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Doom

2021-03-19T19:35:55Z

2601:585:8301:76D0:BD98:736E:6C86:3377: /* DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods */

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[[File:Doom cover poster.jpeg|thumb|If you don't already have the first level's music in your head, you may be on the wrong site.]]
{{topquote|Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil... prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...|[[Discworld|Terry Pratchett]]}}

The father of the first-person shooter, the original ass-kicking demon-slaying 3D slaughter-fest, '''''Doom''''' is a franchise that demands respect even in the hallowed halls of /tg/. It was actually inspired by a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] campaign played by the founders of id Software; John Romero had given a demon lord the key to overrunning the material plane in exchange for a magic [[Katanas are Underpowered in d20|katana]] because he's an edgy little bitch like that, and John Carmack (the DM and one of the many forms of Tzeentch) decided it made a good premise for their new 3D game. The katana in question would later be used in Romero's game ''Daikatana'', which was a total failure for reasons that aren't important enough to go over right now.

The plot? In an FPS? Here's your plot: you are a Space Marine (no, not the 40K guy, a jumped-up soldier who is sent to fight on other planets, so closer to the [[Imperial Guard]]...though considering recent events he may be the equivalent of a standard Astartes, just much shorter.) stationed on Phobos. Somehow, demons broke through into our reality and slaughter everyone else. Your job? Fight your way to where, you hope, there's a ride off of this rock, and make bloody mincemeat out of everything standing between you and salvation. Standing in your way are armies of zombified fellow marines and eggheads, fireball-tossing imps, hulking flesh-eating demons, cyborg-demon monstrosities, and various other hell-spawned nasties who want to kill you horribly. Good luck. You'll need it...

Although not the very ''first'' of the FPS genre (even its predecessor, [[Wolfenstein]] 3D, wasn't the first, as the history of the genre goes back all the way into the '70s), Doom was definitive to the genre, so much so that "Doom Clone" was the standard nickname for many years afterwards. People are still playing it and making it even more awesome with [[Homebrew|their own custom modifications]] 24 years later, which isn't something you hear that often outside of /tg/; this is one of the main reasons why the franchise is so well-respected.

Fun fact: that iconic Doom monster, the Cacodemon, was actually inspired by the artwork for an Astral Dreadnought on the cover of the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 1st edition [[Manual of the Planes]] splatbook. Also relevant to /tg/ is that Sandy Petersen, co-designer of [[Ghostbusters RPG]], creator of [[Call of Cthulhu]], and author of some [[RuneQuest]] stuff, worked on the game. He designed some levels (more in the sequel) and made some contributions to the monster design.

==Classic DOOM (aka The Good Shit)==
{{topquote|Welcome to DOOM, a lightning-fast virtual reality adventure where you're the toughest space trooper ever to suck vacuum. Your mission is to shoot your way through a monster-infested holocaust. Living to tell the tale if possible.|README.TXT, Doom 1.8 shareware}}
The original Doom was fast-paced and bloody compared to what came before but wasn't afraid to vary the pace with more labyrinthine levels or make you shit your pants by dropping you into a crowd of demons when you least expected it. (Fun fact No. 2: The extra levels included in the physical version of Doom (henceforth called ''Ultimate Doom'') were built by the same guy who wrote [[Call of Cthulhu]] in just 10 weeks.) Doom II on the other hand was a circle-strafing explosion-rich gorefest and is what basically everyone thinks of when they think of both Doom and 90s FPS gameplay in general. The plot was bare-minimum: Demons took over Phobos and ate Deimos, kill them all. Or, in Doom 2's case, Demons are trying to infest Earth in revenge, kill them all AGAIN. But this time, ''it's personal''. (No, seriously, they killed your pet bunny Daisy.) The Doom engine is extremely mod-friendly for a 90's game (as both Carmack and Romero had been big into software tinkering in their day) and the modding community is still very present and perhaps even more prolific than it was back in the day. In fact, id Software actually paid some modding groups for the right to sell their works as retail (Final Doom and the Master Levels for Doom 2). Also relevant is SIGIL, John Romero's own 25th-anniversary level-pack and unofficial Episode 5 for Doom 1 that he released to the public for free (unless you wanted the special Buckethead soundtrack for [[Edgy|$6.66 USD]]).

Slightly more obscure but still relevant is Doom 64, which replaced the high-speed Explode-o-Rama with a stronger horror theme and more deliberate pace.

id Software then for a time turned toward more multiplayer-oriented games with the ''Quake'' franchise and gave Doom a well-earned rest.

===The Doom Comic===
{{topquote|'''DYNAMITE! I'M COOKING WITH GAS! I'VE GOTTA HANDFUL OF VERTEBRAE AND A HEADFUL OF MAD! YEAH, THAT'S YOUR SPINAL CORD, BABY! DIG IT!'''|You, the moment you read that heading}}
The origin of [[Rip and Tear]]. Possibly the most ridiculously, amazingly, stupidly 90's thing that has ever been put to paper with the possible exception of Image Comics. It has to be read to be believed. [https://www.doomworld.com/10years/doomcomic/ So go read it.]

===Monsters===
[[File:Reaperminis.jpg|thumb|right|Limited-edition monster minis from [[Reaper Miniatures]]. Admit it, you want <s>that Cyberdemon</s> all of them for your Daemons of Chaos army.]]
These are the monsters you'll encounter in Doom 1, Doom 2 and their spinoffs.
*'''[[Zombie|Former human]]''': Wet toilet paper. Only dangerous until you get a shotgun.
**'''Former Sergeant''': Still wet toilet paper, but full of broken glass; if one of these assholes gets behind you before you find armor you're probably dead. Likely to be your first source for shotguns.
**'''Former Commando''': Unlike the other formers, this guy is no joke: he's durable enough to not die when breathed on and his hitscan chaingun is almost as powerful as yours. Using hordes of these guys in an open arena with no cover is the pinnacle of dick moves in Doom mapping.
*'''Imp''': The first true demon you encounter with an easy-to-dodge projectile and more health than the formers. The first meaningful enemy you meet, and runner-up for most iconic non-boss monster.
*'''Demon''': Otherwise known as '''Pinkies'''. Giant hairless gorilla with a mouth that could give a [[squig]] lessons in eating. [[Derp|They can't walk and bite at the same time]] so you can just step out of their way, but they tend to come in large groups and dance around like spastic toddlers (which makes them harder to shoot) as they run up to you.
**'''Spectre''': Demon with Predator-style optic camo. An absolute bitch to deal with in dark environments, which is naturally where you find them.
*'''Cacodemon''': Mr. [[Astral Dreadnought]] Head. These fuckers can fly and you can't look up, so have fun fighting them in close quarters where they can float out of your field of view. Dangerous, but get a rapid-fire weapon and they become a joke as you stunlock them until they are all dead. ''The'' most iconic non-boss monster, partially because of its sheer WTFery but mostly because of how easy it is to chibi/make plushies out of.
**'''Pain Elemental''': [[Meme|Meatball demon.]] Like a cacodemon, but instead of shooting fireballs, it shoots Lost Souls. Has the opposite problem to the pinkies in that [[Derp|you can stand in front of its face]] and prevent the lost souls from spawning.
*'''Lost Soul''': Floating flaming skulls that fly at you at approximately SANIC miles per hour. Fairly weak, but very fast and has a habit of nibbling at you while you focus on something more dangerous.
*'''Revenant''': [[Meme|Agitating skeleton aka '''DOOT'''.]] One of the few monsters that moves anywhere near as fast as you do, plus he runs up and tries to punch your head off if you move inside the minimum range of the homing rockets he shoots. It is a fact that any given Doom map is automatically casuals-only unless the mapper adds at least 100 revenants.
*'''Mancubus''': [[Festus the Leechlord|HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT.]] Slow, but very tanky, and he has dual [[Flamer|heavy flamers]] for arms that hurt like hell. Fortunately, this also applies to any nearby demons, so you can make them kill each other for your amusement just by standing between a mancubus and another monster.
*'''Arch-vile''': One of the few monsters that that's faster than the player at a full run. Sets you on fire [[Psyker|with its mind]] and revives any monsters it comes across so you have to kill them all over again. Meeting one of these guys in a slaughtermap will make you [[Khorne|hate everything forever.]]
*'''Hell Knight''': Now we're talking. [[Space Marine]] sized and equipped with a punch and moderate projectile attacks (fireballs). Shooting him in the face with a shotgun will kill him pretty quickly.
**'''Baron of Hell''': Super hell knight with double the health. Big and equipped with nasty melee and projectile attacks. Shooting ''him'' in the face with a shotgun just '''pisses him off'''. Super shotguns will work though. Probably the best-known Barons are the "Bruiser Bros", the pair of Barons you fight as the bosses of the first episode.
*'''Cyberdemon''': [[Rip and tear|Is huge, and therefore has huge guts.]] Basically a (Chaos possessed?) Carnifex with a rocket launcher for an arm, and significantly faster than he looks. Without a doubt the fuckingest monster in the classic game, and practically tailor-made for soaking up BFG shots.
*'''Spider Mastermind''': Doom 1’s final boss, [[Derp|despite being inferior in almost every way to the Cyberdemon you fight earlier.]] Go figure. Even more XBOX HUEG than the Cyberdemon, but has a super-chaingun instead of a rocket launcher and refuses to let up until either you or it are dead. Has the critical weakness of BFG shots up the ass due to the way its hugeness interacts with the mechanics of the classic BFG.
**'''Arachnotron''': Babby Masterminds that go fast and shit plasma at you.
*'''The Icon of Sin''': Doom 2's final boss. [[FAIL|A wall with a demon face on it]] and a hole in its forehead that serves as its weak point. Spawns monsters to attack you, but dies pretty quickly from a few well-aimed rockets... though, you need good timing to shoot them through the hole in its head. You probably know this, but the entity that takes damage is John Romero's severed head on a pole.

===Weapons===
{{topquote|I do need a gun. I need a big gun. I need a really big gun...|Doomguy, Doom comic}}
Doomguy himself <s>has</s> shows about as much personality as your average [[Adventurer|Murderhobo]], (there is more to him but you don’t see it until later) so the game's real main characters are the weapons.
*'''Fists''': Only good at punching through the above-mentioned wet toilet paper, and complete suicide to use on anything stronger than an Imp. [[Rip and tear|Should you find a Berserk pack, though...]]
**'''[[Chain Weapon|Chainsaw]]''': [[Meme|The great communicator.]] Stronger than your fists and capable of tearing through Cacodemons and below without much problem.
*'''Pistol''': You start the game with this and 50 bullets. Gets overshadowed by every single other weapon.
*'''Shotgun''': Now we're talking. The first gun you get that can actually kill stuff in a decent amount of time.
**'''Super Shotgun''': A double-barrelled version of the original. A complete [[rape]] machine at close range, delivering about as much damage per hit as a rocket, but falls off greatly at longer distances.
*'''Chaingun''': [[Dakka|WAAAAAAAAAAGH!]] Great at stunlocking enemies, especially the aforementioned Cacodemons.
*'''Rocket Launcher''': Capable of [[Khorne|reducing enemies to puddles of blood]] from a safe distance. Also capable of reducing ''you'' to a puddle of blood if used from an unsafe distance.
*'''Plasma Rifle''': Fires a stream of plasma balls that hit hard, move fast, and won't hurt you at close range. Unfortunately, it shares its ammo count with...
*'''BFG''': The most beautiful sight any soldier can behold, at least according to the Doom comic. ''The'' gun. The '''big''' gun. Anything it's fired at is [[Anal circumference|in for a bad time]], especially at close range.

==Doom 3==
In the early 2000s, Doom 3 came along. It blows chunks compared to the classics, but since the classics are so damn good it ends up being pretty good anyway. Since Valve had made "story-driven" shooters and "realistic" scripted encounters the in thing, id decided to rip off Half-Life, grafting on elements of the original Doom that had been scrapped at the concept stage. Unfortunately, the gameplay was too slow and similar to the rest of the genre, the scripting and story interludes just made the gameplay even clunkier and the big technological gimmick (per-pixel lighting) meant you had to choose between seeing what you're supposed to shoot with a crappy little flashlight and actually being able to shoot it. Supposedly the lighting effects were resource-intense during development and this was the "solution" (of course we know better that they wanted to make it a quasi survival horror). Naturally, the first mod for the game was duct tape so you can use the flashlight and a gun at the same time. This mod would eventually become official when the BFG Edition re-release came around about a decade later.

The plot itself is essentially a reboot - You are a generic marine who just transferred to Mars and after pissing around with all your co-workers whom you will never see in one piece again, an experiment involving a portal to Hell (This time with no reason besides the head researcher being kinda absolutely evil) goes horribly awry and now the facility is completely fucked. Your task then devolves into simply surviving, as you're cut off from any command and have to make your way to various checkpoints. Along the way, you come across an ancient artifact made by the original denizens of Mars, who made it in order to kill all the demons, and so the demons sealed it away in Hell. After a couple of trips in and out of hell, you manage to understand how the artifact works (by feeding off the souls of slain demons) and use it to kill the Cyberdemon, their greatest champion, and bail home. You'd think this is the end...except the mad scientist responsible for this is revealed to have turned into a full-blown demon.

===Resurrection of Evil===
An expansion to Doom 3, this game takes the original game and puts a few nifty spins to make it feel unique like the gravity gun (because Half-Life 2 did it too). Instead of the classic plot, you are now a nameless space engineer who comes across a different and wholly demonic artifact called the Hell Heart. This makes you more of a target compared to before, as Hell sends out three special hunters to reclaim the heart, each of whom give it a special ability for you to abuse once you kill them.

==Doom 4 (aka DOOM aka DOOD aka Brutal Doom HD)==
{{topquote|They are rage, brutal, without mercy. But you? You will be '''worse'''. [[Rip and Tear]], until it is '''DONE'''.|A direct order from what is either [[God-Emperor of Mankind|God's]] [[Living Saint|seraphs]] or [[Khorne]] himself. Do you really need more of a mission briefing?}}

Listen to it here[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpllUQ38CKY]

Then the latest Doom came out in May 2016. This rendition can basically be described as "3d Brutal Doom II" only sexier, with features like [[Rip and tear|ripping enemies apart with your bare hands]] and having to stay on the move to avoid being torn to shreds. The plot is also as bare minimum as the original (albeit with a surprising amount of lore hidden away in the Codex...that makes one feel it’s set in the 40k verse), kicking the player straight into the action with waking up on Mars, immediately [[Rip and tear|smashing a zombie’s skull]], and basically being told: “demonic invasion, go kill everything.” Starts with corporate big wig trying to talk you into being on his side and [[Awesome|your answer is a solid ''"FUCK YOU" fist]]. Also, the player this time around is someone the demons call the “Doom Slayer", who has traveled through “Worlds and Time” (hinting that the Doom Slayer could very well be the original Doomguy from the first two games, having also survived Doom 64 and has been traveling Hell since, later all but confirmed in the sequel), and millennia ago [[Awesome|kicked Hell’s ass so hard that the best the demons could do is seal him away so that he wouldn’t destroy Hell]].
The Slayers testament tells in sparse detail but leaves enough imagination to realise what the Legions of Hell were up against. A near-immortal being of pure hate, blessed by the Seraphims (or Khorne...which would make this a suicide attempt), capable of standing against Legions of Demons completely alone and harnessing their power as he slaughters them. THEN he fought a [[Titan (D&D)|Titan]] of "immeasurable Power and Ferocity" with only his Sword (it was a laser sword though so there's that), killing and absorbing its power to turn them on the Demons. Desperate now, the highest [[Daemon Prince|Archdevils]] realized nothing short of a God will stop the Slayer (fitting since a god summoned it in the first place), so they prepared an elaborate Trap involving what may have been a Blackstone Sarcophagus.
It speaks for itself, of what the Bait, which lured the slayer to the temple of the Blood Keep, must have been made of... or was.
Now at the peak of his might, with sword and shield of "adamantine strength", he stood before [[Chaos|the Horde]], and [[rip and tear|split heads open, punched, maimed, killed, burnt]] until finally the whole temple collapsed on him and he was sealed in the Cursed Sarcophagus.
Millennia passed until the UAC decided to deal with an Energy Crisis by quite literally [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|slamming an Oil Derrick on a Hell Portal to siphon off Hell Energy for power]], and just for giggles starts tomb raiding Hell for artifacts and treasures as well, ultimately running off with the Doomguy's sarcophagus. The demons see that the Doomguy’s prison/tomb is empty, and the subsequent invasion is actually a panicked attempt to stop the Doomguy from being woken up. Obviously, they fail and he butchers every last one of them.

