All Starfield skills: How to upgrade, skill tree, more

Starfield lets players choose from a collection of over 80 skills that can be used to upgrade and boost areas like dialogue, exploration, combat, and other things. To help you build your character, here’s a list of all Starfield skills, their effect, and how to upgrade them.

Starfield is finally here, and following years of anticipation, players can finally dive deep into Bethesda’s new universe. From thousands of planets to four companions with detailed backgrounds, the game has enough content to keep you engaged for hundreds of hours.

While playing Starfield, you’re guaranteed to spend some time building your character as there are a ton of skills that you can learn, upgrade, and use. Also, Bethesda has added a unique skill tree for players to unlock better skills as they progress.

On that note, let’s look at all the skills available in Starfield.

• How many skills are there in Starfield?
• All Starfield skills
  • Physical skills
  • Science skills
  • Social skills
  • Combat skills
  • Tech skills
• How to upgrade skills in Starfield
• Starfield skill tree explained

How many skills are there in Starfield?

There are 82 total skills in Starfield and they are split into the following five categories:

• Combat
• Physical
• Science
• Social
• Tech

As you level up in Starfield, you’ll gain skill points that can be spent on the skill tree to unlock new skills. Every skill in the game also has four ranks and we’ll explain how to climb these ranks below.

All Starfield skills

You’ll find every Starfield skill in the tables below alongside its category, effect, and tier:

Physical skills

Starfield skill	Category	Skill tier	Effect
Wellness	Physical	1	Increases max HP
Weight Lifting	Physical	1	Increases carry capacity
Stealth	Physical	1	More sneak attack DMG
Boxing	Physical	1	Unarmed attacks do more DMG
Fitness	Physical	1	You have more oxygen available.
Pain Tolerance	Physical	2	Physical Damage is reduced.
Nutrition	Physical	2	Food and Drink are more effective.
Gymnastics	Physical	2	Unlock new movement-based abilities.
Environmental Conditioning	Physical	2	Resistance to environmental damage.
Energy Weapon Dissipation	Physical	2	Energy damage reduction.
Martial Arts	Physical	3	Reduces oxygen consumption for unarmed attacks
Cellular Regeneration	Physical	3	Increased chance to recover from injuries naturally.
Decontamination	Physical	3	Decontamination
Neurostrikes	Physical	4	Boosts unarmed Crit DMG
Concealment	Physical	4	Makes it harder to detect you while sneaking
Rejuvenation	Physical	4	Health regeneration outside of combat.

Science skills

Starfield skill	Category	Skill tier	Effect
Medicine	Science	1	Increases healing from med packs
Surveying	Science	1	Adds the ability to zoom to the hand scanner.
Geology	Science	1	Increases scan speed for ores
Astrodynamics	Science	1	Fuel to gravity jump costs less
Botany	Science	2	Increases scan speed for flora
Scanning	Science	2	Players can detect uncommon inorganic resources.
Spacesuit Design	Science	2	You can craft upgrades for your spacesuit.
Weapon Engineering	Science	2	The player can craft improved weapon mods.
Zoology	Science	2	More uncommon resources dropped from creatures.
Outpost Engineering	Science	3	You can build advanced outpost modules
Chemistry	Science	3	Helps you craft better chemicals
Astrophysics	Science	3	Increased trait chance when scanning moons
Special Projects	Science	3	Reseach and craft rare components.
Planetary Habitation	Science	3	You can build outposts on planets under harsh conditions.
Aneutronic Fusion	Science	3	Ship reactors produce extra units of power.

Social skills

Starfield Skill	Category	Skill	Effect
Theft	Social	1	Pick-pocketing success chance increases
Scavenging	Social	1	Increases credit drops
Persuasion	Social	1	Boosts success chance for speech challenges
Gastronomy	Social	1	Lets you craft specialty food and drinks
Commerce	Social	1	Lets you build better outposts
Intimidation	Social	2	NPCs can flee from you temporarily
Diplomacy	Social	2	NPCs won’t attack you temporarily
Negotiation	Social	2	Grants access to Bribery in speech challenges.
Isolation	Social	2	Increases weapon damage and damage resistance when you don’t have a crew.
Bargaining	Social	2	Increases selling price and decrease purchasing cost of items
Outpost management	Social	3	Lets you build trade routes between outposts
Instigation	Social	3	NPCs can attack their allies.
Leadership	Social	3	Companions gain affinity more quickly.
Xenosociology	Social	4	An NPC bids for you temporarily
Manipulation	Social	4	NPC obey your commands temporarily
Ship Control	Social	4	You have up to four crew members.

