Mortal Shell II gives you 8 melee weapons across Fallgrim, and the gap between the best and worst of them is significant. Two are available before you leave Fainweald. The rest sit behind bosses, locked dungeons, and traversal puzzles in the Ruins of Mammon. This guide ranks every weapon by damage output, moveset versatility, Tarstone compatibility, and how early you can realistically get your hands on one.
Mortal Shell 2 weapon tier list
Before getting into the breakdown, one thing worth knowing: every weapon scales identically at the Tarforge. Damage, stagger, elemental efficiency, critical chance, critical damage, and Resolve regeneration all climb from 1.0 to 2.0 at +20. Tier placement here comes from moveset quality, Tarstone pool size, and how well each weapon handles both crowds and single targets.
S-tier weapons
Mortal Shell 2 Weapon Tier List: Best Weapons & Where to Find Them
Axe and Dagger
The Axe and Dagger sits at the top of the current meta for one specific reason: it is the only weapon that can equip both the Arbiter's Prize and the Duality Stone Tarstones simultaneously. Bloodcurse is one of the strongest status ailments in the game due to its high damage, and the Duality Stone effectively doubles your hits and Resolve generation. Pair that with the weapon's fast, multi-hit light attack combo and you have a setup that consistently bursts enemies down before they can punish you.
You find it at the end of the Shrine of Trials dungeon inside Mushroom Village. You need the Chapel Key to get in. Three rooms stand between the entrance and the weapon: dissolve the fake wall by facing the king pillar and walking backwards, hit the stone blocks onto both pressure plates, then kill the Armored Knight at the end. The Axe and Dagger is the first genuine upgrade over the Iconoclast and it is reachable without ever touching Mammon.
Axatana
The Axatana plays almost identically to the Axe and Dagger. Its light and heavy attacks morph the weapon mid-combo, which lets you cover both crowds and single elites without switching your approach. It is also one of only two weapons that accepts the Duality Stone, making it a direct competitor for the top spot.
Getting it requires more legwork. Start at the Castigator's Keep Beacon, clear the Parasited Soldiers down the hill, follow the wooden platforms to the fork, cross the bridge, and extinguish the Blue Flame before engaging the enemies around it. The Bone Gate there drops you into the Vestige of Infinity. A Launch Pad sends you to the top of the mountain. From there, drop into the pocket with the Hoodmen, grab the Colossus Stone chest, pass through the next Bone Gate into the Forgotten Tower, shoot the bell to rebuild the bridge, and press the button to open the gate on the dual-blade enemy holding the weapon.
A-tier weapons
Mortal Shell 2 Weapon Tier List: Best Weapons & Where to Find Them
Black Needle
The Black Needle offers 12 Tarstone slots, the largest pool of any A-tier weapon, and it has exclusive access to the Nightgrasp Stone. On its own it brings great reach, a decent gap closer, and fast enough light attacks to stay safe. The main limitation is that its Infusion Tarstone options are more restricted than the S-tier picks, which caps its ceiling.
You get it by defeating the Twin Sesters in Sester's Bastion. Cleansing the Sester's Gate Beacon is mandatory for progression toward the Conquered Temple anyway, so this weapon costs you nothing extra. Shoot the bells inside the dungeon to materialize the ledges, survive the Twin Sesters arena (one rapier, one bow), and then kill the Stray Sester that shows up immediately after to claim the spear.
Great Martyr's Blade
The Great Martyr's Blade has the strongest charged light attack of any weapon in the game. Its range is solid, base damage is high, and its AoE sweeps handle grouped enemies well. The downside is real: it swings slow, and mistimed inputs get punished hard. This is a weapon for players who have already learned enemy patterns, not one to grab first.
It sits in Martyr's Prison, a dungeon in Gloomshade Grove near the Citadel of Penance. Kill the Bloodcursed Lithopod near the Gloomshade Grove beacon first, since it drops the item that opens the citadel permanently. Inside the prison, a coin pouch teleports you into the cell block, and the blade is past the tight corridors. If hunting through the grove sounds tedious, Merrick sells the map for 500 coins.
