Battlemode has plenty of guides dedicated to playing battlemode as a slayer, but very few focus on being a demon: this guide aims to remedy that. Feel free to comment if you think I forgot anything, so i can improve this guide!

Note that I will keep this guide updated as balance patches and new demons are released, so stay tuned!

Here we will talk about general rules that apply no matter what demon or skillset you use.

1: Use and abuse cover

The slayer has hitscan weapons, you do not. As such, cover is vital as a demon, way more than it is for the slayer. You should always seek cover the second you think the slayer has it's attention turned towards you, and have a plan when you decide to go out.

2: Keep an eye on your ally

That one sounds evident, but it's easy to forget: the other player is as valuable as you are, and as such you should keep tabs on him: if you see the Slayer trying to kill your demon buddy, you should be agressive as the slayer's attention is away from you, allowing you free damage and the added bonus of possibly forcing the slayer to abandon his target. Use healing areas to help your demonic buddy if he is in a safe position and both of you are hurt, and damage areas to further force the slayer to stop harassing him. Also, be mindful of loot block usage and try to avoid the double block as much as possible (for that one, using the mic is recommanded though) You'll be surprised how many times I've seen the Slayer kick the bucket after a wild goose chase with a very low health demon, allowing another, as badly damaged demon free range to deal damage.

3: Don't feel bad if you lost the first round

Demon players earn upgrades that are a LOT more powerful and game-changing than those of the Slayer. It's rather common to get flattened on the first round against a good slayer, only to end up pulling off a win once upgrades kick in

Demon summons merit their own part. All playable demons have a range of summons, that don't always behave exactly like in the campaign due tot he simple fact that you can control their placement. As such i think each summon option needs to be mentioned.

Note: while it's possible to resummon a demon that's already on the field, it's something you have to think about: the previous demon will disappear and drop health, which may help the Slayer if he is low on health. If he is already full health though, he will gain nothing from it, and you can go wild

Cacodemon: Really slow, and can be turned into a free health pack with a grenade, although the hitbox for the swallowing seems way smaller than in the campaign. Ideally, you want to place it in tight spaces to block the slayer, especially if it gets him in range of the cacodemon's devastating chomp. in open spaces, he is little more than a distraction, so don't hesitate to resummon one if you get a good occasion for it.

Prowler: a set and forget demon, not strong or large enough to warrant using it in tricky way, but extremely mobile and great at grabbing the slayer's attention. Just make sure it's always summoned and you should be fine.

Carcass: another set and forget demon, that i don't really like that much: while it's shields are great at annoying the Slayer, they can also block YOU. Be mindful of that, otherwise, just like the prowler, just let it do it's own thing.

Arachnotron: yet another set and forget, it can get it's turret destroyed like in the campaign. however, it's large body makes it worth it to try and mess up with the slayer's path by blocking tight spaces with it. Another use is as a way to find the slayer if you lost track of him: it's the only ranged "set and forget" demon, that is also quite large and easy to spot. Always remember even if you don't see the slayer's outline, AI controlled demons always know where he is, and the arachnotron is the easiest to spot when it comes to knowing where he is hiding.

Hell knight: pretty agile, beefy and with no exploitable weak spots, it's an overall reliable demon to pressure the slayer with or distract him as he tries to get long range shots at you. Ideally, you should summon him behind the slayer to blindside him.

Makyr drone: I honestly fail to fint it's role. It's ranged attack has no tracking nor spread, meaning a slayer that stays on the move is unlikely to ever be hit by it (although it hurts a lot if it ever does), and it's too slow to really use it's melee attack. Like in the campaign, it can be headshotted for an instant kill, that will resupply the slayer health and ammo. I would advise summonning it once, and watching if the slayer takes advantage of it or not: if you see headshots happen, do not summon it anymore for the rest of the match, or that will be one more way for the Slayer to resupply.

Shield soldiers: Don't be fooled, these guys are powerhouses. their shotguns can take the slayer's health to almost nothing in a flash, and since they don't move, they are ideal summons to use as traps at the exit of portals or ont the top of jump pads. They can also be used to punish a slayer that's chasing you from too close, and can quickly result in a dead slayer if he takes the bait.

