Starfield: All Skills – Physical, Social, Combat, Science, Tech

Starfield early access is here at last. This is Bethesda’s first new universe in 25 years, and it absolutely has that classic Bethesda feel made popular by Elder Scrolls and Fallout. This game is the third of the Big Three. It’s sci-fi Elder Scrolls.

Of course, being a Bethesda RPG means there are tons of ways to customize your character’s strength as they level in. Perk systems are included in virtually every Bethesda open-world RPG. In Starfield, the categories are Physical, Social, Combat, Science, and Tech.

All Physical skills in Starfield

Physical skills improve your character’s (you guessed it) physical prowess. From melee damage to maximum health to endurance to carrying capacity—anyone with experience in Bethesda games, or any RPG really, will find this tree fairly easy to get an understanding of.

• Basic (no prerequisite) Physical skills:
  • Boxing—increases melee damage
  • Fitness—increases oxygen levels
  • Stealth—increases stealth ability, increases stealth damage
  • Weightlifting—increases carry weight
  • Wellness—increases maximum health
• Advanced (requires four points in Physical to access) Physical skills:
  • Energy Weapon Dissipation—Reduces damage from Energy weapons
  • Environmental Conditioning—Reduces environmental damage
  • Gymnastics—Unlocks Slide ability and reduces fall damage
  • Nutrition—Increased food/drink benefits
  • Pain Tolerance—Reduces physical damage taken
• Expert (requires eight points in Physical to access) Physical skills:
  • Cellular Regeneration—Increases injury recovery
  • Decontamination—Increases infection recovery
  • Martial Arts—increases melee critical hit chance
• Master (requires 12 points in Physical to access) Physical skills:
  • Concealment—Greatly increases sneak effectiveness
  • Neurostrikes—Unlocks stun chance for unarmed strikes
  • Rejuvenation—Regenerate health in and out of combat

The Physical skill tree is fairly straightforward. The only slightly uncommon thing about the way this tree is handled in Starfield is the fact that stealth and tankiness are in the same tree when usually the two are separated.

All Social skills in Starfield

Social skills can be thought of as charisma in Starfield. They do everything from unlocking better buying/selling prices to allowing you to talk your way out of combat. Bethesda loves making a silver tongue an effective way to defeat your enemies, and it’s no different in this game. Don’t sleep on your social skills!

• Basic Social skills:
  • Commerce—Better vendor prices
  • Gastronomy—Unlocks crafting of special food and drinks
  • Persuasion—Better chances of Persuasion success
  • Scavenging—Find extra items when looting
  • Theft—Unlocks pickpocketing
• Advanced (requires four points in Social to access) Social skills:
  • Deception—Increased chance of smuggling contraband
  • Diplomacy—Causes an NPC to become nonhostile
  • Intimidation—Causes an NPC to flee
  • Isolation—Increases damage while traveling alone
  • Negotiation—Increases Bribery success chances
• Expert (requires eight points in Social to access) Social skills:
  • Instigation—Causes an NPC to become hostile towards its allies
  • Leadership—Increases companion strength
  • Outpost Management—More resources from outposts
• Master (requires twelve points in Social to access) Social Skills:
  • Manipulation—Control target NPC
  • Ship Command—Increases crew member capacity
  • Xenosociology—Control target alien creature

Social skills can actually lead to some of the most effective combat strategies you’ll find in Starfield. A little charm goes a long way.

All Combat skills in Starfield

This tree focuses on weapon effectiveness and unlocks some neat special skills. If you love a good arsenal-based weapons expert build, this is the tree for you.

