Starfield Mob Mentality: Should You Persuade or Kill Headlock

Starfield’s Mob Mentality side quest involves a young, fledgling gang member and an overpriced, slightly pretentious store in Neon, and players seem to be the only ones able to solve the problem thanks to Neon Securities rather lax approach to law enforcement.

After visiting the Emporium in Neon, players will meet Tevin, the store owner who has had trouble with a young gang member called Headlock, and ask players to handle the situation. After tracking them down, it’s up to you how you want to deal with Headlock, and players might be wondering what the best option is for dealing with him. In this guide, we’ll detail the different choices of the Mob Mentality side quest in Starfield.

Related: Starfield Complete Guide – Quest, Lore, Story & Trailers

Finding Headlock and Talking with Frankie

At the start of the quest, you’ll get told that Headlock and the other Seokguh members tend to hang around Frankies Grab+Go store, which is in Ebbside on the out areas of Neon. Follow the quest marker, and you’ll be taken to a small store and find Frankie on the inside.

If you ask about Headlock’s whereabouts, she gets defensive, and that’s when you can try and get the information out of her. You can either play 500 Credits and get it that way, or you can try to persuade them in a four persuasion bars, three attempt check.

Or, if you happen to have picked Neon Street Rat as one of your starting traits, you can use an exclusive dialogue option that will automatically succeed, saving you money and time. From there, you’ll find the location is Warehouse 4, which is nearby.

Persuade Headlock to Leave the Emporium Alone

When you find Headlock in Warehouse 4, he’ll be quick to start running his mouth and throwing out threats when you talk with him, but this is also the perfect time to talk it out with them as you can persuade him to leave the store and Tevin alone.

After a few dialogue options and empty threats, you can attempt to persuade Headlock in a relatively simple exchange, as you only need to get another four persuasion bars in three attempts, like with Frankie, which is pretty common in the early game. If you want a boost, use items like Hippolyta beforehand, which can help increase your chance, or use apparel like Corpo Salary Suit.

If you are successful, Headlock will come around to your way of thinking and back off, and you’ll get an extra 10 EXP and progress toward your Persuasion Skill if you have it.

Are There Any Unique Dialogues for Background or Traits

If you are more into the roleplay aspect of Starfield, you can lean into your background or traits to get some extra flavor text.

In my case, I chose space scoundrel when making my character, and you have the option to leverage this in this conversation with a simple threat of “I’ll kill you,” which will instantly make Headlock back off without any other actions needed. I guess you just are that intimidating.

Kill Headlock and His Gang Buddies

Of course, if you don’t fancy using words, you can always let your weapons do the talking and go in ready to fight. This fight is pretty easy, though, thanks to high shelving in the warehouse, there are a few places that Headlock and other gang members can hide.

In my go at combat, I chased them down with a shotgun and made short work of them. You can also head up to the walkway and get some height over them if you want to be a bit more precise.

Handling the situation this way will net you the EXP from killing gang members and their loot, which you can sell for some extra credits.

Which Option Should You Choose?

Of the two options, it is more beneficial to simply kill Headlock as you can sell the loot for more credits or get a new weapon or apparel, and there seems to be no repercussions for taking this action. That said, I chose to do it with a bit of both.

In my playthrough, I spoke with Headlock and persuaded him to back down, getting the extra EXP and progress for the skill; then, once that’s done, you can simply say you changed your mind in the dialogue and kill them all anyway. Doing that, you get all the loot, extra progress for the skill, and EXP. It’s worth noting that regardless of how you deal with Headlock, you will always get the same reward from Tevin of 3000 Credits and 100 EXP, so you can feel free to play this out how you choose, but we found this mix of the two, even if it is a bit cruel, the most lucrative solution.