[Top 5] Dead By Daylight Best Ways To Get Iridescent Shards

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Updated:

12 Sep 2021

Iridescent shards; one of six in-game currencies and the faster alternative to unlocking teachable perks, characters and outfits. Easy to spend, harder to get. These shiny crystals condense hours of gameplay to simply give you what you want instead of making you work for it, so if you want something for nothing (because we all do) then look no further than these foolproof methods for obtaining iridescent shards.

First and foremost, if you ever wondered where iridescent shards come from, they are obtained each time you level up. After choosing from the main menu, during character selection, the brownish hexagon in the top right corner shows your player rank. Just like every other salespoint, the more you play, the more you level up; the more you level up, the more shards you get. However, there are always shortcuts.

1. Match Time

Dead by Daylight - How to farm Iridescent Shards

As previously mentioned, leveling up rewards shards, but increasing ranks relies on experience points; just as the namesake suggests, experience points are earned with (surprise, surprise) experience.

Match time is how many seconds each match lasts; the faster you die, the less time you have. In other words, if you get camped, just abandon all hope.

For each second of the match, players are awarded 1 experience point. For example, spend 10 minutes playing one match and earn 600 experience points - just for participating. Who said winning is everything?
The maximum experience points available for match time alone is 10 minutes, so trials that last longer than this potentially harm the chances of getting shards.

Stop survivors. Escape killers. Make the match last for those shards.

2. First Match of the Day Bonus

Dead by Daylight - How to farm Iridescent Shards

Dead by Daylight rewards Players with 300 bonus experience points for playing the "First Match of the Day".

Earn 600 extra experience points for playing as both survivor and killer once per day. Shards are handed out just for playing every day, so what more could you ask for? It feels like Christmas has come early.
Experience points are not deducted even if you lose the match, so once again, regardless of the match result, shards are yours.

3. Emblem Score

Dead by Daylight - How to farm Iridescent Shards

Calculated from in-game performance, emblem scores also provide shards; this is one of few cases where skills come in handy. As unfair as it might seem, if you play badly, you get fewer points. In an ideal world, discrimination against rookies and uncoordinated persons would be non-existent, but unfortunately, video games require some basic level of understanding and mastery.

Heal, repair, evade, assist and escape to earn the surivor emblems.

Survivor Emblems

There are four types of emblems available to survivors during each trial: Lightbringer, Unbroken, Benevolent and Evader.

To earn points towards the Lightbringer emblem, the following actions are required: repairing generators, cleansing dull totems, cleansing hex totems, being chased while other survivors work on generators and opening exit gates.
To earn points towards the Benevolent emblem, the following actions are required: unhooking survivors safely, healing survivors, making a killer drop another survivor, taking a hit while the killer carries another survivor and sabotaging a hook when a killer is about to put another survivor on it, allowing them to escape from their grasp.
To earn points towards the Evader emblem, the following actions are required: hiding from the killer without being seen whilst nearby, escaping chases unscathed, long chase sequences and stunning the killer with a pallet.
The Unbroken emblem is based on staying alive during the trial; if the survivor escapes without being put into the dying state at all, they will be awarded the highest available score for that emblem.

Hook, chase, destroy and injure to earn the killer emblems.

Killer Emblems

There are also four types of emblems available to killers during trials. These are: Gatekeeper, Devout, Malicious and Chaser.

The Gatekeeper emblem is based on the number of incomplete generators left on the map, as well as how long they remain unfixed; bonus emblem points are awarded post-trial for any remaining generators.
To earn points towards the Devout emblem, the following actions are required: sacrificing survivors, using Memento Mori on a survivor, reverse bear trap kills when playing as The Pig and survivors killed by the entity when the end-game collapse timer runs out.
To earn points towards the Malicious emblem, the following actions are required: injuring survivors, interrupting survivors mid-action, putting survivors in the dying state and hooking survivors.
To earn points towards the Chaser emblem, the following actions are required: finding survivors and winning chases (shorter chases award more points).

4. Going AFK

How to farm Iridescent shards efficiently in Dead by Daylight.

For those dedicated gamers familiar with the lingo, AFK stands for “Away From Keyboard” and means exactly what it says. It might seem counterproductive and it would more than likely annoy your teammates or opponents, but since iridescent shards are mostly earned entirely through experience points alone, the act of playing the game feels redundant.

“Away From Keyboard” is for players that enter matches but remain idle throughout, farming experience points simply for attending the trial rather than playing.
Especially for PC players (or even mobile players), the idea is to have the app open as a tab and leave it running. During this time, feel free to wash your hair, take a nap, do some work or stare into the abyss. Whatever floats your boat. Either way, you earn experience points.
For console players, the same applies, except you might feel more guilty for having the game open on the big screen whilst doing whatever it is you do in your spare time (your business is your business).

5. Events

5th Anniversary Dead By Daylight UPDATE! FREE DBD BLOODPOINTS / SHARDS (DBD 5TH Year Anniversary)

Holidays bring joy, festivities and days off work, but even better than that, they bring iridescent shards to the trick-or-treaters and nice list regulars. During special occasions (AKA Halloween, Christmas or Anniversaries) the game developers tend to be generous to their adoring community and announce limited-time offers.

Look out for the 6th Anniversary Event: June 30 to July 15.

Keep an eye out for rare opportunities to earn daily login rewards, challenges and giveaways that include iridescent shards and more. Rewards can range from currencies to outfits to characters and can last weeks at a time; sometimes there are requirements to earn these rewards, but oftentimes, the most work you need to do is just access the game and enjoy playing as you usually would. Easy, peasy.

Now that you know the secrets to obtain iridescent shards, reap the rewards of your hard work (or lack thereof) and unlock that character you always wanted. Be the envy of your friends. Remember, winning gives you gloating rights, but taking part is what counts.