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| Type | Consumable |
|---|---|
| Effects | Used to enhance Eternal Engravings level 1-5 Major Glyphs and 1-3 Minor Glyphs. |
| Unlock Conditions | Complete Chapter 21 |
| How to Obtain |
|
| Cost to Buy | 2000k Gold for 20 shards |
AFK Arena Elemental Shard: Introduction
AFK Arena Elemental Shards are consumable items that contain pure elemental magic. Their primary role is to serve as key resources for enhancing a hero’s Eternal Engravings, a powerful late-game upgrade system designed to significantly boost hero performance. These shards are essential for unlocking glyphs that provide stat bonuses such as attack, defense, and health, making them a crucial part of hero progression in the endgame.
AFK Arena Elemental Shards are specifically used to upgrade Glyphs, which are the individual nodes found on a hero’s Eternal Engraving monolith. Upgrading these Glyphs increases the hero’s Engraving level, and with each level gained, the hero receives permanent attribute boosts and improvements to their passive and active abilities.
The Eternal Engravings feature, along with the use of AFK Arena Elemental Shards, becomes accessible once players have completed Chapter 21 of the campaign. This system marks a major milestone in hero progression, and managing Elemental Shards wisely becomes crucial for maximizing a hero’s potential in both PvE and PvP content.
AFK Arena Elemental Shard: How to Obtain
Elemental Shards in AFK Arena can be acquired through a variety of in-game activities, making them accessible to both free-to-play and paying players across different stages of progression.
One of the primary sources of AFK Arena Elemental Shards is through quests and progression rewards, such as those from the Campaign and the King’s Tower. Players also passively accumulate them over time via the AFK Rewards Chest, where they occasionally appear among the loot. Another reliable source is the in-game Store, where players can purchase Elemental Shards using Gold—typically at a rate of 2,000,000 Gold for 20 shards—or with Diamonds.
Twisted Bounties provide AFK Arena Elemental Shards as one of the selectable reward options for players who invest in that feature. Limited-time events such as Misty Valley, Champions of Esperia, and Lost Sigils also offer Elemental Shards as part of their event rewards, with the latter combining them with other valuable upgrade materials. Players who subscribe to the Monthly Card or Deluxe Monthly Card can choose Elemental Shards as part of their daily login benefits.
The Challenger Store becomes a source of AFK Arena Elemental Shards once a player reaches Ascended 5 Stars with certain Celestial or Hypogean heroes. At that point, those heroes will be replaced by Elemental Shards in the store’s rotation, although Flora is an exception and remains available. The Bounty Board has also been updated to include Elemental Shards in its reward pool for Mythic and Ascended tier quests, adding another passive way to collect them.
The Chest of Wishes becomes available when players reach 120 daily quest points and offers 50 Elemental Shards as a selectable reward. This provides a steady, daily method of obtaining Elemental Shards through consistent quest completion.
Additionally, Voyage of Wonders is expected to include AFK Arena Elemental Shards in its future reward structure, adding to the variety of ways players can collect this valuable resource.
Overall, AFK Arena Elemental Shards are distributed across multiple systems, encouraging players to stay active and engage in diverse game modes to maintain a reliable supply for advancing heroes through the Eternal Engravings system.
AFK Arena Elemental Shard: Usage and Costs of Elemental Shards in Eternal Engravings
Elemental Shards play a vital role in the early stages of the Eternal Engravings system in AFK Arena. They are primarily used to enhance Glyphs specific nodes found on a hero’s Engraving monolith. These Glyphs are divided into two categories: Minor Glyphs and Major Glyphs, each with its own upgrade path and shard requirements.
AFK Arena Elemental Shards are used to upgrade Minor Glyphs from levels 1 to 3 and Major Glyphs from levels 1 to 5. Enhancing these Glyphs increases the hero’s attributes and unlocks powerful enhancements to their abilities. While Glyphs must be activated in a specific order, this restriction does not apply to upgrading Glyphs that have already been activated. This allows players some flexibility in choosing which enhancements to prioritize once the Glyphs are unlocked.
The total cost of using AFK Arena Elemental Shards to raise a hero’s Engraving level from 0 to 30 is 3,750 Elemental Shards. This makes shard management crucial for progressing efficiently through the Engraving system, especially when investing in multiple heroes.
The individual shard costs for upgrading Glyphs are as follows:
Major Glyphs
| Level | Shards Required |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | 50 Shards |
| Level 2 | 100 Shards |
| Level 3 | 150 Shards |
| Level 4 | 200 Shards |
| Level 5 | 250 Shards |
Minor Glyphs
| Level | Shards Required |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | 50 Shards |
| Level 2 | 100 Shards |
| Level 3 | 150 Shards |
Upgrades beyond level 3 for Minor Glyphs and level 5 for Major Glyphs require a separate currency called Elemental Cores, which are used in the later stages of the Engraving system. As a result, Elemental Shards are best utilized during the early and mid-level Glyph enhancements, forming the foundation of a hero’s Engraving progression.
AFK Arena Elemental Shard: Relationship with Eternal Engravings System
Elemental Shards are a fundamental currency within the Eternal Engravings system in AFK Arena. This system becomes available after a player completes Chapter 21 of the campaign and is designed to provide advanced upgrades for heroes who have reached Ascended one star or higher. Initially, the feature focused on Celestial and Hypogean heroes, though it has since expanded to include heroes from other factions. Players can access this system through the “Engrave” tab in the Hero Details interface.
