Mortal Shell 2: Prisoners' Domain walkthrough (Part 12)
Overview & Key Takeaways
Mortal Shell 2's legacy dungeons are always exciting to discover for the first time. If you've been following along with our 100% walkthrough of the game so far, the last legacy dungeon you tackled was the Glutted Mire, home to Magdalena. That was ages ago now! You're much stronger by this point in the game, and ready to take on your next legacy dungeon: the Prisoners' Domain.
The Prisoners' Domain is a labyrinthine region, dominated primarily by sewers, Brigands, and dangerous Gloom Seekers. It's also home to one of the nastiest main bosses in this stage of the game: the Nameless Captive. But follow along with our step-by-step Prisoners' Domain walkthrough below, and not only will we show you how to handily beat this intimidating major boss; we'll also show you how to clean out the entire legacy dungeon and collect every single valuable and Tarstone within.
Mortal Shell 2's legacy dungeons are always exciting to discover for the first time. If you've been following along with our 100% walkthrough of the game so far, the last legacy dungeon you tackled was the Glutted Mire, home to Magdalena. That was ages ago now! You're much stronger by this point in the game, and ready to take on your next legacy dungeon: the Prisoners' Domain.
The Prisoners' Domain is a labyrinthine region, dominated primarily by sewers, Brigands, and dangerous Gloom Seekers. It's also home to one of the nastiest main bosses in this stage of the game: the Nameless Captive. But follow along with our step-by-step Prisoners' Domain walkthrough below, and not only will we show you how to handily beat this intimidating major boss; we'll also show you how to clean out the entire legacy dungeon and collect every single valuable and Tarstone within.
Want the walkthrough for a different area of the game? You'll find the full list of all our guides on our Mortal Shell 2 walkthrough hub page!
Prisoners' Domain walkthrough steps:
- Reach the Prisoner's Way.
- Clear out the town square.
- Activate the Hangman's Scaffold Beacon.
- Defeat the Gloombound Legion.
- Reach the Executioner's Pulpit Beacon.
- Cleanse the Central Sewers (1/2).
- Activate the Slumwater Drain Beacon.
- Cleanse the Central Sewers (2/2).
- Explore the other path into the Sewers.
- Defeat Tishina's Confessor.
- Defeat the Nameless Captive.
- Cleanse the Captive's End Beacon.
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2. Clear out the town square.
Turn left after the gate, and by the edge you'll find a Foul Knight. Kill it, then destroy the crates behind the Foul Knight and read the note beyond. It mentions that you should look for the sign of a dagger down the alley and past the cart. We'll get to this later.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Now head to the opposite end, where - past another Foul Knight - you can ascend some steps up to a Resolve Tentacle. Turn left, go up the steps, and you'll enter the town square area, an open section with a couple of different pathways to take.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
First, kill the Foul Knight in the corner of the building to your left. Then head past the crates to the left of the Knight, and kill the three Nocteserpers there. These foes are little more than aggressive Wretches, though if you give them time and space, they do have an annoying unblockable leap attack where they latch onto you for a while.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
With the Nocteserpers dead, ride the air current next to them up to an upper stone platform. Here you'll find two Brigands and an Armed Knave standing guard. Kill them, and collect the two 250x Coin Pouches on the wall before dropping back down below.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Continue around the side of the building and a Gloom Seeker will drop down from above. Kill it carefully - it's well worth taking the time to learn the strange parry timings of these challenging enemies.
There's a side door to the right, on the wooden platform - but ignore it for now. Head through the big archway, and you'll be faced with another Gloom Seeker, and two of a new enemy kind - a Sublime Sester. These are crossbow-wielders which fire three shots in a row, and can deal passable melee damage if necessary too.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Kill them how you like, though I'd recommend softening up the Gloom Seeker by baiting her into getting close to the explosive barrels in the area. Once you have the clearing to yourself, look around the base of the massive statue in the centre and you'll find another group of explosive barrels. Shoot one of the barrels (use the nearby Resolve Tentacle if needed), bringing the statue down to form a ramp up to the wall.
Mark step as completed.
