All Starfield skills and the best to unlock first

The best Starfield skills provide some entirely new abilities and substantial upgrades to your stats, letting you better survive among the stars. As you earn XP and level up in Starfield, you'll get skill points to spend on either unlocking a new skill or increasing an already-unlocked skill's rank. Which of these you choose depends on whether you want a broad range of skills or whether you'd rather specialize.

These unlockable Starfield skills range from boosting the damage of certain weapon types and upping your carrying capacity, to making crafting easier or opening new speechcraft opportunities. With 82 skills available, there's a lot to choose from, so I've made it easier for you by picking out the very best ones to consider.

Best Starfield skills

Although the best Starfield skills will vary to some extent depending on playstyle, there are certain skills that we recommend to everyone as they unlock specific abilities that you won't be able to use otherwise. Those skills are:

• Stealth – unlocks ability to use stealth
• Theft – unlocks ability to pickpocket targets
• Boost Pack Training – unlocks ability to use boost packs
• Piloting – unlocks ability to use ship thrusters
• Targeting Control Systems – unlocks ability to use ship targeting

Boost Pack Training is particularly useful for getting around and traversing gaps or reaching ledges, while Targeting Control Systems will help you out a great deal in ship to ship combat by focusing your attacks. You should also consider adding the Weight Lifting skill as soon as possible, as this will increase your total carrying capacity so you can ferry more items and resources around.

All Starfield skills

Starfield skills are broken into five categories:

• Physical - Overall resilience and basic stats, such as health, O2, and carrying capacity.
• Social - Dialogue options and NPC interactions.
• Combat - Weapon proficiency and damage.
• Science - Resource-based research, crafting, and outpost construction.
• Tech - Security, Starfield ship customization, and boostpacks.

For each category, Starfield skills are split into four tiers. All tier 1 skills are available by default, but subsequent tiers for each category are unlocked by spending 4, 8, and 12 skill points respectively in that category. Each individual skill in Starfield also has four Ranks, with the first accessed automatically when you unlock it, and then the following three earned by completing specific challenges – more on that later on.

All Starfield Physical skills

Tier 1 Physical skills

These are the Physical skills you'll unlock be default.

• Boxing - Unarmed attacks deal greater damage and power attacks use less O2.
• Fitness - Increases the amount of oxygen available.
• Stealth - Adds a Stealth Meter and makes you harder to detect when using stealth in Starfield.
• Weight Lifting - Increases your total carrying capacity.
• Wellness - Increases your maximum health.

Tier 2 Physical skills

• Energy Weapon Dissipation - Reduce energy damage received.
• Environmental Conditioning - Gain resistance to environment damage.
• Gymnastics - Adds combat slide ability and reduces fall damage.
• Nutrition - Food and drink become more effective.
• Pain Tolerance - Physical damage is reduced.

Tier 3 Physical skills

• Cellular Regeneration - Increases the chance of recovering from injuries naturally.
• Decontamination - Increases the chance of recovering from infections naturally.
• Martial Arts - Increases the chance to crit or disarm with a melee or unarmed attack.

Tier 4 Physical skills

• Concealment - Ranged sneak attacks and melee sneak attacks deal increased damage.
• Neurostrikes - Chance to stun NPCs with unarmed attacks.
• Rejuvenation - Regenerate health over time.

All Starfield Social skills

Tier 1 Social skills

These are the Social skill you've unlock by default.

• Commerce - Buy for less and sell for more.
• Gastronomy - Research and craft additional food and drinks.
• Persuasion - Increases the chance of success when persuading someone.
• Scavenging - Chance to find extra items when searching containers.
• Theft - Unlocks pickpocket ability and increases success.

Tier 2 Social skills

• Deception - Stronger ships will surrender to piracy demands and enemy contraband scans are less effective.
• Diplomacy - Force a target NPC to stop fighting for a while.
• Intimidation - Force a target NPC to flee for a limited time.
• Isolation - Increased weapon damage and damage resistance when you don't have a companion or crew.
• Negotiation - Unlocks bribery option in speech challenges and reduces cost.

Tier 3 Social skills

• Instigation - Force a target NPC to attack their allies for a limited time.
• Leadership - Increases companion affinity, health, and carrying capacity.
• Outpost Management - Additional resources can be placed at outposts.

Tier 4 Social skills

• Manipulation - Force a target NPC to obey commands for a limited time.
• Ship Command - Increase the maximum number of active crew members.
• Xenosociology - Force a target alien creature to stop fighting for a limited time.

