- "They float in the air, belch ball-lightning, and boast one Hell of a big mouth. You're toast if you get too close to these monstrosities."
- ― Doom & Doom II manual description
Cacodemons are common demons encountered in all classic Doom games: Doom, Doom II, and Final Doom. They are one of the most common monsters the player will encounter, behind the Imp and the Demon/Spectre.
Physical Appearance[]
Cacodemons are red monsters with large spherical bodies crowned with horns, that float slowly through the air. They have a single green eye over a large mouth which is persistently twisted into a Cheshire cat-like grin, showing a series of nasty teeth and a bluish interior. If you see their sprite used when you look at it from behind, you can see it appears to have a female genitalia and an anus. However, these two holes in the back of the spite may not be genitals, but holes in the original clay models of the Cacodemon, where pegs may have been inserted for various "floating" camera angle shots. The Pain Elemental partially re-uses some parts of the Cacodemon sprite, recolored, and it has the same holes as well. This means either all Pain Elementals and Cacodemons are females, or they are simply just holes in the original clay models that were never filled in, either by accident or on purpose. So far, there is no official explanation for these holes, and the same goes for the hole near the Imp's rear end when it dies.
Combat Characteristics[]
A Cacodemon in E3M2: Slough of Despair.
Cacodemons emit a loud hissing when they first see the player. When in pain, they will make a low-pitch demonic moan that most other monsters make. But otherwise, will resort to making a soft low-pitched growling sound like most other monsters when they are present.
They primarily attack by spitting a ball of plasma from their mouth at a distance, or biting with their gaping maw up close. The fireballs travel in a similar manner to the Imp's, going at a straight line non-stop until it hits its target, an object, or a wall. When under attack, the Cacodemon often seems to distance itself, though the cause of this is that it is being pushed back by enduring direct hits.
When killed, they let out a whimpering moan (this is a slow-sped audio of gliding roller skates) and fall to the ground. Some of its horns break and the monster splits open like a burst pustule and spewing copious amounts of blue blood and intestines that flow forth to reveal their bared brains, while their sole eye pops out of its socket.
Tactical Analysis[]
Despite being fairly powerful, the Cacodemon's attacks are relatively easy to dodge. Their fireballs travel very slowly, and their slow speed to close in on the player rarely provides them the opportunity to engage in close range attacks. However, Cacodemons possess tough red hides, which can allow them to absorb a large amounts of damage. The player can take advantage of the high pain chance they possess, making them fairly easy targets. The chainsaw can easily incapacitate a single Cacodemon and two-three shots from the super shotgun at point blank range will completely annihiliate them.
Cacodemons can pose as a bigger threat when coming together in packs. A multitude of these monsters can potentially surround the player to bite at him, or launch fireballs from multiple directions. It is best to make sure to take out one individual monster at a time, while staying away from the other monster's line of sight.
To deal with a pack of Cacodemons, players should rely on repeating weapons such as the chaingun or the plasma gun, as repeated shots will cause them to be pushed away, not allowing them to fight back. If the situation permits, the super shotgun and rocket launcher are also effective weapons to take down a horde of them.
Cacodemons in general, are pretty average when it comes to monster infighting. They are able to take out lesser enemies like the former humans, Imps, and Demons, but will sometimes fall when facing against a Revenant. Their high pain chances and slow floating speed can generally make Cacodemons more vulnerable to other monsters' attacks. Given, even a Heavy Weapon Dude, which is a former human class, can sometimes neutralize a healthy Cacodemon, thanks to the former's repeating hitscan weapon being able to continually stun the monster, giving them no opportunity to retaliate.
Cacodemons are relatively easy to goad into attacking other monsters. This can occasionally be difficult, however, if they are floating in a high position, as most of their shots would simply travel over other monsters in the player's area. On the other hand, their slow floating speed can increase a player's chances of luring them into another monster's firing line.
