The Mantis is a legendary bounty hunter in the Starfield universe, an undefeated space legend who has beaten everyone that’s ever come close to competing with their prowess. It’s possible to find the secret hidden base where Mantis docked between raids and take the spacesuit and ship that strike fear into anyone on sight.
Picking up the Mantis quest in Starfield isn’t that straightforward, and neither is the mission itself. However, the rewards are worth it for players who want to push through and pick up some incredible items that will give their character a massive boost in the game’s dangerous universe.
Related: Starfield Complete Guide – Quest, Lore, Story & Trailers
How to Start Mantis in Starfield
It seems as though Mantis can be picked up from random encounters with Spacer or Ecliptic enemies in Starfield. We picked it up on the game’s starter planet, Kreet, where we encountered a few Ecliptic enemies around an old mining station. The Ecliptic soldier had a note on them that triggered an Activity called Mantis as soon as we picked it up. The Activity directs players to read the note. Then it’ll tell them where to go.
How to Complete Mantis
At the start of the Mantis quest in Starfield, players will need to visit Denebola I-B in the Denebola system. Upon arriving on the planet, Spacers will warn players they must leave or be attacked. We didn’t want to leave the Mantis loot for them, so, naturally, we killed them all.
Following the Spacer trail of destruction leads to The Lair of The Mantis. This is a secret base on Denebola I-B where the Mantis hung out between raids. The Spacers reckon the bounty hunter kept their loot here too, which is why they want to get inside.
The first group of Spacers inside the base will reveal that they encountered quite a few Slates with information on the Mantis in this base, but one door is still locked to them. This triggers an optional part of the quest to learn more about the Mantis.
How to Learn More About The Mantis in Starfield
To learn more about the Mantis, players must interact with the intercoms around The Lair of the Mantis. We found two, one at the beginning of the lair, and one right before players enter the underground base.
There are also several Slates for players to collect from the bodies of the Spacers they’ll kill during this quest. The Slates we uncovered are listed below. We believe that players need to pick up every Slate and interact with both intercoms to complete this optional objective.
- Lair Slate: The Gold Mine
- Leon Voclain – Sic Semper Tyrannis
- Lair Slate: Leon’s Corpse
- Leon Voclain – Mantis Revealed
- Spacer Communication 1
- Spacer Communication 2
- Lair Slate – Livvy’s Notes: This one is the only Slate not on a body. It’s located on the barrels next to Livvy when players meet him.
Most of this quest will see players blasting their way through Spacers as they get deeper into the Lair of the Mantis. However, they’ll eventually encounter Livvy, a Spacer who has been working to find the solution to a particularly tricky puzzle.
How to Solve The Mantis Puzzle in Starfield
Livvy is standing in front of a door that leads to the toughest corridor of traps in the Lair of the Mantis. To solve the Mantis Puzzle here, players need to spell out the word TYRANNIS using the letters on the floor. With each letter, they can move forward to the next row until they reach the end and open the door. If players don’t try to solve the puzzle, they’ll be blasted to pieces by laser cannons.
The rooms that follow this puzzle are filled with robots that will attack the player on sight. They’re tough and will take a lot of ammunition to take down. After a couple of rooms, players will enter the underground base, which is where they can get some of the best free items in Starfield.
How to Get The Mantis Ship and Spacesuit in Starfield
To get the Mantis Ship, the Razorleaf, in Starfield, players need to defeat every robotic enemy in the underground base. This will clear the way for them to reach the ship lift controls, which push the ship up to the surface. Then, once they’ve found the Mantis Spacesuit, they can head back up to the surface and fly away in it.
We suggest killing all the robot enemies in this area first. They’re high-level enemies that take a while to go down. We used the ship in this underground base as cover to hide form them while we recovered between bouts of combat. Going in guns blazing won’t go well for anyone. It’s keeping calm and quiet that will win the battle.
The base stats of the Razorleaf are incredible. It has huge capacities for every area a ship needs, making it incredibly versatile. It’s honestly the best ship we’ve found in the game to date, and we won’t be moving on anytime soon.
The Mantis Spacesuit can be found in the living quarters in the underground base. It’s inside a glass case, where players can grab it from a mannequin. The stats on each piece of armor in this set are as follows.
- Mechanized Mantis Spacesuit – Phys: 116, Engy: 84, EM: 100, Thermal: 15, Airborne: 30, Corrosive: 25, Radiation: 15.
- Combat Veteran: -15% damage from human enemies.
- Galvanized: +25 Corrosive Resistance.
- Mechanized: +40 Carry Capacity.
- Ractive Mantis Pack – Phys: 47, Engy: 55, EM: 51, Thermal: 5, Airborne: 5, Corrosive: 0, Radiation: 20.
- Sturdy: -15% incoming melee damage.
- Resource Hauler: Resources weigh 25% less
- Reactive: 10% chance to stagger nearby attackers.
- Basic Boostpack
- Incendiary Manis Space Helmet – Phys: 54, Engy: 46, EM: 50, Thermal: 20, Airborne: 25, Corrosive: 10, Radiation: 0.
- Technician: -15% damage from robot enemies.
- Antiseptic: +25% Airborne Resistance.
- Incendiary: 10% chance to ignite nearby attacker.
Once players have picked up the Mantis Spacesuit, they can head up to the surface using an elevator in the underground base. The Razorleaf is easy to find when a character has returned to the surface, and from there, they can fly off on any mission they fancy tackling.
What Happens When You Use the Mantis Ship and Spacesuit in Starfield
When players use the Mantis ship, they’ll have new random encounters while traveling between systems in space. The one we’ve noticed most is a battle between Ecliptic Mercenaries and a trading vessel. As soon as the mercenaries see that the ship players are using is the Razorleaf, they Grav Jump away. It’s possible to earn some Credits from the trader that players save, but we feel that it’s better to take the thanks and nothing else.
So far, we’ve noticed no difference while using the Mantis spacesuit, though that may just be because we’ve not found the right encounters just yet. We’ll update this guide if we come across any unique dialogue or situations the Mantis spacesuit adds to Starfield.
