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Mikel Skiles
With the hot development of Diablo 4 Season 5, many players are also looking forward to the upcoming Season 6 and DLC on October 8. However, the recent Diablo 4 2.0 Public Test Realm has satisfied the curiosity of many players.
In the database of this test, players found several new items, which are similar to the key items for unlocking Secret Cow Level and Whimsyshire mechanism in Diablo 3. Although these items may only appear in the previous Easter Eggs or Red Herrings event, most players still think that this is an important clue for them to find that Secret Cow Level will return in the new Diablo 4 DLC.
In fact, since June last year, rumors that Secret Cow Level will return to Diablo 4 have been constantly. Although they have found countless clues related to it, there is no direct counterpart to prove that this mechanism is coming.
However, the players who love Diablo 4 have found some clues about Secret Cow Level and Whimsyshire because of their curiosity and enthusiasm for the new DLC.
Recently, Wowhead shared some new items found in Diablo 4 through D4 secret-finding Discord. It has to be said that in various aspects, they can easily evoke players’ memories of those items in Diablo 3 that can unlock the way to the private secret areas of individuals.
For example, the description of Rusted Bardiche seems to echo Bovine Bardiche. After Bovine Bardiche is transformed through Kanai’s Cube, it can lead to Not The Cow Level in Diablo 3.
In addition to Rusted Bardiche, the description of Rusted Old Bell, Crooked Staff, and Jabbering Gemstone all show a similar sense of echo. They look similar to Wirt’s Bell, Staff of Herding, and Gibbering Gemstone, respectively. To enter Whimsyshire, you need the three Diablo 4 items mentioned above, which are often referred to as Pony Level.
Also Read: Diablo 4 Season 5: How To Get Hellhammer And Azurewrath For Barbarian Build?
This weapon, which smells like feces and is obviously rotten and difficult to use, makes you ask yourself whether you really want to choose it? This item has something in common with Diablo 3’s Bovine Bardiche, which can unlock Diablo 3’s Not The Cow Level.
This once-significant weapon engraved with a W is now bloodstained, dilapidated, and its inner power has faded with the passage of time. It reminds me of Wirt’s Bell in Diablo 3, which can help you enter Whimsyshire.
The remains of a staff whose magical power has disappeared. It is now dilapidated. Staff of Herding in Diablo 3, which helps you enter Whimsyshire, seems to be a reference to this.
It is shaped like a cloud and has the effect of making you want to communicate with others. Although it was once very valuable, it is no longer valuable now. It refers to Gibbering Gemstone in Diablo 3 that helps players enter Whimsyshire.
Originally, Secret Cow Level was just a hoax created by the game fans in the original Diablo. However, when the developers added Easter eggs in Diablo: Hellfire expansion and StarCraft, Secret Cow Level gradually became a tacit joke within the gaming community.
It later appeared in the official game content of Diablo 2 in the form of Moo Moo Farm, and then even appeared again in World of WarCraft during Diablo 20th anniversary event.
Diablo 3 also combined this game format with the rainbow-filled Whimsyshire realm, although Not The Cow Level was also added for the game’s third anniversary.
Although this underground legend or something similar has not been found in Diablo 4, players still found clues while exploring the game. Some players found Forlorn Hovel in Diablo 4 by killing cows. According to their experience, some equipment items from the original keys to Secret Cow Level will drop in the game after killing cows.
There are also a group of players who try to perform purification rituals at mysterious ox statues or look for parts that look like cow heads on the map. Although Diablo 4 has tried hard to deny the existence of Secret Cow Level, it has accelerated the speed at which players can find its traces.
Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred will be launched on October 8th, meeting players as the first series of DLC for Diablo 4. If, as most players expect, the game developers add Secret Cow Level to DLC, then on the one hand, DLC may contain the final answers to various previous speculations about Secret Cow Level, which will naturally lead to the method of truly entering Secret Cow Level in Diablo 4; on the other hand, there may also be related required items in Diablo 4 Season 5 to help players get a smoother gaming experience in Secret Cow Level of DLC.
At this stage, Diablo 4 has entered the fifth season, called Season of the Infernal Hordes. In this season, many classes have made changes, including certain enhancements in skills, unique items, legendary aspects and paragons.
So when you start your exploration journey in this season, choosing a class with a variety of play styles may make you feel that the exploration process is very interesting and enjoyable. This guide will recommend to you what interesting class builds are available for you to choose in Season 5, as well as their advantages.
In Diablo 4 Season 5, the class with the biggest change is Sorcerer, because it not only increases the base damage of Crackling Energy from 20% to 30%, but also increases the skill damage by 25% in its main Core Stat.
In addition, many of the Sorcerer’s skills have also been enhanced, such as Spark, Arc Lash, Chain Lightning, and Blizzard, which are very popular among players, allowing you to experience more pleasure in battle and better feel the satisfaction after defeating the enemy.
Not only that, Aspect of Elemental Acuity has also been enhanced, and you can get higher mana recovery and damage output when using Sorcerer in Season 5. Since the damage has been enhanced, in terms of defense, Sorcerer has gained higher movement speed, higher shield value, and higher damage reduction.
By the way, Sorcerer’s passive skills have also been updated - increasing the chance of stun, immobilize, and freeze effects on enemies. These changes have made Sorcerer the most popular Class in this season, and all its builds are very powerful.
In Season 5, Rogue has also made some improvements. Now the class gains 1% more damage for every 9 points of Dexterity, which means your Rogue will deal 6%-7% more damage than in previous seasons.
Similarly, Rogue’s skills have been enhanced, most notably Flurry, which has increased its bonus damage by 1.3 times and has a 20% increase in Lucky Hit chance.
Exploit Weakness skill, which was previously criticized by players, has also been redesigned, now has a chance to increase damage by 25% over 25 seconds, and the duration of Preparation specialization has been increased by 10 seconds. These changes will make it easier for you to fight and get Diablo 4 Gold faster.
However, unlike Sorcerer, not all builds are suitable for everyone. The most recommended one this season is Rapid Fire Rogue, because this build adds a new Diablo 4 Item introduced in Season 5, called Umbracrux. It can produce a totem and further increase the damage of the entire build.
Besides this item, you can also pick up Fist of Fate work, which works well with Rogue’s Lucky Hit and works very well in both teamwork and solo play. Even if it doesn’t provide you with new buffs, it will make your fights go by in a brief time.
It’s not necessarily the most powerful class in Season 5, but Druid offers a good mix of melee and ranged styles, which will allow you to find the best build for both solo and team games.
Druid has made no major changes this season, so the builds that have advantages are still the same: Boulder Druid, Landslide Druid, Wind Shear, and Wolf Companion Druid. But it should be noted that Landslide Druid will stand out a little because of the addition of many unique items.
Read More: How To Get Unique That Increases Druid’s Tankiness In Diablo 4 Season 5? - Insatiable Fury
Players familiar with Diablo 4 know that Barbarian is not as good as other classes in terms of overall power level and high-level world operation. And in this season, its defensive ability has even unexpectedly decreased, which is not a good choice for players who are anxious about health bars in battle.