Samuel Hayden is the guy in charge of the UAC, a cyborg the size of a 40k [[Space Marine]]. He and Vega, the Mars UAC AI, basically are quest givers for the most part. His subordinate Olivia Pierce pretty much ran a cult while Hayden was pillaging artifacts from Hell, [[Grimdark|being the only one to make it back from the expeditions]]. When shit hits the fan he decides to wake the Doom Slayer up with the hopes that this wild card could help take control of the facility without causing too much damage. Of course, once awake, he goes on a rampage and busts the UAC's shit, as Hayden's disregard for human life is too far for even Doomguy to take, expressing his outrage without the need for a voice actor.

So now it's up to the Doom Slayer in awesome power armor to [[Rip and Tear|rip and tear]] and dakka every demon he comes across to stop Olivia while wrecking the UAC's energy production. After going to Hell at least once due to Olivia breaking an Argent Accumulator and making it back to Mars, then after Hayden installs a "tether" to him, Hayden sends Doomguy on a quest to find the Helix Stone, picking up the most powerful version of the BFG 9000 yet on the way (more on that below). Once he reaches the Helix Stone it directs Doomguy to acquire the Crucible, a relic in the Titan's Realm. So Doomguy has to kill the Cyberdemon to get back to hell, make a long trek and fight the three Hell Guardians who guard the Crucible and returns to Mars again. To finally stop Olivia, Hayden, being the bastard that he is, even sacrifices his old creation Vega, though unlike everyone else, at least our player character is nice enough to make a backup without anyone even bothering to ask. The Doom Slayer uses the Crucible to shutdown Hell's energy wells and releases the spirits of his old friends, the Night Sentinels.

Once Olivia is found once again, she transforms into the Spider Mastermind. If you've been collecting all the stuff as you should have, she can easily be (along with the other game other bosses in the game) cheesed by the best weapons even on the highest difficulty, with the [[Cheese|Rich get Richer]] Rune fully upgraded. Once she's dead it's the final cutscene, where Hayden steals the "Crucible" which turns out to be an energy blade that makes a [[Lightsaber]] look like a toothpick, then sends the Doom Slayer off to who knows where with the tether he installed into the Praetor Suit earlier, disposing of a potential threat before it decides to become one. After this, you experience one of the best credit sequences made for a video game in over a decade.

Mick Gordon's soundtrack gives the game the best metal music ever. BFG Division being the standout in the soundtrack. Used for two whole levels and the final boss music is a Glitch remix of it. There is also some inspiration from RPG style FPS a la Metro 2033 and [[Samus|Metroid Prime]]. As collecting Argent Energy, weapon mods, elite guard tokens, and Runes allow them to upgrade the Praetor Suit and weapons to their preferred play style. The engine allows the Doom Slayer a wide range of first-person animations, as his destruction of UAC property and actions portrays an "I'm too old for this shit" attitude; having to fight demons for centuries doesn't make for a happy camper.

The damage of the BFG 9000 itself is notable. This thing instantly vaporizes every non-boss enemy on-screen! (and them too if you exploit a glitch. However what a player does that the devs didn't intend is dubious canon.) You read that correctly, you don't have to aim it directly at your targets to kill them. You just have to find the right opening to make it kill every demon you can. As the Plasma Bolt throws out lightning or much more likely, solar flares. That would mean the Plasma the BFG fires is likely firing a fucking miniature star with each shot! The F in BFG may stand for Fermentation, Grimdark! with science!. We can wait while you Google it.

Don't be impressed just yet. A Baron of Hell is 2000 pounds and because the BFG's ordinance turns everything it comes in contact with into gibs, that means it has to have 7 Gigajoules of energy and would have to be heated up to over 100,000 degrees Celsius! [[Anal_Circumference|A temperature range which is only seen in small stars and nebula!]] That's not just [[GrimDark]], that's just fucking cold in the most brutal way possible and speaks to the insanity of the UAC for building this thing. Are we sure somebody didn't screw up the name? Though Brown Dwarf Gun 9000 doesn't sound as cool. (Though why is it green? Because it's blue-green! As blue in space equals very fucking hot! Red Giant/Supergiants/Hyper-giants are (relatively) cold because they are old, a young blue star, giant or not, is insanely hot. Red Dwarfs are insanely long-lived because they are cold and slow-burning) In all possibility, if the Doom Slayer didn't wear his Praetor Suit, firing the weapon would instantly annihilate him too! (since Photons are their own particle and antiparticle the word is valid) No apologies for the science jokes. They are necessary evils in explaining how the BFG 9000 works.

It also says a lot of the bosses as a direct hit will merely stun them (without using the weapon wheel glitch) while shaving off large portions of their health. So you need either a very advanced suit of Powered Armor or a significant amount of mass to survive a direct hit from the plasma bolt and its flares. The only real con to using the BFG 9000 is it's limited ammo of four shots. Though a good player can get around that if they set up their Runes correctly.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig_gQAITzIk| Science and math mostly explained in this Youtube video ]. So yeah, the BFG 9000 shoots miniature stars.

===DOOM Eternal===
{{topquote|Against all the evil that hell can conjure, all the wickedness that mankind can produce, we will send up to them, only you. Rip and Tear until it is done!|King Novik of the Night Sentinels}}

Doom Eternal was announced at E3 and a gameplay reveal was shown at Quakecon 2018. To say that its awesome is an understatement.
[[File:Slayer on corpses.png|400px|thumb|right|"The only thing they fear... is YOU!"
If the whole Warp, set for Khorne, actively shits their pants when the Slayer comes, you're in for [[Rip_and_tear|FUN]].]]
We are introduced to the Maykrs of Urdak, an elder race with a techno-angelic motif that serves as the Sentinels' patron. One of them was the so-called Seraphim that empowered the Doomguy even further, turning him into the nigh-godlike and unstoppable avatar of sheer [[Awesome]] that is the Doom Slayer (seriously, the Doom Slayer is compared to a [[Titan]] on the level of the Icon of Sin). They may actually be a group of [[C'tan]], but we are not sure.

Sadly, all good things come to an end. The Sentinels were betrayed from within, the Doom Slayer banished to Hell ''again'' (eventually leading to him being entombed before the events of '''Doom 2016''') and what's worse, it turns out the Maykrs were only using the Sentinels to further their own race's objectives. What's more, the current invasion of Earth was the result of one of their long-term plans, with humanity as simply one more race that was to receive "penitence" in their place (read: the Maykrs are using Hell energy to prolong their lives, and willingly let Demons eat entire worlds to that end). Yet more evidence that these guys are C’tan.

The game picks up a few months after the end of the previous game with Samuel Hayden returning to Earth after the destruction of the Argent Tower on Mars that was the only way of getting free, unlimited energy out of Hell. But, he has the Crucible (confiscated from the Doom Slayer in the ending of 2016) with which he starts developing a synthesized form of Argent energy while the UAC begins to completely fall under the control of their leaders, the Hell Priests who entombed the Slayer so long ago. They start sacrificing humans left and right to start a ritual that will allow the demons to consume Earth, terraform the land to living flesh and molten lava, kill all that resist, transport their souls to Hell and refine them to pure Argent Energy while the impure Souls are made into new demons! A full-scale demonic incursion is now underway on Earth, with billions of dead, over two-thirds of Earth consumed while half of the UAC has gone full Quisling to the invaders, with the other half putting up a token [[Planetary Defense Force| resistance as the Armoured Response Coalition (ARC)]]. All hope seems lost...

"...We watched as the horde overwhelmed the very best and most advanced machinery and weapons technology that we could muster against the opposition. It was useless, they moved too quickly, they cared not for themselves, only sought out the blood of humanity. They were willing to sacrifice their own to get to the heart of our world. We slaughtered thousands and millions more followed, but then HE came - he cut through them like a sickle through a field - his fury surpassing their own. He is faster - more relentless - unyielding. I believe him now to be more than just a man - he is...DOOM." --Dr. Elena Richardson.

Equipped with his new Predator suit (3 guesses why it is called that, the first two don't count), he seeks his prey from his orbital fortress monastery (fittingly called the Fortress of DOOM), strikes with merciless fury surpassing the Death Company, Flesh tearers, World Eaters (primarch included) and Skarbrand '''Combined''', and he will stop at nothing to destroy the demonic hordes. Read: Personally [[Rip_and_tear|kill. Every. Single. Demon. With extreme prejudice.]]

Immediately after defeating the Hell Priest Deag Nilox's guardian off screen locating his whereabouts on Earth, the Slayer teleports onto his barge, kicks all doors in and vice grips the head off of the Priest, reducing the consumption of the Earth by 36.8%.

He then gatecrashes the nearby Citadel, interrupting the ritual of the Priests with Nilox's severed head, before being interrupted by the Khan Maykr. The C'tan by any other name tells him even he goes too far this time, before teleporting the Priests out of the Slayer's reach. Since the Hell Priests classify as Alpha Plus Psykers, (the first one being able to command his own legion of Titans AND shield himself from even nuclear bombardment) they can be found with a Celestial Locator. To construct a Locator, the Slayer goes to Exultia (an Argenta city) to retrieve the Celestial Casing, only to be scolded by the late King Novik for killing the Priests and that Humanity is no longer his people to be saved. Realizing that no ordinary individual will help him, the Slayer enters [[Warp|Hell]], and it's even more magnificent than Doom 2016, with gigantic walls and corridors made of flesh, abandoned [[Warlord_Battle_Titan| Sentinel Mechs]] and the remains of the Titan Demons that were killed by them, and near everything you could think of, even the Tower Of Babel in the background. Here the Slayer finds Valen, known by most as the Betrayer, repenting in his exile. After telling the Slayer that saving humanity will only make his burden worse, the Betrayer nevertheless installs the Celestial Power Core for the Slayer, as well as giving him a dagger he may need later.

Now able to locate the other Priests, the Slayer goes to Deag Ranak's UAC Cultist base in the Arctic, wrecking its operations before moving onto the neighboring Doom Hunter base. As yet more proof the Maykrs are [[C'tan]], the priest recovered an extinct race of demons once bred to destroy the Slayer (take a wild guess why exactly they went extinct) and, with nothing better to do, turned these things into [[Necron Destroyer|Semi-Organic Necron Destroyers]], labeling them “Doom hunters”, and calling you a heretic...which is [[HERESY|{{BLAM|'''''BLASTPHAMY'''''}}]]. After [[Rip and tear|losing]] them and complaining about it, the Priest, in the face of his impending DOOM, tries to bribe the Slayer, which [[Fail|literally costs him his head]].

Now furious, the Khan Makyr leads the last Priest to safety, while demonic activity on Earth skyrockets. Realizing Earth needs immediate backup at the Super Gore Nest in Europe after a failed attack from the [[Imperial_Guard|Earth Forces]] (with a casualty rate of over 87%), the Slayer arrives at what can only be described as a border between Slaanesh's and Nurgle's Domains. Every building in the vicinity has grown flesh, teeth and openings that look like both mouths and birth canals, the air is filled with toxicity, tentacles sprouted everywhere. But after a nuclear meltdown of the local reactor which conveniently houses the heart of the Gore Nest, the problem is quickly taken care of.

Back to searching and destroying the last Priest, VEGA is sure that Samuel Hayden would be able to locate him immediately. However, a combined Demon attack on his headquarters, the ARC Complex, left him badly wounded. Just as the Slayer gets to him and is about to teleport back to his fortress, the Earth beneath him quakes and a red portal opens up, and from it emerges the Marauder. Imagine a heretic [[Adeptus_Custodes|Custodes]] empowered by Khorne but with battle tactics from Tzeentch, the endurance of Nurgle and the speed of Slaanesh. These guys are absolutely no joke (yes, there are more of them) and if you haven't been playing like your life depended on it, prepare to be absolutely [[Anal_Circumference|curbstomped]].

Meanwhile, its clear that Samuel Hayden knows *way* more about the Slayer, Hell, and the Maykrs than he let on in the last game, strongly hinting that Samuel may in fact be a Maykr himself (which begs the question of what he was up to if he understood just how dangerous Hell was and how Argent Energy was made). He tells us that the last Priest hides in the Arena of Sentinel Prime, the Capital of the Night Sentinels and the only way to gain access is hidden in the core of [[Mars|Mars]]. But instead of calling the [[Adeptus_Mechanicus|Mechanicus]] to help, the Slayer enters the Moon of Phobos, where the battleship-sized BFG 10,000 is stationed, takes the gun over, targets Mars and [[Exterminatus|blasts the Core open]]... despite Samuel’s protests. He then proceeds to hop into a giant mass driver and blast himself to his next destination, [[Angry_Marines|streaking across the ruined Martian sky like a rage-fueled missile]].

Now on Sentinel Prime, the game goes into who the Doom Slayer really is. It turns out the Doom Slayer really ''is'' the classic [[Doomguy]] from Doom 1, 2, and 64, who after staying behind in <s>the warp</s> Hell he is eventually spat out, [[Gotrek_%26_Felix#Gotrek_in_the_Age_of_Sigmar|half-delirious and nuts from his experience of fighting off its hordes for an eternity]], unto the world of Argent D'Nur, where he is found by the ''Night Sentinels'', [[Grey Knights|an order of techno-knights dedicated to fighting demons]]. He is nursed back to sanity, and joins their order, eventually rising through their ranks due the sheer [[Rip and Tear]] he was capable of.

The final Priest, hiding in the Colosseum, is confident that the Slayer would never kill him in the arena, as it is against holy law of the Sentinels to spill Priest blood, especially in such a sacred place. He sends out his Gladiator, a being that even if its flesh is destroyed, its soul would prevail until its body is reformed. But the Soul resides in the gigantic shield it uses, so the Slayer destroys the shield first and then the face of the gladiator, and despite the warning shoots the final Priest to death. And by "shoot to death", we mean blow his head clean off with the Super Shotgun as he smugly declares how he can't be killed. The Khan Maykr is rather pissed about this.

