Doom: The Dark Ages Releases Second Major Content Update

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On August 7, an update titled “Doom: The Dark Ages Update 2″ was released by Bethesda and id Software. This update introduced a new, customizable gameplay mode called Ripatorium, where players can battle waves of demons at their own pace. As the second major update for “Doom: The Dark Ages,” it also optimized the speed of weapon-swapping and made some balance adjustments to the campaign mode.

Two months after the significant content overhaul for “Doom: The Dark Ages,” which incorporated player suggestions, a new content patch was released. The initial update primarily aimed at enhancing the Dragon, a crucial aspect of the game’s appeal. In Update 1, combat sequences involving the Slayer riding the Dragon and slaughtering demon hordes were sped up. This was achieved by refining the Dragon’s autocannon abilities and empowerment techniques, making battles more manageable.

In the challenging world of “Doom: The Dark Ages,” players have the freedom to make it as tough as they wish while slaughtering monsters. During QuakeCon 2025, Bethesda and id Software revealed the exciting additions in Update 2 through a brief video. The standout aspect of this update is the Ripatorium, an infinite arena mode where players can tailor their experience using various menu settings. Players have control over when tougher enemies like Pinky Riders or Battle Knights appear, how frequently they respawn, and whether to play with a time limit or endlessly. The City of Ry’uul, the Village of Khalim, and the Harbor of Souls are the initial Ripatorium levels available for players.

After updating and installing Update 2 for “Doom: The Dark Ages,” you’ll find that the Ripatorium is now accessible from the main menu. This update, with an approximate file size of 8.67 GB on PC, also includes improvements to both the Dragon and Atlan, as well as adjustments to enemies in Act 2 and Act 3. id Software has also sped up the process of swapping guns and melee weapons, allowing for quicker changes. Additionally, you can now cancel weapon swaps by parrying with the Shield Saw. New skins for the Slayer, including QuakeCon and Perfection options, are now available to earn in “Doom: The Dark Ages.

For PC gamers, a new testing mode has been introduced for evaluating their system’s performance with the game “Doom: The Dark Ages”. Simultaneously, improvements have been made in terms of gameplay adjustments and fixing bugs that led to crashes in the PS5 version of the same game.

Doom: The Dark Ages Update 2 Patch Notes (August 7, 2025)

As a fellow gaming enthusiast, I’m thrilled to share that this latest update introduces the Ripatorium – an infinite battlefield where you can design your own combats! You’ll find yourself in three distinct arenas, each offering a unique backdrop for your battles. With a straightforward menu system, you’re now the master of setting up encounters to your heart’s content. Let the strategic gaming begin!

As a devoted fan, I’m thrilled to share some exciting updates! You’ll find not one, but two fresh DOOM Slayer skins available (details on how to unlock them are provided below). Additionally, for all you PC gamers out there, there’s a loopable demo now in Benchmark Mode. And that’s not all – a multitude of other enhancements and bug fixes have been implemented as well!

New Content

The Ripatorium

Includes a new Encounter Manager:

  • Select type and quantity of demons to spawn
  • Set a time limit to challenge yourself or turn on Endless mode
  • Use the enemy respawn counter to craft your experience
  • Includes 3 arenas:
    • Arena 1 – City of Ry’uul
    • Arena 2 – Village of Khalim
    • Arena 3 – Harbor of Souls
  • Lastly, a jukebox where you can select a DOOM: The Dark Ages music track for your custom encounter

Benchmark Mode

Added Demo Mode that lets you create a looping playlist sequence of benchmark mode flythroughs

New Cosmetic Customization

Limited-Time Free QuakeCon 2025 DOOM Slayer skin*

Earnable Perfection DOOM Slayer skin**

To access DOOM: The Dark Ages, you need to connect your gaming platform to your Bethesda.net account. After doing so, play the game between August 7 and September 1, 2025. Keep in mind that it might take up to 48 hours for the new skin to appear within the game.

