In the dwindling list of Diamonds I haven't gotten yet in 0.9.9.7, I decided to go for Masochist Diamond, yet another of the few big scary Diamonds that few have attempted and even fewer have won. On the
0.9.9.7 Badge Hunters thread, only three people are recorded winning it;
Gooselord1,
Icy, and
papilio, who was also the only one that did it purely. In versions prior to 0.9.9.7, you just have this supposed
Masochist Diamond run in 0.9.9.5 by 2Dev (which would have actually been one of his more believable mortems... if not for his trademark unrealistically fast play time), and this
0.9.9.4 Masochist Diamond by Tormuse (unsurprising Tormuse won this before, though surprising he never got it back in 0.9.9.7). This isn't the Diamond with the worst track record, but still among the rarest and I imagine most Diamond-level players were too spooked to even try winning it.
So now time for the build. Looking over the prior Masochist Diamond runs, Icy used a Intuition stair dive Scout, but he also combined AoMs with AoMC, and without AoMC's massive offensive boost, that build would be far too weak to get through any difficult floor without powerups, so it would be exorbitantly luck-based to try in pure AoMs. Gooselord did it through a melee Scout stair dive while combining AoB with AoMs on his way to getting Berserker Angelic, and while combining AoB with AoMs could certainly be considered more impressive than winning AoMs purely, his strategy still relied on a great deal of luck and wouldn't be close to optimal without the constraints of AoB. Papilio did an extreme damage avoidance build similar to Icy's with the same five starting traits, but he would get some offense-boosting traits after, and while papilio doesn't say how many tries it took him, skimming through his video he did get very good level luck with a shocking lack of dangerous hot starts, alongside good Invuln luck (including a clutch Invuln in an Archvile hot start that may have killed him without it), I don't think his build would have the power to survive any bad hot starts and it can't manage most of the special levels either to get their rewards, so it seems overly luck-based for my liking as well (on another note, I was shocked at how inefficient papilio was with his Invulns, with no rocket jumping and other action-inefficient things like not taking advantage of full reload, he could have ran through Hell entirely with invulnerability with better usage of it). 2Dev supposedly did it with the standard Ammochain build, which with it being 2Dev it can be dismissed, and standard Ammochain doesn't make sense for AoMs anyway when it's going to have a hard time avoiding damage nor is it going to be tanky, especially when he got both Triggerhappy levels before any Reloader (and he supposedly did it without using Shotguns, just to add to it being usual 2Dev bullshit).
So I want a build with the power to survive hot starts and good damage avoidance in general? Seems like a good time for my favorite mastery Shottyhead again. As usual, I open with Finesse -> Juggler for the immediate firepower it grants and helping tremendously with beating Hell's Arena, but I deviate from Shottyhead for a few levels to get Berserker; getting Berserker in my Shottyhead runs is common but usually it's post-mastery, I delay Shottyhead for it here for two reasons. One, Berserker is the best defensive trait by a mile, it'll be critical to helping me survive bad hot starts with limited healing and is good defensive insurance against VMR, barrels, or Barons rolling high damage. Two, Brute+Berserker will make beating UnChained Court + Deimos Lab much easier when they're the two special levels that Shottyhead will have a very hard time surviving without any healing, and the rewards are too good to simply pass them up (while if I roll Hell's Armory instead of Deimos Lab, the sole Shambler could still mess me up without Berserker if I get bad teleporting luck). With this Shottyhead + Berserker combo, I'm in the best position to survive hot starts with minimal damage, and Shottyhead ensures I can cornershoot anything to death without it reaching me and not get boned if another enemy pops at a different angle while cornershooting something else, while I'll also be able to repeatedly knockback multiple enemies at edge of vision to avoid damage when cover is unavailable. Once Berserker is secured, it's back to the Shottyhead prereq path, with Hellrunner first for the extra damage avoidance, and after Shottyhead, you can go for Int2 if you plan to rush the rest of the game, but I go for Fin2 and then WK2 to get more power (I also had lots of mods doing nothing in my inventory and really wanted a Focused Double Shotgun + Tactical Rocket Launcher, while I got terrible Invuln luck anyway that would have hindered a late game rush). After WK2, it's then Int1 to see any useful Invulns and Int2 for extra lategame damage avoidance assurance, and then some HR and Finesse with my endgame levels. Coincidentally, when looking over the two pre-0.9.9.7 Masochist Diamond mortems after finishing my run, it seems Tormuse settled on Shottyhead too; it's hard to compare since his run was back in 0.9.9.4 (a version so old that the Mastermind didn't exist yet and the Cyberdemon was still the final boss), though our builds differed as he didn't go for early Berserker (or at all), and he went for Int2 immediately post-mastery with no Whizkid.
