Kill or Calm Wrex

Learn how to handle the critical Wrex encounter on Virmire in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. Decide his fate and understand the consequences for your playthrough.

Alright, so you’re on Virmire and things are about to get… tense. You’ll find out Saren’s up to no good, breeding Krogans and trying to cure the genophage. Wrex, naturally, is *not* happy about this, and he’s definitely not happy about you potentially blowing up his people’s future. This is a big moment, and how you handle it really matters.

Basically, you’ve got two main paths here: Wrex lives, or Wrex dies. If he dies, you lose him as a squadmate for the rest of Mass Effect 1, which is a huge bummer. If you want him to stick around, you’ll need to either have earned his trust *before* landing on Virmire, or pass a pretty tough Charm or Intimidate check during the conversation.

So, how do you keep Wrex alive?

• The Best Way (No Skills Needed): The absolute easiest way to keep Wrex alive and loyal is to complete his personal quest, Wrex: Family Armor, before you even get to Virmire. If you’ve done that, you can just pick the top dialogue option every single time during the confrontation. Specifically, when you get the chance to convince him, choose ”I wouldn’t do this otherwise.” and then ”We are.”. This bypasses the need for any Charm or Intimidate skill points.
• Charm/Intimidate Checks: If you haven’t done his family armor quest, you’ll need to rely on your dialogue skills. You’ll need a high rank in either Charm or Intimidate (around 8 ranks each, so it’s a significant investment). If you succeed with these checks, you'll also snag the Charismatic achievement.

What happens if Wrex dies?

Well, he’s gone. No more Krogan muscle on your squad for the rest of Mass Effect 1. That’s pretty much it for the first game.

What happens if Wrex lives?

• Mass Effect 2: If Wrex survives Virmire, he’ll be in charge of Clan Urdnot when you get to Mass Effect 2. If he died, you’ll deal with Urdnot Wreav instead. It’s mostly just some dialogue changes, nothing too game-breaking.
• Mass Effect 3: This is where it gets more interesting. Both Wrex and Wreav can become War Assets. Wrex is the more valuable one. If you genuinely cure the genophage (which involves Wrex being alive and making specific choices), he’ll give you the Krogan Mercenaries War Asset. However, if you tricked him with a fake cure and he finds out, he’ll turn on Shepard, and you’ll lose any Krogan support. Wreav won’t give you the Krogan Mercenaries asset, but he can also be tricked with a fake cure.