Technologies

God of War Ragnarok: Muspelheim Seed Locations

Here’s how to unlock God of War: Ragnarok’s Muspelheim Combat Trials, and what you get for completing them.

Sure, God of War: Ragnarok has recieved plenty of acclaim for its thoughtful story. But really, all God of War games mostly consist of Kratos killing things. Big things, small things, slow things, fast things. Kratos kills ’em all. Just like in its predecessor, Kratos’ killing skills can be put to the test in exchange for valuable resources in Muspelheim’s Combat Trials.

This guide will explain how to unlock the Muspelheim Crucible, as well as go through what rewards you get for completing its many Combat Trials.

Opening the portal to Muspelheim requires Kratos & Co. to find two Muspelheim Seed Halves which, when combined, act as a key, opening passage to the fiery realm. Both Muspelheim Seed Halves can be found in Svartalfhiem, the land of the Dwarves and the first open area that Ragnarok permits you to explore. Unfortunately, you’ll need the Draupnir Spear, a weapon you get well into the story, to get access to the second Muspelheim Seed Half.

How to find the first Muspelheim Seed Half

You can find the first Muspelheim Seed Half by accepting the first side quest (or «favor», as the game calls them) in God of War: Ragnarok. In the course of the game’s story, Kratos and Atreus seek out Durlin, a Dwarf who famously led a resistance movement against Asgard. Before finding him, you encounter another Dwarf, Raeb, who encourages Kratos to undo some of the harm done by Mimir and Odin years ago.

This unlocks a side quest titled In Service of Asgard, which tasks you with breaking down some old mining rigs that pollute Svartalfhiem Bay. Definitely do this side quest. It nets you an armor set, a Light Runic attack and unlocks several other side quests. Most notable of these is the side quest that gets you into Muspelheim.

As part of In Service of Asgard, you’ll find Modvitnir’s Rig, which you’ll need to destroy. Once you disembark, climb up the wall on the right, jump over the bridge and scale another wall. Atop you’ll find a chest containing a Muspelheim Seed Half.

Where to find the second Muspelheim Seed Half

The second part of the key to Muspelheim is basically around the corner, but you’ll need new equipment to access the area it’s in. This is a no-spoiler guide, so I won’t write about how you get the Draupnir Spear — other than it’s a weapon you get a good way through Ragnarok’s story.

Soon after you get the Draupnir Spear, you’ll encounter a character who embarks you on another side quest called Spirit of Rebellion. To complete that quest, you’ll end up travelling to Dragon’s Beach, which features the notable landmark of a giant Dwarf statue.

After you clear out the enemies on the beachfront, you’ll see a wooden structure you can climb up on the left of the beachfront (you can see it pictured below, directly in front of Kratos’ boat). There you’ll see a hole out of which a gust of air is blowing. Throw the Draupnir Spear into it, and Kratos will be able to swing to the platform above.

Follow the path and you’ll clear out enemies and find the item you need to complete the Spirit of Rebellion favor. Instead of going back the way you came, however, go through the path to the left of the big ol’ Dwarf statue. There you’ll find a family of ogres you’ll need to slaughter.

There’ll be a bunch of debris covering a chest. After you kill the ogres, you can toss a fire bomb from a nearby generator into the debris, allowing you access to the chest. In the picture below you can see where to get the fire bomb and where the chest is. Inside you’ll find the second Muspelheim Seed Half.

Muspelheim’s first Combat Trials

Once you get the Muspelheim Crucible, one of the first things you’ll notice is a Nornir Chest. Unlocking this one is unlike any other in God of War: Ragnarok, however. To remove the three letters from the chest, you’ll have to complete the six different trials immediately available to you.

Each area of the Crucible’s three areas features a sword monument at its center. Interacting with the monument gives you the option between two different combat trials. Completing these trials yields the Undying Pyres Armor Set. The Bracers and Girdle increase how quickly your Permaforst, Immolation and Maelstrom gauge fills up, while the Shoulder Guard offers a perk that sees Kratos gain a shield. That shield prevents the first hit you take from resetting those gauges once filled. You also get Divine Ashes, which are used to craft and upgrade various armor sets and weapon accessories.

