E3M2: Slough of Despair (Doom)
From DoomWiki.org
| Ultimate Doom maps | ||
|---|---|---|
| Knee-Deep in the Dead | ||
| The Shores of Hell | ||
| ||
| Thy Flesh Consumed | ||
|
E3M2: Slough of Despair is the second map in the Inferno episode of Doom. It was designed by Sandy Petersen and uses the music track "Donna to the Rescue" by Robert Prince. The par time is 0:45. As can be seen from the map, its plan is based on a human hand. The name may be a reference to "the Slough of Despond," from John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.
Contents
Walkthrough[edit]
Essentials[edit]
At the start, keep to the left hand wall and just keep firing at any monster and/or demon that comes your way. If you get outnumbered, simply backtrack to the start and let the monster(s) follow you. Begin firing at the monster(s) until you have defeated them. Keep moving along until you get to the blue skull key. Then turn around, go straight, and when you are out of the alcove, take two lefts into another one. Walk up to the wall in front of you. Kill the lost souls that were behind the wall (or avoid them), and go into the room they were in. Open the blue door in here, hit the switch, turn around, go right, grab the health and ammo, and get to the exit teleporter.
Other points of interest[edit]
Just south-east of the start of the "pinky finger" you will find a megaarmor (and on the two highest difficulty levels, a cacodemon).
Also playing on the two highest difficulties, the real problem is ammo, so if you need it you can get plasma rounds and a bunch of shotgun shells at the start of the "index finger" where there is a bunch easy to kill shotgun guys. To get in to them afterwards you have to shoot the back wall in one the cubes with the dead shotgun guys to lower the pillar which will reveal a red triangle on the floor; walk across it and the low wall in front of the shotgun guys' cubes comes down.
Secrets[edit]
- In the "thumb" is a small lava pit. Walk over it to lower a nearby wall, revealing a chaingun. (sector 19)
- Below the little and ring fingers is a rock shaped like an arrow if you look at the automap. Open the wall this arrow is pointing to; inside is a plasma gun and a medikit. (sector 58)
- At the end of the middle finger is an arrow on the floor pointing to a switch; flip it to get a supercharge. (sector 28)
Bugs[edit]
Two "hanging leg" decorations (things 184 and 185) and a "pool of blood and flesh" decoration (thing 187) have no flags set for any of the difficulty classes, so they do not actually appear in the level.
Upon entering midway into the "index finger" the wall at the opening closes. This wall is supposed to be opened by the switch at the end, but the one time only switch may be triggered before the wall fully shuts. When this happens the player becomes trapped and is unable to complete the level.[1]
There are four known anomalies in this level's REJECT table.
Design oddities[edit]
Near the second "joint" of the "little finger" (just after the cacodemon trap), a severed leg is hanging from the open sky.
Areas / screenshots[edit]
Starting point.
Attacking lost soul.
A lake or puddle.
Shotgun guys' attacks.
Inside a cave.
Looking towards the blue skull key.
A raised button will unlock something.
The exit is ahead.
Secret #2.
Speedrunning[edit]
Routes and tricks[edit]
Current Compet-n records[edit]
The Compet-n records for the map are:
| Run | Time | Player | Date | File | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV speed | 00:12 | Marijo Sedlić (Sedlo) | 2002-12-25 | e3m2-012.zip | |
| NM speed | 00:13 | Adam Hegyi | 1999-07-03 | n3m2-013.zip | |
| UV max | 01:39 | Tatsuya Ito (Tatsurd-cacocaco) | 2020-09-22 | e3m2-139.zip | |
| NM100S | 00:43 | Andy Kempling (aurikan) | 1999-06-25 | n3s2-043.zip | |
| UV -fast | 02:40 | Radek Pecka | 2001-09-17 | f3m2-240.zip | |
| UV -respawn | 01:55 | Radek Pecka | 2000-08-27 | r3m2-155.zip | |
| UV Tyson | 02:07 | Radek Pecka | 2004-02-01 | t3m2-207.zip | |
| UV pacifist | 00:12 | Marijo Sedlić (Sedlo) | 2002-12-25 | e3m2-012.zip |
The data was last verified in its entirety on November 22, 2020.
Current DSDA records[edit]
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:
| Run | Time | Player | Date | File | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV speed | 0:12.86 | Percy T | 2020-11-30 | e3m2uv1286.zip | Cross-listed from Pacifist |
| NM speed | 0:13.17 | Percy T | 2020-12-06 | e3m2n1317.zip | |
| UV max | 1:27.51 | kuckkuck | 2024-08-04 | e3m2m127.zip | |
| NM 100S | 0:41.46 | Teedre | 2023-07-16 | e3m2ns41.zip | |
| UV -fast | 2:16.69 | BFGandorf | 2023-03-13 | f3m2-216.zip | |
| UV -respawn | 1:55.23 | Radek Pecka | 2000-08-27 | r3m2-155.zip | |
| UV Tyson | 2:03.80 | Jim Leonard (Xit Vono) | 2022-07-18 | t3m2-203.zip | |
| UV pacifist | 0:12.86 | Percy T | 2020-11-30 | e3m2uv1286.zip | |
| NoMo | 0:11.89 | depr4vity | 2020-02-18 | n3o21189.zip | |
| NoMo 100S | 1:07.40 | Dogmachine | 2022-10-24 | e3m2os107.zip | |
| Stroller | 0:26.26 | Tobby | 2025-07-05 | e3m2str2626.zip |
The data was last verified in its entirety on July 11, 2025.
Deathmatch[edit]
Player spawns[edit]
This level contains five spawn points:
- facing north-east. (thing 198)
- facing north. (thing 199)
- facing north. (thing 200)
- facing north-east. (thing 201)
- facing west. (thing 207)
Statistics[edit]
Map data[edit]
| Things | 208 |
| Vertices | 531* |
| Linedefs | 494 |
| Sidedefs | 625 |
| Sectors | 68 |
Things[edit]
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Trivia[edit]
- "Slough" here is pronounced like "slew," and can refer either to a marshy pit or bog, or a large amount.
- Of all the home ports of Doom, only the SNES version has this map. This map was removed in the Jaguar, 3DO, GBA, PlayStation, and Saturn editions.
- The official French name of this level is Bourbier du désespoir (accents are not reflected in the game itself due to technical limitations).
See also[edit]
- Slough of Despair (Doom 2016) for this level's re-created version in Doom (2016).
External links[edit]
- E3M2 demos from the Compet-n database: UV speed • NM speed • UV max • NM100S • UV -fast • UV -respawn • UV Tyson • UV pacifist
- E3M2 demos at the Doom Speed Demo Archive
- Top-down perspective view of all Doom levels by Ian Albert
