su32-10828_txt_part2

Grab SSG and go for rocket launcher, from there I should be able to run around the cyberdemon and back to the start without taking too many attempts. If I have a 100 health I can take a hit from the arch-vile which I deal with first and then grab the megasphere. There's a lot of health and armor in these initial sections before the large garden fight so we don't need to be too careful about it.

Then I'll go for the cyberdemon switch assuming he is busy infighting, if not then wait until he does infight (usually I just risk it and die instead). Afterwards back to the start for the second switch opening the next area so I can go for the BFG immediately, this will raise a pillar to prevent you from going back, this can be lowered by crossing the entrance to the hell knight teleporter where the linedef is located. I sometimes get it by accident when I try to run up the side to easily access the switch to the next room.

With the invulnerability it's easy to clear out, just need to be careful to reach the cells before they run out. Then it's just cleanup were you're mostly safe in this cave area until the cyberdemons have done their work.

When going over the fence I skip the linedef that triggers the monster teleports such that I can collect some ammo and open up the bars blocking the other room. I then go back and activate the linedef to get a bit of infighting going before leaving to the next room which will be closed off once I get halfway in there.

4 arch-viles will teleport in from behind, obviously it's best to kill them immediately. Maybe it would be faster to somehow get the cyberdemon pair infighting, but too much of a risk and so those are next. Since there is a megasphere here I can usually just outright tank a rocket if I want to, and I want to save as many rockets as possible so I might take some crazy risk in this fight because why not.

Get rid of all my cells on the monsters in the back of the room as there's another 600 cells there, followed by rocket spam until everything is dead. A BFG for 3 more arch-viles which are harmless. I'll then use the SSG for a bit through the bars so that I can get infighting going, infighting isn't super quick here so I just want to get out as soon as possible really, but there's a chance I run out of ammo if I'm not careful. Open up the bars, use 400 cells followed by rockets. The remaining 200 cells are then used to push through. Cleanup is simple enough, just need to avoid cyberdemon rockets.

Now for the big fight in the garden, there's a few arch-viles up top that are already there, so obviously just kill those before starting the fight. Once the switch is activated there will be 2 groups of arch-viles teleporting in, I'll rush the entrance side first and fire several BFGs to easily take care of that group. Sometimes the arch-viles in the other group can run off, but usually they are located in the corner of the hedge. If I'd do the other group first then the other group would mix with the hell knights and barons making it more difficult.

Now the only danger here is random cyberdemon rockets, need to keep an eye out for them. As long as you are moving and not immediately going back into your previous path then you're usually fine. Even if I do take a hit I usually have enough health to survive, there's 2 megaspheres here and mega armor + soulsphere before the next fight so there's no need to save them. Basically you'd have to be quite unlucky to get killed here as long as you don't make any mistakes.

Main issue with this area is that the mancubi will take by far the most time to teleport, so I try to run along the lower edge closest to them so that cyberdemon rockets will hit them. Of course a good idea would be to just ignore them once everything else is dead and come back to this area once you've gotten red key. I decided to just take my time here since that's what I practiced, but just leaving early could save a lot of time, leaving immediately could be the optimal strategy, I didn't try it.

Anyways I just circle around this area until it's nearly clear. The most annoying part is trying to push through the cyberdemons with the first invulnerability as they can very easily send you over the edge.

The fight afterwards is very simple, I just try to get arachnotrons firing on those cacodemons for some extra damage.

Then comes the maze, first you're supposed to activate the main fight with lots of hell knights, revs, pinkies and mancubi, then 4 arch-viles to start resurrecting a lot of monsters, followed by even more arch-viles with some cyberdemons for the final part. Naturally it would be easier to do the main pack last so the arch-viles can't resurrect anything and then there's not much randomness to it. Fortunately the main fight is activated by crossing a linedef and not activating the switch, so after a bit of testing I came up with a nice and consistent setup to skip it both ways.

So, first kill the arch-viles, then I keep my distance to the cyberdemons since there are a lot of cells before starting the main fight. Once I've crossed the linedef I make sure to clear out the double arch-vile closets on the way to the soulsphere where I will sit and fire rockets for the majority of this part. From here there's only 1 way in and it's a long path so nothing can surprise me.

Now when I run out of rockets I make sure to stay all the way in the back, then wallrun both ways too quickly get in on the left side where there should be some room and BFG everything. Collect ammo and repeat this until nearly everything is dead, then just go clear out the rest before moving on.

On to the next part and yet more linedef skips, but only one way. I activate them on the way back where I can get most of the arch-viles. Then I just want everything to gather up by the megasphere so I can start one big infight with the 4 cyberdemons. Usually I have a megasphere left over back at the ammo depot so it depends on my health how much risk I'll take to get infighting going. At some point I'll just run around and clear it out from the other side.

Entering the mansion I'll BFG the 3 cyberdemons from below since I have the ammo for it, no need to take any risks as going up the stairs locks you out from the outside and you don't want to wake up the arch-viles down the hallway.

Going through the mansion is straightforward, by yellow key I'll use about 5 rockets on the hellknights before switching to BFG to clear out some cacodemons and repeat. It's just easy to hit things safely from the entrance.

For blue key I need to get through the door without bumping the side of it while I can't see anything at all. If I'm too slow then I'm dead.

The 4 cyberdemons again I just keep my distance and spam BFG at them, I should have enough cells with 860. Hell knights and barons obviously just rocket spam.

For the final fight I will first max out my ammo and health and grab the invulnerability last. With the invulnerability I will be able to kill all the arch-viles without taking any damage. I do need to be careful about not getting thrown into one of the inescapable pits though, happened at least once in practice.

Pain elementals are the next target, I should be able to get most of them before I run out of cells. Need enough cells to get back to the cells on the ledge closest to the cyberdemon closet. Very unlikely for the cyberdemons to be in position to land any rockets at this point, so everything up until here should be safe. With 600 cells I grab the megasphere regardless of how much health I have as the upcoming part is the most dangerous and I won't be going back here anytime soon.

Pushing through the cacodemons is usually easy enough, most likely the space is open (need to be real careful of any lost souls above the pit though) with a few cacodemons in the way. Get to the 500 cells in the corner and then comes the most dangerous part. You can take no damage at all or it can be absurd amounts of damage pushing through the mancubi, you just don't know, most of the time you can ignore the megasphere.. but I couldn't in 3 out of 3 attempts so I'm not so sure anymore.

From the mancubus closet I'll spam a bit of BFG and max out my ammo in the corner, then if everything is going well at this point the plan was to use about 25 rockets before pushing through to the hell knights on the opposite side and picking up the megasphere along the way. If the hell knights are about to close the gap then I need to turn around and go back, but at this point it should be good. Just need to not get unlucky with some random cyberdemon rocket. Then back and forth between the hell knight closet and the mancubus closet (or even further down the side if the barons are gone from the area).

Obviously plenty of rocket spam to clear nearly everything, for the cyberdemons I like to try and reach the cyberdemon closet where I can easily BFG them all down. If not I hope to have enough cells to clear out any cyberdemon that is preventing it.