Very early into Elden Ring, I kept seeing these random, cracked, co??nspicuous-as-hell statues with a blue or turquoise light. And 50 hours ??in, I finally know how to break them open.

Backing up a step, there are many different types of statues in this game, some of which you can directly interact with. I'm not talking about those. I mean the statues that are partially sliced open, and often embedded in the ground or topp??led over. You'll probably recog??nize them when you see them. Like this one!

**Spoilers below**

If you're anything like me, you might've tr?ied two-handing your weapon, va??rious jump attacks, and explosive throwables, to name a few tactics that seemed like a good idea at the time. No dice �at least, not that I've seen. Instead, you'll need to source some outside help. You need to use a big boy.

That's right, a big boy

Had I spent more time scoping out this cracked glowing statue on stormy Limgrave hillside with several trolls roaming nearby, I probably would've figured out the solution way sooner. In fact, on a return visit, the a-ha mom??ent happened organically: a giant just casually strolled through it on his way to my character, and the cracked statue exploded, revealing a s??hiny reward.

What was inside? Unfortunately, just some low-level smithing stones �a useful find in the early gam??e, but far less helpful down the road when ?they're more plentiful.

If you missed the statu??e pictured above, ??you might've seen this statue with a glowing crack in the heart of Stormveil Castle, which you would've gone past on your way to the boss.

It's not-so-conveniently resting next to a large, gnarly enemy �large enough to make me think it could also be strong enough to bust open the statue... but it didn't work for me. Appearance isn't always everything, but once you get a feel for who (or what) has the magic touch to bust open glowing statues in Elden Ring??, you'll probably be able to instantly recognize them.

What I simply had to do upon luring this troll was to have it casually walk on top of this statue. It could have also just swung its weapon at me and broken the statue as co?llateral damage, but at lower levels, that could be very risky.

Interestingly, it seems that other large-scale enemies in Elden Ring are capable of opening these glowing cracked statues. When we mean big boys, they don't have to be on the scale of the aforementioned tro?lls. You just need to be able to look and them?????????????????????????? and think, "Yeah, this guy could probably eat rocks."

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Other ways to break glowing cracked statues in Elden Ring

Depending on the area you're in, you will have to do some scouting on what the biggest enemies are. You'll have to train a beast or two and bring them to the statue with the glowing cracks. In the example below found in the Sealed Tunnel, this stat?ue is against the wall, so you can't just hide behind it in hopes of your enemy walking right into ??it.

What you will have to do is put your back against the statue as an enemy is about to attack you. At the right moment, dodge its attack and hopefully, they'll open the thing for you. Not the safest ?thing to do, but ?you probably won't get anywhere just asking politely, either.

What do glowing cracked statues contain?

In terms of reward, from every example I've seen, these glowing cracked statues just give out various tiers of upgrade materials like Smithing Stones for your wea?pons and shields. A potential??ly good haul, but not necessarily something I'd want to go out of my way to get, if that makes sense.

This is just the latest in a line of "Wow, I really overthought that!" moments in the game. I'm loving it. Especially now that I've hit a ?brick wall, and it's time to go ?wandering again.

The post How to break glowing blue cracked statue?s in Elden Ring appeared first on Destructoid.

Note that the Elden Ring Walking Mausoleums are found as quickly as the first area, but if you want to go in fresh. Skip away!

Here's a buffer for you:

[caption id="attachment_624604" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Okay, ready?

To get into the Elden Ring Walking Mausoleums, you'll need to bring them down to your level.

So, for many hours (like 30), I thought you had to run up some mountain somewhere and then jump down on it. Some will require you to do that while others are more straightforward.

How to get into every Walking Mausoleums in Elden Ring

There are a total of seven Walking Mausoleums in the base game of Elden Ring. Here they are as follows from their closest Site? of Grace:

[caption id="attachment_624606" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Isolated Merchant's Shack (Limgrave)

Just a bit northwest of spawning here, you'll see you??r first Mausoleum roaming around. Carefully remove the barnacles on its legs. They appear more like skull clusters. You will do so by attacking them. Upon cleaning up enough of them, the Mausoleum will come d?own, granting you entry inside the tomb.

[caption id="attachment_624605" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Gate Town North (Liurnia of the Lakes)

Go north from hear by the cliffside to find the Mausoleum with a bell. This one requires you to jump onto the grassy part of its body to bring it d?own. You'll need to wait until it gets close enough to the cliffs you can scale to climb aboard. You can also?? use the spirit spring to jump onto it if you're scared of falling to your death.

Once on top, clean up the barnacles on its body to bring it down a??nd open the door.

[gallery size="full" ids="624608,624607"]

Mausoleum Compound (Liurnia of the Lakes)

There are two Mausoleums here which will require you to hit the barnacles on their legs to bring them down. It's straightforward, but they do get agitated and start jump-stomping. When you see them do so, make ??sure to get back so you won't get crushed.

[caption id="attachment_624610" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Apostate Derelict (Consecrated Snowfield)

S??outh of this Site of Grace will be the next wandering Mausoleum. Once again, hack away at the skull barnacles on its feet to bring it down. This time, it'll ??shoot you with ranged attacks, so be ready to dodge not only its feet, but magic bolts coming at you.

[caption id="attachment_624611" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Castle Sol Main Gate (Mountaintops of the Giants)

Rig??ht next to Castle Sol's gates will be the sixth Mausoleum. Slash away at the barnacles to b??ring it down.

[caption id="attachment_624612" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The Nameless Eternal City (Deeproot Depths)

The fi?nal one can be e??ncountered underground. Unlike most other Mausoleums, you will have to use the roots around it to climb onto the thing while it's still in motion. The barnacle skulls will be on its upper body compared to the legs. Clear enough of them to bring it down.

Once you're there, the Elden Ring Walking Mausoleums can be used to duplicate remembrances.

If you've played the Souls series before, you'll be very familiar with this concept: they're boss souls. In Elden Ring, they can be used to "squash" into raw runes (souls) for leveling up for bu?yi?ng items, or you can transmute them into one of two items at the hub area (usually a weapon, or a spell).

Good luck! The Walking Mausoleums are super easy to spot, and now that you know the tric?k, you can bring them down.

The post How to get into the Elden Ring Wa?lking Mausoleums (turtle towers) appeared first on Destructoid.

Mörk Borg is spreading its dark tendrils off the tabletop and onto Steam. Originally released in 2020 by Free League Publishing, Mörk Borg has been the undisputed, award-winn??ing breakout hit from the Old School Renaissance world of game design. The tabletop role-playing game strips back the d20 ruleset to its most deadly and fill the empty space with bright and harrowing death me??tal-inspired art, equal parts vicious and colorful, like its mechanics.

On September 24th, indie game designer Morbidware announced that they were working on a new video game inspired by Mörk Borg's world, deadliness, and art design. The game is called Mörk Borg Heresy Supreme. The game is a 2D action sidescroller, and the Steam page makes its dark promises of death with a "Roguelike" tag. From what very little of the game we have seen so far, it resembles its peers like Blasphemous and Corpse Keeper.

Mörk Borg Heresy Supreme vows not to forget its OSR roots, featuring RPG elements in the form of stats and rolled skill checks. As the Steam page threatens, "You should always put your life in the hands of a die roll. That's why it's called a die roll." In many ways, the game promises a mix of gory gorgeo??usness and the knowledge that you will churn through many, many characters before you finally reach the end of its pitch-black apocalypse.

Mordbidware's previous game was The Textorcist, an exorcism-based bullet hell typing game, which only makes this partnership with Mörk Borg make more sense as I say it. Mörk Borg Heresy Supreme announced a Kickstarter to fund this new digital vision of their surreal hellscape. The Kickstarter goes live on October 1, and the game is said to be released i??n late 2025.

The tabletop game advises you to burn your book; I suppose now we should burn our PCs too. I just hope they've kept the?? femur club.

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It's hard to believe we've had 8 years of Stellaris, but it's true. Since releasing back in 2016, Stellaris has nine core expansions, a single narrative expansion (Astral Planes), and about a dozen content packs including story-specific content and new playable species. The newest expansion, Stellaris: Cosmic Storms, adds new dynamic Cosmic Storms that affect gameplay, a new Origin, Storm Chasers, 3 new Civics, and some new technologies built around the new storm mechanic. Through and through, it's more Stellaris, which is always a good thing.

Stellaris: Cosmic Storms (PC [Steam], [Microsoft Store], [GOG])
Developer: Paradox Development Studio, Behaviour Rotterdam
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Released: September 10, 2024
MSRP: $12.99

Into the Eye

As the title of the expansion would suggest, Stellaris: Cosmic Storms' main big new feature are its new dynamic cosmic storms. There are eight unique storms in total: Electric, Particle, Gravity, Magnetic, Radiant, Stardust, Shroud, and Nexus. These storms completely replace the old existing Space Storms,? which were rather inconsequential in their former structure.

Let me start by saying, each of these storms are absolutely stunning graphically. Most of them add a swirling particle effect of colors that really light up entire systems, often with chaotic flashe?s of lightning and other cosmic explosions throughout the storm as it circles an area.

Each ??storm has a general effect that affects your systems in the storm, regardless of the actual storm type: +0.2Monthly Devastation to your planets and increased Emergency FTL Damage Risk, but then there is a slew of other pros and cons based on which of the eight storms it is. For example, a Magnetic Storm increases station and ship upkeep but reduces Metallurgist Upkeep.

As you can imagine, depending on where the storm hits, what sort of empire you're building, and what stage of the game you're in, the storm can be a huge? headache, a ?nice buff, or rather meaningless. In the end, I think that the biggest issue I have with the storms, is depending on when and where they hit really changes how big of a deal they actually are, but of course, that's the intent.

An all-new ascension perk, called Galactic Weather Control, allows you to generate Cosmic Storms manually using your Science Ships. This can be a pretty big boon if you have cloaking technology rese?arched and placed on your Science Ships, because you can cloak into enemy territory and start gene?rating some destructive storms.

One of the biggest problems with the storms is their duration. In most cases by the time I sta?rt to move things around to try and optimize the impact of them hitting, the storm ends and I'm just left with the aftermath effects, not the meaningful modifiers that existed why they were raging on. I get wanting the storms to have a more randomized and unpredictable effect, but I feel like there needs to be a bit of a balancing act between their rando??mness and being able to capitalize on them.

I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore

Anytime I see a new Stellaris expansion get announced, I quickly look to make sure there's a new Origin I can look forward to trying it. In Cosmic Storms, Storm Chasers is that new origin. Traditionally speaking in Stellaris, some Origins are big gameplay changers, paving the way for unique builds that can really add some new build potential. Others, however, are more story-focused or even just provide some unique mechanic that add a new element of gameplay to the core Stellaris experience.

I'm no min-max expert at Stellaris, but the Storm Chasers origin feels like more of a flavorful narrative origin than one of the game-changing options. Going with Storm Chasers gives you a weather map overlay to track cosmic storms, as well as se?e their effects. As you advance through technology, the map improves, eventually even showing you forecasts so you know when and where storms will hit certain systems. You become a galactic meteorologist, essentially.

You also get a few storm-focused benefits like ?an increas??ed chance for storms to spawn in your borders, a higher chance of getting storm-related research options, and more unity per storm building that you build. However, being a fearless Storm Chaser also results in a shorter lifespan for your leaders, and they are less effective in council positions. In return, your entire species gets a trait called Storm Touched, which adds 10% of resources from Jobs, and reduces Amenity usage by 10%. The benefit certainly outweighs the negative, but it's certainly no game-changer like Clone Army, Necrophage, or Progenitor Hive.