Here’s all six trials and the rewards for clearing them.

Population Control: Kill the Bergsra without the the enemy count going above 4. If there are more than 4 enemies, a timer will begin to count you out. This is among the harder Combat Trials, in that it’s particularly difficult to use skill to make up for a lower level or underpowered weapons. If you’re having trouble, come back when you’re strong enough to more quickly take out the grunts. Rewards: Girdle of Undying Pyres, 250 Divine Ashes, 1,000 Hacksilver
King of the Hill: Three highlighted circles will appear throughout the area. You’ll be barraged by three waves of enemies, who will eat away at the trial’s timer if they stand in any of the circles. Like Population Control, this is a difficult one if you’re underpowered. Since you’ll have the option to swing between areas, make use of Kratos’ Death from Above attacks. (Press R1 or R2 while you’re in midair.) Rewards: 250 Divine Ashes, 1,000 Hacksilver.
Weapon Mastery: Kill 16 enemies in 3 minutes. The first wave has frost shields, the second has flame shields. After that, you’ll be met with a couple of waves of enemies with mixed shields, including ones you’ll need to use the Draupnir Spear to break. The hardest wave consists of a Draugr Lord, a Draugr Scout and a flame-shielded Nokken that will heal them both. Rewards: Shoulder Guard of Undying Pyres, 250 Divine Ashes, Hacksilver.
Flawless: Kill 15 enemies without taking damage. This one is most simple, and not as hard as it sounds — until the Dodher Gradungr beast comes out. This bull-like monster can lunge at you from far distances, and is accompanied by enemies launching ranged attacks. Keep that shield up, and make good use of the Draupnir Spear’s ranged detonation ability. Rewards: 250 Divine Ashes, 1,000 Hacksilver.
Ring Out: Kill 21 enemies with recharging health. This is actually one of the easier trials once you figure it out. To kill enemies, you’ll have to knock them into the nearby lava pits. That can be done fairly easily with moves like the Leviathan Axe’s Serpent’s Snare, and its running R2 attack. Rewards: Bracers of Undying Pyres, 250 Divine Ashes, 1,000 Hacksilver.
Feed the Rift: Kill enemies to generate orbs, then throw the orbs into the realm rifts that appear in the arena. This will be familiar if you’ve fought many Ancient Soul Eaters, and is similarly quite easy. Rewards: 250 Divine Ashes, 1,000 Hacksilver.

Once you complete all six of the Combat Trials, you unlock a Nornir chest in the central Muspelheim area which contains a Chaos Flame, which upgrades Kratos’ Blades of Chaos, as well as 10,000 XP for Kratos and 2,500 XP for his companion.

Muspelheim’s Final Challenges trials

As you may have guessed, the first six combat trials are just a warmup. After you complete them, a giant flaming sword monument appears in the central Crucible area, unlocking nine new trials.

If you go back to the three sword monuments, you’ll see that there’s a new trial offered at each. When you complete two of these new trials, lava flows to the sword in the center of Muspelheim, where you can do a «final» trial. Here’s where it gets a touch confusing

What «final» trial you get depends on which combination of two trials you complete. For instance, completing Rampage and Health Steal unlocks the Endurance final trial, but completing Health Steal and then Rampage unlocks Ring of Fire final trial. There are six combinations to complete the below three trials, resulting in six total final trials.

