Strategy:Army of the Dead

When it comes to shotguns, there are two primary weaknesses; shotguns have much worse DPS potential than other weapon types, and shrapnel damage gets doubly reduced by armor, which not only compounds the aforementioned DPS issue, but also substantially hurts the ammo efficiency of shotguns when you start having to regularly fight enemies with 2 armor, such as Barons, Former commandos, Arachnotrons, and the VMR. This can especially hurt later in the game, when shotgun shells can become rather scarce, with them spawning less often and Former sergeants stop spawning outside of monster groups, leading to shotgun builds possibly finding themselves short on shells in Hell. The latter problem can be addressed by the Marine's shotgun mastery, Army of the Dead (MAD for short), which turns the damage type of all shrapnel weapons to piercing. This means instead of your shotguns' damage being doubly reduced by armor, they now completely ignore armor. So against all those aforementioned enemies with 2 armor, your shotguns will be dealing 4 more damage per hit, while against certain nightmare enemies and bosses, you can see an even greater damage increase. Put that way though, considering most of the time you're getting either just 2 or 4 extra damage per shotgun shot, you may be thinking this sounds underwhelming compared to some of the crazy stuff and unique utilities other masteries can do, when you'll ultimately just be saving a shell or two on those bigger baddies, and well... you would be right. But still it's a nice perk to have, so what's the catch? Well, there's some really big catches, that makes Army of the Dead one of the worst masteries in the game.

The costs of Army of the Dead

So what makes Army of the Dead so bad? A crucial part of masteries is that each of them will block you out from being able to pick certain traits. For most masteries, there may be a trait or two you may have wanted, but for the most part the tradeoff is well worth it. When it comes to Army of the Dead, you get blocked... Eagle Eye, Hellrunner, and Finesse. Oh damn.....

So starting with Eagle Eye, at first it sounds like no big deal, and true Eagle Eye itself is nothing, when shotguns can't miss anyway. But no Eagle Eye and not being a Scout means you can't get Intuition, which aside from being one of the most useful traits in general, is especially valuable for shotgun builds, as they can exploit shotguns maintaining perfect accuracy against enemies outside their vision range that Intuition lets you see, and it saves them precious shells by no longer having to radar shoot to make sure they don't walk into the view of something nasty. The fact you'll have to keep radar shooting throughout the game with MAD negates one of mastery's supposed advantages of saving you shells. Losing just Intuition wouldn't be a dealbreaker however, especially since it would have required picking up two dead levels in Eagle Eye to even get, but then...

...Losing Hellrunner is a far bigger loss. Hellrunner itself is another very useful trait on its own regardless of build, as movement speed is so crucial in DoomRL, and a boosted dodging rate is also very handy to keeping you alive; nothing reduces damage more than not getting hit at all. But it's especially important for shotgun builds, as when you don't have the DPS to quickly smite enemies before they can hurt you, you're going to really need movement speed to limit damage you take, while fast movement speed is also needed to best utilize Shottyman; after all the faster you can move, the faster you can reload with Shottyman, and the added dodging bonus of Hellrunner also ensures you're much safer when you're reloading with Shottyman in view of enemies. So with MAD, you'll be entirely dependent on equipment to increase your movement speed, which at best, will reliably come down to just Tactical boots and Tactical armor, the latter of which will leave you very vulnerable with its complete lack of any protection; anything better will depend on getting lucky with rare Exotic and Unique drops. Also, since you need to take Badass to get MAD, the knockback reduction from it nerfs your rocket jumps, making you even slower and making it even more difficult to get out of bad spots. On top of that with no Hellrunner, you can't get Dodgemaster, which does a lot to make open combat viable for shotguns, letting you dance through enemy attacks while simultaneously reloading with Shottyman, and it means you can no longer completely trivialize the Cyberdemon, which is especially needed when your DPS is gonna be shit. At this point, Army of the Dead's viability is already tanked, but it doesn't stop here...