As soon as he gets back home, she manages to hack into the Fortress of Doom, turning off the power and flooding the bridge with Demons. The attack obviously fails like so many other attempts. Hayden mocking her as the Slayer restores power with Hayden's own Crucible. Now the plans of the Khan Maykr are ruined, as there are no more priests to maintain the Hell gates, so if the Earth Forces kill all the demons, they would prevail. As a desperate last resort, the Khan Maykr wants to resurrect the Icon of Sin to eradicate all life on Earth. Of course, the prospect of seeing ''another'' Earth brought to ruin has made the Doom Slayer rightly [[Rage|pissed]], and suffice to say, [[Not As Planned|the Maykrs have no idea what they've just unleashed]].
So it's time for the Doomslayer to recover his own Crucible in Taras Nabad. Which was stuck into the skull of a Titan and breaks off the hilt to prevent its resurrection. Now it needs to be recharged. Once finished the Demons attack to give players an opportunity to test the new weapon. The Crucible is a one-hit kill on all but the strongest of enemies and there are respawning charges that only appear at this location. Use this for practice time before moving forward because the OHKO drops health picks faster than normal glory kills.

To reach the Khan Maykr, Doomguy now teleports to Nekravol, the City of the Damned. It's a [[Grimdark|place of biblical torment, fire and brimstone, cages bursting with humans piled up like livestock]], [[Commorragh| a place where human souls are "tenderized" and tortured until all hope is broken and every sense but the pain is gone.]] Only then can their souls be extracted and converted to pure Argent energy, which will be sent to the Khan Maykr in the City of Urdak (Heaven), while the empty shells of the humans are sent to the blood swamps to transform into more Demons. A process which every [[Haemonculus]] pays respect to. As it is, things that are worthy of being called "holy" are often more horrendous than the horrors of Hell itself.

The Slayer rips and tears through all of that mercilessly, and finally destroys the transmitter tower. Its destruction resulted in the Slayer being transported straight to "Heaven", a completely unnatural location in true H.R. Giger aesthetic, littered with white and gold colours and blood-red trees. In true Doomguy fashion, he interrupts the ritual that will resurrect the Icon of Sin by stabbing its heart with the dagger he got from the Betrayer. [[Not_as_planned|The Icon wakes up, corrupts the entire realm, and invites all sorts of demons to ravage Urdak]] before leaving to Earth.

Doomguy immediately follows but is interrupted by the Khan Maykr herself. In true Eldar fashion, she accuses Doomguy of all the bad things that HE did which broke the seal to Urdak, and that the use of thousand other species as Argent Energy for her race is justified in her traditions. Doomguy then slaps the shit out of her, and even in her final moments, she tells us that we have doomed all of creation. It’s likely she’s lying to hide the fact that she’s a C’tan.

Back on Earth, the final fight against the Icon of Sin begins. Now with a full-body, it is no longer a static boss fight but a semi-static. You blow parts from the Icon, until you finish it with your Crucible, by [[Awesome|slamming it into its forehead]]

===DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods===
{{Template:Spoilers}}
A two parts stand-alone DLC for Doom Eternal: The Icon may be dead, but now that the demons have free reign over Urdak and have initiated a second invasion of Earth, its up to Doomguy to clean up the mess he left behind. This Cleanup begins on an UAC oilrig platform, where the remaining conciousness of the Seraphim is hidden, as Samuel informs the Slayer that only he can give us an answer for a long term solution to the demons (besides killing them all) After aquiring the orb with the Seraphim in it, the Facility AI self destructs the whole Rig to prevent the Slayer from leaving, but just mildly annoys him. Now traveling to the bottom of the Ocean with only his pure rage against the pressure and fighting in a Kill Room with TWO Marauders, he reaches a Room with a Maykr in it. Big surprise; they confirm Hayden is the Seraphim and VEGA as the Father aka the creator of the Universe, but as Hayden fractured in his Life sphere and conciousness. The life sphere rests atop the Ingmur Sanctom of the Blodswamps in Hell. While this sounds incredible stupid to put the mightiest being directly in the most corrupted Part of Hell, francly speaking Nurgles private Garden, the sanctum itself is protected to only let the one who passes the Trial of Malligog through, Malligog beeing an extremly enormous Titan, ranging in size of 2-3 Kilometers. Reaching the sanctum, Samuel already awaits him to take the Fathers life sphere to save the humans, but his rapidly proceeding transfiguration (mutating into a demon) lets him slip his tounge; He only wants to save himself.
Doomguy however has other plans; he denies the Seraphim and destroys the Father's life sphere, so he can never interfere directly again. THEN walks to a life sphere of pure darkness, [[Khorne|the Dark Lord's one]], so he can summon him and face him mano-a-mano, as he is responsible for the ever expanding Realm of hell and its forces. Back to Urdak in its most holy place, the luminarium, Samuel embraces his full mutation into a demon to desperatly stop the Slayer, but has to be bailed out by the Fathers remaining presence, after nearly getting killed. The luminarium then restores the Dark Lord to his physical form, but the biggest surprise of all is that the Dark Lord takes the form of the Doomguy himself!

Part Two can best be described as laying Siege on what would become Khorne’s brass Citadel, breaking in, seeing him get up from his throne, dig up his own oversized suit of power armor and fight you to the death. On the opposite end, the Slayer was [[awesome|ready to siege the citadel on its own]], getting support from the remaining [[Grey Knights|Night]] [[Legion of the Damned|Sentinels]] bringing their entire army and join him in smashing the Dark Lord's shit (and we finally get to see that fuckhuge mecha in the fortress actually walk, AND hitting equally huge Titan demons in the face).
The Dark lord faces you with his immortal body, [[Contemptor-Galatus_Dreadnought|his own set of Preator Armor]] and worst of all, ALL your own abilitys (if he hits you, he regenerates his own health back.) Lore wise this battle would last an eternity, two personifications of unrestrained Rage, able to heal themself als they inflict unspeakable carnage upon cration, until the dark lord finnaly goes down. Even near death he still reaches his sword to fight on, but finally gives in and asks the Slayer if he has anything to say to his Creator before striking him down. We do not get to hear the response, But it’s not implied to be malicious. They wanted the same thing, the same...

Bad News: Mick Gordon isn't coming back this time around (due to some internal issues, he was let go). Good News: Andrew Hulshult and David Levi, another rather well-known composers who helped compose for some other shooters (Dusk, Amid Evil, Rise of the Triad 2013) are coming to take his place. While it's clear Hulshult and Levi might not be able to imitate Gordon, it's obvious they dont disappoint.

===Demons===
Doom 2016 by itself has more demons than the classic games do, even though not all of them return from those games. Doom Eternal ups the count even more, although not all demons from 2016 return. Some demons are upgraded versions of a base model; they are sorted as such.

*'''The Possessed/Zombies''': In 2016, Possessed were humans that underwent horrific mutations due to the Lazarus Wave released by Olivia Pierce on the Mars Outpost. In Eternal, Zombies are the emaciated husks of humans stripped of their soul and mutated by demonic corruption. In both cases: wet toilet paper. They are some of the weakest enemies in the games and can easily be dispatched. 2016's Possessed are cheap glory kill fodder, while Eternal's Zombies are classified under the Fodder demon class, i.e. one of the chief targets of your Glory Kills, Chainsaw, Flame Belch, ice bomb and all other ways with which to keep your health, armour and ammo stocked up.
**'''Possessed Engineers/Cueballs''': Little more than walking bombs. Either shoot them to detonate them or melee them to launch them and have them detonate on impact. Returning as Cueballs in Eternal, these Ambient-class demons replace the "walking" part with "standing gormlessly in one spot, ignorant of any fighting going on around them". This allows the Slayer to use them as flying, explosive barrels if shot at the right angle.
**'''Possessed Soldiers/Blaster Zombie Soldiers''': Unlike their gormless lesser brethren, Possessed Soldiers move faster and with more tact, are hardier and can use a plasma gun fused to their arm to lay down suppressive fire. They're still not much of a threat. Eternal's Blaster Zombies are little more than Possessed Soldiers with a Classic Doom zombieman coat of paint, so make sure to keep some distance.
**'''Possessed Security/Shield Zombie Soldiers''': Wet toilet paper with shards of glass. Equipped with shields and shotguns, these can really ruin your day if you let them. The most effective strategy against them in 2016 is either to chainsaw them or use the Plasma Rifle's stun bomb to disable their shields. While Eternals Shield Zombies still hit just as hard, their threat level dropped off the abyss thanks to their energy shields ''violently exploding'' in response to absorbing too many Plasma Rifle bolts.
**'''Hell Razer''': 2016 exclusive, Hell Razers fight at a distance with arm-mounted laser cannons, which are actually parasites converting a human into a Hell Razer. Fire slowly and have distinct tells to their attacks. Don't pose too much of a threat: dodge their attack, get close and shotgun them.
**'''Mecha Zombie''': New in Eternal, these gore-covered terminator knockoffs are armed with metal claws, a plasma gun and a flamethrower, the latter of which they will flail about in order to hit you. Still fairly ineffectual.
*'''Imps''': The fodder from the original game, now quick as a hiccup. They jump all over the place, pelting you with fireballs and clawing at you if you get too close. Because they're one of the first enemies you face they don't pose much of a threat; your Combat Shotgun makes quick work of them (especially with the Explosive Shot/Sticky Bomb mod), and they gain an explicit weakness to bullet weapons (Heavy Cannon and Chaingun) in Eternal. Eternal also classifies them under Fodder demons, meaning that they make for great resource piñatas.
**'''Gargoyles''': Added in Eternal. Pretty much Imps with wings and [[Tyranid|scything talons]], they jump around and spit acid at you. They'll occasionally hover in place to fire off an acid volley, causing them to become instantly staggered for a Glory Kill when hit during this attack, so take your opportunity. Also classified as Fodder demons.
**'''Prowlers''': Originally added in 2016's multiplayer, they were promoted to regular enemies in Eternal. They function the same as Imps but with more health and they can teleport, often right behind you to claw at you. Classified as a Heavy Demon, meaning they require more Chainsaw fuel to mow down compared to Imps.
*'''Carcasses''': Debuting as Heavy demons in Doom Eternal, the Carcass' attacks are not that powerful and they don't have a lot of health. What they do have is the ability to summon energy barriers, blocking your ability to move around freely, home in on them, glory kill other demons and use explosive weapons safely. Your primary target in an encounter because eliminating them makes a fight a lot easier. Thankfully, these barriers share the same explosive vulnerability to plasma fire as the Shield Zombies' Shields.
*'''Pinkies''': Ol' faithful is now covered in armour, turning them into living battering rams. They (still) roar and charge in on you, dealing significant damage upon impact. The armour soaks most damage they take from the front, so circle them and [[Meme|attack their weak point for massive damage]]. In Eternal, they gain the Heavy demon classification and a crippling weakness to the Blood Punch, being the only attack that can kill them without deliberately striking their weak point.
**'''Spectres''': As the Pinky, but invisible. A bit harder to deal with because of this, but thankfully a lot less common and lack the armour plating.
*'''Cacodemons''': [[Star Wars|They fly now!]] Their spit attacks slow and disorient you, and their bite attack does a lot of damage. But because they fly now you can easily pick them off with your rocket launcher or gauss cannon. As Heavy demons in Eternal, they decided to min-max; their bite takes off a surprisingly large chunk of your health and is often paired with an aggressively distant lunge, while their shock-balls can be fired in a multi-shot volley. But it comes with devastating weakness: a single Combat Shotgun Sticky Bomb or Equipment Cannon Frag Grenade into their mouths causes them to swallow it, instantly staggering them for an easy glory kill. As an airborne demon, they also gain a weakness to Ballista attacks, dying in one Arbalest bolt.
**'''Pain Elementals''': Returning in Doom Eternal as Heavy demons, they endlessly summon chuck the homing suicide bomber Lost Souls at you. While they don't swallow any grenades like their Cacodemon compatriots, they ''do'' share the innate weakness of all airborne demons against the Ballista. Despite this, they are still more of threat that their short-limbed buddies could ever be.
*'''Lost Souls''': Horned, burning skulls that scream, fling themselves at you and explode for an annoying amount of damage. At least in 2016; in Eternal, they also appear when summoned by a Pain Elemental which is when they function more or less the same.
*'''Revenants''': [[Meme|DOOT]]. Made from humans in a gruesome process, the Revenants have jetpacks that let them fly around to put themselves in the perfect possession to launch barrages of missiles at you. They can also claw at you for significant damage, so keep your distance and take them out. In Eternal, you become able to shoot off their shoulder cannons, permanently grounding them restricting their melee attacks to the easily-evaded claw swipes. Classified under the Heavy class and, surprisingly, as airborne demons, making them into potent Ballista chow. Their meme potential is so great that a trumpet-equipped Revenant is a skin included in the pre-order edition of Doom Eternal.
*'''Summoners''': Only appearing in 2016, Summoners are pared-down versions of the Archvile. They possess lithe bodies that let them easily zip around and set up a summon circle away from your location, allowing them to call in aid. Sustained fire from just about any weapon will take them down.
**'''Spirits''': Doom Eternal DLC. While they look like the ghastly Remains of the Summoner, the Spirit will possess other Demons, taking their Fear and ability to feel Pain, while making them faster and more resilient. But even an upgraded body will give in with enough Dakka. Destroy the Spirit with the microwave mod of the Plasma cannon. OR kill everything living and watch the spirit, unable to manifest itself in Realspace anymore, fade out of existence.
**'''Harvesters''': Unique to 2016's multiplayer, the only demon to be so. Harvesters move around and instead of summoning other demons will shoot balls of plasma and drain life from other players, allowing them to supercharge their regular attacks.
*'''Arachnotrons''': Back in Doom Eternal, the Arachnotrons are walking gun platforms that can cling to ceilings to get a better vantage point to shoot at you. Their plasma turrets are mounted on an exposed, scorpion-like tail, which can be destroyed to limited their attacks to the more manageable and telegraphed bomb volley. Their resemblance to the Spider Mastermind from 2016 is intentional: the UAC cloned them using the Spider Mastermind's genetic material. [[Looted|and when the demonic invasion began, the automated facility making them was taken over by the possesed]]...[[Just As Planned|Which was planned]]
*'''Whiplashes''': The first all-female demons introduced in Doom Eternal resembling [[lamia]]e, but don't expect any monster girls. They are as nasty as any Heavy demon in Doom, and they use their great speed to slither in and around the battlefield, dodging heavy-hitting weapons before hacking away at your health from a distance with a pair of chained whips. Difficult to hit, but once you start hitting them they'll go down eventually. That, or use a Lock-On Burst from the Rocket Launcher to delete them.
*'''Mancubi''': Big fat bastards equipped with heavy cannons to blast you with fireballs and flamethrowers to keep you at a distance. They're big, slow targets with slow attacks so if you can keep your distance they're not too big a threat. In Eternal, these Heavy demons got faster (and fatter) but you can blast their flamethrowers off, severely nerfing their damage output. After that, sustained Chain gun fire or a few missiles/Super Shotgun blasts will easily take them out.
**'''Cyber Mancubi''': Heavily armoured versions of the Mancubus. They fire globs of acid that linger on terrain for a bit, limiting your movement options, but lack the flamethrower attack. In 2016 you just pour more damage into them to take them out. In Eternal, their armour is destructible and can be stripped instantly with a single Blood Punch, making it easier for you to deal with them. But because their cannons are armoured you can't blast them off like you can with the regular Mancubi.
*'''Archviles''': Oh HELL no. The Summoner on crack, an Archvile can put up barriers of fire to keep you away while they Summon more demons. If you don't interrupt them you'll be facing a more difficult fight, especially if they summon a MOTHERFUCKING MARAUDER. Even when not summoning they are tough and can dish out a lot of damage, setting the ground beneath you aflame or sweeping fire waves in your direction, while any friends they successfully summon receives a buff that lasts until the Archvile's death. In short, after taking out all Carcasses in an area, they are your next target if you want to win a fight.
*'''Hell Knights''': [[World Eaters|Big dudes who revel in wrecking your shit]]. They are fast, closing the distance to pummel you or to perform a leaping ground slam for a short-ranged area of effect attack. Keep your distance and pump them full of lead to take them down quickly if you don't want to be taken out yourself. In Eternal, they gain the Heavy demon classification and a crippling weakness to Chaingun fire.
**'''Dread Knights''': Cybernetically enhanced Hell Knights constantly pumped full of adrenaline and dopamine for every kill they make. Appearing only in Eternal as Heavy demons, their most prominent feature are a pair of energy blades, which considerably extends their melee range and causes their ground slams to leave a lingering, damaging pool of energy for a bit. Can fire lasers from their blades at you, and shares a weakness to the Chaingun, as with other Hell Nobles.
**'''Barons of Hell''': [[Bloodthirster|Big red bastards]] who are the toughest regular enemies in 2016. They hit like trucks and can blast you with powerful balls of green fire. The best way to deal with them is a heavily upgraded chainsaw or the BFG to not deal with their bullshit. In Eternal, they return as the Fireborne Barons; a Super-Heavy class demon that is immune to the chainsaw and cannot be one-shot by the BFG, so you'll have your work cut out for you. Befitting their name, Firebone Barons are also [[Salamanders_(Chapter)|coated in flames with obsidian skin]] and have burning blades coming from their lower arms, which fits given how much more dangerous they are.
*'''Tyrants''': Pretty much downgraded Cyberdemons (Looking more like the classic Cyber rather than 2016's beefy Balgaar monstrosity) and one of the most powerful common enemies in the game. Packing a powerful laser cannon, a laser blade and the ability to fire missile barrages, paired with a MASSIVE pool of health, these Super-Heavies should be eliminated as fast as you can so that you can deal with the rest of the demons. The fastest way to do so is with the Crucible, which will hack a Tyrant up in no time. [[FAIL|Just make sure that you actually hit the Tyrant itself and not the fodder running around it]]. Otherwise, just exploit its slow turning speed to dedicate as much ammunition you have on-hand to shooting at it until it dies.
*'''Makyr Drones''': The generic rank-and-file of the Maykrs. Annoyingly resilient for Fodder demons and armed with rapid-fire laser turrets, headshotting them with (almost) any weapon is a guaranteed insta-kill that provides ammo as well.
*'''Blood Maykrs''': Definitly not [[Blood Angels]]. The normal Maykr population after getting corrupted by Hell. They shield themselves with a golden aura that negates all damage, and attack with slow energy balls. Once they notice that such things would never work, they will lower their shield to start a Powerful Argent energy attack. A Headshot instakills them like a drone while sustained Fire on their body works too.
*'''Doom Hunters''': Introduced as a boss and later reused as rare Super-Heavy demons. A species of demons driven to extinction by the Doom Slayer and brought back by the Hell Priest Deag Ranak, the Doom Hunters resemble [[Necron Destroyer]]s with a cannon and a chainsaw for arms and missiles that can be fired from its hover sled. They have an energy shield that you need to deplete to be able to damage them directly, though it's possible to attack their Blood-Punch-vulnerable hover sled directly first to disconnect the main body from it. Infamous for being a boss that is lazily reused during the course of the game, as early as [[Rage|THE VERY NEXT COMBAT ARENA AFTER FIGHTING THE FIRST ONE]]. However, the mook versions don't have immunity to Ice Grenades.
*'''Marauders''': [[Chaos_Space_Marine|Former Night Sentinels corrupted by Hell]], the Marauders are fast, deadly and a pain to kill. They possess energy shields that block all incoming damage, including the BFG, Crucible, and Unmakyr (though not splash damage from explosives), can pelt energy beams from long-range, blast you with their own ''Super Shotgun'' at close range, and can summon spirit wolves to hunt you down if you shoot their shield too often. If baited into sprinting at you and brought into mid-range, their eyes will flash green as they swing their axe at you: use this as an opening to blast them with your Super Shotgun or Ballista, then quickly switch between the two until their stagger expires. Repeat this, rip and tear, done.
*'''The Gladiator''': [[Skub|The Last Living Hell Knight of DOOM II]] and, unlike the Doom Hunter, has survived the extinction event that is the Slayer. Armed with a gargantuan soul-vessel shield that blocks all incoming damage, and a flail with a retractable chain for close and distant attacks. Like the Marauder, if his eyes blink green you have an opening to shoot him with any weapon (though Ballista or Super Shotgun are still preferable). A headshot will stagger him for a glory kill, but the Slayer will simply beat the shit out of him. Phase 1 ends with the destruction of the shield, and now the Gladiator goes ballistic with TWO flails. The best approach now is to shoot at it until it dies (when it isn't spinning its flail to reflect attacks back at you).
*'''The Icon of Sin''': A legendary titan, resurrected into the body of the Son of the Betrayer, [[Chaos_Spawn|deformed and warped beyond recognition]], his very existence in Realspace causing destruction and madness. Its described that, if left unchecked, it will drag the entire dimension to Hell through a supermassive black hole - so basically if one of the Chaos Gods themselves manifested in Realspace. The Khan Maykr thought It could be controlled using the Soul of the Betrayer's Son, putting it into [[Power_Armour|Power Armour]] for insurance. But then, the Doom Slayer stabbed the heart containing the son's soul with a dagger provided by the Betrayer ([[Matt_Ward|though without carving the Name of the Betrayer into it]]), setting the soul free and, with it, the beast from Maykr control over. The battle itself is, on paper, pretty easy: eight pieces of the Icon's armour must be destroyed (head, both upper arms, both forearms, both pectorals and abdomen) using your whole arsenal. While doing so, lesser demons will try to harass you and distract you from the Icon. With the armour's destruction, the whole process starts again in the second phase, but this time, you chip away at the flesh and bone of those same regions until the Icon collapses, giving you time to ram your Crucible into Its Brain.
*'''The Original Dark Lord/ Davoth''': The original Dark Lord created by the Father as a Primeval, one of the first gods. Doomguy's equal. Designed to truly care about his People, he spiraled out of control in search for eternal life, to save his people from death. Formerly a caring guardian, he tortured everyone who slightly deviated from this goal. After Davoth got imprisoned in his soul sphere by the Father, demons apparently fought one other to claim his title while he still whispered his influence to them. The Dark Lord of the First Age after Davoth made the deal with the Khan Maykr and the most recent one, the Dark Lord of the Fourth Age, is implied to have been the Spider Mastermind that possessed Olivia Pierce before getting her head blown off by BFG-9000. Davoth himself apparently prevented anyone from becoming Dark Lord of the Fifth Age as he was released from his soul sphere several months later. Currently only seen in one cutscene after his soul sphere was unlocked and everyone hopes the final fight will be the same as a Unreal Tournament/ Quake Deathmatch.

