Mortal Shell II New Shells: Full Roster & Unlock Guide
Every Mortal Shell II new Shells unlock location, from Tiel and Proxima to Genessa and Sariel, plus which Shell to pick first and how Bond tiers work.
Mortal Shell II ships with nine total Shells — Harros, the tutorial Shell you start in, plus eight permanently playable Shells scattered across the map. That's more than double the four Shells in the original 2020 game.
How Many Shells Are There, Really?
The number gets confusing because Harros technically counts as a Shell but doesn't stay in your roster. You're given him by default at the start of the game, and he's lost partway through, during the Tar Golem sequence. Once he's gone, he cannot be re-equipped afterward.
That leaves eight Shells you actually build a loadout around: Tiel, Proxima, Eredrim, Gragu, Smert, Lazlo, Sariel, and Sester Genessa. Each one is found as a corpse or won from a boss fight, and each has its own unlock quest.
Harros is temporary
Don't get attached to your starting Shell. Harros is a tutorial-only body — once you lose him during the Tar Golem sequence, he's gone for the rest of the run.
The Full Shell Roster
- Tiel, the Acolyte: "Once you have nothing, you're free to take everything."
- Proxima, the Broodseeker: "Purpose gives the soul its shape."
- Eredrim, the Venerable: "Peace has a price."
- Gragu, the Insatiable: "The heart speaks no lies."
- Smert, the Apostate: "Truth is the final revelation before death."
- Lazlo, the Justiciar: "Justice is not given, it is exacted."
- Sariel, the Endless: "That path to perfection is paved with blood."
- Genessa, the Wayward (Sester Genessa): "Nothing is so broken it can't be made whole again."
Where to Find and Unlock Each Shell
Tiel and Proxima are the easiest: their rough locations get revealed automatically the moment you enter Fainweald. Tiel's gravestone sits east of Mushroom Village in a torch-lit fenced enclosure; Proxima's body is north through Blackridge Cliffs, inside a glimmering Shattered Beacon past cultists fighting a Tarred Vestige.
The rest have to be earned:
| Shell | How to Get |
|---|---|
| Eredrim | Defeat the boss The Warden inside the Citadel of Penance (western Fainweald) |
| Gragu | Retrieve the Heart of Vatra from the Temple of Vatra and give it to Gragu at the One Legged Wolf Tavern |
| Smert | Clear all three cultist groups performing a blood ritual at Prophet's Rest, near the Outskirts of Nochte |
| Genessa | Defeat the boss Sester Secondus in the Revenant Graves, then return the Sester's Censer to Genessa in Marrow Keep |
| Lazlo | Defeat the boss Vellen, High Lord of Mammon, in the Royal Crypt of Mammon |
| Sariel | Defeat Sariel in the Chamber of Becoming, a hidden dungeon that opens after your first skirmish with him |
Two of these deserve a closer look. Gragu's quest starts when you meet him alive at the tavern and he asks for a Heart of Vatra; getting it means crossing vampire-infested rope bridges, offering three candles to open a chest for the Berserker's Stone, then prying the Heart off a corrupted statue — which seals the temple's main exit and animates petrified cultists (side exits stay open). Bring the Heart back and Gragu eats it, dying on the spot to unlock his Shell.
Sariel is the other oddball. He's fought first as a regular boss, then again inside the Chamber of Becoming, standing on a sigil ringed by four stones. Because he resurrects after each defeat — true to his "the Endless" title — you have to destroy all four stones before he can be finished off for good. Beating him also drops the Clockwork Scythe weapon.
Genessa also works differently from everyone else: she's first met as the training NPC in Marrow Keep, and talking to her repeatedly opens her side quest through the Ruins of Mammon. Unlike the other Shells, she's a separate playable character rather than a body the Harbinger inhabits, and she can only be leveled up at a Beacon.
Shell Mechanics: Resolve, Bond, and Glimpses
Equipping a Shell means touching its owner's corpse and reliving a memory of their past life. Each Shell grants one active ability that costs Resolve to use, plus passive stat effects that are always on.
You upgrade a Shell by spending Glimpses with the Shell Keeper to raise its Bond tier, which boosts its stats and unlocks further ability upgrades. Shells can be equipped either at the Shell Keeper in the central hub or at any Beacon.
Glimpses are scarce — spend carefully
Beyond Tiel and Proxima, every other Shell's exact location has to be bought from Zhirelle the Shellkeeper at Marrow Keep for 3 to 5 Glimpses each. Since Glimpses also fund Bond upgrades, decide which locations are worth revealing before you spend.
Which Shell Should You Pick First?
For a straightforward first build, Tiel and Eredrim are the safest picks: Tiel is the strongest early-to-mid-game option thanks to fast movement and a cloaking ability, and Eredrim carries well into the mid-to-late game. Genessa is also called an excellent pick despite her unusual unlock method.
Community tier-list opinions (from creator-run rankings, not official patch notes) mostly agree with that: Tiel, Eredrim, Genessa, Proxima, and Smert all land in top or near-top tiers across the board. Genessa in particular is praised everywhere for how hard her summoned doubles can lock down bosses and crowds.
Where opinions split hard is Gragu and Sariel — worth knowing before you spend Glimpses on either. One ranking puts Gragu in its top tier for letting players spam Staggering Blow through boss mechanics, while another calls him "the most vanilla" Shell with no standout identity. Sariel gets the same treatment in reverse: one ranking drops him to the bottom, arguing his best passives only trigger at max Pain — a state it calls "almost impossible" to reach safely — while another rates him a strong tank thanks to that same Pain-to-health mechanic. Treat both as unconfirmed until you've tried them yourself.
Don't spread yourself thin
Glimpses spent on ability tiers are permanent on a given playthrough. Rather than dabbling in all eight Shells, commit early to two or three favorites and invest your Glimpses there.