4. Defeat the Gloombound Legion.
Cleanse the Hangman's Scaffold Beacon, and collect the Common Moonshine on the floor of the first room. Then head through and press the button on the wall to lift the gate in front of you.
In the arena beyond, you'll encounter the Gloombound Legion. This is another "boss" room composed of smaller enemies. In this case, the boss health bar is made up of five Foul Knights. Even more worrying, a Gloom Seeker is patrolling the arena as well, though she doesn't count as part of the boss health bar.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Take this fight slowly. The good thing is that all the enemies in the room are slow-moving, so you can kite them about the arena and separate them out, allowing you to take them out more safely. I'd personally leave the Gloom Seeker until last, but it's up to you.
Once they're all dead, you can cleanse the corruption at the far end of the arena and exit the dungeon with one more Ovum and Glimpse than you entered with.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Mark step as completed.
5. Reach the Executioner's Pulpit Beacon.
Head up the stairs beside the now-cleansed Hangman's Scaffold Beacon. Ignore the Sublime Sester firing at you from the left as you cross the wooden platform. Once you reach the platform that curls around the edge of a cylindrical stone pillar, go all the way around it, destroying the barrels in your way, to obtain a Ventrium.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Cross the walkway to the next platform, and destroy the wood wall to your right to reveal a Gloom Tentacle. You should also destroy the crates opposite the wood wall for a Common Moonshine.
Kill the Foul Knight in your way and continue along the path until you head through the wooden door. You'll need to kill another Gloom Seeker at this point, after which - just behind her - you'll come to a gap where you can shoot the rope of another vertical wooden plank to bring a ramp down, allowing you passage across.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
On this next platform is another Sublime Sester, and two Shield Brigands. Once they're dead, loot the Ventrium from the pile in the middle of the platform, and cross the bridge beyond.
Another Sublime Sester can be found on an upper ledge here, but you can bait her into joining your level so you can kill her easily. Head up the stairs, and before you cross the bridge, look to the side for another vertical platform you can shoot the rope of to create a ramp. Drop off the edge beyond that ramp, and you can reach the Devout's Chalice where the Sublime Sester was.
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Now head back up the steps, cross the bridge, and head up the elevator. Look to your left first so you are aware of the danger: a Knight Of Mammon is approaching, and will shortly initiate a roll down the walkway towards you. Bait its roll and duck back onto the elevator to avoid it, then finish it in melee.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Now look to the right, and you'll find a Ventrium on the wall. Take it, then proceed past where the Knight Of Mammon came from, and at the end of the path you can drop down to a lower ledge to activate the Executioner's Pulpit Beacon.
Mark step as completed.
6. Cleanse the Central Sewers (1/2).
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Head inside the Beacon and descend the elevator into the Central Sewers. Kill the Foul Knight in your way, then strike the lock of the jail cell immediately to your left and kill the Nocteserper inside. There's another Nocteserper in the other jail cell too, if you want to kill it, but there's no other reason to go in there.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
In that first jail cell, you'll find a stone button on the wall that opens a secret passage forward. Follow it into a room populated by three Sublime Sesters (and a lot of explosive barrels - you know what to do).
There's also a Knight Of Mammon that awakens in the corner of the room, but you can bait it into going near the explosive barrels by the hole in the ground, and then exploding them to push the Knight into the hole to its death. Or just kill it the normal way, I'm not your boss.
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Destroy the crates in the next doorway, and use the lever beyond to open the gate in front of you. Head straight through (ignoring left and right - that's just the corridor you were in to begin with), and you'll enter another room filled with Foul Knights and Nocteserpers. Once you kill them all, the iron maidens in the room will open, each one spawning a Wraith. Kill them all too.
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Head to the back-right of the room, where you'll find a chest in a side room containing the Squall Stone. Then turn around and head into the opposite side room. Press the button on the wall.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Now head back out of the main room the way you came, until you reach the main corridor. With that last button you pressed, the main gate in front of you has now lifted. Head through and cleanse the corruption to obtain an Ovum and Glimpse, and exit the dungeon.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Mark step as completed.
7. Activate the Slumwater Drain Beacon.
Rest at the now-cleansed Beacon, and then use Mether's Breath to fast travel back to the Hangman's Scaffold Beacon.
