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Need expert help with the (un)chained court.

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Sylph:
Hi folks,
I've been having an absolute nightmare completing this level. I can't for the life of me figure out a method of completing it with any kind of success rate.

I've been away a while, so I guess I should (re)introduce myself. I used to be able to finish the game with a conquerer ending on ultra violence pretty much every game. I got quite a few nightmare wins under my belt, including 4 diamond badges, so super-basic general doomrl tips aren't needed.

The problem I'm having is that I just can't clear this level efficiently on ultra violence. I even save-scummed a character and experimented on it just now. About a year ago, I remember doing this, and finding a (somewhat) reliable method to getting it cleared on any difficulty, including nightmare, but the latest version has made changes to the level that makes it impossible for me to tackle it reliably.

I've read posts and guides that offer the tactic of 'pick up some berserk and a chainsaw, then run out and charge the arena master'. I've even seen game hunter's videos that demonstrate him doing just that on an earlier version of the game. It doesn't work for me anything like reliably. In fact, I just save-scummed and tried it about 10 times in a row (taking down fearsome former humans with rockets or shotgun, charging the arena master).
Likewise, going round the back (on the right) and berserking barons, before getting back into the starting room and knocking opponents into lava (my old reliable tactic) doesn't work due to the monster's new penchant for walking the long way around, and more importantly due to that stupid new bug that means waiting on the spot gets you shot at from a monster around a corner that is out of your line of sight...
So what else to we have? Pillboxing in the doorways? Tried it with shotgun, pistol, chaingun, and rocket launcher. All of them fail... Basically that arena master ends up blowing the start room to pieces, and then I'm standing there fighting a monster that I can't beat...

I'm stumped. :(

What's the current accepted most reliable tactic for tackling this level?
Ideally, I'm after something that works 95% of the time, regardless of build (meaning it doesn't need berserker, intuition, army of the dead, SoaG, eagle eye, or anything).

Can anyone help an old doomrl veteran out here?

To add - fighting the arena master in melee with berserk on still loses me about 120% health (4 small medpacks) if I go out into the open to fight him.
To further add - the problem certainly seems to be the arena master just being too tough... corner-shooting is enough to get him to 'scratched'... shotgun knockback traps get him to wounded on a good day. After that, I don't have time to reload, I have to get busy with rockets, and seriously fighting the guy with a rocket launcher and blue armour uses up a large and 4 small medpacks. There just seems to be no safe way of fighting him, because one of his blasts is all it takes to demolish the starting room, leaing me with no corners to shoot around.
Is the idea here just to carry 6+ medpacks into the level? Because if so, I have to say it's an extraordinarily badly designed level...
There must be more to it than this.
To further still add - I've been on this for 3 hours so far. 1 single tactic that felt even remotely repeatable, and basically involved a ridiculous spamming on health packs, and a wasted agility mod on a rocket launcher...

Napsterbater:
I just started playing UV, and I'm having decent success with a Shottyhead build. Start Rel -> Rel, then pick up HR while in the Arena, then go Finesse or Shottyman depending on when CC generates. You need Shottyman for CC+. Ideally you'll have Shottyman, Fin1 AND HR1. Finesse helps with the Barons. You can turn on run mode, sidestep until the Baron moves/fires, you'll probably dodge, then you can shoot and he won't have enough time to catch you flat-footed. Use a small medpack after you're done to replenish run mode and health rather than a zerk. You should not be using any medpacks at all until CC, save them for CC and the Wall.

Try to kill the Barons without using a zerk or grabbing the saw. You can usually corner-shoot the top-left hand Baron pretty easily from the top left door, you may also get lucky with the bottom-left hand one. If not I try to lure the Baron into the pathway and then push him into the lava with a shotgun blast. Then I usually go around to the top from the left hand side and grab the shells, hopefully there's another Baron in the top-right that you can corner shoot from there, if not, I switch on running and take them on out in the open, being careful not to let the Baron blasts destroy the A-mod. With HR, Fin and SM, it's doable, especially if you can get a Supercharge before going down the Stairs.

Once the Barons are out of the way, I grab one zerk and the saw and make my way towards the AM, shotgun in hand. With SM and zerk the fight through the captains is simple, but once I get to the AM it gets a little dicier. This fight is what you saved all those medpacks for. Switch to the saw and cut him up. Grab the staff and use it to kill off the remaining captains in your vision range. Then you have to clean up, radar shooting with a shotgun works well as you probably won't have a whole lot of health left. Then pick up the other zerk, make a shiny pair of Tac Boots and head for the stairs.

Sylph:

--- Quote from: Napsterbater on September 22, 2012, 22:40 ---Try to kill the Barons without using a zerk or grabbing the saw. You can usually corner-shoot the top-left hand Baron pretty easily from the top left door, you may also get lucky with the bottom-left hand one.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, trying this now. So far, in 3 tries, I've not had a chance to corner shoot the top baron without getting seriously wounded by former captains, ripping apart a suit of armour and a medpack. Also, one of the times, a baron came in from the right during the attempt, ruinding my chainsaw when I ran for him, but I'll persevere, I'm just scared that this might not be a reliable way of starting the level... Maybe I could just shut myself outside of the starting room if one comes from the right, but this seems highly dangerous as well...



--- Quote ---Once I get to the AM it gets a little dicier. This fight is what you saved all those medpacks for. Switch to the saw and cut him up. Grab the staff and use it to kill off the remaining captains in your vision range. Then you have to clean up, radar shooting with a shotgun works well as you probably won't have a whole lot of health left. Then pick up the other zerk, make a shiny pair of Tac Boots and head for the stairs.

--- End quote ---
See, this is kinda what I was afraid of. I could probably finish the level maybe 80% of the time if I burned up my entire stock of armour and medpacks, but surely kornel hasn't designed a level that is completely devoid of tactics, and just down to itemisation? This isn't the roguelike I signed up for...

Napsterbater:
That said, CC+ on UV is hard, it's supposed to be hard, and there's really no way to do it reliably without a build-specific strategy, because that would mean you could do it with a reasonably equipped level one character, and that just isn't going to happen. I think the basics of beating it are, kill the Barons first, go out the left and around the back, (otherwise Barons tend to destroy the saw/zerks) then deal with the captains with ranged weapons and the AM in melee, zerked, with medkits. You shouldn't need to compromise your build, (say, by using one of the A-mods on the rocket launcher) but you will have to tailor your start strategy up to that point. (save your medkits)

Napsterbater:

--- Quote from: Sylph on September 22, 2012, 22:51 ---Thanks, trying this now. So far, in 3 tries, I've not had a chance to corner shoot the top baron without getting seriously wounded by former captains, ripping apart a suit of armour and a medpack.
--- End quote ---
Radar shoot out the top-left and bottom-left before going after the Baron. There are two captains just outside vision range of the door that will come after you if you don't deal with them first.

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