Aug 19, 2026

Mortal Shell 2 – Beginner Tips

Fahad Suleman

Welcome to the Into Indie Games beginner tips guide to Mortal Shell 2.

Mortal Shell 2 is an Action-RPG where you play as the Harbinger, who has the ability to inhabit shells. Now, you’ll have to collect the Undermether’s Ova that have been spread all over the land, while also cleaning the corruption that holds them hostage. To do that, you’ll also have to challenge many strong bosses and find means to become stronger.

For our complete Mortal Shell 2 guides and walkthrough coverage, check out our Mortal Shell 2 hub here.

For more information about the game, please visit its official Steam page here.

Experiment With Different Shells
To The North And Then To The South
Equip Different Tarstones To Level Them Up
Don’t Hesitate To Use Your Sidearm Or Shell Abilities
Explore Every Dungeon Thoroughly

Experiment With Different Shells

Each Shell has its own unique abilities. You’ll have to find the one that suits your playstyle the best. You can find the general locations for each Shell at the Shell Keeper in Marrow Keep in exchange for Glimpse, which can be acquired by cleansing beacons.

After acquiring a shell, you can further strengthen its abilities by improving your bond with it at the Shell Keeper. Improving bonds also requires Glimpse.

Unlocking bonds will also unlock memories for each Shell, but be careful before spending your Glimpse on boosting your bond with multiple Shells, because Glimpse won’t be refunded, and it’s a scarce resource.

Leveling up the Harbinger also gives you Skill Points. You can use these skills to unlock different abilities for each shell. Skill Points are completely refundable, so you can adjust them accordingly and respec.

To The North And Then To The South

The map is divided into two parts with the Marrow Keep in the center. At first, you should go for the North. The North region is a lot easier, and you can also find several shells here, including Proxima and Tiel.

Once you’ve cleansed all of the corrupted gates in the North Region and are confident in your ability, you can head to the South Region, where you’ll find a significant difficulty spike.

Equip Different Tarstones To Level Them Up

Tarstones can be leveled up later on in the game, but to level them up, you’ll need to have accumulated enough experience.

The Tarstones only gain experience if they’re equipped, and you’ll need to level up multiple ones. Leveling up to level 2 requires only some gold, but to level up to Level 3, you’ll need Tarcores. You can only get Tarcores by upgrading other Tarstones.

You can gain the ability to upgrade Tarstones at the Tarforge by finding and bringing the Etching Needles to Franz. You can find this item in the Glutted Mire Gate.

Don’t Hesitate To Use Your Sidearm Or Shell Abilities

At the start of the game, you may find it a little odd that you only have three shots for your sidearm. However, your sidearm’s shooting ability relies entirely on your Resolve, which is the golden bar above your health bar.

Firing the sidearm consumes a portion of Resolve, which can be immediately gained after dealing melee damage to the enemy.

The same goes for Shell abilities. Certain shells rely heavily on their abilities to boost their combat abilities. For example, Proxima can increase her damage output on an enemy after repeatedly using the Biosampler skill on the same enemy, after unlocking one of her skills at Bond level 4.

In such cases, you should never hesitate to use your sidearm to deal extra damage or to get rid of weaker enemies. As the game progresses, you’ll be able to level up your sidearms as well, which also decreases their Resolve consumption, allowing you to fire more shots.

Explore Every Dungeon Thoroughly

Exploration plays an important role in strengthening your skills. You can find certain weapons in some dungeons, or you may also encounter a few bosses that can reward you with a ton of Gloom after being defeated, which can then be used to level up.

Dungeons can be somewhat tricky in the game, and you’ll have to be clever to figure out their gimmicks. But in most cases, you’ll find the solution for a puzzle inside the dungeon itself. Furthermore, some illusory walls can reveal hidden items or shortcuts, so don’t hesitate to strike at walls, especially if they have strange white markings on them.