It's a cool origin option if you really want to have some insight into the new Cosmic Storms as they work their way across the galaxy, but the benefits pale in comparison to some other origins, which is why I think this is more of a fun option than an impactful one. ??Storm Chasers almost feels like an origin dedicated to going, "Hey, let's go full-fledged into seeing what's new with these storms."

Riding the galactic waves

In the end, Stellaris: Cosmic Storms is a very ??unique DLC, for better and worse. The new storms certainly add a new element that you'll have to learn and adapt to while playing. But in a lot of ways it ends up just adding some more difficulty, and in som?e cases tedium. For veteran players, I imagine the added difficulty will be appealing to shake up the game, but at the same time, I can't help but wonder if some players will simply opt to disable this DLC unless they really want to do a playthrough with the storms enabled.

The beautiful visuals of the storms single-handedly elevate the Stellaris experience, and I can see some real potential from the new storm system if Paradox continues to build on and expand it, adding more opportunities to earn rewards for properly handling the storms or even making it a more streamlined risk/reward system. But in its current form, Cosmic Storms falls a bit short of being a "must-have" Stellaris expansion like Utopia, or Apocalypse. That being said if you're like me and just always want more Stellaris, there are plenty of entertaining layers in Cosmic Storms to make it a worthwhile addition t??o your the best grand strategy space game on the market.

_{[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Stellaris: Cosmic Stor?ms makes the galaxy even more beautiful appeared first on Destructoid.

While there's no new base playable races or classes in The War Within, there is an unlockable race you can add to your roster. Sure, the Earthen aren't new to World of Warcraft. However, this particular kind we find have been hidden away from the rest of the world for ??a few millennia. Now they're ready to join the ranks of both the Horde and Alliance, and this gu??ide will show you how.

What are the requirements for unlocking The Earthen Allied Race?

The key requirement for this new group of playable characters involves a heavy investment into The War Within's story. There are four specific elements that neede??d to get an achievement called "Allied Races: Earthen." Once you have that achievement, the ne?w race is yours.

These achievement elements are going to be the main story campaign, as well as specific side quests focusing on ??the lives of the Earthen race. These requirements are:

• The War Within's campaign: Each of the four zones have a specific set of Campaign quests to finish, and a fifth set of quests exists at max level. It's a lot of story content to go through. Fortunately, it's very easy to identify exactly what quests you need to streamline the main storyline as fast as possible.
• Mourning Rise: A side quest chain in The Isle of Dorn starts with a quest titled "Before I depart," and ends with "The Weight of Duty." It's a bummer of a storyline, but it gives a lot of emotional depth to who the Earthen truly are.
• Broken Tools: This set of quests takes place in The Ringing Deeps. You'll be working with Machinist Kittrin on the quest "Discarded and Broken." You'll be through with this once you've completed "Reforged Purpose."
• Merrix and Steelvein: This is a series of quests that starts in Dornogal with "How Scandalous." It ends in the Ringing Deeps with "Bad Business," and is a great look at the political side of Earthen culture.

What are The Earthen's abilities?

Though they look like Dwarves, these new friends are more accurately described as "Living Constructs." They're made of stone and metal, but have plent?y of free thoughts and emotions. A lot of these traits are reflected in their racial abilitie??s.

• Azerite Surge: An empowered spell attack that is more powerful the longer you hold it. "Draw upon your inner strength. RElease to invoke the power of Azerite on a cone in front of you, dealing Fire damage." Rank 1 deals Fire damage, Rank 2 Heals allies hit by the effect, and Rank 3 deals additional Fire damage to the highest health enemy hit.
• Hyper Productive: Increases Finesse by 2%. That increases your chance of gathering additional materials when gathering. This a particularly strong race if you want a character who gathers materials for your alts or selling on the auction house. They CAN drink potions and flasks for additional benefits and healing.
• Ingest Minerals: You are always considered "Well Fed," because you cannot eat. This means you are unable to use normal food, and will require Mage Food to heal outside of combat. Bandages may still work.
  This ability allows you to instead consume a cut Khaz Algaar gem and change what your Well Fed benefit grants you. Raw gems will not work.

  • Amber = Stamina
  • Emerald = Haste
  • Onyx = Mastery
  • Ruby = Critical Strike
  • Sapphire = Versatility

• Titan-Wrought Frame: Base armor from equipped items is increased by 10%. This obviously benefits Plate wearers the most. Of course, there's something to be said about being a rogue with the best armor bonus.
• Wide-Eyed Wonder: When you gain experience for exploration, gain an additional 200%. This could help with faster leveling in new zones. It seems that you can still use The Warband Guide to Everywhere All At Once toy to uncover the map, but you still get discovery exp for actively being in each location. Still, it's probably easier to keep track of where you've been without it.

As for classes, the Earthen have access to a fairly standard set at creation. You can choose from Hunter, Mag??e, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, or Warrior. If you're interested in being a Hunter, you'll get a unique starting pet of a Gruffhorn.

What are the Earthen's special features?

The Earthen come with a special starting racial mount, the Slatestone Ramolith. Like all allied race mounts, it's a ground-only mou?nt.

Earthen also have a unique Heritage armor upon reaching Level 50. Only Earthen can wear it, and there's three color tints to choose from. Note: the old restriction that prevented you earning Allied Race Heritage Armor by race??/faction changing a character has been removed. If you don't want to level a new character, race changing to Earthen will get you the new heritage armor.

The post How to unlo?ck ??the Earthen Allied Race in World of Warcraft appeared first on Destructoid.

One of the biggest strengths of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is its Soul system. It lets you capture enemies' special properties and abilities and use whatever loadout they choose. A great way to add variety and customiz??ation to the combat, making Dawn of Sorrow an all-time favorite of mine.

However, there are secret combinations of souls that can unlock special effects. These combinations help give you more to consider when setting up your loadout. It can? be a lot of sill?y fun to mess around with different souls to see what synergizes well. We've created this guide to help identify all the combos and their unique extra effects so you don't have to do the legwork.

What works with Skeleton Ape?

One particularly useful Enchant type Soul gives is the Skeleton Ape. This soul is hard to acquire due to its rarity and the enemy's strong attack. But it's well worth it if you're a fan of throwing abilities. To help make sure you're using the right souls, we've compiled a list t??hat we know works with it.

• Puppet Master - Throws your puppet farther, great for harmlessly maneuvering around the screen.
• Une - Throws your plant projectile further.
• Fish Head - Throws your Fish Head further.
• Slogra - Throws your spear further.
• Ripper - Throws your dagger harder.
• Mandragora - Throws the screaming plant projectile further.
• Decarabia - Throws the spinning Decarabia summon faster.
• Axe Armor - Throw your axe in a wider arc.
• Slogra + Gaibon - Both spears go farther.
• Fish Head + Needles - Both Fish Heads go farther.
• Une + Alura Une - Alura will have a longer range tossing her Une's down.

Garden of Terror

As a bonus,?? there is one combo that requires three souls and is considered one of the most powerful offensive options in the game. The only downside is that ?it leaves you standing still and vulnerable. However, the damage output should help mitigate that entirely.

The combination of Une, Alura Une, and the Skeleton Farmer forms a screen-wide offense. Skeleton Farmer is an Enchant-type soul that grants all plant-based powers more damage. There are not a lot of those, but it makes Une a potent weapon. And when using the Soul Combo of Une and Alura Une, it's incredibly destructive?. There's only one Skeleton Farmer in the game, and he's got a low chance of dropping the soul. But it's absolutely worth working for.

The post All the Sou??l Combos in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow appeared first on Destructoid.

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has no shortage of beautifully crafted historical playgrounds for its fans to enjoy exploring. From the narrow streets of Florence and Venice in Assassin’s Creed II to the sprawling landscapes of Ancient Greece in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the series has always impressed me with its outstanding attention to historical detail in world design. Sure, it's all a fiction. However, there's no denying that the best Assassin's Creed games feel like taking a trip back in time.

In this ranking, I’ll be discussing how well Ubisoft has adapted the time period and location of each Assassin’s Creed game to support open exploration, enjoyable gameplay, and historical immersion. This adaptation process is a key part of what makes the best Assassin's Creed games so great.

13. Colonial America in Assassin’s Creed Rogue

Assassin’s Creed Rogue is the lowest on this list because it’s the only game in the franchise where it feels like significant historical details are m??issing in the game world’s creation. The focus era of the game is the Seven Years�War, but the game has little to do with the conflict. The River Valley area of the map is a bit too shallow in terms of side quest??s and other explorative activities, and the ability to sail a full-sized pirate ship around central New York is somewhat comical.

12. Viking-era England in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Valhalla is the franchise’s biggest land map to date, taking players from the fjords of Norway through to a vast recreation of Viking-era England. DLC expansions to the game also allow you to travel to Ireland, France, and other more mythological lands, such as Asgard. However, the expansiveness of the Valhalla is its main detriment, particularly in the game’s England maps. The seriesâ€?iconic parkour mechanics are limited in nearly every zone, and many of the game’s towns and villages feel unremarkable because there’s very little to see or do in these locations that you can’t do in other corners of the ma?p. 

11. Constantinople in Assassin’s Creed Revelations

Ubisoft’s rendition of 1500s Constantinople in Revelations is a less intriguing landscape in comparison with other game worlds from the series, primarily because the city's districts lack dist??inction from one another. There are of course many iconic landmarks sprinkled across the map, such as the Hagia Sofia and Galata Tower, but the story doesn’t interact with them very often which means you can easily miss them. On the plus side, traversing the map can be very enjoyable, with additions such as the hook blade and zip lines improving ??the parkour experience from earlier titles.

10. The Holy Land in Assassin’s Creed

The original Assassin’s Creed is an incredibly atmospheric experience. The division of each city between richer and poorer districts nicely complements the themes of the story when it dives into the philosophical elements of the creed. However, there’s no denying that the first game has not aged nearly as well as its sequels. There are no side quests that help players engage with the history of this era, and the Kingdom area between the three cities is unremarkable. I’ll always be holding out hope for an Assassin's Creed remaster that fixes these issues, but in the meantime, the world of the original game is dece??nt enough.

9. Rome in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is the middle chapter in the trilogy of games covering the series�most beloved protagonist, Ezio Auditore, and his adventures through Renaissance Italy. As a result of the storytelling, many aspects of the setting are borrowed from the previous entry, Assassin’s Creed II. The signature monuments of Brotherhood’s Rome, such as the Colosseum and Castello Sant’Angelo, are well utilized in the game’s storytelling, but many of the outlying areas of the game felt unimpressive, particularly compared to the countryside in Assassin’s Creed II. The core of the city, however, is excellently crafted and highly int??eractive.  

8. Ancient Greece in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Odyssey’s maps and open landscapes are massive. However, the game’s regions are more distinct than those found in Valhalla, and offer unique vistas and lively historical settings that constantly had me snapping screenshots. But while the game’s Mediterranean setting is undeniably beautiful? throughout, there is sometimes a lack of interactivity in the landscape. In short, not all regions felt relevant to the ?quests. Parkour opportunities felt limited, and you'll traverse most of the map by boat or on horseback.   

7. Revolutionary America in Assassin’s Creed III

Assassin’s Creed III centers its gameplay on revolutionary war America and divides its players�time between the colonial cities of Boston and New York and the frontier wilderness. Each of the game’s regions change wi?th the season appropriate to the main story, and weather mechanics such as snow banks appropriately shift the ease of traversal and visibility. The key battlegrounds ??and buildings from the Revolutionary War are more than just sights to visit. Instead, they play central roles in the game’s story.

