Combat in Mortal Shell 2
Combat in Mortal Shell 2 heavily depends on a few things. A lot of soulslikes will have variety based on weapon choice and skill building. There may also be choices in auxiliary things like equippable items or modifications.
In Mortal Shell 2's case, you have your items, your Tarstones that act like auxiliary enhancement objects, and your regular items.
What is unique to the Mortal Shell series is the Shell system, which acts like a class-type that is more often found in regular role-playing games (RPGs). It acts like the skill tree found in other games, but instead of adding more attacks for your player, it centers on a central skill with additional passives.
While there are also Seals in Mortal Shell 2 that affect the way you counter an attack, it is mostly player preference and gamestyle that affect the decision to use which seal.
Best Build
The best build in Mortal Shell 2 will depend on your playstyle. What is covered in this section is the best build if you want the easiest time in this game. Here, we will talk about the best items in each category.
Best Shell
The Best Shell is Proxima. Proxima is considered the best because of the following:
- A very useful ability which provides additional damage as you level it up
- Built-in damage reduction for extra survivability
- Built-in coin increase that lets you farm for upgrades faster
- A lot of enemies are weak against Shock/Lightning
Best Weapons
Use dual-wielded weapons like Axe & Dagger or the Axatana. In Mortal Shell 2, melee is king. Melee replenishes not only Resolve, but if you are in Harbinger form, it also helps you get back to your shell. The damage is also significantly better than when using ranged items.
What makes the Best Weapon choices here, however, is because of a specific Tarstone—the Duality Stone, which enables extra hit per melee damage.
Therefore, the best weapons to use are any dual-wielded weapons like the Axe & Dagger or the Axatana.
| Advantage | Disadvantage | |
| Axe & Dagger | Supreme damage output and attack speed | Does not have a huge range |
| Axatana | Is very well-balanced in range, damage output, and attack speed | Does have less overall speed than the Axe & Dagger |
Best Tarstones
Tarstones are items that help enhance your performance in some way. The best Tarstones are those that buff your battle prowess and those that infuse devastating effects onto the enemy.
| Combat Tarstones | |
|---|---|
| Duality Stone | When used with the best weapons, you get 2 extra melee hits, doubling damage output |
| Auspicious Stone | Increases Melee Critical Chance |
| Berserker Stone | At low health, melee damage increases |
| Grudge Stone | Deals guaranteed critical damage every few hits. |
| Siegebreaker's Stone | Improves ranged stagger damage. |
| Shattering Stone | Improves melee stagger damage. |
| Headsman's Stone | Improves melee critical damage. |
The Infusion Tarstones we will talk about are specific to the Best Weapons as mentioned above.
| Infusion Tarstones | |
|---|---|
| Arbiter's Prize | Inflicts Bleed on the enemy. Only for Axe & Dagger. |
| Serpent Stone | Poisons the enemy. Only for Axe & Dagger. |
| Voltaic Crown | Infuses Lightning into melee hits. Only for Axatana. |
| Torpor Stone | Inflicts Statis on the enemy. Only for Axatana. |
Alternative Builds
Alternative Shell: Tiel
Another great Shell is Tiel, especially if you prefer dodging over blocking or parrying. The shell is effective for the following reasons:
- Allows you to be stealthy, making dungeons and dense areas more manageable
- Perfect dodging gets you out of sticky situations during combat and allows you to reset
- Turns defense into offense by dealing stagger damage after a perfect dodge
- Has great Poison mitigation, which is effective against mobs and bosses that inflict Poison
Alternative Weapon: Black Needle
While dual weapons are best, a lot of players don't want to have a super easy time with the game but still feel rewarded with an easy-to-use weapon.
The Black Needle excels in being fast and able to hit a lot of enemies, as well as having great damage output. As it is a single weapon, it cannot be used with the Duality Stone which makes the game more balanced.
Alternative Tarstones
| Zealot Stone | Grants access to a special Light Combo Finisher that generates Resolve. |
| Ironpiercer's Stone | Projectiles pierce through enemies, making managing mobs much easier. |
| Parasitic Stone | Slaying foes grants Leech stacks. |
| Unwieldy's Stone | Perform a Charged Heavy Attack that grants Leech and restores health. |
| Confessor's Keepsake | Charge your Sidearm, firing a powerful, devastating shot. |
Mortal Shell 2 Interactive Map
Related Guides
Helpful Guides
 Beginner's Tips and Tricks |  NEVER Lose Gloom |
 Mid Summer? Trophy (Missable) |  Feed Me Trophy |
 List of All Trophies |  How to Change Difficulty |
 How to get Seedbearer's Scripture |  Best Builds |
