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Nightmare! / (0.9.9.7) [N!|AoMr|93%|YAFW] - Pure Marksman Diamond + N! AoMr Explorer
« on: Today at 05:07 »
Next up in my 0.9.9.7 completion, I decided to go for Marksman Diamond. This is one of the most straightforward Diamonds on the surface, you just simply have to make it to Dis and kill the Mastermind in Angel of Marksmanship, no kill percent or additional stipulations required. However, Pistols really suck in 0.9.9.7, between their extremely pitiful early game, lack of a guaranteed upgrade weapon, having masteries that all range from heavily flawed to outright horrendous, their big midway powerup trait (Dualgunner) tending to be counterproductive without certain rare infinite ammo pistols, being far more trait intensive than other builds, being especially weak against crowds until you at least get SoG4, getting less mileage out of powerups and running due to using more cumulative actions to kill enemies, and their supposed saving grace of an OP lategame not actually being all that much stronger than what most other builds offer (especially compared to melee builds, which have a similarly rough start but amp up way faster and are actually super dominant in the lategame). These problems get amplified on Nightmare, and N! exposes another problem of AoMr in your inability to effectively corpse dispose, since you won't be able to just blow up corpses unless you find a rare Firestorm mod to make a Demolition Pistol or find the even rarer Anti-Freak Jackal, and Pistols struggle to utilize corpse stacking or knocking enemies into fluids with their unreliable knockback unless you get Sharpshooter or several levels of SoG + SoB. As a result, Marksman Diamond is actually one of the harder Diamonds, and while the 0.9.9.7 Badge Hunters thread lists 11 players winning it, only four of them did it purely (Sylph, papilio, Tormuse, and llama of doom, the former three of which are revered as among DRL's most accomplished players, and llama in his mortem claims it took him nearly 100 attempts over the course of 3 months to get his win).
So first thing, deciding what build I'm going to actually use. As mentioned, the Pistol masteries all have serious cons to them; Sharpshooter is the easily the best of the lot and is actually one of the strongest mastery effects in the game when you get it, but the excessive requisite levels of EE and inability to pick up SoB gives it an abominably difficult Phobos, while Sharpshooter isn't so strong as to guarantee winning if you survive long enough to get it. You also are going to need a level of HR at least by Phobos Anomaly to get through it without getting lucky with a Phase Device or floor 7 Invuln, which Sharpshooter is going to have a very hard time getting (you're going to need to basically kill everything and do all the special levels to reach level 8 before Anomaly, which Sharpshooter's early game is going to make very difficult to do, and any delay of getting Sharpshooter to get HR sooner will seriously jeopardize your chances of surviving the brutal late Phobos and early Deimos floors). Then Gun Kata offers a slightly less brutal early game and has HR2 as part of its prereqs, but Gun Kata itself is a rather underwhelming and finicky mastery effect, and the pistols themselves are seriously lacking in power without Sharpshooter or SoB (which Gun Kata blocks) until you get SoG5, while Gun Kata additionally requires a lot more ancillary traits just for a lategame that is still not up to snuff. And last but certainly least is Bullet Dance, which writing down all the problems to would make this OP way too long, but I'll simply note that it blocks Hellrunner, and that alone makes it unviable, as with no access to rocket jumping, it is simply going to get walled hard by N! Phobos Anomaly without Phase Device or powerup luck.
With this all in mind, I go for the unconventional pick with Scavenger, even with this being the pre-buff 0.9.9.7 version that could only dissemble ranged weapons rather than being able to dissemble any equipment. The plan behind it is I play it like a pseudo-Sharpshooter build, but I don't need to pick up a third level of EE and I can pick up levels of SoB that make the early game less hellish, while I can also more easily fit in the aforementioned mandatory level of HR to escape the Anomaly, and then while I will have a much weaker midgame, I can close the gap lategame with the SoB levels and extra mods I get, particularly the rare mods, including giving me a much higher chance at procuring a Demolition Pistol for corpse disposal. With trait order, I immediately gun for SoG3 at the start, this is nonnegotiable as pistols are worth shit all without it. I then follow it up with a level of SoB, even just this one level of SoB makes a significant difference as the chance of knockback per hit with a P-modded pistol doubles from 12% to 24%, significantly increasing the chance of killing bigger enemies before they reach me and helping me knockback enemies into fluids, and it significantly increases the chance of me one-shotting Formers from 40% to 60%. The order of traits after this will then depend on the state of the run; I go for a level of EE after, as that first level of EE is very helpful when pistols do miss an annoyingly high amount without it and it'll make shooting while running a lot more viable, then it's the first level of WK to get more than one mod on my pistols (particularly to get a 2P pistol, which increases the aforementioned knockback chance to 41.7% and Former one-shot chance to 72.2%), then it's the mandatory HR a level earlier than I wanted since I rolled Phobos Lab and it'll be needed there if I want to actually complete it, and then it's SoB2, which aside from the farther DPS increase, now bumps up my knockback chance with a 2P Pistol to 58.3% (i.e. I'll now be knocking back an enemy more often than average between their moves) and the Former one-shot chance to 83.3%. After that, it's the second level of WK to start building assemblies without worrying about losing the inability to mod them later and finishing Scavenger with EE2 -> Int1 -> MSv, and immediately maxing out SoG once I get Scavenger. The traits beyond that aren't very important, but I get Int2 to make the lategame less of a slog, a third level of SoB, and finally a level of Reloader to help with the reloading bottleneck before Carmack.
For the beginning of the run, I simply reset until the bonus starting mod is an Agility mod. People usually do this so they can make a Speedloader Pistol immediately with the Technician's starting Technical mod, but I do this to guarantee I'll have A-modded Boots at least before Anomaly, since it's so important you have the running speed to comfortably outrun the Nightmare enemies there, while it's possible to find no Agility mods in Phobos, especially if you're unable to beat the special levels (one of which, Phobos Lab, you're probably not going to be able to beat without having A-modded Boots prior to it). With the starting Tech mod, I just immediately slap it on my starting Pistol and have no plans to turn it into a Speedloader; the greater firing speed is simply far more valuable at this point of the game and Ammochain boxes can fix the reloading issue in meaningful fights later, while before I get an Ammochain box, I can swap to another fully loaded Pistol in my prepared slot if needed, which takes only 0.2 seconds more than reloading the Speedloader would. I'll additionally be able to turn that T-modded Pistol into an Energy Pistol, Demolition Pistol, or a Storm Bolter if I wanted to later, so even if you don't have Scavenger and thus would be able to get that Tech mod back, you should immediately Tech mod your starting pistol without worrying about "wasting" it.
Strategy on Phobos Base Entry doesn't really change, though you're less likely to get both medkits as you can't use a Shotgun to nigh-guarantee one-shotting the other Shotgunner with a medkit. Floor 2 isn't too bad but the annoyance of being pistol-locked already starts, at least the EXP boost of N! means you'll just need to kill a few enemies to hit level 2, which you direly need ASAP before you try taking on any Pinkies or large enemy groups. Hopefully enough enemies spawn for you to hit level 3 before the end of it because you're gonna really need SoG3 before entering Hell's Arena or going to floor 3, in this run I finished just short but luckily only needed one more kill to hit level 3. I then go into Hell's Arena; even if you don't clear it you should almost always go in and do at least the first wave for the mostly safe EXP. I however do go for the Hell's Arena clear, it's very difficult and even more unbearably tedious in N! AoMr, but getting that guaranteed early Power Mod and Ammochain box is worth it if you're able to do it, even burning all your Small Medkits in the process won't be too bad as the Supercharge + Large Medkit + Blue Armor you get will compensate for that. I do take a big beating though, even when going in with a Berserk near the stairs. There's then the infamous difficulty spike upon entering floor 3 when Hell Knights start appearing and Cacodemons + Pain Elementals follow soon after; whenever I enter a new floor at this point I equip the Ammochain box, as it's crucial to surviving any rough level starts that plop me near these big enemies or the big Pinky group can start appearing on Floor 4. When I establish a foothold in a mostly safe spot, I then unequip the Ammochain to preserve it, you shouldn't waste it when shooting isolated enemies safely behind a corner. If running lowish on health, I'll also equip the Blue Armor when entering stairs, but will similarly unequip it when no longer threatened by Hell Knights or Cacodemons to preserve it, especially as Armor Shards don't start spawning until floor 5 and I may not get another healthy Blue Armor throughout Phobos.
I get a pretty fortunate floor 5 that had a big water river running through it to make corpse disposal less of a hassle, and it contained a little Cacodemon vault that was not only easy to clear out, but also had a Power Mod and Homing Phase. With that second Power mod, I go for WK1 instead of getting SoB2, since a P2 Pistol with SoG3 + SoB1 has a slightly higher knockback chance than a P1 Pistol with SoG3 + SoB2, while it also keeps the T-modded Pistol I have in my offhand less likely to knockback for when I want something to die on the spot it's standing, and that Homing Phase will give me a mulligan when I try the difficult special levels. Speaking of which, next up is the Unchained Court, which most would probably advise against trying in N! AoMr, but it is doable. You'll need to eat some acid balls while berserked to destroy the Baron corpses, or otherwise try to knock them into the lava as you kill them or finagle them into the doorways without getting hit too much. The Arena Master himself won't be too much of a problem if you can save at least one berserk for him, as you can win the damage race and kill him with a pistol before the berserk runs out (keep in mind it's better to fight him from a distance than up close, his attack rate will be much slower when he is zapping you and so he actually has a higher DPS in melee range, especially when his zap isn't as damaging as a typical Archvile zap). Cleanup of the Formers after though will be very annoying, especially if the Arena Master and Barons destroyed most of the center building, if you can't safely door camp you'll have to keep killing the Formers as they revive until you can knock them back into the lava, but if you still have your tactics intact you can use the Arena Master's Staff to gib a couple of them. Given the difficulty of eliminating the Barons and the sheer tedium with disposing the corpses in N! AoMr, I don't blame anyone if they rather only clear Hell's Arena or give up the guaranteed early Power mod + Ammochain from the Arena to get the easy Chained Court, even if it means they would have to do a few more resets to get through Phobos (this will be way more bearable in 0.10 and beyond though, where Pistols have reliable knockback and clearing special levels was changed to kill each distinct enemy once rather than needing everything dead simultaneously).
After some standard tough late Phobos floors, I rolled Phobos Lab for the floor 7 special level instead of Military Base. About anyone would probably advise that going into N! Phobos Lab in AoMr is suicide, especially not without HR2 and Tactical Boots, but with several Large Medkits and my running speed exceeding the crucial 0.71 seconds benchmark by a comfortable amount (the speed of Nightmare Demons), I decide to give it a shot, especially since I could always Homing Phase out if I truly got in an unsurviveable position, and no Invuln nor Berserk spawned on Phobos 7 anyway to use for Phobos Anomaly. I did get in a terrible spot early on when a respawned Sergeant opened the door I was trying to camp out some Nightmare Demons behind, I survived it but had to burn both Small Medkits when I wanted to save them for restoring running (fortunately the back Nightmare Demon was already almost dead and so immediately died in the acid). Phobos Lab ends up taking a while but I'm able to clear it, not without burning a lot of medkits and taking a whopping 280 damage on the level though. Then it's Phobos Anomaly, where with HR and A-modded Boots, I'm able to outrun the ambush, and then I simply run pass the Bruisers since even with a Radsuit on I can't quite beat them in an open damage race and getting pincer'd by the Nightmare enemies would end me, though I still take a large chunk of damage and lose my bid at 100% kills, which sucks but it's not worth trying to kill the N! Anomaly enemies in AoMr.
Deimos would very conveniently start me right next to a massacre lever, not as helpful as it would have been in Phobos but permanently eliminating a bunch of Formers and weakening the bigger enemies still gave me a nice breather of a floor. I rolled Hell's Armory for the Deimos 1 special level, which I don't mind for another relative breather, and I indeed clear it out without having to expend any medkits after using a radsuit to get the Supercharge. The weapon cache unfortunately didn't have an Exotic pistol, and the big reward of a Sniper mod is ok but was I wanted least, I just put it on a spare Pistol while I turn my 2P pistol into an Energy Pistol and prime my T1 pistol with another T + P mod to eventually make it into a Demolition Pistol. With the P-modded Energy Pistol and sufficient levels of SoG + SoB, I'm able to go through The Wall, which I do by shooting a one-tile wide tunnel at the top, where I then wait until I see a Baron pop up near the end, shoot it, retreat behind the corner, make sure I finish off the Baron diagonally in front of me, and then stand on the Baron corpse while I wait for another Baron to pop up so it cannot get up. If one of the Archviles pop up, I shoot at it and then once I see it raise its arms, I move back behind the wall to avoid the zap and have it blow up the Baron corpse for me. Repeating this until I get the last Baron as a corpse, I then go retrieve the Backpack + the Missile Launcher for later Scavenging and wait for the respawned Baron to come near this area, where I can then finish it off in the doorway to get rid of the final Baron corpse. I would enter City Of Skulls after this to keep the Explorer Pin intact, but I don't release the Lost Souls, as I didn't want to have to risk burning my Homing Phase that I would need to not die in Halls Of Carnage. And indeed I would roll Halls Of Carnage on Deimos 6, where after retrieving the first mod with the aid of a berserk, I just Homing Phase to the stairs, grab the BFG to use a cell backpack, and then wait on the stairs until the lava catches up, but immediately descend once I saw a Baron in the lava staring me down and knowing the Nightmare Cacos were around to pop up at any moment.
While I didn't really need the Backpack from The Wall, getting the Missile Launcher there and my Scavenger strat would pay off, as upon finally getting Scavenger on Deimos 6 and dissembling a couple non-Pistol exotic weapons I had, dissembling the Missile Launcher would net me a Firestorm mod, that I immediately use to make a Demolition Pistol. The very next floor though would have a random Firestorm mod right next to a Unique, teasing me for getting Scavenger just to make a Demolition Pistol one floor early (unfortunately you can't put Firestorms on explosive weapons with a radius smaller than 3 for some asinine in this version, so I can just slap that second Firestorm on my BFG to maybe make a Biggest Fucking Gun later, or rather a Biggest Fucking Cellpack). That Unique was a Railgun though, so Scavenger does pay off definitively by getting me a second Sniper mod and thus allowing me to use a very useful 2S Pistol for unobstructed out-of-vision shooting. Hell 1 would have a Mega Buster that I then dissemble into... a third Sniper, which you can apply up to three Snipers on a single weapon, but in this version the third Sniper does nothing, so this was a useless drop.
Once I get the Demolition Pistol and 2S Pistol alongside SoG4 and 5, the run becomes much easier, though it still had heart-stopping moments like me accidentally stepping into a Commando's view and eating a full plasma volley that nearly kills me. I go into the Cathedral for Explorer but leave instantly, and then I go into the Vaults that is trivial to clear, while it too pays off with a Trigun. I have the dilemma to keep the Trigun as a much stronger pistol for in-vision enemies than the other pistols I have on or scavenge it for the guaranteed Nano mod; I decided to keep it, since I figure it's too late to build something with the Nano mod that would be better than having the Trigun itself. The game isn't going down easy after this, with Hell 4 being a Pain Elemental cave (it had a Hell Staff that I can't dissemble but bring along with me), Hell 6 being a maze with a lot of barrels, and Hell 7 being yet another barrel level. I would also venture into Limbo, and upon seeing a bunch of Archviles in vision at the start, I contemplate using the Hell Staff to try getting me out immediately... or stick around and try clearing it. And after successfully clearing out the starting island, I would use the Demolition Pistol to weed out the enemies on the other islands before raising the bridges (since the explosions would hurt several bunched up enemies and launch them into the lava), while then taking advantage of the 2S Pistol to shoot enemies out of vision off the bridge into the lava (or sometimes used the Energy Pistol to save ammo after farming an Arachnotron for cells). This process took a long time but eventually I'm able to kill every last one of them. Explorer is then secured by being able to freely enter The Lava Pits, though I clear it too even without a Radsuit or lava immune boots, taking advantage of the Hell Staff to get me across the lava where I then have the overabundance of Radsuits in this version of Lava Pits to get me back safely. Finally, Carmack, as usual in this version, is a pushover, as I can keep hammering away at him and his spawns with the Demolition Pistol after he knocks me out of vision.
Well damn, that was a big writeup, this was a long and pretty excruciating run, belying it only being my second attempt that didn't reset at Phobos Base Entry (the first made it to Deimos, but I fucked up in Unchained Court by trying to wait for an almost dead Arena Master to die in lava instead of finishing him off, forgetting that all Viles were bugged to be immune to fluids in this version, getting me hit with a zap without berserk and destroying most of the central building, a mistake that lost me two large medkits and put me in a hole I never recovered from that was followed by nasty mazes on Phobos 6 and Deimos 1, and me fruitlessly trying to fight the Bruisers instead of just running past them, with me ultimately throwing against the Revenants on Deimos Lab). Pistols are just so bad before 0.10... there are few Diamonds I think will end up being more unpleasant than this one, and even if several of the remaining Diamonds end up being harder, I'll probably enjoy the process of going for them more. I also kick myself for not taking the opportunity to Angel Arm a half dozen times at the end with the Lava Element active, could have gotten the Fallout Platinum Cross out of the way and get me one step closer to Heroic Diamond. Well here is the mortem:
So first thing, deciding what build I'm going to actually use. As mentioned, the Pistol masteries all have serious cons to them; Sharpshooter is the easily the best of the lot and is actually one of the strongest mastery effects in the game when you get it, but the excessive requisite levels of EE and inability to pick up SoB gives it an abominably difficult Phobos, while Sharpshooter isn't so strong as to guarantee winning if you survive long enough to get it. You also are going to need a level of HR at least by Phobos Anomaly to get through it without getting lucky with a Phase Device or floor 7 Invuln, which Sharpshooter is going to have a very hard time getting (you're going to need to basically kill everything and do all the special levels to reach level 8 before Anomaly, which Sharpshooter's early game is going to make very difficult to do, and any delay of getting Sharpshooter to get HR sooner will seriously jeopardize your chances of surviving the brutal late Phobos and early Deimos floors). Then Gun Kata offers a slightly less brutal early game and has HR2 as part of its prereqs, but Gun Kata itself is a rather underwhelming and finicky mastery effect, and the pistols themselves are seriously lacking in power without Sharpshooter or SoB (which Gun Kata blocks) until you get SoG5, while Gun Kata additionally requires a lot more ancillary traits just for a lategame that is still not up to snuff. And last but certainly least is Bullet Dance, which writing down all the problems to would make this OP way too long, but I'll simply note that it blocks Hellrunner, and that alone makes it unviable, as with no access to rocket jumping, it is simply going to get walled hard by N! Phobos Anomaly without Phase Device or powerup luck.
With this all in mind, I go for the unconventional pick with Scavenger, even with this being the pre-buff 0.9.9.7 version that could only dissemble ranged weapons rather than being able to dissemble any equipment. The plan behind it is I play it like a pseudo-Sharpshooter build, but I don't need to pick up a third level of EE and I can pick up levels of SoB that make the early game less hellish, while I can also more easily fit in the aforementioned mandatory level of HR to escape the Anomaly, and then while I will have a much weaker midgame, I can close the gap lategame with the SoB levels and extra mods I get, particularly the rare mods, including giving me a much higher chance at procuring a Demolition Pistol for corpse disposal. With trait order, I immediately gun for SoG3 at the start, this is nonnegotiable as pistols are worth shit all without it. I then follow it up with a level of SoB, even just this one level of SoB makes a significant difference as the chance of knockback per hit with a P-modded pistol doubles from 12% to 24%, significantly increasing the chance of killing bigger enemies before they reach me and helping me knockback enemies into fluids, and it significantly increases the chance of me one-shotting Formers from 40% to 60%. The order of traits after this will then depend on the state of the run; I go for a level of EE after, as that first level of EE is very helpful when pistols do miss an annoyingly high amount without it and it'll make shooting while running a lot more viable, then it's the first level of WK to get more than one mod on my pistols (particularly to get a 2P pistol, which increases the aforementioned knockback chance to 41.7% and Former one-shot chance to 72.2%), then it's the mandatory HR a level earlier than I wanted since I rolled Phobos Lab and it'll be needed there if I want to actually complete it, and then it's SoB2, which aside from the farther DPS increase, now bumps up my knockback chance with a 2P Pistol to 58.3% (i.e. I'll now be knocking back an enemy more often than average between their moves) and the Former one-shot chance to 83.3%. After that, it's the second level of WK to start building assemblies without worrying about losing the inability to mod them later and finishing Scavenger with EE2 -> Int1 -> MSv, and immediately maxing out SoG once I get Scavenger. The traits beyond that aren't very important, but I get Int2 to make the lategame less of a slog, a third level of SoB, and finally a level of Reloader to help with the reloading bottleneck before Carmack.
For the beginning of the run, I simply reset until the bonus starting mod is an Agility mod. People usually do this so they can make a Speedloader Pistol immediately with the Technician's starting Technical mod, but I do this to guarantee I'll have A-modded Boots at least before Anomaly, since it's so important you have the running speed to comfortably outrun the Nightmare enemies there, while it's possible to find no Agility mods in Phobos, especially if you're unable to beat the special levels (one of which, Phobos Lab, you're probably not going to be able to beat without having A-modded Boots prior to it). With the starting Tech mod, I just immediately slap it on my starting Pistol and have no plans to turn it into a Speedloader; the greater firing speed is simply far more valuable at this point of the game and Ammochain boxes can fix the reloading issue in meaningful fights later, while before I get an Ammochain box, I can swap to another fully loaded Pistol in my prepared slot if needed, which takes only 0.2 seconds more than reloading the Speedloader would. I'll additionally be able to turn that T-modded Pistol into an Energy Pistol, Demolition Pistol, or a Storm Bolter if I wanted to later, so even if you don't have Scavenger and thus would be able to get that Tech mod back, you should immediately Tech mod your starting pistol without worrying about "wasting" it.
Strategy on Phobos Base Entry doesn't really change, though you're less likely to get both medkits as you can't use a Shotgun to nigh-guarantee one-shotting the other Shotgunner with a medkit. Floor 2 isn't too bad but the annoyance of being pistol-locked already starts, at least the EXP boost of N! means you'll just need to kill a few enemies to hit level 2, which you direly need ASAP before you try taking on any Pinkies or large enemy groups. Hopefully enough enemies spawn for you to hit level 3 before the end of it because you're gonna really need SoG3 before entering Hell's Arena or going to floor 3, in this run I finished just short but luckily only needed one more kill to hit level 3. I then go into Hell's Arena; even if you don't clear it you should almost always go in and do at least the first wave for the mostly safe EXP. I however do go for the Hell's Arena clear, it's very difficult and even more unbearably tedious in N! AoMr, but getting that guaranteed early Power Mod and Ammochain box is worth it if you're able to do it, even burning all your Small Medkits in the process won't be too bad as the Supercharge + Large Medkit + Blue Armor you get will compensate for that. I do take a big beating though, even when going in with a Berserk near the stairs. There's then the infamous difficulty spike upon entering floor 3 when Hell Knights start appearing and Cacodemons + Pain Elementals follow soon after; whenever I enter a new floor at this point I equip the Ammochain box, as it's crucial to surviving any rough level starts that plop me near these big enemies or the big Pinky group can start appearing on Floor 4. When I establish a foothold in a mostly safe spot, I then unequip the Ammochain to preserve it, you shouldn't waste it when shooting isolated enemies safely behind a corner. If running lowish on health, I'll also equip the Blue Armor when entering stairs, but will similarly unequip it when no longer threatened by Hell Knights or Cacodemons to preserve it, especially as Armor Shards don't start spawning until floor 5 and I may not get another healthy Blue Armor throughout Phobos.
I get a pretty fortunate floor 5 that had a big water river running through it to make corpse disposal less of a hassle, and it contained a little Cacodemon vault that was not only easy to clear out, but also had a Power Mod and Homing Phase. With that second Power mod, I go for WK1 instead of getting SoB2, since a P2 Pistol with SoG3 + SoB1 has a slightly higher knockback chance than a P1 Pistol with SoG3 + SoB2, while it also keeps the T-modded Pistol I have in my offhand less likely to knockback for when I want something to die on the spot it's standing, and that Homing Phase will give me a mulligan when I try the difficult special levels. Speaking of which, next up is the Unchained Court, which most would probably advise against trying in N! AoMr, but it is doable. You'll need to eat some acid balls while berserked to destroy the Baron corpses, or otherwise try to knock them into the lava as you kill them or finagle them into the doorways without getting hit too much. The Arena Master himself won't be too much of a problem if you can save at least one berserk for him, as you can win the damage race and kill him with a pistol before the berserk runs out (keep in mind it's better to fight him from a distance than up close, his attack rate will be much slower when he is zapping you and so he actually has a higher DPS in melee range, especially when his zap isn't as damaging as a typical Archvile zap). Cleanup of the Formers after though will be very annoying, especially if the Arena Master and Barons destroyed most of the center building, if you can't safely door camp you'll have to keep killing the Formers as they revive until you can knock them back into the lava, but if you still have your tactics intact you can use the Arena Master's Staff to gib a couple of them. Given the difficulty of eliminating the Barons and the sheer tedium with disposing the corpses in N! AoMr, I don't blame anyone if they rather only clear Hell's Arena or give up the guaranteed early Power mod + Ammochain from the Arena to get the easy Chained Court, even if it means they would have to do a few more resets to get through Phobos (this will be way more bearable in 0.10 and beyond though, where Pistols have reliable knockback and clearing special levels was changed to kill each distinct enemy once rather than needing everything dead simultaneously).
After some standard tough late Phobos floors, I rolled Phobos Lab for the floor 7 special level instead of Military Base. About anyone would probably advise that going into N! Phobos Lab in AoMr is suicide, especially not without HR2 and Tactical Boots, but with several Large Medkits and my running speed exceeding the crucial 0.71 seconds benchmark by a comfortable amount (the speed of Nightmare Demons), I decide to give it a shot, especially since I could always Homing Phase out if I truly got in an unsurviveable position, and no Invuln nor Berserk spawned on Phobos 7 anyway to use for Phobos Anomaly. I did get in a terrible spot early on when a respawned Sergeant opened the door I was trying to camp out some Nightmare Demons behind, I survived it but had to burn both Small Medkits when I wanted to save them for restoring running (fortunately the back Nightmare Demon was already almost dead and so immediately died in the acid). Phobos Lab ends up taking a while but I'm able to clear it, not without burning a lot of medkits and taking a whopping 280 damage on the level though. Then it's Phobos Anomaly, where with HR and A-modded Boots, I'm able to outrun the ambush, and then I simply run pass the Bruisers since even with a Radsuit on I can't quite beat them in an open damage race and getting pincer'd by the Nightmare enemies would end me, though I still take a large chunk of damage and lose my bid at 100% kills, which sucks but it's not worth trying to kill the N! Anomaly enemies in AoMr.
Deimos would very conveniently start me right next to a massacre lever, not as helpful as it would have been in Phobos but permanently eliminating a bunch of Formers and weakening the bigger enemies still gave me a nice breather of a floor. I rolled Hell's Armory for the Deimos 1 special level, which I don't mind for another relative breather, and I indeed clear it out without having to expend any medkits after using a radsuit to get the Supercharge. The weapon cache unfortunately didn't have an Exotic pistol, and the big reward of a Sniper mod is ok but was I wanted least, I just put it on a spare Pistol while I turn my 2P pistol into an Energy Pistol and prime my T1 pistol with another T + P mod to eventually make it into a Demolition Pistol. With the P-modded Energy Pistol and sufficient levels of SoG + SoB, I'm able to go through The Wall, which I do by shooting a one-tile wide tunnel at the top, where I then wait until I see a Baron pop up near the end, shoot it, retreat behind the corner, make sure I finish off the Baron diagonally in front of me, and then stand on the Baron corpse while I wait for another Baron to pop up so it cannot get up. If one of the Archviles pop up, I shoot at it and then once I see it raise its arms, I move back behind the wall to avoid the zap and have it blow up the Baron corpse for me. Repeating this until I get the last Baron as a corpse, I then go retrieve the Backpack + the Missile Launcher for later Scavenging and wait for the respawned Baron to come near this area, where I can then finish it off in the doorway to get rid of the final Baron corpse. I would enter City Of Skulls after this to keep the Explorer Pin intact, but I don't release the Lost Souls, as I didn't want to have to risk burning my Homing Phase that I would need to not die in Halls Of Carnage. And indeed I would roll Halls Of Carnage on Deimos 6, where after retrieving the first mod with the aid of a berserk, I just Homing Phase to the stairs, grab the BFG to use a cell backpack, and then wait on the stairs until the lava catches up, but immediately descend once I saw a Baron in the lava staring me down and knowing the Nightmare Cacos were around to pop up at any moment.
While I didn't really need the Backpack from The Wall, getting the Missile Launcher there and my Scavenger strat would pay off, as upon finally getting Scavenger on Deimos 6 and dissembling a couple non-Pistol exotic weapons I had, dissembling the Missile Launcher would net me a Firestorm mod, that I immediately use to make a Demolition Pistol. The very next floor though would have a random Firestorm mod right next to a Unique, teasing me for getting Scavenger just to make a Demolition Pistol one floor early (unfortunately you can't put Firestorms on explosive weapons with a radius smaller than 3 for some asinine in this version, so I can just slap that second Firestorm on my BFG to maybe make a Biggest Fucking Gun later, or rather a Biggest Fucking Cellpack). That Unique was a Railgun though, so Scavenger does pay off definitively by getting me a second Sniper mod and thus allowing me to use a very useful 2S Pistol for unobstructed out-of-vision shooting. Hell 1 would have a Mega Buster that I then dissemble into... a third Sniper, which you can apply up to three Snipers on a single weapon, but in this version the third Sniper does nothing, so this was a useless drop.
Once I get the Demolition Pistol and 2S Pistol alongside SoG4 and 5, the run becomes much easier, though it still had heart-stopping moments like me accidentally stepping into a Commando's view and eating a full plasma volley that nearly kills me. I go into the Cathedral for Explorer but leave instantly, and then I go into the Vaults that is trivial to clear, while it too pays off with a Trigun. I have the dilemma to keep the Trigun as a much stronger pistol for in-vision enemies than the other pistols I have on or scavenge it for the guaranteed Nano mod; I decided to keep it, since I figure it's too late to build something with the Nano mod that would be better than having the Trigun itself. The game isn't going down easy after this, with Hell 4 being a Pain Elemental cave (it had a Hell Staff that I can't dissemble but bring along with me), Hell 6 being a maze with a lot of barrels, and Hell 7 being yet another barrel level. I would also venture into Limbo, and upon seeing a bunch of Archviles in vision at the start, I contemplate using the Hell Staff to try getting me out immediately... or stick around and try clearing it. And after successfully clearing out the starting island, I would use the Demolition Pistol to weed out the enemies on the other islands before raising the bridges (since the explosions would hurt several bunched up enemies and launch them into the lava), while then taking advantage of the 2S Pistol to shoot enemies out of vision off the bridge into the lava (or sometimes used the Energy Pistol to save ammo after farming an Arachnotron for cells). This process took a long time but eventually I'm able to kill every last one of them. Explorer is then secured by being able to freely enter The Lava Pits, though I clear it too even without a Radsuit or lava immune boots, taking advantage of the Hell Staff to get me across the lava where I then have the overabundance of Radsuits in this version of Lava Pits to get me back safely. Finally, Carmack, as usual in this version, is a pushover, as I can keep hammering away at him and his spawns with the Demolition Pistol after he knocks me out of vision.
Well damn, that was a big writeup, this was a long and pretty excruciating run, belying it only being my second attempt that didn't reset at Phobos Base Entry (the first made it to Deimos, but I fucked up in Unchained Court by trying to wait for an almost dead Arena Master to die in lava instead of finishing him off, forgetting that all Viles were bugged to be immune to fluids in this version, getting me hit with a zap without berserk and destroying most of the central building, a mistake that lost me two large medkits and put me in a hole I never recovered from that was followed by nasty mazes on Phobos 6 and Deimos 1, and me fruitlessly trying to fight the Bruisers instead of just running past them, with me ultimately throwing against the Revenants on Deimos Lab). Pistols are just so bad before 0.10... there are few Diamonds I think will end up being more unpleasant than this one, and even if several of the remaining Diamonds end up being harder, I'll probably enjoy the process of going for them more. I also kick myself for not taking the opportunity to Angel Arm a half dozen times at the end with the Lava Element active, could have gotten the Fallout Platinum Cross out of the way and get me one step closer to Heroic Diamond. Well here is the mortem:
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DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
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pistols :((, level 17 Cyberdemon Chaos Lt. Colonel Technician,
nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
He survived 1898450 turns and scored 979564 points.
He played for 6 hours, 12 minutes and 18 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 1878 out of 2009 hellspawn. (93%)
He held his right to remain violent.
He was an Angel of Marksmanship!
-- 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
Hell Champion Medal
Marksman Diamond Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 75/50 Experience 159564/17
ToHit Ranged +4 ToHit Melee +4 ToDmg Ranged +3 ToDmg Melee +3
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Technician
Hellrunner (Level 1)
Son of a bitch (Level 3)
Son of a gun (Level 5)
Reloader (Level 1)
Eagle Eye (Level 2)
Intuition (Level 2)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Scavenger (Level 1)
SoG->SoG->SoG->SoB->EE->WK->HR->SoB->WK->EE->Int->MSc->SoG->SoG->Int->SoB->Rel->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] fireproof red armor [4/4] (91%) (A)
[b] [ Weapon ] demolition pistol (4d2) [2/8] (B1)
[c] [ Boots ] Nyarlaptotep's Boots [6/6] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] 10mm ammo chain (x206)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] pistol (2d6) [8/8] (B1P2S2)
[b] energy pistol (2d6) [6/6] (P1)
[c] BFG 9000 (10d6) [220/220] (B3F1)
[d] Trigun (3d6) [2/6]
[e] red armor [4/4] (200%) (B)
[f] red armor [4/4] (190%) (B)
[g] Angelic Armor [7/7] (100%)
[h] 10mm ammo (x140)
[i] 10mm ammo (x116)
[j] power cell (x70)
[k] power cell (x70)
[l] small med-pack
[m] small med-pack
[n] small med-pack
[o] large med-pack
[p] large med-pack
[q] envirosuit pack
[r] Hell Staff
[s] tactical boots [0/0] (100%) (A)
[t] 10mm ammo chain (x250)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Melee - internal 0% torso -30% feet 0%
Acid - internal 0% torso 0% feet 30%
Fire - internal 0% torso 55% feet 30%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
225 former humans
202 former sergeants
66 former captains
403 imps
86 demons
271 lost souls
65 cacodemons
61 hell knights
94 barons of hell
110 arachnotrons
19 former commandos
43 pain elementals
74 revenants
41 mancubi
49 arch-viles
4 nightmare imps
7 nightmare cacodemons
36 nightmare demons
16 nightmare arachnotrons
1 shambler
1 lava elemental
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 entered Hell's Armory.
On level 9 he assembled a tactical boots!
On level 9 he assembled a energy pistol!
On level 9 he assembled a fireproof armor!
He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
On level 11 he witnessed the Wall.
He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
On level 12 he found the City of Skulls.
He fled the City in terror!
Level 13 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 14 he assembled a demolition ammo!
On level 14 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
On level 15 he found the Railgun!
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 17 he found the Mega Buster!
On level 17 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
He fled the Unholy Cathedral seeing no chance to win.
On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
On level 19 he found the Trigun!
He cracked the Vaults and cleared them out!
On level 20 he found the Hell Staff!
On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter Limbo!
On level 20 he found the Angelic Armor!
He managed to clear Limbo from evil!
On level 22 he entered the Lava Pits.
On level 22 he found the Nyarlaptotep's Boots!
He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
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 --------------------------------------------------
wear/wield : a demolition pistol (4d2) [8/8] (B1)
The missile hits John Carmack.
The missile hits John Carmack.
The missile hits John Carmack. The cacodemon dies. You are hit!
You hear the scream of a freed soul! You hear the scream of a freed soul!
You quickly reload the demolition pistol.
You quickly reload the demolition pistol.
You hear the scream of a freed soul!
You hear the scream of a freed soul!
You quickly reload the demolition pistol.
You quickly reload the demolition pistol.
You hear the scream of a freed soul!
You hear the scream of a freed soul! You hear the scream of a freed soul! You
hear the scream of a freed soul!
You hear the scream of a freed soul! Congratulations! You defeated John
Carmack! Press <Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
259 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
85 of those were killed.
1 of those was killed by something unknown.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
76 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
39 killed the bitch and survived.
31 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
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2
Nightmare! / (0.9.9.7) [N!|AoCn|100%|YAFW] - Reaper Diamond, no melee build nor AoMC required
« on: December 05, 2025, 08:31 »
For my next 0.9.9.7 Diamond, I decided to go for Reaper Diamond, which according to the Badge Hunters thread, is one of the rarest Diamonds, with only three players recorded to have won it, being felttippen, Tormuse, and Icy (and papilio claimed to have won all Diamonds but Arena Diamond, which I believe him though he never posted his Reaper Diamond mortem that I can find). None of these runs did it pure either, with felttippen and Icy mixing AoCn with AoMC to get it, and Tormuse mixed it with AoB, which notably starts you with a Chainsaw when mixed with AoCn. Now is this because Reaper Diamond was actually one of the hardest Diamonds? Ehhhhh....
