Mortal Shell 2 has received its first major update, bringing a sizable batch of new items, balance changes, economy tweaks, and fixes to the game. The Week 1 Update also reworks ripostes, improves exploration, and addresses several issues that could get you stuck or even cost you your save.
The update is available now, so here is everything new in Mortal Shell II, from Fragile Tarstones and Shell respecs to the combat and exploration changes you need to know about.
Mortal Shell 2 Week 1 Update: New Items and Economy Changes
Credits: Cold Symmetry/Playstack
Credits: Cold Symmetry/Playstack
Credits: Cold Symmetry/Playstack
Credits: Cold Symmetry/Playstack
Credits: Cold Symmetry/Playstack
Credits: Cold Symmetry/Playstack
This first major update adds several new items and makes some important changes to how resources work in the latest Soulslike sensation. The biggest change is that Glimpses and Tarcores are no longer finite, while new Fragile Tarstones give you another way to build up your resources during a playthrough.
New Items
Here are the new items and Tarstone changes added with the update:
Fragile Tarstones: These Tarstones lose durability as you use them and break once that durability runs out. When they break, they also give you a Tarcore. They are not unique, so you can find multiple copies during a playthrough. Certain enemies and dungeons can now reward them, and Merrick can sell them too.
Glimpse Stone: This Tarstone wears down as you defeat enemies. Once it breaks, it gives you Glimpses.
Egon’s Stone: This gives you a second chance when you die inside a dungeon, reviving you at the dungeon entrance at the cost of its durability. Once it breaks, it also prevents that death from costing you Gloom.
Justicar’s Stone and Gloombound Stone: Both have been converted into Fragile Tarstones, with stronger passive effects and new effects that trigger when they break. Existing copies in your save have also been converted.
Economy & Rewards
The update also changes how freely you can spend Glimpses and Tarcores:
Glimpses and Tarcores: These are no longer finite resources, so you can upgrade every Shell and Tarstone in a single playthrough instead of having to choose where to spend them.
Mether’s Severance: This new item lets you respec a Shell. Give it to Zhirelle, the Shell keeper, and she will reset that Shell while returning all the Glimpses you spent on it.
Tarstone rewards: Tarstones now return more Tarcores when broken. If you had already leveled Tarstones before the update, you’ll find a compensatory cache of Tarcores in your inventory.
Merrick’s stock: Merrick can now sell Tarstones and Mether’s Severance, with his stock refreshing as you progress. After you’ve gathered enough Ova, he also gets Glimpse Stones, Egon’s Stones, and Tarcores. The Collector now sells Tarcores as well.
Other rewards: Dungeon chests across the first two regions have been revised, reward placement in Mammon has been adjusted, missing arena rewards have been restored, and the Gloom Siphon now gives additional rewards including Glimpses. Mini-Beacons no longer award a Glimpse.
With the new items and resource changes out of the way, the rest of the update focuses on the gameplay side of things in Mortal Shell 2. Combat has received some of the most significant changes, while exploration, bosses, Shells, performance, and a long list of bugs have also been addressed.
Mortal Shell 2 Week 1 Update: Combat, Exploration and More
From boss fights to exploration, plenty has changed. | Credits: Cold Symmetry/Playstack
The rest of the update is focused on making Mortal Shell 2 feel better to play overall. Combat gets the biggest changes, with ripostes receiving a full scaling and animation pass, while weapons, Shells, enemies, bosses, exploration, performance, and stability have all received their own fixes and adjustments.
Ripostes Get a Major Overhaul
Ripostes have received one of the most substantial gameplay changes in the update:
Damage now scales with enemy health: Riposte damage scales with enemy health, so it remains effective against tougher enemies in the late game, New Game+, and Night Mode.
More consistent invulnerability: The invulnerability window now lasts through the end of the riposte animation instead of expiring partway through it.
Faster recovery: Several riposte animations now return control to you sooner.
Better wall interactions: Enemy ripostes now behave properly when your back is against a wall instead of sliding you through it.
More reliable damage: Riposte damage is now calculated and applied by the riposte itself, fixing cases where it could deal damage twice or fail to deal damage at all.
