Destiny 2 Update Improves Master Raid Rewards, But Complaints Persist

Weekly resets in Destiny 2 are usually accompanied by a new patch, although this week’s update has been minor when compared to previous ones. As the latest edition of Guardian Games begins, the 4.0.1.2 hotfix update simply removes class items from the Master difficulty reward pool for encounter completions in the Vow of the Disciple raid.

At first glance that might not seem like much, but for those Destiny 2 players who chase the best loot in the game, that change has ramifications for their rewards from high-level activities. The Master raid has a weekly rotation that rewards players with armor that is geared toward a specific stat, such as mobility for one week, and resilience for another week.

But the class item being in the rotation pool means that the piece of armor that you can potentially earn isn’t really that special, and this has been a point of contention in the Destiny 2 community. One of the main problems has been that instead of getting guns, potentially, in every completion, you’ll only get high-stat armor. Adept guns can drop by completing the weekly challenge on Master, but the option to craft better weapons has made this feature somewhat redundant.

Beyond that, the Guardian Games will at least have one weapon that is worth earning, a new submachine gun called The Title. This little death-dealer carries some of the best perks in its class, along with a new Origin Trait just for the Guardian Games called Classy Contender.

If you’re looking to represent your favorite Destiny 2 class during the new event, we’ve also got a guide on everything to know about the Guardian Games and how they’ve been overhauled this year.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

PAX East Enforcer Dies After Being Exposed To Covid During Convention

A PAX East enforcer has died from COVID-19 following being exposed to the virus while working. Dawn Wood, who had worked the gaming convention since 2014, reportedly came home from PAX East “on top of the world” before falling ill. She passed away overnight on Saturday, April 30.

Prior to her death, her mother says she checked in on Woods every day, bringing her “ice tea and supplies.” On Friday, April 29, her mother dropped off dinner and the mail before returning home. When Woods hadn’t called by 3 PM the next day, her mother sent the police to do a wellness check. The officers then discovered Woods body and determined she had passed away overnight.

According to a press comment given to Kotaku by a PAX representative, Dawn was “a warm and welcoming presence, and someone who always took the time to help others. She loved PAX and gaming, she was a voracious reader, and she loved baking, crafting, and sharing her creations with others. Our community is devastated by her loss and she will be sorely missed.”

While all PAX East guests and employees were required to show proof of vaccination and wear face coverings while attending the convention per the event’s guidelines, Boston dropped its mask mandate a few weeks prior. Due to the increased number of cities dropping these mandates, many have criticized conventions as “super-spreader” events. Some events, such as E3 2022, have even been cancelled.

Following her death, Woods family has created a GoFundMe page to cover funeral expenses. While Wood’s fundraising goal has already been met, donations are still welcome and will be used to help with any additional costs the family might incur. Woods sister, Margrette Domingue, wrote that Woods had “the most fun she had in years” at the convention and emphasized Woods ceremony will be a celebration of her life on the GoFundMe page. Unfortunately, Domingue has since been diagnosed with coronavirus herself, and is currently being hospitalized while her mother takes over organizing the fundraiser. Domingue also attended PAX East.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Everyone Is Playing Switch Sports Volleyball Wrong And I Hate It

Switch Sports is a whole lot of fun, especially Volleyball. At long last, I can finally play my favorite sport in the comfort of my own home without facing the stigma that comes with dropping hours into Dead or Alive Xtreme 3. (Why is it so hard to make a good volleyball video game that isn’t about women wearing the smallest swimsuits possible?) That said, I wish my teammates better understood what they were doing when playing the game, specifically when it comes to blocking.

So here I am, on my hands and knees (because you failed to help me stop the ball and that means I had to dive for it) begging for y’all to start read blocking–using data pulled from observations of your opponent to limit how well a spiker can hit the ball as opposed to outright stopping it. It will make life so much easier for your partner when they’re preparing to receive the ball and bump it up.

