Month: August 2022

Categories
Technology

Elden Ring Player Proves Faith Builds Rule With One Shot Kills

Elden Ring Player Proves Faith Builds Rule With One Shot Kills

matthew "Your Average Gamer" Farnkopf is just standing around while Elden Ring's final boss, the Elden Beast, collapses behind their faith/lightning-based Tarnished.

Elden Ring‘s faith stat is pretty flexible to build around, particularly because developer FromSoftware baked so many incantations and spells into the game. Still, it tends to see very little use at high levels, as YouTuber Your Average Gamer put it in an email to Kotaku DotCom, folks claim it’s not as good as other in-game stats like the health-defining vigor. In an effort to prove the masses wrong, Your Average Gamer took their ardent belief in faith and put it to the test. Not only did they take on the hardest difficulty possible, they also absolutely demolished a variety of bosses, including ones like Radagon and the Elden Beast, in a single attack. It’s nuts!

Matthew “Your Average Gamer” Farnkopf is a YouTuber dedicated to putting together “crazy Elden Ring builds.” they’ve got a video on destroying Malenia in 90 seconds, another breaking down the effectiveness of Godrick the Grafted’s Great Axeand a different one on the ultimate status effect build. In short, Matt has spent a lot of time with Elden Ring since it dropped on February 25. And yet, it’s still remarkable they were able to find a one-shot build powerful enough to take out two of the game’s hardest bosses, Radagon of the Golden Order and the Elden Beastwith an assortment of equipment and incantations on New Game Plus Seven, the highest difficulty option Elden Ring currently has to offer. Every round of new game plus retains all your gear and stats while increasing the overall damage output and health pool of the enemies around you, meaning Your Average Gamer’s run is some seriously gnarly shit.

FromSoftware

It looks like Matt’s just throwing things to be throwing things during the fight, but there’s actually an order to the madness. as they explained in a short video detailing what they’ve dubbed the “ultimate PvE build,” Matt first casts the Howl of Shabriri and Golden Vow incantations for some initial status effects, like madness buildup for attack power and attack negation, respectively. They then poison themselves to increase their intelligence stat and temporarily boost lightning attack damage, the latter is especially important when paired with the sole attack spell Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strikea late-game ability you find in the labyrinthine legacy dungeon Crumbling Farum Azula. After a quick buffing session, Matt turns to their gear for even more buffs—the Gravel Stone Seal to up the damage of Dragon Cult/lightning-related incantations, the Jellyfish Shield for 20% increased damage for 30 secondsand the Kindred of Rot’s Exultation Talisman to raise attack power by 20% for 20 seconds when there’s poisoning or rot nearbyamong others—before entering the battle arena to show the final bosses what’s up.

It was curtains once Matt stepped in front of Radagon. They cast the Ancient Dragons’ Lightning Strike, a multi-hitting attack that sends down several bolts of lightning to strike in a determined area, and watched as the hammer-wielding god’s health bar melted away in seconds. The same thing happened to the colossal Elden Beast, and y’all, I’m gagging RN.

ReadMore: Elden Ring Fans Rejoice As Dreaded Bloodhound Step Nerfed In Enormous Gameplay Update

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matt canopy Kotaku over email that they wanted to dispel the myth permeating the game’s community that “faith [builds aren’t] nearly as good as magic.” It took them “nearly 20 hours of trial and error” to find the right combination of gear and incantations to do the necessary damage to slay Radagon and the Elden Beast in one shot, and the results were stunning.

“I was primarily inspired to prove that something that many said couldn’t be done could actually be done…even on the hardest difficulty,” Matt said. “When I pulled this off on Journey Three, that gave me hope that it was technically possible. Once again to prove how powerful faith can be!”

Matt, to put it plainly, loves faith. It’s one of their favorite stats to construct characters around, and a central theme to the game overall. Still, getting things just right to accomplish this feat was quite the headache, something that forced them to “quit two separate times” because of how time-consuming it was becoming. Regardless of the frustrations, Matt said they were “glad [to have] stuck it out” in the end.

