Hub 5: Dark Crucible

From DoomWiki.org

Hexen maps
Seven Portals
Shadow Wood
Heresiarch's Seminary
Castle of Grief
Necropolis
Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
Map name: MAP40

Cheat code: visit31

Dark Crucible is the final level in Hexen. It uses one of the following music tracks composed by Kevin Schilder: "Crucible 2" (default) or "Jach" (played from the game CD). It is where you face Korax himself, along with an army of his minions. Although it is part of the Necropolis hub, you cannot return to any of the other levels once you have entered it.

At last, you now stand poised to battle Korax, the second Serpent Rider. Your fate shall be eternal glory or excruciating death.

Walkthrough[edit]

Map of Dark Crucible
Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector, thing, and linedef numbers in boldface are secrets.

Essentials[edit]

The player begins on one side of a waving bridge. Cross the bridge (while avoiding falling off to instant death) and open the door. Inside and up some stairs, there are three switches: one to the immediate left, and two on the walls near the door. Begin by pressing both switches nearest to the door, then the switch closer to the entrance. A random type of mana, possibly even a Krater of Might, will appear next to the two switches near the doors. Doing this every sixth time will cause four dark bishops to appear. Doing this every 20 time will cause a mystic urn to appear in the center of the room. Doing this every 40 times will cause four slaughtaurs to appear. The player can decide whether or not it is worth it to challenge spawning monsters for additional mana. Open the door when ready to battle Korax.

For suggestions about how to defeat him see the page about him.

Once Korax is dead, a portal will appear at the back of the halls. Enter it and watch the ending sequence.

Congratulations, you win the game.

Bugs[edit]

  • If a Banishment Device is used on the wave of enemies released after Korax teleports away for the first time, monsters that must be killed may be transported to the other side of the sealed door, or onto Korax's middle platform. If the player cannot correct the issue by blindly activating a Disc of Repulsion to push monsters behind the wall into a hazard, the level is rendered unwinnable.

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
Sk4 speed
Sk4 max
Sk5 speed
Sk5 max
Tyson
Pacifist

The (absence of) data was last verified in its entirety on December 3, 2021.

Deathmatch[edit]

Player spawns[edit]

This level contains eight spawn points:

  1. facing south. (thing 407)
  2. facing north. (thing 408)
  3. facing south. (thing 409)
  4. facing north. (thing 410)
  5. facing west. (thing 484)
  6. facing east. (thing 485)
  7. facing east. (thing 486)
  8. facing east. (thing 487)

Statistics[edit]

Map data[edit]

Things 488
Vertices 867*
Linedefs 937
Sidedefs 1534
Sectors 181
* The vertex count without the effect of node building is 774.

Things[edit]

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

External links[edit]