6. Baghdad in Assassin’s Creed Mirage

The most recent game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise returned players to a more linear game experience, where story and stealth take center stage and were well supported by the game’s environment. The city streets of Mirage’s Baghdad are lively, colourful, and filled to the brim with iconic landmarks. The ability to blend in with the crowds makes a welcome return, and the architectural designs of the buildings made parkour enjoyable once again. I was?? also particularly enchanted by the game’s interior spaces, but found the desert beyond the city to be a bit too empty.

5. Ancient Egypt in Assassin’s Creed Origins

Origins is the first of the three RPG- style games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and thus was the first to design its game map for full open-ended exploration. Ptolemaic Ancient Egypt was a significant departure from the historical backdrops of the preceding games, almost all of which were set within 500 years of modern day. The new surroundings of Origins undoubtedly helped to keep the franchise feel fresh and exciting, and new mechanics like diving and the Discovery Tour also gave us new ways to explore every no??ok and cranny. &nbs?p;

4. The West Indies in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag 

The golden age of piracy is one of the most iconic historical time periods in the franchise, and the world design of Black Flag does not disappoint in bringing this era to life. Capturing forts, digging up buried treasure in underwater shipwrecks, and uncovering Mayan ruins are all unique acti?vities that allow players to directly interact with the setting. Vibrant jungles, unique cities, and changes in the ocean environment when sailing all assemble to create a fun and entertaining adventure.

3. Victorian London in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

With the addition of the rope launcher and carriage driving, Syndicate’s rendition of Victorian London offered us a fantastic blend of new mechanics for exploring the city’s wider streets, bridges, and rivers. Iconic buildings such as B?ig Ben and Westminster are present, but the narrow streets and alleyways of Whitechapel and Southwark are arguably even more interesting in terms of exploration.? City districts are distinct, and small details on the street, such as posters and signs, give the game an impressive amount of gritty yet enjoyably goofy Victorian style.

2. Renaissance Italy in Assassin’s Creed II

Renaissance Italy is one of the most beloved settings in the entire Assassin’s Creed catalog, and for good reason. The importance of this era in Italian history is incredibly well explored in both the story and interactions with characters like Leonardo Da Vinci and Machiavelli. Florence and Venice are distinctly beautiful, suit the protagonist’s parkour movements perfectly, and leave a lasting impression on the player. The game of course greatly benefits from Jesper Kyd’s now iconic soundtrack. It gives the world of Assassin’s Creed II a level of mystique that inspired me to explore every corner in ??search of satisfying scraps of franchise lore.

1. Revolutionary Paris in Assassin’s Creed Unity

Assassin’s Creed Unity perfectly captures France in the early throes of Napoleoni??c-era revolution. The dense crowds of NPCs in the game bring the city to life in a way that the franchise has yet to match and establish the chaos of the times in a very interactive way. Details as unmissable as the riots going on in the streets and as small as the newspaper clippings available on street corners made me feel as though? I was walking around in nothing short of a turning point in human history. 

The ability to not only climb but seamlessly enter and explore iconic landmarks such as the Notre Dame, Palace of Versailles, and the Bastille was also an outstanding upgrade from earlier entries. While there have been many Assassin's Creed games since Unity, they haven't risen as high in terms of histori??cal world design and immersion.

The post Ranking the historical worlds from every Assass??in’s Creed game appeared first on Destructoid.

To say there are a lot of powers to collect in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow would be p??utting it lightly. Every single enemy you fight has a power that can drop. However, if you want that sweet 100% collection, there are a few secret souls you'll need to collect.

These souls belong to creatures referred to as "UMA," or Unidentified Mysterious Animal. In more common terms, you've probably heard them referred to as Cryptids. These are creatures that are said to exist but have no concrete proof that they do. In Dawn of Sorrow, three cryptids are known to roam the villain's hideout. You'll need to u??se information from the UMA News articles to find and attract a Yeti, Flying Humanoid, and Mothman.

Where to find Yeti's Soul

You'll find the Yeti lurking about in the very first "room" of the game. It's actually an outdoor area, and he'll be skulking in the forested background. You can't reach back there? and get him; you'll have to lure him out with some delicious food.

To lure him out, you'll need to get the soul from a Waiter Skeleton. They're mostly found in the Demon Guest House. Waiter souls are hard to obtain because the cowardly bone bags will throw a plate of food at you and run away. You'll need something ?to either stop them, like a petrifying ability, or a heavy club to crush their weakness. Once you have a good system, it's time to kill them over and over again until one o?f them drops their soul.

With your new power, go back to that opening area in The Lost Village. Use the Waiter Skeleton soul to throw some delicious curry down onto the ground. The Yeti will smell it immediately and leap out of the background to grab a bite. The only problem is that the food is too spicy! The Yeti will take damage trying to eat it, and then immediately retreat to the background again. Attacking him before he ?gets the curry will also spook him off. You'll have to use a similar tactic on him as you did with the Waiter Skeleton. He is weak to fire, so if you have a flame sword or ability, that should help take him down.

Yeti's soul is a unique Guardian ?power that summons a... "white orb of dark power that grows as it rolls." It's a snowball. It makes a snowball that you can move along the ground, and it gets bigger as you go. It's not the most useful, but it is pretty fun!

Where to find the Flying Humanoid's soul

The second soul be??longs to a creature referred to as the Flying Humanoid. It's difficult to get a good look at exactly what it is. However, it shouldn't be too hard to miss it drifting in the sky behind the clock tower. At the top of the Cursed Clock Tower, between the Save Room and Boss Room, you'll see a small figure flying in the distance. It appears to be vulnerable to sonic attacks, and so you'll need the help of the Mandragora Soul to defeat it.

The Mandragora soul is best found scattered around the Garden of Madness. They look like Une and Corpseweed until they pop out of the ground. They'll quickly let out an ear-rupturing scream and explode. Sadly, you only get kill credit if you defeat them BEFORE they self-destruct. The best place to farm them is on the map below because they share a room with another soul you need later. Farming both Mandragora and the lightnin??g bird Rycuda is a great time saver. But more on that in the next section.

Once you have the Mandragora, ta??ke it back to the top of the Cursed Clock Tower and summon the screaming root. It'll cause the Flying Humanoid to explode in the distance, sending its soul spiraling towards you. You can technically farm this sou?l, but it doesn't get more powerful past the first one.

The Flying Humanoid's soul is a Guardian type that gives you an Intellect and Luck bonus when ??activated. Soma will sprout some cool-looking wings to let you?? know when it's active, but it drains your mana rather quickly. It's a helpful tool when farming souls and rare items off of enemies.

Where to find Mothman's Soul

My personal favorite cryptid, Mothman, is a bit more elusive than the o?ther two souls. It's a little less obvious where he's hiding, as you don't see him until he's summoned. To do so, you'll need that Rycuda soul I mentioned earlier. It grants you the ability to throw lightning ?bolts around, which is both a great weapon and a useful tool.

Mothman is a late-game soul found i??n The Pinnacle of the Castle. There's a long hall under the biggest room in the area. You'll know you're in the right place if there are two Final Guards in it. You can find a generator and a large spotlight sitting dormant between them. You'll have to use Rycuda's lightning power to restore the machine to working conditions. If it doesn't work immediately, make sure to hit the machine with the lightning's tip. Doing so summons the Mothman, allowing yo??u to acquire his soul. He should drop it on the first kill.

Mothman's soul grants you a buff to your EXP. Combine it with the Shaman Ring for an extrem??ely quick level gain!

The post Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow – How to find all UMA Souls appeared first on Destructoid.

On occasion, WoW has some of the most infuriating quests it wants you to do, and "Home is Where? the Candle Is" is one of them. Going to the designated location to find Janky, in the quest, will yield nothing, so where exactly is he?

How to Find Janky for Home is Where the Candle is In WoW: The War Within

Following the quest marker will lead you directly outside of Cinderbrew Meadery, with no Janky in sight. Turns out, Janky isn't actually at the quest waypoint the quest itself tells you to go to. Instead, Janky, along with Fourman Grimes, can be found in Gundargaz, The Ringing Deeps (/waypoint 48, 35), standing next to each othe?r inside the building you kicked coal into earlier.

Why the quest marker points to a location in the Isle of Dorm is beyond me. Even so, depending on where you are in the quest line, Janky and Fourman Grimes will potentially have another set of quests for you to accept, but at least you now know where they're hiding out. Ironically, once you've acce?pted Janky's quest, the ??original quest marker from Home Is Where the Candle Is, becomes accurate. Who knew?

These quests, along with Home is Where the Candle Is, are part of a very lengthy quest chain that I haven't even finished myself yet. They involve helping both NPCs and completion will eventually lead to the conclusion of the Ho??me Is Where the Candle Is. With this knowledge, Janky will hide from you no longer, so at least you can now focus on the quests themselves.

The post Where is Janky for Home Is Where the ??Candle Is in WoW: The War Within? appeared first on Destructoid.

If you're planning to level up your Alchemy in WoW: The War Within, then you're going to need a whole bunch of Coreway Catalyst for experiments. If you're new to the profession, then it's not exactly clear how you get the r?eagent?, so here's everything you need to know.

Where to get Coreway Catalyst in WoW: The War Within

At the release of WoW: The War Within, there are two ?ways to obtain Coreway Catalyst, though one is off?-limits to you if you're just starting out.

The first and primary method of obtaining it is by breaking down solutions you've already made or collected using the Neutralize Concoctions option in your Alchemy recipe list. Going this route will turn whatever alchemical creations you use as reagents into Coreway C?atalyst for further experimentation. You'll need a lot of them for this process, so this is by far the most common way to ge??t them.

Alternatively, you can also specialize in the Thaumaturgy Alchemy tree and craft them yourself. With this method, once you've invested at least 15 points into the remaining Thaumaturgy tree, you'll have a chance to create Coreway Catalyst via any Thaumaturgy you attempt, in??cluding transmutation. Since this requires 15 points invested into the Thaumatugry tree, you won't be able to jump into Alchemy using this method. This one is for those who've already been working on the profession and are looking for other ways to obtain Coreway Catalyst.

Eventual??ly, you'll have so many Coreway Catalysts that you won't know what to do with them all. In the meantime, though, these are the best ways to obtain the reagent without too much effort.

The post How to ??get Coreway Catalyst in WoW: The War Within appeared first on Destructoid.

Just nine months after releasing another massive game set in a very popular IP�em>Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora�/em>developer Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft have released another massive game set in a very popular IP with the release of Star Wars Outlaws.

In some ways, the classic landmark staples of a Ubisoft game are very much present: the massive open world (well worlds, in Outlaws), a gazillion side quests, and lots of loot and collectibles tucked in every corner. But in other ways, Outlaws tries some new things to stand out from being "another big open world Ubisoft game", and while it doesn't succeed at all? of them, it does at most of them, creating what has been a m??ostly enjoyable experience thus far.

Star Wars Outlaws (PC [reviewed], PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: August 30, 2024
MSRP: $69.99

Hello there!

Outlaws kicks off in the city of Canto Bight, a popular tourism and gambling hotspot located on the planet Catonica in the Outer Rim. Star Wars fans will recognize Canto Bight and more specifically its massive luxurious casino from Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, where Finn, Rose, and BB-8 went to attempt to recruit the Master Codebreaker. Canonically, Outlaws takes place between Episode 5 and Episode 6, so it's well before the events of The Last Jedi.