“So I’m physically disabled,” Matt said. “I have ongoing day-to-day stomach issues that can get/have gotten severe at times. I had just gotten over a flare-up of Colitis that I had to go to the ER for. After failing so many times throughout several hours, I found myself possibly going back into another flare-up. So I relaxed, calmed myself down, and spaced out my time. From then on I set hours I would do it and took the pressure entirely off myself. The moment I said ‘Okay, if someone else does it that’s fine,’ I was able to relax. Shortly after, I was able to achieve it anyway!”

FromSoftware

Doing a one-shot kill in Elden Ring is impressive but not entirely new. there was one Redditor back in April who killed the notorious Tree Sentinel in one hit and another speedrunner that created a glass-cannon build to bonk bosses with a single swing of their hammer in May. While it may not be that fresh, slaying FromSoftware’s infamously challenging enemies in one hit is still a cool sight to see. I wish I were patient enough to do this.

While Matt’s Beaten Elden Ring several times now, he’s not done with the game. They’re hoping FromSoftware adds new content in the form of “very challenging bosses, much like Dark Souls 3‘s DLC” or “another late game spike that would test us yet again.” Until then, Matt is trekking through the Lands Between once more looking for new builds to experiment with.

“I’ve retired the lightning build/character,” Matt said. “He’s kind of a legacy to me now. I’m starting a new build fresh, and I’m going to focus on exploring and the next cool build I can come up with. Elden Ring is a fantastic game, and the community is amazing! And remember ‘Seek Lightning!’”

It’s worth noting that while FromSoftware dropped patch 1.06 for the game, Matt said their ultimate PvE build is still effective against the game’s bosses. If you want to try out Matt’s full build for yourself, here you go:

  • Gravel Stone Seal or Golden Order Seal
  • Jellyfish Shield
  • Mushroom Crown
  • Fetid Pots
  • Neutralizing Boluses
  • Blood Sword for Health Damage
  • Godfrey Icon
  • Lightning Scorpion Charm
  • Kindred of Roy’s Exultation
  • Red-Feathered Branchsword
  • Ancient Prayer book (for the incantation)
  • Lightning-Shrouding Cracked Tear
  • Intelligence-knot Crystal Tear
  • Howl of Shabriri Incantation
  • Golden Vow Incantation

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Categories
Sports

Nick Kyrgios’ hot streak ends against Hubert Hurkacz in Montreal

Nick Kyrgios’ nine-match winning streak has come to an end at the Montreal Masters, eliminated in the quarter-finals by Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.

The Wimbledon runner-up lost 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (5/7), 6-1 after coming to the court with 15 victories from his past 16 matches.

READMORE: Wayne Bennett’s offer to Paul Green three weeks before his sudden death aged 49

READMORE: ‘Ridiculous’ Kyrgios demolishes fellow Aussie ahead of US Open

READMORE: Gus Worland’s emotional plea to Australians after sudden death of Paul Green

The Australian complained of body soreness after the match, and it was clear he was impacted during proceedings as he tried to keep up the pace of the match in the first two sets before wilting in the final frame.

The Aussie was annoyed as his opponent left the court for a change of clothes at the beginning of the third, saying his body was heavily impacted by the stoppage.

Players are given a maximum of three minutes once they have entered the toilet while they also receive two minutes for a change of attire.

The issue at many tournaments other than the majors is that the changing room facilities are not near the main arenas and such is the case in Montreal. Hurkacz was gone for nearly eight minutes.

On the live broadcast, Kyrgios vented his frustrations.

“We’re not f—ing machines, bro,” Kyrgios said.

“We can’t just go and stop, go and stop, go and stop.”

The world No.27 was also annoyed at the fact Hurkacz felt a need to change his clothes despite the relatively cool weather.

“No-one needs to change f—ing clothes in f—ing 15 degree heat,” Kyrgios said.

“15 f—ing degrees bro.”

Speaking after the match, a measured Kyrgios explained his frustrations surrounding the change of clothes.