===Trivia===
*The Fortress of Doom is the personal fortress-monastery/mancave of the Slayer, once used for the Galaxy spanning Crusade of The Night Sentinels. Features a Teleportarium with an absurd range (teleporting the Slayer from Earth's orbit to the Hell-absorbed Argent D'nur, which is on a completely different dimensional plane to the Sol system), a Hangar bay with a Sentinel "Atlan" Mech, and a prison named the "Ripatorium", filled with Demons the Slayer undoubtedly abducted, to slaughter them for sport.
**On at least one occasion, the Slayer seems to have fought against Noise Marines, as his personal quarters feature a guitar made of flesh.
**The Fortress has a shit-ton of easter eggs and even a few unlockable weapons. Such as a redesigned Unmaykr (unlockable) froom Doom 64 and the Soul Cube of Doom 3(just a prop). You'll want the Unmaykr whither you want to slaughter demons or a completionist. The Slayers own room also displays all the weapons and toys players have collected over the game. There is a bookshelf that references other franchises, a cage for his dead rabbit Daisy and even a painting of said pet and the Slayer.
*It is said that the "Wretch" who gave the Slayer an adamantine armour, forged from the Fires of Hell, was in fact Khorne Himself. Even if he can't corrupt the Slayer, he doesn’t need to. The carnage he brings upon demons is the equivalent of centuries of war.
**Doomguy and Khorne may have flat-out '''teamed up''', as Doomguy wants to kill demons (Khorne technically isn’t a demon), and Khorne wants to take over Hell. The two of them have become fire-forged friends since then, to such a degree that, according to a legend passed down among demons, Khorne has a stasis pod containing the Doomguy stored deep in the heart of his personal fortress. Possibly underneath the skull throne itself.
***Khorne is Doomguys equal. In the ancient Gods DLC the life essence of the true Ruler of Hell gets resurrected, and he takes on the form of Doomguy. The Dark Lord of Hell is the leader of Hell`s armies. Not a King, but a warrior of the Dark Realm. The fiercest among all, as only the strongest could rule. He is you. Wait a minute [[Samus|that sounds familiar]], Hey if your going to steal, you may as well do it from the best.
*Since the Night Sentinels went to war against the Demons, they are effectively the first Space Marine Chapter (preceding even the Thunder Warriors), since they are to an extent Psykers, deploy with Argent (warp) using Weapons, have their own Titan Legion, Use a Space fleet of Flying Castles, have an Arena for duels to the Death, and only The Strongest among them can become King, they even had a mini civil war. the only thing they are missing is DNA from the God-Emperor...and even then, Doomguy may have it.
**The Sentinel Titans are called "Atlans" and are the Ultimate Example of a [[Invictor Tactical Warsuit|Babycarrier]] done right. Armed with one or two shoulder-mounted Giant [[Plasma Annihilators|Plasma_Annihilator]], the Palms of the Hands featuring the same sort of plasma weapon but weaker. The Melee Weapon being an ECKS BAKS HUEG Energy Spear for impaling equally huge Titans.
*The Makyrs in Doom Eternal bare a surprising resemblance to the [[C'tan]] (even being unable to show their true forms outside of Urdak). They also possess a sort of metal skin on all castes of there race, resembling necrodermis.
*Sometime between the events of Doom 64 and Doom (2016), the Slayer was subjected to something called the "Divinity Machine," given his new abilities from that point forward, it's possible he had a fragment of <s>the Warp</s> hell itself imbued within him, thereby making him a man uplifted with <s>psyker</s> argent powers. This might make him this dimension's equivalent of [[The God-Emperor of Mankind|The Emperor]]... if this is a separate dimension.
*In Doom Eternal, the Slayers new armour is not fully sealed, giving a look Upon His Arms, like a certain [[Kharn the Betrayer|Swell Guy]].
*Said Swell Guy <s>may or may have not been</s> probably is a Descendant of The Slayer's "friend," Valen the previous holder of the title of "Betrayer". The best guess would be that the Emperor used his Genetic Code for The Basics of Angron, and later the World Eaters Legion.
*The Crucible uses pure Argent energy to create its blade. This means it's soul-powered and therefore, since the Doom Slayer absorbs the power of the demons (giving them a true death), [[Grimdark|uses the life essence of demons to kill more demons]].
**Because the Doom Slayer does give true death to deamons, this may mean he can do what every single eldar, necron, and psychically adept human thought was impossible...actually '''kill''' the chaos gods, he would probably choose [[Slaanesh]] first
*The forces of Hell seem to be a serious threat even judging from the absurd standard of 40k. Samuel Hayden gave the surviving humans insane technology (full functioning AI battlesuits for infantry, and colossal Titan mechs, Dark Age Technology so to speak) and still couldn't get the upper hand. The only viable solution to gain ground seemed to be [[Exterminatus|total nuclear annihilation.]]
**This seemed to be simply because of Hells literally [[Orks|infinite]] [[tyranids|numbers]] since they multiply by both ordinary breeding and turning the aforementioned bodies of the mulched human souls into demons. Even if they took out one thousand demons, one billion would take their place. It seems this was the only reason for their defeat since, once all of the avenues for invasion are cut off, the remainder are mopped up without much fanfare. One wonders if all of the priests were on Sentinel Prime how things would go since there would be no cut off for the entering demons.

==Doom: The Board Game==
Yes, there is a Board Game - made by [[Fantasy Flight Games]] no less - giving the vague '/tg/ related' qualifications this site uses.
It was released around the time Doom 3 was released, though it wasn't that remarkable and is pretty hard to find nowadays.

One guy plays the baddies, the other 1-4 players play a band of unfortunate marines. The heroes start with 2-3 powerup cards, and the baddies get 5 cards from his own deck and during the game, he gets to draw more (the rate of which is equal to how many marines there are) and if his deck is empty, he gets to insta-kill one of the Marines. His guys are more varied in their movement but they can only shoot once.

The marines have three options: move 8 spaces without shooting, move 4 spaces and shoot once, or shoot twice without movement. They need to explore the board, find computers and other events as the board provides. The baddies, meanwhile, can either upgrade his monsters or bring more to the board.
Either way, his goal is to score 6 kills on the Marines.

A new board game got released shortly after May 2016 Doom, which, to my understanding, is basically just the same shit as before with a new coat of paint.
* It's different, but not too different. Similar in concept and design, with the main differences seeming to be in how the Marines play, and victory conditions for certain scenarios. Absolutely beautiful models, however, and incredibly fun. Highly recommended.

==Movie==
Also (roughly) around the same time as Doom 3 was a movie starring Karl Urban and former WWE superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. It pretty much replaced the whole Hell plot with some genetic experimentation to give people superpowers that only succeeds in creating hyper-aggressive mutants, and a squad of Marines sent to investigate the mayhem. It wasn't that good, with the only really 'good' scene being this one scene where it's all FPS-style like the original games and has monster killing.

Another movie was released in 2019, named ''Doom: Annihilation.'' When asked what they thought about this, id Software simply replied: "We are not involved in the movie." But the last five minutes of CGI demons was fucking phenomenal.

==TLDR==
{{blam|Rip and Tear Motherfucker!}}
==External Links==
*[https://doomwiki.org/ Doom Wiki] for all your Doom-related needs
*[https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/ /idgames/], the home of pretty much every Doom mod worth playing (and pretty much every Doom mod that isn't worth playing) since 1994.

[[Category:Video Games]][[Category:Awesome]]

Vulkan

2021-03-19T19:16:29Z

2601:585:8301:76D0:BD98:736E:6C86:3377:

{{Awesome}}
[[File:Vulkan's Face.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Vulkan, The Lord of Drakes, The Hammer of Salvation, the HNIC. The Promethean Fire. Too cool a guy to complain that [[Sanguinius]] got all the glamour genes.]]
{{topquote|Vulkan: "There will be no Rad or Phosphex in my legion. We shall fight wars humanely. Some things should be left in the dark age."<br>[[Ferrus Manus|Ferrus]]: "Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death?"<br>Vulkan: "I don't understand the question.|A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs}}
{{Topquote|Even the softest and sweetest heart was made by design for extreme battle.|Bryant McGill}}
{{Topquote|Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness.|Katherine Henson}}

{{Topquote|'''VULKAN LIVES'' *stomp* *stomp*| The salamanders upon reuniting with their primarch}}

<b>Vulkan</b>, aka '''the Lord of Drakes, the Hammer of Salvation, the Promethean Fire, the [[Alternate Heresy|Black Dragon]], and the [[TTS|Jolly Green Giant]]''', is the [[Primarch]] of the [[Salamanders]] [[Chapter]] of [[Space Marines]]. He is notable for being a fuckawesome smith, and advancing a civilization from Stone to the Steel Age in a matter of months, as well as being perhaps one of the only likable and bro-tier Primarchs, a trait he shares with [[Sanguinius]] and Crusade Era [[Horus]]. He does not pity the [[Dark Eldar]] fools who raided his planet.

