Mortal Shell: How to Find and Unlock the Ballistazooka

It’s slow, clunky, and hits like a truck. It’s the Ballistazooka, the most powerful single-shot, shoulder-mounted siege weapon in Mortal Shell. The only one, actually. If you want to leave your enemies as a smear on the wall, accept no substitute.

It’s not hard to find, nor unlock or use, but it is expensive both to buy and to arm. This guide will tell you how to find the Ballistazooka and all its associated items, as well as a few tricks that will make repairing it a cinch. 

How to Find the Ballistazooka

The Ballistazooka is initially unusable, and you can find it on the workbench in Fallgrim Tower. The workbench is in an alcove across from the weapon racks on the second floor, near the Old Prisoner. Specifically, the bench faces the Hammer and Chisel and Martyr’s Blade racks.

You won’t be able to interact with the Ballistazooka at first. It will, however, tantalize you in the upgrade menu.

You’ll need a set of tools to repair the Ballistazooka, which you can get from the merchant, Vlas. He is near the top of Fallgrim tower; his shop is on a broken causeway above the Old Prisoner.

From the tower entrance nearest the workbench, look left, and you’ll be able to see him in the distance through a hole in the wall.

If you pass through the hole in the wall, you’ll come to a bell. Alternatively, you can leave from the other side of the tower and take the path to the right. 

Near the bell is a staircase that takes you straight to Vlas. He’s quite the jolly fellow, and once you exhaust his initial dialogue, he’ll show his inventory. Inside is no small number of valuable items, from Quenching Acid to healing items, other consumables, and the most important item in the game: the lute.

You’re here for the tools, though. They’re the last item in Vlas’ stock. Note that the Tools are 8,000 tar, which is one of the most expensive items in all of Mortal Shell. 

Farming Tar

There are a few good ways to farm Tar in Mortal Shell. You could do things the long way by killing every enemy you come across and, if you die, making sure to recover your shell. An arduous process, but there are enough enemies around to make it possible.

The Mist, which you can summon as you please as noted in our Glimpses guide, spawns the ghoul-like enemies, which have a good chance of dropping Bags of Tar, granting 300+ Tar per use.

The Mist also spawns Grisha world bosses, which grant ~800 Tar and 6 Glimpses per kill. Combined with Nocteserper ghoul enemy kills, gathering the necessary currency shouldn’t take too long.

The third option is something of an extension of the first. Boss enemies drop the best Tar item in the game, Nascent Tar, which grants 2,500 units of the stuff. Three of them and a couple of smaller consumables makes an easy 8,000 Tar.

Repairing the Ballistazooka

However you go about farming Tar, when your pockets are stuffed, head back to Vlas and buy the Tools. Once that’s done, head to the workbench and select the “Repair Ballistazooka” option. It’s to the right of the Quenching Acid upgrade slot.

That accomplished, you are now the proud owner of a dark fantasy rocket launcher. All you need now is ammo. Luckily, Vlas sells the weapon’s bolts for 800 Tar a pop and has an infinite supply. There are also more than a dozen out in the world to find.

Now that you’ve been able to find the Ballistazooka, brave adventurer, go forth and turn your enemies in a red smear against the rocks. For more on Cold Symmetry’s action RPG for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, be sure to head over to our other Mortal Shell guides here.