The only time I've ever done a 4x was when I was trying to meteor storm an enemy...who died. Then the rest of the meteor storm ate up the planet and flew three times around the solar system before crashing into my red person. Shit happens.
@Slothrop, if you get trapped, you have to kill yourself. Anyway, my favorite character was the thief equipped with wristblade daggers. Good combination of mobility (double jumps, good jump height, escape, fast speed), survivability (escape), and power (melee attack). It also was the character with the least useful rune, heh.
level 24 for example is doing with one shot if you hit it in the right spot. same with level 7 (1 shot) and level 9 (2 shots). I'm sure there are others.
There should be a difference between completing the level on gold with or without the chest. Also you should double check the the gold requirements. Some of the levels I've done on fewer number of shots than gold.
Areas reset without limit if you just keep entering leaving. If you find a room with a submachine gun/assault rifle, you can just keep entering and leaving to reset both weapon drops and zombies.