Should You Kill or Spare Ygwulf the Assassin in Avowed?

The decision on whether to spare or kill Ygwulf in Avowed is an example of how big decisions during the campaign can have major branching consequences. After exploring three options for the end of the ‘An Untimely End’ side quest; killing, sparing, or convincing him to turn himself into the Steel Garrote, we have confirmed that one avenue is far better than the rest.

Should You Kill or Spare Ygwulf the Assassin in Avowed?

Out of the three choices of what to do with him in Avowed, killing Ygwulf is the far better option compared to sparing him or having him surrender to the Steel Garrote overall. The reason for this ultimately comes to the more appealing and beneficial rewards you get from slaying the assassin, which include an exclusive piece of gear.

Killing Ygwulf

The most rewarding choice of killing Ygwulf in Avowed rewards you with an extra amount of 393 XP for doing so, along with being able to loot the assassin’s corpse for his unique Blackwing Armor.

A decent piece of gear for this stage of the campaign, with a Fine Quality rating and special abilities; including ‘Ambushing’ for +30% Stealth Attack Damage and ‘Creeper’ for +25% Move Speed when crouched; this is among the best pieces of armor available at this point in your adventure. If you haven’t obtained those available in the game’s premium edition.

Furthermore, you’ll also be able to loot off him seven Golden Scelling coins, a Health Poition, and a Common Dagger. There’s also all of the gear and items any of his allies have who you end up killing, too.

What’s more, the Ambassador and Lodwyn will be happier with you as well, reducing some of the animosity from the latter you would have gotten compared to otherwise.

Sparing Ygwulf

Choosing to spare Ygwulf is morally the best choice if you’re going for a ‘paragon of virtue’-style playthrough of Avowed. You’ll also be awarded a bundle of a piece of Adra and 645 coins for your efforts.

The bigger bonus to letting him go is further down the line during the ‘Food Theft’ quest in Emerald Stair. Beforehand, his agent, called Steeg, will send you a letter of thanks, implying you’ll meet him again further down the line and that no members of the resistance will attack you. During Food Theft, though, as you’re trying to deal with the gang who’ve been stealing food, of which Ygwulf is a part, having him alive in this scenario will allow him to talk his colleagues down to keep casualties as low as possible.

It’s an interesting twist for this particular quest, but altogether, the rewards you get for killing him, including his armor, still make this the far better decision.

If you still want to try it out, but are worried what the Ambassador and Lodwyn will think, you shouldn’t need to worry. While they will criticize you for letting your killer go, they’ll more or less never mention it again as it never happened.

Ygwulf Surrendering to The Steel Garrote

Convincing Ygwulf to surrender himself to the Steel Garrote is the worst option for ‘An Untimely End’ because you won’t get any useful rewards or special bonuses in return, outside of the XP for get for completing the quest.

In terms of story, he will be merely killed later on. This proves Marius was right about what he says after you make this choice, that having Ygwulf turn himself in makes him as good as dead anyway.

Now that you know it’s best to kill Ygwulf the assassin in Avowed, take a look at the best weapons loadout combinations, so you’re ready to take on the rest of the Living Lands. While you’re here, check out if Brentis or Pod can be saved following your encounters with them outside of Paradise.

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