How to use the scanner in Starfield

❘ Updated: 2023-12-20T16:17:22

Bethesda Game Studios

Starfield offers a variety of tools to enhance your space adventure, with the scanner being particularly crucial. Here’s how to use this tool effectively and understand its role in the game.

The journey through Starfield’s vast universe is defined by exploration. From planets to unique ecosystems and civilizations, the scanner is vital in navigating these elements, helping players make the most of their interstellar expedition and solve the universe’s enigmatic questions.

One such item that will help you to make your journey easier in Starfield is the scanner. This is a very simple tool but its utility surpasses almost everything that you have in the game.

A guide on how to use the scanner and its utility has been presented in the following sections.

The Surveying skill enhances the scanning potency for a player

How to use and upgrade the scanner in Starfield

Using the scanner is quite simple in Starfield. All you need to do is press F on PC or LB on your Xbox controller in order to activate it. This will open the scanner mode and then you can point it at almost anything and everything to extract information.

The scanner can also be upgraded in Starfield. In order to do this you need to level up your Surveying, and Astrophysics skills. The first one will enhance the scanner in your hand, while the last will enhance your ship’s scanner.

Scanner utility in Starfield

Scanner can be used for a variety of activities within the game. The various things you can use the scanner for in the game have been provided below:

Planetary materials: Planets are filled with a variety of resources and it is often hard to get a good look at those with the naked eye. The hand scanner will make that task infinitely easier. This includes both the flora and fauna of the concerned planet.
Fast Travel: Scanner can be used to fast travel to your ship while you are outdoors. All you need to do is point in the direction of your ship. However, you need to mark your ship else it will not work.
Figure out the best path: The scanner can help to find out the path you need to take to reach your destination in the least amount of time.
Locate enemies and NPCs: The scanner can be used to locate and highlight enemies and NPCs on any planet.
Collectibles: The scanner can also be used to highlight special materials and collectibles that you might want to pick up while exploring.
Scanning Planets from a distance: You can also scan a planet from a distance. However, you will need the ship’s scanner for this purpose.

This concludes our guide to using a scanner in Starfield. If you found it informative please check out some of our other guides at Dexerto.