History GameBreaker / Doom

* The Super Shotgun of ''VideoGame/DoomII'' offers incredible damage (around as much as the ''rocket launcher'') while using the second most common ammo type (albeit at double the rate of the standard shotgun), and its wide spread makes it practically impossible to fully miss your target. It's often seen as the only truly viable weapon in Deathmatch mode. There is a reason why more modern fan mapsets don't put it [[DiscOneNuke in the very second level]] like ''Doom II'' vanilla did.

* The Super Shotgun of ''VideoGame/DoomII''. Incredible damage that kills even the strongest non-boss monsters in little time? Check. Wide area of action that makes it impossible to fully miss? Check. Uses the second-most-common ammo type in the game? Check. Is the only truly viable weapon in deathmatch? Check, for god's sake! There is a reason why more modern fan mapsets don't put it [[DiscOneNuke in the very second level]] like ''Doom II'' vanilla did.

* The Unmaker from ''VideoGame/Doom64'', once you find two or three secret artifacts, becomes the bane to the legion of Hell. It goes from [[MagikarpPower an unspectacular laser beam]] to a [[InfinityPlusOneSword powerful]], [[BeamSpam rapid-firing]] {{spread shot}} that decimates enemies in no time while completely stunlocking them. Even the FinalBoss can die in a few seconds from it at level-3 power with little chance to retaliate, and the aforementioned Pain Elementals with all their Lost Souls can be destroyed within a second by it without any retaliation. The scarcity of plasma ammo prevents the player from being able to rely on it as their primary weapon however, preventing it from eliminating the game's difficulty, but as long as its ammo is adequately conserved, it can get the player out of pretty much every tight combat spot in the game.
** This is even more broken in the Lost Levels campaign in the Doom 64 2020 release. The final starts off with the Unmaker for later use. Unlike the original campaign, the final level also gives you the required 3 keys, sp speedrunning through the levels just to get the keys and while Invincible will make this level a much more piece of cake, even in harder difficulties.

* The iconic and legendary '''[=BFG9000=]'''. In multiplayer, due to the ability to fire off a shot in one room, run over to another player, and then hitscan-frag them without them even knowing. They could even kill you first, and ''still'' get nailed by the hitscan! This is all possible because the [=BFG9000=] is probably one of the most complicated weapons in any first-person shooter.

* The Plasma Rifle has a very high rate of fire, great damage, and fairly abundant ammunition. Just point at an enemy, hold down the trigger, and wait for it to die. The [=PlayStation=] and Saturn ports, however, nerfed it by cutting down the firing rate to roughly half of what the PC version deals out.

* The Super Shotgun of Doom 2. Incredible damage that kills even the strongest non-boss monsters in little time? Check. Wide area of action that makes it impossible to fully miss? Check. Uses the second-most-common ammo type in the game? Check. Is the only truly viable weapon in deathmatch? Check, for god's sake! There is a reason why more modern fan mapsets don't put it in the very second level like ''Doom II'' vanilla did.

* The Unmaker, once you find two or three secret artifacts, becomes the bane to the legion of Hell. It goes from [[MagikarpPower an unspectacular laser beam]] to a [[InfinityPlusOneSword powerful]], [[BeamSpam rapid-firing]] {{spread shot}} that decimates enemies in no time while completely stunlocking them. Even the FinalBoss can die in a few seconds from it at level-3 power with little chance to retaliate, and the aforementioned Pain Elementals with all their Lost Souls can be destroyed within a second by it without any retaliation. The scarcity of plasma ammo prevents the player from being able to rely on it as their primary weapon however, preventing it from eliminating the game's difficulty, but as long as its ammo is adequately conserved, it can get the player out of pretty much every tight combat spot in the game.

* The Artifact from ''Doom 3: Resurrection Of Evil''. You start the game with it and, although it doesn't do anything until after you beat the first boss, once you do it immediately becomes a GameBreaker. Then after you beat the second and third bosses it gets so game-breaking it's not even funny. Let's face it, it's hard to be afraid of the hordes of Hell when you can [[BulletTime slow time to 1/5th of normal]], [[NighInvulnerability run through a storm of fireballs without receiving a scratch]] and [[SuperStrength splatter enemies across the landscape with nothing but your fists]].

