Doom Hunter

"I thought you'd appreciate the sentry I chose - The great Agaddon Hunters from the Telos Realm. Though long thought to be extinct - created to hunt only the Slayer and his Night Sentinels during the Unholy Crusades. Some improvements on the design have been made. Enjoy what is undoubtedly my finest work."

- Deag Ranak

The Doom Hunter is a new type of enemy introduced in Doom Eternal. It was originally known as an Agaddon Hunter from the Telos Realm, a demon species which was specifically designed to hunt the Doom Slayer and his fellow Night Sentinels during an event called "the Unholy Crusades." While the species was supposedly rendered extinct long ago, at least one Agaddon Hunter somehow made it to Earth, hibernating for millennia in a remote region of what would become Antarctica.

During the Hellish invasion of Earth, UAC cultists discovered the Agaddon Hunter's remains and excavated it from its icy prison. The demon was revived (possibly cloned, given the multiple specimens battled through the campaign) and mechanically augmented by the cultists inside their polar cultist facility dubbed Doom Hunter Base under the supervision of Deag Ranak, who personally considered them to be his finest creations. Three Doom Hunters were used as Ranak's personal guardians, being sent against the Doom Slayer when he breached the cultists' base.

The Doom Hunter's cybernetic augmentations are extensive, with the only visible remnants of the original demon being its head, right arm, and half of its upper torso. The rest of its body is mechanical, including a large cannon, a twin-bladed chainsaw arm, and a set of thrusters that allow it to move through the air. It can also interface with a  "sled," a hovertank-like apparatus equipped with dual heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, and a shield generator that protects the Doom Hunter's main body from harm.

Combat Characteristics
Doom Hunters are Super Heavy demons with a wide variety of attacks that allow them to deal damage at all ranges. Their rocket boosters grant them limited flight, allowing them to move surprisingly quickly in multiple directions.

The Doom Hunter's attacks include:
 * Slashing at the Slayer with its chainsaw arm, dealing heavy melee damage.
 * Using its arm cannon to shoot fireballs at the Slayer.
 * Using the two guns mounted on its sled to shoot a barrage of bullets.
 * Firing a rocket barrage from the launchers on its sled. These rockets will home in on the Slayer, but their tracking can be shaken off by dashing or double-jumping.

The Doom Hunter's upper body is protected by a plasma shield that blocks all damage. The shield can be destroyed temporarily by using cell weapons like the Plasma Rifle, but will regenerate after some time. Alternately, its sled can be targeted directly without destroying its shield.

Once the Doom Hunter has taken enough damage, it will abandon its sled, flying with only its upper body. With its sled gone, it loses access to its machine gun and rocket attacks, as well as its shield, but becomes more mobile and aggressive.

Trivia

 * The Doom Hunter bears some resemblance to Sabaoth from Doom 3 (a humanoid on treads equipped with ranged weaponry), the Super Tank from Quake 2, Strogg Heavy Hover Tank from Quake IV, and the Necron Destroyer from Warhammer 40,000.
 * The Doom Hunter is one of the few demons to speak legible English phrases during the game; the first one says "SLAYER IDENTIFIED" when activated by Deag Ranak, and all specimens say "CRITICAL DAMAGE" when ejecting from their sleds.
 * the demon has other English phrases but were unused in the final product.


 * The twin-bladed chainsaw arm the Doom Hunter has is identical to the chainsaw from DOOM 64.
 * During QuakeCon 2018, The Doom Hunter was designated by Hugo Martin as the Doom Slayer's  Arch-Enemy  . and in QuakeCon 2019 it had its reveal teaser showing him and the Doom Slayer fighting in multiple levels. some fans speculated that the Doom Hunter might be a unique demon that would hunt the Slayer anywhere and anytime randomly. this would not be the case in the final product since the Doom Hunter would first be introduced as a boss fight then occur regularly as super heavy demon.
 * In-game data claims the original Agaddon Hunters existed roughly 80 million years ago, which would have made them co-existant with the dinosaurs during the late cretaceous period. What they exactly evolved from is unclear, though the game claims they are indigenous to Earth. It is possible that the Agaddons emerged from the reptiles of the period and evolved a general physiology similar to humans, a process known as convergent evolution.