** Complete an encounter in each Ripatorium arena (3 total)

Game Updates and Improvements

Difficulty Settings

  • Added a new difficulty slider for Max Life Sigils that allows players to set a Life Sigil capacity for their campaign run
  • Added a new difficulty slider for Atlan Perfect Dodge Window
    • Allows players to adjust how long the Perfect Dodge window is active when Dashing as the Atlan

Life Sigil

  • Updated the timing of the Life Sigil activation flow to smooth out the experience
  • Added a line to the Life Sigil activation screen that tells the player which enemy type delivered the killing blow
  • Added new sounds for when the player receives a killing blow to activate a Life Sigil, as well as a new sound when a Life Sigil is activated

Additional Game Settings

  • Added new gameplay slider for Parry & Melee Slow Motion
  • Allows player to adjust the duration of the slow-motion feedback that occurs on a successful Shield parry or Melee strike when playing as the Slayer
  • Added a new Game Setting for “Weapon Class Switch Style”
  • Standard [maintains current weapon swap behavior]
    • Pressing a Weapon Class input in rapid succession will now always switch to the currently equipped weapon within a given Class
  • Double Tap [NEW]
  • Pressing a Weapon Class input twice in quick succession at the beginning of a weapon switch will now automatically equip the other weapon in that class if available

Audio

  • Global pass on combat music to ensure system is being triggered correctly for each encounter

Gameplay

  • Added ability to interrupt weapon bring-up and Shield Charge recovery animations sooner to perform a block or parry
  • Loading tip for melee being used to refill ammo will now appear more frequently

🛡Weapons

  • Increased speed of Weapon Swap animations

Rail Spike Impaler

  • Balance adjustments including:
  • Reduced Impaler damage vs. Hellknight and Vagary demons
    • Reduced Impaler damage vs. armored demons
    • Put further emphasis on Impaler headshots by increasing headshot damage, and reducing non-headshot damage vs. various demons
    • Shield Throws that deflect off of larger demons no longer drop Impaler ammo when the Stalwart upgrade is equipped
    • Reduced the amount of Mace charge received from headshots with the Lobotomy upgrade

Plasma Rifle Class

  • Lowered base ammo on Plasma Rifle Cycler
  • Adjusted value of ammo capacity increase earned through Demonic Essence upgrades
  • Lowered maximum ammo capacity of Plasma Rifle Cycler

Super Shotgun

  • Reduced Super Shotgun damage vs. Hellknight, Mancubus, Pinky Rider, Cosmic Baron
  • Reduced Super Shotgun damage vs. armored demons
  • Player can now interrupt the Super Shotgun reload to perform executions

Chainshot

  • Lowered starting ammo capacity

Dreadmace

  • Executions performed with the Dreadmace equipped now drop the same amount of ammo as executions performed with other melee weapons. The amount of ammo dropped as a result of other Mace attacks has not changed
  • Reduced Dreadmace AOE damage, increased Dreadmace direct-hit damage to compensate for AOE damage reduction
  • Parrying a Hell Surge attack drops less Dreadmace charge
  • Drops triggered as a result of Impaler headshots with the Lobotomy upgrade equipped drop less Dreadmace charge

Gauntlet

  • Lowered the amount of charge received via Duelist upgrade

Shield Saw

  • Removed the slight cooldown on Shield Throw after catching it from a previous throw action
  • Refined Shield Saw parry detection

Atlan

Stomp

  • Adjusted Stomp behavior to apply an electrical stun and shock state to enemies
  • VFX and audio adjustments to accompany this change
  • When attacking shocked enemies, the Atlan will punch faster
  • Updated the tutorials to cover the new behavior

Encounters

Dragon

  • Extended empowered shot time
  • Updated Anti-Dragon AI’s projectile attacks in the tutorial section to include line attacks and remove the hourglass projectile
  • Improved tutorial messaging for assault mode dash directions
  • Added new HUD elements to indicate when the player should initiate assault mode and dodge actions
  • Shortened the delay time for AI firing projectiles after lock-on
  • Players will now skip straight to the Holy City of Aratum if tutorials are turned off

Enemy AI

  • Made the Kreed Maykr fight more challenging
  • Extended the range on Prince Ahzrak’s spear
  • The Old One’s Aerial Slam damage radius now covers the entire arena
    • FX and SFX have been added
  • Increased the AOE of the waveblast from the Komodo’s Graviton arm attack
  • Completed a pass on AI logic events to ensure they are stopping correctly when AI pain reactions are triggered
  • The Pinky bite attack has been updated with new animations, FX and audio to help the attack read better
  • HP buffs have been added to the Cacodemon, Mancubus, and Armored Mancubus.
  • Addressed the Chaingunner Soldier’s target acquisition, fire rate, and overall player responsiveness
  • Pinky Rider leader now fires shield projectiles at the start of the flame wall attack instead of basic fire projectiles
  • Increased Mancubus Flamethrower damage
  • Increased Mancubus Fireball speed and size