Turn around and head back through the iron maiden room, and down the statue ramp into the town square again. You can kill the enemies in your way again, or just bypass them. Your target is that door atop the wooden platform to the side; it's on your left as you head back through the archway.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Destroy the wooden pavise in the doorway and head into the dark room beyond. As you pass through the room, three Brigands will drop from the ceiling. Kill them, and then destroy the crates in the corner. Behind them is an inset wall with a white symbol on it. Strike the wall, revealing it to be a fake. Head through the next room and interact with the grate at the end to transport yourself into the Sewers.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Kill the Leechtongue to your left, the Headsman to your right, and the various Mycellian Skulks that approach you as well. As a note, the Headsman won't respawn, but the other enemies will.
Then head across to the opposite wall, where you can interact with another grate to squeeze through the gap. Behind it is the Slumwater Drain Beacon.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Mark step as completed.
8. Cleanse the Central Sewers (2/2).
Activate the Beacon and then enter it. Down the elevator, you'll see that you've entered another dungeon also called the Central Sewers. Beware: in the first room, the centre of the floor will collapse under you.
Skirt around the edges of the room, killing the Wretches and Shield Brigand in the room. Then attack the wall behind the crates to the right, and you'll reveal a hidden side room with a Laterite.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Now deliberately head onto the central floor so it collapses, sending you down into the sewers below.
On one side, you'll see two Skulks guarding a grate. Kill them and loot the 100x Coin Pouch from the grate. Then turn and head the other way, and drop down the hole at the end.
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Follow the only path forward, killing the Skulk and then the Leechtongue in your way. Drop down once again, and kill all the Skulks (and the Leechtongue) in this larger room.
Head to the end of the room and ride the air current up. Immediately to your left is a vertical wooden plank; shoot the rope next to it to lower it into a ramp. Head along the ramp and you'll find a Synaptic Vessel around the corner.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Now go the other way, following the path up and around until you reach a hole in the wall filled with a slope of rubble. Ascend the rubble, and keep following the path until you reach a T-junction. On your right, destroy the Gloom Tentacle and also the wooden wall beside it, revealing a Ventrium behind the wall.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Now head the other way, and use the Bone Gate to cross the gap ahead. There's a chest on this side, containing another new Tarstone: the Ironpiercer's Stone.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Cross the bridge from the chest, and kill the Nocteserpers at the far side. Destroy the Bone Statue for a Dorsalite, and then turn the corner for a final encounter with an Armed Knave. Once it's dead, you can cleanse the corruption for another Ovum and Glimpse.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Mark step as completed.
9. Explore the other path into the Sewers.
There's a small shortcut we haven't yet explored, so let's do that now. From the Slumwater Drain Beacon, turn back and squeeze through the gap again; then head to the opposite grate and interact with it to return to the town square.
Exit out into the open, and then head around to the far side of the hut, where the three Nocteserpers are guarding the air current. Kill them again, and then attack the wall behind them to dispel it.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
This is that secret passage the note at the beginning of this area alluded to. Behind the wall you can read the next note on the wall if you like. Then drop down and kill the Headsman trundling towards you from the right side.
At the end of the pathway is a hole in the ground. Drop down it and you'll re-enter the Sewers, right next to the entrance and the Slumwater Drain Beacon once again.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Mark step as completed.
10. Defeat Tishina's Confessor.
Assuming they've respawned, kill the Leechtongue and Skulks in the vicinity once again, and then head up the steps behind them. Head up the left side, then turn around and walk along the balcony to reach a Dorsalite atop a throne.
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Now go back to the centre of the steps, where you'll see a stone slab with some remains on it poking out of the stone brick. Above it is a round target: shoot it with your Sidearm to open the gate on the ledge above.
Head through the gate, and kill the Leechtongue beyond. Keep going through the cave, and you'll come across an Armed Knave flanked by three Crossbowmen. Bypass the Knave and kill the ranged foes first before dealing with the Knave.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Just beyond them is a Bone Gate you can use to traverse the next gap. This path takes you up to a round elevator. Before you get on the elevator, destroy the Bone Statue on the far side to receive another Dorsalite.
