Category: Games

One of the most important decisions you’ll make in Monster Hunter Rise is which weapon you’ll use. While you can switch between weapon types at any point in the game via your item box, you ideally want to only brandish and invest your time into one, and that choice can be somewhat intimidating. After all, there are 14 weapon types in total, each with unique attacks and mechanics.

Part of what makes Monster Hunter Rise such a complex game is the rich nuance of each weapon type’s capabilities, so locking in on the weapon type that best suits your playstyle takes some time. Fortunately, we’ve experimented enough with the game’s weapons to give you a general overview of what to expect. Below, you can find essential details about each weapon to help you decide which one is right for you.

Close-Range Weapons

If you prefer being up close and personal with your prey, then you’ll want to look to the weaponry below. Close-range weapons make up most of Monster Hunter Rise’s armaments, but what makes them fun to use is just how diverse they are in their mechanics and capabilities.

Sword & Shield

The Sword & Shield combo is easy to recommend for newcomers. While it may seem like a bore compared to the other, flashier weaponry available, you can’t go wrong with the Sword & Shield. As one of the most reliable and balanced weapons in the game, it’s capable of quick, decisive attacks that don’t require too much precise timing to land effectively. The shield as a side-arm is also an added benefit, making it easy to bash enemies or pop into a defensive posture to mitigate the damage inflicted by the monsters you’re hunting. And since the Sword & Shield is a light weapon, you don’t have to worry too much about your movement speed being hindered, allowing you to dodge out of the way of an incoming charge with relative ease.

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Dual Blades

Dual Blades are for hunters who want high mobility and like getting very close to their prey. The nuances of the weapons are easy enough to pick up on, making them great for beginners.

The Dual Blades’ main mechanic is a unique state called demon mode. At any point, you can press block to activate demon mode, which gives you greater attack damage and a chainable quick dash. While in demon mode, you can continue to build up your meter and eventually activate archdemon mode, which allows you to perform even more special attacks.

The key to Dual Blades is to always be on the offensive. The individual damage of each swing may be on the low side, but a well-trained Dual Blade user can pump out high DPS if they can maintain their attacks. The major downside is you have no way to block or counter and must rely purely on speed and dodging.

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Great Sword

Of all the different swords in Monster Hunter, the Great Sword is perhaps the most powerful in terms of sheer strength. This heavy blade is capable of dishing out devastating damage to monsters and can even hack off a beast’s tail, which you can then carve up for extra material. This raw power comes with some pretty notable drawbacks, however. As you’d likely expect, the Great Sword is slow and unwieldy; you can’t cancel out of swings, and your movement is seriously impeded when you have the weapon drawn.

Fortunately, the Wirebug helps offset some of these drawbacks. You can make a quick retreat by unleashing the Power Sheathe Silkbind move, which also has the added benefit of temporarily boosting your attack power. You can also press the ZR button when you have the Great Sword drawn to block with the weapon, which often comes in handy since you’ll need to be up close and personal when battling monsters. Although it’s not very beginner-friendly, the Great Sword is a satisfying weapon to master.

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Long Sword

Next to the Sword & Shield, the Long Sword is one of the most balanced weapons in the game. It offers decent swing speed, great range for a melee weapon, and simple combos that make it an excellent choice for beginners. Its main hook revolves around the spirit gauge. The key is to build up enough of the meter through the use of combos so you can pull off the Spirit Roundslash. Each time you hit a foe with this move, you’ll increase the spirit gauge to the next level, with a total of three boosts.

With each level boost you achieve, the Long Sword’s attack power will increase. Your goal is to stay at level three (red) spirit gauge as long as possible. Learning moves you can use to combo into Spirit Roundslash is the best way to keep up the damage and your spirit gauge high. This rhythm is actually pretty easy to pick up and pull off, and once you master it, you can begin adding in more advanced moves and combos.

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Hammer

The Hammer is a good choice for hunters who like to be in the thick of the action. While its reach is incredibly short, it packs a powerful punch and is particularly useful for staggering foes. Focus on hitting a monster in the head, and you’ll have a chance to stun it, which will allow the other hunters in your party to move in and attack. This raw power comes with some drawbacks, however. While wielding a Hammer, you’re unable to block–and since you’ll frequently need to be right in a monster’s face when attacking, you’ll be in the line of fire. Fortunately, unlike the Great Sword, you can move around while charging up your Hammer attacks, so you’re not completely immobile.

