Should You Side With Emissary or Hunter in Starfield
Screenshot by Prima Games

Starfield: Should You Side With the Emissary, Hunter, or Neither? – Answered

It's time to choose. For yourself, and for the free people of the Settled Systems.

We have reached the grand finale of the main storyline of Starfield. A tough choice is before you, with some benefits and drawbacks. You have three options; side with the seemingly righteous and lawful Emissary, the chaotic Hunter, or accept neither of their proposals. If you are wondering if you should side with the Emissary or with the Hunter, or even better, with neither, continue reading.

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Is It Better to Side With the Emissary, Hunter, or Neither of Them in Starfield?

After you leave the NASA base on Earth with an Artifact during a Constellation quest, Emissary and Hunter will meet you in the desert. They discuss many things, and then each proposes you accept their vision of your mutual future. You have three options:

  • To side with the Emissary,
  • To side with the Hunter,
  • To decline both of their offers.

What Happens if You Side with the Emissary?

If you side with the Emissary, you will get Emissary’s aid throughout this quest. This alliance is a great thing to have, but you will only be able to get one of two potential rewards for this quest.

Killing the Hunter grants you “Unmitigated Violence.” It is a powerful Laser rifle.

What Happens if You Side with the Hunter?

If you side with the Hunter, you will get the Hunter’s aid throughout this quest. This alliance is a great thing to have, but you will only be able to get one of two potential rewards for this quest.

Killing the Emissary grants you “Eternity’s Gate.” It is a powerful Particle Beam rifle.

Also, Hunter wants you to kill his… other self (Aquilus). Naturally, you can either kill Aquilus or persuade him to leave.

Should you Kill or Persuade Aquilus in Starfield?

If you outright kill Aquilus, the quest is completed, and you’ll get your reward from the Hunter: The Last Priest. It’s a cool melee weapon if you are specialized in using them.

If you persuade Aquilus to run, you can lie to the Hunter and try persuading him that you did kill Aquilus. If successful, you still get The Last Priest. It’s a powerful melee weapon.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that your companion might not like it if you murder Aquilus because Aquilus is not the Hunter and is not responsible for the murder of your friend. On the other hand, they also might not like your hesitance if you decide not to proceed. Make sure to save the game before the dialogue begins.

What Happens if You Side with Neither of Them?

If you choose not to side with the Emissary or the Hunter, they will then side with each other against you. Challenge accepted. You are on your own now.

Killing both the Emissary and the Hunter grants you both “Unmitigated Violence” and “Eternity’s Gate” weapons.

Best Choices in Order

The best choice is to tell both of these space angel alien multiverse-traveling individuals to “Toodle-doo.”. I will explain why below.

Siding with the Hunter feels wrong from the storyline perspective. After all, this individual murdered your close friend, and given his behavior and reason, I deem that he represents “chaos.” However, doing so gets you the legendary rifle over three times more valuable than the other.

Siding with the Emissary seems justifiably reasonable if you feel you must choose sides in this interaction. Emissary seems to represent “order.”

I wanted to get both rifles and, since I play as a “freedom lover”, it was a straightforward choice. However, it was costly, let me tell you that. I was in pain in the ship battle and barely scraped by because I am not quite sold on ship battles in this game, so I didn’t bother going big in that department. Still, I felt no problems overcoming any of the following challenges.

Important note:

You can use Persuasion in the final dialogue with the Emissary and the Hunter and convince them to go on their merry way without resorting to violence. If you succeed, they will yield their artifacts to you, and no combat will happen. However, this option leaves you without the Legendary rifles.

How to Complete Revelation Quest in Starfield

Here are some quick tips to make your life easier:

  • Have a very strong ship with many ship parts if you opt to side with nobody, as you will not have a teammate to drag enemy fire away from you.
  • Once you land on Masada III, you will see an open bunker in front of you. Make sure to loot everything you can. On the bridge, there will be a long fight.
  • After the bridge, loot every fallen soldier and prepare for the next fight when you discover the Buried Temple.
  • After you clear the soldiers, the quest marker will point out a Starborn. Focus on Starborn.
  • After you go through the anomaly, you will end up in another arena fight. I hope you have a Master Lockpicking skill because it will be of great assistance if you want to turn off turrets and robots.
  • After you go through the next anomaly, kill the NPC you will be talking to (name obscured for spoiler reasons), grab his key, and run.
  • In the next anomaly on the elevator, you can either speak with the NPC or turn back and leave.
  • Once you get off the elevator, loot up as much as possible, and in the next fight, focus on killing the Starborn because clones will otherwise endlessly come after you.
  • I don’t want to spoil the final fight, but it’s nothing you can’t manage if you are at least Level 30 like I was, I am sure.

Should You Complete the One Giant Leap Quest and Visit Unity in Starfield?

The last thing you need to do is load up your artifacts, build an armillary, and technically start your New Game Plus by “grav jumping” anywhere while all the artifacts are loaded in. You will lose all your belongings, quests, and relationships and will be forced to start fresh. You get a cool Starborn ship, though.

I wholeheartedly recommend you do this, but also save the game before leaping. It’s an excellent sequence to go through to at least know how the story ends. Starfield has many fantastic side stories and a lot of interesting lore, so you will always have a reason to keep playing on your current save file without resorting to New Game Plus. If you ask me, I’ll keep exploring the vast universes for a long while before I jump into the Unity.

I hope that this article has helped you make your decision regarding siding with the Emissary or the Hunter (or neither). If you want to read a funny story from Starfield from one of our authors, check out Starfield proves that even in space, you can’t escape extended warranty callers.


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About the Author

Nikola L

Nikola has been a Staff Writer at Prima Games since May 2022. He has been gaming since being able to hold an Amiga 500 joystick on his own, back in the early 90s (when gaming was really good!). Nikola has helped organize dozens of gaming events and tournaments and has been professionally attached to gaming since 2009.