Now ascend the elevator, and prepare for a fight. At the top you'll immediately be pitted against a miniboss: Tishina's Confessor.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
This boss shouldn't give you much trouble really. His sweeping scythe attacks are so clearly telegraphed that it's very easy to parry every attack that comes your way. He also doesn't have much health, so each of your attacks should really bite into that health bar.
Killing Tishina's Confessor will reward you with another new Tarstone called the Confessor's Keepsake, which allows you to spend Resolve to supercharge your next Sidearm attack. It's very useful for powerful single-shot Sidearms like the Naylshotte, but less so the Forgotten Crossbow.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Mark step as completed.
11. Defeat the Nameless Captive.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
With Tishina's Confessor defeated, you should see two pathways leading out of the arena. Both of them lead to Bone Gates to cross gaps to other areas. One of them, you'll see, places you right next to the Executioner's Pulpit Beacon from earlier, so use it and rest there (and level up too, if you're able).
When you're ready, head back to the arena and take the other path. Cross the Bone Gate and you'll find Ruk, standing on the edge of a massive hole in the floor of the tower you're in.
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Exhaust Ruk's dialogue (which mostly just serves as a warning that you're about to face the major boss of the legacy dungeon). Then, before you drop down the hole, head to the far side and open the chest to obtain the Rupturing Stone.
Now, when you're ready, drop down into the hole below. You won't take damage from the fall. As you land, you'll trigger a cutscene introducing you to the major boss of the Prisoners' Domain: the Nameless Captive.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
The key to this fight is quickly learning the rhythm of the Nameless Captive's two main attack combos. The first is a four-part combo of strikes, and the timing is: strike, strike, pause, strike, pause, strike. Once you get those pauses down, it's easy to counter this combo and deal lots of break damage.
The second combo starts with a downward stab into the ground. After a pause, the Captive then raises his head again, but you have to watch his feet to see whether he's going to stop the combo early or continue it with more downward stabs. The key is:
- If the Nameless Captive raises his leg as he raises his head, he's about to attack twice more.
- If the Nameless Captive staggers backwards slightly as he raises his head, he's ending the combo early.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Recognising this difference keeps you alert for the next attacks and also allows you to punish the Captive with extra hits whenever he ends the combo early.
It's a test of patience, this fight. The Nameless Captive has a lot of health, so you need to stay alert for an extended time, reading those attack combos and punishing them every time.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Once the Captive is at roughly half-health, he'll acquire a new attack where he spins his sword repeatedly while walking towards you. It's a risky choice to try and parry every attack (though it's entirely possible). The safe option is just to back right off when you see this attack coming.
This second phase also brings with it another new attack, and it's this one that has the highest potential to catch you off-guard. It's a leaping unblockable attack (another downward stab into the ground). The crucial thing to remember is that when the Captive pulls his sword back out of the ground, that retracting movement itself is also a powerful attack which can deal a lot of damage if you're not careful. It has no tell except the previous attack, so just be aware that the unblockable jump-attack is always swiftly followed up by another strike.
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When you finally fell the Nameless Captive once and for all, you'll receive the Captive's Scabstone Tarstone as a reward (useable only with the Great Martyr's Blade), along with around 12000x Gloom.
Mark step as completed.
12. Cleanse the Captive's End Beacon.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
When the Captive dies, just as with Magdalena in the Glutted Mire, a final Beacon will rise from the ground in the middle of the arena. Activate the Captive's End Beacon, and then enter it.
Inside, you can cleanse the corruption to obtain the hefty 26x Ova in the Nameless Captive's possession. This will automatically transport you back to the Marrow Keep, marking an end to your time in the Prisoners' Domain. Congratulations on defeating another major boss of Mortal Shell 2!
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Playstack
Mark step as completed.
And there you have it! The Prisoners' Domain, and your second legacy dungeon, has been 100% cleansed - and you're now considerably more powerful than you were to begin with, thanks to all that extra Gloom and the various new Tarstones and other collectibles you've picked up along the way.
The next legacy dungeon will be coming more swiftly this time, but first we've got to explore the remainder of Fainweald - starting with our Stones Of Remembrance walkthrough.
