Tarstones are one of the most important parts of building your character in Mortal Shell 2. They modify compatible weapons and sidearms, adding new effects, improving damage, increasing Critical Hit Chance, changing attack behavior, or giving attacks elemental properties.
If you are still learning the game’s build system, Tarstones can be a little confusing at first. Some are designed specifically for weapons, some work with sidearms, while others provide broader support bonuses. There are also Tarstones that require Resolve to activate their effects and others that provide permanent Infusions once you meet their requirements.
There are currently 75 Tarstones to collect.
This guide explains the Tarstone system, the different types you will encounter, how they fit into your builds, and the currently listed Tarstones in Mortal Shell 2.
Mortal Shell 2 Tarstones Guide – How to Get, Location
Tarstones are divided into four main types:
| Type | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Ability | Adds or modifies an ability-related effect |
| Combat | Improves or changes combat performance |
| Infusions | Adds an elemental or special property to compatible attacks |
| Support | Provides broader bonuses that complement your build |
Understanding these categories is important when putting together a build.
For example, a Tarstone that improves Critical Hit Chance can be extremely valuable on a fast melee weapon, while an Infusion Tarstone may be more useful when you want to add Burn, Lightning, Frost, or another effect to your attacks.
You should therefore choose Tarstones based on the weapon and Shell you are actually using rather than simply equipping the highest-level Tarstone you have.
List of All Tarstones
Mortal Shell 2 currently lists 75 Tarstones in its collection.
The Tarstones listed in the current guide data are:
- Accursed Stone
- Acolyte’s Stone
- Arbiter’s Prize
- Auspicious Stone
- Barrage Stone
- Berserker’s Stone
- Blackblood Stone
- Bulwark Stone
- Captive’s Scabstone
- Charged Stone
- Clerik’s Stone
- Clockwork Shardstone
- Colossus Stone
- Confessor’s Keepsake
- Conquerer’s Reward
- Corroded Stone
- Curseblood Stone
- Deadeye Stone
- Devout Stone
- Duality Stone
- Emberseed Stone
- Enfeebling Stone
- Frostshard Stone
- Fulminant Stone
- Fusillade Stone
- Gloombound Stone
- Grudge Stone
- Hag Stone
- Hand of Rock
- Headman’s Stone
The supplied collection data continues beyond Headman’s Stone to a total of 75 entries. The remaining entries and their individual effects should be added as the collection data is expanded rather than guessing their effects.
Tarstone Collection
The Tarstone collection can be filtered by several different categories.
You can sort the collection by:
- Collection status
- Tarstone type
- Compatible class
- Name
The collection also tracks how many Tarstones you have obtained.
With 75 total Tarstones, completing the collection is a substantial exploration goal in Mortal Shell 2.
If you are trying to collect every Tarstone, it is useful to keep the collection menu in mind while exploring instead of assuming every Tarstone comes from the same type of activity.
Tarstones and Weapons
One of the first things to understand is that Tarstones do not automatically improve every attack your character performs.
Many Tarstones are tied to a particular compatible weapon.
This distinction is especially important when making specialized builds.
For example, Duality Stone is used in builds that rely heavily on rapid Light Attacks. When equipped to a compatible weapon, it can change how those attacks behave rather than simply giving you a generic damage increase.
That means you should always check which weapon or sidearm a Tarstone is intended for before judging whether it is useful.
A Tarstone that looks extremely powerful on paper might do very little for your current setup if you cannot equip it on the weapon you are actually using.
Tarstones and Sidearms
Sidearms also have their own Tarstone options.
These can completely change how a sidearm contributes to your build.
A ranged sidearm, for example, may become much more valuable when equipped with a Tarstone that adds Break Damage to Critical projectiles.
This is why some builds use their sidearm as part of their main combat rotation rather than treating it as an emergency weapon.
The Triarch Repeater builds are a good example of this approach.
Tarstones such as Rupturing Stone can turn Critical shots into an additional source of Break Damage, giving the sidearm a specific role in preparing enemies for a melee attack.
Combat Tarstones
Combat Tarstones focus on what happens during an actual fight.
These can improve things such as:
- Damage
- Critical Hit Chance
- Critical Damage
- Attack behavior
- Break Damage
- Resolve generation
- Special attack effects
The best Combat Tarstone depends heavily on the weapon you are using.
A fast weapon that attacks repeatedly can get much more value from Critical Hit bonuses than a slow weapon that attacks only occasionally.
Likewise, a build centered around breaking enemies will generally prefer Tarstones that interact with Break Damage rather than purely increasing normal damage.
Ability Tarstones
Ability Tarstones interact with specific attacks or abilities.
These are particularly useful when you are building around one attack that you want to make significantly stronger.
Acolyte’s Stone is a good example of this kind of build philosophy.
Rather than simply making every attack slightly stronger, an Acolyte’s Stone setup can turn a particular Charged Light Attack into the centerpiece of a damage rotation.
This is especially effective when the Shell, weapon, and support Tarstones are all chosen to strengthen the same attack.
Infusion Tarstones
Infusion Tarstones are used to give compatible weapons or sidearms additional properties.
These can add effects such as:
- Burn
- Lightning
- Frost
- Bloodcurse
- Other special damage effects
Infusions are particularly useful when a weapon has a fast attack pattern.
A weapon that hits an enemy many times can apply an elemental or status effect repeatedly, giving the Infusion more opportunities to contribute during a fight.
For example, Emberseed Stone can permanently infuse compatible projectiles with Burn, making it useful for applying pressure to regular enemies.
Support Tarstones
Support Tarstones are not necessarily tied to one specific attack.
Instead, they improve broader aspects of a build.
