Game: Doom 2
Pwad: Deus Vult II
Filename: dvii-12-0640-bn.lmp
Skill and Style: 4 (UV-Max)
Map Level: 12 (Minas Morgul)
Exe/Port used: GLBoom 2.4.8.1 (PRBoom Plus) -complevel 9

Totals:
Kills       100%
Items        96%
Secrets    100% and (Time- 6:40)

Comments:
The first true slaughterhouse map of DVII.  Nice way to waste 7 minutes killing 800 monsters I must say.

At the start, run like hell to grab the SSG before the spectres can block you while waking up all the HKs in the cave.  Then lure them to one side so you can squeak by and get on one of two ledges...both of which have an archie, shells, and switch to stand on.  There's plenty enough cover to dodge the archie's attacks if you're smart enough.

Once both switches are pressed, a wall lowers in the cave where the HKs were.  By now, they should almost all be out of the cave so you can squeak by them all with minimal trouble...but first, grab the rad suit (You should see it in the acid if you're on the eastern archie ledge), then run through said acid until you reach a dead end containing secret #1 (2 Soulspheres).

Advance into the cave now.  Pretty linear progression.  Just SSG anything that gets in your way and pick up any ammo/armor you see.

When you get the YSK, quickly kill the archie that appears before it can revive a bunch of spectres.  Then kill the HK on the ledge with the BFG before collecting the weapon.

For secret #2, jump to the outer wall and follow it to a cell pack, then go to the horde of spectres and HKs to force feed them 2-3 BFG shots, then mop up with the SSG while getting secret #3 in the cave (Plasma Gun).

With this all done, you can use the YSK to go on...into a massive throng of imps.  You could spam the BFG until you're out of cells, but I wanted to conserve as many cells as possible for the final battle.  I used a few BFG shots to clear out enough imps until walls lower on both sides to reveal rockets and the RL, then use that to clean out the remaining imps.

Before reaching the end, I whip out the BFG to deal with the 2 archies behind the wall that lowers and allows access into the central area.

The goal now is to grab two Skull Keys, one in the western wing and one in the eastern wing.  You'll have to hit a couple switches in each wing to make the key appear...plus there is a trap in each one that can prove fatal if you're too greedy.

Each wing also has a MM in front of it which should be dealt with using the BFG before going deeper into the wing.

To ease the pain of each wing's trap, approach the megasphere slowly until you attract the attention of all enemies inside (Spectres in the western wing, Imps in the eastern wing).  You may trigger a small trap that raises a wall for about 10 seconds or so, boxing you in with whatever baddies are there.  This isn't so bad in the spectre wing, but the imps may be able to kill you if don't have sufficent health and armor should you tackle that wing first.

Once the main swarm dies out, slowly creep around the megasphere and choose a switch to hit.  Get your RL out and start firing rockets the moment you grab the megasphere since more specters or imps will teleport in.  The spectres are easy since you can listen for when the ones behind you will attempt a bite and move forward just enough to evade damage, then move back to ensure they can't go forward very much to try another bite.

As for the imps...you'll likely sustain damage here, but 200 health and armor will be plenty enough to hold until one side of teleporting imps is clear.

Once the activity dies down, hit the final switch in each wing to reveal a Skull Key.  Grab it and head back to the central area and flip the switch in the northern part.  It leads to the exit...but many angry HKs and a couple cybies in back will have another say in that.

This is where I dump all my remaining cells.  The catch is that there's not quite enough cells to kill everything off without running out unless you conserve some cells...and even then it might not be enough.

There is an invul tucked in with all the enemies, but I don't take it until I've cleaned out about half or so of the HKs and have a full or near full supply of cells.  I utilize it to cleave my way through the HKs to the cybies and hopefully kill each one with 1 or 2 shots, then spend the rest on killing HKs.  If anything lives, rocket them out (plenty of rockets in the soutern part of the central area), then run to the exit.

All in all...quite happy with the run since I got it around my 5th or 6th attempt.  Time is very good I'd say since I was assuming I'd pull in a clear time around 8 minutes or so.

That being said, there's a couple minor hiccups and some semi-ugly BFG aiming near the end, but nothing that would be considered disasterous.

Optimal time?  6:30 or lower might be a possibility.

Brian "Anima Zero" Nesser
Bri8527@comcast.net