Nintendo puts a greater level of importance on blocking (jumping up to stop a spike) than it should, given how it’s framed volleyball in Switch Sports’ Volleyball mode. Traditionally, two-versus-two volleyball is played on a beach, where sand balances out the lack of available receivers (defending players responsible for bumping up the ball so that it can be set) by restricting a spiker’s jump height (and thus the available places they can easily hit the ball to). Switch Sports, however, opts for indoor volleyball, which is traditionally played three-versus-three or six-versus-six. Getting more bodies on the court means there are more receivers covering more ground to counter a powerful spiker.

Beach volleyball is traditionally two-versus-two–the sand slows an attacker’s approach, limiting where they can hit the ball and making it a more balanced duel between spiker and blocker.

As Nintendo has blatantly ignored this pattern in favor of creating its own style, it means only one receiver has to cover the entire back half of their side of the court, putting a ton of pressure on the blocker to be at 100% all of the time. Instead of two receivers covering the left and right sides of the court, a blocker needs to cover one, allowing the receiver to focus on the other.

The easiest way to do this is read blocking. In volleyball, there are a ton of different types of blocks, each specializing in stopping a different type of spike. Switch Sports doesn’t include that level of variety, but that’s okay since there are only a few types of spikes you need to block. As far as I can tell, Switch Sports Volleyball has two types of blocks: read blocking and guess blocking. Too many people do the latter.

A guess block is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: You’re guessing where the spiker is going to send the ball and attempting to stop them no matter what, removing any need for the receiver to do anything. In Switch Sports Volleyball, the game automatically moves you when you’re blocking to be in front of the spiker. It’s essentially the game “guessing” for you, putting you in the path of the most likely attack.

If your opponent is only jumping and swinging, guess blocking works just fine–more often than not, you’ll be able to rely on the game’s predictive movement to stop inexperienced players. But it falls apart the second you go up against an intelligent spiker. Say the other team is setting up and their spiker is approaching from your left–the game will usually pull you over to the left to be in line with the spiker. Technically, you’re in a position to block, but the spiker still has options to get the ball around you if the set is good. The most logical path (especially if they are right-handed) is to spike across to the corner behind and to the right of you (this is called a cross shot); but they can also hit to your left, straight down the line to the corner behind and to the left of you (this is called a line shot).

In this scenario, the receiver behind you has to cover pretty much all of the court except for what’s directly behind you. That’s hard (though not impossible), and it’s easy to score against. I’ve been the spiker plenty of times in that situation and simply aimed for whichever corner is opposite the opposing receiver to make them scramble for it. Even when they do manage to get it, the bump is typically not perfect, meaning the opposing team can’t pull off the necessary “Nice” bump, set, spike combo pattern to pull off a powerful attack.

With only two people per side, a greater emphasis is put on the blocker to limit a spiker’s options, and in volleyball speak, that generally means read blocking. Traditionally, read blocking would mean reading a set to determine who is spiking and then reading the spiker to figure out how they’re going to hit, but since there’s only ever one hitter, you don’t have to do all that–you know which player to go block right from the get-go and should just move into position as early as possible.

Let’s go back to that aforementioned situation where a spiker is approaching from the left side, giving them the option for a cross shot to the right corner or line shot to the left corner. Unlike when you’re on offense in Volleyball, you actually have control over where you go on defense, whether blocking or receiving. Using the control stick, you can pick where to go instead of relying on the game’s automatic movement. So read the situation and respond accordingly.

In this case, the best option would be to deny the larger area–the right side where there’s more court for the spiker to hit to. So instead of lining up with the spiker, stand a bit to the right of them (their left) and jump on the hit. Now the spiker is limited–they can still go right, but they’re now spiking right into your block, so committing to the smaller area (the left corner) is actually a smarter option. But because it’s a smaller area, it’s easier for a receiver to cover on their own. In this instance, a receiver needs to know to use their thumbstick to move to the back-left corner, as relying on the game’s automatic movement will probably keep you on the right side, which the game would figure as the logical placement for the spiker’s attack.

The blockers aren’t actually blocking the ball, but they are limiting the spiker to hit towards a very small opening–meaning the receiver has a pretty good idea as to where the spiker is going to hit the ball before they’ve even made contact.

