Spirit Shards in Guild Wars 2 are one of many crafting currency items in the MMO. There’s a lot to learn about crafting in this game. And when you get to endgame, there’s a lot more to learn about the gameplay loop. Ascended and Legendary weapons and armor are what most new players chase after, as they are much more powerful than other gear. Getting to endgame is just the beginning, now you have to actually get the gear.
What are Spirit Shards in Guild Wars 2?
Spirit Shards are a form of currency that are stored in your account wallet. When you get to max level, you unlock many different kinds of currency. Many of them, including Spirit Shards, are used for crafting. Other varieties include Eternal Ice Shards, and Obsidian Shards. But for Spirit Shards in Guild Wars 2, you have a few more options to get them.
How to farm Spirit Shards in Guild Wars 2
You can also use these recipes to make crafting materials into higher-tier items. This is a great way to make more Gold. But you should really know what to expect for how to farm them. The most common method to make use of these items is for Mystic Forge Attendants. The endgame crafting recipes these are a part of are used in the incredibly complex Legendary crafting as well.
World Chests and Loot Bags
Since these shards are a late-game item, you’re expected to sort of know your way around the game world when hunting them. That’s part of the reason. This uses a common practice called Alt Parking. Alt Parking in MMOs is the practice of placing an alt in a desirable area and leaving them there. You can use characters you aren’t playing that much for this. Just place an alt in the right place and you can farm endless Shards each day.
Noxious Pod, Lookout Supplies and Grand Forgotten Chests can all contain these Shards. Use this video guide to find some good alt parking spots for your other characters. A tool like GW2Taco that places in-game waypoints for resource nodes can help a lot with this.
PvP Rewards
Completing the reward tracks in both small-scale PvP and WvW reward item chests. When completing various PvP reward tracks, you’ll gain Tomes of Knowledge and Writs of Knowledge that you can spam consume to gain Spirit Shards if you’re level 80
Events are Good too
Every one of the Festivals in Guild Wars 2 is a great way to get reward items. The Halloween event is a particular example. Completing events during these quests will give you reward chests. These chests can include food items, boosters and currencies.
Aside from that, there’s also quest rewards in the game that can reward Spirit Shards in Guild Wars 2. Various Personal Story events in Chapter 2 also reward a few shards. Interested Parties, Sins of the Father, Shadows of the Past, Everyone Makes Mistakes, Teachings of the Ventari can all reward these shards in certain paths.
The Lunar New Year event is a great time to gather Essences of Luck as well as other Luck boosting foods.
You Could Just Play
Any level 80 characters will also sometimes get these Shards as random loot drops. So if you want to just kill mobs out in the world. This isn’t super efficient, but it is an option if you’re just out to kill random trash mobs. Grinding your way through the story chapters can also help with this, so just really, play the darn game.
Doing Meta events such as Dragon’s Stand or the Heart of Thorns meta events are options as well. It’s also a good idea to do all of these when you find them while leveling. Completing these in the different zones helps unlocks achievements and zone completion rewards. Bandit Loot Boxes found in certain zones in the endgame, such as the Silverwastes, are a good source for Shards too.