One of the coolest aspects of Outlaws for a Star Wars fan is just how many canonically cool areas, characters, and situations you get to experienc??e as you progress. You'll head to Tatooine, the famous desert world orbiting twin suns. You'll also visit Kijimi, the ice planet destroyed by The First Order in Episode 9. Each planet has its own massive slice of the world that you can explore, zipping across the landscape on your speeder and taking on side quests as well as ranking up your reputation with the local faction. Massive really nailed the world design and overall immersion of each of the planets as you explore them.

I thought Massive did a great job of bringing the world of Pandora to life in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and they've done the same here. As you zip through the wilds of Toshara on your speeder, you'll encounter plenty of scenarios that make the Outlaws universe feel alive: merchants transporting their goods back and forth between the cities, rogues and scoundrels waiting to ambush you if you get too close to their territory, a secr?et imperial outpost where you can sneak in and score some goodies.

With my ever-growing backlog of games these days, I've found myself struggling not to focus on just main story quests. But that hasn't been the case thus far with Outlaws. T??here are definitely way more si?de quests than I'll probably ever realistically do, but I've found myself exploring other side activities despite feeling as though I needed to complete Outlaws to get a full-scored review up.

There's so much to do, and I'm not even talking about side quests. I've become somewhat of a Sabacc aficionado, and find myself seeking as much Sabaac action as I can. I've gambled on Fathier races, which are essentially horse races, even though I swear they are rigged. I've dumped more time than I care to admit into Space Arcade, an arcade-style mini-game that's like a 3D Galaga. There's so much to interact with and just stumble across in Outlaws that helps buil??d that living slice of the Star Wars universe that you get to explore.

Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Story-wise, you'll take on the role of an all-new character in the Star Wars universe, Ka?y Vess. Kay is young and witty but often hotheaded and a bit too reactionary with her decision-making, which has its ups and downs for her line of work: a scoundrel and a thief. She's accompanied by her companion Nix, a cute creature called a merqaal, a small doe-eyed quadruped with a long tail, which is also a new addition to the Star Wars u??niverse.

Nix is a cool companion because not only is he a cute furry creature that will follow you around and let you pet him, but he also is a massive boon to assisting you with being a scoundrel in the world of Outlaws. In most situations in Outlaws, the first priority is to stealth your way in. Some scenarios requi?re stealth, meaning if you get caught at all, it's Game Over and back to the most recent checkpoint or the start of that mission. Most situations, however, are simply much easier when utilizing s??tealth.

Kay is armed with a blaster pistol that can certainly be used if need be, for when stealth is no longer an option. But in a lot of situations, it turns things into an uphill battle. Unarmored Imperial Troopers can go down with a single shot, but most enemies are armored, including Storm Troopers and other?? variants of soldiers. They take 3-4 shots even to the head, before falling. You can eventually upgrade your blaster, making things a lot easie?r, or even pick up blaster rifles from enemies you take out that makes it much easier to blast your way to your destination, but in the early and even mid-game choosing to fight your way through instead of stealthing often results in having to hide, reload a lot, and hope no one sounds an alarm that attracts more enemies.

Thankfully, Nix makes stealth a much better option. You can issue commands to Nix, such as distracting enemies, accessing hard-to-reach locations to grab loot and items, opening doors, and even preoccupying cameras. You can even send Nix to attack an enemy. And while he won't kill them or anything, it will distract them and even give you the opportunity to follow up on that distracted enemy with a stealth attack of your own that will disable them. Throughout Outlaws, Nix also has some cool bonus perks, such as helping you cheat in Sabacc and telling you what cards your opponents hold. In some games, companions that are with you always can feel annoying or even cumbersome. Nix is not that kind of companion. He's great in many ways and is essentially a staple to the story and gameplay of Star Wars Outlaws.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

As Kay, you'll take on tasks for various entities and factions, often culminating in a decision to be made, each with its own rewards. However, the decision you make will often cause you to gain reputation with one of Outlaws' four Criminal Factions, but lose reputation with another. The four factions are the Pyke Syndicate, the first faction you will encounter on Toshara, the Crimson Dawn, one of the largest criminal organizations in Outlaws, the Hutt Cartel which is the infamous ?criminal faction led by Jabba the Hutt, and the Ashiga Clan, a faction comprised of the insectoid Melitto species located primarily on the ice planet Kijim??i.

For example, you may get a mission from the Crimson Dawn with the task of placating the Pyke Syndicate by tampering with some important files on a terminal in an Imperial base. However, when the time comes, you can instead pull a fast?? one and placate the Crimson Dawn instead. Obviously the faction you side with will result in a reputation increase, while the one you throw under the bus will result in a ?reputation loss.

As you rise up the ranks with each faction you will gain access to certain faction-controlled areas in the cities but also at various points in the open world on each planet. I mainly focused on raising my Crimson Dawn reputation?? at the start, and later missions that would otherwise require me to stealth into a restricted area under Crimson Dawn control instead of letting me walk right past the guards who greeted me as a reputable member of their faction.

Even side quests will grant you a reputation with a specific faction, so if someone wanted, they could probably work hard to try and be in the?? good graces of each faction, which could make parts of the game much easier if you no longer had to sneak around where you shouldn't be. As you increase your reputation you'll also gain access to exclusive vendors and rewards, as well as exclus??ive missions that can only be taken on once the faction has its full trust in you.

Overall the faction system feels like a key part of "living ??the life as a scoundrel", and I found myself really thinking things through before making the final decision on which way to go at the end of certain missions. I tried to stay true to what decision I felt compelled to make story-wise instead of just trying to choose the d??ecision that got me reputation with the faction I was most worried about, but these are criminal syndicates we're talking about. Is there really a good option?

That's no moon.

Despite how much I've loved the universe in which Outlaws takes place, there have certainly been some downsides, as well. I feel like the AI in a lot of stealth-oriented games really doesn't fare well. And while most of Outlaws holds up decently, I still encountered moments where it was just plain bad. You know, sneaking into a super restricted top-secret area, an enemy spots me for a brief second and goes "Hey, who goes there!" before slowly walking towards me. I simply duck and hide behind the same container they were already looking at, and it completely throws them for a loop. "Ah, I guess it was nothing," they say, before turning around. ??I wasn't trying to cheese it or anything, but it happened several times naturally which is discouraging.

There's also some classic Assassin's Creed-style jank due to there being so many things to interact with. I'd go into a side room where there is random scrap to collect as well as a datapad containing some story bits, a button that I can interact with to open and close a door, as well as a ladder leading below to where enemies are patrolling. I try to pick up the scrap but end up somehow grabbing the datapad. I'm not trying to read extra story right now, because I'm in the middle of a stealth op, so I'm slamming Circle to get out of it, then when I do randomly grab onto the ladder from when I was trying to pick up the scrap sitting on the table. Now it's catching up to me slamming Circle so I'm releasing my grip on the ladder and falling down in front of enemies, ending my stealth mission and? setting me back 10 minutes to the start of said mission. Not a fun time.

I've also experienced some annoyances that have pulled me out of the immersion of Outlaws. While most of the time it's firing on all cylinders in the immersion department, I've had times when enemies who are searching for me will all group up in a random building, shouting about looking for me and how important it is to do so, but for some reason not actually doing so. I'm talking 5+ enemies?? all standing inside the same building just s??tanding around shouting about how I'm done for when they find me. Another element of immersion-breaking is when I'm partaking in the space dogfighting gameplay, zipping through a debris field in the Trailblazer, only to hit a small rod jutting out from the nearby debris that causes my ship to instantaneously just stop in space. At least rip my ship to pieces and explode if I mess up and crash, but coming to an abrupt stop like I'm hitting an invisible wall certainly yanks me out of feeling the perils of dogfighting in space.

None of the issues I've encountered have been game-breaking, but annoying enough for me to wish there was an extra layer of polish in Outlaws. Even still, I've been looking for a more gritty adventure in the universe of Star Wars, and so far, Star Wars Outlaws has been just that. When everything is working great, the tale of Kay Vess has been an immersive and rewarding dive into the scoundrel life in the Star Wars universe. I'm enthralled by the story and excited to see how things end. Once I do, I'll be sure to loop back and provide a finalized? scored review.

In the meantime, if you enjoy the Ubisoft structure of games but have been overwhelmed by them lately, thankfully Outlaws avoids most of the pitfalls. I feel safe in recommending Star Wars Outlaws to anyone who is a Star Wars fan who is looking for a solid story in the beloved universe, with stealth-focused game?play that allows you to truly live the life of a scoundrel on the ?Outer Rim.

[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]

The post Review in Progress: Star Wars Outlaws appeared first on Destructoid.

Leveling up in WoW: The War Within is a moderately slow task, but there are ways you can dramatically speed up the process if you're not interested in questing to the new level 80 cap. Here's a fast method of leveling from 70-80 in The War Within.

How to reach level 80 fast in WoW: The War Within

It remains to be seen if this will get changed or outright nerfed by Blizzard, but the fast way to level from 70-80 in The War Within is actually just spamming Normal Dungeons back-to-back in the Dungeon Finder tool. Yes, that's it. Running dungeons gives you the largest amount of experience per hour, far exceeding any quest-specific leveling methods??.

The early dungeons in The War Within are super easy on Normal and can completed extremely quickly. The Rookery, specifically, is one of the fastest dungeons I've ever seen introduced into World of Warcraft, and I've been playing since its inception. It is the first dungeon in The War Within, containing three bosses and a decent amount of trash mobs, but none require any special attention. All of the refuse can be AoE'd down together (the bosses included). It wouldn't be a stretch to say it can be completed within five minutes or less if you have a fantastic group.

That said, this method is by far the fastest to use, but if you're not a tank or healer, you may find yourself waiting around a bit. This is the same story WoW has always had to deal with. Everyone wants to play DPS, and significantly fewer want to play Tank or Heals. So, queuing as a Healer or Tank, if your class can, will be considerably faster than not. If your goal is to hit level 80 as soon as possible, you'll need to not be?? playing as a DPS for maximum efficiency. I am a Windw?alker Monk player, but I tanked my way to 80 in under five hours, thanks to never having to wait for a dungeon group to come together.

What are the caveats?

The only caveat to this method is that you still need to complete The War Within campaign to unlock Adventure Mode for faster gearing and camp??aign skip for your alt characters. Being level 80 can make this process more of a slog because you have nothing to look forward to while doing it. But, if this doesn't bother you, feel free to use this method for speed leveling on ?your main and alts.

The post WoW: The War Within 70-80 Leveling Guide appeared first on Destructoid.

In WoW: The War Within, Brax, the Innkeeper of Gundargaz, The Ringing Deeps, has lost his trusty pair of Brass Knuckle??s a??nd tasks you to retrieve them. The only problem is, the area where he wants you to search is huge, so here's exactly where you can find them.

Where is Brax's Brass Knuckles in WoW: The War Within?

Despite the enormous search area, Brax's Brass Knuckles aren't as difficult to find as the quest makes them appear. When I first looked at the map, I assumed it would be a small, interactable object hidden somewhere in the vast quest area that I'd need to keep an eye out for. Turns out, it's nothing like that. Brax's Brass Knuckles were picked up by one of the various fungal lifeforms roaming?? The Ringing Deeps. This quest is a 'kill and loot' quest in disguise, as all you need to do to actually find his knuckles is sl??ay a whole bunch of them.