But you can definitely put it in your team. Barbarian can create some benefits for your team through Battle Shout, which is always good. But not all Barbarian builds are unusable. Flay Bleed Barbarian is an exception, which has received some skill buffs.
With the buffs to skills like Upheaval and the diversity of items, there may be some new potential Barbarian builds in subsequent seasons. We can look forward to it together.
Like Barbarian, some core skills of Necromancer, such as Shadowblight and Feast core skills, have been nerfed to a large extent. Of all the builds, Bone Spirit build may be the best Necromancer build for you to play single-player games. The viability of others has begun to decline for various reasons.
In Necromancer build, the most common gameplay is to revolve around the summoned armies of the undead. Some players find it interesting, but some players feel that relying on a certain Claass frequently will limit the appeal of this build.
Now that you know all the build changes in Diablo 4 Season 5, you can choose the most interesting build you want to use based on the following!
These are some of the interesting builds you can choose from in Diablo 4 Season 5. Hopefully, you can use these builds to make your exploration of this season a little easier.
Some time ago, the highly anticipated Diablo 4 Season 5 brought players a new battle pass, balance changes, quality-of-life features, etc., but the most important thing is a new mechanism - Infernal Hordes. It is essentially a wave-based horde mode that takes place in the arena.
You need to use Infernal Compass to unlock different levels of Infernal Hordes. As the level increases, the level of those demons will also increase, and the level of the loot chests you get from them will also increase. These loot chests may provide you with XP, items, materials, master-working materials, and even Diablo 4 Gold.
Then this guide will provide you with some things you need to pay attention to in Infernal Hordes in Season 5 and how to play Infernal Hordes easily and happily.
Once you create a new character in Diablo 4 Season 5, you can start the seasonal quest line and gradually complete the quests in World Tier 1 and 2 until you come across Eyes of the Enemy quest in Zarbinzet.
If you think it’s so time-consuming to explore all the quest lines in both World Tiers, you can reach World Tier 3 as the fastest way and start this quest immediately in Zarbinzet. After Eyes of the Enemy quest is completed, you will find yourself standing in front of Gate of Hell and holding an Infernal Compass, which is your reward for completing the quest. You can start Infernal Hordes Mechanic.
As mentioned above, you need Infernal Compass to unlock the different Infernal Hordes. In short, Infernal Compass is the key. Each Infernal Compass has a corresponding level, and the higher the level, the higher the number of Infernal Hordes that can be unlocked, and the more rewards you will receive, including Diablo 4 Gold.
So, you can get some Infernal Compass as early as possible in your free time. You can find some in Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons, The Pit, Whisper Caches, and Infernal Hordes themselves, but only Tier 3 ones. Higher tiers require you to find Abyssal Scrolls in material chests in some activities to help you upgrade Infernal Compass.
In addition to this, you can also craft Infernal Compass from the occultist vendor. Not surprisingly, you can only craft Tier 3 Infernal Compass. The rest needs to be upgraded.
Read More: How To Obtain Esu's Heirloom Unique Boots For Sorcerer Builds In Diablo 4 Season 5?
After completing a round of Infernal Hordes, you will be faced with the problem of choosing three of Infernal Offerings. These Infernal Offerings not only provide you with buffs but also debuffs. If you don’t have time to choose after a round, don’t worry, because they will always be there during Infernal Horde.
It is important to remind you that the basic idea of choosing Infernal Offerings is to continue to choose the same mechanic, so that you will get more rewards in the next wave, the most important of which is Burning Aether.
For example, if you repeatedly choose Hellborne offerings, you will face more Hellborne enemies. Although this increases the difficulty of your battle, it is nothing compared to the rewards.
As we all know, there is no shortage of very dangerous enemies in Diablo 4, whether it’s low-level legendary figures like Butcher or bosses that can kill you with one blow in the later stages of the battle, so Infernal Hordes is no exception. But I’m sure you must know that you need to build a very solid build before fighting these powerful enemies.
In Infernal Hordes, this becomes even more important. Even though you can respawn at the door of Infernal Hordes after losing the battle, because of the limited number of respawns, you may not explore Infernal Hordes more effectively.
Here are some of the best builds in Infernal Hordes for you: Lighting Spear Sorcerer, Penetrating Shot Rogue, and Hammer of Ancients Barbarian. These are for reference only. The specific build needs to be determined according to your usage habits and the specific boss. After you use a good build, you should pay attention to other periods in Infernal Hordes that may catch you off guard. First, if your health is dependent on Unique or Aspect buffs, be careful when entering Infernal Hordes, as these buffs will not take effect until the rotation begins.
If a very powerful enemy appears at this time, you are likely to be killed in one blow. Similarly, you cannot let your guard down after you complete Infernal Hordes, as you will face a more powerful Fell Council. In this battle, 3 of the 5 bosses will be randomly selected to fight you. It is important to note that these 5 bosses can deal with completely different types of damage and have different resistances to the damage you release, so try to keep your various attribute data balanced so that you can survive such a tough battle.
That’s all you need to pay attention to Infernal Hordes in Diablo 4 Season 5. Hopefully you can have fun with this new mechanic and get plenty of loot!
Dear players, with the hot development of Diablo 4 Season 5, what do you think of this new season? Does the new content and Uber boss challenges in the game make you feel that Diablo 4 has come back to life again?
Honestly, it’s difficult to grind bosses in Season of the Infernal Hordes, because not only do you need to constantly improve the strength of your character build, but you also need to spend time and Diablo 4 Gold to farm and craft materials to summon these bosses. However, the rewards brought by defeating these Uber bosses will definitely make you feel that it is worth it.
Here, we will talk about one of the key boss summoning materials in Season 5, Malignant Hearts. We will introduce the most effective farming methods, including crazy new strategies in the new season.
By now, everyone knows that Malignant Hearts are a have to summon Uber Varshan, and he’s a very popular boss, as he drops them for Season 5’s best build, Lightning Spear Sorcerer, which is a must-have for Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop Unique. As such, the demand for Malignant Hearts is high this season.
So, how do you farm them? The original, arguably traditional way to farm Malignant Hearts and any other Varshan Body Parts has always been around, and that’s Whisper Caches. While Varshan Body Parts have been removed in the new season, this farming method still works.
Here, though, let’s start with what’s new about Malignant Heart farming in Season 5. There’s a new farming strategy here, involving Grotesque Debtors.
As you may already know, any time someone completes a Whisper Objective, there’s a chance that a mob called Grotesque Debtor will spawn. This mob will always drop at least one Body Part. It may spawn randomly when you complete your Whisper Objective.
The trick to this strategy is that Grotesque Debtor will spawn not only for you, but for everyone in the area. This means that if you can find a place where a large number of players are completing their Whisper Objective at the same time, you can get a free Debtor and a free Body Part. The classic example is World Bosses, where it is known and used.
Whisper that rewards 5 Grim Favors is not the only reason I recommend doing World Bosses. More importantly, since many people complete their Whisper Objective at the same time, there is a high chance that you will see someone’s Debtor after killing World Boss, and you will be able to loot Body Part they drop. Unfortunately, World Bosses are quite rare and you can’t farm them continuously.
