Spirit shards

Spirit shards are used in the Summoning skill along with charms to create pouches to summon Familiars. Players can purchase spirit shards from Pikkupstix in Taverley (at the starting point of the Wolf Whistle quest) for 25 coins each, and at the other Summoning Shops.

The High Level Alchemy value of Summoning pouches is directly related to the number of spirit shards required:
 * (Spirit shards x 15) + 254 = High Level Alchemy value.

Swapping


The Perils of Ice Mountain update of the 7 May 2008 included news that Bogrog has the ability to exchange shards for completed pouches.

Bogrog is at the obelisk and Summoning shop near the entrance to the ogre city of Gu'Tanoth. He will swap out summoning pouches or summoning scrolls for 70% of the shards it took to make it

. However, players need minimum Summoning levels, which begin at 21 and increases for higher summoning pouches.

For example, a spirit terrorbird pouch requires level 52 Summoning and 12 spirit shards to make. Trading it to Bogrog requires level 57 Summoning, and yields 9 spirit shards in return.

History
The price of spirit shards has stirred a lot of criticism from players who feel they are too expensive. Jagex initially countered that the price of shards and the number needed for each pouch type was carefully considered and meant to balance the true worth of the summoned familiar.

However, in the face of continuing complaints - and possibly as economic changes resulting from the game modifications interrupting Real-World Trading and Unbalanced Trade became apparent - Jagex has made several changes trying to address the concerns of players.

In the Summoning Changes update of the 17 January 2008 (just two days after Summoning was released), they decreased the shard price from 50 to 25 coins each. In the Summoning 2 update of the 31 March 2008, they made several changes to make the familiars themselves more cost-effective and useful.

By setting a minimum value for all pouch types (70% of their shard content), Bogrog should significantly reduce the cost of training. Some pouches seem to correlate with some of the pouches Grand Exchange prices, so it would be the same amount of supply from either technique.

On 9 September 2008, Jagex made it so players can buy spirit shards on the Grand Exchange.