Mortal Shell guide: New game+ and the final boss

The Foundling’s journey in Mortal Shell will eventually culminate in a battle against the game’s final boss. After that, you’ll be able to do another playthrough in New Game+ mode. Here’s our guide to help you out. Oh, and please remember that there will be major spoilers.

Note: For more information, check out our Mortal Shell guides and features hub.

Mortal Shell: Beating the final boss and reaching New Game+

Mortal Shell‘s progression requires you to defeat three bosses — Crucix the Twiceborn, Imrod the Unrepentant, and Tarsus the First Martyr. From their lairs, you need to make your way back to Fallgrim which is now shrouded in mists. Then, inside Fallgrim Tower, you’ll return glands to the Old Prisoner — a gigantic, plague doctor bird.

After returning the third and final gland, the Old Prisoner asks if you can release its seal. Either choice would lead to the same outcome: it’ll disappear and you need to follow it.

Note: Before you jump down that hole, you can still explore and grind for some resources until you’re ready.

If you decide to follow the Old Prisoner, it’ll reveal itself to be the bad guy all along. Who would’ve thought that an evil-looking giant chicken was an antagonist, eh?

In any case, you’ll start the encounter against the Unchained, Mortal Shell‘s final boss.

The Unchained boss fight

Unlike the other boss fights in Mortal Shell, the Unchained isn’t a strict, two-phase encounter. But, it does have a lot of tricks up its sleeves, err, wings.

Its main attack is a dashing swipe that’ll run you down. The “tell” is when it leaps further away from you (though other abilities can also follow suit).

Anyway, the Unchained has several attacks once you’re close enough:

• Slamming its right wing on the water.
• A swipe that hits a wide angle with its left wing.
• Pecking you with its beak in case you’re directly in front of it.
• Smacking you with its tail if you’re behind it or at its sides.

The idea here is to dodge its dashing attack, and then slash it a few times when it’s close. After a couple of strikes, roll away from its counter (which will happen like clockwork), and then move back in for a few more swings.

Even more special abilities

After doing a bit of damage, the Unchained will gain additional abilities. When it leaps away from you, it can either send out powerful waves of water, or it’ll summon other Foundlings to attack.

For the waves, you need to dodge toward them to mitigate the damage and knockback:

For the Foundling mobs, there are roughly half a dozen of them though they’ll die in one hit:

Likewise, the Unchained will sometimes fly to the air and crash down. This is followed by either a rolling attack with its body or a 360-degree spin attack. Both of these will greatly damage you.

As usual, the goal is to time your offensive which is whenever it does its regular dash attack: a couple of strikes, dodge its counter, then keep slashing it until it leaps away.

Its final ability is why I said this isn’t a strict, two-phase encounter. Rather than “phases,” ol’ Big Bird will just summon a whirlpool at the center of the arena.

While this maelstrom is churning, the Foundling adds will also spawn. Each one that gets sucked in will partially restore the boss’ health. That means your goal is to take them out, but be careful not to get pulled into the maelstrom like the rest.

Easy mode

I’ve beaten the Unchained final boss twice already: during my first Mortal Shell playthrough and during a New Game+ run. I found that there’s a quick and painless way to take this entity out.

The idea is to use Solomon the Scholar with Accretion of Endurance and a maxed-out Hammer and Chisel weapon. The reason is because of Solomon the Scholar’s resolve generation capabilities, as well as the weapon’s fast attacks and skills.

If you use weapon skill #2 (Impaler), this will stun the Unchained instantly. Alternatively, you can also use the Ballistazooka.

While the Unchained is downed, go ahead and keep wailing away on it. Your fast attacks with the Hammer and Chisel will rapidly generate your resolve. Then, pop weapon skill #1 (Blade Tornado) to deal more damage and become temporarily immune during the animation. This is in case your stamina is low and you can’t get out of the way in time.

Likewise, once the Unchained summons the Foundling adds, you can use Blade Tornado to kill most of them in a single hit. You’ll even heal a bit thanks to the Accretion of Endurance perk.

Let’s head to New Game+

Keep at it and you’ll eventually defeat Mortal Shell‘s final boss. If you do so, you’re given a choice between “ascending” to a New Game+ run, or just returning back to Fallgrim without switching to New Game+ yet.

If you decide to do a New Game+ run, you’ll respawn at Fallgrim Tower next to Sester Genessa. You’ve practically retained your upgrades as well as items — except for the quest items (glands) that are necessary to progress the game.

Aside from tougher enemies, you’ll also notice a few key differences:

• The locations of any weapon upgrades you’ve obtained (i.e., Foundry Stone, Mechanical Spike, Solemn Offering) will now just have either Quenched Acid or glimpse consumables.
• You can still fight Hadern. But, if you already have the weapon that he’s wielding, you’ll simply get Quenched Acid.

All in all, your goal in Mortal Shell‘s New Game+ mode is to farm for more resources and Quenched Acid materials. That way, you can max out your remaining shells or weapons.

Mortal Shell is available via the Epic Games Store. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.