For the run, since the Small Medkits do nothing, you don't need to worry about getting the two on Phobos Base Entry, and you don't need to worry much about damage either unless you get really messed up since you'll level up very shortly after to get 200% health, so you shouldn't be resetting here. You should however hold onto a Small Medkit or two when you get them for gift dropping. After an easy Phobos 2, it's onto Hell's Arena; N! Hell's Arena with no immediate healing is scary, but it's not so bad with a good build for it as you'll be guaranteed a Supercharge level up during it, and it's too rewarding in AoMs to pass up, as aside from the Rocket Launcher (which is going to be especially handy for self-triggering Berserker), the Blue Armor gets replaced with early Red Armor (which is also especially handy for mitigating the damage of face rockets for Berserker and non-Invuln'd rocket jumps), and the Large Medkit gets replaced with Plasteel Boots to make any forced fluid traversal a lot less painful. Even if you're doing a build with no melee investment and so will struggle in UnChained Court, I think clearing Hell's Arena and then skipping Chained Court later would be better for your run's overall odds in AoMs than not finishing Hell's Arena to get the easy Chained Court later. Upon killing the last Baron to clear Hell's Arena, I
levelled up and so could go into the next floor with boosted health despite being unable to use the Supercharge, I just had to be very quick with picking up everything. Completing Hell's Arena would prove its worth, as I immediately get a
maze on Phobos 3 that I take an
uncomfortable amount of damage in, and the game is seemingly determined to abort this run, as on Phobos 4 I get a
second consecutive maze. If not for the Red Armor, I would have died on the second maze when
I still came close to death with it. After surviving that second maze's hot start, the rest of it
wasn't so bad, and I would get a reprieve with a
Lost Soul cave on Phobos 5, while their low EXP yield I usually gripe about is actually beneficial here as it gives me a levelup Supercharge in UnChained Court. Speaking of which, the detour for Berserker pays off and I'm able to beat it
without too much damage, though I unfortunately wasn't able to save any of the berserks this time. The run nearly ended right after this though as I got a
horrible Phobos 6, with the floor starting me in the most bottom left corner of a big empty room with a bunch of Formers and Imps, a Pain Elemental, multiple Hell Knights, and a Baron. Going for Berserker gets validated here; sticking to Shottyhead's prereq path would have probably gotten me overwhelmed here with no Shottyhead yet, while the Intuition damage avoidant builds would have gotten their shit quickly pushed in with nowhere to run. Thanks to Berserker and a well-timed facerocket to trigger it, I survive the floor
but just barely, I'm a single kill from levelling up however and the next floor's start can make or break this run... and it's a
Pinky cave with a Pinky I'm able to immediately kill, the run lives! I roll Phobos Lab, which is going to be dangerous with no Shottyhead, no Double Shotty, and only being able to activate run once while barely outrunning Nightmare Demons when naked without run's speed boost, but with some well timed face rockets to trigger Berserker when I needed the extra speed or when I got a Nightmare Demon in my face, I get through it
without taking much damage. When I reach the end I don't stay around to clear it though and give up my bid at a N! AoMs Conqueror, as I
level up right near the exit and so left right there to get through the ever dreaded N! Anomaly with Supercharged health to ensure I enter Deimos in good shape, while also taking advantage of the boosted health to kill the Bruisers for EXP without sacrificing such precious health.
After an unremarkable Deimos 1 (aside from a GCB spawning there that I had no use for), I rolled Hell's Armory instead of Deimos Lab, and with good old camping the first north building + triggering Berserker with a facerocket after releasing the Shambler, I get through with little health lost, but unfortunately the rare mod is a
Firestorm, the least useful mod for this build and I just slap it on a Plasma Rifle as I'm not sure I'll be getting the BFG later. The weapon cache also didn't have a Double Shotty and only a Missile Launcher for exotics, which was also disappointing, but I do take the Missile Launcher along and P-mod it to ensure the consistency of facerockets triggering Berserker (6d6 rockets have a 90.4% chance to roll the 16+ damage needed to trigger Berserker, mostly reliable but not completely safe and any low damage rolls that fail to trigger Berserker can do as much as 5 damage in P-modded Red Armor, 7 if not P-modded, which adds up really fast in AoMs and can be lethal if such low rolls happen with enemies around, while 6d7 rockets will have a 95.9% chance, not guaranteed but substantially less chance of failure and even a max roll will still deal only 1 damage in P Red Armor as Berserker triggers). Deimos 3 would tease me with
another Missile Launcher, finding Missile Launchers randomly always leave a sour feeling when you got
two guaranteed ones in the special levels (still anxiously awaiting for the completely redundant second Missile Launcher in City Of Skulls/Abyssal Plains to get replaced in the next DRL version). Speaking of guaranteed Missile Launchers, I would go into Containment Area, and while I think I could have beaten the ambush, I play it safe as I won't get a level up during it and so leave the Backpack behind, only going in to get some EXP and the Rocket Box (not that the Backpack is really needed when you can infinitely farm ammo on N!).
