Outriders: How to acquire and use Anomaly Shards

Almost in every Outriders players’ inventory, there are five resources that can be counted at the bottom of the screen: scrap, leather, iron, titanium and anomaly shards. 

All of these resources have a number next to them that tells players how much they have of that specific resource. However, the one that doesn’t are the anomaly shards, which often confuse players as to what they are and how they’re used in-game. 

Well, that confusion ends today, as we’re going to go over exactly what anomaly shards are and how you can use them to your advantage in Outriders.

Finding and using Anomaly Shards in Outriders

First and foremost, anomaly shards are just like the other four resources in the game. You can run out of them and they are found through in-game mechanics like mining for iron or looting leather. Although, unlike other resources, anomaly shards are only acquirable through one method. 

The one used for anomaly shards in Outriders. (Picture: Square Enix)

That method is dismantling gear in Outriders. We’ve previously gone over how the dismantling system works but essentially, you can dismantle gear that you don’t need or don’t want to sell. Depending on the rarity of the item you’re dismantling, you can acquire leather, iron and titanium, which is visible in the inventory. 

However, what’s not visible is that you’re also acquiring anomaly shards. In Outriders, the only use for this resource is to increase a gear’s attributes stats. In the crafting menu, if you navigate to the "Raise attributes" tab, you’ll see that increasing a stat requires a varying amount of anomaly shards. 

While not as important as modding or improving your weapon, attributes, like Life Leech, are critical to increasing the effectiveness of your gear. With anomaly shards though, you have a certain amount to spend for each increasable attribute. 

The anomaly shard counter in Outriders. (Picture: Square Enix)

In order to see how many anomaly shards for each attribute you have in your inventory, hover over the triangular icon in your inventory. For some reason, Outriders doesn’t show you this information upfront like with the other resources. Once you do this, you’ll know exactly how many shards you have to play with.