first prismatic shard
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jackson00
Greenhorn
thanks
Hill Myna
Farmer
First off, spoilers ahead (and you may want to add "[Spoilers]" to the thread title).
There are ten things you could do with it, but I only recommend one of them:
If you have the Dwarfish Translation Guide (from donating the four Dwarf Scrolls to Gunther), you'll be able to interpret the text on the small Gravestone. If you solve the riddle, you'll get a very valuable and very powerful weapon, the Galaxy Sword.
If you care not for riddles, then just bring your Shard to the three pillars in the Desert; stand in the middle.
This also gets you access to the other Galaxy Weapons, via the Adventurer's Guild, so if you prefer Clubs (like me!) or Daggers (not me), swing by there with some cash and you should be golden. Any of these weapons will make Skull Cavern (and therefore more Shards) much, much easier.
Here are the other uses for Prismatic Shards (for when you get more!):
1 – You could donate it to the Museum. Nothing much to it.
2 – You could use it for the Missing Bundle in the Abandoned JojaMart. I think most people will find that the other options in that bundle are easier, but personally, this is what my third Shard goes to (#2 for the Museum).
3 – If you've unlocked the Forge, then you could try your luck and see what Enchantments you can get.
4 – You could sell it. Shards sell for 2,000G, so you'd make a fair amount, but definitely not something that you should do with your first Shard.
5 – Everyone (except Haley) loves Prismatic Shards. So if you wanted to, you could gift it, but I do NOT recommend doing this, since everybody already has a loved gift.
6 – If you have 3 of them, you could buy a Magic Rock Candy from the Desert Trader on Thursday. I'll tell you now: totally not worth it!
7 – If you put it in a Sewing Machine, there are some real fancy clothes that you can get.
8 – Offering it to a Junimo Hut will change the colour of the Junimos. They'll become all shiny and change colour!
9 – If for whatever reason you want to, you can offer a Shard to the Dark Shrine of Selfishness in the Witch's Hut to turn your child(ren) into doves. They will be removed permanently and there are other negative side effects.
It is Worth Noting that you can't put it Shards a Crystalarium. Same deal as Cinder Shards, if you want lots you can't slack!
And since you mentioned that you had some difficulty getting your Shard, my Skull Cavern Guide might help you!
There are ten things you could do with it, but I only recommend one of them:
If you have the Dwarfish Translation Guide (from donating the four Dwarf Scrolls to Gunther), you'll be able to interpret the text on the small Gravestone. If you solve the riddle, you'll get a very valuable and very powerful weapon, the Galaxy Sword.
If you care not for riddles, then just bring your Shard to the three pillars in the Desert; stand in the middle.
This also gets you access to the other Galaxy Weapons, via the Adventurer's Guild, so if you prefer Clubs (like me!) or Daggers (not me), swing by there with some cash and you should be golden. Any of these weapons will make Skull Cavern (and therefore more Shards) much, much easier.
Here are the other uses for Prismatic Shards (for when you get more!):
1 – You could donate it to the Museum. Nothing much to it.
2 – You could use it for the Missing Bundle in the Abandoned JojaMart. I think most people will find that the other options in that bundle are easier, but personally, this is what my third Shard goes to (#2 for the Museum).
3 – If you've unlocked the Forge, then you could try your luck and see what Enchantments you can get.
4 – You could sell it. Shards sell for 2,000G, so you'd make a fair amount, but definitely not something that you should do with your first Shard.
5 – Everyone (except Haley) loves Prismatic Shards. So if you wanted to, you could gift it, but I do NOT recommend doing this, since everybody already has a loved gift.
6 – If you have 3 of them, you could buy a Magic Rock Candy from the Desert Trader on Thursday. I'll tell you now: totally not worth it!
7 – If you put it in a Sewing Machine, there are some real fancy clothes that you can get.
8 – Offering it to a Junimo Hut will change the colour of the Junimos. They'll become all shiny and change colour!
9 – If for whatever reason you want to, you can offer a Shard to the Dark Shrine of Selfishness in the Witch's Hut to turn your child(ren) into doves. They will be removed permanently and there are other negative side effects.
It is Worth Noting that you can't put it Shards a Crystalarium. Same deal as Cinder Shards, if you want lots you can't slack!
And since you mentioned that you had some difficulty getting your Shard, my Skull Cavern Guide might help you!
