TL;DR

• Gloom is the main leveling currency in Mortal Shell 2 — kill enemies to collect it, then spend it at any Beacon to level up your Harbinger.
• You cannot level up until after the prologue — leveling unlocks once you reach Marrow Keep and find the Beacon inside the hub.
• Each level raises your Health, Shell Health, Base Damage, Critical Chance, and sometimes awards Shell Points.
• Gloom is dropped on death — you have one chance to recover it. If you die again before reaching it, it is gone forever.
• Gloom and Glimpses are two separate currencies — Gloom levels the Harbinger, Glimpses upgrade Shells. As of the Week 1 Patch, Glimpses are no longer a finite resource and can be earned from the Gloom Siphon and purchased from Merrick.
• As of Balance Patch 1, Shell map locations now cost Gloom instead of Glimpses — any Glimpses previously spent on them are refunded at the Shell Keeper’s alcove in Blackmarrow.
• You need roughly 1,500,000 total Gloom to reach level 75, which is where Shell Points max out.

How to Level Up and Use Gloom in Mortal Shell 2

When you first boot up Mortal Shell 2, Gloom starts appearing the moment you kill your first enemy. It glows white and goes straight into your inventory — but the game never explains what it does or when you can spend it. If you have been carrying Gloom around without knowing what to do with it, or you hit a wall in combat and are not sure how to get stronger, this guide covers everything about leveling up and using Gloom the right way. It has been updated to reflect Balance Patch 1 (August 20, 2026) and the Week 1 Patch (August 29, 2026).

For new players still finding their footing, our Mortal Shell 2 beginner’s guide is a good place to start. And if you want to look at our full Mortal Shell 2 review before going further, that covers the big picture of what the game offers.

What Is Gloom in Mortal Shell 2

Gloom is the primary progression currency in Mortal Shell 2. It works the same way Souls work in Dark Souls or Runes in Elden Ring. You collect it by killing enemies, and you spend it to become stronger. The more you fight, the more you accumulate. The more you accumulate, the more you can invest into your character.

It appears as a glowing white resource that automatically goes to your inventory when an enemy dies near you. You do not have to pick it up manually — it comes to you.

The catch, as with any Soulslike, is that Gloom is lost when you die. It drops at the location of your death and waits there for you to collect it. If you reach the spot, you get it all back. If you die again before you do, it disappears permanently. Only your most recent death is tracked on the map, so dying twice in a row without recovering your Gloom means the first pile is gone with no way to get it back. As of Balance Patch 1, Shell map locations now also cost Gloom, so you have one more reason to spend regularly rather than letting your total build up.

When Can You Start Leveling Up

Here is something the game does not make obvious: you cannot level up at the start. Beacons are available from the very beginning of Mortal Shell 2, but the leveling option is locked during the prologue. Early Beacons let you rest, restore your Health Flask charges, and reset nearby enemies — but the “Level Up” option is simply not there yet.

Leveling becomes available after you complete the prologue. You need to defeat the three introductory bosses, including the Tar Golem as the final one. After that cutscene, you carry the Ova to Marrow Keep — the game’s central hub. Once inside, find the Beacon near the center of the hub. That is the first Beacon where leveling is available. From that point forward, every Beacon in the game allows you to level up your character.

How to Use Gloom — Step by Step

Using Gloom to level up is straightforward once you know where to go.

• Walk up to any Beacon and interact with it to rest
• In the Beacon menu, select the Level Up option
• On the level up screen, you will see your Harbinger on the left side — press LB / L1 to level up the Harbinger
• The screen shows you exactly what stats change and how much Gloom it costs before you confirm
• Confirm the spend and your Harbinger levels up immediately
• If you have enough Gloom for multiple levels, repeat the process for each one

The level up screen always shows the stat gains for the next level before you commit, so you can plan ahead. If the next level only gives a small boost and you want to save up for a bigger one, you can hold off and keep farming.

