General News

Raiders, the surface has undergone a complete upheaval! With the release of ARC Raiders: Riven Tides update, a new aerial threat has arrived. Introducing ARC Turbine, a formidable defensive flying enemy. Typically, this adversary swoops in to disrupt the action around the 15-minute mark, a critical juncture when everyone is preparing for extraction. Not only does it hurl lightning bolts, but it also scatters mines across the ground to cut off your escape routes; it is, quite simply, the ultimate defensive enemy.

To help you safeguard your hard-earned loot, IGGM has worked through the night to uncover Turbine's secrets! Want to know how to hunt down Turbines efficiently? Curious about their favorite hiding spots? Don't miss this guide - we'll show you how to turn Turbine into your personal loot cache!

How to find ARC Turbine?

The primary reason Turbine is such a tricky foe is that it is incredibly elusive. As we mentioned earlier, they tend to make their debut only after a game round has been underway for a significant amount of time, meaning there is a certain element of RNG (luck) involved.

However, some players have reported that Turbines seem to show a preference for appearing near Beachcombing operation points on the map. Therefore, if the current ARC Raiders Riven Tides map features this specific map condition, you may very well sense Turbine's presence along the coastline. Typically, it will arrive when the mission countdown timer has between 10 and 15 minutes remaining.

While there is no exact, fixed arrival time, the 10-to-15-minute window on the raid countdown timer represents the period with the highest probability of a Turbine appearance. If the countdown drops below 10 minutes, the likelihood of one actively seeking you out becomes significantly lower. Consequently, if you miss this specific window, we recommend attempting to extract from your current area and then re-entering; this maneuver may trigger Turbine to respawn.

Once a Turbine finally makes its appearance, typically within that 10-to-15-minute countdown window, its arrival is heralded by a colossal clap of thunder that can be heard clearly for miles around. Be sure to keep your ears peeled and listen for this distinct audio cue!

Once they arrive, the battle is about to get intense. They will first hover and float above the map before descending directly to the ground. Take note: the moment Turbine lands, it presents your prime opportunity to launch an assault and inflict massive damage upon the enemy!

Loadout

Before initiating your attack, ensure you are equipped with the appropriate ARC Raiders weaponry, such as Jupiter or Hullcracker. The former is a legendary, high-damage railgun-style sniper rifle renowned for its exceptional armor-piercing capabilities; it can effortlessly punch through Turbine's plating to inflict damage directly upon its core. The latter, while perhaps lacking in flexibility and fire rate, is celebrated for its explosive damage output, capable of instantly obliterating an ARC enemy with a single direct hit!

Naturally, you have the option to scavenge for this gear within ground-based supply containers or purchase it directly from a vendor; however, given the steep price tags, we highly recommend utilizing the crafting system to construct these items yourself. Furthermore, IGGM currently offers ARC Raiders blueprints for sale at affordable prices, allowing you to instantly unlock any weapon or piece of gear, ensuring you are fully armed and ready to take on Turbine!

By the way, as a way to give back to our players, IGGM has launched a new ARC Raiders Riven Tides blueprint giveaway. Over the next few days, we will randomly select 20 lucky winners, each of whom will be able to choose any 5 blueprints they desire from IGGM, including Jupiter or Hullcracker blueprints. To participate, simply take a moment to leave an emoji!

Turbine Combat Tips

Now, the battle begins! Although Turbine will land on the ground, it will not remain stationary there indefinitely. Regardless of whether it is grounded or airborne, you must remain constantly vigilant, as it is liable to unleash a barrage of lightning strikes at any moment.

The sequence begins with a sphere of energy rising into the air; subsequently, three trails of black smoke will rapidly disperse in different directions to lock onto and track your current position. Following immediately in the wake of this black smoke comes a series of lethal lightning bolts.

Exercise extreme caution to avoid being struck by this ultimate attack; a direct hit will instantly shatter your energy shields and inflict massive damage, leaving you downed and incapacitated in a matter of moments.

Therefore, the safest and most reliable counter-strategy is simply this: maintain your distance. If you venture too close, you will often find yourself with no opportunity to escape before the lightning attack delivers a fatal blow. Ensure you position yourself far enough away that the deadly black mist cannot reach you; for as long as the mist remains out of range, you will remain unharmed. 

However, there is indeed a secret method to help you evade a Turbine attack: you can use a Snap Hook to latch directly onto its head, then immediately throw a Deadline charge to blow it to smithereens.

Once you start dealing sustained damage to it, Turbine will begin darting erratically across the map in an attempt to get away from you. At this point, be sure to maintain your distance while simultaneously staying in hot pursuit. As long as you keep firing, it won't land. If enough players join in the barrage, or if you simply hold out long enough, you will eventually succeed in blowing it up.

Therefore, you will need a fair number of teammates to coordinate their firepower. Be sure to stock up on plenty of ammo so you have the capacity to deal enough damage to finally obliterate this flying machine.

At the same time, do not overlook the other ARC enemies roaming the battlefield. Remain vigilant at all times; the moment you spot them, take them out immediately to avoid being caught off guard by an ambush.

Loot Drops

Once you successfully shoot down a Turbine, you naturally earn the opportunity to scavenge for loot. Unfortunately, this particular ARC enemy does not drop blueprints; instead, it yields a crucial crafting material for Powered Descender: Turbine Compressor.

Make sure to pick it up immediately, do not stand around idly trying to reorganize your inventory. Someone could be standing nearby, ready to snatch the target item right out of your hands at any moment.

Conditions permitting, try to stash Turbine Compressor you've acquired into your Safe Pocket, avoid engaging in combat with any other players, and extract immediately!

In summary, if you don't want your escape route blocked by this lightning-fast harvester hovering over ARC Raiders coastline, then ready your Jupiter sniper rifle for long-range armor-piercing shots, and follow our guide to take care of this massive nuisance!

Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred expansion introduces a brand-new Talisman system. Do you wish to unlock earth-shattering power? Now is your chance! As an endgame inventory feature, Talisman allows players to unlock powerful set bonuses, including massive damage multipliers, by equipping specific Charms and Seals.

Charms, in particular, can be socketed into Talisman to activate specific bonus effects. This provides a pathway to achieve significant boosts in combat power and various special bonuses without even needing to swap out your existing gear, satisfying the desire of many players to further customize and empower their characters during the endgame phase.

How do Set Charms work?

For Class Sets in Diablo 4, each set typically consists of five individual charms. Equipping multiple Set Charms from the same set unlocks progressively stronger bonuses, ranging from 2-piece bonuses all the way up to higher-tier set bonuses.

More importantly, beyond the set bonuses themselves, individual Set Charms often come with secondary affixes that help you stack key attributes such as All Stats or Damage Reduction. Therefore, once you step into Torment difficulty, collecting every Set Charm for your character becomes a critical element in continuously enhancing the combat power of your build.