The last trait that Army of the Dead blocks is... Finesse, which is arguably even worse than being blocked Hellrunner. Not being able to improve your firing speed has two big effects; first it significantly hinders your DPS, and when you already struggle for DPS as a shotgun build, losing out on one of your only ways to improve it obviously really really sucks. The second big effect is it also make you a lot less safe in general, as any time you fire nearly ensures enemies will be able to retaliate as long as they can see you, and again as a shotgun build, you really need to be able to compensate for your lackluster DPS by being able to fire and stay on the move to limit enemies being able to attack you. That isn't all though, being blocked Finesse blocks Juggler, which is another big loss for shotgun builds when they'll be utilizing multiple shotguns and making heavier usage of the Rocket launcher than other builds will, meaning you won't be able to quickly switch between whichever weapon is best for the situation at hand, nor pull off the "shoot shotgun, instantly pull out another shotgun to shoot without reloading" trick. The pain train doesn't even stop there, as blocking Finesse also blocks Whizkid. Being blocked Whizkid means you'll only ever able to apply a single mod to any weapon or equipment ever, which is gonna suck when there are multiple good exotic shotguns like the Assault shotgun, Plasma shotgun, and best of all, the Super shotgun, that MAD users will not be able to trick out like other shotgun builds get the joy of. It additionally means you won't ever be able to make a Focused double shotgun, leaving you stuck with the vastly inferior Double shotgun for your big boomstick if you're not lucky enough to find a Super shotgun, while you're gonna all-around move even slower and be less protected when you're only ever limited to a single mod per equipment and basic assemblies. Worst of all, if you are lucky enough to find a Nano mod, you cannot make any Nano-shrapnel shotgun to potentially autowin the game, nor can you make Antigrav boots to salvage your terrible movement speed. For one last kick in the groin, through Whizkid, other shotgun builds can easily make their shotguns hit as hard or even harder than MAD's shotguns will with just multiple Power mods and assemblies, so there completely goes any sort of advantage MAD could have had.

So with Army of the Dead, you're much slower than other shotgun builds in every way, your DPS is much worse than other shotgun builds, and you ultimately don't even get the edge on ammo efficiency when Whizkid can shore that up for other shotgun builds.

How to make Army of the Dead work

If you're a masochist that still wants to give Army of the Dead a try at this point, first and most important thing to know is you're going to need to really really love corner shooting. Corner shooting is already a crucial component for shotguns and DoomRL as a whole, but MAD just takes it to an absurd level. Other shotgun builds can eventually get the all-around speed to be able to get into open firefights and come out on top, especially Shottyheads with their crazy firing speed, while Fireangels can leverage their immunity to splash damage to zoom everywhere with rocket jumps and laugh at the VMR's futile attempts to harm them. But when your movement speed is ass, your firing speed is ass, and your DPS is bottom-of-the-barrel, the only way to survive is eternally hugging behind that corner and slowly taking things out one or two at a time when they come into view. If playing the whole game clinging behind corners just to survive is gonna bore you to sleep, absolutely do not play MAD outside of the easier difficulties, as you will fail trying to play MAD in any more aggressive way.

The other vital thing to make MAD usable is to invest in Brute and Berserker, becoming a hybrid melee build. When you're so damn slow and your DPS is so shit, you realistically are just not going to be able to beat many of the bosses relying on your shotguns, without having very good armor and lots of Large medkits. By having strong melee and Berserker, you'll be able to actually out-DPS them or at least won't need an insane amount of medkits to survive, while the guaranteed Longinus Spear or Azrael's Scythe from the Unholy Cathedral ensures you'll get an extremely powerful melee weapon for the late game that being able to use competently could save your ass if you ever find yourself having to fight in the open. Having the ability to get Berserked in general could also be the difference between survival and death, when it gives you such a big all-around speed improvement, on top of making you far tankier, something such a slow build really needs. One of the very few bright spots about MAD is that it lets you pick any one non-blocked trait of your choosing on the way to building to it, so you'll be able to pick up a level of Brute without delaying it and then get to Berserker only two more levels after getting MAD. It's probably a better idea however to delay getting MAD by heading straight to Berserker after spending your first three levels on the requisite two levels of Reloader and Shottyman, as Badass is a pretty dead level and MAD isn't any sort of major boost as made very clear long ago, especially so on harder difficulties when Berserker + the Chainsaw might be the only thing that keeps you alive when staring down multiple Barons, Commandos, and Revenants near the end of Phobos. Hell, there might be an argument to go straight to Berserker at the start instead of Shottyman because it's so critical to patch up MAD's huge shortcomings. You might even end up finding yourself fighting in melee more often than actually using your shotguns with a MAD build, at which point, you might be wondering why didn't you just go with Vampyre; it blocks Eagle Eye (thus Intuition) and Hellrunner (thus also Dodgemaster) too, but Finesse (and thus also Whizkid) are still available, while Vampyre itself is a far more rewarding mastery than MAD could ever be. But if you're this insistent on trying out Army of the Dead, this is your best shot at making it work.