Well the process of beating Mortuary or Limbo in Angel of Confidence isn't all that much harder, as you'll only be a couple levels weaker by the time you reach it if you kill most enemies along the way and you still get to access all the Deimos special levels that have the guaranteed rewards critical to beating Mortuary/Limbo. The difficulty of this badge comes however from getting said rewards from the Deimos special levels without all the levels and equipment you would have gotten from Phobos, most notably you only get a single floor of preparation now before Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab. This still won't be that big of a hurdle though if you just play a melee build; even with just a Combat Knife, you'll have little issue beating the Shamblers once you get Berserker, you just might need to reset a few times to get a floor 1 that can be cleared and not deplete all your medkits, then Vampyre or Blademaster will have a completely free time in City Of Skulls/Abyssal Plains, would be fast enough to easily handle N! Halls Of Carnage without a Homing Phase, and they'll of course have a free Unholy Cathedral as well to get the Spear or Scythe.
Given how much I have used melee builds in 0.9.9.7, and will continue to do so with 0.9.9.7's relative lack of compellingly viable options for most Diamond/Angelic badges, I wanted to try getting Reaper Diamond first without using a melee build. For this, I decided to go with Ammochain, since if I'm not going Berserker, my best shot at beating the Shambler(s) after a single floor would be with rapid fire, and I also don't see myself going with Ammochain for much if any of the remaining Diamonds/Angelics (maybe Inquisitor Diamond or the Lightfoot badges, and that's it). If I was forced to reset an annoying amount when trying to beat the Shambler(s) here without a melee build, I was ready to just go play melee and get it over with.
In the first attempt, I got a Deimos 1 with a convenient river and immediate accessible Berserk Pack but no good cover, and so I can kill everything on it but not without using up all my Medkits and not getting any back. Hell's Armory spawned and I was able to exploit the old "camp in the first north building" tactic to kill all the enemies with little damage, and then the weapon cache had a Laser Rifle, perhaps the best find for Ammochain and so I should have maybe just left the level here. With a Radsuit in stock from the prior floor that meant I could get the Supercharge, I decided to release the Shambler and try retreating back to the Supercharge, where I could then fight him in all that lava with Supercharged health. However I would get bad luck with the teleports, having to burn my running midway and getting brought near death as he got a good amount of hits on me, and then tragically he would end up killing me only tile away from the Supercharge...
In the second attempt, I would get a Pinkies + Lost Souls cave for Deimos 1. This is very bad EXP wise, but the floor was really easy and so I didn't need to burn any Medkits, while I also got another Large Medkit on it with no Formers nor Nobles to steal it. I get Hell's Armoy again and after leading off with Fin -> SoB2, I decided to deviate farther from Ammochain's prereqs and get Juggler. This paid off, as after farming a Commando for a ton of Plasma Rifles, I exploit the Juggling Overcharged Plasma Rifles trick to kill the Shambler without getting hit. Unfortunately I did get hit quite a bit at the start of the level, so no Shambler's Head, and farther unfortunately the weapon cache had nothing useful in it. I get a Sniper Mod for the big reward, and rather than making a Plasma Shotgun, I decide to save it for a Hyperblaster, as that mostly fixes Ammochain's big flaw of no EE. While the weapon cache was a letdown, I ended up finding an Assault Shotgun on Deimos 2 anyway, so that's a great general find to helping me just survive through the game. With wanting to make the Hyperblaster ASAP, I decide to go for getting WK2, which would put Ammochain off all the way until level 12, but I need a more reliable rapid fire weapon when I have no EE and I don't want to hoard all the mods I have until then when I need inventory space for the upcoming Skulls and other useful stuff.
The next special level is The Wall, which with a Rocket Launcher found on Deimos 2, I'm able to go in and clear it easily. I reach WK2 there and so I'm able to build the Hyperblaster plus slap the Sniper Mod on it. It is then City Of Skulls, which with a PPT Assault Shotgun and still having the Shell Box from Armory intact, is also easily beaten, while I get one of each Skull; I obviously take the Hatred Skull, being the most useful item for Mortuary/Limbo by far, but I also take a Blood Skull, since it would allow me to gib the corpses around the Nuclear BFG without risking destroying it nor having to use the aforementioned Hatred Skull there (which I would much rather pop immediately). The normal Deimos floors weren't particularly remarkable up to this point, with me getting an unusual high amount of small rooms levels, but in Deimos 6 I would find a second Sniper mod. Unfortunately I'm not playing a Technician in 0.9.9.8 or later, where I then could have gotten WK3 and put a second Sniper on my Hyperblaster to blast away at out-of-vision enemies as much as I want, but it's still very nice to build a Plasmatic Shotgun with a spare Power Mod I had lying around in my inventory just to make corpse disposing in Nightmare less tedious. For the next special level, I was really hoping I got Spider's Lair, as aside from being much easier on N! than Halls Of Carnage, the latter level simply would have been way too dangerous for a build with no HR, only A-modded Steel Boots, no speed-boosting armor, and while I had no Homing Phase to just zip immediately to the BFG. I could have maybe done it with lots of rocket jumping, but even if that worked, I probably would have severely burned through my armors and medkits doing that + getting through the Nightmare enemies in the maze, so I was going to just skip it and accept doing Mortuary/Limbo without the BFG if Halls spawned. Fortunately it was Spider's Lair that spawned, which I was able to go in and clear for the easy BFG.
At this point, it's just making it to Mortuary/Limbo now. Cybie goes down without much of a fight, the first few Hell floors are unremarkable other than me finally getting Ammochain, and I skip Cathedral as I'm unable to beat it with what I have (an Invuln spawned on Hell 1 but no nuke), while I then skip the Vaults as I didn't even have a Phase Device to try gambling and I didn't want to throw the 100% kills I had going by only partially clearing it. In Hell 4 I would get a rather nasty frozen event in a maze, but thanks to the S-modded Hyperblaster and juiced up Assault Shotgun, I'm able to fight without good cover and kill everything without burning Medkits. In that maze I at last then find I get Mortuary, the much harder of it and Limbo in this version, and I'm thoroughly prepared for it. In Mortuary, I employ my usual opener of immediately popping a Hatred Skull, Hyperblaster down an Archvile blocking the way, then rocket jump to the eastern area, shoot some BFG blasts to blow up most of the corpses in the right area, rocket jump farther right, pop the Blood Skull to destroy the corpses around the Nuclear BFG and then rocket jump to the Nuclear BFG. With the Nuclear BFG secured, I then rocket jump back to the western side of the map, blow up most of the corpses there with the BFG that haven't gotten up yet while berserk + P-modded Red Armor lets me tank the hits from all the enemies around, and then rocket jump back out to the foothold I had set up on the eastern side. With this successful opening that takes out most of the corpses, Mortuary maxes out with no more than a few dozen enemies up at once, at which point it's a fairly easy mop up and I finish N! Mortuary with less than 100 damage taken. I could just kill myself at this point and get Reaper Diamond, but I finish out the run and go for the full win to kill Carmack for good measure (and to help build towards Apostle rank, which I'm not so far from now). With Reaper Diamond, I'm also halfway towards getting all the Diamonds in 0.9.9.7.
Overall, yeah Reaper Diamond doesn't seem it was really that hard, especially if you just do it with a melee build, cheese it by mixing AoCn with AoMC, or cheese it with Whisper Of Death spam. Is its rarity a matter of people just being overly spooked by the thought of taking on N! Mortuary with a bit less preparation? Way more people should have won this badge. Anyway here is the mortem:
Well the process of beating Mortuary or Limbo in Angel of Confidence isn't all that much harder, as you'll only be a couple levels weaker by the time you reach it if you kill most enemies along the way and you still get to access all the Deimos special levels that have the guaranteed rewards critical to beating Mortuary/Limbo. The difficulty of this badge comes however from getting said rewards from the Deimos special levels without all the levels and equipment you would have gotten from Phobos, most notably you only get a single floor of preparation now before Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab. This still won't be that big of a hurdle though if you just play a melee build; even with just a Combat Knife, you'll have little issue beating the Shamblers once you get Berserker, you just might need to reset a few times to get a floor 1 that can be cleared and not deplete all your medkits, then Vampyre or Blademaster will have a completely free time in City Of Skulls/Abyssal Plains, would be fast enough to easily handle N! Halls Of Carnage without a Homing Phase, and they'll of course have a free Unholy Cathedral as well to get the Spear or Scythe.
Given how much I have used melee builds in 0.9.9.7, and will continue to do so with 0.9.9.7's relative lack of compellingly viable options for most Diamond/Angelic badges, I wanted to try getting Reaper Diamond first without using a melee build. For this, I decided to go with Ammochain, since if I'm not going Berserker, my best shot at beating the Shambler(s) after a single floor would be with rapid fire, and I also don't see myself going with Ammochain for much if any of the remaining Diamonds/Angelics (maybe Inquisitor Diamond or the Lightfoot badges, and that's it). If I was forced to reset an annoying amount when trying to beat the Shambler(s) here without a melee build, I was ready to just go play melee and get it over with.
In the first attempt, I got a Deimos 1 with a convenient river and immediate accessible Berserk Pack but no good cover, and so I can kill everything on it but not without using up all my Medkits and not getting any back. Hell's Armory spawned and I was able to exploit the old "camp in the first north building" tactic to kill all the enemies with little damage, and then the weapon cache had a Laser Rifle, perhaps the best find for Ammochain and so I should have maybe just left the level here. With a Radsuit in stock from the prior floor that meant I could get the Supercharge, I decided to release the Shambler and try retreating back to the Supercharge, where I could then fight him in all that lava with Supercharged health. However I would get bad luck with the teleports, having to burn my running midway and getting brought near death as he got a good amount of hits on me, and then tragically he would end up killing me only tile away from the Supercharge...
In the second attempt, I would get a Pinkies + Lost Souls cave for Deimos 1. This is very bad EXP wise, but the floor was really easy and so I didn't need to burn any Medkits, while I also got another Large Medkit on it with no Formers nor Nobles to steal it. I get Hell's Armoy again and after leading off with Fin -> SoB2, I decided to deviate farther from Ammochain's prereqs and get Juggler. This paid off, as after farming a Commando for a ton of Plasma Rifles, I exploit the Juggling Overcharged Plasma Rifles trick to kill the Shambler without getting hit. Unfortunately I did get hit quite a bit at the start of the level, so no Shambler's Head, and farther unfortunately the weapon cache had nothing useful in it. I get a Sniper Mod for the big reward, and rather than making a Plasma Shotgun, I decide to save it for a Hyperblaster, as that mostly fixes Ammochain's big flaw of no EE. While the weapon cache was a letdown, I ended up finding an Assault Shotgun on Deimos 2 anyway, so that's a great general find to helping me just survive through the game. With wanting to make the Hyperblaster ASAP, I decide to go for getting WK2, which would put Ammochain off all the way until level 12, but I need a more reliable rapid fire weapon when I have no EE and I don't want to hoard all the mods I have until then when I need inventory space for the upcoming Skulls and other useful stuff.
The next special level is The Wall, which with a Rocket Launcher found on Deimos 2, I'm able to go in and clear it easily. I reach WK2 there and so I'm able to build the Hyperblaster plus slap the Sniper Mod on it. It is then City Of Skulls, which with a PPT Assault Shotgun and still having the Shell Box from Armory intact, is also easily beaten, while I get one of each Skull; I obviously take the Hatred Skull, being the most useful item for Mortuary/Limbo by far, but I also take a Blood Skull, since it would allow me to gib the corpses around the Nuclear BFG without risking destroying it nor having to use the aforementioned Hatred Skull there (which I would much rather pop immediately). The normal Deimos floors weren't particularly remarkable up to this point, with me getting an unusual high amount of small rooms levels, but in Deimos 6 I would find a second Sniper mod. Unfortunately I'm not playing a Technician in 0.9.9.8 or later, where I then could have gotten WK3 and put a second Sniper on my Hyperblaster to blast away at out-of-vision enemies as much as I want, but it's still very nice to build a Plasmatic Shotgun with a spare Power Mod I had lying around in my inventory just to make corpse disposing in Nightmare less tedious. For the next special level, I was really hoping I got Spider's Lair, as aside from being much easier on N! than Halls Of Carnage, the latter level simply would have been way too dangerous for a build with no HR, only A-modded Steel Boots, no speed-boosting armor, and while I had no Homing Phase to just zip immediately to the BFG. I could have maybe done it with lots of rocket jumping, but even if that worked, I probably would have severely burned through my armors and medkits doing that + getting through the Nightmare enemies in the maze, so I was going to just skip it and accept doing Mortuary/Limbo without the BFG if Halls spawned. Fortunately it was Spider's Lair that spawned, which I was able to go in and clear for the easy BFG.
At this point, it's just making it to Mortuary/Limbo now. Cybie goes down without much of a fight, the first few Hell floors are unremarkable other than me finally getting Ammochain, and I skip Cathedral as I'm unable to beat it with what I have (an Invuln spawned on Hell 1 but no nuke), while I then skip the Vaults as I didn't even have a Phase Device to try gambling and I didn't want to throw the 100% kills I had going by only partially clearing it. In Hell 4 I would get a rather nasty frozen event in a maze, but thanks to the S-modded Hyperblaster and juiced up Assault Shotgun, I'm able to fight without good cover and kill everything without burning Medkits. In that maze I at last then find I get Mortuary, the much harder of it and Limbo in this version, and I'm thoroughly prepared for it. In Mortuary, I employ my usual opener of immediately popping a Hatred Skull, Hyperblaster down an Archvile blocking the way, then rocket jump to the eastern area, shoot some BFG blasts to blow up most of the corpses in the right area, rocket jump farther right, pop the Blood Skull to destroy the corpses around the Nuclear BFG and then rocket jump to the Nuclear BFG. With the Nuclear BFG secured, I then rocket jump back to the western side of the map, blow up most of the corpses there with the BFG that haven't gotten up yet while berserk + P-modded Red Armor lets me tank the hits from all the enemies around, and then rocket jump back out to the foothold I had set up on the eastern side. With this successful opening that takes out most of the corpses, Mortuary maxes out with no more than a few dozen enemies up at once, at which point it's a fairly easy mop up and I finish N! Mortuary with less than 100 damage taken. I could just kill myself at this point and get Reaper Diamond, but I finish out the run and go for the full win to kill Carmack for good measure (and to help build towards Apostle rank, which I'm not so far from now). With Reaper Diamond, I'm also halfway towards getting all the Diamonds in 0.9.9.7.
Overall, yeah Reaper Diamond doesn't seem it was really that hard, especially if you just do it with a melee build, cheese it by mixing AoCn with AoMC, or cheese it with Whisper Of Death spam. Is its rarity a matter of people just being overly spooked by the thought of taking on N! Mortuary with a bit less preparation? Way more people should have won this badge. Anyway here is the mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
greg, level 16 Cyberdemon Chaos Lt. Colonel Marine,
defeated the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
He survived 871073 turns and scored 824973 points.
He played for 3 hours, 55 minutes and 19 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 1545 out of 1545 hellspawn. (100%)
This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
He was an Angel of Confidence!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 8
Levels visited : 6
Levels completed : 6
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
Medal of Prejudice
UAC Star (gold cluster)
Grim Reaper's Badge
Hell Armorer Badge
Reaper Diamond Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###########################################################
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###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 76/60 Experience 135896/16
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +0 ToDmg Ranged +4 ToDmg Melee +4
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Marine
Finesse (Level 3)
Hellrunner (Level 1)
Son of a bitch (Level 4)
Reloader (Level 2)
Juggler (Level 1)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Triggerhappy (Level 2)
Ammochain (Level 1)
Fin->SoB->SoB->Jug->TH->Fin->WK->WK->Rel->Rel->TH->MAc->SoB->Fin->HR->SoB->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] red armor [6/6] (97%) (P)
[b] [ Weapon ] hyperblaster (2d4)x3 [23/40] (S1)
[c] [ Boots ] tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] power battery (x120)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] plasmatic shotgun (8d3) [1/1] (T1)
[b] rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1] (B1)
[c] assault shotgun (10d3) [6/6] (P3T1)
[d] nuclear BFG 9000 (8d6) [40/40]
[e] BFG 9000 (10d6) [100/100]
[f] fireproof red armor [4/4] (71%)
[g] duelist armor [4/4] (100%) (P)
[h] Angelic Armor [7/7] (100%)
[i] shotgun shell (x70)
[j] rocket (x6)
[k] rocket (x14)
[l] power cell (x70)
[m] power cell (x70)
[n] power cell (x70)
[o] large med-pack
[p] large med-pack
[q] large med-pack
[r] large med-pack
[s] plasteel boots [4/4] (93%) (PT)
[t] shell box (x100)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Fire - internal 0% torso 25% feet 0%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
60 former humans
144 former sergeants
53 former captains
155 imps
68 demons
484 lost souls
68 cacodemons
21 hell knights
70 barons of hell
105 arachnotrons
140 former commandos
48 pain elementals
33 revenants
52 mancubi
38 arch-viles
1 shambler
1 lava elemental
1 agony elemental
1 Cyberdemon
1 Spider Mastermind
1 John Carmack
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
On level 1 he entered Hell's Armory.
He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
On level 3 he witnessed the Wall.
On level 3 he assembled a hyperblaster!
He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
On level 4 he found the City of Skulls.
He wiped out the City of Skulls.
On level 6 he assembled a plasmatic shrapnel!
On level 6 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.
He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
On level 8 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 10 he ran for his life from lava!
On level 12, hell froze over!
On level 12 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
On level 12 he found the Angelic Armor!
He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
On level 14 he assembled a tactical boots!
On level 14 he assembled a fireproof armor!
On level 14 he arrived at Mt. Erebus.
He managed to raise Mt. Erebus completely!
Then at last he found Dis!
He nuked level 16!
He defeated the Mastermind and found the TRUE EVIL!
Then finally in Hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
Carmack. Carmack raises his hands and summons hellspawn!
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
Carmack.
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
Carmack.
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
Carmack.
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
Carmack.
The missile hits John Carmack. John Carmack dies. Congratulations! You
defeated John Carmack! Press <Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
257 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
84 of those were killed.
1 of those was killed by something unknown.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
75 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
39 killed the bitch and survived.
30 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
3
Century Lounge / (0.9.9.7) [N!|A100|99%|YAVP] - 8 kills shy of a 100% Centurial Diamond
« on: December 01, 2025, 23:08 »
With having two days off from work, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get Centurial Diamond out of the way (as well as Dervis' Medallion to build towards Heroic Diamond, of which I'm now 7 medals shy from). It's not that hard by Diamond standards (this is before 0.10 greatly enhanced later game A100 and so lategame A100 here largely devolves into a nonstop barrage of VMRB hordes that are more tedious to get through than actually dangerous for a lategame A100 player), but since 0.9.9.7 still disallowed you from saving on Nightmare, you really want a good amount of time to set aside for it, lest you'll be leaving DRL running on your computer overnight or when you're away.
For the build, I just went with yet another Blademaster. I was thinking doing something more unique than the other recorded Centurial Diamond runs, but given the aforementioned inability to save and not wanting to leave the game on overnight, I just went with the build that would get me through the game fastest. When it came to trait order, I do lead off with getting Finesse -> Juggler and push Blademaster back in the process, since having Juggler really helps for an early game that is substantially harder without the guaranteed loot from the special levels, while the lack of a guaranteed Chainsaw means Blademaster won't be quite as strong until later anyway. Unlike in most of my other runs, I do often get two levels of Intuition in A100 mainly to speed the game pace up, but I don't pick it up here until halfway into my traits, as I wanted to get in a strong place combat-wise first before picking up the Intuition levels. And then as usual for my Berserker runs, I avoid getting Ironman to not mess with my Berserker procs.
When it comes to the run itself, I was planning to stair dive at some point as I wanted to get this done in a single sitting, and so in one of the Phobos floors I let two Pinkies go on a floor that would have been more annoying than it was worth to destroy their corpses. However I did get too tired and so did end up just leaving the game running overnight. I came to regret letting those early Pinkies go, as after returning back to the game I ended up getting in a groove that saw me killing nearly everything anyway and so narrowly missed out on getting the only 100% N! A100 run in 0.9.9.7 (the remaining six missed kills must have been enemies that got back up right when I went down stairs, there were some corpses I didn't bother destroying since the chance at 100% kills was already lost). Guess I'll just need to settle for the Centurial Diamond mortem that came closest to 100% :p
Some notes about the run:
* This run had an unusual shortage of Bulk mods for much of it, not being able to make the ever reliable Tactical Rocket Launcher until floor 43. Then when I decided to make a Nanofiber Red Armor not long after that when I had some stretches without Armor Shards that endangered my armor supply, I couldn't find another Bulk mod to make it until floor 68.
* No Uniques spawned at all until floor 44, where it was then just the lowly pre-buff Necroarmor. The second half of the run would have a large amount of Uniques though, including the Laptop Boots on floor 65 that I held onto just in case... which then paid off when I got Malek's armor on floor 79, and with this being pre-nerf Inquisitor Set, it was nearly IDDQD at that point. I didn't need the Inquisitor Set to win as I was mostly mindlessly rampaging through floors at this point, but still very nice for allowing me to get through the lategame even faster.
* After getting the Inquisitor Set I would finally pick up a level of Ironman for my last level, as I no longer needed Berserker for VMR insurance, and with facerockets no longer damaging, I didn't need to care about facerocketing to trigger Berserker sometimes taking a few more rockets.
* I was able to complete the Phaseshift Set too, but again since this is the version of Inquisitor Set before its speed nerf, before fluids in later A100 were more varied than "oops all lava!", before fluids slowed down non-flying entities, and before greater enemy variety was introduced, the Phaseshift Set was mostly obsolete. Still held onto it though just in case I ever found a Nano mod to make Antigrav Phaseshift Boots...
* ...Which I never did, nor did I find any other rare mods for that matter until a Firestorm right near the end of the game I could do nothing useful with.
* Also never found any of the special melee weapons, so I had to rely on a P-modded Chainsword for the whole run, which was adequate but it would have been nice to have something that would have let me get through the game even faster. The Dragonslayer as Blademaster would have been the dream of course, especially as the Dragonslayer is one of two uniques I need to find one more of for Armorer Diamond (the other is the Subtle Knife, which as trash as it is, was disappointing to not find, I really do not want to get to a point where I have to intentionally grind out A666 runs to finally get Armorer Diamond...)
* Got a Lava Elemental Cave only a few floors after getting the Inquisitor Set. Not that they would have been a real threat anyway though, as I had Cerberus Boots and 0.9.9.7 has the wimpy pre-buff Lava Elemental.
* I got a couple nuke levels late in the game, but by that point I was going through floors so fast that I would get everything dead and gibbed before a minute even passed.
* I remade a Tactical Shotgun after getting WK2 so I could put a Power Mod on it, but it didn't really matter as 99% of my weapon usage for the last three quarters of the game was meleeing or using the (Tactical) Rocket Launcher to rocket jump, trigger Berserker, break walls, and destroy corpses. I occasionally shotgunned a group of Formers that were being annoying but that was about it.
* Somehow avoided getting a single Nightmare Arachnotron Cave, which was appreciated as they're the only level type in 0.9.9.7 (alongside the rare yet very deadly Shambler levels) that could have really threatened me, especially after I got the Inquisitor Set.
* I encountered two Barons with a Ballistic Shield during this run, which both instances at least occurred late enough where it was more amusing rather than the potential run ender it could have been if it happened early in the game (and it allowed me to make use of a Laser Rifle I held onto for about 75% of the run but never actually used otherwise).
This overall only took me one attempt, a nice change of pace after those AoOC Diamonds that were much quicker but required a lot more resetting. Going back to 0.9.9.7 and its version of A100 after experiencing 0.9.9.9/0.10's vastly improved A100, I wonder how I ever enjoyed this mode as much as I did in 0.9.9.7's heyday; almost all the levels look the damn same after only floor 16, the difficulty curve is out of whack (A100's difficulty is even more front-loaded than most other challenges, and you get a big lull in new threats being introduced when you reach the floor 25+ range, until you get a sudden big spike at floor 44/47/50, and then it mostly flatlines again until you get one more big spike with most of the remaining enemies getting introduced at floor 74/77/80), and all those VMRB hordes you punch through for over three quarters of the game can get mind-numbing. I will probably go for Centurial Angelic, but after that I'll certainly be glad to not play A100 in 0.9.9.7 again, especially on N! when 0.10 or even 0.9.9.8 would actually let you save and take breaks without having to leave the game running. Anyway, here is the big mortem:
For the build, I just went with yet another Blademaster. I was thinking doing something more unique than the other recorded Centurial Diamond runs, but given the aforementioned inability to save and not wanting to leave the game on overnight, I just went with the build that would get me through the game fastest. When it came to trait order, I do lead off with getting Finesse -> Juggler and push Blademaster back in the process, since having Juggler really helps for an early game that is substantially harder without the guaranteed loot from the special levels, while the lack of a guaranteed Chainsaw means Blademaster won't be quite as strong until later anyway. Unlike in most of my other runs, I do often get two levels of Intuition in A100 mainly to speed the game pace up, but I don't pick it up here until halfway into my traits, as I wanted to get in a strong place combat-wise first before picking up the Intuition levels. And then as usual for my Berserker runs, I avoid getting Ironman to not mess with my Berserker procs.
When it comes to the run itself, I was planning to stair dive at some point as I wanted to get this done in a single sitting, and so in one of the Phobos floors I let two Pinkies go on a floor that would have been more annoying than it was worth to destroy their corpses. However I did get too tired and so did end up just leaving the game running overnight. I came to regret letting those early Pinkies go, as after returning back to the game I ended up getting in a groove that saw me killing nearly everything anyway and so narrowly missed out on getting the only 100% N! A100 run in 0.9.9.7 (the remaining six missed kills must have been enemies that got back up right when I went down stairs, there were some corpses I didn't bother destroying since the chance at 100% kills was already lost). Guess I'll just need to settle for the Centurial Diamond mortem that came closest to 100% :p
Some notes about the run:
* This run had an unusual shortage of Bulk mods for much of it, not being able to make the ever reliable Tactical Rocket Launcher until floor 43. Then when I decided to make a Nanofiber Red Armor not long after that when I had some stretches without Armor Shards that endangered my armor supply, I couldn't find another Bulk mod to make it until floor 68.
* No Uniques spawned at all until floor 44, where it was then just the lowly pre-buff Necroarmor. The second half of the run would have a large amount of Uniques though, including the Laptop Boots on floor 65 that I held onto just in case... which then paid off when I got Malek's armor on floor 79, and with this being pre-nerf Inquisitor Set, it was nearly IDDQD at that point. I didn't need the Inquisitor Set to win as I was mostly mindlessly rampaging through floors at this point, but still very nice for allowing me to get through the lategame even faster.
* After getting the Inquisitor Set I would finally pick up a level of Ironman for my last level, as I no longer needed Berserker for VMR insurance, and with facerockets no longer damaging, I didn't need to care about facerocketing to trigger Berserker sometimes taking a few more rockets.
* I was able to complete the Phaseshift Set too, but again since this is the version of Inquisitor Set before its speed nerf, before fluids in later A100 were more varied than "oops all lava!", before fluids slowed down non-flying entities, and before greater enemy variety was introduced, the Phaseshift Set was mostly obsolete. Still held onto it though just in case I ever found a Nano mod to make Antigrav Phaseshift Boots...
* ...Which I never did, nor did I find any other rare mods for that matter until a Firestorm right near the end of the game I could do nothing useful with.
* Also never found any of the special melee weapons, so I had to rely on a P-modded Chainsword for the whole run, which was adequate but it would have been nice to have something that would have let me get through the game even faster. The Dragonslayer as Blademaster would have been the dream of course, especially as the Dragonslayer is one of two uniques I need to find one more of for Armorer Diamond (the other is the Subtle Knife, which as trash as it is, was disappointing to not find, I really do not want to get to a point where I have to intentionally grind out A666 runs to finally get Armorer Diamond...)
* Got a Lava Elemental Cave only a few floors after getting the Inquisitor Set. Not that they would have been a real threat anyway though, as I had Cerberus Boots and 0.9.9.7 has the wimpy pre-buff Lava Elemental.
* I got a couple nuke levels late in the game, but by that point I was going through floors so fast that I would get everything dead and gibbed before a minute even passed.
* I remade a Tactical Shotgun after getting WK2 so I could put a Power Mod on it, but it didn't really matter as 99% of my weapon usage for the last three quarters of the game was meleeing or using the (Tactical) Rocket Launcher to rocket jump, trigger Berserker, break walls, and destroy corpses. I occasionally shotgunned a group of Formers that were being annoying but that was about it.
* Somehow avoided getting a single Nightmare Arachnotron Cave, which was appreciated as they're the only level type in 0.9.9.7 (alongside the rare yet very deadly Shambler levels) that could have really threatened me, especially after I got the Inquisitor Set.
* I encountered two Barons with a Ballistic Shield during this run, which both instances at least occurred late enough where it was more amusing rather than the potential run ender it could have been if it happened early in the game (and it allowed me to make use of a Laser Rifle I held onto for about 75% of the run but never actually used otherwise).
This overall only took me one attempt, a nice change of pace after those AoOC Diamonds that were much quicker but required a lot more resetting. Going back to 0.9.9.7 and its version of A100 after experiencing 0.9.9.9/0.10's vastly improved A100, I wonder how I ever enjoyed this mode as much as I did in 0.9.9.7's heyday; almost all the levels look the damn same after only floor 16, the difficulty curve is out of whack (A100's difficulty is even more front-loaded than most other challenges, and you get a big lull in new threats being introduced when you reach the floor 25+ range, until you get a sudden big spike at floor 44/47/50, and then it mostly flatlines again until you get one more big spike with most of the remaining enemies getting introduced at floor 74/77/80), and all those VMRB hordes you punch through for over three quarters of the game can get mind-numbing. I will probably go for Centurial Angelic, but after that I'll certainly be glad to not play A100 in 0.9.9.7 again, especially on N! when 0.10 or even 0.9.9.8 would actually let you save and take breaks without having to leave the game running. Anyway, here is the big mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
no saves :(, level 25 Cyberdemon Chaos Major Scout,
completed 100 levels of torture on level 100 of Hell.
He survived 1656317 turns and scored 6763834 points.
He played for 16 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 4833 out of 4841 hellspawn. (99%)
He was a real killing machine...
He was an Angel of 100!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 0
Levels visited : 0
Levels completed : 0
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (silver cluster)
Experience Cross
Dervis' Medallion
Centurial Diamond Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###############################====########################
====...........................=======..=====..............
====%..........................======.==.====..............
====....................}......====...=.=..==..............
....=..........................====.....=..................
...===.....|....!..............=====...=.......=.===.%.....
=======........................====.===...###====..===.....
.======........................====......=========#==......
=======...#######...#...#.....X====.....#=========#........
====.=...========..#...........====.....#=========#........
======...========#.#....#......====.....###.#/#####........
=======..========#.#....#....|.====....................%...
===..==./========#.#....#.......====.......................
...===...========#.#....#.......====..|....................
..=====..========#.#./.##.......====.........[.............
..=====......#####..........=..====........................
..=====....................=======..===....................
...===..........0..........=============...................
.......%...............00....===========...................
###############################====########################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 104/60 Experience 1241928/25
ToHit Ranged +2 ToHit Melee +12 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +15
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Ironman (Level 1)
Finesse (Level 3)
Hellrunner (Level 3)
Reloader (Level 3)
Eagle Eye (Level 1)
Brute (Level 5)
Juggler (Level 1)
Berserker (Level 1)
Dodgemaster (Level 1)
Intuition (Level 2)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Shottyman (Level 1)
Blademaster (Level 1)
Fin->Jug->HR->HR->Bru->Bru->Ber->Bru->MBm->Fin->WK->WK->Int->Int->HR->Fin->Bru->Bru->DM->Rel->Rel->SM->Rel->EE->Iro->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] Malek's Armor [3/3] (100%)
[b] [ Weapon ] chainsword (8d3) (P)
[c] [ Boots ] Nyarlaptotep's Boots [6/6] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] shell box (x100)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] tactical shotgun (9d3) [5/5] (P1)
[b] tactical rocket launcher (6d6) [5/5] (T1)
[c] phaseshift armor [4/4] (100%) (AP)
[d] cerberus gothic armor [0/0] (200%) (A)
[e] rocket (x10)
[f] rocket (x10)
[g] large med-pack
[h] large med-pack
[i] large med-pack
[j] large med-pack
[k] homing phase device
[l] power mod pack
[m] power mod pack
[n] technical mod pack
[o] bulk mod pack
[p] Hell Staff
[q] cerberus plasteel boots [0/0] (100%) (A)
[r] phaseshift boots [4/4] (100%) (A)
[s] rocket box (x20)
[t] rocket box (x20)
[u] rocket box (x20)
[v] 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 90%
Fire - internal 60% torso 100% feet 100%
Plasma - internal 60% torso 90% feet 60%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
234 former humans
418 former sergeants
410 former captains
327 imps
89 demons
635 lost souls
130 cacodemons
197 hell knights
559 barons of hell
193 arachnotrons
15 former commandos
86 pain elementals
302 revenants
340 mancubi
449 arch-viles
39 nightmare imps
105 nightmare cacodemons
116 nightmare demons
29 nightmare arachnotrons
5 nightmare arch-viles
5 elite former humans
2 elite former sergeants
6 elite former captains
5 elite former commandos
70 bruiser brothers
27 shamblers
30 lava elemental
6 agony elementals
4 Cyberdemons
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
On level 8 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
On level 8 he assembled a tactical boots!
On level 18 he assembled a chainsword!
On level 21 he assembled a cerberus boots!
On level 22 he ran for his life from lava!
On level 23, hell froze over!
On level 25 he assembled a cerberus armor!
On level 28, hell froze over!
On level 29 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
On level 42 he assembled a tactical rocket launcher!
On level 44 he found the Necroarmor!
On level 49 he was bombarded!
Level 51 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 51 he found the Cybernetic Armor!
On level 59 he found the Hellwave Pack!
Level 60 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 62 he stumbled into a nightmare demon cave!
On level 63 he stumbled into a complex full of arch-viles!
On level 65 he found the Nyarlaptotep's Boots!
On level 68 he assembled a nanofiber armor!
On level 70 he was targeted for extermination!
On level 72, hell froze over!
On level 77 he ran for his life from lava!
On level 77 he found the Enviroboots!
On level 79 he ran for his life from acid!
On level 79 he found the Malek's Armor!
On level 82 he stumbled into a lava elemental cave!
On level 83 he encountered an armed nuke!
On level 85 he found the Anti-Freak Jackal!
On level 86 he encountered an armed nuke!
Level 91 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 92 he stumbled into a complex full of revenants!
On level 94 he found the Hell Staff!
On level 98 he ran for his life from lava!
On level 99 he was bombarded!
On level 100 he finally completed 100 levels of torture.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood! There is a Light-Amp Goggles lying here.
You see further! You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
There are stairs leading downward here. You need to taste blood!
You did it! You completed 100 levels of DoomRL! You're the champion! Press
<Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
255 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
83 of those were killed.
1 of those was killed by something unknown.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
74 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
38 killed the bitch and survived.
30 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
4
Nightmare! / (0.9.9.7) [N!|AoSh + AoOC|85%|YAVP] - Yet another Shottyman Angelic
« on: November 30, 2025, 17:30 »
Shottyman Angelic is infamous for being an unusually easy Angelic Badge, and the 0.9.9.7 Badge Hunters thread does support this, with a whopping 16 players having verifiably won it through 0.9.9.7's history, being the most won Angelic by a substantial margin. Even among Diamonds, only Veteran Diamond and Scavenger Diamond have been won more often, just barely. Not only is this a challenge where Sereging is required, 50% kills is just an awfully low kill threshold, especially when you can just farm infinite kills and ammo whenever off of any Shotgunner. Now this isn't a challenge that you'll trivially get done in only a few tries, this is AoOC on N! after all and there is a substantial amount of luck needed to not get a level start that is unsurvivable, more luck needed to not get met with a mass of enemies that just overwhelm you, and yet more luck needed to find more shells before you deplete your lone starting Shell Box. Even if you get off the ground, your run can quickly die from any bad level generated afterward, especially as your armor supply will be shitty without yet more luck. And this badge did take me a lot more attempts than I would like to admit (9 runs died, and about another dozen I Q+Y'd on when I was in an unsurvivable position), a couple of these failed runs should have gone all the way if I didn't throw with bad moves or if I just left floors sooner when I had the opportunity, but again since it's AoOC, attempts are fast and so this still took me less cumulative time than completing a typical N! run would have.
For build, I yet again go with Shottyhead. I just build straight to it instead of detouring for Intuition; knowing where powerups are is very nice, but I find that often they're immediately accessible and so it wouldn't have mattered or I have to fight through a bunch of enemies to reach them anyway, and detecting enemies outside of vision does little good if I can't avoid nor effectively kill them. Meanwhile Shottyhead's great prereq path lets me effectively fight back with semi-decent cover and so I needed a lot less luck with powerups or good level spawns just to survive, and reaching Shottyhead will then let me adequately fight even with subpar cover or outright in the open, as well as ensured Archviles would never get through my corner shooting nor would I be screwed over if another enemy pops up at a bad angle while corner shooting something.
