Iridescent Shards are the only currency in Dead by Daylight you cannot buy. Bloodpoints come from trials, Auric Cells come from your wallet — Shards come from one place and one place only: account XP. That makes them the single honest measure of what your playtime is worth inside the Store, and almost nobody has ever put a number on it.
So we did. Everything below is current for Patch 10.2.0, the build Behaviour Interactive shipped on 6 October 2026, and checked against Behaviour's own support documentation on 10 October 2026.
Quick answer: how do you get Iridescent Shards in DBD?
- You earn Shards automatically by levelling up your Player Level. There is no farming trick, no conversion, no purchase.
- The exchange rate is fixed at roughly 1 Iridescent Shard per 14 XP.
- A complete Player Level 1 to 99 climb pays 24,920 Shards for 348,270 XP of play, then resets to Level 1 and grants a Devotion level.
- A perfect 10-minute trial is worth 672 XP, or about 48 Shards. That is roughly 288 Shards per hour at best.
- Shards buy original (non-licensed) characters, teachable perks from the Shrine of Secrets, and cosmetics for original characters only. They never buy licensed characters, and they can never be converted back into Bloodpoints.
What are Iridescent Shards, exactly?
Dead by Daylight runs three currencies and they do not overlap. Bloodpoints are spent inside the Bloodweb on one character at a time. Auric Cells are the premium currency you buy with real money, and the only way to unlock licensed killers and survivors. Iridescent Shards sit in between: a free, account-wide currency that unlocks permanent content, introduced in Patch 1.2.0 — the same update that added the Shrine of Secrets.
Behaviour's own support article on the currency is blunt about where they come from:
"Iridescent Shards are awarded when you level up your account. They can also be obtained by completing daily and weekly Rituals."
— Behaviour Interactive Player Support, How do I get Iridescent Shards? (article last updated 12 April 2024)
Hold on to that second sentence. We will come back to it, because in October 2026 it does not appear to be true any more.
How many Iridescent Shards do you get per level?
Each Player Level costs a fixed amount of XP and pays a fixed number of Shards. The amounts step up in brackets, and both numbers plateau from Level 50 onward:
| Player Level | XP required per level | Iridescent Shards awarded |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2 | 720 | 50 |
| Level 3 | 900 | 65 |
| Levels 4 to 6 | 1,200 | 85 |
| Levels 7 to 14 | 2,100 | 150 |
| Levels 15 to 24 | 2,700 | 195 |
| Levels 25 to 34 | 3,300 | 235 |
| Levels 35 to 49 | 3,750 | 270 |
| Levels 50 to 99 | 4,200 | 300 |
Add the whole ladder up and you get the number that governs everything else in this guide: 348,270 XP to go from Level 1 to Level 99, paying out 24,920 Iridescent Shards. Reaching Level 99 and levelling once more resets you to Level 1 and adds a Devotion level, so that figure is effectively your Shard income per Devotion.
Where the XP itself comes from
XP is awarded per trial, not per Bloodpoint, which is why Bloodpoint-farming builds do nothing for your Shard income:
- 1 XP per second of trial time, capped at 600 XP — so a trial stops paying XP after 10 minutes.
- Emblems: 18 XP per Iridescent emblem, 12 per Gold, 6 per Silver, 0 per Bronze. Four emblems per trial, so a maximum of 72 XP.
- First Game of the Day: 300 XP, capped at 600 XP total across both roles — meaning you can claim it once as Killer and once as Survivor each day.
That gives a hard ceiling of 672 XP for a single perfect trial (600 time plus 72 emblems), or 972 XP if it is also your first game of the day in that role. At 14 XP per Shard, 672 XP is 48 Iridescent Shards.
Two other sources top it up. The Rift free track has paid out up to 2,500 Iridescent Shards per Tome since Tome 20, and Rift Fragments run off the same XP you are already earning at a rate of 500 XP per Fragment — so climbing the Rift and climbing your Player Level are the same activity. And if you enable cross-progression with duplicate DLC owned on two platforms, Behaviour pays a one-time 4,500 Iridescent Shard gift per duplicate on your first sync — the single largest Shard payout available to anyone, worth roughly 94 perfect trials.
The Rituals line in Behaviour's own documentation no longer matches the game
Behaviour's support article says Shards come from daily and weekly Rituals. Every published Daily Ritual reward in the live game is Bloodpoints — typically 30,000 to 60,000 BP — and we could not find a single current Ritual that pays Iridescent Shards. That article has not been edited since 12 April 2024.
We are not going to claim Behaviour removed the feature, because Behaviour has not said so. What we will say plainly: do not plan your Shard income around Rituals. Plan it around the XP table above, which is observable in-game every single match. If you are chasing the Ritual payouts themselves, you are farming Bloodpoints, not Shards — different currency, different ceiling.
What can you actually buy with Iridescent Shards?
