[[File:Shards_Loading_Screen.png|right|400px]]Shards are gemlike gem-like artifacts that slot into your Relics, Armor , and Weapons. Shards replaced [[Skill Spheres]] system and item [[Passives]] (while some items with unique passives still drop but have only one shard slot). Shards give your hero or your defenses extra stats or abilities, all green shards can buff only defenses and can be placed only in [[Relics]], while blue shards will buff your hero and can be placed in [[Weapon]] and [[Armor]]. Shards can be moved between pieces of gear and be upgraded straight from your inventory. A weapon or piece of armor allows to hold up to 2 3 Shards and can only equip Hero (blue) Shards and relics can hold up to 3 Defense (green) Shards. Blue shards give you hero new abilities or stats while they are placed in any item currently equipped by that hero, but green (defenses) shards strengthen only that tower, where relic containing them is equipped.
==Shards Packs==Shards drop from shard packs obtained from victory chest at the end of every map, there are different kinds of you will get Standard shard pack after completing any Campaign and Chaos map, those packs depending can drop shards associated with Campaign packs. After completing Expeditions on Chaos difficulty, you will get guaranteed Shard pack from that difficulty: Campaignand one Shard Pack from any previous difficulty (for example, if you beat Chaos III Expeditions, you’ll receive 1 Chaos III Shard Pack and 1Chaos II, Chaos 2 etcI or Standard Shard Pack). Once you win 3 consecutive random maps in a row in Expeditions, you’ll activate the Shard consecutive bonus. On your 4th consecutive victory onward, you’ll earn an extra Shard Pack for as long as the streak continues. Each will drop This extra Shard Pack is a guaranteed Shard Pack from corresponding that difficulty. That means once you activate the win bonus, but higher difficulties have a chance to drop packs you’ll get 3 Shards guaranteed every victory (2 Shard Packs of that difficulty, 1 Shard Pack from lower previous difficulties) until one of your crystals break or you leave the game.
Any shard can be purchased from [[Non Playable Characters#Gran_Ma'ster's_Shop|Gran Ma'ster]] for 1000 Defender Medals or 250 Gems. A shard pack containing 5 random shards can also be purchased for 500 Defender Medals or 125 Gems. These shard packs will give you 5 random shards from a single difficulty (e.g. 5 random Chaos V shards). ==Shard ListDust==Click on column header to sort tableAs of the Protean Shift update, you may disenchant shards (press 's' when hovering over a shard) which will turn the shard into shard dust of the same tier. Ten shard dust can also sort by multiple columns by holding shift keybe exchanged with [[Non_Playable_Characters#War_Recruiter|War Recruiter]] to obtain one new shard pack. ==Standard Shards List== <tabber> Squire=[[File:Squire_icon_trans.png|70px| center]] {{Datafield|Shards/Squire|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/SquireAndCountess|swap}}|-| Apprentice=[[File:Apprentice_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]] {{Datafield|Shards/Apprentice|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/ApprenticeAndAdept|swap}} |-| Huntress=[[File:Huntress_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Huntress|swap}} |-| Monk=[[File:Monk_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Monk|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/MonkAndInitiate|swap}} |-| Abyss_Lord=[[File:AbyssLord_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Abyss_Lord|swap}} |-| Series_Ev2=[[File:SeriesEV2_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Ev2|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/Ev2AndDryad|swap}} |-| Gunwitch=[[File:Gunwitch_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Gunwitch|swap}} |-| Lavamancer=[[File:Lavamancer_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Lavamancer|swap}} |-| Mystic=[[File:Mystic_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Mystic|swap}} |-| Dryad=[[File:Dryad_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Dryad|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/Ev2AndDryad|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/DryadAndMerc|swap}} |-| Initiate=[[File:Initiate_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Initiate|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/MonkAndInitiate|swap}} |-| Adept=[[File:Adept_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Adept|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/ApprenticeAndAdept|swap}} |-| Barbarian=[[File:Chibi barb copy.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Barbarian|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/BarbAndMerc|swap}} |-| Mercenary=[[File:Mercenary_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Mercenary|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/DryadAndMerc|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/BarbAndMerc|swap}} |-| Countess=[[File:Countess_icon_trans.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Countess|swap}}{{Datafield|Shards/SquireAndCountess|swap}} |-| Engineer=[[File:Engineer_Icon.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Engineer|swap}} |-| Hunter=[[File:Hunter HeadIcon.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Hunter|swap}} |-| Aquarion=[[File:Aquarion HeadIcon.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Aquarion|swap}} |-| Frostweaver=[[File:Frostweaver HeadIcon.png| 70px| center]]{{Datafield|Shards/Frostweaver|swap}} |-| Others={| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:10090%; text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" style="width:15%; text-align:center;" | Name
! rowspan="2" style="width:45%; text-align:center;" | Effect
! rowspan="2" style="width:5%; text-align:center;" | Upgr. levels
! rowspan="2" style="width:7%; text-align:center;" | Shard Pack
! colspan="72" style="width:31%; text-align:center;" | Valid for
|-
! style="width:10%;" | Hero
! style="width:3%;" | Weapon! style="width:3%;" | Shield! style="width:3%;" | Helmet! style="width:3%;" | Chest ! style="width:3%;" | Gloves! style="width:3%;" | Boots! style="width:3%;" | Relic|-Slot
|- id="enhanced_launcher"
| {{Hero Shard|Enhanced Launcher}}
| Anti Gravity Bot Launcher can store an additional '''1-15''' Anti Gravity Bots.
| 14
|'''Removed'''
| {{Valid for SeriesEV2}}
| Weapon
|- id="skeletal_bind"
| {{Hero Shard|Skeletal Bind}}
| When you defeat an enemy, you generate a charge. Your next fully-charged secondary attack summons a skeletal hand that traps each target hit for '''1-6''' seconds, draining one charge for each enemy hit. You can have a max of '''5''' charges.
| 10
|'''Removed'''
| {{Valid for ALL}}
| Weapon
|- id="frenzied_swarm"
| {{Defense Shard|Frenzied Swarm}}
| Moss Hornet movement speed is increased by '''500-1300 (1,500)'''.
| 16
| '''Changed to Fleeting Nature'''
| {{Valid for Dryad}}
| Relic
|- id="harbingers_exile"
| {{Defense Shard|Harbinger’s Exile}}
| Training Dummy has a '''1-9%''' chance to teleport targets back to spawner.
| 20
|'''Removed'''
| {{Valid for Squire}}
| Relic
|- id="withering_blast"
| {{Defense Shard|Withering Blast}}
| Enemies damaged by Arcane Barrier take '''5-20%''' increased damage for '''1.5-3''' seconds.
| 15
|'''Revenge of the Yeti Incursion'''
| {{Valid for Apprentice}}{{Valid for Adept}}
| Relic
|- id="onsen_bath"
| {{Defense Shard|Onsen Bath}}
| 20% chance for Cannonball Tower to fire a steamy blast dealing '''20-500%''' Defense Power and drenching enemies for 3 seconds.
| 12
|'''Revenge of the Yeti Incursion - Xbox Exclusive Item'''
| {{Valid for Squire}}
| Relic
|}
|-|
</tabber>
{{Datafield|Shards/AllHeroes|swap}}
{{Datafield|Shards/SomeHeroes|swap}}
==Hyper Shards==
{{Datafield|Shards/Hypershards|swap}}