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Switch Axe

The Switch Axe is another powerful two-handed weapon that provides a nice mix of strength and speed, thanks to its namesake trick: the weapon can transform between an axe and a sword with a press of the ZR button. Each form has different attributes and attack patterns, effectively making the Switch Axe two weapons in one.

The trick to using the Switch Axe is to know when to transform it. Attack while the weapon is in its axe form, and you’ll gradually build up your blade meter, powering up the strength of your sword attacks. You can also swing the weapon much more quickly while it’s in sword form, although you won’t have as much mobility in this state. The blade meter will also drain as you attack in sword form, and once it’s depleted, you’ll need to revert to axe mode, so regularly switching between the two forms is key to effectively wielding the Switch Axe.

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Charge Blade

The Charge Blade is a heavy damage dealer, and when used in the hands of a master, it can take down monsters in no time at all. However, it’s also a slow weapon that can be tricky to wield and takes time to learn, making it more ideal for advanced players.

The goal of the Charge Blade is to fill up a series of phials by doing basic damage. Once filled, you can then store the charged phials into your shield. A charged-up shield can send damage back when blocking, making for a useful defensive tactic, but the real benefit is when you switch to axe form, which combines your sword and shield into one powerful weapon. Thanks to the charged phials, you can unleash elemental discharge attacks, which do massive damage. The Charge Blade is a complex weapon that takes time to master, but those who come to understand its many intricacies will be well-rewarded with one of the game’s strongest weapons.

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Lance

If you’re the type who gets a big thrill from keeping your distance and poking at enemies, the Lance is the weapon for you. It’s relatively slow, offering decent damage, yet is hampered by limited mobility as you brandish it. Still, if you can learn to effectively stay within arm’s reach from a foe and time your attacks accordingly, then the Lance’s strengths will quickly reveal themselves to you.

As one of the longer-ranged melee weapons in the game, the Lance emphasizes distance management and intelligent counter-attacking. It’s all about judging the best opportunities to attack, quickly thrusting forward, and then hopping away or defending should the situation call for it. Intentionality is key with the Lance, but it is worth noting that it does come with a shield, so any misjudgments you make can be somewhat padded from punishment. As an added bonus, the Lance has high sharpness, which makes it all the more useful against monsters with thick skin. Regardless, the Lance is a weapon best-suited for more intermediate-to-experienced hunters.

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Gunlance

The Gunlance is a much more explosive version of the standard Lance. It’s functionally similar, offering identical mobility and defensive capability. And though you might think that the Gunlance is a ranged weapon based on its name, it actually isn’t. Aside from a standard suite of lunging attacks, the Gunlance comes equipped with the ability to fire short-ranged explosive bursts, which can build up some great damage when used effectively. This particular attack is known as Shelling, and it can have greater potency in a combo depending on whether you press or hold the A button to execute it.

All that destructive capability, however, doesn’t come without a cost. You have to be mindful of reloading, which doesn’t take too long but is something you’ll often need to do as you continue to expend shells. It’s also important to note that Shelling chews through your weapon’s sharpness, so expect to have to use your Whetstone during a battle frequently. Lastly, its special attack, Wyvern’s Fire, must be incorporated into combos intelligently to decimate your foes. Otherwise, you’ll need to wait for the Gunlance to cool down before you can use it again.

The key to successfully using the Gunlance is mixing up your combinations, knowing when to use its firepower to rack up tons of damage. It’s highly recommended for folks who prefer weapons that are more involved in the moment-to-moment.

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Long-Range Weapons

If you’re reading this, then you probably think close-range weapons are overrated and are more intrigued by Monster Hunter’s other offerings. Fortunately for you, the game does have a few long-range weapons, some of which are useful in damaging monsters in practical and creative ways from afar.

Light Bowgun

If you’re a fan of shooting things, you’ll likely gravitate toward the Light Bowgun. Although it’s not as powerful as its heavier counterpart, the Light Bowgun is the closest you’ll get to turning Monster Hunter into a third-person shooter. Once your weapon is drawn, hold ZL to pan the camera behind you, letting you move around and aim with dual analog controls. While it’s not particularly strong, the Light Bowgun fires and reloads quickly, making it more mobile and beginner-friendly than the game’s other ranged weapons. Keep in mind, however, that the Light Bowgun requires ammo, so make sure you’re stocked up before you set off on a hunt.