However, nothing comes easy, especially in the early stages of the game, where collecting all five charms can feel like a nearly impossible task. Although the developers have stated that charms can drop from any location within Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, killing Torment Bosses is widely acknowledged as the method with the highest drop rates. Yet, for characters in the early game, this is often a pipe dream, not to mention the fact that we still have to contend with uncontrollable randomness (RNG). Fortunately, however, we have powerful tools at our disposal to intervene in RNG process and tip the odds in our favor.

So, without further ado, let's discuss how to collect these Set Charms and fully unleash your character's potential!

How to obtain Charms? 

Playing on Torment 3 difficulty

The first point, and perhaps the most widely known step, is that you must at least unlock Torment 3 difficulty level. This is because, starting from Torment 3, the drop rate for Set Charms increases significantly, a difference you will feel quite distinctly.

At T3 difficulty and above, it becomes far from uncommon to have a single boss drop multiple Set Charms at once. You can even utilize Tribute of the Horadrim in Kurast Undercity to further boost your drop yields.

Horadric Cube

Almost everyone is already familiar with the method described above; so now, let's address a different reality: Suppose you have already amassed a massive pile of Set Charms by defeating bosses and clearing dungeons, is that truly a cause for unadulterated celebration? The developers certainly didn't intend for you to achieve your goals quite that easily.

In reality, even if you have accumulated a substantial number of Diablo 4 charms, the interference of RNG (Random Number Generation) means your inventory is likely cluttered with useless junk you don't need, while the specific 5-piece set you are truly after remains frustratingly incomplete, missing just one or two key pieces.

In such a scenario, most players might simply head to the forums to vent about their terrible luck; however, complaining alone won't actually solve the problem. Instead, you should immediately turn to the Horadric Cube. This is a new feature introduced in Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred that allows players to combine various items and resources to craft new gear, enhance existing equipment, and crucially, craft items such as charms.

3-to-1 Transmutation

You can select any three charms of the same rarity from your inventory, specifically those from other sets that you deem useless, and place them into Horadric Cube.

Subsequently, when you click Transmute button, cube will generate a brand-new, random charm of that same rarity level. There is a strong possibility that this new charm will be one of the specific pieces you have been tirelessly hunting for to complete your target set. Even if it isn't, you can simply repeat this process until your inventory contains only those charms that are actually useful to you. This serves as one effective method for intervening in RNG process, thereby steering the outcome in your favor.

Set Charm Rerolling

Another highly probable scenario is that you have already collected five or more charms belonging to your target set. However, at least two of them turn out to be duplicates. This is clearly not an ideal situation, as having duplicates prevents you from unlocking and benefiting from the powerful set bonuses associated with a complete, unique set. 

However, there is indeed a solution to this problem, and the key, once again, lies with Horadric Cube. Simply place one of your duplicate charms into the cube, select Reroll Set Charm option, add the necessary crafting materials, and finally, press Transmute button.

The result of this synthesis will be a random charm; crucially, this new charm is guaranteed to belong to the exact same Set series as the original charm you placed into the cube.

Thus, by utilizing this method, you are effectively reforging your existing, unwanted duplicate Set Charms into a different, random charm from within that very same set series. This allows you to not only clear out your excess duplicates but also, eventually, acquire the specific missing charm from that set that you currently lack. You can continue performing this synthesis process until you have exhausted all of your crafting materials.

In any case, do not let the whims of randomness hinder your ascent to greatness! Master these Horadric Cube crafting techniques to complete your Charm Sets immediately, and witness your combat power undergo a transformative leap in Lord of Hatred expansion!

Players, Torchlight Infinite SS12 Lunaria has officially launched, so now is the perfect time to explore builds. Unlike traditional maximizing DPS, we'll be introducing a Charge Calling Moto build that maintains approximately 183 billion DPS while significantly improving character survivability and ensuring stable map clearing on Profound difficulty.

This build balances attack and survival. The core gameplay utilizes Self-Destruct Protocol for area-of-effect damage, achieving extremely high damage output while maintaining sufficient Energy Shield stacks through specific gear and talents.

In other words, this build abandons the traditional Glass Cannon route, focusing on a balance between DPS and survivability.

Core Gear and Crafting Strategy

Currently, most Boom Moto players opt for extremely high damage at the cost of low survivability, potentially dying twice per map.

Therefore, we can forgo Isomorphic Arms and instead select Mighty Guard, granting summon skill levels +2. By stacking Energy Shield and defensive layers, the death rate can be significantly reduced.

Equipment selection revolves around maximizing summoned damage output while maintaining Energy Shield.

• Helmet: Machine Lord. The core, best-in-slot item. Reduces summoned numbers but significantly increases damage. The corrupted version is preferable for better value.
• Armor: Void Embankment. The ultimate damage-focused choice. It grants 20% more damage, but reduces Energy Shield from 7500 to 3500, decreasing survivability by 47%. Suitable for players who are skilled in operation.
• Alternative Armor: Choose a high-value Armor that provides a large Energy Shield and good stats.
• Weapon: Core affixes priority is Physical Damage, Summoned Skill Level, Strength, Attack Speed, and Critical Strike Chance. A top-tier base is extremely expensive, requiring approximately 18,000 Torchlight Infinite Flame Elementium.
• Ring: Key damage affixes are Physical Damage, Summoned Damage, Double Damage, and Command. Ideally, you should maximize Double Damage chance.

Skill Links and Key Choices

Skill links directly affect your combat efficiency and damage output.

The primary skill is Trog 2nd General. The secondary links are Fearless, which significantly increases the self-destruct skill's range, achieving a screen-clearing effect, and Area Protocol, which further increases skill's range.

Self-Destruct Protocol possesses both tags, expanding its range to cover the entire screen, resulting in extremely high map-clearing efficiency in actual combat. With two summons, it provides seamless full-screen coverage.

Regarding Mechanical Mods, Modularization: Resonance increases extra damage by 88% and is relatively inexpensive, offering both affordability and high efficiency.

However, our ideal choice is Force Field. It not only provides 100% extra damage but also grants summons a shield equal to 100% of their maximum health. For example, a summon with 9000 health would gain an additional 9000 energy shield, effectively doubling its damage.

There are also some other auxiliary skills.

• Energy Fortress: Energy Shield regeneration is not interrupted after each hit.
• Iron Fortification: Provides additional armor and Cooldown recovery, enhancing defense.
• Blink + Quick Mobility + Magic Dash: A three-piece mobility set.
• Rising Edge: Base cooldown 10 seconds. Can be reduced to approximately 6 seconds with 23% Cooldown Recovery Speed ​​and additional Cooldown Reduction. There is approximately a 1-second downtime, which can be compensated for with perfect affixes or talent nodes.

