Armored Baron

The Armored Baron is an enemy in Doom Eternal : The Ancient Gods - Part Two.

Codex
''The Armored Barons are grafted with the technology of Immora. Just outside the city gates they patrol with morning star gauntlets cursed by the Dark Lord himself; one devastating strike obliterates both body and soul. Even the Maykrs fear these creations of demon and machine, for the carnage is both relentless and unquenchable.''

Description
The Armored Baron is a Baron of Hell encased in blue cybernetic armor, similar to a Cyber-Mancubus. The armor's most notable features include a single slit-like yellow lens on the front of the helmet - similar to the eye of a Maykr Angel or Seraphim - and a large red flail at the end of the right arm. The Armored Baron can launch its flail for a long-ranged melee attack.

Without its armor, the Armored Baron resembles the other "Fireborne" Barons fought throughout Doom Eternal, but without its right hand (which was presumably replaced by its flail) or the flaming blades on its forearms.

In-Game
The Armored Baron's main attacks primarily consist of it charging the morning star in its hand. Shooting it with piercing weapons (Precision Bolt, Ballista) or combustibles (Sticky Bombs, Rockets, etc.) during the windup breaks its armor; the Plasma Rifle and its two mods - the Heat Blast and the Microwave Beam - also work, but less efficiently. Other weapons can break the armor, but slowly enough to be unviable except as an absolute last resort.

Once the Baron's armor is destroyed, it behaves like a heavily watered-down Fireborne Baron; it lacks the arm blades and most of its counterpart's attacks, only being able to charge at you and perform basic swipes. You have a limited window to damage it before the armor regenerates; this process is foreshadowed by a slowly-rising hum and motes of blue energy gathering around the Baron's body. Fortunately, the Sentinel Hammer extends the window of vulnerability; even if the chance is missed, the demon won't regain any health, so you just have to break its armor again. Any high damage combos and attacks are recommended to efficiently take down the Baron while it's vulnerable.

Strategy
Even though the Player is primarily advised to disassemble the Baron's Armour using the "Microwave Beam" Mod from Plasma Gun, the best course of action is to attack the Spiked Flail/Morningstar straight away. This is because destroying the Armour takes a proportionately long time and the Player is highly likely to take damage during this time because of how volatile the Baron is with it's melee and ranged attacks. Destryoing the Spiked Flail instantly eradicates the Baron's Armour and makes it incapable of regenerating it. Once the Baron's Flail has been destroyed, it will only be able to attack the player with Shoulder Barges or Slashes.

The Spiked Flail is particularly weak against every Mode of the Fully Automatic Assault Rifle "Heavy Cannon". Peppering the Flail while maintaining mid-distance is advisable. If the player stands too close to the Baron they have no defence against it's Flail or Shoulder Barge. The Spiked Flail can be destroyed with a single shot from any gun when it flashes green, this however is not a common occurence and it is highly inadvisable to wait for this to happen because of how aggressive the Baron is. If the Player continues to shoot at the Flail with the Heavy Cannon's default Mode or Sniper Mode, they will eventually destroy it on the occasion that it does turn green.

An alternative to using the Heavy Cannon or even combatting the Baron at all is to fire a Sticky Rocket via the Rocket Launcher's "Sticky Bomb" Mod at the Flail and wait for the Flail to turn green and then remotely detonate it.

Once the Baron's Flail is destroyed, the ideal course of attack is to "Hot Swap", rapidly firing and switching back and forth between the Double-Barreled Shotgun and the Ballista.

If the Player does not wish to Hot Swap, the best alternative would be to use the Chain Gun's "Mobile Turret" Mod or the Combat Shotgun's "Fully Automatic" Mod; The Baron will only be able to survive a few second's worth of gunfire from these guns.