Starfield: Skill book locations & effects

❘ Published: 2023-09-01T15:22:15

Bethesda

Skill books in Starfield allow you to improve your abilities and stats as you adventure across the galaxy. But where exactly can you find these skill books, and what effects do they grant?

In Starfield, building out your character is crucial to passing different skill checks and surviving dangerous combat encounters. But when you might not have the right amount of XP to level up with, skill books come in handy.

Skill books are located across the various planets and locations in Starfield’s galaxy, and they allow you to permanently improve your stats without the cost of skill points. These permanent buffs come with no downsides, though you do have to find them for yourself.

So, where is each skill book in Starfield, and what effect does each one grant?

Starfield skill book locations

The first thing to note is Starfield skill books do not appear in one set location across each playthrough. Many spawns seem to be tied to random locations, and so it might be different in your playthrough compared to mine. However, these are the areas we know of that are likely to drop skill books:

United Colonies stations
Constellation stations
Freestar locations
Space stations
Space ships
Neon
Mines
Outposts

These are the locations we’ve found skill books so far. Since Starfield is still a new game, we’re still actively keeping an eye out for these magazines. Be sure to let us know if you find one in a location we haven’t listed yet.

Starfield skill book effects

When you pick up a skill book in Starfield, it will grant you a specific buff or skill increase. Each book type has its own unique buff, with some offering slightly different stat increases. Here are all the buffs listed below.

Title	Number of issues	Effect
Combatech Catalog		Increases range and accuracy of Combatech weapons.
Constellation Guide		Improves various trait stats
Cyber Runner’s Cyphers		5% damage increase by laser weapons
Freestar Captain’s Log	3	5kg carrying capacity increase
Grunt	10	5% increase to critical damage by ballistic weapons
Gunslinger’s Guide		Draw and reload Laredo weapons faster
Kryx’s Journal		2% price drop and 2% sell price at vendors
Mining Monthly	10	2% increase to tool-grip weapon damage
Neon Nights		New chem recipes are unlocked
New Atlantian		New food recipes are unlocked
Nova Galactic	10	1% reduction to grav jump fuel consumption
Peak Performance		Improves various skill stats
Solomon Adventures		5% weapon damage increase at night
Tracker’s Prime		5% EM weapon damage increase
UC Defense	5	Magazine size and bash critical chance increase for all Allied Armament weapons
Va’Runn Scriptures	10	1% sneak bonus and 5% melee sneak attack damage increase
Vanguard Space Tactics		5% increase to ship weapon damage

As Starfield is a massive game, and we still haven’t found everything yet. We will continue to add to this guide as we learn more, so be sure to check back. In the meantime, check out our other Starfield guides.