Mass Effect: How to Save Wrex on Virmire

During the Virmire: Assault mission in Mass Effect, Wrex will draw his gun to confront Shepard about their intentions to destroy Saren’s base, which may include a cure for the krogan genophage. In the Mass Effect trilogy, the krogan alien race suffers from a genophage created and distributed by the turians and salarians as a form of population control. When Wrex and the rest of Shepard’s team discover that Saren may have found a cure near the end of the original Mass Effect, Wrex expresses displeasure at the idea that Shepard would destroy such research while destroying Saren’s base. Shepard will need to talk him down, otherwise they will be forced to kill him during this confrontation.

There are a few things Shepard can do to persuade Wrex to stand down and ensure he survives the encounter. If he does survive, he will eventually return to Tuchanka, the krogan homeworld, to become the leader of Clan Urdnot and spread his more progressive beliefs about krogan coexistence with the rest of the galaxy. Shepard will either need to have a high morality score, earn Wrex’s loyalty, or have recruited very few squadmates to keep Wrex alive on Virmire in Mass Effect.

How to Convince Wrex to Stand Down on Virmire in Mass Effect

The most obvious way to get Wrex to stand down on Virmire in Mass Effect is to use the Charm or Intimidate dialogue options. To do this, Shepard needs to have a high Paragon or Renegade score and at least 8 points in either the Charm or Intimidate skill. Both options persuade Wrex that Saren doesn’t care about the krogan and sees them as tools or puppets to be destroyed later once they serve his purposes.

An easier way to get Wrex to stand down is to complete his Loyalty Mission and retrieve his family armor. To trigger this mission, Shepard will need to talk to Wrex after every main story mission and get to know him, making sure to ask about his family. He will eventually explain that his family armor was taken by the turians. Shepard can help him get it back on the planet Tuntau in the Phoenix System in Argos Rho from a turian pirate named Tonn Actus.

Once Shepard helps Wrex get his family armor, they will secure his loyalty. During the standoff on Virmire, Shepard only needs to select I wouldn’t do this otherwise, or We are when Wrex asks if the team is destroying Saren’s base, and the cure along with it, for the right reasons. He will stand down and express that he trusts Shepard, ending the confrontation.

The last way to ensure Wrex stands down on Virmire is to only have four squadmates when arriving there: Kaidan, Ashley, Tali, and Wrex. Players will need to refuse to allow Garrus to join the squad until after Virmire, and they will need to avoid going to find Liara on Therum until after Virmire as well. In this case, the game appears to require Shepard to have at least three squadmates, and because either Ashley or Kaidan must be left behind, Wrex is forced to stand down without the required morality points or secured loyalty.

As long as Wrex survives the Virmire: Assault mission in Mass Effect, Shepard will see him again as a cameo in Mass Effect 2 and have the chance to recruit him once more as a squadmate in Mass Effect 3. If Shepard cannot convince Wrex to stand down, either they will need to kill him, or Ashley will step in and kill him in fear of him attacking the Commander. In these cases, Wrex will be replaced by his brother, Urdnot Wreav, in the sequels.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition launches May 14, 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with forward compatibility for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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