Original characters
Non-licensed killers and survivors have a Shard price that drops permanently as they age out of the current roster:
| Character tier | Iridescent Shard price |
|---|---|
| Current roster (newest originals) | 9,000 |
| Released up to Tools of Torment | 4,500 |
| Released up to Shattered Bloodline | 2,250 |
Licensed characters never have a Shard price. Not at launch, not years later, not during a sale. Michael Myers, Pyramid Head, the Xenomorph, Chucky, Nicolas Cage — all Auric Cells or paid DLC, permanently. The base-roster killers (Trapper, Wraith, Hillbilly, Nurse, Huntress) have no price at all, because you already own them.
There is one trap here that Behaviour documents and almost nobody reads:
"Please note that when acquiring a Survivor or Killer with Auric Cells or Iridescent Shards from the in-game store, you will only receive one outfit. The secondary outfit is a DLC exclusive, given to players who get the Chapter in which that character is featured."
— Behaviour Interactive Player Support, I got a character, but I didn't get an additional outfit (article last updated 19 June 2026)
So a 9,000-Shard unlock is the character plus one outfit. If you wanted the second cosmetic set, you need the Chapter that character shipped in — Shards will never get you there.
The Shrine of Secrets
The Shrine rotates four teachable perks every Tuesday at 15:00 UTC — two Killer, two Survivor — and it is the only way to get another character's teachable perk without owning that character. Base prices are 2,000 Shards for Tier I, 4,000 for Tier II and 6,000 for Tier III, with discounts applied if you already own a lower tier.
Run those two rules together and you get a genuinely useful result. Buying Tier I at 2,000, then Tier II at its discounted 2,000, then Tier III at its discounted 2,000 totals 6,000 Shards — exactly the same as buying Tier III outright. There is no saving either way. But because a perk cannot reappear in the Shrine for at least the next three Shrines, buying up tier-by-tier takes a minimum of eight weeks instead of one afternoon. The sole exception is an Anniversary event, when the Shrine rotates daily. If you want the perk at Tier III and you have the Shards, buy Tier III.
The Shrine also runs the only Shard-to-Bloodpoint pipe in the game. Repurchasing a perk you already own at Tier III converts it into 100,000 Bloodpoints, once per perk per Shrine rotation — a ceiling of 400,000 Bloodpoints a week if all four slots happen to be perks you have maxed. The community wiki's verdict on using it deliberately is the correct one:
"This last option is not advised, as the Bloodpoints earned in the playtime it takes to regain the spent 2,000 Iridescent Shards will be far higher."
Which is exactly right: 2,000 Shards is 28,000 XP, or about seven hours of near-perfect play. Nobody earns only 100,000 Bloodpoints in seven hours. Treat the conversion as a consolation prize when the Shrine serves you four perks you already own, never as a strategy.
Cosmetics
This is where Shards get expensive. The conversion is mechanical: the Shard price of a cosmetic is its Auric Cell price multiplied by 20.
| Rarity | Individual piece (Shards) | Full outfit (Shards) |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 1,000 | 1,800 or 2,700 |
| Uncommon | 1,800 | 5,400 |
| Rare | 4,500 | 13,500 |
| Very Rare | 7,200 | 21,600 |
| Ultra Rare and Legendary | 9,900 | 29,700 |
Three restrictions apply. New cosmetics are Auric Cells only for roughly four weeks after they hit the Store before a Shard price appears. Cosmetics designed in collaboration with third-party artists are excluded from Shard purchase entirely, as are all cosmetics for licensed characters — Shard pricing only ever covers original characters. And unlike Auric Cells, there is no bundle discount: the community wiki states that "unlike with prices in Auric Cells, there is no discount for purchasing an entire Outfit over its individual parts with Iridescent Shards." Community design-contest cosmetics go the other way and are Shards-only.
What does each Shard price cost you in hours?
Here is the arithmetic nobody publishes. A perfect 10-minute trial pays 672 XP. Six of them back to back is 4,032 XP per hour, which is the absolute ceiling and assumes four Iridescent emblems every single match and zero lobby time. A realistic rate — four completed trials an hour with queue times, loading and mixed emblems — is closer to 2,688 XP per hour.
| What you want | Shards | XP needed | Best-case hours | Realistic hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shrine perk, Tier I | 2,000 | 28,000 | 6.9 | 10.4 |
| Legacy original character | 2,250 | 31,500 | 7.8 | 11.7 |
| Older original character | 4,500 | 63,000 | 15.6 | 23.4 |
| Current original character | 9,000 | 126,000 | 31.3 | 46.9 |
| Rare full outfit | 13,500 | 189,000 | 46.9 | 70.3 |
| Very Rare full outfit | 21,600 | 302,400 | 75.0 | 112.5 |
| Legendary full outfit | 29,700 | 415,800 | 103.1 | 154.7 |
And now the finding that should change how you spend. A single Legendary or Ultra Rare full outfit costs 29,700 Shards. An entire Player Level 1 to 99 Devotion cycle pays out 24,920. One cosmetic is priced 4,780 Shards above everything a full Devotion climb gives you — 415,800 XP of play against 348,270.
