Hexen Mage Archimage Speedrun (skill 5) in

Date: 2021-09-24
IWAD: hexen.wad
Category: Archimage Speed (Skill 5)
Map: HexAll
Sourceport: Hexen-plus 1.1.5
Time: 21:40

The Route is basically the same as the Cleric run, but this time as the Mage.

I think the grid skip at the start is not possible with the Mage.
So I'm using the normal route with the Sliding doors trick (after the emerald key) & shooting the Bell early in the first map.

The first Hub (Seven Portals) is easy, I just need to skip the final door (thx to Kokrovan for the Mage strat).
Before exiting the Seven Portals I took the first part of the Bloodscourge.

In Hub 2 (Shadow Wood), I need to take a Porkalator and some Boots of Speed before fighting the Death wyvern.
So I take the Arc of Death first, then I head off to the Wastelands, killing 10 Ettins to open the path...
Once I get back to the Shadow Wood, I just use the final door skip to enter the Hypostyle.

I can't easily skip the Hypostyle with the Mage too, so I do the map normally again.
I have to solve 4 rooms before the hub boss. The second part of the Bloodscourge is in the pillar room with the Afrits.
Using the Arc of Death against the Death wyvern makes the fight kinda easy, even if I nearly died here haha.

The Hub 3 (Heresiarch's Seminary) is really simple. All I need to do here is to take the last part of the Bloodscourge to complete the weapon, then leave the Hub.
To do that, I have to activate 6 switches to open the path to the last piece (I prefer not doing the glide in this skill).
Once I get the complete Bloodscourge, I can head off to the Hub 4 (Castle of Grief) with a grid skip.
Doing the grid skip with the Mage is kinda hard, so I killed a lot of Bishops before attempting it.

In Castle of Grief, I need to press 4 switches outside of the castle and press 5 switches on castle walls.
The upper side is really deadly, that's why I brought up so many Quartz Flasks... I nearly died here.
When the switches are pressed, I need to pickup 4 gears to activate the clock tower. I take the Dark Servant and go to the Gibbet.

In the gibbet, I need to defeat the Heresiarch to access the Hub 5: Necropolis.
So I took the last Porkalator I need, and I secure the room before doing the void glide.
I can't defeat the Heresiarch easily with the Mage. I actually have to do the fight.
The Heresiarch isn't immune to the Mage's Flechettes, even with his shield. But that fight is really hard.
I'll use as much flechettes as possible to kill him as fast as possible. Once I'm run out of flechettes, I switch to the Bloodscourge.
However, I need to be careful as my own projectiles can be deadly the moment the Heresiarch uses his shield against me...
I ran out of ammo quickly but I still defeated him :)

I skipped the whole Necropolis with the Boots of Speed & a Porkalator on a Reiver near the secret level (thx to Kokrovan for the Mage strat).

Finally, Korax. Using the Bloodscourge & all the Kraters of Might makes the fight kinda easy. I still died once here to the spikes in a previous attempt.

I find the Final time being a correct time. I thought this run was easy, but I died about 10 times in Necropolis.