How to Become The Crisis in Stellaris

It’s interesting how many sayings we have that illustrate the idea of “one dude with a lot of power is a bad thing.” “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” “with great power comes great responsibility,” “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” and so on. Makes you think it might be a lesson we’re not so good at learning. But, in fairness, going mad isn’t nearly as fun as going mad with power. Here’s how to become the Crisis in Stellaris.

The Crisis is an endgame event in Stellaris, wherein either a gigantic nondescript evil empire thing just sort of appears in the galaxy or an existing empire turns super-genocidal. Either way, its massive, genocidal might necessitates the cooperation of all other empires in the galaxy, including yours, to repel it in a big blockbuster crossover battle. However, thanks to the game’s new Nemesis DLC, you’re no longer relegated to being the galaxy’s custodian. Now you yourself can become the crisis and wage a war of terror and domination through all of known space to ensure your name is feared and remembered until the end of time. Y’know, if you’re into that.

How to Become The Crisis in Stellaris

Becoming the crisis is as simple as picking up a particular ascension perk, aptly titled “Become the Crisis.” However, in order to be eligible for Become the Crisis, you need to fill a few criteria. First, you need to have already unlocked at least two ascension perks. This ain’t a career choice for noobs. Secondly, you need to have an open ascension perk slot available. Third, and most important, you need to be almost entirely bereft of ethics, as one would expect a would-be galactic dominator to be. To be more specific, you can’t have any of the following ethics or civics:

• Xenophile Ethic
• Fanatic Xenophile Ethic
• Pacifist Ethic
• Fanatic Pacifist Ethic
• Rogue Servitor Civic

If all of these requirements have been met, you can take on Become the Crisis at your leisure. You’ll unlock special science projects to raise your crisis level and, by association, your threat to the galaxy. Remember, though, in the event of a crisis, every non-hostile empire in the galaxy unites to battle it, and doesn’t change here. If you’re planning to become the crisis yourself, you do so with the knowledge that you’ll have to defeat every other empire out there to come out on top.