Necropolis (Doom 2016)

The Necropolis is the eleventh level of Doom (2016), the third area of Hell visited by the Doom marine in his quest for the Crucible. The Crucible is also the name of the mission that takes place in this level.

"You fought your way through Hell and found the Titan's Core - a portal that gets you one step closer to the Crucible and defeating the forces of Hell for good. You must crush the Crucible guardians and retrieve what is yours."

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Description
The Necropolis was explored along with the Titan's Realm as part of the 2148 expedition to the Great Steppe. Massive structures were found in this area which were believed to be native to the area before it had been absorbed into Hell. The architecture was found to resemble Earthly schools of design as well as several unknown styles, hypothesized to be extra-terrestrial in origin. Many of the structures were religious or spiritual in nature, but have been corrupted to serve as temples for the dark magic of Hell.

The expedition to this area was again met with extreme violence and resulted in the loss of all human life, but UAC Scout-Bots were able to return valuable information. In addition, it was here that the remains of the ancient Baalgar shadow lord were discovered, which later became the cyberdemon.

After learning that the Crucible may be housed here, Olivia Pierce instructed that no further expeditions would be undertaken.

Mission 11: The Crucible
Having battled through the Titan's Realm, the Doom marine now finds himself in a giant necropolis. After acquiring two skull keys and fighting his way to the dormant Icon of Sin, the marine is teleported to an arena with Hell guards who are tasked with protecting the Crucible's tomb. After destroying all three guards the marine acquires the Crucible and is greeted by a group of Night Sentinel spirits before being pulled back to Mars via the dimensional tether.

Objectives

 * Reclaim the Crucible
 * Reclaim the Crucible from its tomb

Essentials
Head forward to an area with yellow and blue doors (and a super shotgun if you need it) then turn left and drop down to a green teleporter that will take you to a stone tunnel. Follow the tunnel to a staircase guarded by imps and Unwilling then go down to the bottom; lost souls will appear behind you along with a mancubus. Go back up the stairs and through a gate that has just opened to face more Unwilling and a spectre guarding a skull switch, push it then turn round to dispose of two Hell knights that teleport in behind you. Go back down the stairs and turn right to confront a cyber-mancubus which you must kill to open the gate behind it, then go through to a room with some Unwilling guarding a Haste powerup. Push the skull switch on the opposite wall to trigger an encounter with cacodemons followed by imps, Hell razers, spectres, knights, a mancubus and a summoner. Killing all the demons will open a gate near the entrance revealing the yellow skull key - take it then step through the green teleporter that opens behind you to get back to the starting area.

Climb up the ledge in front of you and open the yellow door on your left, turn the switch behind it then drop down to a second green teleporter on your right, which will send you to an arena with four square platforms - mancubi will spawn here when you start moving around the room, followed by imps, cacodemons, revenants and knights. Killing these opponents will open a cage in the middle of the arena holding a quad damage powerup; take it and kill the revenants, mancubi and cyber-mancubi that appear around you to open a gate blocking the blue skull key. Take the key to open another teleporter behind you leading back to the starting area, then climb up to the blue door in front of you and open it to reveal a second switch that must be turned. Turning both switches will reveal a hole underneath the platform you are standing on, but you will have to fight off a wave of imps, pinkies, spectres, knights and two barons of Hell before you can reach it. Once the area is clear, drop down the hole to reach an underground tunnel then head down a second hole in front of you to land on some floating platforms over a void.

Kill the approaching cacodemons and jump over the floating platforms to reach a large skull marking the entrance to a cave; kill the mancubus that emerges from it and go inside to find an elite guard, then continue following the tunnel to a broken staircase with the last combat support drone on it. Climb to the top of the stairs to find a Gauss cannon then turn left to see the massive face of the Icon of Sin in front of you. To your left are some imps who are fighting with mancubi, cacodemons and revenants; expect them to turn on you when you start shooting. Go up the stairs to the next floor and follow the passage until you see some explosive barrels lining the walls; round the next corner is a baron which is facing away from you, so get a free shot in before it notices you then deal with the mancubi and spectres that appear as well. Head through the next gate and kill two cacodemons that appear near the Icon, then follow the path down to a chestplate pickup and kill the mancubi and barons that teleport in to defend it before passing through the next door. Grab all the supplies you can then head forward to a large green symbol which will teleport you to the Crucible's tomb.

Hell guards
To reach the Crucible you will have to defeat its Hell guard, a statue-like being that is controlled by some kind of parasite. The Hell guard is normally protected by a shield which only drops when it is about to launch an attack; this can involve the guard running towards you and trying to beat you with its mace, performing a jumping slam that creates a shockwave, or producing some kind of energy wave that splits into three projectiles which travel along the ground. If you shoot at the guard while it is charging an energy wave, it will be stunned for a moment allowing you to get some free shots in.

When the guard's health reaches 50% it will change its attack pattern. It can now backflip to the side of the arena before throwing the staff it carries to produce a stream of projectiles; this is often followed by the guard throwing three fire columns that track your likely location, followed by the guard jumping to the middle of the arena and spinning on the spot to create jets of fire around itself. If you hit the guard with enough force after it has used the first set of fire jets then you will stun it for a moment. Once the guard's health is depleted, perform a glory kill to destroy the parasite inside it.

Once the first guard is killed, two more will take its place - one will use a mace while the other carries a staff, but they are not shielded. The mace-wielding guard can perform jumping slams and spin across the arena to strike you repeatedly, while the staff-carrying guard can charge up large electric projectiles as well as dashing across the arena and throwing smaller projectiles as its does so. Try focusing on one guard at a time - one healthy guard is easier to deal with than two weaker ones - and glory kill the guards once their chestplates start to flash in order to finish them off. Once both guards are killed, take the Crucible from the central pillar to finish the level.

Challenges

 * A Pin Pops a Balloon
 * Kill a mancubus with the pistol.
 * Rapid fire from the pistol to a mancubus' head should be enough to kill it once it is staggered.


 * Two Mouths to Feed
 * Kill two cacodemons with one shot.
 * The second skull switch of the level will summon two cacodemons when pressed; you can then kill them with a BFG shot or the Gauss cannon's Siege Mode mod.


 * Wait For It
 * Kill ten demons with explosive barrels.
 * The Unwilling in the yellow key area are the best monsters to try this on, but as the challenge title implies you will have to patiently lure them towards barrels to complete this challenge successfully. You and monsters can push barrels around by walking into them; purchasing the "Barrels o' Fun" perk to make yourself immune to barrel explosions is recommended.

Classic level
After pressing the second skull switch and kill all the enemies it summons, four walls will open in the corners of the room; one of the alcoves by the exit teleporter has a lever inside that you can pull to re-open the gate leading to the first monolith. Head back there to find that a wall has opened opposite the stairs leading up to the monolith, behind which is the fleshy room near the start of Doom's. In the far corner of this room is a wall with obviously misaligned bricks; open it to find a shotgun and other supplies.

Special items
The automap station can be found in a corner of the room holding the yellow key, neighboring its alcove.

Trivia

 * The arena holding the blue key is styled after Doom II's, and the first monsters that appear here are mancubi which spawn on the square platforms.