Summary
- The Pulverizer and Ravager in Doom: The Dark Ages have been nerfed.
- Tunable update by id Software increases durability of Hell Knight arms.
- The update made various other tweaks to the FPS.
A new Doom: The Dark Ages update has nerfed the Ravager and Pulverizer, the game's two "skull-crusher" guns. Doom: The Dark Ages is one of the biggest new first-person shooters of the year. This third entry in the Doom reboot series takes the Slayer to medieval times before the events of 2016's Doom, and gives players an arsenal of brutal, torturous weaponry, including a shield saw that serves as the Slayer's main tool of destruction.
When Doom: The Dark Ages was first revealed almost a year ago at Xbox's June showcase, one weapon in particular stood out and became the source of much hype: the Pulverizer. This weapon visibly grinds up skulls and fires the shards at enemies in a wide pattern, perfect for clearing out a room filled with fodder demons. Like with most other weapons in Doom: The Dark Ages, the Pulverizer has a variant called the Ravager. Similar to the Pulverizer, the Ravager also lets players watch as it chews up skulls in real time. The difference with this weapon, though, is that it fires shards in a much tighter spread with a slower fire rate that gradually speeds up with continuous fire. This makes the Ravager a better option than its counterpart when facing some of Doom: The Dark Ages' larger, more threatening demons.
Doom: The Dark Ages Solves a Time-Worn Weapon Problem
Doom: The Dark Ages posits a unique workaround or tweak to its weapon wheel, enabling players to swap between several weapons fluidly.
Developer id Software has recently rolled out a small "Tunable" update for Doom: The Dark Ages that nerfs both the Pulverizer and the Ravager. It seems the arms of The Dark Ages' Hell Knight demons have been popping off too easily when hit with Pulverizer fire, so id Software has made them more durable against the weapon. As for the Ravager, id Software has tuned down its overall damage output against Komodo demons, as well as the game's bosses.
The Ravager nerf is quite a bummer, as it feels like a weapon designed to be used against Komodo-sized demons and Doom: The Dark Ages' bosses. However, the nerf to the Pulverizer isn't as bad comparatively, as using it against Hell Knights in the first place is a recipe for disaster, unless they're mixed in with a large crowd of fodder. As for the rest of the update, id Software tweaked how long health and armor drops remain on the ground, specifically during Atlan mech levels and certain boss battles.
Thankfully, there's not much in the way of bugs for id Software to fix, as Doom: The Dark Ages was released in a super-polished state. There may still be some small tweaks to demons, armor or other elements of the game to come in future Tunable updates, so Doom: The Dark Ages players should keep an eye out for any changes that may affect their favorite weapons.
Doom: The Dark Ages May 23, 2025 Update
- Adjustments to make the Hell Knight's arms tougher to sever when using the Pulverizer
- Lowered Skullcrusher Ravager damage against Bosses and Komodo
- Reduced how long certain health and armor drops linger in the world in the [spoiler] boss fight
- Reduced how long health drops linger in the world when in the Atlan
- Rebalanced the Atlan final [spoiler] boss fight
DOOM: The Dark Ages
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 86 /100 Critics Rec: 95%
- Released
- May 15, 2025
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Developer(s)
- id Software
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda Softworks
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- id Tech
- Genre(s)
- FPS, Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
