Dead by Daylight how to get Iridescent Shards fast – Our best tips and tricks to shorten the grind

Dead by Daylight Iridescent Shards are a valuable and powerful currency you can collect in Behaviour Interactive’s asymmetric survival horror game. Whether you’re trying to unlock new Survivors to help you escape the Trials, or new Killers to help you sacrifice your victims to The Entity more easily, you’ll want your hands on Iridescent Shards. But how exactly do you collect them? And what are the best ways to get them?

Here we’re going to walk you through the top strategies for getting Dead by Daylight Iridescent Shards. Armed with enough of these, you’ll be able to get Killers faster, unlock new Survivors, and more. Make sure you’re familiar with the game’s many, many mechanics though. If you need a refresher on how to drop items or want some spawn locations and tips to help you find hatches, or want a general Dead by Daylight beginners guide to give you an overview of the basics, we’ve got you covered.

How to get Iridescent Shards in Dead by Daylight

You can earn Iridescent Shards by gaining Experience Points and progressing your player account level. This is the only way to get them if you’re on PC or console. Dead by Daylight Mobile players however can also earn them by completing daily or weekly rituals.

Most of the things you’ll spend your Shards on are pretty expensive though, so just knowing how to get them might not be enough. You’ll also want to strategize so that you can cut down your grind as much as possible.

✓

Did you know?

Iridescent Shards were the second currency to be added to Dead by Daylight, after Bloodpoints.

Our 5 best strategies to get Iridescent Shards fast

Here are our top 5 strategies we’ve learnt during our time playing to optimise your Iridescent Shard earnings.

• Go all-in on the grind during special events.
• Aim to win in ten minutes on the dot.
• Raise your Devotion Level
• Try to play at least two games per day.
• Optimise your build and play style to earn emblem points.

Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Get your grind on during in-game events

The aim of these strategies is to reduce the grind, sure. But unfortunately it’s pretty much impossible to eliminate it entirely – unlike Auric Cells, Iridescent Shards can’t be bought. If you’ve got to grind sometimes though, it only makes sense to play smarter not harder.

Dead by Daylight has a number of annual events. From the Anniversary event and the winter holidays Bone Chill event to the many Halloween events, it’s not too uncommon for something to be going on in the game. These events are a fantastic source of bonus EXP, which will help you accrue Shards much more quickly. Some of them even offer Iridescent Shards completely free just for logging on! Make sure to get in game when an event is on, pick up any freebies, and then commit yourself to some matches to make the most of the boosted earnings rates.

Beat your opponents in as close to ten minutes as possible

Dead by Daylight offers bonuses for fulfilling a fair few different criteria or challenges, but one you might not be familiar with is the bonus to time spent in a match. The longer a match goes on for, the more EXP you’ll earn when it’s over. There’s a catch though: this extra EXP caps out at the ten minute mark, meaning you won’t earn any additional Experience Points once the clock ticks over that threshold.

Obviously, the more matches you play the better. But if we’re aiming to be efficient – and we surely are – you should try to keep an eye on the clock, letting it reach that tenth minute, and then go straight for the win as fast as you can.

Raise your Devotion Level by playing extra matches

This is a great strategy if you don’t really mind the grind, as that’s exactly what it rewards. Dead by Daylight includes a Devotion Level. Every day, earning EXP feeds into and increases this level while in-game. The higher your Devotion Level, the more rewards – like further Experience Points and Iridescent Shards – you’ll earn for completing a match.

Effectively this boils down to playing more matches in a day. If that’s something you’re willing to do, then it’s actually one of the best ways to get Iridescent Shards fast. If not, there are still a couple more strategies to go.

Play your first two matches daily

While playing a lot of matches is a great way to boost your Shard earnings, playing fewer works too. Specifically, you’ll want to try and play your first match as a Survivor and your first match as a Killer. This is because the game awards you a “First Match of The Day” bonus for both of these, amounting to a bonus 300 Experience Points.

