In April 1532, along with his companions, Quizquiz led the armies of Atahualpa to victory in the battles of Mullihambato, Chimborazo and Quipaipan, where he, along with Chalkuchimac defeated and captured Huáscar and promptly killed his family, seizing capital Cuzco.

Quizquiz later commanded Atahualpa's troops in the battles of Vilcaconga, Cuzco (both 1533) and Maraycalla (1534), ultimately being bested by the Spanish forces in both accounts.

On the death of the eleventh Sapa Inca, Quizquiz remained in the wake of his son Atahualpa, assuming the chief command of the armies of Quito, contrasted with those of Cuzco devoted to Huáscar.

[2]: 146–149  As he was proceeding to the consolidation of power for Atahualpa in the region of Cuzco, the news came of the tragedy of Cajamarca and the capture of his master by the Spanish.

One was the city of Cuzco itself, the second was the town of Jauja, entrusted to the treasurer Riquelme, and the third was the recent settlement of San Miguel which ensured the flow of reinforcements by sea.

Northern troops still managed to pass Jauja, while regretting that it could not conquer the city defended by a small garrison.

Quizquiz had learnt from the experience and venturing in a ravine he fortified the slopes of the passage so that horses could not work, then he remained on hold.

Learned that Quizquiz was close, the Spaniards threw themselves boldly forward, but this time the shrewd general was not waiting for them unprepared.

The Spanish moved in pursuit, but proceeding with great caution and fighting only limited clashes with the marching rearguard, then, when it became clear that the enemy abandoned the region, desisted from following them.

He had to open a way through districts infested by hostile populations, related to the deceased Huáscar and hoping for a comeback thanks to the arrival of "white men" who, unwisely, were seen as liberators.

Arriving in the land of Quito to organize a brave resistance, and possibly a war of Reconquista, he had a bitter surprise to find the Spanish contingent that had preceded him, coming from San Miguel, under the leadership of Belalcázar.

As the prudent general had foreseen, the Spaniards launched the assault of enemy warriors, but those under the command of an Atahualpa brother named Huaypalcon, kept them at bay without effort by rolling an avalanche of stones from the top.

During the night, the two Inca armies merged and the Spaniards were forced to the pursuit, but were stopped at the crossing of a river that separated the contenders.

As the news came that a nearby indigenous detachment had killed and beheaded fourteen Spaniards who tried to rejoin their compatriots, they decided to retire.