Starfield Skills Guide

Updated: 14th Sep 2023 by Team SuperCheats

There are over 80 different skills in Starfield that can be used to upgrade and boost areas such as exploration, combat, and even dialogue. Take a look at our Starfield Skills Guide to get help building your character. The guide includes lists of all the different skills in Starfield, their effect, and how to upgrade them.

Starfield Skills

During the course of your journey in Starfield you will be spending some time building your character. In total, there are 82 skills and they are split into the following five categories:

- Combat

- Tech

- Physical

- Science

- Social

Skill points are gained during the game when you level up and they can be spent on the skill tree to unlock new skills. Each skill has four ranks. Below are lists of the different skills.

Combat Skills

• Ballistics

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: More Ballistic weapon DMG

• Dueling

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases melee weapon DMG

• Lasers

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases laser weapon DMG

• Pistol Certification

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases pistol DMG

• Shotgun Certification

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases shotgun weapon DMG

• Demolitions

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Increases explosive DMG and area of impact

• Heavy Weapon Certification

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Increases heavy weapon DMG

• Particle Beams

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Increases particle weapon DMG

• Incapacitation

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: EM weapons do 5% more damage.

• Rifle Certification

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Increases Rifle DMG

• Marksmanship

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Increases Marksman weapon DMG

• Rapid Reloading

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Weapons reload faster

• Sniper Certification

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Scoped weapon sway reduced

• Targeting

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Increased hip fire accuracy and range

• Armor Penetration

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: Ignores target armor to some level

• Crippling

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: Human enemies enter a downed stage after taking enough damage.

• Sharpshooting

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: Increases headshot critical damage from ranged weapons.

Tech Skills

• Ballistic Weapons Systems

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases ship's Ballistic DMG

• Boost Pack Training

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: More Boost Jump height

• Piloting

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases ship speed

• Security

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Lets you hack advanced locks

• Targeting Control Systems

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Lets you target subsystems in enemy ships

• Payloads

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: More ship cargo capacity

• Energy Weapons Systems

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Energy ship weapons deal more damage and cost less

• Engine Systems

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Increases ship's top speed

• Shield Systems

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Increases the ship's shield capacity.

• Missile Weapon System

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Increases ship Missile DMG

• Particle Beam Weapon System

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Increases ship particle beam DMG

• Robotics

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Increases damage to Robots and Turrets

• Starship Design

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Unlocks more pre-built modules for ships

• Starship Engineering

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Unlocks more custom modules for ship

• Automated Weapon Systems

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: Boost Assault Training

• Boost Assault Training

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: Grants abilities when you boost

• EM Weapons Systems

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: EM ship weapons deal more damage and cost less

Physical Skills

• Wellness

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases max HP

• Weight Lifting

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases carry capacity.

• Stealth

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: More sneak attack DMG.

• Boxing

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Unarmed attacks do more DMG.

• Fitness

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: You have more oxygen available.

• Pain Tolerance

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Physical Damage is reduced.

• Nutrition

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Food and Drink are more effective.

• Gymnastics

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Unlock new movement-based abilities

• Environmental Conditioning

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Resistance to environmental damage.

• Energy Weapon Dissipation

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Energy damage reduction.

• Martial Arts

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Reduces oxygen consumption for unarmed attacks.

• Cellular Regeneration

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Increased chance to recover from injuries naturally.

• Decontamination

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Decontamination.

• Neurostrikes

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: Boosts unarmed Crit DMG.

• Concealment

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: Makes it harder to detect you while sneaking.

• Rejuvenation

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: Health regeneration outside of combat.

Science Skills

• Medicine

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases healing from med packs.

• Surveying

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Adds the ability to zoom to the hand scanner.

• Geology

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases scan speed for ores.

• Astrodynamics

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Fuel to gravity jump costs less.

• Botany

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Increases scan speed for flora.

• Scanning

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Players can detect uncommon inorganic resources.

• Spacesuit Design

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: You can craft upgrades for your spacesuit.

• Weapon Engineering

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: The player can craft improved weapon mods.

• Zoology

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: More uncommon resources dropped from creatures.

• Outpost Engineering

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: You can build advanced outpost modules.

• Chemistry

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Helps you craft better chemicals.

• Astrophysics

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Increased trait chance when scanning moons.

• Special Projects

  Skill Tier 3

  Effect: Reseach and craft rare components.

• Planetary Habitation

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: You can build outposts on planets under harsh conditions.

• Aneutronic Fusion

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Ship reactors produce extra units of power.

Social Skills

• Theft

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Pick-pocketing success chance increases

• Scavenging

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Increases credit drops

• Persuasion

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Boosts success chance for speech challenges

• Gastronomy

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Lets you craft specialty food and drinks

• Commerce

  Skill Tier: 1

  Effect: Lets you build better outposts

• Intimidation

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: NPCs can flee from you temporarily

• Diplomacy

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: NPCs won't attack you temporarily

• Negotiation

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Grants access to Bribery in speech challenges.

• Isolation

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Increases weapon damage and damage resistance when you don't have a crew

• Bargaining

  Skill Tier: 2

  Effect: Increases selling price and decreases purchasing cost of items

• Outpost Management

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Lets you build trade routes between outposts

• Instigation

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: NPCs can attack their allies

• Leadership

  Skill Tier: 3

  Effect: Companions gain affinity more quickly

• Xenosociology

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: An NPC bids for you temporarily

• Manipulation

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: NPC obey your commands temporarily.

• Ship Control

  Skill Tier: 4

  Effect: You have up to four crew members.

How to Upgrade Skills

To upgrade a skill in Starfield, you just have to complete objectives which relate to the skill that you want to upgrade. In order to reach the higher skill ranks you will need to complete the tougher challenges.

Starfield Skill Tree

The higher skill tiers in Starfield's skill tree can only be unlocked when you spend a certain number of skill points in the previous skill tier. The character that you begin your journey within Starfield will automatically get three starting skills and skill trees.

There are five skill trees in the game, and each of those skill trees has 4 tiers. Then it is a matter of gaining skill points by leveling up in order to allocate those points to whatever skill you would like to improve.

The Best Skills You Should Get Early

Starfield Skills are the very core of the game's progression system, and choosing the right skills can mean the difference between life and the blackness of space. The video below recommends the skills from each of the five skill trees you should invest in early in the game. The video also shows you how to map out some valuable end-game skills you don't want to make.

The Best Skills You Should Get Early in Starfield

0:00 - Intro

0:57 - How Skills Work

2:21 - Best 'Physical' Skills

3:46 - Best 'Social' Skills

5:38 - Sponsor Message (Bethesda)

6:17 - Best 'Combat' Skills

7:53 - Best 'Science' Skills

9:39 - Best 'Tech' Skills

11:42 - Join The Community