Chaosforge Forum
DRL => Post Mortem => Nightmare! => Topic started by: Omega Tyrant on December 11, 2025, 08:37
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With Shottyman and Marksman Diamond done, I decided to go for the last of the weapon-locked Diamonds with Berserker Diamond. According to the Badge Hunters thread (https://forum.chaosforge.org/index.php/topic,4621.0.html), Berserker was one of the rarer Diamonds in 0.9.9.7, with only six people recorded winning it, and just three of which did it without Sereging it (papilio of course (https://forum.chaosforge.org/index.php/topic,7443.0.html), appuru (https://forum.chaosforge.org/index.php/topic,6184.0.html), and surprisingly, the namesake of Sereging did it purely himself (https://forum.chaosforge.org/index.php/topic,8044.0.html)). This is surprising to me, as Berserker Diamond doesn't look that particularly difficult in this version; the easiest way to beat Nightmare! is to just rush through the game with a melee build, which will work mostly the same in AoB, surviving Phobos just becomes more luck-based but not exceedingly so, and you lose rocket launchers for rocket jumping or self-triggering Berserker, which sucks but isn't too bad a handicap with how strong lategame melee already is. There's a 60% minimum kill requirement, but that's so low you should reach it naturally unless you are just rushing to the stairs as fast as possible, and even if you do end up a bit short, it's trivial to farm a respawn or Pain Elemental for a bit to make up the kills needed before finishing the game. When looking at older versions, it does appear Berserker Diamond was won a lot more often, with over a dozen different players winning it prior to 0.9.9.7, so was there something in particular that made it more difficult in this version even with Sereging being able to easily cheese it?
For the build, it's nothing ground-breaking here, just good old Vampyre, which is near immortal on N! without you fucking up majorly. Maybe getting Fin2 and WK2 before Bru3, Badass 2, and any TaN might be seen as a little unusual, but that's my usual trait order for Vampyre regardless (Finesse does more for DPS than more Brute does after Brute 2 when you got the Chainsaw and is crucial to triggering Berserker faster from hitting enemies, while WK lets me buff my defenses more than TaN does while also buffing my offense and movement speed). The only other maybe unusual thing is not getting any Ironman, which is also the norm for me when playing any build that relies on Berserker, especially as the Marine when just a single level of it means Archvile zaps will no longer trigger it and Mancubi/Revenants almost never will.
As inferred earlier about the more luck-based Phobos, the early game is the hardest part of this badge by far. Phobos Base Entry is easy enough, but even floor 2 can be unsurvivable if you get spawned in an open level with little cover near a bunch of enemies, especially if you get plopped near Pinkies before you get Brute 2, and I indeed had a few resets on Phobos 2. This get exacerbated on N!, when the much more aggressive enemies means a squad of Imps or Formers will shred you fast in the open, and of course respawning is extra bad when health is a very finite resource at this point while you can't really kill enemies without avoiding damage. The natural inclination might be to just dive for the stairs, but you should reset until you get a floor 2 with a good corpse disposal spot that lets you clear it without depleting most of your resources, as you really want to hit level 3 for Berserker before advancing or at least get no more than a few kills away from it. When you get to the floor 3-5 range where Hell Knights and Cacodemons start showing up, and caves and the ever dreaded mazes can spawn, you should just dive as fast to The Chained Court as you can; even if you miss out on some levels you're much more likely to die in this level range trying to clear them out than you would be in later Phobos with the Chainsaw a couple levels lower. I did get a very fortunate floor 3 in this run though, not only spawning me in a room with only a single doorway that I could safely camp and kill everything in while also not having that many Hell Knights, but it also had a whopping three Berserks (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75KoUqXkAA0Cxx?format=jpg&name=large), allowing me to take a huge berserk stack with me into the next floor, that turned out to be a nasty warehouse level with the stairs on the complete opposite end of