As you play through Starfield, you will earn skill points and invest in your character to make them a more efficient space traveler. With a game that has well over 80 different skills to pick from, it can be hard to say which ones to consider. As such, we have taken the time to list off all the skills and to sort them out to give you a better understanding of what to expect.
Because there are so many skills in Starfield, it would be particularly long to cover every single skill as far as what they do and how to unlock them, as such, stay tuned with us as we will be publishing articles covering each of Starfield‘s five skill trees in greater detail. As we work on getting those ready, we will provide a brief summary of all the skills in the game.
Keep in mind that each skill tree has four separate rows of skills. In order to unlock the skills at the bottom you must first invest points towards the top. Also for you to gain access to higher ranks within a skill, you first have to complete a challenge attached to the skill first before you can put a point in. They are as follows:
- Row 1: Basic Skills- Free
- Row 2: Advanced Skills- 4 skill points to unlock
- Rows 3: Expert Skills- 8 skill points to unlock
- Row 4: Master Skills- 12 skill points to unlock
Starfield Skills: Physical Skills
Row 1: Basic Skills
- Boxing– Improves Unarmed attacks and consumes less oxygen when using power attacks. Later ranks improve oxygen running consumption while unarmed and the final rank has a chance to knock down enemies.
- Fitness– Improves the amount of oxygen you have available. The final rank uses significantly less oxygen for sprinting and power attacks.
- Stealth– Gives the player a Stealth Meter which allows the player to be harder to detect when sneaking. Later ranks can provide additional sneak attack damage with suppressed weapons and become even harder to detect. The final rank also lets you open doors in stealth without alerting enemies.
- Weight Lifting– Increases the total carrying capacity of your character. The final rank gains 50% resistance to stagger.
- Wellness– Increases your maximum health.
Row 2: Advanced Skills
- Energy Weapon Dissipation– Reduces the amount of damage taken from Energy Weapons. The Final Rank provides a 25% chance to reflect energy damage back at the attacker when your health is under 50%.
- Environmental Conditioning– Gain resistance from the various kinds of environmental damage. Each Ranks covers a different resistance with the final rank providing a reduced chance to gain afflictions from environmental damage sources.
- Gymnastics– Give the player the ability to perform a combat slide and take 15% less damage from fall damage. At later ranks, you will be able to move faster in Zero-G (and be more stable when firing in Zero-G) and take less damage from falling. Final Rank will let you jump higher and run faster after performing a combat slide or mantling.
- Nutrition– Makes food and drinks more effective.
- Pain Tolerance– Reduces the physical damage the player takes. Final rank provides a 5% chance to ignore physical damage when your health is low.
Row 3: Expert Skills
- Cellular Regeneration– Increases the chance to recover from injuries naturally. Final Rank provides a 20% chance of not getting injured when you otherwise should.
- Decontamination– Increases the chance to recover from infections naturally. Final Rank provides a 20% chance of not getting an infection when you otherwise should.
- Martial Arts– Increases the chance to hit enemies with crits with melee or unarmed attacks. Later Ranks can also disarm an enemy and take less damage when fighting with a melee weapon or unarmed. The final rank can reflect 50% damage when blocking a melee or unarmed strike.
Row 4: Master Skills
- Concealment– Alongside the benefit of not setting off enemy mines, ranged and melee sneak attacks do much greater damage. Later ranks let you run while sneaking and have a “chameleon-like ability” when standing still. Final rank can allow you to go into stealth and distant enemies will lose sight of you.
- Neurostrikes– Gain the chance to stun NPCs in Starfield with unarmed attacks. Final Rank will let you knock down any enemies within close range when you stun an enemy.
- Rejuvenation– Gain the ability to regenerate health while out of combat. Later ranks allow you regenerate health while in combat.
Starfield Skills: Social Skills
Row 1: Basic Skills
- Commerce– Be able to buy items for less or sell items in Starfield for more.
- Gastronomy– Gain the ability to craft specialty food and drink while being able to research additional recipes at the research lab. Later ranks give you access to craft more gourmet items and delicacies. Final Rank can let you craft exotic recipes while crafting food and drinks occasionally doesn’t use up resources.
- Persuasion– Increases your chances of success when persuading someone.
- Scavenging– Gain the chance to find extra credits when searching containers. Later ranks increases chances to find extra ammo or additional aid items. Final rank lets you use the hand scanner to highlight tracked resources.
- Theft– Unlocks the ability to pickpocket targets. Final Rank can also let you pickpocket holstered weapons.
Row 2: Advanced Skills
- Deception– Allows you to force enemy ships to surrender to your piracy demands. It also makes enemy contraband scans less effective.
- Diplomacy– Can force a target NPC at your level or below your level to stop fighting for a while. Final Rank can force a target NPC to permanently stop fighting (unless they are attacked again).
- Intimidation– Force a target NPC at your level or below your level to flee from you for a while. Final Rank will cause a target NPC to flee for a substantial amount of time.
