How to Unlock Every Shell in Mortal Shell 2
Mortal Shell 2 features eight unlockable Shells beyond the prologue, each bringing different abilities and combat mechanics. Some are waiting to be found, while others require quests, exploration, or boss fights.
This guide covers every Mortal Shell 2 Shell location, unlock requirement, and playstyle so you can find the ones you want and start building around them.
Haros is your starting Shell, but he doesn’t join the permanent roster. Once the prologue ends, you lose access to Haros and begin finding the other Shells across the open world.
Best Shells to Unlock First
You don’t necessarily need to collect every Shell before deciding what to play. If you’re still early in Mortal Shell 2, your first targets should depend on the combat style you want.
| Shell | Best For | Main Gameplay Hook |
|---|---|---|
| Proxima | Aggressive players | Gap closing + Lightning |
| Tiel | Dodge-focused players | Invisibility + counterattacks |
| Gragu | Beginners/aggressive melee | Enemy hearts + healing |
| Eredrim | Heavy melee | Break damage + executions |
| Smert | Status builds | Time manipulation + Chaos |
| Genessa | Experimental builds | Shades + copied attacks |
| Lazlo | Tank players | Armor + Overheat |
| Sariel | Advanced builds | Pain + curse mechanics |
If you simply want access to different playstyles as early as possible, Proxima and Tiel are natural first pickups because neither requires the longer boss or quest chains associated with later characters. Gragu is another strong early target if you don’t mind completing the Heart of Vatra objective.
Shells You Can Unlock Without a Boss Fight
Not every Shell requires a boss kill. A few can be picked up directly once you reach their location, which makes them ideal early unlocks.
Proxima
Found on an altar near Widow’s Overlook. No boss fight required.
Tiel
Found in the graveyard near Mushroom Village. Interact with him and complete the cutscene.
Smert
Found on an altar at Desolate Peak. Enemies guard the area, but there is no boss tied to the unlock itself.
How to Unlock Proxima
Proxima Location – Widow’s Overlook
Proxima is one of the easiest Shells to grab immediately after reaching the open world. Start from Widow’s Overlook and avoid heading directly toward your main objective. Instead, take the route to the left and continue toward the far end of the area. Cross the bridge, stay slightly right, and continue beyond the Black Ridge Cliffs. Take the middle path upward until you reach another beacon sitting around the water. From there, enter the nearby structure. You don’t need to clear the enemies outside.
Proxima’s body is resting on an altar inside. Interact with it to unlock her immediately.
What Makes Proxima Worth Unlocking?
Proxima brings an aggressive gap-closing tool called Bio Sampler. It allows her to quickly close distance, bypass shields, and apply Lightning stacks. Building around the ability can push those Lightning mechanics further, including effects capable of calling down lightning storms. Her defensive side comes from Grafted Armor. When triggered after taking an enemy hit, Grafted Armor reduces incoming damage. Its trigger chance and defensive effect can then be developed further through Proxima’s skill tree.
Pick Proxima if: you want to stay aggressive, close gaps quickly, pressure shielded enemies, and build around Lightning.
How to Unlock Tiel
Tiel Location – Graveyard Near Mushroom Village
After collecting Proxima, return toward Widow’s Overlook and begin moving toward Mushroom Village. Follow the canyon leading toward the village, but don’t enter it immediately. Instead, stay slightly to the right and look toward the back of the area. You should notice a cemetery. Enter through the gates on the left and look through the exposed graveyard. Tiel can be found here. Interact with him and complete the resulting cutscene to unlock the Shell.
Tiel Turns Perfect Dodges Into Attacks
Tiel is built around mobility, invisibility, and punishing enemies after avoiding their attacks. His active ability, Lingering Shadow, lets you enter invisibility manually. While hidden, your light attack becomes Shadow Strike and delivers additional damage. His Shadow Dash passive ties the same mechanic directly into dodging. Land a perfect dodge and Tiel can enter invisibility, opening another opportunity to retaliate while also adding stagger pressure.
Pick Tiel if: you enjoy perfect dodges, fast movement, disappearing from combat, and immediately counterattacking.
How to Unlock Gragu
Find Gragu at the One-Legged Wolf Tavern
Gragu takes more work than Proxima or Tiel because reaching him isn’t enough. He wants something first.Start from the Mushroom Village beacon and move toward the nearby houses. At the first bridge, make a sharp left and continue through the area ahead. Clear the corruption blocking your route, follow the road to the right, and continue until you reach a cave and pass through it. Near the cave exit, you can activate a smaller beacon before continuing toward the One-Legged Wolf Tavern. Inside you’ll find Gragu drinking, keep talking to him until you exhaust enough dialogue for him to tell you what he wants: The Heart of Vatra.