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Heavy Bowgun

As its name suggests, the Heavy Bowgun packs a mightier punch than its lighter counterpart. Although the weapon fundamentally controls similarly to the Light Bowgun, it looks and feels closer to a rocket launcher, making it the better option if you prefer raw firepower. The drawback to this extra strength is that it isn’t as speedy to use as the Light Bowgun; you’ll move around slowly when the weapon is drawn, and reloading takes longer. That said, the shots it fires are much more powerful, and you can use the Wirebug to compensate somewhat for the weapon’s poorer mobility. These nuances make the Heavy Bowgun more suitable for advanced players.

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Bow

Although it looks more traditional than the other ranged weapons, the Bow is arguably even trickier to wield because it requires precision and timing. That said, it has a few benefits over the bowguns. Not only can you charge shots by holding down on the ZR button, but you can also fire restorative arrows into the air for you and your teammates. Unlike the bowguns, you also have unlimited arrows at your disposal, so you don’t need to worry about stocking up on ammo. To make the most of the weapon, however, you’ll need to apply coatings to your arrows, which will imbue them with different properties to help you take down monsters.

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Other

Some of Monster Hunter Rise’s most advanced and functional weapons don’t fall under the standard categories. If you’re going to use any of the ones we mention below, know that you’ll need to either be an experienced player or frequently hunt with friends to get the most out of them.

Hunting Horn

At a glance, the Hunting Horn functions much like any of the other close-ranged blunt weapons in the game, sporting a remarkably acrobatic array of powerful combos and setups that are easy to execute. But its biggest strengths come from its ability to play “songs,” which unleash different chains of attacks, and, in turn, amplify your abilities and buff your teammates. This feature makes the Hunting Horn ideal as a support weapon, as you can use it to buff up your teammates’ attack and defense stats, and even restore the group’s health (while still being able to dish out damage as needed). However, this also makes the Hunting Horn tricky to learn, and it’s best suited only if you’re playing with others.

If you’re inclined to tackle using the Hunting Horn, be aware that they’re not all built the same. When you’re crafting new Hunting Horns at the Smithy, you’ll notice that other ones have different buffs and songs they can use. Hone in on the buffs that best serve you and your friends, and you should be able to get plenty out of the Hunting Horn.

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Insect Glaive

The Insect Glaive is one of the most advanced weapons in Monster Hunter Rise, not because it’s hard to use, but because it’s difficult to master. It’s an agile weapon, offering many swift attacks that can get in quick damage during the smaller openings of a fight. You can also use the Insect Glaive to vault yourself into the air to unleash attacks upon your foe from above or even dodge–something that no other weapon in the game can inherently do.

However, what makes the Insect Glaive so complex is the ability to summon and control a Kinsect, a bug that can support you in battle in numerous ways. Aside from inflicting damage, a Kinsect can harvest Extracts from monsters to amplify your combat abilities. It gets even more complicated when you consider how the Extracts a Kinsect can harvest vary depending on which part of a monster’s body it attacks, which you must manually mark for it beforehand. With the Insect Glaive, you constantly have to consider an array of factors to unlock its full damage potential.

The Insect Glaive is a weapon that requires precision, intentionality, and a great deal of multi-tasking to execute its best setups. An intelligent wielder will also take advantage of numerous ways to customize the Kinsect at the Smithy, which only extends the possibilities available to those inclined to learn this exceptional yet tricky to handle weapon.

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For more Monster Hunter Rise guides, be sure to check out the list below.

Developer Psyonix has revealed the next seasonal theme for Rocket League. Following the musical Season 2, Season 3 will be a celebration of auto racing.

Keeping to the theme, Season 3 introduces a new auto racer battle car, the Tyranno. The Tyranno can be unlocked through Season 3’s battle pass; it has a Dominus hitbox.

Additionally, throughout Season 3, two new battle car bundles will become available in the shop. In early May, a NASCAR battle car bundle will be added, and in mid-May, a Formula 1 battle car bundle will roll in.

For Season 3, DFH Stadium is also getting a redesign. The new variation is called DFH Stadium (Circuit), adding a track and additional auto racing flair to Rocket League’s classic arena. DFH Stadium (Circuit) will be available in both casual and competitive playlists, as well as private matches and freeplay.

