Revenant/Doom 3

The Revenant in Doom 3 is a tall skeletal demon armed with a pair of shoulder-mounted missile launchers that fire relatively slow-moving homing missiles, similar to the original Revenant. Revenants first appear in Recycling Sector 1. They are some of the game's more elite demon enemies, possessing good weapons and about twice as much health as an Imp or Wraith. Revenants are typically encountered individually or, more uncommonly, in pairs, although they sometimes are accompanied by other demon enemies such as Imps or Z-Sec soldiers. Although not as common as more average demons such as the Imp, several Revenants can still appear within a single level. They are especially common in the Resurrection of Evil levels.

There are several differences between the Doom 3 Revenant and the original version. Firstly, their body below the collarbone is covered in a layer of almost transparent skin. This skin was originally a textural test in which id Software was trying to recreate an accurate skeleton by measuring it to the "flesh line". However, when they saw the creature in action with this test texture, they thought it looked interesting, and never removed it from the model. Secondly, it has glowing green eyes, unlike its older counterpart, and has no gore attached to its legs. Thirdly, it has thicker, more advanced chest armor, which resembles the marine's chest armor, but is colored red and has more tubes and wires along with the shoulder-mounted launchers.

The Revenant makes a distinctive croaking sound, relatively similar to its Doom II counterpart, even when it is unaware of the player, making it easy to tell when one is nearby. It often hides in hidden compartments with trigger points and darkened dead ends.

The Revenant makes its debut cutscene where it emerges from a dark corner of the area and fires a missile which destroys a huge steel column that sustains part of the ceiling, causing the column to fall and obstruct the marine's path, forcing him to face the creature in search of another escape route.



Combat characteristics
The Doom 3 Revenant keeps the concept of a armored, missile-launching, walking skeleton, but it moves a lot slower than the original, walking instead of running, but it is also much more aggressive as a result, often firing both of its shoulder-mounted launchers at once as it walks towards the player's position. It will also use a punch/clawing attack at close range. Like the Z-Sec soldiers, Revenants can occasionally sidestep a single step to dodge the player's fire.

They have 272 health, which is a strange amount to have, as most other monsters have an amount of health that is rounded to the nearest five. The Revenant is also the only demon that cannot be "explained" scientifically. It has no visible internal organs and no muscles to explain its powerful melee attacks or even movement, so unless every organic system is contained inside its metal shoulder plates, it must be completely controlled by the powers of Hell.

The Revenant's missiles are actually quite weak compared to the ones in Doom II. However, they are a lot harder to avoid, as they travel in rather confusing patterns, tending to wobble and spiral as though their guidance sensor isn't quite on the nose. To make up for this, the missiles can be now be destroyed while in flight, especially with a Shotgun or Plasma gun. Furthermore, the detonation injures the Revenant, and tricking the Revenant into shooting its missiles into a wall or blowing up the missiles just after the Revenant fires them will injure it. Revenants always shoot multiple missiles at once.

Tactical analysis
The Revenant, despite it's upgrades, can easily be taken out if the player has the right weapons and maintain good tactics to defeat it.

At close range, the Shotgun can be an effective weapon to take them out. If you're lucky, you can even kill the Revenant with a single blast aimed at its neck or the center of the clavicle. Most cases, however, it will take two blasts at blank range to completely take them out, so be aware as you dodge its attacks. First rush towards the monster with your Shotgun and fire at the Revenant at close range. This action will force it to claw you, so take good advantage of this to back off and take a second shot at the Revenant, which will kill it in the process. Resurrection of Evil and Lost Mission in the BFG Edition introduce the double-barreled shotgun, which will work wonders as it can easily kill the Revenant with one shot at point blank range.

At long range, the Plasma Gun is most effective against the Revenant thanks to its high rate of fire, and the plasma bursts "splash damage" can instantly neutralize the Revenant's missiles. If a Plasma Gun is not available, the Chaingun can also work well as the bullets can also destroy the Revenant's missiles. Keep in mind, however, as the Chaingun bullets lack the splash damage of the Plasma Gun, this could be a tricky procedure in destroying the Revenant's missiles. Other weapons such as the Machine Gun is also partially effective, although it takes some time and dodging. The BFG is not recommended because of the likelihood that the projectile will hit the Revenant's missile in flight, as well as the moderate threat the demon poses will make it an unnecessary overkill with the BFG.

Overall, the Revenant is considered a much less dangerous monster in comparison to it's classic counterpart. It moves a lot slower and does much less damage, as well as no longer appearing in large numbers. To make up for this, however, their attacks are a lot harder to avoid, as their rockets travel in erratic patterns, and have a medium reach with their melee attacks.

The general strategy when fighting against Revenants is to dodge behind cover when the missiles come close. This can allow the missiles harmelessly impact against an object used as a hideout. The homing missiles can also be dodged by sprint-strafing diagonally forward, although this takes some practice to perform and requires enough space to maneuver. Be very careful around flammable and explosive barrels (common in the Recycling sectors) as they can be detonated by both direct hits and splash damage from the missiles.

UAC Research Notes
These notes can be downloaded to the player's PDA during the course of the game:

Specimen 218 - Revenant

''This creature's endoskeleton is visible through a translucent non-solid skin. Despite the absence of any visible muscles, this creature is able to strike at close-range targets with enormous strength. Two shoulder-mounted cannons controlled by its nervous system allow this creature to fire guided rocket-propelled missiles.''

Trivia

 * In the E3 trailer of Doom 3 Alpha, the Revenant was shown to be acting like the old one: running at the player, then punching him.
 * The Revenant's shoulder missiles were originally going to drop missile ammo for you to pick up (and were also rumored to be actual weapons that the player could wield and guide the fired missiles), but for unknown reasons that concept was abandoned for the finished game.