Rampage: Kill 20 enemies in 150 seconds. This one is straightforward, and mostly easy. It gets dicey when an Ogre hits the area about halfway through. Use attacks to stagger him as quickly as possible, which will allow you to ride its shoulders and pummel nearby enemies. Reward: Smouldering Embers, 8 Asgardian Ingots, 250 Divine Ashes and 2,500 Hacksilver.
Health Steal: Your health will be drained, but is replenished by killing enemies. This is also easy if you’re sufficiently leveled. Be aware of the enemies who pop up on ledges and fire ranged attacks at you. You’ll have to deal with a Wight at the outset, but the trickier part is at the end when a Nokken appears and heals a set of Elf Warrior enemies. Reward: Blazing Embers, 3 Luminous Alloy, 250 Divine Ashes, 2,500 Hacksilver.
Kill Fuse: Kratos has 30 seconds to kill 22 enemies, but killing enemies grants extra time. This is also easier than it sounds, as many of the enemies you’re presented with are ranged attackers who can be killed with one or two well-placed Leviathan Axe throws. You might have a slight bit of trouble from the Wulver that apears, but even he’s not too much of an issue. Reward: 4 Petrified Bone, Glowing Embers, 250 Divine Ashes, 2,500 Hacksilver.

A recurring theme in explaining the above trials is that they’re all relatively easy. That’s good, because you’ll be doing them a bunch of times. Below are the final trials, and the combinations that unlock them. By finishing all six final trials, you’ll assemble Surtr’s Scorched Armor Set and collect a trio of Muspelheim amulet enchantments.

Surtr’s Scorched Armor reduces the damage Kratos takes and increases his stagger resistance, while the amulet enchantments offer the perk of increasing Kratos’ melee damage when Permafrost, Immolation or Maelstrom are fully charged. Below is a full breakdown of the six «final» trials and their rewards.

Endurance: Kill 99 enemies without dying. Unlock Endurance Challenge by completing Rampage and then Health Steal. Rewards: Blazing Embers, 3 Smouldering Embers, 1,000 Divine Ashes, 20,000 Hacksilver and Surtr’s Scorched Curass.
Ring of Fire: Kill all enemies while staying within the safety of the fire ring. Unlock Ring of Fire by completing Health Steal and then Rampage. Rewards: Blazing Embers, 2 Smouldering Embers, Glowing Embers, 1,000 Divine Ashes, 20,000 Hacksilver, Surtr’s Scorched Arm.
Boss Rush: Kill five powerful enemies back to back (to back to back to back). You’ll face a Traveller, a Fierce Stalker, a Dark Elf Lord, a Light Elf Warrior and an Einherjar Brute. Unlock Boss Rush by completing Kill Fuse and then Health Steal. Rewards: Smouldering Embers, 2 Glowing Embers, 3 Blazing Embers, 1,000 Divine Ashes, 20,000 Hacksilver, Surtr’s Scorched Girdle.
Phantom: Kill a Flame Phantom. Unlock the Phantom challenge by completing Kill Fuse and then Rampage. Rewards: Glowing Embers, 2 Smouldering Embers, Blazing Embers, 1,000 Divine Ashes, 20,000 Hacksilver Muspelheim’s Essence amulet enchantment.
Shield Breaker: Defeat grunts to break the boss’ shield. The first boss is an Einherjar Champion, followed by a Stalker. Unlock Shield Breaker by completing Rampage and then Kill Fuse. Rewards: Glowing Embers, 2 Blazing Embers, 3 Smouldering Embers, 1,000 Divine Ashes, 20,000 Hacksilver, Muspelheim’s Force amulet enchantment.
Onslaught: Stay alive for 5 minutes. Unlock Onslaught by completing Health Steal and then Kill Fuse. Rewards: Smouldering Embers, 2 Blazing Embers, 3 Glowing Embers, 1,000 Divine Ashes, 20,000 Hacksilver, Muspelheim’s Endurance amulet enchantment.

Whichever trial you complete last will give you 100,000 Hacksilver instead of 20,000. There’s no additional treasure chest that presents itself after you finish all trials, but you will get 3,500 XP for Kratos and 1,500 XP for his companion. And, just as importantly, a sweet Trophy.

Technologies

The Future’s Here: Testing Out Gemini’s Live Camera Mode

Gemini Live’s new camera mode feels like the future when it works. I put it through a stress test with my offbeat collectibles.

«I just spotted your scissors on the table, right next to the green package of pistachios. Do you see them?»

