Charge-up sidearms in Mortal Shell 2 punish you for the wind-up. The Salvaged Trebuchaxe and the Cursed Child both ask you to hold the trigger while something is already closing the gap, and that delay is usually what kills you. The Charged Stone is the Combat Tarstone that shortens it, and there is exactly one place to pick it up.
Quick answer: The Charged Stone sits in a stone chest at the end of the Odious Crevice dungeon, which you reach through the Nameless Pass beacon in Withered Shoals. Cleanse the beacon, enter it, and run the dungeon to the end.
Charged Stone effects by level
The stone’s description reads “Your Sidearm charges up faster,” and the number attached to that grows each time you upgrade it at the Tarforge. Two upgrades take it from a modest boost to cutting charge time roughly in half.
| Level | Effect |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Sidearm charging speed increased by 20% |
| Level 2 | Sidearm charging speed increased by 35% |
| Level 3 | Sidearm charging speed increased by 50% |
It only slots into sidearms, and only into five of them. If your current sidearm is not on this list, the stone will not appear as an option in the loadout menu.
- Ballistazooka
- Cursed Child
- Forgotten Crossbow
- Naylshotte
- Salvaged Trebuchaxe
Route to the Nameless Pass beacon in Withered Shoals
The cleanest run starts at the Gate of Mammon beacon, so you need that gate cleansed before any of this works as a fast-travel shortcut. From there it is two beacons and a short stretch of open world.
Finding the chest inside the Odious Crevice dungeon
Enter through the cleansed Nameless Pass beacon and the Odious Crevice title card comes up. The layout is a single main path rather than a maze, so you are mostly managing the enemies rather than the navigation.
Push through the torch-lit corridors and keep following the route forward. The chest holding the Charged Stone sits at the end of that path, and it is a plain stone chest rather than an offering chest, so there are no candles to light or switches to hit first.
Open it and the Charged Stone drops straight into your inventory. To confirm the pickup, open the Tarstones menu and look under Combat. The stone shows its “Your Sidearm charges up faster” line, and once you equip it to a compatible sidearm you can feel the shorter wind-up immediately on the next charged shot.
Note: if the stone does not show up as an equippable option, check which sidearm you have active. Combat Tarstones are restricted by equipment, and the Charged Stone will not attach to anything outside the five sidearms above.
How to upgrade the Charged Stone to 35% and 50%
Upgrades happen at the Tarforge with Franz in Marrow Keep, but the sidearm bench will not offer higher Tarstone levels until you hand him the Etching Needle. That quest item is the gate on the whole upgrade path.
Best sidearms to pair with the Charged Stone
The stone does nothing for a sidearm you fire instantly, so its value scales with how long your weapon makes you hold the button. The Salvaged Trebuchaxe is the obvious beneficiary. It lobs full axes and hits hard enough to one-shot most standard enemies, but the charge is long enough that using it defensively gets you hit. Halving that wind-up turns it from a set-piece weapon into something you can fire mid-fight.
The Cursed Child is the other natural pairing, and the Ballistazooka has the same problem the Trebuchaxe does — it wants you rooted in place while a fast enemy is already on top of you. If you would rather solve the resource side instead, the Devout Stone restores 28 Resolve on kill, which can refund the cost of a charged shot outright when you land the kill.
One more thing worth knowing before you commit resources: the Charged Stone is not missable. You can pick it up at any point in free-roam, including after the final boss, so if you are deep into a run and never detoured to Withered Shoals, the chest is still sitting there waiting.
