The best Starfield skills provide some entirely new abilities and substantial upgrades to your stats, letting you better survive in the stars. As you earn XP and level up in Starfield, you'll get skill points to spend on either unlocking a new skill to spread yourself out as a generalist or increasing an already-unlocked skill's rank to specialize.
These unlockable skills range from boosting the damage of certain weapon types, increasing your maximum O2 level, upping your carrying capacity, making crafting easier, opening new speechcraft opportunities, and lots more. With 82 Skills available, it's a lot to cover, so we've laid out all the Skills in Starfield and have picked out the best ones you should get early on.
Best Starfield skills to unlock
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 as follows:
- 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.
You'll be able to choose some 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.
Every Starfield skill
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.
Physical Skills
Tier 1
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Concealment
Ranged sneak attacks and melee sneak attacks deal increased damage. - Neurostrikes
Chance to stun NPCs with unarmed attacks. - Rejuvenation
Regenerate health over time.
Social Skills
Tier 1
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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.
Combat Skills
Tier 1
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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.
Science Skills
Tier 1
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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.
Tech Skills
Tier 1
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 in Starfield
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.
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