PWAD: hardfest2.wad
PWAD Name: Hardfest 2
Map: 40
Skill: 4
Category: UV-Max
Exe: DSDA-Doom 0.29.4 complevel 9
Recorded on: 5/16/26 (mm/dd/yy)
Time: 63:09
Author: Twilight
Attempts: 841
Description:  First: my long-winded history with the map. Below are the kill counts, timings, and strats.  This will probably be my greatest achievement in DOOM, so excuse the verbosity.
	Dan87's combat design is so good that I still enjoy playing these fights even after hundreds of attempts and many hours of practice.  Even with so much practice, the fights always seem to play out in a way that requires thinking on your feet. The aesthetic of the level is also great.  The austere, oppressive black metal accented with yellow fits the harsh oppressiveness of the gameplay perfectly.  The finale room is an unforgettable spectacle.  Walking into it, even with an invuln, during a real run is the most daunting and nerve-wracking experience I've had playing DOOM. 
	I played this map for the first time at the end of January of 2026 while I was routing Liminal Doom 2 Map 5. I used it to blow off steam when I didn't want to count shotgun shells anymore. The map came to my attention thanks to its placement on the Doomed Index bounty list, but it didn't seem realistic for me to try to run it at the time. I stopped playing it in February as Beat 1000 Mixed Demos consumed all of my Doom time.
	I started by doing segmented runs (saving a key frame at the start of each fight) of hf240.  I did 10 of them in total, and I kept developing strategies and slowly decreasing the death count in each run.  PartyCrasher and Crusador's runs on youtube were very helpful on many fights (especially for the second to last fight cheese and the cheese starting with the switch at 11724 kills). I also saw some of Red Boule's streams, which showed me that you could use the window behind the bfg to wait out the doors opening. In the successful run, I am trying to get into the window but I keep falling down...that part is a complete mess! The vod of Mhrz's stream got me to experiment with focusing the hell knights at the start of the blue key back and forth part.  I ended up doing that to let the revs fill into the room more so that pushing through them when the cacos/elementals come out can sometimes be easier.
	At the end of March, I had finished table filling Eviternity 2's UV max levels, and then I completed my longest demo: Sunless Empire D2all, which gave me the courage to return to hf240.
	My 8th segmented run was down to 10 deaths, and by mid April I started just grinding attempts. The blue key (BK) fight is the gatekeeper to a deep run. My first real attempt (139) at the BK fight was somehow successful, but then I got pushed off the arena by a cyber rocket in the fight before the infinite RL. It wasn't until attempt 530 that I reached the infinite RL fight, and I was just too nervous to play well.
	On April 28th, Attempt 671 was my first run past the infinite RL fight, and this run fucked with my head for over two weeks.  I reached 13969/14000 kills. I was on my 2nd circle of the final cybers in the finale and I got caught on one of them and instantly went from 200 health to dead. "I HAD IT! IT WAS DONE!" or something to that effect was what I yelled.  Over the next two days, I played as much as I could and reached the finale 2 more times. The 2nd attempt got to around 13900 kills but I got overwhelmed at the end. On the third attempt, I literally walked off the edge, missing the platforms leading to that dreaded rng check where you beg the cybers to not deny you a chance at the finale.
	Then I started regressing.  My left hand began hurting and I was losing dexterity.  I am 33 years old, so I can't play for long hours without consequences. 
	Then I had to take about two weeks off, and I caught a bad cold.  So I didn't resume attempts until May 12th. But I just couldn't get past that damned BK fight for two days!  So I went back to just practicing that fight, and I realized that after you push through the revs, hugging the left wall keeps the revs from pushing into you so fast, and it also allows the imps to constrict the space that the revs have.  My strat for that fight tries to use the imps and eventually the cacos to bottleneck the revs, so that they can't push you too far back.  In the successful run, I moved to the right too early and I think that is what led to the revs overwhelming me so much. My plan is usually to hold that first position until the first wave of revs and cybers are dead (the cybers are like Gandalf coming to save you at daybreak at the battle of Helm's Deep).  Then there is a lull before the 2nd wave of revs reaches you, and I use that time to go to the BK area for more health.  Then I hold there for a while and either push through on the left or right side, depending on where I see an opening.  The main thing is preserving your access to cells. 
	On May 15th, I was finally starting to have success with the BK fight again.  I had 1 death to the fight after the infinite RL (not enough revs infought the cybers up the stairs), and my fourth finale attempt.  I ate too many rockets and died at around 13700/14000 kills.  I also drank too much coffee this day.  I am already a very nervous player, and the coffee had by heart racing anytime after I survived the BK fight.  
	I was really worried that I could hit a streak of finale attempts that just get pushed off by the cybers, but I got really lucky with getting real opportunities each time I reached the finale.  Even with the micro-dodging to the left after the invuln wears off, in practice I still get blocked by the cybers about a third of the time. Thankfully, miraculously, that never happened to me in a real attempt.
