Hard Mode<\/h3>\nIn {{template-release|exaltVersion=2.3.0.0}}, a secret \"Hard Mode\" was added to the Shatters. This optional mode requires players to undertake a series of hidden tasks and is substantially higher in difficulty, but drops increased loot along with a chance at an exclusive item.\n\nPlayers must first track down a [Void Phantasm](\/wiki\/void-phantasm) that has a decent chance of spawning in the Derelict Village, indicated by a purple torch near the entrance of the dungeon . The Phantasm will initially be highly transparent and very hard to find, but will become opaque and attack. Attacking the Phantasm enough will make it teleport to a new location; doing this 1-2 times will cause it to retreat to the [Stone Idol](\/wiki\/stone-idol). Defeating the Void Phantasm next to the Stone Idol will cause the Idol to absorb it and turn Accursed, upgrading all its attacks but **making it vulnerable to damage**.\n\nIf the Idol has been defeated, the NPC [Duke Poenitet](\/wiki\/duke-poenitet) will appear in the Village, and the fight with The Bridge Sentinel will be slightly more difficult. Defeating him will reveal his name as **Valen the Unbreakable** and prompt new dialog while dropping a second loot bag.\n\nIf Valen was defeated, a significantly increased number of the enemies in the Royal Castle spawn as Accursed variants. If there is an Alchemy Lab in the Castle, a hidden wall behind one of the posters will reveal a secret room with a readable lore note and [The Source](\/wiki\/the-source). Destroying The Source will make a fourth Magi-Generator required to activate the boss; if the boss activates while four Generators are active, the Twilight Archmage will become **Nox the Wild Shadow** and initiate a substantially harder version of the original fight, in exchange for dropping doubled loot bags.\n\nThe Grand Hall will be unchanged outside of there being significantly more Accursed spawns, which can be extremely dangerous, especially in smaller groups.\n\nThe fight with the Forgotten King is identical up until after all Eyes of the King have been defeated; **if the fight with Nox ended with 2 Fire and 2 Ice Generators locked in**, [The Shattered Queen](\/wiki\/the-shattered-queen) will spawn instead of the fight proceeding as normal. Players will have to defeat the Shattered Queen - who applies a permanent Sicken effect while alive - to progress the fight, upon which the King reveals his true name as **King Azamoth**. His dialogue lines are changed and his desperation attack becomes longer and more dangerous, but his fight otherwise remains the same.\n\nDefeating King Azamoth will give the victors two loot bags, but he more importantly drops an exclusive item only obtainable from him - the [Chrysalis of Eternity](\/wiki\/chrysalis-of-eternity).\n\n