** The ''Rich Get Richer'' demon rune will grant you unlimited ammunition so long as you have 100 or more armour, which is reduced to 75 or more when upgraded. Once you get good at dodging attacks, you can easily use this Rune to effectively grant yourself unlimited ammo and start spamming all your favourite high-yield weapons. This is most pronounced with the Chaingun, as its main downside is its ammo consumption - doubly so with a fully-upgraded Mobile Turret mod, as it consumes ammo even faster, and the final upgrade prevents it from ever overheating, meaning that the lead will ''never'' stop flying as long as you don't get hit. It also combines extremely nicely with the Mastered Micro-Missile mod for the Heavy Assault Rifle, whereupon you can start creating an unending missile barrage with the power of the rune. Though, it does come at a price, with that being [[ThatOneSidequest the completion of a particularly difficult Rune Trial]].

** In the beta, it's the Vortex Rifle. While it doesn't one-shot normally and actually does pitiful base damage, it can one-shot a player, if they're less than 60 health (out of 100). Which, considering its a game with health pickups and no regenerating health, can often happen after a simple gunfight.

* The collectible Cheat Codes are this [[PurposefullyOverpowered by design]]; they do not stop story/item progression when used and have effects ranging from obviously broken (infinite ammo, unlocking all upgrades) to silly (party mode, {{QuakeCon}} mode). The only "downside" to them is that they disable all Slayer Gate challenges when used.

*** Pair it together with Rich Get Richer and you can dodge projectiles while charging up the superweapon in one second with about another second for cooldown, allowing a fairly high rate of fire no longer nerfed by the ammo drawback. On higher difficulties this essentially a requirement for successful crowd control, and due to none of the bosses being especially fast nor having backup can even make them easier to fight. On Ultra-Violence a mastered Siege Mode can two-shot a Baron of Hell. It can two-shot ''two'' Barons of Hell at the same time due to the blast having an area of effect wider than the beam itself, making BeamSpam a viable tactic. No weapon spread, wide range of damage, fast charge, all backed up by infinite ammo. On top of all that, if an enemy makes the mistake of getting near you when you fire, even behind you, the size of the area of effect damage on the beam will kill them, making flanking you while you're firin your lazor a terrible idea. It's basically the VideoGame/QuakeII railgun with a ''[[UpToEleven power boost]]''. Enjoy your laser shotgun with endless range.

* A fully upgraded Mobile Turret mod for the chaingun basically melts weaker demons and takes decent sized chunks out of the stronger ones; in fact, at times it becomes something of a liability as it kills enemies so fast it might become difficult to get a Glory Kill.

* ''VideoGame/RussianOverkill''. Designed solely with the intent of making the player the most ludicrously powerful being imaginable, to the point where the most dangerous threat to them is ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard themselves.]]'' The mod gives the player a huge array of game-breakingly powerful weapons that turn even the most daunting map packs and mod bosses into a complete pushover. Just play it for yourself, it's madness.

* In a more retro tone, the now-ubiquitous keyboard + mouse combo makes the original games' '''[[HarderThanHard Nightmare!]]''' difficulty a bit more playable even by a relatively amateur player, while Ultra-Violence becomes a walk in the park, and it's not limited to source ports as the original DOS version can also utilize this set-up as well. Despite that the developers clearly intended for such a control method as it's suggested in the manula, [[AIBreaker the monsters were never coded to deal with a player as agile as they are with this combination]], even when auto-aim is disabled, and are little more threatening than glorified zombies that can fire projectiles, especially when it comes to open areas. The Cyberdemon is a particularly egregious victim due to the ease of circle-strafing. [[ObviousRulePatch Most custom maps take note of this and scale the difficulty accordingly]].

