Ferrium Ore is a critical yet seemingly scarce material for upgrading your character’s gear and evolving your AIC base in Arknights: Endfield. By the time you need it, you might be unsure where to find it, so here’s everything you need to know to secure this re??source for your Factory.

How to get Ferrium Ore in Arknights: Endfield

Ferrium Ore is not as plentiful or accessible as the easily obtained Originium Ore, found in almost every region in Arknights: Endfield. That's because Ferrium is a high-tier resource, required for you to produce Blue Rarity gear and many other important crafts, and the??ir importance isn't that aren't apparent until later.

As mentioned, you'll probably need Ferrium Ore long before you actually run across it, which is certainly a problem. Fortunately, the solution to this is to follow the Main Story until you unlock the Originium Science Park region. This is where you will find your first Ferrium Ore nodes whi??ch you can harvest like any other ore.

However, if you plan to collect Ferrium Ore in large amounts, simply hitting the nodes won't cut it. You'll need to place an Electric Mining Drill Rig Mk II on a Ferrium Mining location. You read that correctly: a normal Electric Mining Drill will not work for ??Ferrium Ore.

Additionally, you're going to need to have an active Power Grid in the Originium Science Park region to power the drill, which means you'll need a sub-AIC base set up. How do you set up a sub-AIC base in the region? The answer, once again, is to follow the Main Story. You'll eventually?? be prompted, toward the end of the Originium Science Park region's story, to set up an outpost base, and thus, ??a useable Power Grid.

How to get an Electric Mining Drill Rig MK II in Arknights: Endfield

Electric Mining Drill Rig MK IIs are craftable at any AIC Unit (Main or Sub). In order to gain access to the schematic, you must first research and unlock Mining III in the Basic AIC Plan menu. Once you do, the schematic will appear in the Construction option at any AIC Unit.

?To craft an Electric Mining Drill RIG MK II, you'll need the following material?s:

• 1x Portable Originium Rig
• 10x Ferrium Parts

Ferrium Ore Locations

Even after reaching Originium Science Park, Ferrium Ore is still quite a sparse resource to find just by looking around. To make things easier for you, here i?s where you can find the nodes in the region.

West of Transport Nexus

This is likely the first set of nodes you'll come across in the region, as yo??u enter it through Route 5. You'll need to do some Relay footwork to get to mining the nodes.

Northwest of Infra-Station

This node is located directly ac??ross from your sub-AIC base in the region, separated by a massive valley. Fortunately, Zipline (Pylons or Towers) technology makes accessing this node quick and effortless for future visits.

Northeast of Cliffside Trail

This is the third and last node location, but it is, unfortunately, off-limits to you thanks to a Blight wall blocking the path. You'll need to progress the Main S?tory further to be able to reach this one, but when you do, you can add even more ??nodes to your Ferrium Ore mining operation.

Once you get one or two of t?hese nodes on lockdown, you'll have more than enough Ferrium Ore flowing in to do whatever you need to with it.

What is Ferrium Ore used for?

Ferrium Ore has a lot of uses in Arknights: Endfield, so here's everything you can do w?ith the re?source, for your reference.

• Blue Rarity Gear - Provides a stark power increase over the Green Rarity scraps you've probably been making do with. You'll be required to convert Ferrium Ore into Ferrium Components, which requires a bit of effort, but is well worth the expense.
• Outposts - Some of your outposts require you to mass-produce Ferrium-related materials.
• Ferrium - The hallmark resource of the ore, Ferrium is made by dumping Ferrium Ore into a Refining Unit. You must convert Ferrium Ore into Ferrium for the next items on this list.
• Ferrium Powder - Used in conjunction with other materials to produce Condensed versions. Crafted by inputting Ferrium into a Grinding Unit.
• Ferrium Components - Used primarily for crafting gear, as mentioned above. It is crafted by combining Ferrium with Origocrust in a Gearing Unit.
• Ferrium Parts - Used to create advanced structures and items. It is crafted by inputting Ferrium into a Fitting Unit.
• Ferrium Bottle - Used in the creation of various consumable items. It is crafted by inputting Ferrium into a Moulding Unit.

The post Where to find Ferrium Ore i??n Arknights: En?dfield beta appeared first on Destructoid.

The Area Status of a region in Arknights: Endfield determines the value of almost everything you'll find within it, so increasing it is something you'll want to actively pursue. Increasing the Area Status, however, is not an easy task, especially if you're unaware of all the methods you can, and the effort you??'ll need to put?? into the process.

How to rank up Area Status in Arknights: Endfield

To go into a bit of specifics here, ranking up the Area Status of a region influences the materials, resources, and enemy levels you'll find while running around it. Each region has four potential ranks that you can upgrade, allowing you to face off again??st more difficult enemies and find more rare resources, all for the sole purpose of increasing your account's overall power. These four ranks are the following:

• Stable - This is the default Area Status for every Region. Rare resources spawn in small amounts, and enemies are typically low-level compared to the region's maximum level. What's more, the amount of AIC buildings you can construct is standard.
• Active - Enemies become stronger than the previous rank (Stable), and Rare resources spawn in slightly larger amounts. You also have increased AIC structure limits. Additionally, Elite enemies will begin to spawn at this rank.
• Bustling - Enemies are even stronger than the previous rank (Active), and resources spawn in significantly larger amounts. The AIC structure limitation is also further increased. Elite enemies become more common and spawn with packs of other enemies.
• Prosperous - Enemies are at their maximum strength at this rank, and resources are also spawned at max capacity. The amount of AIC structures you can build is also greatly increased. Finally, all enemies, including Elites, spawn at their maximum threat level for the region.

Efficiently speaking, you want to reach the Prosperous Rank in every region as quickly as possible. This is due primarily to the daily limitations you have on collecting rare resources like Red Bolete, a core material necessary for Promoting your characters. Rare resources spawn once a day, and will only respawn on Daily Resets. The higher your Area Status in a region, the more Rare resources will spawn. So, how do you actually go about increasing the level? There are two ways: by boosting Outpost Prosperity and Completing Region Quests.

Increasing Area Status through Outpost Prosperity

Most regions in Arknights: Endfield will only allow you to increase its Area Status by first gaining Outpost Prosperity with the outpost in the Region. This is done by setting up an outpost in a region and provi?ding its needs using yo??ur AIC Factory.

Outposts are set up by progressing the Main Story to a point where you get a secondary mission that requires yo??u to "Raise Outpost Prosperity to the?? current limit."

You'll eventually set up an outpost in the Valley Pass region, which is the first region you'll gain access to outposts in Arknights: Endfield. This outpost will begin life at Outpost Prosperity Level 1, and to level it up, you'll need to mass produce ??and give the outpost its required materials.

For example, my Valley Pass outpost is at level 3, and in order for me to further increase its level, I must provide the outpost with Buck Capsule [C] at regular one-minute intervals. This can be done manually, but that is extremely inefficient, as p??ro??gress continues even when offline. Instead, I have Buck Capsule [C] being produced endlessly at one of my sub-AIC bases, which is being funneled to my Depot.

All materials are sourced directly from your Depot, so design your Factory setups with this in mind. To streamline production, place a Protocol Stash at the end of your production lines to route finalized materials back to the Depot. Additionally, ensure your Yield meets or exceeds the Needs displayed in the Outpost Menu to maintain full automation in your production.

Once you have the requested material being produced and secured in your Depot, toggle the Auto button in the Outpost menu to on, to allow the outpost to obtain it without your intervention. Once the experience bar is full, your outpost will contact you and request the completion of a short quest. After? doing so, it will rank up to its next level. This is a long process, so patience and efficiency are required.

As your outposts rank up, you’ll have the option to supply a different, more challenging material to boost your experience gains. While this approach is more demanding, it offers greater rewards. However, as?? your outpost progresses, it will eventually no longer require the initial resource, forcing you to switch to producing the more advanced material. Keep this in mind as you progress.

Upon leveling up an Outpost in a region, you'll be able to upgrade its Area Status to t??he next rank. Some regions may require mo??re than one Outpost level up to boost Area Status.

Increasing Area Status through Questing

While most regions in Arknights: Endfield require you to level an Outpost to increase Area Status, regions like the Aburrey Quarry?? will allow you to increase it?? by completing its Regional Quest, at least for reaching the Active status. This is as simple as it sounds. Follow the main questline for the region to its conclusion, and you'll be able to boost its Area Status once.

Using Aburrey Quarry as an example, once you complete the Regional Quest, the only way to further boost its Area S??tatus is by increasing your Total Outpost L??evel. This is calculated by adding up the levels of all your available outposts. For instance, to unlock the Prosperous Rank in Aburrey Quarry, you’ll need a Total Outpost Level of eight. This requires you to work on your other outposts and return at a later time.

The post How to incre??ase Area Status in A??rknights: Endfield beta appeared first on Destructoid.

Your base's Power Grid is like your overall influence over the overworld in Arknights: Endfield, and expanding it is a key component of the overall game. You ne??ed an ever-increasing Power Grid to even solve some of the game's overworld puzzles, so here's how you expand it when needed.