Levels

Hebeth

  • A checkpoint now appears after reaching where the Accelerator would be picked up when playing the level through Mission Select

Sentinel Barracks

  • A checkpoint now appears after reaching where the Pulverizer would be picked up

Reckoning

  • Added a checkpoint after the intro sync animation for the Prince Ahzrak and Witch fight

Combat Encounter Updates

Sentinel Barracks

Tomb Arena

  • Reduced number of spawns in the Stone Imp wave

Vagary Champion Encounter

  • Reduced the Mancubus maintain from 2 to 1

Holy City of Aratum

Secret Gore Nest Encounter

  • Replaced a Nightmare Imp Stalker with a Chaingunner
  • Added Mancubus maintain for Pinky Rider Leader support
  • Added Imp maintain for Pinky Rider Leader support

Siege – Part 1

Southside Gore Nest

  • Full encounter rework

Abyssal Forest

Overgrowth Mid Encounter

  • Added 2 mortar Mancubus

Overgrowth Tree

  • Added Hellknight

Ruins arena

  • Added 2 Hellknights

Canyon Fight

  • Added additional fodder along path
  • Added armored Mancubus with phalanx

Agaddon Boss Fight

  • Added 2 Mancubus
  • Added Imps

Ancestral Forge

Mines switch encounter

  • Added Chaingunner reinforcement
  • Added 2 Mancubus

Ancestral Final: all 3 switches to activate

  • Added Nightmare Imp Stalkers
  • Added Arachnotron
  • Added Imps

Final fight

  • Added Arachnotron on morale shield break
  • Added Hellknight on morale shield break

The Forsaken Plains

Left Tower Combat

  • Added Arachnotron maintain after morale shield break

Right Tower Combat

  • Added Arachnotron and Battleknight after morale shield break

Hellbreaker

Castle Interior Ambush

  • Added Nightmare Imp Stalker spawn and Revenant maintain

Sentinel Command Station

Maintenance Hallway Encounter

  • Added Imp Stalker maintain

Tank Hangar

  • Added Arachnotron maintain for leader support
  • Added Mancubus maintain for leader support

Final Atrium Encounter

  • Added Mancubus maintain for Cyberdemon support
  • Added Arachnotron maintain for Cyberdemon support

From Beyond

Machine Space Encounter

  • Added mortar Mancubus maintain
  • Reduced soldiers

Summit Encounter

  • Added Revenant maintain

Spire of Nerathul

Komodo Boss Fight

  • Added Arachnotrons

Cliffside Extra Life

  • Added Cacodemon and Battleknights

Gore Nest

  • Removed Whiplash and added Pinky Rider, Nightmare Imp Stalker, and Revenant before morale break, and Whiplashes after morale break

Hanging Ship Path, Stasis Emitter

  • Added Arachnotrons

Cathedral Path Stasis Emitter

Added Arachnotrons

Mountaintop Wraith Steel

  • Added Battleknights

Pre-BFC Gauntlet

  • Added Whiplash

City of Ry’uul

Undercity Tunnel Arena

  • Added Imp Stalker support for Vagary
  • Added Arachnotron support for Agaddon leader

Floating Island Gore Nest

  • Added barriers around floating arena while in combat
  • Adjusted timing of some enemy spawns

The Kar’thul Marshes

Northside Monolith Arena

  • Added Mancubus maintain after morale shield break

Southside Monolith Arena

  • Increased area in which enemies can engage the player

Temple of Lomarith

Shipyard Arena

  • Added Arachnotron on maintain around Vagary
  • Added a change roll command if you ignore the first Arachnotron and Revenant
  • Added force charge once the morale shield is broken

Belly of the Beast

Belly Formation Encounter

Removed Revenant

  • Added a maintain group with Mancubus and Armored Arachnotron around Vagary

Temple Return Encounter

  • Added Armored Arachnotron around Agaddon Hunter

Harbor of Souls

Courtyard Encounter

  • Added Revenant maintain to Vagary wave

Leader Komodo Encounter

  • Added Arachnotron maintain to Leader Komodo wave

Barge Deck Encounter

  • Added Mancubus to the Komodo wave
  • Added two Mancubus and two Lost Souls on morale shield break
  • Added Arachnotron maintain for Pinky Rider Leader support