Also Read: Diablo 4 Season 5: A Complete Guide To Bone Spear Necromancer Build
But there is actually another Whisper that allows many people to do it at the same time, and it appears every hour. That’s right, it’s Blood Maiden Whisper in Helltide.
So, what you should do is go to Helltide as soon as it appears, that is, on the hour, use Baneful Hearts to summon Blood Maiden, kill her with the surrounding players, and then look for Grotesque Debtor.
That’s not all. After you kill the first Blood Maiden, you can teleport to the town, wait a few seconds, and then teleport back. This way, you can enter another Helltide. If you kill Blood Maiden again, these new players will complete their Whisper, so you once again have a good chance of destroying Debtor that spawned here.
Of course, this doesn’t happen every time, but it is very likely to happen. And, in my opinion, it adds spice to the otherwise extremely boring Malignant Hearts farming.
Finally, let’s explain the previous Whisper Caches farming strategy to avoid some players who have just entered the game knowing nothing.
Whisper Caches always contain at least one Body Part. So, the core of farming will consist of completing Whisper as soon as possible. However, it is recommended that you do Outdoor Whispers first and don’t do Dungeon Whispers, as they take too long to be worth it.
Whispers you need to do are in order of priority:
Finally, I have to say that Malignant Hearts can also come from other sources, such as Goblins, Elites and the like, but you can’t really farm them in a targeted way.
Another important thing is that starting from Season 5, you only need Malignant Hearts to summon Echo of Varshan. If you have leftover Body Parts from previous seasons, then you can convert all other Body Parts you got into Hearts at Alchemist.
That’s it! Do you have any other tips for farming Malignant Hearts? Hopefully, this guide will help you collect all the summoning materials faster and kill Varshan! See you next time!
In Diablo 4, the optimal build for Barbarians relies on Uniques. Season 5 has made some adjustments to some of the underperforming Uniques, which means players will have a chance to try out new builds. For example, weapons like Overkill and Hellhammer, as well as armor pieces like 100,000 Steps and Twin Strikes, have been buffed. Players can verify this by playing with them. Below we present the top 6 items for Barbarian players.
While this unique ring doesn’t rank at the top of the list because of its situational nature, it’s unique enough to make it useful in the new season of Diablo 4. If you can find this item early on, it can provide a useful stat boost as you hunt for higher-level gear. Like other Uniques, it’s primarily obtained through monster drops or chests, and can also be won in Uber Echo of Varshan.
This ring has been tweaked for Season 5, with some stats buffed and others completely overhauled. The most notable changes include sacrificing Strength for increased Crit damage, removing Resource Generation, and increasing attack speed. Its core effect is to guarantee a critical hit within 5 seconds of using Hammer of the Ancients, Upheaval, or Death Blow, and Crit Damage cap has been increased to 40% for Season 5, so it’s well worth spending some Diablo 4 Gold to get it.
Ancients’ Oath was considered a weapon of choice in Diablo 4 Season 4, and continues to be popular in Season 5. This weapon is particularly useful for Berserking and the use of Steel Grasp. Even if the player doesn’t use these specific skills, the stat bonuses provided by Ancients’ Oath are still very useful if there are no better weapon options. This weapon can only be obtained from high-level enemies above level 85, including Beast in Ice or Grigoire uber bosses.
Entering Season 5, Ancients’ Oath has undergone a series of buffs that not only improve its stats but also certain benefits. These adjustments include removing the bonus damage against Healthy enemies, increasing Vulnerable damage, and increasing Strength and Cooldown reduction. Despite this, the weapon’s special effect that allows Steel Grasp to fire additional chains remains unchanged.
This ring is designed for Brawling skills, and is ideal for players who want to build a character based around these skills or Rend debuff in Season 5. This item is essential for those who want to build a build focused on these skills in Season 5. Like other Uniques, it can be obtained by defeating random enemies and opening chests, and can also be obtained by defeating Ice Uber bosses.
This item remains largely unchanged, but does have three changes, two of which are particularly beneficial to Rend builds. Ring of the Ravenous now provides Elemental resistance, Critical chance, vulnerable damage, and adds 2-3 points of Rend. Its unique effect is to extend the duration of Rend by 4-8 seconds, and cause Brawling skills to apply two additional stacks of Rend Bleed.
Fields of Crimson is a unique two-handed sword in Diablo 4, and its major feature is its ability to deal Bleeding damage. This weapon is suitable for Barbarian players who want to build a core around spreading DoT ailments. This sword can be dropped from any monster above level 85, but more common sources include Zombies, Skeletons, Beasts, and Knights. In addition, it can also be obtained by defeating Beast in Ice and Varshan.
Entering Season 5, Fields of Crimson will undergo some property upgrades and adjustments, however, its role as a Bleeding damage-focused weapon will not change. Notable changes include an increase in Strength, additional damage to Bleeding enemies, and an increase in Rupture explosion size. Its unique effect of spreading Bleed when attacking an enemy already affected by Rupture will remain unchanged.
Related: Diablo 4 Andariel Barrage Rogue Build: How To Build The Best Endgame Build In Season 5?
This new unique sword was introduced to Diablo 4 in Season 5 and has quickly risen to the top of the rankings because of its excellent stats and effects. This weapon completely changes the way Weapon Mastery skills are used, so any build based around these skills will be interested in it. It can be dropped by enemies in Tier 3 and 4 worlds, but the most effective way to obtain it is from Infernal Hordes.
This sword has some very impressive stats, but by far the most critical is its unique effect. Some notable passives include 30-40% Vulnerable damage, 49-63 Strength, and 1-2 Fury. The unique effect upgrades all Weapon Mastery skills to Core skills, which do not have cooldowns and instead consume Fury. It reduces Fury cost of these skills by 5 points to compensate for their additional charge requirements.
This sword has been widely used in Season 4, and in Season 5, it is going to be even better. It is not focused on enhancing any specific skill, but it will strengthen any skill of the player’s choice by consuming Fury over time. This makes it suitable for almost any build, especially for players who need a powerful weapon to deal with challenges in the late and late stages of the game. This sword can be dropped on World Tiers 3 and 4, and can also be obtained by defeating Lord Zir and Girgoire.
In Season 5, this weapon has not undergone drastic changes, but it still received some important improvements. The most notable improvements include an increase in Strength, the removal of damage reduction when using Dual-Wielded weapons, increased Critical damage, and increased Overpower damage. These improvements combined to make this weapon very suitable for handling most Diablo 4 tasks.
Its unique effect increases skill damage based on Fury held by the player, but causes a loss of 10 points of Fury per second. This effect has been adjusted from 2 points of Fury lost per second to 0.2-0.4% to 0.2-0.5% per point of Fury lost.
Whether through smart item selection or through mastery of skill combinations and tactics, the key to success lies in being able to maximize the advantages provided by each unique.