“Obviously when you’re playing and you stop for like five to 10 minutes, it doesn’t help your body,” Kyrgios said.

“My body was so stiff after that, I couldn’t move properly.

“I mean, it’s within the rules. I’m not going to complain. I completely stiffened up.”

The Aussie said he powered through pain issues in the last week, but it eventually caught up with him.

“My body hasn’t been feeling great the last week,” he said.

“I was feeling the abdominal (muscle) a little bit before the match. My knees hurt.

“I’m not a machine. I’m a human.”

Kyrgios has all but secured a seeding for the US Open, but said he needs to take time out before playing in Cincinnati, and then the US Open, which begins August 29.

“I feel good, but the US Open is still two and a half weeks away. I have Cincinnati next week. That’s all I’m focusing on,” Kyrgios said.

“I’m focusing on today, tonight, recovery, food, then just resting, then Cincinnati. That’s where my mind is at.”

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Categories
Australia

Rural Tasmanian ratepayers hit with levy to help councils keep GP clinic doors open

Rural Tasmanian ratepayers hit with levy to help councils keep GP clinic doors open

Ratepayers in rural Tasmania are being slugged with a medical levy to help prop up GP clinics, prompting fresh calls for the commonwealth to step in.

Councils including Glamorgan-Spring Bay, the Huon Valley and the Tasman have had to step in to keep local clinics open, and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) fears more will be forced down the same route unless Medicare funding is increased.

Glamorgan-Spring Bay Mayor Robert Young said the levy was necessary to ensure the municipality’s vulnerable population — where the median age is 56 — has access to health care.

Mr Young said about 60 per cent of the adults in his municipality were either retired or on some sort of government benefit.

“The levy is $90 payable every year by every ratepayer and it’s used to subsidize general practice and to encourage general practitioners to come to the east coast,” he said.

“It costs us between $550,000-$650,000 a year.”

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Categories
Technology

NVIDIA Shield TV Pro and Shield TV drop back to all-time-low prices

NVIDIA Shield TV Pro and Shield TV drop back to all-time-low prices

If you missed out on snapping up an NVIDIA Shield TV Pro or Shield TV when they were on sale for record-low prices, there’s some good news. The media streaming devices have dropped back to the same all-time lows at Amazon. The standard is currently $125, which is $25 off the regular price. Its more advanced sibling, the , has dropped to $170, which is a $30 discount.

Buy NVIDIA Shield TV at Amazon – $125

The NVIDIA Shield TV has a compact tube design, which should make it easy to slot somewhere behind your television, but it still makes space for the Tegra X1+ processor. You can control it using voice commands via Alexa and Google Assistant. It comes with a remote control with a voice search function and motion-activated, backlit buttons.

Owners can use it to stream shows, movies and music from the likes of Plex, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, HBO Max, Disney+, Spotify and Apple Music. The Android TV-powered device supports 4K HDR Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos audio and Chromecast streaming. You can also use the device to stream games from NVIDIA GeForce Now and Google Stadia (the Ethernet port should come in especially handy there).

Buy NVIDIA Shield TV Pro at Amazon – $170

The NVIDIA Shield TV Pro has all of those features and more. It might be the way to go if you plan to play Android games from the Google Play Store. It has 3GB of RAM, compared with the Shield TV’s 2GB, and double the storage at 16GB. Storage on both devices is expandable, via microSD on the base model and USB drives on the Pro version. The biggest difference, however, is the fact the Shield TV Pro can be used as a Plex server.

Meanwhile, if you’re not quite sold on NVIDIA’s offerings, another prominent streaming device that might fit the bill is also on sale. Last year’s version of the 32GB Apple TV 4K is , at a third off the regular price of $180.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Categories
Entertainment

Grease was the backing track for those of us who grew up in the ’70s

Grease was the backing track for those of us who grew up in the '70s

Unlike what seems like most of Melbourne, I don’t have a selfie with Olivia Newton-John at the Coles in Richmond. I don’t have an anecdote like my mate Nicko about hanging with her on a balcony at the Xanadu dance contest at Chasers in 1980.

