Mortal Shell – How to Defeat The Unchained

The hardest part to any Soulsborne game is figuring out how to overcome a boss. Mortal Shell approaches them with a bit more ease, though this is a fight that is less about equipment and positioning and more about tactic and skill. Since this can be very difficult for people, we wanted to make it easier by explaining how to defeat every boss.

General Information

Since Mortal Shell is a non-linear game, one where you might lack certain resources before any given boss, every boss guide uses the hollowed sword that you start with. Make no mistake, this weapon is extremely powerful and well worth maxing out. 

If you are having issues that this guide does not help you overcome, I strongly suggest going back to the starting base and purchase as many rats as you can. These are extremely valuable in regards to healing and can make any boss, regardless of skill, easy.

Beyond that, remember that any fight is doable, provided you don’t get trigger happy. More mistakes stemmed from rushing things than anything else.

Finally, every one of the main bosses besides the first and last have a second form, so keep that in mind.

How to Defeat The Unchained

This is, without question, the hardest fight in Mortal Shell, but it isn’t impossible with the right tactic. In fact, The Unchained is one boss that follows a lot of set routines, making him extremely predictable.

This fight always starts with The Unchained jumping back and rushing forward. Learn to recognize this move as it’s, by a wide margin, the safest time to attack him. All you ever want to do is use your heavy attack and immediately harden. You’ll do damage to The Unchained 100 percent of the time and will always have enough time for two follow up attacks. If you’re feeling bold, you can use your spear to instantly stun him, just keep in mind his head dropping can do damage to you. Whether you stun or attack, immediately jump back to avoid damage (his head falling or swinging his lower body).

For the next quarter of his health, you’re best just trading blows. He will crawl towards you, so force him to attack, jump back and then lunge forward for easy damage. Never attack more than once, as he will almost always follow up and that new attack can be punished.

With part of his health gone, he will no go under water and create waves. You can get around both by just dodge rolling. What I suggest is watch what The Unchained is doing. The absolute best case is that he will create waves and go underwater, as he will always slam the ground and then rush forward. If you don’t get that, usually he will just rush forward, so move back and simply jump through the wave and his attack as late as possible. This is due to there being a range trigger, which, if not triggered, you might be able to get rushed without the wave, making it easy to damage him.

Around the 50 percent point he will summon adds. If you think this is going to happen, get as much range as possible. After a certain point, as mentioned, he isn’t triggered. This allows you to deal with the additional enemies as you see fit. I suggest taking them out as they come, but if you’re having issues, you can also bunch them up. Also, keep in mind, if you don’t get out of the range, he will rush you and that might not guarantee your death, it will make things extremely complicated.

The rest of the fight will proceed like this until you eventually defeat him. The only exception is a whirlpool move. Just let him heal, as it’s not worth the additional risk or, if you’re feeling lucky, try to shoot as many adds as you can before going back to the fight.