Starfield skills

A complete breakdown of all the known Starfield skills that you'll use to create and shape your ideal Spacefarer.

Starfield skills are the building blocks for your character. While your gear, faction allegiance, and choices will have a significant impact on gameplay and the story, the biggest changes you can make to your character are through the skills you select at the start of the game and when you level up.

You get your first three skills by choosing from the different Starfield backgrounds during character creation. Skills are spread across five different skill trees. Each skill has multiple ranks, much like perks in Fallout 4, starting at Rank 1 and ending at Rank 4. However, in order to get the higher ranking skills, you’ll have to spend a skill point and complete a challenge.

Starfield skills break down into five main categories: Physical, Social, Combat, Science, and Tech.

Here are all the Starfield skills we know about so far:

• Gastronomy (Physical)
• Weight Lifting (Physical)
• Wellness (Physical)
• Bargaining (Social)
• Diplomacy (Social)
• Persuasion (Social)
• Ballistics (Combat)
• Demolitions (Combat)
• Dueling (Combat)
• Heavy Weapons Certification (Combat)
• Lasers (Combat)
• Marksmanship (Combat)
• Particle Beams (Combat)
• Pistols Certification (Combat)
• Rapid Reloading (Combat)
• Sniper Certification (Combat)
• Targeting (Combat)
• Medicine (Science)
• Robotics (Tech)
• Security (Tech)

Physical

Gastronomy

• Rank 1: You can craft specialty food and drinks, and research additional recipes at a Research Lab.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

The Gastronomy skill is centered around cooking and brewing, which will grant the Spacefarer stat boosts and healing. Each rank will increase the number of recipes available to the player, with the challenges for each rank likely involving a crafting requirement.

Weight Lifting

• Rank 1: Increase total carrying capacity by 10 kilograms.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

Carry weight is a familiar challenge for those intimate with other Bethesda titles. Every item, weapon, armor piece, and resource has ‘mass’ – the Starfield term for weight. Once you exceed your character’s weight limit, you will slow down to a crawl and be unable to run. By taking this skill, you’ll increase that limit, but don’t forget that companions can prove useful pack mules from time to time.

Wellness

• Rank 1: Immediately gain 30 points of health.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

Health is the single most important stat in Starfield as, without health, you’re dead. The Wellness skill increases your health pool.

Social

Bargaining

• Rank 1: Buy items for 5% less and sell for 10% more.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

While traveling the Settled Systems, you’re going to pick up a whole load of loot and junk. Everything has value, and you’ll find yourself selling most of your haul to various NPC vendors. Unfortunately, you’re never able to sell at the same price you’d be able to buy items for. Fortunately, that’s where the Bargaining skill comes into play, increasing the value you get for selling unwanted items while reducing the cost of purchase.

Diplomacy

• Rank 1: You can force a target NPC at or below your level to stop fighting for a while.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

Not to be confused with the persuasion skill, the rank 1 Diplomacy skill works like the Intimidation skill seen in the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series. If Diplomacy works the same way, you may be able to force a hostile NPC to back down from a fight by aiming your weapon at them, but only if they are a level lower than yours.

Persuasion

• Rank 1: Gain an increased chance of success on speech challenges.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

Starfield persuasion has been massively overhauled compared to previous Bethesda titles. This new mini-game consists of several ‘turns’, each of which will require you to spend ‘speech points’ to advance the conversation. By taking the Persuasion skill, you’ll get more points to spend to make speech challenges easier.

Combat

Ballistics

“Centuries of conflict have proven that when it comes to threat elimination, few things stack up to the reliable power of combustion.”

• Rank 1: Ballistic weapons do 10% more damage.
• Rank 2: Ballistic weapons do 20% more damage.
• Rank 3: Ballistic weapons do 30% more damage.
  • Challenge: Kill 250 enemies with a ballistic weapon.
• Rank 4: Ballistic weapons range is increased by 30%.

Ballistic guns are Starfield weapons like the AR-99 which deal physical (PHYS) damage. Each rank in this skill increases the damage boost, with the final rank offering an extended range at which you can hit enemies.

Demolitions

• Rank 1: No information.
• Rank 2: No information.
  • Challenge: Kill 125 enemies with explosives.
• Rank 3: Explosives do 30% more damage and have a 30% larger radius.
• Rank 4: No information.

The Demolitions skill is centered around the use of explosive devices like the frag grenade, and will likely increase the amount of damage you can deal, as well as how large the explosion will be.