Resurrection

Farm Leader Encounter

Added Whiplash to enforcer group

Added an Armored Arachnotron maintain around Cyberdemon

Change morale break spawns from 2 Whiplashes to Acolyte and Arachnotron

Maintain an Armored Arachnotron after shield break

Graveyard Leader Encounter

  • Added Cyberdemon to the front portion of the encounter
  • Changed the Pinky Rider to an enforcer and enforced heavies in that pod
  • Added Battleknight near the Pinky Rider Enforcer
  • Added Chaingunner near Arachnotron
  • Spawn Mancubus once the leader spawns in
  • Spawn Arachnotron around half leader health

Village Leader Encounter

  • Maintain Mancubus around leader Acolyte

Cave Gore Nest Encounter

  • Full encounter rework

Outside Gore Nest Encounter

  • Added Cacodemon maintain after first superheavy death

Blue Key artillery Berserk Encounter

  • Added Armored Pinky Rider, Armored Arachnotron, Mancubus, and 2 Whiplashes

Final Battle

All Encounters

  • Added 1 – 2 additional Titans per area

Reckoning

Final morale fight

  • Added Battleknight maintain after morale shield break

Boss Vagary rematch

  • Added Mancubus spawns
  • Added Armored Arachnotron maintain

Lighting

  • Hebeth: optimized some shadows for potential issue with wide FOV
  • Minor lighting adjustments to Ancestral Forge and Reckoning to improve readability in combat spaces

Bug Fixes

Crashes

  • Fixed a rare crash in Harbor of Souls when approaching the Fortress Gate near the Armored Mancubus on PC
  • Fixed a crash when attempting to load Pandemonium save data from Update 1
  • Fixed a crash during the Spire of Nerathul water drain cinematic
  • Resolved a rare crash on the map loading screen when transitioning to Spire of Nerathul

Gameplay

Checkpoints

  • Players who die or reload a checkpoint after receiving a Demonic Essence upgrade no longer need to kill the leader again to receive the upgrade. This change also fixes the map completion being stuck at 99% for some players
  • Addressed an issue with reloading the checkpoint or dying during the Armored Titan arena that caused new demons to spawn and progression to be blocked

Traversal

  • Jump Pads: Several jump pads now correctly trigger the launching SFX and launch the player

Visual

  • Fixed a bug where small variations of the camera’s FOV (e.g. 90 to 91 or 92) could cause some grass instances to be culled incorrectly and disappear. This made the ground look like it was flickering when firing weapons in certain locations

PlayStation 5

  • Fixed a rare crash on PlayStation 5 while in combat in the final demonic portal Slayer arena

Milestones

  • Fixed an issue that could cause the Berserker Milestone to complete early

Enemy AI

  • Made an adjustment to AI melee attacks to prevent damage from going around the player’s shield
  • Lowered the idle time for the Battleknight between spawning and attacking
  • Battle Knight: Fixed a bug where axe swings wouldn’t consistently collide with the player when other AI were nearby
  • Agaddon Hunter now plays death animations and does not go straight into ragdoll
  • Cacodemon shield now visually appears without any invulnerability window
  • Fixed an issue with the Komodo, where it could still take damage from a parry AOE when surrounded by the leader shield
  • Mancubus: The Mancubus and Armored Mancubus now correctly stop firing projectiles from a severed right arm
  • Armored Mancubus: Parried projectile no longer hovers in air if the AI dies mid-flight
  • The Old One: The Mace no longer disappears during attacks after using Atlan Siege Breaker
  • Fixed an issue where Hell Carrier projectiles hitting the Dragon might not cause pain reaction SFX if the target lock was delayed
  • Addressed a bug where the Whiplash was not immediately stunned by the embedded Shield Saw attack after slithering
  • Enforcer Buff VFX now correctly display on Cosmic Barons and Imps

Weapons

  • Resolved a rare issue where the player could get control locked after fully upgrading a weapon

Shield Saw

  • Shield Charge impact no longer triggers a Glory Kill on nearby dazed enemies
  • Shield Throw is no longer briefly inhibited after swapping to certain weapons and immediately firing that weapon
  • Fixed a bug that allowed for multiple parries in instances where it was unintended