If you don’t really want to commit to grinding, try to get in on these first two games as often as you can, that way you’ll still be earning a bit more.

Optimise for emblem points above all

Emblem points are a special type of experience you can earn in-game for meeting particular objectives or challenges during play. There are four different categories for Killers and Survivors each. You can earn points in subcategories, like Altruism or Boldness, through engaging in all of the game’s mechanics. Repairing generators, dropping or breaking pallets, engaging in chases, cleansing totems, and generally mastering Survivor characters or Killer characters to their fullest extent will all count towards emblem points. Our top advice for getting Dead by Daylight Iridescent Shards fast is to commit to earning emblem points as much as possible, since the more emblem score you get, the more EXP it translates into at the end of a match. The categories are as follows.

Killer emblem	How to earn points	Survivor emblem	How to earn points
Devout	Kill Survivors and use your powers.	Lightbringer	Completing main objectives like repairing generators or opening exit gates.
Gatekeeper	Finish matches quickly and keep fewer generators from being repaired.	Unbroken	Remain alive for longer. Maximum points require you to never enter a dying state.
Malicious	Injuring, grabbing, or hooking Survivors.	Benevolent	Altruistic actions. Healing and unhooking others are good examples.
Chaser	Finding Survivors and injuring them quickly.	Evader	Hiding from the Killer, or bold actions like winning chases.

It’s best to also go broad here. You’ll earn a lot more Experience Points for getting some emblem points in every badge than for getting a lot in one badge.

Lastly, don’t forget to optimise your build with powerful perks, regardless of which team your on. There are a lot of perks in-game that can help you earn more emblem points. As an example, the Empathy perk for survivors is useful for helping you to find injured teammates. This can speed up the process of locating and healing them, giving you Altruism points which will count towards the Benevolent emblem.

What can you spend Iridescent Shards on in Dead by Daylight?

Once you’ve managed to get enough EXP, more Iridescent Shards, and ultimately built up a healthy amount of Shards, it’ll come time to spend them. But what can you actually spend them on? Broadly, there are three things that Iridescent Shards can be used to purchase.

• Shrine of Secrets Perks. The Shrine of Secrets is a regularly refreshing shop that offers up to four teachable perks which you can purchase to unlock. These perks are often especially powerful or useful compared to the lower levels of perks you might encounter in a Bloodweb, and include some of the best Survivor perks out there. Head to the last tab on the store page to find it, and take a look to see if anything strikes you as a particularly useful for your gameplay. You can also purchase upgraded tiers of certain perks this way.
• New non-licenced Survivors and Killers. One of the ways to get characters you don’t have in DBD is through purchasing them in the store with Iridescent Shards. Keep in mind that this isn’t too cheap. Most Killers cost 9,000 Iridescent Shards to buy. You also can’t buy all Killers and Survivors this way – only Behaviour Interactive’s homemade original monsters and victims.
• Cosmetics. All Killers and Survivors in the game have cosmetics for their torso/body, their head, and their legs. While some select cosmetics like bloody clothes aren’t available in this way, most can be purchased through the store for Auric Cells or Iridescent Shards. These are very pricey though, with the most expensive going well up into the 20,000+ Shards range.

That covers everything you need to know about Dead by Daylight Iridescent Shards, including how to get them fast and what they do. If you’re looking for some guidance on the rest of the game, including explanations of how Dead by Daylight multiplayer or the Dead by Daylight Prestige system works, or want to know how to Mori Survivors, we can help you out.

Can you buy Iridescent Shards in Dead by Daylight?

No. Iridescent Shards are not a purchasable currency in DBD.

How many Iridescent Shards do Killers and Survivors cost in Dead by Daylight?

Killers and Survivors who are purchasable with Iridescent Shards tend to cost 9,000 Shards each.

Can you exchange Iridescent Shards for other currencies in Dead by Daylight?

No. There is currently no way to exchange Iridescent Shards for Bloodpoints and Auric Cells or vice verse.