The succeeding Abyssal Plains on the other hand (or City Of Skulls if you roll it) is a must stop in AoMs; you know those Blood Skulls that are usually the most disappointing drop from the Agony Elemental? Something most people may not know is that Blood Skulls can actually still heal you in AoMs, being one of only three things in DRL that can do so outside of levelling up (the others being Vampyre and the Medical Armors, the latter being very limited before their big 0.9.9.8 buff as they can only heal up to 25% in this version), making them one of the most valuable things for this run, and luckily I get
two of them from the Agony Elemental after I effortlessly kill it with Shottyhead (as well as a Hatred Skull, which I keep too in case I want to pop into Mortuary/Limbo later). I clear out the rest of Abyssal Plains after and get a levelup to get back to full health, but after that good Abyssal Plains, the game decides to give me a
very annoying Deimos 5. Luckily with no Enraged Timer yet in this version, I can just camp it in that nice camping spot in the top right and actually
clear that floor with no damage (before I was forced to run through lava to reach the stairs that is). Deimos 6 would give me a
Cacodemon cave that I would have just immediately left with the stairs near me... but I finally get a Double Shotgun here, so I fight my way through it. With a Homing Phase and really wanting a Power Mod for my Double Shotgun, I go into Halls Of Carnage right after I level up from the Cacos, and I got this
funny bug of starting in the wall that I got once before but only in 0.9.9.8, guess it's not 0.9.9.8-exclusive (explanation, the Formers have random starting spawns and can spawn where the player does, which then pushes you into the nearby wall, actually a slightly beneficial bug as you can just move out and thus escape the starting room faster without having to run around or blowing the wall up). I use the Homing Phase after reaching the first mod, pick up the BFG, and then fight my way to the second mod, but unfortunately neither mod was a Power mod and so I'm unable to build the Focused Double Shotgun. I probably could have stuck around and cleared out the maze enemies, as berserked Shottyhead is one of the best builds for it, but since I won't have a level up during it and have already lost the Conqueror, I play it safe and leave after getting the second mod. I get through Deimos 7 and finally finish my Tactical Rocket Launcher there (usually I would ditch the Missile Launcher at this point but hold onto it for the aforementioned extra reliability with triggering Berserker since it's P-modded) and Cybie goes down as easily as you would expect against any Berserker build (I tried shotgunning him down with Shottyhead first, but I wasn't reliably dodging him and I wasn't hitting as hard as I wanted to without a Focused Double, so I just went in and Chainsawed him down to save a few more points of damage plus time), while he gets me only a kill or two away from levelling up to start Hell in good shape.
The first floor of Hell would be a fairly unremarkable small rooms level, but it has an
Invulnerability Globe spawn, finally the first one I find this whole run, any run that would have relied on them would have been long dead by now. I consider taking that Invuln and trying to Invuln rush through the remaining rest of the game, but maybe the bad Invuln luck will continue and do the safer play of using it to get through Unholy Cathedral with minimal attrition damage for the Longinus Spear to greatly enhance my melee prowess. After a swell Hell 2, I would get a brutal Hell 3, getting spawned in a room with only crates for cover while a ton of Barons and Archviles to revive them were around, and when I thought I was in a good spot, a Revenant popped out of a southern door and its subsequent rocket failed to trigger Berserker, while the level just had no good quickly accessible camping spot. After my health dropped into the 20ish% range and my P-modded Red Armor got damaged, while still hearing Barons around just outside my vision, I would resort to using one of the Blood Skulls despite only having two corpses around to just get 10 HP back. I do get through the floor,
but with only 12 HP left and still some kills away from levelling up (imagine if I had to get through this floor without Shottyhead nor Berserker...). Thankfully N! Vaults in this version has only Archviles and Revenants instead of Nightmare Archviles, Nightmare Arachnotrons, and Red Armored Barons, so I'm able to go in, pop the Arena Master's Staff, and quickly kill a couple Archviles safely for the levelup Supercharge to get back in business. The Vaults also had Enviroboots spawn to invalidate any forced fluid traversal, so holding onto the Staff ended up paying off big time in this run.
