Mortal Shell II Weapon Upgrade Priority: Which Weapon to Level First and Where to Farm Materials

Every weapon in Mortal Shell II can clear the game, but your Ventrium and Coin are finite in the opening hours. Pour them into the wrong stick and the back half of the campaign turns into a grind. This guide sets the upgrade order, names the real materials, and maps the early farm routes so your damage keeps pace with enemy health.

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Table of Contents

1. What the Tarforge Needs Before You Upgrade
2. The Upgrade Order That Beats the Health Curve
3. Material Farming Routes and Common Waste Traps
4. Starter Weapon, Hidden Pickups, and the Refund Question

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What the Tarforge Needs Before You Upgrade

All weapon upgrades happen at the Tarforge in Marrow Keep. Reach the area left of the Beacon, climb the stairs past Vratko, and you will find Franz the Smith. Weapon enhancement unlocks once you deliver your first Ovum.

• The four real materials: Ventrium, Laterite, Dorsalite, and Thoracium. Ventrium feeds the early tiers, Laterite the mid tiers, Dorsalite the high tiers, and Thoracium the top end. [Sources: Method Indie, GamerFuzion]
• Gloom is not a forge material. It levels the Harbinger at beacons, never weapons. This mix-up is the most common new-player time sink. [Source: GamerFuzion]
• Coin pairs with the material on every weapon tier. The curve is steep: a Great Martyr’s Blade costs 2 Ventrium and 100 Coin at +1, rising to 18 Dorsalite and 8,750 Coin at +16. [Source: Game8]
• The “Quenching Acid” name from pre-release blurbs could not be confirmed in any current guide; the live game uses the four materials above plus the Endless Core, which removes the weapon upgrade cap. Treat Quenching Acid as unverified.
• Eight primary weapons, eight sidearms. The Iconoclast is your starter; the rest are found. No weapon is useless. [Source: Game8, GrindNStrat]

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The Upgrade Order That Beats the Health Curve

Pick one melee weapon and push it. Spreading Ventrium across three weapons leaves you with three under-leveled options, and the enemy health curve does not care how varied your closet is.

Tier	Weapon Pick	Why First	Where to Find
S	Axe & Dagger	Fast multi-hit, Duality + Arbiter’s Prize synergy, strong Resolve gen	Shrine of Trials, west of Mushroom Village beacon
S	Axatana	Fastest moveset, transforms to axe, Duality-compatible	Locked tower southeast of the Forgotten Tower
A	Great Martyr’s Blade	Long reach, strongest charged light attack	Martyr’s Prison, near Gloomshade Grove beacon
Starter	The Iconoclast	Decent range, fast, good Infusion options	Given at game start

Step one — grab Axe & Dagger early. From the Mushroom Village clearing where a Grisha Pup is caged, take the Chapel Key off the church door, then open the Shrine of Trials dungeon west of the beacon. It is a short, low-risk run that pays off immediately. [Sources: AllThingsHow, SportsRant]

Step two — push it to +5 with Ventrium. The first five tiers are pure Ventrium and Coin, so this is cheap insurance before you meet your first real wall. A +5 Axe & Dagger with the Duality Stone already doubles standing light-attack hits.

Step three — add Axatana as your flex. Its katana form is the fastest in the game and its axe form staggers; it shares Duality Stone access. Reach it via the Bone Gates past the Outskirts of Mammon beacon to the locked tower southeast of the Forgotten Tower. Only one elite guards the pickup. [Source: AllThingsHow]

Step four — save Laterite and Dorsalite for your main. Do not dilute them across the Iconoclast and Veteran’s Battle Axe. If you enjoy the starter, commit to it; if not, let Axe & Dagger or Axatana carry you.

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Material Farming Routes and Common Waste Traps

Ventrium is the bottleneck. It shows up in chests, side rooms, and most secret areas worth walking to, and you can also buy it from Merrick at Marrow Keep for Coin.

• Hit the Mushroom Village merchant and Merrick first. Merrick sells materials for gold, and the opening zones hide enough Ventrium in chests to reach +5 on your main without grinding.
• Attack glowing trees. They occasionally drop materials instead of Gloom — a free top-up while exploring.
• The “Crypt of Trials” locked chest from strategy blurbs maps to the Shrine of Trials dungeon that holds the Axe & Dagger; treat it as your first material-and-weapon stop, not a separate detour. [Unverified mapping]
• Thoracium is night-gated. It is the only material you can reliably buy (The Collector, 5,000 Coin, night only), so flip Night Mode on earlier than feels natural if you want the top tier without a long hunt.
• Do not hoard. Coin is flexible: it buys Tarstone tiers cheaply and covers gaps when Ventrium runs dry. Sell weapons you will never use to keep it topped up.

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Starter Weapon, Hidden Pickups, and the Refund Question

The Iconoclast is handed to you at the start and is explicitly “more than good enough to beat the game with” per the weapon tier list. If the fast weapons feel too light, the Veteran’s Battle Axe is a clear alternative route.

Sidearms round out the kit — eight of them, including the Ballistazooka (Sentry’s Grave) and the Troubadour’s Lute favored by Tiel builds — but they scale on the same Ventrium/Laterite/Dorsalite curve, so prioritize your melee before investing.

Material refund on downgrade: some Soulslikes return materials when you de-level a weapon. No current Mortal Shell II guide confirms this, and Coin is never refunded on purchase, so assume a one-way spend until proven otherwise.

The Endless Core is the late-game item that removes the weapon upgrade cap; like the Etching Needle for Tarstones, bring it to Franz rather than using it from the inventory.