How to increase your Power Grid in Arknights: Endfield

Building up your Power Grid is directly tied to the core base-building aspect of Arknight: Endfield, and you'll need to use the mechanics to accomplish this goal. The core to Power Grid expansion is the use of Relay Towers. Relay Towers are like powerlines. They connect your grid to anywhere else you've placed a Relay Tower, but you need to make sure they are all connected together to formulate your grid. This is very easy to do, but since Arknights: Endfield ?is rather complex at times, I'll go ahea?d and walk you through the process.

How to place Relay Towers

First, make sure you have a few Relay Towers in your Backpack. If you don't have any, you'll need to make some at any AIC (Main or Sub). They only require a bit of Origiocrust to craft.

Once you have a few, make note of the location you wish to expand your grid to and star?t placing the Relay Towers from your Backpack. A visual silhouette will appear to inform you of exactly ?where the tower will be placed.

Once placed, you next need to connect the Relay Tower to your existing grid. If you don't do this step, no amount of Relay Towers will expand your Power Grid. To do this, click the Start Transmission option.

This will give you a Power Cord that trails behind your active character. It can only extend out to 80 meters, so you'll need to make sure the Relay Towers you place never exceed this distance. With the Power Cord active, head to a Relay Tower or an AIC Base already in your grid, and interact with it using the Plug Transmission Cable option.

This will connect your new Relay Towe?r with the rest of your base, effectively expanding your Power Grid. ?? This, naturally, allows you to construct additional structures away from your main base, and power them with pylons.

As a core expansion mecha??n??ic in Arknight: Endfield, you can repeat this process as often as you like to expand as far as you want, as long as you have not hit base capacity. Now, if Power Capacity is getting in the way of your expansion efforts, there is a way to increase the capacity maximum.

How to Increase Power Capacity in Arknights: Endfield

Most structures in Arknights: Endfield require Power to function, even if fully built. There is a limit on how much Power can be used at any given time, and if you exceed this limit, your base will basically shut down into a Low Power state. You can build a special structure called a Thermal Bank to overcome this limitation.

Thermal Banks generate power by consuming Fuel, which increases your Power Capacity. However, Fuel is not free, and must be inserted into the Thermal Bank to function. The best source of Fuel to use is Originum Ore, as it is extremely common and easy to mine?? in excess.

How to unlock the Thermal Bank in Arknights: Endfield

To start building Thermal Banks in your base, you must first unlock it in the Basic AIC Plan. This is a mechanic that is not unlocked at the start, so if you're not sure what it is or how to get it, simply progress the Main Quest, and you'll earn the ability to use it.

The Basic AIC Plan is where you unlock various technologies to build in your base, and the Thermal Bank is one of the said technologies. To unlock it, open the Basic AIC Plan and look for the Power 1 node in the tree.

Unlocking Power 1 gives you access to Thermal Banks, which will allow you to build and place them in your base. However, you'll also need to use a Basic AIC Index to do so. This particular resource/curr?ency is exclusive to unlocking technology in the tree, and you'll need a lot of them as you progress.

How to get Basic AIC Index in Arknights: Endfield

As mentioned, you'll need a lot of Basic AIC Index to upgrade your base as you progress through Arknights: Endfield. Fortunately, they aren't difficult to obtain. To get them, you must interact with VR Simulator devices in your area. These look like yellow foam tube men and appear as a broken oval on your world map.

Simply interact with the VR Simulator to get a Basic AIC Index. You get only one Basic AIC Index per VR Simulator device, but each map tends to have a healthy share of them scattered around it. If you cannot interact with VR Simulator, all you need to do is progress the Main Story until you gain access?? to the Basic AIC Plan mechanic.

The post How to expand your ??Power Grid in Arknight?s: Endfield beta appeared first on Destructoid.

The concept of 'powercreep' isn't new in the world of gacha gaming. The shiny new toys of today are almost always designed to overshadow yesterday’s heroes, but in Honkai: Star Rail, the speed at which older characters are being outclassed feels particularly aggressive, leading?? many in the community to sound the alarm.

Characters that once felt like premium investments are being pushed aside at a pace that’s hard to ignore. The most re?cent example of this? The rapid rise and fall of Sparkle.

Sparkle and the Sunday Treatment

When Sparkle launched during the early versions of the 2.0 update, she was hailed as one of the best Harmony characters in the game. Her on-demand Advance Forward mechanic was a game-changer, enabling her to manipulate turn orders in ways that elevated both her utility and the teams she supported. She quickly became a fan favorite and a staple in high-le?vel content, sharing the spotlight w??ith other premium Harmony units like Ruan Mei and Bronya.

Funny enough, Sparkle and Bronya share many similarities to their kits, yet both characters had situations where they were superior to the other. Despite Bronya being a Standard character, she held her own against Sparkle in many team compo?sitions for various reasons. It was certainly powercreep to a degree, but it was done in a graceful, masterful way that let Bronya remain in the spotlight thanks to the niches she had held over Sparkle.

But then came Sunday. Released at the tail-end of version 2.0, literally a month ago, before the 3.0 update even hit. Sunday bro?ught an entirely new level of Harmony utility. His kit was designed not only ??to provide the same type of turn manipulation Sparkle excelled at but also to offer additional buffs and synergies that Sparkle simply couldn’t match. The biggest one was his completely superior Advance Forward mechanic.

The result? Sparkle went from being a top-tier pick to feeling outdated practically overnight. When a character that’s supposed to be built for the long haul gets sidelined this fast, you’ve got to wonder: what’s going on with the game’s balance? Like seriously, where’s the logic? Sparkle is a premium five-star Harmony unit, the kind of character you’d expect to stay relevant for ages. Isn’t that what everyone says about Support units in gacha game?s? That they age the best? Well, Sparkle would beg to differ. Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated case.

Yunli vs. Clara: A Familiar Tale

Another glaring ?example of powercreep, though less aggressive admittedly, lies in the comparison between Yunli and Clara. Clara, as a Standard banner character, was always going to face an uphill batt??le against newer, limited-release units. But Yunli’s arrival made this disparity painfully clear.

Yunli shares a kit and playstyle similar to Clara's, focusing on delivering powerful counterattacks and tanking loads of damage. However, Yunli’s design takes Clara’s core strengths and enhances them to a degree that leaves Clara struggling to stay relev??ant. One of Clara's biggest weaknesses is her inability to force enemies to attack her. Without being attacked, Clara does very little damage, but here's Yunli to fix this problem.

Yunli has a taunt that completely eliminates this problem, and the same taunt ability also dramatically boosts her counterattack damage. Thanks to this and several other changes, Yunli is simply better in most si??tuations, offering superior damage, survivability, and utility.

Clara still has some niche scenarios where she can shine, but those are few and far between. With Honkai: Star Rail's endgame getting more difficult with every update, for the average player, Yunli is the obvious choice, making Clara f??eel like an afterthought despite being one of the game’s early flagship characters.

Seele vs. Acheron: The Disaster

The most glaring case of powercreep in Honkai: Star Rail has to be Seele versus Acheron. Seele was one of the original five-star DPS units, heavily marketed as a must-pull character during the game’s?? launch. She was lightning-fast, hit hard, and felt unstoppable... back then.

Fast forward to now, two years later, and Seele’s kit feels clunky and completely outdated. Her damage is barely serviceable by curre??nt standards, and her single-target focus often leaves her struggling in modern endgame scenarios that very often feature several enemies at once.

Acheron doesn’t just out-damage Seele; she’s also more versatile, making Seele feel like a relic of the past. I want to be clear here: the difference is so stark th??at it’s hard to believe they exist in the same game. For players who built Seele expecting her to stand the test of time, it’s a bitter pill to swal?low.

The Root of the Creep

The powercreep problem in Honkai: Star Rail isn’t just about new characte??rs being strong. It’s about them outright replacing older ones outright. That’s the real kicker. For players who’ve poured time, resources, and maybe even money into their favorites, it feels like a slap in the face when those characters become borderline irrelevant so quickly.

The core issue lies in how Honkai: Star Rail ??handles character releases and endgame design. New characters are being released at a breakneck pace, and it seems like the newer endgame content is tailored almost exclusively to the newest additions. This creates a vicious cycle: newer units become a n??ecessity, while older ones, no matter how well-built or beloved, struggle to keep up. The older they are, the more true this becomes.

The Bigger Picture

This isn’t just about Seele or Acheron. It’s a pattern. Sparkle being overshadowed by Sunday, Clara being outclassed by Yunli, and countless other examples all point to the same issue: Honkai: Star Rail i?s prioritizing shiny new units over maintaining balance across its roster.

The problem is compounded by how quickly characters are being released. Players barely have time to enjoy their investments before the next "must-pull" character drops. And be?cause new content is designed with those newer characters in mind, the older ones inevitably fall behind.

It’s Not All Bad

Despite these frustrations, I still believe the powercreep problem isn’t quite as catastrophic as some might claim. Characters like Sparkle and Clara may no longer dominate the meta, but with proper investment, they can still hold their own in most content. Seele... well, Seele is not so lucky, unfortunately. Admittedly, there aren't many examples like Seele in Honkai: Star Rail, but still, it is a shame that a ch?aracter as interesting as her is almost completely useless in all forms of content.

Most units in Honkai: Star Rail remain viable to some degree, even the older ones. Dr. Ratio remains a single-target powerhouse. Topaz remains the best Follow-up buffer in the game. Even Black Swan, par??t of the DoT team composition that has barely had any updates since its introduction, still has some potent uses on certain teams. It's not all doom and gloom.

