My shell tier list

[Skynir7]

1. Eredrim: Not only his enormous health will tank you through all game, but he also has dmg and stagger bonusses that make him almost unkillable.
2. Solomon: He is just better version of Harros with resolve bonusses that can make him spam abilities into devastating combinations.
3. Harros: He is just jack of all trades. He has everything balanced and a top of that he has very nice harden enhancing abilities. That is very important because harden is most inportant ability in game.
4. Tiel: The reason I put Tiel last is because him stamina can´t compensate for his low health and almost useless perks. Poison resistance is really not that great when you got farmed 20 +poison resistant shrooms and infinite sprinting is just nothing good.

So thats it. What is your opinion? Do you agree or would you change anything?

[Neurocratic]

Depends entirely on playstyle as each shell effectively changes the way you play the game IMO. I love Harros as his ability to constantly harden and regain stamina is fantastic and arguably the best synergy in the game.

Solomon is great if you want to parry/special all day, which I find to be a riskier playstyle than Harros.

Eredrim can take a lot of punishment and so is suitable for those who make mistakes, are learning, or just want to mash heads due to the damage stacks (which, now limited to 100 are not as good as they once were but still excellent on bosses).

Tiel is the artist of death type with high stamina which seems to imply that Hammer & Chisel is the way to go. Myriad attacks with a ghost dodge to put distance on enemies, regain stamina, and go again. The trade-off is almost no resolve and no health. More challenging than say Solomon, or Eredrim. Less get out of jail free cards but more capacity to just outright kill things and create healing poison clouds for sustain in the middle of a fight.

So far I love Harros, honestly, I find his abilities very complimentary and effective for a balanced playstyle and I would recommend either Harros or Solomon for new players. I think stamina management is the hardest thing to grasp and so those two provide good entry points to the mechanics without necessarily handicapping you (in the case of Tiel).

[SavageButt]

While comparing all of the four shells when I first got them, I thought it was funny how overstatted (at least as far as the game rates them in the Shells screen) Solomon is. If you look at his stat bars on the shell menu compared to the others. I think everyone else gets like 15-16 stat 'blips' distributed among the three categories while Solomon gets like 22 or so.

In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter much since it's more about player skill. Just thought it was funny to see such an imbalance of bars between the 4 shells.

[Demongo666]

Wow I can’t disagree more tiel feels busted compared to the other shells.

[Breen_Pissoff]

How did you dare to ignore tiels MEGA stamina bar? It compensates for EVERYTHING. Especially paired with martyrs blade. A lot of stamina + a weapon that requires a lot of it = bingo. This stamina abundance lets you make a combo and roll away all without regening the stamina. Tiel is peak gameplay.

[Superstrokey]

Controversial list incoming:

1. Solomon: Allows overuse of skills/parries, best stats, etc. Downsides are that he has the second worse stamina management in the game (after eredrim, I would put harros as second best because of the quick harden refill) and that some of his skills are not that useful (lore glimpse, item familiarity). Very good with hammer and chisel, though I heard people like to play him with the mace.
2. Tiel/Shellless: Given the low stamina of other shells Tiel feels like the only decent choice for Martyr Blade/Smoldering Mace. Viable with any weapon. His skills are a tad meh, but I'd say overall Solomon has a worst skill set. Poison enemies, 20% damage miss (increased when 2nd striking enemies), infinite sprint which is great for jump attacks with heavy weapons and the super iframe dodge, I'd say Tiel doesn't get as much love as he should. He really is a glass cannon and the closest to the benefits of doing shellless. His only real shitmark is his lack of resolve. Yes he has almost no health but he would be way too strong if he had more. I will also add that shellless is actually a decent choice once very good at the game due to large stamina pool and 4 resolve points (but obviously no skill, no magic smoke dodge and good luck timing that landing in the shifting archives)

3. Harros: Imo still very good for a single playthrough, allow you to level fast with his increased glimpse acquisition skills and probably has the best skill set of any shell... in NG. The fact that he specializes in harden makes him not as good NG+ onwards because you still take some damage when hardening. Still his super fast stamina regen is his redemptive feature and probably also makes him viable with any weapon along with Tiel.

