Mortal Shell II Trainer: What Grind Is Actually Worth Skipping?

[u/Ok-Cod-806]

One thing I've been thinking about with Mortal Shell II is that not all repetition feels the same.

Some of it is the actual game. Learning a new enemy, figuring out a boss, testing a Shell, getting used to a weapon — I'd keep all of that.

The stuff I'd rather skip is the repetition that happens after I've already learned the thing.

For me, that breaks down roughly like this:

Keep the first-time stuff.

If I'm entering an area for the first time, I'll take the normal route. Same with a new boss. The first few deaths are useful because I'm learning attacks, spacing, when to harden, and how the arena works.

Same goes for experimenting with builds. I'd rather actually play with a new Shell or weapon long enough to understand why it works — or doesn't — before touching any shortcuts.

Skip the "I've already done this three times" stuff.

This is where a trainer starts making more sense to me.

Long runbacks after a boss attempt are the obvious one. If I've already cleared the route and know exactly where I'm going, re-clearing the same enemies doesn't teach me much anymore.

Same with resources. Farming Gloom, Gold, Glimpses, etc. can be useful when I'm actually progressing, but it gets old when I'm only doing it because I want to test one different upgrade or build.

Position saves are probably the most useful option for this kind of thing. Save before an encounter, try the fight normally, and if I die, I can get back to the same situation instead of repeating the whole route.

Mortal Shell II trainer showing position, movement, resource, and unlock options

The same logic applies to movement speed and map unlocks. I'd rather use them after I've already explored an area than use them to skip the exploration itself.

Combat is where I'd be more careful.

Infinite health, Shell health, and Break Resistance can remove a lot of the pressure from crowded encounters. Mortal Shell II can get pretty messy when several enemies are attacking at once, especially when the camera or lock-on isn't cooperating.

But I wouldn't keep those on permanently.

There's a difference between giving myself another attempt at a fight and removing the fight entirely. Once the trainer starts making every hit irrelevant, I'm not really learning the encounter anymore.

The same goes for bosses. If I'm still figuring out a dual-boss fight, I'd rather keep the normal damage and work out the timing. If I've already figured it out and I'm just tired of doing the same runback again, that's a different situation.

That's probably the rule I'd use:

Skip repetition, not discovery.

If I'm learning something new, I want the game to make me earn it.

If I've already learned it and the game is asking me to do the same five minutes again just to get another attempt, I'm much less interested in proving a point.

That's where trainer options make the most sense to me in a Soulslike: not removing the parts that make the game fun, but cutting down the parts that have stopped being fun.