When you finish collecting all the Artifacts in Starfield, the Hunter will contact you to broker a deal. You’ll have to choose between either the Emissary, who believes that access to the Unity should be closely guarded, or the Hunter, who believes that those who can take the Artifacts should. Alternatively, you can rebuff both of them. This sets up how the final main story quest will play out and how many enemies you’ll face. So, should you side with the Hunter or the Emissary in Starfield?
Should You Side With The Hunter or The Emissary in Starfield?
Side With The Hunter
If you feel that might is right and those who are strong enough to take the Artifacts should, you’ll be facing off against the Emissary when heading to the Buried Temple.
In space, you’ll need to take out the Helix, as well as a squad of Starborn Guardian II ships. On the ground, the Emissary employs a Starborn able to duplicate themselves. Not only that, but they can turn into copies of you, and your companion if you brought one along for the ride. Once you’ve fought your way to him, you’ll need to take out the Emissary before heading into the cavernous part of the temple.
After killing the Emissary, you’ll be rewarded with Eternity’s Gate, a legendary beam rifle. It deals 17 Physical damage and 50 Energy damage with an 81.6% accuracy rating. Its attributes are:
- Handloading: Volatile rounds that are designed to pack a bigger punch, but aren’t as stable and can fail on occasion.
Side With The Emissary
Whether you find the Emissary’s controlled approach to Unity comforting, or simply hate the Hunter for killing one of your friends, siding with him means you have the Helix to back you up. In space, it’ll be the two of you against Scorpius and more Starborn Guardian vessels.
Before you actually enter the temple, you’ll have to fight against an enemy with the power to possess corpses. Once in control, the corpse will turn into the Starborn, but after a while, the body will drop lifeless to the ground as it moves elsewhere. When you get into the lower part of the temple, the Hunter sends you to different snippets of your life in other dimensions while you progress through the tunnels. These scenes are potentially heart-wrenching, depending on your dialogue choices.
Killing the Hunter grants you the legendary laser rifle, Unmitigated Violence. It deals 125 Energy damage with a 77% accuracy rate. Its unique attributes are:
- Frenzy: Small chance to Frenzy a target.
- Radioactive: Randomly deals Radioactive damage and demoralizes the target.
Go It Alone
If you decide that neither the Hunter nor the Emissary are worthy of your allegiance, you can send them both packing. However, this doubles the number of enemies, both in space and planetside, that you have to deal with when trying to reach the Buried Temple. Going solo is the only way to get both of the unique weapons.
When beginning a fresh NG+, you can make a different decision on who to choose. If you plan on sticking with an iteration of a universe, such as in NG+10, it may be best to rebuff both of them to get the best spoils.
Those are all the differences in picking the Hunter, the Emissary, or neither of them in Starfield. For more decision outcomes, quest walkthroughs, or how to romance someone, take a gander at all of our Starfield guides.
