Nemesis



Nemesis is the main antagonist and final boss of Catacomb 3D and the Catacomb Adventure Series. An arch lich and necromancer, he is known for his skeletal appearance and propensity for evil. The name derives from the Dungeons & Dragons character played by one of John Carmack’s friends from his childhood in Kansas City, Missouri named Izzy.

In Catacomb 3D
Nemesis has kidnapped Petton Everhail's friend Grelminar and entrapped him in an amber sarcophagus. Everhail must ascend Nemesis's keep and rescue his friend, provided he can remember which is which.

Nemesis in Catacomb 3D is the toughest enemy in the game; he has 90 Hit Points and fights somewhat similarly to a Mage in that he shoots Magick Missiles at the player. Unlike the Mages, however, Nemesis doesn't even try to avoid enemy fire and focuses entirely on offense. When encountered, he's backed up by three Demons, who will rush the player while Nemesis hangs back and snipes from afar. Because his missiles travel harmlessly through his minions, this is actually the most dangerous encounter in the game since it's easy for the player to get overrun.

Once his escort's dealt with, Nemesis is laughably easy to defeat; rapidly fire Magick Missiles at him and he won't even get further shots off.

In Catacomb Abyss
Following his apparent demise, Nemesis' minions erected a mausoleum in his honour, and he returns as the final boss of Catacomb Abyss.

He's gone from being the complete joke he was in Catacomb 3D to actually threatening now, hurling fast-moving skull projectiles that are capable of killing the player in 4 hits on Warrior difficulty. Even worse, he reacts to damage by throwing additional skull projectiles, allowing him to easily bring down the most prepared player in a flurry of devastating damage no other monster can match. With 100 Hit Points, he is even tougher than previously, and he's holding the Red Key that the player needs to beat the game.

It is highly recommended to fire off Zappers to wear down his enormous health pool, and use Cure Potions to heal off the enormous amount of damage he tends to do to the player in the process. If he manages to get close, repeatedly firing off Xterminators can bring him down extremely quickly, and this is arguably the easiest way to defeat the wily lich.

When he is defeated, he collapses to the floor and his head explodes.

Nemesis is one of the rare enemies that does not require a Jewel to find on the Crystal Sphere. He appears as a white dot.

In Catacomb Armageddon
Nemesis returns with a new and terrifying trick: He's begun cloning himself!

You'll first run into these despicable dopplegangers in The Chamber of the Evil Eye, and they are nearly as powerful as his incarnation in Catacomb Abyss. While these clones do somewhat less damage than the original, their damage output is still extremely high, they share the original's tendency to react to being shot by shooting additional projectiles, and they almost invariably appear alongside other enemies. They have 60 hit points each, making them quite difficult to bring down, and as one of the most threatening enemies in Armageddon, using Zappers and Xterminators is recommended to reduce the number of Cure Potions you'll need to burn off fighting them otherwise.

The safest way to take out a Clone is with a Crystal Hour Glass, but their sheer toughness means each Hour Glass can at best kill one.

In the encounter with the clones in The Fortress of Nemesis, they get stronger - starting off slightly weaker than the ones from the Chamber of the Evil Eye at 40 hit points, followed by two with 60 hit points each, then three with 80 hit points each. Finally, after the contingent of Nemesis clones, the player faces the Lich himself, with a contingent of Mages for backup.

While he looks the same as the clones, he is, if anything, even more powerful than his Abyss counterpart, able to kill the player in 3 hits, with each shot from him doing almost half of the player's life total - and fighting essentially in the same way his clones did, making him unquestionably the strongest monster in the game up until this point. He also boasts a unprecedented 150 hit points, making him easily the toughest enemy in the game so far. However, the player has one saving grace: The arena Nemesis fights the player in has no less than three Crystal Hour Glasses, giving more than enough of a chance to wear down his bodyguard and his massive hit point total.

Neither Nemesis nor his clones require any Jewels to see on the Crystal Sphere. They show up as white dots. When either Nemesis or his clones are killed, they collapse to the floor before their head violently explodes.

In Catacomb Apocalypse


Accessing time portals, Nemesis has embarked on his greatest scheme yet - travelling to the distant past and far future alike in an effort to finally secure his evil dominion over the world. Unlike his previous incarnations, Nemesis has altered himself, abandoning his earlier skeletal form in favor of becoming a techno-lich with a metallic frame. A corona of burning blue energy blazes around his head, showing that he is more powerful than ever before. Taking a nod from his scheme in Catacomb Armageddon, he has also recruited versions of himself from alternate timelines, and given them a similar treatment. The clones look and act the same, but are much weaker. Both Nemesis and his Clones throw flaming skull projectiles, but they are now robotic skulls.

While Nemesis (and his Clones) look and sound different from their earlier incarnations, and have different stats, strategically, they're almost identical to how they were in Catacomb Abyss and Catacomb Armageddon, and they use the exact same tactics. They are first encountered in The Testing Chambers of Nemesis. The Clones are encountered before encountering Nemesis himself. Their damage and Hit Points increase with each iteration.

The first Clone does 12 damage per hit on average, and has 50 hit points. It does the same trick with reacting to the player's shots with shots of his earlier counterparts did. This one is possible to easily beat in a stand-up slugfest, though the player will need to be quick on the Cure Potions to win this way. It's easier (and safer) to lure him back to the Access Hall to the Testing Chambers and use strafing to dodge his shots while wearing him down. This is especially important because his room has an Invisible Horror hiding in it.

The second batch of Clones (there are two) do 24 damage each, and have 80 hit points apiece. Due to their counterstrike capabilities, trying to beat them in a slugfest like the first one is impossible. Worse, a pair of Invisible Horrors lurk in their midst, so it's best to kite the horrors away and kill those before coming back to deal with the clones. Much like the first one, it's best to lure them out to the Access Hall to the Testing Chambers and then finish them off there, but bear in mind their notably higher damage output.

The third and final batch of Clones do about 30 damage each and have 120 hit points each. There's also three of them this time, and they're the toughest foes yet. As was the case with the previous clones, the is to seperate them from their buddies - both the clones, and the trio of Invisible Horrors in this room - and lure them out into the Access Hall to the Testing Chambers, where you can wear them down one-by one. Don't let your Health drop, because the Clones's damage is ridiculously high.

The real Nemesis is actually found in a small room just off the same test chamber as the final batch of clones, and if you are supremely unlucky, you will aggro him when attempting to kite out the other clones. He does around 50 damage per hit, on average, which means he can kill the player in 2-3 hits. He has 160 Hit Points and is easily the most powerful enemy in the game, made worse by the fact that he counter-attacks like the other Clones did. The same tactic that worked against his Clones works here. He is, however, unequivocally the most powerful enemy in the Catacomb series at this point and will be your hardest battle - unless you decide to trivialize him

An alternate, and very bold strategy that works well against both Nemesis and his Clones in this game is to abuse Xterminators. Do the exact opposite of common sense, and charge into close-combat, before spamming the X key (and C Key as well so as to spam potions). The first clone will go down in about 3 casts, The second Clones around 4 each, the Third around 6 and the final one in about 8.

Humorously, the most fascinating part about Nemesis' encounter in Apocalypse is that you don't need to fight him at all! If you held onto a Red Key from earlier in the game, you can completely bypass his boss fight and go right through the time portal to beat the game.

When defeated, Nemesis' body crumples to the floor before his mechanical skull explodes. In the case of the clones, the explosion takes out the pile of robes, leaving no corpse. The real Nemesis, when killed, leaves his bloodied robes behind and triggers a little victory jingle (and spawns a Red Key).