Mortal Shell 2 Sidearms: Crossbow, Lute, and Later Guns

What are Mortal Shell 2 sidearms?

Current for the launch version.

Sidearms are the other inventory tab. You already hold a starter gun. The first hunts are the Forgotten Crossbow and Troubadour’s Lute. Later named guns sit on the southern routes. Shots spend Resolve. There is no verified sidearm tier list.

Melee weapons stay on early weapons and best weapons. This page is the gun tab: what a sidearm is for, which two to pick up first, and which names are real but not walked yet.

Sidearm	First useful for	Not the same as
Starter gun	The Sidearms tab after the prologue	A hole you must fill before you can shoot
Forgotten Crossbow	The first hunted bow, west of Widow’s Overlook	A melee weapon, or a pin you can ignore
Troubadour’s Lute	Early stagger and confusion from the Gragu tavern	A three-candle chest in Mushroom Village
Caged Hystrix	A fast late bolt gun on the Sariel road	An opening-hour pickup
Salvaged Trebuchaxe, Triarch Repeater, Ballistazooka, Cursed Child	Named unlocks for the collect-all trophy	Walkthroughs on this page

How shots and upgrades work

A sidearm shot spends the yellow Resolve bar above health. Melee hits put that bar back. Hoarding a full bar wastes refill. Slayer turns those shots into break damage and pays health plus Resolve when you riposte the opening.

Infusions can sit on a sidearm the same way they sit on a blade. Emberseed on a gun burns what the shot hits. Socket rules stay on infusions.

Ranks use Franz’s machine, not a second forge. After the actuator, bring him the Obsidian Lathe from the church dungeon near the first-boss arena — the same part the Crossbow tapes pick up on the way back. A missing gun is not why the machine starts dark.

Forgotten Crossbow

Start at Widow’s Overlook, face Blackridge Pass, and turn around. Cross the bridges with the flying enemies, drop to the lower path, and stop at the locked door. Break the board behind that door. The view through the gap is the open gate.

Ride the elevator. One hallway is a dead end. Take the Damp Key from behind a house on the far loop, then open the locked room. The Forgotten Crossbow is on the table inside.

The room fills with poison. Touch the center and climb out. An elite can sit in a pit in the same dungeon if you stay to fight. You do not need that kill to keep the bow.

Merrick in Marrowkeep can sell a pin for this pickup after you return from the hub. The pin marks the door. It does not explain the board, the key, or the poison exit.

On the walk back, the broken church by the first-boss arena holds the Obsidian Lathe behind another plate-gated room. Give that part to Franz so the Crossbow can take ranks.

Troubadour’s Lute

The lute is on a wall, not in the village candle chest.

From Widow’s Overlook go south past the first bush, around Tiel, through Mushroom Village, and right toward the One-Legged Wolf. The tavern south of that wolf is the same pub that holds Gragu. Climb the stairs. The lute hangs beside the singer.

Inspect starts it at plus zero. It is a special sidearm: play tracks for the Heavy Metal trophy, or fire it so enemies turn on each other.

If the south tavern is still closed, finish Magdalena, the Lady of the Woods at the Mushroom Village corrupted gate, siphon the eggs at Marrowkeep, and cleanse the thorn wall with Mother’s Breath. That opens the road. It does not move the lute to a different chest.

Lighting three candles in Mushroom Village is a different ritual. Do not walk that loop looking for this gun.

Later guns

Caged Hystrix is the one late gun with a walked route in this set. Start at Outskirts of Mammon, the same southern run that reaches Sariel and Clockwork Scythe. Pass Silent Steps, finish both Sariel fights, take the scythe, then keep walking. Hystrix is a fast bolt gun and also starts at plus zero.

Salvaged Trebuchaxe, Triarch Repeater, Ballistazooka, and Cursed Child are real unlock names. They are not walked here. A workshop trebuchet that flings a Makeshift Projectile is a dungeon puzzle, not the Salvaged Trebuchaxe.

Steam tracks six of those unlocks plus a collect-all trophy. You also start with a gun. Do not wait for a numbered “best sidearm” list before you fire the one in your hand.

Common mistakes

• Hunting the lute in the three-candle chest. That chest is not this pickup.
• Leaving the Crossbow door closed because the front is locked. The board behind it opens the gate.
• Skipping the Damp Key loop. The table stays behind the locked room.
• Treating a pit elite as the Crossbow boss. The bow is already on the table.
• Waiting to upgrade until every named gun is in the tab. Franz needs the Lathe, not the full set.
• Mixing the workshop trebuchet with Salvaged Trebuchaxe. One opens a dungeon. The other is a sidearm.

Frequently asked questions

What is the first sidearm I should hunt? The Forgotten Crossbow if you want a straight bow. Troubadour’s Lute if you want stagger and confusion from the tavern.

How many sidearms are there? You start with one. Steam names six more unlocks and a collect-all trophy. Troubadour’s Lute is a separate special gun. This page does not invent an extra name.

Where is the Forgotten Crossbow? Blackridge Pass from Widow’s Overlook, illusory board, Damp Key, then the locked room.

Where is Troubadour’s Lute? Upstairs in the tavern by the One-Legged Wolf, the same building as Gragu.

Do sidearms upgrade like melee weapons? Same machine, extra part. Actuator first, Obsidian Lathe second. Details stay on weapon upgrades.

Is there a best sidearm? No verified ranking. Pick the Crossbow or the lute for the opening, then Hystrix when you are already on the Sariel road.