[EDIT] After I found the proper way to hide spoilers in this forum, I went here and put my question between the spoiler tags.
I started playing DoomRL only recently and haven't gotten too far. A few days ago I came across Unholy Cathedral. It seems that ranged weapons are disabled on this level. I boldly opened the cathedral doors and was promptly pecked to death by lost souls. Unfortunately, I left my trusty chainsaw a few levels above, but even with one my chances seem very slim - each lost soul would be able to take at least one swing at me before dying (they are fast...). Has anyone finished this level? Is there any reward for doing so? What was your approach?
On my next relatively successful try I skipped this level altogether, and later on came to the one with Arachnoids. After killing all of them I found a lot of stuff "under the webs". Anything similar here? Also, I faced the wall without rocket launcher - did I miss much?
Thanks in advance,
Zarin.
The reward for completing the Unholy Cathedral (UC is the acronym you may have seen elsewhere) is the Longinus Spear, which is the ultimate melee weapon (and which apparently makes AoB easier than AoMr). You will, however, need to kill the Angel of Death first, and some have said he's much harder than the Cyberdemon. Also, what you missed at the Wall are a lot of hell knights/barons eager for your blood and an advanced rocket launcher (4d5 instead of 4d4).
Yes, the Unholy Cathedral is usually only completed as part of a Angel of Berserk challenge game. Mostly this is because you will not have the right skills to take down the Angel of Death unless you are playing a pure melee character (3 leves of Brute + some levels of Berserk). With only 3 Brute and a chainsaw but no berserk it is very hard to kill him.
I usually go there anyway, though, just for the extra experience gained by killing the Lost Souls. After the Lost Souls there is a room full of demons and after the demons is the Angel of Death.
Some tips for your next visit. Lure the lost souls backwards one or two at a time to make killing them easier. And always hang on to your chainsaw - you never know when you will run out of ammo!