* The iconic and legendary '''BFG-9000'''. In multiplayer, due to the ability to fire off a shot in one room, run over to another player, and then hitscan-frag them without them even knowing. They could even kill you first, and ''still'' get nailed by the hitscan! This is all possible because the BFG-9000 is probably one of the most complicated weapons in any first-person shooter.
** In single player, it isn't any less powerful. Its attack covers an extremely large area and deals massive amounts of damage per hit. To normal players, they might think that the BFG only fires a big green plasma ball of death that deals massive splash damage. Actually, it's a lot more complicated. It works like this: When firing, the BFG shoots a large plasma projectile that deals ''direct'' damage (100 to 800, with an average of 450) to a single target, not splash damage. The "splash damage" comes in when the plasma ball hits a solid object and explode, in which then 40 invisible tracer rays that deals between 49-87 damage are emitted from the player's position in a cone-shaped area (which means you can hit an enemy from ''behind'' you as well) if it hits a solid object within 1024 map units. So, theoretically, the maximum amount of damage you can deal with the BFG (800 plus 49 multiply by 87) is ''4,280'' damage, enough to one hit a ''cyberdemon''.
** The BFG-9000 is so overpowered it turns the boss monsters into jokes, as each will die in two or three good hits (in fact the Spider Mastermind can be killed in one hit if done at point-blank range), and the final boss of the sequel was specifically designed in a way to make the BFG useless against it (provided that you're playing with mouselook turned off).

* In a more retro tone, the now-ubiquitous keyboard + mouse combo turns the original games' '''[[HarderThanHard Nightmare!]]''' difficulty a bit more playable even by a relatively amateur player, while Ultra-Violence becomes a walk in the park, and it's not limited to source ports as the original DOS version can also utilize this set-up as well. [[AIBreaker The monsters were never coded to deal with a player as agile as they are with this combination]], even when auto-aim is disabled, and are little more threatening than glorified zombies that can fire projectiles, especially when it comes to open areas. The Cyberdemon is a particularly egregious victim due to the ease of circle-strafing. [[ObviousRulePatch Most custom maps take note of this and scale the difficulty accordingly]].
* The Super Shotgun of Doom 2. Incredible damage that kills even the strongest non-boss monsters in little time? Check. Wide area of action that makes it impossible to fully miss? Check. Uses the second most common ammo type in the game? Check. Is the only truly viable weapon in deathmatch? Check, for god's sake! There is a reason why more modern fan mapsets don't put it at the very second level...

** The ''Rich Get Richer'' demon rune will grant you unlimited ammunition so long as you have 100 or more armour, which is reduced to 75 or more when upgraded. Once you get good at dodging attacks, you can easily use this Rune to effectively grant yourself unlimited ammo and start spamming all your favourite high-yield weapons. This is most pronounced with the Chaingun, as it's main downside is its ammo consumption - doubly so with a fully-upgraded Mobile Turret mod, as it consumes ammo even faster, and the final upgrade prevents it from ever overheating, meaning that the lead will ''never'' stop flying as long as you don't get hit. It also combines extremely nicely with the Mastered Micro-Missile mod for the Heavy Assault Rifle, whereupon you can start creating an unending missile barrage with the power of the rune. Though, it does come at a price, with it being [[ThatOneSidequest a particularly difficult Rune Trial]].

* The Sentinel Hammer, a.k.a. the Hellbreaker, in the ''The Ancient Gods - Part Two'' is quite honestly ridiculous. While it doesn't automatically kill demons in one hit like the Crucible, the tradeoffs make it arguably superior. Using it causes enemies to drop ammo, and boosts the amount of health and armor dropped by frozen and burning enemies respectively. It also causes an AOE stun on multiple enemies if they're close enough, as opposed to the Crucible only getting one off your back. This alone might cause it just to equal or be slightly less effective than the Crucible, if not for the fact you can use it again as soon as you destroy two weak points or perform two glory kills. In practice, you can easily reclaim half a charge right after using it by glory killing a stunned fodder enemy like a zombie or gargoyle. Against enemies like the Marauder or the Doom Hunter, it's much more useful than the Crucible, as hitting a stunned Marauder with it causes it to remain stunned for far longer than normal, allowing you to wail on it with wild abandon and it immediately causes the Hunter to drop it's force field. Whether you simply need some breathing room and some extra supplies, or you want to end an encounter quickly, using the Hellbreaker is never a bad option. This doesn't even cover the upgrades the Hammer receives from completing escalation encounters, which increases the resources dropped by enemies and the stun period incurred by the attack.

