E2M3: The River of Fire (Heretic + Hexen)
From DoomWiki.org
| Heretic re-release maps |
|---|
| The City of the Damned |
| The Dome of D'Sparil |
| The Ossuary |
| The Stagnant Demesne |
| Fate's Path (deathmatch only levels) |
| This level has an original version |
E2M3: The River of Fire is the third map of the Hell's Maw episode in the enhanced Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders re-release, included with Heretic + Hexen. It uses the music track "Bluroc" by Kevin Schilder.
Contents
Walkthrough[edit]
_E2M3_map.png)
Essentials[edit]
You begin in the center of the level, in an area with four staircases. Go straight forward (south) into a cavern with lava and volcanoes, collect the ethereal crossbow behind the curved wall in the center, then press the switch at the south end of the cavern to open two silver doors behind you. Pass through the western door and go down some steps to find a disciple of D'Sparil guarding the yellow key. Go back to the starting point and go down either of the southern staircases to the titular river, noting the weredragons that are released behind you, then follow the river round to the center to find a yellow door in front of a small alcove containing a dragon claw. Pass through the door, noting the barrier that rises behind you to block your escape, then collect the green key in the magma pool to lower the surrounding walls, revealing an ice field with weredragons.
Enter the ice field and go to the south-west end to find a sludge pool containing a quartz flask, then collect the item to lower the barrier blocking the yellow door. Go back to the starting point and pass through either of the silver doors again, go down the stairs and open the green door at the bottom to face a disciple and one or more sabreclaws. Go up the lava steps and follow the corridor to a shadowsphere and a Tome of Power, press the switch here then go back to the volcano cavern where the ledge holding the blue key has lowered. Take the blue key and use it to open either of the blue doors on the east and west sides of the cavern, then fight through a series of rectangular rooms containing magma pools to reach the exit door at the south end, which is protected by one to three disciples. Open the exit door and enter the teleporter behind it to finish the level.
Other points of interest[edit]
Going down the staircases on either side of the starting point will open a closet at the top containing weredragons and Gauntlets of the Necromancer.
A silver shield and a Ring of Invulnerability can be found under the lavafalls at the head of the river.
A Wings of Wrath can be found in the south-east corner of the ice field, in a sludge pool.
Press the switch behind the blue key to open the fire blocks on either side of the starting point, letting you collect a phoenix rod, mystic urn and flame orbs underneath them.
In the magma rooms past the blue doors, the north-western room contains a hellstaff and the north-eastern room contains a Chaos Device.
Secrets[edit]
There are no official secrets on this map.
Bugs[edit]
There are three linedefs (271, 288 and 886) that are set to open and close a door with tag 9, however there is no sector in the level with that tag.
Demo files[edit]
Comparison of versions[edit]
Room design[edit]
- The shapes of the walls in the cave areas were altered to create a more natural look.
- Lava spouts were added throughout the level, noticeably in the magma pools behind the blue doors.
Texture changes[edit]
- The structure with the green key, and the staircases behind the green doors were changed to gray brick walls.
- The area behind the green doors now uses metal and lava floors.
- The exit room uses a cracked stone floor, as well as fire mosaics which were not present in the original release of Heretic.
Thing placement[edit]
- The firemaces that appear in this level in single-player were removed.
- The firemace east of the starting point was not replaced with another item.
- The firemace in the ice field is replaced with a mystic urn.
- The firemace in the north-eastern magma room is replaced with a multiplayer hellstaff.
- Mace spheres only appear in multi-player, since there is no weapon to use them with in single-player.
- More crystal vials were added to the staircases behind the green doors, to compensate for the added lava.
- Some wall torches in the southern part of the level were moved or removed entirely.
- Comparison of maps
E2M3 (original)
E2M3 (Heretic + Hexen)
Areas / screenshots[edit]
Speedrunning[edit]
As this level does not contain official secrets, the NM 100S category is redundant.
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 | |||||
| SM max | |||||
| BP speed | |||||
| BP max | |||||
| NM speed | |||||
| Tyson | |||||
| Pacifist |
The (absence of) data was last verified in its entirety on August 10, 2025.
Deathmatch[edit]
Player spawns[edit]
This level contains thirteen spawn points:
- facing south. (thing 477)
- facing north. (thing 478)
- facing north-west. (thing 479)
- facing south-east. (thing 480)
- facing south-west. (thing 481)
- facing north-east. (thing 482)
- facing south. (thing 485)
- facing north. (thing 486)
- facing north-west. (thing 487)
- facing north-west. (thing 488)
- facing north. (thing 491)
- facing south-west. (thing 492)
- facing south-east. (thing 493)
Statistics[edit]
Map data[edit]
| Things | 496 |
| Vertices | 1791* |
| Linedefs | 1961 |
| Sidedefs | 2709 |
| Sectors | 284 |
Things[edit]
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:
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