TL;DR
- Mortal Shell 2 has 73 Tarstones in total — they slot into weapons and your Shell to add passive effects.
- Auspicious Stone — free from Mushroom Village chest, +10% melee crit chance, works on all weapons.
- Arbiter’s Prize — drops from the Great Arbiter of Flesh boss, infuses your weapon with Bloodcurse for bonus damage.
- Parasitic Stone — Martyr’s Tomb dungeon, grants Leech stacks on kills that temporarily boost your max HP.
- Unwieldy Stone — buy from Merrick for 2,000 gold, adds a charged heavy attack that heals on kill at higher levels.
- Duality Stone — Ravaged Tomb dungeon, makes your light attack combo hit twice — doubles your DPS on fast weapons.
- Grudge Stone — chest south of Citadel of Penance, guarantees a crit every 10 hits (upgrades to every 5).
- Upgrade priority matters more than collecting many Tarstones — level the ones you use early.
Tarstones are one of the most important systems in Mortal Shell 2. They slot into your weapons and your Shell to add passive buffs, new attacks, and effects that can fundamentally change how a fight plays out. The problem for beginners is the sheer number of them. There are 73 Tarstones in the game and the game never tells you which ones to prioritise. This guide covers the best Tarstones for beginners in Mortal Shell 2 — the ones that are easy to get early, work on most weapons, and stay useful all the way through the game. If you are still building your loadout, also read our guides on the best weapons for beginners in Mortal Shell 2 and the best sidearms for beginners in Mortal Shell 2 to make sure everything works together.
How Tarstones Work in Mortal Shell 2
Tarstones are equippable items that attach to your weapons, sidearms, or Shell. Each one belongs to one of four categories: Support, Combat, Infusion, or Ability. Support Tarstones go into Shell slots and provide passive bonuses like resource gain or damage reduction. Combat Tarstones go into weapon slots and modify how you fight. Infusion Tarstones add elemental or status effects to your weapon. Ability Tarstones add new attacks tied to specific weapons.
Not every Tarstone works with every weapon. Combat, Infusion, and Ability Tarstones are often locked to specific primary weapons or sidearms. Support Tarstones are generally universal. Always check compatibility before investing in upgrades.
Tarstones level up by equipping them and killing enemies. You do not swap them in just to benefit from them — you need to keep them equipped and play actively to earn XP. Once the required XP is reached, you can upgrade at the Tarforge in Marrow Keep using coins and materials. To unlock the ability to push Tarstones past Level 2, you need to find the Etching Needles — a key item found in a chest near the Magdalena boss arena in the Glutted Mire swamp. Take those needles back to Franz at the Tarforge to unlock Level 3 and Level 4 upgrades. For a full breakdown of the Tarforge itself, see our Mortal Shell 2 Tarforge guide.
The most important thing to know as a beginner: it is better to deeply upgrade a few Tarstones than to collect many at a low level. Find two or three that fit your playstyle early, keep them equipped, and pour your resources into levelling them up.
1. Auspicious Stone — Best First Tarstone
Type: Support (Universal)
Effect: Melee attacks gain +10% Critical Hit Chance (increases with upgrades)
How to get it: Mushroom Village offering chest — free, no boss fight required
The Auspicious Stone is the easiest top-tier Tarstone to grab in the entire game. It sits in the locked chest in the center of Mushroom Village — the one that requires you to light three candles before it opens. The chest gives you the Auspicious Stone and a Glimpse. No enemies to fight past, no dungeon to clear, no key to find. It is genuinely free once you know the candle trick.
What makes it so good for beginners is that it works with every weapon in the game and delivers a straightforward, always-useful bonus. Critical Hits in Mortal Shell 2 often deal double or triple the normal damage. Even a 10% boost at Level 1 adds up enormously over the course of a fight. At Level 3 the bonus climbs to 18%, which is strong enough to form the backbone of a crit-focused build.
If you are playing Tiel, this stone is almost mandatory. His Shadow Strike ability already deals bonus damage — pair it with higher crit chance and the damage output becomes significant. It also pairs directly with the Grudge Stone (see below) for a full critical hit build. Grab this one first, before anything else.
Our guide on how to open the chest in Mushroom Village shows you exactly where the three candles are and how to unlock it in under five minutes.
