At the end of Emmrich‘s quest “The Sacrifice of Souls,” as he faces off against his nemesis, the ever-loyal Manfred steps in to assist him. But, unfortunately, Manfred perished as a result, leading to his death. After the confrontation, then, Emmrich is faced with a choice: ask the Lich Lord to Bring Back Manfred, keeping his best friend but giving up Lichdom, or asking the Lord to let him Become a Lich, allowing Emmrich to grow in power and live forever (but without Manfred).
The choice you help Emmrich make will impact what Veilguard Skill and Legendary Armor he obtains, and will radically alter both his personality and possibly appearance going forward. In this guide, we will go over when you will make this choice, and what happens when you do.
When Do You Make the Choice
Emmrich‘s choice will appear at the very end of the quest The Sacrifice of Souls, which is the final full quest in Emmrich‘s storyline, after you defeat Hezenkoss. At the end of the final cutscene, Emmrich will ask for your advice as he stands before the Lich Lord, who he can ask only one favor of: should he choose to Bring Back Manfred, or should he choose to Become a Lich?
After you finish, Emmrich‘s choice will be locked in, though he will need to see it through in order to become a Hero of the Veilguard, regardless of which choice you picked.
Should you choose to Bring Back Manfred, you will need to complete the short story quest “Heir to the Dead” to complete the process. Similarly, if you chose for Emmrich to Become a Lich, you’ll need to complete “Will and Testament” to make it happen. Whichever you choose, after you’ve completed it, Emmrich will become a Hero of the Veilguard, and will receive a Veilguard Skill and Legendary Armor to match his choice.
Results of Your Choice
After you make your choice and finish Emmrich’s last quest, Emmrich will gain a Veilguard Skill and a piece of legendary armor specifically for him. Your choice will determine which Skill and armor he gets, of the following options:
Bring Back Manfred
If you tell Emmrich that he should bring back Manfred, then he will receive the Legendary Armor Graven Vestments and the Veilguard Skill Life’s Embrace after completing “Heir to the Dead.”
The Graven Vestments legendary armor can be effective if you find yourself constantly on the brink of death. If you are on higher difficulties and often have low health, the Graven Vestments can allow you to deal more damage and become Invulnerable so long as you can cause detonations.
As well, it is easier to sink into the Low Damage threshold with Life’s Embrace, which also passes the damage buff from the armor on to your party’s general damage whenever you are at low health. Like the Vestments, this is particularly good on higher difficulties if you often find yourself at Low Health.
And, of course, choosing this path lets you resurrect Manfred and keep him around. He will be able to speak (roughly) and will become an Apprentice of the Mourn Watch and Emmrich specifically.
Become a Lich
If you encourage Emmrich to pursue his dreams and Become a Lich, than he will accept the death of Manfred and will begin preparations to become a lich, getting the Legendary Armor Lich’s Vestige and the Veilguard Skill Death’s Caress after completing “Will and Testament.”
Lich’s Vestige is a powerful armor set, especially if you focus heavily on Necrotic damage. It allows Emmrich to apply and make better use of his powerful Quietus status effect, as well as generally making detonations more powerful.
Of a similar tone, Death’s Caress is a Veilguard Skill that can drastically improve any Affliction-based build by increasing the damage of Afflictions. This has an increased effect for Necrosis specifically, but all Affliction builds benefit massively from this Skill.
Selecting this path with remove Manfred from the game forever, but it will also give Emmrich a skeletal appearance, which he can optionally maintain whenever he is at the lighthouse.
All being said and done, we hope that this guide can help you make the decision about whether Emmrich should forsake his dreams in order to Bring Back Manfred, or stick to his goals and Become a Lich. But, there are other choices to be made, so feel free to check out our other guides on Companion choices when it is time for them.
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Graves
Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he'll try. When he isn't working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.