Like all Primarchs, he was dropped on [[Nocturne|a far-flung planet]] as an infant, and worked his way to a position of power. Some Primarchs became powerful by being good at politics and bureaucracy, or by kicking enemy ass. Vulkan did it by being really fucking smart and murdering as many Dark Eldar as he could find with massive [[Warhammer 40,000|hammers]], both of which are fine occupations for a Demigod. He also made some really cool stuff, which the Salamanders have been spending all of their free time trying to find. As Primarchs go, he's more or less tied with Sanguinius as being a shining example of [[this guy]], especially [[Lorgar|compared to]] [[Perturabo|some]] [[Konrad Curze|of]] [[Angron|them]].

It's also worth noting that while Vulkan may have been the nicest of the primarchs, that was still only in a ''relative'' sense. Case in point on the planet Caledra in the book ''Promethean Sun'', Vulkan and the Salamanders came across a world where primitive human tribes and [[Eldar]] [[Exodites]] lived together in peace. It turned out that in the past the [[Dark Eldar]] had tried to raid the Exodites for slaves (as they do) and the Exodites had turned the tables on them and ganked them. When the Exodites did they found the [[Dark Eldar]] had a whole bunch of human slaves with them, and the Exodites ended up resettling them on their home planet where the two groups lived in harmony. Vulkan and the Salamanders immediately went all "suffer the xenos not to live", and the Exodites protested [[Rip and Tear|very strenuously]] [[Dinosaur|against being killed]]. During the battle Vulkan came across the humans of Caledra attempting to sacrifice a captured [[Dark Eldar]] as part of a primitive ritual to make the Exodites (who they saw as their saviors) make the Salamanders go the fuck away. The exact line being "These people didn't want to be saved, they had already been saved, but not by us". Vulkan realized that the humans of Caledra would never accept the Imperium as their saviors (mostly because, y’know, the Salamanders had been burninating the hell out of their home) and were a walking, talking middle finger to the Imperium party line that all xenos were evil and must be killed, and ordered the entire human population of Caledra burned to death. [[Grimdark|It also turned out that the humans on Caldera were the missing survivors of those taken from Nocturne]] by the [[Dark Eldar]] during Vulkan's youth and their descendants. Vulkan later came to the conclusion that the Emperor sent him to Caledra as a test of his fortitude, to see if he had the stomach to kill his own people in order to cover up the awful truth that (gasp) humans could coexist with xenos. [[Grimdark|He passed]].

[[Grimdark|Vulkan is also known to have burned a surrendering eldar child to death in a fit of rage.]]

The only real chink in his moral armor is his out-of-control pyromania. When he banned the use of Destroyers and other terror weapons within his legion as "too cruel," Ferrus Manus pointed out that burning people to death with flamers, volkite rays, and melta weaponry was hardly that much better. He wasn't wrong, but Vulkan was too busy setting a tank on fire with those boosted flamer-pen rolls to notice.

He is also a [[Perpetual]], which means that he regenerates from ANY injury, even the ones that actually kill him. With enough time, [[Anval Thawn|he can return from a death which vaporized him to atoms]], find the culprit, and kick his sorry ass from one edge of the galaxy to the other. [[Konrad Curze]] found this out the hard way. Unfortunately this has not been translated into tabletop rules, on the well-grounded point that having a Primarch that is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL is slightly unfair. He inherited this ability from [[Emperor|his father]], which implies that the Emperor is a perpetual as well. This can provoke [[Skub|long and passionate debate]]. Nevermind, The Emperor's status as a perpetual has since been confirmed and stated outright both in the Siege of Terra novel, ''Saturnine'', as well as GW itself by way of an FAQ posting.

Pretty cool guy. Definitely cooler than his brothers. And also the hottest on a very literal way. [[Star Wars|Ironic]].

== History ==

=== Early Life ===
[[File:Vulkan.jpg|400px|thumb|left|Vulkan will burn a fool to ash instead of pitying him.]]
Rather than be dumped in a volcano for being a bad omen, as is the fate of many small children who crash on feudal death worlds in space pods, Vulkan grew up as the adopted son of a blacksmith named N'bel, from whom he learned the basics of metallurgy. Of course, being a genetically engineered super-soldier like his brothers he reached adulthood at the age of three and started inventing new alloys like they were going out of style, bringing most of the planet up to the late Steel Age in a matter of months.

Anyway, Vulkan enjoyed his normal life (or as close to normal a super-strong basically Demi-God genius blacksmith could) until the [[Dark Eldar]] came to town. Nocturne, it turns out, was a favorite raiding destination for [[Mandrakes]], whose realm of '''Aelindrach''' was connected to Nocturne by a series of Webway gates. The populace, who had advanced to about the iron age before Vulkan came along, generally tended to hide from the space rapists with guns that shoot poisonous glass, but Vulkan didn't share their good sense (possibly having something to do with the fact that he could have tanked multiple RPG-7 rounds to the torso and only gotten mildly pissed off, but whatever). Instead, the first time they came after his arrival, he grabbed a pair of blacksmith's hammers and went to town on Spess Elf ass. ''(If this sounds suspiciously [http://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Valten familiar] then congratulations, you're paying attention. If you also noticed that Vulkan predates that character, making the other one the rip-off, then even better! We will make an expert of you yet!)'' Although admittedly, Vulkan's first attempt at dealing with the situation resulted in a failure; he drove off the Eldar, but then he took a force of his best men into the webway to defeat the Mandrakes at their source, only to be picked off and murdered while they advanced. They got as far as [[Kheradruakh]]'s tower, but there Vulkan ended up being the last man standing and forced to retreat. When he got back to Nocturne he smashed the webway gate to bits, regretting his decision not to do it in the first place and lamenting the loss of so many good men. [[Troll|A season later the Mandrakes returned]], forcing Vulkan to realise that there was more than one Webway gate on the planet, and that his earlier attempt to destroy their entrance as well as the counter-charge were both futile actions on their own, meaning he would have to destroy each one if he wanted to protect his people. [[awesome|And guess what? He did exactly that!]]

<s>Shortly after Valt-- I mean Vulkan</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy! Vulkan came first!}} drove off the raiders, his settlement threw a bigass feast to celebrate the victory along with a competition to see who had the biggest [[Pauldrons|man-parts]]. Amongst the events were to be anvil-lifting, weapon-forging, and bigass fire-breathing dragon-thing slaying. Or something like that. A stranger ended up intruding on the ceremony, and proved himself Vulkan's equal in every contest except the salamander slaying, which Vulkan won by virtue of his own thick-headedness and the stranger saving his sorry ass. (If you want the long story filled with themes of honor and dignity read the fucking [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Vulkan Lexicanum]) Vulkan pledged his loyalty to the stranger immediately after being declared the victor, saying that anyone who valued human life over victory was worth following, and with insufferable predictability the stranger revealed himself to be [[God-Emperor of Mankind|the Emprah]].

The short story ''Mercy of the Dragon'' adds a little more to the story however, in that Vulkan's acceptance was not immediate upon declaring the Emperor the victor. The two spoke for a while, with the Emperor trying to convince Vulkan to leave his homeworld and join the Great Crusade. After hearing about his brothers, the terrors of the Old Night and of the Imperial Truth; Vulkan put it quite plainly that as the son of a blacksmith, he had no interest in being a general or a conqueror. Pointing out that where his brother primarchs were already great and proud generals, Vulkan only desired peace. The Emperor told Vulkan that he was ''"utterly unlike"'' the rest of his brothers, and that was both his single greatest trait and the Emperor's proudest achievement. So when asked by Vulkan what could he possibly teach the other Primarchs, big Emps told him that his lesson was the most crucial and that he was uniquely disposed to teach it: his <u>Humanity</u>.

=== Great Crusade ===
Despite being brought into the fold, the Emperor took the unusual step of not officially revealing Vulkan and keeping him close by for an extended period of time, quite possibly because a massive charcoal-black dude with red eyes might have been too much for a puritanical Imperium to deal with at least initially ''(all of the initial Terran Salamanders were only "slightly" darkened and had ember eyes, and it was quite likely that Magnus was not discovered yet)'' OR because the Emperor considered Vulkan to be too soft and compassionate and needed some tough-love OR because big Emps had a different plan for Vulkan. For a few years during the Great Crusade, Vulkan would not act without wearing his armour or travelling very far from the Emperor himself, thus for a time all people knew was that the Emperor had picked up a gigantic, nameless, emerald champion from somewhere. The only people privy to Vulkan's existence were the other Primarchs who were already discovered, and the Priesthood of Mars.

Vulkan was only officially revealed at the right moment: when 19,000 members of his Legion were under siege by a force of over a million Orks, they were relieved by a "new" force of 3000 marines drawn from Nocturne accompanied by an entire battlefleet composed of warships & war machines of Vulkan's own design, which explains what he was doing with the Mechanicum for those years. Collectively they demolished the Orks and the old Terran Salamanders got to find out who their forefather was.

The rest, as they say, is history.

=== Horus Heresy ===
[[File:Vulkan Lives.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Vulkan Lives. And he's got a big hammer. (That Marine is totally going to reveal that he ripped his pants)]]
While the rest may be history, what happened after the [[Horus Heresy]] is an absolute records nightmare.

Sensing that the galaxy was about to change in a bad way, Vulkan created the post of Forgefather before leaving for Istvaan, with instructions to destroy all his masterwork creations so they could never be misused in the future. The new Forgefather protested, leading Vulkan to relent, and tell him to pick out [[Nurgle|seven]] artifacts to remain. Whether these are the same artifacts as in 40k is currently unclear.

During the Drop Site Massacre, the Salamanders took such severe losses that they were reduced to 780 battle-brothers. Worse yet, Vulkan was initially believed to have been killed in the Dropsite Massacre, although his body was never found, in earlier fluff this was a contentious sticking point, because "Vulkan" was also have supposedly survived at least up to the [[Second Founding]], although at that time it wasn't certain whether this was the actual Vulkan, or one of the Forgefathers that followed him.

The Horus Heresy novels cleared this up somewhat, then threw some new wrinkles into the equation: Vulkan died '''''and''''' lived. Like the [[Emperor of Mankind|Emperor,]] John Grammaticus, Mary Poppins and [[Ollanius Pius]], Vulkan is a [[Perpetual]]: a being who can't be killed by any means ''(decapitation, immolation, asphyxiation, having his heart torn out with a rusty fork, etc)'' and will regenerate from it. His first death occurred during the [[Drop Site Massacre]], where the [[Iron Warriors]] launched a tactical nuclear missile at the Salamanders, killing Vulkan and the bulk of the XVIII Legion. Vulkan (seemingly) survived, however, and was given over to [[Konrad Curze]] for [[Dark Eldar|sick, torturous fun]]. [[If_the_Emperor_had_a_Text-to-Speech_Device|He tried to kill Vulkan. Really, REALLY hard! With a FORK!]] But it soon turned to unstoppable rage when Curze learned he couldn't fully kill Vulkan, so he just kept killing him over and over, getting even more pissed off, which is strange; seeing as Curze is a murderous psychopath, one would hypothesize this would be a dream come true (one must assume Sevatar and Sheng were pulling straws on delivering Curze the bad news at this point) before Vulkan managed to steal ''Dawnbringer'', a thunder hammer originally intended as a gift for [[Horus]] with teleportation function included. The hammer teleported Vulkan off the ''Nightfall'' (though not before he beat Konrad, who had apparently forgotten ''"It's also a hammer"'', to a pulp) and sent him to [[Macragge]], where he burned up on re-entry and resurrected himself again. Unfortunately, the constant deaths drove Vulkan completely insane, into little more than a feral beast, attacking everyone he saw, including [[Roboute Guilliman]].

While this was going on, [[xenos]] were doing their thing: plotting. [[The Cabal]], a group of xenos who believed that allowing [[Chaos]] to win the [[Horus Heresy]] would get the [[Chaos Gods]] addicted on human emotions and then be destroyed outright when humanity collapsed on itself, so they sent John Grammaticus with a fulgurite, a piece of the Emperor's psychic lightning encased within a shard, to give to a Primarch with which to kill Vulkan, as they feared he might turn the tide at Terra. However, [[Eldrad]], in an incredibly undickish move, told John Grammaticus that if ''he'' killed Vulkan, he could instead heal Vulkan's mind, allowing him to perform his desired role. After Konrad Curze arrived on Macragge (after jumping off [[Lion El'Jonson]]'s battle barge after playing an extended game of hide and seek), Vulkan went apeshit and made a beeline for Curze. Apparently, the fulgurite could only kill Vulkan permanently if it was USED BY ANOTHER PRIMARCH. During the battle, John Grammaticus, in a change of heart, instead of giving the fulgurite to Curze to kill Vulkan, stabbed Vulkan with the shard himself, restoring Vulkan's sanity but simultaneously knocking him into a deep coma, while making Grammaticus fully human. Guilliman hoped he might revive himself, so he placed him in a coffin (or preservation capsule, as he told [[Lion El'Jonson]] and [[Sanguinius]]), hand-crafted by Guilliman himself, where he was guarded by some Salamanders who had made it to Macragge, who thought they might have heard a heartbeat. Before you get your hopes up, however, the coffin was named ''The Unbound Flame'', the last of the fabled ''Artifacts of Vulkan'' that the Forgefathers would be looking for in later 40k.

*Those of you who enjoy speculation should be getting a kick out of this. While internally consistent, it is almost completely incompatible with [[Vulkan He'stan]]'s lore, which is just as canon as ''Vulkan Lives'' as of the 6th ed Marines codex. Ignoring for a moment the question of how the "Unbound Flame" was lost to the Salamanders, "Unbound Flame" was ''Vulkan's'' name for the artifact, not Guilliman's, and it's a name that predates the Drop Site Massacre. Vulkan had no prior history of being able to see the future, and was unconscious, dead, or completely insane during any of the times when it would have made sense for him to tell Guilliman what to name his casket. Also, the coffin would have to be *extremely* oversized and only usable for a Primarch. The Horus Heresy Novel ''Deathfire'' is based around the Salamander remnants trying to return The Unbound Flame to Nocturne, which they succeed at. So far as we know, it is not now and has never been missing. The biggest problem is that the casket was made by Guilliman and the fulgurite and Vulkan himself were both made by the Emperor, so neither the casket nor its contents were made by Vulkan, and all nine artifacts that have to be recovered were made by Vulkan himself.
*This is somewhat mitigated when one considers that Vulkan only told his first Forgefather to choose seven artefacts rather than nine, so the other two had to come from somewhere else or made by Vulkan at some point after the Dropsite Massacre. It also turns out that the Unbound Flame (or Immolus as it was known on Nocturne), as well as being a title occasionally attributed to Vulkan himself, was a central concept to everyone on Nocturne - the all destroying fire and could refer to pretty much anything.
*In Nick Kyme's Salamanders Trilogy, the Chapter believes that the Unbound Flame might in fact be the soul of Vulkan, rather than a specific object. The Chapter are not aware of Vulkan's Perpetual ability and consider the possibility to the term could refer to him directly without them realising, though it could also be a form of reincarnation. Even though they conclude that one of their Librarians: '''Hazon Dak'ir''' is probably NOT the Unbound Flame ''(and therefore not a reincarnation of the Primarch)'' it doesn't mean they aren't correct with their original guess or that they don't realize they are hunting for Vulkan instead of an artefact.