the map, something I probably would not have survived without going in with so much berserk. I reached The Chained Court in floor 5 not long after, and it is tempting to just grab the Chainsaw + all the berserks at once and make a dive for it, but I do kill everything here, since it's mostly safe EXP and those mods are very valuable (of which I get a Technical + Bulk mod, I immediately slap the T mod on the Chainsaw as the greater DPS boost and being able to trigger Berserker faster is more important than a bit more damage, while I put the B mod on a damaged Blue Armor to help me survive a bit longer to Vampyre). Reaching this point doesn't guarantee safety, my first attempt that made it this far did come extremely close to death on floor 6 until I hit the crucial level 6 for Vampyre right when I killed a Baron and was able to heal myself back up with a nearby Pain Elemental, but in this run I would reach Vampyre shortly after Chained Court without being in a serious danger, at which point you basically have the game won unless you do something catastrophically stupid (foreshadowing...). I rolled Phobos Lab for the floor 7 special level and decided to do it, meleeing Nightmare Demons is brutal but Berserker can allow me to do it as long as I don't have several in melee range before Berserker kicks in, and I can abuse a respawn to fully heal whenever. The level just takes a while but the mods, extra Large Medkit, and fresh Blue Armor are worth it (unfortunately I don't get the A mod I really wanted for a build with no HR...).
Then it's the Phobos Anomaly, a pivotal moment for any N! run. I mentioned earlier that you should never die with Vampyre on N! without doing something really fucking stupid, and well, I actually lost my first run that made it past Phobos 2 here, because I held off on grabbing the Large Health Globes and tried running back to the opening room to nab them after triggering the ambush, but doing that with no speed boosts is just not viable whatsoever and I died not even particularly close to the room (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75KktjWIAA2rtE?format=jpg&name=large). In this second attempt that made it this far, after already having a bit of berserk from the Large Health Globe at the end of Phobos Lab, I decide to immediately grab both Large Health Globes without grabbing the Medkits or Red Armor first, and then immediately run to the ambush; thanks to doubled powerups on N!, the berserk last long enough to make it to the ambush, and with Berserker + Vampyre, I am able to kill all the nightmare enemies, after which I go back to get the Red Armor and medkits left behind, quickly run to the Bruisers, kill them, and then leave. The rest of the run isn't too interesting to do this walkthrough style on, so I'll just recap some highlights:
- I did Deimos Lab, since while normally one of the most difficult levels in the game, it is pretty free for a melee build, even having the Shamblers revive a couple times after accidentally finishing them off not on a doorway didn't matter when I had berserk and Vampyre. Unfortunately the lab cache reward was the worst thing I could get, being a Firestorm and Sniper mod I could do absolutely nothing with (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75KphxXUAA2jnF?format=jpg&name=large). I also didn't get a single Agility mod here (and I wouldn't get any until Deimos 7), so I remain slow as hell. I nanofiber my Red Armor here, and since I had WK2, I opt to put my spare Power mod on it to ensure I had solid indestructible armor from here on out, rather than build the Ripper, surely I'll get another Power mod for it soon right? Right??? (On that note, I don't get another Red Armor either until Mortuary...)
- With a Phase + Homing Phase, and playing Vampyre with indestructible armor on hand, I decide to try clearing the Wall, but unfortunately the Phase Device doesn't get me past it. The elusive N! Gargulec Cross was lost long ago in Phobos, so the meager hit to my kill percent doesn't matter. I also decided to try going for a N! AoB Explorer here... while forgetting I already completely skipped Hell's Arena earlier in the run.
- Abyssal Plains is easy enough, though tedious to clear in N! AoB as you have to lure all the non-Elemental/Soul enemies here onto the four doorways available or intentionally eat some plasma balls on corpses. I also did a bit of damage farming to build towards an Iron Skull, but I abandoned it pretty quickly as it was going so slow and I knew there would be a faster way later.