Super Shotgun

  • Fixed a bug where the Super Shotgun reload would prevent Shield Throw

Accelerator

  • Overload impact VFX of the projectiles is now red instead of blue
  • Pulse firing the weapon no longer allows the player to charge the weapon for half the ammo cost

Gauntlet

  • Addressed an issue where Encore upgrade was affecting standard charges of the Gauntlet, increasing its refill rate beyond what is intended

Mace

Fixed an issue where the Mace would no longer cause Heavy Falters after purchasing certain upgrades

🦾Atlan

  • Fixed an issue where the Atlan was invincible when dodging left
  • Fixed an issue where the Atlan’s Perfect Dodge window was extending beyond the Dodge action

Levels

Hebeth

  • The Zombie fodder AI is no longer placed inside the wall behind the plasma accelerator weapon pickup

The Holy City of Aratum

  • Fixed a rare bug where the tanks on the assault mode tutorial tower would split in half and fire at the player
  • The Slayer can no longer become stuck in scaffold wreckage collision near the Cycler pickup arena on the undercity landing zone

Siege – Part 2

  • The Titan no longer disappears after restarting the checkpoint
  • The player can no longer respawn behind the demonic barrier by jumping into fade volume near the beginning of the bridge to the elevator room
  • The Revenant near the turret courtyard no longer becomes idle when pathing through the doorway

Abyssal Forest

  • The user can no longer become trapped between rocks and fall out of the world

Hellbreaker

  • Fixed a bug where the Crushinator Mission Challenge was counting Hell Tanks towards its completion

From Beyond

  • The checkpoint in the machine space now functions correctly and no longer places the player at the pre-summit checkpoint

Spire of Nerathul

  • The Slayer can now traverse on water in multiple places in sunken path secret area
  • The wall scrambles in the BFC temple area are now reflected on the Automap
  • The Imp no longer spawns stuck against the wall in the sunken path secret area

The Kar’Thul Marshes

  • The minor arena north of the Sentinel shrine will now correctly complete on the Automap

Temple of Lomarith

  • The Automap now includes the leader encounter Icon in shipwreck arena
  • The player can no longer hit the metal target node from the ground floor to bypass the Cosmic Eye water tunnel in shipwreck arena

Resurrection

  • The cave hazards on the path to the Kreed Maykr ship now move correctly after checkpoint reload
  • Added a delay before the Kreed Maykr can use a laser attack after being interrupted by a falter or daze

Reckoning

  • The Cosmic Baron in the berserk pickup room encounter before Prince Ahzrak fight can now fit through arched doorways
  • The Witch now has the daze ring after being dazed

Engine

  • VRS/VRCS has been implemented for PC, matching the functionality already present on consoles
  • Corrected an issue in which there was visible banding on water surfaces in some cases

Cinematics

  • Village of Khalim: The intro text no longer appears in gameplay briefly if the Player skips the cinematic
  • Barrier Core: Skipping the power core interactive no longer results in vessel door and light/smoke VFX remaining in the game
  • The Holy City of Aratum: The explosion SFX during the transition between cinematics is no longer cut off with tutorials turned off
  • Fixed an issue where press hold to skip cinematic is happening before you see the prompt to press hold to skip
  • Siege – Part 1: Holding down the space bar on the wall climb at the end of the level will no longer cause the player to accidentally skip the cinematic

UI

  • Bethesda.net: The 20-character password limit no longer blocks players from linking their Bethesda.net account
  • The Holy City of Aratum: The active Dragon dodge tutorial window no longer overlaps the passive Dragon assault mode tutorial window
  • Adjusting the “Empowered Attacks” modifier now correctly applies the [*M] tag to a save file
  • Benchmark Mode: updated The Abyssal Forest screenshot
  • Accelerator: Overload: Both charge bars no longer rubber band and drop to lower charge amounts before returning to normal
  • Settings – Parry & Melee Slow Motion: Removed the extra impulse being applied to a corpse’s ragdoll after executing a demon when this setting is turned off

Audio

  • Grenade Launcher: The Grenade Launcher explosion SFX no longer sounds distorted when firing multiple times in succession
  • Atlan low health audio no longer plays while around 350 health
  • Updated Stone Imp immolation sound effects

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2025-08-08 00:25