Once you leave the safety of Starfield‘s settlements, you’ll face dangers from pirates, Spacer Scum, and hostile aliens. Oftentimes, you can run away, and sometimes you can even negotiate your way to safety. However, there are some situations where violence is the only answer.
If you want to always come out on top in such situations, you should focus on giving your character a good combat build. Creating the ideal combat character in Starfield begins with picking the best traits, and it involves investing your skill points in the right skills. This guide will help you do just that.
Best traits for a combat build in Starfield
You get to pick three traits for your character in Starfield. If you’re going for a combat build, two traits in particular shouldn’t pass up.
- Extrovert – The extrovert trait decreases your oxygen use when traveling with companions. If you’re planning on getting into a lot of combat scenarios, it’s recommended you bring a friend along because they can help you when you’re flooded by enemies.
- Wanted – With this trait, your damage is boosted when your health is low. The downside is that you’ll occasionally be pursued by mercenaries.
You have a bit of freedom with your third trait. Terra Firma is recommended because it boosts your health and oxygen while you’re on a planet’s surface, but they’ll decrease when you’re in space. Most of your combat will take place on the ground, which makes this trait worthwhile. Alternatively, grab Alien DNA. It boosts your oxygen and health but decreases how much you benefit from health aids and food.
Best skills for a combat build in Starfield
As you earn XP in Starfield, you’ll accumulate skill points which you can then use to unlock skills. Each skill has four ranks, and challenges have to be completed before you can use your skill points to rank up. With your first 12 skill points, unlock the following skills:
- Weightlifting – This increases your carrying capacity. It’s vital for pretty much any build. Get it to rank 4 as soon as possible.
- Boost Pack Training – Your boost pack is helpful during combat. Raise this skill to rank 4.
- Wellness – With this skill, your max health will be boosted. Do yourself a favor and raise it to rank 4 as soon as possible.
Once you’ve got these basic skills, you have a bit of freedom regarding where you spend the rest of your skill points. You’re going to want to focus on the Physical and Combat segments of the skill tree. From the Physical segment, grab these skills:
- Boxing – This skill increases the damage you deal when unarmed, and decreases O2 used when performing unarmed attacks.
- Pain Tolerance – With this skill, you’ll take less damage. Get to rank 4 and you’ll last longer in combat.
Next, you’ll want to get your Combat skills. You’ll have to choose which weapons you’ll specialise in. This will depend on your playstyle, and which kind of weapons you like using. You won’t go wrong with Ballistics, but Lasers will also do you well. These are the essential Combat skills:
- Marksmanship – This skill increases your critical hit chance with non-automatic weapons
- Rapid Reloading – Speeds how long it takes to reload weapons
- Armor Penetration – Decreases the effectiveness of enemy armor
- Crippling – Increases odds of enemies entering a downed state, and increases damage dealt when enemies are downed
Here are the skills to consider:
- Ballistics – Increase the damage ballistic weapons deal
- Dueling – This skill increases how much damage your melee weapons deal
- Lasers – Increase the damage laser weapons deal
- Pistol Certification – Increase the damage dealt by pistols
- Shotgun Certification – Increase the damage dealt by shotguns
- Rifle Certification – Increase how much damage rifles deal
- Sniper Certification – Increase damage dealt by snipers, and decrease their sway
With these skills, you’ll be unstoppable. You’ll also need some good armor to protect yourself against enemy attacks, as well as a good set of weapons. Don’t forget to stock up on healing aids to replenish your health during combat.