The major obstacle to surviving was really just the fact that you often have no decent armor in AoOC, you need some Blues just for the bare minimum to not lose a big chunk of your life from a Commando or Arachnotron, which is still inadequate for the VMRB and so you hope you get some Red Armor at least. And getting TaN won't help when you need two levels of it to do anything against plasma and when the VMRB hit so hard that flatly reducing 1 or 2 damage does shit all to help you survive them without already having armor with the resistances to significantly reduce their damage. In this run I would get blessed with a Nano Mod on the third floor that I had to carefully extract from a VMRB group around it (wished I remember to take a screenshot, getting that Nano mod without it getting destroying or me dying was rough), and then immediately high tailed it to The Vaults stairs that were open, as the normal stairs were on the other side of the map with lots of enemies still around while I had no medkits, and I didn't want to waste the Nano mod (while the hit to my kill rate from entering Vaults hardly matters when the kill requirement is so low). I decided to hold onto it for a Red Armor, which paid off as the next floor would have a Red Armor that I could retrieve before it got nabbed by a Baron and so I was set on armor, while the floor was a rather easy small rooms level with lots of formers, resupplying my medkits and filling out my shell supply. I was hoping for a Power Mod to make a Powered Red Armor, unfortunately I never found a single Power Mod but I would get a second Nano mod, actually holding off on Nano modding the Red Armor would have been ideal as I could have double Nano'd the Assault Shotgun for an effective Nanomachic Assault Shotgun that would have went really crazy with Shottyhead, but oh well. The run wasn't done yet though, Hell 7 would start me in a very nasty concealed room with multiple VMRB groups right outside my vision and nowhere to escape, the exact kind of situation why I went Shottyhead; if I went the typical Int2 masterless Scout build most people used for this badge or Army Of The Dead that a few others did, I would have died here without Shottyhead's firing speeds unless I got lucky with my Phase Device. Even then I still barely got out after depleting my Shell Box and being unable to safely grab the other, but by then most of the enemies were dead and so I was able to escape when they blew up the wall behind me. I still tried killing everything after running up behind the north wall, but then I got pincer'd by two Barons on far opposite ends that wouldn't die, and with my Nano Red Armor damaged, I just ran to the stairs instead of risking needlessly throwing another run when I didn't need the kills nor anything else the floor could possibly have. In Dis, I just threw my second Nano on a Blue Armor, so I could move a bit faster when fighting the Mastermind, which was helpful as I'm not used to fighting the Masterming without nuking her or having a build that can just flinch her to death, and so don't quite got a handle on how to manipulate her AI to get her stuck. I took quite a bit of damage and the fight took a while but I finish the Mastermind off without ever being in too much danger.
Now here is the mortem:
For build, I yet again go with Shottyhead. I just build straight to it instead of detouring for Intuition; knowing where powerups are is very nice, but I find that often they're immediately accessible and so it wouldn't have mattered or I have to fight through a bunch of enemies to reach them anyway, and detecting enemies outside of vision does little good if I can't avoid nor effectively kill them. Meanwhile Shottyhead's great prereq path lets me effectively fight back with semi-decent cover and so I needed a lot less luck with powerups or good level spawns just to survive, and reaching Shottyhead will then let me adequately fight even with subpar cover or outright in the open, as well as ensured Archviles would never get through my corner shooting nor would I be screwed over if another enemy pops up at a bad angle while corner shooting something.
The major obstacle to surviving was really just the fact that you often have no decent armor in AoOC, you need some Blues just for the bare minimum to not lose a big chunk of your life from a Commando or Arachnotron, which is still inadequate for the VMRB and so you hope you get some Red Armor at least. And getting TaN won't help when you need two levels of it to do anything against plasma and when the VMRB hit so hard that flatly reducing 1 or 2 damage does shit all to help you survive them without already having armor with the resistances to significantly reduce their damage. In this run I would get blessed with a Nano Mod on the third floor that I had to carefully extract from a VMRB group around it (wished I remember to take a screenshot, getting that Nano mod without it getting destroying or me dying was rough), and then immediately high tailed it to The Vaults stairs that were open, as the normal stairs were on the other side of the map with lots of enemies still around while I had no medkits, and I didn't want to waste the Nano mod (while the hit to my kill rate from entering Vaults hardly matters when the kill requirement is so low). I decided to hold onto it for a Red Armor, which paid off as the next floor would have a Red Armor that I could retrieve before it got nabbed by a Baron and so I was set on armor, while the floor was a rather easy small rooms level with lots of formers, resupplying my medkits and filling out my shell supply. I was hoping for a Power Mod to make a Powered Red Armor, unfortunately I never found a single Power Mod but I would get a second Nano mod, actually holding off on Nano modding the Red Armor would have been ideal as I could have double Nano'd the Assault Shotgun for an effective Nanomachic Assault Shotgun that would have went really crazy with Shottyhead, but oh well. The run wasn't done yet though, Hell 7 would start me in a very nasty concealed room with multiple VMRB groups right outside my vision and nowhere to escape, the exact kind of situation why I went Shottyhead; if I went the typical Int2 masterless Scout build most people used for this badge or Army Of The Dead that a few others did, I would have died here without Shottyhead's firing speeds unless I got lucky with my Phase Device. Even then I still barely got out after depleting my Shell Box and being unable to safely grab the other, but by then most of the enemies were dead and so I was able to escape when they blew up the wall behind me. I still tried killing everything after running up behind the north wall, but then I got pincer'd by two Barons on far opposite ends that wouldn't die, and with my Nano Red Armor damaged, I just ran to the stairs instead of risking needlessly throwing another run when I didn't need the kills nor anything else the floor could possibly have. In Dis, I just threw my second Nano on a Blue Armor, so I could move a bit faster when fighting the Mastermind, which was helpful as I'm not used to fighting the Masterming without nuking her or having a build that can just flinch her to death, and so don't quite got a handle on how to manipulate her AI to get her stuck. I took quite a bit of damage and the fight took a while but I finish the Mastermind off without ever being in too much danger.
Now here is the mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
FREANGELIC, level 10 Cyberdemon Chaos Major Scout,
defeated the Mastermind at the City of Dis.
He survived 190162 turns and scored 254597 points.
He played for 45 minutes and 28 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 297 out of 346 hellspawn. (85%)
He was an Angel of Shotgunnery!
He was also an Angel of Overconfidence!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 4
Levels visited : 1
Levels completed : 0
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (silver cluster)
Shottyman Angelic Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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#######.........####.....####.....####.........############
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#########.......####.....####.....####.......##############
##########...............####...............###############
###########................................################
###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 50/50 Experience 41388/10
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +0 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +0
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Finesse (Level 2)
Hellrunner (Level 2)
Reloader (Level 2)
Juggler (Level 1)
Whizkid (Level 1)
Shottyman (Level 1)
Shottyhead (Level 1)
Fin->HR->Rel->Rel->SM->Jug->MSh->Fin->HR->WK->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] blue armor [2/2] (100%) (N)
[b] [ Weapon ] assault shotgun (7d3) [3/8] (B1T1)
[c] [ Boots ] plasteel boots [2/2] (98%)
[d] [ Prepared ] double shotgun (9d3)x2 [2/2]
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] blue armor [2/2] (100%)
[b] red armor [4/4] (84%) (N)
[c] shotgun shell (x50)
[d] shotgun shell (x50)
[e] shotgun shell (x2)
[f] shotgun shell (x50)
[g] shotgun shell (x50)
[h] shotgun shell (x50)
[i] shotgun shell (x50)
[j] large med-pack
[k] phase device
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Acid - internal 0% torso 0% feet 50%
Fire - internal 0% torso 0% feet 25%
Plasma - internal 0% torso 20% feet 0%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
8 former humans
73 former sergeants
31 former captains
20 imps
42 demons
31 lost souls
8 cacodemons
23 barons of hell
5 former commandos
3 pain elementals
33 revenants
8 mancubi
11 arch-viles
1 Spider Mastermind
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
On level 3 he entered the Vaults.
He came, he saw, but he left.
On level 6 he stumbled into a complex full of revenants!
Then at last he found Dis!
On level 8 he finally defeated the Mastermind.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
You swap your weapons instantly!
You are hit! You are hit! You are hit!
You reload the assault shotgun.
Your assault shotgun is already loaded.
The Spider Mastermind flinched!
You reload the assault shotgun.
You reload the assault shotgun. You are hit! Boom! You are hit! You are hit!
You are hit! You are hit!
You use a large med-pack. You feel fully healed.
Modify w eapon, a rmor or b oots? (Escape to cancel) [abw] You use a bulk mod
pack.
Fire -- Choose target...
You see : out of vision
Targeting canceled.
The Spider Mastermind dies. Congratulations! You defeated the Spider
Mastermind! Press <Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
254 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
83 of those were killed.
1 of those was killed by something unknown.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
73 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
37 killed the bitch and survived.
30 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
5
Nightmare! / (0.9.9.7) [N!|AoOC|100%|YAFW] - 100% Daredevil Diamond run + AoOC N! Limbo clear
« on: November 30, 2025, 09:50 »
Daredevil Diamond is in contention for being the easiest Diamond badge; if you do it "legit" (i.e. no kill farming), you just reset until you get a good level start that preferably has an Invuln or Berserk, or otherwise lets you safely camp, get some levels in after killing a bunch of enemies, and then you'll get 80% naturally as long as you go through most of the remaining floors instead of just stairdiving, with the option to skip any really nasty floors like an Arachnotron cave if you build up enough of a kill buffer. Or you do it the cheesy way where you get a strong start and then rush to the end, while finding yourself a safe respawn along the way to kill over and over until you ensure over 80% kills, whether a former you can repeatedly kill without retaliation and never running out of ammo or anything else if you did the Cathedral and got yourself an Artifact melee weapon. With the nature of AoOC, with its Hell starts that will be unsurvivable at low levels with little to no armor, even top players technically wouldn't be able to win this badge consistently, but with how fast attempts will go and not requiring that much luck to get, most competent players would win this badge without any serious time investment.
As such, I decided to go for 100% kills to make this Daredevil Diamond run a bit more interesting, thus I won't be able to skip out on any bad floor and my kill percent can't get fluffed up by respawns. I initially went a melee-focused Scout, but lost a first good run from getting chipped down, so decided to just go with good old Vampyre; since this isn't 0.9.9.8's outrageously broken Vampyre, I don't feel the guilt of using it even though it's still a strong contender for best build in the game. Now trying to go for Vampyre did make starts harder with the lack of the Scout's speed bonus and having to pick up a level of Badass instead of other much more useful traits, but it still doesn't take much to get a survivable first floor. Also having to use the free trait Vampyre on Brute 3 (that you're going to need to fight the Angel Of Death after only a single floor with a Combat Knife) instead of the much more useful Finesse made starts harder to survive as well. Making it past the first floor and getting your hands on that lovely Scythe from the Cathedral didn't guarantee safety either, especially as your medkits will likely be drained away and your armor will be battered or gone completely, but again it doesn't take that much attempts to get workable floors.
And indeed on only my fifth attempt I would get a run to Mortuary with 100% kills intact, where with an Invuln near the Mortuary and knowing I effectively had infinite health with Vampyre... I decided to go for the bragging rights of beating N! Mortuary in AoOC. Even with the Invuln though that let me take out a lot of enemies in the beginning, whether directly or through infighting, Vampyre in this game state was rather too slow to safely handle Mortuary without a BFG to do a big corpse disposal at the beginning, and so once the Invuln worn off, I started getting overwhelmed and my armor was getting destroyed fast. I was able to make it to the Nuclear BFG though without it getting destroyed, and then setup a safe corner (well about as safe as you can get in Mortuary) to slowly wait for the rest of the enemies to come while using some corpses left next to me to get health back whenever they respawned and repeatedly shooting out Nuclear BFG blasts whenever it was charged (I forgot how broken being able to shoot the BFG out of vision was before 0.9.9.8 prevented you from doing that). Eventually, slowly but surely I would finish Mortuary, but not without taking a huge beating. Floor 5 would give me a maze though that ended up ruining my freshly acquired Angelic Armor and other remaining armor supply, and then I got a floor 6 that should have been an easy small rooms level, but I got super careless and rushed a VMR group without any real armor that I could have just waited for... being reminded just how insufficient TaN is before its 0.10 buff as I got quickly evaporated away, after Berserker failed to proc from several Mancubi blasts (that extra starting 10 max HP of the Marine can really suck sometimes...)
I'll post the mortem of the failed run still though to keep record of the N! Mortuary 0.9.9.7 AoOC clear:
After that total throw though, it wouldn't take long to get another good run going, with a floor 1 that had a river that allowed me to safely pick off most of the enemies and a handy Medical Armor for more melee res against the AoD, which when combined with an Invuln near the Cathedral stairs, allowed me to exit the Cathedral with my medkits intact. Then on Hell 4, I got an Arachnotron cave that could be very deadly to 100%, but I was able to manage it, and then that floor blessed me with a Nano mod, so I could build a Powered Red Armor to really help with the armor problem and Vampyre's speed problem. It also had an Invuln near Limbo's stairs, the only thing I was missing was a rocket launcher at this point but I decided to go for it again, and the Invuln would last long enough for me even without rocket jumping to get to the Nuclear BFG. After that it was just abusing Limbo's stairs being easily campable as I killed each enemy that came up to me, popping out occasionally to shoot out Nuclear BFG blasts, until I whittled them down to the last few dozen enemies and then just sought them out (also did a couple Whispers of Death, partially to weaken them but more importantly to ensure Berserker would trigger more reliably without the extra max HP after losing the prior run from that). Not too long after I would finish off Limbo, and though I still took a beating, it was quite a bit less than I took in the prior Mortuary run. With Powered Red Armor, the Scythe, a bunch of medkits, and finding a Rocket Launcher shortly into floor 5, the rest of the run was a cinch, completing Daredevil Diamond with 100% kills and with a Grim Reaper's Badge you rarely if ever see in N! AoOC mortems. Altogether I had six killed runs before this one, and about another half dozen I Q+Y'd on, but this still took me a lot less time than doing a standard 100% N! run would have, even after spending nearly an hour cumulatively on those Mortuary and Limbo clears.
Now for the mortem:
As such, I decided to go for 100% kills to make this Daredevil Diamond run a bit more interesting, thus I won't be able to skip out on any bad floor and my kill percent can't get fluffed up by respawns. I initially went a melee-focused Scout, but lost a first good run from getting chipped down, so decided to just go with good old Vampyre; since this isn't 0.9.9.8's outrageously broken Vampyre, I don't feel the guilt of using it even though it's still a strong contender for best build in the game. Now trying to go for Vampyre did make starts harder with the lack of the Scout's speed bonus and having to pick up a level of Badass instead of other much more useful traits, but it still doesn't take much to get a survivable first floor. Also having to use the free trait Vampyre on Brute 3 (that you're going to need to fight the Angel Of Death after only a single floor with a Combat Knife) instead of the much more useful Finesse made starts harder to survive as well. Making it past the first floor and getting your hands on that lovely Scythe from the Cathedral didn't guarantee safety either, especially as your medkits will likely be drained away and your armor will be battered or gone completely, but again it doesn't take that much attempts to get workable floors.
And indeed on only my fifth attempt I would get a run to Mortuary with 100% kills intact, where with an Invuln near the Mortuary and knowing I effectively had infinite health with Vampyre... I decided to go for the bragging rights of beating N! Mortuary in AoOC. Even with the Invuln though that let me take out a lot of enemies in the beginning, whether directly or through infighting, Vampyre in this game state was rather too slow to safely handle Mortuary without a BFG to do a big corpse disposal at the beginning, and so once the Invuln worn off, I started getting overwhelmed and my armor was getting destroyed fast. I was able to make it to the Nuclear BFG though without it getting destroyed, and then setup a safe corner (well about as safe as you can get in Mortuary) to slowly wait for the rest of the enemies to come while using some corpses left next to me to get health back whenever they respawned and repeatedly shooting out Nuclear BFG blasts whenever it was charged (I forgot how broken being able to shoot the BFG out of vision was before 0.9.9.8 prevented you from doing that). Eventually, slowly but surely I would finish Mortuary, but not without taking a huge beating. Floor 5 would give me a maze though that ended up ruining my freshly acquired Angelic Armor and other remaining armor supply, and then I got a floor 6 that should have been an easy small rooms level, but I got super careless and rushed a VMR group without any real armor that I could have just waited for... being reminded just how insufficient TaN is before its 0.10 buff as I got quickly evaporated away, after Berserker failed to proc from several Mancubi blasts (that extra starting 10 max HP of the Marine can really suck sometimes...)
I'll post the mortem of the failed run still though to keep record of the N! Mortuary 0.9.9.7 AoOC clear:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
After that total throw though, it wouldn't take long to get another good run going, with a floor 1 that had a river that allowed me to safely pick off most of the enemies and a handy Medical Armor for more melee res against the AoD, which when combined with an Invuln near the Cathedral stairs, allowed me to exit the Cathedral with my medkits intact. Then on Hell 4, I got an Arachnotron cave that could be very deadly to 100%, but I was able to manage it, and then that floor blessed me with a Nano mod, so I could build a Powered Red Armor to really help with the armor problem and Vampyre's speed problem. It also had an Invuln near Limbo's stairs, the only thing I was missing was a rocket launcher at this point but I decided to go for it again, and the Invuln would last long enough for me even without rocket jumping to get to the Nuclear BFG. After that it was just abusing Limbo's stairs being easily campable as I killed each enemy that came up to me, popping out occasionally to shoot out Nuclear BFG blasts, until I whittled them down to the last few dozen enemies and then just sought them out (also did a couple Whispers of Death, partially to weaken them but more importantly to ensure Berserker would trigger more reliably without the extra max HP after losing the prior run from that). Not too long after I would finish off Limbo, and though I still took a beating, it was quite a bit less than I took in the prior Mortuary run. With Powered Red Armor, the Scythe, a bunch of medkits, and finding a Rocket Launcher shortly into floor 5, the rest of the run was a cinch, completing Daredevil Diamond with 100% kills and with a Grim Reaper's Badge you rarely if ever see in N! AoOC mortems. Altogether I had six killed runs before this one, and about another half dozen I Q+Y'd on, but this still took me a lot less time than doing a standard 100% N! run would have, even after spending nearly an hour cumulatively on those Mortuary and Limbo clears.
Now for the mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
DAREDEVIL2EZ, level 13 Cyberdemon Chaos Major Marine,
defeated the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
He survived 292997 turns and scored 479527 points.
He played for 1 hour, 8 minutes and 52 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 622 out of 622 hellspawn. (100%)
This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
He was an Angel of Overconfidence!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 4
Levels visited : 3
Levels completed : 3
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
Medal of Prejudice
UAC Star (bronze cluster)
Aurora Medallion
Grim Reaper's Badge
Daredevil Diamond Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 100/50 Experience 74228/13
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +8 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +12
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Marine
Finesse (Level 3)
Tough as nails (Level 2)
Brute (Level 4)
Juggler (Level 1)
Berserker (Level 1)
Badass (Level 1)
Vampyre (Level 1)
Bru->Bru->Ber->Bru->Bad->MVm->Fin->Fin->Jug->TaN->TaN->Fin->Bru->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] powered red armor [5/5] (99%)
[b] [ Weapon ] Azrael's Scythe (9d9)
[c] [ Boots ] Nyarlaptotep's Boots [6/6] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] shell box (x70)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] rocket launcher (6d6) [0/1] (B1)
[b] assault shotgun (8d3) [6/6] (P1)
[c] napalm launcher (7d7) [1/1] (T1)
[d] red armor [4/4] (100%)
[e] Angelic Armor [7/7] (73%)
[f] shotgun shell (x50)
[g] shotgun shell (x50)
[h] rocket (x10)
[i] rocket (x10)
[j] rocket
[k] small med-pack
[l] small med-pack
[m] large med-pack
[n] large med-pack
[o] large med-pack
[p] large med-pack
[q] large med-pack
[r] envirosuit pack
[s] power mod pack
[t] bulk mod pack
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Bullet - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Melee - internal 60% torso 85% feet 60%
Shrapnel - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Acid - internal 60% torso 60% feet 90%
Fire - internal 60% torso 95% feet 90%
Plasma - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
4 former humans
26 former sergeants
6 former captains
27 imps
29 demons
132 lost souls
21 cacodemons
17 hell knights
51 barons of hell
101 arachnotrons
6 former commandos
12 pain elementals
51 revenants
44 mancubi
29 arch-viles
14 nightmare imps
16 nightmare cacodemons
2 nightmare demons
30 nightmare arachnotrons
1 lava elemental
1 Angel of Death
1 Spider Mastermind
1 John Carmack
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
Level 1 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 1 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 1 he found the Azrael's Scythe!
He then destroyed the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 2 he found the Railgun!
On level 4 he assembled a power armor!
On level 4 he was foolish enough to enter Limbo!
On level 4 he found the Angelic Armor!
He managed to clear Limbo from evil!
On level 6 he entered the Lava Pits.
On level 6 he found the Nyarlaptotep's Boots!
He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
Then at last he found Dis!
He overloaded a nuclear BFG 9000 on level 8!
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 need to taste blood!
Fire -- Choose target...
You see : floor
Carmack raises his hands and summons hellspawn! You need to taste blood!
Nothing to swap!
Use scroll to choose weapon, left button to wield, right to cancel... You
wear/wield : a Azrael's Scythe (9d9)
You hit John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. You're going berserk! You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. You're going berserk! You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. John Carmack dies. Congratulations! You defeated John
Carmack! Press <Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
244 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
74 of those were killed.
1 of those was killed by something unknown.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
72 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
36 killed the bitch and survived.
30 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
6
Nightmare! / (0.9.9.7) [N!|AoSh|98%|YAFW] - Pure Shottyman Diamond and all 26 Platinum Badges
« on: November 28, 2025, 19:49 »
The only Platinum Badge I had left in 0.9.9.7 was Shottyman Platinum, so doing Shottyman Diamond next was the logical conclusion to get them both. Most people who got Shottyman Diamond did so by doubling it up with the notoriously easy (for an Angelic) Shottyman Angelic, as the same respawn farming exploit used for Shottyman Angelic could also easily get them Shottyman Diamond (and Daredevil Diamond) by just spending another half hour or so repeatedly blasting away a trapped Shotgunner, and even without kill farming, reaching 80% kills in AoOC isn't all that hard. Given my dislike of Dual Angel cheesing though, I wanted to get Shottyman Diamond the intended "pure way", and so I went for this badge in a pure AoSh run.
For the build used, it's obviously Shottyhead; aside from being my favorite mastery making it an obvious choice for me, Army Of The Dead is horribly awful in 0.9.9.7 with its astonishingly crippling blocks that don't remotely justify such a middling mastery effect (I still wonder what the hell the thinking was behind its blocks, did the old devs really think shotguns getting 2 or 4 more damage before dropoff was some incredibly OP perk?), and Fireangel is already mediocre in 0.9.9.7 before even considering it does nothing to boost Shotguns. The only other real viable option would be to go masterless if you want SoB, but the relatively minor damage boost SoB gives to shotguns doesn't remotely compare to the tremendous offensive boost given by 1/3rd firing time. Well you could go Gunrunner too, but it would be basically a worse Shottyhead that takes longer to come online, especially in 0.9.9.7 when it's blocked Whizkid.
With trait order, it's again opening with Finesse -> Juggler, being able to macgyver a Temu Tactical Shotgun with a bunch of shotguns in the early game gives you such an immediate big leg up, especially pre-Reloader buff. Then it's a level of HR to ensure I can comfortably outmaneuver everything and getting the requisite Rel2 + Shottyman to get Shottyhead ASAP; given how massive an offensive boost Shottyhead gives you and its prereqs already gives you one of the easiest early games, you never want to delay it unless you have really damn good reason to get something outside its prereq path. After that it's getting WK2 ASAP for the big mid and late game all-around power boost it provides, and then maybe unusually I get two levels of Brute + Berserker; Berserker is such an OP defensive trait in 0.9.9.7 and it basically makes the VMR a non-threat for the rest of the game, while berserked Shottyhead gets crazy amounts of DPS (also being able to punch stuff out can occasionally be useful to kill things without knockback, and could be used to save ammo as well, but you don't really need that in this version of N! with the silly ammo farming you can do). Then it's just maxing out my firing, movement, and reloading rate after to make myself as strong as possible; the notable omissions are not getting any Ironman, which I do to have Berserker trigger as often as possible, and then I never get the ever popular Intuition, since I don't need Intuition 2 and much prefer getting actual combat-boosting traits if I'm not playing a challenge where attrition damage is a much more serious factor.
As mentioned, with the aforementioned opening traits, the early game is a relative breeze even on Nightmare, even a Phobos maze wasn't all that bad when those are often run enders on N!. I decided to clear Hell's Arena, which being restricted to shotguns with unpredictable knockback can make a bit tricky when trying to line up corpse stacks, but with such a strong early game build, getting some extra spawns isn't much an issue when you come in with an inventory full of shotguns and shotgun shells, even a Baron getting back up wasn't a big deal. I was thinking of skipping Unchained Court since it's one of the few special levels that gives Shottyhead some real trouble and getting rid of corpses is going to be real annoying without a Rocket Launcher, but I decided to go for it and it ended up not being too bad, not even having to use up all the berserks; if you can manage to get the Barons in a position to shotgun them into the lava or in the doorways, you can kill them without a corpse, or if you kill one while still berserked, you can comfortably eat another Baron's acid ball to destroy it, then the Arena Master it's possible to corner shoot to death with this build + the Double Shotgun from the Arena, or you get a berserk and him against a wall, you can hammer him down with the Double Shotty and kill him that way before he can deal too much damage to you. I then rolled Phobos Lab for the last Phobos special level, which having Shottyhead online by then already largely trivializes, and then considering that Nightmare Demons still get hurt by the acid in this version, I almost forget that this is supposed to be one of the most terrifying special levels. After that is the dreaded N! Phobos Anomaly, but it's another normally terrifying level that Shottyhead largely trivializes; I ended up clearing it taking only 38 damage, most of which was from me intentionally getting hit by Nightmare Cacodemons to destroy corpses. Feats like that just add to my pile of "Shottyhead was the most overlooked mastery", Army Of The Dead is just way too slow to outrun the N! Anomaly ambush without a lucky Phase Device and has no hope to try fighting back, while Fireangel and masterless shotgun Scout could escape the ambush but would have a hell of a time actually trying to kill all those Nightmare enemies.
Deimos would greet me with a level opener that would a major threat for most builds, but that Shottyhead again trivializes without needing to gamble with that Phase Device nor running and praying. I rolled Deimos Lab, and I considered just getting what I could from there without releasing the Shamblers. Especially so when the weapon cache didn't have any of the special shotguns and when I failed to hit WK2 before them, so I was left with the predicament to build the Focused Double Shotgun and Tactical Boots now to help fighting them and be left unable to mod them later (since 0.9.9.7 still has the asinine restriction of being unable to ever mod assemblies you made before getting WK2), or play it safe and just leave. Not to mention that fighting the dual Shamblers in N! AoSh without a Plasma Shotgun is going to be extra dangerous as I have to kill them in very specific spots to prevent them from leaving a corpse. I decided to live extra dangerously though by releasing the Shamblers and not finishing the aforementioned assemblies, and it was by far the closest I came to death in this run. My initial plan was to hide out in the mod rooms, wait for one to teleport in, and then hammer at it until it was nearly dead, then finish it off in the door or acid, but when a Shambler did do so... it immediately teleported back out, and they wouldn't teleport back inside, eventually teleporting outside and opening the door, where in the crossfire one of the doors would get destroyed to ruin the setup. When getting one isolated, I did do the "hammer away" strategy and was able to finish it off in the acid, but the other Shambler was very uncooperative and I would get brought down to my last medkit, however I managed to get him in a workable spot within the acid pool and hammer him down before he could teleport out. If I was any other shotgun build here I would have certainly died, as without Shottyhead's firing speed, I would not have remotely enough DPS to kill them when they teleported into a workable position here. It paid off though, as I got the coveted Onyx + Nano mod combo as my reward, and finally hit WK2 right when I killed the last Shambler, allowing me to build my beloved Focused Double Shotgun and put a Power mod on it. For the Onyx mod, I ended up just putting it on the next Red Armor I found (since I already Bulk modded the Anomaly Red Armor) rather than wait for one of the few exotics that can be better (especially as when berserked, I'll take 1 damage with a P-modded Red Armor from nearly everything after this point), and I thought about waiting for maybe a Super Shotgun to appear for the chance at the utterly game-breaking Shottyhead + Nano Super Shotgun combo, but decided to just make Antigrav Boots instead from the Steel Boots I haven't turned Tactical yet rather than wait around for something that may not come at all. Some may have made a regular Nano Shotgun to ensure they always had infinite ammo, but with how easily you can farm infinite ammo in this version of N!, ammo is just not a concern whatsoever.
I unfortunately had to skip Containment Area, as I had no plasmatic shotgun and didn't carry any normal Phase Devices with me, but the game would conveniently spawn a Plasma Shotgun the floor immediately after. Would have really wanted it a floor sooner to keep the dream of a N! AoSh Conqueror alive, but it's still really nice to make corpse disposal a much less tedious ordeal in the second half of the game. I had a nuke prepped for Unholy Cathedral, but no Invuln spawned on Hell 1, so that's another special level I couldn't do. The rest were beaten with no issue, maybe Mortuary could have dragged on but I got pre-buff Limbo instead, and with the Plasma Shotty, two Hatred Skulls, and Enviroboots, it was nothing more than a speed bump.
With Shottyhead, I'm able to get pure Shottyman Diamond first try, and come the closest anyone has to pulling off a N! AoSh Conqueror, while getting Shottyman Platinum completes the collection of all Platinums in 0.9.9.7 for me, joining I believe Tormuse and Icy as the only players to have verifiably gotten every Platinum badge up through 0.9.9.7. Now here is the mortem:
For the build used, it's obviously Shottyhead; aside from being my favorite mastery making it an obvious choice for me, Army Of The Dead is horribly awful in 0.9.9.7 with its astonishingly crippling blocks that don't remotely justify such a middling mastery effect (I still wonder what the hell the thinking was behind its blocks, did the old devs really think shotguns getting 2 or 4 more damage before dropoff was some incredibly OP perk?), and Fireangel is already mediocre in 0.9.9.7 before even considering it does nothing to boost Shotguns. The only other real viable option would be to go masterless if you want SoB, but the relatively minor damage boost SoB gives to shotguns doesn't remotely compare to the tremendous offensive boost given by 1/3rd firing time. Well you could go Gunrunner too, but it would be basically a worse Shottyhead that takes longer to come online, especially in 0.9.9.7 when it's blocked Whizkid.
With trait order, it's again opening with Finesse -> Juggler, being able to macgyver a Temu Tactical Shotgun with a bunch of shotguns in the early game gives you such an immediate big leg up, especially pre-Reloader buff. Then it's a level of HR to ensure I can comfortably outmaneuver everything and getting the requisite Rel2 + Shottyman to get Shottyhead ASAP; given how massive an offensive boost Shottyhead gives you and its prereqs already gives you one of the easiest early games, you never want to delay it unless you have really damn good reason to get something outside its prereq path. After that it's getting WK2 ASAP for the big mid and late game all-around power boost it provides, and then maybe unusually I get two levels of Brute + Berserker; Berserker is such an OP defensive trait in 0.9.9.7 and it basically makes the VMR a non-threat for the rest of the game, while berserked Shottyhead gets crazy amounts of DPS (also being able to punch stuff out can occasionally be useful to kill things without knockback, and could be used to save ammo as well, but you don't really need that in this version of N! with the silly ammo farming you can do). Then it's just maxing out my firing, movement, and reloading rate after to make myself as strong as possible; the notable omissions are not getting any Ironman, which I do to have Berserker trigger as often as possible, and then I never get the ever popular Intuition, since I don't need Intuition 2 and much prefer getting actual combat-boosting traits if I'm not playing a challenge where attrition damage is a much more serious factor.
As mentioned, with the aforementioned opening traits, the early game is a relative breeze even on Nightmare, even a Phobos maze wasn't all that bad when those are often run enders on N!. I decided to clear Hell's Arena, which being restricted to shotguns with unpredictable knockback can make a bit tricky when trying to line up corpse stacks, but with such a strong early game build, getting some extra spawns isn't much an issue when you come in with an inventory full of shotguns and shotgun shells, even a Baron getting back up wasn't a big deal. I was thinking of skipping Unchained Court since it's one of the few special levels that gives Shottyhead some real trouble and getting rid of corpses is going to be real annoying without a Rocket Launcher, but I decided to go for it and it ended up not being too bad, not even having to use up all the berserks; if you can manage to get the Barons in a position to shotgun them into the lava or in the doorways, you can kill them without a corpse, or if you kill one while still berserked, you can comfortably eat another Baron's acid ball to destroy it, then the Arena Master it's possible to corner shoot to death with this build + the Double Shotgun from the Arena, or you get a berserk and him against a wall, you can hammer him down with the Double Shotty and kill him that way before he can deal too much damage to you. I then rolled Phobos Lab for the last Phobos special level, which having Shottyhead online by then already largely trivializes, and then considering that Nightmare Demons still get hurt by the acid in this version, I almost forget that this is supposed to be one of the most terrifying special levels. After that is the dreaded N! Phobos Anomaly, but it's another normally terrifying level that Shottyhead largely trivializes; I ended up clearing it taking only 38 damage, most of which was from me intentionally getting hit by Nightmare Cacodemons to destroy corpses. Feats like that just add to my pile of "Shottyhead was the most overlooked mastery", Army Of The Dead is just way too slow to outrun the N! Anomaly ambush without a lucky Phase Device and has no hope to try fighting back, while Fireangel and masterless shotgun Scout could escape the ambush but would have a hell of a time actually trying to kill all those Nightmare enemies.
Deimos would greet me with a level opener that would a major threat for most builds, but that Shottyhead again trivializes without needing to gamble with that Phase Device nor running and praying. I rolled Deimos Lab, and I considered just getting what I could from there without releasing the Shamblers. Especially so when the weapon cache didn't have any of the special shotguns and when I failed to hit WK2 before them, so I was left with the predicament to build the Focused Double Shotgun and Tactical Boots now to help fighting them and be left unable to mod them later (since 0.9.9.7 still has the asinine restriction of being unable to ever mod assemblies you made before getting WK2), or play it safe and just leave. Not to mention that fighting the dual Shamblers in N! AoSh without a Plasma Shotgun is going to be extra dangerous as I have to kill them in very specific spots to prevent them from leaving a corpse. I decided to live extra dangerously though by releasing the Shamblers and not finishing the aforementioned assemblies, and it was by far the closest I came to death in this run. My initial plan was to hide out in the mod rooms, wait for one to teleport in, and then hammer at it until it was nearly dead, then finish it off in the door or acid, but when a Shambler did do so... it immediately teleported back out, and they wouldn't teleport back inside, eventually teleporting outside and opening the door, where in the crossfire one of the doors would get destroyed to ruin the setup. When getting one isolated, I did do the "hammer away" strategy and was able to finish it off in the acid, but the other Shambler was very uncooperative and I would get brought down to my last medkit, however I managed to get him in a workable spot within the acid pool and hammer him down before he could teleport out. If I was any other shotgun build here I would have certainly died, as without Shottyhead's firing speed, I would not have remotely enough DPS to kill them when they teleported into a workable position here. It paid off though, as I got the coveted Onyx + Nano mod combo as my reward, and finally hit WK2 right when I killed the last Shambler, allowing me to build my beloved Focused Double Shotgun and put a Power mod on it. For the Onyx mod, I ended up just putting it on the next Red Armor I found (since I already Bulk modded the Anomaly Red Armor) rather than wait for one of the few exotics that can be better (especially as when berserked, I'll take 1 damage with a P-modded Red Armor from nearly everything after this point), and I thought about waiting for maybe a Super Shotgun to appear for the chance at the utterly game-breaking Shottyhead + Nano Super Shotgun combo, but decided to just make Antigrav Boots instead from the Steel Boots I haven't turned Tactical yet rather than wait around for something that may not come at all. Some may have made a regular Nano Shotgun to ensure they always had infinite ammo, but with how easily you can farm infinite ammo in this version of N!, ammo is just not a concern whatsoever.
I unfortunately had to skip Containment Area, as I had no plasmatic shotgun and didn't carry any normal Phase Devices with me, but the game would conveniently spawn a Plasma Shotgun the floor immediately after. Would have really wanted it a floor sooner to keep the dream of a N! AoSh Conqueror alive, but it's still really nice to make corpse disposal a much less tedious ordeal in the second half of the game. I had a nuke prepped for Unholy Cathedral, but no Invuln spawned on Hell 1, so that's another special level I couldn't do. The rest were beaten with no issue, maybe Mortuary could have dragged on but I got pre-buff Limbo instead, and with the Plasma Shotty, two Hatred Skulls, and Enviroboots, it was nothing more than a speed bump.
With Shottyhead, I'm able to get pure Shottyman Diamond first try, and come the closest anyone has to pulling off a N! AoSh Conqueror, while getting Shottyman Platinum completes the collection of all Platinums in 0.9.9.7 for me, joining I believe Tormuse and Icy as the only players to have verifiably gotten every Platinum badge up through 0.9.9.7. Now here is the mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
SHOTTYHEADABEST,
level 18 Cyberdemon Chaos Major Scout,
nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
He survived 1180211 turns and scored 990922 points.
He played for 3 hours, 57 minutes and 52 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 1738 out of 1756 hellspawn. (98%)
He held his right to remain violent.
