Quick answer
Gloom advances the Harbinger and is a broad progression/economy resource. Glimpses deepen the Bond of a specific Shell and unlock higher Bond tiers. Shell Points activate abilities inside the tiers you have opened and can be refunded/reallocated. After the Week 1 Update, Glimpses spent on a Shell Bond can be fully returned — via the new Mether’s Severance item given to Zhirelle — so the old launch-era “Bond investment is permanent” warning is obsolete.
The three systems in one table (updated for Week 1 Update)
| Resource | Main job | Can you freely move it to another Shell? |
|---|---|---|
| Gloom | Harbinger levels and some economy functions | Not a Shell-specific permanent commitment |
| Glimpses | Deepen a particular Shell Bond | Yes — Mether’s Severance (via Zhirelle) returns all Glimpses spent on a Bond, so the practical answer is now yes |
| Shell Points | Activate/upgrade available Shell abilities | Yes — current launch reports allow free refunds/reallocation |
Gloom: your broad progression currency
Gloom is the closest analogue to Souls/Runes. Killing enemies supplies it, and Beacons let you convert it into Harbinger progression. That broad progression benefits the bodies you inhabit rather than locking you into one Shell.
Gloom is also part of the moving economy. Balance Patch 1 reduced certain Gloom costs and changed how Shell-location hints are paid for; the Week 1 Update did not touch Gloom’s role, but it made Glimmers and Tarcores non-finite, so the pressure on Gloom is also lower.
Glimpses: no longer a one-way commitment
Glimpses deepen your relationship with an individual Shell. Higher Bond tiers expose more of that Shell’s ability tree and memory content.
At launch, multiple sources agreed Bond investment was not refundable, and “which Shell should I invest in?” was a real first-playthrough decision. That changed. With Mether’s Severance:
- Give the item to Zhirelle, the Shell Keeper at any point.
- It severs your bond with one Shell: resets it and returns all Glimpses spent.
- Merrick sells it (stock expands as you progress), so it is a reusable safety net, not a one-shot.
The practical rule is now: invest freely, and if a Shell fails to click, sever and reinvest. The only planning that still matters is which Shell you want to play, not which one you can afford to commit to.
Shell Points: freely reallocated
Shell Points activate and upgrade abilities within the Bond tiers you have opened. Launch reports agree they can be refunded/reallocated freely — that behavior is unchanged by the patch.
What to avoid wasting now
Pre-launch advice about “never spend Glimpses because you might regret it” is dead. The genuinely avoidable waste after the Week 1 Update is:
- Spending Shell Points into a Bond tier you never actually use — those are the freely reallocated ones, so abuse them while testing.
- Upgrading Tarstones you never slot — Tarcores are non-finite now, so this is a time waste, not a resource loss.
- Ignoring Mether’s Severance as if it were a rare cosmetic item — it is the patch’s biggest QoL change.
Last verified: 2026-08-30.