What are Starfield legendary items? One of the most exciting pieces of loot you can get while exploring in the game are the various Starfield legendary weapons and Starfield legendary armor. These powerful items are worth chasing, but how do you get legendary items in Starfield? Well, we’ve already got a good idea of these valuable items. So, here’s everything you need to know about Starfield legendaries right now.
Starfield legendary weapons and armor are a great way to increase your power, alongside the actual Starfield powers. So, while you’re exploring the Starfield planets and completing quests with your Starfield companions, see if you can get your hands on some legendary items.
Starfield legendary items explained
Starfield legendary items are weapons and armor with three bonus effects and modifiers that make them powerful gear worth tracking down. They are the highest quality of standard item drop.
From our experience, any of the Starfield weapons and Starfield armor can drop as a legendary item, simply having three unique and powerful bonus effects attached to it. For example, an Incendiary Calibrated Deep Mining Space Helmet is a standard Deep Mining helmet comes with the Incendiary effect that gives a 10% chance to ignite nearby enemies.
These legendary items and effects are strong, potentially even build-changing bonuses that can change how you play if you find a specific combination you enjoy. If you’re using an Incendiary legendary weapon, for instance, charging into close-range with enemies using a shotgun will make you feel like a badass.
When you inspect a piece of gear, you will notice that it has a tier level. Legendary gear is represented by a gold banner and three stars, so you will want to keep your eyes out for this kind of item drop.
It’s worth noting that legendary weapons and armor are not the same as unique items. While legendary items are standard items with legendary prefixes and modifiers applied to them, unique items are truly one-of-a-kind. Check out our guide to the Starfield unique weapons to find out more.
Additionally, we can’t not mention that Starfield New Game Plus will wipe your inventory. So, if you’ve got one of the best legendaries that you love using, be prepared to lose it if you decide to enter NG+.
How to get Starfield legendary weapons and armor
Starfield legendary weapons and armor can be found just about anywhere, from any standard loot source, as they are simply rare, high-quality items with bonus effects. As such, they are not one-of-a-kind equipment pieces.
If you’re eager to get legendaries, we’d recommend completing Starfield missions. With lots of enemies blocking your path and chests to loot, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to find legendary weapons and armor.
Remember, you can always further improve legendary gear at workbenches, such as at Starfield outposts and other crafting stations, expanding on the system from Fallout 4.
Starfield legendary modifiers
The Starfield legendary modifiers are:
- Ablative (suit) – decrease incoming Energy damage by 15%
- Acrobat (suit) – decrease fall damage by 50%
- Analyzer (helmet) – increase damage to scanned targets by 10%
- Anti-Ballistic (suit) – decrease incoming Physical damage by 15%
- Anti-Personnel (weapon) – increase damage against humans by 10%
- Antiseptic (suit) – increase Airborne Resistance by 25
- Armor-Plated (pack) – decrease Physical, Energy, and EM damage by 10%
- Assisted Carry (pack) – drain 75% less O2 when running while encumbered
- Auto-Medic (suit) – automatically use a Med Pack when below 25% health, one every 60 seconds
- Bashing (weapon) – deals double damage when gun bashing
- Beast Hunter (suit) – decrease damage from alien enemies by 15%
- Berserker (weapon) – increase damage against enemies based on your missing armor
- Bolstering (suit) – grants up to 100 Energy Resistance and Physical Resistance the lower your health is
- Chameleon (suit) – blend with the environment when sneaking and not moving
- Combat Veteran (suit) – decrease damage from human enemies by 15%
- Concussive (weapon) – gain a small chance to knock down enemies
- Cornered (weapon) – damage increases based on your missing health
- Corrosive (weapon) – randomly deals corrosive damage and reduces the enemy’s armor
- Crippling (weapon) – deals bonus damage on the next attack after hitting a target’s limbs
- Demoralizing (weapon) – gain a small chance to demoralize enemies
- Disassembler (weapon) – increase damage against robots by 20%