Gemini Live’s chatty new camera feature was right. My scissors were exactly where it said they were, and all I did was pass my camera in front of them at some point during a 15-minute live session of me giving the AI chatbot a tour of my apartment. Google’s been rolling out the new camera mode to all Android phones using the Gemini app for free after a two-week exclusive to Pixel 9 (including the new Pixel 9A) and Galaxy S5 smartphones. So, what exactly is this camera mode and how does it work?

When you start a live session with Gemini, you now how have the option to enable a live camera view, where you can talk to the chatbot and ask it about anything the camera sees. Not only can it identify objects, but you can also ask questions about them — and it works pretty well for the most part. In addition, you can share your screen with Gemini so it can identify things you surface on your phone’s display.

When the new camera feature popped up on my phone, I didn’t hesitate to try it out. In one of my longer tests, I turned it on and started walking through my apartment, asking Gemini what it saw. It identified some fruit, ChapStick and a few other everyday items with no problem. I was wowed when it found my scissors.

That’s because I hadn’t mentioned the scissors at all. Gemini had silently identified them somewhere along the way and then recalled the location with precision. It felt so much like the future, I had to do further testing.

My experiment with Gemini Live’s camera feature was following the lead of the demo that Google did last summer when it first showed off these live video AI capabilities. Gemini reminded the person giving the demo where they’d left their glasses, and it seemed too good to be true. But as I discovered, it was very true indeed.

Gemini Live will recognize a whole lot more than household odds and ends. Google says it’ll help you navigate a crowded train station or figure out the filling of a pastry. It can give you deeper information about artwork, like where an object originated and whether it was a limited edition piece.

It’s more than just a souped-up Google Lens. You talk with it, and it talks to you. I didn’t need to speak to Gemini in any particular way — it was as casual as any conversation. Way better than talking with the old Google Assistant that the company is quickly phasing out.

Google also released a new YouTube video for the April 2025 Pixel Drop showcasing the feature, and there’s now a dedicated page on the Google Store for it.

To get started, you can go live with Gemini, enable the camera and start talking. That’s it.

Gemini Live follows on from Google’s Project Astra, first revealed last year as possibly the company’s biggest «we’re in the future» feature, an experimental next step for generative AI capabilities, beyond your simply typing or even speaking prompts into a chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. It comes as AI companies continue to dramatically increase the skills of AI tools, from video generation to raw processing power. Similar to Gemini Live, there’s Apple’s Visual Intelligence, which the iPhone maker released in a beta form late last year.

My big takeaway is that a feature like Gemini Live has the potential to change how we interact with the world around us, melding our digital and physical worlds together just by holding your camera in front of almost anything.

I put Gemini Live to a real test

The first time I tried it, Gemini was shockingly accurate when I placed a very specific gaming collectible of a stuffed rabbit in my camera’s view. The second time, I showed it to a friend in an art gallery. It identified the tortoise on a cross (don’t ask me) and immediately identified and translated the kanji right next to the tortoise, giving both of us chills and leaving us more than a little creeped out. In a good way, I think.

I got to thinking about how I could stress-test the feature. I tried to screen-record it in action, but it consistently fell apart at that task. And what if I went off the beaten path with it? I’m a huge fan of the horror genre — movies, TV shows, video games — and have countless collectibles, trinkets and what have you. How well would it do with more obscure stuff — like my horror-themed collectibles?

First, let me say that Gemini can be both absolutely incredible and ridiculously frustrating in the same round of questions. I had roughly 11 objects that I was asking Gemini to identify, and it would sometimes get worse the longer the live session ran, so I had to limit sessions to only one or two objects. My guess is that Gemini attempted to use contextual information from previously identified objects to guess new objects put in front of it, which sort of makes sense, but ultimately, neither I nor it benefited from this.

Sometimes, Gemini was just on point, easily landing the correct answers with no fuss or confusion, but this tended to happen with more recent or popular objects. For example, I was surprised when it immediately guessed one of my test objects was not only from Destiny 2, but was a limited edition from a seasonal event from last year.

