Umbral Shards are the method to progress your gear and expertise past level 600 in New World. We will walk you through how to earn Umbral Shards and how to use them to upgrade yourself and more.
To quickly find a recommended upgrade order you can also use the Umbral Shard calculator.
What are Umbral Shards in New World
Umbral Shards are a resource that enable you to take an item with a minimum Gear Score of 590 up to a maximum Gear Score of 625. Umbral Shards also allow you to bump your expertise for a specific gear slot from 600 to 625. (In order to get from Gear Score 500 to 600 see our expertise guide). It’s important to point out that you must be Expertise level 600 for that particular gear slot to utilize umbral shards, even on a 590 gear score item.
Upgrading from 590 to Legendary
Increasing the gear score of a named item, such as Infamy, Doom’s Chance Earring, Will of the Ancients, etc (must be GS 590 and above to utilize umbral shards) will unlock the final perk and make the item Legendary.
However, increasing the gear score of any other item (crafted items, randomly rolled dropped items, etc) from 590 to 600 via umbral shards does not make that item legendary and will not give you an additional perk on the item. It will however increase the power scaling of the item up to 625 item level.
There are some exceptions to this rule. The following items can be upgraded to receive a random 3rd perk:
- Outpost Rush Gear (also includes arena gear)
- War Cache Gear
- Corrupted Breach Gear
- Invasion Gear
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How to Obtain Umbral Shards in New World
Umbral shards can be obtained in several different ways:
- Completing Mutated Expeditions will reward you with Umbral Shards. The higher the difficulty level and the higher the Score Rank achieved the more shards you will earn. Completing mutated Expeditions at a high level is the most efficient way to earn Umbral Shards.
- Crafting an item with a gear score of 600 will reward you with Umbral Shards if you also have the expertise of 600 or higher for that specific item slot.
- Opening a Gypsum cast will provide you with Umbral Shards if your expertise for that item slot is 600 or above.
- Completing an Outpost Rush match (must obtain a minimum score of 501 to get the rewards).
- Killing Rafflebones in Shattered Mountains or Reekwater will award 500 Umbral Shards.
- Competing an Arena
- Completing the Tempest Heart Repeatable Quest (Rise of Captain Isabella or the Tempest’s Soul)
- You can purchase Umbral Shards from the PvP reward track with Salt.
- You can obtain Umbral Shards from a perfect salvage.
- Various quests in late game zones will reward you with umbral shards.
- You have a chance to loot them from elite chests.
- Completing the Elite Trial of Shah Neshen
How to Use Umbral Shards in New World
In order to use an Umbral Shard, you must first have a piece of equipment that is a gear score of 590 or above, and your Expertise for that item slot must also at 600 or above. If both of these requirements are met and you have the required number of Umbral Shards to complete the upgrade (more on that below) then you can right-click on the item you wish to upgrade and select the “Upgrade” option.
Once the upgrade is complete then the gear score on your item will be upgraded, and the Expertise for that particular item slot will be upgraded as well.
For example, if you upgrade a legendary hatchet from gear score 600 to gear score 602 using Umbral Shards then that hatchet will become more powerful and will be a 602 gear score item. Along with the new item upgrade, you also have 602 in that Expertise slot.
So, if you unequip your 602 hatchet and equip a gear score of 600 hatchet your Expertise still remains at 602. Please note that just because your Expertise is at 602 does not mean that a gear score 600 item would be automatically upgraded to 602. ONLY the hatchet you upgraded to 602 would be at that power level.
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It’s also important to note that upgrading ANY item with an Umbral Shard will bind that item to the player. So, you can not upgrade a Bind on Equip 600 legendary from a dungeon up to 603 and sell that item. Once you upgrade via Umbral it’s bound to you.
Number of Umbral Shards Needed Per Gear Score Upgrade
Each Gear Score / Expertise level upgrade from 590 up to 600 requires an increasing amount of Umbral Shards.