- Elemental (weapon) – randomly deals corrosive, incendiary, poison, and radiation damage
- Explosive (weapon) – randomly deals explosive damage
- Extended Magazine (weapon) – increase the base magazine capacity
- Exterminator (weapon) – increase damage against aliens by 30%
- Fastened (pack) – increase carry capacity by 20
- Frenzy (weapon) – gain a small chance to frenzy enemies
- Furious (weapon) – consecutive hits increase damage dealt
- Galvanized (suit) – increase Corrosive Resistance by 25
- Hacker (helmet) – increase the number of auto-attempts you can store when lockpicking by two
- Handloading (weapon) – gain volatile ammo that deal more damage but can occasionally fail
- Headhunter (helmet) – deal 25% increased damage on the next attack after hitting a target’s head
- Hitman (weapon) – increase damage while aiming by 25%
- Incendiary (weapon) – gain a 10% chance to ignite nearby attackers
- Instigating (weapon) – deal bonus damage to enemies with full health
- Lacerate (weapon) – gain a chance to inflict bleed while attacking a target
- Leadline (suit) – increase Radiation Resistance by 25
- Liquid Cooled (suit) – increase Thermal Resistance by 25
- Mechanized (suit) – increase carry capacity by 40
- Med Theft (weapon) – chance that enemies drop bonus Med Packs
- Mirrored (suit) – gain a low chance to reflect attacks
- O2 Booster (helmet) – increase oxygen capacity by 20%
- O2 Filter (helmet) – decrease oxygen consumption by 25%
- One Inch Punch (weapon) – causes the weapon to fire in a spread like a shotgun
- Oxygenated (weapon) – increase maximum breath when aiming using a scoped weapon
- Peacemaker (suit) – increase rifle damage by 10%
- Poison (weapon) – gain a chance to inflict poison damage and slow the target
- Radioactive (weapon) – gain a chance to inflict radioactive damage and demoralize the target
- Rapid (weapon) – increase rate of fire by 25%
- Reactive (suit) – gain a chance to stagger attackers
- Repulsing (suit) – gain a chance to disarm attackers
- Resource Hauler (suit) – resources weight less
- Sensor Chip (helmet) – increase accuracy when firing while moving
- Sentinel (suit) – gain a high chance to reduce damage while standing still
- Shattering (weapon) – increase armor damage
- Skip Shot (weapon) – every fourth shot fires two projectiles
- Space-Adept (weapon) – gain increased damage while in space, but decreased damage while on a planet
- Staggering (weapon) – gain a small chance to stagger enemies
- Technician (suit) – decrease incoming melee damage by 15%
- Tesla (weapon) – gain a chance to deal electric damage when firing that slows enemies
- Titanium Build (weapon) – reduce weapon weight
- Weapon Holsters (suit) – weapons weigh less
With 62 legendary modifiers in Starfield, this is quite an increase over the selection available in Fallout 4. Fallout 4 had 50 legendary prefixes once all of the game’s DLC had been released. This offers players a great deal of variety when it comes to planning a build for your character. After all, the best RPG games generally give players lots of options to hone their playstyle and journey outside of the Starfield character creation process.
Check out our guide to the best Starfield builds for more ways to tweak your playstyle.
Best Starfield legendary weapons and armor
The best Starfield legendary weapons and armor will often have the following bonuses:
- Berserker (weapon)
- Concussive (weapon)
- Cornered (weapon)
- Corrosive (weapon)
- Crippling (weapon)
- Frenzy (weapon)
- Furious (weapon)
- Hitman (weapon)
- Incendiary (weapon)
- Lacerate (weapon)
- O2 Booster (helmet)
- O2 Filter (helmet)
- Resource Hauler (suit)
- Sensor Chip (helmet)
These legendary modifiers are great for increasing damage, such as Furious and Lacerate, providing crowd control, like Furious, or adding quality of life, like the O2 modifiers.
Given that legendary weapons and armor can have three modifiers, you can get a good spread of perks, sometimes even having multiple of the best legendary modifiers on a single items. This will massively increase your power as you reach the endgame.
And that’s all there is to know about Starfield legendaries and legendary weapons, and armor, which can be paired with the best Starfield skills to create powerful builds.
Still looking for more? While a good Starfield wiki can be a handy source of information, our new Starfield Database goes further, offering you daily news, searchable databanks, and even interactive tools.