He was an Angel of Shotgunnery!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 9
Levels completed : 9
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (gold cluster)
Aurora Medallion
Grim Reaper's Badge
Hell Armorer Badge
Hell Champion Medal
Shottyman Platinum Badge
Shottyman Diamond Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 89/50 Experience 160312/18
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +4 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +6
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Finesse (Level 3)
Hellrunner (Level 3)
Reloader (Level 3)
Brute (Level 2)
Juggler (Level 1)
Berserker (Level 1)
Dodgemaster (Level 1)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Shottyman (Level 1)
Shottyhead (Level 1)
Fin->Jug->HR->Rel->Rel->SM->MSh->Fin->WK->WK->Bru->Bru->Ber->Fin->HR->HR->Rel->DM->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] red armor [6] (AOP)
[b] [ Weapon ] focused double shotgun (9d4)x2 [0/2] (P1)
[c] [ Boots ] antigrav steel boots [1/1] (100%) (A)
[d] [ Prepared ] shell box (x56)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] assault shotgun (7d3) [6/6] (T1)
[b] plasma shotgun (10d3) [39/39] (B1P3T1)
[c] BFG 9000 (10d6) [130/130] (B1)
[d] phaseshift armor [2/2] (100%)
[e] shotgun shell (x14)
[f] power cell (x50)
[g] power cell (x50)
[h] large med-pack
[i] large med-pack
[j] large med-pack
[k] large med-pack
[l] homing phase device
[m] Enviroboots [0]
[n] shell box (x100)
[o] shell box (x100)
[p] shell box (x100)
[q] shell box (x100)
[r] shell box (x100)
[s] power battery (x120)
[t] power battery (x120)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Fire - internal 0% torso 25% feet 0%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
218 former humans
263 former sergeants
72 former captains
180 imps
115 demons
285 lost souls
109 cacodemons
39 hell knights
64 barons of hell
119 arachnotrons
41 former commandos
37 pain elementals
53 revenants
19 mancubi
39 arch-viles
19 nightmare imps
6 nightmare cacodemons
39 nightmare demons
11 nightmare arachnotrons
2 bruiser brothers
2 shamblers
1 lava elemental
1 agony elemental
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 entered Deimos Lab.
On level 9 he assembled a focused double shotgun!
He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
On level 10 he assembled a antigrav boots!
On level 11 he found the Enviroboots!
On level 12 he romped upon the Abyssal Plains.
He slaughtered the beasts living there.
On level 14 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.
He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 17 he found the Nyarlaptotep's Boots!
On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
He cracked the Vaults and cleared them out!
On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter Limbo!
On level 20 he found the Angelic Armor!
He managed to clear Limbo from evil!
On level 22 he entered the Lava Pits.
He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
Then at last he found Dis!
He overloaded a nuclear BFG 9000 on 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 need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You feel more calm.
John Carmack reloads his rocket launcher.
Carmack raises his hands and summons hellspawn!
The revenant dies. The revenant dies.
The revenant dies. The revenant dies. The revenant dies. The revenant dies.
The revenant dies.
The revenant dies. John Carmack dies. Congratulations! You defeated John
Carmack! Press <Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
237 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
69 of those were killed.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
71 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
35 killed the bitch and survived.
30 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
7
Nightmare! / (0.9.9.7) [N!|AoD|100%|YAFW] - Hunter + Longinus Diamond and a N! AoD Conqueror
« on: November 25, 2025, 18:15 »
Ok so after saying I probably wouldn't do another 100% N! in 0.9.9.7 after my Veteran + Elite Angelic run, it seems I lied. I wasn't planning to go for 100% kills nor Conqueror when going for Hunter Platinum + Diamond, but after going halfway through the run with 100% kills intact and having cleared all the special levels, I thought I may as well finish the job, especially as I don't think anyone has done a 100% nor Conqueror run in Angel of Darkness on N! before (at least no one that posted it to the forums).
For the build, it's the boring choice but I just went with Cateye. Was going to do Blademaster first as I did for the HMP AoD 100% Conqueror run I did a year ago, but I got a bit tired of looking at 0.9.9.7's awfully garish berserk red screen for my past few runs, and this gave me the opportunity to get Longinus Diamond too without having to dedicate a run to it or hindering another run to go for it. There was nothing particularly interesting about my trait order, other than picking up a second level of EE later on that I didn't really need just to make Cathedral not take as long and to make my melee sidearm more reliable in general.
For the run itself, Hell's Arena is mostly a nonissue if you're just entering and exiting for Hunter Diamond, but is the obvious immediate obstacle to an AoD conqueror, especially without Finesse, Juggler, or Hellrunner; I lost the first attempt when it got out of hand and I quitted out, but that run was kneecapped with bad medkit + powerup luck on floor 2 that left me with a single small medkit going in and so I wasn't able to take some plasma balls to destroy corpses nor heal much. In AoD you can't safely run -> wait in Hell's Arena, but I find that you shouldn't run -> wait anyway on N! Hell's Arena until you're down to the last wave and are camping on a single corpse, since respawns become more frequent the longer you spend on a level and so you can more effectively get most of the corpses stacked/destroyed by playing the first two waves faster. As for why I completed AoD Hell's Arena instead of just quickly dipping out if I wasn't planning on Conqueror, I really wanted that rocket launcher, everything just becomes so much harder without it.
The early Phobos floors are rough in N! AoD, but with the crazy EXP rate, you should hit level 6 to get Cateye by only floor 3 or 4, at which point you're just basically playing a masterless Scout standard N! game except with no map memory and no stair sense but with much faster leveling that makes it arguably easier than standard N!. I ended up getting this in only my second attempt, Intuition and especially Cateye really takes the bite out of AoD, this experience definitely enforces my proposal to replace Hunter Diamond's Explorer requirement with a no Intuition requirement (as well as add that to Hunter Angelic if it gets added). I suspect Hunter Diamond being one of the rarest Diamonds according to the 0.9.9.7 Badge Hunters thread is moreso due to people being too spooked to try it rather than it being genuinely one of the most difficult Diamonds (though being one of the most Sereg-resistant Diamonds probably also contributed to that, it's much harder to do an AoOC stair dive with no stair sense and AoD's vision penalty).
As for doing Longinus Diamond, I got a surplus of Power and Agility mods, letting me build a Piercing Chainsaw to make the process much quicker without costing me other valuable equipment, and so just needed to make sure I got my attacking and nonrunning movement speed faster than 0.67 seconds before the Cathedral, which AoD's EXP boost helped with. That ended up proving unnecessary though, as I got two Invulnerabilities on Hell 1, which lasted long enough for me to kill all the Lost Souls, Pinkies, and the Angel of Death without having to bother with doing any timing shenanigans (building the Piercing Chainsaw and getting the second EE level still helped though, I probably don't kill them all fast enough before the Invuln ran out without them). One other thing of note is Hell 1 also had a Nano mod, but it was too late to start building a Nanomachic Plasma Rifle or Antigrav Boots, so I just put it on a Plasma Rifle to ensure I always had ammo (not that I needed it though, since you can infinitely farm ammo off of respawns in 0.9.9.7 and nearly every floor at this point has at least one Arachnotron or Commando). Then the game decided to give me a second Nano mod on Hell 7 that I absolutely did not need, the RNG just likes to be funny like that sometimes.
Anyway here is the mortem:
For the build, it's the boring choice but I just went with Cateye. Was going to do Blademaster first as I did for the HMP AoD 100% Conqueror run I did a year ago, but I got a bit tired of looking at 0.9.9.7's awfully garish berserk red screen for my past few runs, and this gave me the opportunity to get Longinus Diamond too without having to dedicate a run to it or hindering another run to go for it. There was nothing particularly interesting about my trait order, other than picking up a second level of EE later on that I didn't really need just to make Cathedral not take as long and to make my melee sidearm more reliable in general.
For the run itself, Hell's Arena is mostly a nonissue if you're just entering and exiting for Hunter Diamond, but is the obvious immediate obstacle to an AoD conqueror, especially without Finesse, Juggler, or Hellrunner; I lost the first attempt when it got out of hand and I quitted out, but that run was kneecapped with bad medkit + powerup luck on floor 2 that left me with a single small medkit going in and so I wasn't able to take some plasma balls to destroy corpses nor heal much. In AoD you can't safely run -> wait in Hell's Arena, but I find that you shouldn't run -> wait anyway on N! Hell's Arena until you're down to the last wave and are camping on a single corpse, since respawns become more frequent the longer you spend on a level and so you can more effectively get most of the corpses stacked/destroyed by playing the first two waves faster. As for why I completed AoD Hell's Arena instead of just quickly dipping out if I wasn't planning on Conqueror, I really wanted that rocket launcher, everything just becomes so much harder without it.
The early Phobos floors are rough in N! AoD, but with the crazy EXP rate, you should hit level 6 to get Cateye by only floor 3 or 4, at which point you're just basically playing a masterless Scout standard N! game except with no map memory and no stair sense but with much faster leveling that makes it arguably easier than standard N!. I ended up getting this in only my second attempt, Intuition and especially Cateye really takes the bite out of AoD, this experience definitely enforces my proposal to replace Hunter Diamond's Explorer requirement with a no Intuition requirement (as well as add that to Hunter Angelic if it gets added). I suspect Hunter Diamond being one of the rarest Diamonds according to the 0.9.9.7 Badge Hunters thread is moreso due to people being too spooked to try it rather than it being genuinely one of the most difficult Diamonds (though being one of the most Sereg-resistant Diamonds probably also contributed to that, it's much harder to do an AoOC stair dive with no stair sense and AoD's vision penalty).
As for doing Longinus Diamond, I got a surplus of Power and Agility mods, letting me build a Piercing Chainsaw to make the process much quicker without costing me other valuable equipment, and so just needed to make sure I got my attacking and nonrunning movement speed faster than 0.67 seconds before the Cathedral, which AoD's EXP boost helped with. That ended up proving unnecessary though, as I got two Invulnerabilities on Hell 1, which lasted long enough for me to kill all the Lost Souls, Pinkies, and the Angel of Death without having to bother with doing any timing shenanigans (building the Piercing Chainsaw and getting the second EE level still helped though, I probably don't kill them all fast enough before the Invuln ran out without them). One other thing of note is Hell 1 also had a Nano mod, but it was too late to start building a Nanomachic Plasma Rifle or Antigrav Boots, so I just put it on a Plasma Rifle to ensure I always had ammo (not that I needed it though, since you can infinitely farm ammo off of respawns in 0.9.9.7 and nearly every floor at this point has at least one Arachnotron or Commando). Then the game decided to give me a second Nano mod on Hell 7 that I absolutely did not need, the RNG just likes to be funny like that sometimes.
Anyway here is the mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
ICANSEE, level 20 Cyberdemon Marshal Scout,
nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
He survived 1529020 turns and scored 1936602 points.
He played for 6 hours, 12 minutes and 22 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 2321 out of 2321 hellspawn. (100%)
This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
He was an Angel of Darkness!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 11
Levels completed : 11
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
Medal of Prejudice
UAC Star (gold cluster)
Aurora Medallion
Conqueror Badge
Experience Medal
Grim Reaper's Badge
Hell Armorer Badge
Hell Champion Medal
Hunter Platinum Badge
Hunter Diamond Badge
Longinus Diamond Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 93/50 Experience 348855/20
ToHit Ranged +4 ToHit Melee +4 ToDmg Ranged +3 ToDmg Melee +3
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Finesse (Level 3)
Hellrunner (Level 3)
Son of a bitch (Level 3)
Eagle Eye (Level 2)
Juggler (Level 1)
Dodgemaster (Level 1)
Intuition (Level 2)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Triggerhappy (Level 2)
Cateye (Level 1)
Int->Int->SoB->SoB->TH->MCe->EE->Fin->Fin->WK->WK->Jug->HR->Fin->SoB->TH->EE->HR->DM->HR->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] red armor [6] (AOP)
[b] [ Weapon ] hyperblaster (2d4)x5 [5/40] (F1)
[c] [ Boots ] tactical boots [0/0] (100%) (A)
[d] [ Prepared ] plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [40/40] (N2T1)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] tactical shotgun (9d3) [5/5] (P1)
[b] tactical rocket launcher (6d6) [5/5]
[c] napalm launcher (7d7) [1/1]
[d] BFG 9000 (12d6) [130/130] (B1P2)
[e] Angelic Armor [7/7] (100%)
[f] Azrael's Scythe (9d9)
[g] rocket (x9)
[h] rocket (x14)
[i] power cell (x70)
[j] power cell (x70)
[k] power cell (x70)
[l] power cell (x30)
[m] power cell (x70)
[n] large med-pack
[o] large med-pack
[p] large med-pack
[q] large med-pack
[r] envirosuit pack
[s] lava element
[t] cerberus protective boots [0/0] (100%)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Fire - internal 0% torso 25% feet 0%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
265 former humans
199 former sergeants
112 former captains
380 imps
122 demons
482 lost souls
122 cacodemons
27 hell knights
92 barons of hell
75 arachnotrons
118 former commandos
55 pain elementals
100 revenants
79 mancubi
35 arch-viles
7 nightmare imps
6 nightmare cacodemons
33 nightmare demons
3 bruiser brothers
2 shamblers
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.
On level 7 he assembled a tactical boots!
On level 7 he assembled a hyperblaster!
He broke through the lab.
On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
On level 9 he entered Deimos Lab.
He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
Level 10 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 11 he assembled a piercing blade!
On level 11 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
On level 11 he arrived at the Containment Area.
He emerged from the Containment Area victorious!
On level 12 he found the City of Skulls.
He wiped out the City of Skulls.
On level 14 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.
He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 17 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 17 he found the Azrael's Scythe!
He then destroyed the Unholy Cathedral!
He nuked level 18!
On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
He cracked the Vaults and cleared them out!
On level 20 he assembled a tactical rocket launcher!
On level 20 he assembled a cerberus boots!
On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
On level 20 he found the Angelic Armor!
He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
On level 22 he entered the Lava Pits.
On level 22 he found the Enviroboots!
He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
Then at last he found Dis!
He overloaded a nuclear BFG 9000 on level 24!
He defeated the Mastermind and found the TRUE EVIL!
Then finally in Hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
missile hits the baron of hell. The missile hits the baron of hell. The
missile hits the baron of hell. Argh!!! Lava!
The missile hits the baron of hell. The missile hits the baron of hell. The
baron of hell dies. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The
missile hits John Carmack. Argh!!! Lava!
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack.
Argh!!! Lava!
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack.
Argh!!! Lava!
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. John Carmack
dies. Congratulations! You defeated John Carmack! Press <Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
236 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
69 of those were killed.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
70 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
35 killed the bitch and survived.
29 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
8
Nightmare! / (0.9.9.7) [N!|100%|YAFW] - Veteran Diamond+Angelic and Elite Diamond+Angelic
« on: November 24, 2025, 00:22 »
I've done a ton of complete Nightmare runs in the 0.9.9.9/0.10 beta testing and in JHC since the first 0.9.9.9 beta made some big changes to N!'s respawning, but never actually tried doing a standard N! run before in 0.9.9.7 (nor even in 0.9.9.8, stopping at getting Eagerness and Inquisitor Angelic there), as N! and the whole corpse disposal minigame seemed so awful to play; I once tried beating Hell's Arena in Angel of Darkness on only HMP back when I wasn't as good at the game and immediately noped out of the idea of ever dealing with respawning in the special levels even after I've became very consistent at doing 100% UV runs. Since I've been so involved in proposals and balancing suggestions since DRL's development revival, I thought I should experience the old N! 100% playthrough run at least once however (and show my dislike of how N! played prior to 0.10 wasn't a skill issue on my part :p).
For the build, I just went with my favorite mastery of Shottyhead that I always thought was criminally underrated. I open with the trait order of Fin -> Jug -> HR -> Rel2 -> SM -> MSh; just going straight to Shottyhead in this order gives one of the strongest early games, and Shottyhead itself gives such a massive power boost that you don't want to delay getting it. It's then Fin2 and getting both levels of Whizkid to ensure I can do full modding by the end of Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab, and after that I get two levels of Brute + Berserker, I always liked having a melee sidearm and pairing Berserker with Shottyhead to amp up my firing speeds farther as well as get nice lategame defensive insurance. After that it's just maxing out Fin and HR, Reloader as well to amp up my standstill DPS, and then Brute 3 to help lategame gibbing with the Scythe.
For the start of the run, I sure take advantage of respawns dropping their inventory in this version to get a half dozen Shotguns in my inventory for juggling and getting a full inventory of shells from Phobos Base Entry. After Phobos 2 had a very convenient horizontal water river to make corpse disposal less of a pain, it was the infamous N! Hell's Arena, and well it wasn't like it's exceedingly hard, especially with the Fin/Jug/HR opener, but man is it so tedious even when knowing better to seek out enemies and lure them to your corpse piles to limit the respawn rate rather than run -> waiting; can't stress enough how much I'm looking forward to when respawns will finally no longer count towards Hell's Arena wave clearing in the eventual 0.11. After a warehouse level on Phobos 3 that made corpse disposal extra annoying and Phobos 5 having two Cacodemon vaults plus some annoying acid rivers, it was then Unchained Court, one of the very few special levels I think can be a stumbling block for Shottyhead. With berserk being unnerfed in this version though and successfully avoiding let the Barons blow up the berserks, I'm able to take out the Barons and Arena Master without serious issue, it was the cleanup of the formers after that was the very annoying part with the center building near completely destroyed and having too few rockets to just blow up the remaining formers, I am eternally grateful that 0.10 and JHC changed it so respawns no longer count towards a special level's clearing (at least for the ones that aren't bugged about it like Hell's Arena is currently...). After uneventful floors for Phobos 6 and 7, I then get Military Base, which is one of the most cheesable levels with run -> wait camping even on N! but damn is it so fucking tedious, 0.10's Enraged Timer and not counting respawns towards clearing it does wonders towards making the level actually engaging and not a joke compared to Phobos Lab. I can build a Tactical Shotgun and start modding a Double Shotgun towards a Focused Double, but I put off doing so until I reach Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab in case their weapon cache has an Assault or Super Shotgun. Thanks to the Elite Formers giving their obscene pre-nerfed EXP in this version, I hit Shottyhead and Finesse 2 before Phobos Anomaly, so after rocket jumping out of the ambush, I can actually fight back against the terrifying Nightmare horde without taking much damage and then effortlessly cornershoot the Bruisers to death.
Deimos would greet me with an awful maze that's especially annoying when I don't have quite enough rockets to blow up every corpse but I manage it. It's then Deimos Lab, easily the most threatening special level for Shottyhead with the dreaded dual Shamblers, especially when the weapon cache didn't have the Super Shotty nor Assault Shotgun, so I have to settle for making the Tactical Shotgun and I'm still down an A mod to complete the Focused Double before the Shamblers (at least the cache had a Nuclear Plasma Rifle that is nice for saving ammo). When fighting them, at one point one teleports near the wall next to me while the other is out of vision, so with run active, I get a couple spaces away from him and take advantage of Shottyhead's firing rate with a shell box equipped to hammer into him with the Double Shotgun while running mitigate the amount I got hit to kill him before the other Shambler can interfere. The second Shambler I would take some meaty hits from but it wasn't too bad, however I get a stark reminder of why 0.10/JHC not having enemies revive in vision was such a much needed change, as this Shambler would get right back up with full health as I was moving away to blow up his corpse. For a weaker build this could have been a run ender, but with Shottyhead I'm able to handle it after using up a medkit to get run back and repeating the strategy I used to take out the first Shambler. In the lab cache I get two Onyx mods, not really ideal but I just use one on a Red Armor I would mostly use for the rest of the run and then save the second later to make Lava Boots since I got nothing better to use it on. I also get an A mod to complete my Focused Double Shotgun and a P mod to buff it up.
Rather annoyingly, after making that Focused Double Shotgun and P-modding it, I would find a Super Shotgun just a couple floors later... I hold onto it in case I find enough mods to make it better than the modded Focused Double and then enter Containment Area, which can be potentially very nasty but Shottyhead is able to handle it rather easily, especially with a radsuit and indestructible Red Armor, just had to made sure to immediately grab the Backpack since it's still destroyable in this version. Cleanup after was the annoying part with the doors destroyed and my rockets running low, ate quite a few Imp fireballs just to destroy corpses without expending rockets. With a handy Deimos 4 Invuln, the potentially rough Abyssal Plains opening ambush is a nonfactor, and then the Agony Elemental fight is completely free for Shottyhead, super extra free for Shottyhead with Berserker. I get Spider's Lair for the Deimos 6 special level, which is appreciated as it's one of the easiest special levels on N! with its complete lack of enemy layout changes compared to UV while you'll be a couple levels stronger and get supplied with enough rockets to blow up all their corpses, especially compared to Halls Of Carnage that becomes very brutal on N! (however, Shottyhead with Berserker is one of the best builds for doing Halls Of Carnage, so I may have preferred it instead for the extra mods). In Spider's Lair I just get berserked and rocket jump into all the Arachnotrons to chainsaw them down. After an unremarkable Deimos 7, I then get the Cyberdemon fight that is completely free for a Shottyhead with berserker and a PO Red Armor.
After an uneventful Hell 1 (well I guess not technically uneventful as it had a hard walls event), it's the Unholy Cathedral. With Berserker and PO Red Armor, I could just straight chainsaw the Angel Of Death down, but I checked to see if the timing trick I employed in 0.9.9.8 of "get three spaces ahead and then wait, chainsaw if he double moves" worked here after Sylph told me the timing was more complicated than that in 0.9.9.7. I took her word on it since 0.9.9.8 was so buggy and the timing would indeed become more complicated in 0.10, but I find that nope, it is the same timing as 0.9.9.8 and so that is helpful to know for the eventual Longinus Diamond, while I get through Cathedral without taking as much damage as I would have playing roshambo with the AoD. I got an Archvile level on Hell 3, it's funny that what is supposed to be one of the most dangerous lategame level types is actually one of the nicest levels to get when Archviles are a whole lot less threatening without lackeys to revive, especially on N! when it means you won't have to put up with any corpse disposal either. Speaking of funny, The Vaults is such a laughably easy special level on N! in this version, with any good fire resist the measly 8 Archviles + 8 Revenants poses no threat at all, and you don't have to worry about half the enemies reviving on N! and you get more than enough rockets to destroy the corpses of the other half, I do look forward to any old heads revisiting DRL seeing the massive glow up the Vaults got on UV and especially N! since 0.9.9.7. It is then time for the oh so dreaded N! Mortuary, but after employing my usual opening of immediately popping a Hatred Skull, then rocket jumping around to blow up most of the corpses with the BFG, it wasn't so bad, I only had to deal with 50ish enemies and I would have dealt with even less if I didn't spend precious time near the start to secure the Nuclear BFG. I find the unnerfed Malek's Armor on Hell 6, a bit late for it to matter but it's still nice to have, and then comes Lava Pits that was free with Lava Boots, but I'll mention how sad a boss the Lava Elemental was prior to his 0.9.9.8 glow up, Lava Pits wouldn't have been a issue even if I didn't have Lava Boots. After yet another forgettable penultimate floor, it's then nuking the Mastermind and fighting Carmack, and with my buffed Super Shotgun + Rel 3 + a Shell Box + berserk, I'm able to get over a dozen SSG blasts off on him after he whiffs a rocket, he just didn't stand a chance.
Overall this wasn't really all that hard compared to the Eagerness and Inquisitor Angelic runs, but damn was it tedious. I'm surprised I clocked this run in under 5 hours despite not really trying to play it fast and doing my fair share of run -> wait abuse, it looked like 6+ hours was the average for Elite Angelic runs in 0.9.9.7 and none of the Elite Angelic mortems listed on the Badge Hunters thread even broke under 5 hours. Well it was nice to get the experience and get all those sweet badges to bolster my 0.9.9.7 badge collection, but I don't think I'll do another 100% N! run in 0.9.9.7 anytime soon.
Enough of the yap, here is the mortem:
For the build, I just went with my favorite mastery of Shottyhead that I always thought was criminally underrated. I open with the trait order of Fin -> Jug -> HR -> Rel2 -> SM -> MSh; just going straight to Shottyhead in this order gives one of the strongest early games, and Shottyhead itself gives such a massive power boost that you don't want to delay getting it. It's then Fin2 and getting both levels of Whizkid to ensure I can do full modding by the end of Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab, and after that I get two levels of Brute + Berserker, I always liked having a melee sidearm and pairing Berserker with Shottyhead to amp up my firing speeds farther as well as get nice lategame defensive insurance. After that it's just maxing out Fin and HR, Reloader as well to amp up my standstill DPS, and then Brute 3 to help lategame gibbing with the Scythe.
For the start of the run, I sure take advantage of respawns dropping their inventory in this version to get a half dozen Shotguns in my inventory for juggling and getting a full inventory of shells from Phobos Base Entry. After Phobos 2 had a very convenient horizontal water river to make corpse disposal less of a pain, it was the infamous N! Hell's Arena, and well it wasn't like it's exceedingly hard, especially with the Fin/Jug/HR opener, but man is it so tedious even when knowing better to seek out enemies and lure them to your corpse piles to limit the respawn rate rather than run -> waiting; can't stress enough how much I'm looking forward to when respawns will finally no longer count towards Hell's Arena wave clearing in the eventual 0.11. After a warehouse level on Phobos 3 that made corpse disposal extra annoying and Phobos 5 having two Cacodemon vaults plus some annoying acid rivers, it was then Unchained Court, one of the very few special levels I think can be a stumbling block for Shottyhead. With berserk being unnerfed in this version though and successfully avoiding let the Barons blow up the berserks, I'm able to take out the Barons and Arena Master without serious issue, it was the cleanup of the formers after that was the very annoying part with the center building near completely destroyed and having too few rockets to just blow up the remaining formers, I am eternally grateful that 0.10 and JHC changed it so respawns no longer count towards a special level's clearing (at least for the ones that aren't bugged about it like Hell's Arena is currently...). After uneventful floors for Phobos 6 and 7, I then get Military Base, which is one of the most cheesable levels with run -> wait camping even on N! but damn is it so fucking tedious, 0.10's Enraged Timer and not counting respawns towards clearing it does wonders towards making the level actually engaging and not a joke compared to Phobos Lab. I can build a Tactical Shotgun and start modding a Double Shotgun towards a Focused Double, but I put off doing so until I reach Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab in case their weapon cache has an Assault or Super Shotgun. Thanks to the Elite Formers giving their obscene pre-nerfed EXP in this version, I hit Shottyhead and Finesse 2 before Phobos Anomaly, so after rocket jumping out of the ambush, I can actually fight back against the terrifying Nightmare horde without taking much damage and then effortlessly cornershoot the Bruisers to death.
Deimos would greet me with an awful maze that's especially annoying when I don't have quite enough rockets to blow up every corpse but I manage it. It's then Deimos Lab, easily the most threatening special level for Shottyhead with the dreaded dual Shamblers, especially when the weapon cache didn't have the Super Shotty nor Assault Shotgun, so I have to settle for making the Tactical Shotgun and I'm still down an A mod to complete the Focused Double before the Shamblers (at least the cache had a Nuclear Plasma Rifle that is nice for saving ammo). When fighting them, at one point one teleports near the wall next to me while the other is out of vision, so with run active, I get a couple spaces away from him and take advantage of Shottyhead's firing rate with a shell box equipped to hammer into him with the Double Shotgun while running mitigate the amount I got hit to kill him before the other Shambler can interfere. The second Shambler I would take some meaty hits from but it wasn't too bad, however I get a stark reminder of why 0.10/JHC not having enemies revive in vision was such a much needed change, as this Shambler would get right back up with full health as I was moving away to blow up his corpse. For a weaker build this could have been a run ender, but with Shottyhead I'm able to handle it after using up a medkit to get run back and repeating the strategy I used to take out the first Shambler. In the lab cache I get two Onyx mods, not really ideal but I just use one on a Red Armor I would mostly use for the rest of the run and then save the second later to make Lava Boots since I got nothing better to use it on. I also get an A mod to complete my Focused Double Shotgun and a P mod to buff it up.
Rather annoyingly, after making that Focused Double Shotgun and P-modding it, I would find a Super Shotgun just a couple floors later... I hold onto it in case I find enough mods to make it better than the modded Focused Double and then enter Containment Area, which can be potentially very nasty but Shottyhead is able to handle it rather easily, especially with a radsuit and indestructible Red Armor, just had to made sure to immediately grab the Backpack since it's still destroyable in this version. Cleanup after was the annoying part with the doors destroyed and my rockets running low, ate quite a few Imp fireballs just to destroy corpses without expending rockets. With a handy Deimos 4 Invuln, the potentially rough Abyssal Plains opening ambush is a nonfactor, and then the Agony Elemental fight is completely free for Shottyhead, super extra free for Shottyhead with Berserker. I get Spider's Lair for the Deimos 6 special level, which is appreciated as it's one of the easiest special levels on N! with its complete lack of enemy layout changes compared to UV while you'll be a couple levels stronger and get supplied with enough rockets to blow up all their corpses, especially compared to Halls Of Carnage that becomes very brutal on N! (however, Shottyhead with Berserker is one of the best builds for doing Halls Of Carnage, so I may have preferred it instead for the extra mods). In Spider's Lair I just get berserked and rocket jump into all the Arachnotrons to chainsaw them down. After an unremarkable Deimos 7, I then get the Cyberdemon fight that is completely free for a Shottyhead with berserker and a PO Red Armor.
After an uneventful Hell 1 (well I guess not technically uneventful as it had a hard walls event), it's the Unholy Cathedral. With Berserker and PO Red Armor, I could just straight chainsaw the Angel Of Death down, but I checked to see if the timing trick I employed in 0.9.9.8 of "get three spaces ahead and then wait, chainsaw if he double moves" worked here after Sylph told me the timing was more complicated than that in 0.9.9.7. I took her word on it since 0.9.9.8 was so buggy and the timing would indeed become more complicated in 0.10, but I find that nope, it is the same timing as 0.9.9.8 and so that is helpful to know for the eventual Longinus Diamond, while I get through Cathedral without taking as much damage as I would have playing roshambo with the AoD. I got an Archvile level on Hell 3, it's funny that what is supposed to be one of the most dangerous lategame level types is actually one of the nicest levels to get when Archviles are a whole lot less threatening without lackeys to revive, especially on N! when it means you won't have to put up with any corpse disposal either. Speaking of funny, The Vaults is such a laughably easy special level on N! in this version, with any good fire resist the measly 8 Archviles + 8 Revenants poses no threat at all, and you don't have to worry about half the enemies reviving on N! and you get more than enough rockets to destroy the corpses of the other half, I do look forward to any old heads revisiting DRL seeing the massive glow up the Vaults got on UV and especially N! since 0.9.9.7. It is then time for the oh so dreaded N! Mortuary, but after employing my usual opening of immediately popping a Hatred Skull, then rocket jumping around to blow up most of the corpses with the BFG, it wasn't so bad, I only had to deal with 50ish enemies and I would have dealt with even less if I didn't spend precious time near the start to secure the Nuclear BFG. I find the unnerfed Malek's Armor on Hell 6, a bit late for it to matter but it's still nice to have, and then comes Lava Pits that was free with Lava Boots, but I'll mention how sad a boss the Lava Elemental was prior to his 0.9.9.8 glow up, Lava Pits wouldn't have been a issue even if I didn't have Lava Boots. After yet another forgettable penultimate floor, it's then nuking the Mastermind and fighting Carmack, and with my buffed Super Shotgun + Rel 3 + a Shell Box + berserk, I'm able to get over a dozen SSG blasts off on him after he whiffs a rocket, he just didn't stand a chance.
Overall this wasn't really all that hard compared to the Eagerness and Inquisitor Angelic runs, but damn was it tedious. I'm surprised I clocked this run in under 5 hours despite not really trying to play it fast and doing my fair share of run -> wait abuse, it looked like 6+ hours was the average for Elite Angelic runs in 0.9.9.7 and none of the Elite Angelic mortems listed on the Badge Hunters thread even broke under 5 hours. Well it was nice to get the experience and get all those sweet badges to bolster my 0.9.9.7 badge collection, but I don't think I'll do another 100% N! run in 0.9.9.7 anytime soon.
Enough of the yap, here is the mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
SHOTTYHEAD2GOOD,
level 18 Cyberdemon General Scout,
nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
He survived 887128 turns and scored 1124159 points.
He played for 4 hours, 46 minutes and 47 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 1983 out of 1983 hellspawn. (100%)
This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 11
Levels completed : 11
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
Medal of Prejudice
UAC Star (gold cluster)
Aurora Medallion
Conqueror Badge
Grim Reaper's Badge
Hell Armorer Badge
Hell Champion Medal
UAC Platinum Badge
Veteran Diamond Badge
Veteran Angelic Badge
Elite Diamond Badge
Elite Angelic Badge
Demonic Platinum Badge
Reaper Platinum Badge
Arena Platinum Badge
Longinus Platinum Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 52/50 Experience 186932/18
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +6 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +9
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Finesse (Level 3)
Hellrunner (Level 3)
Reloader (Level 3)
Brute (Level 3)
Juggler (Level 1)
Berserker (Level 1)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Shottyman (Level 1)
Shottyhead (Level 1)
Fin->Jug->HR->Rel->Rel->SM->MSh->Fin->WK->WK->Bru->Bru->Ber->HR->Fin->HR->Rel->Bru->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] Malek's Armor [3/3] (100%)
[b] [ Weapon ] super shotgun (10d4)x2 [0/2] (B2P2T1)
[c] [ Boots ] tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] shell box (x58)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] focused double shotgun (9d4)x2 [2/2] (P1)
[b] tactical rocket launcher (6d6) [5/5]
[c] nuclear BFG 9000 (8d6) [52/52] (B1)
[d] BFG 9000 (10d6) [220/220] (B3)
[e] red armor [6] (AOP)
[f] Azrael's Scythe (9d9)
[g] shotgun shell (x60)
[h] rocket (x3)
[i] rocket (x14)
[j] rocket (x14)
[k] large med-pack
[l] large med-pack
[m] large med-pack
[n] large med-pack
[o] homing phase device
[p] lava plasteel boots [2]
[q] shell box (x100)
[r] shell box (x100)
[s] shell box (x100)
[t] shell box (x100)
-- 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 -----------------------------------------------------
234 former humans
252 former sergeants
101 former captains
326 imps
113 demons
397 lost souls
70 cacodemons
25 hell knights
91 barons of hell
85 arachnotrons
35 former commandos
46 pain elementals
55 revenants
43 mancubi
52 arch-viles
14 nightmare imps
4 nightmare cacodemons
9 nightmare demons
7 elite former humans
5 elite former sergeants
7 elite former commandos
2 bruiser brothers
3 shamblers
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 marched into the Military Base.
He purified his fellow comrades.
On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
On level 8 he assembled a fireproof armor!
On level 9 he entered Deimos Lab.
On level 9 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
On level 9 he assembled a focused double shotgun!
He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
On level 11 he arrived at the Containment Area.
He emerged from the Containment Area victorious!
On level 12 he romped upon the Abyssal Plains.
He slaughtered the beasts living there.
On level 14 he assembled a tactical rocket launcher!
On level 14 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.
He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
On level 15 he found the Grammaton Cleric Beretta!
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
Level 17 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 17 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 17 he found the Azrael's Scythe!
He then destroyed the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 19 he stumbled into a complex full of arch-viles!
On level 19 he assembled a tactical boots!
On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
On level 19 he found the Mega Buster!
He cracked the Vaults and cleared them out!
On level 20 he assembled a lava boots!
On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
On level 20 he found the Angelic Armor!
He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
On level 22 he found the Malek's Armor!
On level 22 he entered the Lava Pits.
On level 22 he found the Cybernetic Armor!
He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
Then at last he found Dis!
He overloaded a nuclear plasma rifle on level 24!
He defeated the Mastermind and found the TRUE EVIL!
Then finally in Hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
You quickly reload the super shotgun. You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You quickly reload the super shotgun.
You need to taste blood!
You quickly reload the super shotgun.
You need to taste blood!
You quickly reload the super shotgun. You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
Carmack raises his hands and summons hellspawn! You need to taste blood!
John Carmack dies. Congratulations! You defeated John Carmack! Press
<Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
235 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
69 of those were killed.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
69 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
35 killed the bitch and survived.
28 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
9
Nightmare! / (0.9.9.7) [N!|AoP + AoRA|62%|YAVP] - Inquisitor Angelic achieved in 0.9.9.7!
« on: November 23, 2025, 11:32 »
Like with Eagerness Angelic, I previously won the never-achieved-in-0.9.9.7 Inquisitor Angelic Badge twice, first in the initial 0.9.9.9 beta when I started doubting its perceived impossibility and wanted to see how it was like firsthand, and then in 0.9.9.8 outright. However, as explained in thread for my recent Eagerness Angelic run in 0.9.9.7, in those versions I was helped significantly by a dodging bug that essentially gave you a 95% dodge rate against everything no matter your HR levels, which I've come to realize made 0.9.9.8 a lot easier, especially in a challenge where health is so limited and you're trying to rush through the game. Additionally I used the Marine, where in those versions he had inherent 20% energy resistances that proved rather OP, especially when stacked with berserk's +60% resistances, OP enough that both the Marine and berserk would later get their resistances nerfed in 0.10. As such, I've come to feel that winning Inquisitor Angelic in 0.9.9.8 is rather tainted, and so wanted to show I can win it without the aid of a major bug and a class with OP tankiness, while like with Eagerness Angelic, I wanted to prove definitively that Inquisitor Angelic was very possible even back in 0.9.9.7 before all the major mechanical and balancing changes made in 0.9.9.8 and beyond.