The Reality of Powercreep

Powercreep is an inevitable part of any live-service game, but the way it’s handled makes all the differ?ence. In Honkai: Star Rail, the rapid turnover of meta-defining units is undeniably frustrating. Characters like Sparkle, who should have had a longer reign, are being pushed aside far too quickly. Meanwhile, characters like Clara, who could benefit from balance updates or niche buffs, are left in the dust.

Still, it’s important to remember that success in Honkai: Star Rail isn’t solely about having the newest characters. Smart resou?rce management, strategic play, and a bit of patience can go a long way. You don’t need every meta unit to enjoy the game or clear its content.

So, is the powercreep in Honkai: Star Rail a problem? Yeah, it is. The powercreep in Star Rail definitely sucks, but it’s not the end of the world, at lea?st not yet. It’s just part of the gacha game grind. Sure, it could be handled?? better, but it’s not the game-breaking nightmare some players make it out to be... most of the time. What happens next? Will things get better or much worse? Well, that’s the big question. I know the likely answer, but let's just see what the future holds.

The post Does? Honkai: Star?? Rail have a genuine Powercreep problem? appeared first on Destructoid.

One of the earliest roadblocks to progress in Arknights: Endfield is the need fo?r Amethyst Components, a resource that is exactly obvious to find, like some others. If you're having issues getting this resource, here's where you can locate it.

How to get Amethyst Components in the Arknights: EndField beta

Amethyst Components are essential for crafting gear in Arknights: Endfield. Without them, your characters will be left defens?eless and unprepared for battle. Despite having access to Amethyst Crystals fairly early on, you'll probably notice no obvious method of crafting Amethyst Components specifically, even using a Refiner or Scrapper. After all, refining Amethyst creates Amethyst Fiber, while shredding it crea?tes Amethyst Powder; neither is what you need.

In my experience, the best way to obtain Amethyst Components is to simply loot the overworld. Break open every crate and open up every chest. I've found this material to be fairly common from wooden crates, especially in the Valley Pass area, the second major one in the game.

Once you've progressed far enough in the game, you can begin crafting Amethyst Components using a Gearing Unit. This is a special building, similar to the Refiner and Shredder, that you can use to make this material. However, it must first be researched, and the 'recipe' must be discovered by participating in the VR Simulator next to your Core AIC Area.

This mode gives you a basic rundown of how to make use of the Gearing Unit before giving you the ability to use it at your base. If you cannot yet access it, progress your Main Story until you get access to the Electric Mining Drill Rig.

Once yo?u've played your Gearing Unit, you will need?? the following materials to produce one Amethyst Component.

• 5 x Origocrust
• 5 x Amethyst Fiber

Place the above materials into the Gearing Unit, and you'll be able to make Amet??hyst Components in no time.

Crafting gear using Amethyst Components

You can craft Gear, once the feature is unlocked for you, by going to any PAC structure (Sub-PACs included) and choosing the Gear Assembly option.

All but the lowest level gear requires Amethyst Component??s to be crafted, which is why you need a ton of it if you're planning to upgrade your characters.

The post Where to get Amethyst Com??ponents in Arkn??ights: Endfield beta appeared first on Destructoid.

One of the most significant ways to empower your character's progress in Path of Exile 2 is b?y using the Anointment process on your Amulet. Most Notables on the game's massive Skill Tree can be anointed, so here's a list of some of the best ones you can use.

Best Amulet Notables in Path of Exile 2

The most effective Amulet Anointments are those that provide substantial benefits to your build without requiring you to path over to the Notable in the passive tree. After all, if the Notable is already close to your current investments, anointing it on an amulet becomes unnecessary. With the wide variety of viable builds in Path of Exile 2, there? are several Anointmen??ts worth considering. Here are some of the most potent ones to prioritize.

Pure Power

This notable rewards Intelligence-based builds?? that utilize Lightning damage. For every 10 points of Intelligence invested (through gear and Passives), all Lightning damage is increased by 2%. Thi?s scaling mechanic provides a means for Intelligence to offer up a significant boost in Lightning damage, encouraging gear and passive selection that bolsters Intelligence to maximize damage output.

In ?practice, Pure Power is most effective in setups prioritizing intell??igence as a primary attribute, ensuring consistent damage growth through passive stat investment. It is one of the best Notables to have as a Lightning character, whether you're playing Melee, Ranged, or Spells as your focal point.

Lightning Rod

Lightning Rod enhances the reliability of Lightning Damage by treating non-critical hits as Lucky, meaning they roll damage values twice and use the higher result. This significantly boosts overall damage consistency, particularly?? for strategies that rely on frequent Lightning strikes but lack critical strike scaling. Consistency is important for Lightning builds because Lightning Damage has the largest Damage Range of any elemental damage type in the game.

This Notable is a solid pick for setups focused on rapid lightning-based attacks, where consistent Lucky hits can improve damage output?? without requiring heavy investment in Critical Strikes.

Coming Calamity

This Notable dramatically increases Elemental Damage (Fire, Ice, Lightning) by 50% when the corr?esponding Herald skill (Herald of Fire, Herald of Ice, Herald of Lightning) is active. The most potent v?alue of this Notable is that it makes the Herald skill viable for boss encounters, thanks to the major damage boost they provide.

Coming Calamity is especially valuable for setups that integrate multiple elemental effects, ensuring a high damage boost for both area clearing and single-target encounters??????????????????????????.

Drenched

Drenched offers dual benefits: a 40% increa??sed chance to Shock enemies and a conversion mechanic, granting 5% of Lightning damage as Cold damage. This synergy enhances elemental interactions, enabling Lightning builds to inflict both Shock and Chill, increasing overall crowd control and damage potential.

This Notable functions well in hybrid elemental setups, ensuring co??nsistent application of multiple Ailments for added utility and damage scaling.

Volcanic Skin

Volcanic Skin enhances Fire damage by granting an 8% bonus as Extra Fire Damage and provides 20% Fire Resistance. This dual offensive and defensive benefit makes it a must-have for fire-focused builds seeking increased survivability against fire-based enemies and makes reaching the '75%' Resis?tance threshold much easier to reach without relying on gear.

The Extra Fire Damage portion of this Notable is also valuable because the damage that results from it scales separately from all other multipliers. Instead, it sits closer to an addi??tion to other multipliers rather than being affected by multipliers, meaning that it provides you with a lot more damage than a standard boost to Fire Dama?ge normally would.

Branching Bolts

With a 60% chance for Lightning Skills to chain an additional time, Branching Bolts increases the reach and efficiency of all Lightning-based attacks.? It is ideal for clearing groups of enemies a?nd adds flexibility to both single-target and area-of-effect strategies.

This notable is particularly stro?ng for setups focused on chain mechanics, providing excellent utility for clearing tightly packed enemies, but it is still a strong pick-up for the majority? of Lightning-focused builds.

Power Conduction

This Notable improve??s the Shock Ailment, increasing both its duration (25%) and magnitude (25%). Builds that rely on shocking enemies will benefit from greater damage amplification and longer debuff uptime, making it a key choice for lightning specialists.

Power Conduction is a cornerstone for setups centered around frequent Shock applic??ations, ensuring maximum efficiency in both crowd control and damage amplification.

Breaking Point

Breaking Point balances duration and potency by reducing Elemental Ailment durations by 10% while amplifying non-damaging Ailments by 30%. It is highly situational, favoring strategies that maximize Chill, Shock, Freeze, or other contr?ol effects for utility over prolonged ailment uptime?.

This notable feature is best suited for setups focusing on controlling enemy movement or amplifying non-damaging effects for tactical advantage. Since Shoc?k Magnitude increases damage taken, this Notable directly boosts your damage output if you're utilizing the Ailment.

Lay Siege

Lay Siege provides a scalable damage boost by converting your block chance into damage, with a 1% increase in damage per 1% block. It is perfect for tanky offensive builds that emphasize Block mechanics, blending defense with strong offensive capabi??lities. It also works exceptionally well for casters using Wands or Spectres that want even more damage while boosting survivability.

Shield-based setups benefit the most from this notable, turning their defensive investments into an?? offensiv??e edge during combat.

Offensive Stance

Offensive Stance mirrors the effects o??f Lay Siege, offering the same damage-for-block conversion. This redundancy suggests potential stacking opportunities or alternative placement, allowing flexibility in choosing Notables within different tree branches.

It is parti??cularly effective for builds combining ??high block with melee-focused strategies, enhancing damage output while maintaining strong defenses.

Mental Perseverance

This notable mitigates incoming damage by? redirecting 10% to Mana before Life. It is an excellent choice for mana-stacking builds that prioritize Mana Regeneration and sustain, reducing direct life damage and improving survivability in lon?ger engagements.

Mental Perseverance pairs well wit?h strategies utilizin?g high mana recovery, making it a defensive cornerstone for builds reliant on mana sustain.

Adverse Growth

Adverse Growth trades Life Regeneration for Mana sustain, reducing Life Regeneration by 20% but recouping 20% of Damage taken as Mana. It is an interesting trade-off for builds tha??t focus on Mana recovery and utility over traditional hea?lth sustain.

This Notable is ideal for builds that use rapid Mana Regeneration or large mana pools to offse??t the loss of health recover?y.