What I do have is memories of Olivia as the backing track to my early 1970s in the back of the Valiant as Mum dropped off Tupperware to eastern suburbs housewives. My brother Sammy and I were thrilled when You’re So Vain and Maggie May were followed on AM radio by ONJ’s Banks of the Ohio and If Not For You.

Olivia Newton-John (centre) with Didi Conn (right, in pink) singing Summer Lovin' in Grease.

Olivia Newton-John (centre) with Didi Conn (right, in pink) singing Summer Lovin’ in Grease.Credit:Getty

Future generations had the Wiggles as their pre-school musical love. We had Liv. I’m not sure if I knew what she looked like then. count down wasn’t on yet but from her voice and lyrics about love (“please mister please, don’t play B17”) I rightly suspected she was stupendously chocolate box pretty.

Then she was replaced in my consciousness and record collection by the Bay City Rollers. Until August 1978, when suddenly Olivia was not only back but the leading lady in what was the cultural touchstone, the rite of passage, for anyone growing up at the time, grease.

Based on a stage musical – the brainchild of an art teacher and an advertising copywriter – which debuted in an old Chicago tram factory, grease was a game changer. Thanks to the songs, star-crossed romance, high school antics, frothy angst, it was the highest-grossing movie musical ever until its 2008 eclipse by Mama Mia!

At her heart, the serenity and apple cheeks of Olivia Newton-John.

Grease was a game-changer, a rite of passage for teenagers at the time.

Grease was a game-changer, a rite of passage for teenagers at the time.

Like 9/11 and Princess Di’s death, everyone knows where and when they first saw grease. My mate Margie was 14, queuing in “bad jeans, bad jumper, bad hair” outside the Bercy cinema at the top of Bourke St.

Olivia’s death at the age of 73 from the breast cancer she lived with for three decades made Margie tear up watching the TV tributes, packed with old clips of ONJ in her Xanadu roller-skating pomp, wide-eyed doing I Honestly Love You in ’74, duetting in a Camilla top and jeans with Farnesy on Two Strong Hearts in 2020.

Categories
Sports

Brisbane Broncos coach Kevin Walters urges more mental health support as Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson and North Queensland Cowboys boss Todd Payten lead Paul Green tributes

Brisbane Broncos coach Kevin Walters urges more mental health support as Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson and North Queensland Cowboys boss Todd Payten lead Paul Green tributes

“We were devastated [on Thursday] when we heard the news,” V’landys said. “It just shows you how fragile life is and that we should take care of each other.

“We all go through doubting ourselves, we all go through some terrible times. But it doesn’t hurt to talk to somebody about it.

‘His humor was really important, his brutal honesty was really important and his vision as a coach was special.’

Trent Robinson

“This is the classic example. I hope if anything comes out of this – which is one of the saddest things I have been involved in in rugby league – that people do reach out when they are troubled.”

Green’s two most recent clubs, the Roosters and Cowboys, will meet in a top-eight shootout at the SCG on Saturday, with both teams to wear black armbands in tribute to the former Rothmans Medalist, who led North Queensland to their maiden title in 2015 .

The Roosters’ squad gathered to speak about their feelings on Friday morning and look at photos of Green wearing the tricolours as a player and as an assistant to Robinson in 2013. Green was Roosters player No.998.

“He was just an amazing coach and an amazing guy,” Robinson said. “His humor was really important, his brutal honesty was really important and his vision of him as a coach was special. We’re just really sad, a lot of the staff here. Some of the players have had a bit to do with Greeny [as well].

Cowboys coach Todd Payten.

Cowboys coach Todd Payten.Credit:Getty

“It just highlights the personal side of what we do and the need for support. I remember Greeny was my last coaching hire [in 2013]. He’d won a couple of comps at Wynnum Manly, he’d been with Wayne [Bennett] at Brisbane and he came down.

“I still remember his first session. He came in and we were getting all our systems in play and he got straight into the coaching. He was really confident about his knowledge of him and he got straight into his style of him, his forthright approach of him… and the players really loved him for that.