Timid and Activation Medium: Elite are not required and can be replaced.

For aura selection, you can use Precise: Weapon Amplification, Precise: Radical Order, and Energy Fortress.

If you have Lone Walker's Boots, which come with Precise: Radical Order, you can free up an aura slot to replace it with Cruelty or other damage-boosting auras. Having multiple auras active simultaneously significantly increases damage.

Skill Tree Allocation

Minion Damage and Critical Hit Zone

Take points into Minion Damage with Command per second and Minion Damage with Hasten.

Mighty Guard

Replace Isomorphic Arms; don't use two-handed weapons, but instead gain +2 to Minion skill level.

Machinist

Compared to God of Machines, Machinist provides 15% critical hit damage and skill range, with each point granting 20% ​​critical hit chance and 5% damage.

Key points are +1 to Synthetic Troops skill level, attack speed from Command, and maximum minion health.

Lich

With a 20% Critical Hit chance and 5% Critical Strike Damage bonus, this is our damage-boosting strategy. All skill levels and all attributes are important.

Slates Strategy

Our ideal affixes are Command, maximum minion health, and double damage chance (prioritize these until 100%).

Resonance of the Stars can copy all purple affixes on all slates. For example, three slates that provide Command will give you 6 Commands, and six of those will give you 12, a very high benefit. It's also easy to obtain.

Practical Evaluation

On Profound difficulty, our Charge Calling Moto clears maps very quickly, covering the entire screen. Unless hit by a burst of high damage, it's very stable and almost never dies. If you're unlucky, you might die once per map.

By doubling the number of summons with Machine Lord, maximizing double chance, and using Resonance of the Stars to copy slates, we can achieve a survivable output of 200 billion. Even without Machine Lord, it's playable, but with one less summon, the damage will be halved.

For a safer experience, you can choose a high-energy shield Armor to replace the damage-dealing chest armor.

If you're looking to reliably farm Profound difficulty with Charge Calling Moto in Season 12, this build offers a very balanced approach. There's no need to blindly pursue the high-risk, high-reward glass cannon.

Go online and explore!

Lord of Hatred has brought sweeping changes to every class in Diablo 4, with each skill tree undergoing a massive rework. Many builds players were once familiar with are now unrecognizable, some have vanished entirely, and entirely new ones have emerged in their place.

In Season 13, if you want to level quickly and transition smoothly into the endgame, choosing an efficient build is crucial. Below, let's look at the strongest leveling builds for each class in Season 13 so you can hit max level with ease.

Warlock

• Build: Dread Claw Warlock

Warlock is absolutely central to Lord of Hatred expansion, and since it's a new class, experimenting with any build feels fresh. From a leveling standpoint, however, Dread Claw Warlock is currently the best option.

In terms of gameplay, you'll frequently use Nether Step to dive into enemy packs. It serves as your primary mobility tool while also generating Shadow Form stacks.

Your core damage skill is Dread Claws, which can instantly clear everything in sight. For single targets and elites, you can lean on Profane Sentinel and use Terror Swarm to boost your clearing speed.

Although the build can be a bit complex to pilot, it's incredibly solid in every aspect, letting you breeze through the campaign and step into early endgame content.

Paladin

• Build: Wing Strikes Paladin

Anyone who played Paladin in Season 12 will sing praises about how smooth it feels. This class is nearly flawless in survivability, damage, and farming. Wing Strikes Paladin is, without a doubt, still the best leveling build for the class.

The core goal is to permanently maintain Arbiter form, allowing Wing Strikes to obliterate everything around you. Even if your gear lacks affixes that extend Arbiter form, you can effortlessly sustain it by continuously using Falling Star, Condemn, and Flash of the Blade Advance.

This build makes you practically unkillable, grants absurd mobility, and transitions perfectly into a variety of endgame builds - including the endgame version of Wing Strikes itself.

Rogue

• Build: Dance of Knives Rogue

Dance of Knives has once again become one of the fastest and most powerful leveling builds in the entire game, thanks to its extraordinary mobility, flexible imbue mechanics, and insane single-target damage against elites and bosses.

Combined with Dark Shroud, Dance of Knives Rogue can easily break the 200% movement speed cap. At the same time, it boasts excellent defenses through the damage reduction Dark Shroud provides. You simply spin and move at high speed, annihilating everything with Dance of Knives.

Sorcerer

• Build: Static Field Blizzard Sorcerer

Static Field Blizzard Sorcerer deals absurdly high damage and requires absolutely no Unique items or Legendary Aspects to get rolling, making it incredibly fast to set up. The gameplay is simple: cast Static Field Blizzard to deal damage, and pop Unstable Currents for burst against priority targets like bosses.

Static Field Blizzard is a damage-over-time skill, so avoid stacking Critical Strike Chance or any stats that improve Critical Strike Damage - they have no effect on this skill. Even so, without any other buffs, its base damage can exceed 10,000% of your weapon damage within 1.5 seconds, making it Sorcerer's strongest core skill this season.

Keep in mind this build cannot function before level 30. Until then, you can get by with any other build. Once you reach the early endgame, you can also keep using this build to farm items and Diablo 4 gold, given its outstanding performance relative to the investment required.

Spiritborn

• Build: Rock Splitter Spiritborn

Rock Splitter Spiritborn is a classic leveling build that delivers strong performance in both damage and survivability. Later on, you can leverage Rushing Claw and its variants to achieve permanent dodging, letting you zip across the map (while weaving in Rock Splitter between every other skill). This build is absolutely one of the fastest in the entire game.

Barbarian

• Build: Whirlwind Barbarian

Barbarian's core in Season 13 is Whirlwind, which becomes accessible as early as level 3. The gameplay is straightforward: use Lunging Strike to close the gap and generate Fury; cast whatever Shouts you've unlocked for bonus damage and movement speed; then hold down Whirlwind to spin and unleash massive damage.

This build dishes out terrifying damage right from the start, while Lunging Strike and Leap provide extra mobility, letting your character charge straight into packs and flatten everything.

Necromancer

• Build: Minions Necromancer

Minions Necromancer has always been one of the best leveling builds in Diablo 4, especially after the class resets in Season 13 polished minion management.

Early on, you'll invest points into Skeletal Mages and Skeletal Warriors. When your Ultimate unlocks, Army of the Dead is the natural choice. It deals increased damage and generates more corpses, helping you handle bosses efficiently. This minion build can carry you through the entire campaign all the way to level 70. It only starts to fall off once you push into higher Torment difficulties, but during the leveling phase, it's unquestionably one of the strongest and quickest builds to get going.

Druid

• Build: Stormclaw Druid

After its rework, Druid no longer feels as clunky as before. You can choose to summon companions or lean on damage skills to level up. Stormclaw Druid is the most efficient route, though the gameplay differs slightly between early and later stages due to the skills used.

