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 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 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. Unlike the classic Revenant's missiles, the missiles can be now be shot 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. The missiles can also be dodged, and being able to duck around corners or behind vertical obstacles such as ceiling support poles or pillars makes fighting them much easier, as with the classic counterpart. Revenants always shoot multiple missiles at once.

Unlike its classic counterpart, it is considered a much less dangerous monster, as it moves 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.

Tactical analysis
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'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. When using the Plasma gun against the Revenant, the projectile's wide "collision area" makes it rather easy to blast the missiles and damage the Revenant with a single burst.

While this way be a good way to get rid of a Revenant with only a Shotgun, it will take some risk as you dodge its rockets. You may try this against two Revenants that appear simultaneously, however, take caution. While you try to kill one of them with this tactic, the other may attack you with rockets. To do this, first rush towards the skeleton 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, killing it in the process. You can also use this tactic in Resurrection of Evil, where you fire a double-barreled shotgun while repeating the steps but only firing one shot. However, it is possible, but not reliable, to kill the Revenant with a single conventional shotgun blast aimed at its neck or the center of the clavicle. This is most likely to work if the attack is during its scream when it first recognizes the player and has its head leaning forward. The Machine Gun is also partially effective, although it takes some time and dodging. The Plasma gun is the most effective weapon at long range & the Chainsaw is also highly effective against the monster, although the player will still take a few hits from its close-range punching attacks. The BFG is not recommended because of the likelihood that the projectile will hit the Revenant's missile in flight, as well as the monster's moderate health and damage will give an unnecessary overkill.

Firing from cover is very helpful when fighting Revenants, as the player can dodge behind cover when the missiles come close, allowing them to impact harmlessly against the 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. A player with the capability to put achieve constant headshots will require 11 pistol rounds to dispatch a Revenant.

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.
 * If another Hellspawn accidentally shoots a Revenant, the Revenant will attack them if the player is out of sight. This is one of the few instances of monster infighting in Doom 3.