Season 3 begins on April 7, following an update that will go live in Rocket League on April 6 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET. Season 2’s competitive rewards won’t be added to your inventory until Season 3 goes live.

Valheim‘s first big content update will expand your options when building the ultimate Viking purgatory residence, adding new features and objects for developing your bases in the open-world survival game. It’s called Hearth and Home, and it’s specifically aimed at base improvements, as well as adjustments to food that should make survival in the wilds of Valheim a little more practical.

Since Valheim has racked up some six million players, developer Iron Gate Studio has said it’s mostly focused on bug fixes, and the massive influx of players has been more than the developer anticipated. But right now, there are four big updates planned for the game, with Hearth and Home being the first. Here’s everything we know about it so far.

Valheim Hearth And Home Release Date

Back in February, Iron Gate released a roadmap of planned additions for Valheim that are coming to the game as it continues in Early Access. That roadmap includes several updates for 2021, the first being Hearth and Home. The roadmap doesn’t include firm dates, but given that Hearth and Home was the first on the list, we can probably expect it sooner rather than later.

The question is how much bug-fixing work Iron Gate feels the need to do. Like the rest of the games industry, the team is also working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which might contribute to the time it takes for the new update to get out. That said, Iron Gate had ambitious plans for Valheim in early access, with multiple updates slated for this year, so it seems likely we won’t have to wait long for Hearth and Home to come to the game.

What Hearth And Home Entails

Valheim’s first update is focused on base-building. While players have already created some huge and impressive Viking strongholds, but Iron Gate is looking to expand on all those capabilities in a number of ways. We don’t have exact details about what the update will entail, but the developer has said the major push is to add more crafting assets for houses. That means you can likely expect more building materials, more kinds of walls, doors, floors, roofs, and more decorations for inside your buildings. Iron Gate also told PC Gamer that the intention is to add “more stuff to do in and around your house,” which will be a nice addition given that right now, you can really only sit, sleep, or craft in your base.

Iron Gate has also said that Hearth and Home will focus on food. Expect food to be rebalanced and more food to be added, which should give more solid combinations to keep you alive in the field and give you specific buffs, like stamina regeneration. There could also be new cooking stations to go with the new materials. Again, Iron Gate hasn’t given us much in the way of details, but we know the update will give you more things for your home, so expecting to do more cooking for more specific buffs seems reasonable.

What’s After Hearth And Home?

Valheim’s roadmap is very thin on details, but we can get a sense of what else is slated for 2021 based on the names of each expansion. Here they are, in order:

• Update 1: Hearth and Home
• Update 2: Cult of the Wolf
• Update 3: Ships and the Sea
• Update 4: New Biome — Mistlands

Updates 1, 3, and 4 are pretty clear, at least thematically, so we can expect more to do on the oceans (and probably more scary monsters to face) and a new biome to explore, with all the resources, crafting upgrades, and enemies that entails. Update 2 is the one that leaves the most to speculation–Cult of the Wolf could pertain to things like Wolf armor, or it could lean into the taming system that already lets you turn wolves into your pets and combat companions.

In addition to those four major updates, the roadmap includes some other improvements that could come to the game “if Odin wills it.” These are:

• Multiplayer interactions
• Combat improvements
• Moon phases
• Tarpits
• Vendor inventory expansion
• Svartalfr brigands
• More unique locations
• Sandbox mode
• Munin (which is Odin’s other raven)

With more than six million players having bought into Valheim, one assumes most of these upgrades are probably on the table.

We’ll continue to update this article as more information about Hearth and Home becomes available. With so many Vikings flooding into Valheim, though, it seems likely there won’t be long to wait for the first early access expansion.

This is a review of the Season 1 premiere of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, which is currently available to stream on Disney+.

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It’s been almost 30 years since Minnesota’s favorite youth hockey team first skated into our hearts with its compelling underdog story that’s deeply relatable, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming. Now, Disney+ hopes to recapture all of those “good feels” from the ’90s with its updated take on the franchise, titled The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. In the series premiere, co-creators Steven Brill, Josh Goldsmith, and Cathy Yuspa manage to successfully balance the series’ corny charm with real moments of tenderness and heart.