In the early phase, you'll use Wind Shear to generate Spirit and apply Vulnerable, with Lightning Storm as your main killing tool. Companion skills are crucial here - you'll rely on them to handle single targets and provide crowd control.

Once you reach the mid-game, Claw replaces Wind Shear as your primary Spirit generator. All of this sets up Hero of the Storm at level 32, and it could transform Lightning Storm into a passive effect that follows you around. Combined with mobility skills, you simply keep moving to deal with everything around you.

While these are the best leveling builds for Season 13, the time it takes to complete the campaign can vary significantly due to differences in gear, movement speed, and other factors across characters. For each class, however, these builds represent the most efficient path.

MLB The Show 26 is scheduled to release its seventh update since launch on April 30. While the series typically does not introduce new features via standard updates, the changes made to Diamond Dynasty this time around are truly noteworthy.

Below, we provide an overview of Update 7, with a specific focus on analyzing the introduction of ABS in Diamond Dynasty and the changes to PCI, to help you quickly adapt to these adjustments.

MLB 26 Update 7 overview

Although the contents of this update were announced on April 29, the actual implementation into the game will not take place until 4:00 AM PT on April 30. Please note that the update version numbers differ across platforms:

• PS5: 1.007
• Xbox Series X|S: 1.0.50
• Nintendo Switch: 1.07

This update primarily consists of bug fixes addressing various gameplay mechanics and modes over the past period. The key highlights include the introduction of ABS in Diamond Dynasty, changes to PCI, and general new content additions.

General new content

This section refers to the developers adding 2026 City Connect uniforms for two teams, Pittsburgh Pirates and Texas Rangers, to MLB 26.

Additionally, this update confirms that City Connect bats will be added to the game as a whole via future updates. This means that in the future, you will be able to unlock an even richer array of rewards for your roster.

Diamond Dynasty changes

Before introducing new features like ABS, it is worth noting that this update fixes a bug in Head-to-Head mode where players could be erroneously awarded a win or charged with a loss while simply navigating the lineup adjustment screen.

To be honest, this bug should have been fixed before the start of Classic mode last weekend; delaying the fix until today caused a great deal of unnecessary frustration for players.

Regarding the update to the strike zone in Diamond Dynasty mode, the development team has specifically adjusted this mechanic to align with the rules of the real-world ABS system.

This means that in MLB 26, any pitch that merely grazes the edge of the strike zone will now be immediately called a strike.

Furthermore, within Diamond Dynasty, the umpires will continue to maintain a state of perfect accuracy in their calls; consequently, you will not be able to initiate ABS challenges.

In other words, these changes do not mean the game has implemented ABS system identical to the one used in the real world; rather, they simply ensure that whenever your pitch touches the strike zone, the umpire will, much like an ABS system, make a perfectly precise and accurate call.

Another update note adds that, in order to more accurately replicate ABS rules, the strike zone's detection area has been slightly reduced in size following the update.

However, this is purely a visual adjustment and does not alter the actual rules used to determine whether a pitch is a strike or a ball.

If you are an MLB 26 player who struggles with pitching, this update will probably work to your advantage, making your pitching experience much smoother and easier.

This is because, in the past, far too many pitches that clearly grazed the edge of the strike zone were erroneously called balls, a frequent occurrence often attributed to the strike zone's visual boundaries being unrealistically extended outward.

Furthermore, from a batter's perspective, under the existing mechanics, there remains a chance to hit a fair ball, or even a base hit, even if the pitch lands outside the designated strike zone.

PCI shrinkage adjustments

Following the release of Update 7, PCI penalties now apply only once rather than stacking cumulatively.

Regarding the nature of these penalties: for the sake of game balance, the system automatically applies corresponding boosts or penalties to the batter based on the specific pitch type and its location.

For instance, if you, as the pitcher, throw a curveball, your PCI detection window will expand accordingly.

This reflects real-world baseball dynamics, where a poorly executed curveball is considered a pitcher's mistake, offering the batter a prime opportunity to square up the ball with precision.

Conversely, if a pitcher precisely locates a slider in a tricky spot, such as low and away from the batter, that pitch is inherently extremely difficult to hit. Consequently, the system will slightly shrink your PCI detection window to serve as a difficulty penalty.

Prior to this update, if you threw a pitch that was both an off-speed pitch moving away from the batter and located in the lower portion of the strike zone, you would be hit with two separate penalties. Under the new update, these penalties have been consolidated into a single penalty.

Ultimately, PCI shrinkage mechanic remains in effect; it is simply applied to a less severe degree than before.

Additionally, it is crucial to remember that your swing timing plays a pivotal role in determining the actual size of your PCI. While this is, on the whole, a positive change, it is unfortunate that the issue regarding foul balls remains unresolved.

In light of this, we suggest that future updates implement a more decisive measure, specifically by completely eliminating very early and very late timing windows, thereby making it impossible to make contact with the ball during those specific moments.

Cracking down on violations

Although this section does not pertain directly to gameplay mechanics, it is certainly worth discussing.

After all, as various forms of in-game cheating become increasingly rampant, the development team's commitment to combating such behavior often serves as a key factor in a player's decision to continue supporting a game.

You May Like: Catch Any Home Run in MLB The Show 26 – Ultimate Robbing Guide

In the patch notes for this update, MLB The Show 26 team stated that any form of cheating, whether through the exploitation of game glitches or the use of unauthorized third-party tools, is strictly prohibited.

Furthermore, they affirmed that they will actively monitor in-game activities to identify and penalize violators.

While the developers did not disclose the specific methods of surveillance or publish a list of banned players, we remain hopeful that these measures are genuinely effective, rather than merely being perfunctory gestures intended to placate players who faithfully adhere to the rules.

That concludes our overview of the latest update. We hope you are pleased with the new content introduced in MLB The Show 26!

Helldivers 2 released Patch 6.2.2 of Machinery of Oppression update on April 28. This update drew significant backlash from players because it substantially increased the durable damage of many enemies, making combat more tedious and sluggish.

We should also acknowledge that this update does contain some enhancements that genuinely improve gameplay and the overall experience. However, since Patch 6.2.2 is a very large patch, we cannot analyze every single change in exhaustive detail. Therefore, we will only look at the parts that have the greatest impact on gameplay and see how players can adapt to these changes.