	Also, the setup for the cheese for the fight before the finale fails around 1/10 of the time (I practiced different positions, and that was the most consistent setup I could find). Once again, in live runs I was 5/5 with the cheese! And yes, I did practice for the cheese to fail, and I was able to do the finale once without the invuln by just going to the far left and micro-dodging to the right. That gives you just enough time for the platforms to raise, and then you pray the cybers let you pass!
	On May 16th, I planted some irises and pulled some weeds, which is actually relevant because I feel like that physical activity before starting my attempts for the day made me play better.  Each day before starting attempts, I would practice the BK fight, infinite RL, the 3 cybers on the stairs, the quiet cheese, and then the finale. This day, I did almost every fight first try in practice.  I had 1 attempt that died to the bfg fight, and then I had "the run"! 
	When I'm deep in a run, the blur of failed early attempts all blend together. So it wasn't until I rewatched the demo that I remembered how horrendously the beginning of this run went!  This is probably the only attempt where I don't kill all 114 monsters before opening the door in the 2nd fight, and the imp walks behind me and blocks me!  Okay and the face rocket on the drop down to the basement... I didn't calculate that I could survive that and I didn't mean to shoot the wall so close.  I sometimes would do that when I knew I was going to grab a mega right away before starting the next fight. I laughed so hard when I watched the demo back and saw that I did that in the successful run. 
	Then the basement fight before the bfg went as poorly as it could have possibly gone without me dying.  This is the only attempt where I had to grab a mega right away in the bfg fight, and I was so low on cells that I used the ssg just to interrupt the mastermind.  I got so lucky that there was a clear path to the other side.  If I didn't discover that you could take the teleporter out of the fight early, there was no way I was going to survive. 
	The AVJ cheese for the fight at 3077 kills just increases consistency.  If it works, the fight is instantly won, and if not, just grab the close mega and do the fight normally. The height difference of the mega platforms is really useful for dodging rockets before you kill enough cybers that you can wrap around.  I had no deaths to this fight after my first attempt that reached the finale, even when the AVJ didn't work out.  
	The red key fight was also very tense because I was too far away when the invuln started. I couldn't kill enough viles before I have to turn to the cybers to make that corner of the map safe.  I did experiment with exiting through the teleporter right after the invuln wears off, but it was too risky with all of the rockets flying everywhere.
	The 9857 squares fight was also the worst that has ever gone. The arachnorbs descended so much that they just destroyed by health near the start of the fight.
	The infinite RL fight was going well until I couldn't dodge that rocket because I was sliding backwards down the mega platform. Those shapes really inhibit your movement once you get some momentum going down them. Then for some reason the nerves really kicked in and I almost threw upon re-entering the fight to clean up the cybers.
	Everything went relatively smoothly until the 3 cybers that spawn on the stairs.  Ideally, my pre-fire strat should be able to take out that first vile and the revs without taking too much damage. But I ate so many rev missiles that I had to pick up the mega right away.  Movement on those stairs is really awkward, and the nerves are in full effect at this point.  Thankfully, the cybers didn't walk too far down the stairs, so I was able to hide in the doorway and then go into the HK/vile room.
	I'm proud of how I played for most of the finale, though there was an unusually low amount of flanking cybers, which simplified the fight.  I baited myself with that second mega and ended up getting stuck and taking way too much damage. I never figured out why, but sometimes the revs just completely flood that area around the 13700-800 kill count. Perhaps it has something to do with teleport locations and how much infighting happens with the cybers? Anyway, I would have preferred to keep doing that movement pattern that had seen my through most of the fight until the final wave of cybers is starting to make their way closer to me, but I didn't think it was safe enough to cross back, so I took a chance going around the side, which is usually very risky if a cyber is there  (You can see their horns over the wall as they approach, but somehow they still manage to surprise me).
	My old plan, which led to the failure of my first 2 finale attempts, was to just circle around the final wave of cybers and chip away at them with the infinite RL. The problem is that if you try to circle too soon, there isn't a clear path.  So I experimented with taking that precariously narrow crossing back to the entrance. I found that if you can micro-dodge long enough, the cybers will group in the center, and the way back *should* be open.  Of course, in a real run, the enemies will do precisely what they need to do to fuck you over, and a cyber starts walking right to where I am trying to return! Except this time, I got really fucking lucky that he decided not to shoot. 
	I have to kill some time for the cybers to group more in the center so that I can circle.  So then I can finally just circle with the infinite RL as I have practiced. I finish off the last cyber with the ssg for style points, and because it's my favorite weapon. 
	I opened the door to the hall and yelled "YES!"
	My girlfriend (who doesn't know much about Doom, but knows I've been working on some insane level) responds from the living room, "You did it?"
	Yes, I actually did... Holy shit! It's done!