How to Get the Heart of Vatra
Leave the tavern and look toward the bridges on the right. Follow them toward the Temple of Vatra. Use the jump gate to cross into the temple area and begin making your way upward. Before grabbing the Heart, however, there’s another item worth collecting.
Grab the Berserker Stone Before Leaving
A nearby chest can be opened by lighting three candles positioned around the area. Activate all three and loot the chest to receive the Berserker Stone. Its effect rewards fighting at lower health with increased damage, making it particularly interesting for aggressive setups. Once you have it, head toward the top of the temple and retrieve the Heart of Vatra from the statue. Taking the Heart blocks the normal paths, so use the adjacent routes to escape and return to the tavern. Give the Heart to Gragu to unlock him.
Why Gragu Is Great for Aggressive Players
Gragu’s Staggering Blow is essentially a brutal punch built for putting enemies down. Its upgrades can push the attack further, including effects that cause enemies to explode or allow Gragu to rip hearts from them. Those hearts matter because of Revered Heart. Instead of relying on normal healing potions, Gragu can use hearts collected from defeated enemies for healing. That creates a straightforward combat loop: Kill → collect hearts → heal → keep fighting.
Pick Gragu if: you want heavy melee hits, frequent healing, and a Shell that rewards staying in combat.
How to Unlock Eredrim
Reach Eredrim Through the Citadel of Penins
You can reach Eredrim by taking a shortcut from the area near Gragu. Follow the route downward from the nearby beacon, but instead of returning to the tavern, move toward the bridge and climb through the connected pathways, eventually you’ll reach castle ruins. Kill the enemy blocking the route and look for the unusual bag positioned against the wall. Interacting with it transports you to the Citadel of Penins. Break out of the prison area and keep left until you find a platform leading upward. Taking this platform triggers the encounter you need.
Defeat the Warden
Entering the central area starts the Warden boss fight. Defeat the Warden and you’ll gain access to Eredrim in the same general area. If you’re worried about dying before the fight, there’s also a nearby beacon you can activate first. Backtrack toward the lower section, take the jump platform, turn left at the top, and look behind the walls. Saving here gives you a much better recovery point for repeated attempts.
Eredrim Is Built to Break Enemies
Eredrim carries multiple abilities centered heavily around break damage. Shoulder Bash delivers heavy break pressure and can be charged for a stronger hit. His second active ability, Ethereal Dapaon, creates break damage across a larger area and can be developed further through skill investment.
Then there’s Executioner. Finishing low-health enemies with a riposte builds Slaughterer stacks. As those stacks increase, the health threshold for qualifying executions also increases.
Pick Eredrim if: you like stunning enemies, breaking their defenses, landing ripostes, and building momentum through executions.
How to Unlock Smert
Smert Location: Desolate Peak
After dealing with the Warden and reaching Eredrim, you can continue deeper toward Smert. From the nearby chest, move outside and take the path to the right toward the outer edges of the castle. You’ll eventually reach a gate with several enemies farther along the route. Before reaching them, watch the wall on your left for an opening, jump through it.
Turn sharply backward and follow the path across the bridge until you reach a jump gate leading toward Desolate Peak. Continue toward the next jump gate and choose the lower platform.
This puts you close to Smert. Cultist enemies protect the area, so clear them and look toward the middle of the circle. You’ll find an altar with Smert lying on it. Interact with the body to unlock the Shell.
Smert Can Build Around Time Manipulation and Chaos
Smert’s defining mechanic is Miracle. Activating it dramatically slows the action around you while changing how your melee attacks behave. Those attacks begin applying Chaos stacks, which can later trigger together. Chaos can interact with other conditions, opening the door to combinations involving effects such as Lightning, Freeze, and Blood Curse. Smert also has Faith, which activates around very low health and increases Resolve generation.
Pick Smert if: you want to experiment with status effects, Chaos stacks, Resolve, and manipulating the pace of combat.
How to Unlock Genessa
Genessa works differently from the standard Shells.
The transcript specifically describes her as a separate playable character that behaves similarly to a Shell, rather than simply another body for the Harbinger. Unlocking her also requires reaching the second major portion of the map.