Probably the hardest demon to master due to how demanding his positioning and map knowledge is, the Archvile is also the best support demon. Don't expect big damage numbers to come from the Archvile, but do expect to ruin the Slayer's life over and over. It is a slow, large demon that also doesn't have a lot of health, but it's teleport is a great burst of speed allowing you to also abuse elevation to make it harder for the Slayer to reach you.

Where the Archvile truely shines though is in area denial: it's flame wall can completely block the Slayer into a trap, or create cover that doesn't prevent demons from attacking or moving freely (in fact, i advise to lure the slayer in close range, punish him with a flame wall, and burn the ground if he tries to go around it while you go back through your wall to be safe once more). The best plays as an archvile will invariably be the situations where you cut off the Slayer's escape, or straight up box him in a corner where he will not be able to escape area damage (the teleporter room on Tundra comes to mind, as it's only exit can be entirely blocked).

As far as the upgrade choices go, it depends on your chosen loadout: in both cases Boiling heat is a great pick, allowing the lake of fire to be more punishing and to boost all damage sources for a few precious seconds if the slayer so much as sets a toe in the flames. For the second upgrade, it depends: the summoner loadout benefits a lot from Buff Minions to turn the shield soldiers into true terrors, while I'd prefer tactician on the agile loadout to get more use out of the haste and noxious zone.

Overall though, don't hesitate to be creative with the Archvile; once you get better at reading the Slayer's behaviour and know the maps well, you will also get better at constantly getting in his way.

That big fat boi is good at one and one thing: punishing the slayer if he EVER gets too close to him. It's long range attack is pretty damaging and the projectile is pretty fast after update, but with a sluggish refire rate. As for the smoke bomb, it's really useful to make the slayer unaware of his surroundings or to hide yourself (in which case you should stop shooting, as that would easily reveal your position) your goal during the game will be to figure out the movements of the slayer, and intercept him for heavy damage: don't try to run after the slayer, even when under the effects of haste you will not catch him. Note also that the Mancubus is currently the only demon with an unique damage resistance, as we will take only 250 damage from ballista shots instead of 550: that gives you more leeway to move exposed than other demons

For upgrades, quick smoke is almost mandatory, giving you a much needed speed boost on a very short cooldown, and tactician is a great choice to allow you even more mobility in a demon that REALLY needs it.

As far as loadouts go, the support one is superior in my opinion: it gives you overall better demons to summon for general use, as well as a healing area that you will REALLY need, and can take advantage of more easily as the mancubus is harder to scare off his chosen position especially once smoke gets involved (and it's not like a quick escape is even an option as a Mancubus). The tanker set has it's merits though, as the mancubus can be good at chasing the slayer out of an area, only to block his escape route with either the noxious zone or a cacodemon, with smoke making sure the slayer doesn't realise what's going on until it's too late. It's just that without the heal, the mancubus can really suffer the longer a match drags on.

Ovarall, if you are good at reading the actions of the Slayer and predict them well.. the Mancubus is a great choice.

The terror from the campaign, back to collect the salt tax from Slayers. The Marauder is a weird demon, having little utility and hard to use burst damage (more on that later) combined with the lowest health possible, tied with the Revenant; but he compensates by having the smallest hitbox, and one of the best mobility out of all demons, combined with a VERY reliable secondary (on default controls) and special attack. With a marauder, you want to ALWAYS be throwing that axe at the slayer, to be constantly chipping away at his health. The wolf summon is good as a litteral guided missile, be mindful that you can't attack during the summon, and that the wolf needs space to appear just like a regular demon summon. The axe can act as a landmine of sort, allowing you to easily deal damage with it even if the slayer is out of sight or fully committed to dodging as it's explosion is delayed if it hits the ground, something that is unique to the Marauder. For overall strategy, you should be chasing the slayer actively, or running from him if chased: staying at range isn't something the Marauder is very good at... in melee however, spend your dashes wisely, and try to avoid burning both charges unless you need it as to keep the cooldown short and the dashe's availability high, and dashing towards the Slayer can be a good defensive tactic to throw his aim off by forcing him to do a 180 degree turn.

As for the shotgun.. it's not as good as it is on paper, primarily because the slayer is such a small target and that most slayers will move around like crazy; for that one i suggest using the training dummies of the marauder tutorial as target practice to really see how close you need to be for all pellets to hit (hint: the crosshair needs to be entirely INSIDE the slayer, and even then a stray pellet can sometime be seen): as such, it's mostly useful to punish a slayer that's not paying attention to you even as you are in close range or that just makes a beeline at you; but it's not something you should rely on unless your ability to track the twitchiest of Slayers is god tier; although, point blank shots can prove incredibly damaging for an attack with no cooldown tied to it. Also worth noting is that it's the only hitscan weapon available to demons, ans as such is a great tool to finish off a slayer that's on his last health points and dodging like crazy to stay alive.

