Virmire: Wrex and the Genophage

Saren appears to have discovered a cure for the genophage and is breeding an army of krogan. Wrex is furious that Captain Kirrahe wants to destroy the cure. The Captain is worried about Wrex's state of mind and doesn't want to continue if Wrex is going to be a problem.

Acquisition

Prerequisite: Virmire: Saren's Plan

Prerequisite: Citadel: Wrex

This assignment is automatically gained after reaching the salarian camp only if Wrex is available as a squadmate.

Walkthrough

As stated by Kirrahe, you must deal with Wrex first to advance the story. He can be found intermittently blasting his shotgun at the beach, by the tent nearest to the base wall. Approaching him automatically triggers the confrontation, so if you want to do other things first give him a wide berth.

Most possible decisions here result in a big infusion of morality points in either direction. The choice is yours as to whether Wrex makes it out of the conversation alive!

Shepard has several approaches to take here:

• Signal Ashley to shoot Wrex. Ashley shoots Wrex on Shepard's orders, earning Renegade points. This is only available if Shepard has already asked her to be ready.
• Shoot Wrex personally. Shepard kills Wrex, also earning Renegade points. The Commander will then answer Kaidan's question about why it was necessary and be regretful (Paragon) or dismissive (Renegade).
• Protecting Shepard. If Shepard spends too long talking to Wrex without making any progress, Ashley shoots Wrex in the back on her own initiative, saying he was about to kill the Commander. Shepard can either be grateful for her help (Renegade) or furious that she acted without orders when Wrex was beginning to listen (Paragon). Either way, Kaidan gets angry at Ashley for what she's done, but Ashley claims it was a choice between Wrex or Shepard.
• Charm or Intimidate. Shepard manages to persuade Wrex that destroying the facility is in the best interests of the krogan - they might be free of the genophage, but they're just going to be Saren's puppets. Wrex decides the Commander has a point and wants to punish Saren for what he's done. Shepard needs 8 points in Charm or Intimidate for this to work.
• Trusting Shepard. If the Commander has already helped Wrex to retrieve his family armour, Wrex trusts Shepard enough to listen, and it becomes easy to calm him down without the need for Charm or Intimidate. The option is easier than trying to gain enough morality points to save Wrex. The player must take the dialogue lines "I wouldn't do this otherwise" or "We are" when they become available to make Wrex stand down.
• Lack of Party Members. In the odd event that you have only four squadmates (Kaidan, Tali, Wrex and Ashley), Wrex will simply submit to your choice to destroy the base. You can only achieve this route if you meet the following conditions:

• You must seek out Barla Von for help to prove Saren's guilt at the start of the game. This leads to getting Wrex.
• Do not seek out Garrus Vakarian's help in proving Saren's guilt.
• Garrus Vakarian cannot be in your party. This means you must refuse to let Garrus Vakarian into your group before your first trip out of the Citadel.
• Liara T'Soni cannot be in your party. This means completing Feros, Noveria, and then heading to Virmire before going to Therum.

By meeting the above conditions, you will not need to do Wrex's family armor quest. You also will not need to have morality points to convince him.

If you keep Wrex alive, you will be rewarded with the Charismatic achievement. Contrary to this achievement's description, you don't actually have to use Charm or Intimidate - having Wrex alive does the trick, too.

If Wrex dies, you automatically get his equipment back.

Mass Effect 2 Consequences

• If you let Wrex live he will become leader of clan Urdnot and press his beliefs.
• If Wrex died, the leader of clan Urdnot is Urdnot Wreav.

Mass Effect 3 Consequences

• If Wrex lived and became the Urdnot leader, he becomes a War Asset with a Military Strength of 30, which is 5 more than Wreav. He also gives Shepard the "Krogan Mercenaries" War Asset if the genophage is genuinely cured. However, if Shepard allows the salarian sabotage of the cure to go unfixed, Wrex learns about it from another source and attacks Shepard, forcing Shepard to kill him and taking away "Clan Urdnot" as a War Asset completely.
• If Wrex died and Wreav became the Urdnot leader, he becomes a War Asset with a Military Strength of 25, which is 5 less than Wrex. He does not give Shepard "Krogan Mercenaries." However, unlike Wrex, Wreav can be fooled into accepting a fake genophage cure without any penalty.

Trivia

• Reportedly, it was originally possible to agree to find the genophage cure rather than force Wrex to be complicit in destroying it.
• BioWare social media coordinator David Hulegaard recalls that initial audience reactions on sparing or killing Wrex veered strongly toward the latter when the developers first demoed the Virmire section of Mass Effect.