If you are familiar with Elden Ring, you will know that Faith builds are very powerful in this game, as it provides players with dozens of powerful spells, sigils, and weapons. This is even more obvious in Shadow of the Erdtree, where numerous new weapons are expanded mainly through Faith.
Black Steel Greathammer introduced in this guide is a very typical example. Black Steel Greathammer can be obtained from Church of Consolation in the southeast of Gravesite Plains early in the DLC. No surprise, you need to fight Black Knight in it.
This weapon is a great choice for players who want to try out a new weapon in their STR/FAI build. So how do you choose the best build around it? This guide will answer you from its pros and cons and some directions for required items.
Before explaining its advantages, let’s take a look at some disadvantages of Black Steel Greathammer. Like most great hammers in the game, its attack range is very small and it can only be used in close combat. Also, you can only find it in Shadow of the Erdtree, so you may not bring it back to the base game.
If you don’t mind these two drawbacks, then read on! Black Steel Greathammer’s move set is pretty strong, and even without the buffs, its AR is pretty good. But if you put it in a Faith-based build and inject Flame Art or Sacred into it, it will be even more powerful.
Also, the great thing about it is that you can choose which Ash of War to inject, and it allows you to mix and match Ash of War injected to adjust the scaling. Black Steel Greathammer also has a unique form of guard counter, which will form a holy halo on the ground after the counter, and then explode immediately after a few seconds to generate holy damage.
This is also the move used by the previous owner of this weapon, Black Knights. You need to pay attention here that this holy damage will change with the changes in Faith’s stats.
Because Black Steel Greathammer is such a versatile weapon, it is great when used with a STR/FAI build. However, an FAI build is better, as FAI’s direct damage scales are better than STR.
So when choosing your stats distribution, you can increase FAI to 60 and keep STR at 25. This will give you 5%-8% more damage than if you chose 60 Faith and 25 Strength, and that’s without any Ash of War infusion.
In addition, the guard counter holy damage that this weapon can cast is proportional to the amount of Faith. This means that if you want to increase damage, upgrading Strength will not help, only upgrading Faith will help.
But you can’t lower Strength too much, because Black Steel Greathammer will help you increase your overall damage a little in a Strength-centric build. The following are the recommended allocations for each attribute data:
Because Black Steel Greathammer is a relatively melee weapon, you have to be very careful with your choice of Talismans. You can’t go wrong with Curved Sword Talisman first, as it increases the effectiveness and damage of defensive counterattacks by 20%.
In addition, Greatshield Talisman can miraculously reduce the stamina cost of blocking by 20% by increasing the defense bonus of the equipped shield, making follow-up actions easier to perform. And for Two-Headed Turtle Talisman, it can restore lost stamina at an amazing rate of 22.5%. These two Talismans can be used together.
Crimson Seed Talisman +1 is an amulet that you can bring or not, as it only increases the effectiveness of healing potions by 30%. But if you know the battle is going to be a long one, you can bring it in case of a genuine crisis.
For Faith build required by Black Steel Greathammer, there is no better an Ash Of War than Ash Of War Sacred Blade. Because it gives you a buff that lasts for up to 40 seconds while you’re in combat. And it has a very obvious timer, so you can easily tell when it will wear off, so you can be ready to reapply it.
If you want to use Black Steel Greathammer against some high poise bosses, you can inject Ash of War Golden Land into it. This will allow you to deal 40 points of stance damage on your attack, and have armor that can protect you well.
This means that you will not be easily interrupted when using this weapon, so that you will have an easier time getting Elden Ring Runes.
If you encounter an enemy that is as agile and difficult to catch as you are, and you want to attack it at close range, you can use Ash of War Savage Lion’s Claw to make up for the shortcoming of this weapon: attack range.
If you want to expand the already excellent stance damage of Black Steel Greathammer and make this damage the major damage, you can use Ash of War Cragblade. After you inject this Ash of War, you will find that it is easy to deal with some bosses.
As mentioned above, Black Steel Greathammer is very defense-heavy, and you can use it two-handed or with a shield to increase the defense counter of this weapon. However, considering that it only has 76 physical damage cancellation, using it two-handed may not be a good idea, so you can choose a shield.
The choice of shield depends entirely on your Endurance and maximum equipment load. The heavier the shield, the higher the defense increase, and the better choice for you, especially if you are interested in fat rolling or have already invested a lot in Endurance. Here are the heavy shields you can choose:
You can get this shield after completing Moore’s questline. This is the absolute best greatshield in the entire game, even better than Fingerprint Stone Shield in the base game.
There are a few variants of Greatshields, and the weight of each variant varies greatly. As the lightest variant of Greatshields, Haligtree Crest Greatshield is definitely your best choice.
Black Steel Greatshield you get from Black Knight also works well with Black Steel Greathammer.
If you don’t have either of these two options, then you can forget about the heavy shields, as they are not suitable for most builds because of their weight. Instead, you can try some medium shields, which also provide some defense boosts and have some general uses. Here are some medium shields you can choose from:
You can get this from Incursion Painting in Land of Shadow. This shield gives you the best defense boost of all medium shields, up to 55. This will make it safer to pick up some Elden Ring Runes in combat.
You can get this from the soldier in Limgrave. This is arguably one of the most balanced shields in the entire Elden Ring, both in the base game and the DLC. If you don’t get Serpent Crest Shield, you can use this instead.
In a Faith-based build, you are free to use any incantation depending on the situation. But the most direct effect is to increase the effectiveness of Black Steel Greathammer directly. Golden Vow can help you increase the attack power of yourself and your allies by 15%, and increase your defense by 10%.
Flame, Grant me Strength can increase your physical and fire attack power by 20%. Both incantations have direct effects. If you want to try some new incantations, you might want to try Pest-Thread Spears or Flame of Frenzy, which can make you fearless when facing bosses. In PVP and PVE modes, Knight’s Lightning Spear can help you deal more ranged single-target damage.
These are some information you can choose around Black Steel Greathammer in Elden Ring DLC. I hope this guide can help you with your builds! Happy exploring!
In this Diablo 4 Spiritborn Jaguar guide, we’ll take a thorough analysis into the character’s gameplay, skills, possible build strategies, and more.
Spiritborn is the newest member of Diablo 4 class roster, a tough warrior from Nahantu Jungle who wields the mystical powers of the guardian of the spirit realm.
Spiritborn marks a true expansion of class depth and build variety in Diablo 4. While we’ll have to wait until Vessel of Hatred to unlock Spiritborn, there’s a lot of information to explore about the class so we can jump right in and dive into the excitement of this new class.
Today, we’ll be taking a thorough analysis into Jaguar Spirit, gameplay, skill selection, and how these elements fit together.
For those who already know how to play Druid in Diablo 4, think of Spirit Boons as an advanced enhancement. For those who are new to Druid, these spirits will bring powerful passive skill bonuses to your character.
Spirits also allow you to perform specific skills, some of which increase attack speed to increase damage output, others increase damage output over time, use vicious poisons to weaken enemies, or if you prefer, there are still some that allow you to use the pseudo-ranged variant of Spiritborn.
