Doom's Most LEGIT Challenge? 

Happy New Years Legends. I hope you have an amazing 2020! You can use any version of Doom for the competition. Also another $100 cash prize has been put up for grabs.

I'm so proud of myself for figuring out the trick question before you revealed the answer hahahaa

Karl: "I'll randomly choose one of you for D:E giveaway" :D Karl: "You have to beat my record to participate" D:

"The most annoying challenge" *Cries in Doom 2 UV MAX No Damage*

6:25 "Now is a good time to talk about the main thing that makes this category so bad to play, and that's the shotgun." Oh boy, you don't know the half of it. So the shotgun fires 7 pellets, each of which deals between 5-15 points of damage, meaning all 7 pellets combined deal between 35-105 damage per shot. However, unless you're firing point blank, you'll never hit all 7 pellets, as the fired pellets have a random horizontal directional offset of between about 2.2° to 9.8°. This is all RNG dependent, which is something I'll come back to later. The three types of enemies on this map are Zombiemen, Zombie Shotgunners, and Imps. They have a health pool of 20, 30, and 60 respectively. So with one shotgun blast, assuming everything was perfectly set up, you could kill up to 3 Zombies (either variety) with a single blast (each taking 2 of the 7 pellets; one's extra), or an Imp with enough pellets left over for 1 Zombie (either variety - Imp takes 4 pellets and Zombie at least 2 of the remainder). This all relies on the shotgun firing in the optimal spread, and the pellets dealing sufficient damage (in either case the sum would need to be 90 to cleanly take out the maximum amount of any combination of enemies.) However, RNG makes this unlikely. That said, RNG works in a really interesting way in DOOM, as it always starts from the same seed. This is, in fact, how Dooms demo system works. Decino put out a video on this topic which I strongly recommend if you're interested in such things. The long and short of it is, if you could somehow play the exact same way each time, down to the very mouse inputs, you'd have the same run every time. Obviously, this isn't feasible in runs. So it primarily comes down to a combination of skill and luck. If your movement is clean, your shots are lucky, and your RNG shines on enemy actions, you can pull this off yourself.

UV MAX really makes more sense across an episode (8+1 levels). The random dips of good/bad luck will even out the longer you play and the skill begins to matter more.

“As long as you keep trying you’ll inevitably improve. You don’t need to force it, just put in the time and let the process happen naturally” -Karl Jobst Absolutely Legendary Quotes for Life

Apologies if this was mentioned before, but I noticed that at 4:04 4shockblast and at 10:17 Karl actually benefited from monster infighting. Yet another variable to throw into the mix.

8:53 I can just picture Doomguy running back in exasperation, throwing his arms up and just letting the zombie shoot him thanks to that little pause.

"I achieved this run..." Karl said this as if it was always his dream to be able to say these words.

This video was sponsored by Karl: Absolute Legends.

“You can use any version of doom” quick someone use brutal doom or mod the rng out of the run lmao

*looks around for the Decino comment* He's gonna beat the time, I feel it

You're aiming with the shotgun sprite, which remains at the offset that you left it at while running. This makes it look like the shotgun is missing a shot, but if you always aim using the center of the screen (Doomguy's face), it should be much more consistent.

Gotta love how the UV max WR also beats the par time.

Watching speedruns like the one Shock pulled of, I think: "That guy is skilled!". But it is you, Karl, who makes him a legend by displaying to us the art that is hidden here.

Man, your ideia of grinding up a run not to get the world record, but to get a very decent and challenging time to set as a target for your community to pursuit, is very original, engaging and fun. Makes your videos even better and gives us, normal mortals, a tiny bit of the experience of what is like to grind a real speedrun. You are great, man! The speedrun scene ia much better because od ya. Best wishes from Brasil. Happy new year.

6:43 "and the damage inflicted seems to be completely random" That's the funny thing, it is!

“And the damage almost seems completely random” Every gun does, check out Doom’s RNG by decino

Hey Karl, just stopping by in the comments section to wish you all the best, to you, and your family, for 2020. Can't wait to see the content you'll come up with in the future. Cheers from a huge french fan of your ABSOLUTELY LEGENDARY channel.

In case anyone was curious, the piano piece being played is Eternity: Memory of Lightwaves, from Final Fantasy X-2.

I usually don’t participate in any way on your challenges, I’m no speedrunner I just love to watch. But DOOM is my favorite game, and I think this might be the time for me to start actually giving speedrunning a try for myself. Not expecting anything good, but I’ll give it my all!

I love how you turned and uninformed comment into a proper video explaining how the person was wrong while keeping it informative for everyone. Keep the great work coming Karl.

Man I always get SO excited when he says "(...) this run" 10:01 . You're awesome, I love your videos!

You heard it here folks, I'm an absolute legend.