- I rolled Spider's Lair instead of Halls Of Carnage, which really sucks as I wanted the mods in the latter, and Spider's Lair seems awful to try clearing in N! AoB, with no way to dispose corpses other than the two stair tiles or corpse stacking, the latter of which can't get rid of the last Arachnotron corpse. However after getting a nice camping spot that I waited for all the Arachnotrons to get to and Vampyre keeping my health up from all the damage I took, I'm able to kill them, and then use a Blood Skull from Abyssal Plains to get rid of the last Arachnotron corpse (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75KujZWcAAX_2n?format=jpg&name=large).
- It must be shocking the first time to Doom players to see how hilariously easy it is to beat the Cyberdemon with a melee build here compared to trying to melee the Cyberdemon in actual Doom.
- Hell 1 had a Nano Mod (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75KyMzWAAAHKy0?format=png&name=large) and a Phaseshift Armor (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75K22HWIAAgnwj?format=jpg&name=large). I hold off on using the Nano though, as surely I would find a second Agility mod to make Antigrav Boots, right??? Also Unholy Cathedral is of course free, but no 100% kills so no Scythe, and I go into The Vaults but can't do anything there.
- I went into Mortuary thinking it would be easy even in AoB since I'm Vampyre and I had two Hatred Skulls... but with only A-modded Steel Boots, armor that slowed me down a lot (I Nano modded the Phaseshift after not getting any more A mods before Mortuary, but it was getting shredded too fast for me to keep it on), and not having the Ripper, I was too slow to do it in pure melee. I was able to clear out the right side after burning the Skulls, a lot of Medkits and a Hellwave Pack, but pushing back to the left side was hopeless, especially once my berserk worn off and Arachnotrons + Mancubi kept coming in that were dealing too much damage to approach in the open, so I had to flee after getting down to my last Large Medkit. I really should have went to the top left corner for the Power mod to build my Ripper first, I maybe could have avoided getting overwhelmed if I did, or at least left the level with something profitable. I didn't even need the Nuclear BFG as I already had a nuke in my inventory, guess I'm just so used to going for the Nuclear BFG first that went towards it without thinking. Oh well, at least I didn't pointlessly throw the run here.
- Speaking of Ripper, I would finally find a Power mod to complete my Ripper (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75K4JCWoAEPgGq?format=jpg&name=large) in Hell 5, a whole 12 floors after Deimos Lab. Hell 6 would also have a Butcher's Cleaver (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75K57MWAAAmY1x?format=jpg&name=large), another weapon that would have been extremely helpful to have a couple floors earlier for Mortuary.
- With Hell 6 being a Nightmare Demon cave with lava, I decide it's time to grind for Iron Skull. After killing a Nightmare Demon near lava, waiting in lava a half dozen times, repeatedly killing the respawned Nightmare Demon until I got back to 200%, and repeating (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75K9RZWMAAkAge?format=jpg&name=large), I am able to rack up the additional ~4200 damage I needed for Iron Skull's stupid 10000 damage requirement after only about 15-20ish minutes (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G75K-wYXEAADcGT?format=jpg&name=large), which now sets me only 6 medals away from Heroic Diamond.
- Mt. Erebus had an Energy-shielded Vest, just to make my endgame inventory look much better than it actually was for most of the run.
And that's the run, with Hell 7 being nothing of note and then Carmack going down as easily as you would expect to an endgame melee build with a Ripper. Altogether this only took two attempts that didn't reset in Phobos 2, and if you count those than that just adds a few more. Yeah a lot more people should have won Berserker Diamond in 0.9.9.7, maybe most of the people that won it prior just kept transferring their player data forward and so never went for it again, and the new blood in 0.9.9.7 were too spooked by the thought of N! AoB? Can't think of any other reason for why so much more people won Marskman Diamond than Berserker Diamond, when the former is certainly a lot more difficult. I would also say getting the Gargulec Cross in UV is harder than getting Berserker Diamond, since in the former you have to kill everything in the early Phobos levels and can't just rush to Chained Court. Hell you might even be able to make a case that Berserker Platinum is harder if you just rush through them, since N!'s doubled powerups and doubled healing, as well as leveling you up faster, probably makes it easier to rush through the game, while Berserker Platinum's kill requirement is a little more relevant than Berserker Diamond's functionally irrelevant kill requirement. Anyway here is the mortem:
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DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
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GIVEMEURBLOOD,
level 17 Cyberdemon Chaos Lt. Colonel Marine,
nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
He survived 1784407 turns and scored 938291 points.
