All Starfield skills: Every ability confirmed so far

Starfield has an extended skill tree packed with many abilities. Players are able to customize their created characters in terms of appearance and gameplay, and we’ve got a list of all the available skills in the game that we know of so far.

Bethesda are seasoned veterans when it comes to making role-playing games. Over the course of several decades, the company has created two of the most iconic RPG franchises ever – The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.

A staple of these games has been detailed and in-depth skill trees. A big weave of abilities tied to certain attributes and traits. Players can then use them to improve and add to their character to increase their proficiency in certain areas.

Starfield also utilizes this successful system, and we already know a bunch of skills that will feature in Behesda’s epic sci-fi RPG game.

Contents

• How many abilities & skills are in Starfield?
• How to upgrade skills in Starfield
• Every Starfield ability & skill confirmed so far

Bethesda

How many abilities & skills are in Starfield?

There are a grand total of 82 abilities for players to unlock in Starfield.

These are split into the following categories:

• Combat
• Physical
• Science
• Social
• Tech

How to upgrade skills in Starfield

To gain access to a skill in Starfield, you must first purchase it with a skill point, Once you’ve done that, you can then only upgrade the skill by satisfying a certain gameplay requirement.

For example, if you purchase the Ballistics ability using a skill point, you can then upgrade it to the next level by meeting the following objective: “Kill 250 enemies with a ballistic weapon.”

Every Starfield ability & skill confirmed so far

Here’s a close look at every confirmed Starfield skill and ability in the game so far.

Skill Name	Ability Type	Effect
Astrodynamics	Science	Decreases Grav Jump fuel cost
Astrophysics	Science	Increases trait chance while scanning moons
Ballistic Weapon Systems	Tech	Increases ship Ballistic DMG
Ballistics	Combat	Increases Ballistic weapon DMG
Bargaining	Social	Buy items for less and sell for more
Boost Pack Training	Tech	Increases Boost Jump height
Botany	Science	Increases flora scan speed
Chemistry	Science	Craft improved chems
Commerce	Social	Build better trading outposts
Concealment	Physical	Harder to detect while sneaking
Decontamination	Physical	Increases infection recovery chance
Demolitions	Combat	Increases Explosive DMG and radius
Diplomacy	Social	Force an NPC not to attack you temporarily
Dueling	Combat	Increases Melee weapon DMG
Gastronomy	Social	Can craft specialty food and drinks
Geology	Science	Increases ore scan speed
Heavy Weapons Certification	Combat	Increases Heavy weapon DMG
Instigation	Social	Force an NPC to join you temporarily
Intimidation	Social	Force an NPC to flee from you temporarily
Lasers	Combat	Increases Laser weapon DMG
Leadership	Social	Companions gain affinity faster
Marksmanship	Combat	Increases Marksman weapon DMG
Martial Arts	Physical	Unarmed attacks use less Oxygen
Medicine	Science	Increases Med Pack healing
Missile Weapons System	Tech	Increases ship Missile DMG
Neurostrikes	Physical	Increases unarmed attack crit DMG
Outpost Engineering	Science	Build advanced outpost modules
Outpost Management	Social	Can establish trade routes between outposts
Particle Beam Weapon Systems	Tech	Increase ship Particle Beam DMG
Particle Beams	Combat	Increases Particle Beam weapon DMG
Payloads	Tech	Increases ship cargo capacity
Persuasion	Social	Increases success chance for speech challenges
Piloting	Tech	Increases ship speed
Pistol Certification	Combat	Increases Pistol DMG
Rapid Reloading	Combat	Increases weapon reload speed
Rifle Certification	Combat	Increases Rifle DMG
Robotics	Tech	Increases DMG to Robots and Turrets
Scavenging	Social	Find more credits while looting
Security	Tech	Can attempt to hack more advanced locks
Shotgun Certification	Combat	Increases Shotgun DMG
Sniper Certification	Combat	Decreases scoped weapon sway
Starship Design	Tech	Unlocks more ship pre-built modules
Starship Engineering	Tech	Unlocks more ship custom modules
Stealth	Physical	Increases sneak attack DMG
Surveying	Science	The Surveying skill likely gives you bonuses to your scanning percentage when using your survey tool.
Targeting	Combat	Increases hipfire accuracy and range
Targeting Control Systems	Tech	Target different subsystems on enemy ships
Theft	Social	Increases pickpocketing success chance
Weight Lifting	Physical	Increases carry capacity
Wellness	Physical	Increases max HP
Xenosociology	Social	Force an NPC to do your bidding temporarily

As you can see, there are many abilities already confirmed with still many more to go. As we draw closer to the game’s release, we’ll continue to keep you updated with extra abilities and skills.

We’ve got tons of additional Starfield guides you must check out. To do so, check out below to see what’s in store for you:

Is Starfield’s universe procedurally generated? | Will Starfield be on Steam Deck? | Is Starfield on PS5? | Starfield PC requirements: Recommended & minimum specs | Will Starfield have a Photo Mode at launch? | Is Starfield coming to Nintendo Switch? | Is Starfield single-player? | Does Starfield have New Game Plus mode? | Will Starfield have mod support? | Can you do a pacifist run in Starfield? | Will Starfield have a playable demo?