Best Starfield builds

What are the best Starfield builds? Whether you’re taking your first tentative steps in Alpha Centauri or surveying the barren wastes of far-flung moons, choosing the best Starfield build is a must if you want to survive in the Settled Systems.

After hundreds of hours spent in Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG, we’ve curated an expert list of the best builds in Starfield for every kind of player. Each build excels in different areas, so at least one will match your preferred combat style. Starfield skills are the backbone of any build, but certain Starfield companions and Starfield weapons can often take them to the next level.

The best Starfield build is shaped by your own playstyle and the situations you expect your spacefarer to find themselves in as you shape their character. Starfield character creation can leave you spoiled for choice, but selecting the optimal Starfield background and Starfield traits for the kind of spacefarer you want to be can often mean the early-game difference between life and death.

Here are the best builds in Starfield:

• Melee build
• Stealth build
• Ranged build
• Sniper build
• Tank build
• Boost build

Starfield melee build

The best Starfield melee build relies on getting up close and personal with your enemies. Our dedicated guide gets into the details of how to beat your way out of almost any situation, but the most important aspects of the build are which skills to choose.

You’ll want to focus on wellness to increase your health and martial arts to ensure that any melee attacks hit as hard as possible. We recommend you at least carry some blade or melee weapon for this build, but you can easily swap out Dueling in combat skills for the same amount of points in Boxing (physical) if you want to punch things instead.

Since you’re taking the Ronin background, it makes perfect sense also to take the Introverted trait. This is because both are negatively affected when companions accompany you, so it’s best to go in alone for combat.  You’ll also want to take some points in Medicine so you can heal quickly if required and bring us closer to Weapon Engineering.

Starfield stealth build

The best Starfield stealth build is all about the art of sneaking around. Our advice is to remain undetected as you steal and pickpocket until your targets are dry and then to stay out of trouble when it’s most important. If you are spotted while plundering, your boost pack training will help you to make a quick getaway.

We also highly recommend that you go with an Introverted character, as companions have a nasty habit of giving away your position by yelling obscenities at your foes. To help you along the way, our dedicated guide has the intricacies of the build, including why you should be taking some less obvious perks, such as dueling.

Starfield ranged build

The Starfield ranged build is about keeping distance between you and anything that might do you harm. It focuses on weapon specialties and ballistics expertise. Your enemies won’t be able to keep up with the pace you set in a combat environment.

We recommend taking the Soldier background for this one as this gives you extra bonuses in Fitness, Ballistics, and Boost Pack Training to help you move around a bit. Your main guns of choice will be any rifle, but you may wish to specialize in fully automatic ones where possible. Armor Penetration will also be very handy for dealing with robots and other heavily armored foes.

Starfield sniper build

This Starfield sniper build relies on the Isolation skill to gain a massive damage bonus while rolling solo. You’ll want to focus on skills in Wellness and Ballistics and take the Combat Medic background to make the most of your self-preservation skills.

Many of the combat skills here focus on maximizing the amount of damage each sniper round hits enemies for, so be sure to get those. As for your social skills, persuasion helps you avoid trouble if interrogated, while an increased Scavenging skill ensures you don’t run out of bullets. As for your weapons of choice, use the best sniper rifle that uses real bullets exclusively where possible, but keep a shorter-range rifle if you need to fight in closer quarters.

Starfield tank build

Every good team needs a beefy unit that can take damage and support allies, and this Starfield tank build is no different. Focus on gastronomy, medicine, wellness, pain tolerance, and energy weapon dissipation to make good use of your healing via food and drink and reach heavy weapon certification, making this build one of the strongest in Bethesda’s space game.

The Alien DNA does make it so that you’re eating a lot more than normal, but the extra max health is worth it. We also recommend taking the Terra Firma as you’re more likely to spend time in combat on planets than in space, so it seems silly not to get the extra health and oxygen. Shotguns are your best choice for weapons where possible as they give you the most bang for your buck.

Starfield boost build

Taking the bounty hunter background for this Starfield boost build is a sure-fire way to (ahem) boost your effectiveness. Make sure to train with the Starfield boost pack for maximum mobility and take combat skills in shotgun certification, ballistics, and targeting to hit hard and take enemies down.

You’ll likely be traveling with a companion, so taking the Extrovert trait can help out here, and depending on whether or not you’ll be doing most of your exploration in deep space or on planets, Spaced or Terra Firma will give you extra oxygen in certain situations.

Speaking of space, you can’t use a lot of these mobility skills while piloting a spaceship, but the majority of the tech skills here can help you with space combat, and in particular, getting into positions where you can fire your weapons at an exposed weak spot.

Now that you’ve crafted the best Starfield build, take to the stars with the best Starfield ships you can get your hands on before the Shattered Space DLC lands. We’ve also got some of the best games like Starfield to pass the time; alternatively, take a trip down memory lane with our Starfield review to see how Bethesda’s interstellar IP went down with us at launch.

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.