Both loadouts are useful, and upgrade choices for both are the same: Tactician, and Bury the hatchet.Tactician makes you able to use the healing/noxious zone more, and more importantly, makes the armored buff last longer and available more often, a godsend for a melee demon with such a small health pool. Bury the hatchet is a free haste tied to your most used attack; extremely useful to dodge more shots, evade the slayer when waiting for your ally's revive or on the contrary to keep hounding on the slayer. As long as you keep direct hits going, you will stay fast, and will be able to keep chipping at the slayer's health, stay alive, or both. Worth noting is that you can trigger it by hitting the slayer even if he is invulnerable, making a chainsawing slayer a free speed buff. If langing axes is too much trouble on the other hand, go for bigger bar: i'ts a flat out 25% durability increase at all times, and never really disappoints. On the other hand, I do NOT recommand Best Friend: it's protection is a short lived buff that only happens once the wolf connects with the Slayer, which can be unreliable especially if you face a Slayer that likes staying in the air a lot, and even when triggered it is a 25% durability increase only.. same as bigger bar, that is passive and always active.

In conclusion, keep chipping at the slayer's health, shotgun him if the occasion presents itself, and keep mobile as the slayer would, and you can do no wrong as a marauder.

note: After his last nerf, I do not recommand the Marauder for new players. The revenant has just as many defensive tools, better range, burst and mobility. the Marauder can still shine in close quarters, but it's a very risky position to be in... the revenant is just better at everything else currently, for the same fragile health pool

The second support demon, the meatball demon is great at overseeing the battlefield, keeping track of the slayer at all time while taking potshots at him and bombarding him with well-placed summons and noxious hazards. You should still abuse cover as with any other demon, but your shield gives you an option that pushes the slayer to stop staring at you, least he's be wasting his attention and maybe even ammo on a demon he cannot hurt until the shield comes off, while you can keep attacking as usual yourself. It's auto attack does the same damage than the Marauder's axe toss, but with a projectile that has no arc and refires faster, making him a good DPS demon if he can keep on peppering the Slayer, and has a solid health pool on top. The soul shield will invariably be your most potent tool however, as the pain elemental is a pretty big target that often hangs where cover isn't as common, and his dash, while having a long range, has a long cooldown too and a single charge.

For upgrades, Fit Meatball is pretty much mandatory for the extra mobility it offers you. The other upgrade is pretty much up in the air, except bigger bar, that isn't as much of a significant health increase than on the Marauder, revenant or even Archvile. Tactician has more value if you use the pressure loadout, and Buff minions mixes better with the summonner set and in both cases, lingering sould is a decent choice, as although impractical, it's still extra damage and area denial.


And for the loadout choice, Pressure seems to be a better choice: the high ventage point offered by infinite flight makes it easy to place really nasty noxious hazards, but harder to properly use the healing zone if you want it for yourself, and the summonner set has to suffer the presence of the Makyr Drone.

Overall, the pain elemental is here to be a constant annoyance to the Slayer, but it's also one of the overall easiest demons to kill due to it's typically high position and very large hitbox.. so be careful, and spam that shield every time you either need a burst of damage or the Slayer looks your way.

The revenant knows of one, and one job only: dealing damage. It's auto attack is the most powerful of all demons as long as both rockets score a direct hit, and it's air mobility is very good, especially mixed with a dash from time to time. As for rocket barrage, it deals terrifying damage, especially if direct hits are scored.. the price being that the revenant will die very quickly once good hits come his way.

It's loadouts are both useful, althoug their purpose are almost opposite of eachother: the defensive set allows you to play the long game, better handling damage you receive and punishing the use of portals or tight corridors with close range summons, while the offensive loadout is all about trying to kill the Slayer as fast as possible through haste and noxious zones. Overall, the offensive one is preferable purely due to how vulnerable healing zone makes you.

