Crystals

I'm detecting... yes. Shaper crystals in this area.

— Faye

Crystals are a currency introduced at the beginning of the Echoes of Reality cataclysm. They are described to have an Argentine shimmer to them.

Crystals can also be found inside other locations such as The Sovereign Mine, but they cannot be harvested. Crystals can be exchanged for Freelancer goods with Herschel in the Seasonal Store.

Note: Until update 1.5.0, major and minor crystals could be exchanged with each other in the Seasonal Store. Starting from Update 1.6.0, any major crystal obtained cannot be converted into minor crystals as the mechanism was removed. As of Update 1.7.0, Minor Crystals are obtained as rewards for Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Festive Challenges.

Lore[]

Recently, in the middle of the year 468 LV, Shaper crystals started appearing around the time of the Oncoming Storm just before the cataclysm Echoes of Reality took over. These Crystals were valuable and show up with an argent glint.

An Augur by the name of Herschel visited Fort Tarsis to collect these crystals by setting up a shop to sell merchandises. Crystals could be used to purchase items from him. These items had an improved performance when compared to the low tier Components, weapons and gears. They could also be exchanged for Cosmetics.

Crystals could be harvested from large or small crystal nodes in Bastion. Dominion, Scars and even Outlaws had attempted to harvest these crystals. The Freelancers of Northern Bastion, tried their best to stop these valuable resources from being stolen. Several guilds and groups of Freelancers joined hands in an effort to contain the cataclysm and return to their bases with crystals.

The Freelancer who silenced the Heart of Rage entered Echoes of Reality using the Egress to silence it in 468 LV. It became evident that because Vara Brom disturbed a Shaper Relic, crystals were growing anomalously. Vara had setup several arenas inside the false reality of her cataclysm, each of which housed a crystal within a barrier. Once the crystal was destroyed, the cataclysm became weaker, and it allowed the Freelancer to remain inside it for a longer duration. When the cataclysm was finally silenced by repeatedly entering the Echo of Reality and collecting crystals, the prisoner Dr. Harken found a way to contain the Echo of Reality for good by destroying the spear encrusted by the crystal. When it was destroyed, there was no Echo of Reality anymore.

Crystals near a shaper storm — Large Crystals Forming Beneath a Closed Storm Gate

The Sovereign Mine has always had several crystal deposits deep inside the caves. Such crystals can also be found in underwater caverns of Northern Bastion. These have been a natural formation of crystals for a very long time, but unlike the crystals formed during intense cataclysmic activities, these don't grow or resonate. However, they still have a silvery glint.

When the employees at Matthias Lab found out about the Crystals, they foresaw potential applications for the crystals, claiming that they behaved like embers. In fact, there is a piece of crystal on a table in the lab.

Crystals could also form during other times. However, they are very common during intense Shaper activities such as Cataclysms. Several years ago, when Freemark was still thriving, Outlaws had attacked a strider that carried valuable Major Crystals. This not only shows that difference in the type of crystals is embedded within the world, but also its value and how much longer they have been available to the people of Coda.

Cortex Entry[]

Check Cortex Entry: Sample of Unknown Ember-Like Crystal for More Information

Found: Near the Emerald Abyss.
Chemical composition: Unknown.
WARNING: Sample emits high levels of energy. Can cause feedback and interference with ember devices in some instances.
Note to self: Lots of potential applications; find out if there's more of this stuff around.

For a Collection of similar Cortex Entries, See: Notes (Library)

Gameplay[]

Crystals were rewarded for doing various tasks within The Oncoming Storm and Echoes of Reality. Further, during Season of Skulls and Season of Icetide, they were rewarded for completing challenges. Subsequently, all challenges starting from Update 1.7.0 started to reward crystals. Crystals could also be harvested by destroying crystal nodes scattered across the map in any game mode.

Central Crystal[]

Barriered Cataclysm Event Crystal — An Exposed Central Csytal

A Central Crystal is a special barriered crystal that is enclosed inside a protective shield. The shield rotates to keep it constantly safe from enemies. The concept may have been devised by Harken. However, it was predominantly used by Vara Brom to keep her modified reality stable.

Destroying the central crystal required the Freelancer to defeat enemies and complete puzzles. Once done, the rotating barrier exposed the central crystal. If destroyed, the Echo of Reality would become less stable. This eventually allowed the Freelancer to silence the cataclysm for good.

Crystal Harvesting[]

Crystal Loot Drop — Crystals show up as Pink Resupply Units from the Chests

Destroying small crystals nodes across the map gave the same amount of crystals as the number of embers. In fact, during the oncoming storm, crystal nodes destroyed would only give embers, relating the lore between crystals and embers.

