The boss fights in the Nephalem Rifts often drop multiple blood shards. They show up in bright purple and it says "Blood Shards (X)" where 'x' is the number I received from that fight. It seems like every time I fight one of these rift bosses, I get a different number of blood shards. And, when I play with some of my friends, they usually get a different number than I do. What determines how many blood shards are dropped from Nephalem Rift boss fights?
Diablo – What determines how many blood shards I get
diablo-3
Related Solutions
I don't know the exact formula, but the delay seems to increase by 5 seconds each time you die. It starts at 3 seconds and has a max of 28.
It does not seem to be affected by any other actions, and resets after 2 minutes.
There are two factors that change how much experience per kill is given. These factors modify the base experience of the monster, each monster has a different base experience.
First is the monster level vs your level. This chart is from Malloy626 on Reddit (click for larger image) demonstrates the approximate experience gain from monsters in each act and difficulty relative to your level. Malloy626 summarizes that the optimal leveling path is the yellow zone in the chart.
This is based on the following experience chart (monster level vs character level)
char level +10 or more of monster level = 0%
+9 = 1% (+exp effects nullified)
+8 = 5% (+exp effects nullified)
+7 = 15% (+exp effects nullified)
+6 = 30% (+exp effects nullified)
+5 = 45%
+4 = 60%
+3 = 70%
+2 = 80%
+1 = 90%
+0 = 100%
-1 = 115%
-2 = 120%
-3 or less = 125%
Second is gear with +experience (example) or +%experience (example) per kill. This simply multiplies the amount of experience you get after the level disparity modifier is applied.
Note that nothing else effects experience, including additional party members.
Best Answer
Difficulty increases the number of blood shards you get.
The number you get will vary slightly each time. It is a random value within a range determined by your difficult level.