The novel Deathfire ended up resolving a few issues and creating a few more mysteries. After First Captain '''Artellus Numeon''' of the Salamanders is rescued and relocated to Macragge, he goes a bit...crazy over finding out that Vulkan is dead. Weird things happen and the body is briefly stolen (by whom is unknown, though current bets are on the [[Lion El'Jonson|Lion]]) before being reclaimed by the Salamanders and fast tracked back to Nocturne. In spite of Vulkan's previous resurrection powers (which were supposedly removed), the remaining Salamanders believe that returning the body to Nocturne would bring him back to life, according to the Promethean Creed. After fighting off a variety of parties trying to get the body back (including a surprising turn from one of the shards of [[Magnus the Red]]), Numeon is told, not surprisingly, that the story was allegorical - any resurrection was a rebirth of spirit, ideals, and resolve; not a literal one. After getting a little suicidal about the whole thing, Numeon climbs the slopes of an erupting Mount Deathfire. A rescue party is sent out to find him (or his convection broiled corpse) but instead they find Vulkan alive and well, having ended up resurrecting himself after all.

'''Old Earth''' pads this resurrection out somewhat; Vulkan awakes in a cave inside of Mount Deathfire, missing some important memories but possessing some unexplained knowledge. Having a conversation with [[Eldrad|this dick in disguise]], Vulkan realises that there is still a Webway gate left on Nocturne, and that it is buried underneath Deathfire. Based on his own limited understanding of his Perpetual limits, he also comes to the conclusion that his Father's purpose for him is no longer to lead his Legion, arguing that the Imperium already has enough generals. So he decides not to rejoin the Salamanders or the Horus Heresy, but instead travel to Terra through the Webway, taking only three Legionaries with him and swearing them to secrecy about his return. When he does reach Terra, the Emperor tells him, in true grimdark fashion, that Vulkan had an additional purpose to uphold. In the event of Chaos winning the battle of Terra, Vulkan's interaction with the Golden Throne would somehow lead to the whole planet annihilating itself ; throneworld, loyalists, traitors, webway entrance and daemons alike. Whilst coming out of nowhere, it at least gives a reason for Vulkan to be on Terra but not seen during the siege itself if he was acting as a living deadman's switch.

Critical opinions aside, it does at least explain how Vulkan was able to do things post-Heresy and why information on his activities after the Heresy are spotty and incomplete, since at this point he had already decided to move into the background and leave the Salamanders generally nonplussed.

=== Later 40k ===
[[File:Big+black+friendly+salamander+centerhttpstwittercomdrunkrembrancerstatus.jpg|500px|right|thumb|Fan art depicting Vulkan dressing [[Corvus Corax|his best friend Corax]] up in a [[Salamander]] onesie (The beasts of Nocturne, not the Chapter) [[Disney 40k|and showing him a whole new world.]] [[Lofn|Say it with me everybody!]] [[Dawww|Daaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww!]]]]
The 6th edition codex and ''Vulkan Lives'' have included quotes from Vulkan after the Horus Heresy, arguing with Roboute Guilliman about his issues with the Codex (namely the fact that the Salamanders didn't have enough marines left to fill one chapter, let alone two) and a speech that he made to the survivors of his legion on Terra, so there's hope that more will happen in the future of the (yet unfinished) Horus Heresy books. But all of this hits a snag when one realizes that it could have been simply the First Forge Father and 10,000 years resulted in people forgetting that wasn't the real Vulkan. The black library novel series and the 8th edition Codex confirmed his survival after the Heresy, claiming that he would return to aid the Salamanders from time to time for a couple of millennia afterwards and added that he bequeathed the Tome of Fire to the Salamanders after warning them he had to leave on a long journey for reasons he couldn't discuss.

In response, the Salamanders created the position of Forgefather, chosen from a Company Captain who would travel the galaxy searching for information on the fate of Vulkan and his nine Artifacts of Vulkan. So far, five have been discovered, three of which are pieces of wargear used by the Forgefather. Another is a massive laser weapon used to shoot out incoming ships trying to attack [[Nocturne]]. The fifth is a downed forgeship used to create wargear for the Chapter, which, alongside their unique practices, is the reason they have so many master-crafted weapons. The locations--and even the form--of the other Artifacts are completely unknown. The Salamanders hold that once all nine Artifacts have been located, Vulkan will return to the Salamanders and lead them once more. Like [[Leman Russ]], but with more style.

The Beast Arises series says that at least 1500 years after the Horus Heresy, Vulkan was still alive and kicking, and of course he was trapped on an Ork world fighting them all the time, so the Imperial Fists set out to investigate these rumours and bring him back if possible. They succeed, but he refuses to abandon the world he's on, claiming that ''every'' world in the Imperium is just as important as [[Terra]] and is equally as deserving of protection and instead rallies the Imperial forces to defeat the Orks, save the world, and give stirring speeches to everyone who sees him. But not before a few clues are dropped that the years since the Horus Heresy have not been kind to him. He doesn't seem to understand what a "Successor Chapter" is, which given that he was present at the time of the Second founding is pretty ridiculous unless it really was the Forgefather who spoke for him at the Second Founding rather than himself. He also implies that he can communicate with [[Dorn]], as he said he would tell Dorn that Koorland is a worthy successor when he sees him. Though this statement about Dorn might signify the onset of madness or senility, considering that he had already been haunted by visions of his dead brother [[Ferrus Manus]] during the Horus Heresy; it might instead signify that the departed soul of Dorn might still be reachable, considering the Emperor could psychically summon an effigy of their brother Ferrus to battle daemons in the webway; or it might really mean that Dorn is in fact still alive, giving fans some hope to cling to. Or he just didn't realise that Dorn had died during the intervening years of his self-exile.

Vulkan appears very much out of place during the War of the Beast as his mere existence is juxtaposed against a more modern Imperium that already considers him and his brothers as something out of a barely understood myth. He then agrees to go back with Terra and take command of the Imperial response, although he leaves the "actual" command of everything to Koorland and works primarily as an advisor ''(see above about him saying that the Imperium already has enough generals)'' and refuses to present himself to his own Chapter who would be dying to have an audience with their Primarch. Eventually he ends up exploding himself and The Beast together, not before stating he would return in another time to help humanity in a conflict that would make them tremble. Vulkan was officially declared dead, but the Salamanders and Chapter Master Koorland of the Imperial Fists believed that Vulkan could have survived. ''(And he probably did, him being a Perpetual and all that.)''

==On The Tabletop==
[[File:VulkanModel.JPG|300px|thumb|right|Vulkan's model is an instructional manual on how to deploy Hammertime.]]
Thank you, Forgeworld. We have rules for Vulkan now because of Horus Heresy Book 2: Electric Boogaloo. Remember how Mortarion in the first book got a ton of rules that basically made him unkillable? T7, a bajillionty wounds, saving throws coming out from places he didn't even know he had, rerolling failed It Will Not Die saves? Well, Vulkan gets all that fun stuff too except in a slightly different variety, AND he's as McHUEG deadly in both shooting and assault phases.

{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Vulkan:''' || 425|| 7 || 5|| 7 || 7 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 10 || 2+/3++
|}

Firstly, your entire army gains +1 Ld and Adamantium Will while he's deployed, because fuck psykers. He gets to reroll failed It Will Not Die and 5+ Deny the Witch, making him the fifth best psyker-proof Primarch (After Magnus, Lorgar, Mortarion and Horus) on par with Guilliman.

Vulkan's armor is stupidly good: as if 2+/3++ wasn't good enough, the Draken Scale also reduces the strength of any flamer, fusion, volkite, melta and plasma weapons used against him, BY HALF, rounded down. That means Plasma is only Strength 3 against him. Oh wait, he's T7. That means he's LITERALLY IMMUNE TO PLASMA WEAPONS, at least the ones that aren't attached to a superheavy tank or a titan. The only way to reliably cause wounds on Vulkan is heaping gobs and gobs of [[Imperial Ordnance|ordnance]] on him or unleash a few dozen [[Lascannon]]s and hope he stops moving before he gets too close. Or just being a Dark Eldar, with all guns poisoned 4+ or S8 AP2. No wonder Vulkan hates them.

His close combat weapon, the Dawnbringer, effectively makes him Sauron in that one scene before Sauron gets his finger chopped off in the Lord of the Rings movie. You know, where he bats entire legions of dudes around in a single swing? Yeah, that. Not only is the weapon itself Strength 10 AP1 [[Rip and tear|ConcussiveArmorbaneInstantDeath]] ''without'' also being Unwieldy, he can choose to not make attacks normally in combat to place a small blast template (you know, the 3" kind you use with grenades) anywhere in base to base contact with himself that does not cover friendly models. All models under it take a beefy S8 AP3 hit with Strikedown automatically. AKA: Thunk.

Vulkan is fairly shooty, too, something kind of odd for all the Primarchs released so far save Ferrus Manus. Go figure, Vulkan's line-drawing gun was created by the liquid metal-armed one. The best part is both ranged weapons Vulkan carries do not require you to roll to hit, so his below average (for a Primarch) BS5 doesn't come into play. One is simply a strength 6 heavy flamer, while the other is an 18" S6 AP2 beam gun with rending. You know how you utilize Beam psychic powers? It works just like that, except there are no 'deny the witch rolls' to be made.

All this said, no Primarch can do everything, and Vulkan is no exception. The Ld bonus and Adamantium Will are good, but don't stack up against [[Ferrus Manus|making your marines and tanks even tougher]], [[Lorgar|morale shenanigans and choosing psychic powers]], or [[Fulgrim|strategic traits, +2 to combat resolution, and challenge excellence]]. He also shares a problem with [[Angron]] and [[Leman Russ]] - as killy as he is he isn't very mobile, and he can't just mulch through tarpits like Dorn or Mortarion would. The Lord of Drakes just can't kill enough shit to justify his points cost unless your enemy brought something ludicrous like a Fellblade. If you're bringing him, you need a transport, a retinue, and a plan.

===Vulkan VS other Primarchs:===
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see, isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (Especially in the case of Vulkan. No other primarch is resilient as he is, not even Mortarion. In your face, Khan!) With that in mind this section is about how Vulkan fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities are taken into accounts when possible and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses. In essence, the fights are supposed to happen in a "Vacuum" for simplicity, but notes are added to make things clearer in particular instances. Also all of the Primarch use their most powerful weapons (because why have a contest if you don't do your best?).
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Vulkan VS Horus
**Horus hits 4.667 times (Worldbreaker), wounds 3.333 times, 1.111 after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Vulkan loses.

* Vulkan VS Angron
**Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.185 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.63.
**Angron Round 2: hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 0.889 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves (ID Negates FNP) and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Thanks to his sheer resilience, Vulkan comes out on top.

* Vulkan vs Mortarion
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.415 wounds after saves and 0 wounds after IWND.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins.

* Vulkan vs Fulgrim
**Fulgrim Round 1 (And every round he is not Concussed): hits 6 times, wounds 3 times, 1 wounds after saves and 0.444 wounds after IWND.
**Fulgrim (Every round he IS Concussed): hits 4 times, wounds 2 times, 0.667 wounds after saves and 0.111 wounds after IWND.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**A really close (and long) fight but it ends in victory for Fulgrim, for even with the 55% chance of being concussed his average damage is 0.261, a little bit higher than Vulkan's.

* Vulkan vs Ferrus Manus
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2 times, 0.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**The fight between the two big tanks ends in victory for Vulkan, 'cause even though Ferrus does marginally more damage, Vulkan is a bit tougher (or better, he regenerates a lot faster).

* Vulkan vs Konrad Curze
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.741 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins as he is just too tanky for Konrad.

* Vulkan VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.556 after saves and IWND will take that to 0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan Round 1: hits 2.37 times, wounds 1.865 times, 0.932 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.599 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan Round 2: hits 2.666 times, wounds 2.221 times, 1.11 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.777 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins as Lorgar can't even put a dent on him.
**Note: as always, psychic powers not included. You know how it would end anyway...

* Vulkan VS Perturabo
**Perturabo hits 2.667 times, wounds 2.222, 0.741 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan (Blinded): hits 1.333 times, wounds 1.111 times, 0.37 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.037 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Perturabo wins against Vulkan thanks to his Hammer.

* Vulkan VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.136 times, 0.379 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins without breaking a sweat.

* Vulkan VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn hits 2.667 times, wounds 1.481 times, 0.494 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.333 times, 0.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins again.

* Vulkan VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.222 times (Scourge)/1.667 times (Shadow-walk), 0.741 wounds (Scourge)/0.556 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185/0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times/1.333 times, wounds 1.667 times/1.111 times, 1.111 wounds/0.741 after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778/0.408 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins.
**Note: even with Hit & Run Corax will struggle to keep up with the damage output of Vulkan, and if he uses Scourge (the only way to really do more damage than him) chance are pretty high that Vulkan will Hammer him to I 1, thus making almost impossible for him to escape.

* Vulkan VS Roboute Guilliman
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.139 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.37 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 times after saves, 0.417 after Armor of Reason and IWND will take that down to 0.083.
**Guilliman takes the win (after a loooong fight) because he does more damage than Vulkan.

* Vulkan VS Leman Russ
**Russ hits 4 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.741 time after saves, plus 0.206 wounds from Sever Life for a whole 0.947 wounds and IWND will take that down to 0.392 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan round 1: hits 1.333 times, wounds 1.111 times, 0.555 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Vulkan Round 2 and thereafter: hits 0.667 times, wounds 0.555 times, 0.278 times after saves and IWND will take that down to -0.055 wounds.
**Vulkan loses after a long fight.

* Vulkan VS Jaghatai
**Jaghatai hits 4 times, wounds 1.333 times, 0.444 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan is more likely to pass an IWND roll than Khan is to wound him, so Vulkan wins.

* TLDR version: Thanks to his mere resilience Vulkan is actually one of the strongest Primarchs when it comes down to 1 vs 1 fights, losing mathematically to only five of the Primarchs released till now (7, if we include Lorgar transfigured and psychic Magnus), and they all will take some time to kill him, even Horus. Also, even though he strike less than most of them, he strikes really hard, making him hurt everyone in the same way (except for Rogal Dorn..). Then again, even though he would win almost every fight, he will take his sweet time to do so, so don't ever stick him in a fight with a Primarch; in his case it will never end (unless you want to tie them up for the whole game, in which case, he's perfect).