Following that close call with a much laxer Hell 4, I make the gutsy move to go into N! Mortuary despite AoMs preventing me from healing on demand without using up my last Blood Skull and Hell 4 having no Invuln to take into it. I do the usual opener of immediately popping my Hatred Skull, and taking advantage of this version not limiting BFG firing range by shooting a couple blasts towards each side from the center, and then rocket jump to the Nuclear BFG. Once it's secured, I just camp the corner a bit and take advantage of the unlimited BFG range to repeatedly shoot it at far out-of-vision targets, while using the Tactical Rocket Launcher or Missile Launcher or Shottyhead-boosted Tactical Shotgun to repeatedly knock enemies back, and with my strong melee I can keep some Mancubi corpses around near me to farm rockets. It takes a bit, but after I suspect most enemies are dead, I make my way to the left, and level up upon killing the last Archvile, at which I point I use the boosted health to rush through the rest. I shortly
finish it after said level up and did it
taking only 12 damage. Going through Mortuary wasn't just for bragging rights though, as after not getting any Power mods since Hell's Armory, I can get the guaranteed one here to
finally build the Focused Double Shotgun, which ended up proving its worth when I got a
Hell 6 maze with a hot start and no cover that could have been nasty, but I'm able to blow away quickly thanks to the Focused Double (the Unique by the way was a
useless Mega Buster, if the game was going to give me a useless Unique, why not the Subtle Knife I need for Armorer Diamond instead of the useless Unique I already gotten
a dozen times somehow despite it having a spawning weight of 1?). With the Enviroboots and Shottyhead, The Lava Pits is free, then Hell 7 gives me a relaxing penultimate level with a
Humid lever, and an actually useful Unique in
Malek's Armor that I have to kill a Baron for (would have wanted this much earlier but still nice for the Mastermind or Carmack). I nuke the Mastermind and then go for the Carmack kill to get ever closer to Apostle rank, and upon reaching Carmack there was actually an opportunity to take advantage of intentionally having him spawn the penalty Barons for attacking him out of vision since they give EXP and I was pretty close to levelling up, but I wasn't sure if the Barons would be enough and so play it safe. With the Blood Skull still unused, I do it use to get some boosted health after killing some Cacodemons he spawn (one advantage of fighting Carmack instead of the Mastermind in AoMs is this allowing you a mid-fight heal and tactics restoration if needed), but it's unnecessary as berserked Shottyhead with the Focused Double Shotgun
effortlessly kills him.
So that's Masochist Diamond now done, and with an Explorer + Grim Reaper Pin to boot (wasn't originally planning on that but it ended up working out that way). Also succeeding despite having to get through several nasty run-ending floors, not being able to get a critical weapon for this build until the run was nearly done, and having probably the worst Invulnerability luck I ever gotten with only that single Invuln the entire run (good thing I played safe with the one I found instead of trying to Invuln rush the rest of the game). I'm telling you, everyone else slept hard on Shottyhead, I'm pretty sure this run doesn't succeed without the combo of Berserker and Shottyhead, and nearly every other qualifying build would have died in those early Phobos mazes, that horrible Phobos 6 hot start, that very rough Hell 3, or even that Hell 6 maze, let alone manage all the special levels (8 of them cleared is more than even 2Dev supposedly did in his Masochist Diamond run, and I realistically could have finished the remaining three for the unprecedented N! AoMs Conqueror if I was willing to play a bit more ballsy, maybe another time...). This should have been a first try clear too, but the first attempt died mid-Deimos after a power outage and my new UPS apparently not having its battery connected to keep my computer on (that run had a
Nano Mod too and an early Assault Shotgun, so it probably goes all the way without the run getting a catastrophically terrible second half), I have to settle for a technical second try. Despite the first/second try and having an ideal build for Masochist Diamond, the run did flirted with ending multiple times, including that close call in Hell that would have been especially devastating after expending around four hours into the run, so I do have to respect it as deserving its reputation as one of the toughest Diamonds. Not quite as bad as Inquisitor Diamond though (you might be able to heal on demand in AoP, but you don't get that much more health than AoMs' levelup Supercharges give you and in AoMs your armor won't be in perpetual tatters without an Onyx/Nano in addition to still being able to use Berserks + Invulns), and I'm certain I'm gonna prefer it to the
five Diamonds I have left, which are gonna be either even more extreme "don't get hit" hell or grinding hell (for reference, I finished this run with a little over 500 damage taken, I would have to shave off over 60% of that damage taken just for Demonic Diamond without the aid of a guaranteed early Red Armor). All Diamonds is in sight, but it's probably not gonna be a fun time and this will likely be the last first or second try win...