Roil

Roil increases spell Area of Effect (AoE) by 30% but reduces Area Damage by 10%. This? trade-off benefits builds focused on crowd control or clearing large packs of enemies, sacrificing raw damage for increased coverage. 10% Damage loss is also easily made up via other means like gear and other Passive nodes.

It works best in setups where maximizing area control is a priority, ensuring wide coverage fo?r consistent crowd management. Breaches and Dellerium runs are great reasons to consider using this Notable.

Ruin

Ruin does the opposite of Roil, reducing Spell AoE by 10% but amplifying Area Damage by 30%. This is ideal fo?r concentrated area damage builds that prioritize burst damage over wide coverage. Spells like Flameblast benefit massively from this N?otable.

Ruin is a powerful option for strategies that emphasize s??ingle-hit potent?ial in confined areas, ensuring maximum impact.

Briny Carapace

Briny Carapace enhances Stun Resistance, increasing the stun threshold by 60% each time you’ve? been Stunned recently. It is a defensive tool for builds vulnerable to stuns, offering greater resilience during intense combat situations.

This Notable is a strong choice for builds that do not have large health pools and m?ust find other means to mitigate the stun Ailment. It is a strong defensive option for most general builds, anyhow.

Master Fletching

This notable amplifies the bonuses from equipped quivers by 30%, making it a vital choice for Bow builds that rely on quiver stats for damage, defense, or utility. The unique Bow, Widowhail?, also stacks with this Notable, con??siderably increasing effectiveness.

Maste??r Fletching is most effective in setups that priori??tize Bow builds with strong, well-invested quivers.

Alternating Current

Alternating Current rewards Shock-focused builds by increasing Ma?na Regeneration Rate by 25% if you’ve Shocked an enemy recently. Additionally, it increases the Magnitude of Shocks inflicted by 20%, bolstering both resource sustain and damage amplification.

Lightning-focused setups benefit the most, maintaining consistent resource pools and dam?age enhancements.

Greatest Defense

Greatest Defense synergizes offense with defense, granting a 2% attack damage increase for every 75 Armor or Evasion rating on your shield. This is ideal for shield-based characters aiming to convert defensive investments into offensive power. As another scalar node, it has the potentia??l to be build-defining.

Setups leveraging high-armor shields see the best results, turning their sturdy defenses into p??otent attacks.

Towering Shield

Towering Shiel??d boosts shield-based defenses, increasing defenses? from the equipped shield by 50% and granting a 25% Chance to Block if you’ve blocked recently. It is a cornerstone notable for tanky, block-centric builds thanks to the extra Block chance gained from blocking previous attacks.

This notable is essential for builds using shields to mitigate damage, providing both sustain and ??survivability at the same time.

Fulmination

Fulmination significantly enhances all Damage against Ignited enemies, increasing ignite chance by 40% a??nd Hit damage against ignited targets by the same amount. This synergy is highly effective for Fire-based bui?lds, but almost any build can benefit from the considerable damage boost so long as the enemy is Ignited.

This Notable is notably out? of the way for many Spell-based builds, so it is a strong option to consider for? the Annulment process.

Pile On

Pile On amplifies damage against enemies with Fully Broken armor, increasing it by 60%. It is an excellent ??choice for builds that rely on the Armor Break mechanic, ensuring s??ubstantial payoff during the window of opportunity. Powerful skills like Flameblast or Hammer of the Gods benefit most from this Notable.

Additionally, this Notable is best utilized in strate??gies fo??cusing on weakening enemy defenses, ensuring maximum damage output.

How to add Notables to your Amulet in Path of Exile 2

The process of Anointing your Amulet and unlocking one of the above Notables is done using Distilled Emotions earned from participating and progressing Delirium Events on the Atlas World Map. This means you need to have completely finished the camp?aign and have access to the Atlas following its events.

Ea??ch Distilled Emotion listed above has a special effect when applied to a Waystone, enhancing it by adding additional mechanics. For now, just make a note of this as it's not important for putting Notables on your Amulet.

For? Anointing, you must combine three Distilled Emotions together in the correct order to obtain the Notable you desir??e. The process is started by clicking on a Distilled Emotion in your inventory.

Doing so will open the Instilling Window with four slots available to you. The top slot is where your Amulet will go, while the bottom three are where you need to place Distilled Emotions. When you place any three Distilled Emotions into the window, you will be shown what Notable you'll be able to put on your Amulet. Some combinations will r?esult in nothing, and you'll be informed as such in that scenario.

In order to pinpoint the Notable you desire in the tree, you need to open your Passive Tree and find the Notable you??'re looking to add to your Amulet.

For example, if you wanted to put Pure Power on your Amulet, find it in the Passive tree, and before rolling your cursor over it, hold the ALT modifier key. While holding it, roll your cursor over ??Pure ??Power you will be able to see which Distilled Emotions you need to add to your Amulet in the right order.

Pure Power requires the Distilled Emotions: Suffering, Guilt, and Suffering, in that order. Knowing this information now, you can place these in th??e In?stilling Window and put Pure Power on your Amulet.

What are Distilled Emotions?

Distilled Emotions are specific items that drop randomly following a Delirium Event's conclusion. There are several different types, and each one plays a role in helping you ge?t the Notabl??e you want on your Amulet. They are the following:

• Distilled Isolation: Players in the area are 50% Delirious.
• Distilled Ire: Players in the area are 7% Delirious; 20% increased Magic Monsters.
• Distilled Guilt: Players in the area are 9% Delirious; 8% increased Pack Size.
• Distilled Greed: Players in the area are 10% Delirious; 8% increased Rarity of Items found in this area.
• Distilled Paranoia: Players in the area are 12% Delirious; 15% increased number of Rare Monsters.
• Distilled Envy: Players in the area are 15% Delirious; 30% increased Waystones found in the area.
• Distilled Disgust: Players in the area are 18% Delirious; 30% increased Precursor Tablets found in the area.
• Distilled Despair: Players in the area are 20% Delirious; 30% increased stack size of Simulacrum Splinters found in the area.
• Distilled Fear: Players in the area are 22% Delirious; Rare Monsters have a 25% chance to have an additional modifier.
• Distilled Suffering: Players in the area are 25% Delirious; Unique Monsters have 1 additional modifier.

Some Distilled Emotions are considerably rare??r than others, so if you're looking to obtain one of those, you may need to farm Dellirum Events q??uite a bit. The better you perform during an event, the more likely you'll see a rare Distilled Emotion drop.

Lastly, the modifiers listed are the effects that will be added to a Waystone if you decide to Instill a combination of Distilled Emotions to one, inst?e??ad of an Amulet. This results in a much more enhanced Waystone, which can result in better loot if you're lucky.

The post Best Amulet Anointments in Path of Exile 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Despite being available throughout the 1.0 versions of Wuthering Waves, the Lootmapper tool is ??locked to you in Rinascita from the moment you arrive there. Thankfully, this useful tool ??can be unlocked, but it's going to require a bit of effort on your part.

How to get the Lootmapper License in Wuthering Waves 2.0

If you attempt to use the Lootmapper tool while in Ri?nascita, you'll be greeted with a message informing you that you need a license to make use of it. Unfortunately, this is where the in-game information ends on the matter which can leave you scrambling for knowledge aimlessly. Fortunately??, the method of obtaining the said license is simple.

To unlock the Lootmapper of usage within Rinascita, you must first raise your Rinascita Sonance Casket Collector Level to 6. This is, naturally, done by collecting the many Sonance Casket: Ragunnas you'll find floating all around Rinactita's wild???erness.

Sonanace Caskets are usually found floating in mid-air, so they can be somewhat annoying to find. However, they appear on your mini-map when you are near one, so at least you know when you're close. Search high and low and use the Grapple and Flight tools to pick them up as you come across them.

Once you have some, you need to give the Sonance Caskets to the Plushie Village, in order for them to count. After enough have been obtained, you'll earn the Lootmapper Use Permit: Rinascita item, which must be consumed from your inventory to function. This is a permane??nt action, and doing so will allow you to use your Lootmapper anywhere within Rinascita boun?daries.

Where to find the Sonance Casket Collector in Wuthering Waves 2.0

Unlike the first major area in Wuthering Waves, the Sonance Casket Collector in Rinascita is not located within the main hub: Ragunna City. Instead, you must find the collector in order to submit your Sonance Caskets. Thankfully, I have that information for you as well. The Sonance Casket Collector is located within the Plushie Village I mentioned earlier, but more specifically, within the Garden of the Lost area of Rinascita.

The Garden of the Lost is located far from Ragunna City, so if yo?u've not yet ventured from it yet, you'll have a bit of a journey on your hands. If you already have access to the Flight tool, though, you can reach this area within a few minutes pretty easily.

Once you've arrived in the Garden of the Lost, you'll automatically receive a side quest tasking you to restore Plushy Village, which is done by giving up the Sonanace Caskets you find to the collector there. The collector can be found directly Southeast of the Garden of the Lost waypoint, just up the stairs.

Depending on your progress, the collector may be a pair of hands or Teensy Weensy, a rabbit-looking Echo.

Regardless though??, speak with the NPC present there to submit your Sonance Caskets. When you? have enough, you'll receive the permit. All you need to do, then, is use it from your Consumables inventory, and you're good to go!