• Basic Combat skills:
  • Ballistics—Increases ballistic weapon damage
  • Dueling—Increases melee weapon damage
  • Lasers—Increases laser weapon damage
  • Pistol Certification—Increases pistol damage
  • Shotgun Certification—Increases shotgun damage
• Advanced (requires four points in Combat to access) Combat skills:
  • Demolitions—Increases explosive damage
  • Heavy Weapons Certification—Increases heavy weapon damage
  • Incapacitation—Increases energy weapon damage
  • Particle Beams—Increases particle beam weapon damage
  • Rifle Certification—Increases rifle damage
• Expert (requires eight points in Combat to access) Combat skills:
  • Marksmanship—Increases critical hit chance with precision weapons
  • Rapid Reloading—Increases reload speed
  • Sniper Certification—Increases scoped weapon damage
  • Targeting—Increases hip-fire effectiveness
• Master (requires 12 points in Combat to access) Combat skills:
  • Armor Penetration—Attacks ignore enemy armor
  • Crippling—Increases chance to down enemies
  • Sharpshooting—Increases critical hit damage

This tree has some of the most objectively strong combat skills (duh) in Starfield, although I personally don’t find it totally necessary, as the game is not very difficult unless you choose to play on Very Hard. In my opinion, you should choose this tree for RP flavor, not because you think you need it to succeed.

All Science skills in Starfield

It should come as no surprise to players that Starfield places a huge emphasis on science. The amount of research, data gathering, and other juicy nerd things you can do in this game is absolutely delightful. Science is SO much more than crafting Stimpaks in Starfield.

• Basic Science skills:
  • Astrodynamics—Increases grav jump range on ships
  • Geology—Increases resource yield from ore
  • Medicine—Increases healing
  • Research Methods—Lowers the item cost of all research
  • Surveying—Increases the distance of the hand scanner
• Advanced (requires four points in this tree) Science skills:
  • Botany—Get more resources from plants
  • Scanning—Detect rare resources from orbit
  • Spacesuit Design—Craft better equipment
  • Weapon Engineering—Craft better weapon modifications
  • Zoology—Obtain more resources from creatures
• Expert (requires eight points in this tree) Science skills:
  • Astrophysics—Unlocks planet scanning
  • Chemistry—Craft better chem items
  • Outpost Engineering—Build better outposts
• Master (requires 12 points in this tree) Science skills:
  • Aneutronic Fusion—Increases ship power
  • Planetary Habitation—Unlocks more planets to be built upon
  • Special Projects—Craft rare components

Science really is fantastically done in this game. Starfield already places a great emphasis on innovation and exploration of the unknown, this tree makes all of that even more exciting. I personally recommend going this route if you’re somebody who really likes engaging with everything a game has to offer.

All Tech skills in Starfield

This tree governs all ship upgrades as well as computer skills including lockpicking. Space combat is a ton of fun in Starfield, and Bethesda has done a good job of making you actually think a little bit when picking locks, rather than just waiting until you get lucky.

• Basic Tech skills:
  • Ballistic Weapon Systems—Increases ballistic ship weapon damage
  • Boost Pack Training—Unlocks boost packs
  • Piloting—Unlocks ship thrusters
  • Security—Increases lockpicking ability
  • Targeting Control Systems—Unlocks better ship targeting systems
• Advanced (requires four points in this tree) Tech skills:
  • Energy Weapon Systems—Increases energy weapon damage on ships
  • Engine Systems—Improves top speed on ships
  • Payloads—Increases cargo capacity on ships
  • Shield Systems—Increases shielding capacity on ships
• Expert (requires eight points in this tree) Tech skills:
  • Missile Weapon Systems—Increases missile damage on ships
  • Particle Beam Weapon Systems—Increases particle beam damage on ships
  • Robotics—Increases all damage to robots and turrets
  • Starship Design—Unlocks better ship modules
  • Starship Engineering—Increases repair speed on ships
• Master (requires twelve points in this tree) Tech skills:
  • Automated Weapon Systems—Increases damage of automated weaponry on ships
  • Boost Assault Training—Improves boost pack functionality
  • EM Weapon Systems—Improves EM weapon damage on ships

Tech is perhaps the most straightforward of all skill trees in Starfield. Lockpicking is taken care of early in this tree, and everything else focuses on improving your ships. Space combat is a pretty big part of this game—while it is not technically necessary to unlock these skills, it will certainly save you some credits as now even a cheap ship can be deadly.

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