At long last, the Doom Eternal 1.03 update patch notes are finally here. This is the first large update the game has had since its March release. It adds things such as Empowered Demons, some quality-of-life improvements, and more for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. And yes, before you ask, skins now work in Battlemode.
Doom Eternal 1.03 Update Patch Notes | Empowered Demons
Not to be confused with Invasion mode (which is still coming), Empowered Demons are now in Doom Eternal‘s campaign. Empowered Demons are like regular demons, but much more powerful. They have killed other human players in their games and been transported into your campaign. Killing these stronger hellspawns will yield more health, ammo, and experience for the current event. They should have a little icon above them, as shown in the above picture. You can turn them on and off in the settings menu under “Game.”
Just be warned that it will take up to 24 hours after the patch until Empowered Demons start showing up in your game.
Doom Eternal 1.03 Update Patch Notes | Single-player quality-of-life additions
And being the first big update, this 1.03 update also makes the game a bit smoother overall. Players will now be able to dash vertically in water, have expanded demon tutorials, and take less damage from toxic sludge. It even has a new way to dash (which you may want to turn off in the settings). The Microwave Beam now does more damage and the Makyr Drone now has a tutorial when you see it on Urdak.
Doom Eternal 1.03 Update Patch Notes | Battlemode changes
While id can tweak numbers in Battlemode without issuing a full patch, this update allows the team to make more broad changes. For example, id has added Denuvo Anticheat to stop cheaters (this is a bit different from anti-piracy software). This should curb cheating. The HUD also now shows everyone when a demon is healing and the tutorial is now mandatory.
Id has added better tutorials, bad connection indicators, a Death Report to see how you died, and “Eschelon Leveling” for those who have already hit the max rank. These sound similar to Prestige levels from Call of Duty.
You’ll also be able to use a Bethesda.net friends list to send invites for Battlemode, which should help players who are looking for a group. And like the first paragraph says, skins now work like they should in Battlemode.
Doom Eternal 1.03 Update Patch Notes | Series 3 cosmetics (and possibly beyond)
This update also contains stuff for Doom Eternal‘s Series 3. There are battle pass-like events that let players level up and earn cosmetics. It ends on June 18.
This series is called Precious Metals and features many metal-themed cosmetics, which you can see below. The Doom Eternal Series 3 cosmetics are:
- So Dope profile icon (level 1)
- Hoarder profile title (level 2)
- Golden Idol profile icon (level 3)
- Gold Marauder skin (level 4)
- Rarr profile icon (level 5)
- Jaguar Mancubus skin (level 6)
- Carbon Fiber profile icon (level 7)
- Carbon Fiber Heavy Cannon weapon skin (level 8)
- The Thinker profile icon (level 9)
- Bronze Slayer skin (level 10)
- Luxury profile icon (level 11)
- Lux Super Shotgun skin (level 12)
- MC Pain Pain Elemental skin (level 13) (Master Collection)
- Solid Gold Slayer profile icon (level 14)
- Rollin profile title (level 15)
Full Doom Eternal 1.03 update patch notes
Empowered Demons are now online! When a player is killed in the single player campaign, the demon that felled them is beefed up and transported to another player’s game to fight again! Take out an Empowered Demon and you’ll not only be rewarded with tons of health and ammo, but also bonus XP to progress in-game events! Toggle Empowered Demons ON/OFF in the Game tab of the Main Menu Options.
Note: It will take 24 hours after the release of this Update for Empowered Demons to appear in your Campaign
Echelon Leveling is now available. Once you complete DOOM Level 250, you receive your first Echelon, unlocking a special insignia denoting your rank to other players. Each Echelon earned resets your DOOM Level to 1 and gives you another rank insignia. You keep all of your gear as you progress through new Echelons.
PRECIOUS METALS EVENT IS NOW LIVE featuring the incredible MC Pain Master Collection and so much more! For full details click here.