He played for 3 hours, 16 minutes and 20 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 2877 out of 3013 hellspawn. (95%)
He held his right to remain violent.
He was an Angel of Berserk!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 10
Levels completed : 6
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (silver cluster)
Aurora Medallion
Fallout Gold Cross
Iron Skull
Hell Armorer Badge
Berserker Diamond Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 110/60 Experience 148506/17
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +10 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +15
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Marine
Finesse (Level 3)
Tough as nails (Level 3)
Brute (Level 5)
Berserker (Level 1)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Badass (Level 2)
Vampyre (Level 1)
Bru->Bru->Ber->Fin->Bad->MVm->Fin->WK->WK->Bru->TaN->Fin->TaN->Bru->Bad->TaN->Bru->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] phaseshift armor [4/4] (100%) (NP)
[b] [ Weapon ] ripper (6d6) (T)
[c] [ Boots ] steel boots [1/1] (72%) (A)
[d] [ Prepared ] Butcher's Cleaver (5d6)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] red armor [2/4] (46%)
[b] nanofiber red armor [4] (P)
[c] energy-shielded vest [3/3] (100%) (P)
[d] Longinus Spear (8d8)
[e] small med-pack
[f] small med-pack
[g] small med-pack
[h] small med-pack
[i] large med-pack
[j] large med-pack
[k] large med-pack
[l] phase device
[m] phase device
[n] homing phase device
[o] envirosuit pack
[p] technical mod pack
[q] bulk mod pack
[r] plasteel boots [4/4] (89%) (PT)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Bullet - internal 60% torso 90% feet 60%
Melee - internal 60% torso 90% feet 60%
Shrapnel - internal 60% torso 90% feet 60%
Acid - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Fire - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Plasma - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
110 former humans
263 former sergeants
96 former captains
186 imps
150 demons
759 lost souls
89 cacodemons
31 hell knights
44 barons of hell
87 arachnotrons
46 former commandos
42 pain elementals
98 revenants
203 mancubi
29 arch-viles
14 nightmare imps
4 nightmare cacodemons
614 nightmare demons
2 bruiser brothers
4 shamblers
1 lava elemental
1 agony elemental
1 Angel of Death
1 Cyberdemon
1 Spider Mastermind
1 John Carmack
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
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 nanofiber armor!
He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
On level 11 he witnessed the Wall.
Not knowing what to do, he left.
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!
Level 15 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 15 he found the Hellwave Pack!
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 17 he found the Charch's Null Pointer!
On level 17 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 17 he found the Longinus Spear!
He then destroyed the Unholy Cathedral!
On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
He came, he saw, but he left.
On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
He managed to escape from the Mortuary!
On level 21 he assembled a ripper!
On level 22 he stumbled into a nightmare demon cave!
On level 22 he found the Butcher's Cleaver!
On level 22 he arrived at Mt. Erebus.
He nuked level 22!
He managed to raise Mt. Erebus completely!
He nuked level 23!
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 dodge! You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
John Carmack reloads his rocket launcher. You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
You miss John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. 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 miss John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
You hit John Carmack. John Carmack dies. Congratulations! You defeated John
Carmack! Press <Enter>...
You're going berserk!
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
261 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
86 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.
77 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
39 killed the bitch and survived.
32 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
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