At other times, Gemini would be way off the mark, and I would need to give it more hints to get into the ballpark of the right answer. And sometimes, it seemed as though Gemini was taking context from my previous live sessions to come up with answers, identifying multiple objects as coming from Silent Hill when they were not. I have a display case dedicated to the game series, so I could see why it would want to dip into that territory quickly.

Gemini can get full-on bugged out at times. On more than one occasion, Gemini misidentified one of the items as a made-up character from the unreleased Silent Hill: f game, clearly merging pieces of different titles into something that never was. The other consistent bug I experienced was when Gemini would produce an incorrect answer, and I would correct it and hint closer at the answer — or straight up give it the answer, only to have it repeat the incorrect answer as if it was a new guess. When that happened, I would close the session and start a new one, which wasn’t always helpful.

One trick I found was that some conversations did better than others. If I scrolled through my Gemini conversation list, tapped an old chat that had gotten a specific item correct, and then went live again from that chat, it would be able to identify the items without issue. While that’s not necessarily surprising, it was interesting to see that some conversations worked better than others, even if you used the same language.

Google didn’t respond to my requests for more information on how Gemini Live works.

I wanted Gemini to successfully answer my sometimes highly specific questions, so I provided plenty of hints to get there. The nudges were often helpful, but not always. Below are a series of objects I tried to get Gemini to identify and provide information about.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 26, #1407

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle No. 1,407 for April 26. Hint: Fans of a certain musical group will rock out with this puzzle.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle isn’t too tough. The letters are fairly common, and fans of a certain rock band might get a kick out of the answer. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There is one vowel in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: Start letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter C.

Wordle hint No. 4: Rock out

Today’s Wordle answer is the name of a legendary English rock band.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a violent confrontation.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is CLASH.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, April 25, No. 1406 was KNOWN.

Recent Wordle answers

April 21, No. 1402: SPATE

April 22, No. 1403: ARTSY

April 23, No. 1404: OZONE.

April 24, No. 1405: GENIE

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE

Technologies

T-Mobile Adds New Top 5G Plans, T-Satellite and New 5-Year Price Locks

The new top unlimited plans, Experience More and Experience Beyond, shave some costs and add data and satellite options.

Just two years after expanding its lineup of cellular plans, T-Mobile this week announced two new plans that replace its Go5G Plus and Go5G Next offerings, refreshed its prepaid Metro line and wrapped them all in a promised five-year pricing guarantee.

To convert more subscribers, the carrier is also offering up to $800 to help customers pay off phone balances when switching from another carrier.

In a briefing with CNET, Jon Friar, president of T-Mobile’s consumer group, explained why the company is revamping and simplifying its array of mobile plans. «The pain point that’s out there over the last couple of years is rising costs all around consumers,» Friar said. «For us to be able to bring more value and even lower prices on [plans like] Experience More versus our former Go5G Plus is a huge win for consumers.»

The new plans went into effect April 23.

With these changes, CNET is already hard at work updating our picks for Best T-Mobile Plans, so check back soon for our recommendations.

More Experiences to define the T-Mobile experience

The top of the new T-Mobile postpaid lineup is two new plans: Experience More and Experience Beyond.

Experience More is the next generation of the Go5G Plus plan, which has unlimited 5G and 4G LTE access and unlimited Premium Data (download speeds up to 418Mbps and upload speeds up to 31Mbps). High-speed hotspot data is bumped up to 60GB from 50GB per month. The monthly price is now $5 lower per line than Go5G Plus.

The Experience More plan also gets free T-Satellite with Starlink service (the new name for T-Mobile’s satellite feature that uses Starlink’s constellation of satellites) through the end of 2025. Although T-Satellite is still officially in beta until July, customers can continue to get free access to the beta starting now. At the start of the new year, the service will cost $10 per month, a $5 drop from T-Mobile’s originally announced pricing. T-Satellite will be open to customers of other carriers for the same pricing beginning in July.

The new top-tier plan, Experience Beyond, also comes in $5 per line cheaper than its predecessor, Go5G Next. It has 250GB of high-speed hotspot data per month, up from 50GB, and more data when you’re traveling outside the US: 30GB in Canada and Mexico (versus 15GB) and 15GB in 215 countries (up from 5GB). T-Satellite service is included in the Experience Beyond plan.