PoppyForPenny
Farmer
Two more uses for prismatic shards: to craft a wedding ring for another player in multiplayer. And the sinister use, an offering to the shrine of selfishness to let your children turn into doves and fly away forever.
My first shard is always galaxy sword, second for the theater, and third to the museum.
My first shard is always galaxy sword, second for the theater, and third to the museum.
Lew Zealand
Helper
The Prismatic Shard has a single primary use and a few secondary uses. However one of those secondary uses should happen first as everyone else said:
The Galaxy Sword
But really this is just the preface to the book. It's useful and you feel you've cheated yourself if you skip it, but you also know the best is yet to come. The real reason for the Prismatic Shard is for Tailoring because that's a RNG phenomenon so it's like a less-chocolatey version of you never know what you're gonna get.
And sometimes you get special Genie Pants! Isn't that great?? Um, FYI that particular question does have an answer: No.
But the rest of them are fun! And then you have the unequalled opportunity to find the other types of clothing with similar properties, which is kind of a fun in-game Egg Festival Hunt. Well, not quite as fun as it involves less Abigail, but you get the idea. Hill Myna went over all the other uses for Shards once you've Tailored at least 1 of everything. Maybe 2 in case you lose something or leave it in the Fridge.
This game is a Tailoring sim, it's always a shame when some players lose sight of that...
The Galaxy Sword
But really this is just the preface to the book. It's useful and you feel you've cheated yourself if you skip it, but you also know the best is yet to come. The real reason for the Prismatic Shard is for Tailoring because that's a RNG phenomenon so it's like a less-chocolatey version of you never know what you're gonna get.
And sometimes you get special Genie Pants! Isn't that great?? Um, FYI that particular question does have an answer: No.
But the rest of them are fun! And then you have the unequalled opportunity to find the other types of clothing with similar properties, which is kind of a fun in-game Egg Festival Hunt. Well, not quite as fun as it involves less Abigail, but you get the idea. Hill Myna went over all the other uses for Shards once you've Tailored at least 1 of everything. Maybe 2 in case you lose something or leave it in the Fridge.
This game is a Tailoring sim, it's always a shame when some players lose sight of that...
FilthyGorilla
Local Legend
Correction for 8, you onlly need to put the shard in the junimo hut, you don't "offer" and you can always retrieve it at a later date.
I agree with everything but one.
"If you have 3 of them, you could buy a Magic Rock Candy from the Desert Trader on Thursday. I'll tell you now: totally not worth it!"
WHAAAAT, this is the most worth you can get out of shards, these things are insane, I personally invest my shards into candy like middle-aged men invest money into their stocks.
They are so good, with even one of them in the SC you can pay it's cost over 3-4 times if not more!
These things are the best for SC, especially when you are deep and want more ores and treasure floors or even when starting out and wanting to get deep faster.
That's just what I think though, you are obviously entitledto your own opinioins though I do ask you to consider my point.
Hill Myna
Farmer
You're right! That's alternate use #10!
Yeah, I tried that and I couldn't get it to work. Perhaps it was because of Splitscreen, maybe for a similar reason that Willy didn't give us a Pearl for the full Crab Pond.
Huh, that's interesting. I never thought it'd be that useful.
For me, it was always one of those "too rare to waste" items.
I'm not at the point where I can just try it out yet, but I'll give it a shot when I get there!
And I'm trying as many new approaches as I can on this farm, so I'll probably report back in my progress thread if/when I try it!
To be honest though, most of my Shards (on my previous farm) went to alternative number eleven:
11 — Hoard them! Tuck them into your shinies box with the other 52. And no peeking until it's time to top up your stack of Iridium Ore back to 999, so that you can go on smelting.
No, I'm not a dragon. Why would you ever think that???
imnvs
Local Legend
Oh, really, magic rock candy is SO worth it. You don't do use it when puttering about in the Skull Cavern. You use it when you're doing a real run. The luck boost is higher than even gold star lucky lunch can give you. That is huge right there. On top of that, it gives a huge attack and defense boost, which makes it a lot easier to deal with all the monsters while you're looking for your stairs. AND it's a speed food? It's like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way.
It is ridiculous how awesome magic rock candy is. As soon as I start accumulating shards, after getting my galaxy sword, I start buying candy once per week every week. Other uses for shards have to wait. My first 3 every week go to getting me MRC.