Specifically, the enemies you want to look for are? all plant life in The Ringing Dee??ps. The ones you want to keep a look out for are the following:

• Underdrip Crwaler
• Crawler Sproutling
• Disturbed Kelp
• Disrupted Slime
• Sweetnuffler
• Creeping Lashroom

All these beasts can be found roaming the questing area, and defeating?? them gives you a good chance of findi??ng Brax's Brass Knuckles on their corpse. From my experience, the drop rate seems fairly high—you’re likely to get them within 10 kills. Once you’ve acquired the knuckles, you'll still need to complete the second part of Brax's quest to turn them in, but this should help you get past the most unpredictable step of the process.

The post Where to find Brax’s Brass Knuckles in WoW: The War Within appeared first on Destructoid.

With Hero Talents being one of WoW: The War Within's main features, it's natural to want to unlock the??m as soon as po??ssible. If you're jumping into new expansion now, here's everything you need to know about the process.

How to get Hero Talents in WoW: The War Within

When you enter the game with the expansion enabled, if open ?your Talent Tree, you'll see a third new tree in the middle of the screen. These are your Hero Talents, but they are locked until you meet two key conditions, neither of which are diffic??ult to achieve.

To unlock them, make sure you have The War Within purchased and have begun the new campaign questline. The ??campaign takes you to the ancient lands of Khaz Algar, and you're required to go there to unlock your Hero T?alent tree.

After that, all you need to do is reach level 71, and the new talents will automatically unlock. Simply questing in The War Within should provide more than enough experience to get you there. As you level up from?? 70 to 80, you’ll earn one Hero Talent point per level, which can only be used on the Hero Talent tree of your choice.

Unlike previous new systems in WoW, there’s no additional questline, trigger, or condition needed to unlock these talents, which is a bit surprising. Still, by following these two straightforward steps, you’ll be able to fully enjoy the new Hero Talents. Like normal talents, Hero Talents can be respecced free of charge, so feel free to play around with and ??experiment with your class's new powers.

The post How to unlock Hero Talents in WoW: The War Within appeared first on Destructoid.

An unexpected update was recently released for Vampire Survivors, with a surprising amo?unt of content. It contains the first few cards in the new "Dark Arcana," serving as the groundwork for some incredibly powerful abilities.

There's more: A new stage, some new secrets, and a new character are also awaiting you. We're here to make sure you know how to find and unlock everything in Vampire Survivors' Darkasso update.

How to unlock the new stage

The first thing you'll need to start on the path to unlocking everything is the new stage. While the clue might be obvious, we'll still explain the details. The stage unlocks when you "cast a spell" called "forbiddenbox." As long as you've collected the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane, you'??ll have a main menu option called "Secrets." Go there, and navigate to the "Cast Spell" box. Type out the spell's name, "forbiddenbox." But be prepared, you'll immediately drop into the new level with a random character!

This is the surprisingly spooky new stage, Room 1665. You'll need to navigate south ?by killing enemies until the door opens. I wouldn't worry about build outside of assisting whatever character you're dealt. Just get your most powerful weapons and survive??. When you hear a strange laugh, the next door will open.

When you see a little treasure goblin walk across the stage, aim for them, as ??they will drop a treasure chest. The corridors between rooms have candles in them for supplies like floor turkey. The stage is a shorter one, only 20 minutes long. As long as you reach the bottom room, however, you'll have everything you need for now.

Sadly, characters who can pass through walls cannot skip the door mechanic. You have to wait through each room, of which there?? are 16 in total.

Getting to the end of the stage unlocks the Da?rkasso: Rhe Dark Arcana used to mix up your runs. You'll have Number VI - Moonlight Bolero by default. It causes an extra treasure boss to spawn every minute. The treasures it carries might allow you to have more Ar??cana cards or Passive Weapons than you can normally carry. It's incredibly powerful in beefing up the back half of your run while helping level all your weapons faster.

How to unlock each of the new Dark Arcana in Vampire Survivors

There are five new Dark A??rcana cards total, all incredibly powerful. They are still subject to change based on feedback from the players.

You'll start with the Moonlight Bolero once you unlock the Dark Arcana so that one is out of the? way. The next one you'll want is the Sapphire Mist, which requires you to reach a Cooldown Bonus of -85% with Space Dude. If you don't have him, y?ou'll have to survive 20 minutes in the Space 54 stage.

Once you have him, I recommend playing on The Library, as it has an Empty Tome you can pick up. You'll need this as part of the challenge. Before you start, I also recommend using as many Seals as you can to lock away as unevolved weapons. When you start your match, you'll want to pick Arcana XX - Silent Old Sanctuary. It grants you extra Rerolls, Skips, and?? Banishes. But the more important aspect is that it gives you 20% Might and -8% Cooldown for each active weapon slot left empty.

As you play, you'll need to always Banish weapons, and only ever pick? up Passive Weapons. As long as you have five empty Weapon slots, you should have a -85% cooldown. The trick to unlocking this is that you have to finish the stage with this cooldown reduction. Once you do, a power?ful new Dark Arcana will be yours.

For Hail the Future, you'll need to play as Santa Ladonna. If you haven't unlocked her, you'll need to survive 20 minutes on the Laboratory stage. S??anta Ladonna has a passive ability that triggers a Rosary when her health reaches a critically low level. As far as I could tell, you just need to trigger this ability to unlock the Arcana.

Forcing it to trigger by taking damage was the only unusual thing I did for the stage when I played her. The same applies to the next card, Crystal Cries. Except you'll use the character She-Moon Eeta. She's unlocked by surviving 20 minutes in Whiteout. She-Moon has a similar low-health abilit??y that triggers, though hers freezes enemies for 10 seconds. Force yourself to take damage until it triggers, and you should be all set.

For the final card, you'll need to reach +665 Max Health with Bat Robbert. You can unlock him by unlocking his weapon, which itself is unlocked by beating over 160,000 bats. If you need hel?p with this, play Bat Country a few times. Bat Robbert gains +32 Max Health whenever his health reaches a critically low level. Between this and the Hollow Heart item, it shouldn't be difficult to get him to max.

I recommend taking some Revive passive items and Arcana to help protect yourself if your health gets too low. You'll have to trigger it multiple times, so keep an eye on the pause menu to see what your health buff is. If it goes ov?er 665, that's okay.

How to unlock the new character Bats Bats Bats

To unlock Bats Bats Bats, you'll have to follow one of the most cryptic clues in the game. "It's as easy as A??BC, find the Ring of Rings." The "ABC" in this clue is a reference to the stage Bat Country, which features a secret set of lettered tiles that let you play with the background visuals. You'll need to find the "Rin??g of Rings," which is more literal than it sounds. In Bat Country, there is a circle made of the Golden Ring item on the right side of the map.

Be ???careful when you acquire them - not only are they cursed items, but each of the six rings has an Atlantean Ring Wraith protecting it. Once you collect the items, you'll hear the unlock sound effect and Bats Bats Bats will be available from the character select screen.

Bats Bats Bats starts with a special version of the evolved form of the Pako Battiliar, the Mazo Familiar. Its Damage and Amount are affected by your Max Health. The original item requires the Hollow Heart to evolve into the Mazo Familiar, but it's still a good idea to pick it up for the bonus damage. Bats Bats Bats's version continues to grow stronger when you level up. Also, i?f you revive during a match, it increases the weapon's Amount and gives you a follower bat. He's incredibly powerful when teamed up with the IV - Awake Arcana and the Tirajisu.

How to unlock new old characters

Two classic characters, Poe Ratcho and Imelda Belpaese, have new versions that can be unlocked. To do so, you'll need to clear their respective Adventure Mode campaigns. If you already have, but you do not see these characters unlock, try opening up their ??Adventure Mode menus and see if that prompts the achievements to collect.

Once unlocked, you can select these new versions of the characters from the Character?? Select screen. You'll have to select the originals and then select their alternate appearances. Select the character, then press Left on the D-Pad from the Start button. You'll be able to pick from the normal, the original sprite, and the new versions. The new versions also come with level 5 versions of the Passive Weapon that evolve their default item.

The post How t?o unlock everything in the Vampire Survivors Darkasso update appeared first on Destructoid.

Even though Black Myth: Wukong is technically not a Souls-like title, it certainly has a lot of the DNA of one, including the ability to farm respawning enemies for experience points. If this sounds like something up your alley, here are some of the best farm locations in the gam??e.

Best experience farms in Black Myth: Wukong

So, what makes a good farm spot is a location near a rest point shrine surrounded by enemies that yield a decent amount of experience when killed, and are easy to kill efficiently. These aspects increase your experience gain per hour (if you'??re going that long), which means easy experience for earning Sparks.

In my time in Black Myth: Wukong, I've favored two particularly effective experience farm locations that I think you'll find as helpful as I have. The first makes its home at the Windrest Bridge shrine in Chapter 2 (Yellow Wind Ridge). This location, as the name implies, is home to a large bridge with a shie??ld-bearing Yaoguai sitting in the middle. At his side, are two weak ranged enemies.

The idea for this farm is to kill all three mobs, then rest at the shrine to respawn and repeat the process. This will earn you roughly 355 XP (Experience) per run, which is solid for the amount of time it takes to kill these mobs. That is roughly 1/6 of a Spark, which is efficient for a farm. I highly recommend you pop all of your cooldowns eve?ry time you? do a run to make this process efficient.

The second effective farm location I've found is right in front of the Windrest Hamlet shrine in Chapter 2. Like the Windrest Bridge, this one also features a bridge with the same shield enemy patrolling ??up and down it. The key difference with this farm location is that the distance to this shield mob is much closer to the shrine, allowing you to kill it more quickly and reset.

This shield enemy is surrounded by two zombies, which yield the same experience as the ranged enemies from Windrest Bridge. By all metrics, this farm location is better than the previously ??mentioned as it yields the same total amount of experience, and is even closer to the shrine. The only downside is that it is quite a bit further into Chapter 2 than the Windrest Bridge, so you'll need to progress a bit to reach this one.

I will continuously update this guide with more high-quality fa?rm locations, for your experience-earning pleasure. So, check back regularly to see what's newly added.

The post Black Myth: Wukong – Best Farm Locations appeared first on Destructoid.

Focus Points are an integral part of combat in Black Myth: Wukong, to the point that not being aware of them means almost certain failure later in the game. If you're not sure how they work,? h??ere's a guide explaining to them in detail, and why you should be using them often.

What are Focus Points in Black Myth: Wukong?

Focus Points are a unique, combat-orientated resource that allows you to use powerful staff attacks to overwhelm your foes. Your most potent abilities, outside of spells, in Black Myth: Wukong will come from expendi?ng Focus Points, so it is imperative to understand how they work.

Focus Points are earned by dealing damage with staff attacks, charging up your Heavy Attack, and perfectly dodging enemy attacks. You can see the resource fill at the bottom-right portion of your UI. They look like little white orbs when filled and blank orbs when not. Focus Point orbs earned by dealing damage and dodging attacks will remain filled until you use them. However, Focus Point orbs filled by charging your Heavy Attack wi?ll disappear once you've released the ch?arge.

The amount of these Focus Point orbs you have is determined by how many Sparks you've spent in the Staff Stances tree. You can have a grand of total four Focus Point orbs once you've spent 20 Sparks in the tree. Just make sure you take the nodes named Focused Attack in the tree, to ensure you get the orbs unlocked.

Focu??s Point orbs are essential for either enhancing staff attacks or enabling specific moves. Certain staff attacks require a Focus Point orb to activate, while others can be used without one. However, by holding down Heavy Attack, you can charge some of these moves with a Focus Point orb for added power and poise damage. Some staff skills yield special effects when using Focus Points, like Pillar Stance, which allows you to perch higher on the staff with more Focus Points used.