Within this system, AFK Arena Elemental Shards are used to upgrade Glyphs, which are components of a hero’s Eternal Engraving monolith. Each monolith contains 3 Major Glyphs and 5 Minor Glyphs, and these can be enhanced using Elemental Shards—Major Glyphs up to level 5 and Minor Glyphs up to level 3. These upgrades not only boost a hero’s base attributes but also contribute to their total Eternal Engraving level, which is the sum of the levels of all upgraded Glyphs.
As a hero’s Engraving level increases, they gain access to powerful enhancements at key milestones. At level 30, one of the hero’s existing skills receives a boost. At level 60, a second skill is enhanced. At level 80, the hero unlocks a PvP-exclusive ability that is usable in competitive game modes such as the Arena of Heroes and Legends’ Challenger Tournament. These enhancements provide significant power spikes and can dramatically impact a hero’s effectiveness in various game modes.
While Glyphs must be activated in a specific sequence, players are free to upgrade already active Glyphs in any order, allowing for strategic prioritization of enhancements. Once a Glyph reaches its maximum level using AFK Arena Elemental Shards—level 3 for Minor and level 5 for Major Glyphs—further enhancement requires a more advanced currency known as Elemental Cores.
In summary, AFK Arena Elemental Shards serve as the gateway resource for building a hero’s Eternal Engravings. They are essential for the early stages of enhancement, laying the foundation for further growth through Elemental Cores and enabling access to high-impact stat boosts and skill upgrades.
AFK Arena Elemental Shard: Historical Context
The Eternal Engravings feature, which introduced the use of Elemental Shards, was added to AFK Arena in patch 1.68. This update marked a major evolution in hero development, allowing players to enhance their heroes beyond the limits of Signature Items, Furniture, and Ascension. Eternal Engravings brought a deeper layer of customization and power scaling, especially for endgame players.
The lore surrounding Eternal Engravings ties into the ancient history of Esperia. In the distant past, the god of life, Dura, shared the secrets of magic with humanity. As knowledge spread, some sought to use this magic for immortality, combining arcane practices with alchemical experimentation. Their greatest achievement in this pursuit became known as Eternal Engravings—a technique involving the channeling of elemental energy through a structured arrangement of five runes. This allowed practitioners to transcend their natural limits.
As the Lightbearer Empire descended into civil strife, much of this knowledge was lost, including the art of Eternal Engravings. Over time, the factions of Esperia rediscovered fragments of these lost techniques, hidden in relics and ancient scrolls. Even the gods, intrigued by this power, sought to harness it themselves. They entrusted the divine craftsman Ansiel to forge a specialized tablet capable of granting these ancient powers to chosen heroes.
Later developments further expanded player access to Elemental Shards. In patch 1.70, released on August 25, 2021, Elemental Shards and Elemental Cores were added as selectable rewards in the Monthly Card and Deluxe Monthly Card, giving players a new and consistent source of these valuable resources. This update also adjusted the quantities of rewards to better align with the game’s evolving progression systems.
In essence, the introduction of Eternal Engravings in patch 1.68 was not only a gameplay innovation but also a deepening of the game’s lore. It connected players to a lost magical heritage and laid the foundation for the power curve of heroes in the modern AFK Arena metagame.
AFK Arena Elemental Shard: Conclusion
Elemental Shards are a vital consumable resource in AFK Arena, serving as the primary currency for the early stages of the Eternal Engravings system. This system becomes accessible after completing Chapter 21 of the campaign and allows players to significantly increase the power of their Ascended one-star heroes. Initially focused on Celestial and Hypogean factions, Eternal Engravings provide substantial stat boosts and ability enhancements.
Players can obtain Elemental Shards through a wide variety of in-game sources. These include rewards from Campaign and King’s Tower quests, drops from the AFK Rewards Chest, purchases in the Store using Gold or Diamonds, and activities like Twisted Bounties and Misty Valley. They are also available as selectable options from the Monthly and Deluxe Monthly Cards. Additional sources include events such as Champions of Esperia and Lost Sigils, the Challenger Store once specific hero milestones are reached, and Bounty Board missions at the Mythic and Ascended tiers.
Elemental Shards are used specifically to upgrade Minor Glyphs up to level 3 and Major Glyphs up to level 5 on a hero’s Eternal Engraving monolith. These upgrades contribute to the hero’s overall Engraving level, which unlocks key power milestones: enhanced skills at levels 30 and 60, and a PvP-exclusive ability at level 80. To reach Engraving level 30, a total of 3,750 Elemental Shards is required. Any further Glyph enhancements beyond those levels require a different material, known as Elemental Cores.
Introduced in patch 1.68, the Eternal Engravings system brought a new dimension to hero progression, while Update 1.70 expanded the accessibility of Elemental Shards through Monthly Card rewards. The system itself is tied to the lore of Esperia, where ancient magical knowledge, once lost, is rediscovered and channeled through runic engravings to empower modern heroes.
In summary, Elemental Shards are the foundation of the Eternal Engravings system, enabling players to initiate the path of advanced hero enhancement. Their wide availability and specific role in early Glyph upgrades make them an essential resource for progression and optimization in AFK Arena’s late game.
