Shatter

Freeze a monster, then kill it before Freeze ends. The monster Shatters and leaves no corpse. This prevents later effects from using that corpse. Unique bosses cannot Shatter. Polcirkeln can make enemies Chilled by your Hits eligible as though Frozen, while Sculpted Suffering can make Fully Armour Broken enemies killed by Hits Shatter without requiring Freeze.

The default condition is death while Frozen

A monster Shatters when it is killed while the Frozen state is active. Chill and partial Freeze Buildup do not satisfy the default condition. The important check is the target's state at death, not simply whether the killing damage was Cold.

Shatter destroys the corpse

The Shattered monster leaves no corpse. Skills and effects that require a corpse cannot use that enemy afterward. Shatter does not erase the death itself: version 0.1.0c fixed Blood Circle encounters failing to credit Shattered monsters, confirming that encounter kill credit is expected even though the corpse is gone.

Shatter is not an explosion by default

The base mechanic destroys the corpse and has no listed damage, radius, or damage type. An icy explosion shown by Herald of Ice is Herald of Ice's triggered payoff. It is not damage inherent to every Shatter.

Unique bosses cannot Shatter

The current community mechanic record identifies Unique bosses as unable to Shatter. Do not plan corpse destruction, Herald of Ice, or another Shatter-specific payoff around a Unique boss target.

Polcirkeln substitutes Chill for Freeze

Polcirkeln allows enemies Chilled by your Hits to be Shattered as though Frozen. The enemy remains Chilled rather than becoming Frozen, so this modifier enables the Shatter result but does not satisfy unrelated effects that require an actual Frozen enemy.

Sculpted Suffering substitutes Fully Broken Armour

Sculpted Suffering makes Fully Armour Broken enemies you kill with Hits Shatter. Its condition requires both Fully Broken Armour and a Hit kill. It does not require Cold damage, Chill, or Freeze.

Herald of Ice has a restricted Shatter trigger

Herald of Ice triggers only when a non-Herald Attack Hit Shatters an enemy. A Spell kill does not meet the Attack requirement, and a Herald explosion does not meet the non-Herald requirement. The explosion therefore cannot sustain an unrestricted Herald-to-Herald chain.

Herald of Ice defines its own explosion

The Herald explosion is an Attack that cannot be Evaded, has a base radius of 1.6 metres, and converts 100% of its Physical damage to Cold damage. Its Attack Damage scales with the Herald skill level, and quality can increase its radius and grant increased Cold damage.

Frozen Vortex adds a separate damage-over-time payoff

Frozen Vortex supports skills that Hit and triggers when the supported skill Shatters an enemy. The triggered vortex has a 1.6 metre radius, lasts 3 seconds, and deals 30% of the Overkill Damage from the triggering Hit as Cold damage over time.

Consuming Freeze is not Shattering

Fragmentation Rounds, Glacial Cascade, Snipe, Icestorm, and other payoffs can Consume Freeze. Consumption removes the ailment to produce that skill's benefit. It is not the enemy-death event called Shatter and does not inherently create a Shattered corpse result or trigger a Shatter payoff.

Shattering objects uses separate skill rules

Earthshatter spikes, Ice Crystals, Shield Wall segments, Forge Hammer, Mirrors of Refraction, and Expedition Remnants can also be described as shattering. Those object-specific actions use their own skill or encounter rules and are not the Frozen-monster Shatter mechanic.