Part 11

Conquer Part 11 of Painkiller! Learn monster weaknesses, effective weapon strategies, and how to best utilize powerful Golden Cards like Mercy and Divine Intervention.

Alright, let's dive into Part 11 of Painkiller. This section is going to cover some really useful stuff: how to deal with specific monsters and a couple of Golden Cards that can make a huge difference, especially on higher difficulties.

First up, let's talk about the Soul Redeemer. If you're starting a Nightmare game, this is a must-have. Normally, you get one point per soul, but with the Soul Redeemer, it counts each soul as two. This means when you grab a soul from an executioner or any 'Red-Soul' monster, you'll get 12 health instead of the usual 7. It's a solid boost to your survivability.

Golden Cards

Now, let's look at two Golden Cards:

• MERCY
  • Cost to place: 2000
  • Rating: 4/5

  You get this card after defeating Lucifer himself. If you're someone who uses Golden Cards a lot, this is fantastic. It lets you place any card for free, three times per level. It's especially useful in a Trauma game if you've carried over your cards. If you don't plan on using cards much, though, you might not need to equip it.

• DIVINE INTERVENTION
  • Cost to place: 0
  • Rating: 1/5

  This is your reward for beating the tough Forest level. Honestly, by the time you get this, it's pretty much useless. You'll likely have all the cards, have picked your favorites, and will stick with them through Trauma difficulty. Plus, you'll probably have over 6000 gold saved up since you haven't been messing with card costs. The only real upside is that it completes your card collection.

Monsters

This section breaks down the various enemies you'll face in numbers. While they look different, many share special abilities, and some have resistances or weaknesses to certain weapons. The danger ratings are based on my experience, so feel free to disagree! I'll also suggest recommended weapons for some.

• AMPUTEE
  • Danger: 2/5

  These guys can cling to ceilings and do a melee jump attack. Otherwise, they're slow and weak, so they shouldn't give you too much trouble.

• ARABIAN WARRIOR
  • Danger: 3/5
  • Recommended weapon: Shotgun

  They're among the fastest enemies and have ranged attacks, plus they can teleport. Despite this, they're still fairly easy to take down from a distance. Watch out for their flashy mid-air sword attacks – you can often stake them right out of the air or just turn and blast them with your shotgun.

• BANSHEE
  • Danger: 1/5

  These are mostly harmless on their own. Their only attack is a scream that briefly messes with your vision and slows you down, making you vulnerable to other enemies. Later versions might have stronger screams but are still easy to kill. Fun fact: you can perform high jumps off their exploding corpses!

• BEAST
  • Danger: 4/5
  • Recommended weapon: Freezer or Chaingun

  These enemies will scurry around until they get a clear shot, then they ignite and roll towards you incredibly fast, similar to Blanka from Street Fighter. Dodging these rolls is tough. Your best bet is the chaingun to hit them continuously while they move, or the freezer if you're out of chaingun ammo.

  • MINIBOSS: GIANT BEAST

    This is just a much bigger and tougher version of the regular Beast.

• BONES
  • Danger: 3/5
  • Recommended weapon: Electro or Shurikens

  Be careful, these can steal souls from your total if they get too close. They take time to assemble, so shoot the glowing green part on the ground to destroy them before they fully form. They have a weak kamikaze attack when low on health. The Electro weapon is great for hitting them consistently and taking them down quickly. Shurikens are also effective if you aim for the glowing hearts – two shots usually do the trick for smaller ones. Watch out for bigger versions later on.

• DARK NINJA
  • Danger: 3/5

  These are essentially the same as Arabian Warriors but appear in different levels.

• DEVIL MONK
  • Danger: 3/5

  These are dangerous up close. Their attacks damage and slow you significantly, and their scythe-staffs linger after they die. The green staff versions are a bit less dangerous than the red ones. Later on, they gain an instant-hit lightning bolt attack that you really need to watch out for. The glowing staffs have a cumulative slowing effect the more you're hit. The Devil Monks in the final level, Hell, are almost invisible.