What Does Leveling Up Give You

Every time you level up your Harbinger, one or more of the following stats improve:

• Health — increases your base HP pool as the Harbinger
• Shell Health — increases the health tied to your equipped Shell
• Base Damage — raises the raw attack power of your weapons
• Critical Chance — increases how often you land critical hits
• Shell Points — awarded at certain level milestones, used to unlock Shell abilities

Not every level gives Shell Points — they appear at specific milestones and become less frequent as you climb higher levels. At level 12, for example, you may only have earned eight Shell Points total. Do not expect one per level consistently at higher levels. The level up screen shows you in advance whether Shell Points are included in the next level, so you always know what you are getting.

The cost to level up increases with each level. Early levels are cheap. Later levels require significantly more Gloom. You need roughly 1,500,000 total Gloom to reach level 75, which is the point where Shell Points max out at 42. The Harbinger itself has no confirmed hard level cap and can go past level 100, though the meaningful gains flatten out after 75.

Gloom vs Glimpses — Two Different Systems

This is the most common point of confusion for new players. Mortal Shell 2 has four separate currencies, and mixing them up leads to bad decisions.

• Gloom — levels up the Harbinger. Spent at Beacons. Dropped on death. Farmable from enemies. As of Balance Patch 1, also used to reveal Shell map locations.
• Glimpses — raises a Shell’s Bond Tier (from I to IV), unlocking new abilities. Spent at Zhirelle in Marrow Keep or at any Beacon. As of the Week 1 Patch, Glimpses are no longer finite — they can be earned from the Gloom Siphon, dropped by the new Glimpse Stone Tarstone, and purchased from Merrick. Mini-Beacons no longer award a Glimpse as of this same patch. If you spent Glimpses on Shell map locations before Balance Patch 1, those are refunded at the Shell Keeper’s alcove in Blackmarrow.
• Shell Points — perk points for each Shell’s passive ability tree. Earned by leveling up the Harbinger with Gloom. Free to reset at any time with no cost.
• Coins — regular in-game money. Used to buy items and upgrade weapons and Tarstones at the Tarforge. Never lost on death. Gold drops from enemies were significantly increased in Balance Patch 1, with enemies in Mammon now dropping double gold.

Gloom is the only currency you lose when you die. Coins never drop. Glimpses, while now earnable in multiple ways following the Week 1 Patch, are still best spent thoughtfully — use Mether’s Severance, a new item added in the Week 1 Patch and purchasable from Merrick, if you want to reset a Shell and recover your invested Glimpses. Hand it to Zhirelle and she will sever your bond with the Shell, refunding everything you spent. Shell Points from leveling are free to reset whenever you want, so feel free to experiment.

To understand the Shell system better, our guide on the best Shells for beginners in Mortal Shell 2 helps you decide where to put your Glimpses first.

How to Recover Lost Gloom After Death

When you die, your Gloom drops at that exact spot. Here is what happens next:

• The location of your dropped Gloom appears on the map as a marker
• Reach the spot and the Gloom is automatically collected — you do not need to interact with it manually
• You can also shoot your dropped Gloom from a distance using your sidearm to collect it without walking directly into a dangerous area
• If you die again before collecting it, the dropped Gloom is gone permanently — no second chance
• Only your most recent death is tracked — dying twice means only the second pile shows on the map. The first is lost.
• Inside dungeons, the new Egon’s Stone Fragile Tarstone (added in the Week 1 Patch) revives you at the dungeon entrance when you die and prevents Gloom loss from that death when it breaks — a reliable way to protect your Gloom during risky runs.

This is why the golden rule with Gloom is simple: spend it before you take risks. Before a boss fight, before exploring a new dangerous area, before anything where death is likely — stop at a Beacon and spend what you have. A level you bought with 3,000 Gloom is a permanent gain. Gloom sitting unspent in your inventory is a loss waiting to happen.

How to Unlock Shell Abilities With Shell Points

Shell Points are tied directly to leveling your Harbinger with Gloom. Each time you hit a Shell Point milestone on the level up screen, you earn points to spend on your Shell’s ability tree.