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The Lifer is a difficult boss to find and an even harder one to defeat in Wuthering Wave's Rinacista, thanks to his unique location and his various bu??ffs. Here's a walkthrough on how you can find and defeat it.

Where to find the Lifer in Wuthering Waves

The Lifer is at the center of the massive maze located at the heart of the Fagaceae Peninsula zone, within Oakheart Highcourt. T?his location makes up most of the entire zone in size, and it is difficult to navigate, especially since some illusionary trickery is involved with reaching?? the center. More on that soon.

Upon laying eyes on this huge maze, your first instinct might be to use the Flight Utility tool to soar over the walls. Unfortunately, those illusions I just mentioned will prevent you from doing so: you'll get to the center, but reach a dead end every time. Instead, you have to enter the maze at its designated entrance and follow the breadcr?umb trail laid before you to get to the?? proper center.

Navigating the maze

Begin by heading to the Fagaceae Peninsula, Oakheart Highcourt Resonance Beacon. Teleporti??ng to it puts you directly in front o??f the correct entrance.

You'll know ?you're in the right place if you see this ominous-looking statue in front of you.

Make your way through the entrance behind ?the statue and interact with the stone tablet before advancing further.

The tablet talks a bit about the lore of the maz??e, but the important part is in p??arenthesis: you need to follow the path of tablets littering the maze to reach the Lifer in the middle.

Once you're done looking at the tablet, advance past it, following the pathway. Do not take the leftmos?t detour area.

You want to continue to head toward the inner section of the maze for now, so make sure the path you take is doing just that. You will likely encounter several enemies on your way, so take care of them as they appear. Keep following the path until you reach the next stone tablet on the ground, then interact with it.

This is where things can get confusing. The path to follow now is cut off thanks to three Overflowing Palettes in the area, which you must solve to p?rogress. Make a mental note of how you reached the tablet bef?ore proceeding.

Now, the first Overflowing Palette is at the top of the tree above the maze, in the center platform it holds up. Climb the tre??e (or use Flight) u?ntil you reach the platform itself.

The last two Overflowing Palettes are located outside the maze entirely, in the towers overlooking and surrounding it. Enter the tops of ea?ch and solve the puzzle in the middle.

Once all three Overflowing Palettes have been solved, you will get a cutscene depicting the return of color to the area. Gameplay-wise, golden swirls will surround the entire area above the maze, allowing you to use Flight indefinitely as long as you stay within the golden trac??k. This is the key indicator that you're ready to enter the inner section of the maze and face the Lifer.

Return to the tablet you left behind earlier. Head back through the main entrance and retrace your steps if you're having trouble navigating back to it from above. From the tablet, head left a?nd take the first left turn ?you come across.

The moment you take the turn, head right and follow the path around. Do not continue left once you've c?leared the walls surrounding the turn. Follow the path around and take the ?next right you come across, heading toward the innards of the maze.

Ignore the next left turn and w?alk past the maze door on your right until you reach the second left turn in the area. You'll know you're in the right place when you see another stone tablet near you.

Interact with the tablet, then follow ??the path leading away from the center of the? maze. Once you hit the back wall, take the next right.

From here, follow the path all the way around until you see the next stone tablet yo?u'll be interacting with. You'll know you're in the right place if the area is lit with golden light.

Follow the path toward the golden light, making your way to the final stone tablet. Beyond it lies an open doorway leading into the heart of the maze's depths. ??Step through, and you will find yourself face-to-face with the Lifer.

How to defeat the Lifer in Wuthering Waves

The Lifer is an extremely powerful enemy in Wuthering Waves, thanks to the ridiculous amount of buffs he can access at any given time. However, before you can face ??it in a fight, you'll need to play its game first.

The game is an odd combination of Tic-Tac-Toe and chess. The Lifer con??trols the white pieces while you control the black ones. Your goal is to line up your pieces. You can either beat the ??Lifer at its game to reap the rewards—a tough task that will likely require several attempts—or the tried and true method of combat. After a few rounds of failure playing the game, you'll be given the option to fight it out directly instead.

Selecting this option will initiate direct combat, but before you do, notice that the Lifer has 300% Enemy Strength. This means that fighting it now will result in a very difficult encounter you will likely lose. However, you can ??weaken him significantly by disabling most of it?s buffs.

How to turn off the Lifer's buffs

Disabling the Lifers' buffs is directly tied to playing its Tic-Tac-Toe game, though your goal is not to win this time. If you look around the Lifer's room, you'll notice several doors, including one behind it. These doors all lead to different previously inaccessible areas of the maze. Some also lead to locations where you can remove a buff from the Lifer. You can determine which doors lead to areas tied to the Lifer's buffs by using Sensor and following the purple path it reveals.

These doors can be opened by lining up your black piece with any of them. Doing so will open up the initial door and clear a full path to the outer portion of the maze to an area that was not accessible to you before. You can d?o this for any of the doors at the center.

Once you've opened a door, follow the path all the way to the back and look for a terminal in the area.

Interacting with the terminal will let you disable a number of the Lifer's buffs. You may need to find a key piece around the area with the terminal before you ??can do so. Each terminal has one, located in the same room.

Fighting the Lifer

Once you're satisfied with the number of buffs removed from the Lifer, you can engage him in combat and defeat him pretty easily. Ignoring the buffs, the Lifer is just an empowered Chop Chop, with an extremely similar move set.

Of course, if you're looking for a challenge, you can also engage the? Lifer with all of his buffs enabled. This will require a lot of firepower and constant DPS, as the Lifer will heal himself if you take too long to deal damage. He is also extremely durable, able to tank some of the most powerful attacks in the game with ease.

The post How to reach and defeat the Lifer in Wuthe??ring Waves 2.0 appeared first on Destructoid.

Overflowing Palettes are a brand new type of puzzle found throughout all of Wuthering Waves 2.0, and they can be quit??e tricky to solve. If you're having trouble with them, here are a few tips and tricks you can use to get ??yourself closer to the solution.

How to Complete Overflowing Palettes in Wuthering Waves

Overflowing Palette puzzles can be difficult to solve because the solution to them is not always obvious. More often than not, the color you need to switch all the blocks to is not the color you want to start using immediately. In most cases, the objective color is the last one you want to use after you've prepared all the ot??her blocks to s??wap to that color.

The best way to approach these puzzles is with a focus on connectivity. Blocks are only recolored if they are, in some way, connected to each other. Since you only have two to three moves you can?? make, it is important to recognize how you can connect disconnected blocks in as few moves as possible.

You're aiming to connect everything together, in an Overflowing Palette puzzle, so that you can change all the disconnected blocks into one connected color. When everything is connected and colored, the puzzle bec?omes significantly easier to decipher because you know exactly which blocks will have their color altered when you aim to paint another color over them.

Another key aspect of this puzzle is reducing the number of colors in the puzzle itself. The more blocks of a different color present, the more difficult these puzzles are to finish. Ideally, this is your primary goal over everything else initially, and it ties in directly to what? I mentioned earl??ier about coloring disconnected blocks.

These tips will help you solve every single Overflowing Palette puzzle available in Wuthering Waves 2.0, as they all follow th?e same core aspect of color control and connectivity.??

The post How to solve Overflowing Palettes in ?Wuthering?? Waves 2.0 appeared first on Destructoid.

Of all the additions added in Wuthering Waves 2.0, the Fli??ght tool is likely the most impactful regarding expl??oration. Normally, you cannot use Flight if you're too close to the ground, but there are two handy little tricks that will allow you to always circumvent this limitation.

How to fly from anywhere in Wuthering Waves

To be clear, Flight is only allowed within Rinascita, not Huanglong or The Black Shores, so? 'anywhere' refers to any of the zones that make up Rinascita, including interiors.

With that clarification out of the way, Flight can be used from any position and any location as long as you meet the sole criteria of being high enough off the ground. At times, you may find yourself unable to use Flight because you simply cannot ascend enough. Elevation plays a big role in this, as climbing up a hill will often prevent standard use of the tool. However, you can overcome this obstacle by using the Grapple tool or the Superjump technique. One requires more technica??l skill than the other, but I will cover both so you can decide which you want to use.

Using Flight with the Grapple Tool

Since height is the only thing that prevents you from using Flight at all times, you can utilize the Grapple tool to remove this limitation. To do this, first, perform a standard jump, then use the Grapple to pull yourself higher into the air. Using the Tool Wheel, swap to Flight and press the Tool button immediately?? after. If you do this correctly, you'll be soaring from locations that were previously impossible to take off from.

The one downside to using Flight this way is that it requires you to constantly swap Tools every time you want to take off. Opening the Tool Wheel drastically slows down time, which allows you to easily access the Grapple Tool and swap to Flight, but it's still a cumbersome set of actions that might get old fairly quickly. The upside is that this method doesn't require any real technical know-how of Wuthering Wave's robust movement system.

Using Flight with the Superjump Technique

Alternatively, to using the Grapple to gain height, you can use a complex set of aerial motions to artificially ascend beyond your normal jump capabilities. This is the Superjump techni??que, and it is more efficient and effective to perform over us?ing the Grapple, though it does require more effort to learn and understand initially.

First, select any character with a standard downward plunge. This is a requirement for the t?echnique, as not all characters in the game can perform it. Characters like Yinlin, for example, cannot use Superjump because her downward plunge is unique to her. It needs to be a standard plunge attack.

