E5M7: Threshold of Pain (Doom: The Lost Episode)

E5M7: Threshold of Pain is the seventh map of Doom: The Lost Episode. It was designed by Xaser and uses the music track "Like Rotten Meat" by Robert Prince. The par time defined in MAPINFO is 2:22.

Essentials
Take the shotgun then head down the stairs to a room with imps (plus some shotgun guys on Hurt Me Plenty (HMP) skill level or higher) and go straight ahead through the door. Turn left and cross the room, then head straight forward down the hallway with the water trench and turn right at the end, passing imps and lost souls on the way. Climb up a staircase and keep going forward - an alcove will open behind you containing one or more pain elementals guarding an armor pickup. When you reach a dead end with a berserk pack, turn round and you will see another staircase on the right. Climb this and you will see a wall open in front of you - head through here to an outdoor area and drop to the ground.

When you land, turn right and you will see a narrow gap in the wall ahead - go through here and follow the path past some imps and a revenant until you see the red skull key in front of you under a low ceiling, guarded by two Hell knights as well as one or two arachnotrons on HMP or higher. Take the key then return to the previous outdoor area where more monsters have teleported in including zombies, mancubi and one or two barons of Hell. Head south up the steps - at the top, look left to see a hole you can drop down to return to an earlier hallway, then head back up the staircases to the area where you can get outside. This time run straight forward across the platforms until you reach a partial invisibility powerup, then open the wall in front of you to find a room with a door between red skull markers.

Go through this door and head straight ahead until you drop off the ledge (landing on a berserk pack) then turn left and head forward until you see an outdoor area with blood pools on your right which is guarded by arachnotrons. Follow the rock path and take the left-hand fork then climb the steps with health bonuses and press the switch at the top. This will open a section of wall in the blood pool on your left; go through it and grab the supercharge on the other side before dropping to the ground. Turn left and climb the staircase to find twelve boxes of rockets - when you reach the top of the stairs a wall at the opposite end of the hall will open to reveal arachnotrons, revenants and shotgun guys. Head back down the hallway and dispatch the enemies, then climb the steps they were guarding and press the skull switch at the top. Return to the other end of the hall and you will see that a wall has opened on the right; go through it and take the blue skull key before dropping off the ledge.

After jumping off the ledge, follow the hallway back to an earlier part of the level. From here, retrace your steps to the red key door and go through it then walk straight forward off the ledge, watching out for zombies that have teleported in. Keep going forward until you see some blue skull bars guarded by two revenants and open them, then press the switch they were concealing - the marble walls behind you will lower, revealing a teleporter which you can step into. You will arrive in a large eight-pointed arena containing four pain elementals, and several more will teleport in (twelve on Ultra-Violence (UV) and Nightmare (NM) skill levels, or eight on HMP or lower) along with four revenants. Step off the brown star you arrive on and the marble walls in front of you will start to lower and will eventually reveal knights, two arachnotrons and a cyberdemon. Defeat all the enemies here, then press either of the eye switches at the north end of the arena to finish the level.

Other points of interest
As the level starts, turn round to find an armor in front of the "entrance door".

After passing through the second room, you will have a choice of going straight forward or entering a hallway on the right. Taking the latter path can lead to several useful items, as well as being required to find secret #1.
 * After the first left turn, you will see a raised opening on the left. The wall under it is a lift that lowers when pressed; at the top you will find a computer area map guarded by (depending on skill level) one or two knights and a revenant
 * If you follow the hallway to the end, you will reach a supercharge behind a low wall; approaching the wall opens an alcove behind you containing a revenant and one or two shotgun guys. Just before that wall the path splits in two; take the right-hand path to find a teleporter which leads to the supercharge.

After crossing the platforms to the room with the red door, you will also see a staircase leading upwards away from the door. Follow it and open the metal wall at the top to reach a balcony holding a backpack and a plasma gun, among other items.

In the outdoor area with the large blood pools, the right-hand fork in the path leads to a set of steps with a rocket launcher at the top, as well as several rockets on the steps.

After getting the blue key and dropping off the ledge, follow the hallway until you see a small alcove on the right holding another berserk pack. It will be guarded by a lost soul, or a knight on UV and NM.

Secrets

 * 1) After the second room, take the north path at the fork. When it curves west, open the wall to the north to get a chainsaw, a medikit, a super shotgun and a light amplification visor. (sector 47)
 * 2) After you get the blue key, drop down to the east and go until you find a path leading north to a lava teleporter. Take the teleporter to get on a platform with a megasphere. (sector 139)

Current records
The records for the map at the Doomed Speed Demos Archive are:

Player spawns
This level contains six spawn points:
 * 1) facing south-east. (thing 531)
 * 2) facing north-east. (thing 532)
 * 3) facing north-west. (thing 533)
 * 4) facing south-west. (thing 534)
 * 5) facing north-west. (thing 535)
 * 6) facing north-east. (thing 536)

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

Inspiration and development
This level is based on MAP30: Threshold of Pain from the Sony PlayStation version of Doom and has a largely identical layout, with changes to texturing and the number and variety of monsters.