Mortal Shell 2 Weapon Tier List: Best Weapons & Where to Find Them
For players building around this weapon, check the Mortal Shell 2 best Shells tier list to find which Shell pairs best with its slower, high-reward playstyle.
The Iconoclast
The Iconoclast is your starting weapon, handed to you in the prologue after the UnderMether encounter once you equip Harros the Vassal. It is more than capable of finishing the game, with decent melee range, good damage, and fast attacks. The 8-Tarstone pool limits its late-game ceiling, but it is compatible with several Infusion Tarstones including Zealot's Stone and Shrike Stone. Most players carry it for the first two hours regardless of preference.
B-tier weapons
Mortal Shell 2 Weapon Tier List: Best Weapons & Where to Find Them
Veteran's Battle Axe
The Veteran's Battle Axe has good damage and decent AoE on both its light and heavy swings. The problem is its animation speed. Mistimed attacks leave you exposed in a way that faster weapons simply do not. It accepts 8 Tarstones with Inflamed Clawstone as the recommended infusion.
Find it in The King's Crypt in the Blackridge Cliffs. Reach the Blackridge Pass Beacon, take the path up to the Shattered Beacon where Proxima is unlocked, and look behind that beacon for the dungeon entrance below. Drop into the hole inside the cavern rather than circling around, and grab it off a body at the back of the room. Merrick sells the map for 300 coins.
Clockwork Scythe
The Clockwork Scythe has 12 Tarstone slots and the best AoE clear of any weapon in the game, which makes it genuinely useful when moving through the overworld. Against bosses it falls apart, lacking the reach and attack speed that the higher-tier weapons bring to single-target fights.
It drops from Sariel, the Endless in the Chamber of Becoming, a dungeon near the Silent Steps Beacon in the Ruins of Mammon. Sariel escapes the first fight when his health drops, so follow him up the steps and finish him in the chamber. He also unlocks as a Shell after the fight. The map costs 3000 coins from Merrick, which is steep enough that most players should skip it on a first run and spend those coins on Tarforge upgrades for a weapon they already trust.
C-tier: the Obsidian Hammer
Mortal Shell 2 Weapon Tier List: Best Weapons & Where to Find Them
The Obsidian Hammer has the slowest attacks in the game. Its base damage is high and it is the only weapon that accepts the Colossus Stone, which gives it a niche, but the overall DPS it produces does not keep pace with higher-tier options due to how much time passes between swings.
It drops from the Prophet of Profane Infinities in the Obsidianite Mines, located at the bottom of the central circular area in the Abandoned Slums in the Ruins of Mammon. From the Outskirts of Mammon beacon, head west to the quarry with the flooded pit and drop in. The descent is a controlled fall through a chasm, ledge by ledge. The map runs 1300 coins from Merrick.
How to choose the right weapon for your playstyle
The honest answer is to pick based on what keeps killing you, not by tier. Crowds and constant pressure favor the Axe and Dagger or the Axatana, both of which reward staying aggressive. Single tough enemies that punish one bad swing point toward the Great Martyr's Blade or the Obsidian Hammer, where landing a stagger buys you a full opening.
Tarstone pool size matters more than it first appears. The 12-slot weapons like the Black Needle and Clockwork Scythe can be rebuilt into completely different configurations 15 hours into a run without needing a new pickup. The 8-slot weapons are locked into narrower builds by comparison.
For players still deciding on a Shell to pair with their weapon choice, the best Seals tier list for Mortal Shell 2 covers which Seals complement aggressive and defensive weapon styles, and the best build guide for Tiel shows exactly how Tarstone selection works in practice for one of the strongest Critical Strike setups in the game.
For everything else you need to progress, the full Mortal Shell II strategy guide collection covers Shells, Seals, Tarforge upgrades, and boss strategies in detail.