Related: How To Prepare For The Upcoming Diablo 4 Season 5? - A Complete Prep Guide
For players who love endless fighting and killing, Guardian Spirit is definitely your best choice.Become a fierce predator and ruthlessly tear through enemies with high DPS, accelerated attacks, and swift movements.
Picking up Jaguar Spirit equips you with Guardians’ passive, which triggers a chain of critical hits after every fourth attack with a Jaguar skill.
Many Jaguar skills build Ferocity, a stackable buff that increases attack speed by 5%, with a baseline attack speed of 20%. Building up and maintaining this buff is key to boosting your DPS. You can use this increased attack speed in creative ways by applying it to other Guardian Spirit skills. To reach the potential of these skills faster and make the most of Jaguar Spirit’s abilities, it might also be wise to consider investing in some Diablo 4 Gold.
The appeal of Spiritborn is the variety of Spirit Guardians possible.
One fascinating combination is Jaguar with Centipede, a strategy that doubles damage output by introducing poisons, and stays alive by stealing life and increasing health after killing enemies, which is a perfect fit for aggressive all-out offensive play.
Picking Centipede as a secondary Spirit will give you a healing ability that restores 1% of maximum HP for each nearby poisoned enemy, while also allowing you to achieve a wide range of poison effects at a low cost. A better option is Touch of Death.
Touch of Death can apply continuous poison damage. Not only is this skill very effective as an opening, but when the poison effect ends or the target enemy dies, the effect explodes among nearby enemies, spreading the poison. This makes this skill particularly suitable for use when facing numerous enemies, especially when combined with Rake skill, which has incredible AoE clear potential.
Another interesting combination for Spiritborn Jaguar in Diablo 4 is Jaguar and Eagle. This combination takes advantage of Jaguar’s enhanced attack speed, combined with Eagle’s high crit rate and its mobility of Eagle, to create a DPS combination.
With this combination, enemies can be quickly defeated by simply keeping up the attack.
If the attack-focused glass cannon style doesn't suit you, another option for Spiritborn Jaguar in Diablo 4 is to pair Jaguar with Gorilla. This combination enhances defensive mechanisms such as barriers and crowd control skills, providing a more warrior-style combat style for players who like to charge in and output as much damage as possible.
Ultimately, with a well-thought-out strategy and some creative thinking, Spiritborn Jaguar will undoubtedly become an exciting and terrifying force on the battlefield of Diablo 4.
Monopoly Go is a derivative version of the previously very popular board game Monopoly, and is not restricted by various mobile phone systems. It also allows players to travel around the world on their own board without leaving home. In addition, players can also work together with friends to build their own business empire.
To grow in Monopoly Go, you must build enough properties, collect enough rent, and participate in various activities in the game. Of course, just like in the real world, you also need to ensure that you have a steady flow of funds in Monopoly Go.
But the question is, where do you get all that money? That’s a good question! This guide will tell you how to make more money in Monopoly Go and how to achieve financial freedom in the game.
This method is arguably the most similar part of Monopoly Go to the actual Monopoly board game, and it is also the fastest way to make money in the game. As you start building your own properties in Monopoly Go and updating them, your game board will also place house and hotel tiles next to your buildings.
As you roll around the board together, you can collect rent from friends or other strangers who land on your house and hotel tiles after rolling the dice.
After you’ve completed upgrading all the buildings on the board, if you land on one of the hotel tiles, you can start spinning Color Wheel. In addition to spinning it here, you can also use Color Wheel during daily boost events.
Color Wheel can earn you some extra cash, as well as a few different sticker packs and extra Monopoly Go Dice opportunities.
Monopoly Go’s Railroad Tiles are a great way to make a ton of cash quickly.
For example, a Shutdown event will require you to demolish your friend’s building on his or her board, preventing the building from upgrading. Similarly, your friend can do the same to you, which is when the shields you’ve collected come in handy.
If your friend lacks a shield, you’ll be able to shut down his board and earn more money successfully. The same goes for the other way around.
In contrast, Bank Heists are a bit more cost-effective. This requires you to select the tiles you want to flip and match three identical icons to get a cash reward. The coin icon offers the least reward, the bag icon offers a medium reward, and the diamond ring icon gives you the highest regular Bank Heist reward. In addition, if you can flip the gold bar icon in Mega Heist daily events, all your rewards will be doubled!
The best way to earn some extra stuff in Monopoly Go is to just keep playing. Not only do you have a ton of daily quests that give you cash, but you also have a store that refreshes every eight hours, where you can choose to squat and claim your cash rewards.
If you log in once a day to claim your rewards, your rewards will gradually increase as you log in. So remember to take a little time out every day to check it out!
In addition to daily rewards, Monopoly Go also holds daily events from time to time that also give you a lot of cash. These include Rent Frenzy and Cash Grab. The former allows you to collect more rent from your friends when you park on rent tiles. The latter gives you the opportunity to click and collect a lot of Monopoly Go money.
At its core, the most reliable opportunity to earn cash is to roll the dice on Monopoly Go board. But if you don’t know how to use the boost time correctly, it’s an enormous loss. In dice rolls, using higher multipliers can multiply your cash.
Although it looks very tempting, you still need to save your dice during the event or near important tiles such as Go or railroads. Don’t overuse your dice.
When you land on Chance card space, you can also get a lot of Monopoly Go Stickers and extra dice as your reward in addition to cash.
Read More: Monopoly GO: Which Token Is Your Favorite So Far?
Every few days, Monopoly Go will launch various events that allow you to collect points and reach milestones within a few hours to earn a lot of cash. These events are usually themed around the season and will require you to do different things.
Some of these events are single-player events, where you can land on designated locations on the board alone to earn enough points. When you reach a certain number of points, the milestones you reach will provide you with cash rewards.
Moreover, there are numerous Monopoly Go Partners Events where you and your friends need to team up and construct buildings to create a situation that benefits everyone involved. In addition, there are Peg-E events that will also provide you with some cash in the arcade drop game.
The above are the specific ways to make more money in Monopoly Go. There may be more ways. I look forward to your more attempts at the game! I wish you wealth freedom as soon as possible.
The arrival of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC brings a host of new content, including new areas, new quests, and brand new NPCs. One of NPCs we’ll encounter early in Three-Path Cross Site of Grace area is Hornsent.
Once you find him, he’ll talk to you and give you a few maps, and completing his quest will net you a pretty nice reward.
Note that some players often confuse him with the NPC trapped in Belurat, Hornsent Grandam, but in fact, they have nothing to do with each other.
As you progress through game, questline will become more complicated, especially when you enter Shadow Keep. Don’t worry, though, here we’ll detail all tips you need to know about Hornsent questline, including where you need to find Hornsent, as well as some key tips for completing quest efficiently. Without further ado, let’s get straight to it!
Note that you won’t find Hornsent in a fixed location in Elden Ring DLC.
We first spotted him in Gravesite Plain, where he was wandering Three-Path Cross Site of Grace with Redmane Freyja.
