Upgrading your health is arguably the single most important thing for your survival in Doom: The Dark Ages.
To make it through all the challenges entailed by fighting demons with minimal suffering, improving your health could mean the difference between life and death. And you can considerably improve your chance of staying alive if you upgrade your health in Doom: The Dark Ages.
But your health bar is not a simple task. First, you need to prove yourself by fighting stronger – and quite annoying – demons and sucking their essence to make you stronger.
In this Doom: The Dark Ages guide, we explain how to upgrade your health plus show you where to find all health upgrades.
How to upgrade health in Doom: The Dark Ages
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While your guns, shield, and melee attacks can be upgraded using special currencies to buy new abilities in a Sentinel Shrine, increasing your health requires a little more fighting.
Following the same idea as upgrading your ammo capacity and armor, health upgrades are permanent and obtained when you defeat leaders that grant those upgrades. All you need to do is to defeat them to collect their Demonic Essence.
Leaders are stronger than your usual demons. You can identify them with ease, since they have a blue-hued plus sign floating above their head.
Below, see maps showing the locations of all health upgrades in Doom: The Dark Ages and the requisite leaders they’re associated with.
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You face the first leader in the Doom: The Dark Ages in the second level, Hebeth. You find the leader of this level in the final segment of the map. Before you can challenge them, you must clear all the waves of enemies with all kinds of demons you found until then.
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A short cutscene will play when you’re done, showing the leader. They are a stronger version of the Pinky Rider demon. They still shoot a Hell Surge projectile to attack you, but their special move is a wave of shields. One of the shields is green and you must try to parry it.
If you pay attention, the beast has armor. Even though it protects them from your attacks, the armor follows the rule as the regular metal shields some enemies carry. Superheat the armor then use the Shield Throw to remove it completely.
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Since this is a tough enemy, consider keeping some of the other demons alive during the fight so you can follow one of our tips and kill them to recover life.
The Holy City of Aratum (Chapter 5)
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As you fly through the Holy City of Aratum in Chapter 5, you can land your cyberdragon on secret landing zones. The leader you want to fight in this chapter to receive a Health upgrade is in the first secret landing zone, a small tower on the left side of the starting gate.
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You must defeat a Titan who is defending the place before you can actually land in the arena. Once you’re there, enemies will spawn. Defeat some of them for the leader, a Pinky Rider demon, appears.
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Be careful with the other demons in the arena and focus on breaking the leader’s shield with the Accelerator. Parry their Hell Surge arrows and survive long enough to claim their Demonic Essence.
Siege – Part 2 (Chapter 7)
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The third leader who gives you a Health upgrade is found in Chapter 7 “Siege – Parte 2”. You can’t miss them since they are a mandatory encounter in the main mission.
While you are trying to defend the city and rescue Novik, you reach a part of the main building marked as a red zone on the map with a crowned skull icon. This is where you will be facing the leader.
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The leader is an armored Hell Knight. You have already faced one of these jumpy annoying demons when collecting the first Ammo upgrade. They keep pressuring you with melee attacks and throwing their axe at you.
Keep a distance and bait their Hell Surge axe attack to parry it. Break Hell Knight’s armor as soon as possible and keep your eyes open for the incoming attacks from the regular Hell Knights who are following the leader.
Ancestral Forge (Chapter 9)
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In Chapter 9 “Ancestral Forge,” you find the next leader to fight as you progress in the main mission. They are in the red zone on the right side of the map, close to where you find the Purple Key.
When you get to the location of the encounter, you first need to clear the area of some groups of regular enemies. After a few minutes — and many demon bodies on the ground — the leader will appear.
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You face another armored Hell Knight, which is great considering this is the same kind of demon you defeated to get your last Health upgrade. Follow the same strategy and you will be fine.
The Forsaken Plains (Chapter 10)
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While the enemies you’ve faced so far were not a breeze, be ready to meet a new kind of challenge when hunting leaders. Chapter 10 “The Forsaken Plains” has a Cyberdemon leader and they have a morale bar.
You find them while you’re looking for the Hell Cannons to destroy them as your main mission. The arena where you fight the Cyberdemon is in front of one of these cannons.
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Before you can fight the leader, you need to deplete their morale bar and disable their shield by killing other demons. The leader doesn’t take damage while they have the shield up so you can’t rush the process.
The best approach to a fight against a Cyberdemon is to get closer to them and bait their melee attacks, which you can parry. It is dangerous though, so learn to read their moves and parry all their Hell Purge attacks.
Sentinel Command Station (Chapter 12)
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The sixth Health upgrade available for you is in Chapter 12 “Sentinel Command Station.” To find the leader in this chapter, just follow the main mission which asks you to defend the Command Station.
Eventually, you will have to look for the Hangar Card key and also find a new weapon, the Ravager. When you get to this point, you’re right beside the leader’s room.
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The arena is a large space and the leader won’t appear until you have cleared the place by killing some of the demons who are already there. The leader this time is a Pinky Rider. You’ve already beaten many of these demons so go get their Demonic Essence.
Spire of Nerathul (Chapter 14)
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Although it is not actually hidden, the leader in Chapter 14 “Spire of Nerathul” can be easily missed if you ignore the secondary objectives of this chapter. To find them, you move forward after deactivating the first Stasis Emitter.
On the path to find the second one, you will find a red zone with a crowned skull icon. All you will see in the area is a tree with a red portal above it. Once you destroy it, the leader and many other demons will appear.
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The leader is another Cyberdemon, but this time they have a morale bar. Begin by killing all the other demons to deplete the Cyberdemon’s bar. Start fighting them as soon as the shield goes down.
City of Ry’uul (Chapter 15)
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As you explore the alien corridors of the City of Ry’uul in Chapter 15, finding the leader whose Demonic Essence raises your maximum Health is a matter of time. Follow the main mission until you get into a large circular room using a water tunnel.
There are some strong enemies – a Vagary and a Cacodemon Hybrid – waiting for you in this room. Kill them for the leader to finally appear. This time you fight an Agaddon Hunter leader.
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The best strategy is to learn their move set and parry their attacks. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by their attacks, run from them and look for weaker enemies to kill and recover Health, Armor, and Ammo.
Harbor of Souls (Chapter 19)
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Your main mission in Chapter 19 “Harbor of Souls” is to find the way to the Mortal Realm and you can imagine it’s going to be one hell of a journey. In the middle of the way, there is also a leader for you to defeat.
The arena where you find the leader is after the first gate that requires the Red key. Keep following the path indicated by the game and you will eventually reach the place.
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Before you can actually fight the leader, you need to kill a Cosmic Baron and an armored Pinky Rider.
The leader is a Komodo, a complicated foe to face. They are quite agile and hit really hard, always pressuring you with their sequences of attacks. Wait for the right moment and use the Rocket Launcher. Since the leader is always close to you, it’s easy to land your shots.
Resurrection (Chapter 20)
The leader of Chapter 20 “Resurrection” is the first major enemy you face in the chapter. After the cutscene, pass over the Sentinel Shrine and you will see a vast area filled with demons.
This leader, a Revenant, has a morale bar, which means that you must kill every demon you see before you can go land some shotgun bursts onto the leader.
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Since this is one of the last chapters in the game, you will find all kinds of enemies in the area. From a Cyberdemon to a Pinky Rider, there are enough deadly creatures ready to rip you apart if you don’t pay attention.
