Mortal Shell II Sidearms

One meter, three sinks

Resolve fuels (1) the Shell kit, (2) the melee weapon ability, (3) every Mortal Shell II sidearms shot. Hits, kills, and timed Seals refill it; panic fire empties it. If you dump the bar into Nail Shot, Biosampler, Shadow Strike, and the Great Martyr’s Blade skill are all dry when the boss finally opens. That is a tips death, not a missing upgrade.

Exact shot costs stay TBA. This page will not invent a Resolve table or a hidden clip size. Bank the meter for the poke that finishes a stagger, then swing. Combat is the refill sheet; here the one line is: the gun is never free.

The lute spends the same bar

Troubadour’s Lute is a named sidearm, not a joke menu. Community-observed job: confusion, plus lute tracks tied to the Heavy Metal trophy. It still spends Resolve. A closed-room puzzle that wants a “song” is the same tax as a bolt. Do not treat the lute as a stamina substitute.

Once the meter rule is clear, the next question is where each gun actually sits — community pins, not invented markers.

Start, then Merrick’s map

Nail Shot is in your hands after the prologue. Some lists spell it Naylshotte. Same starter. There is no hunt. Keep it as a tap until the first real gun. Forgotten Crossbow is the early hunt this page trusts: talk to Merrick in Marrow Keep, take the map, walk Flooded Village, use the key, loot the crypt. Old School is the trophy that proves you found it. That pickup is the community-observed first upgrade over Nail Shot — still a sidearm, still Resolve.

A minigun-style pickup near Proxima’s water Beacon is name TBA on this page. It may be Triarch Repeater, the missing eighth, or something else. Do not invent the title. Log it when the inventory name is recaptured.

Hideout, Beacon, cave

Salvaged Trebuchaxe sits in Ravaged Hideout. Chop Chop is the trophy. Treat it as a later named find on the same ranged list, not a melee axe — the melee axe roster lives on weapons. Cursed Child is inside Revere Beacon; Beautiful Baby is the trophy. Walk it when that Beacon is on the walkthrough road, not as a Marrow Keep secret.

Ballistazooka is in Sentries Cave; Speared is the trophy. Triarch Repeater is confirmed by Old Painless. The pin itself stays TBA until a recapture names the corpse or chest. Do not guess a dungeon just to fill the cell.

Lute, eighth, and Caged Hystrix

Troubadour’s Lute is the named odd one: confusion, lute tracks, Heavy Metal. Exact find room stays TBA. If a closed Resolve branch wants a song instead of a bolt, this is the tool — still a spend.

The working count is about eight. This page names seven and leaves the eighth TBA. Caged Hystrix shows up on trophy lists (Spiked). Type is TBA — it may be melee or another weapon-class collectible. Do not hunt it as a proven gun here. If a recapture proves it ranged, it belongs on this list; until then it is a maybe, not an eighth title.

Resolve statues in closed rooms often mark these pickups. Smash, fill, shoot. Region order after the pins lives on the walkthrough. Once the table is in hand, the next decision is which gun actually deserves the first hours.

Forgotten Crossbow is the first real grab

Merrick’s map is the opening sidearm, not a detour. Walk Flooded Village after the key. Old School pops when the bow is yours. Community-observed: a Perforation Tarstone (name TBA) boosts the sidearm after melee hits — that is why the Crossbow pays on a first build that already swings Iconoclast or Axe and Dagger. If you never melee into the shot, you bought a heavier Nail Shot.

Do not park the first Ventrium on Nail Shot. Franz’s early click is melee on weapons — Iconoclast to about +3 / +4. Sidearms upgrade at the same Tarforge, later, on the gun you fire. Later named guns are keep-or-swap only after the Crossbow is in hand.

Shells do not lock the gun

Every playable Shell can equip every sidearm. Switching Tiel for Proxima does not hide Nail Shot. It does change how expensive a dump feels — a lightning poke host wants one or two bolts after the hook, not a magazine. Pair the host and the gun on builds, then walk the next Beacon. If the swap table still feels like a ranked list, you are overthinking it: fire the one whose spend you already bank.

Once the first grab is decided, the stones that actually change the gun are the last system on this page.

Melee into the shot, then poke

Perforation is the beginner-observed reason Forgotten Crossbow is worth the key: land melee, then the gun hits harder. Exact percent and the live stone name stay TBA. If the stone is not in the ten, the Crossbow is still a Resolve tap — just a worse one. Do not invent a 200% row.

Devout refunds sidearm Resolve on kill. That is how you poke without permanently emptying the Shell kit. Charged only pays if the gun is real. Viletongue Hedron is the Bleed Infusion for the sidearm — pair it with a gun you fire, not with panic Nail Shot. Duality wants dual-wield melee; it does not make the lute a shotgun.

Franz etches stones, not a hidden gun tree

Take an Etching Needle to Franz, then rank the ten you wear. Unequipped bag stones earn nothing. Ability stones that spend 80 Resolve compete with every sidearm shot — slot them only on a combat bar you can pay. If Iconoclast is +4, the Crossbow is in hand, and the next room still kills you, the next check is a dry meter from panic fire, not another unspent Ventrium.

Empty gun slots in Combat / Infusion are legal. Filling them with stones you never fire is a wasted pair. When the stone rule is clear, leftover questions are the FAQ — then pair the gun on builds and keep melee on weapons.