All Starfield Combat Skills

Tier 1 Combat skills

• Ballistics - Ballistic weapons deal increased damage.
• Dueling - Melee weapons deal increased damage and you take less damage while wielding a melee weapon.
• Lasers - Laser weapons deal increased damage.
• Pistol Certification - Pistols deal increased damage.
• Shotgun Certification - Shotguns deal increased damage.

Tier 2 Combat skills

• Demolitions - Grenades show a trajectory arc and explosives are more effective.
• Heavy Weapons Certification - Heavy weapons deal increased damage.
• Incapacitation - EM weapons deal increased damage.
• Particle Beams - Particle beam weapons deal increased damage.
• Rifle Certification - Rifles deal increased damage.

Tier 3 Combat skills

• Marksmanship - Increased crit hit chance with non-automatic weapons.
• Rapid Reloading - Reload specific weapons faster.
• Sniper Certification - Scoped weapons are steadier and deal increased damage.
• Targeting - Increased hip fire accuracy and range, while marking enemies that damage you.

Tier 4 Combat skills

• Armor Penetration - Attacks ignore a percentage of the target's armor.
• Crippling - Human enemies have an increased chance of being downed.
• Sharpshooting - Increased critical damage for hits with ranged weapons.

All Starfield Science Skills

Tier 1 Science skills

• Astrodynamics - Increases grav jump range and reduces fuel cost of jump drives.
• Geology - Get more inorganic resources from surface objects.
• Medicine - Recovery items restore additional health faster.
• Research Methods - Resources required for crafting and research are reduced.
• Surveying - Increases zoom and scan distance of hand scanner.

Tier 2 Science skills

• Botany - Get more organic resources from plants and additional scanner info on them.
• Scanning - Detect inorganic resources on planet and moon surfaces, and get more info on ships.
• Spacesuit Design - Research and craft improved spacesuit, helmet, and pack mods.
• Weapon Engineering - Research and craft improved weapon mods.
• Zoology - Get more organic resources from creatures and additional scanner info on them.

Tier 3 Science skills

• Astrophysics - Increased scanning range and chance to discover a trait.
• Chemistry - Research and craft improved chems.
• Outpost Engineering - Research and craft improved outpost modules.

Tier 4 Science skills

• Aneutronic Fusion - Ship reactors produce extra units of power.
• Planetary Habitation - Build outposts on inhospitable planets and increase maximum number of outposts you can build.
• Special Projects - Research experimental projects and craft unique manufactured components.

All Starfield Tech Skills

Tier 1 Tech skills

• Ballistic Weapon Systems - Ballistic ship weapons deal increase damage and are more efficient.
• Boost Pack Training - You can use Starfield boost packs and they are more efficient.
• Piloting - You can use ship thrusters and pilot higher class ships.
• Security - Attempt to hack higher level locks and bank auto attempts.
• Targeting Control Systems - Unlock ship targeting function and make it more efficient.

Tier 2 Tech skills

• Energy Weapon Systems - Energy ship weapons deal increase damage and are more efficient.
• Engine Systems - Ship's top speed increased and boosts last longer while cooling down faster.
• Payloads - Ship cargo holds have increased capacity.
• Shield Systems - Ship has increased shield capacity.

Tier 3 Tech skills

• Missile Weapon Systems - Ship missile weapons deal increased damage and are more efficient.
• Particle Beam Weapon Systems - Ship particle beam weapons deal increased damage and are more efficient.
• Robotics - Deal increased damage to robots and turrets, and force a target robot to stop fighting for a limited time.
• Starship Design - Allows installation of improved ship modules.
• Starship Engineering - Ship systems repair faster and are more resilient.

Tier 4 Tech skills

• Automated Weapon Systems - Automated ship weapons deal increased damage and are more efficient.
• Boost Assault Training - Can damage or knockdown enemies when using boost.
• EM Weapon Systems - EM ship weapons deal increased damage and are more efficient.

How to level up Starfield skills

To level up and unlock skill points, you need to earn Starfield XP. You can spend skill points on unlocking new skills or increasing the Rank of skills you have already unlocked. Do note that to reach the next Rank in a skill, you must have first completed the associated in-game challenge before you can spend a skill point. These challenges will be shown against the skill, and mainly focus on using the skill itself to reach a specific milestone. This will also unlock the next challenge, and you'll need to complete a total of three challenges in order to reach the maximum Rank 4 skill level.

You'll also get three skills before you even starting playing thanks to your as Starfield background choice which lets you pick a character type or role that comes with some pre-selected skills – things like medic, chef, diplomat etc. Starfield traits are also selected as part of character creation, and act like perks with specific pros and cons that can affect what you can do.

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