Shard Eruptions

A Shard Eruption is a gameplay system introduced since the Season of Shattering. Almost every day, shards periodically erupt from the mountain on the horizon, falling multiple times a day in one predetermined location in the realm indicated by the embedded shards on the realm's portal. The exact location in the realm follows a schedule.

You must complete these events to get Maximum Winged Light due to Shard Memories.

Players can use Strong Eruptions as an alternative way of getting Ascended Candles instead of going through the Eye of Eden. You can participate as in as many eruptions as you want, but you'll only get the reward once a day.

## Today's Shard

This section was last updated on **Sun, January 28, 2024**. Purge the page to force it to refresh if is out of date.

* Will shard appear today? **No**

Alternatively, you use Sky Shards by Plutoy to see a live countdown of shard and additional information.

## Schedule

Shards location and timings are derived from the day of month and the presence of shard is determined by the weekday. The following schedule has been derived for your convenience.

### Derivation of Calendar

The above calendar is derived from the following information.

#### Realm Cycle

It goes in the following order (starting every 1st of the month, then repeats):

Daylight Prairie, Hidden Forest, Valley of Triumph, Golden Wasteland, Vault of Knowledge

#### Timing Cycle

The timing cycle is a little more complicated. It goes in the following order (starting every 1st of the month, then repeats):

2, 1, 3, 0, 4, 1, 2, 0, 3, 1, 4, 0

#### Correlation Table

Using the above two cycles and the table below, we can derive the calendar above.

## Shard Information

### Pre-eruption Phase

The pre-eruption phase of an event lasts for 8-10 minutes, during which time Eden mountain starts to erupt with an impressive explosion. The background of the mountain starts to turn red and as lightning intensifies the entire mountain top becomes illuminated; a loud bang can be heard while the ground starts to shake. An explosion marks the actual eruption: red rocks can be seen emerging from the top of Eden and flying in various directions.

This pre-eruption phase can be seen in every outside location throughout Sky. In exterior areas where Eden mountain is not visible (e.g., most of Golden Wasteland), the event can still be inferred from the fact that the sky turns red and the atmosphere turns murky. Only interior locations (e.g., most of the Vault of Knowledge) are unaffected by the pre-eruption phase. When the eruption happens, players everywhere are told that "*Darkness has fallen upon <Realm>*".

In the Shard Eruption location, skies remain red for the entire event but return to normal color throughout the other realms. Once players clear a shard, it vanishes from that specific area. Leaving the area and returning will trigger a new round of shards, as long as you return during the active shard period. However, you can only collect the Ascended Candles or Pieces of Light once per day. When the shard event ends, players who are in the realm where the eruption is happening are told that "*The fallen shards of darkness from Eye of Eden in this realm have been cleansed*".

There are two types of shard events:

* **Strong Eruptions**: perilous, but rewards include Ascended Candles and completion of Shattering Seasonal Quests and access to 1 of 6 Ancient Memories with Winged Light inside.
* **Regular Eruptions**: less risky, but only provide Pieces of Light

### Strong Eruptions

Strong Eruptions feature multiple red, radiant shards protected by crabs (Shattering Crabs and/or standard Dark Crabs) and Swirling Shards (since the 0.18.5 Update). Only strong eruptions allow players to receive Ascended Candles or open voids to complete the Shattering Seasonal Quests and collect Winged Light. They tend to occur in area away from the main path through a given realm. Completing a strong eruption shard event will take significant time and is best done with a group of players.

Each strong eruption has a central large red, radiant shard, surrounded by four to seven more shards and up to 8 to 34 Swirling Shards. If there are only a few shards, be aware that more shards might still fall; being hit by a falling shard might cause you to lose Wing Power. All of the radiant shards are dangerous: touching them will knock you back and remove several wedges of wing energy. If your wings are low, you can lose Winged Light and be left crawling.

To clear the shard, you need to burn most (around 89%) of the darkness plants, while avoiding being damaged by the crabs, the radiant shards or the Swirling Shards.

The number and type of crabs varies depending upon the strength of the eruption. Moderate strength eruptions might only have standard Dark Crabs. The strongest eruptions will have large numbers of Shattering Crabs. They differ in appearance from standard crabs because they have red (non-radiant) shards on the their back. The most important difference from regular Dark Crabs is that Deep Calls does **not** flip shattering crabs upside down and instead will causes all the nearby crabs to **charge you** instead.

Once you have burned enough darkness plants, a meditation circle appears next to the central radiant shard. Meditating in the circle starts one of several random activities:

* Catch fragments of mantas
* Catch fragments of jellyfish
* Catch fragments of crabs
* Pick up fragments of crabs (with a hand icon to tap on each of them)
* Melt the darkness plants that trap the fragments

Once the activity is complete, the radiant shards, crabs, and Swirling Shards all disappear and the skies return to their normal color. Players participating in the activity are rewarded with approximately 1-3.5 Ascended Candles **(but only once per day)**. Ascended Candles can be collected even by players who have never been to the Eye of Eden. The exact number of Ascended Candles appears to be larger for stronger shard events, but there is also some random variation meaning that two players completing the same shard event might receive slightly different amounts of Ascended Candles (e.g., 3.25 for one player, but 2.75 for another).