Critical-focused Shells can benefit significantly from Support Tarstones that increase Critical Hit Chance or Critical Damage, while ranged builds can use them to improve the effectiveness of their sidearms.
Some of the commonly used Support Tarstones include:
- Auspicious Stone
- Berserker’s Stone
- Deadeye Stone
- Headman’s Stone
- Marksman’s Stone
These Tarstones are especially valuable when they complement the mechanics of your chosen Shell.
Important Tarstones for Critical Builds
Critical-focused builds are one of the clearest examples of why Tarstone combinations matter.
A single Critical Hit Tarstone is useful, but several compatible bonuses can work together to create a much stronger result.
Auspicious Stone
Auspicious Stone is useful for increasing melee Critical Hit potential.
It is particularly effective on fast melee weapons because the weapon gives you many opportunities to land Critical Hits.
Headman’s Stone
Headman’s Stone focuses on Critical Damage.
This makes it a natural partner for Critical Hit Chance bonuses.
There is little point in stacking Critical Hit Chance without also considering the damage those Critical Hits deal, especially when building around a powerful finisher.
Deadeye Stone
Deadeye Stone is particularly useful for ranged Critical-focused setups.
It can complement sidearms that fire multiple projectiles or consecutive shots, allowing a rapid-fire weapon to benefit from increased Critical Damage.
Marksman’s Stone
Marksman’s Stone improves Critical Hit potential for ranged attacks.
It works especially well with sidearms that fire repeatedly because every additional projectile creates another opportunity to land a Critical Hit.
Important Tarstones for Rapid Attacks
Duality Stone
Duality Stone is one of the most interesting Tarstones for fast melee weapons.
It can cause compatible Light Attacks to hit twice.
This does more than simply increase damage.
Additional hits can also help with resource generation, which means a weapon using Duality Stone may become better at restoring Resolve while maintaining pressure.
This is why Duality Stone appears in several builds that rely on repeated Light Attack strings.
Important Tarstones for Break Damage
Rupturing Stone
Rupturing Stone is particularly valuable on compatible ranged weapons.
It allows Critical projectiles to deal additional Break Damage.
This creates a useful relationship between Critical Hit Chance and Break.
Instead of choosing between a damage-focused ranged attack and a Break-focused attack, you can make your Critical Hits contribute to both.
Rapid-fire sidearms benefit especially well from this interaction because they have more opportunities to land Critical Hits.
Important Tarstones for Elemental Damage
Emberseed Stone
Emberseed Stone provides a Burn-focused option for compatible attacks.
Permanent Burn infusion can make a sidearm more useful against groups of regular enemies.
Burn is not simply about adding another damage type. Status effects can also influence enemy behavior, giving you an opportunity to interrupt attacks and maintain control of an encounter.
Voltaic-Related Builds
Lightning-focused setups can similarly use appropriate Infusion Tarstones to add Lightning damage to compatible attacks.
Fast weapons are particularly good candidates for this type of setup because repeated hits give the effect more opportunities to contribute.
Tarstones and Resolve
Resolve is another major part of Tarstone design.
Some Tarstones require Resolve to activate their effects.
This means you should not only consider the damage increase when selecting one. You also need to consider whether your build can generate enough Resolve to use the Tarstone consistently.
This is especially important for builds that already spend Resolve on Shell abilities.
If you spend most of your Resolve on one ability, adding several Resolve-dependent Tarstones can make the build difficult to maintain.
On the other hand, a Shell with excellent Resolve generation can take much better advantage of these effects.
Permanent Infusions
Not every Tarstone works in the same way.
Some effects require resources or specific conditions during combat, while Infusions can become permanent once you have reached the required level.
This makes Infusion Tarstones particularly convenient for weapons you intend to use throughout an entire area.
Once you understand which effects are temporary and which become permanent, it becomes much easier to plan your equipment.
How to Choose Tarstones
When choosing Tarstones, start with your main source of damage.
If your build relies on rapid melee attacks, prioritize Tarstones that improve those attacks.
If your build relies on Critical Hits, combine Critical Hit Chance with Critical Damage rather than stacking only one of them.
If your build is built around breaking enemies, look for Tarstones that interact with Break Damage.
If your sidearm is an important part of your rotation, make sure you invest in its compatible Tarstones rather than treating the sidearm as an afterthought.
A good Tarstone setup should have a purpose.
Instead of asking whether a Tarstone is strong by itself, ask whether it improves what your character is already trying to do.
Tarstone Combinations
The strongest setups generally come from combining several Tarstones that reinforce the same mechanic.
For example, a Critical build can combine:
Critical Hit Chance → Critical Damage → repeated attacks → additional Break or elemental effects.
A Resolve-focused setup can instead prioritize:
Resolve generation → Resolve-dependent attacks → faster resource recovery → repeated ability use.
A Break-focused setup can use:
Critical projectiles → Break Damage → stagger → melee finisher.
This is why copying one Tarstone from another player’s build without understanding the rest of their equipment can sometimes produce disappointing results.
The Tarstone is only one piece of the build.
Tarstone Map
Mortal Shell 2 also provides a map specifically for tracking collectibles and points of interest.
The map currently tracks 75 Tarstone locations.
It also contains markers for other important collectibles and locations, including:
| Map Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Beacons | 41 |
| Gates | 6 |
| Shells | 8 |
| Weapons | 8 |
| Sidearms | 8 |
| Dungeons | 36 |
| Bone Gates | 18 |
| Corrupted Statues | 8 |
| Map Fragments | 11 |
| Tarstones | 75 |
| Key Items | 9 |
If your goal is to complete the Tarstone collection, using the map’s Tarstone filter is much more efficient than wandering through every area hoping to find the last few missing collectibles.