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 InfamyDoom’s Chance EarringWill 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:

New World Umbral Shards Guide
  • 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. 

umbral shard upgrade

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.

umbral shards

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 ScoreUmbral Shards Needed
590 – 59120
591 – 59220
592 – 59320
593 – 59420
594 – 59520
595 – 59660
596 – 59760
597 – 59860
598 – 59960
599 – 60060
600 – 601140
601 – 602140
602 – 603140
603 – 604140
604 – 605140
605 – 606220
606 – 607220
607 – 608220
608 – 609220
609 – 610220
610 – 611330
611 – 612330
612 – 613330
613 – 614330
614 – 615330
615 – 616460
616 – 617460
617 – 618460
618 – 619460
619 – 620460
620 – 621620
621 – 622620
622 – 623620
623 – 624620
624 – 625620
Total9,250

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 LevelBronze SilverGold
1200400600
2400600800
36008001000
480011001400
5120015001800
6160020002400
7200026003000
8260032003800
9320040004800
10400050006000

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 LevelUmbral Shards Rewarded
600100
601112
602124
603136
604148
605160
606172
607188
608196
609208
610220
611232
612244
613256
614268
615280
616292
617304
618316
619328
620340
621352
622364
623376
624388
625400

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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 LevelUmbral Shards Rewarded
60025
60128
60231
60334
60437
60540
60643
60746
60849
60952
61055
61158
61261
61364
61467
61570
61673
61776
61879
61982
62085
62188
62291
62394
62497
625100

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.