Combat skills

Starfield Skill	Category	Tier	Effect
Ballistics	Combat	1	More Ballistic weapon DMG
Dueling	Combat	1	Increases melee weapon DMG
Lasers	Combat	1	Increases laser weapon DMG
Pistol Certification	Combat	1	Increases pistol DMG
Shotgun Certification	Combat	1	Increases shotgun weapon DMG
Demolitions	Combat	2	Increases explosive DMG and area of impact
Heavy Weapon Certification	Combat	2	Increases heavy weapon DMG
Particle Beams	Combat	2	Increases particle weapon DMG
Incapacitation	Combat	2	EM weapons do 5% more damage.
Rifle Certification	Combat	2	Increases Rifle DMG
Marksmanship	Combat	3	Increases Marksman weapon DMG
Rapid Reloading	Combat	3	Weapons reload faster
Sniper Certification	Combat	3	Scoped weapon sway reduced
Targeting	Combat	3	Increased hip fire accuracy and range
Armor Penetration	Combat	4	Ignores target armor to some level
Crippling	Combat	4	Human enemies enter a downed stage after taking enough damage.
Sharpshooting	Combat	4	Increases headshot critical damage from ranged weapons

Tech skills

Starfield Skill	Category	Tier	Effect
Ballistic Weapons Systems	Tech	1	Increases ship’s Ballistic DMG
Boost Pack Training	Tech	1	More Boost Jump height
Piloting	Tech	1	Increases ship speed
Security	Tech	1	Lets you hack advanced locks
Targeting Control Systems	Tech	1	Lets you target subsystems in enemy ships
Payloads	Tech	2	More ship cargo capacity
Energy Weapons Systems	Tech	2	Energy ship weapons deal more damage and cost less
Engine Systems	Tech	2	Increases ship’s top speed
Shield Systems	Tech	2	Increases ship’s shield capacity.
Missile Weapon system	Tech	3	Increases ship Missile DMG
Particle Beam weapon system	Tech	3	Increases ship particle beam DMG
Robotics	Tech	3	Increases damage to Robots and Turrets
Starship Design	Tech	3	Unlocks more pre-built modules for ships
Starship Engineering	Tech	3	Unlocks more custom modules for ship
Automated Weapon Systems	Tech	4	Boost Assault Training
Boost Assault Training	Tech	4	Grants abilities when you boost.
EM Weapons Systems	Tech	4	EM ship weapons deal more damage and cost less.

How to upgrade skills in Starfield

You can upgrade skills in Starfield by completing objectives related to the skill itself. For instance, you can increase the rank of the Stealth skill in Starfield by completing the following challenges:

• Rank 1: Perform ten sneak attacks – adds a stealth meter and you are 25% more difficult to detect while sneaking.
• Rank 2: Perform 20 sneak attacks – upgrades the stealth meter and you are 50% more difficult to detect while sneaking.

Similarly, there are tougher but more rewarding challenges to help you reach higher skill ranks.

Starfield skill tree explained

Starfield has five skill trees for Tech, Combat, Social, Science, and Physical skills. Every skill tree has four tiers called Novice (tier 1), Advanced (tier 2), Expert (tier 3), and Master (tier 4), and there’s a fixed number of skills available in every tier. Leveling up grants skill points (1 skill point/level) and you can use them to unlock skills.

To unlock higher skill tiers in Starfield’s skill tree, you must spend a certain number of skill points in the previous skill tier. For example, to unlock the EM Weapons System skill in tier 4 of the Tech skill tree, you must spend a certain number of skill points in tiers 1, 2, and 3.

Apart from the skill tree, you get three starting skills based on the background of your character to start your journey.

Well, this was everything to know about the skills and skill trees in Starfield. For more content on the ARPG, check out:

Does Starfield have multiplayer or co-op? | Does Starfield have mod support at launch? | Does Starfield have New Game Plus? | Is Starfield on Steam Deck? | Will Starfield have DLC & story expansions? | Starfield Outposts explained: How to build bases | Every religion in Starfield explained | Starfield plants explained: All types & how to scan | Who is the Adoring Fan in Starfield? | Starfield jail system explained