Reach the Revenant Graves
Return to the top of Marrow Keep and clear the corruption blocking the route. Doing so gives you access to a teleporter leading toward the Outskirts of Mammon. From there:
- Move through the battlefield.
- Pass the castle walls.
- Drop through the gap near the beginning of the bridge.
- Continue through the nearby archway.
- Follow the lower ledge.
- Take the teleport gate into the red biome.
- Climb the stairs.
- Look for the large wall filled with statues at the Revenant Graves.
At the end you’ll find the objective that leads into another boss encounter. Defeat the boss and retrieve the item connected to Genessa. Return to Marrow Keep and speak with Genessa at her fighting arena. A new dialogue option becomes available when you have the required item. Choose it to unlock her.
Genessa Can Fight Alongside Her Own Copies
Genessa’s active ability, Faithful Doubles, summons shades that act as copies of her. These initially perform a single attack, but upgrades can expand their attack sequence and allow them to make use of unlocked weapons and abilities. Her Duality mechanic becomes particularly interesting when her health is depleted. Instead of behaving exactly like a normal Shell being separated from the Harbinger, Genessa changes into her Stray form. This opens another style of build centered around additional Strays copying attacks. The trade-off is survivability.
Pick Genessa if: you want clone-based attacks, multiple bodies pressuring enemies, and a more unusual risk-versus-damage playstyle.
How to Unlock Lazlo
Return to the Outskirts of Mammon and this time follow the route down the right side along the wooden roads. Continue until you find another jump gate leading toward the Deserted Slums. Move upward through the area and use the next jump gate. Continue until you reach the castle and enter the High Lord’s Keep. Before pushing into the main encounter, look for the nearby beacon and activate it. Then return to the platform, jump across, move past the enemy and wall, and continue deeper toward the Royal Crypt.
Drop into the boss arena. Defeating the enemy here opens a hidden door behind the encounter, Lazlo waits beyond it.
Lazlo Is the Heavy Tank Option
Lazlo is built around taking punishment and answering with huge attacks. His active ability, Retribution, releases multiple damaging shockwaves while building Overheat. Fill the Overheat bar and Retribution can be used again to trigger a much larger explosion that applies Burn and interrupts enemies. His Fortified Plate passive provides damage reduction while his armor remains active, giving him a much more defensive baseline than several other Shells.
Pick Lazlo if: you want heavy armor, high survivability, shockwaves, Burn, and a Shell that can stand its ground.
How to Unlock Sariel
Sariel is the final Shell covered by the transcript and requires the longest unlock sequence. Return once again to the Outskirts of Mammon. Take the middle path through the broken wall and continue toward the Road to Absolution. Pass the enemies and use the next jump gate to reach the second Castigator’s Keep area. Stick to the left edge of the castle and use the scaffolding to reach the nearby bridge. Continue left, use the jump pads to reach the upper section, then start following the right side.
Near the snail-like enemies, make the turn toward the bridge leading into the temple, climb the stairs, Sariel waits ahead. Before starting the fight, however, activate the nearby beacon. The previous checkpoints are far enough away that you’ll appreciate having a save point close to the encounter.
Sariel Has Multiple Boss Phases
The first encounter opens the route deeper into the temple. Continue through the newly opened path and descend into the Chamber of Becoming, where you’ll fight Sariel again. During this encounter, bringing him down to the required health threshold opens the path toward the final stage. The last fight introduces the mechanic that matters most.
Destroy the Four Statuettes First
Don’t immediately focus everything on Sariel. There are four statuettes positioned around the arena. Destroy them before finishing him. If you don’t, Sariel can revive and force you to continue the encounter. Once all four statuettes are gone, finish the remaining health to complete the unlock. Defeating him also gives access to his equipment, including the Clockwork Scythe and Caged Hysterics sidearm mentioned in the transcript.
Sariel Rewards High-Risk Curse Gameplay
Sariel plays more like a curse-focused fighter. Exodus of Thorns launches spikes from his body and inflicts Pain on him. Pain represents recoverable damage, creating opportunities to build around taking and recovering that damage. The mechanic can then interact with additional effects, including shockwaves capable of building break pressure. It creates a deliberate trade: hurt yourself → create an opening → recover → trigger additional effects.
Sariel therefore demands more setup and mechanical understanding than some of the easier Shells.
Pick Sariel if: you like curses, recoverable damage, high-risk setups, and builds that become stronger once their mechanics start working together.