E2M8: The Portals of Chaos (Heretic)

From DoomWiki.org

Heretic maps
City of the Damned

M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9

The Dome of D'Sparil

M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9

The Ossuary

M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9

The Stagnant Demesne

M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9

Fate's Path (deathmatch only levels)

M1 M2 M3

This level occupies the map slot E2M8. For other maps which occupy this slot, see Category:E2M8.

E2M8: The Portals of Chaos is the eighth and final level in the Hell's Maw episode of Heretic. It uses the music track "Arpo" by Kevin Schilder.

Walkthrough[edit]

Map of The Portals of Chaos
Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector, thing, and linedef numbers in boldface are secrets which count toward the end-of-level tally.

Essentials[edit]

Press the switch in front of you to be carried up to an open area with fire gargoyles. Take any items you need here, including a silver shield, then head east through a gap in the wall and push past some nitrogolems to the east side of the map where some weredragons are waiting. Go up the steps by the west wall and dispose of any waiting fire gargoyles, take the mystic urn here (on bringest them oneth (BTO) skill level or lower) then go down another set of steps to reach the portals where the maulotaurs are waiting.

The number of maulotaurs varies with skill level - one on thou-needeth a wet nurse and yellowbellies-r-us, two on BTO, or three on thou art a smite-meister and black plague possesses thee. Keep strafing to avoid the maulotaur's attacks, especially their floor-hugging lines of fire, and use the Ring of Invincibility in the middle of the arena to help you. Once all the maulotaurs are killed, the wooden barriers blocking the four corner portals will lower - enter any of these portals to finish the episode.

Other points of interest[edit]

The north, east, south and west portals in the center of the map have a phoenix rod, a Morph Ovum, a hellstaff and a Tome of Power inside them respectively. Entering these portals will send you to the opposite side of the map.

Secrets[edit]

  1. On the west side of the map is a brown rock with an ethereal crossbow. Take the crossbow then look behind the green wall in the south-west corner to find that a chamber has opened containing a pile of mace spheres, a mystic urn, an enchanted shield and a Wings of Wrath. (sector 34) On BTO or lower, the chamber will also contain two stacks of mace spheres.
  2. On the west side of the map is a pit with a dragon claw. Take the weapon then go to the east side of the map and look for another green wall in the north-east corner where a doorway has opened. Go through and run south through some crushers to reach a Chaos Device, a shadowsphere and a Bag of Holding (plus a Wings of Wrath on BTO or lower). (sector 73) If you open the south wall you will find one or more disciples of D'Sparil guarding a teleporter that will put you back before the crushers.

Bugs[edit]

The player 1 start (Thing 0) has no flags set for any of the three difficulty classes, but because of special handling in the engine, it functions normally in the level.

Areas / screenshots[edit]

Speedrunning[edit]

Routes and tricks[edit]

Current records[edit]

The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

Run Time Player Date File Notes
SM speed 0:55.66 Jezs 2023-08-22 he2m8s055.zip
SM max 1:14.86 Jezs 2023-08-22 he2m8m114.zip
BP speed 1:06.03 Ks4 2021-08-07 heretice2m8b-10603.zip
BP max 2:27.23 Vincent Catalaá (Peroxyd) 2005-02-26 h2f8-227.zip
NM speed 3:21.49 Vincent Catalaá (Peroxyd) 2007-01-04 h2n8-321.zip
NM 100S 2:16.34 Jean-Charles Dorne (JCD) 2021-06-17 h2x8-216.zip
Tyson 9:22.97 Lucas Marincak 2009-10-11 h2t8-922.zip
Pacifist 2:57.29 Jean-Charles Dorne (JCD) 2016-12-21 h2p8-257.zip

The data was last verified in its entirety on August 31, 2023.

Deathmatch[edit]

Player spawns[edit]

This level contains four spawn points:

  1. facing south. (thing 235)
  2. facing east. (thing 236)
  3. facing north. (thing 237)
  4. facing north-east. (thing 238)

Statistics[edit]

Map data[edit]

Things 313
Vertices 544*
Linedefs 528
Sidedefs 830
Sectors 85
* The vertex count without the effect of node building is 444.

Things[edit]

This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:

External links[edit]