There’s a good chance in this situation that you won’t actually get a block, and that’s okay. The point of read blocking is not to necessarily block the ball (if you do though, that’s great!), but to instead best defend your side of the court. If you just try to guess block, you’re trying to defend on your own, and if you miss that means the receiver behind you has to defend on their own. But if you’re read blocking and your teammate moves into position in response to you, then together the two of you can form a wall to defend most of the court. Is it perfect? Of course not. No defense in volleyball is foolproof, but your chances of stopping the ball will rise if you use read blocking to force the attacker into committing to the attack you want them to do.

Granted, this will take practice. Read blocking isn’t easy, whether in real life or in a video game, as there are more factors to consider beyond the simplistic set-up I provided. For instance, if your opponents pulled off a perfect “Nice” bump and set combo and then the spiker begins approaching from the left, that means a perfectly timed spike will see a strong attack coming from the left side. In that case, the ball is going to be coming at you pretty fast, so it might actually be better to read the situation and block the straight line shot to the back left corner. It does mean your teammate has to cover the much larger area–but the ball now has to travel a longer distance going across the court towards the back right corner in comparison to going straight ahead to the back left corner, and the longer travel time through the air translates into an additional half-second for the receiver to react.

Look at the Switch that you’re playing this game on, you’ll see what I’m talking about–put Switch Sports on standby for a second and pull your console out of its dock. You’ll see that the distance from the top left corner of the screen to the bottom right corner is longer than the top left corner to the bottom left corner. So forcing a spiker to hit diagonally can be a strategy too. Heck, maybe it’s for the best if you notice your opponent is left-handed. Remember, most folks will automatically spike across their body (it’s an easier arm movement), so in the instance where a left-handed person is approaching from the left, forcing them to hit towards the right corner is an awkward enough movement that they might actually mess up the timing of the spike, making your teammate’s job as the receiver even easier.

That’s all read blocking is–giving your teammate the best possible chance to receive the ball. It’s noticing how well the other team received your team’s spike, how well the other team set the ball, where the spiker is approaching from, when the spiker is jumping, and what hand the spiker is hitting with, and then reacting as best you can while trusting your teammate to be there after you’ve done all those mental gymnastics. It’s not nearly as glorious or satisfying as simply blocking an opponent’s attack and shutting down their spike, but if you have a supportive teammate, they’ll thank you for read blocking and making their job a bit more feasible.

Trying to incorporate your teammate into your read block can prove challenging–it’s better to focus on the opposing team and hope your teammate will follow through on the work you’re putting in.

Of all the sports in Switch Sports, Volleyball mode is one of the most involved, even featuring mechanics that the game doesn’t include in the tutorial. Like, did you know you can dive for a ball while receiving by wiggling the Joy-Con in the direction of a falling ball, allowing you to potentially get a few extra inches of distance at the cost of a subpar bump? Or that you can aim your spike at the tips of a blocker’s fingers, sending the ball ricocheting off their hand and out of bounds, getting you the point or putting the opposing receiver so far out of rotation (if they manage to chase it down) that they might not be able to get back in time to spike? And then there’s my favorite: The spiker actually sets the tempo for hits, not the setter. So if you’re spiking and jump before the ball even reaches the setter, it allows you to do a “Quick” spike, where your teammate flings the ball right at your hand, potentially giving you the chance to spike the ball before the blocker has even left the ground. It’s a great way to surprise your opponent during an especially long rally if you and your teammate have been doing slower tempo attacks a few times in a row and lulled your foes into following a rhythm.

But all of that doesn’t matter in the face of the importance of read blocking. If you’re playing Switch Sports Volleyball and you’re going online, please commit to practicing and utilizing read blocking. It makes things so much easier on your teammate. Getting a block that leads to a point always feels cool, but reading your opponent well enough to force them into doing the hit that you want them to do, giving your teammate a second or two more to get the ball up, can feel just as rewarding, and is honestly just a more reliable way to win.

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Blizzard Talks About Overwatch 2 Beta, Shares Plans To Buff Support And Improve Queue Times

As the first week of Overwatch 2’s technical beta comes to a close, developer Blizzard is sharing its plans for the game moving forward. According to a blog post published on the official Overwatch website, the team’s current top priorities are making support characters more desirable to players–which will ultimately lead to shorter queue times–as well as improving the game’s UI.