For upgrades, you should mix and match these 3 choices depending on your needs: acrobat, bigger bar and unstable trigger. Both bigger bar and acrobat give you much needed increased survivability, one through mobility and the other through extra health the Slayer will need to power through no matter his aiming skill. As for unstable trigger, it allows you to deal even more damage, more often. Any combination of those 3 is good, although if you have no bloody idea, taking both unstable trigger and acrobat is pretty safe. Tactician can be an outlier with the defensive set though, to be protected more often and longer, and heal yourself and your buddy more.

But no matter what, never forget to keep at range, to comfortably drown the slayer in sweet, sweet explosive death.

The latest addition, and ooh boy is it an enjoayble one! The dread knight is a high risk, high reward demon with a bulky frame, and paper-thin health, but insane killing potential with his berserk ability, and a mobility that makes even the Slayer drool with envy.

He is the only demon with an attack that does not explode on impact, so direct hits are required, and unlike what the projectile suggests, the center needs to be hitting the slayer for damage to happen: the sides of the projectiles don't actually do anything.

The key with him is the Berserk ability: your goal as the Dread Knight is to stay alive and weaken the slayer until berserk is available, and they use berserk to go for the kill as soon as you know the Slayer will not be able to escape you easily. Note that the attacks in berserk mode are a sort of combo: afetr 5 attacks (last hit dealing double damage), the combo will stall and you will be unable to attack for a second; to prevent this, count your attacks: do 4 then stop attacking for a split second, then resume: this will allow you to not stop attacking, and have a better damage output than if you completed the combo. Also, note that the melee attacks while berserk have a VERY generous hit detection: it has decent range, and hit even to the sides or BEHIND you (with much shorter range), so don't worry too much about accuracy; basically consider every attack while berserk creates an AoE of damage around you and in front of you (which is true, berserk can hit multiple training dummies at the same time). Note that berserk is on cooldown at the starts of a round, unlike other demon abilities.

As far as loadouts go, he is an oddity: he is the only demon so far to have no access to either haste or armored in either of his toolkits. And here, the Disruption loadout is the clear winner: the recovery loadout is cursed with a Makyr drone and has a healing zone the Dread Knight is NOT made to use in the slightest (being very fragile, unthreatening out of berserk and based around extreme mobility), while his disruption loadout has three helpful summons (hell knight, prowler and carcass, and noxious zone that is very helpful to either force the slayer to go around, thus giving you more time to get Berserk or weakening him for berserk).

For upgrades, tactician is a waste, since it would only benefit his noxious or healing zones. Buff minions/thievinf hands can work on the Recovery loadout as the arachnotron is in there, but what you truely want is Ferocity: you WANT that berserk ability to be available as fast/often as possible. After that, Bugger Bar is an extremely good choice: he is fragile, and needs the durability to survive a dedicated slayer. Enshroud is interesting on paper, but in practice does little: the invisibility is way too short to be useful, and the smoke is small while putting you in the danger zone (and if you have Berserk, Smoke wouldn't make a difference either)

He has a high skill ceiling to learn how to best weave his movement abilities (throwing quantum across the room, fighing for an extra second and only then teleporting is the best way to throw off the Slayer). Stay alive, get berserk, and once you have it.. charge in, and shred the Slayer apart. You are the one force in the game the Slayer cannout outgun if you are berserk in melee, and most slayers will not plan or react accordingly. Slice and Dice, until it is DONE, and rely ion your ally and mobility to allow you to live long enough to be able to berserk

Quite often against a good slayer, the first and maybe even second round will be lost. As such, power upgrades are very likely to come into play, and it's crucial to choose the right one as they are, like normal upgrades, choices that are way more powerful than anything the slayer can pick.

First, the Baron of hell... is probably the most useless out of the bunch. Most slayers that get to power upgrades are good enough to just keep evading what is essentialy just a very big hell knight without it ever laying a finger on them. Even worse is that it summons itself, and as such you can't place him in an interesting manner, like in a tight corridor or behind the Slayer: it will just do it's own thing.

Demonic onslaught is mainly useful for the Revenant, Mancubus and Dread Knight: it allows you to make the most of that impressive burst damage to melt the Slayer, but is very short lived... so you have to be sure the Slayer will either be dead or critically damaged once it expires: do NOT use it if you think the Slayer may move away.

Quick Acting is one of those hidden gems. more loot block means more possibility to completely starve the Slayer of his most important ressource, ammunition. A Slayer that can no longer use his shotgun, rocket launcher and/or ballista is an easy prey that you can almost freely deal damage to, and quick acting helps with that a lot.

