Mortal Shell is home to four different Shells, suits of armour which each have their own unique sets of unlockable traits and stat differences. Tiel is one of the earliest Shells you can grab and it’s easily my favourite. It grants you a load of stamina, as well as a shadowstep dodge which makes avoiding attacks much easier. Of course, there’s a compromise. Your health bar is drastically reduced, meaning one or two attacks from enemies will usually result in death. If Tiel’s a Shell which sounds like it would suit your playstyle, it’s worth getting early so you can begin unlocking some of its abilities straight away. Below I’ll walk you through the process.
Where to find Tiel’s Shell
We’re going to begin this walkthrough from the hub area in Fallgrim, so position yourself just outside the main entrance and follow our lead. Turn right and take the path that leads underneath a toppled tree trunk. Run under and continue straight on, passing through the entrance flanked by two huge trees. Step through and you’ll see shallow, swampy water ahead. Turn right and you’ll come to a fork in the road. The path to the right is marked by a small torch. Take the left path and continue forwards until you come to a small Inscription statue surrounded by candles. Turn left here and run straight towards the large tree with massive bats hanging off it. Approach the tree and you’ll spot another Inscription statue near a small mob of enemies. Head down the path just behind them and you’ll descend through a narrow, rocky tunnel. Once you’ve emerged, head down to the pool of water and watch out for the enemies cooking up a meal by the campfire. Look to the right and you’ll spot a small crawl space blocked by branches. Destroy them with a swing of your sword and crawl through. Prepare yourself for a fight against Ven Noctivagu. Ven staggers off most of your attacks, so you can definitely get one combo off before backing up. Ven has two main attacks. One is unparryable and will cause your Tarnished Seal to glow red. It’ll crawl on the ground for a second, then jump at you. If it lands it’ll bite your neck for a bit, deal some damage, heal itself, and jump away - not ideal. To prevent this, harden, or dodge away. The other attack is pretty standard. It’ll swing it’s claws at you in a one-two-punch fashion. Sometimes Ven will perform this twice in a row. If it lands you’ll get poisoned, so be careful. Again, either dodge away, then get some hits in once it’s finished. This is also the easiest move to parry, so go for it if you want that extra damage or a touch of healing. Rinse and repeat this strategy: Wait for it to stop an attack animation, get two to three hits in. This should be more than enough to take down dear old Ven. Once you’ve dealt with Ven, interact with Tiel’s armour and it’ll be yours to keep. I’d recommend picking up Solomon and Eredrim’s Shells as soon as possible. This way you’ll have all the classes to toy around with as you progress through Mortal Shell, which should give you the tools to overcome any challenge.