Once you've selected your character, to perform a Superjump in Wuthering Waves, follow these steps in order:

1. Perform a single Standard Jump
2. While in mid-air, initiate a Downward Plunge attack
3. Before the attack executes, cancel with a mid-air Dodge
4. Initiate a Downward Plunge again
5. Use the Flight Tool

This technique exists because every one of the above-mentioned steps ?allows you to gain a small amount of height with each one. This is clearly more complicated than simply using the Grapple and may require some practical practice on your end. However, I assure you that after some lab time, you'll find Superjump to be a much more convenient method of activating Flight from anywhere you like. Practice this, and it will become second nature to you. Then, soar freely.

The post How to use Flight from an??ywhere in Wuthering Waves 2.0 appeared first on Destructoid.

After what's felt like an eternity, Wuthering Waves 2.0 has finally been released, and with it came the? newest five-star Resonator, Carlotta. Carlotta packs a serious wallop and introduces a new style of play not seen before her release, so if you've pulled her, or are planning to, here's? everything you need to know.

Best Carlotta Build in Wuthering Waves

Carlottla is a Glacio DPS character, and the first five-star Pistol user in Wuthering Waves. Her weapon type comes with certain expectations, but I urge you to put these aside because Carlotta does not play like any other Pistol character before her. Carlotta is a unique combination of a Burst and DPS character, in that ??she has solid consistent damage, with a very powerful burst coming entirely from her Ultimate ability. In fact, her goal is to reach the most powerful ??state of her Ultimate before using it for maximum damage output. This requires you to pay attention to a number of factors and fits right into her gameplan.

Carlotta's Gameplan

Despite appearances, Carlotta is a number-complex character, meaning the mechanics you need to be paying attention to often have little visual feedback. In Carlotta's case, her most important mechanic is Moldable Crystals, which ties to almost every other mechanic she has ac??cess to. Moldable Crystals is a stacking buff (max six stacks) that she gains when performing many of her numerous actions. Without getting stuck in the weeds on this, her most reliable ways to gain Moldable Crystals are the following:

How to get Moldable Crystals

• Mid-Air Plunge Attack - Earns her three Moldable Crystals. If not hitting a target, you must follow this up with a Basic Attack to earn the crystals.
• Basic Attack Two - Earns her three Moldable Crystals only when she does not have Moldable Crystals. This is because Carlotta will utilize her Enhanced Basic Attacks when she does have crystals, dealing more damage and charging her Forte faster.
• Resonance Skill - The first part of the Skill only. Earns her three Moldable Crystals
• Heavy Attack - Earns her three Moldable Crystals.
• Dodging - Earns her three Modlable Crystals

Carlotta consumes stacks of Moldable Crystals to charge her Forte. The more crystals consumed, the faster her Forte charges. This is important to understand, so make note of it for now. We will return to it later. Here are the main ways she consumes Moldable ??Crystals:

How to consume Moldable Crystals

• Enhanced Basic Attacks - Replaces standard Basic Attacks while you have Moldable Crystals. Consumes one crystal per attack.
• Resonance Skill - The second part of the Skill only. Consumes all available Moldable Crystals.
• Dodge Counter - Activates a special riposte ability that consumes following a Dodge. Consumes one Moldable Crystal.

You are doing all of this gaining and consuming of Moldable Crystals to charge Carlotta's Forte Bar to activate two special buffs upon completing filling: Tinted Crystal and Final Bow.

• Tinted Crystal - Allows Carlotta to use her enhanced Heavy Attack, which does massive damage in an AoE around her while reducing the cooldown of her Skill by six seconds. Tinted Crystal has a 22-second cooldown, but this cooldown only affects the AoE nuke, not the cooldown reduction portion. You will know if this buff is active if Carlotta's hair has crystalized
• Final Bow - Buff's Carlotta's Ultimate damage by 80%. This buff is depicted as an hourglass on your buff bar. Once her Forte bar is filled, she will receive this buff permanently until her Ultimate is used. While her Ultimate is active, she will gain the full benefit until it has concluded or she is switched out during it.

Resonance Skill and Liberation

I've talked a bit about Ca??rlotta's Resonance Skill and Ult??imate already, but there is a bit more to say about them separately.

Carlotta's Resonance Skill, Art of Violence, is a two-part skill that requires two inputs to execute. The first part rewards you with three Moldable Crystals but also applies a very powerful debuff on the enemy hit called Dispersion. This debuff completely freezes any en??emy hit by it for 1.5 seconds.?? This also works on bosses.

Her Ultimate Era of New Wave is the source of her Burst damage, but the initial hit also applies a powerful debuff called Deconstruction on any enemies hit by it. Deconstruction causes your damage to ignore 18% o??f the enemy's defense, and this is the case for your entire team.

In Summary

With all of that said, in a nutshell??, Carlotta gameplan ??is to:

• Generate and Consume Moldable Crystals to fill Forte
• Fill Forte to activate Tinted Crystal and Final Bow
• Use Ultimate with Final Bow active
• Use Forte to reduce Skill cooldown
• Use Tinted Crystal buff to launch a powerful AoE nuke
• Repeat

Any additional buffs t?hat support the above flow, like intro skill??s, weapons, or team composition mechanics, enhance Carlotta's ability to perform.

Best Echoes for Carlotta in Wuthering Waves

With the release of Wuthering Waves 2.0, a slew of new Echo sets also came into the picture, and one of them is extremely ideal for Carlotta. She has three op?tions to use,? with the newest set being the best choice.

• Frosty Resolve - This set gives Carlotta an abundance of additional Resonance Skill damage, which is why it is the most potent set for her. A majority of her damage is considered Resonance Skill damage, making it the best option by a decent mile.
• Lingering Tunes - Lingering Tunes is one of the original sets in Wuthering Waves, but it still packs the generic punch it always has by offering Carlotta a large amount ATK% the longer she remains on the field. Generally speaking, Carlotta likes field time, so this is a solid set to consider while you're farming up the new one.
• Freezing Frost - As a Glacio character, Carlotta also reaps the benefits from the significant Glacio damage Freezing Frost offers her. It simply requires Carlotta to attack with her Basic Attack to gain the full benefit of this set, so while it is technically the weakest set number-wise, it is still an excellent option for her while farming the new set.

Carlotta is built like any other DPS character, so the ideal Echo setup for her is '43311', which refers to the Echo Costs f?or all five Echo equipment slots.

• 4-Cost Echo (Crit DMG, Crit Rate)
• 3-Cost Echoes (Glacio DMG Bonus or ATK%)
• 1-Cost Echoes (ATK%)

Best Weapons for Carlotta in Wuthering Waves

As the first five-star Pistol character in Wuthering Waves, Carlotta doesn't have many options for weapons to choose from. In fact, she only has two. The most recommended weapon is, naturally, her signature, The Last Dance. This Pistol gives? her unconditional ATK% while significantly buffing her Skill Damage when her Intro Skill or Resonance Liberation (Ultimate) is cast.

The second option is the generic Static Mist, which serves as a solid stat stick for Carlotta thanks to its Crit Rate substat. However, Carlotta is a main DPS character and cannot really take advantage of Static Mist's ally buffing ability in any real way. Also, as a Standard five-star weapon, it will never compete with The Last Dance in any Echo setup, making it alway?s the worst five-star option??.

If you do not have The Last Dance or Static Mist, I strongly urge you to reconsider pulling for Carlotta, as the?re are no viable four-star weapon?? choices for her, and her performance will greatly suffer if you try to use one.

Best Team Compositions for Carlotta in Wuthering Waves

Carlotta likes to have a lot of field time to perform her combos and stack up her Moldable Crystals, but she isn't required to be glued to it. Thanks to her versatility, she is actually rather flexible with several teammates and is a preferable option for hypercarry and quickswap setups.

Carlotta/Zhezhi/Shorekeeper

This is the premium Carlotta team composition, and it performs extremely well thanks to both Shorekeeper's and Zhezhi's buffing mechanics. Carlotta naturally serves as the hypercarry, but before she takes the stage, you'll want to open with Shorekeeper's Ult into an immediate swap to Zhezhi. Zhezhi then generates her? Concerto very quickly and, thus, provides Carlotta with a significant boost in Glacio and Skill damage with very little delay. By the time Carlotta switches in to dish out damage, all buffs should be active, which is ideal for Carlotta's Ultimate, which should be used with Final Bow active.

If you prefer a quicker buff cycle, Shorekeeper can be swapped out wi?th Verina for a similar effect.

Carlotta/Changli/Verina

This is Carlotta's premium quickswap team composition, and it works well thanks to Carlotta's and Changli's longer-than-normal animations during combat. Long animations are a positive for quickswap teams because as long as a character is performing an animation, they will remain on the field and can be swapped back to with??out losing most buffs. This setup doesn't really use a rotation as much as others, only needing Verina to perform her chores to get her ATK% buff going. Carlotta and Changli then swap between each other's long animation attacks, performing their chores until it is time for them to unleash their big bursty attacks.

If Carlotta has activated her Ultimate while Final Bow is active, do not quickswap during it. If you do, Ca?rlotta will lose the massive 80%? damage buff to it, which is not good.

