Diablo 3 Season 30 Soul Shards: How to get, stats, locations & tips

Lauren Bergin
diablo 3 malthael reaper of souls with the black soulstone

Diablo 3 Season 30’s Soul Shards allow players to channel the power of the Prime Evils themselves, but what exactly are they and how to you use them in The Lords of Hell? 

Soul Shards are back in Diablo 3 Season 30, with the game recycling Season 25’s gimmick and allowing players to wield the devastating power of the Prime Evils themselves. As Diablo 3 Season 29 saw the end of new seasonal content in the game (due to the release of Diablo 4), future seasons will see some returning classic themes. with Season 30 being the first.

So now that Soul Shards are returning to Diablo 3 in Season 30, here’s a rundown of what they do, as well as their stats, and how to go about using and finding them.

Contents

diablo 3 season 25 soul stones
There are 7 new Soul Shards, each with some fearsome powers.

What are Diablo 3 Season 30’s Soul Shards?

Blizzard describes the Soul Shards as “lingering fragments of The Lords of Hell” that “hold immense power – power that once belonged to the Prime and Lesser Evils.” In short, the Soul Shards are new socketable items that will allow players to harness the power of Hell’s finest.

The devs warn that with immense power comes responsibility, though, as “power can be alluring, and the road to the Burning Hells is paved with good intentions…”

There are seven different shards which are divided into two categories: the Prime Evil Soul Shards (representing Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal,) as well as the Lesser Prime Evil Soul Shards (representing Azmodan, Belial, Duriel, and Andariel.) They can be upgraded 3 times using the all-new Hellforge Ember.

We’ve divided the shards below:

Prime Evil Shards Lesser Evil Shards
Sliver of Terror Stain of Sin
Shard of Hatred Dregs of Lies
Fragment of Destruction Remnant of Pain
Essence of Anguish

Diablo 3 Soul Shards: Stats & effects

One of the most unique things about the Soul Shards is that, for every buff they grant you, there’s a pretty significant nerf. The devil is in the details, after all, so make sure you read the small print with these items.

Players will be able to equip one Prime Evil Shard and one Lesser Evil Shard at a time, allowing you to cause some serious chaos.

Below we’ve got all seven of Diablo 3’s Soul Shards listed, as well as what they’ll allow your Nephilim to do:

Soul Shard Effects
Sliver of Terror Base Power:Your cooldowns are increased by 25%. For every skill on cooldown, you take 12.5% reduced damage and deal 12.5% increased damage.Additional Powers:

Your attack speed and critical hit chance are increased by 5% for each skill on cooldown.

You cast a devastating Ring of Fire after killing 100 enemies.

If three or more skills are on cooldown, your lightning and fire skill damage are increased by 50%.

Shard of Hatred

Base Power:

You deal 15% reduced damage while you have 3 or fewer enemies within 25 yards. If more than 3 enemies are within the same distance, you deal 10% 5% increased damage per enemy (to a maximum of 50%).

Additional Powers:

Killing an elite enemy pulls all enemies within 40 yards to where the elite died.

Your Movement speed is increased by 50%. Each enemy within 25 yards reduces your movement speed by 10% up to 70%.

You now deal 10% increased damage for every enemy instead of 5% (to a maximum of 100%)

Fragment of Destruction

Base Power:

You move unhindered through enemies. Each enemy you pass through receives Mark of Destruction for 7 seconds. Each marked enemy that dies removes 1 second from one of your skills on cooldown. If the Mark of Destruction expires before the enemies die you lose 2% of your maximum health as damage. Marks are not applied if you are below 35% health.

Additional Powers:

You have a 25% Chance to restore 5% health when an enemy dies with Mark of Destruction active.

When you apply Mark of Destruction to an enemy, you increase your movement speed by 5% for 7 seconds. Max 10 Stacks.

You now leave a trail of fire in your wake that slays enemies with the Mark of Destruction and are below 10% health.

Stain of Sin Base Power: You deal 25% less damage. When you kill 50 enemies, you spawn a pool of blood that increases the damage done to elite enemies by 150% and lasts 15 seconds.Additional Powers:
The pool of blood now negates Elite affixes within its area.
You gain an additional Rift Progress Orb when you kill an elite pack.
The pool of blood now collects Rift Progress Orbs.
Dregs of Lies

Base Power:

You deal 25% less damage. Your pets deal 25% increased damage.

Additional Powers:

Killing an elite enemy reduces all your active cooldowns by 5 seconds.

On receiving fatal damage, spawn a shadow that prevents your death, restores your health to 35%, and grants +225 All Resist to all party members while it is active. The shadow only lasts 15 seconds.

Each time your pet hits an enemy, your damage is increased by 0.5% for 5 seconds. This stacks up to 100 times. When you reach 100 stacks, the stacks quickly reset to 0.

Remnant of Pain Base Power: Your Critical Hit Chance is reduced by 15%. Attacks against Incapacitated enemies are automatically critical hits.Additional Powers:

Hitting enemies with cold damage has a 50% chance to freeze them. Cold skill damage is increased to frozen targets by 20%.
Gain passability while your movement speed bonus is over 50%. When you move through enemies you knock them back and stun them for 2 seconds.
When you critically hit an enemy you increase the attack speed all players by 5% for 5 seconds. Max 10 stacks.

Essence of Anguish Base Power: Every time you deal poison damage to an enemy you increase your cooldown reduction and movement speed by 2.5% while your damage received is increased by 5% for 10 seconds. Max 10 stacks.Additional Powers:

Your movement speed and cooldown reduction can be increased up to 15 times by dealing poison damage to an enemy.
When you deal poison damage to an enemy they receive 50% increased poison damage from all sources for 10 seconds.
Killing an enemy deals the damage done by the death blow to all enemies within 25 yards.

Soul Shard: Locations

Soul Shards and the Hellforge Ember upgrades can drop anywhere across the map, so get ready for a bit of grinding! However, the Soul Shards themselves have a higher chance of dropping from bosses.

So that’s all you need to know about Diablo 3’s Soul Shards! Looking for some tips and tricks to help you send Diablo back to hell all over again? Here’s a list of out Diablo 3 guides:

How to find & defeat Izual | Where to find Kanai’s Cube in Diablo 3 | How to get Dawn Demon Hunter crossbow | Best Barbarian Builds | Best Crusader Builds | Best Demon Hunter Builds | Best Monk Builds | Best Witch Doctor Builds | Best Wizard Builds

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About The Author

Lauren was formerly Dexerto's Features Editor and resident Diablo Sorceress. With two Master's degrees under her belt and a lot more Steam achievements, she specializes in all things Blizzard and Riot Games, with some Lost Ark and FFXIV on the side.