Marksman’s Stone sits in a chest reached after the short trial near the Mushroom Village Gate Beacon — an early Support Tarstone that boosts sidearm and ranged Critical Chance.
If you lean on your sidearm and other ranged options, Marksman’s Stone is one of the first pickups worth chasing. It is a passive Support Tarstone, so it drops into one of your four Support Slots and quietly raises the crit chance of everything you fire. Better still, the route to it doubles as a small combat trial that hands over some extra resources on the way.
Marksman’s Stone location and effect at a glance
| Item | Location | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Marksman’s Stone (Support Tarstone) | Chest past the trial near the Mushroom Village Gate Beacon | Improves ranged (sidearm) Critical Chance |
Key The stone lives just outside Mushroom Village, in a chest tied to a wave-based trial by the gate. Grab it and slot it into a Support Slot to start scaling your ranged crit — no menu unlock or purchase required, just the fight and the chest.
Reaching the chest from Mushroom Village Gate Beacon
Head up from the beacon
From the Mushroom Village Gate Beacon, move up and toward the gate rather than deeper into the village.
Pass the first bridge
Continue forward until you cross the first bridge on the path.
Take the bridge on the right
A second bridge branches off to the right-hand side — that is the one you want.
Reach the trial spire
Keep going to the altar area and interact with the spire in the middle to start the trial.
Clear the hammer enemies
Beat the big hammer-wielding enemies — they hit hard but are slow, so stay out of their swing and punish the gaps.
Reach the trial spire | Sofa Supastar Gaming/YouTube
Grab the trial resources
Once they are down, head into the middle and collect the reward the trial drops.
Loot the chest
Move around the corner, deal with the few smaller enemies guarding it, then open the chest to claim Marksman’s Stone.
Clear the hammer enemies | Sofa Supastar Gaming/YouTube
From the beacon, take the right-hand bridge after the first bridge — the trial chest is a short detour, not a deep-dungeon run, so you can grab this stone very early.
How Marksman’s Stone scales and when to temper it
| Upgrade | Ranged Critical Chance |
|---|---|
| Base | Improves ranged Critical Chance |
| Level 2 | +10% |
| Level 3 | +12% |
| Level 4 | +15% |
This is a ranged-crit stone through and through — it does nothing for melee swings, so only build around it if you actually run a sidearm or other ranged weapon. The payoff is real, though: in Mortal Shell 2, projectiles that strike critically deal Break Damage, so a higher ranged crit rate means more staggers on top of the extra hits.
At its base level the stone simply reads as improving ranged Critical Chance, and the tempering path climbs from there.
Grab the trial resources | Sofa Supastar Gaming/YouTube
Tarstones earn EXP while equipped, so the fastest way to level this one is to keep it slotted and rack up kills with your sidearm. To push the tiers directly you need the Etching Needle — found in a chest just before the Magdalena, the Lady of the Woods boss — which you hand to Franz at Marrow Keep; higher levels then cost coins plus enough Tarstone EXP.
Mistakes to avoid while hunting the stone
The most common mix-up is grabbing the wrong crit stone. Auspicious Stone boosts melee Critical Chance and lives in a separate chest in the middle of Mushroom Village, so don’t burn time in random village offerings chests expecting Marksman’s Stone — it is specifically the post-trial chest by the gate.
You may also see the stone described as a plain chest pickup with no mention of the fight. That is the same chest, just skipping the trial step in the telling. A stray account even points ranged players elsewhere near the One-Legged Wolf Tavern, but the reliable, repeatable route is the Mushroom Village Gate Beacon trial.
Where ranged builds should look next
Once Marksman’s Stone is in a Support Slot, the natural companions are more raw ranged power and a crit-friendly sidearm to spend that crit chance on. A strong pick-up-and-melt sidearm like the Ballistazooka pairs well, and pure damage Tarstones such as Berserker’s Stone or Siegebreaker’s Stone round out a hurt-focused loadout.
If you also swing melee, Auspicious Stone is the counterpart worth grabbing so both halves of your kit crit. Treat all of these as adjacent priorities, though — none of them are needed to collect Marksman’s Stone itself.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Marksman’s Stone affect melee attacks?
No — it only raises Critical Chance on ranged attacks. Its whole value is on the sidearm side, where projectiles that strike critically deal Break Damage, so it feeds a ranged build and does nothing for melee swings.
Can you get Marksman’s Stone early?
Yes. It sits by a start-region beacon and asks only for a short trial, so you can claim it well before most of the game’s ranged sidearms and start scaling crit almost immediately.
What is the difference between Marksman’s Stone and Auspicious Stone?
Marksman’s Stone improves ranged Critical Chance, scaling +10% / +12% / +15% as you temper it. Auspicious Stone improves melee Critical Chance, scaling +10% / +15% / +18%, and is found in the offerings chest in the middle of Mushroom Village rather than at the gate trial.
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