We then saw him at Highroad Cross Site of Grace after defeating Rellana, Twin Moon Knight, where he was still hanging out with Needle Knight Leda. You’ll need to talk to him and complete his quests until he joins you end enter Shadow Keep with you.
We last spotted Hornsent was during invasion outside of Church of the Bud in Rauh Ruins area.
We have two encounters with Hornsent, first of which is at Gravesite Plain. We need to start at Gravesite Plain in Shadow of the Erdtree and head north past Scorched Ruins and first Furnace Golem to reach Three-Path Cross Site of Grace.
After talking to Redmane Freyja and Hornsent, Hornsent will give us a cross map with specific locations of some Miquella’s Crosses marked on it.
Second meeting is in Scadu Altus, where we need to pass Belurat, Tower Settlement, and capture Divine Beast Dancing Lion. After exploring Castle Ensis, defeat Rellana, Twin Moon Knight.
Then we will meet Hornsent and Needle Knight Leda at Highroad Site of Grace in Scadu Altus. At this time, Hornsent will give you a new cross map with Miquella’s Crosses marked on it.
Of course, you can also give him some Scorpion Stew, which will add some additional dialogue, but it will not affect progress of the quest.
Before you approach the front door of Shadow Keep, you will receive two messages. The first one is “Somewhere, a great rune has broken...”, and the other one is “And so too has a powerful charm.”
Both messages are related to Miquella and NPCs you have encountered so far.
After unlocking Shadow Keep Main Gate Site of Grace, you need to return to Highroad Site of Grace and complete conversation with Hornsent and Leda.
You need to return to Shadow Keep Main Gate Site of Grace. At this time, you look to right of the door and there will be a golden summoning sign. This sign is used to summon Hornsent, who can help you defeat Golden Hippopotamus boss.
After defeating Golden Hippopotamus boss and before fighting Messmer the Impaler boss, you need to return to Highroad Cross Site of Grace and continue talking to Hornsent and Leda until Leda decides to kill Hornsent.
She will ask for your opinion, but you don’t have to make a decision. Just wait for Leda to say she wants to kill Hornsent.
This process may require you to rest at Site of Grace many times before it triggers.
Hornsent will disappear before Leda can kill him, so you need to contact Leda again and then return to Shadow Keep.
Go out of door on the right (east) side of Shadow Keep Main Gate Site of Grace, go up ramp, and turn right at top of wall. You will find a gold and a red summoning sign.
Clicking gold summoning sign means choosing to assist Needle Knight Leda, while red one is for helping Hornsent.
When you choose Leda, you will need to kill Hornsent and end his quest on the spot, then claim his drops.
When you choose Hornsent, you will be summoned to another world to fight a ghost version of Leda. After you win battle, Leda will drop following rewards: the Swift Slash Ash of War and Leda’s Rune. These items are of high value, and if you have extra, you can also trade them with other players to earn additional Elden Ring Runes.
Push open the door to Dark Chamber Entrance Site of Grace and a cutscene will appear. After watching it, check the floor behind you and to your right to see if there is a gold summoning sign that will allow you to summon Hornsent to help you fight.
After the battle, you will rest in the new Messmer’s Dark Chamber Site of Grace. After you stand up, Hornsent will have a monologue, and you can wait for it to end before you can move on.
Hornsent’s final journey takes place at Church of The Bud near Rauh Ruins. As you make your way through the caves and toward the church, you’ll encounter the invader Hornsent and need to defeat him.
After the battle, he’ll drop the following items:
This is the end of the introduction to the gameplay of Hornsent questline, and its rewards are quite generous. Hoping that after reading this article, you can get a better gaming experience.
According to the latest news, Season of Discovery Phase 4 is about to go live. Today, this article will take you through all DPS in Season of Discovery Phase 4 and create an accurate DPS tier list.
First, starting with Ret Paladin, Ret Paladin was in a weird place when it started in PTR. But through some testing work, and even target dummy testing. Ret Paladin fits in B tier. They deal decent damage, and they also bring a ton of utility.
But its damage is not stackable, so the damage that causes them is not enough. For a good Ret Paladin who knows what he is doing, besides bringing all the utility, it will also cause considerable damage.
As for Shadow Priests, it is definitely in a wonderful place, although it is not sure how the expansion will go. A lot of players thought they might start to slide because they don’t scale well with gear, but now on PTR, Shadow Priests have definitely moved up a notch.
Next up is Assassination Rogues, which is what we’re going to call Mutilate Rogues, which can still do very respectable damage even with the player damage and Venom nerfs. Mutilate Rogues can be one of the more viable specs for melee DPS and should be placed in A tier, right after Shadow Priests.
Now for Combat Rogues, while Saber Slash Rogues are definitely coming online, and some Saber Slash Rogues are hitting 3,200+ DPS on Patchwork, their DPS is really insane, so Combat Rogues, Saber Slash Rogues should be chosen for S tier, they are absolutely outstanding right now.
As for Mutilate Rogues, it’s not a PVE DPS spec, it doesn’t even need to be ranked.
For Balance Druids, it’s still in the same position. They’ve been in the reality throughout Season of Discovery, they’re not great, they’re not terrible, but they can be very useful in the right hands. So Balance Druids also bring a ton of utility. Balance Druids will now be in B tier along with Ret Paladin.
As for Elemental Shamans, Elemental Shamans were really, really fun in Season of Discovery. However, through the logs, they didn’t perform well with Patchwork, at least their DPS wasn’t good enough.
So Elemental Shamans will now be downgraded to a C tier. Now for those of you Elemental Shamans lovers, this isn’t the end of the road for you, because Enhancement performed really well, Enhancement was actually one of the top melee specs on PTR, Enhancement will move up to A tier above Shadow Priests.
Now for Warlock fans, really hoping it would be live in Season of Discovery Phase 4, there are some really good affliction changes, but the problem is that the damage effects of those afflictions are not there. So sadly, it will be relegated to C tier, right next to Elemental Shamans.
But for players who like Warlock, this is not the end of you, because Destruction Warlocks are doing really well, with Conflagrate changes, your emulate debuffs are not absorbed by the target, so you don’t have to waste a whole another Global to get the emulate back on the target.
After casting, they do a very respectable amount of damage to PTR. They are in A tier, slightly ahead of Shadow Priests. They are kind of on par with Shadow Priests on PTR now, which is a very interesting phase.
Soul Fires are second to none and absolutely exciting. So for players who like Warlocks, Destruction is definitely live in Phase 4.
Now let’s look at Warrior, Warrior was doing really well on PTR, but after the last round of changes, Warrior is completely ruined. Especially weapons, weapons are really bad, the last round of changes actually improved Fury Warrior a lot, but they are in a bad situation now, there are really no good weapons on PTR at the beginning of Phase 4, if there were some good core weapons. Warrior would really start to take off and would definitely be S tier, at least Fury Warrior would.
But now weapons are ruined. If there was an F tier, weapons would be F. Now its damage is really bad. It’s not even worth playing. But Fury Warrior is definitely much better than before, but now the damage is not enough. In fact, on PTR they are inferior to Ret Paladin in most cases.