Happy new year Karl, hope you're having a good one with the family, here's to 2020 being bigger and better than what was a huge 2019 for you

it's kind of blowing my mind that the damage in doom was random all along and I had no idea. I always thought I wasn't lining those imps up well enough with the shotgun when they didn't die.

Happy new year, you absolute legends!

Exellent plan. You've successfully got me into speedrunning for the next few weeks! ;)

UV Max now we're talking! Someone call Decino! I'm sure he'd love a pre-order of Doom Eternal.

KARL, it is SO cool that you make your giveaways actually fun and instead of just entering a random drawing, you have them have to complete a challenge and THEN draw between the people who completed it... that's so sick.

Your videos are the best! I get the most hyped when I see you uploaded over all my other channels. Thanks for being an absolute legend!

thank you for the great videos in 2019. you have inspired me to give speedrunning a go. you really are an absolute legend. cheers.

wasn't expecting memory of lightwaves. nice touch. made me not skip the ad.

Thanks for making these videos. It's nice to see original Doom content and you do an excellent job putting these videos together.

I bet one of the preorder copies will go to Zero Master, with 0:27

Decino did a wonderful video explaining how Doom's pseudo-RNG works, and what calls it. He has a lot of excellent video on Doom in general; definitely recommend checking him out.

I very enjoy your videos. There is something about listening of accemplishements of speedrunning.

Karl, thanks a bunch for covering UV Max. As a speedrunner of UV Fast, this brings me great joy that others know of the other cool categories of running this game. You're the Legend of Legends.

Watching your videos and decino's videos got me really pumped up for my first playthrough of Doom 2016. I feel that I enjoyed it much more because of this

"This was a trick question" but I was thinking of the trick answer all along!

It may be too random for speed running, but I'll be damned if it isn't still to this day one of the best shotguns to exist across all games.

This has got the most motivation to keep going then any other Speedrun video I have came across.

Something great about Doom videos is that if you have shitty WiFi you can watch the video at low quality and the differences are practically unnoticeable.

on the 29th of december, 2019, I achieved this run.

A real record is how decino got a 100 player doom 2 deathmatch, i was there.

I love your content. I have seen your longer videos on Doom and Quake several times, because they are just so entertaining. I watch a fair amount of content on yt, but very rarely do I rewatch videos. Keep em coming, you absolute legend. ;) Also congrats on the channel growth! I dicovered your channel earlier this year I think (or was it 2018?) and I'm very happy for you!

straightforward youtuber with straight facts, love that he sometimes doesn't care what people think about speed running and the fact that he uses his own runs in the video rather than others. Im proud of this and only wish that other youtubers were actually real like him.

best way to end 2019 is with a Karl Jobst DOOM vid.

I'm just a casual Doom player but I always find these speed runs interesting to watch.

4:35 LOL Pretty sure it's definitely your first run! Love the vids. Keep it up dude!

you've been loving doom this last year haven't you, Karl. love the vids!

I love that this video even exists. Doom is one of the most influential games ever. 😍 DOOM FOREVER

I come to this channel just to hear that I'm an absolute legend.

Happy new year you absolute legend Karl!

Great content on this channel I’m not a speed runner, but enjoy watching the break downs of techniques players employ to achieve world record runs and the time and dedication that put in to achieve that goal keep up the good work you legend 👍

Ayeee happy new years you absolute legendsss ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I love coming here and getting called an absolute legend.

I absolutely adore these videos. Really makes my day when I get notified about a new upload. Also, happy new years all my fellow legends!

Happy new year you absolute legend.

Nobody: Karl Jobst: I achieved... this run...

if getting 100% kills 100% secrets and *100% ITEMS* AND *NIGHTMARE* difficulty that would be the ultimate DOOMGUY challenge cause its somewhat impossible (not really if your really good) to get 100% Items and to get 100% kills on nightmare mode because they all respawn

i dont even watch speed runs but your enthusiasm for this stuff is infectious

happy new year karl ! love the streams and all the good content you put out !

Karl: Hello you absolute LEGENDS Me: Thanks man, I needed that. :)

Maybe interesting for someone: the pistol aim is more consistent when you pull the trigger repeatedly instead of shooting semi-automatic (hold the fire button down). I saw that in a RU-vid video. EDIT: Here’s the mentioned video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3rCTpwLdYQA.html.

One of the few channels I subscribe to that I give a like as soon as I open the video because I know the content will be on point and well put together

I really like this style of video where you analyse a Doom record run and talk us through your process of replicating it. More like this please Karl. :)

I'm a simple man.. I see Karl jobst uploaded and I click.

The description says winners will be drawn in 2019 Edit: it's fixed now

Good new year you absolute legend.

Only Karl Jobst puts several days of effort into a a video about a 40 second speedrun, what an absolute legend.

2020 Resolution....Get this *Absolute Legend* to 1 Mil Subs. I don’t even Speedrun, and now it’s consumed my entire RU-vid life lol

28 seconds catching karl uploads speedrun?

