There are a lot of side quests in Starfield that start randomly, and it all depends on being in the right place or finding the right item. The Mantis quest could reveal itself early, especially if you are planet-hopping and exploring locations inhabited by enemies. What isn’t immediately clear, though, is that this quest also leads to some terrific rewards if you’ve got the courage to seek it out right away.
Starfield Mantis Quest Guide
Your best chance to find and start this Starfield quest will be when fighting Spacer enemies, as they have a decent chance of dropping the item needed to start the quest. As they can be found anywhere, you can start hunting for this quest right after you first meet with the Constellation.
Secret Outpost Slate
You’ll know when you’ve found it, as it will be a slate titled Secret Outpost! The game knows it is important, so the Mantis quest will automatically start and you’ll be prompted to read it.
The slate makes mention of a secret outpost that has been found on Denebola I-B and invites the holder of the slate to come see it. Your objective obviously becomes “go to the secret outpost on Denebola I-B.”
Where to Find Denebola I-B
The Denebola system that has Denebola I-B is a fair distance away from Alpha Centauri, but it should be possible to reach by performing a couple of extra jumps even if you are doing this early without any ship upgrades. Be aware that the Denebola system is labeled level 30, though it is unclear how much that matters. Whether it is our difficulty or simple scaling, we never fought an enemy above the low 20s, and we started this at level 12.
Your first stop from Alpha Centauri should be the Olympus system, which is the location of the house in the Dream Home trait. Then, you’ll have to head to Volii, jump to Lantana after that, and then jump to Denebola and get to the designated planet.
Lair of the Mantis
While you will be landing at the Secret Outpost, the real name is the Lair of the Mantis. There’s likely to be a handful of enemies hanging around the lair, so deal with them and head through the door that the objective marker shows.
A little way inside, an objective marker will guide you to an automated message on the wall that will be addressed to a mysterious Leon.
The objective marker will lead you further down into the lair through plenty of Spacer enemies. You can find an audio log from Leon about the whole situation on a Spacer corpse if you want more backstory. Sadly, you can also loot a slate off of a Spacer regarding them finding Leon’s corpse. It mentions that a trap killed him, so be careful in this area.
After encountering a big group of Spacers, you’ll find an NPC that isn’t looking to fight named Livvey. You can choose whether or not to kill them on the spot, but they do offer some interesting information and don’t truly pose a threat.
Talk to Livvey
Livvey surrenders because they watched you kill every other Spacer, but they are also a useful source of info. It is thanks to Livvey that the rest of this base isn’t trapped, but an area through the doorway was too much for him to figure out. He mentions that it is a puzzle with letters on the floor that is incredibly dangerous, but the letters must spell something. You’ll find the puzzle down a set of stairs ahead.
There is a Master locked console if you walk past the stairs that might be able to bypass the puzzle somehow, but we didn’t have the skills to interact with it.
How to Solve Mantis Lair Puzzle
The game has been pushing you to gather lore around the lair because the answer is hidden in the messages. The Mantis herself loved the phrase “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” which should be the biggest hint.
There are eight rows of letters, and you can spell Tyrannis with them.
It is wise to save before trying this because you can accidentally step on the wrong letter. If you do happen to make a mistake, it will activate the turrets that can easily kill you. Frustratingly, it is kind of easy to step on the wrong letter. If your watch in the bottom left goes red, just reload your save. Start on the T when you are ready.
As they can be hard to read, if you don’t want to bother checking the letters, you can just follow the sequence (counting from left to right): 3 1 5 6 4 7 2 3. There are seven letters to a row, and this will get you to the end easily. The final letter will be right in front of the stars. Walk up and press the button, disabling the trap.
Another voice message that automatically plays reveals that the previous Mantis was dying and devised this whole challenge for her son, Leon, to prove he could take on the Mantis name.
After the Puzzle
You might have completed the challenge and gone further than any other pirate who has tried, but the threat isn’t over. Now, you will have to fight through robots and turrets. After a door at the end of this area, you will enter into the proper Lair of the Mantis.
Livvey will betray you and lock you inside. However, their plan backfires, and they are killed by an explosion which reopens the door.
There will now be two objective markers leading you to two rewards for completing the lair.
Mantis Armor
The objective leading further in will take you to the legendary Mantis gear set. It includes a helmet, suit, and pack with some great stats.
A computer near the armor reveals that this Mantis wasn’t the first, and the name has a long history; which, due to your actions, you now carry.
Razorleaf Ship
The second objective marker is for some starship lift controls to give you access to the Mantis’ ship, the Razorleaf.
You won’t just get the ship from here though. Go back into the lab area and head up the elevator. It will put you near the entrance of the Lair, but you can easily follow the ship objective marker to get outside. Once you reach the Lair’s landing pad, the quest will be completed, and you can board your new ship.
Now that you know how to do the Mantis quest early, you’re all set to pursue other Starfield quests and rare equipment. The links below will help you in that endeavor, as we’ve got plenty of other articles aimed at helping you maximize your enjoyment of Bethesda’s space-faring adventure.
