Skills in Bethesda games are undoubtedly one of the broadest deep progression systems the studio includes in its RPGs. And, with Starfield, the studio isn’t holding back with multiple skill groups to choose from and a number of Starfield skills within them.
Rather than traditionally applying skill points to a general group of skills, they are split into five different groups in Starfield. These groups are Social, Physical Combat, Science, and Tech. Each group has more than a dozen skills to choose from and depending on your Starfield backgrounds, you can begin the game with three of these skills already equipped.
This article will touch on how those skills work, how you can get more, and what conditions are attached to obtaining more powerful or new skills. Read on to see the currently announced Starfield skills, as well as the explanation of how they work.
Starfield Skills
We currently know about 20 skills in Starfield, across all five categories of skills within the game, in varying degrees of detail.
Upon earning a skill point you can choose to unlock a skill of your choice. Once unlocked initially, they can be ranked up a total of four times by completing challenges and using the skills, such as the mechanic they grant or the weapons the bonuses are applied to.
Once those challenges are completed, it appears that you then need to spend skill points to actually fully unlock the skill.
PHYSICAL SKILLS
Physical skills appear to be focused on melee combat and your pure strength during fights. These skills are also likely to affect things like your ability to carry certain items or force open locked doors. A deep look at the Physical skills hasn’t been showcased yet, though.
Wellness Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Social Skills
Social skills govern your ability to handle social situations and succeed during them, convincing hostiles or bringing people to you. They are focused on dialogue choices and non-hostile resolutions to problems. A full look at this tree though hasn’t been showcased yet.
Bargaining Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Diplomacy Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Gastronomy Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Persuasion Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Weight Lifting Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Combat Skills
Combat skills are all about well, combat. These skills focus on firepower, boosting your accuracy and the strength of weapons. The skills also cover things like damage resistance when firing weapons and dealing damage yourself. The combat skills we know about so far include:
Ballistics Skill
“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.
- Rank 4 – Ballistic weapons range is increased by 30%. (Unlocked to purchase upon killing 250 enemies with a ballistic weapon.)
Dueling Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Pistol Certification Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Demolitions Skill
- Rank 1 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 2 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 3 – Explosives do 30% more damage and have a 30% larger radius. (Unlocked to purchase upon killing 125 enemies with explosives.)
- Rank 4 – Information unknown at this time.
Heavy Weapons Certification Skill
- Rank 1 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 2 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 3 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 4 – Gain 30 damage resistance while aiming down sights with a heavy weapon. (Unlocked to purchase upon killing 250 enemies with a heavy weapon.)
Marksmanship Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Particle Beams
Information unknown at this time.
Laser Beams Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Rapid Reloading Skill
- Rank 1 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 2 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 3 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 4 – Gain a chance to reload your weapon twice as fast as normal. (Unlocked to purchase upon reloading 150 empty magazines.)
Sniper Certification Skill
- Rank 1 – Scoped weapons are steadier and have less sway.
- Rank 2 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 3 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 4 – Information unknown at this time.
Targeting Skill
- Rank 1 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 2 – Information unknown at this time.
- Rank 3 – Greatly increased accuracy and range when shooting without aiming. (Unlocked to purchase upon killing 125 enemies without aiming.)
- Rank 4 – Information unknown at this time.
Science Skills
Science Skills are most likely to be focused on mechanics like crafting and being able to use equipment found in facilities on the game’s more than 1,000 Starfield planets. We haven’t yet had a proper look at this tree though yet.
Medicine Skill
Information unknown at this time.
Tech Skills
Tech skills are most likely to govern aspects such as your ability to use technology and technological items in the game. It is also likely to affect your ability to lockpick and hack terminals or weapon cases. However, we haven’t seen this tree in detail yet.
Robotics
Information unknown at this time.
Security Skill
Information unknown at this time.
That covers all the Starfield skills we know about. For more on the game’s many progression systems, check out the various Starfield traits and the various Starfield factions that have been confirmed for the RPG.
Xbox Game Pass for Console$10.99$1.00BUY NOWNetwork N earns commission from qualifying purchases via Microsoft and other programs.
