The best skills to level up first in Starfield

In Starfield, skills pay the bills. Having access to the right skills can make life much easier when you are tracking a bounty through space or trying to crack a difficult safe. As you play, you earn skill points, and knowing where to invest them gives you a great advantage from the very beginning of the game.

The best skills to level up early in Starfield

Weight Lifting

I cannot overstate how much this skill will benefit you. The weight you carry in Starfield really matters, as it can sap your oxygen quickly if you are carrying too much. The Weight Lifting skill will allow you to carry much more, up to 100 kilograms extra, when you fully rank it up. This one is a must, as you will quickly find yourself overflowing with loot.

Security

The Security skill lets you try to hack tougher safes. While you can always use a Digipick to break into novice-level locks, you’ll need to invest in this skill if you want to get past more advanced locks. You find advanced and expert-level safes quite early in the game, and being able to crack them can result in some great weapons and loot coming your way. Safes can contain all manner of interesting items, even Legendary weapons, so this is an important skill to have.

Stealth

Don’t get me wrong, you can sneak around from the very beginning of Starfield, but it really gets going after you invest a point into the Stealth skill. It takes the shroud off Starfield’s sneaking mechanics by giving you a stealth meter that shows your detection levels. You also gain additional damage with sneak attacks while using suppressed weapons. You’ll be grateful for the ability to be sneaky when you’re stealing and selling contraband all over the galaxy.

Boost Pack Training

Definitely don’t sleep on Boost Pack Training, as it solves a serious early-game problem. In the early game, you’re likely to find that you keep running out of oxygen. This is essentially a fatigue mechanic, and the boost pack will allow you to bypass it to a degree. Run a few steps, then boost a little, and while in the air, you will regain much of your oxygen. You can repeat the process to move quickly. Once you get the cadence down, it’s the only way to travel in Starfield. You get your first boost pack when you arrive at The Lodge in New Atlantis, so make sure to invest in your boost pack training shortly after.

Piloting

The first level of piloting lets you use your ship’s thrusters, but it gets even more interesting later. If you want to fly some of the better ships, then you’ll need to upgrade this skill. Rank 3 allows you to fly B-class ships, and Rank 4 allows you to fly C-class ships. Due to the way that ranking up skills works (more on that later), this might take some time, so start investing early. Your ability to pilot some of the harder-hitting ships will really matter in missions like Eye of the Storm.

Targeting Control Systems

Targeting control systems let you target specific parts of enemy ships. It’s vital if you want to board enemy ships, as you can take out their engines and weapons before boarding for some close-quarters combat.

Astrodynamics

If you’re planning to spend a lot of time exploring the stars, you’ll definitely want this skill, as it will reduce the amount of fuel required for jumps. It means you can travel further and essentially explore faster. At Rank 4, you can travel 50% further for the same fuel cost, and it would take a considerable financial investment to buy a ship that could give you that increased range.

Theft

Theft lets you pickpocket people, and like most Bethesda games, it’s very useful skill to have. Combine it with stealth to stay out of sight, and you can snag valuables without their owners noticing. It can be especially useful against enemies in combat, as you can often steal Med Packs.

How to earn skill points in Starfield

Earning skill points is actually quite easy. Finishing missions, exploring new areas, performing research, and killing enemies will all earn you experience. Every time you level up, you gain a skill point. Things get interesting when it comes to ranking up your skills: You can’t simply stack up points and invest them all at once to max out a skill.

How ranking up skills works

Ranking up skills in Starfield requires you to finish specific challenges that you’re given every time you purchase a new skill level. For example, if you get Boost Pack Training to Rank 2, you need to use the boost back 25 times during combat to be able to level it up to Rank 3, and you’ll also need to spend a skill point to do so.

At Rank 1, the Targeting Control System requires you to get five kills while using it to unlock Rank 2. Each skill and rank comes with a new challenge for you to complete before you can spend another skill point to get the next rank. This means you cannot store skill points and dump them all into a skill when you need it.

What is the max level in Starfield?

The developers have confirmed that there is no max level in Starfield. You can keep earning levels as long as you want. There is a maximum number of skill points needed to max out all the skills, however. Ultimately, the most important factor for choosing your skills is your playstyle: If you want to play stealthily, socially savvy, or ruthlessly violent, pick the appropriate skills and you’ll have a good time.

If you’ve yet to dive into your Starfield adventure, be sure to check out the best backgrounds to take during character creation. Each one gives you a valuable head start with certain skills.