
Possessing 500 hit points, Hell knights present a significant challenge to the player, although less than that of a boss monster. Hell knights emit wake-up and death cries similar to those of the baron of Hell, though higher in pitch (and in the case of the death cry, shorter in length and raspier). It allows Doom II maps to host a weaker monster, albeit with high attack power, giving the player a decent amount of challenge without slowing down the action. As a result, it is a medium strength monster that is more vulnerable than the baron to small arms fire (eg., the shotgun or chaingun), but much more durable than an imp. In terms of gameplay, the Hell knight is identical to the baron of Hell, merely with half the hit points. The same description was previously used for the baron in the original Doom manual. The manual for Doom II describes the Hell knight as follows: "Tough as a dump truck and nearly as big, these Goliaths are the worst things on two legs since Tyrannosaurus rex".

This new monster has a tan torso, as opposed to the baron's pink coloration. The Hell knight is an enemy introduced in Doom II, a weaker version of the baron of Hell. As their projectiles now differ and the hard-coded exception to damage is not present, infighting between them is now possible.This article is about the monster in the classic Doom series. For other games, see: The Hell Knight's projectile remains green in this game in contrast to the Baron of Hell's, which has changed to red. Their projectiles are easy to avoid one-on-one, but larger groups make dodging much more difficult. The rocket launcher is preferred at range, with the super shotgun still more than capable up close. This makes combat against them more treacherous, especially when placed in tight hallways and rooms. In Doom 64, the Hell Knight appears far more frequently than in earlier titles, and in larger groups, possibly to compensate for the lack of other demons that didn't make it into the game, e.g. Though overall similar to the standard Hell Knight, the mutated variant found in Doom 64 is less pale in color, and more closely resembles Doom's Baron of Hell. The demons have returned stronger and more vicious than before.

They are made from systematically altered dead carnage remade back into corrupted living tissue. The Hell Knights of Doom 64 are the resurrected carcasses of those from Doom 1, resurrected by the Mother Demon.