Thank you for the consistently fantastic content Karl, keep it up! Wish all the best for you and your family in 2020.

Karl, your channel and quality in videos have skyrocketed ever since I subbed a while back. I watched back logged videos that were older than my subscription so yeah man..... KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! You will have 1 mil if you keep at it and upload a few clickbaitey vids/vid thumbnails for the clicks. ;) love you and happy new year!

UV Max is by far my favorite category, the one that I respect the most. However, it works best on really long, really hard levels. Ones where the luck evens out over time. The reason it's so impressive is that the player can't just memorize the run, they have to adapt in real time.

UV-Max is the most common category when it comes to custom doom WADs

Great job Karl. Hope to see you post a faster time!

Happy new year guys, saw your new video by chance I'm keen in trying this challenge.

7:10 ... i have no idea about Doom and i never played it .... but I was 100% sure the Answer is 0 !

I just got :038 on my first hour. Never speedrun before. I'm coming for you, Jobby boi

I'm struggling so much to finish my physics PhD project, but your wise words at 5:56 just remembered me what one should never forget.

Will you ever cover American Dad speedrunning?

on the 31st of december, 2019, I posted this comment.

I'll always watch a cake ad for the absolute legend jobst, love these soon videos man

It makes me happy that your love of DOOM is equal to mine. I miss speed running, this wasn't my alias of course (at one point I was the best! I like to relive those Glory days!). I'll be back one of these days :). I love your channel man.

the shotgun isn't inconsistent, i think you're mistaking the weapon bob for its aim. Always aim center despite weapon bob

Things to learn, here: If speedruns are an estimation of one's skill, then Doom's RNG voids most of that skill in favor of an astronomical lineup of coincidental benefits that cannot consistently be replicated. To that end, I would consider the standard for calling doom speedruns legitimate quite low if not largely fraudulent because of some saintly and quite holy RNG that may not be experienced for a decade or more, that's the sole difference between world record and another failed run, regardless of frame data and literal perfect inputs. At the same time, the only counterargument pertains to a virtue not everyone has equally. Patience. But patience is not a measure of skill or speedrunning virtue, but a measure of one's ability to become virtuous and skillful via learning before flying. But for the early doom games... patience won't make literal perfection an equal to RNG. If perfection exists not in the inputs ultimately, but in lady luck, it's not the player that played flawlessly but the game flawlessly playing the player. I am not patient nor virtuous, for doom, I can be one or the other, but not both. I can come close, but I cannot balance two elements with RNG, worse than the human element.

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels

I've never tried speedrunning and to be honest, I probably won't But I subscribed to your channel because you got such charisma that the subject gets really interesting and I'm always looking forward for your next video! Keep at it, man! :)

I'm not a speedrunner myself (don't have the skill), but I used to watch a LOT of UV-Max runs and I think your criticisms of the category come from approaching it with something of the wrong mindset (and also playing on the wrong level). IMO the real heart of UV-Max isn't on the IWAD levels, but rather on user created maps that are much more challenging from a combat perspective. Both UV-Speed and UV-Max are about movement, but while UV-Speed is about using preplanned and calculated movement to reach the exit, UV-Max is about using movement to control monsters and optimizing battle outcomes. While there is preplanning (what order to take encounters and how to survive the difficult ones), the runner needs to be able to read developing situations in the battle and react accordingly. In long maps with more monsters an individual monster encounter becomes less important. While RNG making an imp take three shotgun shots ruins a run on a map like E1M1 (where you a shooting for sub 1:00), on a map with hundreds of monsters like Deus Vult MAP02 such an event will probably equalize itself later in the run. Basically, UV-Max isn't about maps where you are shooting for sub 0:30, its about the maps where you are trying to get sub 10:00, or even sub 45:00! IMO, E1M1 or any of the IWAD levels are not where to find the interesting UV-Maxes; you need to look at the innumerable user created mapsets to really start to appreciate UV-Max. I would also note the while there is some crossover (especially among the highest skilled players), many good UV-Max players don't run UV-Speed, and vice versa. Anyway, thanks again for all the great content!

Happy new year to you absolute legends!

I think perhaps a good way to put it is that Goldeneye's gunplay is more consistent and thus lends itself better to speedrunning than Doom 1. Anyways, great video! Always a joy to see you upload!

I was not fooled by your trick question, I knew you were about to say zero as soon as you set up the shot :P Merry new year mate, hope to see much more of you this year as well.

happy new year absolute legends

you've really improved since the last doom video, background gameplay is waaaaay better

2:11 Eternity , Memory of Lightwaves. That's one of my favorite piano compositions ever. Solid choice.

You are the Bob Ross of speedrunning :) i love to sit down with my breakfast and watch one of your videos, it's a perfect start of the day :)

Always enjoy your videos, the layout and presentation, etc. I’m happy for you to see sponsorship! Hope you and your family are doing wonderful.