Mortal Shell 2 Tarstones explained

The Emberseed Stone, one of the Mortal Shell 2 Tarstones. — (Image credit: Cold Symmetry)

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Best Tarstones
Tarstone locations
Tarstones explained

Mortal Shell 2 Tarstones are collectible items found around the gloomy, deadly open world around you. Most are found by completing trials and dungeons, while others can sometimes be found in easier locations, but all are incredibly useful.

There are 14 Tarstones to be found during the Mortal Shell 2 beta, with many more surely to come with the Soulslike game's full launch. Until then, here's every Tarstone so far, where to find them, and what they, including which I think are the best to equip.

Speaking of Tar, make sure you know how to get the Mortal Shell 2 Tar Golem achievement during the beta.

Best Mortal Shell 2 Tarstones

The good thing with Mortal Shell 2 Tarstones is that you can equip up to ten at a time, but even with just the 14 available during the beta, there's still some overlap there, so here's the best Mortal Shell 2 Tarstone build.

All Mortal Shell 2 Tarstone locations

The player's inventory in-game, showing all collected Mortal Shell 2 Tarstones and the player's full build. — (Image credit: Cold Symmetry)

Parasitic Stone
- Inside the church dungeon, behind the Arbiter of Flesh.
Arbiter's Prize
- Defeat the Great Arbiter of Flesh.
Emberseed Stone
- Inside the dungeon within the Mushroom Village Beacon.
Deadman's Stone
- Inside a Chest in the Mushroom Village entrance area.
Shattering Stone
- In a chest in Mushroom Village, near Tiel's corpse.
Marksman's Stone
- Complete the trial to the left of the Mushroom Village Gate.
Volatile Fragment
- Defeat The Grand Illusionist within the Mushroom Village Gate Beacon.
Siegebreaker's Stone
- Clear the first Sunken Village arena, light three candles, and open the chest.
Corroded Stone
- Inside the Sunken Village Beacon.
Shrike Stone
- Follow the green glowing sticks to right of the second Sunken Village area.
Tarblighted Trophy
- Defeat the Tarblighted Shepherd, to the left of the Sunken Village Beacon.
Magdalena's Momento
- Defeat Magdalena in the Sunken Village Swamp.

We're still on the hunt for two of the beta Ability Tarstones, and will update this list as soon as we find them.

How do Tarstones work?

An in-game explainer of Mortal Shell 2 Tarstones — (Image credit: Cold Symmetry)

Tarstones are spilt into four categories, as you can see from the list above: Support, Combat, Infusions, and Abilities. You can equip four Support Tarstones at a time, and two of each of the other categories: one for your main weapon and one for your sidearm.

While many Tarstones are passive, some grant abilities that you can trigger actively. Your chosen infusions, for example, must be activated with the X key. Whether you're holding your main weapon or sidearm when you do so determines which infusion to use. Abilities, meanwhile, are activated using number keys, so you have full control over Mortal Shell 2's highly customizable combat mechanics.

During the Mortal Shell 2 beta, you'll see that your Tarstones are all Level 1. Equipped Tarstones passively earn Exp when you defeat enemies, and this Experience can then be used to upgrade these Tarstones at a Tarforge. Unfortunately, you cannot level up Tarstones during the beta, so we'll have to wait until the game's full launch to see how this changes the abilities shown above.

While you're playing the beta, be sure to check out just how much of your progress carries forward to the next game, and the Mortal Shell 2 beta rewards you'll pick up while you're at it. And if you're struggling to find the Mortal Shell 2 Mushroom Village key, I've got you covered.