When it came to the build I would use for this badge in 0.9.9.7, I of course go with the Scout instead of the Marine; without any inherent resistances, the Marine isn't taking any less damage throughout the game, and while the extra 10 max HP would be nice to get more health from your crucial medkits, it wouldn't make up for all the extra damage I'm avoiding with the Scout's 10% speed bonus (as well as said speed bonus giving more leeway with actually finding and getting to the stairs in time). I still go with the same starting seven traits though in the same exact order; Fin -> HR -> Rel -> HR -> Bru -> Bru -> Ber. The attack speed boost is obviously useful for a much needed combat boost, but I particularly open with it instead of HR to increase the chances that I get the small medkits in Phobos Base Entry from the formers (if you don't get both, you should just Q+Y out, you'll probably need every single medkit you can get your hands on in this challenge). After Fin is the obvious HR, and then maybe surprisingly I still go with Reloader despite this being 0.9.9.7 with the crappy unbuffed Reloader; going with the second level of Finesse could work and may be arguably better, but I felt "rounding out" the shot and reload time of the Shotgun was the way to go, as aside from giving a slightly better edge in total shot and reload time of the Shotgun, it also gave me more safety in situations where an enemy pops at a bad angle after I shoot (it'll also make a bigger difference with the Rocket Launcher later in the game that has a much longer reload time, and would give me greater leeway to get away with doing full reloads with the Combat/Tactical Shotgun when berserked to preserve my berserk actions). Then it's HR2; while I want Berserker ASAP, it's absolutely necessary to get HR2 before Anomaly, otherwise you're going to take too much damage or die there without a rocket launcher that you likely won't have or a lucky phase device. After that it's Berserker ASAP, which is going to be needed to survive the later floors and get past the Cyberdemon with so little armor + healing and not many levels. I deviate compared to the 0.9.9.8 run though with getting TaN instead of Ironman after Berserker; even without the physical resistances that Ironman gives in 0.9.9.8 onward, it would have been useful to squeeze more health from the scarce amount of medkits you get, but each level of Ironman makes it increasingly more difficult to trigger Berserker from getting hit (as 0.9.9.8 exclusively has Berserker's trigger based on nominal HP while all other DRL versions make it based off your actual max HP), which will result in me losing more relative health from big hits and make it a lot less reliable to intentionally trigger Berserker with face rockets (something I make use of a lot throughout the run). As such, TaN is the much better durability boosting trait here even without it giving energy resistances like it does in 0.10-onward, and it's especially needed given the difficulty of maintaining armor in a challenge where you can't repair armor normally. I then only get one more level after for Fin2, so no Brute 3, WK, or Juggler that I may have considered if I got more levels.
As for the general strategy, it's still pretty much the same; I enter Hell's Arena to clear out the first wave for some extra easy HP and then get out, stop by Chained Court for the Chainsaw and my one free full heal but don't release any of the Barons, and then only enter special levels after that point if they offer you a quick safe escape, except for maybe Deimos Lab for some safe EXP and to gamble with the crates having medkits, or a couple other special levels where you can safely trade a Homing Phase for some nice rewards. The rest of it is getting enough luck and a healthy dose of just "gitting gud", getting through levels fast while avoiding taking too much damage, and after you find the stairs, appropriately judging the risk/reward between exploring more for more EXP and finding some helpful stuff, or just getting out then and there. The nice thing about Inquisitor Angelic compared to Eagerness Angelic is that kill percent does not matter at all, so once you find the stairs you can just dip out of any tough level, and Berserker is all you really need to get past the Cyberdemon, while you don't even need to beat the Mastermind since you can just wait out the nuke timer there when a partial win still rewards the badge. That doesn't mean you stair dive though; as mentioned you need HR2 before Anomaly, the sooner you get Berserker the better as it'll greatly increase your chances of surviving Deimos floors full of VMR, any additional levels after that increases your chances of surviving tough Deimos and Hell floors, and I mean it when I say you'll need nearly every medkit and decent armor you can find, so not exploring floors enough may leave your resources too deficient to survive difficulty floors later.
Unlike the Eagerness Angelic 0.9.9.7 run that took me a few dozen tries, Inquisitor Angelic here took me... only three real attempts (not counting a few runs I Q+Y'd on Phobos Base Entry, or in one instance, accidentally run -> waiting too much and setting off the nuke on Phobos Base Entry), not only a lot less than the aforementioned Eagerness Angelic run took but also surprisingly a lot less than the Inquisitor Angelic runs i did in the 0.9.9.9 beta and 0.9.9.8 versions that each took a dozen. I wouldn't say Inquisitor Angelic was actually easier in 0.9.9.7, but I managed to get some fortunate luck without too many attempts. Such fortunate luck includes; a vault on Phobos 2 with a Power mod i was able to retrieve and immediately put on my Shotgun (as I learned in my 0.9.9.7 Quartermaster Diamond run a couple years ago, just putting an early Power mod on a Shotgun is very useful for significantly increasing the chances of you one-shotting the small fry at farther distances and killing the bigger enemies before they reach you), finding a radsuit on Phobos 5 that I could then use to retrieve the mods in Chained Court without having to hit the levers, only having to burn a single medkit in Phobos Anomaly, getting a Rocket Launcher in early Deimos, getting an easy Lost Soul + Pinky + Caco cave in Deimos and then an even easier Pinky cave after that also had two fresh Red Armors, and no mazes in Deimos nor Hell. Some things were rather unlucky, notably I never found a single unique nor any exotics aside from the guaranteed Chainsaw, guaranteed BFG, and a Hatred Skull I couldn't do much with, I never found any Bulk mods and so couldn't build a Nanofiber Red Armor to ensured I always had a decent armor (but the game giving me several uncontested Red and Blue armors throughout the run meant I never had to run around in Green Armor or nothing after Phobos), I never found a second Agility mod to make Tactical Boots, and I was never doing too good on medkits. I in fact did run out of medkits mid Hell and felt the run was maybe not going to close it out, but then Hell 5 gave me a Nightmare Demon cave, which would normally be a terrible thing, however with berserk and Nightmare Demons not yet having their fluid immunity they would get in 0.9.9.8, I was able to kill them without taking an excessive amount of damage after luring them into a corner with lava puddles and the floor had several Small Medkits with no Formers nor Nobles around to take them. Hell 7 then had an uncontested Large Medkit at the start to seal the deal for me, and with my Phase Devices I was able to immediately get near the stairs to ensure victory with no fear of suddenly dying trying so (there was a Baron, Mancubus, and Archvile near the stairs that battered me a bit, but with the Plasteel Boots I was able to power through them to the stairs without being beaten around too much). I also had a Homing Phase that I would use in Halls Of Carnage to get the BFG there, which I'm not sure was worth it as I did get in a bad spot in early Hell in an open room with a large amount of Barons, but a Phase Device was able to get me out of that and the BFG was pretty useful to help me get through an Arachnotron cave on Hell 6 without taking a lot of damage.
Now here is the mortem:
When it came to the build I would use for this badge in 0.9.9.7, I of course go with the Scout instead of the Marine; without any inherent resistances, the Marine isn't taking any less damage throughout the game, and while the extra 10 max HP would be nice to get more health from your crucial medkits, it wouldn't make up for all the extra damage I'm avoiding with the Scout's 10% speed bonus (as well as said speed bonus giving more leeway with actually finding and getting to the stairs in time). I still go with the same starting seven traits though in the same exact order; Fin -> HR -> Rel -> HR -> Bru -> Bru -> Ber. The attack speed boost is obviously useful for a much needed combat boost, but I particularly open with it instead of HR to increase the chances that I get the small medkits in Phobos Base Entry from the formers (if you don't get both, you should just Q+Y out, you'll probably need every single medkit you can get your hands on in this challenge). After Fin is the obvious HR, and then maybe surprisingly I still go with Reloader despite this being 0.9.9.7 with the crappy unbuffed Reloader; going with the second level of Finesse could work and may be arguably better, but I felt "rounding out" the shot and reload time of the Shotgun was the way to go, as aside from giving a slightly better edge in total shot and reload time of the Shotgun, it also gave me more safety in situations where an enemy pops at a bad angle after I shoot (it'll also make a bigger difference with the Rocket Launcher later in the game that has a much longer reload time, and would give me greater leeway to get away with doing full reloads with the Combat/Tactical Shotgun when berserked to preserve my berserk actions). Then it's HR2; while I want Berserker ASAP, it's absolutely necessary to get HR2 before Anomaly, otherwise you're going to take too much damage or die there without a rocket launcher that you likely won't have or a lucky phase device. After that it's Berserker ASAP, which is going to be needed to survive the later floors and get past the Cyberdemon with so little armor + healing and not many levels. I deviate compared to the 0.9.9.8 run though with getting TaN instead of Ironman after Berserker; even without the physical resistances that Ironman gives in 0.9.9.8 onward, it would have been useful to squeeze more health from the scarce amount of medkits you get, but each level of Ironman makes it increasingly more difficult to trigger Berserker from getting hit (as 0.9.9.8 exclusively has Berserker's trigger based on nominal HP while all other DRL versions make it based off your actual max HP), which will result in me losing more relative health from big hits and make it a lot less reliable to intentionally trigger Berserker with face rockets (something I make use of a lot throughout the run). As such, TaN is the much better durability boosting trait here even without it giving energy resistances like it does in 0.10-onward, and it's especially needed given the difficulty of maintaining armor in a challenge where you can't repair armor normally. I then only get one more level after for Fin2, so no Brute 3, WK, or Juggler that I may have considered if I got more levels.
As for the general strategy, it's still pretty much the same; I enter Hell's Arena to clear out the first wave for some extra easy HP and then get out, stop by Chained Court for the Chainsaw and my one free full heal but don't release any of the Barons, and then only enter special levels after that point if they offer you a quick safe escape, except for maybe Deimos Lab for some safe EXP and to gamble with the crates having medkits, or a couple other special levels where you can safely trade a Homing Phase for some nice rewards. The rest of it is getting enough luck and a healthy dose of just "gitting gud", getting through levels fast while avoiding taking too much damage, and after you find the stairs, appropriately judging the risk/reward between exploring more for more EXP and finding some helpful stuff, or just getting out then and there. The nice thing about Inquisitor Angelic compared to Eagerness Angelic is that kill percent does not matter at all, so once you find the stairs you can just dip out of any tough level, and Berserker is all you really need to get past the Cyberdemon, while you don't even need to beat the Mastermind since you can just wait out the nuke timer there when a partial win still rewards the badge. That doesn't mean you stair dive though; as mentioned you need HR2 before Anomaly, the sooner you get Berserker the better as it'll greatly increase your chances of surviving Deimos floors full of VMR, any additional levels after that increases your chances of surviving tough Deimos and Hell floors, and I mean it when I say you'll need nearly every medkit and decent armor you can find, so not exploring floors enough may leave your resources too deficient to survive difficulty floors later.
Unlike the Eagerness Angelic 0.9.9.7 run that took me a few dozen tries, Inquisitor Angelic here took me... only three real attempts (not counting a few runs I Q+Y'd on Phobos Base Entry, or in one instance, accidentally run -> waiting too much and setting off the nuke on Phobos Base Entry), not only a lot less than the aforementioned Eagerness Angelic run took but also surprisingly a lot less than the Inquisitor Angelic runs i did in the 0.9.9.9 beta and 0.9.9.8 versions that each took a dozen. I wouldn't say Inquisitor Angelic was actually easier in 0.9.9.7, but I managed to get some fortunate luck without too many attempts. Such fortunate luck includes; a vault on Phobos 2 with a Power mod i was able to retrieve and immediately put on my Shotgun (as I learned in my 0.9.9.7 Quartermaster Diamond run a couple years ago, just putting an early Power mod on a Shotgun is very useful for significantly increasing the chances of you one-shotting the small fry at farther distances and killing the bigger enemies before they reach you), finding a radsuit on Phobos 5 that I could then use to retrieve the mods in Chained Court without having to hit the levers, only having to burn a single medkit in Phobos Anomaly, getting a Rocket Launcher in early Deimos, getting an easy Lost Soul + Pinky + Caco cave in Deimos and then an even easier Pinky cave after that also had two fresh Red Armors, and no mazes in Deimos nor Hell. Some things were rather unlucky, notably I never found a single unique nor any exotics aside from the guaranteed Chainsaw, guaranteed BFG, and a Hatred Skull I couldn't do much with, I never found any Bulk mods and so couldn't build a Nanofiber Red Armor to ensured I always had a decent armor (but the game giving me several uncontested Red and Blue armors throughout the run meant I never had to run around in Green Armor or nothing after Phobos), I never found a second Agility mod to make Tactical Boots, and I was never doing too good on medkits. I in fact did run out of medkits mid Hell and felt the run was maybe not going to close it out, but then Hell 5 gave me a Nightmare Demon cave, which would normally be a terrible thing, however with berserk and Nightmare Demons not yet having their fluid immunity they would get in 0.9.9.8, I was able to kill them without taking an excessive amount of damage after luring them into a corner with lava puddles and the floor had several Small Medkits with no Formers nor Nobles around to take them. Hell 7 then had an uncontested Large Medkit at the start to seal the deal for me, and with my Phase Devices I was able to immediately get near the stairs to ensure victory with no fear of suddenly dying trying so (there was a Baron, Mancubus, and Archvile near the stairs that battered me a bit, but with the Plasteel Boots I was able to power through them to the stairs without being beaten around too much). I also had a Homing Phase that I would use in Halls Of Carnage to get the BFG there, which I'm not sure was worth it as I did get in a bad spot in early Hell in an open room with a large amount of Barons, but a Phase Device was able to get me out of that and the BFG was pretty useful to help me get through an Arachnotron cave on Hell 6 without taking a lot of damage.
Now here is the mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
ONLYMEDKITS3, level 10 Cyberdemon General Scout,
defeated the Mastermind at the City of Dis.
He survived 38939 turns and scored 517795 points.
He played for 48 minutes and 11 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 684 out of 1098 hellspawn. (62%)
He was an Angel of Purity!
He was also an Angel of Red Alert!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 5
Levels completed : 0
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (silver cluster)
Minor Icarus Cross
Inquisitor Angelic Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###########################################################
#######................................####################
######...............####...............###################
#####.......####.....####.....####.......##################
####........####.....####.....####........#################
###.........####.....####.....####.........################
##..........####..............####..........###############
#............................................##############
#....####............................####....##############
#...&####............................####..0.##############
#....####.....................%......####....##############
#....####.....................X......####....##############
#............................................##############
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###.........####.....####.....####.........################
####........####.....####.....####........#################
#####.......####.....####.....####.......##################
######...............####...............###################
#######................................####################
###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 15/50 Experience 48396/10
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +4 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +6
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Finesse (Level 2)
Hellrunner (Level 2)
Tough as nails (Level 2)
Reloader (Level 1)
Brute (Level 2)
Berserker (Level 1)
Fin->HR->Rel->HR->Bru->Bru->Ber->TaN->TaN->Fin->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] red armor [2/4] (33%)
[b] [ Weapon ] chainsaw (4d6) (T)
[c] [ Boots ] plasteel boots [2/2] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] nothing
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] shotgun (9d3) [1/1] (P1)
[b] tactical shotgun (8d3) [5/5]
[c] rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1]
[d] BFG 9000 (10d6) [60/100]
[e] blue armor [2/2] (100%)
[f] blue armor [2/2] (100%)
[g] blue armor [2/2] (100%)
[h] red armor [4/4] (56%)
[i] shotgun shell (x50)
[j] shotgun shell (x50)
[k] shotgun shell (x50)
[l] shotgun shell (x46)
[m] shotgun shell (x50)
[n] rocket (x10)
[o] rocket (x10)
[p] rocket (x3)
[q] small med-pack
[r] large med-pack
[s] phase device
[t] phase device
[u] steel boots [1/1] (71%) (A)
-- 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 60% feet 95%
Fire - internal 60% torso 72% feet 85%
Plasma - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
79 former humans
69 former sergeants
21 former captains
80 imps
42 demons
288 lost souls
22 cacodemons
3 hell knights
11 barons of hell
11 arachnotrons
7 former commandos
16 pain elementals
1 revenant
8 mancubi
6 arch-viles
18 nightmare demons
1 Cyberdemon
1 Spider Mastermind
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
He saw, left a present and left.
He left level 3 as soon as possible.
On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
On level 7 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
On level 14 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
Level 15 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
Entering level 17 he was almost dead...
He left level 17 as soon as possible.
On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
He came, he saw, but he left.
On level 21 he stumbled into a nightmare demon cave!
On level 22 he arrived at Mt. Erebus.
He decided it was too dangerous.
Then at last he found Dis!
On level 24 he finally defeated the Mastermind.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You're going
berserk! You need to taste blood!
You are hit! You are hit! You are hit! You are hit! You dodge! You are hit!
You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You're going
berserk! You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind dies. Congratulations!
You defeated the Spider Mastermind! Press <Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
234 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
69 of those were killed.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
68 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
35 killed the bitch and survived.
27 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
10
Nightmare! / (0.9.9.7) [N!|AoI + AoRA|93%|YAVP] - Eagerness Angelic Badge achieved in 0.9.9.7
« on: November 22, 2025, 02:41 »
I've gotten the previously unwon Eagerness Angelic twice now, once in the first 0.9.9.9 beta, and then won it in the official version of 0.9.9.8. However, 0.9.9.9 made a big change to Nightmare where respawns no longer count towards the kill counter, which obviously makes this badge more winnable. That isn't bad, and is how it should have worked to begin with, but I've come to feel that winning the badge in 0.9.9.8 has become sullied after realizing just how buggy that version was. In particular, 0.9.9.8 has a dodging bug, where you essentially have a 95% dodge rate at all times even with no HR, significantly nerfing the threat of most non-VMR projectile enemies, especially neutering the rapid fire enemies. I will just do it again in 0.11 or whichever DRL version I find updated enough to tryhard 100%ing in, as most of the bugs that 0.9.9.8 introduced have been fixed since, but in the meantime, I thought to go back to 0.9.9.7 and prove that I could win Eagerness Angelic there too, without the aid of several things added to DRL after 0.9.9.7 that made this badge easier (such as the significantly buffed Reloader, buffed Ironman, Technical mods giving extra resistances to armor, enemy reveal on final three enemies, etc.). Granted, 0.9.9.7 has several benefits that may make it not necessarily harder than in DRL versions from 0.10 onward (such as unnerfed berserk, unnerfed Intuition 2, unnerfed Finesse, respawns dropping ammo, lower danger levels in Deimos and Hell, unbuffed Nightmare enemies, and so on), either way though I want to show that this badge wasn't quite as impossible as it was thought to be in the version it was never verifiably won in.
For Eagerness Angelic in 0.9.9.7, I use roughly the same Blademaster build as the one I used in the aforementioned 0.9.9.8 run, so I would suggest reading that thread I linked prior rather than repeat much of the same information here. One major difference though is I swap out the early Reloader level I took in my 0.9.9.8 run for a Finesse level; with 0.9.9.7's Reloader increasing a Shotgun's fire-and-reload rate only 5% more than Finesse does, it's better to just get Finesse here, that is going to help with your meleeing later on and will build towards Juggler/Whizkid. I additionally postponed HR2 until after Berserker; I was initially getting HR2 before building up Berserker, but I was finding I was reaching Phobos Anomaly without Berserker, which is needed to actually kill the enemies there instead of leaving behind a big EXP pile that will put you farther in an EXP and kill count hole that you may not be able to dig out of later, and having Berserker on the dangerous late Phobos floors will also help you survive them, while usually I could find the stairs in time reliably enough with only HR1. Then when it came to the traits after Blademaster, I do end up getting Intuition 2 here unlike in the 0.9.9.8 run, as with no dodging bug, I was simply dying too much from taking too much damage and then being unable to safely reach health or having said health get blown up as I approached it. And then I don't get any levels of Ironman here, as aside from not granting the physical resistances it did in 0.9.9.8, Berserker's damage trigger is also based on your actual max HP here rather than how 0.9.9.8 changed it to being based on nominal max HP, meaning any Ironman levels would make triggering Berserker from facerockets and the hard-hitting enemies less reliable, which could end up costing me.
My overall strategy wasn't much different from my 0.9.9.8 run either, though I found I had to be more aggressive in the Phobos floors, otherwise as aside from falling in a deeper kill count hole in a version where there are less enemies in Deimos/Hell and Pain Elementals stop appearing normally in the final few floors, I may not reach Blademaster before City Of Skulls/Abyssal Plains, which is critical to get yourself a huge kill pad to make up for you being unable to maintain 90% kills in the first half of the game. My fifth attempt made it all the way to Hell 5 (link goes to the Jupiter Hell discord), however I failed to reach Blademaster before City Of Skulls and so had to skip out on it (as well as failed to get Berserker before Anomaly and so had to completely skip trying to kill any of the enemies there), leaving me in a kill hole I probably wouldn't have been able to make up even if I didn't die (I needed about 280 more kills with none missed in that run to hit 90%, which probably wouldn't have been possible in only two more Hell floors unless I got a lucky Pain Elemental cave). Also in this run compared to the 0.9.9.8 run, I don't go in Deimos Lab (without the dodging bug, those Commandos are too dangerous unless you're desperate for health/armor), I don't go to The Wall in the winning run (but did go in a couple failed attempts, if you get a Deimos 3 Invuln and have a Rocket Launcher it's worth going in for a big easy EXP dump + all those rockets), and I skip out on Unholy Cathedral (I would go in, but my health wasn't good at the end of Hell 1 and so going in would have likely put at too low of a health to survive Hell 2 without getting lucky).
Altogether this took me 35 attempts, and was indeed significantly more difficult than doing it in 0.9.9.8, where I did it there in only six attempts. The main reason I would chalk this up to does fall on the absence of the dodging bug here; in most runs I simply failed from taking too much damage and being unable to reach health, all those Former bullets and Imp fireballs I was no longer constantly dodging do really add up, and you can't so easily rush towards a Commando or Arachnotron unscathed, which gets exasperated so much when you're unable to heal on demand. Only a few failed runs was from being unable to reach the stairs in time or falling in too deep of a kill hole to reach 90%. Also making it to Deimos doesn't near guarantee victory, as I had five runs that made it to Deimos and died before getting one that went all the way, all it takes is one bad floor with health deep behind enemy lines when you have the healing constraints of AoI and AoRA preventing you from taking a floor slowly.
Now here is the mortem:
For Eagerness Angelic in 0.9.9.7, I use roughly the same Blademaster build as the one I used in the aforementioned 0.9.9.8 run, so I would suggest reading that thread I linked prior rather than repeat much of the same information here. One major difference though is I swap out the early Reloader level I took in my 0.9.9.8 run for a Finesse level; with 0.9.9.7's Reloader increasing a Shotgun's fire-and-reload rate only 5% more than Finesse does, it's better to just get Finesse here, that is going to help with your meleeing later on and will build towards Juggler/Whizkid. I additionally postponed HR2 until after Berserker; I was initially getting HR2 before building up Berserker, but I was finding I was reaching Phobos Anomaly without Berserker, which is needed to actually kill the enemies there instead of leaving behind a big EXP pile that will put you farther in an EXP and kill count hole that you may not be able to dig out of later, and having Berserker on the dangerous late Phobos floors will also help you survive them, while usually I could find the stairs in time reliably enough with only HR1. Then when it came to the traits after Blademaster, I do end up getting Intuition 2 here unlike in the 0.9.9.8 run, as with no dodging bug, I was simply dying too much from taking too much damage and then being unable to safely reach health or having said health get blown up as I approached it. And then I don't get any levels of Ironman here, as aside from not granting the physical resistances it did in 0.9.9.8, Berserker's damage trigger is also based on your actual max HP here rather than how 0.9.9.8 changed it to being based on nominal max HP, meaning any Ironman levels would make triggering Berserker from facerockets and the hard-hitting enemies less reliable, which could end up costing me.
My overall strategy wasn't much different from my 0.9.9.8 run either, though I found I had to be more aggressive in the Phobos floors, otherwise as aside from falling in a deeper kill count hole in a version where there are less enemies in Deimos/Hell and Pain Elementals stop appearing normally in the final few floors, I may not reach Blademaster before City Of Skulls/Abyssal Plains, which is critical to get yourself a huge kill pad to make up for you being unable to maintain 90% kills in the first half of the game. My fifth attempt made it all the way to Hell 5 (link goes to the Jupiter Hell discord), however I failed to reach Blademaster before City Of Skulls and so had to skip out on it (as well as failed to get Berserker before Anomaly and so had to completely skip trying to kill any of the enemies there), leaving me in a kill hole I probably wouldn't have been able to make up even if I didn't die (I needed about 280 more kills with none missed in that run to hit 90%, which probably wouldn't have been possible in only two more Hell floors unless I got a lucky Pain Elemental cave). Also in this run compared to the 0.9.9.8 run, I don't go in Deimos Lab (without the dodging bug, those Commandos are too dangerous unless you're desperate for health/armor), I don't go to The Wall in the winning run (but did go in a couple failed attempts, if you get a Deimos 3 Invuln and have a Rocket Launcher it's worth going in for a big easy EXP dump + all those rockets), and I skip out on Unholy Cathedral (I would go in, but my health wasn't good at the end of Hell 1 and so going in would have likely put at too low of a health to survive Hell 2 without getting lucky).
Altogether this took me 35 attempts, and was indeed significantly more difficult than doing it in 0.9.9.8, where I did it there in only six attempts. The main reason I would chalk this up to does fall on the absence of the dodging bug here; in most runs I simply failed from taking too much damage and being unable to reach health, all those Former bullets and Imp fireballs I was no longer constantly dodging do really add up, and you can't so easily rush towards a Commando or Arachnotron unscathed, which gets exasperated so much when you're unable to heal on demand. Only a few failed runs was from being unable to reach the stairs in time or falling in too deep of a kill hole to reach 90%. Also making it to Deimos doesn't near guarantee victory, as I had five runs that made it to Deimos and died before getting one that went all the way, all it takes is one bad floor with health deep behind enemy lines when you have the healing constraints of AoI and AoRA preventing you from taking a floor slowly.
Now here is the mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
NOMEDKITS35, level 15 Cyberdemon General Scout,
defeated the Mastermind at the City of Dis.
He survived 59625 turns and scored 801725 points.
He played for 1 hour, 40 minutes and 41 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 1447 out of 1553 hellspawn. (93%)
He held his right to remain violent.
He was an Angel of Impatience!
He was also an Angel of Red Alert!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 3
Levels completed : 1
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (gold cluster)
Eagerness Angelic Badge
Quartermaster Platinum Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###########################################################
########................................###################
#######...............####...............##################
######.......####.....####.....####.......#################
#####........####.....####.....####........################
####.........####.....####.....####.........###############
###..........####..............####..........##############
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##...&####............................####..0.#############
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###..........####..............####..........##############
####.........####.....####.....####.........###############
#####........####.....####.....####........################
######.......####.....####.....####.......#################
#######...............####....X%.........##################
########................................###################
###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 89/50 Experience 108944/15
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +6 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +9
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Finesse (Level 3)
Hellrunner (Level 3)
Brute (Level 3)
Juggler (Level 1)
Berserker (Level 1)
Intuition (Level 2)
Whizkid (Level 1)
Blademaster (Level 1)
HR->Fin->Int->Bru->Bru->Ber->HR->Bru->MBm->Int->Jug->Fin->HR->WK->Fin->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] red armor [6/6] (98%) (P)
[b] [ Weapon ] chainsaw (5d6) (BT)
[c] [ Boots ] tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] shell box (x79)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] shotgun (8d3) [1/1] (T1)
[b] combat shotgun (7d3) [5/5]
[c] rocket launcher (6d6) [0/1] (B2)
[d] blue armor [2/2] (63%)
[e] blue armor [2/2] (58%)
[f] blue armor [2/2] (52%)
[g] blue armor [4/4] (100%) (P)
[h] red armor [4/4] (92%)
[i] red armor [6/6] (100%) (P)
[j] energy shield [0/0] (90%)
[k] shotgun shell (x50)
[l] shotgun shell (x50)
[m] shotgun shell (x50)
[n] shotgun shell (x35)
[o] shotgun shell (x50)
[p] rocket (x10)
[q] rocket (x4)
[r] rocket (x10)
[s] power cell (x28)
[t] plasteel boots [2/2] (100%)
[u] power battery (x120)
-- 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 60% feet 60%
Fire - internal 60% torso 85% feet 60%
Plasma - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
98 former humans
126 former sergeants
47 former captains
160 imps
84 demons
649 lost souls
34 cacodemons
19 hell knights
48 barons of hell
22 arachnotrons
21 former commandos
73 pain elementals
9 revenants
16 mancubi
18 arch-viles
5 nightmare imps
4 nightmare cacodemons
9 nightmare demons
2 bruiser brothers
1 agony elemental
1 Cyberdemon
1 Spider Mastermind
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
He saw, left a present and left.
On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
On level 12 he found the City of Skulls.
He wiped out the City of Skulls.
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 18 he assembled a tactical boots!
Then at last he found Dis!
On level 24 he finally defeated the Mastermind.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
berserk! You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You're going
berserk! You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind dies. Congratulations!
You defeated the Spider Mastermind! Press <Enter>...
Next!
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
230 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
69 of those were killed.
88 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
67 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
34 killed the bitch and survived.
27 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
11
Requests For Features / Compilation of fixes, changes, and new ideas for version 0.11
« on: August 22, 2025, 12:14 »
With the official release of DRL version 0.10 (we ended up skipping 0.9.9.9 completely), many of the suggestions in the compilation thread for 0.9.9.9 have been implemented, so now I'm starting up a new thread for 0.11 to organize the suggestions and feature requests that weren't implemented nor shot down, as well as to list any new suggestions/requests that come through.
I'll be maintaining this thread again, and any new suggestions from anyone else is welcomed, no matter how mundane or outlandish the suggestion may be. Before suggesting anything though, keep in mind that future updates to DRL will be more conservative compared to JHC and is fairly complete design-wise as it is, so if you have any ideas for drastically new features or mechanics, they may be more suitable to request for JHC. Additionally consider the feasibility of being able to implement the suggestion, and try backing your suggestions with well-reasoned points, while being open to any feedback your suggestion gets. I'll also note that I do not have any authority with the game nor am I a member of the ChaosForge dev team, and Kornel has the final say on any idea, so my own ideas are not above anyone else's, I'm just a passionate player organizing this and offering feedback.
Changes
This thread will be organized into separate posts for changes (which itself will be organized into bugs/exploits/fixes, traits, equipment/items, enemies, special levels, and miscellaneous), everything for badges/medals, and new content ideas. A suggestion marked with an "X" in its box and colored light blue means it has been implemented; a suggestion marked with "~" and colored light green means it has been partially implemented; a suggestion marked with "-" and colored pink has been soft rejected but may by partially implemented in another way; a suggestion marked with "?" and colored light yellow means an attempt was made to implement it but needs more testing to confirm it is working properly, or otherwise marks an "issue" whose current status is currently not fully understood; and a suggestion that is struck through and colored red has been officially rejected by Kornel. Each suggestion will additionally have links to the posts explaining the justification for the change and other discussion regarding it.
Bugs/Exploits/Fixes
[?] Bug: If you complete a special level on Nightmare/Angel of Darkness and then exit with any respawns alive, the exit text and mortem history text gives you the level's completion messages, and you'll earn any badges/medals that require completing the level, but the game doesn't actually count the level as completed for Conqueror purposes. 1 (The change to special levels only requiring each unique enemy being killed once to count as cleared should fix this, but needs testing.)
[ ] Bug: Formers/Nobles will sometimes not use items at low health for unclear reasons. 1
[ ] Bug: Lost Souls, Elementals, and Cyberdemons will not aggro when you hit them out of their vision, and Souls will not retaliate when hit by other enemies. 1
[X] Bug: If dualgunning with a Nanomachic Pistol in the prepared slot, it may be unable to fire. 1
[ ] Bug: Fix the cause of this unusual crash that may be caused by aim shooting while dualgunning, but may have been fixed when the Bullet Dance bug in the betas was fixed. 1
[ ] Bug: If too many sounds play in quick succession, the music can get turned off until you enter a new floor or save and reload. 1
[?] Bug: If a flood event occurs on an island level, it's possible to start in the middle of lava. 1 (This may have been fixed in the old 0.9.9.8 beta, neither I nor Icy have ever experienced this and no one has reported it happening yet since development renewed, and the hard restriction on no longer spawning in any fluid should have fixed if it's still in the game.)
[?] Exploit: The Spider Mastermind can get stuck when shot across the bottom or top middle pillars, making it only able to go up and down. The AI might need to be adjusted. 1 (This may have been fixed in the old 0.9.9.8 beta, and the AI was adjusted farther in the 0.9.9.9 betas, needs more thorough testing to confirm.)
[ ] Fix: The item reveal mechanic when all enemies are dead does not work in Nightmare, it should activate when all enemies are dead at the same time, or after each individual enemy has been killed once. 1
[X] Fix: Damage calculation on direct hits with explosive attacks seem to happen after knockback is applied, resulting in direct explosive hits doing less damage than they should, or possibly no damage at all. 1 2 (Before direct explosive hits intentionally had their damage calculated post-knockback, but it has been flipped around now to the expected behavior.)
[ ] Fix: The new screen shaking effect should have its intensity based on the strength of the inciting projectile/explosion, rather than shaking at the same intensity regardless. 1
[ ] Fix: The warning messages for Enraged Timer should be colored. Additionally when Enraged Mode is triggered, have the screen shake and the act sound of all remaining enemies in the level play to replicate the "angry roars" the game says you hear. 1
[ ] Fix: The character info screen doesn't account for equipped ammo boxes with its displayed reloading speed, when it should.
[ ] Fix: Ironman's trait description is unclear with it stating you get +20% max health, which isn't fully true as Marines still only get +10 HP rather than 12 HP, so it should be reworded to state +10 HP. 1
[ ] Fix: The Marine's bio still states they get +20% fire/plasma/acid resistances, when they have been nerfed to +10%.
[ ] Fix: In Scavenger's trait description, update it to clarify that melee weapons, armors, and boots can be scavenged. 1
[ ] Fix: Angel of Humanity's and Archangel of Humanity's descriptions should clarify that Marines start with 12 max HP rather than 20. 1
[ ] Fix: Charch's Null Pointer shows that its damage is 0d0, when it's actually 10d1. 1
[ ] Fix: The infinitely spawning Nightmare Demons and Nightmare Cacodemons when equipping the Dragonslayer and Berserker Set severely complicate clearing special levels with said equipment. Either they shouldn't count towards a special level's completion, their spawning should be disabled in special levels, or they should have a spawning limit of some sort. 1
[ ] Fix: Archangel of 666 shows both in-game and in the high scores that it's Ao100. 1 2
[ ] Fix: Repeated sounds (such as from several enemies being hit at once) can still get too loud, the sounds should be better staggered out instead of stacking all at once on each other, or perhaps add a limit of some sort that prevents the same sounds from being stacked too loudly on each other. 1 2
[?] Fix: Ensure bridges that go over rivers are not blocked off by walls or rooms without doors. 1 2 (An attempt at smarter bridge placement was made, but needs testing to see how well it works.)
Traits
[ ] Make masteries less restrictive in general. 1
[ ] Nerf Survivalist (needs discussion), as it has become too tanky after the Tough As Nails buff. Either Survivalist should lose the doubled healing effect on Medkits and health globes, or TaN's new resists could be toned down in some way (such as making the first two levels give +5% resistances and +10% on the third level for +20% max). 1
[ ] Nerf Entrenchment. Regardless of if the aforementioned TaN nerf happens, Entrenchment should replicate how it works in JHC with needing to "build up" its resistances rather than instantly starting at +50% (it should be +20% resistances for the warming up stage, +30% resistances for the second stage, and then +50% resistances for each chainfire volley after until it ends). 1
[ ] Buff Bullet Dance by reducing its firing time penalty to +20%. Also perhaps consider the additional perk of reloading faster when dual gunning. 1
[ ] Change Badass' permanent knockback reduction to increasing powerup duration, as it works in JHC, to make it more unambiguously useful.
Equipment and other Items
[ ] Add sounds for all actions for exotics/uniques/artifacts. 1 2
[ ] Allow Technicians to add a single mod or basic assembly to the following unique armors: Medical Powerarmor, Necroarmor, and Shielded Armor. 1 2 3
[ ] Buff the Chaingun's accuracy to +3. 1
[ ] Increase the Blaster's generation weight to 4. 1
[ ] Decrease Charch's Null Pointer ammo consumption to 5 cells per shot, as it currently consumes too much ammo to be a remotely practical weapon.