Umbral Shards needed to upgrade Gear score from 590 to 625 in New World
| Gear Score | Umbral Shards Needed |
|---|---|
| 590 – 591 | 20 |
| 591 – 592 | 20 |
| 592 – 593 | 20 |
| 593 – 594 | 20 |
| 594 – 595 | 20 |
| 595 – 596 | 60 |
| 596 – 597 | 60 |
| 597 – 598 | 60 |
| 598 – 599 | 60 |
| 599 – 600 | 60 |
| 600 – 601 | 140 |
| 601 – 602 | 140 |
| 602 – 603 | 140 |
| 603 – 604 | 140 |
| 604 – 605 | 140 |
| 605 – 606 | 220 |
| 606 – 607 | 220 |
| 607 – 608 | 220 |
| 608 – 609 | 220 |
| 609 – 610 | 220 |
| 610 – 611 | 330 |
| 611 – 612 | 330 |
| 612 – 613 | 330 |
| 613 – 614 | 330 |
| 614 – 615 | 330 |
| 615 – 616 | 460 |
| 616 – 617 | 460 |
| 617 – 618 | 460 |
| 618 – 619 | 460 |
| 619 – 620 | 460 |
| 620 – 621 | 620 |
| 621 – 622 | 620 |
| 622 – 623 | 620 |
| 623 – 624 | 620 |
| 624 – 625 | 620 |
| Total | 9,250 |
Number of Umbral Shards Rewarded for Dungeon Mutations
The Dungeon mutations are broken up into different levels. Level 1 is the easiest and level 10 is the hardest. Within each level of the mutation, you can either be rewarded Bronze, Silver, or Gold rewards. This is based upon your performance in the dungeon. The below chart outlines how many shards you will receive based on the difficulty level of the mutation and your group’s performance within.
| Mutations Level | Bronze | Silver | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 200 | 400 | 600 |
| 2 | 400 | 600 | 800 |
| 3 | 600 | 800 | 1000 |
| 4 | 800 | 1100 | 1400 |
| 5 | 1200 | 1500 | 1800 |
| 6 | 1600 | 2000 | 2400 |
| 7 | 2000 | 2600 | 3000 |
| 8 | 2600 | 3200 | 3800 |
| 9 | 3200 | 4000 | 4800 |
| 10 | 4000 | 5000 | 6000 |
Number of Umbral Shards Rewarded for Gypsum Casts
Once you have reached 600 expertise, Gypsum Casts will no longer reward you with expertise bumps. However, they will reward you with Umbral Shards. The casts will reward you with Umbral Shards based on the expertise level of the item that you are opening. The following chart outlines how many Umbral Shards you are rewarded per cast based on your expertise score for that particular item:
| Expertise Level | Umbral Shards Rewarded |
|---|---|
| 600 | 100 |
| 601 | 112 |
| 602 | 124 |
| 603 | 136 |
| 604 | 148 |
| 605 | 160 |
| 606 | 172 |
| 607 | 188 |
| 608 | 196 |
| 609 | 208 |
| 610 | 220 |
| 611 | 232 |
| 612 | 244 |
| 613 | 256 |
| 614 | 268 |
| 615 | 280 |
| 616 | 292 |
| 617 | 304 |
| 618 | 316 |
| 619 | 328 |
| 620 | 340 |
| 621 | 352 |
| 622 | 364 |
| 623 | 376 |
| 624 | 388 |
| 625 | 400 |
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Number of Umbral Shards Rewarded from 600 Gear Score Crafting
Upon crafting a 600 gear score item you will receive an expertise bump for that particular item slot up to 600 Expertise. Upon reaching 600 expertise for a particular item slot you will then begin receiving Umbral Shards each time you craft a gear score 600 items. The amount of Shards rewarded is based upon that slot’s expertise level. The following chart outlines how many Umbral Shards you would be rewarded for crafting a gear score of 600 items when that item slot is at a specific Expertise level.
| Expertise Level | Umbral Shards Rewarded |
|---|---|
| 600 | 25 |
| 601 | 28 |
| 602 | 31 |
| 603 | 34 |
| 604 | 37 |
| 605 | 40 |
| 606 | 43 |
| 607 | 46 |
| 608 | 49 |
| 609 | 52 |
| 610 | 55 |
| 611 | 58 |
| 612 | 61 |
| 613 | 64 |
| 614 | 67 |
| 615 | 70 |
| 616 | 73 |
| 617 | 76 |
| 618 | 79 |
| 619 | 82 |
| 620 | 85 |
| 621 | 88 |
| 622 | 91 |
| 623 | 94 |
| 624 | 97 |
| 625 | 100 |
New World Umbral Shards Guide Conclusion
This concludes our New World Umbral Shard Guides. If you have more questions on Expertise and how it works, check out our New World Expertise Guide.