* The Hellbreaker hammer in the ''The Ancient Gods - Part Two'' is quite honestly ridiculous. While it doesn't automatically kill demons in one hit like the Crucible, the tradeoffs make it arguably superior. Using it causes enemies to drop ammo, and boosts the amount of health and armor dropped by enemies affected by your equipment. It also causes an AOE stun on multiple enemies if they're close enough, as opposed to the Crucible only getting one off your back. This alone might cause it just to equal or be slightly less effective than the Crucible, if not for the fact you can use it again as soon as you destroy two weak points or perform two glory kills. In practice, you can easily reclaim half a charge right after using it by glory killing a stunned fodder enemy like a zombie or gargoyle. Against enemies like the Marauder or the Doom Hunter, it's much more useful than the Crucible, as hitting a stunned Marauder with it causes it to remain stunned for far longer than normal, allowing you to wail on it with wild abandon and it immediately causes the Hunter to drop it's force field. Whether you simply need some breathing room and some extra supplies, or you want to end an encounter quickly, using the Hellbreaker is never a bad option.

* The Hellbreaker hammer in the ''The Ancient Gods - Part Two'' is quite honestly ridiculous. While it doesn't automatically kill demons in one hit like the Crucible, the tradeoffs make it arguably superior. Using it causes enemies to drop ammo, and boosts the amount of health and armor dropped by enemies affected by your equipment. It also causes an AOE stun on multiple enemies if they're close enough, as opposed to the Crucible only getting one off your back. This alone might cause it just to equal or be slightly less effective than the Crucible, especially since you only get two charges at a time, if not for the fact you can refill your charges by either glory killing an enemy or simply breaking a weak point. In practice, you can easily reclaim a charge right after using it by glory killing a stunned fodder enemy like a zombie or gargoyle. Against enemies like the Marauder or the Doom Hunter, it's much more useful than the Crucible, as hitting a stunned Marauder with it causes it to remain stunned for far longer than normal, allowing you to wail on it with wild abandon and it immediately causes the Hunter to drop it's force field. Whether you simply need some breathing room and some extra supplies, or you want to end an encounter quickly, using the Hellbreaker is never a bad option.

* The collectible Cheat Codes are this [[PurposefullyOverpowered by design]]; they do not stop story/item progression when used and have effect ranging from obviously broken (infinite ammo, unlocking all upgrades) to silly (party mode, {{QuakeCon}} mode). The only "downside" to them is that they disable all Slayer Gate challenges when used.

** In single player, it isn't any less powerful. Its attack covers an extremely large area & deals massive amounts of damage per hit. To normal players, they might the BFG only fires a big green plasma ball of death that deals massive splash damage. Actually, it's a lot more complicated. It works like this: When firing, the BFG shoots a large plasma projectile that deals ''direct'' damage (100 to 800, with an average of 450) to a single target, not splash damage. The "splash damage" comes in when the plasma ball hits a solid object and explode, in which then 40 invisible tracer rays that deals between 49-87 damage are emitted from the player's position in a cone-shaped area (which means you can hit an enemy from ''behind'' you as well) if it hits a solid object within 1024 map units. So, theoretically, the maximum amount of damage you can deal with the BFG (800 plus 49 multiply by 87) is ''4,280'' damage, enough to one hit a ''cyberdemon''.