Right now, undesirable support characters seem to be the game’s biggest issue. During the technical beta, Blizzard says it observed that support heroes were “too vulnerable to diving and flanking attacks with fewer shields and no second tank focusing on protecting them,” making them too passive and not very viable options for players. Because of this, the queue time for tanks and damage players has continuously risen.

In order to counteract these complaints and the rising queue times, Blizzard says it has made a “significant adjustment” to the role, including upping their overall durability and power. However, these changes are only part of the studio’s initial plan for improving the game’s balance. Long term, the team believes the most effective way to tackle the issue is by adding “exciting new support heroes to the game,” which they intend to do in the future.

Additionally, Blizzard says it plans to improve Overwatch 2’s UI, particularly what’s displayed on the new scoreboard. According to Blizzard, while the original idea with the scoreboard’s medal system was to give “positive reinforcement for personal performance and let players know individually how they were contributing to the team,” it’s since realized the information provided has led to “varying interpretations by players.” As such, the new and improved scoreboard will now display key statistics–such as eliminations, assists, deaths, damage, damage mitigated, and healing–in real time to all players. Blizzard says the new board will be built in a way that “mirrors other competitive games and sports,” and will provide a more accurate assessment of what’s happening in the game.

In addition to laying out these plans, Blizzard also reinforced its commitment to “carefully listening” to community feedback and maintaining regular communication with its players through weekly updates. Today’s blog post is merely the first of many leading up to the game’s release. As of right now, Overwatch 2 does not have a release date, though we speculate it should hit PC and consoles sometime in 2023.

Activision Blizzard has come under pressure and scrutiny lately for its workplace culture, as well as controversies surrounding its top boss, Bobby Kotick, who is accused of knowing about and covering up instances of sexual harassment and abuse. Kotick reportedly also threatened to kill someone.

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The Best PlayStation Plus Free Games Of All Time

While the primary draw of PS Plus may be access to online multiplayer, the monthly free games are certainly great incentives. With Sony relaunching the PlayStation Plus subscription service in June to offer three tiers of membership that combine it with PS Now, we’ve decided to take a look at the best PS Plus games that have been offered over the years.

While not every month has been notable, there were still plenty of times when a PS Plus update was worth paying attention to when they were announced. Between indie darlings and unexpected big-budget debuts, here’s a look at the best of PS Plus since 2010.

We prioritized big AAA games (particularly exclusives) and indies that were relatively new when landing on the service when making this list, so you won’t find many ports or remasters of older games outside of some lovely collections. We also only included monthly free games, so games that are only in the PS Plus Collection for PS5 weren’t eligible. Hopefully there will be more games in the coming months that can be added to this roundup. Make no mistake, though, this list isn’t exhaustive–there have been plenty more excellent games up for grabs for PS Plus members over the years. After all, PlayStation has been giving away games to PS Plus subscribers since 2010. Let’s take a stroll through the highlights of the service’s history.

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami

Month available: October 2013

The ultimate “just one more turn” game, Hotline Miami’s blend of top-down anarchy, relentless action, and ’80s-inspired visuals still shine today as a great game to test your skill and patience.

Read our Hotline Miami review.

Resogun

Resogun

Month available: November 2013

One of Housemarque’s early successes, Resogun is a beautiful combination of arcade-style shmup action, catchy music, and a score-attack rhythm that is unmatched by anything else.

Read our Resogun review.

Spelunky

Spelunky

Month available: October 2014

Collect treasure, save a few damsels in distress, fight enemies who get in the way of your loot acquisitions, it’s all good in Spelunky! While a sequel was released in 2020, starting with the original is still recommended, thanks to its delightful design, cathartic chaos, and more streamlined approach that makes it a great place to start before tackling the more challenging sequel.

Read our Spelunky review.

SteamWorld Dig

Steamworld Dig

Month available: November 2014

Like Spelunky, SteamWorld Dig is all about excavating new mysteries and encountering deadly foes along the way. The main difference here is that you’re doing so as a robot, plus the variety of tools on offer adds extra incentive to keep digging down until you strike gaming gold.

Read our Steamworld: Dig review.

