The vast Crater region in Vanaheim hides many secrets in God of War: Ragnarok. One of the secrets that left us stumped are the Crystalline Shards. These orange crystals grow everywhere in the Crater. You can smash them and collect the pieces, but they seemingly serve no useful purpose. Even Mimir has no idea what the Crystalline Shards are for. You’ll have to search the deepest corners of the Crater to discover the true purpose behind these crystals — and it is extremely useful.
We’ll explain what the Crystalline Shards are used for in the full guide below. While we don’t have locations, you’ll actually find more Crystalline Shards than you can use in the Crater — keep your eyes open for shards appearing on high rock ledges, on walls or ceilings, or hidden behind debris. These crystal outcroppings are literally everywhere. Collect as many as you can to claim some big rewards. Most notably, these shards give you access to Level 9 Armor Upgrades.
More God of War Ragnarok guides:
How To Unlock Muspelheim | How To Unlock The Crater | How To Fully Explore The Crater | Across the Realms Ingredient Locations | How To Unlock Witch Time Playstyle | How To Make Finding Collectibles Easy | All Jewel of Yggdrasil Locations | How To Unlock Enchantments | All Cosmetic Armor | Best Graphics Settings | Atreus Combat Guide | How Leveling Works | How To Upgrade PS4 To PS5 | All Healing Methods | How To Increase Health | How To Unlock Transmog
How To Use The Cleansing Pool | Wishing Well Guide
The Crater has a unique resource found nowhere else in the Nine Realms — Crystalline Shards. These shards drop exclusively from orange crystals. You must destroy the crystals and collect the drops. As you explore the Crater hidden region, you’ll find lots of Crystalline Shards. The game does not explain what these crystals are for.
- How do you use Crystalline Shards? Shards are used at the Cleansing Pool. This unique area has no favors or labors associated with it. It is simply a strange pool that accepts Crystalline Shards. Give the pool shards and it will give you rewards in return.
Where To Find The Cleansing Pool: Found behind the Crag Jaw Dragon Hunt in the Sinkholes. Go right from the first Dragon encounter in this region (at the temple with the Celestial Altar on the far side) to enter a cave. Navigate the cave to encounter the Crag Jaw optional fight. Continue to follow this path. Climb up the passage guarded by spitting plants. At the top, you’ll find a strange area with red water. This area is called The Wishing Well.
- The Cleansing Pool: Inside the Wishing Well, you will find a pond of red water. By smashing orange crystals and collecting Crystalline Shards, you’ll be able to throw the shards into the water to earn rewards. There are large orange crystals everywhere in the Crater region. Look for them to earn powerful rewards, including materials required to crate the most powerful weapon upgrades.
Different types of shards will produce different rewards. Crystalline Fragments and Crystalline Shards give different reward tiers. Use the red water to throw the crystals in and the pool spits out these in exchange.
Crystalline Shards will always reward Kratos with armor pieces and attachments. You’ll earn the rewards in this order as you bring the Cleansing Pool more shards.
- Crystalline Shard Rewards:
- Plackart of Fallen Stars Chest Armor
- Runic Hailstone Knob Axe Attachment
- Celestial Panacea Amulet Enchantment
- Bracers of Fallen Stars Wrist Armor
- Hind of Volatile Might Spear Attachment
- Pommels of Burning Unity Blades Attachment
- Rond of Fortification Shield Attachment
- Waist Guard of the Fallen Stars
Crystalline Fragments are rarer than Shards. Throwing these into the Cleansing Pool will reward you with Level 9 Upgrade materials. These extremely rare materials are required to upgrade some armor sets to Level 9. They’re only found by collecting fragments and throwing them into the Wishing Well. Here are the three types of fragments you’ll find.
- Crystalline Fragment Rewards:
- Gleaming Crystal Resource
- Shining Crystal Resource
- Sparkling Crystal Resource
With these resources, you can finally unlock Level 9 Armor. Level 9 Armor gives you access to the transmog system, and generally that’s how you’ll make Kratos as tough as possible. The more buffs you can get Kratos, the less trouble you’ll have defeating the Berserker King in the game’s signature difficult side quest.