All Starfield skills: Every ability in the game

Starfield allows players to learn a wide array of unique skills, contributing to a diverse gameplay experience. Here’s a complete breakdown of all skills available, organized into different categories.

Bethesda’s experience in crafting role-playing games like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout shines through in the detailed skill system of Starfield, highlighting their decades-long expertise in the RPG genre.

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

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 in the game

Here’s a close look at all the skills and abilities you can learn in Starfield.

Skill Name	Ability Type	Effect
Astrodynamics	Science	Decreases Grav Jump fuel cost
Astrophysics	Science	Increases trait chance while scanning moons
Armor Penetration	Combat	Attacks ignore 15% of a targets armor
Aneutronic Fusion	Science	Your ship reactions produce 1 extra unit of power
Automated Weapons Systems	Tech	Automated ship weapons deal 10% more damage & targeting mod costs are reduced by 20%
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 Attack Training	Tech	Nearby enemies take damage when you use your boost pack
Boost Pack Training	Tech	Increases Boost Jump height
Botany	Science	Increases flora scan speed
Boxing	Physical	Unarmed attacks do 25% more damage
Cellular Regeneration	Physical	Your ability to recover from injury naturally is slightly increased
Chemistry	Science	Craft improved chems
Crippling	Combat	Human enemies have a 30% chance of entering a downed state after taking damage
Commerce	Social	Build better trading outposts
Concealment	Physical	Harder to detect while sneaking
Deception	Social	Enemy contraband scans are 10% less effective and Ships 10% stronger than yours will automatically surrender
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
EM Weapon Systems	Tech	EM ship weapons deal 10% more damage & and cost 15% less to use in targeting mode
Energy Weapon Dissipation	Physical	Energy damage in reduced by 5%
Energy Weapon Systems	Tech	Energy ship weapons deal 10% more damage
Energy Sytems	Tech	Ship speed is increased by 10%
Environmental Conditioning	Physical	10% resistance to Airborne environmental damage.
Fitness	Physical	You have 10% more oxygen
Gastronomy	Social	Can craft specialty food and drinks
Geology	Science	Increases ore scan speed
Gymnastics	Physical	Fall damage is reduced by 15% & you unlock the ability to combat slide
Heavy Weapons Certification	Combat	Increases Heavy weapon DMG
Incapacitation	Combat	EM weapons deal 15% more damage
Instigation	Social	Force an NPC to join you temporarily
Intimidation	Social	Force an NPC to flee from you temporarily
Isolation	Social	Gain 10% weapon damage 15% damage resistance for each spacesuit and helmet you have equipped when you’re travelling without a companion or crew.
Lasers	Combat	Increases Laser weapon DMG
Leadership	Social	Companions gain affinity faster
Manipulation	Social	You can force a target NPC below your level to obey your orders for a limited amount of time
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
Nutrition	Physical	Food & drink are 10% more effective
Negotiation	Social	Grants access to Bribery dialouge options.
Neurostrikes	Physical	Increases unarmed attack crit DMG
Outpost Engineering	Science	Build advanced outpost modules
Outpost Management	Social	Can establish trade routes between outposts
Pain Tolerance	Physical	Physical damage is reduced by 5%
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
Plantery Habitation	Science	You can build outposts on planets with extreme tempatures
Rapid Reloading	Combat	Increases weapon reload speed
Rejuvenation	Physical	Health regenerates slowly when you’re outside of combat
Research Methods	Science	Resources needed to craft items and research projects are reduced by 10%
Rifle Certification	Combat	Increases Rifle DMG
Robotics	Tech	Increases DMG to Robots and Turrets
Scanning	Science	Scanning detects uncommon inorganic resources on planet and moon surfaces.
Spacesuit Design	Science	You can craft improved spacesuit, helmet and pack mods
Scavenging	Social	Find more credits while looting
Special Projects	Science	You can research experimental projects at the Research Lab
Security	Tech	Can attempt to hack more advanced locks
Ship Command	Social	You can have up to 4 active crew members
Sharpshooting	Combat	Headshot critical damage is increased by 50% for ranged weapons
Shield Systems	Tech	Ship has 20% increased shield capacity
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
Weapon Enigeering	Science	You can craft improved weapon mods at workbenches
Wellness	Physical	Increases max HP
Xenosociology	Social	Force an NPC to do your bidding temporarily
Zoology	Science	You can get more common resources from creatures and harvest these without harming them / you can also produce animal resources at your outpost

Those are all the skills and abilities you can use in Starfield! For more content on the game, check out our guides below:

Starfield all main story missions | All skills | All factions | All console commands | All difficulty levels explained | All achievements | All skill books | Level cap | How to remove bounty | How to fast travel | Easy XP | Easy credits | Best traits | How to get a house | How to mod weapons and equipment | How to assign your crew | How to add DLSS | How to pick locks | How to customize ship | How to dock ship | Where to sell items | Best movies like Starfield