Crisis is an end-game threat to the entire galaxy in Stellaris. It’s a threat not only to player but to entire galaxy. That’s why most of the time AI empires unite and defend against the crisis. Fallen empires and unique factions also defend the galaxy against crisis. There are 4 different crisis you might encounter. And on this page, we’ll be discussing the strongest end-game crisis factions of Stellaris.
There can be only one crisis in each run and it’s random in the default galaxy settings. But you can change that random setting to a crisis of your choice. There is also the “all” choice which is summoning all crisis factions sequentially in random order, with no more than one happening at the same time.
HOW TO DEAL WITH END GAME LAG STELLARIS
End game crisis can only happen in the end-game date. You can choose the end-game date in galaxy settings, it’s 2400 as default. Before 2400, crisis may happen any time, randomly.
Final galaxy setting about crisis is the crisis strength. It’s 1x by default and can be changed to 0.25x, 0.50x, 0.75x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x, 2.25x, 2.5x, 2.75x, 3x, 3.25x, 3.5x, 3.75x, 4x, 4.25x, 4.50x, 4.75x, 5x, 10x, and/or 25x. 25x crisis strength is the hardest challenge of Stellaris and only recommended to advanced players.
1. Prethoryn Scourge
Scourge is the hardest end game crisis in Stellaris. Prethoryn reinforcements are the strongest. It’s over for the galaxy unless you deal with Prethoryn Scourge immediately. Believe me, it can get out of hand very fast.
Its fleets are also the strongest among all crisis in my opinion. Scourge monster fleets are like tempest grey nanites, they hit you they kill you… That’s why you need range.
Once you defeat its fleets, you can start bombing infested planets. Unfortunately, infested planets can’t be invaded… Bombing takes a lot of time. In the meantime, scourge spawns more fleets.
All in all, unless you fight and try to defeat its fleets the moment it appeared, you’ll have a really hard time and probably lose the game at 10x – 25x end game crisis difficulty. That’s why it is the hardest end game crisis faction of Stellaris.
Design against Prethoryn Scourge fleets:
- Battleship with tachyon lance. (X-slot.)
- Neutron launchers.
- Armor hardening.
2. The Synthetic Queen
Cetana also as known as the synthetic queen is a recently introduced crisis with the The Machine Age DLC.
Her power comes from deception, if you know her secret purpose to end galaxy, you prepare for her, sabotage her, and you defeat her.
If you don’t know her true purpose, she’ll fool you with false promises, use you, and you’ll lose the game.
She’s not easy to defeat even if you’re prepared and know her secret because her fleets are very powerful. Her main ship Cetana titan is very broken as well.
Though if you go psionic ascension, the animator of clay will teach you a ritual to deactivate her main ship.
Cetana fleets:
- Her fleets use anti-armor.
- Cetana fleets have a lot of shielding. (You can counter.)
3. Contingency
Contingency start with 4 robots planets in various parts of galaxy. They appear in a short timeframe but not at the same time. If you can nuke one at the start you can destroy the rest too.
You can imagine contingency as a crisis split in 4. That’s why it’s easy to defeat because you can hunt its ships and bases one by one.
How to defeat contingency:
- Strong shields.
- Penetration to hull. Disruptors / cloud lightning.
- Arc emitter. (X slots.)
- Building many corvettes.
4. Extradimensional Invaders
Extradimensional invaders by far the easiest Stellaris end-game crisis faction. Simply because they spawn through a single portal located in a single system. Destroying their portal ends this crisis immediately because they can no longer enter the galaxy.
Even if they spawn in a distant part of galaxy, you can travel there through wormholes, gates, jump drives, and quantum catapults easily to break the portal.
You might not even have a chance to fight extradimensional invaders if they spawn right next to a fallen empire. Fallen empires can easily crash their spawning fleets and portal without any problem. Because astral unbiddens have the weakest starting spawn of all crisis factions.
All in all, unbidden is the easiest crisis of Stellaris. They pose no threat to galaxy whatsoever.
Easter egg: Excavating archeological site in unique system Ultima Vigilis can spawn unbidden prior to the end-game start date. (Depending on your reward choice.)
Best battleship design against unbidden:
- Focused arc emitters. (X slots.)
- Carrier center. (2x Strike Fighters, Missiles S slots.)
- 3x medium aft. (3x swarmer missiles.)
- Carrier computers.