Hill Myna
Farmer
I'll typically staircase down to Level 100 on an endgame SC run. This takes me until about 10am. Would you consider this a good time to use the Candy? Or would you wait until you're into the 200s and frequently getting 5+ iridium nodes per "bomb cluster"?
Because I play on Switch, I can't staircase for hundreds and hundreds of levels, even with pause buffering. So if you typically use it at Level 300 or something ridiculous, and that's where it makes the difference, then let me know.
I did some math, and (if it's correct) figured out that the latest time that you would want to use the Candy, to maximise the buff duration, is at roughly 4:30pm (in Singleplayer where time slows down in SC). Do you think this is when you'd typically use it?
I'm thinking about trying this out on my post-perfection farm later today. Any tips you (or @FilthyGorilla, or anyone else) can give would be greatly appreciated.
Wish me luck!
imnvs
Local Legend
I'll usually eat it as soon as I'm done staircasing... and I'll usually bring two of them to make sure I've got the buffs the whole time. You can get pretty far that way too. Getting a staircase with the first bomb dropped is pretty common.
FilthyGorilla
Local Legend
I just do whatever tbh, I'm not the most conserving nor caring player because I can still get really good shard drops with less luck.
Though, I would reccomend not eating it as soon as you stop staircasing so you can really optimize it later and I would staircase to about level 200 if I were you as that would be around 2pm and leave you more than half a day to wreak havoc in the mines.
I woudl wear lucky rings and just ignore monsters, I sometimes don't but that's just because of my ring and weapon build.
Some people like really conserving their rock candy by staircasing to floors that have a chunk nearby, bombing it, then using magnetism rings to collect them and staircase further, this is cool but as I said before, I can get nearly the same shard drops from a small amount of luck as a large amount.
So instead, what I like to do, is sometimes don't even staircase to level 200, you should go between 20-30 levels near but if you see a large room just bomb the whole place, only also use mega bombs and explosive as the fund themselves when you are getting copious sums of iridium.
Just bombing the large rooms might not be as optimal on switch as sometimes they can be quite a few floors apart but for the most part it is worth it, you could even stop on medium sized floors and remember to stop at high density floors too, even small ones, they pay off.
Some people are better at this then others but some of my records for level 200 starts are:
15 shards x 3
16 x 2
17 x 1
I haven't done a whole lot of SC runs from level 200 but as you can see, those were all pretty good runs, and only one used a rock candy, either one of the 16 or the 17 run and the others were one with 8+ luck which only got 15 as I was super slow with no speed buffs and the rest were just spicy eel and one luck ring I had at the time, maybe two for some of them.
The candy makes a difference but your operatoin doesn't hinge on it, it hinges on you knowing how both optimize and not be stressed, just have fun, resets exist and shards can be gotten again.
As for a build, whatever works, works, though here are some tips for what to bring, how much, and where not to overdo it.
Food:
Food is a big one, I am always high on speed on justaverage days and I use TSE and crabcakes/spicy eel depending on if I will play the full day but spicy eel is a better choice in the SC as the luck does make a difference.
You obviously want TSE too because of the same reasons.
The quantity you want to bring these two depends on i fyou really want to optimize the SC, only bringing enough to last the trip so at the end of the run you have two extra inventory spaces for random stuff... It doesn't really matter, bring all of them tbh.
Healing food is a big one, I personally use iridium cow cheese as I have 500+ of it and since I use acrobat it heals basically more health than I have, I would use cheese, spicy eel, if you aren't using another form of luck food, or something else like salads that heal for an ok amount.
Weapon and rings:
This is a harder one, since you are on switch hammers and animation canceling are pretty trash and nonexistent respectively, this is a shame as I abuse a lesser known ring, the savage ring, which gives you 2+ speed on killing a monster for a 3 second burst and many speedrunners and challenge runners use this too, the hammer just allows for easy and fast kills and you also "stockpile" kills on mummy floors by bombing the floors while using explosive ammo to periodically kill previously downed mummies as well as getting a speed boost before entering a floor.
Honestly though, if you are using a sword I would skip out on the savage ring because of how slow it is to kill monsters, instead swap it with another iridium band or soething else of choice.
Rings are something we just discussed lightly above but do make a massive difference.
You want to have 2 lucky rings at least, there is pretty much no situation where you aren't using these unless you are ring swapping and have a magnet ring build for picking up far away items.