Balance Adjustments

Exo Suits Rebalance

Because players generally felt that Exo suits could take too little damage and were too easily destroyed - especially against Automaton  - the development team made substantial balance adjustments to improve their durability:

• Main health pool increased from 850 to 1,600. An Exo suit is only completely destroyed when its main health pool is depleted.
• Vulnerability to acid attacks increased by 50%.
• Exo suit arm health increased from 350 to 600. Arms now also share the main body's 50% explosive damage resistance.
• Removed the constitution and bleedout mechanics from Exo suit arms.
• When both legs are destroyed, Exo suit no longer loses all mobility.
• Exo suits can now be staggered (stagger intensity 45), but this does not affect their ability to fire.
• Removed cosmetic parts that do not affect the main health pool to improve performance; these parts can no longer be damaged.

The health and explosive resistance buffs for Exo suits are excellent and have been needed for a long time. That said, it is hard not to suspect that the developers fixed these issues right before releasing a Warbond that includes two new Exo Suits. The timing makes players question whether the fix was meant to promote the latest Warbond. And these were not complicated problems - just a matter of tweaking some variables.

Gas Effects

Gas now also slows confused enemies by 25%. Naturally, the slow effect also applies to you. Large enemies that are immune to the confusion effect from gas - such as Bile Titans and Factory Striders - are also immune to the slow.

While this change helps TX-41 Sterilizer stand out more, it also makes gas grenades and Dog Breath excessively strong. Take a gas drone or gas grenades into a Terminid mission, and you will see your kill count skyrocket.

Weapon Changes

CQC-30 Stun Baton

• Changes: Stamina consumption reduced from 5% to 3%. Damage increased from 75 to 120. Durable damage increased from 38 to 60.

This change addresses Stun Baton's damage issues. Another problem remains: when you hit an enemy, it not only stuns them but also causes knockback. This forces you to step forward after each swing to land the next hit, preventing you from fully utilizing the baton's fast swing speed for sustained output.

CQC-9 Defoliation Tool

• Changes: Hitbox enlarged to make it easier to land hits. Effective hit window extended. Armor penetration speed doubled. Movement speed reduced when dealing damage to enemies. Stamina consumption reduced from 10% to 5%.

These changes make Defoliation Tool feel much better to use. Doubled armor penetration might cut your time-to-kill in half, especially against enemies like Chargers.

SH-20 Ballistic Shield Backpack

• Changes: Health increased from 600 to 1,000.

Not many players took Ballistic Shield because it broke easily and had a long cooldown. The developers have already reduced its cooldown several times, and now they have finally increased its health, which should encourage more players to give it a try.

FAF-14 Spear

• Changes: Backpack ammunition increased from 3 to 4 rockets.

Spear's main issue has always been its limited ammo. One extra rocket will not let it replace the recoilless rifle, but it makes Spear a better option - one that no longer feels like a burden to your team.

A/FLAM-40 Flame Sentry

• Changes: Range increased from 20 meters to 34 meters. Damage increased by 50%. Panic effect on enemies triggers faster.

This is undoubtedly a very solid buff. The sentry no longer lasts only a dozen or so seconds. While it might still blow up if left alone against a full swarm, if you stand nearby and help clear enemies, it can easily survive a Terminid breach or an Illuminate assault wave.

TX-41 Sterilizer

• Changes: Updated the visual effects of the gas spray to make the range easier to see. Gas now lingers longer and covers a wider area.

Previously, the problem with Sterilizer was that enemies hit by the gas could still charge at you. With the slow effect, you now have more room to dodge attacks. Thanks to the buffs to gas effects and Sterilizer's own changes, this weapon will become viable as well.

Enemy Changes

Bile Titan

• Changes: Spray explosion radius reduced to match the visual effects - inner radius decreased from 2.25 to 1, outer radius decreased from 3.5 to 2.2.

This should make it easier to dodge its spit attack by diving, and you will likely avoid taking damage altogether. The improved visual effects are also welcome. An excellent change that prevents you from taking damage for no apparent reason.

Hive Guard

• Changes: Armor on the head and legs increased (from medium to heavy). Armor on the body and claws reduced (from light to none). Body health pool reduced from 500 to 375.

This is the most controversial part of the update, as it forces the player base to rely on a very small set of weapons that can deal with this common enemy (which now has heavy armor). Previously, if you brought a light-penetration weapon, the enemies left standing after a bug breach were often Hive Guards, because you had no medium penetration or explosives.

Now, even with a medium-penetration weapon, you will still see swarms of Hive Guards. The problem is not that they become too difficult to handle, raising the challenge - they are not fast, and you can easily run away. But you have to circle them repeatedly to take them down, which is extremely time-consuming.

Durable Damage Increases

The developers increased the durable damage of the following enemies:

• Bile Spewers
• Stalkers
• Shriekers
• Scavenger
• All Warrior variants
• Hive Lord
• Charger
• Impaler
• Dragon Roach
• Berserker
• Devastator
• Raider
• War Strider

In short, this change means your turrets, fortifications, and vehicles will be destroyed much faster. No player will enjoy this adjustment. The developers' decision only forces players to rely on the few stratagems that can still get the job done, making the game unfun if you choose anything else.

Tank

All tanks received the following changes to their main body:

• Health pool increased from 3,000 to 4,000
• Rear vent health increased from 750 to 1,500
• Rear vent armor changed from medium to heavy
• Removed the track destruction zone (damage no longer transfers when the zone is destroyed)
• Removed the damage cap transferred from tracks to main body health
• Track durable resistance reduced from 1.0 to 0.7
• Reduced overlapping damage areas while moving to match visuals; damage lowered

Tanks were never really a threat to begin with - they are slow and have a low rate of fire. Even after these buffs, dealing with one is not particularly difficult. However, removing the weak point on the rear vent armor takes away an efficient way to handle them. This is a terrible change.

Heavy Devastators

• Changes: Shields can now be destroyed and will drop when broken. Shields have heavy armor, 800 health, and 0.7 durable.

This is a good change. Previously, hitting the shield would show a ricochet marker, making you feel like your attacks did nothing. Now, even if you cannot fully penetrate the shield, you can still damage it and potentially break it.

War Strider

• Changes: Leg hip joint armor reduced from heavy to medium.

They now have a weak point that medium-penetration weapons can exploit. For over a month, players have been complaining that War Striders lacked a weak point suitable for medium weapons. The developers have finally addressed this issue.

Taken as a whole, Patch 6.2.2 provides far greater buffs to enemies than to players. This forces players to pick only the strongest and most efficient weapons to face the challenges ahead, reducing player choice. For the future of Helldivers 2, that is not a healthy sign.

Enemies are now more difficult to deal with, and it seems Exo Suits are about to enter a strong phase. If you need to increase damage and acquire stronger Stratagems, you can buy cheap Helldivers 2 Super Credits at IGGM to get the latest Exo Experts Warbond.

The current Monopoly Go album, Monopoly Ever After, launched earlier this month and is currently in full swing. Mid-month saw the debut of its first Partner Event, and now, just two weeks later, a brand-new round is about to arrive!