As for trying to sidearm rapid-fire weapons or pistols with Army of the Dead, don't even try. With no Eagle Eye, your rapid-fire weapons aren't hitting anything worth a damn, and no Whizkid means you can't try to compensate for their inaccuracy by adding multiple agility mods to them. Then with pistols, aside from them demanding more trait and inventory investment than melee does to become viable, no Whizkid just completely kills any pistol viability, as modding is absolutely essential to get a good pistol when there is no guaranteed pistol stronger than the basic peashooter you start with. So aside from investment in Brute and Berserker, that only leaves investing in Ironman and Tough as Nails to try making yourself as tanky as possible. Maybe Son of a Bitch too to try doing something to boost your crappy damage output, though considering how shotguns and melee see little relative benefit from it, maximizing your survival is probably better.

Assemblies and miscellaneous tips

Well with no Whizkid, Army of the Dead's choices for assemblies are very limited, but for what you can do, here are your options of particular note.

• Tactical boots - An essential assembly for any build, but there is especially no argument for MAD not building them ASAP; this will be your best guaranteed source of improving your movement speed in the game, and there is little else you could use your agility mods for as a shotgun build that can't even build a Focused double shotgun.

• Tactical shotgun - One mercy MAD gets is it can still build a Tactical shotgun, the most crucial weapon for any shotgun build that isn't lucky enough to find an Assault shotgun very early, so it's an obvious priority. It's probably even more vital of MAD, as given how slow they move, having to pump a Combat shotgun between shots is gonna be an even greater hindrance to them.

• Elephant gun - Given that you're blocked from getting the Focused double shotgun, and can never apply more than a single power mod to any weapon, an Elephant gun is MAD's most ammo efficient weapon and most powerful option against enemies more than a few tiles away that the Double shotgun can't effectively damage, unless they're lucky enough to find the Super shotgun. Additionally, given the inability to use the mods much for elsewhere, MAD probably won't mind the cost of two power mods that other shotgun builds might balk at. Just be really sure you have a shell box onhand when using this weapon, especially when relying on Shottyman to reload isn't going to work as well with how slow you're gonna be.

• Tactical armor - An armor with 0 protection and no resistances is really unattractive, but this will be your best guaranteed source of movement speed via armor, and as long established, you need all the movement speed you can get. The 15% dodging rate it gives could save you too, and it's the only way to improve your base dodging rate without Hellrunner. You're probably still better off getting as protected as you can with your armor, but anything short of Red armor or a good exotic/unique armor is unlikely to do you better than this, and again you're probably not going to be putting those agility mods to much use elsewhere after making Tactical boots, so the mod cost isn't the concern it is to other builds. It will also make a good complimentary piece in general to your primary protection armor, when you can wear it to move around with some semblance of a decent pace, while switching to the heavier armor when dangerous combat is unavoidable.

