LIST: How to master Mortal Shell

 After playing Mortal Shell non-stop for almost 80 hours on Steam combined with the time I spent with it on Playstation. I have figured out some tips I think I would like to share with anyone whom is interested in playing it before the sequel (like how I am). I have looked at a lot of tip videos and I think most of this stuff that has not been shared. Also I'll be reference both the main game and it's DLC roguelite mode 'The Virtuous Cycle'. Also to maximize your enjoyment you must read these tips with Hadern's voice because hey, he is the instructor of the game.

There will be a test at the end of the class.

• Max out your favorite shell as fast as humanly possible. This can not be overstated. Maxing out your shell will unlock Sester Genessa's shop. Sester G's shop has many great items but the best ones are the 'Ornate Mask' (sold for 30 glimpses) which allows fast travel between sesters, Glimpses of Affection which can be bought and than used by your shells who need more glimpses since your maxed out shell does not need glimpses anymore (with the exception of Hadern). She even sells 4 Quenching Acids in new game plus cycle which comes in very handy as well. The fast travel alone pays dividends if you are playing the game a lot and needing to get back to Sester as fast as possible.
• Speaking of glimpses, the two Grisha's hiding in the fog area of Fallgrim drop 7 glimpses per kill and are farmable. Just talk to Sester G (using the ornate mask to fast travel back to her) after you kill them and they respawn and Grishas are back on the menu. You will get you so used to fighting this battle that they will become a cakewalk. Also glimpses drop more frequently in the fog because you are fighting nothing but Nocterspers aka the sight-less vampire things. Giving Thestus (NPC with the lamp in the tower) 1 glimpse and he can turn the fog on and off at anytime. Happy hunting!
• Speaking of Thestus; his side-quest with his brother Corvid is also much easier with fast travel and a couple of effigy's. You can get all the glimpses possible in one go by doing this order. Speak to him as Harros, fast travel to Thestus, go back to Corvid (make sure you unlock the shortcut for this area/ the elevator that goes between levels) and than use the effigy to switch to Eredim to finish him off. Makes sure you go back to the original Grisha arena for the final glimpse. I got this from the wiki but I decided to shorthand it and it ties directly into the previous tip.
• Always be on the look out for your weapon upgrades, even if they take you off a beaten track. There are 8 to be found, 2 per weapon. Even if you do not use the weapon, you can equip the weapon, go to a tool bench and use the upgrade and you will always get a full bar of resolve to test the skill, switch back to your preferred weapon but you keep the full resolve bar. Helpful if you are about to go into a boss battle.
• For the Virtuous Cycle DLC, once you find a useful seed, abuse it. Seed numbers can be found in the cycles' start menu on the third page (Statistics) and can be typed in on the second page (Settings). Good seeds are seeds which spawn you close to boss arenas for certain shell challenges, seeds where the level up towers are close by or they give you useful perks. I found one seed which I abused because it kept giving me a lot of strength power ups for the Foundling and because of it I was able to do the no shell run in VC after a couple tries. Sure, using seeds removes the random element of a roguelite BUT a win is a win. You also need to fight a certain sequence of the last bosses to unlock one of the achievements too and this is made much easier with a pre-set seed.
• Also related to the Virtuous Cycle, path-ing matters. If you are using the seed tip I mentioned above, most areas will drop the same upgrades/ perks in the same area so you can formulate your 'build' much easier.
• Finally, lutes take on a different use in the Virtuous Cycle, even the simple one at 25,000 tar can heal you 3 times before it breaks and it uses resets every run. The healing is slow but one of the things that drives me crazy in VC is how poison acts. Because antidotes are no longer useable, sometimes you will die a slow death from poison. If you use the lute as you are poisoned, it will counteract the poison damage until the poison runs it course. Just make sure you do it somewhere away from enemies. I have not unlocked the higher tier lutes yet so it'll be interesting if those one have secondary benefits too. EDIT: The other lutes do have secondary effects. The second most expensive lute at 50,000, the Impervious Lute makes you invulnerable to staggering for 2 minutes as well as give you +30 max stamina. The most expensive one at 75,000, the Clockwork Lute gives you your extra life back aka 'Endless Unborn' if you have already been knocked out of your shell. This lute breaks after 1 use tho and at 75,000 is an expensive way to stay alive. I feel 'Endless Unborn' shows up a lot if you focused on Improved Last Chance in the Runic Gate so the other two lutes are much more useful I feel.

I hope you enjoy some quick tips to help you master Mortal Shell! I still have a long review planned for this game and it should be coming out soon.

AV