A large crystallized mound of matter always formed under one of the five Anomalies. Both Small and Large crystal nodes could show up under the closed storm gate. When the storm gate opened, crystals structures could also form inside the Anomalies, however, they were only large crystals.

Destroying both small and large crystals would yield minor crystal rewards. Small crystals, which could be found nearly everywhere on the map, gave fewer rewards. Large crystal in contrast, could only form under the storm gates of the Anomalies or with the conjunction anomalies themselves. Large crystals would yield more minor crystal rewards.

Treasure Chests also gave crystal rewards, inside the conjunction after each tier was completed and in Echoes of Reality when Vara Brom was defeated. When crystals were harvested by destroying them or collecting them through chests, they would look like a pink resupply item. It had a very large radius of collection, unlike other resupply items.

Expeditions[]

Crystals 2 — A Large Crystal inside a Conjunction

The following World Events in Freeplay give crystal rewards in the chest after completing them:

The following Legendary Events in the form of Conjunctions gave crystal rewards after completing them during the original run of Echoes of Reality:

The following Cataclysm Critical missions give crystal rewards for completing them. These missions aren't available to the players since Echoes of Reality was silenced:

The following Seasonal Strongholds give crystal rewards after completing them:

The following Cataclysms give crystal rewards at the end:

Echoes of Reality
Echoes of Reality (Season of Skulls)

Crystallized Enemies[]

Several Crystallized Enemies have shown up during various expeditions. These enemies prevented completing the expeditions. Unless they were defeated, the crystal rewards would be minimized:

Using Crystals[]

Crystals can be used in many ways. They can be used to purchase War Chests or Cosmetics in the Seasonal Store.

Minor Crystals[]

Minor Crystal Types — Types of Minor Crystals

Minor crystals are limited time currency obtained by completing challenges, containing conjunctions, and finishing the Echoes of Reality Cataclysm. They can also be harvested from the crystal nodes in freeplay or during missions.

Minor Crystals can also be received as rewards for completing seasonal and cataclysm related challenges.

Minor Crystals have Epic Rarity.

Major Crystals[]

Major Crystal Types — Types of Major Crystals

Major crystals are only obtained by completing challenges or through conversion at the Seasonal store. Major crystals are used to purchase higher tier cosmetics such as epic wraps and epic armor sets. During the Echoes of Reality cataclysm, 3 epic wraps and 1 epic armor set, each for colossus, interceptor, ranger, and storm for 8 major crystals. So comparing it with the regular cost of epic armor sets ( 61,000), it is possible to convert them into regular currencies by comparison. However, no such mechanism was introduced.

Major Crystals have the Masterwork Rarity.

Exchange Rate[]

The exchange rate for these crystals was 1 = 500.

In the PTS (Anthem's Public Test Server), the exchange rate was 1 = 1000, but based on player feedback, it was reduced to the above rate.

Since Major Crystals cannot be obtained in-game (as of update 1.5.0), they cannot be exchanged for Minor crystals.

Note: Due to a bug, Echoes of Reality Cataclysm Missions, which should not be accessible to anyone since its original run ended in September 2019, become available to the players after completing Return to the Heart of Rage mission. If successfully completed (which can be done, even though the missions may not show quest markers due to their inaccessibility) major crystals are rewarded at their end. But since major crystals cannot be converted to minor, they are pretty much useless.

Seasonal and Other Changes[]

During the Season of Skulls, the color of the crystal currencies change from pink to beige. No major crystals are available in the game, but datamined files show the existence of beige major crystals.

The minor crystals are of Epic Rarity. beige minor crystals were made defunct since update 1.7.0, as no new patches were introduced that could change the color of the crystals. In 2020, and forward, the rewards during Season of Skulls (Festive) Event was regular pink minor crystals and not beige.

General crystal rewards show up as gray when seen in the Cortex, which may be an allegory to the actual crystals themselves, that have the argent glint. The image shows the two crystals side by side.

Trivia[]

The original plan was to introduce different colored crystals during a different cataclysm in each act to represent the currency in the UI (Pink was in Echoes of Reality, Beige was during Season of Skulls, etc.).
In retrospect, having two types of crystals makes no sense since the exchange rate is fixed, and no conversion fee is applied.
Starting from the Season of Skulls, all Major Crystal rewards were converted to Minor crystals.
Crystal rewards were generously given away starting from update 1.5.0, before which they were very poorly rewarded, even at the end of each Cataclysm Game Mode.
All crystal rewards mentioned in the cortex, inventory, and reward pop ups on the screen show up as gray crystals with a purple background flare, hinting their Epic rarity.
Crystal rarity could be seen in the vault and inventory during the original run of Echoes of Reality. This mechanism was removed since it ended.