But again, Warrior is really dependent on their weapons, so for Warrior fans, you really need to use SOD Gold to upgrade your weapons. Otherwise, its damage is really bad. So Warrior will basically be in B tier at the start of Phase 4, behind Balance Druids and Ret Paladin.
Now what’s interesting is that Frost Mage is also in the middle, it should be at the top of B tier, they do a pretty decent amount of damage on PTR, they’re definitely above Balance Druids, Ret Paladin, and Fury Warrior. But for Arcane Mage fans, it’s really not doing very well, you’re behind Warrior’s slump, there’s really no point in playing them unless we make some major changes.
Right now Fire Mage is breaking out, it’s doing some crazy damage on PTR, so for Fire Mage fans, you’re going to have a lot of fun, Fire Mage is in S tier and will probably stay in S tier throughout Season of Discovery Phase 4.
For Feral Druid right now, it’s in a really good spot, Feral Druid is doing really, really well on PTR, it’s in the top tier right below Combat Rogues, Combat Rogues and Fire Mage are on PTR for the last week now. So Feral Druid is going to be fun to play, and maybe we won’t have a hard time finding wild strikes as we get into the next phase, because playing Feral Druid is really fun for Marksmanship Hunter.
For Marksmanship Hunter right now, it’s in a pretty suitable spot. They’re doing really well. They’re actually going to sit in A tier, right next to Feral Druid and Elemental Shamans. DPS of Marksmanship Hunter is really high.
And then for melee Hunters, they’re also right behind them, they were nerfed pretty badly at first, but then they got buffed and now they’re in a really good spot, so for this Beast Mastery Hunter, it’s going to be right behind the ranged hunters in A tier.
The changes to Aspect of Lion, it now brings attack damage, which is a significant change for melee groups. And then Survival Hunter is right below them. They’re all pretty much in the same spot. If you’re playing a hunter right now, you have three very solid specs to choose from. You know different play styles, and now is definitely a good time to be a hunter into Season of Discovery.
This is the current tier list on PTR, this is a pretty accurate description of DPS situation of these classes in their current state on PTR, but before release, or even after release, maybe they will get more changes, we’ll have to wait and see, or maybe they will surprise everyone!
EA Sports FC 24 Legendary Status Evolution offers player cards for three game styles, Passing, Quick Step and Three Step.
Thierry Henry, Garrincha, Zico, Kenny Dalglish, Johan Cruyff, Eusebio and Ronaldinho have all been significantly improved. Their cards have been upgraded in terms of speed, dribbling, passing and shooting, making them strong substitutes for Ultimate Team.
FC 24 Legendary Status Evolution improves players in three aspects: Passing, Quick Step and Three Step. Legendary Status Evolution is not free, you need to spend 100k FC 24 coins, and then you can get a very balanced player card face that can be added to Ultimate Team.
This evolution is not available for all player cards. We must at least choose a card that meets the minimum standards. So what are the requirements? The requirements are max 93 overall, max 94 pace, max 92 shooting, max 93 defending and seven play styles.
Thierry Henry’s base card has overall rating 92, an EVO rating of 94, and his position in the team is ST.
Thierry Henry is a very useful card that can be obtained in Legendary State Evolution. With this data, he can be said to be one of the fastest members in EA Sports FC 24. Because Henry is known for his fast speed, and his mentality is very stable, he can also keep the ball in check and score 1v1 goals.
The goal machine has obtained a card with good speed, dribbling, shooting and passing abilities, which are very useful in the court of Ultimate Team game.
Garrincha’s base card has a total rating of 93, an EVO rating of 96, and he is RW in the team.
Brazilian legend Manuel Francisco dos Santos certainly gets a great card, the right winger has an overall rating of 96 in Ultimate Team. If there has been a group of great dribblers over the years, Garrincha is definitely one of them. On top of that, he has amazing speed on right flank.
His card stats are also amazing, 99 Dribbling, 93 Pace, 93 Passing, 90 Shooting. These attributes will make your team even better, and he will definitely receive honors in the competition, such as the best player. Garrincha’s card plays differently to the previous one, with passing, quick steps, and a trio.
Zico’s base card has an overall rating of 91, but his EVO rating is 94, and his position in the team is CAM.
Zico is famous as a player and coach, and his game stats on FC 24 Evolutions Level 4 card are very good. He is an attacking midfielder and one of the greatest players of the 70s and 80s.
Now, he has an enviable card with excellent shooting, dribbling, passing and speed. Not only are these data very eye-catching, but he has 13 playing styles, namely flat pass, quick step, technique, dead ball, exquisite shooting, lob, sharp pass, tiki taka, fancy, trick, quick step, triple play.
Kenny Dalglish’s basic card comprehensive rating is 91. Kenny Dalglish’s EVO Rating is 94, and his position is ST.
Kenneth Dalglish is a very famous Liverpool player, and his card comprehensive rating is as high as 94. At present, Kenny Dalglish is 73 years old this year, and many young people may not know who he is.
His original rating of 91 has been increased by three points, and now it has reached a total rating of 94. In addition, his shooting, dribbling and speed are 96, 94 and 94, respectively. Another very eye-catching advantage is that he has very exquisite technical movements and top weak foot accuracy.
Johan Cruyff’s base card has an overall rating of 93 and an EVO rating of 96.
Hendrik Johannes Cruyff is known as one of the best center forwards in Dutch history. He has received a very good card in Ultimate Team. Johannes Cruyff won Ballon d’Or three times and played for many clubs, but finally retired with Feyenoord.
Croyff’s FC 24 Evolutions Level 4 card has been upgraded to varying degrees in four aspects: speed, dribbling, passing and shooting. Johan Cruyff is one of the most popular center forwards in football at the moment. His playing styles in this card include fast walking, powerful shooting, exquisite shooting, one-touch, genius, tricky, tiki taka, ruthless and trivela.
His base card has an overall rating of 91 and an EVO rating of 94. His position in the team is center forward. Although Eusebio is gone, people have not forgotten him because of his extremely high reputation and outstanding ability, so he has received a very high rating in Ultimate Team.
He is a legendary star of Portugal, known for his speed, agility and prolific goals, and has ratingd a total of 733 goals in his career, so he should be one of best center forwards in this legendary status evolution event.
Ronaldinho’s basic card has an overall rating of 93 and an EVO rating of 96. His position in the team is left wing.
I believe that those who are familiar with his career will not be surprised that Ronaldinho has such a high rating. His career is the best proof. In Ultimate Team, he has become one of the left wingers we should sign the most.
His card has a 99 dribbling attribute, and no one can not be tempted this amazing data. In addition, his 94 pace and 93 shooting can easily surpass opponents. He has eight playstyles in Ultimate Team, namely quick step, finesse shots, dead ball, trickster, technical, flair, first touch, and trivela.
Which player do you prefer in the above list? In the Best Legendary Status Evolution, each card has different degrees of improvement. We should choose carefully to find the team that suits us best.
Sword of Night is one of the newest Katanas added in the recent Elden Ring DLC. This Katana is really fun to play with. Not only can you shred enemies with ease, but it can also deal a ton of damage if used properly.