Another crucial aspect of Focus Points is the risk involved in using them during combat. While they are a valuable resource for enhancing your attacks, misusing them can lead to serious consequences. If you activate a Focus Point move or charge one up using Heavy? Attack, and your poise is broken in the process, you’ll lose all the Focus Points you’ve accumulated or? attempted to use. Focus Point attacks are high risk, high reward, so it’s vital to time them carefully. Otherwise, you risk weakening yourself significantly in battle.

The post Black Myth: Wukong – Focus Points, explained appeared first on Destructoid.

Yaogaui Cores are essential for upgrading weapons in Black Myth: Wukong. If you’re looking to power up?? but aren’t sure where to find more, here’s everything you need to know ab?out how to get them.

How to get Yaogaui Cores in Black Myth: Wukong

You probably have some sitting in your inventory already, but to get more Yaogaui Cores, all you need to do is slay Yaogaui. Almost all of the enemies you face in Black Myth: Wukong are of Yaogaui origins, which means your natural progre?ssion throughout the game should yield yo?u some.

Yaogaui Cores are a rare resource drop, as indicated by their rarity appearance (Blue), which means you likely won't see one after every single kill. Lowly Yaogaui, like the zombies around Yellow Wind Ridge, have the lowest chance of giving you Yaogaui Cores because they are weak, though. The best way to obtain them en masse is to kill stronger, elite Yaogaui. Generally speaking, the stronger the ??Yaogaui you purge, the higher the chance it will drop a Yaogaui Core on death.

Yaoguai Cores can also be obtained randomly from looting chests, breaking vases, and bought from the Store for 900 Will. I really don't recommend wasting the Will on these, though, since they can fairly easily be farmed up with a little time and dedication. However, if you are desperate and in need of them immediately for that next big weapon upgrade, th?en this is certainly a viable option.

As I mentioned, Yaogaui Cores have a chance to drop f?rom nearly all enemies in the game, so even if you don't take the time and farm them up, you will undoubtedly get them ?naturally over time.

The post Where to get Yaogaui Cores in Black Myth: Wukong appeared first on Destructoid.

When finishing Chapter One of Black Myth: Wukong, you're given the Cra??ving Eyes relic, and a choice to pick between three permanent buffs for your character. If you're wondering which of the ?three you should choose, then you've come to the right place.

Which buff should you choose for Craving Eyes in Black Myth: Wukong?

To add a little clarity, you're given this choice right after completing Chapter 1, just after the cutscene. The relic yo??u obtained from defeating the Black Wind is Craving Eyes, and it comes with three character-defining benefits that can significantly impact your build.

• Opportune Watcher - Increased Focus gain after consecutive successful Light Attacks
• Eagle Eye - Unveiled Strike has a massively reduced cooldown if it lands
• Keen Insight - Massive increase to your Critical Hit Damage

All three choices are incredibly impactful, and it's easy to under why it's such a hard choice. However, based on my experience with RPGs, and Black Myth: Wukong in general, I recommend running Opportune Watcher over all the other two. The reason ??is simple: Consistenc??y.

Eagle Eye, while strong, ha??s the significant drawback of having a Mana cost in order to use the ability. This means, that after enough uses, you won't be able to use Unveiled Strike again unless you rest at a Shrine. This is rather lackluster and about as far from consistent as possible.

Keen Insight, on the other hand, provides a big boost to your CRIT DMG, which is very strong, but only if you h??ave the CRIT chance to make use of it. Without enough CRIT, this upgrade hardly does anything. It, also, is not consistant.

Finally, we come to Opportune Watcher, an upgrade that gi?ves you a constant supply of Focus Points to work with, all at the cost of simply attacking t?he enemy. I recommend it because there are no other activation requirements, and it is always active. It allows you to use your Heavy Attack combos more often, which means more damage.

Can you respect Craving Eyes in Black Myth: Wukong?

At p??resent, there’s no way to respec Craving Eyes, so whichever path you choose will be permanent for now. Thankfully, each option offers unique strengths, so no matter which direction you take, you'll be well-equipped for the challenges ahead. While there's no respec feature yet, it’s possible this could change with future updates. I'll keep you informed as more information becomes available.

The post Which talent should you pick f?or Craving Eyes in Black Myth: Wukong? appeared first on Destructoid.

Poison is a devastating status effect in Black Myth: Wukong that can completely end y?our run if not treated promptly. Thankfully, there is a relatively easy way to deal with it, thou??gh it's not exactly free.

How to heal Poison in Black Myth: Wukong

The simplest way to deal with the Poison status and its build-up is to consume Antimiasma Powder. This is medicine that you can craft in Black Myth: Wukong, through any shrine location you can Rest at. The powder is a one-time use, as expected, but you can craft it as needed so l??ong ?as you have the required materials.

In order to craft Antmiasma Powder, you need one Tree Pearl and one Jade Lotus. Both of these materials are of the Uncommon rarity (Green), meaning they can be found just by exploring the world of Black Myth: Wukong. Chances are, i?f you're reading this guide, you probably already have a decent amount of both materials. If ?you don't, though, here's where you can find them both.

• Jade Lotus - Found in Black Wind Mountain and Yellow Wind Ridge regions
• Tree Pearl - Found in Pagoda Realm region

While there may be other spots in Black Myth: Wukong where these materials can be found, these two locations are the most reliable for gathering both, ensurin??g you can craft ??the Antimiasma Powder needed to fend off poison death. Each full craft yields a single Antimiasma Powder, so it's wise to collect a healthy amount of these materials for regular use.

Anti?miasma Powder can also randomly be found while you're exploring, but don't expect to be a common pick-up by any means, despite its rarity appearance (Green). Just treat it like a lucky break if you happen upon one. In most cases, you'll simply have to craft Antimia??sma Powder if you're looking to cure any poison effects on yourself.

How to prevent the Poisoned status effect in Black Myth: Wukong

Of course, the best way to prevent being Poisoned altogether is to ensure you're wearing Poison Resistance gear when facing poisonous foes. The Serpentscale Bracers, for example, have some Poison Resistance on them as a stat, which can?? save you fro??m being Poisoned.

Additionally, Spirits like Guangmou dramatically boost your resistance to Poison, which can be a total lifesaver when you least e?xpect it. Upgrading Guangmou also boosts your ability to?? inflict the Poisoned status on enemies through cost reductions, which can fit well with a build focused around that damage type—a double whammy.

The post How to cure poison in Black Myth: Wukong appeared first on Destructoid.

Resolute Counterflow is an extremely helpful and core mechanic in Black Myth: Wukong, but the description given in-game makes it a little confusi?ng to understand. It took me a moment of trial and error to pick up the move, so allow me to save you a little time and explain how it works, so you can perform it as needed.

How to use Resolute Counterflow in Black Myth: Wukong

First, Resolute Counterflow's entire purpose is to give you an out during your attack string. Enemies get really aggressive later on in Black Myth: Wukong, and s??ometimes simply dodging the incoming attack is not enough.

To use Resolute Counterflow, you first need to gather enough Focus Points, as the move requires you to have at least one. When you have one, to perform the move, you first need to begin your Light Attack string. In the middle of it, pressing Heavy Attack will allow you to perform Resolute Counterflow, which looks lik?e a downward strike. The move interrupts everything you were doing prior, ef??fectively making it a cancel move; a benefit in a pinch.

More importantly, the 'counter' part of Resolute ?Counterflow comes from perfectly timing the activation of the move with an attack that would otherwise hit and deal damage to you. This results in a significantly more powerful attack that will deal more damage and inflict more poise damage on the enemy. You'll know if you did it right when your character is glowing red during the attack a?nimation.

A successful Resolute Counterflow counter prevents you from taking damage from the attack you countered and any attacks that would normally land during the animation. This move is especially useful during boss fights, as many of Black Myth: Wukong's bosses have long attack strings, making it difficult to get hits in w????ithout it.

The post What ??is Resolute Counte?rflow in Black Myth: Wukong? appeared first on Destructoid.

While Black Myth: Wukong may not be a traditional Souls-like, it shares enough challenging elements—such as its demanding difficulty level—that choosing your early stats and talents wisely is crucial ??for a smoother experience.

If you need a little guidance on which stats to take starting out, here's everything you need to know about early game stats and talents in Black Myth Wukong.

Best Early Game Talents in Black Myth: Wukong

There are many interesting abilities and talents you can invest in early in Black Myth: Wukong, and you might be interested in doing so because of that. However, Black Myth: Wukong is a fairly difficult game and it really doesn't pull its punches the further you progress. To that end, the most important stats you should take are the ones that boost your survivability and ability to evade enemy attacks. Health, stamina, and evasion are what your early points should be focused upon, not?? damage.

With your first six points, I highly recommend investing in the Robust Constitution talent under the Foundation-Survivial t??re??e. That talent boosts your health by a decent margin and will allow you more room for error. More room for error means more options to adapt.

After that, I recommend going for Deft Evasion in the Foundation-Stamina tree. This talent considerably improves your ability to avoid enemy attacks, allowing you to cancel your early Light attack combo into a seamless ??dodge. This is important because, later on, you won't be ?able to just sit there and Light attack enemies to death.

Under the same tree, you should invest at least one point into Simian Agility, Endurance, and Everlasting Vigor. These talents enhance your mobility, but the primary reason to invest in them is that they are prerequisites for unlocking Composure. This talent allows you to con?tinue you?r Light attack combo string even if you dodge during it. You can be far more aggressive when attacking because you no longer need to be concerned about breaking your attack chain.

The last early-game Talent you should consider taking is Exhilaration, under the Staff Stances tree. This talent improves your Health recovery when consuming a Focus Point,?? which makes it a great way to heal without using a charge of your Gourd. This doubles as a benefit, as taking at least three points in this tree earns you a second Focus Point.

While many of these Talents are not the most interesting and are largely passive, it's important to get the survivability concerns out of the way so that you can actively take the more 'fun' Talents and stats without concern of dying all the time. Hopefully, this helps your adventure in Black Myth: Wukong.

The post Best early game stats in Black Myth: Wukong appeared first on Destructoid.

The By Moon's Grace event is the primary activity in Wuthering Waves version 1.2, and while it may seem like a to of busy work, its actually pretty easy to progress if you know what you're doing. Here's everything you nee?d to know about it.

How to do the By Moon's Grace event in Wuthering Waves

By Moon's Grace is sort of a management game that you're guaranteed to finish before the end of the event, if you just play the game. However, if you'd like to earn the rewards considerably after the 40 days you're given, you need to first increase your Popularity.

Popularity is the primary metric used to determine your progress during the event, and it is earned by fulfilling the Lodge Wishes of the people at the Moon-Chasing Festival shrine, centered around the event.

Before I get into the details of that though, you need to understand the currencies you need to work with, to make this?? al??l happen.

• Preparation Credits - This the main resource you need to carefully manage, as you can run out of them quickly if you're just proceeding blindly. This currency is by picking it up from the By Moon's Grace Lodge and is automatically restored to 100 daily, during the event. Preparation Credits are used to fulfill wishes, as each wish requires a specific amount of these credits to begin.
• Operation Fund - In order to increase your Popularity, you need to build and upgrade Fair Stalls using Operation Funds. Just think of this like your main currency during the event. Operation Funds are earned by completing Lodge Wishes. The more difficult the wish, the more Operation Funds you'll earn, if you succeed.
• Wish - The final currency, Wishes are solely used to upgrade the stats of the companions you've invited to aid you in the event. I'll get into specific about this later, but just know that you'll be using a lot of these throughout the event. Wishes are earned by completing Lodge Wishes.