- Isolation– You get to do more damage and gain damage resistance when you don’t have a companion or a crew member with you.
- Negotiation– Gain the ability to perform bribery speech challenges. Final Rank lets you bribe at no cost.
Row 3: Expert Skills
- Instigation– Force a target NPC at or below your level to attack their allies for a limited time. Final Rank makes enemies under the effect of an Instigation attack until they are dead.
- Leadership– Allows you to improve your companions through various means. They can gain affinity faster, have more health and carry more, and even heal you when you’re low on health. The final rank doubles the Combat and Physical Crew Skills of companions and a chance to pick themselves up from a downed state.
- Outpost Management– Allows you to set up additional cargo links, robots and crew at outposts. Final rank allows outpost extractors to produce items twice as fast.
Row 4: Master Skills
- Manipulation– Force a target NPC at or below your level to obey your commands for a limited time. Final Ranks allows you control for a substantial amount of time.
- Ship Command– Increase the number of active crew members you command.
- Xenosociology– Force a target alien creature up to 10 levels higher than you do to a variety of things. You can have them stop fighting, flee, or attack their allies for a limited time. The final rank allows you to give commands to them.
Starfield Skills: Combat Skills
Row 1: Basic Skills
- Ballistics– Ballistic weapons do more damage. Final Rank also increases the Ballistic weapons range by 30%.
- Dueling– Allows melee weapons to do more damage while taking less damage while wielding a melee weapon. Final Rank allows you to heal 10% of your health with each melee kill.
- Lasers– Laser weapons do more damage. Final Rank provides a 5% chance to set a target on fire with Laser weapons.
- Pistol Certification– Pistols do more damage. Final Rank lets pistols gain a +25% critical hit chance for 5 seconds after a pistol kill.
- Shotgun Certification– Shotguns do more damage. Final Rank lets shotguns gain a small chance to stun additional targets with shotguns after a shotgun kill.
Row 2: Advanced Skills
- Demolitions– You will get to see the trajectory arc when throwing grenades and explosions have a 25% larger radius. Later ranks increase explosive damage while reducing the damage taken by explosives.
- Heavy Weapons Certification– Heavy Weapons do more damage. Final Rank lets heavy weapons gain 25% physical resistance when aiming down the sights with a heavy weapon.
- Incapacitation– EM weapons do more damage. Final Rank lets EM weapons gain a 15% chance to do 300% EM damage.
- Particle Beams– Particle Beams do more damage. Final Rank lets particle beam weapons have a 5% crit chance.
- Rifle Certification– Rifles do more damage. Final Rank lets rifles reload 30% faster when standing still.
Row 3: Expert Skills
- Marksmanship– Increases critical hit chance with non-automatic ranged weapons. Final Rank let critical hits with non-automatic range weapons do double damage with no scope. Those with scopes can knock down enemies on the next shot.
- Rapid Reloading– This allows you to reload weapons faster. Each rank covers a different kind of weapon while the final rank allows you the chance to reload faster after hitting an enemy for a limited time.
- Sniper Certification- Unlike all the other certifications covered up to this point, this allows scoped weapons to be steader and have less sway. Later ranks lets you hold your breath longer while increasing critical hit chance with headshots. Final rank increases damage when using a scope by 50%.
- Targeting– Increases the accuracy and range when shooting without aiming while marking an enemy that damages you within a certain range. Final rank gives you a 10% chance to disarm a target when shooting without aiming.
Row 4: Master Skills
- Armor Penetration– Enables attacks to ignore a percentage of a target’s armor. The final rank also decreased enemy armor by 25% for 6 seconds after a critical hit.
- Crippling– Humanoid enemies have an increased chance to enter a downed state after taking enough damage. Final Rank can apply crippling to all enemy types and you get to do 100% more damage to downed enemies.
- Sharpshooting– Can do increased headshot critical damage. Final rank increases your critical hit chance with any ranged weapon by 25% for 20 seconds after a ranged critical kill.
Starfield Skills: Science Skills
Row 1: Basic Skills
- Astrodynamics– Can increase the rav jump drive range. Increasing the rank can also help reduce the fuel cost of jump drives.
- Geology– Gain more resources from inorganic resources from surface objects. Increasing the rank will provide more rare and even exotic inorganic resources.
- Medicine– Allows for Med Packs, Trauma Packs, and Emergency Kits to heal more and faster. Final Rank also has a chance to cure an affliction.
- Research Methods– Reduces the resource required to craft items and complete research projects. Final Rank also enables sudden developments during research to happen twice as often.
- Surveying– Will add an optional zoom to the hand scanner and increase the scanning distance.
Row 2: Advanced Skills
- Botany– Gain more common and uncommon organic resources from plants, learn additional information about them from the scanner and allows some plants to be cultivated at outposts. Later ranks allow for the gathering of more rare and exotic organic resources from plants.