** In single player, it isn't any less powerful. Its attack covers an extremely large area & deals massive amounts of damage per hit. To normal players, they might the BFG only fires a big green plasma ball of death that deals massive splash damage. Actually, it's a lot more complicated. It works like this: When firing, the BFG shoots a large plasma projectile that deals ''direct'' damage (100 to 800, with an average of 450)to a single target, not splash damage. The "splash damage" comes in when the plasma ball hits a solid object and explode, in which then 40 invisible tracer rays that deals between 49-87 damage are emitted from the player's position in a cone-shaped area (which means you can hit an enemy from ''behind'' you as well) if it hits a solid object within 1024 map units. So, theoretically, the maximum amount of damage you can deal with the BFG (800 plus 49 multiply by 87) is ''4,280'' damage, enough to one hit a ''cyberdemon''.

* The collectible Cheat Codes are this [[PurposefullyOverpowered by design]]; they do not stop story/item progression when used and have effect ranging from obviously broken (infinite ammo, unlocking all upgrades) to silly (party mode, QuakeCon mode). The only "downside" to them is that they disable all Slayer Gate challenges when used.

* As it was in ''Doom 64'', the Unmaykr is an utter monster of a weapon, capable of tearing through hordes of enemies and melting even the toughest of Super Heavies without breaking a sweat. It is reasonably locked behind completing the six Slayer Gates throughout the game and shares the BFG's ammo (which is scarce), but will likely carry you until the end of the game if you can get it.

* The BFG-9000 in multiplayer, due to the ability to fire off a shot in one room, run over to another player, and then hitscan-frag them without them even knowing. They could even kill you first, and ''still'' get nailed by the hitscan! This is all possible because the BFG-9000 is one of the most complicated weapons in any first-person shooter.
** In single player, it isn't any less powerful. Its attack covers an extremely large area & deals massive amounts of damage per hit. To do the math, the main 'big green fireball' projectile does an average of about 300 damage on a direct hit (triple that of a rocket). The multiple secondary splash damage traces that are generated, on the other hand, are fired outwards like a shotgun and each trace does a small but significant amount of damage - when totalled up, you can easily inflict ''thousands'' of points of damage with a correctly aimed BFG blast.

* The Plasma Rifle is the first game has a high rate of fire, great damage, and fairly abundant ammunition. Just point at an enemy, hold down the trigger, and wait for it to die. The [=PlayStation=] and Saturn ports, however, nerfed it by cutting down the firing rate to roughly half of what the PC version deals out.
* In a more retro tone, the now-ubiquitous keyboard + mouse combo turns the original games' '''[[HarderThanHard Nightmare!]]''' difficulty playable even by a relatively unskilled player, while Ultra-Violence becomes a walk in the park, and it's not limited to source ports as the original DOS version can also utilize this set-up as well. [[AIBreaker The monsters were never coded to deal with a player as agile as they are with this combination]], even when auto-aim is disabled, and are little more threatening than glorified zombies that can fire projectiles, especially when it comes to open areas. The Cyberdemon is a particularly egregious victim due to the ease of circle-strafing. [[ObviousRulePatch Most custom maps take note of this and scale the difficulty accordingly]].

* ''VideoGame/RussianOverkill''. Designed solely with the intent of making the player the most ludicrously powerful being imaginable, to the point where the most dangerous threat to them is ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard themselves.]]''

* In a more retro tone, the now-ubiquitous keyboard + mouse combo turns the original games' '''[[HarderThanHard Nightmare!]]''' difficulty playable even by a relatively unskilled player, while Ultra-Violence becomes a walk in the park, and it's not limited to source ports as the original DOS version can also utilize this set-up as well. The monsters were never coded to deal with a player as agile as they are with this combination, even when auto-aim is disabled, and are little more threatening than glorified zombies that can fire projectiles, especially when it comes to open areas. The Cyberdemon is a particularly egregious victim due to the ease of circle-strafing. Most custom maps take note of this and scale the difficulty accordingly.

* The collectible Cheat Codes are this [[PurposefullyOverpowered by design]]; they do not stop story/item progression when used. The only downside to them is that they disable Slayer Gate challenges - which means nothing if you've already finished said challenges.

[[folder: Doom Eternal]]