This second round of the fairytale-themed Partner Events, set to launch in early May, is titled Villainous Partners. While the event duration remains consistent with previous events of this type, there have been some changes regarding other details.

Below, we'll provide you with all the key information regarding this event and outline a comprehensive reward-earning strategy to ensure you make the absolute most of it!

Villainous Partners release date

The event is scheduled to begin on Saturday, May 2nd, at 10:00 AM PT, and conclude on Thursday, May 7th, at 1:00 PM PT, running for a total of 5 days and 3 hours.

If you've participated in previous partner or racers events, you know they typically last for 5 days; however, they usually start on a Tuesday or Wednesday to ensure the final day falls on a Sunday.

Curiously, this time around, Villainous Partners kicks off on a Saturday and wraps up on the following Thursday. Although it still encompasses a weekend, you may need to adjust your routine if you're accustomed to saving your final sprint for the very last days of the event.

It remains unclear why the game developers chose this schedule or whether this new timing mechanism will become a permanent fixture. The only thing you can do is adapt your strategy promptly, specifically by pushing harder during the first two days.

Securing reliable partners is key

In Monopoly Go events like Partners or Racers, which require active collaboration with other players to make progress, your teammates are often the decisive factor in determining your success!

Therefore, unless you decide to tackle the event in solo mode, it is absolutely crucial to ensure you have reliable partners right from the start. While it may be possible to swap partners later on, why go through the hassle?

Common sources for finding excellent partners include your existing in-game friends, or other players actively seeking partners within forums and community groups, provided you can verify their authenticity and activity levels.

However, if you want to guarantee top-tier results in Villainous Partners, the smartest choice is to buy Monopoly Go Villainous Partners Event Slot from IGGM directly! Our professional team is dedicated to providing you with a smooth, efficient, and stress-free gaming experience!

Earning more tokens

In a nutshell, Partner Events require every member of a team to utilize tokens, earned through regular gameplay, as the building materials needed to construct attractions within the event.

By successfully completing all four attractions, the team unlocks the ultimate grand prize. Therefore, once you have formed your team, you must immediately begin farming tokens and ensure that your partners are doing the same.

We will now outline the primary sources for obtaining these tokens.

Daily events

This category includes banner events and tournaments, which refresh every two days and every day, respectively (though these durations may occasionally be extended or shortened).

These events feature their own specific lists of milestone rewards; during the partner event, tokens are added to these lists. Your objective is simply to advance across the game board and land on specific tiles to earn points.

Each time you reach a specific point threshold, the corresponding milestone reward is unlocked. Taking banner events as an example: if you manage to secure all 62 available rewards, you can expect to collect at least 2,000 partner tokens in total.

Quick Wins tasks

This task system refreshes daily each morning, presenting you with three objectives. These tasks are typically very easy to complete, so that you will finish them automatically as you progress through your daily events.

Claiming gifts

The in-game shop refreshes with a gift every eight hours. The contents are randomized, but there is indeed a chance that special tokens will appear among the items. Since these gifts do not stack (meaning you cannot save them up), be sure to claim them promptly to avoid missing out.

Collecting on the board

During Villainous Partners event, tokens will also be scattered directly across the game board itself. You can collect these tokens simply by landing on the corresponding tiles while playing through daily events or other tasks.

Spinning the wheel

Once you have accumulated enough tokens, you can consume them to spin the exclusive Villainous Partners wheel.

The wheel is divided into equal-sized slices, each corresponding to a specific number of points. These accumulated points contribute directly to the construction progress of your attractions.

It is worth noting that the wheel features a special Mega Slice; if the pointer lands on this section, the point reward you receive will be far greater than you could imagine!

What rewards can you earn?

Villainous Partners event features four unique attractions waiting to be built by you and your three teammates, with each player responsible for constructing one of them.

If everyone completes their objectives before the event concludes, all participants will receive the following ultimate rewards:

• 5,000 Dice Rolls
• Swap Pack x1
• Big Bad Wolf Board Token

Furthermore, each individual attraction features additional milestone rewards that unlock sequentially as you accumulate points:

That covers everything you need to know before diving into Villainous Partners event. Wish you and your teammates can achieve excellent results!

Monopoly Go Monopoly Ever After album runs for eight weeks and officially comes to an end on June 3. We're now in the fourth week - in other words, roughly half of the album season still remains.

Whenever an album season enters its second half, a steady stream of Golden Blitz events starts rolling out one after another. The voting for the very first Golden Blitz has wrapped up, so let's take a look at which two gold stickers were chosen and when the event will kick off.

The Chosen Gold Stickers

The gold stickers for Monopoly Go Golden Blitz events are decided through a vote on the official Discord server, and the earliest Golden Blitz votes have almost always featured 4-star gold stickers.

This round of voting has now closed, and here are the results:

• Set 13 - Hook's Hook: 22,566 votes (32%)
• Set 16 - Lost Slipper: 18,000 votes (25%)
• Set 17 - Fox Ferry: 18,619 votes (26%)
• Set 19 - Granny Glamour: 6,527 votes (9%)
• Set 20 - Broom Town: 5,664 votes (8%)

With that, the two 4-star gold stickers that got the nod come as no surprise - they are Monopoly Go Set 13 Hook's Hook and Set 17 Fox Ferry.

Date

Golden Blitz events typically begin within two to three days after the vote ends. This one will start at 12:00 PM ET on May 1 and end at 12:00 PM ET on May 2, lasting a total of 24 hours.

Golden Blitz Event Basic Rules

Golden Blitz is a flash event that lets you trade gold stickers for a limited time. Compared to other flash events that wrap up in under an hour, Golden Blitz sticks around considerably longer.

Normally, players get five daily trades for regular stickers ranging from 1-star to 6-star. During a Golden Blitz event, however, the two gold stickers selected in the vote can be traded just like regular stickers.

You can swap one of the featured gold stickers for another player's regular sticker, or trade it for the other featured gold sticker. Any gold stickers not chosen - even if they were part of the vote - remain untradable.

While the event is live, you have five gold trades available. You can send a duplicate gold sticker to another player in exchange for their sticker, or receive their gold sticker in return. Either way, the moment a trade is completed, one gold trade opportunity is used up. If you send trade requests to several players but none of the trades go through, your gold trades won't be deducted.

Why You Should Take Part in Golden Blitz?

Even though the total number of gold stickers in an album isn't that high, the odds of pulling them from sticker packs are still very low. Monopoly Ever After album is already past its halfway point, and some players may have managed to gather every regular sticker through friendly sticker swaps. But since gold stickers can't be traded under normal circumstances, plenty of players are still missing quite a few.

A Golden Blitz event won't make every gold sticker tradable, but it usually covers around half of them, which naturally makes filling out the album a lot less daunting. If you're confident you can complete the album twice, this flash event is a great opportunity to stock up on more gold stickers.

