How to get Iridescent Shards in Dead by Daylight: XP, Shards per Level and What to Buy

Iridescent Shards are the free, grind-earned currency in Dead by Daylight. They're what you use to buy other characters' teachable perks from the Shrine of Secrets, unlock Behaviour's original Killers and Survivors without paying real money, and pick up some cosmetics. There's no shortcut to farm them in bulk, but once you understand how the game pays them out, you can plan your purchases instead of staring at a balance that never seems to grow.

Everything below is current for Patch 10.2.x (November 2026).

Quick answer

You earn Shards by gaining Player Levels. Every Trial you play gives XP, and each time your level goes up, you get a lump of Shards. Higher levels pay more.

Going from level 1 all the way to 99 pays out 24,920 Shards in total. Smaller extras come from the Rift's free track and the occasional promo code.

Step-by-step: how to earn Iridescent Shards

1. Play Trials, as either role. XP comes from your time in the match: 1 XP per second, capped at 600 XP (10 minutes). A quick death or a two-minute escape earns far less than a full-length game, so staying in the match counts.
2. Earn decent emblems. Your best emblem result adds a small XP bonus on top of the time XP. You can see the full breakdown on the post-Trial screen.
3. Grab the First Game of the Day bonus. You get 300 XP per role, up to 600 XP a day if you play at least one match as Survivor and one as Killer. That's as much as a full 10-minute match, so playing both roles daily is the single easiest boost.
4. Watch for the level-up. Shards are paid out when your Player Level increases, not after every match. Several Trials can go by with nothing, then a chunk lands at once.
5. Collect Shards from the Rift's free track. The Rift Pass free track is mostly Bloodpoints, but it scatters a few Shard rewards along the way. You earn tiers by playing and completing Quests, so you don't need the premium track for these.
6. Redeem promo codes and event rewards. Behaviour sometimes hands out Shards through promotional codes and log-in rewards during special events. They come and go, so check the official social channels when an event or anniversary is running.

What Iridescent Shards buy

Shrine of Secrets

The Shrine offers four teachable perks each week, always two Survivor and two Killer perks. It resets every Tuesday at 15:00 UTC. You buy each perk tier by tier:

Maxing a perk from scratch costs 12,000 Shards. Prestige discounts it, though: if you already unlocked Tier I through Prestige, Tier II costs 2,000 and Tier III costs 4,000. If you already have Tier II, Tier III is only 2,000.

If you already own a perk at Tier III, buying it again turns your Shards into 100,000 Bloodpoints instead. You can only do this once per perk per rotation.

Characters and cosmetics in the Store

• Original characters (Behaviour's own Killers and Survivors, not licensed ones) cost 9,000 Shards. Many older originals are discounted to 4,500.
• Some cosmetics for original characters can also be bought with Shards. Prices depend on rarity.

Requirements

• Regular online Trials. Player XP is tied to the results of your public matches, so stick to the normal Survivor and Killer queues when you're leveling.
• Patience. From level 50 onward, each level takes 4,200 XP. Even with full 10-minute matches, that's at least seven Trials per 300 Shards, plus whatever your daily bonus adds.

Tips and common mistakes

• Don't buy the perk, buy the character. Every original character's three teachable perks would cost 36,000 Shards in the Shrine. Buying the character for 9,000 (or 4,500) and leveling them in the Bloodweb is usually the better deal, and you get the character too.
• Use the Shrine for licensed perks. Licensed characters can't be bought with Shards, so the Shrine is the only way to get their perks without spending money. That's where Shards go furthest.
• Check your Prestige first. If you've prestiged the owner of a Shrine perk, the cost may already be lower.
• Don't waste Shards on perks you already own. The 100,000-Bloodpoint conversion is fine as a leftover sink, but 6,000 Shards is almost a whole character.
• Ignore old guides. Before Patch 2.0.0, Shards were paid per minute of play with a 1,000-Shard cap, and Shrine prices have changed since. Older articles may quote numbers that are no longer correct.
• Play the long game. Shards accumulate slowly by design. Choose one purchase target, play both roles daily, and let the level-ups add up.