Mortal Shell II Weapons: Complete Guide List
A Mortal Shell II weapon guide covering all 8 melee weapons and 8 Sidearms, their Weapon Abilities, best infusions, locations, and the Tarforge upgrade system.
Mortal Shell II has 8 melee weapons and 8 ranged Sidearms — 16 armaments in total — and every one of them is a fixed pickup tied to a specific dungeon, boss, or puzzle rather than a shop item or random drop. There's no meaningful stat or damage-type difference between weapons, so the real question isn't "which one hits hardest" but which moveset, infusion, and Weapon Ability fit how you play.
How Weapons Work
Mortal Shell II has no stamina bar. You can attack as much as you want without running dry, which is a deliberate design choice meant to discourage turtling — though taking enough incoming damage can still interrupt your swing. Since weapons carry no real stat or damage-type differences and enemies have no weapon-type weaknesses, weapon choice comes down entirely to moveset preference.
Landing hits with your equipped main weapon is the primary way to regain Resolve, and how much you get back varies by weapon and by move. Every melee weapon also has a unique Weapon Ability, a Resolve-cost special move that must first be "charged" by landing regular attacks before you can unleash it. Effects range from elemental imbuement to a ranged option to an area-of-effect burst around you.
Tarstones add another layer: spend Resolve to temporarily imbue your weapon with an elemental or special property for a set number of attacks, with higher Tarstone levels covering more attacks. Some Tarstones go further and add entirely new attacks — the Acolyte's Stone, for example, enables charged Light Attacks.
8 weapons or 16? Both numbers are correct
Some guides say Mortal Shell II has "8 weapons," others say "16." They're not contradicting each other — 8 refers to melee weapons only, while 16 counts melee weapons plus the 8 ranged Sidearms together.
All 8 Melee Weapons
| Weapon | Flavor Text |
|---|---|
| The Iconoclast | Exceptionally light for a two-hander; once held by a seedbearer of great renown. |
| Axe and Dagger | An unusual pairing of a simple thief's tool and a vicious axe from the northern lands. |
| Great Martyr's Blade | The devout weapon of the First Martyr Tarsus, reforged after his final sacrifice. |
| Veteran's Battle Axe | Solid steel axe rumored to have been quenched in the blood of the Revered. |
| Clockwork Scythe | "The ambitious instrument of a madman or a genius, perhaps he was in fact both." |
| Axatana | Forged by an unrepentant smith; once bore the name "Dream Thresher." |
| Black Needle | Stolen from the Twiceborn; lets its bearer reach further and faster than seems physically plausible. |
| Obsidian Hammer | A brutalist chunk of obsidianite, profaned by bloodshed beyond the Seat of Infinity. |
The Iconoclast is your starting sword, handed to you automatically in the Prologue along with the Naylshotte Sidearm and the Untarnished Seal, right before you unlock the Harros shell. Every other weapon on the list has to be found. Across the full 16-armament set, the distribution runs roughly 2 items in the Prologue, 6 across the Fainweald region, and 8 in the Ruins of Mammon region.
Sidearms: The New Ranged Arsenal
Mortal Shell II adds a full ranged Sidearm category that wasn't in the original game, including rapid-fire crossbows, shotgun-type weapons, and options that carry elemental effects. Named Sidearms confirmed across sources include the Naylshotte (Prologue shotgun-type weapon), Forgotten Crossbow, Salvaged Trebuchaxe (an axe-firing sidearm), Ballistazooka, Triarch Repeater, and Caged Hystrix. The full set totals 8 by count, though a couple of names beyond this list are still unconfirmed — treat those as TBD.
Notable Weapons and Best Infusions
Early-Game Weapons
The Iconoclast supports the Zealot Stone, which turns its third light attack into a two-hit finisher for bonus Resolve, and it's one of only two weapons that can carry the Blood Curse infusion — reflecting damage and staggering enemies that land a hit on a cursed target. Its unique ability, the Strike Stone, is recommended for AoE situations.