However, one small change to the Experience plans affects that pricing: Taxes and fees, previously included in the Go5G Plus and Go5G Next prices, are now broken out separately. T-Mobile recently announced that one such fee, the Regulatory Programs and Telco Recovery Fee, would increase up to 50 cents per month.

According to T-Mobile, the Experience Beyond rates and features will be «rolling out soon» for customers currently on the Go5G Next plan.

The Essentials plan is staying in the lineup at the same cost of $60 per month for a single line, the same 50GB of Premium Data and unlimited 5G and 4G LTE data. High-speed hotspot data is an optional $10 add-on, as is T-Satellite access, for $15 (both per month).

Also still in the mix is the Essentials Saver plan, an affordable option that has ranked high in CNET’s Best Cellphone Plans recommendations.

Corresponding T-Mobile plans, such as those for military, first responders and people age 55 and older are also getting refreshed with the new lineup.

T-Mobile’s plan shakeup is being driven in part by the current economic climate. Explaining the rationale behind the price reductions and the streamlined number of plans, Mike Katz, president of marketing, innovation and experience at T-Mobile told CNET, «We’re in a weird time right now where prices everywhere are going up and they’ve happened over the last several years. We felt like there was an opportunity to compete with some simplicity, but more importantly, some peace of mind for customers.»

Existing customers who want to switch to one of the new plans can do so at the same rates offered to new customers. Or, if a current plan still works for them, they can continue without changes (although keep in mind that T-Mobile earlier this year increased prices for some legacy plans).

Five years of price stability

It’s nearly impossible to think about prices these days without warily eyeing how tariffs and US economic policy will affect what we pay for things. So it’s not surprising to see carriers implement some cost stability into their plans. For instance, Verizon recently locked prices for three years on their plans.

Now, T-Mobile is building a five-year price guarantee for its T-Mobile and Metro plans. That pricing applies to talk, text and data amounts — not necessarily taxes and other fees that can fluctuate.

Given the uncertain outlook, it seems counterintuitive to lock in a longer rate. When asked about this, Katz said, «We feel like our job is to solve pain points for customers and we feel like this helps with this exact sentiment. It shifts the risk from customers to us. We’ll take the risk so they don’t have to.»

The price hold applies to new customers signing up for the plans as well as current customers switching to one. T-Mobile is offering the same deals and pricing to new and existing subscribers. Also, the five-year deal applies to pricing; it’s not a five-year plan commitment.

More money and options to encourage switchers

The promise of a five-year price guarantee is also intended to lure people from other carriers, particularly AT&T and Verizon. As further incentive, T-Mobile is offering up to $800 per line (distributed via a virtual prepaid Mastercard) to help pay off other carriers’ device contracts. This is a limited-time offer. There are also options to trade in old devices, including locked phones, to get up to four new flagship phones.

Or, if getting out of a contract isn’t an issue, T-Mobile can offer $200 in credit (up to $800 for four lines) to bring an existing number to the network.

Four new Metro prepaid plans

On the prepaid side, T-Mobile is rolling out four new Metro plans, which are also covered by the new five-year price guarantee:

• Metro Starter costs $25 per line per month for a family of four and there is no need to bring an existing number. (The cost is $105 the first month.)

• Metro Starter Plus runs $40 per month for a new phone, unlimited talk, text and 5G data when bringing an existing number. For $65 per month, new customers can get two lines and two new Samsung A15 phones. No autopay is required.

• Metro Flex Unlimited is $30 per line per month with autopay for four lines ($125 the first month) with unlimited talk, text and 5G data.

• Metro Flex Unlimited Plus costs $60 per line per month, then $35 for lines two and three and then lowers the price of the fourth line to $10 per month as more family members are added. Adding a tablet or smartwatch to an existing line costs $5. And streaming video, such as from the included Amazon Prime membership, comes through at HD quality.

See more: If you’re looking for phone plans, you may also be looking for a new cell phone. Here are CNET’s picks.