Mortal Shell 2: All Tarforge Upgrades and How to Find Them

The Tarforge sits in a side room of Marrow Keep, and when you first walk up to it, it does nothing. Franz, the smith standing beside it, wants parts. Five scattered items switch the machine on piece by piece, and each one adds a specific function — melee upgrades, sidearm upgrades, Tarstone tempering, smelting, and a level cap increase.

Quick answer: Hand the Muradean Actuator, Obsidian Lathe, Etching Needles, and Foundry Stone to Franz in Marrow Keep, then install the Endless Core through the Tarforge’s own menu. None of the five are missable — all of them can still be picked up in free roam after the final boss, before you commit to New Game+.

Tarforge upgrade items and what each one unlocks

Four items are handed over in conversation with Franz. The fifth, the Endless Core, is installed from the Tarforge interface itself rather than given to him.

Muradean Actuator: The prologue part that repairs the Tarforge

This is the item that brings the machine to life at all, and it comes from the tutorial stretch before Marrow Keep. Cleansing the Village Outskirts beacon is mandatory to leave the area, but the chest holding the Actuator is optional, which is the only reason anyone ends up without it.

Missed the chest and already locked out of the tutorial zone? You can go back. Collect at least seven Ova from cleanse beacon dungeons in the main world, use the Gloom Siphon in Marrow Keep to unlock Mether’s Breath, and fast travel opens the Village Outskirts beacon again. Players who skipped the tutorial thanks to a beta save will find the Actuator already sitting in their inventory.

Foundry Stone location: A short run south of Outskirts of Mammon

Outskirts of Mammon is unlocked from the moment you start, which makes the Foundry Stone technically available very early — the problem is what stands between you and the chest. Face south from the beacon and follow the slope down onto a battlefield packed with regular soldiers, elites, and knights.

You do not have to kill any of them. Run straight through toward the fortifications along the castle wall, and the chest is tucked against the wall near the gate, ringed by enemies. Interact, grab the stone, and leave.

Handing it to Franz adds Smelt Equipment. Smelting costs Gloom and strips upgrades back off a weapon or sidearm, returning the materials you spent so they can go into something you actually use.

The two dungeon parts: Obsidian Lathe and Etching Needles

Obsidian Lathe in Martyr’s Tomb

From the Widow’s Overlook beacon in Fainweald, head southeast toward the large church-like structure. The entrance to Martyr’s Tomb is just inside, past the arena where the Great Arbiter of Flesh world boss appears.

Push through to the final room. A chest sits beside a sarcophagus, guarded by priest enemies. Clear them, loot the Obsidian Lathe, then shoot the target above the metal door with your sidearm to open the way out. There is also a Tarstone in the same dungeon, and the grave that unlocks the Tiel shell is right next door.

Etching Needles in the Glutted Mire

The Glutted Mire is the area behind the Corrupted Gate beside the Mushroom Village Gate beacon, on the eastern side of the map. Work through the level normally until you tag the Sunken Village beacon, then cross the rope bridge.

The Tarblighted Shepherd and his sheep are waiting on the far side. You can fight him or slip past — either way, squeeze through the gap in the wooden boards behind the arena and keep following the wooden bridges. Ruk is perched on an arch ahead, warning you about Magdalena, Lady of the Woods. The chest directly beneath him holds the Etching Needles, and it is unguarded, so you can grab it and warp straight back to Marrow Keep before the boss fight.

Endless Core: The late-game part hidden behind the fog

The Endless Core removes the normal ceiling on gear, letting weapons and sidearms climb to +20. It only becomes available once you reach The Unfound Path, the final major dungeon, so it is realistically the last function you will switch on.

Note: several chests in that hidden area hold Gloom, and the doorway nearby demands every point of Gloom you are carrying. Interact with the doorway first, then loot the Gloom chests so you keep what you pick up.

Killing Franz unlocks all four Tarforge functions instantly

There is a blunter route. Killing Franz in Marrow Keep switches on Enhance Weapons, Enhance Sidearms, Temper Tarstones, and Smelt Equipment immediately, with no parts required, and it works from the very start of a playthrough. Testing has not turned up a downside.

The four items still have value afterward. Bring the Muradean Actuator, Obsidian Lathe, Etching Needles, or Foundry Stone to the Tarforge once Franz is dead and each one converts into materials instead — 7 Ventrium, 4 Laterite, and 3 Dorsalite apiece.

What upgrading actually costs once the Tarforge is running

Weapons and sidearms run on coins plus smithing stones, including Ventrium, Laterite, Dorsalite, Thoracium, and Ossinite. Smelting rolls a piece back to unleveled and refunds everything you sank into it, so there is no penalty for experimenting with an armament you later abandon.

Tarstones work on a different economy. They gain XP only while slotted into a weapon or sidearm you have equipped, and you earn that XP by killing enemies.

Because Tarcore only comes from that first level-up, maxing a favorite stone means pushing several stones you do not care about from level 1 to level 2 purely to bank the currency.

You will know each part landed the moment the Tarforge menu changes — a new option appears for the exact system that item governs, and Franz stops asking for help with the forge. If an option is still greyed out or absent, the matching item is the one still sitting in a chest somewhere.