Dueling

• Rank 1: Melee weapons do 10% more damage.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

For the Spacefarer that wants to get up close and personal, the Dueling skill gives a damage boost to all melee weapons such as the combat knife. This skill is one of the starting skills for the Chef background.

Heavy Weapons Certification

• Rank 1: No information.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
  • Challenge: Kill 250 enemies with a heavy weapon.
• Rank 4: Gain 30 Damage Resistance while aiming down sights with a heavy weapon.

Bethesda’s Fallout series has often featured large and bulky weapons such as missile launchers and mini-nuke-throwing catapults. As such, the Heavy Weapons Certification skill will improve your handling of Starfield’s heavy weapons with each rank.

Lasers

• Rank 1: Laser weapons do 10% more damage.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

Lasers such as the Equinox are amongst the many weapons that deal energy damage (ENGY), which will be very effective against enemies with high physical resistances. As such, each rank in this skill will increase the amount of damage your energy weapons can deal, and likely require a number of kills to unlock the next tier.

Marksmanship

No information.

While no specific information is known about the Marksmanship skill, we can speculate that this talent will steady your aim and accuracy when shooting from the hip or through a scope.

Particle Beams

No information.

Not much is yet known about Particle Beams, but it most likely relates to the Electromagnetic (EM) damage type, and so may provide a boost to EM weapons and devices.

Pistol Certification

• Rank 1: Pistols do 10% more damage.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

The EON pistol and similar guns will benefit from the Pistol Certification skill which increases the amount of damage you deal when using small firearms. Combine this with the Ballistics or Lasers skill, and you can potentially combine the damage boosts when using pistols that deal physical or energy damage.

Rapid Reloading

• Rank 1: No information.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
  • Challenge: Reload 150 empty magazines.
• Rank 4: Gain a chance to reload your weapon twice as fast as normal.

In the heat of battle, running out of ammo in your clip creates a moment of vulnerability. By taking the Rapid Reloading skill, you can reduce the amount of time taken to reload your weapon, and get back into the fight sooner.

Sniper Certification

“Only a trained sniper truly understands all the elements necessary to patiently and effectively neutralize a target at excessive range.”

• Rank 1: Scoped weapons are steadier and have less sway.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

Sniper rifles and long-ranged weapons have historically had a scope option in previous Bethesda titles. When aiming down the scope, the player has the option to hold their breath to steady their aim. By taking the Sniper Certification skill, you’ll be more proficient at using scoped weapons, making you a deadly long-ranged combatant.

Targeting

• Rank 1: No information.
• Rank 2: No information.
  • Challenge: Kill 125 enemies without aiming.
• Rank 3: Greatly increased accuracy and range when shooting without aiming.
• Rank 4: No information.

Shooting from the hip is a quick but inaccurate strategy often employed when under intense pressure or in close-quarters combat. Fortunately, accuracy won’t matter as much when you take the Targeting skill, which will reduce the spread of your shots with each rank.

Science

Medicine

• Rank 1: Med Packs heal 10% more.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

You’re almost certainly going to take damage at some point in Starfield, whether it’s from a gunfight or jumping off a very tall ledge. To recover your health, you’ll need to use Med Packs, and the Medicine skill improves how much healing each pack will deliver.

Tech

Robotics

• Rank 1: You deal 10% more damage to Robots and Turrets.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

If you find yourself at a disadvantage facing down robots and turrets, take the Robotics skill to increase the amount of damage you deal to them. While not yet confirmed, you’ll likely need to kill a number of them in order to rank the skill up each tier.

Security

• Rank 1: You can attempt to hack Advanced locks, and 2 auto attempts can be banked.
• Rank 2: No information.
• Rank 3: No information.
• Rank 4: No information.

Starfield has overhauled the lockpicking mechanic with digipicking. From the start of the game, you’ll only be able to hack Novice locks. If you want more loot and special access to buildings, crates, and shortcuts, you’ll need to rank the Security skill up in order to hack the Advanced, Expert, and Master locks.

In addition to these skills, we’ve also seen a Starship Design skill. During the official gameplay reveal, the Starfield ship customization demonstrated that to install a NG-15 Lander you need a currently unknown rank in Starship Design. A seemingly higher rank in Starship Design (judging by how extra-flashy the badge is) allows you to install the Pinpoint 5G Lander. It appears that this skill will allow you to purchase improved modules for your ship and that higher ranks will unlock even better modules.