Arch-vile



Arch-Viles are frail-looking, yellowish-skinned humanoid figures with a grotesque appearance, including stigmata. They also have no flesh around their abdomens, revealing some of their ribcage. Arch-Viles first appeared in Doom II.

Gameplay
Arch-Viles take a deceptively high amount of damage (700 HP), and their attack consists of a unique ability to immolate their enemies in flames by raising their arms up, summoning fire upon the targeted foe, regardless of range (though they will not use their attack from more than 1024 map units away unless hurt). They then hunch over and clasp their hands together, causing the fire to erupt, usually send the enemy flying into the air, while causing up to 90 points in damage. This attack will always hit the enemy as long as there is a line of sight between the Arch-Vile and the target, and can be avoided by hiding behind walls.

Arch-Viles are the fastest non-flying monsters in the game, and meeting two of them at once spells doom for most players. They are also the most resistant monster to pain, which makes cancelling their attacks difficult

The Arch-Vile has the power to resurrect other, lower-level monsters. They can revive all monsters except Cyberdemons, Spider Masterminds and other Arch-Viles (although they can resurrect Lost Souls, this is an extremely rare occurrence). This power makes them top priority to kill in battle, to stop them from reviving monsters and forcing the player to waste precious ammo. However, the player does get credit for killing resurrected monsters, so in levels containing an Arch-Vile the KILLS percentage displayed at the end may exceed 100%.

In vanilla Doom and many source ports, being hit by an Arch-Vile attack will not provoke other monsters to start infighting. Unlike most other monsters, attacking an Arch-Vile which is attacking another demon will cause it to change it's target to what ever attacked it last.

Development and trivia
The idea and name for the Arch-Vile is due to Sandy Petersen

Bobby Prince says: "The Archvile is an evil healer. Anyone getting in his way is blasted with fire and disintegrated. This includes other demons. But, after he has wrought his destruction, he then goes around and reanimates all of the demons. Because of this interesting dual personality, I decided to give him a very evil laugh as an active sound. For his death sound, I recorded a young girl saying "why," pitch shifted it down and mixed it with other sounds. The Archvile just doesn't understand why anyone would want to kill him as he sees himself as only doing good for his fellow demon." 

A lifesize cardboard cutout of the Arch-Vile has been made. Images of it are found here and here

Appearance statistics
The IWADs contain the following numbers of Arch-Viles: