During one of the main side quests in Assassin's Creed Mirage, you'll need to hunt down 10 Mysterious Shards. These shards are held by heavily guarded members of the Order, but once you assassinate their entourage—and the individual themselves—the shards are yours, but what do you do with them? Luckily for you, I have all the answers, so here's how to collect mysterious shards and what you need them for.
How to collect Mysterious Shards
You can locate a shard by looking for a gold shard icon on the map and nav bar, as well as above your target's head. You'll need to assassinate them and get rid of their guards if you want to get the shard, which you can pick up or auto-collect if you have the perk.
As you uncover new areas in Mirage, you'll see how many shards there are per area so that you don't waste your time looking in the same place for too long. Each area has two mysterious shards available—including the two Wilderness locations—so make your way around the map of Baghdad to find them all.
What to use Mysterious Shards for
After meeting with Nehal, you'll be tasked with finding an oasis and a mysterious underwater cave to the north of the ‘Aqarquf Dunes. Before you jump into the water, though, you'll want to find a note on a desk near the water that confirms the existence of the shards. If you go to the mysterious cave first it won't be obvious what you need to do and there will be no prompt.
Once you've read the letter, head down into the secret chamber under the oasis. There are three doorways that contain unique Isu loot, and you need to insert mysterious shards into the pillars in front of them to unlock the doors. You'll need two, three, and five shards respectively for each door, where you'll find a dagger, sword and new armour set. These items are all fully upgraded, too, which is nice. You'll get:
- Samsaama Dagger: 27 damage, 47 defensive damage. Every fifth hit heals Basim for 10% of his health.
- Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar Sword: 46 damage, 78 defensive damage. Lowers Basim's max health by 50% but increases damage by 50%.
- Milad's Outfit: Successful air assassinations set off a flash of lightning that disorients bystanders in a 15-metre radius.