Kill Count                      My Deaths   
40 - 1st                            -
124 - 2nd                           -
158 - 3rd                           -
243 - 4th                           -
495 - backpack                      -
771 - quadrant                      -
1655 - basement/bfg                743 - this includes every death before 1655 kills               
2199 - knights                      39 - had a bad strat early on
3077 - L phase 1                    - 
3356 - L phase 2                    -
3685 - zomb tele                    11 - including previous 2 fights
6060 - blue                         33 - 15/48 - win/total attempts
8512 - red                           2 - 13/15          
9857 - squares                       1 - 12/13
10857 - infinite RL                  5 - 7/12
11212 - down stairs                  1 - 6/7
11724 - 4 vile                       0       
12303 - dmg switch                   0   
12428 - 3 cyber                      1 - 5/6  
13000 - quiet                        0         
14000 - finale                       4 - 1/5

-- BACKPACK -- 
- Rocket right revs.
- hit switch, run across to other side (medkit or onto cyb platform if missiles are too close) gather rev rockets and loop around back to first platform with them
- rocket back and forth through imps
- come out and hold a side or circle arena

-- QUADRANTS -- 16 sec

-- BASEMENT -- 39 sec until cacos released
- grab left mega and cells before fight
- kill left archies then right
- circle side a few times before falling back to middle
- rocketing cacos can be good for space
- top off on cells and a mega before leaving early

-- BFG -- 30 seconds from bfg pick up to pinky doors opening
- start with chaingun shot to wake everything up and grab bfg right away.
- back and forth in window (redboule) until 100/100, bfg a side for a mega
- rush button then go from 1 side to the other then rush teleporter
- clear bfg area from outside before dropping down to basement

-- HELL KNIGHT MASS -- 1:03 tyrants spawn - not tied to switch press
- Stand at front of 2nd window, fire constant bfg. Go to forth rocket box and then back into corner by door
- At 200 cells, push to right side
- vile range: 4th rocket box
- hitting the switches starts despawning the sniper cybers
- you can wall run north (opposite of first switch pass)
- if you are going to get cornered by the elevator, you can try to take it up and clear the lift's contents... better than trying to survive down there when tyrants come in and viles are still alive

-- BIG L --
- jump down and shoot 2-3 shots at revs then go back to inner cells and then to outer side toward revs
- Don't kill cacos on opposite side so you can see projectiles and so viles don't res too many cacos

-- L 2nd phase -- 
- Killing phase 1 cybers makes AVJ easier
- crash rockets on switch, then go on outside once enough tyrants are dead
- or AVJ out

-- Zomb tele on you -- 
- open door, start it, rocket left
- 1 shot at zombs, then peak right 1 shot and then get in position
- grab megas when below 100/100, starting with center

-- BLUE -- 2:31 from button press to cacos/pains opening
- wait 1 second, then prefire 3 bfg at angle toward outside mega yellow platform at first hold spot before peaking corner for viles (last shot should be into wall before you peak) 
- get some bfg shots at revs, but the main goal is to get the revs and HKs to fill the space
- stay on HK side to allow the revs to fill the room more
- Once you start seeing revs on the HK side, start going back and forth, prioritizing damage on revs

