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After fully upgrading a weapon,DOOM: The Dark Agesplayers will unlock a special mastery challenge, which, upon its completion, will reward them witha new skin for the weapon. These challenges vary from gun to gun, although most require players to dish out a certain amount of damage using one of the weapon’s upgrade skills.
In total, there are 11DOOM: The Dark Agesmastery challenges, each of which rewards players with a gold skin. The following guide will explain the exact requirements for every mastery challenge, while also offering some suggestions on the best places to farm weapon mastery inDOOM: The Dark Ages.
Method
Combat Shotgun
Barrel Stuffer: Hit demons with every pellet from Combat Shotgun shots (150/150).
Shoot large enemies at close range to ensure that every pellet hits.
Super Shotgun
Super Barrel Stuffer: Hit demons with every pellet from Super Shotgun shots (50/50).
Shredder
Burster: Cause secondary Pincushion or Ricochet damage to demons with the Rail Spike Shredder (100/100).
If Pincushion is equipped, shoot an enemy with the Shredder until they start to glow orange. Once they do, throw your shield at them or hit them with a Shield Charge to deal damage to surrounding enemies. If Ricochet is equipped, throw your shield at the enemy so that it cuts into them and then shoot them with the Shredder so that the bullets ricochet off. As with other secondary damage weapon mastery challenges inDOOM: The Dark Ages, players will need to make sure that there are other enemies nearby.
Impaler
Acupuncture: Regenerate your melee charges with the Lobotomy bonus head shots from the Rail Spike Impaler (100/100).
Use up your charged melee attacks and then score head shots with the Impaler. Fodder demons count toward this one, although players will need to verify that they use up their melee attack again whenever it recharges. Equipping Chronospike can make it much easier to land head shots, as it allows players to slow down time while they’re aiming.
Accelerator
Redline: Cause Overload or Heatblast damage to demons with the Plasma Rifle Accelerator (1000/1000).
Hold down the trigger until the Accelerator heats up and starts dealing secondary damage. If Heatblast is equipped, taking your finger off the trigger will cause it to fire off a blast that deals additional damage that counts towards the challenge.
Cycler
Thermal Runaway: Cause Overload or Lightning Arc damage to demons with the Plasma Rifle Cycler (500/500).
Hold down the trigger until the Cycler heats up and starts dealing secondary damage. If players kill a demon that has been shocked, lightning damage will be dealt to nearby enemies, which also counts towards the challenge.
Pulverizer
Hunter: Cause Charged damage to demons with the Skullcrusher Pulverizer (250/250).
Killing a lot of demons in a short amount of time builds up Charge, with larger demons offering bigger gains. To complete the Hunter weapon mastery challenge, kill a lot of demons quickly. It’s a good idea to start off with a big one.
Ravager
Gatherer: Gather Skullsrusher ammo by damaging demons with the Supplier equipped Ravager (100/100).
Hitting enemies with the Ravager at close range will cause them to drop ammo. Pick this ammo up to complete the Gatherer challenge.
Chainshot
Reverberation: Cause explosive Cosmic Breach damage to demons with fully charged Chainshot Reaver impacts (100/100).
Holding the trigger for a second or two before firing the Chainshot will lead to Cosmic Breach damage. Do this while there are other demons around to complete the challenge.
Grenade Launcher
Clusterfun: Cause secondary Fragment and Cataclysm damage to demons with the Grenade Launcher cluster grenades (100/100).
To trigger the Grenade Launcher’s cluster grenades, players will need to throw their shield at an enemy so that it cuts into them and then score a direct hit with the grenade while they’re still taking damage from the shield. It’s best to do this when other enemies are around to maximize the chances of the cluster grenades dealing secondary damage.
Rocket Launcher
Engorge: Heal Yourself with the Cannibalism upgrade from close-range blasts of the Rocket Launcher (50/50).
Parry a Hell Surge projectile and then fire rockets directly into the ground until the challenge counter stops going up. When it does, parry another projectile and then repeat the process.
The Best Places to Farm Weapon Mastery in DOOM: The Dark Ages
The two bestDOOM: The Dark Ageschaptersfor farming weapon mastery areHarbor of Souls and Reckoning, as both of these throw players straight into combat. Harbor of Souls is best for challenges that require players to fire off a lot of rounds, as the Berserk status in the chapter’s opening encounter grants them infinite ammo. It also has a lot of large demons, which is good for Shotgun challenges. Players should use Reckoning for challenges where they need to deal secondary damage, as there are a lot more enemies around in the opening encounter of Reckoning than there are in the first Berserk section of Harbor of Souls.
Harbor of Souls (Chapter 19)
Players may want to consider turning the Damage to Demons setting down inthe Difficulty Modifiers menuwhen completing weapon mastery challenges. The only challenge where it’s better to deal more damage to demons is when attempting to complete the Pulverizer mastery challenge, which requires players to get a lot of kills quickly.
