Shub-Niggurath's Pit is the final level of Quake, accessed after the player has beaten all four Episodes. The portal to this map is hidden under Introduction but can only be accessed once the player has completed the four Episodes and obtained all four Runes.
The level begins in small flooded crypt, where the player has to remove a set of Bars to access a fiery Teleporter. The second part of the level is a huge, seemingly natural, cavern. In the center, on a small island surrounded by Lava, is Shub-Niggurath herself. There are numerous traps throughout the cavern, and many monsters will teleport in once the player starts making their way towards the Teleporter, which leads to the location of the Spiked Sphere that roams around the room.
The goal of the map is to defeat the Shub-Niggurath, the final Boss of Quake.
Follow the tunnel to some Bars, that lower as you approach.
Rise out of the Water and climb onto the nearby platform.
Use the Teleporter to reach another hallway.
Follow the corridors to Shub-Niggurath.
Kill the Shambler to open up further passage.
Follow the corridor to a Teleporter.
Wait for the Spiked Sphere to go inside Shub-Niggurath.
Use the Teleporter to Telefrag Shub-Niggurath and beat the game.
Walkthrough
Shub Niggurath's Pit
As you start the level you will fall into a large body of Water. Kill the 4 Rotfish and collect the Shells behind you. Swim to the room in front of you to collect the Thunderbolt, but swim back as the surface is Barred. Swim into the tunnel to your left from the start. Turn right at the end and kill the Rotfish in the next tunnel. Turn right at the end and the Bars in the doorway will lower, as well as the Bars leading to the surface; you are in the Thunderbolt room again. Turn left at the top and kill the Scrag. Climb onto the platform and collect the Double-Barrelled Shotgun, 3 Cells, Rockets, Nails, Shells, and 15 Health. Go through the Teleporter to land in another corridor. You will see the Spiked Sphere starting to go on its patrol route. Collect the three 25 Health and the 2 Rockets, then follow it down the corridor. Collect the Rocket Launcher at the top, then turn right. Collect the Super Nailgun at the end, then turn left. Collect the two 25 Health and the Nailgun, then turn left. Collect the Grenade Launcher then continue down the corridor. Collect the two 25 Health and Nails at the end, then turn right to see the platform with Shub-Niggurathover the Lava. Kill the Shambler on the platform, then turn left as the Wall moves away to reveal another Shambler, almost all the Enemies in this level spawn ten seconds after the previous; thus it will not be mentioned a lot. Kill the Vore that spawns after you kill the Shambler. Another Vore drops down ten seconds or so after the first Vore a little farther up. Continue down the corridor while avoiding the Hidden Spike. Collect the Nails and 25 Health, and the Cells on the little platform to the left beside the Lava. Jump over the Nail Trap and collect a 25 Health. Jump over another Nail Trap and collect another 25 Health to the left. Collect the Nails and 25 Health slightly up the corridor, and kill the Vore that has spawned. Continue down the corridor while collecting 25 Health and Cells, and turn right at the end. Kill the Vore at the top of the stairs, and start to go up yourself while avoiding the Nail Trap at the bottom of the stairs. Collect the 25 Health and Rocketsat the top, then turn left. Kill the Vore at the top of the stairs, then go up yourself. Evade the Nail Trap and kill the Shambler coming down the stairs to the right. Climb the stairs and kill the Vore that spawns as you get close to the Teleporter. Collect the 25 Health on the left side. To the right is a small ledge you can drop to, then can follow it around to a Quad Damage and Teleporter leading back to the upper Teleporter(#1). Wait for the Spiked Sphere to go inside Shub-Niggurath, then Telefrag her by the use of the Teleporter.
At the end Teleporter, drop to the right to land on a small platform. Follow it around to a Quad Damage, as well as a Teleporter leading back to the ending Teleporter.
One of the Nail Traps has its shooter entity pointing in the wrong direction, shooting nails straight back into the physical launcher rather than down the corridor at you.
Sometimes the final Vore will not spawn next to the ending Teleporter, but on the platform with Shub-Niggurath after she is killed, making it impossible to kill the Vore in these instances.
The engine automatically assumes that every moving brush (such as Movable Walls) is solid in order to apply a texture to it, meaning that even if the level specifically states otherwise Quake will render it as a solid object. If the player uses Noclip to go into Shub-Niggurath and waits for the Spiked Sphere to enter her body, the game will continue to state that the Spiked Sphere is solid even though the Spiked Sphere doesn't exist. Due to the conflicting information, Quake will crash with the error message - "MOVETYPE_PUSH with a non bsp model"
An invisible Level Exit exists near the ceiling of the room with the Shub-Niggurath platform on the side that the player uses to enter the room. Entering the Level Exit results in the message "This is so in Deathmatch, exiting the map will go to the start map." being displayed. It can be reached by performing a Rocket Jump from the Shub-Niggurath platform while having a Red Armor and Quad Damage. Note that the Red Armor can only be retrieved in the Deathmatch version, meaning performing this Rocket Jump in Single Player is virtually impossible under normal circumstances.
The teleporter in the secret area sometimes suffers from a visual defect.
Hidden, non-functional slipgate behind this wall.
At the Introduction, when descending into the pit that leads to Shub-Niggurath, instead of jumping into the floor teleporter, if you Noclip, there's a non-functional slipgate behind the wall to the right with the hanging zombie.
Game Ending
“
Congratulations and well done! You have beaten the hideous Shub-Niggurath, and her hundreds of ugly changelings and monsters. You have proven that your skill and your cunning are greater than all the powers of Quake. You are the master now. Id Software salutes you.
In map's source released in 2006 by John Romero following Quake's 10th Anniversary, there was added extra room nearby teleporter where player needs to step to telefrag Shub-Niggurath. The extra room is accessable only via Deathmatch and has Gate Exit to Start level. Also right above the added Gate Exit there's teleporter which pulls player back from Gate Exit. Most likely, the section was added after game's release (since map sources are from 04 September 1996) to add official way to finish level in Deathmatch and go to the next level, but never released with patches.
The 2021's Remaster has the same section present, but it's locked in Deathmatch. Despite that, Remaster's end.bsp have several improvements for Deathmatch mode, such as adding extra ammo, removing walls in DM, disabling nail traps and damage to player in the area where stands Shub-Niggurath. Also, first section of the map where player falls into water is locked off, among the part of second section from where player encounters Spiked Sphere and right until first nail trap.
The new room with Exit Gate added after the game's release found in map's source.
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