The Battlelord acts as the first boss the player encounter in Duke Nukem 3D; greeting the player in L.A. Meltdown and at the The Abyss level. Also he is the final Boss of the Duke Nukem 3D Shareware episode.
Weaker and smaller versions will frequently appear in later episodes, known under the tile of Battlelord Sentry.
In episode five, Alien World Order (released in 2016), there are two more Battlelords to slay. One is encountered in the secret level, Prima Arena, while the second commands the alien base in France, on the level Tour de Nukem.
Description
The Battlelord wields a chaingun (prosthetic minigun design) with a built-in mortar launcher. Its chaingun is also significantly more powerful than the Enforcer's. The hulking Battlelord commands the first wave of the alien invasion force on Earth. Its deafening roar splits the air as its rapid fire chaingun and mortar rounds tear resistance asunder. It has no known weaknesses; only relentless firepower and staying on the move will win the day.
Appearance
It has big teeth.
It has big armor.
It has a big gun.
You don't want to meet it in a dark alley.
Combat analysis
- Best weapon choice: RPG (30), Devastator (80)
- Worst weapon choice: Shrinker (Immune), any others
It has 4500 hit points and is unaffected by the Shrinker. It is also the fastest moving monster in the game.
The Battlelord is much bigger than any of the other Enemies (except the three other bosses), and as such is able to step on the player if they venture too close which will result in a instant death.
Aside from crushing the player underfoot, the Battlelord has two other attack methods. For close to mid-range opponents, it uses its chaingun. For more distant opponents, it uses its mortar launcher.
The mortars the Battlelord fires are small and round, dark grey with a glowing red line running around it. Sometimes if a mortar does not hit a player or an enemy, it will remain on the ground, spinning on the spot, and act like a land mine. It will explode when it is shot at, or when a player gets too close to it.
Notes
- When Duke defeats the Battlelord, he'll utter, "Die, you son of a bitch!". Duke will sometimes say this when killing Battlelord Sentrys, but not always. The corpse of a boss cannot be destroyed, i.e. gibbed, compared to the common enemies encountered in the game, and will remain so until the level ends. The same dying animation will show regardless of what weapon the player used to defeat a boss.
- Because of the Battlelord's large size, it cannot enter any small spaces.
- The Battlelord cannot step on any water surfaces, and therefore cannot submerge itself (it can however be spawned underwater).
- The mortar doesn't have a defined speed or a limit, and it's calculated about player position.
- The Battlelord, through holographic communication, will taunt Duke in the level: Death Row, uttering "Ha Ha Ha! Too late, Nukem. We're in control, now!"
- In reference to the above point, one could say this quote is quite odd, because in the level The Abyss, in the cutscene after the Battlelord is defeated, it says to Duke: "Huurrgh...Who - whoo arre yooou?" - just before getting its head blown apart by Duke. This contradicts the above quote where the Battlelord addressed Duke by name. However, this is most likely a reference to the film Predator when Arnold Schwarzenegger's character confronts the Predator creature, as the Battlelord obviously knows who Duke really is. It could however just be a figure of speech of awe at Duke at having been defeated.
- In Duke Nukem 64, Duke encounters the Battlelord, he'll utter, "Ewww. Who's your plastic surgeon?"
- Battlelord art tile sprites in versions 1.0/1.1 have different and lower number of sprites in versions 1.3d/1.4/1.5
Data
|
|valign=top|
border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #141414; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" | Sprites & sounds | |
---|---|---|
Actor tile number | 2630/BOSS1 2631/BOSS1STAYPUT | |
Alert sound | bos1rg.voc | |
Chase sound | thud.voc | |
Action sound | bos1rm.voc | |
Pain sound | bos1pn.voc | |
Death sound | bos1dy.voc |
|} |valign=top|
border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #141414; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" | Chaingun Bullet Attack | |
---|---|---|
Type | Hitscan | |
Rate | 39 shots/second (6.5 fires x 6 shots per fire) | |
Damage | 6~ (per pellet) 36~ (total) 612~ (full volley) | |
Actor tile number | 2595/SHOTSPARK1 | |
Sound | chaingun.voc ricochet.voc (Impact) |
|- |{|border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #141414; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
!colspan=2|Mortar Attack
|-
|Type||Projectile
|-
|Rate||1.4 shots/second
|-
|Speed||Varies
|-
|Damage||0-50 (blast radius)
|-
|Blast radius||2500 map units
|-
|Actor tile number||1650/MORTER
1890/EXPLOSION2 (Impact)
|-
|Sound||rpgfire.voc
bombexpl.voc (impact)
|}
|-
|{|border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #141414; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"
!colspan=2|Stomp |- |Type||Health access |- |Damage||1000 |} |} |}
Other
- In Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown, the sprites were a little modified and the Battlelord's resolution halved compared to Duke Nukem 3D, probably because of the low frame rate of the port version.
- When the player faces a Battlelord, it is much smaller, but when it starts to move it grows in size.
- This is probably a bad usage of CON language to revert the aforementioned halved size of the sprite.
- In Duke Nukem 64, The Abyss level is separated into two parts (named The Abyss and Battlelord in that order) after that the player falls into the alien ship entrance and such the Battlelord is fought only in the arena.
- Also, it seems to have a considerable decrease in hit points.
- Its mortars leave smoke trails (like the RPG), instead of the original mirage effect.
Development
- There is a unused leftover tile (2686) showing a map mode view (top view) of the Battlelord.
- The early version of The Abyss level (version 0.99) actually had a more increment room for the Battlelord made of corridors. Presumably it was later changed to an open area in order to make the boss battle more challenging.