I use an iridium band as I like ring swapping but don't care unless I'm going for a pb or something and even then I usually don't as I don't really have the right rings as "swap" rings.
As I said and explained before, I use savage as while it's bad if you don't optimize it, it's one of the best rings in the game if you can use it to it's full extent. You can swap this one for whatever you like as you use a sward build where it's a relative amount worse.
Boots:
Whatever you have, nothing gives debuffs in all of SC except the slimed one so you can use dragonscale boots though I like mermaid for the versitility.
That's it for now, I need to go but any questions are open and I will answer any I can as fast as possible.
thanks for reading this long post and good luck fellow miner.
Hill Myna
Farmer
This is great! Thanks to both of you for taking the time to respond.
Do you use Explosive Ammo? I find it extremely handy to pick off the small patches of Iridium that spawn near the entry ladder. This'll also often give me a ladder down to the next level (as @imnvs mentioned), so I don't have to "waste" time placing a Staircase (extremely time-consuming on Switch).
I'll also pull out the Mega Bombs for this run. Typically I'll just use regular Bombs, but hey, I have 14 million G spare so why not.
And no, I don't particularly care about conserving resources when I'm endgame. So for sure I'll be bombing any high-density levels, even if the level size is small.
As for my healing food? I used to use Gold-star Cheese but I'm not sure that I'll have enough (only 37). I have 198 Salad, so I think I'll use that instead.
I've tried the Savage Ring before (not in Skull Cavern though). That'd be interesting to try, but I'd think it wouldn't be as powerful if you can't one shot monsters consistently.
I've been to the Volcano Dungeon quite a lot and haven't managed to get any of the rare equipment, so I'll know that this is an area where I'm definitely sub-optimal.
I still have the Rock Candy from the Museum. Is it worth using two, one from the Museum and the other from the Desert Trader? I feel like I'll be spending a good chunk of the first's duration just Staircasing, so it probably wouldn't be worth it.
Ok, I'll start paying attention at Level 150 then. As I said, usually I'd do Level 100 but this time I'll give 150 a try.
Do you use Explosive Ammo? I find it extremely handy to pick off the small patches of Iridium that spawn near the entry ladder. This'll also often give me a ladder down to the next level (as @imnvs mentioned), so I don't have to "waste" time placing a Staircase (extremely time-consuming on Switch).
I'll also pull out the Mega Bombs for this run. Typically I'll just use regular Bombs, but hey, I have 14 million G spare so why not.
Is there a difference in how Iridium generates on Switch vs. PC?
And no, I don't particularly care about conserving resources when I'm endgame. So for sure I'll be bombing any high-density levels, even if the level size is small.
Yeah, my record is 11 Shards and 723 Iridium. I'll have to see how much of a difference the Rock Candy makes, because I'm fairly consistent in how much I collect.
Agreed!
I'll always go Triple Shot Espresso and Spicy Eel. I've tried the Lucky Lunch + Ginger Ale combo and it's just not for me.
As for my healing food? I used to use Gold-star Cheese but I'm not sure that I'll have enough (only 37). I have 198 Salad, so I think I'll use that instead.
Yeah, you don't have the C key on Switch, and the A and Y buttons are opposite sides of the button pad. But if I do it right, I can still one shot Serpents with my Infinity Gavel forged with 1 Emerald and 2 Rubies. I'm an Acrobat and my Gavel has Crusader. Perhaps not the most optimal but it works for me.
My combined rings right now are Iridium Band + Burglar's Ring and Lucky Ring + Napalm Ring. If I were just going for maximum Shards I'd be swapping that Burglar's Ring out for another Luck Ring, but that's too much effort right now, plus I like the Mummy Drops.
I've tried the Savage Ring before (not in Skull Cavern though). That'd be interesting to try, but I'd think it wouldn't be as powerful if you can't one shot monsters consistently.
Um, about the boots...I've been wearing Dark Boots (+4 Defense, +2 Immunity, horrible) since I got it from the Remixed Mines Rewards. :D
I've been to the Volcano Dungeon quite a lot and haven't managed to get any of the rare equipment, so I'll know that this is an area where I'm definitely sub-optimal.
Thanks for responding!
I still have the Rock Candy from the Museum. Is it worth using two, one from the Museum and the other from the Desert Trader? I feel like I'll be spending a good chunk of the first's duration just Staircasing, so it probably wouldn't be worth it.