[ ] Increase the Medical Powerarmor's generation rate to 3 (matching the similarly powerful Necroarmor in rarity). [1
[ ] Let Mega Buster use alt fire to switch modes, but you have to collect all the damage types (making it work more similar to Mega Man, as well as giving it some chance to be a practical weapon). 1 2
[ ] Increase the Mjollnir's generation rate to 2 or 3, as it's far from strong enough to justify being one of the rarest uniques in the game, especially as it's unable to spawn in vaults nor in any special level. 2 3
[ ] Allow Subtle Knife kills to count as "knife kills". Additionally modify it to spawn sooner and be less rare (such as a depth of 7 and weight of 2), as it too is far too weak to justify being one of the rarest uniques and being unable to be found in vaults/special levels. 1
[ ] Buff the Assault Rifle, as it's currently worthless compared to just applying the requisite Agility Mods on their own. See the linked post for details on the suggested changes as they are extensive. 1
[ ] Farther buff Ballistic Armor by having it retain any plasma and acid resistances the base armor has. 1
[ ] Change the resistance values that Technical Mods add to boots to be +20% acid and fire resistances while removing the other useless resistance buffs, rather than using the same values they apply to armors. The plasma resistance boost can be kept at +10% or also be changed to +20%. 1
[ ] Buff Agility Mods to give +2 accuracy when applied to melee weapons instead of only +1. 1
[ ] Allow Firestorm and Sniper mods to be applied to melee weapons (needs discussion on exact effects). Current ideas are a Firestorm mod will turn their damage type to fire so they can gib much easier, in addition to possibly increasing the lower of damage die or sides by +1 too, and a Sniper mod will give them the autohit property. 1
[ ] Allow Firestorm mods to be added to explosive weapons with an explosion radius of 1 and 2. If done, consider making the mod give them only a +1 radius boost rather than the usual +2 boost. 1
[ ] Allow Firestorm mods to be added to Shotguns, with the effect of increasing their spread size by +1 with no sacrifice in dropoff damage. 1
[ ] Give Sniper mods an effect for Shotguns, instead of doing nothing. One idea is each Sniper mod applied to a Shotgun will reduce its dropoff rate, which can be either by a flat 1% reduction with each applied Sniper mod (so a basic Shotgun will have its dropoff damage reduced from 7% to 6%/5%/4% per tile from each applied Sniper mod), or can be a one-fourth reduction so normal and wide shotgun blasts can get more mileage from them (this would result in a wide blast having its dropoff rate reduced from 10% to 8%/6%/4% with each Sniper mod, while a normal blast's dropoff would be reduced from 7% to 5%/4%/3%, and a focused/plasma blast's dropoff would be reduced from 5% to 4%/3%/2%). 1
[ ] When a third Sniper Mod is applied to a ranged non-shotgun weapon, have it give the autohit property instead of doing nothing. 1
[ ] Allow the Lava Element to appear as a randomly spawned item. Make its spawning weight 2 or 3, and perhaps give it a spawning depth of 30+ so it can only randomly appear in A100/666. 1
Enemies
[ ] Add sounds for Nightmare enemies, Elite Formers, Lava Elemental, Agony Elemental, Arena Master, and Apostle. 1 2
[ ] Add sounds for enemies spawning, enemies reviving, and Archviles charging their attack. 1 2
[ ] Add corpses for the Elite Formers and Lava Elemental. 1
[ ] Nerf the durability of Nightmare Cacodemons as they're too tedious to kill for the type of enemy they are. This can entail either removing their fire and acid resistances, reducing their innate armor to 1, or giving them a -25% bullet and shrapnel resistance to make their vulnerability to physical weapons more significant. 1
[ ] Allow the Angel Of Death to spawn in very deep floors of A100/666. Its spawning depth can be either 80+ or 90+. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
[ ] Modify the Spider Mastermind's flinching threshold to be difficulty-dependent, so on harder difficulties it'll be more difficult for players to stunlock her to death. Suggested damage values would be keeping the flinching threshold at 20 damage for HNTR, but change it to 15 for ITYTD, 30 for HMP, 40 for UV, and 50 for N!. 1
[ ] Also possibly allow the Mastermind to appear in very deep levels of A100/666?
[ ] Buff the Apostle to always teleport after being hit, or at least make its teleportation much more frequent so that it doesn't repeatedly weakly melee the player after they get in once. Also when it dies in A100/666, kill all enemies and end the game like JC. 1 2 3 4
[~] Change hunting AI to not ignore items and armors (if implemented, Cyberdemons may need their ability to use items removed or medpacks may need a healing limit of 110 HP to keep them from being potentially too obnoxious). 1 2 3 4 5 6 (Hunting AI still ignore items, but Cyberdemons have altered AI where they'll not hunt in A100, so they can pick up items and armors there)
Special levels
[~] Most special levels should have their clear condition require killing every distinct enemy once rather than having enemy dead at the same time, so that they are much less tedious ordeals to clear on Nightmare and in Angel Of Darkness. Only The Wall/Containment Area, The Vaults/House of Pain, and The Mortuary/Limbo should be exempted from this change, since Archviles are a key component of those special levels' challenge. 1 (All special levels now require killing each distinct enemy once to be counted as clear, but exceptions have not been made yet for the aforementioned levels.)
[ ] Many special levels should have their enemy loadouts altered on the harder difficulties to utilize the newly added batch of enemies, and some should see rebalancing on even the lower difficulties. See linked post for comprehensive details on exact suggestions. 1
[~] When special levels are destroyed by a nuke, disable any traps/subsequent enemy spawns they may have from triggering and have the game register them as cleared (this includes Containment Area, City of Skulls, Abyssal Plains, House of Pain, The Lava Pits, and Mt. Erebus) 1 (Nuking Containment Area and Abyssal Plains now counts as clearing them and disables their respective traps, but the other special levels still have their enemy spawns after nuking remain).
[ ] Allow Hell's Armory and Deimos Lab to appear on ITYTD (but remove one of the Shamblers in the latter level so it's not a death trap for newbies). 1
[?] Have The Wall/Containment Area open up after all enemies are dead to prevent softlocks if you use a Phase Device. 1 2 (Kantarza made an attempt at this, needs testing to see if it works)
[ ] Replace the redundant Missile Launcher in City Of Skulls/Abyssal Plains and make these levels potentially more appropriately rewarding. What to replace it with needs discussion, but the current suggested idea is a random guaranteed exotic armor, since none of the current Deimos special levels give a good armor reward. Alternatively, it can instead be a random guaranteed exotic non-BFG ranged weapon, though this idea is less preferred as Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab already has a very high chance of rewarding exotic/unique ranged weapons. 1 2
[ ] In The Vaults, have the two teleporters in the center vault have their teleport destinations be on opposite ends of the map, so when playing on Nightmare, a player cannot easily camp the teleport locations to safely kill each of the center vault's Nightmare enemies or at least a good chunk of them before the Enraged Timer starts running low. 1
[~] If you don't have the Arena Master's Staff, you can softlock in House Of Pain on Nightmare and in Angel Of Darkness from dead enemies reviving while you're locked in another room, so something should be done to prevent this softlock. 1 (Enemy respawning has been disabled on the level altogether for the timebeing, may be temporary if another solution is figured out to prevent softlocks while enabling respawning.)
[ ] In House Of Pain, make using the Arena Master's Staff required to access the Large Health Globes on the level. 1
[ ] Make it more immediately apparent to newcomers that you can't shoot in Unholy Cathedral, whether through having a lone Lost Soul at the start that will immediately let players safely realize it without meaningfully changing the way the level plays, or having a message at the start that outright tells them. 1
[ ] Add ammo pickups to The Mortuary and Limbo, to compensate for respawns no longer dropping ammo. Current idea is an ammo box in each corner, and double them on Nightmare. 1
[ ] In The Lava Pits and Mt. Erebus on Nightmare difficulty, remove the last Radsuit, so that there is no Radsuits on the level at all. 1
[ ] Disallow nukes from being activated in Hell Fortress altogether. Additionally have any active powerups get turned off when entering Hell Fortress, so you cannot take an Invulnerability or Berserk stack into Hell Fortress to trivialize it. 1
[ ] Improve the Apostle fight in Hell Fortress. Suggestions include giving it unique entrance text, unique victory text, and have the fight spawn a ton of corpses of strong enemies when entering the level, so that the Apostle's resurrecting capabilities get utilized. 1
Miscellaneous
[ ] Reduce the EXP multiplier on Nightmare to x1.1, to compensate for the newly added enemies that give greater EXP yields and addition of a new special level pair. 1
[ ] Expand the amount of possible Dual Angel combinations, every combination that isn't outright incompatible should be allowed. 1
[ ] Infighting could use some more exceptions. Namely, add a flag that disables infighting in boss levels and certain special levels such as Mortuary/Limbo, disable infighting when Enraged Mode is triggered or disallow hunting enemies from infighting, and if possible, prevent enemies in a spawned monster group from infighting each other). 1
[ ] Have dying to John Carmack count as a normal death instead of as a partial win. 1
[ ] Add method for guaranteed Berserker Armor and Dragonslayer in Angel of 100 / Archangel of 666, so that full wins in A100/666 aren't terribly luck-based. 1 2 3 4
[ ] Give EXP for pulling levers (but consider disabling this bonus if the player has Intuition) 1
[ ] Make single enemy type levels be able to have Nightmare enemies at sufficiently high level rolls, just like how caves can. Also if the Angel Of Death and Spider Mastermind were to be added to A100's possible enemy spawns, perhaps make a special single enemy level also feature them (with the latter being a cave level).
[ ] Add unique level feel messages for Nightmare enemy-only levels. 1 2
[ ] Adjust armor and ammo crates to have their drop tables improve at deeper depths, or add "enhanced" versions of these crates with improved drop tables that spawn at deeper depths. 1 2
I'll be maintaining this thread again, and any new suggestions from anyone else is welcomed, no matter how mundane or outlandish the suggestion may be. Before suggesting anything though, keep in mind that future updates to DRL will be more conservative compared to JHC and is fairly complete design-wise as it is, so if you have any ideas for drastically new features or mechanics, they may be more suitable to request for JHC. Additionally consider the feasibility of being able to implement the suggestion, and try backing your suggestions with well-reasoned points, while being open to any feedback your suggestion gets. I'll also note that I do not have any authority with the game nor am I a member of the ChaosForge dev team, and Kornel has the final say on any idea, so my own ideas are not above anyone else's, I'm just a passionate player organizing this and offering feedback.
Changes
This thread will be organized into separate posts for changes (which itself will be organized into bugs/exploits/fixes, traits, equipment/items, enemies, special levels, and miscellaneous), everything for badges/medals, and new content ideas. A suggestion marked with an "X" in its box and colored light blue means it has been implemented; a suggestion marked with "~" and colored light green means it has been partially implemented; a suggestion marked with "-" and colored pink has been soft rejected but may by partially implemented in another way; a suggestion marked with "?" and colored light yellow means an attempt was made to implement it but needs more testing to confirm it is working properly, or otherwise marks an "issue" whose current status is currently not fully understood; and a suggestion that is struck through and colored red has been officially rejected by Kornel. Each suggestion will additionally have links to the posts explaining the justification for the change and other discussion regarding it.
Bugs/Exploits/Fixes
[?] Bug: If you complete a special level on Nightmare/Angel of Darkness and then exit with any respawns alive, the exit text and mortem history text gives you the level's completion messages, and you'll earn any badges/medals that require completing the level, but the game doesn't actually count the level as completed for Conqueror purposes. 1 (The change to special levels only requiring each unique enemy being killed once to count as cleared should fix this, but needs testing.)
[ ] Bug: Formers/Nobles will sometimes not use items at low health for unclear reasons. 1
[ ] Bug: Lost Souls, Elementals, and Cyberdemons will not aggro when you hit them out of their vision, and Souls will not retaliate when hit by other enemies. 1
[X] Bug: If dualgunning with a Nanomachic Pistol in the prepared slot, it may be unable to fire. 1
[ ] Bug: Fix the cause of this unusual crash that may be caused by aim shooting while dualgunning, but may have been fixed when the Bullet Dance bug in the betas was fixed. 1
[ ] Bug: If too many sounds play in quick succession, the music can get turned off until you enter a new floor or save and reload. 1
[?] Bug: If a flood event occurs on an island level, it's possible to start in the middle of lava. 1 (This may have been fixed in the old 0.9.9.8 beta, neither I nor Icy have ever experienced this and no one has reported it happening yet since development renewed, and the hard restriction on no longer spawning in any fluid should have fixed if it's still in the game.)
[?] Exploit: The Spider Mastermind can get stuck when shot across the bottom or top middle pillars, making it only able to go up and down. The AI might need to be adjusted. 1 (This may have been fixed in the old 0.9.9.8 beta, and the AI was adjusted farther in the 0.9.9.9 betas, needs more thorough testing to confirm.)
[ ] Fix: The item reveal mechanic when all enemies are dead does not work in Nightmare, it should activate when all enemies are dead at the same time, or after each individual enemy has been killed once. 1
[X] Fix: Damage calculation on direct hits with explosive attacks seem to happen after knockback is applied, resulting in direct explosive hits doing less damage than they should, or possibly no damage at all. 1 2 (Before direct explosive hits intentionally had their damage calculated post-knockback, but it has been flipped around now to the expected behavior.)
[ ] Fix: The new screen shaking effect should have its intensity based on the strength of the inciting projectile/explosion, rather than shaking at the same intensity regardless. 1
[ ] Fix: The warning messages for Enraged Timer should be colored. Additionally when Enraged Mode is triggered, have the screen shake and the act sound of all remaining enemies in the level play to replicate the "angry roars" the game says you hear. 1
[ ] Fix: The character info screen doesn't account for equipped ammo boxes with its displayed reloading speed, when it should.
[ ] Fix: Ironman's trait description is unclear with it stating you get +20% max health, which isn't fully true as Marines still only get +10 HP rather than 12 HP, so it should be reworded to state +10 HP. 1
[ ] Fix: The Marine's bio still states they get +20% fire/plasma/acid resistances, when they have been nerfed to +10%.
[ ] Fix: In Scavenger's trait description, update it to clarify that melee weapons, armors, and boots can be scavenged. 1
[ ] Fix: Angel of Humanity's and Archangel of Humanity's descriptions should clarify that Marines start with 12 max HP rather than 20. 1
[ ] Fix: Charch's Null Pointer shows that its damage is 0d0, when it's actually 10d1. 1
[ ] Fix: The infinitely spawning Nightmare Demons and Nightmare Cacodemons when equipping the Dragonslayer and Berserker Set severely complicate clearing special levels with said equipment. Either they shouldn't count towards a special level's completion, their spawning should be disabled in special levels, or they should have a spawning limit of some sort. 1
[ ] Fix: Archangel of 666 shows both in-game and in the high scores that it's Ao100. 1 2
[ ] Fix: Repeated sounds (such as from several enemies being hit at once) can still get too loud, the sounds should be better staggered out instead of stacking all at once on each other, or perhaps add a limit of some sort that prevents the same sounds from being stacked too loudly on each other. 1 2
[?] Fix: Ensure bridges that go over rivers are not blocked off by walls or rooms without doors. 1 2 (An attempt at smarter bridge placement was made, but needs testing to see how well it works.)
Traits
[ ] Make masteries less restrictive in general. 1
[ ] Nerf Survivalist (needs discussion), as it has become too tanky after the Tough As Nails buff. Either Survivalist should lose the doubled healing effect on Medkits and health globes, or TaN's new resists could be toned down in some way (such as making the first two levels give +5% resistances and +10% on the third level for +20% max). 1
[ ] Nerf Entrenchment. Regardless of if the aforementioned TaN nerf happens, Entrenchment should replicate how it works in JHC with needing to "build up" its resistances rather than instantly starting at +50% (it should be +20% resistances for the warming up stage, +30% resistances for the second stage, and then +50% resistances for each chainfire volley after until it ends). 1
[ ] Buff Bullet Dance by reducing its firing time penalty to +20%. Also perhaps consider the additional perk of reloading faster when dual gunning. 1
[ ] Change Badass' permanent knockback reduction to increasing powerup duration, as it works in JHC, to make it more unambiguously useful.
Equipment and other Items
[ ] Add sounds for all actions for exotics/uniques/artifacts. 1 2
[ ] Allow Technicians to add a single mod or basic assembly to the following unique armors: Medical Powerarmor, Necroarmor, and Shielded Armor. 1 2 3
[ ] Buff the Chaingun's accuracy to +3. 1
[ ] Increase the Blaster's generation weight to 4. 1
[ ] Decrease Charch's Null Pointer ammo consumption to 5 cells per shot, as it currently consumes too much ammo to be a remotely practical weapon.
[ ] Increase the Medical Powerarmor's generation rate to 3 (matching the similarly powerful Necroarmor in rarity). [1
[ ] Let Mega Buster use alt fire to switch modes, but you have to collect all the damage types (making it work more similar to Mega Man, as well as giving it some chance to be a practical weapon). 1 2
[ ] Increase the Mjollnir's generation rate to 2 or 3, as it's far from strong enough to justify being one of the rarest uniques in the game, especially as it's unable to spawn in vaults nor in any special level. 2 3
[ ] Allow Subtle Knife kills to count as "knife kills". Additionally modify it to spawn sooner and be less rare (such as a depth of 7 and weight of 2), as it too is far too weak to justify being one of the rarest uniques and being unable to be found in vaults/special levels. 1
[ ] Buff the Assault Rifle, as it's currently worthless compared to just applying the requisite Agility Mods on their own. See the linked post for details on the suggested changes as they are extensive. 1
[ ] Farther buff Ballistic Armor by having it retain any plasma and acid resistances the base armor has. 1
[ ] Change the resistance values that Technical Mods add to boots to be +20% acid and fire resistances while removing the other useless resistance buffs, rather than using the same values they apply to armors. The plasma resistance boost can be kept at +10% or also be changed to +20%. 1
[ ] Buff Agility Mods to give +2 accuracy when applied to melee weapons instead of only +1. 1
[ ] Allow Firestorm and Sniper mods to be applied to melee weapons (needs discussion on exact effects). Current ideas are a Firestorm mod will turn their damage type to fire so they can gib much easier, in addition to possibly increasing the lower of damage die or sides by +1 too, and a Sniper mod will give them the autohit property. 1
[ ] Allow Firestorm mods to be added to explosive weapons with an explosion radius of 1 and 2. If done, consider making the mod give them only a +1 radius boost rather than the usual +2 boost. 1
[ ] Allow Firestorm mods to be added to Shotguns, with the effect of increasing their spread size by +1 with no sacrifice in dropoff damage. 1
[ ] Give Sniper mods an effect for Shotguns, instead of doing nothing. One idea is each Sniper mod applied to a Shotgun will reduce its dropoff rate, which can be either by a flat 1% reduction with each applied Sniper mod (so a basic Shotgun will have its dropoff damage reduced from 7% to 6%/5%/4% per tile from each applied Sniper mod), or can be a one-fourth reduction so normal and wide shotgun blasts can get more mileage from them (this would result in a wide blast having its dropoff rate reduced from 10% to 8%/6%/4% with each Sniper mod, while a normal blast's dropoff would be reduced from 7% to 5%/4%/3%, and a focused/plasma blast's dropoff would be reduced from 5% to 4%/3%/2%). 1
[ ] When a third Sniper Mod is applied to a ranged non-shotgun weapon, have it give the autohit property instead of doing nothing. 1
[ ] Allow the Lava Element to appear as a randomly spawned item. Make its spawning weight 2 or 3, and perhaps give it a spawning depth of 30+ so it can only randomly appear in A100/666. 1
Enemies
[ ] Add sounds for Nightmare enemies, Elite Formers, Lava Elemental, Agony Elemental, Arena Master, and Apostle. 1 2
[ ] Add sounds for enemies spawning, enemies reviving, and Archviles charging their attack. 1 2
[ ] Add corpses for the Elite Formers and Lava Elemental. 1
[ ] Nerf the durability of Nightmare Cacodemons as they're too tedious to kill for the type of enemy they are. This can entail either removing their fire and acid resistances, reducing their innate armor to 1, or giving them a -25% bullet and shrapnel resistance to make their vulnerability to physical weapons more significant. 1
[ ] Allow the Angel Of Death to spawn in very deep floors of A100/666. Its spawning depth can be either 80+ or 90+. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
[ ] Modify the Spider Mastermind's flinching threshold to be difficulty-dependent, so on harder difficulties it'll be more difficult for players to stunlock her to death. Suggested damage values would be keeping the flinching threshold at 20 damage for HNTR, but change it to 15 for ITYTD, 30 for HMP, 40 for UV, and 50 for N!. 1
[ ] Also possibly allow the Mastermind to appear in very deep levels of A100/666?
[ ] Buff the Apostle to always teleport after being hit, or at least make its teleportation much more frequent so that it doesn't repeatedly weakly melee the player after they get in once. Also when it dies in A100/666, kill all enemies and end the game like JC. 1 2 3 4
[~] Change hunting AI to not ignore items and armors (if implemented, Cyberdemons may need their ability to use items removed or medpacks may need a healing limit of 110 HP to keep them from being potentially too obnoxious). 1 2 3 4 5 6 (Hunting AI still ignore items, but Cyberdemons have altered AI where they'll not hunt in A100, so they can pick up items and armors there)
Special levels
[~] Most special levels should have their clear condition require killing every distinct enemy once rather than having enemy dead at the same time, so that they are much less tedious ordeals to clear on Nightmare and in Angel Of Darkness. Only The Wall/Containment Area, The Vaults/House of Pain, and The Mortuary/Limbo should be exempted from this change, since Archviles are a key component of those special levels' challenge. 1 (All special levels now require killing each distinct enemy once to be counted as clear, but exceptions have not been made yet for the aforementioned levels.)
[ ] Many special levels should have their enemy loadouts altered on the harder difficulties to utilize the newly added batch of enemies, and some should see rebalancing on even the lower difficulties. See linked post for comprehensive details on exact suggestions. 1
[~] When special levels are destroyed by a nuke, disable any traps/subsequent enemy spawns they may have from triggering and have the game register them as cleared (this includes Containment Area, City of Skulls, Abyssal Plains, House of Pain, The Lava Pits, and Mt. Erebus) 1 (Nuking Containment Area and Abyssal Plains now counts as clearing them and disables their respective traps, but the other special levels still have their enemy spawns after nuking remain).
[ ] Allow Hell's Armory and Deimos Lab to appear on ITYTD (but remove one of the Shamblers in the latter level so it's not a death trap for newbies). 1
[?] Have The Wall/Containment Area open up after all enemies are dead to prevent softlocks if you use a Phase Device. 1 2 (Kantarza made an attempt at this, needs testing to see if it works)
[ ] Replace the redundant Missile Launcher in City Of Skulls/Abyssal Plains and make these levels potentially more appropriately rewarding. What to replace it with needs discussion, but the current suggested idea is a random guaranteed exotic armor, since none of the current Deimos special levels give a good armor reward. Alternatively, it can instead be a random guaranteed exotic non-BFG ranged weapon, though this idea is less preferred as Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab already has a very high chance of rewarding exotic/unique ranged weapons. 1 2
[ ] In The Vaults, have the two teleporters in the center vault have their teleport destinations be on opposite ends of the map, so when playing on Nightmare, a player cannot easily camp the teleport locations to safely kill each of the center vault's Nightmare enemies or at least a good chunk of them before the Enraged Timer starts running low. 1
[~] If you don't have the Arena Master's Staff, you can softlock in House Of Pain on Nightmare and in Angel Of Darkness from dead enemies reviving while you're locked in another room, so something should be done to prevent this softlock. 1 (Enemy respawning has been disabled on the level altogether for the timebeing, may be temporary if another solution is figured out to prevent softlocks while enabling respawning.)
[ ] In House Of Pain, make using the Arena Master's Staff required to access the Large Health Globes on the level. 1
[ ] Make it more immediately apparent to newcomers that you can't shoot in Unholy Cathedral, whether through having a lone Lost Soul at the start that will immediately let players safely realize it without meaningfully changing the way the level plays, or having a message at the start that outright tells them. 1
[ ] Add ammo pickups to The Mortuary and Limbo, to compensate for respawns no longer dropping ammo. Current idea is an ammo box in each corner, and double them on Nightmare. 1
[ ] In The Lava Pits and Mt. Erebus on Nightmare difficulty, remove the last Radsuit, so that there is no Radsuits on the level at all. 1
[ ] Disallow nukes from being activated in Hell Fortress altogether. Additionally have any active powerups get turned off when entering Hell Fortress, so you cannot take an Invulnerability or Berserk stack into Hell Fortress to trivialize it. 1
[ ] Improve the Apostle fight in Hell Fortress. Suggestions include giving it unique entrance text, unique victory text, and have the fight spawn a ton of corpses of strong enemies when entering the level, so that the Apostle's resurrecting capabilities get utilized. 1
Miscellaneous
[ ] Reduce the EXP multiplier on Nightmare to x1.1, to compensate for the newly added enemies that give greater EXP yields and addition of a new special level pair. 1
[ ] Expand the amount of possible Dual Angel combinations, every combination that isn't outright incompatible should be allowed. 1
[ ] Infighting could use some more exceptions. Namely, add a flag that disables infighting in boss levels and certain special levels such as Mortuary/Limbo, disable infighting when Enraged Mode is triggered or disallow hunting enemies from infighting, and if possible, prevent enemies in a spawned monster group from infighting each other). 1
[ ] Have dying to John Carmack count as a normal death instead of as a partial win. 1
[ ] Add method for guaranteed Berserker Armor and Dragonslayer in Angel of 100 / Archangel of 666, so that full wins in A100/666 aren't terribly luck-based. 1 2 3 4
[ ] Give EXP for pulling levers (but consider disabling this bonus if the player has Intuition) 1
[ ] Make single enemy type levels be able to have Nightmare enemies at sufficiently high level rolls, just like how caves can. Also if the Angel Of Death and Spider Mastermind were to be added to A100's possible enemy spawns, perhaps make a special single enemy level also feature them (with the latter being a cave level).
[ ] Add unique level feel messages for Nightmare enemy-only levels. 1 2
[ ] Adjust armor and ammo crates to have their drop tables improve at deeper depths, or add "enhanced" versions of these crates with improved drop tables that spawn at deeper depths. 1 2
12
Discussion / 0.9.9.8 Build Tier List
« on: December 31, 2024, 22:17 »
I posted this 0.9.9.8 (and early 0.9.9.9 beta) build tier list on the JH Discord and was asked to post it here so I could include the short summaries I wrote explaining my rationale for each ranking.
This tier list factors how the build does at every point in the game and overall consistency, not just ranking on potential (what good is potential if you'll always die before reaching it or will almost never get the rare equipment you need for it?), nor how likely a build gets you past Phobos (sure Phobos is usually the hardest part, but Phobos deaths are much less painful than deaths in Deimos and especially Hell, so increasing your odds of not dying in Deimos and Hell is still important), and considers how much the build actually helps you clear difficult levels and survive arduous combat situations (any build can 100% clear a level without damage with a perfect corner shooting spot and a Tactical Shotgun, but rarely will you find such ideal conditions, especially on harder difficulties, so the less you have to depend on ideal conditions the better). Tiers are ordered, but the ordering isn't super important.
S tier
(Clearly broken and needs to be nerfed)
*Vampyre - Trivializes the standard game when it gives you near-IDDQD even in Angel Of Max Carnage and is by far the easiest option for most challenges/badges. Strategy with Vampyre also often amounts to little more than "run into enemies, mash click until they die", with maybe some rocket jumps in there to close gaps and calculated facerockets to trigger Berserker before rushing in. Its only weaknesses is a mediocre early game (that is mitigated with the free trait you get and being a level 6 mastery), and the Hellrunner block makes it not so ideal for any time-sensitive challenges, but it's so strong it could probably still work in those. The gap between Vampyre and every other build grows even farther on Nightmare, when melee is very powerful at corpse handling and Vampyre can abuse respawns for a full health refill whenever needed. It also requires nothing more than a mundane Nanofiber Red Armor and Chainsaw (or even just a Chainsword) to break the game, no need for rare or otherwise hard-to-get equipment, so it's super consistent and its floor is greater than nearly every other build's ceiling.
A+ tier
(Borderline broken, might need a nerf but doesn't outright trivialize the game)
*Ammochain - EE block makes typical rapid fire weapons unreliable and not being able to get WK1/2 until level 10/11 minimum without putting off Ammochain sucks, but consuming 1 cell per plasma burst is so powerful, both ammo-conservation and combat wise (other builds can't do more than five consecutive shots with a Plasma Rifle + TH2 without needing to go through a long reload or building a Nanomachic Plasma Rifle, while Ammochain can do 40 consecutive shots with a vanilla Plasma Rifle without reloading), and having Reloader makes Shotguns a very reliable fallback, while that in addition to the Marine's durability makes the early game easy too. Also has the uncommon ability to get both HR + Berserker to make it even more powerful late game, and its non-EE blocks are irrelevant. Overall has a very high floor with one of the highest ceilings (just needs a Hyperblaster to crush the game, while getting any of the rare mods, a Laser Rifle, or Nuclear Plasma Rifle sends it into the stratosphere), with few special levels and challenges posing any issue.
A tier
(Very powerful and often optimal builds, but have enough drawbacks to usually not make the game a cakewalk)
*Shottyhead - One of the strongest mastery effects despite its simplicity, while also having very strong prereqs, being able to get WK at a reasonable level, doesn't require ancillary traits but still retains strong post-mastery options like Berserker and Intuition, and has probably the easiest early game of any build. Its only stumbling is the SoB + EE block makes any sort of Plasma Rifle much less effective, but this isn't a big deal unless the RNG is very stingy with shells when you essentially got rapid fire shotguns. It has one of the highest floors with one of the highest ceilings, while being good at every point of the game and rarely being worse than a solid pick for any given challenge, but being vulnerable to ammo concerns without a Nano mod keeps it from the A+ tier.
*Scavenger - Essentially plays like a masterless build, but gets more mods than usual and a lot more of those very coveted rare mods, that combines very nicely with the Technician's inherent abilities. While luck dependent, it'll usually get better equipment than other builds around the midgame, and is far more likely to obtain the super equipment that will trivialize the game. While it has the fewest blocks of any mastery and two of the blocks are pretty irrelevant, the Berserker block is painful and can leave the build somewhat vulnerable lategame without good armor. Like masterless builds, it can also lack power in late Phobos and early Deimos before you get the aforementioned buffed equipment, but is usually no worse than solid for any challenge that doesn't require immediate power.
*Cateye - The best build at damage avoidance, while it also offers a level of flexibility not seen in most other masteries, and has a good effect that benefits any weapon type, making it more of a "generalist" mastery than the actual intended generalist Scout mastery. Can have the problem of wanting too many traits however (particularly being unable to fit Int2 + WK2 + EE + HR in a timely manner), and Cateye can be lacking in power when damage avoidance is not possible, which cannot be alleviated by getting Berserker either as it's blocked (which also makes the build more fragile in the lategame). Often a viable pick regardless of the challenge, and does have the particular perk of being brokenly good in Angel of Max Carnage.
*Blademaster - No other build can clear floors faster, and Berserker in general is very strong, while its power scales up the higher the difficulty as its ability becomes more useful the more enemies there are. Its early game is on the weaker end and the late Whizkid acquisition sucks, while its effect doesn't really do much against isolated enemies, keeping it from being broken, but it remains consistently good floor and ceiling wise, and it remains an optimal pick for many challenges/badges, or when you just want to rush through the game with more power than a masterless build offers.
*Masterless Scout - The unequivocal best stair dive build, and the ultimate flexibility combines nicely with the Scout's inherent abilities. For more complete playthroughs however, its lack of power in the mid and late game can hold it back in difficult combat encounters and harder special levels, and generally specialization towards something will be more useful for any challenge/badge that isn't a stair dive. Still remains A tier for its stair diving dominance and the fact you can never really go wrong with it.
B tier
(Powerful builds with their fair share of drawbacks that keep them from being top tier picks)
*Masterless Marine - Generally outclassed by Masterless Scout and other Marine masteries, which fulfill their respective roles better, but it still has the strengths of versatility in a masterless build, and has a strong niche when you need a bulkier build than Masterless Scout while also needing said masterless versatility (particularly if you want Hellrunner on something bulky, which all non-Ammochain Marine masteries block, without having to make a detour for Triggerhappy as Ammochain would require).
*Survivalist - It fulfills its role well as the tank build, at the expense of having the worst offense in the game and a painful Hellrunner block. Usually terrible offense would tank a build's viability, but Survivalist makes tanking actually viable and gives you a big margin of error to play with, allowing you to get away with repeated mistakes and bad RNG rolls that would be fatal for nearly any other build. The lack of offense and speed can still get it overwhelmed though, and it's bad for any time-sensitive event, which alongside being generally outclassed by Vampyre, keeps it from being top tier.
*Masterless Technician - Mostly outclassed by Scavenger if you want to make the most of a generalist Technician, and mostly outclassed by the other Masterless builds if you want to make the most of having no mastery, as the Scout and Marine have stronger innate bonuses (particularly in the early game). But as a masterless build it's still pretty good, and it does have the niche of a generalist Technician's advantages that retains access to Berserker (which is particularly relevant in Angel Of Humanity).
*Army of the Dead - Probably has the lowest ceiling of any build, with probably the weakest mastery effect in the game (aside from Entrenchment) that becomes irrelevant with Nano-Shrapnal and Plasma(tic) Shotguns, and is probably never an optimal pick for any challenge/badge. But it has a good early and mid game with Shotgun specialization, Marine's durability, and relatively quick access to Whizkid, while Shotguns never become bad and it can still spec into a Berserker sidearm to help in the lategame if needed. With a high consistent floor that depends little on equipment/item luck, this build is rarely an outright bad pick outside of any challenge/badge that requires Hellrunner.
C tier
(Functional but held back by serious flaws, could use a buff)
*Sharpshooter - One of the strongest mastery effects in the game, and thanks to Technician, doesn't need to invest in Finesse to get Whizkid, which is very useful for a Pistol build. As a result, it has one of the strongest mid games and a still impressive late game, which is also boosted by it retaining access to the Good Stuff to bolster it farther in the later game (with the SoB block being its only real painful block). However, due to Pistol specialization and awful prereqs, it has an absolutely abysmal early game, the worst of any build, which gives it an awful survival rate in Phobos on harder difficulties if you're not very good at the game, and makes it very unideal for any challenge/badge where early power is needed. Such a polarizing mastery can be hard to rank, on a pure winrate basis it would be possibly the worst and generally Phobos is the hardest part, but since Phobos deaths are much less punishing time-investment wise, a build that offers such good mid and late game consistency still has value.
*Gunrunner - Has one of the highest potential ceilings in the game, being able to effectively get Pistol firing rates on Shotguns and Rocket Launchers while firing/moving/reloading all at the same time, and any combination of HR + Fin + Rel gives it an easy early game. But this mastery requires significant ancillary investment as it needs Shottyman to actually do anything worthwhile, which combined with a very late Whizkid acquisition and requiring the generally unhelpful Dodgemaster, gives it a very weak mid game. Gunrunner itself can also be rather finicky to utilize and is very ammo hungry whenever you use it, while the Brute block prevents you from effectively using a melee backup, as well as leaves you always frail. It can feel very good to wipe out a nasty horde in a quick run rampage, but deaths in Deimos are always painful and Shottyhead generally outclasses it (which you'll need to actively forego as you build to Gunrunner + Shottyman, as it overlaps Shottyhead's prereqs).
*Fireangel - Its defensive benefit is potentially very handy and no-damage rocket jumps is a nice benefit, but it offering no sort of offensive boost, while also blocking SoB and EE, leaves it with one of the worst offenses in the game, and the defensive benefit is not so good as to be worth the tradeoff. It has a tantalizing ceiling with being able to blow up everything with the Mother-In-Law, Nanomachic Tristar Blaster, or a nano-modded BFG 10K with no risk of blowing yourself up, but you'll very rarely get such weapons and often won't even get a Nano mod just to build a Nanomachic Rocket Launcher, which is necessary to take extensive advantage of rocket launchers offensively since rockets come in such small ammo quantities. It retains access to Berserker to compensate for the lack of offense, but besides not being easy to fit in, Fireangel removes the ability for you to get Berserker procs off of facerockets and barrels, making it not as strong as Berserker is in the hands of other builds. Overall it's not that bad, and has a decent early game thanks to Shotgun specialization, but it's never really any good either, outside of a particular niche with the Gatekeeper badges.
*Malicious Blades - The mastery effect is decent, but its offensive and defensive benefits are almost entirely outclassed by those of Berserker, which it blocks. The mastery has the benefit of its defense-boosting effects being usable with non-melee weapons, which when combined with it not blocking SoB like the other melee masteries, allows it to function more effectively as a hybrid-melee build, but such a build requires a ton of traits that leaves it weak for a long time, and having to keep a blade in your prepared slot to get said defense-boost prevents you from utilizing ammo boxes, hurting it farther in a hybrid build. Whether as a pure melee Technician or hybrid melee build, you are better off going masterless and getting Berserker instead, and a build specializing in blades specifically would still do much better with the other melee masteries. I don't see any challenge/badge where this is a remotely optimal pick, but it's never bad enough to rank it in the lower tiers.
D tier
(These builds aren't unplayable, but they're severely flawed and using them makes the game much harder, in need of significant buffs)
*Gun Kata - HR investment gives it a slightly easier early game than other Pistol masteries, but investing in Pistols still gives you a much harder early game compared to non-Pistol builds (and ultimately with pistols, you would rather stack SoG with SoB and get a level of EE early rather than get HR, as getting your combat to something acceptable is of upmost importance, so Pistol builds that don't go with any Pistol mastery still have the least painful early game). Unlike Sharpshooter however, it requires several ancillary traits to be effective; it technically doesn't require SoG3 but you need it ASAP or else your Pistols don't do shit, making Gun Kata effectively a level 8 mastery, but you also need two levels of Fin before you can get WK that's desperately needed for Pistol builds, then you need SoG 4 and 5 after that, still really want at least one level of EE so you stop missing so much, and you would want to fit in Int too... The SoB block without Sharpshooter's guaranteed max damage also makes your Pistols quite weak and unreliable, at least before you get SoG5, or before you get a Unique pistol or an Exotic pistol maxed out with Power mods. You altogether get a build with a weak early game, an abysmal mid game, and a still unimpressive late game, so you're always lagging behind other builds at every stage of the game. Gun Kata's effects itself can also be rendered pointless, as the "shoot faster after dodging" bonus doesn't matter once you reach the firing speed cap (nevermind the unreliability, if not outright impracticality, of utilizing it in typical difficult combat scenarios), and the reloading bonus doesn't matter if you get a Nanomachic Pistol or a Blaster (while being a finicky effect to utilize in general, especially compared to just using one Pistol and an ammo box). If you want to use Pistols with a Scout, you're better off going masterless or even Cateye, which doesn't block SoB and has an effect that is always useful regardless of what Pistols you have.