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If this is your first time watching something set in The Mighty Ducks universe, the first episode does a solid job of explaining its legacy through exposition that’s not overly drawn out. Throughout the three films in the ’90s, The Mighty Ducks were the up-and-coming team who had to prove that they were worthy of competing against the very best young hockey players the world had to offer. Jump ahead a few decades to the series premiere of Game Changers, and the Ducks are now a hockey powerhouse, winning 10 State Championships in a row.

This intriguing twist on the franchise’s narrative offers a unique point of view on the Ducks, who are now (at least in the first episode) perceived as the oppressors, with a win-at-all-costs mentality. Most of the story is told through the lens of Brady Noon’s Evan Morrow who, after getting cut by the Ducks, decides to build a team of misfits with the help of his mom, Alex (played by Parenthood and Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham). While the overarching story isn’t completely original, it differentiates itself enough from the original films to make it worth the watch.

And like its big-screen predecessors, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers has a dynamic cast of kids with refreshing personalities. One of my favorites from the premiere is Luke Islam’s Koob. He’s a homebody who would rather stay in his family’s basement playing video games than go outside and engage with people. However, he’s also blessed with lightning-fast reflexes that make him an ideal goalie for the team. There’s also De-Jon Watts’ Sam, an aspiring daredevil who loves taking risks but doesn’t enjoy following the rules.

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The premiere adequately serves its purpose in getting the viewer acquainted with the world and its characters as Evan builds his team, but we don’t get a lot of hockey during its 38-minute runtime. This is by no means a deal-breaker, especially since there are still nine more episodes for plenty of action-packed Ice Capades to feast our eyes on. If anything, the series premiere plays everything a bit too safe with its tried-and-true underdog formula.

Returning Mighty Ducks alum Gordon Bombay (portrayed once again by Emilio Estevez) is more of a secondary character in the first episode, playing the owner of a decrepit hockey rink. Bombay has no interest in coaching Evan’s team, but we don’t yet know the reason why. Estevez is (as always) solid in his portrayal of the ex-pro hockey player, but I really wanted him to be more grouchy and callous (a la Mark Hamill’s Luke in The Last Jedi). Still, I am looking forward to seeing how his relationship with Alex (Evan’s Mom) evolves as the season progresses. Will they pursue something romantic, or just be friends? Time will tell.

While the characters are entertaining to watch, the show still feels a bit like it’s stuck in the ’90s. Where Netflix’s excellent Cobra Kai reboot found a way to bring its 35-year-old story into the present by discussing complex adult family dynamics and the redemption of a seemingly washed-up high school bully, Game Changers never quite feels like there’s really anything at stake. Its sweetness and innocence deftly pulls on the heartstrings, but the series is missing some much-needed tension (for now) to make Game Changers stand out from similar underdog stories.

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Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN’s weekly video game podcast. This week your Omega Cops — Daemon Hatfield, Sam Claiborn, Justin Davis, and Mark Medina — are discussing the latest Nintendo Switch Pro rumors, the Ghost of Tsushima movie, favorite video game easter eggs, and more. And, of course, they play Video Game 20 Questions.

Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service.

Listen on:

Apple Podcasts

YouTube

Spotify

Stitcher

 

Find previous episodes here!

A pair of top Apex Legends ranked players, or Apex Predators per the game’s tier system, have been banned by developer Respawn Entertainment for DDoSing an Xbox server.

A couple of videos hit the Apex Legends subreddit that showed an in-progress game crash after an Apex Predator was knocked down. When the server reconnected, the knocked Apex Predator was revived and standing over the player responsible. The fourth and sixth ranked players in the match were then accused of colluding and performing the “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attack that overloaded the Xbox servers.

The usernames of the Apex Legends players have not been revealed, but the two have been banned, according to Respawn security analyst Conor “Hideouts” Ford

It also seems DDoSing is rampant in Apex Legends on consoles. Some users report frequent attacks that result in timed penalties and a loss of reputation points due to server disconnects.

Respawn has responded by prepping a “console reckoning” for those who perform DDoS attacks in Apex Legends. Ford said on Twitter that cheaters “can’t hide any” of the DDoS attacks they participated in.

In other Apex Legends news, Respawn brought heat shields back with a nerf to fast-healing. Elsewhere, the studio has added an option that once again lets players more easily inspect their weapon mid-match.