Finally, the Void of Shattering diamond will appear at the center of the rocks left behind in place of the central shard. Touching the diamond gives you the option to visit 1 of the 6 Ancient Memories, where there is a Winged Light, and complete a Shattering Seasonal Quest.

### Regular Eruptions

Regular Eruptions are moderate-intensity events that are easier to complete. The only reward for completing a regular eruption event is 200 Pieces of Light.

The shards in a regular eruption are gray-black in color; unlike the red radiant shards of Strong Eruptions, regular eruption shards do not damage players. Usually (not always), there are no Shattering Crabs or Dark Crabs during the event. Once most (around 88.6%) of the darkness has been burned, you will be rewarded with Pieces of Light. Then, the shards, the rest of the darkness, and crabs will disappear, and the skies return to their normal color. There is no follow-up activity or meditation circle.

## Daily Quest

One of the four daily quests assigned by the shrine at Home can be "*Visit a shard of darkness fallen to the Kingdom of Sky*".
To complete this quest, you need to approach an erupted shard after it has landed on the ground. You do not need to burn darkness plants or complete any of the other activities.

## Locations

### Daylight Prairie

##### Butterfly Fields

The shard events here are black shards (regular eruption).

On the domeLeft SideRight Side
##### Village Islands

The shard events here are black shards (regular eruption).

Center IslandLeft of Koi PondRight of Koi Pond
##### Sanctuary Islands

The shard events here are red shards (strong eruption), which are often quite difficult to complete. You have to deal with 13 shattering crabs while avoiding clustered swirling and radiant shards all over the place. It is recognized throughout the community as one of the most difficult shard locations.

By the Home StatueTurtle IslandNear the Waterfall
### Hidden Forest

As long as it's a red shard (strong eruption) in hidden forest, it will not be easy.

##### Forest Brook

The shard events here are black shards (regular eruption).

Right SideNext to the Provoking Performer's pipe tunnel
##### Boneyard

The shard events here are black shards (regular eruption).

Next to the WL tower
### Valley Of Triumph

##### Ice Rink

The shard events here are black shards (regular eruption).

Left SideRight SideBottom-Left
##### Hermit Valley

The shard events here are usually red shards (strong eruption), which are often quite difficult to complete. You have to deal with 9 shattering crabs while avoiding 34 clustered swirling shards and radiant shards all over the place. It is recognized throughout the community as one of the most difficult shard locations.

Hermit's Hideout
### Golden Wasteland

##### Broken Temple

The shard events here are black shards (regular eruption).

CenterLeft SideRight Side
##### Battlefield

Around all black shard events, this area is the only one that has Shattering Crabs during it.

Front LeftFront RightLeft of the Temple
### Vault Of Knowledge

##### Starlight Desert

Around all black shard events, this area is the only one that has Dark Crabs during it.

Next to the RoseLeft SideRight Side
## Trivia

* The shard realm fell out of sync by one day with the daily quest realm at the start of the Season of AURORA.

* The following eruption location was removed from Hidden Forest in patch 0.18.5:

	+ Regular Eruptions - In front of the first gate of the Forest Clearing
* The following eruption location was downgraded from a Strong to a Regular Eruptions in patch 0.18.5:

	+ Hidden Forest - Broken Bridge, next to the tower with a Winged Light
* The following eruption location in Golden Wasteland was split to show in two different locations off of the Main Path in patch 0.18.5:

	+ Graveyard, Left Side near the Stealthy Survivor Spirit
	+ Graveyard, Right Side near the Bonfire

* The following eruption location was added in patch 0.19.0:

	+ Elevated Clearing, near the tree where the entrance to the Underground Cavern (It was moved from the previous Grandma's Dinner location)
* All players are supposed to see the Shard Eruption Event happening in the same location. However, at the launch of the Season of Shattering there was a bug causing mobile players to see eruption events in a different location than Switch players (but in the same realm), or players with different game version.
* During the July 11, 2022 event, the event happened in a different location for Switch players: in front of the Forgotten Ark, to the side of where the Enchantment Guide is standing. For mobile players, the shard event happens behind the Forgotten Ark, towards the Crab Walker caves.
* The Android Update for 0.18.5 was delayed by Google, and temporarily resulted in different Shard Variations in different Game Versions. The 0.18.5 Update was added for Android on August 20.
* In the 0.21.0 Update, Shards have become buggy on Switch, where sometimes Darkness Plants and Activity Fragments can appear in different places. The Shard Memory and Shard Variation can sometimes be different compared to Mobile and PlayStation as well. The Buggy Switch Shards was fixed in the 0.23.0 Update