Starfield should you side with The Hunter or The Emissary?

Wondering should you side with The Hunter or The Emissary? As with all Bethesda RPGs, Starfield is full of choices that will have a major impact on your playthrough of the game, and this is one of the biggest choices there is. With two seemingly equal Starborn to choose between, it’s a tough decision to make, and we’re here to help you make it.

No matter what point you’re at in your playthrough, you can never have too many Starfield tips and tricks on your side. If you’re after some better gear, check out the Starfield best weapons and Starfield best armor. And if you’re looking to build yourself a great ship from scratch, you’ll need to know about the Starfield ship manufacturers, Starfield best ship parts, Starfield starship weapons and the best Starfield reactors are first. For now, let’s take a look at the Unearthed mission, and whether you should side with The Hunter, The Emissary, or neither.

Should you side with The Hunter or The Emissary?

This choice takes place at the end of the Unearthed main story quest. Once you’ve explored the NASA facility and found the Artifact, you’ll come outside and be greeted by the two Starborn waiting for you on the ground below. Head over, and they’ll tell you a bit more about the lore of the Settled Systems before providing you with a choice. Do you side with The Hunter, The Emissary, or with neither? 

Your initial choice will probably be influenced by what happened previously in the story. Your brief meeting with The Emissary was peaceful, while The Hunter killed one of your companions at The Lodge during the High Price to Pay quest. Nevertheless, you’ll want to make sure you know the different outcomes for each choice you can make.

The decision you make here will directly impact the events of the Revelation main mission and how the game ends, as well as giving you the chance to earn some unique weapons, so here is what happens when you make each choice. 

Siding with The Hunter

If you side with The Hunter, you will have to fight The Emissary in the game’s final mission with The Emissary alongside you as an NPC ally. You can either persuade The Emissary not to fight, but if you kill him, you’ll receive the unique particle beam rifle Eternity’s Gate. This gun deals increased damage to humans, fires two projectiles on every fourth shot, and also fires volatile rounds that deal increased damage on hit.

You’ll also receive the Infinity’s End quest, requiring you to deal with Keeper Aquilus, either by killing him or persuading him to go into hiding. Once The Hunter is convinced that Keeper Aquilus is dead, you’ll be rewarded with unique melee weapon The Last Priest.

Once you defeat The Emissary, you and The Hunter will be able to pass into the Unity, both of you being reborn in different universes.

Siding with The Emissary

If you side with The Emissary, you’ll have to fight The Hunter in the game’s final mission with The Emissary alongside you as an NPC ally. You can persuade The Hunter not to fight, but if you kill them you’ll receive the unique laser rifle Unmitigated Violence. This causes radioactive damage and can frenzy an enemy, as well as dealing double damage to full health enemies.

Once The Hunter is defeated, you and The Emissary will be able to pass into the Unity, both of you being reborn in different universes. The Emissary will continue on their journey to find more people worthy of becoming Starborn.

Siding with neither

If you side with neither The Hunter nor The Emissary, you will have to fight both of them alone. This can be particularly difficult as there is a space battle early on in the quest, where you’ll have to take on both of their ships at once. Make sure to check out the best Starfield ships so you’re fully prepared for this encounter. 

Like the other options, you can convince the two Starborn not to fight you. If successful, they will give you their Artifacts and leave. Alternatively, if you fight them, you will have to take them both on together, which is a fairly challenging fight. If you do manage to beat them, your reward will be the two weapons mentioned above.

Once defeated, you can head off to the Unity by yourself.

Once you’ve made your decision, they will accept it and you will now have the opportunity to build the Armillary. This is essentially a storage for the Artifacts you’ve collected thus far, and you can either build it on your ship or your outpost. Be aware, though, that other Starborn are after these Artifacts, and may randomly show up where your Armillary is to attack you and steal them, so choose carefully.

That’s everything you need to know about whether you should choose The Hunter or The Emissary. Once you’ve defeated either Starborn, you’re ready to start your Starfield new game plus playthrough. If you’re looking for some more quests to do, the Absolute Power, Sabotage, Surgical Strike, Operation Starseed, Delivering Devils, and Alternating Currents quests are great choices. If you’re doing some shopping, check out the New Atlantis shops, Neon shops, and Akila City shops. And if you’re struggling with how to use a boost pack in Starfield, we’ve got you covered there, too.