The same outfit in Auric Cells is 1,485 cells, which lands somewhere between roughly $11.88 and $14.85 depending on which Auric Cell pack you buy. Divide the money by the hours and the Store is telling you something uncomfortable: in cosmetics, Dead by Daylight values your playtime at between 8 and 14 cents an hour. In characters it is far kinder — a 2,250-Shard legacy killer is about 47 perfect trials. Spend Shards on roster and perks. Buy cosmetics with cells, or do not buy them.
Do DBD sales ever cut Iridescent Shard prices?
Mostly no, and this is the most common piece of bad advice in the community: "wait for the anniversary sale, characters go half price." They do go half price — but the discount is permanent and has nothing to do with sales.
Every sale Behaviour has published on its own news feed is a real-money storefront discount on paid DLC and Auric Cell purchases. The 9,000 to 4,500 to 2,250 Shard ladder comes from characters ageing past Tools of Torment and Shattered Bloodline, and it does not move during an event.
The one genuine precedent for a Shard discount is the Fifth Year Anniversary, when Behaviour discounted Shrine teachable perks to 1,500 Iridescent Shards and refreshed the Shrine early. That was a Shrine promotion, not a character sale, and it has not been a reliable annual fixture. As of 10 October 2026 Behaviour has published no Shard discount for this year's Halloween event, so if you are sitting on Shards waiting for one, you are sitting on them for nothing.
Four ways players waste Iridescent Shards
- Buying cosmetics with Shards. See the table above. The Auric Cell price of the same outfit is the cheapest hour you will ever buy back.
- Buying Shrine Tier I when you want Tier III. Same total cost, two extra months of waiting.
- Using the 100,000 Bloodpoint conversion as a farming method. You are trading seven hours of Shard income for a payout you would beat by playing.
- Unlocking an original character with Shards expecting both DLC outfits. Behaviour's support documentation is explicit that you get one.
Two closing notes. Shards are shared by cross-progression across every participating platform, Nintendo Switch included — unlike Auric Cells, which stay locked to the storefront you bought them on. And if you are hunting Shard payouts from event log-ins or code redemptions, those are real but irregular, and never large enough to plan around.
Frequently asked questions
How many Iridescent Shards do you get per level in DBD? Between 50 and 300, depending on your bracket. Level 2 pays 50, Levels 7 to 14 pay 150 each, and everything from Level 50 to 99 pays a flat 300 Shards for 4,200 XP. The whole Level 1 to 99 climb pays 24,920 Shards.
What is the fastest way to farm Iridescent Shards? There is no farm, only efficiency. Complete trials that last at least 10 minutes, since XP from match time caps at 600 and anything past the 10-minute mark is free Bloodpoints but zero XP. Chase Iridescent emblems for 18 XP each rather than Bloodpoint totals, and claim the 300 XP First Game of the Day on both Killer and Survivor every day. That is about 288 Shards an hour at the ceiling.
Can you buy Iridescent Shards with real money? No. Shards are earned through account XP only and there is no purchase option, no Auric Cell conversion and no Bloodpoint conversion. The closest thing to buying them is the one-time 4,500 Shard gift for duplicate DLC on your first cross-progression sync.
Can you unlock licensed killers with Iridescent Shards? No. Licensed characters have never had a Shard price and Behaviour has never indicated one is planned. Shards cover original characters, Shrine perks and cosmetics for original characters.
Why can't I buy a cosmetic with Shards? Three likely reasons: it has been in the Store for less than about four weeks and is still Auric Cells only, it belongs to a licensed character, or it was designed in collaboration with a third-party artist. All three are excluded from Shard pricing.
Is the Shrine of Secrets worth Iridescent Shards? For a teachable perk on a character you do not own, yes — it is the only route. 2,000 Shards is roughly seven hours of play for a perk you would otherwise need a full character unlock to reach. For a perk you already have at Tier III, no: the 100,000 Bloodpoint repurchase is worth far less than the playtime it costs to earn the Shards back.
Do Iridescent Shards transfer between platforms? Yes. Shards are part of shared progression under cross-progression and carry across all participating platforms, including Nintendo Switch. Auric Cells do not.
Want the rest of the Dead by Daylight economy mapped out? We have run the same arithmetic on every currency and cap in the game:
- DBD Auric Cells: prices, packs and the real cost per cell
- DBD Bloodpoints cap: the limit and how to farm fast
- DBD cross progression: setup and exactly what transfers
- DBD Academia Rift: release date, rewards and the Rift Pass
- DBD codes: every working code this month
Figures verified against Behaviour Interactive Player Support documentation and the community wiki on 10 October 2026, Patch 10.2.0. Hour estimates are our own calculation from Behaviour's published XP rules; Behaviour does not publish an average XP or Bloodpoint figure per trial.