</div></div>
{{Primarchs}}
[[Category:Imperial]]

Vulkan

2021-03-19T19:15:13Z

2601:585:8301:76D0:BD98:736E:6C86:3377:

{{Awesome}}
[[File:Vulkan's Face.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Vulkan, The Lord of Drakes, The Hammer of Salvation, the HNIC. The Promethean Fire. Too cool a guy to complain that [[Sanguinius]] got all the glamour genes.]]
{{topquote|Vulkan: "There will be no Rad or Phosphex in my legion. We shall fight wars humanely. Some things should be left in the dark age."<br>[[Ferrus Manus|Ferrus]]: "Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death?"<br>Vulkan: "I don't understand the question.|A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs}}
{{Topquote|Even the softest and sweetest heart was made by design for extreme battle.|Bryant McGill}}
{{Topquote|Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness.|Katherine Henson}}

{{Topquote|VULKAN LIVES *stomp* *stomp*| The salamanders upon reuniting with their primarch

<b>Vulkan</b>, aka '''the Lord of Drakes, the Hammer of Salvation, the Promethean Fire, the [[Alternate Heresy|Black Dragon]], and the [[TTS|Jolly Green Giant]]''', is the [[Primarch]] of the [[Salamanders]] [[Chapter]] of [[Space Marines]]. He is notable for being a fuckawesome smith, and advancing a civilization from Stone to the Steel Age in a matter of months, as well as being perhaps one of the only likable and bro-tier Primarchs, a trait he shares with [[Sanguinius]] and Crusade Era [[Horus]]. He does not pity the [[Dark Eldar]] fools who raided his planet.

Like all Primarchs, he was dropped on [[Nocturne|a far-flung planet]] as an infant, and worked his way to a position of power. Some Primarchs became powerful by being good at politics and bureaucracy, or by kicking enemy ass. Vulkan did it by being really fucking smart and murdering as many Dark Eldar as he could find with massive [[Warhammer 40,000|hammers]], both of which are fine occupations for a Demigod. He also made some really cool stuff, which the Salamanders have been spending all of their free time trying to find. As Primarchs go, he's more or less tied with Sanguinius as being a shining example of [[this guy]], especially [[Lorgar|compared to]] [[Perturabo|some]] [[Konrad Curze|of]] [[Angron|them]].

It's also worth noting that while Vulkan may have been the nicest of the primarchs, that was still only in a ''relative'' sense. Case in point on the planet Caledra in the book ''Promethean Sun'', Vulkan and the Salamanders came across a world where primitive human tribes and [[Eldar]] [[Exodites]] lived together in peace. It turned out that in the past the [[Dark Eldar]] had tried to raid the Exodites for slaves (as they do) and the Exodites had turned the tables on them and ganked them. When the Exodites did they found the [[Dark Eldar]] had a whole bunch of human slaves with them, and the Exodites ended up resettling them on their home planet where the two groups lived in harmony. Vulkan and the Salamanders immediately went all "suffer the xenos not to live", and the Exodites protested [[Rip and Tear|very strenuously]] [[Dinosaur|against being killed]]. During the battle Vulkan came across the humans of Caledra attempting to sacrifice a captured [[Dark Eldar]] as part of a primitive ritual to make the Exodites (who they saw as their saviors) make the Salamanders go the fuck away. The exact line being "These people didn't want to be saved, they had already been saved, but not by us". Vulkan realized that the humans of Caledra would never accept the Imperium as their saviors (mostly because, y’know, the Salamanders had been burninating the hell out of their home) and were a walking, talking middle finger to the Imperium party line that all xenos were evil and must be killed, and ordered the entire human population of Caledra burned to death. [[Grimdark|It also turned out that the humans on Caldera were the missing survivors of those taken from Nocturne]] by the [[Dark Eldar]] during Vulkan's youth and their descendants. Vulkan later came to the conclusion that the Emperor sent him to Caledra as a test of his fortitude, to see if he had the stomach to kill his own people in order to cover up the awful truth that (gasp) humans could coexist with xenos. [[Grimdark|He passed]].

[[Grimdark|Vulkan is also known to have burned a surrendering eldar child to death in a fit of rage.]]

The only real chink in his moral armor is his out-of-control pyromania. When he banned the use of Destroyers and other terror weapons within his legion as "too cruel," Ferrus Manus pointed out that burning people to death with flamers, volkite rays, and melta weaponry was hardly that much better. He wasn't wrong, but Vulkan was too busy setting a tank on fire with those boosted flamer-pen rolls to notice.

He is also a [[Perpetual]], which means that he regenerates from ANY injury, even the ones that actually kill him. With enough time, [[Anval Thawn|he can return from a death which vaporized him to atoms]], find the culprit, and kick his sorry ass from one edge of the galaxy to the other. [[Konrad Curze]] found this out the hard way. Unfortunately this has not been translated into tabletop rules, on the well-grounded point that having a Primarch that is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL is slightly unfair. He inherited this ability from [[Emperor|his father]], which implies that the Emperor is a perpetual as well. This can provoke [[Skub|long and passionate debate]]. Nevermind, The Emperor's status as a perpetual has since been confirmed and stated outright both in the Siege of Terra novel, ''Saturnine'', as well as GW itself by way of an FAQ posting.

Pretty cool guy. Definitely cooler than his brothers. And also the hottest on a very literal way. [[Star Wars|Ironic]].

== History ==

=== Early Life ===
[[File:Vulkan.jpg|400px|thumb|left|Vulkan will burn a fool to ash instead of pitying him.]]
Rather than be dumped in a volcano for being a bad omen, as is the fate of many small children who crash on feudal death worlds in space pods, Vulkan grew up as the adopted son of a blacksmith named N'bel, from whom he learned the basics of metallurgy. Of course, being a genetically engineered super-soldier like his brothers he reached adulthood at the age of three and started inventing new alloys like they were going out of style, bringing most of the planet up to the late Steel Age in a matter of months.

Anyway, Vulkan enjoyed his normal life (or as close to normal a super-strong basically Demi-God genius blacksmith could) until the [[Dark Eldar]] came to town. Nocturne, it turns out, was a favorite raiding destination for [[Mandrakes]], whose realm of '''Aelindrach''' was connected to Nocturne by a series of Webway gates. The populace, who had advanced to about the iron age before Vulkan came along, generally tended to hide from the space rapists with guns that shoot poisonous glass, but Vulkan didn't share their good sense (possibly having something to do with the fact that he could have tanked multiple RPG-7 rounds to the torso and only gotten mildly pissed off, but whatever). Instead, the first time they came after his arrival, he grabbed a pair of blacksmith's hammers and went to town on Spess Elf ass. ''(If this sounds suspiciously [http://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Valten familiar] then congratulations, you're paying attention. If you also noticed that Vulkan predates that character, making the other one the rip-off, then even better! We will make an expert of you yet!)'' Although admittedly, Vulkan's first attempt at dealing with the situation resulted in a failure; he drove off the Eldar, but then he took a force of his best men into the webway to defeat the Mandrakes at their source, only to be picked off and murdered while they advanced. They got as far as [[Kheradruakh]]'s tower, but there Vulkan ended up being the last man standing and forced to retreat. When he got back to Nocturne he smashed the webway gate to bits, regretting his decision not to do it in the first place and lamenting the loss of so many good men. [[Troll|A season later the Mandrakes returned]], forcing Vulkan to realise that there was more than one Webway gate on the planet, and that his earlier attempt to destroy their entrance as well as the counter-charge were both futile actions on their own, meaning he would have to destroy each one if he wanted to protect his people. [[awesome|And guess what? He did exactly that!]]

<s>Shortly after Valt-- I mean Vulkan</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy! Vulkan came first!}} drove off the raiders, his settlement threw a bigass feast to celebrate the victory along with a competition to see who had the biggest [[Pauldrons|man-parts]]. Amongst the events were to be anvil-lifting, weapon-forging, and bigass fire-breathing dragon-thing slaying. Or something like that. A stranger ended up intruding on the ceremony, and proved himself Vulkan's equal in every contest except the salamander slaying, which Vulkan won by virtue of his own thick-headedness and the stranger saving his sorry ass. (If you want the long story filled with themes of honor and dignity read the fucking [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Vulkan Lexicanum]) Vulkan pledged his loyalty to the stranger immediately after being declared the victor, saying that anyone who valued human life over victory was worth following, and with insufferable predictability the stranger revealed himself to be [[God-Emperor of Mankind|the Emprah]].

The short story ''Mercy of the Dragon'' adds a little more to the story however, in that Vulkan's acceptance was not immediate upon declaring the Emperor the victor. The two spoke for a while, with the Emperor trying to convince Vulkan to leave his homeworld and join the Great Crusade. After hearing about his brothers, the terrors of the Old Night and of the Imperial Truth; Vulkan put it quite plainly that as the son of a blacksmith, he had no interest in being a general or a conqueror. Pointing out that where his brother primarchs were already great and proud generals, Vulkan only desired peace. The Emperor told Vulkan that he was ''"utterly unlike"'' the rest of his brothers, and that was both his single greatest trait and the Emperor's proudest achievement. So when asked by Vulkan what could he possibly teach the other Primarchs, big Emps told him that his lesson was the most crucial and that he was uniquely disposed to teach it: his <u>Humanity</u>.

=== Great Crusade ===
Despite being brought into the fold, the Emperor took the unusual step of not officially revealing Vulkan and keeping him close by for an extended period of time, quite possibly because a massive charcoal-black dude with red eyes might have been too much for a puritanical Imperium to deal with at least initially ''(all of the initial Terran Salamanders were only "slightly" darkened and had ember eyes, and it was quite likely that Magnus was not discovered yet)'' OR because the Emperor considered Vulkan to be too soft and compassionate and needed some tough-love OR because big Emps had a different plan for Vulkan. For a few years during the Great Crusade, Vulkan would not act without wearing his armour or travelling very far from the Emperor himself, thus for a time all people knew was that the Emperor had picked up a gigantic, nameless, emerald champion from somewhere. The only people privy to Vulkan's existence were the other Primarchs who were already discovered, and the Priesthood of Mars.

Vulkan was only officially revealed at the right moment: when 19,000 members of his Legion were under siege by a force of over a million Orks, they were relieved by a "new" force of 3000 marines drawn from Nocturne accompanied by an entire battlefleet composed of warships & war machines of Vulkan's own design, which explains what he was doing with the Mechanicum for those years. Collectively they demolished the Orks and the old Terran Salamanders got to find out who their forefather was.

The rest, as they say, is history.

=== Horus Heresy ===
[[File:Vulkan Lives.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Vulkan Lives. And he's got a big hammer. (That Marine is totally going to reveal that he ripped his pants)]]
While the rest may be history, what happened after the [[Horus Heresy]] is an absolute records nightmare.

Sensing that the galaxy was about to change in a bad way, Vulkan created the post of Forgefather before leaving for Istvaan, with instructions to destroy all his masterwork creations so they could never be misused in the future. The new Forgefather protested, leading Vulkan to relent, and tell him to pick out [[Nurgle|seven]] artifacts to remain. Whether these are the same artifacts as in 40k is currently unclear.

During the Drop Site Massacre, the Salamanders took such severe losses that they were reduced to 780 battle-brothers. Worse yet, Vulkan was initially believed to have been killed in the Dropsite Massacre, although his body was never found, in earlier fluff this was a contentious sticking point, because "Vulkan" was also have supposedly survived at least up to the [[Second Founding]], although at that time it wasn't certain whether this was the actual Vulkan, or one of the Forgefathers that followed him.

The Horus Heresy novels cleared this up somewhat, then threw some new wrinkles into the equation: Vulkan died '''''and''''' lived. Like the [[Emperor of Mankind|Emperor,]] John Grammaticus, Mary Poppins and [[Ollanius Pius]], Vulkan is a [[Perpetual]]: a being who can't be killed by any means ''(decapitation, immolation, asphyxiation, having his heart torn out with a rusty fork, etc)'' and will regenerate from it. His first death occurred during the [[Drop Site Massacre]], where the [[Iron Warriors]] launched a tactical nuclear missile at the Salamanders, killing Vulkan and the bulk of the XVIII Legion. Vulkan (seemingly) survived, however, and was given over to [[Konrad Curze]] for [[Dark Eldar|sick, torturous fun]]. [[If_the_Emperor_had_a_Text-to-Speech_Device|He tried to kill Vulkan. Really, REALLY hard! With a FORK!]] But it soon turned to unstoppable rage when Curze learned he couldn't fully kill Vulkan, so he just kept killing him over and over, getting even more pissed off, which is strange; seeing as Curze is a murderous psychopath, one would hypothesize this would be a dream come true (one must assume Sevatar and Sheng were pulling straws on delivering Curze the bad news at this point) before Vulkan managed to steal ''Dawnbringer'', a thunder hammer originally intended as a gift for [[Horus]] with teleportation function included. The hammer teleported Vulkan off the ''Nightfall'' (though not before he beat Konrad, who had apparently forgotten ''"It's also a hammer"'', to a pulp) and sent him to [[Macragge]], where he burned up on re-entry and resurrected himself again. Unfortunately, the constant deaths drove Vulkan completely insane, into little more than a feral beast, attacking everyone he saw, including [[Roboute Guilliman]].

While this was going on, [[xenos]] were doing their thing: plotting. [[The Cabal]], a group of xenos who believed that allowing [[Chaos]] to win the [[Horus Heresy]] would get the [[Chaos Gods]] addicted on human emotions and then be destroyed outright when humanity collapsed on itself, so they sent John Grammaticus with a fulgurite, a piece of the Emperor's psychic lightning encased within a shard, to give to a Primarch with which to kill Vulkan, as they feared he might turn the tide at Terra. However, [[Eldrad]], in an incredibly undickish move, told John Grammaticus that if ''he'' killed Vulkan, he could instead heal Vulkan's mind, allowing him to perform his desired role. After Konrad Curze arrived on Macragge (after jumping off [[Lion El'Jonson]]'s battle barge after playing an extended game of hide and seek), Vulkan went apeshit and made a beeline for Curze. Apparently, the fulgurite could only kill Vulkan permanently if it was USED BY ANOTHER PRIMARCH. During the battle, John Grammaticus, in a change of heart, instead of giving the fulgurite to Curze to kill Vulkan, stabbed Vulkan with the shard himself, restoring Vulkan's sanity but simultaneously knocking him into a deep coma, while making Grammaticus fully human. Guilliman hoped he might revive himself, so he placed him in a coffin (or preservation capsule, as he told [[Lion El'Jonson]] and [[Sanguinius]]), hand-crafted by Guilliman himself, where he was guarded by some Salamanders who had made it to Macragge, who thought they might have heard a heartbeat. Before you get your hopes up, however, the coffin was named ''The Unbound Flame'', the last of the fabled ''Artifacts of Vulkan'' that the Forgefathers would be looking for in later 40k.

*Those of you who enjoy speculation should be getting a kick out of this. While internally consistent, it is almost completely incompatible with [[Vulkan He'stan]]'s lore, which is just as canon as ''Vulkan Lives'' as of the 6th ed Marines codex. Ignoring for a moment the question of how the "Unbound Flame" was lost to the Salamanders, "Unbound Flame" was ''Vulkan's'' name for the artifact, not Guilliman's, and it's a name that predates the Drop Site Massacre. Vulkan had no prior history of being able to see the future, and was unconscious, dead, or completely insane during any of the times when it would have made sense for him to tell Guilliman what to name his casket. Also, the coffin would have to be *extremely* oversized and only usable for a Primarch. The Horus Heresy Novel ''Deathfire'' is based around the Salamander remnants trying to return The Unbound Flame to Nocturne, which they succeed at. So far as we know, it is not now and has never been missing. The biggest problem is that the casket was made by Guilliman and the fulgurite and Vulkan himself were both made by the Emperor, so neither the casket nor its contents were made by Vulkan, and all nine artifacts that have to be recovered were made by Vulkan himself.
*This is somewhat mitigated when one considers that Vulkan only told his first Forgefather to choose seven artefacts rather than nine, so the other two had to come from somewhere else or made by Vulkan at some point after the Dropsite Massacre. It also turns out that the Unbound Flame (or Immolus as it was known on Nocturne), as well as being a title occasionally attributed to Vulkan himself, was a central concept to everyone on Nocturne - the all destroying fire and could refer to pretty much anything.
*In Nick Kyme's Salamanders Trilogy, the Chapter believes that the Unbound Flame might in fact be the soul of Vulkan, rather than a specific object. The Chapter are not aware of Vulkan's Perpetual ability and consider the possibility to the term could refer to him directly without them realising, though it could also be a form of reincarnation. Even though they conclude that one of their Librarians: '''Hazon Dak'ir''' is probably NOT the Unbound Flame ''(and therefore not a reincarnation of the Primarch)'' it doesn't mean they aren't correct with their original guess or that they don't realize they are hunting for Vulkan instead of an artefact.

