In the fourth age, however, they now guard some of Hell's most important relics.
As a result, the Hell knights were cast into the battle pits of Hell and forced to fight to the death for the entertainment of the demonic lords. They were said to have flanked an entity known as the Great Serpent as personal servants in Hell's first age, but this lord was defeated by another power known as the Guardian. The Hell knights are described by the UAC and by tablets found on the Great Steppe in Hell as 'prized gladiators' with a history of rises and falls in power over the long ages. On very rare occasions, Hell knights may engage in combat with imps. Although it is heavily armored, a fully charged Gauss cannon headshot will kill it in one hit. The best tactic is to either stay at arm's length from it and keep firing, or stun-lock it with successive shotgun blasts at point blank.
In contrast to its previous incarnation in Doom 3, this Hell knight is very fast and uses no ranged attacks in favor of leaping to hit the player.