FairyRing
Farmer
I appreciate how thorough you are and always so informative! Thanks
FilthyGorilla
Local Legend
Thank you so much, yeah, I try to really give my best as while my experiences might not be tailored for another, I can at least help maybe guide some people and give tips, as that's also the way I like ot be taught.
FilthyGorilla
Local Legend
Ok, this is a long one, I'll title my responses with numbers coresponding to their paragraphs.
1. Yeah, your welcome, sorry for the long explanation but sometimes you really need to paint a picture.
2. 150 is great - I play on pc where I go much farther and I'd like to say I'm pretty good at pause buffering (50-70 floors per ig tick) - for switch you will only be losing time by going farther.
3. Yeah, I abuse the slingshot, I use it vastly more than the bombs and spend every moment while bombs are exploding calculating and shooting outside the explosion radius.
As I said before, I use an artful hammer so I use that to "stock" speed on mummy floors while bombing then periodically explodingthe mummy corpses to abuse the savage ring.
4. Yeah, mega bombs all the way, my favorite way to get them is buyign them from desert merchant for 5 iridium ore a peice, on good runs I can buy back as much as 400 bombs from just on run, way enough to be sustainable, the limit is not money, it's time, it's better to blow up even slightly more and be inneficient but save time than vice versa.
5. No lol, but staircasing is vastly slower, for a referance point, you getting ot level 100 takes you until about 10 am, for me I can be past that before 6:40 if I get to the desert fast.
This means that you are wasting more time going down sometimes 10-15 floors waiting for a large floor optimal for bombing than I would ever be.
6. It's not about conserving resources, it's about conserving time, spending 30 ig minutes on a floor when you soul dbe usign that time to staircase to a floor with twice as much iridium will result in net loss, you have to bargain your losses to your total gains.
7. As I said before, experiment, try out new things, use the slingshot, etc.
Not much else to say, you already know everything I would.
8. Yeah lol!
9. Yeah, again, time vs. gathering is your basis for efficiency, no point getting twice the iridium if you take three times as long to gather it.
10. 37 is fine, use those and bring the salad as backup if you want.
11. Whatever works, works and if it isn't broke, don't fix it but if you do opt for a more slingshot style bombing method and/or savage ring I would definitely go with artful, it will just help out overall.
12. Ok... I just want to say, if you do swap out a ring, you want to have 2 lucky rings before worrying about other rings, also remember that you won't need nor care for exploding enemies so drop the napalm first then burglar or whichever works for getting at least that double luck.
This seems to me that I might be pushing my ring set onto you but I would def reccomend double luck, even double iridium with that, the damage and magnetism will help massively when using mega bombs.
13. Yeah, it's really op for pc but obviously you need to tailor to both your device and playstyle limitations and benefits.
14. Volcano dungeon, gives you good experience with killing more powerful enemies so the SC ones are easy, as you get better at it so some challenges to mimic situations you might come across in other runs, I like to do the full volcano without eating food which I've done a few times but is hard.
This will net you better gear and some rings you might like, you never know.
Yeah, hope this finds you well and can help you in any way at all, good day.
Ilune
Planter
go to the desert, keep in hand at the center of the three pillars, have the best sword.
Second shard, to the museum.
LRangerR
Local Legend
Wow spoiler xD
I like to let new players figure out the Galaxy Sword on their own. The game tells you everything you need to figure it out, just gotta put all the pieces together.
Hill Myna
Farmer
Tada!!!
I ended up eating two Rock Candies, one at about 9:00am (Level 112) and the second at 7:20pm (Level 264). Next time I'd just eat it right at the start and immediately after the first had run out, but practice makes perfect!
I got into a bit of a rhythm with the pause buffering and sunk down to Level 100 by 8:30am. Because of earlier signs, I was planning to go from there but I ended up having to head really deep before I got any good amount of ores close to the entry ladder. Pause buffering FTW!!!
I kept my setup the same as normal, just with Salads instead of Gold-star Cheese. And Rock Candy, of course.
I typically get around 10 Shards, so the Rock Candy paid for itself. One of those Shards is from a Treasure Room, the rest are from Iridium Nodes (no Mystic Stones). Just keep in mind that I started with 200 Mega Bombs...
Thanks to all that helped, it was lots of fun and totally, absolutely worth it. :D