Shadow Hunter Armour - (Stone-able, Regular, Sharded, and Prismatic)

Shadow Hunter Armour

It has been discovered by four master armourers on Dereth that the shards dropped by both crystals, radiating light and power and shadows, radiating darkness and strength, can be combined to form armour of unique versatility and able to grow with the wearer. To begin, you must hunt shadows and crystals and proceed to loot the following:

Dark Specks (Small Shadow Children and Shadow Children)
Dark Slivers (Shadow Lieutenants)
Dark Shards (Panumbris Shadows and Umbris Shadows +)
Cracked Shards (Broken Fragments)
Tiny Shards (Fragments)
Small Shards (Duel Fragments +)

+ = Any form of a higher level with the exception of Degenerate and Depraved variants of Shadows

The drop rate of these pieces are fairly low with the exception of Sentient Fragments, found commonly in any mountainous terrain, and the Shadow Wraiths found by The Dark Spiral dungeon at 15.9N, 68.7W (Near the Teth Black Sawn Den dungeon). The drop rate for these two appear to be around ¼ from my findings. After gathering these pieces, you’ll have to combine thee in such a way as to end up with one of three gem sizes. The larger the gem, the higher the quality of armour you will receive. It follows thusly:

~Lesser Shadow Armour~

Dark Speck + Dark Speck = Dark Sliver
Dark Sliver + Dark Sliver = Dark Shard

Cracked Shard + Cracked Shard = Tiny Shard
Tiny Shard + Tiny Shard = Small Shard

Dark Shard + Small Shard = Glimmering Gem

~Shadow Armour~

Dark Speck + Dark Speck = Dark Sliver
Dark Sliver + Dark Sliver = Dark Shard
Dark Shard + Dark Shard = Shadow Fragment

Cracked Shard + Cracked Shard = Tiny Shard
Tiny Shard + Tiny Shard = Small Shard
Small Shard + Small Shard = Crystal Fragment

Shadow Fragment + Crystal Fragment = Sparkling Gem

~Greater Shadow Armour~

Dark Speck + Dark Speck = Dark Sliver
Dark Sliver + Dark Sliver = Dark Shard
Dark Shard + Dark Shard = Shadow Fragment

Cracked Shard + Cracked Shard = Tiny Shard
Tiny Shard + Tiny Shard = Small Shard
Small Shard + Small Shard = Crystal Fragment

Shadow Fragment + Crystal Fragment = Sparkling Gem

Sparkling Gem + Sparkling Gem = Scintillating Gem

You will need two gems for a full suit as the first gem will cover your lower half while the second gem will result in armour to cover the upper half. Upon completion of your two gems you will want to journey to one of the four master smiths of Dereth:

Jibril ibn Rashid - Amuli - Al-Jalima - 7.1N, 3.0E
Iian di Alduressa - Alduressa - Silyun - 89.0N, 67.6W
Koga Hideki - Koujia - Kara - 82.9S, 46E
Alean the Steel Forger - Celdon - Eastham - 18.5N, 62.8E

The Amuli and Alduressa are two pieces with the lowest Armour Level with Celdon being four pieces and having the highest Armour Level with Koujia being in the middle with three pieces and an Armour Level in between. The armour will be silver in hue, also, the higher the protection, the heavier it is. The greater versions of the armour have a 30+ wield requirement with all versions being bonded meaning they can not be dropped upon death (excellent for those who die a lot ;-) ). Beside all but Iian will be an NPC that sells dyes at 100000 in the colours red, blue, and green. These dyes can be used on any of the original Shadow Armours. You may hand in these colored pieces to the master smith to receive its uncoloured version with which you can recolour as you wish.

Let’s say you’re not level 30 but still want the highest value, at this point you can turn in the armour to receive a lower Armour Level version that will be golden in hue. These versions are special in that the Major Atlan Stones may be applied to these pieces to raise the base Armour Level and the protection values overall. The element of the stone will also raise that value to unparalleled while lowering the protection of its opposite (ie Smoldering Stone will raise fire protection to unparalleled while lowering cold protection). To remove the stone simply use the Stone Tool. The colour of the armour will also change and it will become attuned meaning you can not give it to a friend or mule it. The armour will also be unenchantable. Luckily it is bonded so you won’t lose it if you die. When you do reach level 30, you can turn it in to receive the original version but do remember to remove any Atlan Stones beforehand.