It's also important to remember that the gold stickers featured in each Golden Blitz are never the same. For instance, Hook's Hook and Fox Ferry, which were picked this time, will absolutely not show up in any future Golden Blitz vote. So if you're aiming for a full album collection, you'd be wise not to sit out any Golden Blitz event.

How Can You Get Gold Stickers?

What stumps most players is simply not having gold stickers to trade in the first place. While some people don't mind accepting regular stickers for their gold ones, your chances of striking a deal improve dramatically if you can offer one of the two 4-star gold stickers from the event.

Here are a few ways that may help you land gold stickers:

• Tournaments and Banner events: Their milestone rewards include 1-star to 3-star sticker packs, and tournament rank rewards also contain 4-star and 5-star sticker packs.
• Special events: Even smaller special events – not just big ones like partner events or Tycoon Racers event, but also activities like the dig event – can hand out a healthy number of sticker packs.
• Quick Wins: Knock out the three simple daily tasks every day. When you complete a full week, you can earn rewards such as a 5-star sticker pack, which has a solid chance of delivering gold stickers.
• Star Vaults: Whenever you get duplicate stickers, you accumulate stars based on the sticker's rarity. You can use those stars to redeem sticker packs inside Star Vaults. Swap Packs come recommended here, since they offer a higher likelihood of producing gold stickers.

You can also get gold stickers during a Golden Blitz, but unlike the ones pulled from sticker packs, these are not random drops and cannot be used in the next round of gold-sticker trading.

Beyond that, Monopoly Ever After album introduces a Storybook mechanic. You can pick an Enchanted Storybook, and the stickers you receive from various packs will lean toward the set tied to your choice. This lets you target the specific gold stickers you need. Compared to other sticker seasons, this catch-up mechanic gives even players with rough luck a genuine shot at completing the album.

That covers the key details about the first Golden Blitz event for Monopoly Ever After album. Hope you manage to trade for the stickers you're looking for!

Excluding TOTY that concluded earlier this year, Team of the Season, launched in mid-April, is arguably the most monumental promotional event of the first half of FC 26!

This event spans six weeks and is currently entering its third week. This coming Friday, the third batch of squads, featuring players from Bundesliga, GPFBL, Roshn Saudi League, and Rest of the World (RoW), will be officially unveiled.

Below, we offer our predictions for the potential final squads and provide guidance to help you prepare to acquire these new player cards.

TOTS Week 3 overview

Team of the Season event runs from April 17th to May 22nd. Every other week (on Fridays), the squads for the featured leagues are announced, based on the results of prior player voting combined with a select number of pre-reserved spots.

Accordingly, the official reveal date for Week 3 is this coming Friday, May 1st. Following the announcement, FUT 26 will release a host of new SBCs and other activities to help you earn FC 26 coins and unlock these new player cards.

Bundesliga Squad

Bundesliga represents the pinnacle of German football and stands as one of the most popular leagues globally; as such, it is a primary focus of our coverage here.

Based on performance during 2025/26 season, there are 40 candidates vying for a spot in FC 26 TOTS from this league; however, only 11 players will ultimately be selected to form the standard squad. Below are our preliminary predictions, broken down by specific positions.

Goalkeeper

There is only one available spot for this position, and our top pick is Swiss international Gregor Kobel. Currently playing for Borussia Dortmund, Kobel recorded the highest number of clean sheets during the past season, establishing an impenetrable defensive foundation for his team.

Defenders

Three defensive spots are up for grabs, and the majority of these slots are likely to be claimed once again by the powerhouse club, Bayern Munich, as suggested by our predictions for the top two candidates below.

Although Jonathan Tah only joined Bayern last summer, he quickly integrated into the squad and delivered impressive defensive performances.

Dayot Upamecano's key strengths lie in his blistering pace, tenacious tackling, and exceptional ball-playing ability, allowing him to make significant contributions to the team at both ends of the pitch.

We have reserved the final spot among TOTS defenders for Luka Vušković from Hamburg. Although he is currently only a loanee, he has emerged as a young breakout star in Bundesliga during 2025/26 season.

Midfielders

The team expected to dominate this position once again is Bayern Munich, with potential midfield candidates including Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlović.

Kimmich's greatest asset is his unwavering consistency; he is able to dictate the team's offensive and defensive tempo while linking up seamlessly with teammates, such as Pavlović. Together, the pair forms an indispensable partnership for Bayern at this moment.

Another potential candidate for a spot in FIFA 26 TOTS midfield is Angelo Stiller, who plays for VfB Stuttgart. Thanks to his impeccable timing in joining the attack, he was able to significantly boost the entire team's passing accuracy.

Attackers

We must preface this by stating that our TOTS squad predictions are not made from the perspective of a fan of any specific team; however, at least within the context of Bundesliga, Bayern's performance has undeniably been eye-catching.

Consequently, three potential candidates for the attacking lineup, Luis Díaz, Harry Kane, and Michael Olise, all hail from Bayern Munich. Through their individual strengths, they have forged a formidable attacking frontline for the team.

GPFBL Squad

GPFBL stands for Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga, which can be simply understood as the women's equivalent of Bundesliga. We have listed the potential selections based on the candidates' OVR:

• Klara Bühl - FC Bayern München - LM
• Lea Schüller - FC Bayern München - ST
• Pernille Harder - FC Bayern München - CAM
• Georgia Stanway - FC Bayern München - CDM
• Alexandra Popp - VfL Wolfsburg - ST
• Svenja Huth - VfL Wolfsburg - CM
• Janina Minge - VfL Wolfsburg - CM
• Laura Freigang - Frankfurt - CAM
• Géraldine Reuteler - Frankfurt - ST

Roshn Saudi League Squad

This league is the premier football competition in Saudi Arabia; the top three finishers in the league, along with the winner of King's Cup, qualify for AFC Champions League. Here is the predicted lineup:

• João Félix - Al Nassr - CAM
• Cristiano Ronaldo - Al Nassr - ST
• Al Owairan - HERO - RW
• Núñez - Al Hilal - ST
• Diaby - Al Ittihad - RM
• Al Dawsari - Al Hilal - LM
• Kanté - Al Ittihad - CDM
• Simakan - Al Nassr - CB
• Koulibaly - Al Hilal - CB
• Millot - Al Ahli - CAM

RoW Squad

RoW stands for Rest of World. Unlike the other squads, this does not represent a single official, real-world league; instead, it refers to teams not included in the main licensed leagues within EA FC 26, encompassing a diverse range of international clubs.