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Green’s name had been linked to several jobs since leaving the Cowboys midway through the 2020 season, before he returned to elite coaching with Queensland in last year’s Origin series.

He was instrumental in lobbying for the opening match of the COVID-affected series to be played in Townsville, the first time Origin has been played in north Queensland.

Cowboys coach Todd Payten said Green would be “sorely missed.”

“It’s been a difficult 24 hours, and as a club and as a group, we’ll just have to put our arms around each other,” Payten said.

“Some guys [here] have a long history with Paul. We understand that grief affects people differently at different times, and the club have been great at putting in resources around staff and players to make sure that they can come up with strategies to best deal with that and talk through how they’re feeling.”

For help in a crisis call 000. If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

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Categories
Australia

‘Filthy cheater’ exposed in full-page Mackay And Whitsunday Life newspaper ad

'Filthy cheater' exposed in full-page Mackay And Whitsunday Life newspaper ad

If you’re having an off day, spare a thought for one Mackay man who’s probably feeling worse.

Everyone is wondering about the identity of “Steve”, whose newly former partner Jenny took out a full-page ad in the Mackay And Whitsunday Life newspaper to denounce him as a “filthy cheater”.

“Dear Steve, I hope you’re happy with her. Now the whole town will know what a filthy cheater you are. From Jenny. . I bought this ad using your credit card,” it read.

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The ad created so much interest the editor posted a response saying: “We have been inundated with dozens of messages this morning about the Advert on Page 4 of Mackay Life – as there’s too many to reply to, we would like to address it here.

“1. We do NOT know who Steve is, but apparently he’s been very, very bad.

“two. We won’t be revealing any details about Jenny.”

Jenny paid for the ad on her ex’s credit card – but the paper confirmed it had not charged him.

“Jenny sounds like someone I want to be friends with,” one person commented. “Never trust Steve.”

“Not all heroines wear capes. Jenny is my new favorite person,” said another.

One Jenny even clarified: “So all my friends are aware. I am not the legend ‘Jenny’ and my ‘Steve’ has not been bad.”

But not everyone was convinced. Some claimed Jenny and Steve didn’t exist at all and the ad was a very clever marketing tactic by the team at Mackay And Whitsunday Life newspaper.

“This has PR stunt written all over it,” one user wrote, and another: “Good way of getting more likes and readers to your page.”

Woman confirms the man her dad set her up with is now her boyfriend.

Woman confirms the man her dad set her up with is now her boyfriend.

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Categories
Business

Adore Beauty: Little incentive to stay

Adore Beauty: Little incentive to stay

IDP Education chairman Peter Polson was also generous enough to lure O’Shannessy with a $250,000 sign-on bonus to make up for her forgone Adore Beauty incentives, no matter how worthless her issued options have become.

O’Shannessy was signed up at Adore with 868,502 shares, paid for with a $868,502 limited recourse loan to the company.

Repaying that loan (barring any further falls in the stock price if she liquidates her 1 per cent stake in the company) would net her roughly $300,000. But hey, 30¢ in the dollar still beats what remains of the investment made by an array of women with limited financial literacy who were gullible enough to buy Adore Beauty shares during its puffed-up IPO.

Board renewal

The 550,000 share options issued to O’Shannessy two years ago have an exercise price tied to the $6.75 IPO. By virtue of her departure from Ella, O’Shannessy clearly doubts the stock will return to those levels.

Not even management is confident enough to claim Adore Beauty as “Australia’s No.1 pure-play online beauty retailer” without adding a worrying fine print supplemental that this is “based on management estimates”.

That would be the same leadership that capitulated to a board renewal that saw the November departure of chairman justin ryanthe previous managing partner of Quadrant and its representative on the board (it retains a 32 per cent post-float stake).

Bizarrely, Ryan had continued as Adore chairman even after he left Quadrant in April 2021 to launch a competitor firm with Adore co-founder Kate Morris (who yanked $46 million out of the IPO).

Adore’s revenue is continuing to grow, but it is painfully unable to grow net profit (which fell 22 per cent in the most recent half).