2. Arbiter’s Prize — Best Early Infusion Tarstone
Type: Infusion
Effect: Consume 30 Resolve to infuse your weapon with Bloodcurse for bonus damage
How to get it: Defeat the Great Arbiter of Flesh boss near Widow’s Overlook
The Arbiter’s Prize drops from the very first major boss encounter in the game — the Great Arbiter of Flesh, a miniboss guarding loot near the Widow’s Overlook Beacon. Most players encounter this boss within the first thirty minutes. The prize it drops is one of the best offensive Tarstones in the early game.
Bloodcurse is a status effect that deals damage over time to affected enemies. What makes the Arbiter’s Prize so strong is how well it synergises with fast weapons. The more hits you land, the more frequently Bloodcurse ticks. On weapons like the Axe & Dagger or the Axatana, this becomes a constant stream of bonus damage that stacks with your normal attack output. Even on slower weapons, infusing Bloodcurse before a tough fight gives you an edge that lasts through the encounter.
At higher upgrade levels, the Resolve cost stays the same while the Bloodcurse effect strengthens — meaning the return on investment improves significantly as you level it. Combined with the Duality Stone (below) and rapid light attacks, this Tarstone is at the core of one of the strongest beginner builds in the game.
3. Parasitic Stone — Best for Survivability
Type: Combat (Universal)
Effect: Slaying enemies grants Leech stacks, temporarily increasing your maximum HP
How to get it: Martyr’s Tomb dungeon, southeast of the Widow’s Overlook Beacon
The Parasitic Stone is the best defensive Tarstone for beginners and one of the first you should actively hunt down. Its Leech mechanic is straightforward: every enemy you kill adds a Leech stack, and each stack temporarily raises your maximum HP. The more enemies you kill in a row, the more HP you have heading into the next fight.
What makes it especially good for beginners is a key detail: Leech stacks persist through your death as long as the weapon with the Parasitic Stone equipped is not the one you have active. This means the stacks you built up before dying are not lost if you manage your equipped weapon slot carefully. It rewards learning the death system rather than just punishing you for failing.
The Parasitic Stone works on all 8 weapons, making it a safe pick regardless of what you are using. Stack it with aggressive play and kill as many small enemies as you can before entering a boss fight — you will arrive with a meaningful HP buffer that makes a real difference.
How to Find the Parasitic Stone
From the Widow’s Overlook Beacon, head southeast and enter the building nearby. This is the entrance to the Martyr’s Tomb dungeon. Work through the dungeon and reach the back room. The Parasitic Stone is in a chest at the end. The dungeon is short and not heavily guarded — easily doable in the first hour of the game.
4. Unwieldy Stone — Best Bought Tarstone
Type: Ability (Universal)
Effect: Consume 35 Resolve to perform a Charged Heavy Attack. Higher levels add Leech stacks and restore HP on kill
How to get it: Buy from Merrick the Merchant in Marrow Keep for 2,000 gold
The Unwieldy Stone is the most accessible top-tier Tarstone in the game because you do not need to find it — you buy it. Merrick the merchant at Marrow Keep sells it for 2,000 gold, which is reachable within the first few hours of play if you loot thoroughly and sell excess items.
At Level 1, the Unwieldy Stone gives you a new Resolve-powered Charged Heavy Attack. This is useful on its own — a heavy hit for 35 Resolve that deals significant damage. But the real value kicks in at Level 2 and Level 3. Level 2 adds Leech stacks and restores 20 HP on kill. Level 3 grants 5 Leech stacks and restores 25 HP on kill. HP restoration on kill is one of the rarest modifiers in Mortal Shell 2. Being able to recover health through aggressive play rather than relying entirely on Mether’s Pulse healing flasks is a significant survivability boost, especially in long dungeons far from Beacons.
It is also a universal Tarstone — compatible with all 8 weapons. Whatever you are running, the Unwieldy Stone fits. Buy it as soon as you have the gold and start levelling it immediately.
5. Duality Stone — Best DPS Multiplier for Fast Weapons
Type: Combat
Effect: Your weapon’s light attack combo strikes twice per swing (Axe & Dagger, Axatana)
How to get it: Ravaged Tomb dungeon, accessed from the Nocthean Gate Beacon
The Duality Stone is a game-changer for fast weapon builds. When equipped and fully upgraded, every light attack in your combo hits twice instead of once. On fast weapons like the Axe & Dagger or the Axatana, this effectively doubles your damage output from light attack chains. It also doubles your Resolve generation, your Bloodcurse application rate, your crit proc rate, and any other on-hit effects you have equipped.
The limitation is weapon compatibility — the Duality Stone only works with the Axe & Dagger and the Axatana. If you are running one of those weapons (and beginners should strongly consider the Axe & Dagger given how early it is available), this is the single highest-priority Tarstone upgrade in the game. Nothing else does as much for your damage per second.
