Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition

The Unchained is the final boss.

You should not really need a guide if you're doing anything other than a no-shell run as you can tank plenty of hits, and heal at distance without any trouble.

Therfore this is intended as a guide for those going for a no-shell run. There are many videos on strategy available on YouTube - the following is not mine and is actually a guide to the whole run, not just the boss. But the strategy given for The Unchained is perfect - video starts at relevant boss fight:


Boss Fight - Short version:
Basic explanation of the fight is that you're going to be spamming Sprint & RT attacks in between dodging away from the various close range moves the boss will throw at you. You will also be dodging some ranged attacks, one of which can be exploited for a good damage window. If you manage to down the boss' head then you've got a brief window to throw a couple of RB combos before backing away and rinse repeating this whole process. The boss’ second phase will be punctuated by having to avoid the whirlpool he spawns - standing at the edge of the arena whilst he reiterates some health before rinse repeating everything until he dies.

If videos aren't your thing then read on..
DISCLAIMER: As with the great walkthrough, I used Harros and the starting sword on my first run, and I also did a no-shell run using the starting sword. I cannot speak for other shells/weapons particularly but I'd like to think that the following is for the most part, still relevant.


BOSS ATTACKS - 1st phase

Close attacks:
Arm attacks - Right arm slam, quick vertical slam. Left Arm sweep, slightly slower wide range sweep.
Tail Whips - Either a short tail slap, or a full 360 degree sweep.
Beak slam - Stabs the ground with his beak directly in front of him.
Rolling - rolls on his back, side to side a few times times, ends with a quick tail whip as he gets back up.

The strategy to avoid all these attack is the same, dodge backwards, wait for him to finish before resuming your Sprint RT attacks. The edge of the arena will stop you, rather than kill you thankfully (unlike Tarsus!).

Ranged attacks:
He will jump backwards frequently, and initiate one of the following:
- Waves - this will happen immediately when he lands. Dodge forwards through waves (not sideways or backwards). The boss will almost always attempt an Air Attack or a Dash Swipe at the same time.
- Dash Swipe - he slides across the arena towards you and swipes with his left arm. Dodge forwards, or right. This is a key attack, see below.
- Air attack - he will screech and jump in to the air and try to slam down on top of you. If this happens during waves he also sends out a red/orb projectile before he lands.
- Spawns shadow enemies by slamming his right hand on the ground. He will then proceed to Dash Swipe, or Air Attack periodically until the wraiths are dead.

Strategies for the ranged attacks are discussed below, as each on is slightly different.

WHIRLPOOL - 2nd phase (once boss below 50% health)
You'll know the 2nd phase has begun because the the boss will descend in to the water and create a whirlpool that can pull you under and distort your movement and aim as you try to escape. At the same time a bunch of the shadow wraiths will show up and will get sucked in to the whirlpool (maybe one or two escape if they're lucky). Each one that descends will give the boss some health back. After this point normal service will resume, the only notable attack difference is the beak slam is harder and he will get it stuck in the floor.

See below for strategy.


How the fight plays out:

- At midrange the Boss spends most of his time just sitting in front of you not doing much. He only really attacks you when you get in close, or after he’s jumped away and readies a ranged attack. So you're going to do a LOT of Sprint RT attacks, followed by immediately dodging backwards. You will keep doing this until he does one of his ranged attacks or you’ve downed his head either through an accumulation of strikes or from the special RB&LB attack in reply to his ranged Dash Swipe attack.

- If you down his head by an accumulation of strikes, be sure to dodge away as his head hitting the floor will damage you. If you down his head from the special RB&LB attack then you can just wait for the attack animation to end as you are invulnerable whilst this plays out and you can immediately begin light RB combos as the animation ends.

- The first attack of the whole fight will always be the ranged Dash Swipe attack. Dodge right, or diagonally forwards to avoid.

- Once you've built up some resolve (or used a moonshine) you can exploit this Dash Swipe attack very easily by using your special RB&LB attack immediately after dodging to stagger the boss and get him to drop his head. You can fit in x2 RB combos if you are quick. Dodge away afterwards, he will reply with one of his close attacks promptly.

- Sooner or later he will jump backwards and initiate one of his ranged attacks:

- Dash Swipe - see above. Exploit the attack if you can with a special RB&LB attack, and get your combos in.

- Waves - immediately unlock your aim by clicking RS and sprint towards the boss. Spam roll forwards through the waves and any ranged attack that the boss throws (Dash Swipe or Air Attack) will miss you. Once you've finished dodging and are safely clear of the waves you can re-lock your aim and resume. Don't worry too much about timing your dodge rolls, as long as you are in the process of dodging forwards as a wave hits you will be safe. Going through waves sideways or backwards will stagger/damage you. If he launches himself in the air be aware that he throws out a red orb projectile before landing. As above, as long as you're dodging, you'll be safe.

- If he slams his right arm (wing?) on the floor - this spawns the mob of shadow wraiths. I recommend unlocking your aim from the boss but always moving the camera to keep him in view. Run around the arena in a circle (I found clock-wise was best) sprinting and rolling as much as your shell's stamina allows. Your goal here is to group the shadow enemies together as much as possible so you can take them out with one hit. You can bait them by occasionally turning towards them for a brief moment and resuming your sprint/roll in the opposite direction to get the front most enemies to try an attack on you, this will allow any stragglers to catch up. Alternatively you can run in a slightly tighter circle. The wraiths are quick, so be careful! Once you've grouped them up nicely you want to turn around and look at the mob and start an RB attack and harden immediately before it swings. The wraiths will un-freeze you and immediately eat your attack.

If any wraiths survived, then just repeat the process. If you're using a high stamina/no shell then you can just spam roll pretty much the entire time to negate any attacks the boss might throw at you whilst you're grouping up the wraiths. The attacks the boss will try to get you with during this phase are his Dash Swipe or his Air Attack - just start spamming dodge-rolls whenever he goes for these. Once all the wraiths are dead, re-lock on the boss, normal service will resume.

- Once the boss health gets down below 50% the boss will try to re-gen some of his health with the whirlpool. He will descend in to the water and start the whirlpool described above. You can try to kill wraiths to prevent the boss regenerating health but it really isn't worth it. Your aim and movement are compromised by the swirling water. You're better off dodging towards the edge of the arena and waiting for this section to end, so normal service can resume.

Other than that, there's not much to it - you will probably need to give it a few runs to get familiar with his attacks and timing. As above, if you're running anything other than a no-shell run, this boss shouldn't pose much of a problem as you can heal to your heart's content at mid-range where the boss basically leaves you alone.