*Bullet Dance - It has theoretically the highest DPS ceiling of any build, but similar to Gun Kata it requires a grotesque amount of ancillary traits, while having the "Pistols suck in early game" problem exasperated by having to pick an actually useless trait in Triggerhappy, and Bullet Dance itself does more harm than good unless you find a Nano mod to build a Nanomachic Pistol or find a Combat Pistol and bulk mod the crap out of it, which you often won't. Said DPS ceiling is also rather overkill, when a Pistol with SoG5 and several levels of SoB will quickly kill anything before they can retaliate without the ammo-draining drawbacks of Bullet Dance. So you get a very weak early and mid game, for a late game that usually isn't all that hot either. If you want to use Pistols with a Marine, you're again better off going masterless, as you don't need to pick up Triggerhappy nor bother with Dualgunner until it's actually useful, while retaining freedom to get HR and even Berserker if you want extra lategame assurance (particularly in A100).
E(ntrenchment) tier
(Outright sucks, in desperate need of serious buffs or being overhauled completely)
*Entrenchment - Has awful prereqs that makes the early game hard, Finesse block cripples its offense with any weapon, requires a lot of ancillary traits that gives it a very hard mid game, all for a very underwhelming purely defensive mastery that both only kicks in when Chainfiring and gives resistances that are only slightly better than the resistances the Marine has inherently at all times. Then for the cherry on top, if you actually try to utilize it extensively, you'll waste a lot of ammo and quickly empty your clip, where you're then stuck with having to reload weapons that have 2+ second reload times while no longer having your resistances and not even being able to get Reloader to lessen the mauling you'll suffer. So you need to either find a Minigun and tons of bullets, or a Nano mod to make a Nanomachic Plasma Rifle, just to make the build even functional.
This tier list factors how the build does at every point in the game and overall consistency, not just ranking on potential (what good is potential if you'll always die before reaching it or will almost never get the rare equipment you need for it?), nor how likely a build gets you past Phobos (sure Phobos is usually the hardest part, but Phobos deaths are much less painful than deaths in Deimos and especially Hell, so increasing your odds of not dying in Deimos and Hell is still important), and considers how much the build actually helps you clear difficult levels and survive arduous combat situations (any build can 100% clear a level without damage with a perfect corner shooting spot and a Tactical Shotgun, but rarely will you find such ideal conditions, especially on harder difficulties, so the less you have to depend on ideal conditions the better). Tiers are ordered, but the ordering isn't super important.
S tier
(Clearly broken and needs to be nerfed)
*Vampyre - Trivializes the standard game when it gives you near-IDDQD even in Angel Of Max Carnage and is by far the easiest option for most challenges/badges. Strategy with Vampyre also often amounts to little more than "run into enemies, mash click until they die", with maybe some rocket jumps in there to close gaps and calculated facerockets to trigger Berserker before rushing in. Its only weaknesses is a mediocre early game (that is mitigated with the free trait you get and being a level 6 mastery), and the Hellrunner block makes it not so ideal for any time-sensitive challenges, but it's so strong it could probably still work in those. The gap between Vampyre and every other build grows even farther on Nightmare, when melee is very powerful at corpse handling and Vampyre can abuse respawns for a full health refill whenever needed. It also requires nothing more than a mundane Nanofiber Red Armor and Chainsaw (or even just a Chainsword) to break the game, no need for rare or otherwise hard-to-get equipment, so it's super consistent and its floor is greater than nearly every other build's ceiling.
A+ tier
(Borderline broken, might need a nerf but doesn't outright trivialize the game)
*Ammochain - EE block makes typical rapid fire weapons unreliable and not being able to get WK1/2 until level 10/11 minimum without putting off Ammochain sucks, but consuming 1 cell per plasma burst is so powerful, both ammo-conservation and combat wise (other builds can't do more than five consecutive shots with a Plasma Rifle + TH2 without needing to go through a long reload or building a Nanomachic Plasma Rifle, while Ammochain can do 40 consecutive shots with a vanilla Plasma Rifle without reloading), and having Reloader makes Shotguns a very reliable fallback, while that in addition to the Marine's durability makes the early game easy too. Also has the uncommon ability to get both HR + Berserker to make it even more powerful late game, and its non-EE blocks are irrelevant. Overall has a very high floor with one of the highest ceilings (just needs a Hyperblaster to crush the game, while getting any of the rare mods, a Laser Rifle, or Nuclear Plasma Rifle sends it into the stratosphere), with few special levels and challenges posing any issue.
A tier
(Very powerful and often optimal builds, but have enough drawbacks to usually not make the game a cakewalk)
*Shottyhead - One of the strongest mastery effects despite its simplicity, while also having very strong prereqs, being able to get WK at a reasonable level, doesn't require ancillary traits but still retains strong post-mastery options like Berserker and Intuition, and has probably the easiest early game of any build. Its only stumbling is the SoB + EE block makes any sort of Plasma Rifle much less effective, but this isn't a big deal unless the RNG is very stingy with shells when you essentially got rapid fire shotguns. It has one of the highest floors with one of the highest ceilings, while being good at every point of the game and rarely being worse than a solid pick for any given challenge, but being vulnerable to ammo concerns without a Nano mod keeps it from the A+ tier.
*Scavenger - Essentially plays like a masterless build, but gets more mods than usual and a lot more of those very coveted rare mods, that combines very nicely with the Technician's inherent abilities. While luck dependent, it'll usually get better equipment than other builds around the midgame, and is far more likely to obtain the super equipment that will trivialize the game. While it has the fewest blocks of any mastery and two of the blocks are pretty irrelevant, the Berserker block is painful and can leave the build somewhat vulnerable lategame without good armor. Like masterless builds, it can also lack power in late Phobos and early Deimos before you get the aforementioned buffed equipment, but is usually no worse than solid for any challenge that doesn't require immediate power.
*Cateye - The best build at damage avoidance, while it also offers a level of flexibility not seen in most other masteries, and has a good effect that benefits any weapon type, making it more of a "generalist" mastery than the actual intended generalist Scout mastery. Can have the problem of wanting too many traits however (particularly being unable to fit Int2 + WK2 + EE + HR in a timely manner), and Cateye can be lacking in power when damage avoidance is not possible, which cannot be alleviated by getting Berserker either as it's blocked (which also makes the build more fragile in the lategame). Often a viable pick regardless of the challenge, and does have the particular perk of being brokenly good in Angel of Max Carnage.
*Blademaster - No other build can clear floors faster, and Berserker in general is very strong, while its power scales up the higher the difficulty as its ability becomes more useful the more enemies there are. Its early game is on the weaker end and the late Whizkid acquisition sucks, while its effect doesn't really do much against isolated enemies, keeping it from being broken, but it remains consistently good floor and ceiling wise, and it remains an optimal pick for many challenges/badges, or when you just want to rush through the game with more power than a masterless build offers.
*Masterless Scout - The unequivocal best stair dive build, and the ultimate flexibility combines nicely with the Scout's inherent abilities. For more complete playthroughs however, its lack of power in the mid and late game can hold it back in difficult combat encounters and harder special levels, and generally specialization towards something will be more useful for any challenge/badge that isn't a stair dive. Still remains A tier for its stair diving dominance and the fact you can never really go wrong with it.
B tier
(Powerful builds with their fair share of drawbacks that keep them from being top tier picks)
*Masterless Marine - Generally outclassed by Masterless Scout and other Marine masteries, which fulfill their respective roles better, but it still has the strengths of versatility in a masterless build, and has a strong niche when you need a bulkier build than Masterless Scout while also needing said masterless versatility (particularly if you want Hellrunner on something bulky, which all non-Ammochain Marine masteries block, without having to make a detour for Triggerhappy as Ammochain would require).
*Survivalist - It fulfills its role well as the tank build, at the expense of having the worst offense in the game and a painful Hellrunner block. Usually terrible offense would tank a build's viability, but Survivalist makes tanking actually viable and gives you a big margin of error to play with, allowing you to get away with repeated mistakes and bad RNG rolls that would be fatal for nearly any other build. The lack of offense and speed can still get it overwhelmed though, and it's bad for any time-sensitive event, which alongside being generally outclassed by Vampyre, keeps it from being top tier.
*Masterless Technician - Mostly outclassed by Scavenger if you want to make the most of a generalist Technician, and mostly outclassed by the other Masterless builds if you want to make the most of having no mastery, as the Scout and Marine have stronger innate bonuses (particularly in the early game). But as a masterless build it's still pretty good, and it does have the niche of a generalist Technician's advantages that retains access to Berserker (which is particularly relevant in Angel Of Humanity).
*Army of the Dead - Probably has the lowest ceiling of any build, with probably the weakest mastery effect in the game (aside from Entrenchment) that becomes irrelevant with Nano-Shrapnal and Plasma(tic) Shotguns, and is probably never an optimal pick for any challenge/badge. But it has a good early and mid game with Shotgun specialization, Marine's durability, and relatively quick access to Whizkid, while Shotguns never become bad and it can still spec into a Berserker sidearm to help in the lategame if needed. With a high consistent floor that depends little on equipment/item luck, this build is rarely an outright bad pick outside of any challenge/badge that requires Hellrunner.
C tier
(Functional but held back by serious flaws, could use a buff)
*Sharpshooter - One of the strongest mastery effects in the game, and thanks to Technician, doesn't need to invest in Finesse to get Whizkid, which is very useful for a Pistol build. As a result, it has one of the strongest mid games and a still impressive late game, which is also boosted by it retaining access to the Good Stuff to bolster it farther in the later game (with the SoB block being its only real painful block). However, due to Pistol specialization and awful prereqs, it has an absolutely abysmal early game, the worst of any build, which gives it an awful survival rate in Phobos on harder difficulties if you're not very good at the game, and makes it very unideal for any challenge/badge where early power is needed. Such a polarizing mastery can be hard to rank, on a pure winrate basis it would be possibly the worst and generally Phobos is the hardest part, but since Phobos deaths are much less punishing time-investment wise, a build that offers such good mid and late game consistency still has value.
*Gunrunner - Has one of the highest potential ceilings in the game, being able to effectively get Pistol firing rates on Shotguns and Rocket Launchers while firing/moving/reloading all at the same time, and any combination of HR + Fin + Rel gives it an easy early game. But this mastery requires significant ancillary investment as it needs Shottyman to actually do anything worthwhile, which combined with a very late Whizkid acquisition and requiring the generally unhelpful Dodgemaster, gives it a very weak mid game. Gunrunner itself can also be rather finicky to utilize and is very ammo hungry whenever you use it, while the Brute block prevents you from effectively using a melee backup, as well as leaves you always frail. It can feel very good to wipe out a nasty horde in a quick run rampage, but deaths in Deimos are always painful and Shottyhead generally outclasses it (which you'll need to actively forego as you build to Gunrunner + Shottyman, as it overlaps Shottyhead's prereqs).
*Fireangel - Its defensive benefit is potentially very handy and no-damage rocket jumps is a nice benefit, but it offering no sort of offensive boost, while also blocking SoB and EE, leaves it with one of the worst offenses in the game, and the defensive benefit is not so good as to be worth the tradeoff. It has a tantalizing ceiling with being able to blow up everything with the Mother-In-Law, Nanomachic Tristar Blaster, or a nano-modded BFG 10K with no risk of blowing yourself up, but you'll very rarely get such weapons and often won't even get a Nano mod just to build a Nanomachic Rocket Launcher, which is necessary to take extensive advantage of rocket launchers offensively since rockets come in such small ammo quantities. It retains access to Berserker to compensate for the lack of offense, but besides not being easy to fit in, Fireangel removes the ability for you to get Berserker procs off of facerockets and barrels, making it not as strong as Berserker is in the hands of other builds. Overall it's not that bad, and has a decent early game thanks to Shotgun specialization, but it's never really any good either, outside of a particular niche with the Gatekeeper badges.
*Malicious Blades - The mastery effect is decent, but its offensive and defensive benefits are almost entirely outclassed by those of Berserker, which it blocks. The mastery has the benefit of its defense-boosting effects being usable with non-melee weapons, which when combined with it not blocking SoB like the other melee masteries, allows it to function more effectively as a hybrid-melee build, but such a build requires a ton of traits that leaves it weak for a long time, and having to keep a blade in your prepared slot to get said defense-boost prevents you from utilizing ammo boxes, hurting it farther in a hybrid build. Whether as a pure melee Technician or hybrid melee build, you are better off going masterless and getting Berserker instead, and a build specializing in blades specifically would still do much better with the other melee masteries. I don't see any challenge/badge where this is a remotely optimal pick, but it's never bad enough to rank it in the lower tiers.
D tier
(These builds aren't unplayable, but they're severely flawed and using them makes the game much harder, in need of significant buffs)
*Gun Kata - HR investment gives it a slightly easier early game than other Pistol masteries, but investing in Pistols still gives you a much harder early game compared to non-Pistol builds (and ultimately with pistols, you would rather stack SoG with SoB and get a level of EE early rather than get HR, as getting your combat to something acceptable is of upmost importance, so Pistol builds that don't go with any Pistol mastery still have the least painful early game). Unlike Sharpshooter however, it requires several ancillary traits to be effective; it technically doesn't require SoG3 but you need it ASAP or else your Pistols don't do shit, making Gun Kata effectively a level 8 mastery, but you also need two levels of Fin before you can get WK that's desperately needed for Pistol builds, then you need SoG 4 and 5 after that, still really want at least one level of EE so you stop missing so much, and you would want to fit in Int too... The SoB block without Sharpshooter's guaranteed max damage also makes your Pistols quite weak and unreliable, at least before you get SoG5, or before you get a Unique pistol or an Exotic pistol maxed out with Power mods. You altogether get a build with a weak early game, an abysmal mid game, and a still unimpressive late game, so you're always lagging behind other builds at every stage of the game. Gun Kata's effects itself can also be rendered pointless, as the "shoot faster after dodging" bonus doesn't matter once you reach the firing speed cap (nevermind the unreliability, if not outright impracticality, of utilizing it in typical difficult combat scenarios), and the reloading bonus doesn't matter if you get a Nanomachic Pistol or a Blaster (while being a finicky effect to utilize in general, especially compared to just using one Pistol and an ammo box). If you want to use Pistols with a Scout, you're better off going masterless or even Cateye, which doesn't block SoB and has an effect that is always useful regardless of what Pistols you have.
*Bullet Dance - It has theoretically the highest DPS ceiling of any build, but similar to Gun Kata it requires a grotesque amount of ancillary traits, while having the "Pistols suck in early game" problem exasperated by having to pick an actually useless trait in Triggerhappy, and Bullet Dance itself does more harm than good unless you find a Nano mod to build a Nanomachic Pistol or find a Combat Pistol and bulk mod the crap out of it, which you often won't. Said DPS ceiling is also rather overkill, when a Pistol with SoG5 and several levels of SoB will quickly kill anything before they can retaliate without the ammo-draining drawbacks of Bullet Dance. So you get a very weak early and mid game, for a late game that usually isn't all that hot either. If you want to use Pistols with a Marine, you're again better off going masterless, as you don't need to pick up Triggerhappy nor bother with Dualgunner until it's actually useful, while retaining freedom to get HR and even Berserker if you want extra lategame assurance (particularly in A100).
E(ntrenchment) tier
(Outright sucks, in desperate need of serious buffs or being overhauled completely)
*Entrenchment - Has awful prereqs that makes the early game hard, Finesse block cripples its offense with any weapon, requires a lot of ancillary traits that gives it a very hard mid game, all for a very underwhelming purely defensive mastery that both only kicks in when Chainfiring and gives resistances that are only slightly better than the resistances the Marine has inherently at all times. Then for the cherry on top, if you actually try to utilize it extensively, you'll waste a lot of ammo and quickly empty your clip, where you're then stuck with having to reload weapons that have 2+ second reload times while no longer having your resistances and not even being able to get Reloader to lessen the mauling you'll suffer. So you need to either find a Minigun and tons of bullets, or a Nano mod to make a Nanomachic Plasma Rifle, just to make the build even functional.
13
Nightmare! / [N!|AoP + AoRA|66%|YAVP] - First official Inquisitor Angelic Badge! (with video)
« on: December 14, 2024, 20:37 »
I recorded this entire run, which you can watch in this Youtube link.
I previously posted about obtaining Inquisitor Angelic in the first beta for 0.9.9.9 to test if the badge actually needed any nerfs despite nobody ever winning it prior in the 11 years since 0.9.9.7, but I don't consider obtaining badges in the beta versions to count, and like with Eagerness Angelic, I didn't want to wait around until 0.9.9.9 launches proper to get the badge officially. So I went back to 0.9.9.8 once more and was able to obtain Inquisitor Angelic there to officially claim being the first person to have verifiably won it.
I would recommend reading the linked thread about my 0.9.9.9 beta Inquisitor Angelic run, for my thoughts on the badge and my general strategy, so as to not repeat myself here. The differences compared to that run is that I lead off with Finesse instead of Hellrunner, to increase the chances that I kill the Sergeants in Phobos Base Entry without them using the Small Medkits, and since I'll get Hellrunner very shortly into Phobos 2 anyway. Then in the lategame after getting Berserker, I end up just getting as much Ironman as I could and even a level of Tough As Nails, rather than Fin2 + Whizkid, since I was perpetually short on medkits and had no good armor in the later half, desperately needing all the extra survivability I could scrounge up.
If you're interested in reading the floor-by-floor breakdown I wrote up rather than watching the video (or even read it alongside to see my thoughts throughout), you can find it in the spoiler tags:
Curiously, while in the 0.9.9.9 beta I could consistently make it to Deimos and then kept losing there, taking me 12 attempts overall (not counting the runs I Q+Y'd on Phobos Base Entry), here in 0.9.9.8 I kept dying in Phobos, but then the first attempt I make it to Deimos I end up going all the way, with it taking 8 attempts instead overall (again not counting runs that were abandoned in Phobos Base Entry). Maybe corpses not respawning in sight does help a bit with making Phobos more consistent even if you're rushing through levels, or maybe I just had a good run of luck in the beta and bad run of luck in 0.9.9.8. Overall for this specific run, my level and item luck was pretty mixed (the Super Shotgun and Laptop Boots were very nice, as was being able to go into Deimos with several Large Medkits, but I would have really liked a second Red Armor and another Power Mod), and I was often teetering on the knife edge there in the later half, but not having ideal luck makes succeeding in such a difficult challenge all the more sweeter.
Now for the first mortem to officially have the Inquisitor Angelic Badge! (And a cool Inquisitor Diamond too, which isn't a badge you see all that much either, granted the Marine's buffs does make that badge quite a bit easier now, definitely wouldn't try to double it up with Inquisitor Angelic back in 0.9.9.7).
I previously posted about obtaining Inquisitor Angelic in the first beta for 0.9.9.9 to test if the badge actually needed any nerfs despite nobody ever winning it prior in the 11 years since 0.9.9.7, but I don't consider obtaining badges in the beta versions to count, and like with Eagerness Angelic, I didn't want to wait around until 0.9.9.9 launches proper to get the badge officially. So I went back to 0.9.9.8 once more and was able to obtain Inquisitor Angelic there to officially claim being the first person to have verifiably won it.
I would recommend reading the linked thread about my 0.9.9.9 beta Inquisitor Angelic run, for my thoughts on the badge and my general strategy, so as to not repeat myself here. The differences compared to that run is that I lead off with Finesse instead of Hellrunner, to increase the chances that I kill the Sergeants in Phobos Base Entry without them using the Small Medkits, and since I'll get Hellrunner very shortly into Phobos 2 anyway. Then in the lategame after getting Berserker, I end up just getting as much Ironman as I could and even a level of Tough As Nails, rather than Fin2 + Whizkid, since I was perpetually short on medkits and had no good armor in the later half, desperately needing all the extra survivability I could scrounge up.
If you're interested in reading the floor-by-floor breakdown I wrote up rather than watching the video (or even read it alongside to see my thoughts throughout), you can find it in the spoiler tags:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Curiously, while in the 0.9.9.9 beta I could consistently make it to Deimos and then kept losing there, taking me 12 attempts overall (not counting the runs I Q+Y'd on Phobos Base Entry), here in 0.9.9.8 I kept dying in Phobos, but then the first attempt I make it to Deimos I end up going all the way, with it taking 8 attempts instead overall (again not counting runs that were abandoned in Phobos Base Entry). Maybe corpses not respawning in sight does help a bit with making Phobos more consistent even if you're rushing through levels, or maybe I just had a good run of luck in the beta and bad run of luck in 0.9.9.8. Overall for this specific run, my level and item luck was pretty mixed (the Super Shotgun and Laptop Boots were very nice, as was being able to go into Deimos with several Large Medkits, but I would have really liked a second Red Armor and another Power Mod), and I was often teetering on the knife edge there in the later half, but not having ideal luck makes succeeding in such a difficult challenge all the more sweeter.
Now for the first mortem to officially have the Inquisitor Angelic Badge! (And a cool Inquisitor Diamond too, which isn't a badge you see all that much either, granted the Marine's buffs does make that badge quite a bit easier now, definitely wouldn't try to double it up with Inquisitor Angelic back in 0.9.9.7).
--------------------------------------------------------------
DRL (0.9.9.8a) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
ONLYMEDKITS, level 12 Cyberdemon General Marine,
defeated the Mastermind at the City of Dis.
He survived 46179 turns and scored 598958 points.
He played for 51 minutes and 23 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 628 out of 949 hellspawn. (66%)
He was an Angel of Purity!
He was also an Angel of Red Alert!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 3
Levels completed : 0
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (bronze cluster) 25+ kills without taking damage
Inquisitor Diamond Badge Complete AoP on N! as Marine
Inquisitor Angelic Badge Complete AoP+AoRA on N!
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###########################################################
##################................................#########
#################...............####...............########
################.......####.....####.....####.......#######
###############........####.....####.....####........######
##############..........###.....####.....####.........#####
#############...........###..............####..........####
############............................................###
############.....###............................####....###
############.....###............................####....###
############.0..####............................####&...###
############....####............................####....###
############............................................###
#############..........####..............####..........####
##############.........####.....####.....####.........#####
###############........####...X.####.....####........######
################.......####..%..####.....####.......#######
#################...............####...............########
##################................................#########
###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 42/100 Experience 66284/12
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +4 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +6
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Marine
Ironman (Level 4)
Finesse (Level 1)
Hellrunner (Level 2)
Tough as nails (Level 1)
Reloader (Level 1)
Brute (Level 2)
Berserker (Level 1)
Fin->HR->Rel->HR->Bru->Bru->Ber->Iro->Iro->Iro->TaN->Iro->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] blue armor [1/2] (7%)
[b] [ Weapon ] chainsaw (4d6) (T)
[c] [ Boots ] Nyarlaptotep's Boots [6/6] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] nothing
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] shotgun (9d3) [1/1] (P1)
[b] combat shotgun (7d3) [5/5]
[c] rocket launcher (6d6) [0/1]
[d] super shotgun (8d4)x2 [2/2]
[e] green armor [1/1] (41%)
[f] green armor [1/1] (21%)
[g] green armor [1/1] (16%)
[h] blue armor [1/2] (24%) (B)
[i] shotgun shell (x38)
[j] rocket (x10)
[k] rocket (x10)
[l] rocket (x9)
[m] large med-pack
[n] plasteel boots [2/2] (100%)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
bullet - internal 100% torso 95% feet 95%
melee - internal 100% torso 95% feet 95%
shrapnel - internal 100% torso 95% feet 95%
acid - internal 80% torso 80% feet 95%
fire - internal 80% torso 80% feet 95%
plasma - internal 80% torso 85% feet 80%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
57 former humans
62 former sergeants
25 former captains
147 imps
50 demons
139 lost souls
32 cacodemons
13 hell knights
24 barons of hell
16 arachnotrons
16 former commandos
7 pain elementals
9 revenants
15 mancubi
14 arch-viles
1 Cyberdemon
1 Spider Mastermind
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
He saw, left a present and left.
On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 19 he found the Nyarlaptotep's Boots!
He left level 22 as soon as possible.
On level 22 he arrived at Mt. Erebus.
He decided it was too dangerous.
On level 23 he encountered an armed nuke!
Then at last he found Dis!
On level 24 he finally defeated the Mastermind.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You are hit! You are hit! You are hit! You are hit! You are hit! You are hit!
You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You're going
berserk! You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind dies. Congratulations!
You defeated the Spider Mastermind! Press <Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
70 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
18 of those were killed.
14 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 2 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
36 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
2 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
7 killed the bitch and survived.
27 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
14
Nightmare! / [N!|AoI + AoRA|94%|YAVP] - First official Eagerness Angelic Badge! (with video)
« on: December 08, 2024, 18:37 »
I recorded this entire run, which you can watch in this Youtube link
In DRL since version 0.9.9.7, there has been 17 Angelic Badges, the highest tier badges available. Of those 17 badges, 7 have never been verifiably won by any player since 0.9.9.7's release back in 2013, which are; UAC Angelic (beat the standard game on Nightmare with no damage), Demonic Angelic (beat standard N! with 100% kills and no damage), Speedrun Angelic (beat standard N! in under 4 minutes), Pacifist Angelic (beat Archangel of Pacifism with only one enemy dying, which must be the Spider Mastermind), Inquisitor Angelic (beat Angel of Purity + Angel of Red Alert on N!), Eagerness Angelic (beat Angel of Impatience + Angel of Red Alert on N! with 90+% kills) and Masochist Angelic (beat Archangel of Masochism on N!). Of those 7, the formermost 4 have been deemed to be outright impossible without cheating, and the lattermost is considered possible though extremely extremely difficult. The middle 2, Inquisitor and Eagerness Angelic, while not intrinsically impossible like the aforementioned 4, were thought to be so absurdly difficult that they were bordering on impossibility and would require esoteric cheese with rare items to obtain (namely for Eagerness Angelic, finding an early Trigun and getting an Invuln chain that allows you to nuke most of the levels, or finding a Dragonslayer with Vampyre, surviving a nuke with Invuln, and then farming the infinitely spawning Nightmare Demons for a long time to buffer your kill percentage a huge amount), so me and Icy have been proposing to easen their requirements alongside the unwinnable 4.
Then the first beta version of 0.9.9.9 dropped, which made some big changes to Nightmare in response to most players finding it unfun and avoiding the difficulty altogether; these changes are enemies will not respawn in your vision, respawns do not drop their inventory (and so cannot be farmed for ammo), and most importantly, respawns no longer count towards the kill percentage. These changes still don't make the unwinnable 4 humanly viable, and don't affect Inquisitor Angelic that much, but they are significant for Eagerness Angelic; the main reason it was thought borderline impossible is the fact that the time limit of AoRA makes meticulous corpse disposal unfeasible and so all the respawns would inevitably prevent you from maintaining such a high kill percentage of 90%, thus allowing you to ignore them entirely and not have them affect your kill percentage makes the badge a whole lot more viable. There was still concern that requiring 90% kills, in conjunction with the restraints of AoI (which most importantly prevents you from carrying medkits to heal on demand), was still too much, but to be sure if the badge still needed nerfing, I tested getting it in the beta (as well as tested Inquisitor Angelic), and was able to win it (link goes to the Jupiter Hell discord). However, when looking at the winning mortem and calculating the kill % with respawns factored, it came out to... over 90%... so I would have still won the badge even without the aforementioned kill % change with respawns, meaning this badge was very possible all along. Since 0.9.9.9's official release is still likely a ways off and wanting to claim this badge first in an official version, I decided to go boot up the official release of 0.9.9.8 and win the badge officially.
When it comes for the build to use for Eagerness Angelic, Blademaster seems to be the clear best shot, as no other build can clear floors faster, and Blademaster's ability to make every killing blow an instant action gives you the capability to farm kills to make up the large amount of kills needed, namely from Pain Elementals as Blademaster can wipe out a whole swath of Lost Souls instantly (and indeed I would do a bit of Pain Elemental farming throughout this run, but it would end up proving unnecessary, as even if you removed all the Lost Soul kills, I still would have had over 90% kills). As for trait order, I leadoff with Hellrunner; since most of your actions will be just moving, the trait that makes your movement take less time is invaluable when you're on a time limit for every floor (while Hellrunner is also just great in general). I immediately deviate from Blademaster's prereqs however by taking a level of Reloader; just surviving early Phobos on Nightmare is very difficult as is without any combat-boosting traits, and getting Brute doesn't help much yet when you don't got a Chainsaw, while of the available traits, Reloader gives the biggest boost when you're relying primarily on Shotguns. Since you're doing so much reloading, making your reloads 30% faster saves you a lot of time too and thus gives you more actions to work with on each floor. I then deviate once more to get a level of Intuition; powerups are very important on N! when they're doubly effective, but especially so in AoI where you're unable to store medkits in your inventory, so you are very reliant on powerups to keep your health up, and especially especially so in AoRA when Invulnerabilities allow you to survive nukes, making immediately knowing where all powerups are located on each floor crucial. However, I do not get the second level of Intuition, as being able to detect enemies outside vision isn't too helpful when floors are so enemy dense and they're often on top of you immediately, while you desperately need to get yourself stronger ASAP, so I go for the second level of HR instead to get even more speed. At this point I'll be getting the Chainsaw, making it time to get two levels of Brute and then Berserker; Berserker is especially important, as being berserked speeds you up significantly, and when Berserker triggers from you being hit, berserk's +60% resistances get applied before damage is calculated, giving you a big defensive boost against the hard hitting VMR (or I can trigger it intentionally at nearly any time with a face rocket whenever I need said boosts). It is then the third level of Brute, and finally Blademaster. After Blademaster, I get a level of Finesse to farther increase my offense and overall speed, then I get Juggler since I'm swapping around weapons so much (especially handy when I use rocket jumping to get in an enemy's face, or to swap between my Shotguns and Chainsaw as needed without taking a hit). Then it's another level of Finesse for yet more DPS/speed, and then Whizkid to get more mods on my stuff instead of letting mods I find go to waste (though I don't take the second level, as I wasn't coming across enough mods to make it worthwhile). I finally take some levels in Ironman to give me some lategame assurance, since I could always run across some levels that deprive me of health.
Now for the actual run. With Phobos Base Entry, I just employ my usual tactic of immediately running to the base, and if Shotgunners come out early and I take a lot of damage, I Q+Y out. Otherwise there's not much to say about it, except you don't need to be fussed about trying to get the medkits as you can't bring them with you anyway. You can try to wait around and farm the respawning formers as much as you can within the time limit to both get more ammo + beef up your kill count a little, but it's not really worth doing here, and since you'll probably end up dying soon after, it's often a lot of wasted time. With the early Phobos levels, your immediate priority is to locate the stairs and kill whatever is in the way. Once you find the stairs, you can go around and kill more enemies to both get that crucial EXP and bolster your kill count, as well as grab any armor and anything else helpful that you can within the time limit (such as the Power Mod I found in an early vault, that was really helpful for my Shotgun). This early on, don't be too plussed with your kill %, you're unlikely to maintain 90+% at this point, so worry about buffing your kill count later and leave levels early if they get out of hand. For the early special levels, you absolutely have no chance of beating Hell's Arena with this challenge combination on N!, but you can dip in, clear out the first wave for extra EXP + some help for your kill %, and then immediately dip out (if you're feeling ballsy, the second wave could be doable, but you'll likely either get yourself killed or leave yourself in a crippled position if the next floor doesn't start you next to an uncontested health source). The Chained Court is then mandatory, having the Chainsaw and being a relatively safe place to get some more EXP before the really nasty enemies start showing up, yet I nearly botched it here and had some bad respawn luck with the Barons that prevented me from leaving in good health. Fortunately the next level I was able to get a health globe early and the level was about as easy as you can hope for a late Phobos level to be on N!. Phobos 7 then looked good at first, including having a Rocket Launcher at the start that is a key weapon for this challenge, and it had a very good Invuln spawn too, but when I tried getting to the Invuln as time ticked down, some Barons that picked up armor and other items nearly ruined the run, yet I was able to avoid letting the Baron blow up the Invuln and grab it just in time. Thanks to the Invlun and having just picked up Berserker, the extremely deadly N! Phobos Anomaly ambush was a nonfactor, without the Invuln I would have had to run back to the starting room and hope I can outlast all the Nightmare enemies without losing all my armor. The Bruisers can be bypassed, but with a facerocket to trigger Berserker, they can be killed without taking much damage for that sweet EXP.
Any run that makes it to Deimos is in a serious position to succeed, but Deimos 1 went rather awful, being near death at one point as I had to get a Berserk near barrels while a I could hear a Revenant, Mancubus, and Hell Knight lurking around. I managed to secure the Berserk without it blowing up or me dying, but I get banged up as I try to exit, and end up taking the stairs to Deimos Lab with my Red Armor damaged and my health in not too good of shape. I could have just exited Deimos Lab without issue, but I decided to take the risk to explore the rest of the level as the crates could have health and Blue Armors if I'm lucky, guaranteed Supercharges, a guaranteed Shell Box, two mods, and the weapon cache could have a very helpful weapon. It did get dicey but the risk mostly paid off as I exited the level in better shape, and one of the mods was a very useful Technical mod to speed up my Chainsaw, but I forgot the guaranteed Blue Armor, the weapon cache ended up having nothing good in it, and the other mod was not a Bulk mod to restore my Red Armor as I was hoping for. Luckily Deimos 2 started me next to an Armor Shard that wasn't too contested and so I got my Red Armor back in good shape, while this was the point I got a fortunate stretch of floors that really bolstered this run. Aside from that convenient Armor Shard, Deimos 2 had a vault with a Bulk mod and a Combat Shotgun, as well as an Invuln. Deimos 3 had more mods that allowed me to make a Tactical Shotgun and another Invuln, which I take advantage of to clear The Wall for a lot of EXP and a big rocket stash while taking little damage (without that Invuln, I wouldn't have entered The Wall, as with no means to heal and being on a timer, trying to clear it would have killed me or left me crippled). Then Deimos 4 gave me a very easy Pinky cave, as well as a nice Phaseshift Armor and a Power mod for it (plus another Onyx Armor I didn't need). I also fortunately got City Of Skulls instead of Abyssal Plains, which I enter as Blademaster has a very easy time with it and it allows me to rack up a huge amount of kills at little risk to buffer that kill %, being worth taking some minor damage. Deimos 5 and 6 were typical Deimos levels that weren't bad, but when playing a bit recklessly on Deimos 6 I took a concerning amount of damage, while an Invuln I was banking on got destroyed, leaving me in a not so good spot health-wise as I entered Deimos 7. Deimos 7 turned out to be an Island level, not good as a melee build when you don't have lava immunity, but in yet another fortunate turn, I happen quickly upon some medkits that were mostly uncontested, as well as another Invuln. With the rest of the floor being easy enough, I save the Invuln to take out the Cyberdemon with no damage and enter Hell in a very strong spot. Deimos 7 had a Firestorm mod too, not that useful but I slap it on my Rocket Launcher as I was unlikely to find the Bulk mods to make a Tactical Rocket Launcher at this point.
When you make it to Hell in good shape, your chances are very good that your run will succeed, but when you're unable to carry medkits, I can easily die if I overextend too much, or if I get a very nasty maze level or Arachnotron cave. The first two floors of Hell were on the easy side, and Hell 2 had an Invuln, which ended up being especially useful as Hell 3 did spawn me in an Arachnotron Cave that could have been potentially deadly without it. Hell 3 itself had an Invuln too, which I take advantage of to clear the Unholy Cathedral with no damage and secure the Longinus Spear, setting me up to finish the run. I keep the Chainsaw though to kill Pain Elementals without gibbing them as the Spear would (gibbing Pain Elementals prevent them from leaving Lost Souls behind, not that I really needed to squeeze those extra few free kills, but I just wanted to be sure I built a very good buffer in case I had to leave any preceding floors quickly). The remaining floors of Hell wouldn't threaten me and it was pretty smooth sailing the rest of the way as I blew through floors ridiculously fast, while Hell 5 even had a Sniper mod so I could make a Plasmatic Shotgun, the best weapon for destroying corpses (not that I really needed it at this point). Then there's Dis, where in AoRA, you can just wait out the nuke timer and take the partial win, which will still award the badge, but it was simple enough to run in berserked and smash the Mastermind's brains in.
Overall this took me six attempts, as well as a few more I Q+Y'd on a bad Phobos Base Entry... which isn't quite as much as you would expect to need for a badge thought borderline impossible for over a decade (and all those runs died in Phobos, with only one of them making it past The Chained Court, which died in Phobos 7). Granted, Reloader's buff in 0.9.9.8 was a big help, and 0.9.9.8's enemy reveal on the final three enemies is another advantageous factor, but this badge still should have been possible with my Blademaster strategy in 0.9.9.7 (if I tried this in 0.9.9.7, I would probably however go with Finesse for the second level and avoid Reloader altogether, and hope I get blessed with early Shell Boxes). As for the level luck, I had some pretty bad Phobos floors (that nigh-immortal Phobos 7 Baron would have haunted me if I didn't reach that Invuln in time...), but it's hard to ask for much better Deimos floors than what I got, and I had a great run of luck with not getting a single maze (those are run killers in Nightmare normally, let alone having to do so when you're under a timer and trying to kill most enemies). The item luck was pretty nice too, namely getting that early Power mod and a Rocket Launcher before Deimos were key to this run, as well as those well-time Invulns before crucial levels (it can't be stressed enough how good getting a Phobos 7 Invuln is). Very happy with how this run turned out, and better yet that it didn't require a big grind to get.