Instant ressurect is a great choice if you notice the slayer focuses on the other player, allowing you to instantly bring it back for another go... not much to say there. It's just good, especially if the slayer went for your ally first because he is very good at staying alive through being evasive until a revive happens: it can make the slayer really waste a lot of effort, even if he gets some ressources back from the kill.

And lastly and probably the best of all... the team heal. Its a heal over time applying to both you and your ally, so use it early and don't wait for you or your friend to be on the brink of death or the slayer might just finish the weakened player off before the healing happens; that also meant the ressurect may be better it you don't succeed at forcing the slayer to give you breathing room. Still, its is the one and only reliable way for demons to recover health without dying first.

As a demon, one of the keys to success is to identify how the Slayer plays as to counter him. No two slayers are the same, but here is a list of a few slayer archetypes and how to better handle them; overall though, if you identify that the Slayer relies on the same actions, over and over, you should immediately try to think of a way to counter that playstyle

The Sky Fairy:

This Slayer does everything in his power to stay in the air, abusing jump pads and monkey bars for the highest mobility possible and will shoot you from the air of the tiny downtimes on the ground. Chasing such a slayer is usually a fool's errand, and shooting at an airborne slayer, while possible, is extremely difficult and too inconsistant to be a real threat. Against such a slayer, the key is to force him to come to YOU, as flying paths are limited. Do not engage such a slayer anywhere near jump pads if you can help it, and force him to come to you to deal damage. Playign the long game is also the way to go as a result against that kind of slayer, as he is usually too busy flying around to effectively flush you out of healing zones.



The Boom Slayer:

This slayer loves nothing more than spamming as many explosives your way as possible, from remote detonated rockets to sticky grenades. It's a tricky opponent especially against the Archvile and Pain Elemental, as this kind of slayer more than any other is prone to using explosives to deal damage around your defenses. Against him, you should never stand too close to your ally, and keep away from walls, corners, and other surfaces the Slayer could use to detonate his explosives. Proper loot blocking is also crucial here to disable the rocket launcher, which is by far the most powerful tool of such a Slayer.


The Sniper:

The Sniper is recognized by having the ballista all but glued to his hands, as well as trying to keep his distances from demons as much as possible: his aim is to wear down your health safely thanks to his long range before going in for the kill. Against a Sniper, the best thing to do is not only proper loot blocking, but also pincer manoeuvres alongside your demon friend as snipers tend to have a bit of tunnel vision.

The Brawler:

The polar opposite of the Sniper, the Brawler is a Slayer that is extremely agressive, and will often focus one demon to kill it as fast as possible before even considering shooting the other demon, chasing his chosen victim to the end of the earth if needed. Against such a slayer, healing zones are all but useless, and noxious zones are harder to place due to him more than often coming towards you (ans and such, seeing clearly what is on his path). That kind of Slayer is a real threat, usually more than able to end a round in less than a minute if he is not disrupted... and disrupting him just so happens to be exactly how you defeat him. If you are the target of the brawler, you should of course do everything you can to stay alive, but if you are not, then your mission is to put yourself in the way of the Brawler as much as possible, to force him to switch targets away from your ally. These are the Slayers that are the most prone to tunnel vision, and as such if you are not his target, you can act pretty much freely. Note that if you are targetted, try not to just run away, but instead, force the slayer to go through large group of summons or even your allied demon in order to get to you.

The True Slayer:

This is it... This kind of slayer is the cream of the cream. They do not do mistakes on their own. They do not miss shots. They use every tool at their disposal optimally to make your life hell incarnate, and will make you regret your choice of career. Against these, you WILL have to be creative and force him to make a lethal mistake, as nothing conventional will ever put that kind of player off-guard. Play it a bit like you would against the Brawler, but never assume you are entirely safe either. basically, you will have to consier all the main strenghs of other archetypes... and fight all of them combines in a single package. Situational awareness will be key, and this will unvariably either end poorly very fast.. or be the most intense kind of match one can have.

There, i hope all of this gave you ideas on how to better use our dear hellspawns. Don't forget practice makes perfect, but this guide should at least give you an idea on how to use each tool to it's best potential. Once again, don't forget to comment if you notice something wrong or something I forgot, and see you all in hell!