The following are predictions for RoW players likely to be selected for this year's TOTS:

• Fernando Muslera - Estudiantes - GK
• Mateo Castillo - América de Cali - RB
• Santiago Sosa - Racing Club - CB
• Yazan Al Arab - FC Seoul - CB
• Blás Riveros - Cerro Porteño - LB
• Kang Sang Yoon - Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors - CM
• Patrik Mercado - Independiente del Valle - CM
• Gabriel Villamíl - LDU Quito - CM
• Lee Dong Kyeong - Ulsan HD - CAM
• Juan Mata - Melbourne Victory FC - CAM
• Marcelino Moreno - Club Atlético Lanús - CAM
• Jesse Randall - Auckland FC - LM
• Kim Seung Sub - Jeonbuk Motors - LW
• Nicolas López - Nicolas López - ST

How to obtain these players?

Following the official announcement of TOTS squads for the four leagues mentioned above on May 1st, FC 26 will continue to release additional SBCs and Objectives until the next batch of content goes live (on May 8th).

Upon completing these challenges, you will be rewarded with coins or packs. Opening these packs yields random player cards, while coins can be used to trade more packs in the store or utilized directly to trade for specific cards on the transfer market.

It is worth noting that a select few specific cards will be available exclusively as direct rewards for completing SBCs, these are the ones you absolutely do not want to miss!

Since there are three more batches of TOTS squads scheduled to be released subsequently, we highly recommend that you acquire any cards you desire from Week 3 within this one-week window; otherwise, you run a significant risk of missing out on them due to a lack of time!

We hope the lineup predictions we've provided here prove helpful for your future FC 26 experience! We sincerely wish you the best of luck in securing all the players you've set your sights on!

ARC Raiders Riven Tides update is finally live. Along with a new map, a new ARC enemy and a wave of fresh content, it also introduces four brand-new items - and each one has a corresponding blueprint waiting to be collected.

The four additions in this update are: Crash Mat, Powered Descender, White Flag, and Tactical Mk. 3 (Smoke). Right now, the best map to hunt for them is Riven Tides, and they aren't particularly difficult to track down. Let's take a look at the spots where you're most likely to come across them.

Crash Mat

Function

Crash Mat is a Rare throwable. Toss it on the ground and it rapidly inflates into an air cushion. Landing on the mat reduces fall damage, but it won't make you immune to harm - so it won't save your life if you leap from an extreme height.

One advantage of Crash Mat is that it can be used mid-fall; activating it before you've covered roughly half the drop distance will take effect. Overall, this item is fairly average in power, but when you happen to pick one up or carry one along, it can genuinely help you suffer less fall damage.

Blueprint Location

Crash Mat blueprint is likely one of the most common drops on the new map. You can find it in practically any regular container - suitcase, trash cans, and especially lockers, with lockers being notably efficient.

The best farming spot on the new map is without a doubt Port Authority Building, where a room behind a standard door is packed with lockers. Tennis Court area also has quite a few lockers, making it a strong secondary location.

Additionally, map conditions do not seem to affect the drop rate. Riven Tides only features Night Raid condition, but the chance of finding Crash Mat blueprint is about the same as in a normal match.

Powered Descender

Function

Powered Descender also counters fall damage, but it's way cooler than Crash Mat. It provides a noticeable deceleration effect while you're falling, drastically reducing damage - and from certain heights, you can land completely unharmed.

To use it, you must activate it while airborne. Your character will descend more slowly and touch down more softly. However, the device doesn't have a long energy reserve; if you keep it active for too long, it will cut out and drop you straight down. Mastering the timing of activation is therefore critical.

Activating it earlier slows you down sooner but drains energy faster; activating too late leaves insufficient time to slow down enough. Generally, the higher the drop, the slightly later you should activate it. Moreover, the device follows the shared cooldown mechanic for charged items. If you use Snap Hook or Photoelectric Cloak at the same time, Powered Descender's energy will also be consumed, so make sure its energy is fully charged beforehand.

Powered Descender lets you jump down from any height, saving a great deal of time. That said, it isn't built for every altitude. The highest spots on the new map have been tested and work, but jumping from Launch Tower in Spaceport would probably exceed its limits.

Blueprint Location

Powered Descender blueprint is slightly rarer than Crash Mat, but still not terribly hard to locate. It shares the exact same drop pool as the crash mat blueprint, and the best spots are once again Port Authority Building and Tennis Court. It may take a little longer, but you'll definitely secure it in the end.

White Flag

Function

White Flag is a very interesting tool for signaling that you are a peaceful player who means no harm and simply wants to survive in this world. You can place it in your quick slot and walk around holding it, plant it somewhere, or wave it to show a more overtly friendly gesture.

Unfortunately, White Flag cannot be attached to your backpack; you must keep it in your hand at all times for others to see it. This slows your movement speed and stops you from equipping other items, which feels a bit awkward.

Blueprint Location

Although it's a simple little object, White Flag blueprint is much harder to track down than the two items above. And I still can't quite understand why raiders need a blueprint to make what is essentially a kindergarten craft - a piece of white cloth tied to a stick.

White Flag blueprint can spawn in trash cans, suitcase or lockers, but its most frequent source is the beach area of Riven Tides, through excavation activities tied to Dockmaster's Detector. Dockmaster's Detector can be obtained directly by accepting a new mission. If you happen to lose it, you can pick it up elsewhere, and there is no blueprint to craft it.

If the event isn't active or you'd rather not dig, you can still open regular containers and lockers to look for it, though the efficiency will certainly be lower.

Tactical Mk. 3 (Smoke)

Function

Tactical Mk. 3 (Smoke) is an upgraded version of Tactical Mk. 2. Its special ability is exactly the same: when your shield breaks, it automatically generates a cloud of smoke. But don't assume that a higher tier means a beefed-up smoke effect - it's not thicker or larger. The only improvements are an added implant slot, a secure pocket slot, two regular inventory slots, and a weight increase of 5 points.

So while this piece of gear isn't a game-changer, it remains quite useful in PvP. The smoke effect's value endures, and the extra weight is a nice bonus.

Blueprint Location

Tactical Mk. 3 (Smoke) blueprint is surprisingly easy to obtain because it shares the exact same drop locations as all other Augment blueprints. Those are the familiar Stella Montis Lobby (during Night events), and the destructible security room at the bottom of The Blue Gate's underground Security Wing - specifically the room behind the destructible door. Map conditions don't matter much: Night, Electromagnetic Storm, Hurricane, and Closed Gate all work. During the day, there is still a chance for it to drop, but the odds are noticeably lower.

It's not a difficult blueprint to find. The only annoyance is that you'll likely collect a pile of other Augment blueprints you already own first, since they all share the same pool. Whether you find this one early simply comes down to luck.

Those are all the methods for acquiring each of the four new item blueprints in this update. You can be assured that by farming these locations, you'll quickly acquire all four blueprints, as none of them are truly ultra-rare drops.