’ll also toss their Argent axe at you at long-range, which can knock off quite a bit of health. However, the Marauder’s primary goal is to close distance with you so they can attack you with their axe and super shotgun.
The way you’re “supposed” to fight the Marauder is to let them close in and wait for their eyes to flash green, which indicates they’re about to drop their guard and attack. If you are fast enough to hit him right as his eyes glow green, you should use the Ballista and Super Shotgun. Those do the most damage and can hit him twice while his guard is down. Just stay in medium-close range and wait for his attacks and be ready with those weapons!
However, the time between a Marauder dropping its guard and attacking is pretty fast . You’ll usually just end up getting hit, or they’ll raise their guard before you can damage them. So if you choose not to play like that, the best tactic to use with the Marauder is to remain at medium range. This means they’ll be throwing their axe at you less, and you’ll only have to worry about keeping your distance, avoiding the occasional other attack, and taking out their wolf.
You can still harm a Marauder behind their shield if you catch them with splash damage. This means you can use the shotgun grenade launcher or the rocket launcher with remote detonation to sneak past their guard. Just fire shots past them, bait them into position and wait for the explosion to hit them.
The biggest threat when using this tactic is letting the Marauder close in or letting his ghost dog tick away at your health. You don’t want to fight in a hallway, if at all possible, and you don’t want to let his dog live for too long. Instead, stick to somewhere open and circle the Marauder and kill the dog right as it spawns. If you can stay in control of the movement in the fight and remember to retreat when necessary, you’ll win. Just keep whittling away with splash damage and direct hits when the Marauder is staggered, and you’ll eventually get the chance to go in for a glory kill.