At level 50 you may wish for something of better quality to sustain the damage you’ll be receiving. Go out and hunt all variants of Crystal Shards and you may find new kinds of shards that can be added to Shadow Armour (the original version). The wield requirement will rise to level 50 and the armour will become black with gold trims. Each piece can be imbued with one shard and will rise the Armour level and give a Major Ward spell (+15% to a damage type) or Major Armour. The shards are as follows:

Brilliant Shard - Major Armour
Solid Shard - Major Slashing Ward
Plated Shard - Major Bludgeoning Ward
Hardened Shard - Major Piercing Ward
Seared Shard - Major Flame Ward
Chilled Shard - Major Frost Ward
Scored Shard - Major Acid Ward
Charged Shard - Major Storm Ward

You can (and should) use different shards for the pieces and to fit where you hunt (ie for Phyntos Menace the Chilled, Solid, Hardened, and brilliant shards are a best bet (or Scored if you fight the grievvers)).

If you wish to change the colour of the trim, make the necessary number of Lapyan, Hennacin, or Relanim vials to Miko Li, Jojii Adherent in Kara at 83.3S, 47.2E for sky blue, firetruck red, or royal purple dyes respectively. You can redye these pieces as you wish.

At level 100 you may want an even better version of Shadow Armour. You will require unsharded armour of the greater variety for this upgrade as there is no way to reverse the sharding process. You will need to do the Harbinger Quest in the ruins of Old Yanshi and go into the Essence Chamber. Defeat the essences and loot a crystallized piece. You will need one from each essence. Put each one inside an empty decanter that you can grab beforehand at The Arcanum Research Facility near Al-Jalima at 5.8N, 6.3E. There is a two-week timer on picking up an essence but that can be bypassed by using the decanter on the essence on the ground like you would fletching in order to end up with the number you need. Afterwards, travel to Xarabydun and give one of each decanter to Tafar inside the Arcanum Consortium at 5.9N, 6.3E. You will receive one Prismatic Oil in return for all four different decanters. There is a two week timer on receiving Prismatic Oil.

If you wish to enhance your amuli armour then simply use the oil on the pieces. If you wish to enhance the other versions you will need to travel to the island of Aerlinthe. Travel to the Ancient Masonry at 88.1N, 47.6E (100+) and prepare for an easy layout despite the many levers you will have to pull to progress through the few rooms. In each room there will be a lever to pull that allows you into a small central chamber which will have another lever. Pulling it will open the other doors leading out of the chamber. Outside of the chamber, the room has four wings. One wing will be where you entered. The other wings you must open via levers. One wing will be opened by pulling the lever in the inner chamber. At the far end of that wing will be another lever which you will need to pull to open up the doors in a third wing. Pulling that lever will open up the final wing that will lead you into another room. As if going through that process a few times isn’t enough you will have to battle the undead and the golems that still are hard at work. I recommend acidic or bludgeoning weaponry for this dungeon. After playing the lever game progressing through each room you will come upon a smaller room with an Ancient Steward. Loot the key from its corpse to open the locked door (it can also be picked open if you prefer). Inside will be glyphs spawning on the floor that are on a two week timer. The glyphs are givable though.

Next you need to find a Pyreal Mote to use the glyph on. You will then use the Prismatic Oil on the Pyreal Glyph to make a Prismatic Glyph that can be used on the other types of Greater Shadow Armour.

You apply the oil to the surface of the armor. The oil hardens into a hard prismatic crystalline shell. A soft glow surrounds the (armour piece) and storms become visible in the prismatic coating.

The properties of this new Prismatic Armour are increased Armour Levels and Protection Values with unparalleled values on all four elements. In addition, each piece self banes with Brogard’s Defiance and has a Melee Defense requirement of 400 with a level requirement of 100. The suits also include all four Major Elemental Wards and is bonded so you can die with some reassurance you won‘t be naked at the lifestone.

And there you have it, a suit of armour that can protect you from level 1 to 275 that’ll never abandon you due to many trips to the lifestone. It takes a lot of work but is well worth it. Not to mention they look impressive and surely represent the effort it took to make them. Now go out and hunt the creatures of shadow, crystal, and elements!