The novel Deathfire ended up resolving a few issues and creating a few more mysteries. After First Captain '''Artellus Numeon''' of the Salamanders is rescued and relocated to Macragge, he goes a bit...crazy over finding out that Vulkan is dead. Weird things happen and the body is briefly stolen (by whom is unknown, though current bets are on the [[Lion El'Jonson|Lion]]) before being reclaimed by the Salamanders and fast tracked back to Nocturne. In spite of Vulkan's previous resurrection powers (which were supposedly removed), the remaining Salamanders believe that returning the body to Nocturne would bring him back to life, according to the Promethean Creed. After fighting off a variety of parties trying to get the body back (including a surprising turn from one of the shards of [[Magnus the Red]]), Numeon is told, not surprisingly, that the story was allegorical - any resurrection was a rebirth of spirit, ideals, and resolve; not a literal one. After getting a little suicidal about the whole thing, Numeon climbs the slopes of an erupting Mount Deathfire. A rescue party is sent out to find him (or his convection broiled corpse) but instead they find Vulkan alive and well, having ended up resurrecting himself after all.

'''Old Earth''' pads this resurrection out somewhat; Vulkan awakes in a cave inside of Mount Deathfire, missing some important memories but possessing some unexplained knowledge. Having a conversation with [[Eldrad|this dick in disguise]], Vulkan realises that there is still a Webway gate left on Nocturne, and that it is buried underneath Deathfire. Based on his own limited understanding of his Perpetual limits, he also comes to the conclusion that his Father's purpose for him is no longer to lead his Legion, arguing that the Imperium already has enough generals. So he decides not to rejoin the Salamanders or the Horus Heresy, but instead travel to Terra through the Webway, taking only three Legionaries with him and swearing them to secrecy about his return. When he does reach Terra, the Emperor tells him, in true grimdark fashion, that Vulkan had an additional purpose to uphold. In the event of Chaos winning the battle of Terra, Vulkan's interaction with the Golden Throne would somehow lead to the whole planet annihilating itself ; throneworld, loyalists, traitors, webway entrance and daemons alike. Whilst coming out of nowhere, it at least gives a reason for Vulkan to be on Terra but not seen during the siege itself if he was acting as a living deadman's switch.

Critical opinions aside, it does at least explain how Vulkan was able to do things post-Heresy and why information on his activities after the Heresy are spotty and incomplete, since at this point he had already decided to move into the background and leave the Salamanders generally nonplussed.

=== Later 40k ===
[[File:Big+black+friendly+salamander+centerhttpstwittercomdrunkrembrancerstatus.jpg|500px|right|thumb|Fan art depicting Vulkan dressing [[Corvus Corax|his best friend Corax]] up in a [[Salamander]] onesie (The beasts of Nocturne, not the Chapter) [[Disney 40k|and showing him a whole new world.]] [[Lofn|Say it with me everybody!]] [[Dawww|Daaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww!]]]]
The 6th edition codex and ''Vulkan Lives'' have included quotes from Vulkan after the Horus Heresy, arguing with Roboute Guilliman about his issues with the Codex (namely the fact that the Salamanders didn't have enough marines left to fill one chapter, let alone two) and a speech that he made to the survivors of his legion on Terra, so there's hope that more will happen in the future of the (yet unfinished) Horus Heresy books. But all of this hits a snag when one realizes that it could have been simply the First Forge Father and 10,000 years resulted in people forgetting that wasn't the real Vulkan. The black library novel series and the 8th edition Codex confirmed his survival after the Heresy, claiming that he would return to aid the Salamanders from time to time for a couple of millennia afterwards and added that he bequeathed the Tome of Fire to the Salamanders after warning them he had to leave on a long journey for reasons he couldn't discuss.

In response, the Salamanders created the position of Forgefather, chosen from a Company Captain who would travel the galaxy searching for information on the fate of Vulkan and his nine Artifacts of Vulkan. So far, five have been discovered, three of which are pieces of wargear used by the Forgefather. Another is a massive laser weapon used to shoot out incoming ships trying to attack [[Nocturne]]. The fifth is a downed forgeship used to create wargear for the Chapter, which, alongside their unique practices, is the reason they have so many master-crafted weapons. The locations--and even the form--of the other Artifacts are completely unknown. The Salamanders hold that once all nine Artifacts have been located, Vulkan will return to the Salamanders and lead them once more. Like [[Leman Russ]], but with more style.

The Beast Arises series says that at least 1500 years after the Horus Heresy, Vulkan was still alive and kicking, and of course he was trapped on an Ork world fighting them all the time, so the Imperial Fists set out to investigate these rumours and bring him back if possible. They succeed, but he refuses to abandon the world he's on, claiming that ''every'' world in the Imperium is just as important as [[Terra]] and is equally as deserving of protection and instead rallies the Imperial forces to defeat the Orks, save the world, and give stirring speeches to everyone who sees him. But not before a few clues are dropped that the years since the Horus Heresy have not been kind to him. He doesn't seem to understand what a "Successor Chapter" is, which given that he was present at the time of the Second founding is pretty ridiculous unless it really was the Forgefather who spoke for him at the Second Founding rather than himself. He also implies that he can communicate with [[Dorn]], as he said he would tell Dorn that Koorland is a worthy successor when he sees him. Though this statement about Dorn might signify the onset of madness or senility, considering that he had already been haunted by visions of his dead brother [[Ferrus Manus]] during the Horus Heresy; it might instead signify that the departed soul of Dorn might still be reachable, considering the Emperor could psychically summon an effigy of their brother Ferrus to battle daemons in the webway; or it might really mean that Dorn is in fact still alive, giving fans some hope to cling to. Or he just didn't realise that Dorn had died during the intervening years of his self-exile.

Vulkan appears very much out of place during the War of the Beast as his mere existence is juxtaposed against a more modern Imperium that already considers him and his brothers as something out of a barely understood myth. He then agrees to go back with Terra and take command of the Imperial response, although he leaves the "actual" command of everything to Koorland and works primarily as an advisor ''(see above about him saying that the Imperium already has enough generals)'' and refuses to present himself to his own Chapter who would be dying to have an audience with their Primarch. Eventually he ends up exploding himself and The Beast together, not before stating he would return in another time to help humanity in a conflict that would make them tremble. Vulkan was officially declared dead, but the Salamanders and Chapter Master Koorland of the Imperial Fists believed that Vulkan could have survived. ''(And he probably did, him being a Perpetual and all that.)''

==On The Tabletop==
[[File:VulkanModel.JPG|300px|thumb|right|Vulkan's model is an instructional manual on how to deploy Hammertime.]]
Thank you, Forgeworld. We have rules for Vulkan now because of Horus Heresy Book 2: Electric Boogaloo. Remember how Mortarion in the first book got a ton of rules that basically made him unkillable? T7, a bajillionty wounds, saving throws coming out from places he didn't even know he had, rerolling failed It Will Not Die saves? Well, Vulkan gets all that fun stuff too except in a slightly different variety, AND he's as McHUEG deadly in both shooting and assault phases.

{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Vulkan:''' || 425|| 7 || 5|| 7 || 7 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 10 || 2+/3++
|}

Firstly, your entire army gains +1 Ld and Adamantium Will while he's deployed, because fuck psykers. He gets to reroll failed It Will Not Die and 5+ Deny the Witch, making him the fifth best psyker-proof Primarch (After Magnus, Lorgar, Mortarion and Horus) on par with Guilliman.

Vulkan's armor is stupidly good: as if 2+/3++ wasn't good enough, the Draken Scale also reduces the strength of any flamer, fusion, volkite, melta and plasma weapons used against him, BY HALF, rounded down. That means Plasma is only Strength 3 against him. Oh wait, he's T7. That means he's LITERALLY IMMUNE TO PLASMA WEAPONS, at least the ones that aren't attached to a superheavy tank or a titan. The only way to reliably cause wounds on Vulkan is heaping gobs and gobs of [[Imperial Ordnance|ordnance]] on him or unleash a few dozen [[Lascannon]]s and hope he stops moving before he gets too close. Or just being a Dark Eldar, with all guns poisoned 4+ or S8 AP2. No wonder Vulkan hates them.

His close combat weapon, the Dawnbringer, effectively makes him Sauron in that one scene before Sauron gets his finger chopped off in the Lord of the Rings movie. You know, where he bats entire legions of dudes around in a single swing? Yeah, that. Not only is the weapon itself Strength 10 AP1 [[Rip and tear|ConcussiveArmorbaneInstantDeath]] ''without'' also being Unwieldy, he can choose to not make attacks normally in combat to place a small blast template (you know, the 3" kind you use with grenades) anywhere in base to base contact with himself that does not cover friendly models. All models under it take a beefy S8 AP3 hit with Strikedown automatically. AKA: Thunk.

Vulkan is fairly shooty, too, something kind of odd for all the Primarchs released so far save Ferrus Manus. Go figure, Vulkan's line-drawing gun was created by the liquid metal-armed one. The best part is both ranged weapons Vulkan carries do not require you to roll to hit, so his below average (for a Primarch) BS5 doesn't come into play. One is simply a strength 6 heavy flamer, while the other is an 18" S6 AP2 beam gun with rending. You know how you utilize Beam psychic powers? It works just like that, except there are no 'deny the witch rolls' to be made.

All this said, no Primarch can do everything, and Vulkan is no exception. The Ld bonus and Adamantium Will are good, but don't stack up against [[Ferrus Manus|making your marines and tanks even tougher]], [[Lorgar|morale shenanigans and choosing psychic powers]], or [[Fulgrim|strategic traits, +2 to combat resolution, and challenge excellence]]. He also shares a problem with [[Angron]] and [[Leman Russ]] - as killy as he is he isn't very mobile, and he can't just mulch through tarpits like Dorn or Mortarion would. The Lord of Drakes just can't kill enough shit to justify his points cost unless your enemy brought something ludicrous like a Fellblade. If you're bringing him, you need a transport, a retinue, and a plan.

===Vulkan VS other Primarchs:===
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Primarch fighting, while fun to see, isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying (Especially in the case of Vulkan. No other primarch is resilient as he is, not even Mortarion. In your face, Khan!) With that in mind this section is about how Vulkan fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities are taken into accounts when possible and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses. In essence, the fights are supposed to happen in a "Vacuum" for simplicity, but notes are added to make things clearer in particular instances. Also all of the Primarch use their most powerful weapons (because why have a contest if you don't do your best?).
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* Vulkan VS Horus
**Horus hits 4.667 times (Worldbreaker), wounds 3.333 times, 1.111 after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Vulkan loses.

* Vulkan VS Angron
**Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.185 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.63.
**Angron Round 2: hits 4 times, wounds 2.666 times, 0.889 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves (ID Negates FNP) and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Thanks to his sheer resilience, Vulkan comes out on top.

* Vulkan vs Mortarion
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.25 times, 0.415 wounds after saves and 0 wounds after IWND.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins.

* Vulkan vs Fulgrim
**Fulgrim Round 1 (And every round he is not Concussed): hits 6 times, wounds 3 times, 1 wounds after saves and 0.444 wounds after IWND.
**Fulgrim (Every round he IS Concussed): hits 4 times, wounds 2 times, 0.667 wounds after saves and 0.111 wounds after IWND.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**A really close (and long) fight but it ends in victory for Fulgrim, for even with the 55% chance of being concussed his average damage is 0.261, a little bit higher than Vulkan's.

* Vulkan vs Ferrus Manus
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2 times, 0.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.111 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**The fight between the two big tanks ends in victory for Vulkan, 'cause even though Ferrus does marginally more damage, Vulkan is a bit tougher (or better, he regenerates a lot faster).

* Vulkan vs Konrad Curze
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.741 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins as he is just too tanky for Konrad.

* Vulkan VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.556 after saves and IWND will take that to 0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan Round 1: hits 2.37 times, wounds 1.865 times, 0.932 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.599 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan Round 2: hits 2.666 times, wounds 2.221 times, 1.11 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.777 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins as Lorgar can't even put a dent on him.
**Note: as always, psychic powers not included. You know how it would end anyway...

* Vulkan VS Perturabo
**Perturabo hits 2.667 times, wounds 2.222, 0.741 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.555 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan (Blinded): hits 1.333 times, wounds 1.111 times, 0.37 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.037 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Perturabo wins against Vulkan thanks to his Hammer.

* Vulkan VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.136 times, 0.379 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins without breaking a sweat.

* Vulkan VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn hits 2.667 times, wounds 1.481 times, 0.494 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.333 times, 0.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins again.

* Vulkan VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.222 times (Scourge)/1.667 times (Shadow-walk), 0.741 wounds (Scourge)/0.556 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185/0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times/1.333 times, wounds 1.667 times/1.111 times, 1.111 wounds/0.741 after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778/0.408 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan wins.
**Note: even with Hit & Run Corax will struggle to keep up with the damage output of Vulkan, and if he uses Scourge (the only way to really do more damage than him) chance are pretty high that Vulkan will Hammer him to I 1, thus making almost impossible for him to escape.

* Vulkan VS Roboute Guilliman
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.139 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.37 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 times after saves, 0.417 after Armor of Reason and IWND will take that down to 0.083.
**Guilliman takes the win (after a loooong fight) because he does more damage than Vulkan.

* Vulkan VS Leman Russ
**Russ hits 4 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.741 time after saves, plus 0.206 wounds from Sever Life for a whole 0.947 wounds and IWND will take that down to 0.392 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan round 1: hits 1.333 times, wounds 1.111 times, 0.555 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222.
**Vulkan Round 2 and thereafter: hits 0.667 times, wounds 0.555 times, 0.278 times after saves and IWND will take that down to -0.055 wounds.
**Vulkan loses after a long fight.

* Vulkan VS Jaghatai
**Jaghatai hits 4 times, wounds 1.333 times, 0.444 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.556 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan is more likely to pass an IWND roll than Khan is to wound him, so Vulkan wins.

* TLDR version: Thanks to his mere resilience Vulkan is actually one of the strongest Primarchs when it comes down to 1 vs 1 fights, losing mathematically to only five of the Primarchs released till now (7, if we include Lorgar transfigured and psychic Magnus), and they all will take some time to kill him, even Horus. Also, even though he strike less than most of them, he strikes really hard, making him hurt everyone in the same way (except for Rogal Dorn..). Then again, even though he would win almost every fight, he will take his sweet time to do so, so don't ever stick him in a fight with a Primarch; in his case it will never end (unless you want to tie them up for the whole game, in which case, he's perfect).

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{{Primarchs}}
[[Category:Imperial]]