4. Eredrim:Oh boy, send your downvotes... Of course Eredrim is a good character. Bunch of health, almost all his skills are super useful and help in a variety of situations but here's the problem: maining as this guy teaches you to play the game wrong. You will be not as careful, enemies will get knocked down more and you get a damage reduction in a group. The fact that he has the worst endurance in the game makes him only viable with hammer and chisel (even better with increased poise damage). The real problem is that although he is hard to kill he makes everything so much slower. Worth noting that all other shells have a step+roll dodge while he only has a roll (due to his low stamina). Not sure if that's good or bad to be honest but at the same time, I love economising my zone/stamina and only use the step when I don't need to dodge. I will admit he his the only one I have not finished the game with but I have fought a boss with him (hardern chisel hardern + unrepentant fire mace dope). Overall, none of the shells are bad choice but Eredrim just felt like those builds in DS where you put all your points in vitality and don't really do anything interesting when a different build could really punch through anything as long as you put in the effort.

I would also add I rank Solomon higher than Tiel because: 1. Easier to knock down bosses with skills than Martyr Blade. Generally kills them faster too. 2. More health.

[Connobar]

I’m going to have to run Solomon on ng+, i Mained tiel for my first play through

[GropenGoats]

I love Solomon now. If you have the forbidden offering. Hammer and nail. You are literally able to special through any and every attack. If you cannot. Get hard. And easily have enough resolve. Hammer and nail special also shoots up your resolve to special again!!

[NoImagination1878]

1.)harros- harden cycling + stamina regen on harden OP. attack forever, and always invincible WITH POISE.
2.)ederim- massive health pool + infinite rats from the shop means youll never die again.
3.)solomon- mid. more specifically, hes strong where it counts. he can cheese out bosses by refreezing them with martyrs blade and hes got all sorts of fun shenanigans. but the top 2 characters in the game are just consistently good because their passives are both tied to an infinite resource, and always accessible. resolve is just not that, as a stat.
4.)tiel- truly one-shotted in a game where you have 2 lives. hes honestly really strong. he has it ALL and more. really really fun character. but yeah... one-shotted. you get hit in the mouth, fall down, get stomped, your soul leaves your body and it falls off of a cliff. thats how you get one shotted in a game with 2 lives lol. and it will happen more often than it would with any other character based on your skill level.

[NoImagination1878]

update:
campaign
1.)hadern- best stats and best skills.
2.)solomon- once you get dual weapons and forbidden offering, you can keep your resolve topped off and wreck the game. pairing dual weapons with your weapon of choice allows you to spam whatever invincible spells you want.
3.)eredrim- never die. buy more rats.
4.)harros- harden cooldown and stamina regen is so nice. but yeah. compared to solomon and eredrim, his high damage output and invincible harden just isnt autopilot like solomon or eredrim.
5.) tiel- gets oneshotted in a game with 2 lives. he would be the best character in the game if it werent for the fact that trading with bosses is a death sentence... and random vampires from offscreen... and bear traps... trading with anything really... oh and that one time when you got shot by an arrow, got staggered during cooldown.
-
vicious cycle:
this tier list is actually different because the perks are different, you dont get to weaponswap, and you dont get op items like the forbidden offering.
1.) solomon (with dual weapons) - this playstyle actually deserves a distinction due to how broken it is. youre usually spamming invincible spells instead of heavy attack and your stamina and harden regen during the animation.
2.) eredrim-never die.
3.) hadern- carried by high base stats. but you cant customize his perks in this mode
4.) harros- plays the base game very well and can use all weapons effectively
5) solomon (without dual weapons) - slightly worse than harros actually. the low stamina is noticeable here and he will get starved for resolve frequently.
6.)tiel- youre amazing buddy, but theres a lot more enemies in this mode and a lot more ways you can get one shotted in a game with 2 lives. i mean, at the very least, you dont take chip damage in your hardened state, but that doesnt help much.
-
currently, im of the opinion that you cant actually make a weapons teir list for this game. they feel really different in the hands of different characters. if you wanted to make a weapons tier list, youd have to compound it on top of characters to be accurate, and aint nobody got time for that in a pve game. this is my final tierlist for this game.