Carlotta/Sanhau/Shorekeeper

This is a strong hypercarry team composition that focuses on the extremely quick Concerto generation of Sanhau to get both Shorekeeper's and Carlotta's buffs up and going ASAP. Sanhau plays the role of sub-DPS buffer here and should be using the Moonlit Clouds set for the additional buffs.

The traditional rotation for this comp is opening with Sanhau via using her Skill/Ultimate, then swapping to Shorekeeper before Sanhau's Concerto is full. From here, Shorekeeper builds her Concerto and uses her Ultimate. With a full Concerto, swap back to Sanhau, who should already have a full Concerto, then immediately swap to Carlotta. Carlotta then remains on the field ?until it's time to renew her Ultimate buff.

Sanhau does not buff Carlotta in any meaningful way outside of the Moonlit Clouds set, but the Basic Attack buff she does provide is not entirely useless to her; ??it is just not ideal.

Best Sequences for Carlotta in Wuthering Waves

Carlotta is a decently strong character at S0, and does not require Sequences to clear any of the content in Wuthering Waves. That said, she certainly does benefit considerably from her first few, and you may want to consider going for them, thanks to their effects. Without a doubt, S3 is your best stopping point, but that is not exactly easy to get. If you're int?erested in knowing what her Sequenc??es do, then here they are, condensed for your clarity.

• Beauty Blazes Brightest Before It Fades (S1) - When hitting a target with the Deconstruction debuff, those hits have an additional 12.5% Crit Rate. When hitting a target with the second portion of her Skill, Carlotta gains 30 additional Forte. Great Sequence that increases her damage a bit while speeding up her rotation speed.
• Fallen Petals Give Life to New Blooms (S2) - More than doubles the damage of her Ultimate (126% Damage Increase). Considering her Ultimate is a large bulk of her damage, it is a strong Sequence to consider.
• Adelante, Cortado, Spinning in Grace (S3) - Carlotta gains a second mechanic to her Outro Skill, allowing her to dish out 1032.18% of her ATK to any enemies hit when she swaps out with a full Concerto. This one has huge potential and is a large buff to her quickswap playstyle. If this wasn't enough, though, it also buffs her entire Resonance Skill damage by 93%. This Sequence gives Carlotta a considerable spike in damage and should be the stopping point if you're investing in her.

• Yesterday's Raindrops Make Finest Wine (S4) - Whenever Carlotta uses any form of her Heavy Attack, she buffs herself and her entire team with 25% Resonance Skill Damage for 30 seconds. This is actually a rather strong Sequence because Resonance Skill Damage buffs are rare in Wuthering Waves. This also helps future-proof her as she can now play a sub-dps role for characters like Jinhsi, who like Resonance Skill Damage.
• Toast to Past, Today, and Every Day to Come (S5) - Buffs her Forte-empowered Heavy Attack by 47%. Decent, but not worth investing in unless you're going straight to the bottom with S6.
• As the Curtain Falls, I Remain What I Am (S6) - Massively buffs the damage of her Ultimate while also enabling it to inflict the Scattering debuff on targets hit. Scattering functions almost exactly like Dispersion, freezing enemies hit for 1.5 seconds. The difference is that the next hit will break Scattering's freeze, but this isn't an issue since all shots of Carlotta's Ultimate will inflict it. Effectively, this ensures that no enemies will be hitting her while it is active. Very strong, very effective.

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It is the Support Gem that makes the Skill in Path of Exile 2, and there is quite a ??huge variety to choose fro??m. The sheer volume available may be intimidating (and for good reason), but there are some Support Gems that you should absolutely not ignore.

Strongest Support Gems in Path of Exile 2

Support Gems are the backbone of your Skills, ?and the best ones can turn a good build into an amazing one. Here are the most potent; the ones that ultimately define or unleash a Skill's potential.

Controlled Destruction

With Controlled Destruction equipped on any Spell, it gains 30% increased damage at the cost of causing it to be unable to hit critically. If you're building raw damage, this Support Gem is one of the most powerful thanks to its multiplicative nature. It is best used on Spells with high base damage, but it will still be very strong on any of your main spell-based Skills. Just remember that it's only for Spells. Attacks cannot make use of this one.

Martial Tempo

Any build that uses a Martial Skill/weapon (a Skill/weapon swung or used physically) can make use of Martial Tempo. This powerful Support Gem provides any Skill that it is attached to with a free 25% Attack Speed, which is huge in terms of stats. This means that your slowest ??Skills can become quite fast when it's equipped??. Attack Speed is a major DPS factor, so this Support Gem is a must-have staple in many builds.

Unleash

Unleash can be a game-changing Support Gem for any spell it is linked to thanks to its incredibly potent effect. Without getting into the mud of things, it effectively lets you cast a spell twice with a single cast, with the second spell suffering a large 50% damage decrease. Even so, Unleash is a flat DPS increase as the mana cost for said spell does not change despite it being cast a second time, effectively for free. Th??at all said, Unleash should be on one of main DPS spells, as the damage increase is especially immense in burst-based scenarios.

Considered Casting

If Controlled Destruction wasn't enough Damage for your Spell, then consider Considered Casting instead. Considered Casting provides your Spell a monstrous 40% Damage Boost at the significant cost of 15% Cast Speed. The penalty here is huge and is something you should try to account for before using this Support Gem. If you can find a way to dampen the negative tho??ugh, then this gem is absolutely insane for your damage.

Inevitable Critical

There are numerous factors that critically hitting a target can trigger, but without enough Critical Hit Chance, you won't be seeing them activate. Enter Inevitable Critical, a Support Gem that grants you 25% Base Critical Strike Chance per second for the Skill it is equipped to, up to a max of 100% Crit. This effectively means that every four seconds, your Skill is guaranteed to land a Crit, which can be incr?edibly useful on a main DPS ability. Alternatively, you can also use this Support Gem on a Skill that you don't use unless the Critical Strike is stacked to 100%.

Impetus

If your build relies heavily on Energy generation for Meta Skills like Cast on Ignite or Cast on Shock, Impetus is a highly useful Support Gem to consider. Impetus can only be equipped on Meta Skills, as it prov??ides an unconditional 40% ??increase to its Energy gain.

Primal Armament

Your DPS (Damage per Second) is very important to increase, especially when playing the endgame, and Primal Armament is one of the best in class Support Gems to use for this purpose. When equipped on an Attack-based Skill, it provides an unconditional 25% Damage boost at all times, no strings attached. There are also no negatives associated with Primal Armament, making it one of the most impactful ?Support Gems for any of y?our main damage Skills.

Cannibalism

Cannibalism is a potent Support Gem that allows you to recover 4% of your Maximum Life every time you score a kill. This is fantastic for sustain-based playstyles that rely on scoring kills, which is something you'll need to be doing a lot of to survive the endgame. It can only be slotted into Buff-based Skills and has a Spirit Cost associated ??with using it, so you may have to plan a bit in advance. However, if you can, Ca?nnibalism is an incredible Support Gem to use.

Deadly Poison

For any build making use of Poison-based damage, Deadly Poison is an irreplaceable Support Gem to slot. Equipping it to a Skill dramatically boosts the potency of the Poison in inflicts (75% Magitude) at the cost of 25% less damage with direct hits. This negative is painful, but if your goal is to dish out damag?e using Poison DoT (Damage over Time), then Deadly Poison is a defining aspect of your build. Make use of it.

Searing Flame

At the cost of 25% of the Supported Skill's damage, Searing Flame compensates with a massive Ignite Magnitude increase of 75%, making this Support Gem a go-to for Ignite-based builds. Magnitude increa?ses for Ailments are not exactly the easiest to come by, so to have such a large increase on a Support Gem makes this one, one you should not ignore.

Elemental Focus

Elemental Focus is another Support Gem that does nothing but increase the damage of the Skill you slot it into. It boosts damage by a sizable 25% and can be stacked with other similar Support Gems like Primal Armament for even greater effect. The only notable downside to using Elemental Focus is that it prevents the Skill it is attached to f??rom inflicting Ailments, which can be problematic if that's your goal.

Mastery Supports

Every single damage type in Path of Exile 2 has a Support Gem dedicated to improving the overall level of the Skill it is attached to by one. If you're unaware, level boosts on Skills provide more benefit than most other mechanics in the game (including other Support Gems), making these Gems extremely important to slot on the Skills most inte??gral to your build/gameplay style. There are no downsides associated with using them, so make sure to do so.

Immolate

Immolate is one of the absolute most potent damage Support Gems in the game. It provides the slotted Skill with 30% Extra Fire Damage against Ignite enemies, which is ridiculous for a Support Gem. That 'Extra' part is especially important because it means that the damage this Gem provides comes after all other damage calculations are completed as a stand-alone modifier to your other damage. In simple terms: it boosts your damage much more than other Support Gems are capable of. 'Extra' damage, in general, is incredibly hard to come by, so for this gem to provide it so easily is insane. If you want to see a significant damage boost, make use of Immo??late.

Elemental Exposure Supports

All the elemental forces in Path of Exile 2 have access to an Exposure Support gem that inflicts a debuff on an enemy struck by the skill it is attached to. The debuff reduces the resistance of said type by a considerable amount, allowing you to deal more damage with that elemental against that target. This is highly valuable for stripping the high elemental Resistances common on? endgame enemies, letting you deal with them much more easily. What's more, Exposure debuffs stack with Curse debuffs, allowing you to further str?ip Resistances with ease.