Perhaps that’s because Adore is still on a marketing rampage, its $16 million in advertising spend outweighing the $11 million it pays its workers.

The cost of Adore’s $96 million worth of sales in the first half of last year worked out to 67 per cent. And on $113 million of revenue in the first half of this financial year? 67 per cent.

Who’s bright idea was it to float Adore before it had solidified its brand recognition? Or was it that the pre-IPO brand-building campaign aimed overwhelmingly at simply flogging its noxious stock?

For O’Shannessy, IDP Education is almost a return home, having been spun off by Seek, where she was previously an executive. She would be praying Polson (one of the most generous men, with other people’s money, corporate Australia has ever seen) does them out as many share options as were issued to previous IDP boss Andrew Barkla.

When Barkla joined IDP three months before its float, the board agreed to grant him 4.15 million share options with an exercise price of $1.44 (far short of the IPO pricing of $2.65 a share). When he exercised them in August 2018, the share price was $11, a lazy $40 million windfall.

For Adore Beauty, it now has to rely on Egon Zehnder to scour the market for a captain willing to go down with the ship.

Perhaps it would be easier just to Zehnder into administration.

Categories
Technology

Waluigi bachelorette party dubbed ‘best event that has ever happened’

Waluigi bachelorette party dubbed 'best event that has ever happened'

A Waluigi bachelorette party is the talk of the town on TikTok.

When TikToker @cherriesorbet, a burlesque and cosplay costume designer, was getting married, she knew her bachelorette party was going to be special. But few brides would be daring enough to go with a Waluigi theme. For the uninitiated, Waluigi is a villain from the Mario franchise. He’s Luigi’s longtime nemesis and sidekick to Wario.

The bridal party each dressed up as a different version of Waluigi, with the bride herself going as Elvis Waluigi. There was a Cowboy Waluigi, Pirate Waluigi, Sexy Firefighter Waluigi, Cult Waluigi, Chef Waluigi and a Strong Man Waluigi.

Each Waluigi guessed who would get the drunkest that night, and most of them guessed Elvis, the bride.

“I do a lot of burlesque and cosplay costuming, so there was no way I wasn’t going to do something like this for my Bach,” the bride explained on TikTok.

The video earned nearly 1 million views. People loved the commitment to the theme.

“I think that this is the best event that has ever happened ever,” a person commented.

“Imagine being at a restaurant and just seeing an army of differently themed Waluigi’s pulling up,” a user wrote.

“Everyone brought it with their costumes,” another said.

“I’m so impressed that everyone went ALL OUT with props and everything!” to TikToker replied.

“I’ve never been in love with so many people at once,” someone added.

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Categories
Entertainment

Northern Territory filmmaker Phil O’Brien shoots big-hearted feature in Nhulunbuy

an aboriginal woman, kids and a man smiling with thumbs up

Armed with a pawn shop camera, a cast of small town players and a heart bigger than Phar Lap, a Northern Territory director has proven you don’t need grants to shoot a feature film.

Or expensive equipment.

Or trained actors.

All director Phil O’Brien needed was a solid script and enough goodwill from a small northern township to see it through to a final cut.

“It was like climbing up Mount Everest in a pair of thongs,” said Mr O’Brien.

“Sometimes, every step you took it just got harder and harder.”

What finally emerged was an epic ode to a remote Australian coastal paradise, called The Boat With No Name, shot on location in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

A red carpet screening was held at the Gove Boat Club near the town of Nhulunbuy earlier this year, and garnered rave reviews from the locals – but the film nearly didn’t happen.

red carpet rolled out on grass near a beach
‘The Boat With No Name’ had its world premiere at the Gove Boat Club earlier this year.(Supplied: Rob Stewart)

Mr O’Brien, a fourth generation Territorian who is also an author, musician, former croc farmer and campfire raconteur, had his script ready to go, but no funding to back it up.

“I got knocked back by every grant body known to mankind,” he said.

“I got no money, no film crew, but I got the story, right?

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