So I'm playing the TNT: Evilution wad for the first time in little bursts when I have the time. I didn't touch it after finishing The Plutonia Experiment because I had enough of CHAINGUNNERS EVERYWHERE.
I recently reached the first secret level, but the RPG RNG decided to throw me a hook and make the entire level poisonous. For the uninitiated: Constant toxic damage and radiation effect without a protective suit (which lasts 1 minute per use, cumulatively), but all enemies also take damage (Though Hell level difficulty means regeneration keeps them alive, the noise gives away ambushes) and have a chance to drop protective suits.
Now, I started with 10 suits that I brought with me, but being completely unaccustomed to the level, I had to work through each puzzle and ambush. That burned through a good number of suits with me. With 6 suits left, I entered an open clearing and cleared out the enemies. As I searched for the way to continue, I hit every switch I found and one of them caused the outer walls to drop.
Suddenly, Nightmare Cacodemons! Thousands Loads of them!
Engage Bob and Weaving. The area's large enough for me to dodge the majority of their hits, but the combination of gigantic projectile, long flight time, and AOE scorches me quite a bit. Finally, I manage to kill all of them except for that one I-just-killed-but-launched-a-projectile-right-before-it-died that smacked me right on and EMP'd my shield.
I cure the EMP effect and bring my shield up. As I head back inside the pyramid I take a Beam Cannon shot to the face from clear across the map dealing 400 damage to my 200 health and killing me instantly. A Nightmare Cyberdemon has come out to play. The load lands me right back to the point I teleport back, but before I enter the pyramid.
Before I go any further, let me explain my character set up.
I'm playing as the Renegade class, which:
A. Fires 50% more pellets with shotguns.
B. Switches Weapons Instantly.
C. Has 50% more armor protection, up to 80%.
I managed to win a rare shield accessory via rare item gamble wheel, which disables regular shield regeneration, but replenishes shield power by 25% of a killed enemy's health. Thus, I minmaxed my shield, effectively giving me 4000 health. I didn't put any stat points into defense or vitality, focusing more on strength and agility (throwing points into luck and capacity when able).
I have two main weapons, a Unique shotgun and an Overcharged Plasma Shotgun. I have a minigun to save shells (though it eats up bullets like crazy), and the other three are just fodder that I pick up. My armor is a prototype battle suit, which offers mediocre protection, but has a built in minigun that fires independently from the weapon in my hand. My boots are grappling plasteel boots, which helps with the issue of knockback.
Now, the problem is that getting EMP'd completely zeroes out my shield regardless of whether I had 4000 points or 1; and no way to replenish it due to having already killed all enemies I could reach. I could switch shield parts, but I'd have to wait for it to regenerate, which is not an option while in a toxic hazard zone with a diminishing supply of suits.
So back to the N! Cyberdemon, I manage to avoid getting killed while going in (the entrance was straight and narrow). Initiate series of battles where I spend my remaining suits dodging bouncing plasma cores, missiles, and beam cannon fire while trying to cut through 45,000 regenerating HP only to slip up and get one shot.
Then seventh attempt, I get gored by the AOE of a missile shot, leaving me with 12 health, but I manage to beat him; and as I run towards the dropped loot everything goes dark.
One day, a marine will find the remains of that battle. As he/she sorts through the ashes and finds a corpse, eaten away by the toxic fumes. They'll wonder how he/she died of toxic waste, while holding a slightly charred protective suit.