Fallout 4 Devil’s Due quest guide – Should you return the Deathclaw egg?

As is a longstanding tradition in the Fallout games, Fallout 4 is full of moral dilemmas and weighty choices, with one of the game’s most infamous coming in the form of the Devil’s Due quest. Hopefully, you’re not afraid of Deathclaws.

The Devil’s Due will put you up against some of the toughest foes the Commonwealth has to offer—namely the Deathclaws that have been terrorizing the denizens of the Wasteland since the very first Fallout game. You’ll want to make sure you’re leveled up and well-equipped before taking this quest on, but the reward can be proportionally great… if you take the right path, that is.

What should you do with the Deathclaw egg in Fallout 4?

You can begin this quest by wandering into the town of Salem (not to be confused with the online game) in the southern Commonwealth, but I highly recommend hanging around Diamond City to get the intended start first. Talk to one of Diamond City’s chatty guards enough, and he’ll eventually mention something strange is going on at the Museum of Witchcraft, which will set an objective marker at the specific location you need to visit and save you the trouble of combing through the town.

The journey to Salem can be a taxing one. Just keep heading toward your objective marker, hopefully avoiding any creatures that want to separate your head from your shoulders along the way—you’ll have more than enough of that in a bit. The objective marker will lead you to the body of one Private Hart, a Gunner mercenary apparently tasked with making a special delivery. The plot thickens.

From here, you’re left to follow a breadcrumb trail leading you through the job gone wrong, starting with the cellar entrance to the museum located conveniently right next to Private Hart. The museum’s interior is mostly linear, with a few scripted scares along the way. What you really have to worry about is the leveled Deathclaw lurking in wait on the first floor, as it will shred an unprepared player in a matter of seconds.

Packing some Power Armor or a high-powered weapon is the best way to deal with the Deathclaw, and luckily new options for both were added in the recent next-gen update. This Deathclaw is unique in that it’s tooled to always be a challenge no matter what level you’re at, meaning it’ll more than likely be a Savage Deathclaw or an even more dangerous variant. Just stay calm and aim for the belly.

Alternatively, you could just sneak past it, provided you’re stealthy enough. Killing the Deathclaw isn’t a hard requirement for the quest, but you do need to get past it somehow to find Sergeant Lee’s body, which is surrounded by broken eggs. Salvage the one intact egg and the holotape from Lee’s body, and the full scope of this sad story reveals itself. The Gunners were hired to collect Deathclaw eggs for a restaurant in Diamond City, but instead were tracked down and picked off by their mother, the same Deathclaw you just killed.

Here’s where the choice comes in: You can now either bring the egg back to Wellingham in Diamond City, completing the delivery as originally stipulated, or return it to its nest. Both will end the quest, but with different rewards.

Wellingham is a Mr. Handy, bearing a striking resemblance to your pal Codsworth but with none of his charm, who will offer you a base rate of 200 caps (more if you can pass sequential speech checks) and the unique Deathclaw Wellingham recipe. It’s a powerful food item that restores a huge chunk of health and boosts your health regeneration rate, but requires a fairly rare Deathclaw egg to make.

Returning the egg to the nest, however, will see you greeted by a rare non-hostile Deathclaw. Naturally, this beast isn’t going to hand over a bag of caps, but will let you loot a rare Deathclaw gauntlet from its nest. Just make sure you go through with returning the egg (interacting with the nest) before turning to leave, or you’ll have a second angry Deathclaw to worry about that day.

Morally, the right choice is returning the egg, but Fallout 4 stripped out the series’ karma system, so who cares? For purely pragmatic purposes, bringing the egg to Wellingham is the best choice. The Deathclaw gauntlet may be an immensely powerful melee weapon, but it’s not one of a kind, and enemies and merchants alike will start carrying it the second you hit level 20. Regardless, it’s useless if you’re not playing a melee-focused character unless you just want to put it on display or pawn it off on a companion.

The Deathclaw Wellingham, meanwhile, may be situational—but it’s still less situational than a melee weapon. Health restoration and regeneration is something literally any Fallout 4 build can benefit from, even if you have to hunt down Deathclaw eggs to get it. Add the not-insubstantial monetary reward on top of that, and returning the egg to Wellingham is easily the most broadly applicable choice unless you happen to be playing a Strength-based character.

As is so often the case in Bethesda games, however, there is a way to have your cake and eat it too. You can bring the Deathclaw egg back to the nest first to claim the Deathclaw gauntlet, but do not return the egg to the nest. Instead, fast travel to Diamond City while you’re still at the nest to avoid the Deathclaw turning hostile. Now you can hand the egg off to Wellingham for your reward, essentially allowing you to reap the benefits of both outcomes without needing to lock yourself into one. Hooray for mercenary self-interest!

If you’ve followed the guide above, you’ve gotten yourself the best possible ending for Fallout 4‘s The Devil’s Due quest. Take a moment to enjoy some Deathclaw Wellingham, but the Commonwealth is still teeming with quests to complete and more moral dilemmas to unpack. If you’re looking for even more variety, don’t forget to grab some mods while you’re at it!