DmC: Devil May Cry

DmC: Devil May Cry

Month available: January 2014

The forgotten Devil May Cry game that was developed by Hellblade studio Ninja Theory, DmC’s bold and brash design still shines as you wield both demonic and angelic powers to take down the forces of hell.

Read our DmC: Devil May Cry review.

Transistor

Transistor

Month available: February 2015

After the blockbuster success of Bastion, developer Supergiant Games continued its winning streak with Transistor, an elegant exploration of jazz, style, and swinging around a massive sword.

Read our Transistor review.

Rocket League

Rocket League

Month available: July 2015

Rocket-powered cars smashing into oversized soccer balls is a universal language, and Psyonix’s thriller of a game exploded in popularity when it was offered as a PS Plus bonus. Rocket League has since become a free-to-play game.

Read our Rocket League review.

Helldivers

Helldivers

Month available: February 2016

A top-down twin-stick shooter game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios, Helldivers is a blissful bullet barrage that combines active reloads with blistering speed as you mow down waves of enemy aliens.

Read our Helldivers review.

Tearaway Unfolded

Tearaway Unfolded

Month available: March 2017

The best use of paper since humanity started slapping words onto the surface, Tearaway Unfolded remakes the PS Vita classic and somehow manages to unfold even more creativity along the way.

Read our Tearaway Unfolded review.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Month available: October 2017

Considered by many to be the magnum opus of Hideo Kojima’s time at Konami, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain transitioned the series’ tactical espionage action to a new battlefield of intrigue and open-world design.

Read our Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain review.

Bloodborne

Bloodborne

Month available: March 2018

Compared to the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne’s more aggressive gameplay and high-risk for high-reward elements made it a standout title at the time that further polished the studio’s trademark Souls-like formula.

Read our Bloodborne review.

Ratchet and Clank

Ratchet and Clank

Month available: March 2018

Arriving just in time to promote Ratchet and Clank’s big-screen debut, the remake of the original game is delightfully fun romp that shows just how well the original game’s formula held up. Quality-of-life improvements and changes to the structure made it feel fresh again, and it also happened to be one of the most gorgeous games on PS4 at the time.

Read our Ratchet and Clank review.

Rayman Legends

Rayman Legends

Month available: May 2018

Everybody loves Rayman, but this 2013 game is easily Ubisoft’s strangest hero at his artistic best. Whimsical, weird, and packed with charm, the game only gets better and wilder when you recruit friends to join you for some couch co-op.

Read our Rayman Legends review.

XCOM 2

XCOM 2

Month available: June 2018

More XCOM, more strategy, and even more “how can there be a 5% chance I’ll miss hitting an alien at point-blank range with a shotgun,” XCOM 2’s blend of tactical warfare was a welcome addition to any PS4 library.

Read our XCOM 2 review.

Yakuza Kiwami

Yakuza Kiwami

Month available: November 2018

A gorgeous remake of one of Sega’s best franchises, Yakuza Kiwami’s sprawling storyline, high-definition recreation of its iconic district, and hard-hitting combat makes for an unmissable gangster soap opera.

Read our Yakuza Kiwami review.

The Witness

The Witness

Month available: March 2019

Not to be confused with a Harrison Ford film, The Witness is a brain-teaser of a game, all set on in an open-world filled with brilliant line puzzles and a relaxing visual language. Years in the making and headed by Braid’s Jonathan Blow, The Witness is clever, artistic, and refined in its structure.

Read our The Witness review.

What Remains of Edith Finch

What Remains of Edith Finch

Month available: May 2019

What Remains of Edith Finch is a fantastic reminder of the emotional impact that video games can have. Released back in 2017, Giant Sparrow’s atmospheric tale of curses and mystery is still well worth experiencing today.

Read our What Remains of Edith Finch review.

Wipeout: The Omega Collection

Wipeout: The Omega Collection

Month available: August 2019

It may sport a 4K makeover with its vibrant visuals, but under the hood there’s an anti-gravity engine of high-speed racing that has barely changed. The best parts of Wipeout’s storied legacy all bundled into an audio-visual delight, the Omega Collection is a delightful way to revisit the past without needing to invent a time machine.

Read our Wipeout: The Omega Collection review.