Now here is the mortem with that shiny badge never seen officially in a mortem before!
In DRL since version 0.9.9.7, there has been 17 Angelic Badges, the highest tier badges available. Of those 17 badges, 7 have never been verifiably won by any player since 0.9.9.7's release back in 2013, which are; UAC Angelic (beat the standard game on Nightmare with no damage), Demonic Angelic (beat standard N! with 100% kills and no damage), Speedrun Angelic (beat standard N! in under 4 minutes), Pacifist Angelic (beat Archangel of Pacifism with only one enemy dying, which must be the Spider Mastermind), Inquisitor Angelic (beat Angel of Purity + Angel of Red Alert on N!), Eagerness Angelic (beat Angel of Impatience + Angel of Red Alert on N! with 90+% kills) and Masochist Angelic (beat Archangel of Masochism on N!). Of those 7, the formermost 4 have been deemed to be outright impossible without cheating, and the lattermost is considered possible though extremely extremely difficult. The middle 2, Inquisitor and Eagerness Angelic, while not intrinsically impossible like the aforementioned 4, were thought to be so absurdly difficult that they were bordering on impossibility and would require esoteric cheese with rare items to obtain (namely for Eagerness Angelic, finding an early Trigun and getting an Invuln chain that allows you to nuke most of the levels, or finding a Dragonslayer with Vampyre, surviving a nuke with Invuln, and then farming the infinitely spawning Nightmare Demons for a long time to buffer your kill percentage a huge amount), so me and Icy have been proposing to easen their requirements alongside the unwinnable 4.
Then the first beta version of 0.9.9.9 dropped, which made some big changes to Nightmare in response to most players finding it unfun and avoiding the difficulty altogether; these changes are enemies will not respawn in your vision, respawns do not drop their inventory (and so cannot be farmed for ammo), and most importantly, respawns no longer count towards the kill percentage. These changes still don't make the unwinnable 4 humanly viable, and don't affect Inquisitor Angelic that much, but they are significant for Eagerness Angelic; the main reason it was thought borderline impossible is the fact that the time limit of AoRA makes meticulous corpse disposal unfeasible and so all the respawns would inevitably prevent you from maintaining such a high kill percentage of 90%, thus allowing you to ignore them entirely and not have them affect your kill percentage makes the badge a whole lot more viable. There was still concern that requiring 90% kills, in conjunction with the restraints of AoI (which most importantly prevents you from carrying medkits to heal on demand), was still too much, but to be sure if the badge still needed nerfing, I tested getting it in the beta (as well as tested Inquisitor Angelic), and was able to win it (link goes to the Jupiter Hell discord). However, when looking at the winning mortem and calculating the kill % with respawns factored, it came out to... over 90%... so I would have still won the badge even without the aforementioned kill % change with respawns, meaning this badge was very possible all along. Since 0.9.9.9's official release is still likely a ways off and wanting to claim this badge first in an official version, I decided to go boot up the official release of 0.9.9.8 and win the badge officially.
When it comes for the build to use for Eagerness Angelic, Blademaster seems to be the clear best shot, as no other build can clear floors faster, and Blademaster's ability to make every killing blow an instant action gives you the capability to farm kills to make up the large amount of kills needed, namely from Pain Elementals as Blademaster can wipe out a whole swath of Lost Souls instantly (and indeed I would do a bit of Pain Elemental farming throughout this run, but it would end up proving unnecessary, as even if you removed all the Lost Soul kills, I still would have had over 90% kills). As for trait order, I leadoff with Hellrunner; since most of your actions will be just moving, the trait that makes your movement take less time is invaluable when you're on a time limit for every floor (while Hellrunner is also just great in general). I immediately deviate from Blademaster's prereqs however by taking a level of Reloader; just surviving early Phobos on Nightmare is very difficult as is without any combat-boosting traits, and getting Brute doesn't help much yet when you don't got a Chainsaw, while of the available traits, Reloader gives the biggest boost when you're relying primarily on Shotguns. Since you're doing so much reloading, making your reloads 30% faster saves you a lot of time too and thus gives you more actions to work with on each floor. I then deviate once more to get a level of Intuition; powerups are very important on N! when they're doubly effective, but especially so in AoI where you're unable to store medkits in your inventory, so you are very reliant on powerups to keep your health up, and especially especially so in AoRA when Invulnerabilities allow you to survive nukes, making immediately knowing where all powerups are located on each floor crucial. However, I do not get the second level of Intuition, as being able to detect enemies outside vision isn't too helpful when floors are so enemy dense and they're often on top of you immediately, while you desperately need to get yourself stronger ASAP, so I go for the second level of HR instead to get even more speed. At this point I'll be getting the Chainsaw, making it time to get two levels of Brute and then Berserker; Berserker is especially important, as being berserked speeds you up significantly, and when Berserker triggers from you being hit, berserk's +60% resistances get applied before damage is calculated, giving you a big defensive boost against the hard hitting VMR (or I can trigger it intentionally at nearly any time with a face rocket whenever I need said boosts). It is then the third level of Brute, and finally Blademaster. After Blademaster, I get a level of Finesse to farther increase my offense and overall speed, then I get Juggler since I'm swapping around weapons so much (especially handy when I use rocket jumping to get in an enemy's face, or to swap between my Shotguns and Chainsaw as needed without taking a hit). Then it's another level of Finesse for yet more DPS/speed, and then Whizkid to get more mods on my stuff instead of letting mods I find go to waste (though I don't take the second level, as I wasn't coming across enough mods to make it worthwhile). I finally take some levels in Ironman to give me some lategame assurance, since I could always run across some levels that deprive me of health.
Now for the actual run. With Phobos Base Entry, I just employ my usual tactic of immediately running to the base, and if Shotgunners come out early and I take a lot of damage, I Q+Y out. Otherwise there's not much to say about it, except you don't need to be fussed about trying to get the medkits as you can't bring them with you anyway. You can try to wait around and farm the respawning formers as much as you can within the time limit to both get more ammo + beef up your kill count a little, but it's not really worth doing here, and since you'll probably end up dying soon after, it's often a lot of wasted time. With the early Phobos levels, your immediate priority is to locate the stairs and kill whatever is in the way. Once you find the stairs, you can go around and kill more enemies to both get that crucial EXP and bolster your kill count, as well as grab any armor and anything else helpful that you can within the time limit (such as the Power Mod I found in an early vault, that was really helpful for my Shotgun). This early on, don't be too plussed with your kill %, you're unlikely to maintain 90+% at this point, so worry about buffing your kill count later and leave levels early if they get out of hand. For the early special levels, you absolutely have no chance of beating Hell's Arena with this challenge combination on N!, but you can dip in, clear out the first wave for extra EXP + some help for your kill %, and then immediately dip out (if you're feeling ballsy, the second wave could be doable, but you'll likely either get yourself killed or leave yourself in a crippled position if the next floor doesn't start you next to an uncontested health source). The Chained Court is then mandatory, having the Chainsaw and being a relatively safe place to get some more EXP before the really nasty enemies start showing up, yet I nearly botched it here and had some bad respawn luck with the Barons that prevented me from leaving in good health. Fortunately the next level I was able to get a health globe early and the level was about as easy as you can hope for a late Phobos level to be on N!. Phobos 7 then looked good at first, including having a Rocket Launcher at the start that is a key weapon for this challenge, and it had a very good Invuln spawn too, but when I tried getting to the Invuln as time ticked down, some Barons that picked up armor and other items nearly ruined the run, yet I was able to avoid letting the Baron blow up the Invuln and grab it just in time. Thanks to the Invlun and having just picked up Berserker, the extremely deadly N! Phobos Anomaly ambush was a nonfactor, without the Invuln I would have had to run back to the starting room and hope I can outlast all the Nightmare enemies without losing all my armor. The Bruisers can be bypassed, but with a facerocket to trigger Berserker, they can be killed without taking much damage for that sweet EXP.
Any run that makes it to Deimos is in a serious position to succeed, but Deimos 1 went rather awful, being near death at one point as I had to get a Berserk near barrels while a I could hear a Revenant, Mancubus, and Hell Knight lurking around. I managed to secure the Berserk without it blowing up or me dying, but I get banged up as I try to exit, and end up taking the stairs to Deimos Lab with my Red Armor damaged and my health in not too good of shape. I could have just exited Deimos Lab without issue, but I decided to take the risk to explore the rest of the level as the crates could have health and Blue Armors if I'm lucky, guaranteed Supercharges, a guaranteed Shell Box, two mods, and the weapon cache could have a very helpful weapon. It did get dicey but the risk mostly paid off as I exited the level in better shape, and one of the mods was a very useful Technical mod to speed up my Chainsaw, but I forgot the guaranteed Blue Armor, the weapon cache ended up having nothing good in it, and the other mod was not a Bulk mod to restore my Red Armor as I was hoping for. Luckily Deimos 2 started me next to an Armor Shard that wasn't too contested and so I got my Red Armor back in good shape, while this was the point I got a fortunate stretch of floors that really bolstered this run. Aside from that convenient Armor Shard, Deimos 2 had a vault with a Bulk mod and a Combat Shotgun, as well as an Invuln. Deimos 3 had more mods that allowed me to make a Tactical Shotgun and another Invuln, which I take advantage of to clear The Wall for a lot of EXP and a big rocket stash while taking little damage (without that Invuln, I wouldn't have entered The Wall, as with no means to heal and being on a timer, trying to clear it would have killed me or left me crippled). Then Deimos 4 gave me a very easy Pinky cave, as well as a nice Phaseshift Armor and a Power mod for it (plus another Onyx Armor I didn't need). I also fortunately got City Of Skulls instead of Abyssal Plains, which I enter as Blademaster has a very easy time with it and it allows me to rack up a huge amount of kills at little risk to buffer that kill %, being worth taking some minor damage. Deimos 5 and 6 were typical Deimos levels that weren't bad, but when playing a bit recklessly on Deimos 6 I took a concerning amount of damage, while an Invuln I was banking on got destroyed, leaving me in a not so good spot health-wise as I entered Deimos 7. Deimos 7 turned out to be an Island level, not good as a melee build when you don't have lava immunity, but in yet another fortunate turn, I happen quickly upon some medkits that were mostly uncontested, as well as another Invuln. With the rest of the floor being easy enough, I save the Invuln to take out the Cyberdemon with no damage and enter Hell in a very strong spot. Deimos 7 had a Firestorm mod too, not that useful but I slap it on my Rocket Launcher as I was unlikely to find the Bulk mods to make a Tactical Rocket Launcher at this point.
When you make it to Hell in good shape, your chances are very good that your run will succeed, but when you're unable to carry medkits, I can easily die if I overextend too much, or if I get a very nasty maze level or Arachnotron cave. The first two floors of Hell were on the easy side, and Hell 2 had an Invuln, which ended up being especially useful as Hell 3 did spawn me in an Arachnotron Cave that could have been potentially deadly without it. Hell 3 itself had an Invuln too, which I take advantage of to clear the Unholy Cathedral with no damage and secure the Longinus Spear, setting me up to finish the run. I keep the Chainsaw though to kill Pain Elementals without gibbing them as the Spear would (gibbing Pain Elementals prevent them from leaving Lost Souls behind, not that I really needed to squeeze those extra few free kills, but I just wanted to be sure I built a very good buffer in case I had to leave any preceding floors quickly). The remaining floors of Hell wouldn't threaten me and it was pretty smooth sailing the rest of the way as I blew through floors ridiculously fast, while Hell 5 even had a Sniper mod so I could make a Plasmatic Shotgun, the best weapon for destroying corpses (not that I really needed it at this point). Then there's Dis, where in AoRA, you can just wait out the nuke timer and take the partial win, which will still award the badge, but it was simple enough to run in berserked and smash the Mastermind's brains in.
Overall this took me six attempts, as well as a few more I Q+Y'd on a bad Phobos Base Entry... which isn't quite as much as you would expect to need for a badge thought borderline impossible for over a decade (and all those runs died in Phobos, with only one of them making it past The Chained Court, which died in Phobos 7). Granted, Reloader's buff in 0.9.9.8 was a big help, and 0.9.9.8's enemy reveal on the final three enemies is another advantageous factor, but this badge still should have been possible with my Blademaster strategy in 0.9.9.7 (if I tried this in 0.9.9.7, I would probably however go with Finesse for the second level and avoid Reloader altogether, and hope I get blessed with early Shell Boxes). As for the level luck, I had some pretty bad Phobos floors (that nigh-immortal Phobos 7 Baron would have haunted me if I didn't reach that Invuln in time...), but it's hard to ask for much better Deimos floors than what I got, and I had a great run of luck with not getting a single maze (those are run killers in Nightmare normally, let alone having to do so when you're under a timer and trying to kill most enemies). The item luck was pretty nice too, namely getting that early Power mod and a Rocket Launcher before Deimos were key to this run, as well as those well-time Invulns before crucial levels (it can't be stressed enough how good getting a Phobos 7 Invuln is). Very happy with how this run turned out, and better yet that it didn't require a big grind to get.
Now here is the mortem with that shiny badge never seen officially in a mortem before!
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DRL (0.9.9.8a) roguelike post-mortem character dump
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NOMEDKITS, level 16 Cyberdemon General Scout,
defeated the Mastermind at the City of Dis.
He survived 57617 turns and scored 896737 points.
He played for 1 hour, 39 minutes and 18 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 1269 out of 1338 hellspawn. (94%)
He held his right to remain violent.
He was an Angel of Impatience!
He was also an Angel of Red Alert!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 6
Levels completed : 3
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
Cyberdemon's Head Killing the Cyberdemon w/o taking damage
UAC Star (silver cluster) 50+ kills without taking damage
Eagerness Angelic Badge Complete AoI+AoRA on N!/90% kills
Quartermaster Platinum Badge Complete AoRA on N!
Longinus Platinum Badge Complete Unholy Cathedral on N!
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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#####...&####............................####..0.##########
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 82/70 Experience 125752/16
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +8 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +12
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Ironman (Level 2)
Finesse (Level 2)
Hellrunner (Level 2)
Reloader (Level 1)
Brute (Level 4)
Juggler (Level 1)
Berserker (Level 1)
Intuition (Level 1)
Whizkid (Level 1)
Blademaster (Level 1)
HR->Rel->Int->HR->Bru->Bru->Ber->Bru->MBm->Fin->Jug->Fin->WK->Iro->Iro->Bru->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] phaseshift armor [4/4] (92%) (AP)
[b] [ Weapon ] Longinus Spear (8d8)
[c] [ Boots ] tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] shell box (x46)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] plasmatic shotgun (8d3) [1/1]
[b] tactical shotgun (8d3) [5/5]
[c] rocket launcher (6d6) [0/1] (B1F1)
[d] blue armor [4/4] (100%) (P)
[e] red armor [4/4] (200%) (B)
[f] red armor [4/4] (100%) (A)
[g] red armor [4/4] (62%) (A)
[h] red armor [4/4] (100%)
[i] onyx armor [2] (A)
[j] Medical Powerarmor [6/6] (100%)
[k] chainsaw (5d6) (BT)
[l] shotgun shell (x70)
[m] shotgun shell (x70)
[n] shotgun shell (x70)
[o] shotgun shell (x59)
[p] shotgun shell (x70)
[q] rocket (x14)
[r] rocket (x14)
[s] plasteel boots [2/2] (100%) (A)
[t] shell box (x100)
[u] rocket box (x25)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
bullet - internal 80% torso 95% feet 80%
melee - internal 80% torso 95% feet 80%
shrapnel - internal 80% torso 95% feet 80%
acid - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
fire - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
plasma - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
123 former humans
106 former sergeants
60 former captains
131 imps
147 demons
404 lost souls
55 cacodemons
20 hell knights
58 barons of hell
20 arachnotrons
19 former commandos
37 pain elementals
16 revenants
20 mancubi
19 arch-viles
4 nightmare imps
16 nightmare cacodemons
8 nightmare demons
2 bruiser brothers
1 agony elemental
1 Angel of Death
1 Cyberdemon
1 Spider Mastermind
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
He saw, left a present and left.
On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
On level 7 he assembled a tactical boots!
On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
On level 9 he entered Deimos Lab.
He decided to nuke the forbidden Lab.
On level 11 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
On level 11 he witnessed the Wall.
He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
On level 12 he found the City of Skulls.
He wiped out the City of Skulls.
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 19 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 19 he found the Longinus Spear!
He then destroyed the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 21 he assembled a plasmatic shrapnel!
On level 23 he found the Medical Powerarmor!
Then at last he found Dis!
On level 24 he finally defeated the Mastermind.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
You wear/wield : a Longinus Spear (8d8)
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You miss the Spider Mastermind. You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You're going
berserk! You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind dies. Congratulations!
You defeated the Spider Mastermind! Press <Enter>...
Next!
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
62 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
18 of those were killed.
7 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 2 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
35 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
2 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
6 killed the bitch and survived.
27 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
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15
Nightmare! / (0.9.9.9 Beta 1) [N!|AoP + AoRA|66%|YAVP] - Inquisitor Angelic is very possible
« on: December 05, 2024, 20:28 »
So of the seven Angelic badges that were never verifiably won in over a decade of 0.9.9.7 and in the few months 0.9.9.8 been out, Inquisitor Angelic was one of them, and as a result, me and Icy have been proposing to nerf its difficulty requirement. 0.9.9.9's first beta brought some huge changes to Nightmare! however; namely enemies can't respawn in vision (without the aid of Archviles that is), respawns don't count towards the kill percentage (so you no longer need to dispose of every corpse to get 100% kills, but also can no longer cheese a respawn to puff up your kill count for any badge that requires less), and respawns no longer drop their inventory on death (so you can no longer farm infinite ammo off of formers). With these changes, I've been playing N! a lot in testing out the beta, and it got me thinking about how they affect these unwon badges. Masochist Angelic becomes a bit more doable, as it'll make getting through Phobos Base Entry without getting hit less luck-based and you can now more safely kill things if you find a nice camping spot, allowing you to get more crucial levels (and perhaps make surviving long enough to get Vampyre viable, so someone should definitely eventually win this badge). Eagerness Angelic becomes actually realistic now without have to cheese with an early Trigun or a miraculous Dragonslayer, though its 90% kill requirement may be still a bit high (so we amended our proposal of lowering it to 75-80% instead of the 50% we proposed before these changes). UAC Angelic becomes slightly more realistic, but I still think it's virtually impossible without save scumming (and so the proposal of nerfing it to UV remains), and Demonic Angelic becomes a lot more viable in theory, but considering how ludicrously impossible it already was, still absolutely no one is getting this without lots of save scumming (and so the proposal of changing it to 100% kills + Untouchable Pin or Medal remains). Then Speedrun Angelic is virtually unaffected, while Pacifist Angelic didn't require Nightmare anyway, and so both remain just as impossible, direly needing their requirements to be changed to something more realistic.
That leaves Inquisitor Angelic, which isn't really affected by these changes all that much, as kill percent is irrelevant, and since it's AoRA, you're typically not staying around in one spot for long nor sticking around the level long enough for respawns to start becoming frequent, so easier to manage respawns isn't much a factor. Thinking it through though had me questioning if that badge was as impossible as it was hyped up to be; while AoP + AoRA is a very nasty combo (you lose most of your healing in a challenge where you're forced to rush and thus take a lot of damage you can't easily heal off, can't use Maps to find the stairs and other useful items, can't use Berserks to speed you up and lessen damage, and can't use Invulns to avoid damage or as a mulligan if running out of time), there's nothing that makes it inherently impossible unlike the other unwinnable badges, you must simply play quickly to beat the nuke timer and survive well enough to make it to Dis. No having to avoid getting hit a single time while regularly dealing with 50+ respawning enemies, no having to kill more cumulative enemies in AoRA than what Quartermaster Diamond requires on top of them respawning and being unable to heal on demand, no having to beat the game in an inhuman time limit while desperately trying to push through WTF enemy density, and no having to run through 24 floors with no traits while praying not a single enemy dies to infighting or kills themselves or spawns on lava. So why has no one won it, was it really that inhumanly difficult, or was it that few people, if any, actually gave it a real serious grind because they were that spooked by the combo of AoP + AoRA? Seeing how Angel of Purity is one of the least popular challenges, if not the most unpopular, I was wavering towards it being the latter, and so decided to give this badge a real try myself to ascertain if the badge really needed nerfing.
Right away, while it was certainly very tough, I got a feeling it was doable, as I was able to make it to Deimos without that many tries. I was unsure of the build, and I was initially trying Scout + early Intuition, but after a few deaths that couldn't make it past mid-Phobos, I ruled Intuition out; the first level practically does nothing, as knowing where powerups are is worthless when you can't use them, and since floors get so dense on N!, you can't avoid enemies anyway and they're often on top of you, so it was much more prudent to improve your combat and speed than being able to detect enemies outside vision. After I made it to Deimos 1 with the Scout and quickly died, I decided to try a Marine instead; this sounds unideal when speed is everything in AoRA and when AoP makes the Marine's powerup bonus irrelevant, but the most often cause of failure by far is simply running out of medkits and then health when you can no longer heal by powerups nor can keep armor in good shape, while punching through lots of enemies is the much greater obstacle than just finding the stairs, so having extra HP and those inherent 20% energy resistances makes a big difference here. Once I started using the Marine, I was able to consistently make it to mid-Deimos, so I knew this was the play if I could just be a bit luckier with items and floors.
As for traits, I naturally lead off with Hellrunner when it's AoRA and I want to limit whatever damage I can. After that it's Reloader + Finesse, you're relying on the Shotgun a lot, and this combo greatly increases the reliability of corner shooting, while giving you a lot more shots you can afford to make on each floor (you go from being able to do 150 shots + reload with the Shotgun per floor at maximum to 193). I was initially going for Rel2 too, but I found it wasn't too necessary and other traits were more imperative. Then you need Hellrunner 2 ASAP; aside from all the big advantages of HR2, you need it to reliably get through Phobos Anomaly without a Phase Device or Rocket Launcher that you often won't have, and even with HR2 you can end up burning all your medkits in the Anomaly if you're unlucky, so you can't risk making it to Anomaly without it. After HR2, I then go for Bru2 and Berserker; you can't really use melee much early on when healing is so limited and having HR blocks getting Vampyre, but when you can't repair armor, Berserker (that stacks very nicely with the Marine's resistances) is a major survivability boost once VMR start popping up (while you can then utilize it to quickly kill tough enemies when it makes sense to do so). After Berserker, I get Ironman to get some desperately needed HP and to better stretch out my few medkits I often have left by mid-Deimos (while slightly reducing physical damage is a nice plus too), and then I got another level of Fin when I made it far enough. As for the special levels, they're mostly a skip unless they let you more quickly escape a level and can be run through without much danger, but I did find it helpful to dip into Hell's Arena and kill some enemies, as with HR + Fin + Rel, you can do so without taking much damage and that extra EXP is helpful. The Chained Court is also mandatory; aside from the value of the Chainsaw itself, its Berserk on pickup still works, so this is essentially a free guaranteed full heal that you often really need, while you can also pick up some more EXP without taking much damage (I wouldn't complete the level though, I would just run through the right, pick off the formers there and kill the two Barons before leaving, that one free Berserk lasts just long enough for that and the two mod packs aren't worth burning your very limited medkits). When I got Deimos Lab, I would also take the opportunity to kill some enemies there as the beginning area gives you a very safe opportunity to do so and you can easily flee once time starts running low (it may even be worth going into the teleporters and possibly getting some medkits from the crates + the two mods and a nice weapon from the cache, but I never risked it as you can easily end up getting plasma'd by a Commando after teleporting or have to punch through a bunch of Cacos at awkward angles).
After making it to mid-Deimos so consistently, I knew this was completely doable, and after 12 attempts (plus about another half dozen or so I Q+Y'd on Phobos Base Entry), my theorycrafting about the badge would be proven correct. Finding a Phaseshift Armor in early Deimos was huge, and getting luckier with a random Nano mod in late Deimos was even better (which I put on the aforementioned Phaseshift Armor to ensure I always had decent armor in conjunction with Berserker and was very fast), while the RNG blessed me with late Phaseshift Boots too. That is not to say my luck was amazing though, I did get some really nasty floors in Deimos, including an Arachnotron cave in mid-Deimos that destroyed my armor reserve before that Nano mod and most of my medkits, and this very nasty maze at the end of Deimos, which I wouldn't have survived without Berserker. Hell started me off with another maze + barrel event, but once again thanks to Berserker, I am able to get through it. First half Hell was a bit shaky, as I only had a couple large medkits, and so I skipped Unholy Cathedral as a result despite how useful the Spear would be. When Hell 4 gave me those aforementioned Phaseshift Boots though, I also found a Homing Phase after killing a Baron and got a bunch of medkits from crates, at which the point the run was sealed. Once you make it to Dis you automatically won, as you can just let the timer run out and get the partial win, but since I had a bunch of medkits and very good armor, I go in and smash the Mastermind to bits.
Unfortunate this was in a beta and so it's not really "official" (which is why I didn't record a video of it), but I still found it worth posting as the first Inquisitor Angelic Badge, and to show that it is indeed possible. This is only the first beta of 0.9.9.9 and so things can end up changing quite a bit by the official release (such as N! possibly adding back a universal speed bonus for enemies that will make this a bit more difficult), but I can't see anything that can be changed that would make this badge impossible, so I'll be removing the proposal to nerf this badge's requirement to UV (and when 0.9.9.9 releases proper, I'll be sure to record a proper run of this badge). As for doing this badge in prior versions, as the Nightmare changes aren't a big difference to this badge as explained prior, this should be fully doable in 0.9.9.8. As for the possibility of this badge back in 0.9.9.7, I did use the Marine here, whose inherent 20% energy resistances did not exist then, and this run certainly wouldn't have succeeded without those resistances (that aforementioned Arachnotron cave that nearly killed me would have done me in for sure, and those resistances crucially stretched out my medkits as explained prior), but this should still be very possible with a Scout if you get good enough item + floor luck (I was able to get to Deimos with a Scout after all, it was just less consistent than with the Marine). Doing it in 0.9.9.7 however, would mean that Deimos and Hell have a bit less enemies (due to 0.9.9.8 modifying the danger formula to get higher values in Deimos and Hell, with the difference being most pronounced on N!), so that is one way this badge would be slightly easier there (and seeing how most of my runs were failing in Deimos, that could be meaningful).
With that all said, here's the glorious mortem:
That leaves Inquisitor Angelic, which isn't really affected by these changes all that much, as kill percent is irrelevant, and since it's AoRA, you're typically not staying around in one spot for long nor sticking around the level long enough for respawns to start becoming frequent, so easier to manage respawns isn't much a factor. Thinking it through though had me questioning if that badge was as impossible as it was hyped up to be; while AoP + AoRA is a very nasty combo (you lose most of your healing in a challenge where you're forced to rush and thus take a lot of damage you can't easily heal off, can't use Maps to find the stairs and other useful items, can't use Berserks to speed you up and lessen damage, and can't use Invulns to avoid damage or as a mulligan if running out of time), there's nothing that makes it inherently impossible unlike the other unwinnable badges, you must simply play quickly to beat the nuke timer and survive well enough to make it to Dis. No having to avoid getting hit a single time while regularly dealing with 50+ respawning enemies, no having to kill more cumulative enemies in AoRA than what Quartermaster Diamond requires on top of them respawning and being unable to heal on demand, no having to beat the game in an inhuman time limit while desperately trying to push through WTF enemy density, and no having to run through 24 floors with no traits while praying not a single enemy dies to infighting or kills themselves or spawns on lava. So why has no one won it, was it really that inhumanly difficult, or was it that few people, if any, actually gave it a real serious grind because they were that spooked by the combo of AoP + AoRA? Seeing how Angel of Purity is one of the least popular challenges, if not the most unpopular, I was wavering towards it being the latter, and so decided to give this badge a real try myself to ascertain if the badge really needed nerfing.
Right away, while it was certainly very tough, I got a feeling it was doable, as I was able to make it to Deimos without that many tries. I was unsure of the build, and I was initially trying Scout + early Intuition, but after a few deaths that couldn't make it past mid-Phobos, I ruled Intuition out; the first level practically does nothing, as knowing where powerups are is worthless when you can't use them, and since floors get so dense on N!, you can't avoid enemies anyway and they're often on top of you, so it was much more prudent to improve your combat and speed than being able to detect enemies outside vision. After I made it to Deimos 1 with the Scout and quickly died, I decided to try a Marine instead; this sounds unideal when speed is everything in AoRA and when AoP makes the Marine's powerup bonus irrelevant, but the most often cause of failure by far is simply running out of medkits and then health when you can no longer heal by powerups nor can keep armor in good shape, while punching through lots of enemies is the much greater obstacle than just finding the stairs, so having extra HP and those inherent 20% energy resistances makes a big difference here. Once I started using the Marine, I was able to consistently make it to mid-Deimos, so I knew this was the play if I could just be a bit luckier with items and floors.
As for traits, I naturally lead off with Hellrunner when it's AoRA and I want to limit whatever damage I can. After that it's Reloader + Finesse, you're relying on the Shotgun a lot, and this combo greatly increases the reliability of corner shooting, while giving you a lot more shots you can afford to make on each floor (you go from being able to do 150 shots + reload with the Shotgun per floor at maximum to 193). I was initially going for Rel2 too, but I found it wasn't too necessary and other traits were more imperative. Then you need Hellrunner 2 ASAP; aside from all the big advantages of HR2, you need it to reliably get through Phobos Anomaly without a Phase Device or Rocket Launcher that you often won't have, and even with HR2 you can end up burning all your medkits in the Anomaly if you're unlucky, so you can't risk making it to Anomaly without it. After HR2, I then go for Bru2 and Berserker; you can't really use melee much early on when healing is so limited and having HR blocks getting Vampyre, but when you can't repair armor, Berserker (that stacks very nicely with the Marine's resistances) is a major survivability boost once VMR start popping up (while you can then utilize it to quickly kill tough enemies when it makes sense to do so). After Berserker, I get Ironman to get some desperately needed HP and to better stretch out my few medkits I often have left by mid-Deimos (while slightly reducing physical damage is a nice plus too), and then I got another level of Fin when I made it far enough. As for the special levels, they're mostly a skip unless they let you more quickly escape a level and can be run through without much danger, but I did find it helpful to dip into Hell's Arena and kill some enemies, as with HR + Fin + Rel, you can do so without taking much damage and that extra EXP is helpful. The Chained Court is also mandatory; aside from the value of the Chainsaw itself, its Berserk on pickup still works, so this is essentially a free guaranteed full heal that you often really need, while you can also pick up some more EXP without taking much damage (I wouldn't complete the level though, I would just run through the right, pick off the formers there and kill the two Barons before leaving, that one free Berserk lasts just long enough for that and the two mod packs aren't worth burning your very limited medkits). When I got Deimos Lab, I would also take the opportunity to kill some enemies there as the beginning area gives you a very safe opportunity to do so and you can easily flee once time starts running low (it may even be worth going into the teleporters and possibly getting some medkits from the crates + the two mods and a nice weapon from the cache, but I never risked it as you can easily end up getting plasma'd by a Commando after teleporting or have to punch through a bunch of Cacos at awkward angles).
After making it to mid-Deimos so consistently, I knew this was completely doable, and after 12 attempts (plus about another half dozen or so I Q+Y'd on Phobos Base Entry), my theorycrafting about the badge would be proven correct. Finding a Phaseshift Armor in early Deimos was huge, and getting luckier with a random Nano mod in late Deimos was even better (which I put on the aforementioned Phaseshift Armor to ensure I always had decent armor in conjunction with Berserker and was very fast), while the RNG blessed me with late Phaseshift Boots too. That is not to say my luck was amazing though, I did get some really nasty floors in Deimos, including an Arachnotron cave in mid-Deimos that destroyed my armor reserve before that Nano mod and most of my medkits, and this very nasty maze at the end of Deimos, which I wouldn't have survived without Berserker. Hell started me off with another maze + barrel event, but once again thanks to Berserker, I am able to get through it. First half Hell was a bit shaky, as I only had a couple large medkits, and so I skipped Unholy Cathedral as a result despite how useful the Spear would be. When Hell 4 gave me those aforementioned Phaseshift Boots though, I also found a Homing Phase after killing a Baron and got a bunch of medkits from crates, at which the point the run was sealed. Once you make it to Dis you automatically won, as you can just let the timer run out and get the partial win, but since I had a bunch of medkits and very good armor, I go in and smash the Mastermind to bits.
Unfortunate this was in a beta and so it's not really "official" (which is why I didn't record a video of it), but I still found it worth posting as the first Inquisitor Angelic Badge, and to show that it is indeed possible. This is only the first beta of 0.9.9.9 and so things can end up changing quite a bit by the official release (such as N! possibly adding back a universal speed bonus for enemies that will make this a bit more difficult), but I can't see anything that can be changed that would make this badge impossible, so I'll be removing the proposal to nerf this badge's requirement to UV (and when 0.9.9.9 releases proper, I'll be sure to record a proper run of this badge). As for doing this badge in prior versions, as the Nightmare changes aren't a big difference to this badge as explained prior, this should be fully doable in 0.9.9.8. As for the possibility of this badge back in 0.9.9.7, I did use the Marine here, whose inherent 20% energy resistances did not exist then, and this run certainly wouldn't have succeeded without those resistances (that aforementioned Arachnotron cave that nearly killed me would have done me in for sure, and those resistances crucially stretched out my medkits as explained prior), but this should still be very possible with a Scout if you get good enough item + floor luck (I was able to get to Deimos with a Scout after all, it was just less consistent than with the Marine). Doing it in 0.9.9.7 however, would mean that Deimos and Hell have a bit less enemies (due to 0.9.9.8 modifying the danger formula to get higher values in Deimos and Hell, with the difference being most pronounced on N!), so that is one way this badge would be slightly easier there (and seeing how most of my runs were failing in Deimos, that could be meaningful).
With that all said, here's the glorious mortem:
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DRL (0.9.9.9 BETA 1) roguelike post-mortem character dump
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PUER, level 12 Arch-Vile Lt. Colonel Marine,
defeated the Mastermind at the City of Dis.
He survived 40811 turns and scored 581230 points.
He played for 1 hour, 1 minute and 17 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 629 out of 951 encountered hellspawn. (66%)
He killed 677 out of 1053 enemy spawns total.
He was an Angel of Purity!
He was also an Angel of Red Alert!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 3
Levels completed : 0
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (bronze cluster) 25+ kills without taking damage
Inquisitor Gold Badge Complete Angel of Purity (AoP)
Inquisitor Platinum Badge Complete AoP on UV
Inquisitor Diamond Badge Complete AoP on N! as Marine
Inquisitor Angelic Badge Complete AoP+AoRA on N!
Quartermaster Bronze Badge Reach level 16 on Angel of Red Alert
Quartermaster Silver Badge Complete Angel of Red Alert (AoRA)
Quartermaster Platinum Badge Complete AoRA on N!
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 77/90 Experience 62068/12
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +4 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +6
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Marine
Ironman (Level 3)
Finesse (Level 2)
Hellrunner (Level 2)
Reloader (Level 1)
Brute (Level 2)
Berserker (Level 1)
Whizkid (Level 1)
HR->Rel->Fin->Bru->HR->Bru->Ber->Iro->Iro->Fin->Iro->WK->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[ Armor ] phaseshift armor [4/4] (100%) (NP)
[ Weapon ] chainsaw (5d6) (BT)
[ Boots ] phaseshift boots [4/4] (100%)
[ Prepared ] shell box (x30)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
combat shotgun (8d3) [3/5] (P1)
rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1]
Railgun (8d8) [40/40]
green armor [1/1] (100%)
shotgun shell (x50)
shotgun shell (x50)
shotgun shell (x50)
shotgun shell (x50)
rocket (x8)
power cell (x50)
small med-pack
small med-pack
large med-pack
large med-pack
phase device
phase device
rocket box (x25)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
bullet - internal 90% torso 95% feet 90%
melee - internal 90% torso 95% feet 90%
shrapnel - internal 90% torso 95% feet 90%
acid - internal 80% torso 80% feet 80%
fire - internal 80% torso 80% feet 80%
plasma - internal 80% torso 80% feet 80%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
73 former humans
80 former sergeants
37 former captains
104 imps
83 demons
162 lost souls
37 cacodemons
16 hell knights
29 barons of hell
10 arachnotrons
15 former commandos
9 pain elementals
7 mancubi
13 arch-viles
1 Cyberdemon
1 Spider Mastermind
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
He saw, left a present and left.
On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
On level 9 he entered Deimos Lab.
He decided to nuke the forbidden Lab.
On level 10 he found the Railgun!
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 17 he assembled a tactical boots!
Level 23 was a hard nut to crack!
He left level 23 as soon as possible.
Then at last he found Dis!
On level 24 he finally defeated the Mastermind.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You're going
berserk! You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You need to
taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! You're going
berserk! You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You hit the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind dies. Congratulations!
You defeated the Spider Mastermind!
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
67 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
14 of those were killed.
13 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 5 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
35 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
1 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
14 killed the bitch and survived.
20 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
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