I will be covering Shadow Arts Samurai Build with this Katana as the core, and will explain the play style of this build, gear to use, best amulets, and tips for using it. If you are looking for an effective build with Sword of Night, then this guide is definitely for you.
First, let’s go over the basics of this build. Shadow Arts Samurai relies heavily on Sword of Night to deal most of its damage through a rapid succession of strikes or slashes.
In addition, it comes with attack-boosting buffs to increase the damage dealt by its firepower and offensive incantations. This also fits in well with its theme, which is a Samurai who has mastered Dark Arts by wielding Sword of Night.
Shadow Arts Samurai also has high Dexterity and Arcane, and a bit of a Faith Stat. You can use some attack-boosting incantations, which can improve its overall firepower.
Now that the basic play style is out of the way, let’s move on to Shadow Arts Samurai’s gear.
Let’s start with the chief weapon of the build, which is the previously mentioned Sword of Night. To use this Katana effectively, you need 11 Strength, and 20 Dexterity, and B Scaling for Dexterity.
Now, it may not look that impressive at first glance because of its scaling, but it has its own special moves, which we will go into in depth later.
One thing to note is that this Katana causes the user to deal magic damage, so items and equipment that increase magic damage will be beneficial to this Katana.
Speaking of Shadow Arts Samurai’s main damage attack, its unique skill Witching Hour Slash can do the job. This is a chargeable skill that performs high-speed slashes quickly, and the good thing about this skill is that it cannot be blocked by shields.
This skill hits like a truck, however, because of its long charge time, it takes a lot of time to get used to.
However, you can also perform an uncharged version of this skill by pressing L2, which is fast and hits hard. I recommend making this your default attack compared to your normal attack combination.
The first thing that comes to my mind about Sword of Night’s pros is that its Witching Hour Slash skill does have a lot of range and can hit multiple targets around the user. As mentioned above, this skill can hit hard if used properly, especially when performing its fully charged version. You will shred enemies in seconds.
In addition, this Katana has a native blood-loss build-up and will proc bleeds, so this is also a great bonus or another excellent source of damage.
Finally, this weapon has a unique mechanic that it gains an additional attack boost when traveling at night. But in my opinion, this is just a cool gimmick that can be forgotten.
However, just like any other weapon, it has its drawbacks. The first and most obvious problem that comes to mind is the extremely long recharge time of Witching Hour Slash. This will be the reason for your death if used incorrectly. So it takes time to get used to it, especially against fast-moving enemies.
Another thing is that Witching Hour Slash consumes a lot of FP, and 21 FP points per use will quickly deplete your FP.
Moving on to the secondary weapon of the build, I recommend Dragon Communion Seal because we will use Arcane scaling Incantations later and we can also use critical buffs.
Now that the weapons are covered, let’s move on to the spells I recommend.
The first one on the list is Flame Grant Me Strength, which grants an additional 20% physical attack boost and stamina recovery buff.
Then the next one is undoubtedly Golden Vow. This buff increases overall damage by 15% and adds 10% damage negation, which is very helpful.
The next spell is Bloodboon, which will provide a ranged attack to your build. I rarely rely on its damage, but use it as a decoy tool or to pressure a target, especially when fighting humanoid-type enemies. It will also help you increase blood loss and increase damage over time.
Lastly, is Furious Blade of Ansbach. I use this spell because it fits the theme well, not because of its damage. It’s more for roleplaying purposes and to add a little variety while also helping you increase blood loss. This is also a chargeable Incantation, so keep that in mind.
Next, let’s get into the best Talismans for this Samurai Build.
As always, our top pick is Shard of Alexander. This increases skill damage by 15%, especially when performing Witching Hour Slash skill.
The next Talisman is Godfrey Icon, which increases the attack power of charged spells and skills by 15%. I highly recommend slotting this as it further increases the damage of Witching Hour Slash and Furious Blade of Ansbach, as these are rechargeable skills.
Of course, since we are dealing with fast multi-attacks, slotting Millicent’s Prosthesis and Rotten-Winged Sword Insignia is optimal for this build. You will always have the multi-attack buff active while using Witching Hour Slash to quickly clear everything in a short amount of time.
Now that the main gear is done, let’s move on to the armor sets for Shadow Arts Samurai. For this build, I am wearing Night’s Cavalry Set, and in addition to the helmet, I am wearing Iron Kasa to keep the identity of the build.
Of course, you can wear whatever you want as long as you have enough Elden Ring Runes. If you want to optimize your armor set in some way, as long as you have 51 poise, most of the time it will be enough.
Let’s move on to the stats for Shadow Arts Samurai.
Starting with Vigor, I have assigned 45 points to it. Since I’m used to Glass Cannon Builds, I rarely allocate a lot of points to Vigor. However, you are free to raise Vigor to 50 for increased survivability. You can also lower it if you’re really good at the game.
Next is Mind, which has 30 points allocated to it. I highly recommend not going below 25, as Witching Hour Slash requires 21 points per use, so you’ll run out of FP very quickly.
Next is Endurance, which I consider being the offensive stat in any Soul-like game I play, because the more stamina you have, the more damage you can do.
Note that you need to have at least 11 Strength to wield Sword of Night effectively. Since Dexterity is the main stat for this build, I’ve allocated a total of 75 points, plus we’ve equipped Millicent’s Prosthesis, so it will be 80.
Next is Intelligence. We don’t need any intelligence, so it will be 10 points.
Then there’s Faith. 25 points have been allocated to Faith so you can access the aforementioned Golden Vow and Flame Grant Me Strength, and meet the requirements for using other spells with this build.
Finally, 53 points have been allocated to Arcane, so our Bloodboon and Furious Blade of Ansbach will deal quite a bit of damage in the process.
Now that the stats are out of the way, let’s move on to gameplay and optimization tips for Shadow Arts Samurai.
Before or at the start of a fight, I usually cast Golden Vow and Flame Grant Me Strength, then open my Flask of Wondrous Physick. I then do my best to deal as much damage as possible in this burst opener since all the buffs are active.
I know you want to rip your enemies to shreds by using Witching Hour Slash, but we all know that’s impossible. However, depending on your level in the game, especially during boss fights, you will know when to use a fully charged Witching Hour Slash without getting hit.
Most of the time, this is when the boss is down or it does an action that requires a long recovery or preparation time. This is when its fully charged version is used. As mentioned above, if you misuse this skill, most of the time you will pay with death.
In addition, I recommend changing Millicent’s Prosthesis to Crusade Insignia when exploring the world or dungeons. This Talisman is very effective when dealing with monsters because once you kill an enemy, you will have a persistent attack buff that refreshes every time you kill a new enemy, ultimately saving you a lot of time.
If you are able to master the Shadow Arts combo, you can follow up with the uncharged version of the skill in certain situations. If you do it correctly, you will deal high damage to the target.
All in all, Shadow Arts Samurai is another fun and engaging Samurai build, especially its powerful Slash Damage is addictive. If you want to shred your enemies like a boss, don’t miss this build. See you next time!