Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty - Should You Help Songbird Or Reed In Firestarter

Thinking about whether you should help Songbird or Reed in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty? The expansion presents a meaty storyline, with one pivotal dilemma that happens during the Firestarter mission. As such, it's important to consider the ramifications of your choices given that they lead to entirely different finales. Naturally, it goes without saying that this article contains major spoilers.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty - Should you help Songbird or Reed in Firestarter

The Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty help Songbird or Reed in Firestarter dilemma occurs during a climactic moment in the mission. Alex, disguised as Aymaric, is in Kurt Hansen's office. V, meanwhile, is disguised as his twin, Aurore. Just as Songbird is about to activate the device, you're presented with a choice:

• Help Songbird escape: "I'm with you."
• Help Reed capture Songbird: "One more second..."

Important: We suggest saving manually once the choices appear on your screen. This ensures that you have a backup save if ever you want to try the other finale arc. Likewise, certain iconic weapons can only be obtained depending on the finale arc that you select.

Can certain actions affect this moment

To clarify, we opted to be supportive to Songbird whenever we interacted with her. For instance, we agreed to help her during a mission called You Know My Name. Later, while looking for the tracking station in Birds With Broken Wings, we met with her when prompted. She told us about her plan to escape, and we did not divulge these plans to Reed. However, we're unable to confirm if the option to aid Songbird became available because of our actions, or if it's available by default regardless of what we did.

Then, during the chat with Hansen, we opted to respond in a manner that's based on Aurore's background info. Similar to the above, we can't confirm if these responses have any bearing to the pivotal decision later on, but some examples include:

• Move closer and touch: "This is my first time."
• "It's not a topic I'd like to discuss" and "We were in different blocks."
• "Kerry Eurodyne's tailor."
• Inspect Hansen's pistol: "The arms trade is not for us."

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What happens if you help Songbird escape

Here's what happens if you help Songbird in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty:

• Alex will kill Hansen, and you won't need to worry about him.
• Songbird will aid you by using her hacking abilities as you make your way out of the stadium. Also, one of Hansen's lieutenants might drop the Murphy's Law iconic weapon.
• Once you've cleared out the entrance area, do not go down the elevator. Reed will be waiting for you down below, and he'll shoot you dead instantly.

Once you've escaped the stadium, you'll need to wait for several days to pass in-game for Songbird to contact you. This leads to the finale mission: The Killing Moon. The goal is to sneak inside the spaceport so you can help Songbird get to the shuttle. However, NUSA forces will also show up. At the conclusion of this mission, one particular decision yields the Pariah iconic weapon. We discuss this further in our endings guide.

What happens if you help Reed capture Songbird

Here's what happens if you help Reed in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty:

• Hansen will kill Alex, and you'll have to escape the stadium on your own.
• Hansen will show up later and you have to battle him. He drops three iconic weapons as well.
• You'll then ride the elevator and escape inside Reed's vehicle. The two of you will see Songbird captured by Night City's security forces.

This finale has two missions that you need to complete:

• Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos - The goal is to eliminate the MaxTac forces guarding Songbird.
• Somewhat Damaged - This takes place deep in a facility--it's akin to a stealth mission since a rampaging robot is searching for you. Likewise, you'll find the blueprints for the Erebus iconic weapon and Militech Canto Mk6 cyberware.

In any case, these are the outcomes depending on whether you help Songbird or Reed in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Past this point, we move onward to our endings guide, which discusses the concluding arcs for the expansion, as well as a new ending for the main campaign.