-- 2 MAIN FORKS IN PHASE 2 BLUE -- 
GOOD HEALTH: STAY IN POSITION 1 UNTIL BREAK IN CYBERS/REVS, THEN PUSH TO KEY
LOW HEALTH: GRAB 2nd MEGA, CRASH ROCKETS, HEAD TO KEY, TRY TO LOOK FOR AN OPENING IN CACOS WHEN 2nd CYBERS START COMING

-- RED -- 1 min per wave -
- grab center cells first, save outside for later. loop on one side then when revs start spawning, make your way to the other side.  try to hold until invuln. focus viles for 10 seconds then head to a side and kill some tyrants as it wears off. 
- ~5 seconds after invuln wears off you can leave

-- SQUARES -- 
- go by revs then 1-2 shot at arachnorbs, but clear pinkies fast to not get blocked
- circle bottom pinkies for a while, play it slow
- WATCH ROCKETS WHEN LOOPING BACK TOWARD PINKY/CYBER SIDE (CAN SLOW DOWN A LITTLE BUT THERE IS THE DEATHBALL AFTER YOU TOO)
	
-- INFINITE RL -- 2:16 to leave for more cells
-- 1:35 cybers spawn
- WHEN REVS SPAWN - 2 circles counterclockwise. Stop before starting 3rd, and use infinite RL as much as possible and then go to left for further mega when needed
- if damaged early, go for 3rd farthest mega around end of hell knight wave, as/before revs start spawning
- You can lure cybers to right close mega platform and run around on left side or just leave for a mega/cells 

-- DOWN STAIRS TO RIGHT NOW --
- Shoot some rockets at pinkies, but then quickly peak onto the stairs and shoot some revs. From here, this should provoke infighting with the cybers
- Circle with bfg and hold cybers at the stairs
- 6 viles

-- 4 VILE -- 
- Prefire bfg to take out 4 viles - dont sweat some poison dmg to grab cells.
- grab cells on close to door poison column, then quickly push up stairs and loop around

-- POISON SWITCH AND LINEDEF CYBERS -- 
- Wait a few seconds at poison switch so cybers don't go up the stairs. Get them stuck in pinkies before going to the other side and dropping down 
- wait until 12230ish kills before using bfg

-- 3 CYBER STAIRS -- 
-clear as many specters
-prefire 3 at top of stairs at far wall at angle
- Clear revs/1st vile and the get back out quick to fight cybers before they descend the stairs, then either face off with them or push through knights
- don't forget to grab cells

-- Quiet BFG cheese -- count: 1, 2, press, walk forward instantly
TESTING (crosshair position again door before turning):
- mid between dark and light line - 18/20 
- BEST RESULTS ARE TO NOT ALLOW THE IMPS TO MOVE, SO IF THE TRACERS HIT RIGHT AS THE DOOR OPENS YOU CAN KILL 2 ON EACH SIDE RIGHT WHERE THEY STAND

1:43 - door to finale opens

- Run back and forth after quiet part door opens to get the cybers in the back to start infight the nobles
- 8 CYBERS
- Slow down on killing hell nobles on the stairs so the cybers can infight them and hopefully some will die

IF QUIET TRICK FAILS, WAIT AS LONG AS POSSIBLE TO SHOOT, LEAVE CLOSE TO DOOR MEGA, GO TO FAR SIDE AND GRAB THAT MEGA, THEN INVULN THROUGH  MIDDLE TO OUTER SIDE CELLS THEN BACK TO DOOR TO FINALE AND HOLD THERE IF YOU CAN.

-- FINALE --  ~ 2 min 40 seconds for platforms to rerise* at the end from time of invuln grab. So start around XX:20 and then 3 minutes later at XX+3:00, platforms should rise
* IF 28 bfg shots before crossing
- shoot first bfg in finale to the left so it doesn't hit before you activate the fight
- 17 bfg shots then move to right side
- micro dodge to left. 
- TURN AND SHOOT 1 BFG AT CACOS EARLY IN THE MICRO DODGE AND CHECK THEIR POSITION SO YOU DONT GET BLOCKED

-- NO INVULNERABILITY FINALE -- 
- Go straight to right side and micro-dodge to the left, then gtfo as soon as platforms rise