These three currencies are integral to progressing through the By Moon's Grace event. Mismanagement of them can slow down your progression considerably, so y??ou must carefully informed decisions before using them. Now, let's talk about how you actually go about fulfilling a Lodge Wish.

How to complete Lodge Wishes in Wuthering Waves

Lodge Wishes are the primary activity you'll be doing throughout the By Moon's Grace event. To access them, head to the Moon-Chasing Festival shrine, and interact with it. You'll be greeted with the Fair Stalls screen. From here choose Lodge Wishes at the bottom right portion of the scr??een to get started.

At the Lodge Wishes screen, you'll be greeted with one to four potential wishes you can participate in, depending on your current progress. Each Lodge Wish requires you to use a certain number of Preparation Credits to begin. If you don't have this slated amount, you won't be able to attempt it. The value below them is the base Operation Funds you'll earn by completing the Lodge Wish.

If you already have the Preparation Credits to start a Lodge Wish, simply click or tap it, and you'll be taken to the Companions screen for the final step. Companion are characters that have decided to help you fulfill wishes during the event. They are earned by completing their event-specific quest, which you gain access to as you increase you??r Popularity. Completion of these quest earns you the righ?t to use said character during a Lodge Wish.

Both Lodge Wishes ?and Companions have three specific stats you need to keep in mind.

• Knowledge
• Action
• Teamwork

These stats don't have any specific meaning beyond their names, so don't worry about any extra functionality. What's important for you to know about them is that Lodge Wishes require specific stats to complete, and Companions have differing values of these three stats. Lodge Wishes will always have at least one Recommended stat they favor and that you should prioritize.

The 'Flavors of the Past' Lodge Wish r?ecommends Action as its stat, which means you want to use Companions that also favor Action. In each Lodge Wish, you can use up to three Companions at the same time, so? if you use three Companions that favor Action, you are much more likely to fulfil the Lodge Wish successfully.

Advanced Lodge Wishes will require Companions with advanced stats, so you'll need to use the Wish currency I mentioned earlier to upgrade your Companions. The more Wish you invest, the greater the upgrade. Each Companion's favored stat will always be the one that's naturally highest for them, and upgrading them will primarily boost this stat. You'll want to have two or three companions upgraded for each stat, to progress through the event quickly. Finally, eac??h Companion? caps out at Bond level 10, and attempts to upgrade past this point will be a waste of your Wish currency.

How upgrade Fair Stalls in Wuthering Waves

Once you've completed enough Lodge Wishes, you'll have enough Operation Funds to either build or upgrade a Fair Stall. Fair Stalls are where most of your Popularity will come from, so you'll need to make you're doing this. This process to begun from the Fair Stall screen, reached by interacting with the Moon-Chasing Festival shrine and pressing Fair Stalls at the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

From here, you'll have access to all of the potential Fair Stall you can build. Clicking on one will show you the Operation Fund requirement you need to meet to build or upgrade it. When you have enough, simply click Build or Upgrade at the bottom of your screen.

While all Fair Stalls give you increasing Popularity as you upgrade them, they also provide your secondary bonuses rewards attached to the L??odge Wishes activity. For example, building t?he Moon Shooter stall will also increase your Bonus Wish Tags, with the amount increase improving per level (up to five). This makes the Lodge Wishes process a bit easier. Every Stall provide some sort of bonus like this, so you can much more easily complete Lodge Wishes.

You now have a clear ?understanding of By Moon's Grace event gameplay loop, but what do you? earn for doing all of this?

All By Moon's Grace event Rewards in Wuthering Waves

All of the tasks that you participate in during this event will allow you to claim one additional currency called Palace Lanterns. Unlike the other currencies already mention, Palace Lanterns are used solely for getting the rewards from this event. You can exchange them by heading to the Moon-Chasing Festival Shrine and choosing the Moonlit Offerings tab at the bottom left portion of the screen.

If you've been progressing the event at all, then chances are you have a bunch of Palace Lanterns to claim. Claim all of these, then click the Exchange button on the screen t?o see all the rew??ards for this event. There are a ton of rewards to earn from the event.

• 780x Asterite
• 20x Premium Resonance Potions
• 20x Premium Sealed Tubes
• 20x Premium Tuners
• 15x Premium Energy Cores

The above are the most significant rewards from the event, but that isn't all. There are also numerous character/weapon resources, Shell Credits, food crafting materials, and Echoes that can additional be obtained by exchanging Palace Lanterns. You will earn enough Palace Lanterns to get everything from the event, so don't worry about running out.

The post Wuthering Waves – By Moon’s Grace Complete Event Guide appeared first on Destructoid.

Wuthering Waves1.2 introduces ??a slew of new content, including the new five-star Resonator, Zhezhi, to pull for. If you're interested in pulling her, or you already have and are trying to build her up, here's a useful guide to help you build Zhe?zhi.

Best Zhezhi Build in Withering Waves

Zhezhi is a Glacio character with a stark focus on dealing out Basic Attacks, both on-field and off, to deal her damage. She plays the role of a Sub-DPS due to her extraordinarily powerful O??utro skill buffs, fast Concerto rotation, and consistent off-field d?amage thanks to her Ultimate.

Much like other characters in Wuthering Waves, Zhezhi's skill descriptions are very convoluted and difficult to understand, but her actual gameplay isn't nearly so daunting. Her core gameplay mechanic revolves around her Forte Circuit, Ink and Wash, which allows her to summon Phantasmic Imprints onto the field when her Heavy Attack or Skill is used, provided there is enough Affaltus, her Forte Circuit?? resource. Affaltus is built by simply attacking enemies with Basic or Intro Attacks, and she c??an hold 90 Affaltus in total.

Casting Heavy Attack after the third attack in her Basic Attack String or while mid-air with at least 30 Affaltus will summon?? a Phantasmic Imprint - Middle onto the field. Casting her Skill with 60 Affaltus will summon Phantasmic Imprint - Left and Phantasmic Imprint - Right, allowing you access to all three Imprints when using both methods of summoning. Now, when Zhezhi has at least one Imprint on the field, using her Skill will allow her to teleport to the closest Imprint and deal big damage that counts as Basic Attack Damage.

While on-field, Zhezhi does most of her damage by teleporting to her Imprints and following them up with a Basic Attack, so this is the core of what you want to be doing while she is there. Due to the nature of teleportation, Zhezhi is extremely mobile, which gives her a big advantage against many of the hardest enemies in Wuthering Waves.

Her off-field damage comes purely from her Ultimate, Living Canvas, which summons a massive circle in the sky that causes Inklit Spirits to crash down onto foes below. This lasts a walloping 30 seconds or until 21 Inklit Spirits are invoked. Attacks from her Ultimate are considered Coordinated Attacks, which is important to keep note of when building h??er team comp. More on that soon??.

That was a lot, but I?? promise her gameplay sounds more complicated than it is to execute. Let's talk about her to actually build her now.

Best Echoes for Zhezhi

Thanks to her Sub-DPS nature, you have two main options when it comes to Echoes. The set I'd recommend most is 4-piece Moonlit Clouds, as it enables her to buff her next teammate with 22% extra ATK (Attack) when swapped with max Concerto. The set also gives Zhezhi 10% extra Energy Regen, which is a nice bonus for keeping her Ultimate active??.

If you favor her doing more damage than supporting, you can also run 4-piece Freezing Frost, which is, personally, my preferred set since I already have a few Moonlit Cloud users on my account. Freezing Frost will considerably boost her personal damage since it grants her a massive 30% ATK buff, pretty much permanently.

For her active Echo, I recommend using Lampylumen Myriad as it simply does massive damage on its own while buffing Zhezhi??'s Glacio damage as w?ell.

Best Team Comps for Zhezhi

Since Zhezhi is a sub-DPS, her role is to help the team dish out as much as possible alongside your main DPS without getting in the way of their required field time. It is possible to have 100% uptime on Zhezhi's Ultimate, and she has a very quick Concerto rotation. Both of these aspects pair very nicely with her best teammates, Jinhsi and Verina. She also has direct synergy with Sanhau, if you can fit her into a team comp, but I don't recomm??end doing so if you're planning to use Zhezhi in her dedicated sub-DPS role.

Jinhsi is Zhezhi's best partner as she provides Jinhsi with everything needed for her to completely destroy her foes. Zhezhi's Ultimate rechanges Jinhsi Forte very fast, which is huge for synergy with her. On top of that, thanks to her fast Concerto charge, Zhezhi allows Jinhsi to use her Intro more often, allowing Jinhsi to go into her big damage rotation more often. More so, Zhezhi's Inherent Skill, Flourish, allows her to charge Jinhsi's Ultimate every time she swaps into her. The two characters are?? made for each?? other, and should absolutely be used on the same team.

Verina is the overworked support that buffs everyone in Wuthering Waves, and Zhezhi is no exception. Both Verina and Zhezhi have fast Concerto rotations, which means ??they can both activate the powerful buff effects of their Intro skills very cons??istently and easily. Both also have Coordinated Attacks, making them ideal for playing with Jinhsi.

Sanhau has the fastest Concerto rotation in Wuthering Waves and, additionally, buffs Basic Attack Damage when she swaps while full. This is entirely a benefit to Zhezhi because all of her damage is considered Basic Attack Damage. Zhezhi buffs Skill and Glacio Damage when she swaps with a full Concerto, which is a massive buff to Sanhau's damage. The issue with playing them together is that they both are sub-DPS. However, they still functi?on quite well as a team with Zhezhi playing main DPS (she has the damage to do so), should you decide to use them together.

Best Weapons for Zhezhi

Zhezhi has three strong options for weapons she can use. The first is her signature weapon, Rime-Drapped Sprouts, which massively ??buffs her Basic Attack Damage. It also comes with a mind-blowing amount of CIRT DMG as a sub-stat.

Her second-best weapon is Yinlin's signature, Stringmaster. Stingmaster is an extremely ??potent stat-stick for Zhezhi, thanks to its high CRIT RATE sub stat and general ATK buffs.

The last recommended weapon for Zhezhi is the standard Cosmic Ripples, which provides her with a large boost to her Basic Attack Damage as well, though not nearly as potent as Rime-Drapped Sprouts. Cosmic Ripples also has an ATK% sub-stat. While this isn't bad, as ATK% does have a lot of value in Wuthering Waves, it does not equate to Rime-Drapped ??Sprout's CRIT DMG or Stringmaster's CRI?T RATE sub-stats.

Best Sequences for Zhezhi in Wuthering Waves

Zhezhi's Sequences mostly provide her with raw DMG and ATK% buffs that will certainly boost her power. However, at S0 (Sequence 0), Zhezhi is more than powerful enough to deal with anything in Wuthering Waves. Still, if you fancy yourself a few of her Sequences, allow me to summarize them for you, for your ??info.