• Piercing chainsaw - A Piercing chainsaw is normally inferior to just applying a bulk mod to a Chainsaw, but there's one scenario where it really shines - fighting the Angel of Death to pierce through his insane 10 armor. Considering how important getting the artifact from the Unholy Cathedral will be to win the game with MAD, dedicating an assembly entirely for the purpose of beating it at the expense of having a slightly weaker melee weapon up to that point is very much worth it. This is especially so as with no Finesse investment to improve your attacking speed, and no actual melee mastery, you may find yourself losing the damage race with a standard Chainsaw against the Angel of Death on harder difficulties even with Brute + Berserker, especially if you don't find any armor with good melee resistance before then.

• Power Red armor - If you're lucky enough to find a nano mod with MAD, Power Red armor is really all you can do with it. With no Whizkid, you're blocked off from Nano-shrapnel, Antigrav boots, Cybernano armor, and Nanofiber skin armor, while a nano mod on its own won't do much for a shotgun. That just leaves Power Red armor, which is a bummer compared to the amazing game-breaking stuff that a nano mod can allow other builds to make, but Power Red armor is still an extremely good armor; it's practically a Fireproof Red armor, except with a 25% melee resistance instead of -30% weakness, an extra point of protection, regenerating durability, and best of all, no movement penalty. It's not remotely game-breaking, but it's still probably the best armor a build with no Whizkid can ask for aside from maybe Malek's Armor, which is an even luckier find than getting a nano mod.

• Lava boots - If you get an onyx mod as MAD, and do not also find an Energy-shielded vest, Phaseshift armor, or Duelist armor to use that onyx mod on, nor found Enviroboots to freely walk through damaging fluids, it might actually be worth building Lava boots. Being able to freely walk through lava is such a tremendous advantage even if it slows you down a ton, as covered in the Cerberus boots' strategy page, of which MAD cannot ever build with its lack of Whizkid, while you won't get exceptional mileage out of using your lone mod slot on getting infinite durability for vanilla Red armor or any exotic armor that wasn't one of the three mentioned prior. Of course -30% movement speed when you're already so slow really really sucks though, so if you do build Lava boots as MAD, only put them on when going through lava is imperative, and be sure to immediately take them off once you get out of lava. You could build a Tower shield instead with that onyx mod to try maximizing your durability, but that 12 protection isn't quite as impressive as it looks with no resistances, and 150% durability that cannot be restored without a Megasphere won't last that long, nevermind the -50% movement speed penalty it has when you're already struggling so much for speed...

Overall, while it may not be in the same shit tier as near-unusable masteries like Bullet Dance and Entrenchment, Army of the Dead fucking sucks. If you want to play a tanky Marine shotgun build, you would actually be better off going masterless. You'll still be a lot worse than Shottyhead and even Fireangel, and it overall would be a pretty mediocre build, but being able to actually invest in some combination of Hellrunner, Dodgemaster, Finesse, Juggler, and especially Whizkid will do so much more for you than getting piercing shotguns ever will. Pick Army of the Dead only if you are explicitly looking to challenge yourself by being denied these essential traits (it's the only reason I ever tried runs with MAD, which were never pleasant). Also for one final note, picking Army of the Dead in Angel of Shotgunnery looks like an attractive option because of how concerned people get about shell shortages in Hell, and indeed it's a popular choice for it, but there you will not have melee to bail you out when you get into a fight with a big horde or boss that you cannot possibly hope to out-DPS with your slow ass shotguns nor effectively evade with your snail-like mobility, while lategame ammo efficiency can be addressed by Whizkid as mentioned prior (while you can just always farm Sergeants in an Arch-vile group for a bit if you need to, they're not uncommon). If you really don't like Shottyhead for whatever reason or are just tired of always picking Scouts and want to try something different, then the aforementioned masterless Marine build will do a lot better than MAD would. Also absolutely do not pick MAD in Angel of 100, all those blocked traits just become even more important there; good luck surviving a Nightmare arachnotron cave when your movement speed is barely over 100% and you get near-instantly melted by a stream of plasma from all over after making a single move, not to mention how miserable it'll be to get all the mods you'll find over 100 levels and not be able to do shit with them. Omega Tyrant (talk) 22:56, 27 June 2023 (UTC)