Arch-vile/Doom Eternal

The Arch-vile is a returning monster that will appear in the Doom Eternal, having made its debut in Doom II.

Possessing high intellect and descending from elder demons gods, they serve as field commanders of lesser demons like Imps, Pinkys, Cacondemons or Zombies.

Appearance
The Arch-vile has a similar design to the original Arch-vile; a tall, thin and pale humanoid body with flaming arms and hands. In the gameplay trailer, the Arch-vile is revealed in a dramatic cutscene and is likely to be featured as a mini-boss of some kind, possibly even as a more powerful male counterpart of the Summoner.

Abilities
The Arch-vile's primary ability is the same as that of a Buff Totem, producing an endless supply of enemies with a red aura that enhances their speed and damage for as long as the Arch-vile is alive. As with a Buff Totem, the number of enemies that can be spawned in total is infinite, but the number that can be spawned at once is not, and the enemies will be drawn from a pool-specific to the current encounter. An Arch-vile will often avoid combat and lurk behind the creatures it has summoned, producing a large, indestructible yellow-orange energy barrier to protect itself from damage, Since it is a high-level enemy, it is much harder to deal with than a standard Totem, which is destroyed by a single melee attack.

The enemies an Arch-vile spawns take some time to become active: for while they will remain motionless, have an orange aura, and cannot be attacked. If the player can "falter" the Arch-vile (ie, cause it to play its stagger animation) before it completes the summoning, any demons it was trying to spawn will instantly die.

If the player closes on it, the Arch-vile has several attacks. It can send out waves of energy along the ground that deal high damage, or at close range produce an area-denial fire field in a similar manner to a Mancubus. It should be noted that, like a Marauder, an Arch-vile cannot shield itself while attacking.

The Arch-vile also has a defensive teleport move, where it will become a streak of orange-yellow light and move to a new location, usually if it has recently taken heavy damage. The creature can pass through other monsters while using this move, and can be tricky to keep track of: if the player loses sight of it, its initial movement is a decent guide for the direction to search for it.

Battlemode
In Battlemode, one of Doom Eternal's multiplayer game modes, the Arch-Vile will be a playable demon that uses elemental abilities. This includes fire attacks and lightning attacks.

Gallery
Archi-vil (Eternal)