Favorite Code is now available. Players can now add friends to their Favorites using a Favorite Code in the Social Menu
New Features for PC
Added Denuvo Anti-Cheat software required for playing BATTLEMODE on PC
- Denuvo Anti-Cheat uses a kernel-mode driver
- Use of the kernel-mode driver starts when the game launches and stops when the game stops for any reason
- Denuvo Anti-Cheat does not take screenshots, scan your file system, or stream shellcode from the internet
- Denuvo Anti-Cheat can be uninstalled at any time through the “Add or remove programs” dialog
- For more information, please see https://help.bethesda.net/ or refer to Denuvo’s launch day blog here
Single Player Campaign Quality-of-Life Updates for ALL platforms
- Reduced damage taken while swimming
- Added vertical Dash ability when in water
- Moved the Rad Suit in Taras Nabad directly in-front of the water area so the player clearly sees it when entering the arena
- Removed all difficulty damage scaling for both Water/Slime
- Added Maykr Drone campaign tutorial during first encounter in Urdak
- Added an option for Hold (Default) or Press functionality for Double Dash in the Game tab of the Main Menu Options. Hold allows the player to dash twice by holding the input. Press requires the player to press the input twice.
- Increased the effectiveness of the Plasma Rifle Microwave Mod damage over time
BATTLEMODE Quality-of-Life Updates for ALL platforms
- BATTLEMODE Tutorials are now required for first-time players when entering the mode
- Added functionality to take disciplinary action against players who exploit BATTLEMODE by prematurely exiting matches or are abusive on voice chat
BATTLEMODE Death Report Deaths in BATTLEMODE now display a damage report showing players exactly what killed them
- New Indicator for Healing Demon Players New FX display under player headers in BATTLEMODE when they are actively healing. This is visible to all players.
- New Messaging in BATTLEMODE has been added to improve the clarity of server and lobby states
New Network Icons in BATTLEMODE will display when network conditions introduce latency or packet loss. The Network Icons are as follows:
- Latency Variation : Your latency is fluctuating inconsistently, which will cause intermittent lag (see High Latency)
- High Latency : The time it takes for data to travel between you and the server is high. Also referred to as a high “ping”, and results in lag.
- Packet Loss : Higher packet loss means more data is being lost between you and the server.
BATTLEMODE Balance Changes
Note from the Devs:
Another week of awesome matches in BATTLEMODE. We are hard at work on an upcoming patch that covers a wider scope of features and performance updates – more on that in a later post.
This week’s balance update looks to address some balance issues for demons with Shield abilities with a continued focus on consoles.
Starting with the Marauder, this is one of our most popular demons and we are proud of that fact, clearly he’s working well in the mode. BATTLEMODE is all about “tactical aggression”, it’s not a game of “pushing” all the time but knowing when to push, utilizing a combination of your attacks as a demon to trap and burn down the more agile and powerful Slayer. The Marauder’s current kit doesn’t really emphasize the “tactical” part of the experience as much it could. He is a pressure unit by design but there is not as much strategy behind when to pressure the Slayer currently. We hope the mitigation to his shield values related to his Wolf attack will encourage players to think more before they push the Slayer in battle. This will vary the pacing in the experience for everyone and bring more strategy to this pressure unit’s kit. (Details below)
On Console, we continue to try and unify the experience across all platforms. We want Controller-Slayers to feel the same refined challenge that PC mouse and keyboard Slayers are experiencing. We believe the vulnerability windows on the Archvile and the Pain Elemental are a bit too tight for the DPS output of a Console player. The movement, firing rate and precision for Slayers using a controller will be less than that of a PC player and that must be considered when evaluating the cool-downs and duration of these demon abilities. (Details below)
As always, we will be tracking the results of these changes as they come in and respond accordingly. BATTLEMODE is all about DRAMA/PACING/STRATEGY – these weekly balance changes are meant to reinforce these core design principals and address any exploits across all platforms.
Thank you again for playing and providing us with your feedback. See you in the ARENA.