Weapons and Items Get Balance Changes
Several weapons and items have also been adjusted, with a few receiving straightforward buffs:
Obsidian Hammer: Now hits “substantially” harder.
Great Martyr’s Blade: Deals more damage.
Heavy weapons: Received a broader poise and damage pass.
Axatana: Its weapon ability now grants invulnerability frames and applies Fragile stacks, while its combat Tarstone active now triggers correctly.
Weltcap: Stronger in both its active and passive forms.
Salvaged Trebuchaxe: Its Tarred Fragment has been redesigned after being both overpowered and broken.
Grisha Permanent Pickup item: Its active ability is stronger, its passive spawning now works correctly, and its summon no longer displays enemy attack warnings.
Shells Get a Round of Buffs & Fixes
The update also cleans up several Shell-specific problems:
Eredrim: Shoulder Bash no longer leaves his primary weapon permanently stowed.
Proxima: Biosampler no longer gets stuck in her hook shot, while the ability’s animation and other interactions have been fixed.
Genessa: Her normal and corrupted dashes have been fixed, along with several summon and animation issues. Her Intangible upgrade now also works during grab attacks.
Smert: Can now destroy projectiles while in his permanent fight stance.
Gragu: His Heart of Vatra no longer trails behind him in sheep form, and his helmet now uses the correct material.
Blood also now appears correctly on Shell skins, while astral copies, doubles, Shell summons, and several other Shell-related interactions have received fixes.
Bosses and Minibosses Get a Major Polish Pass
Most bosses have received a combat and bug-fixing pass, with the biggest changes including:
Improved attack timings, hitboxes, riposte alignment, arena navigation, and phase transitions.
Several fights have also received more noticeable changes. Cold Symmetry has removed attacks that could deal double damage, fixed bosses that could launch themselves or you across arenas, and made certain attacks easier to read.
One particularly brutal grab can no longer take both your Shell and Harbinger from full health to zero at once.
Exploration Gets New Rewards and Shortcuts
Exploration has also been adjusted in several ways, including:
New Beacons have appeared across Fainweald and Mammon, although they only activate during the day. Two new cosmetic rewards can also be found after completing certain questlines.
Cold Symmetry has revised dungeon reward chests, updated reward placement in Mammon, restored missing arena rewards, and added new items to the world.
One dungeon also gets a teleporter after the Grisha pit fight, removing the long walk back.
Enemies and Encounters Have Been Retuned
Enemy behavior and several problematic encounters have been cleaned up, with changes including:
Enemy aggression and disengage ranges have been adjusted, fixing cases where enemies could ignore you, retreat too far, or fail to attack while locked onto another target. Enemy tracking and magnetism have also been restricted, with further individual adjustments planned.
Several encounter and spawning issues are now fixed, including enemies appearing before they spawned, broken spawn triggers, an infinite Ossinite farm, an unlimited healing exploit, and enemies becoming effectively immune to certain projectiles. New Game+ enemies should also respawn correctly.
Performance and Stability Improvements
Cold Symmetry has also made a sizeable batch of technical improvements, including:
The update cuts enemy counts in some busy areas, rebuilds spawners in the dense prison section, and fixes the major hitch that could occur shortly after shader compilation. Lighting, effects, destructible objects, and several environments have also been optimized.
Console performance gets specific attention, with less background work across weapons, hit detection, and movement freeing up frame time. A large batch of crash fixes has also been included, alongside changes to save handling designed to prevent crashes or sudden shutdowns from destroying your save.
Bugs and Softlocks Have Also Been Fixed
The remaining fixes cover everything from getting stuck in the environment and broken chests to story scenes, dialogue, audio, interface issues, missing collision, and progression-blocking softlocks. Cold Symmetry has also fixed problems involving lifts, gates, NPC interactions, enemy spawning, and other objects that could interrupt a playthrough.
You can read the full Week 1 Update patch notes on Steam for the complete list of changes.
With so many changes landing at once, Mortal Shell 2 should feel quite different after the update. Have you tried it yet, and what do you think of the patch? Let us know in the comments below!
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