To spend Shell Points:

• Go to any Beacon and open the Level Up screen
• Switch to the second panel on the right — this shows your current Shell’s ability tree
• Allocate Shell Points into the passive skills listed there
• You can reset Shell Points for free at any time from the same screen

Before Shell Points can be spent on a Shell’s ability tree, you need to first unlock the Shell’s Memories by spending Glimpses at Zhirelle, the Shellkeeper in Marrow Keep. Glimpses raise the Shell Bond Tier, which opens up new tiers of skills. Without doing that first, some skills in the tree will not be available regardless of how many Shell Points you have. If you have invested Glimpses into a Shell and want to start over, use Mether’s Severance — the new respec item added in the Week 1 Patch — to reset the Shell and recover all spent Glimpses.

Smart Gloom Spending Habits

A few habits that make the leveling system work in your favor rather than against you:

• Level up whenever you have enough, not just when it feels significant. Holding onto Gloom increases your risk every time you leave a Beacon. A small level gain now beats a full inventory lost to a bad death.
• Check what the next level gives before committing. The level up screen shows stat gains before you spend. If the next level is a bad one — minimal stat increase and no Shell Points — you might choose to bank Gloom and push harder before spending, but only if the area you are in is safe.
• Spend before boss attempts. Bosses kill you. It is part of the game. Never walk into a boss encounter with unspent Gloom you would be upset to lose. See our full boss list for Mortal Shell 2 to know what is coming up.
• Equip the Gloombound Stone Tarstone while farming. It increases the Gloom dropped by every enemy you kill, compounding over many runs. Find it in a bone chest at the Stones of Remembrance, southeast of the Stonebled Gate. Note that the Week 1 Patch converted it to a Fragile Tarstone with stronger passive bonuses — it now breaks with use, but additional copies can be found in the world and purchased from Merrick.
• Budget Gloom for Shell map reveals. As of Balance Patch 1, Shell map locations cost Gloom instead of Glimpses — so if you plan to discover multiple Shells, factor that into how aggressively you level up. The cost is worth it since your Glimpses are now freed up entirely for bonding.
• Keep the Tarforge in mind. Gloom is also spent to refund weapon upgrade decisions at the Tarforge via the Smelt Equipment feature. Balance Patch 1 cut smelting costs by 75%, so this is far less of a burden than at launch — but it still draws from the same pool. See our Tarforge guide for how it works.

Other Ways to Get Gloom Besides Killing Enemies

Killing enemies is the main source of Gloom, but there are a few others worth knowing:

• Gloom Stalks (glowing orb trees) — vine-like growths scattered across the world with bluish white orbs. Strike them to collect a one-time Gloom drop. They do not replenish. Never skip them on your first pass through a new area.
• Effigies — small destructible objects found throughout the map. Attack them to break them open and collect the Gloom inside.
• Bosses and minibosses — they give large one-time Gloom drops on death. Not farmable, but always worth doing for the initial payout.
• Gloom Siphon — as of the Week 1 Patch, the Gloom Siphon now awards additional rewards including Glimpses, making it a dual-purpose source worth interacting with whenever you pass one.

For a full breakdown of the best repeatable Gloom sources, our guide on how to farm Gloom fast in Mortal Shell 2 covers every major farming spot including the best early and mid-game loops.

Should You Prioritize Leveling or Gear Upgrades

Both matter, but they pull from different resources. Leveling the Harbinger costs Gloom. Upgrading weapons and Tarstones costs Coins and Ventrium/Dorsalite materials — not Gloom directly. This means the two systems do not compete with each other for the same currency in most cases.

The exception is the Smelt Equipment feature at the Tarforge, which does cost Gloom to refund weapon upgrades. Balance Patch 1 cut that cost by 75%, so it is a much smaller draw on your Gloom than it was at launch. Outside of smelting, you can level your Harbinger freely with Gloom while spending Coins on gear upgrades without one eating into the other.

A good general approach is to keep pace with both. Do not ignore gear upgrades waiting to hit a certain level, and do not ignore leveling waiting to upgrade your weapon first. Both systems compound — a higher-level Harbinger with a well-upgraded weapon handles both combat and farming much more smoothly than being strong in only one area.

For gear guidance, check our picks for the best weapons for beginners in Mortal Shell 2, the best sidearms, and the best Tarstones for beginners.

Mortal Shell 2 Leveling and Gloom – FAQ