-Hugo Martin, Game Director
Balance Changes for ALL platforms
MARAUDER
- Removed the damage reduction when the wolf is summoned
- Increased wolf-summoning cool down from 21 seconds to 24 seconds
Balance changes for Console only
ARCHVILE
- Teleport cooldown increased from 4.5 seconds to 5.5 seconds
- Flame Wall Shield duration decreased from 4.0 seconds to 3.5 seconds
PAIN ELEMENTAL
- Soul Shield duration decreased from 4.0 seconds to 3.5 seconds
Fixes for ALL Platforms
- Fixed an issue so that now all customized character and weapon skins appear correctly all the time
- Fixed an art issue with one of the bodies in Urdak causing it to display improperly
- Fixed an issue which would cause the Slayer’s hand to become stuck in place when switching weapons while picking up the frag grenade
- Fixed an issue where using the IDKFA cheat code in Mission Select could cause weapons mods to equip on top of each other
- Fixed an issue which would cause the rocket launcher to be removed from the player’s arsenal when quitting the game immediately after completing the combat sequence where it’s acquired in Cultist Base
- Fixed an issue in Exultia where progress could become blocked after dying or quitting immediately before the doors open to the Sentinel plaza
- Fixed an issue in BATTLEMODE where Marauder skins would display incorrectly during animations outside of gameplay
- Fixed an issue in BATTLEMODE where the end of match scoreboard inaccurately represented player scores during the match
- Fixed a rare issue in BATTLEMODE on the Penance map that would cause black artifacts to obscure player vision
- Fixed an issue which would cause Slayer Gate keys to disappear on first playthrough of a level after activating a cheat code
- Fixed a rare crash for when demon players load into the Extraction map from a post-match lobby in BATTLEMODE
- Fixed an issue in BATTLEMODE where BFG kills would fail to increment Weapons Expert
- Fixed a rare crash in BATTLEMODE where a Slayer quitting could result in one or both Demon’s game crashing
- Fixed an issue in BATTLEMODE in which players would sometimes spawn outside of the map at match start
- Improved messaging system to provide more clarity on any online services issues players may be experiencing
- Fixed a crash when loading into Mars Core directly from the Fortress of DOOM
- Fixed an issue in which the default Slayer hands would appear when color variants of the classic DOOM Marine skin were equipped while using classic weapon pose
- Fixed issue in which the Chromatic Aberration settings reset after quitting the game
- The Barrel Blast challenge now increments correctly when killing demons by shooting barrels
- The Blood Puncher challenge no longer increments past the goal limit of 20
- Fixed issue in which the number of completed Milestones displayed was not accurate for some players
- Fixed issue in which doors in the Fortress of DOOM were sometimes invisible
- Fixed issue in which players could not complete Taras Nabad after fast traveling to the Slayer Gate and reloading that checkpoint
- The Arc Complex Master Level summary screen now shows the correct XP gained
- The flame VFX now show up correctly for the Demonic Slayer skin on climbable walls
- Fixed issue in which power-ups were not working correctly during 4th round BATTLEMODE matches
- Fixed an issue in which the demon summon icons would flash briefly for some users at the start of BATTLEMODE rounds
- Fixed an issue in which the player would become locked in a melee animation when rapidly switching to Chainsaw/Crucible, immediately followed by a melee attack
Fixes for PC only
- Anti-cheat bans will be issued more aggressively starting with this Update
- Players who are identified to be cheating will be notified that they are blocked from all multiplayer content
- Fixed a crash on some older graphics cards while running in Fullscreen mode
- Removed AMD HDR warning message on startup (AMD has since fixed the issue with their current release drivers)
- Fixed an issue in which changing to Borderless Windowed mode, then alt-tabbing would sort the game behind other open windows
- Fixed an issue that caused the Windows taskbar to display when alt-tabbing while in Borderless Windowed mode
- Fixed an issue in which the Lost Souls from the Pain Elemental’s Soul Shield moved erratically with V-Sync disabled
Fixes for Console only
- Fixed a crash when launching DOOM or DOOM II from the Slayer’s retro computer in the Fortress of DOOM
Fixes for Stadia only
- Reduced input latency
Known Issues
- Issue: Alt+Tabbing in Windowed mode then immediately using the left click will cause keyboard inputs to become unresponsive
Resolution: Alt-tabbing in and out again typically resolves this issue
- Issue: In BATTLEMODE when The Slayer is swapping Mods as the round ends, this may cause the mod to break at the start of the next round
Resolution: Swap mods or weapons at the start of the next round to resolve
- Issue: In BATTLEMODE, the Super Shotgun’s Meat Hook mod may stop working if you Chainsaw a demon immediately after using it.
Resolution: Swap mods or weapons at the start of the next round to resolve
- Issue: Low Health VFX may persist on the HUD when a demon player is resurrected by ally Demon Player
Resolution: The resolution for this is coming in a future update