The Last of Us Remastered

The Last of Us Remastered

October 2019

Naughty Dog’s journey into a post-apocalyptic wasteland populated by fungi fiends could have easily been a paint-by-numbers action experience, but The Last of Us turned out to be a more somber tale of violence, hope, and survival at any cost. The Remastered version packs a graphical punch, enhancing the original PS3 game with some added grunt that adds new visual layers to this masterpiece.

Read our The Last of Us Remastered review.

Titanfall 2

Titanfall 2

Month available: December 2019

Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall is easily one of the best original games of the 2010s, and its sequel didn’t disappoint. Piloting gigantic warsuits or wall-running into enemies while blazing a path forward built off the foundation of the original, but the incredible campaign took the series to new heights. Unsurprisingly, it also had a thrilling suite of online multiplayer modes.

Read our Titanfall 2 review.

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

Month available: January 2020

A swashbuckling trilogy of adventures remastered for the PS4 era, the Uncharted Collection chronicles the rise of Nathan Drake as he finds himself caught up in all manner of peril while searching for treasure. Two-fisted adventures with plenty of firepower, Naughty Dog’s premier franchise is well worth revisiting.

Read our Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection review.

BioShock: The Collection

BioShock: The Collection

Month available: February 2020

The best part about the BioShock collection–besides it being a compilation of all three games–is that its inclusion of BioShock Infinite’s superb two-part Burial at Sea helps create a perfect trilogy of utopian societies gone horribly wrong. The first BioShock is well worth playing, the first sequel is an underappreciated gem, and while Infinite might be polarizing, Burial at Sea does a superb job at bringing the entire saga full circle.

Read our BioShock: The Collection review.

Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus

Month available: March 2020

One of the most unique games of the PS2 era, Shadow of the Colossus received a terrific remake in 2018 from Bluepoint Games that amplified its unforgettable setting. Attack on Titan with a more haunting design, Bluepoint’s work shows just why the studio is regarded as the gold standard when it comes to remakes.

Read our Shadow of the Colossus review.

Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition

Hollow Knight

Month available: November 2020

While we’re still waiting for an announcement on a Silksong release date, this metroidvania action-adventure game is still well worth a revisit. The graphics look as crisp as ever, the gameplay will push you to your limits, and the Voidheart version contains plenty of welcome tweaks to the action that makes a terrific game even better.

Read our Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition review.

Control: Ultimate Edition

Control

Month available: February 2021

While it may have been smaller in scope when compared to previous Remedy Entertainment games, Control benefited from this back-to-basics design by creating a gameplay experience that was superbly polished. Dripping with atmosphere and mystery, this dive into a supernatural mystery is Remedy at its very best.

Read our Control review.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Month available: March 2021

The first chapter in Square Enix’s remake of its most iconic Final Fantasy, nobody expected Final Fantasy VII Remake to arrive so soon on PS Plus after launch. The timing was perfect–thanks to the impending Intergrade expansion–and fans who missed out on the return of Cloud Strife and friends got a second chance to revisit Midgar for a thrilling adventure.

Read our Final Fantasy VII Remake review.

A Plague Tale: Innocence

A Plague Tale: Innocence

Month available: July 2021

A Plague Tale: Innocence is a haunting journey into medieval darkness. A free upgrade on PS5 makes this dark tale shine, and if you’re on PS5, it’s well worth a download to experience this disturbing story of rats and violence.

Read our A Plague Tale: Innocence review.

Overcooked: All You Can Eat

Overcooked: All You Can Eat

Month available: September 2021

If you’re looking to sever a friendship or two, the good news is that Overcooked: All You Can Eat is the perfect tool for the job. Invite some friends who you want to strike off your Christmas card list, dive into tense team-based gaming, bungle up some kitchen orders, and revel in the kitchen chaos that ensues in this meaty multiplayer game.

Read our Overcooked: All You Can Eat review.

Slay the Spire

Slay the Spire

Month available: April 2022

If it feels like too many games are roguelikes with a deck-building angle these days, you can blame Slay the Spire for that. Developed over several years through early access, it’d be easy to be mad at this game if it wasn’t so damn good at what it does, and thanks to PS Plus, the most refined and feature-packed version of the game was available free of charge in April 2022.