At Level 1, only the first hit of your combo strikes twice. At Level 2, the first and second hits both do so. At Level 3, the entire standing light attack combo benefits. Prioritise levelling this Tarstone aggressively if you are on a fast weapon build.
How to Find the Duality Stone
Fast travel to the Nocthean Gate Beacon. Head southeast and take the elevator down to the lower level. At the bottom of the elevator is a room with the entrance to the Ravaged Tomb dungeon. Follow the path through the dungeon until you find the chest beneath a giant hanging body. The Duality Stone is inside.
6. Grudge Stone — Best Crit Build Anchor
Type: Combat (Universal)
Effect: Every 10th melee hit is a guaranteed Critical Hit (upgrades to every 5th)
How to get it: Chest directly south of the Citadel of Penance Beacon
The Grudge Stone works perfectly alongside the Auspicious Stone. Where the Auspicious Stone raises your overall crit chance percentage, the Grudge Stone guarantees a crit on a fixed hit interval. At Level 1, every 10th hit crits. When upgraded, that interval shortens to every 5th hit. On fast weapons that land many hits quickly, this means nearly constant guaranteed crits stacking on top of your regular crit chance.
Critical hits in Mortal Shell 2 deal significantly amplified damage — often double or more. The Grudge Stone makes this feel consistent and reliable rather than random. Combined with the Auspicious Stone for baseline crit chance and the Duality Stone for double hits on fast weapons, this trio forms one of the strongest early-game Tarstone combinations in the game.
It is also a universal Tarstone, so it works regardless of which weapon you are using. Give it upgrade priority at the Tarforge as soon as you find it — the jump from every 10th hit to every 5th hit is the most impactful single Tarstone upgrade you can make in the early game.
Bonus: Justiciar’s Stone and Gloombound Stone — Best Resource Tarstones
These two are worth mentioning even though they are not direct combat upgrades. The Justiciar’s Stone increases the gold you collect from enemies, and the Gloombound Stone increases the Gloom (XP) you earn per kill. Both are Support Tarstones that pay for themselves over time.
The more gold you have, the faster you can buy weapons, maps, and Tarstones from Merrick. The more Gloom you have, the faster you level up your Harbinger’s base stats. Equipping either of these early means every fight you win is worth more. They are not exciting picks but they are smart ones for players who want to grow their power steadily without grinding.
Tarstone Priority for Beginners: A Simple Roadmap
- First: Grab the Auspicious Stone from Mushroom Village — it is free and immediately useful.
- Second: Defeat the Great Arbiter of Flesh near Widow’s Overlook for the Arbiter’s Prize.
- Third: Clear Martyr’s Tomb for the Parasitic Stone to boost survivability.
- Fourth: Buy the Unwieldy Stone from Merrick once you have 2,000 gold.
- Fifth: Find the Duality Stone in Ravaged Tomb if you are running the Axe & Dagger or Axatana.
- Sixth: Pick up the Grudge Stone south of the Citadel of Penance to lock in your crit build.
Do not try to collect every Tarstone you find. Equip two or three that match your build, keep them on, kill enemies constantly, and upgrade them at the Tarforge whenever you can. That focused approach will make you stronger faster than spreading your resources thinly across ten stones at Level 1.
Also remember that Tarstones earn XP passively while equipped. You do not need to be using the Tarstone actively — just having it socketed while you fight is enough. So equip your priority Tarstones as soon as you find them and let them level up naturally as you play.
For a full list of every Tarstone location in the game, our Mortal Shell 2 all weapon and sidearm locations guide will help you track down what you still need. And if you are still working out the corruption system that blocks some of these areas, our guide on how to cleanse corruption in Mortal Shell 2 covers the full process.
Final Thoughts
Tarstones are what separate a good early-game loadout from a great one. The six stones covered in this guide are all obtainable within the first few hours of play and all remain valuable through to the final boss. Start with the Auspicious Stone from Mushroom Village — it costs nothing and immediately improves your damage. Build outward from there based on whether you are prioritising more damage, better survivability, or resource efficiency.
The most common beginner mistake is hoarding Tarstones without upgrading them. A Level 3 Auspicious Stone is worth more than six Level 1 stones sitting unused. Commit early, upgrade consistently, and let the Tarforge do the rest. For everything else about starting the game strong, see our Mortal Shell 2 beginners guide and our full Mortal Shell 2 review.
Mortal Shell 2 is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Visit the official Mortal Shell website for more.