The Axe and Dagger, found via an illusory archway near Mushroom Village leading to a hidden key and the Shrine of Trials, is the other Blood-Curse-capable weapon. It's also the best user of the Duality Stone, which doubles its 3-hit base combo into a 6-hit sequence for roughly double DPS. Its signature ability, Magdalena's Momento, hits hard with a high crit chance.
The Veteran's Battle Axe, behind the trap-heavy King's Crypt dungeon north of Black Ridge Pass, pairs well with the Thief Stone for attack-speed stacking and is the only weapon with access to a permanent Burn infusion. Its running heavy attack is called out as one of the best individual moves in the game for both damage and knockback.
The Great Martyr's Blade, found through Martyr's Prison after clearing a boss near Gloomshade Grove, is one of the slowest weapons in the game without help — but it has unique access to Frost infusion via a separately-located Warden Stone in the far southeast of the map, and is described as "one of the most broken" weapons once Frost is applied. Its Captive's Scab Stone ability deals 300% strike damage at a reduced 75 Resolve cost.
Late-Game Weapons
The Obsidian Hammer, past the trap-and-miner-filled Obsidianite Mines southwest of Outskirts of Mammon, is one of two weapons that can carry the Stasis infusion, which repeatedly locks enemies in place. This is called out as likely to get balance-patched given how strong it is — that's a creator prediction, not a confirmed change, so treat it as unconfirmed. Trauma infusion, which adds bonus stagger buildup, is suggested as the fallback. Its unique Colossus Stone ability produces a wide AoE shockwave.
The Axatana, reachable in a tower without any boss fight, is the other Duality-compatible weapon and can also carry Stasis despite already being one of the fastest-attacking weapons in the game. Its Hexopod Core ability is a fast multi-hit combo that becomes safer to use once leveled up for stagger immunity.
The Black Needle spear comes from a boss at Sester's Gate in the south, which also grants a ranged weapon and its unique infusion at the same stop. It's the only weapon with access to Phantom infusion, which builds up damage before releasing it as a stagger burst, and its light-attack combo emphasizes fast multi-thrusts.
The Clockwork Scythe, behind the Chamber of Becoming near Outskirts of Mammon, pairs well with the Thief Stone and either Blood Curse or a Voltaic-type infusion. Its signature Scholar's Wormstone ability drains Resolve over time to add a bonus "chainsaw" hit worth 35% weapon damage to every attack — repeatedly described as overtuned, dealing roughly double damage per swing while active.
Getting the Axatana Early
If you want a strong weapon fast, a documented speedrun route gets the Axatana and a full offensive build for it in roughly 30 real-time minutes from a fresh save. The route skips the Prologue, grabs the first 4 level-ups at Marrow Keep, then heads to Widow's Overlook to pick up the Teal shell specifically because its invisibility lets you sneak past enemies that are otherwise too strong to fight this early. From there you push to Outskirts of Mammon — picking up a Furnace Stone along the way, which lets you smelt unwanted weapons back into upgrade materials — and rush a caged miniboss guarding the Axatana using invisibility and dodge-spamming rather than open combat.
Beating that miniboss both drops the Axatana and grants it an instant +5 upgrade level. Follow-up stops include the Duality Tarstone (a small puzzle dungeon near Widow's Overlook, reached via an unactivated elevator) and the Hatman's Stone, which adds +50% melee critical damage scaling up to 100%. The Axatana's only infusion option is Lightning, unlocked from the Voltaic Crown behind a much harder optional boss fight not recommended under level 10; any infusion becomes permanent on a weapon once upgraded to level 3.
Best Shell pairings for a Lightning Axatana
Proxima is the top pick — her Bio Sampler ability applies its own Lightning stacks that compound with the weapon's infusion, her passive doubles shock damage and radius, and Grafted Armor mitigates and reflects damage while restoring Resolve. Teal works as a second option for its from-behind Ambush bonus, and Ganessa's summoned clones replicate your attacks and scale off the fast Resolve generation a doubled-hit weapon produces.
Upgrading Weapons at the Tarforge
Every weapon and Sidearm upgrades at the Tarforge in Marrow Keep, using coins and smithing materials. If you end up holding a weapon you don't need, a Furnace Stone lets you smelt it back into upgrade materials instead of letting it sit dead in your inventory.