Data Statistics[]
| ID # | Hit points | Speed | Width | Height | Reaction time | Pain chance | Pain time | Mass | Bits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3005 (decimal), BBD (hex) | 400 | 8 map units per frame
(93.3333 map units per second) |
62 | 56 | 8 | 128 (50%) | 6 tics | 400 | 4211206 |
| 1: | 2: | 9: | 14: | 22: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obstacle | Shootable | No Gravity | Floating | Affects Kill % |
Melee
| Damage | Sound |
|---|---|
| 10-60 | none |
Range
| Type | Speed | Damage | Width | Height | Sprite name | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Projectile | 10 map units per tic
(350 map units per second) |
5-40 | 12 | 8 | BAL2 | DSFIRSHT (firing)
DSFIRXPL (impact) |
Bite damage
Damage done by a Cacodemon's bite
| Bites needed to kill1 | Mean | Standard deviation | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player (100% | 3.31 | 0.82 | 2 | 6 |
| Player (100%
health, security armor) |
4.74 | 0.97 | 3 | 8 |
| Player (200%
health, combat armor) |
11.86 | 1.30 | 9 | 15 |
| Barrel | 1.15 | 0.36 | 1 | 2 |
| Zombieman | 1.15 | 0.36 | 1 | 2 |
| Shotgun Guy | 1.34 | 0.51 | 1 | 3 |
| Wolfenstein SS | 1.87 | 0.74 | 1 | 4 |
| Imp | 2.16 | 0.74 | 1 | 5 |
| Heavy Weapon Dude | 2.50 | 0.65 | 2 | 5 |
| Lost Soul | 3.31 | 0.82 | 2 | 6 |
| Commander Keen | 3.31 | 0.82 | 2 | 6 |
| Demon | 4.74 | 0.97 | 3 | 8 |
| Spectre | 4.74 | 0.97 | 3 | 8 |
| Boss Brain2 | 7.65 | 1.14 | 5 | 11 |
| Revenant | 9.04 | 1.21 | 6 | 12 |
| Cacodemon | 11.86 | 1.30 | 9 | 15 |
| Pain Elemental | 11.86 | 1.30 | 9 | 15 |
| Hell Knight | 14.73 | 1.34 | 12 | 18 |
| Arachnotron | 14.73 | 1.34 | 12 | 18 |
| Mancubus | 17.68 | 1.44 | 15 | 22 |
| Arch-vile | 20.56 | 1.58 | 17 | 25 |
| Baron of Hell | 29.15 | 1.81 | 25 | 34 |
| Spiderdemon | 86.67 | 1.96 | 81 | 92 |
| Cyberdemon | 115.34 | 1.37 | 112 | 119 |
Shot damage
Damage done by a Cacodemon's projectile
| Shots needed to kill | Mean | Standard deviation | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player (100% | 5.02 | 1.09 | 3 | 8 |
| Player (100%
health, security armor) |
7.16 | 1.23 | 5 | 10 |
| Player (200%
health, combat armor) |
17.99 | 1.97 | 13 | 22 |
| Barrel | 1.44 | 0.60 | 1 | 4 |
| Zombieman | 1.44 | 0.60 | 1 | 4 |
| Shotgun Guy | 1.80 | 0.75 | 1 | 4 |
| Wolfenstein SS | 2.75 | 0.78 | 2 | 5 |
| Imp | 3.16 | 0.86 | 2 | 6 |
| Heavy Weapon Dude | 3.61 | 0.91 | 2 | 6 |
| Lost Soul | 5.02 | 1.09 | 3 | 8 |
| Commander Keen | 5.02 | 1.09 | 3 | 8 |
| Demon | 7.22 | 1.29 | 5 | 10 |
| Spectre | 7.22 | 1.29 | 5 | 10 |
| Boss Brain1 | 11.68 | 1.70 | 8 | 16 |
| Revenant | 13.90 | 1.83 | 9 | 18 |
| Cacodemon2 | ||||
| Pain Elemental | 18.27 | 2.04 | 13 | 22 |
| Hell Knight | 22.80 | 2.24 | 17 | 28 |
| Arachnotron | 22.80 | 2.24 | 17 | 28 |
| Mancubus | 27.28 | 2.45 | 21 | 33 |
| Arch-vile | 31.76 | 2.58 | 25 | 37 |
| Baron of Hell | 45.16 | 3.09 | 36 | 52 |
| Spiderdemon | 134.41 | 2.61 | 128 | 140 |
| Cyberdemon | 179.12 | 2.55 | 173 | 184 |
- These tables assume that all calls to P_Random for damage, pain chance, blood splats, impact animations, and backfire checks are consecutive. In real play, this is never the case: counterattacks and AI pathfinding must be handled, and of course the map may contain additional moving monsters and other randomized phenomena (such as flickering lights). Any resulting errors are probably toward the single-shot average, as they introduce noise into the correlation between the indices of "consecutive" calls.
- Assumes that direct hits are possible, which does not occur in any stock map.
- Hardcoded exception to infighting negates damage (excepting indirect damage caused by exploding barrels).
The IWADs contain the following numbers of Cacodemons:
| Game | ITYTD and HNTR | HMP | UV and NM |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Ultimate Doom | 62 | 144 | 193 |
| Doom II | 44 | 121 | 188 |
| TNT: Evilution | 43 | 76 | 99 |
| Plutonia | 95 | 108 | 123 |
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