Here is the mortem:
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DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
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letmehealpls, level 17 Cyberdemon Chaos Mjr General Scout,
nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
He survived 1410070 turns and scored 977071 points.
He played for 5 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 2026 out of 2107 hellspawn. (96%)
He held his right to remain violent.
He was an Angel of Masochism!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 11
Levels completed : 8
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (gold cluster)
Aurora Medallion
Explorer Badge
Grim Reaper's Badge
Hell Armorer Badge
Chessmaster's Token
Chessmaster's Cross
Hell Champion Medal
Masochist Diamond Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 60/50 Experience 158362/17
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +4 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +6
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Finesse (Level 3)
Hellrunner (Level 2)
Reloader (Level 2)
Brute (Level 2)
Juggler (Level 1)
Berserker (Level 1)
Intuition (Level 2)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Shottyman (Level 1)
Shottyhead (Level 1)
Fin->Jug->Bru->Bru->Ber->HR->Rel->Rel->SM->MSh->Fin->WK->WK->Int->Int->HR->Fin->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] Malek's Armor [3/3] (100%)
[b] [ Weapon ] focused double shotgun (8d4)x2 [0/2] (T1)
[c] [ Boots ] tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] shell box (x52)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] tactical shotgun (8d3) [5/5]
[b] tactical rocket launcher (6d6) [4/5]
[c] missile launcher (6d7) [4/4] (P1)
[d] nuclear BFG 9000 (8d6) [52/52] (B1)
[e] BFG 9000 (10d6) [169/169] (B2)
[f] red armor [4/4] (100%)
[g] red armor [6/6] (90%) (AP)
[h] Angelic Armor [7/7] (96%)
[i] chainsaw (5d6) (BT)
[j] Longinus Spear (8d8)
[k] shotgun shell (x10)
[l] shotgun shell (x50)
[m] rocket (x10)
[n] rocket (x3)
[o] rocket (x10)
[p] power cell (x50)
[q] Enviroboots [0]
[r] shell box (x100)
[s] rocket box (x20)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Bullet - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Melee - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Shrapnel - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Acid - internal 60% torso 90% feet 60%
Fire - internal 60% torso 90% feet 60%
Plasma - internal 60% torso 90% feet 60%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
229 former humans
196 former sergeants
114 former captains
259 imps
110 demons
563 lost souls
80 cacodemons
46 hell knights
61 barons of hell
30 arachnotrons
48 former commandos
54 pain elementals
42 revenants
98 mancubi
43 arch-viles
16 nightmare imps
3 nightmare cacodemons
24 nightmare demons
2 bruiser brothers
1 shambler
1 lava elemental
1 agony elemental
1 Angel of Death
1 Cyberdemon
1 Spider Mastermind
1 John Carmack
1 Arena Master
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
He left the Arena as a champion!
On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
On level 5 he found the Arena Master's Staff!
He defeated the Hell Arena Master!
On level 7 he sneaked into the Phobos Lab.
He broke through the lab.
On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
On level 9 he found the Grammaton Cleric Beretta!
On level 9 he entered Hell's Armory.
On level 9 he assembled a tactical boots!
He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
On level 11 he arrived at the Containment Area.
He broke into the Containment Area, but gave up against the overwhelming forces.
On level 12 he romped upon the Abyssal Plains.
He slaughtered the beasts living there.
On level 13 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
On level 14 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
On level 15 he assembled a tactical rocket launcher!
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 17 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 17 he found the Longinus Spear!
He then destroyed the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
On level 19 he found the Enviroboots!
He cracked the Vaults and cleared them out!
On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
On level 20 he found the Angelic Armor!
On level 20 he assembled a focused double shotgun!
He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
On level 22 he found the Mega Buster!
On level 22 he entered the Lava Pits.
He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
On level 23 he found the Malek's Armor!
Then at last he found Dis!
He nuked level 24!
He defeated the Mastermind and found the TRUE EVIL!
Then finally in Hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You dodge! You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You quickly reload the focused double shotgun. You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You quickly reload the focused double shotgun. You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You quickly reload the focused double shotgun. You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You quickly reload the focused double shotgun. You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
John Carmack dies. Congratulations! You defeated John Carmack! Press
<Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
305 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
110 of those were killed.
1 of those was killed by something unknown.
96 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 7 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
91 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
7 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
48 killed the bitch and survived.
36 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
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Author
Topic: (0.9.9.7) [N!|AoMs|96%|YAFW] - Masochist Diamond with Explorer and Reaper Pin (Read 41 times)