Read our Slay the Spire review.

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Elden Ring: Where To Get Glintstone Arc

While there are plenty of one-on-one encounters in Elden Ring, the game can sometimes throw a hoard of enemies your way and really put you in a tough spot. In situations like these, it can be helpful to have a high-damage AOE spell at your disposal. That’s where Glintstone Arc comes in, and we’ll tell you exactly how to get your hands on it.

Glintstone Arc explained

Glinstone Arc is a sorcery that requires 13 Intelligence to cast. It sends a wide horizontal arc of magic that can deal pretty substantial damage to groups of enemies, making it one of the most useful AOE spells in the game.

Glintstone Arc’s item description reads:

One of the glintstone sorceries of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Fires a horizontal arc of magic that spreads outward. This sorcery can be cast repeteadly and while in motion. Granted to sorcererers who depart from the academy to embark on journeys, in order to fend off large groups of would-be adversaries. Fools often roam in packs.

Where to find Glintstone Arc

The Astrologer class gets Glintstone Arc as part of its starting kit, so the spell doesn’t have to be purchased separately and can be used immediately.

Meanwhile, Glintstone Arc can be purchased from Sorceress Sellen at Waypoint Ruins in Limgrave for 1,500 runes. This NPC will move to new places during her long questline, though, so follow our Sorceress Sellen Quest Guide if you find that she’s left the ruins at some point along your journey and aren’t sure where she’s at next.

Waypoint Ruins

Lastly, Glinstone Arc can be purchased from Thops at Church of Ilith in Liurnia of the Lakes for 1,500 runes. However, if you give him the Academy Glintstone Key he requests, you’ll progress his storyline and he will disappear to Raya Lucaria Academy.

Church of Ilith

Thops will be dead when you find him just outside the Schoolhouse Classroom Site of Grace room, meaning you’ll need to loot his bell bearing from his corpse and take it to the Twin Maiden Husks in Roundtable Hold to buy the spell there.

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Elden Ring: Where To Get Starlight

Most Elden Ring players will find a torch and carry it with them to light up dark areas, but if you’re a sorcerer, you can actually cast a spell so that you don’t have to use a hand holding up the flame. Starlight gives you the option, and if that sounds like something you want to make happen, read on to find out where you can add the sorcery to your collection.

Starlight explained

Starlight is a sorcery that requires 15 Intelligence to cast. It creates, well, starlight that will illuminate your surroundings, making it a useful alternative to a torch.

Starlight’s item description reads:

One of the glintstone sorceries of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Creates a small, floating star light that illuminates surroundings. This sorcery can be cast while in motion. Granted to sorcerers who depart from the academy to embark on journeys. Even during the blackest nights, sojourns underground, or imprisonment in gaol, the stars are never far from a sorcerer’s side.

Where to find Starlight

Starlight can be purchased from Thops at the Church of Irith in Liurnia of the Lakes. This fairly early-game area is easily accessible by either completing the Stormveil Castle legacy dungeon or using a shortcut to bypass the dungeon altogether.

Church of Irith

Thops sells Starlight for 2,500 runes. He also sells Glintstone Pebble and Glintstone Arc, but those are not exclusive to him and can be obtained elsewhere.

Note: Thops will ask you to bring him an Academy Glintstone Key. If you do so, he will relocate to the Raya Lucaria Academy legacy dungeon where he’ll end up dead. You’ll have to visit his corpse there just outside the Schoolhouse Classroom Site of Grace and get Thop’s Bell Bearing, then take it to the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundable Hold to access Starlight (and his other spells) from there.

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Elden Ring: Where To Get Ambush Shard

While you may typically want to use Elden Ring‘s strong spells to pummel your enemies with a full-on frontal assault, there can be some niche uses for having a bit of trickery up your sleeve, too. The sorcery Ambush Shard can help you be a clever magic user who spawns spells behind your opponents, and you can read on to find out exactly where you can find it so that you can try it out for yourself.

Ambush Shard explained

Ambush Shard is a sorcery that requires 23 Intelligence to cast. It summons a projectile behind your enemies, which will fire on them after a brief delay. This makes it a useful but low-damage spell for use in PVP or against enemies with shields.

