Which Shells Are New in Mortal Shell II?

Which Shells are new in Mortal Shell II?

Six of the eight playable Shells are new additions to the series: Tiel the Acolyte, Proxima the Broodseeker, Gragu the Insatiable, Lazlo the Justiciar, Smert the Apostate, and Sariel the Endless. The two returning characters are Eredrim the Venerable and Sester Genessa (playable as Genessa the Wayward), and Harros remains exclusive to the prologue.

The different totals you will see in guides come from counting conventions. GameSpot and Game8 count nine shells total, including Harros; Rock Paper Shotgun counts eight Shells for your Harbinger, 'not counting Harros, the vassal who helps you during the game's Prologue'. Either way, only eight are playable for most of the game, and Harros is lost early on.

• New: Tiel the Acolyte, Proxima the Broodseeker, Gragu the Insatiable, Lazlo the Justiciar, Smert the Apostate, Sariel the Endless
• Returning: Eredrim the Venerable and Sester Genessa (Genessa the Wayward)
• Prologue-only: Harros

Officially, the first Shells shown were Tiel, Eredrim, and Proxima — the Gameplay Reveal depicts exactly those three, each carving 'a different trail' through the open world. The Devout Edition Upgrade's Obsidian Skin Pack later listed all eight official Shells (Obsidian Tiel, Proxima, Genessa, Lazlo, Smert, Eredrim, Sariel, and Gragu), confirming the full roster.

Tiel the Acolyte — the stealth assassin

Tiel is the earliest Shell most players find and one of the three shown in the official Gameplay Reveal. He is a stealth-and-agility fighter: he has less HP than just about every other Shell, but his kit is built around avoiding damage rather than absorbing it.

His passive, shadow dash, triggers on a perfect dodge: dodge just before being struck and Tiel turns invisible and deals bonus stagger damage. His active, lingering shadows, lets him slip into a shadow state and line up a shadow strike with his dagger. Talents such as Ambush and Critical Roll reward attacking from behind — Ambush adds 50% damage, 25% critical hit chance, and 120% critical damage when striking from behind, and Critical Roll makes the attack after a shadow strike a guaranteed critical for 100% bonus damage. Tiel also synergizes with poison, able to detonate poison stacks with his abilities.

To find him, run southeast from the Widow's Overlook beacon — the first beacon you reach — and interact with the coffin there (Game8; RPS places the tombstone within a torch fence east of Mushroom Village).

Proxima the Broodseeker — the lightning hook

Proxima was also part of the official Gameplay Reveal and is an easy early pickup: Game8 places her north of Widow's Overlook, and FightinCowboy's guide finds her inside a shattered beacon northeast of the Blackridge Pass beacon, reachable without fighting.

Her signature ability, Bio Sampler, fires a hook 'kind of like a scorpion': if the enemy is weaker it pulls them to Proxima, and if they are stronger it pulls her to them, followed by a lightning-infused attack that deals area damage and can trigger shock almost instantly. Upgrades add more shock, more area damage, and stasis — FightinCowboy calls stasis 'one of the strongest talents in the game', letting Proxima lock enemies in place.

Her passive, grafted armor, gives a base 15% chance to mitigate incoming melee and ranged damage; when it triggers, the damage is reduced by 50% and the stagger is prevented. She sits in the middle of the roster on HP — tankier than the bottom shells, squishier than the top three.

Gragu the Insatiable — the healing brawler

Gragu plays differently from every other Shell because of his passive, revered heart: he does not start with healing items and only acquires healing hearts by defeating enemies. That makes him strong for exploration — he can hold more healing between checkpoints as he keeps killing — but weaker for boss attempts, since a death means farming enemies to refill.

His active, staggering blow (searing blow in Fextralife's video), is a charged punch: the longer it is charged, the higher the damage, and it can be modified to one-shot small-to-medium targets or to deal area damage. Talents like Harvest raise his maximum hearts to eight.

To unlock Gragu, bring the Heart of Vatra to him at the One-Legged Wolf Tavern (Game8); the item is found east of the tavern, at the end of the path through the Temple of Vatra (FightinCowboy). RPS describes taking the shell after the exchange.

Lazlo the Justiciar — the armored tank

Lazlo is the tank of the roster: he has the highest HP of all Shells and the highest damage reduction — but only while his armor is on.

His combat loop revolves around retribution, an area shockwave that applies burn stacks and deals break damage while filling his heat meter. At max heat he gains passive bonuses to damage, resolve, and damage reduction; triggering retribution again at max heat overheats him, sending out a more powerful shockwave before his armor disappears for a short cooldown window of roughly 7–10 seconds.

Lazlo is a late-game pickup: he is found in the High Lord's Keep, west of the High Lord's Courtyard, behind a boss encounter — RPS names Vellen, High Lord of Mammon, while Game8 lists clearing the Royal Crypt of Mammon.

Smert the Apostate — the time-stopper

Smert is the game's most notorious glass cannon. He has very low health — tied for the lowest in the game — but his Miracle ability makes that almost irrelevant.

Miracle sacrifices half of Smert's current health to halt time and enter a fight stance. While time is frozen he fights unarmed, stacking chaos on every enemy he hits; when the effect ends, the stacks detonate for massive damage, and he can sacrifice more health to extend the freeze. Because chaos is random, it can apply poison, lightning, burning, or freeze (FightinCowboy). At 10% or lower health he gains faith, a bonus state that generates additional resolve, and talents like Last Vow let him fight without a weapon, with a chance to restore health on hit.

To unlock him, RPS describes interrupting a ritual and taking the corpse, while Game8 lists completing the Blood Offering in Prophet's Rest. Fextralife's video locates him southwest of the outskirts of the Nok Dei beacon.

Sariel the Endless — the curse specialist

Sariel is typically the last Shell players find — Fextralife's video places him in the Chamber of Becoming, south of the Silent Steps beacon, behind what is effectively a double boss encounter.

His ranged ability, Exodus, fires parasitic thorns that hunt nearby enemies and apply curse stacks, at the cost of inflicting pain on Sariel himself. Curse prevents the target's next melee strike from damaging Sariel and reflects that damage back on the attacker; unlike other Shells he can extend curse to last 30 seconds, and damage to a cursed enemy can splash to other cursed targets.

His second mechanic, purge (perch), converts incoming damage into pain when he has no pain — a white bar of recoverable gray health that is restored by melee attacks, similar to rally health. At max pain he gains super-fast dodges. RPS adds that after the boss fight you take his shell and pick up the Clockwork Scythe along with it.

Which Shells are returning in Mortal Shell II?

The returning characters are Eredrim the Venerable and Sester Genessa. Eredrim returns under the same name as the first game and keeps his identity as a heavy: he has the second-highest HP in the roster, and his executioner passive stacks slaughter when he riposts enemies, lowering the health threshold at which they can be executed. Sester Genessa returns in a special form — playable as Genessa the Wayward, she is handled differently from other Shells, and sources disagree on whether she counts as a playable Shell or an NPC (see the characters page for both sides).

Only a couple of returning faces joining a mostly new roster. — IGN's review, as cited in the research materials.

One earlier note: a pre-release preview (KhrazeGaming, August 9, 2026, based on the beta) claimed three returning shells — Harros, Tiel, and Eredrim — with nine at launch. The post-release research does not confirm Tiel as a returning character. The exact per-Shell 'new vs returning' split is not officially confirmed; the division above follows IGN's 'couple of returning faces' and the research cross-validation.