Michmutters

The 2023 Audi S8 has landed in Australia priced from $273,400 before on-road costs and options.

The S8 is Audi’s flagship sedan and represents a blend of luxury, speed and a hint of old-school class arguably not offered by SUVs.

Arriving in facelifted form, Audi’s new luxury sedan has had a mild makeover. There is a broader ‘single frame’ grille, new Matrix LED headlights, 21-inch alloy wheelswith red brake calipers and a black styling pack fitted as standard.

Audi offers the new S8 in nine exterior colors with three upholstery options – including cream and black ‘Valcona’ leather – to tailor this luxury sedan to your liking.

Audi’s S8 is a rival for the BMW 750i ($277,900 before on-road costs), new Mercedes-Benz S580 L ($335,100) and Lexus LS500 F Sport ($195,830).

In Australia, only the S8 is available to order now, with Audi yet to announce pricing of A8 50TDI and long wheelbase 50TDI L grades. If you want about the S8’s size but more sporting, Audi will sell you an RS6 Avant or RS7 liftback.

Is there anything new inside the S8?

The S8’s cabin has matured, but not changed massively since the fourth-generation ‘D5’ A8 was introduced globally in 2017.

Just like in the latest RS6, the S8 scores a pair of 10.1-inch touch screens in the centre; one to wake care of music and infotainment functions, and the lower to look after HVAC controls.

A customizable 12.3-inch digital driver’s display returns for the new S8 with navigation, live traffic and satellite imagery. There’s also a 23-speaker, 1920-watt Bang & Olufsen sound system fitted as standard.

The S8 is a car intended to indulge rear seat passengers. As such, electrically-adjustable outboard rear seats feature, as do electric sunblinds and a panoramic sunroof.

Those in the front of an S8 won’t be left wanting, with power front seats that feature heating, ventilation and massage function, as well as a heated steering wheel.

What’s under the S8’s bonnet?

The S8 is powered by the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V8 as the RS6. In S8 trim, the V8 produces slightly less power (420kW vs 441kW) but the same 800Nm torque figure. An eight-speed automatic sourced from ZF is the only transmission.

With AWD fitted and an electronically controlled ‘Quattro Sport’ limited slip differential as standard, the S8 is capable of hitting 100km/h in 3.8 seconds.

The new S8 features a revamped 48 volt mild-hybrid system that allows longer stop-start operation at traffic lights and the ability to ‘coast’ down hills on the motorway.

Audi says the S8s clever fuel-saving tech saves 0.8L/100km, resulting in a combined ADR consumption figure of 10.5L/100km for the new S8.

There’s also active air suspension – Audi’s terminology is ‘predictive active suspension – that uses cameras and other onboard sensors to rapidly adjust the S8’s chassis based on the road ahead.

Audi S8 2023: pricing in Australia

All prices listed are before on-road costs.

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 Axe, and 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 notable 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 Beast, with 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.

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 Strike, a 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 seconds, and the Kindred of Rot’s Exultation Talisman to raise attack power by 20% for 20 seconds when there’s poisoning or rot nearby, among 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

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 ‘OK, if someone else does it that’s fine,’ I was able to relax. Shortly after, I was able to achieve it anyway!”

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

Every Apex Legends season is distinct in its own way, but the game’s seasons always bring new content to the game in the form of battle passes, new legends, and map changes. However, new bugs often sneak in with major seasonal updates as well as new content. Most bugs are incredibly frustrating, but every once in a while, one appears that gives players an advantage (and a good deal of amusement), as is the case with a new bug that allows Newcastle players to go flying down hillsides at record speed while reviving a downed squadmate.

The bug–which, as one Redditor aptly noted, effectively turns the mobile defender into a full-blown ambulance–is the result of one of the recent buffs Newcastle received in the Season 14 update. The buff in question increased the speed at which Newcastle drags a downed teammate while utilizing his passive ability, Retrieve The Wounded.

While the game’s developers did aim to improve his passive ability, the intended effect was probably not meant to send Newcastle and his teammates bobsledding down slopes on their knockdown shields mid-revive. Previous unintended “features”–including one that allowed Caustic to stack barrels of Nox Gas on Gibraltar’s Gun Shield–have historically been resolved quickly. The super-speed revive bug will likely be patched in the future, so curious players should make the most of it before it’s removed from the game.

Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available for download on Android and iOS devices.