PWAD: gd.wad
PWAD Name: Going Down
Map: 24
Skill: 5
Category: NM Speed
Exe: DSDA-Doom 0.28.3 -complevel 9
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kMug8EzNKM
Recorded on: June 2nd, 2026
Time: 2:10:14
Author: Vincent "CBT" Healgiggler
Description:
My favorite run I've done so far. I may go back and lower my time in the future as I had gotten times between 1:50 and 2:00 while I was practicing with saves, but right now I am satisfied with just clearing the level. Some possible time saves would be spending less time in the beginning area, getting out of the red key area a little quicker, and clearing up enemies after the red key more efficiently so you can cross back over the bridge earlier.

I feel like this was a lesson in finding the most consistent strategy before expending time on a bunch of attempts. I frustratingly made an absurd amount of demos before I realized I needed to practice each part of the level individually with saves so I could find the strategies with the highest success rate. After I finalized my strategy, it only took about 70 demos before I got a successful attempt. Here is what I ended up doing:

1. Begin by grabbing the shotgun and going to the area with the mancubus, arachnotron, and rocket launcher. Avoid grabbing the armor. Try hiding behind one of the pillars so the cacodemons can't see you when their gate opens. Get the arachnotron to infight with the mancubus, then blow up the barrels to finish off the arachnotron. Shoot the mancubus to stop it from attacking, then grab the rocket launcher and kill the mancubus. Then, clear the enemies out of the room, making sure to kill the revenants last so they don't respawn while you're on the bridge. At some point, open the portcullis and grab the armor and chaingun. Try to have around 100 health and a decent amount of armor and run to the bridge. Start firing rockets as soon as you are clear from where enemies respawn.

2. Once on the bridge, continue running while firing rockets aiming more to the left of the door. I started calling this "diving" with rockets. Try to strafe a little once you reach the line that opens the gate so you don't accidentally do a line skip. Once it opens, kill all the revenants as quickly as possible by aiming at the center masses of the group. When all are dead, start firing to your left at the square of hell knights. Hug the walls of the bridge to disperse projectiles from enemies behind you. When most or all of the hell knights on the leftmost side of the group are dead, quickly enter and exit the throne room to lower the spider mastermind. This creates more space and also causes some infighting. The spider will probably get a few hit in on you as it lowers. Position yourself fairly aggressively to get a steep angle to rocket into to deal good damage. Kill as many pinkies that are in your way until you can comfortably cross fully into the throne room. There are also revenants coming from the teleporters which you want to kill if possible. When you have a good opportunity, move into the space you've created. I did this strategy mostly with moving into the left side, but it should theoretically work moving into the right side as well. I think it helps if you don't grab the blur sphere if you can avoid it.

3. You want to move to the edge of the room where there is health and keep up the aggression by rocketing the pinkies that are coming for you. If you run out of space to rocket, switch to the chaingun and move along the walls to get some of the enemies to infight with the pinkies. Grab the blue armor as soon as you can. Once the pinkies are cleared out of the way, hit the switch and run to hide in a corner. You do this because the cyberdemons will fire at you before they can take a step to teleport. Start firing rockets at the arachnotron guarding the plasma rifle to clear a path. When it is clear enough, run to the balcony with the plasma.

4. Kill or make your way past the arachno and grab the plasma rifle. Then, take the teleporter to the balcony with the red key. From the teleporter, kill the arachnotron guarding the key and a few enemies from the doorway. Grab the key and plasma your way through the enemies that have began teleporting in. Head to the red bars while grabbing any remaining health.

5. Open the red bars and move to the center. When the door holding the cyber opens, fire a shot to wake it up. When it teleports away, ward off the enemies that teleport through while also firing at the enemies blocking the exit to the bridge. Grab the megasphere at whatever point your health becomes low. Keep moving and shooting and when there is a good opportunity, make your way back to the bridge.

6. Cross the bridge while plasmaing enemies and using the pillars to block projectiles. Try to be aware of what the cyberdemons in the beginning room are doing. When you reach the end of the bridge, plasma a path through, then run through trying to avoid the cybers. Open the elevator door and exit the level.

There are a few points in the demo where I make some mistakes and get a bit unlucky (such as face rocketing a respawning revenant as I enter the throne room) but I think it speaks to the consistency of the strategy that you can play imperfectly and still succeed. I am curious if someone else can get a successful run of this map or lower the time.