Ambush Shard’s item description reads:

One of the night sorceries of Sellia, Town of Sorcery. Launches a projectile from a distance removed from the caster, so as to strike the enemy from behind. This sorcery can be cast repeatedly. The Sellian sorcerers were assassins, and it is said that they often hunted their fellows.

Where to find Ambush Shard

Ambush Shard can be obtained inside Witchbane Ruins in Weeping Peninsula. This location is easily accessible quite early in the game by heading to the far south portion of Limgrave and taking the bridge into Weeping Peninsula. Afterward, simply head to the western portion of the biome until you come across the Witchbane Ruins.

Witchbane Ruins

While exploring the Witchbane Ruins, you’ll find a flight of stairs leading down into an underground jail. On a corpse inside is Ambush Shard. You’ll also want to remember this location, as you’ll need to return here later if you opt to take on the Sorceress Sellen questline.

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Zelda Breath Of The Wild 2 Details May Have Been Revealed By Daruk’s Italian Voice Actor

Pietro Ubaldi, the voice of Daruk for the Italian dub of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, may have accidentally revealed some new details for the upcoming sequel.

Given that Nintendo has been wary of sharing any details–including a title–for the game, the content below the embedded video can be considered a spoiler, so consider yourself warned.

In an interview with fan site Lega Hyrule (via Eurogamer), Ubaldi revealed that he had recorded new lines for Breath of the Wild 2, returning not only to the role of Daruk but also the Goron champion’s ancestor.

This has led fans to speculate that the ancestors of other Hyrulian champions–Revali, Mipha, and Urbosa–could potentially be encountered in Breath of the Wild 2, although the jury is still out on if the ancient heroes will be seen in flashbacks or a completely different time period altogether.

Theories online have pointed to Breath of the Wild 2 taking place millennia before the original game, allowing players to experience the fall of Ganondorf, which begins the cycle of a hero battling a corrupted Ganon that happens in every game. The idea is that the hero from 10,000 years ago that has been teased in a previous trailer is Ganondorf, and that the hero with a corrupted arm in that gameplay is Ganondorf as well.

There’s even discussion that Breath of the Wild 2 might be a launch title for the rumored Nintendo Switch Pro console, although that might be unlikely given that Nintendo has reportedly forecast lower hardware sales this year because of the ongoing global chip shortage. While Nintendo has kept quiet on story details, the studio has revealed that Breath of the Wild 2 will take place on land and in the skies of Hyrule as well.

For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s Breath of the Wild 2 trailer breakdown video and our Breath of the Wild 2 preorder guide.

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Elden Ring: Where To Get Carian Greatsword

There may be plenty of spells to choose from in Elden Ring, but a few are exceptionally good choices. In the case of Carian Greatsword, it’s hard to go wrong when using this wide-reaching sorcery on packs of mobs, and you’ll look super cool doing it. In this guide, we’ll tell you where you can purchase this popular spell.

Carian Greatsword explained

Carian Greatsword is a sorcery that requires 24 Intelligence to cast. It causes a massive magical greatsword to swing vertically, making it a fantastic choice for groups of foes.

Carian Greatsword’s item description reads:

One of the sorceries of the Carian royal family. Conjures a magic greatsword and then delivers a sweeping blow. This sorcery can be cast repeatedly. Armed with this spell, sorcerers gain the strength of knights, their loyalty sworn to the moon.

Where to find Carian Greatsword

Carian Greatsword can be purchased from Miriel, Pastor of Vows at the Church of Vows in Liurnia of the Lakes. This giant turtle NPC will sell you the spell for a whopping 10,000 runes, and it can be purchased at any point in the game–meaning you do not have to provide them with any scroll to unlock the sorcery.

Church of Vows

It’s likely that you’ll stumble upon the Church of Vows during normal exploration of Liurnia of the Lakes, but if not, it’s easily accessible by exiting the lake directly east of Raya Lucaria Academy. Head north until the path splits once more to the left, then make your way up that path until you reach the church and can speak to Miriel, Pastor of Vows to purchase Carian Greatsword.

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