Bloodlust

If you're making use of the Bleed Ailment, then you should consider using Bloodlust Support Gem on your main damaging Skill. Bloodlust provides the Skill it is attached to with a significant 30% Damage boost, at the cost of the ability being unable to inflict the ?Bleed status. More damage is always a good thing, so use this one if Bleed is your thing.

Vitality

Self-sustainability is more important in Path of Exile 2 when compared to its predecessor thanks to the incredibly punishing endgame. After all, you can't dish out damage when your health pool is at zero. There are many ways to improve your survivability, and vitality is a near-free easy way to do so. It lets you regenerate one percent of your Maximum Health per second. While this will obviously not save you from high amounts of burst damage, it is fantastic for keeping yourself healthy over extended periods. The only real limitation to it is its high Spirit Cost, wh?ich can make it difficult to slot in if you're unprepared to do so.

Arcane Tempo

Arcane Tempo functions identically to Martial Tempo in functionality, only it's for Spells instead of Weapon-based Skills. It provides the slotted Spell with 25% increased Cast Speed, making it a considerable DP??S increase to use overall Support Gems for your main damage ability. Like Martial Tempo, it comes with no downsides to speak ?of, making it one of the best Support Gems you can use to boost your overall DPS.

Mobility

Mobility is a strong option as a Support Gem because it allows you to more safely position yourself in combat, without suffering most of the negatives associated with attacking from range in the first place. While the entire movement penalty is not negated with this Support Gem, most of it is, and it is very noticeable against Path of Exile 2's most difficult content.

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When Grinding Gear Games dropped the announcement for Path of Exile 2 (PoE2), it wasn’t just about c??ontinuing the series. It was about shaking things up in a big way, making changes that fundamentally alter the way players would engage with the sequel to one of gaming's most impactful ARPGs.

One of the biggest, most defining changes? The approach toward difficulty. From the slower, Souls-like campaign to the highly punishing Endgame, this topic is a fi??rey one for the community. So, let’s talk about it: is the difficulty a bit too much, or is it exactly what the franchise needed to evolve?

Path of Exile 2 - Prepare to Die Edition

If you’ve played the campaign in PoE2, you’ve probably noticed it’s got some serious Souls-like vibes. It’s slower, more deliberate, and really makes you think about how you’re playing. Unlike the original Path of Exile, where you could just speed through and nuke everything in sight, PoE2 want??s you to slow down, take your time, and actually strategi?ze.

Boss fights aren't just scaled-up enemies with special names anymore. They’re not just about how much damage you can pump out. You’ve got to watch, learn patterns, and adapt, or else end up a corpse. It’s a breath of fresh air for someone like me who loves a good challenge, and if you enjoy the thrill of mastering tough encounters, you’ll probably lov?e this shift.

The campaign in Path of Exile 1 wasn't exactly memorable for its story, nor was it engaging in combat encounters. The community treated it as a character progression stepping stone for reaching the 'Endgame' as fast as possible. While I do not doubt that this scenario will be a recurrence in Path of Exile 2, at the very least, the slower pacing and more methodical combat will make you think about what you're doing; what you're up against, allowing for the potential for a more memorable experience. It is for this reason that I applaud Grinding Gear Games for taking the gameplay of PoE2 to this juncture.

The High Stakes of Endgame Mapping

Now, let’s talk about the Endgame, where things get really�intense. Mapping in PoE2 isn’t just about clearing enemies. Every run feels like you’re gambling with your progress. You die? You’re losing the map, 10-15% of your XP, and any resources you poured into it. Ouch. Not exactly forgiv??ing, but not totally foreign to those who played the previous title.

And then there are the Waystones. These things are crucial for keeping your mapping progre??ssion going, but they’re not exactly plentiful. If you have a bad streak, you can find yourself completely out of maps at your level, which means starting over from scratch. It’s brutal, no doubt about it. Some think its far too much a tax, but I think it's fine... or at least the idea of it is.

Here’s the thing, though: I think this tension is kind of the point. Knowing that every run could make or break your progress adds an edge that PoE1 just didn’t have. When you succeed, it feels amazing. But yeah, the penalties might be a little too harsh right now. Maybe dialing back the XP loss or making ?Waystones a bit easier to come by would help without totally removing the tension.

That said, I’m on board with the direction Grinding Gear Games is taking. They’re clearly trying to make endgam??e progression meani?ngful, and I respect that. It’s better than feeling like nothing’s at stake, right?

A Challenge To Be Sure

So, with everything out in the open, the question remains: is Path of Exile 2 honestly too hard? I don’t think so. The campaign’s slower pacing is a great change of scenery when compared to the near decade of i??nstant-blasting screens in the game's predecessor. The high stakes in mapping also give the game's 'Endgame' a sense of weight, a sense of danger.

Every move you make on the Atlas Map must be deliberate, or else you'll find yourself scrambling for Waystones to progress and not an experience point to your name. Sure, it’s not for everyone, and a few tweak?s and balance changes might be needed, but overall, I’m loving the challenge. I love that I have to use my brain beyond just character-building.

That said, I get why some players might feel overwhelmed. If you’re used to the speed and efficiency of Path of Exile 1, or you're new to the franchise entirely, this new methodical pacing and the heavier penalties can feel like a punch in the gut. But here’s the thing: games like this are supposed to push us. When you overcome a brutal boss fight or finally beat a tough map, the sense of accomplishment is unparalleled, even if it doesn't ?feel like it initially.

I think the real question isn’t whether Path of Exile 2 is too hard, but whether you’re ready to? embrace the challenge. For me, the tension and stakes make ev?ery victory sweeter. Could it be adjusted a little? Are things a tad overtuned (probably an understatement)? Sure. But do I think the difficulty is fundamentally a problem? Not at all. Grinding Gear Games is walking a fine line between frustrating and rewarding, and while they might need to adjust here and there, they’re really onto something great. Lightning in a Bottle.

If you’re willing to lean into the difficulty and adapt your playstyle, Path of Exile 2 offers a rewarding ?experience that few games can match. And honestly, isn’t that the point of a game like this? To test your limits and see how far you can go? For me, the answer is clear: bring it on, putrescent warts and all.

The post Is Path of Exile 2 Really Too Difficult? appeared first on Destructoid.

There are numerous defensive options available to you in Path of Exile 2, with two of the best to focus on being Armour and Evasion. Both stats are competitive, but which one actually edges ??out between the two?

Is Armour or Evasion better in Path of Exile 2?

While it would be very easy to give you a direct answer to this question, the truth is: Path of Exile 2 is a complex game, and there is no clear-cut answ??er thanks to the sheer volume of options available to you. There are countless scenarios where Armour is better than Evasion, and Evasion is better than Armour, so rather than directly comparing these two defensive stats, I'll explain?? their use cases along with their strengths and weaknesses, for your information.

Armour

The value of building for Armour on a character in Path of Eixle 2 is pretty straightforward, though the weaknesses of doing so may not be. Armour is a damage mitigation stat, meaning it directly interfaces and interacts with all other forms of damage mitigation. These refer to additional stats like resist?ances and physical damage reduction. With higher amounts of Armour, physical damage reduction increases, though it is a separate modifier to your actual damage reduction. Confu?sing I know, but hear me out without all the mathematical jargon.

When stacking Armour, you value significantly reducing damage taken (specifically burst damage), allowing you to stay in the ?thick of battle without concern for your own safety. A character with high Armour shrugs off even the most powerful physical blows and can take quite a beating before being put down. Armour is at its highest value when built with high resistanc?e and health, making you extremely tanky and consistent with health loss in a fight.

The downside to building Armour is that it is purely a damage reduction stat, and not an avoidance one. Ideally, you'd flat out never want to take any damage, as no damage taken means no health loss. Characters that focus on Armour, however, sacrifice this aspect to make sure the damage they do take is manageable. They do not care about avoiding it, and this can be a big d??ownside when the damage being dished out is so high that Armour is not enough.

Evasion

In contrast to Armour, Evasion is a very powerful Avoidance stat meant to prevent you from taking damage outright. A character with Evasion built as the focus avoids almost all damage taken by simply dodging it. The more Evasion is stacked, the more powerful the stat becomes, as every point reduces the odds of suffering a blow. If you're not taking damage, you're not using your limited flasks, which is highly beneficial in the endgame of Path of Exile 2. In terms of power, Evasion is stronger than Armour, but with a much ??larger drawback when compared to it.

Evasion's greatest weakness is the accuracy of your enemies. Even with capped-out Evasion, you can never build a character with so much of the stat that you become untouchable entirely. This is because enemies have an Accuracy stat that is rolled against your Evasion stat in the background; if the enemy's Accuracy wins, you'll suffer a blow, and becau??se you aren't built with Armour, the blow will hurt a lot.

While stacking Evasion, you won't ge??t hit often, but when you do, you'll need to immediately hit your potion button, especially during the endgame. Speaking of which, suffering a blow from an Atlas map enemy could kill you outright without allowing you to recover, so keep this in mind when stacking Evasion.

So, while Evasion is technically better as it prevents damage, this is only the case in a situation where you cannot be hi?t, which is imposs??ible to achieve. Meanwhile, Armour is the consistent, constant option that you cannot go wrong with.

The post Shoul??d you build for Armour or Evasion in Path of Exile 2? appeared first on Destructoid.