• Brushwork's Finish (S1) - When Zhezhi uses her Skill while she has two stacks of Painter's Delight, she restores 15 Resonance Energy and gives her 10% CRIT for 27 seconds. This S1 removes any potential need for Energy Rechange on Zhezhi, as with it, she can fund her own Ultimate easily. Her Skill has a very short cooldown, which makes this S1 a strong stopping point. Extra CRIT makes building her that much easier.
• Vivid Strokes (S2) - Adds six more Inklit Spirits to Zhezhi's Ultimate, Living Canvas. This is a nice bit of extra damage, but far from powerful enough to be worth investing in, especially for an S2. Meh.
• Reflection's Grace (S3) - When Zhezhi uses any version of her Skill, she gains 15% ATK for 27 seconds, stacking up three times. In short, Zhezhi gets 45% ATK at all times, effectively. This is a significant boost to her performance and is worth going for if you're already at S2.
• Hue's Spectrum (S4) - Zhezhi gives her entire team 20% ATK for 30 seconds after using her Ultimate. This is a large buff to her whole team (including herself), all by casting her Ultimate, which you will always be able to use thanks to her S1. This Sequence is a lot more powerful than it appears. It's a permanent 20% ATK buff.
• Composition's Clue (S5) - Every three Inklit Spirits summoned by her Ultimate will cause a fourth empowered Inklit Spirit to spawn, dealing 140% of a standard Inklit Spirit's damage. This dramatically boosts the potency of Zhezhi's Ultimate.
• Infinite Legacy (S6) - When Zhezhi uses any version of her enhanced Skill (Stroke of Genius or Creation's Zenith), it will cause an Ivory Herald to spawn and deal 120% of her Skill's normal damage as a bonus. Because Zhezhi uses her Skill so often, this is a ridiculous boost to her overall damage while she is on-field. It is fitting for a S6.

The post Best Zhezhi build in Wutherin?g Waves �Weapons, Echoes, and Team Compositions appeared first on Destructoid.

Since Black Myth: Wukong is similar to other Soulslike games, at least on the surface, it's not at all strange to be curious? if it has multiplayer as a feature. The challenging combat and intricate boss battles seem well-suited for cooperative or competitive play, but is it actu??ally present here?

Can you play Co-op Multiplayer in Black Myth: Wukong?

There is currently no co-op or multiplayer feature in Black Myth: Wukong, and it is very likely to re??main the case at relea??se and into the future.

Despite being commonly compared to Souls titles (games that do typically have multiplayer, and a semi-open world, not always though), Black Myth: Wukong is not strictly pursuing that style. While the thought of having two transforming, spirit-throwing Sun Wukongs on screen at the same time sounds interesting, t?he game seems designed solely as a single-player experience.

Black Myth: Wukong is based on and inspired by the classical Chinese adventure novel Journey to the West??, and while there are plenty of characters in the story that could p??otentially make a co-op experience work, I have no doubt it would be a very tricky endeavor to pull off successfully. The story itself is extremely long, and characters come and go throughout the adventure on a consistent basis.

Adding a co-op mode to the game would require careful consideration of character balance and narrative cohesion. The game's primary focus is on the singular journey of Sun Wukong, and introducing multiple playable characters could risk diluting the depth of his story. However, if done right, it could offer a fresh way to experience the tale, allowing players to explore different perspectives and abilities while maintaining the integrity of the original narrative. Alas, this is not to be in Black Myth: Wukong.

The post Is there multiplayer in Black Myth: Wukong? appeared first on Destructoid.

Yesterday, a cryptic series of patch notes and social media posts released for Vampire Survivors hinted at a quiet update made to the game. Patch 1.11.1 contains a mysterious new stage with a boppin' track, a new character, 9 new achi??evements, and 5 new arcana cards. The update is out now on al??l platforms except PlayStation, where it will release with the whole game on August 29.

The biggest part of this content drop, which we now know is called "The Darkasso Update," is the experimental "Dark Arcana" cards, which come with bizarre effects. The Moonlight Bolero, as an example, spawns an additional stage boss every minute, who might carry special treasure chests that let you gain additional Arcana or Passive Weapon past your max capacity. In the patch notes, the devs are request?ing feedback on these new arcana to inform further designs down the road.

As another part of this update, you can get new variations of Imelda Belpaese?? and the garlic-loving Poe Ratcho. To unlock these, you need to complete their respective Adventure Mode campaigns. If you've already?? beaten them, you may need to select "Adventure Mode" on the main screen to activate the achievements.

This entire update came unannounced, outside of the sudden cryptic messaging a day before its drop: It was never on any roadmaps or anything. It's the kind of fun, weird updates you love to see from indie developers. And the fact that there's more room for new Dark Arcana down the road is a great sign that we'll be getting plenty more updates for ?this incredible game for a while.

The post Vampire Survivors releases ominous “Darkasso” update appeared first on Destructoid.

Encountering the 'Failed to load il2cpp' error in Zenless Zone Zero can be frustrating, but it's a common?? issue that players can resolve with a few troubleshooting steps. This article will gui?de you through the necessary fixes to get you back into the game quickly.

How to fix il2cpp Loading Error in Zenless Zone Zero (Solution)

Errors like this are annoying, and this one seems most prominent with the recent Zenless Zone Zero 1.1 update specifically on PC. Tha??nkfully, there are a few things you can do that may fix your issue.

Restart your computer

The most basic solution out of the bunch, sometimes a simple system restart is enough to correct anomaly errors that appear out of thin air. Failed to load il2cpp qualifies, so I recommend starting with this solution first. If it doesn't wo??rk, try some of the following potential solutions below.

Launch the HoYoplay Repair Tool

Since the error seems most common following the download of Zenless Zone Zero update 1.1, it is possible that data corruption occurred during the process, preventing the game from starting up. Since this is the case, one possible fix is to use ??the HoYoPlay Repair To?ol, built right into the game's launcher.

To do this, open HoYoplay and look for the three-line button sitting to the right of the Start Game button. Click on this dropdown and select Repair Now. This process will take considerable time, but the result should fix the Failed to load il2cp?p error and have your game functional once more.

Add an Exception to your Anti-Virus program

Another re??ason you may be getting the failed to load il2cpp error is that your anti-virus program is flagging a file (or files) as problematic, preventing them from functioning or even being downloaded. Since new files are being downloaded in the 1.1. update, this a ?very real possibility to consider.

The fix for this is to add the HoYoplay folder to your exceptions list for the anti-virus program ?that you use. I recommend also adding it as an exception for Windows Defender, as any false flag can cause a file to not be downloaded, leading to the pesky il2cpp error on game launch.

Hopefully one of these solutions fixed the problem for you, so you can jump back into the game. ??If not, sometimes problems like this can only be fixed from the developer side of the spectrum. Allow Hoyoverse some time to iron out the issue, and you should be good to go after that. Happy gaming

The post How to fix Failed to load il2cpp error in Zenless Zone Z??ero appeared first on Destructoid.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is one of the most anticipated games coming out th??is year thanks to its apparent innovations to the long-running series. With an open beta on the way, all interested players will get to try it, so here's how you can gain access to it yourself.

How to get in the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Beta

The Black Ops 6 open beta is open to all players once it starts, but not initially. The game features an Early Access period that will allow people who pre-order the game or have a qualifying active Xbox Game Pass subscription to play it early.

If you're looking to play the beta for Black Ops 6 early, simply pre-order any Digital Edition through your platform's digital storefront. You can also subscribe to Xbox Game Pass (Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass PC, Game Pass Console). Both methods will automatically flag your account for early open beta access, and you'll be able to log into t??he Early Access open beta as soon as it opens.

Alternatively, you can pre-purchase the game at any physical retailer to receive a redemption code. This code, on??ce entered an??d redeemed, will also flag you for access to the Early Access Open Beta.

For players interested in playing the open beta without a cost a??ttached, you will be able to play once the Early Access period for the open beta has concluded. Once it has, you'll be able to log into the beta freely, without any extra steps.

When can you play the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Open Beta?

The open beta officially begins on August 30 and will run until September 9. The Early Access period begins August 30 until September 4. All players, regardless of purchase status, will be able to play in the Open Beta from September 4 until its conclusion on September 9.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 officially launches worldwide on October 25 for ??the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC.

The post How to get into the Call of Duty: ??Black?? Ops 6 Open Beta appeared first on Destructoid.

With the release of Wuthering Waves version 1.2, Zhezhi, the new limited five-star, will be on the banner for all to pull for. Now, most of us only have one question on our mi?nd: Is it worth pulling for Zhezhi during this banner, ??over other future five-stars?

Is it worth pulling for Zhezhi in Wuthering Waves?

Zhezhi is undoubtedly a strong character, but she is certainly not a 'must-pull' banner in Wuthering Waves, for now at least. That's the most?? bare-boned, meta answer, but there's quite a bit fac?toring into the advice.

Really, the answer to whether or not you should be pulling for Zhezhi depends on the state of your account and Wuthering Waves gameplay perspective. Which characters do you already have? Are you playing for fun, or are ?you following the ever-changing meta? Before you consider pulling for Zhezhi, first, ask yourself those questions. For more insight on Zhezhi herself, let's talk about what she does.

Zhezhi plays a similar role to Yinlin in that she is primarily a sub-DPS who deals most of her damage while off-field. She is a Glacio character and her Outro buffs both Skill and Glacio damage for the character you swap to. Her main scaling stat is Basic Attack Damage, which y?ou'll want to stack on her Echoes for?? the largest impact.

Metawise, if you don't have Yinlin, she is a solid substitute for off-field damage. If you're looking for a strong support amplifier or buffer for Glacio/Skill Damage characters, she is still a strong pick. Thanks to her off-field damage, she is, additionally, exceptional at supporting Jinhsi, one of the strongest main DPS characters in Wuthering Waves due to the mechanics attached to her Forte. Jinhsi also relies heavily on Skill Damage, which makes Zhezhi an even better pick-up for her. Beyond these instances, you'd be better off saving your pull currency for a different character, preferably a main damage dealer or another support on the same level as Verina. We are still very early in Wuthering Wave's lifespan, and there's a lot more characters comi?ng down the line.

From a 'Fun' perspective, if you like how Zhezhi looks and are a big fan of her thematic flow, then you should pull for Zhezhi. Her personality is oddly charming, and while she gives off the impression of ??being a bit of a clutz or, perhaps, ditzy to a degree, her appreciation of her art is certainly appealing enough to be worth gunning for. I'm planning t?o pull her myself for this reason.

Zhezhi's role is largely not required to beat any of the most difficult content in the game, so don't let the FOMO get you this time. Sub-DPS characters are rather niche in Wuthering Waves, but perhaps that will change once the game gets more ?difficult. O??nly time will tell.

The post Should you pull for Zhezhi in Wuthering Waves? appeared first on Destructoid.

An incredibly underrated fighting game, DNF Duel, is curren??tly free-to-own on the Epic Games Store right now. It may not have many players now, but I still think it is worth playing.

It is being offered alongside CYGNI: All Guns Blazing, a visually intriguing shoot 'em up, and the Conduit Free Unlock Bundle for Apex Legends, which grants you the Legend Conduit for free, plus a skin. They are all fre??e-??to-own forever, as long as you claim them before August 15 at 4 pm BST / 11 am ET/ 8 am PT.

But why should you play DNF Duel (beside?s that it's fr?ee)? Sit down and let me tell you.

It's actually published by Arc System Works, makers of Guilty Gear, so of course it has an awesome anime art style with a deep fighting system. I enjoy ArcSys games, so I picked it up back when it came out in ??2022 and loved the heck out of it.

One of the main mechanics of the game is being able to use simple direction inputs for moves �think Super Smash Bros. However, if you prefer traditional fighting game controls, those are available as well, and will even reward you with more damage. It's an input style that's become more popular in recent years, expanding across a bunch of different fighting games including Street Fighter 6.

We here at Destructoid thought it was an easy-to-learn hard-to-master fighting game, but?? worried about its longevit??y. And while its online servers aren’t super populated right now, it still has a niche community and had a community tournament at EVO 2024.

I still highly recommend trying it out if you are a newcomer to fighting games. Maybe just find a Discord or group that plays together, if you are planning on playing online. Plus, if you enjoy it, there are five DLC characters that are also on sal??e for 50% right now to expand the roster.

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