- Scanning– You can detect uncommon inorganic resources on planet and moon surfaces and more information about ships in space. Later ranks can detect rare and exotic inorganic resources. Final Rank can also gain a complete list of cargo on ships in space.
- Spacesuit Design– Gain the ability to craft your own spacesuit, helmet, and pack mods at a research lab. Final ranks can occasionally allow for the construction of equipment that doesn’t cost resources.
- Weapon Engineering– Gain the ability to craft improved weapon mods at a weapon workbench.
- Zoology– Gain more common organic resources from creatures, harvest from them without harming them, learn additional information about them from the scanner, and allows you to produce animal resources at your outpost. Later ranks allow for the gathering of more rare and exotic organic resources from creatures.
Row 3: Expert Skills
- Astrophysics– Gain the ability to scan moons of your current planet and the chance to discover a trait when scanning. At higher ranks, you can scan lanets and moons from much further way (including Light Years)
- Chemistry– Gain the ability to create and research additional chems at a research lab.
- Outpost Engineering– Gain the ability to create improved outpost modules and additional modules at a research lab. Final rank will make outpost modules cost 50% fewer resources
Row 4: Master Skills
- Aneutronic Fusion– This can provide the ship reactors with additional units of power.
- Planetary Habitation– Enables the ability to build outposts on a variety of planets that were previously too dangerous to set up outposts on. These include planets with extreme temperatures, extreme pressure, toxic or corrosive atmospheres, and extreme gravity. Later ranks also increase the maximum number of outposts you can build.
- Special Projects– Enables the ability to research experimental projects at research labs. Later ranks include crafting rare and exotic manufactured components at an industrial workbench. Final rank also allows outpost extractors a chance to produce additional resources.
Starfield Skills: Tech Skills
Row 1: Basic Skills
- Ballistic Weapon Systems– Increases the damage of ballistic ship weapons while reducing the cost to use them in Targeting Mode. Later ranks also help recharge the Ballistic ship weapons faster and the final rank can do 50% more damage to individual systems.
- Boost Pack Training– Enables the ability to use boost packs. Later levels let boost packs use up less fuel and regenerate the fuel faster.
- Piloting– Allows the use of the ship thrusters. Later ranks can help with the ship turning rate and maneuverability and can allow access to pilot Class B and Class C ships.
- Security– Enables the ability to hack more advanced locks and have auto attempts banked.
- Targeting Control Systems– Unlocks the ship targeting functionality. Later ranks can reduce the lock on time onto enemy ships and slow down the rate they can fire on you.
Row 2: Advanced Skills
- Energy Weapon Systems– Energy ship weapons do more damage and cost less to use in targeting mode. Final Rank allows energy ship weapons to recharge 30% faster.
- Engine Systems– increases the ship’s top speed. You can also boost for longer with a shorter cooldown at later ranks while the final rank can cause all enemies to disengage the place while boosting (the enemy can reacquire the player after they stop boosting).
- Payloads– Increases the amount of cargo a ship can hold.
- Shield Systems—Increases the shielding capacity on ships. The final rank will have shields that occasionally resist 100% of all damage received.
Row 3: Expert Skills
- Missile Weapon Systems– Ship missile weapons do more damage and cost less to use in targeting mode. Final Rank allows ship missile weapons to have a 20% increase in rage, travel speed and reload speed.
- Particle Beam Weapon Systems—Ship particle beam weapons do more damage and cost less to use in targeting mode. Final Rank increases critical hit chances with particle beam weapons.
- Robotics– Will not only increase damage to robots and turrets, but can also force a target robot 10 levels higher than you to stop fighting. Later ranks can force target robots to flee or attack allies while final rank can force a target robot to obey your commands for a limited time.
- Starship Design– Allows for the installation of improved ship modules in Starfield.
- Starship Engineering– Can help repair ships 10% faster. Later ranks can can an increased damage mitigation and final rank can repair the entire system after repairing one block of a system.
Row 4: Master Skills
- Automated Weapon Systems– Automated ship weapons do more damage and cost less to use in targeting mode. Final Rank recharges the ship turret weapons 40% faster.
- Boost Assault Training– This improves the abilities of the boost pack in Starfield. This includes setting enemies on fire when you boost near them, knocking them down, and having in place while aiming down the sights (with a slow down effect at the final rank).
- EM Weapon Systems– EM ship weapons do more damage and cost less to use in targeting mode. Final Rank gives EM ship weapons a small chance to instantly disable enemy engines.
What skills are you going to invest in?
While this was a brief summary of all of the skills in Starfield, we will be going into greater detail in the coming days looking at all the skills in greater detail, the significance of each skill, and how to unlock the higher ranks within said skills. Be sure to follow us here at Strangely Awesome as we have plenty more Starfield coverage in the coming soon.
Starfield is out now on PC and Xbodx Series X|S
How is it going, everyone? I'm Michael Solseth and I'm someone who loves writing about games as much as playing them. Been playing for as long as I can remember and it is exciting to see what the future holds for the industry.
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