11 Starfield best weapons and where to get them

Fighting is a huge part of the gameplay, so it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the best weapons in Starfield. Whether you want to take people down fast or deal devastation in close quarters, our list of the best weapons includes guns and melee weapons, including how to get them. Bear in mind that we have picked these weapons based on our time in the game and these are our suggestions, which might differ from your thoughts and experience.

Best weapons in Starfield and how to get them

Here are our picks for the best weapons in Starfield. Use the table we’ve put together below to see its weapon and its type.

Weapon	Weapon Type
The Trickshot (Magshot variant)	Ballistic pistol
The Lawgiver	Ballistic rifle
Coachman	Ballistic shotgun
Deadeye	Ballistic pistol
Eternity’s Gate	Ballistic energy rifle
Experiment A-7	Ballistic shotgun
Fiscal Quarter	Ballistic rifle
N67 Smartgun	Ballistic heavy
Unmitigated Violence	Energy rifle
The Last Priest	Physical
Heller’s Cutter	Energy heavy

Let’s take a look at each weapon and explore why we’ve chosen it as one of the best to use, including how to find them.

Magshot/Trickshot (Pistol)

The Magshot is a Pistol that deals huge basic damage and is accurate over a very large range. Effectively, it combines the power of a rifle with the fire rate and reload speed of a pistol. The Trickshot is even better if you can get it from the UC faction mission ‘War Relics’. On every fourth shot, the Trickshot fires two instead of one, potentially being one of the highest-damaging guns in all of Starfield. It can be found on Niira by looting it from destroyed mechs.

Lawgiver (Rifle)

The Lawgiver is one of the slower-firing guns in Starfield, but it more than makes up for this with high base damage, high accuracy, and effectiveness over a fairly large range. It can also be combined with a variety of mods that can improve its effectiveness massively. Great for starting fights and taking out enemies before they even know you’re there, if you come across one of these, give it a try. The Lawgiver can be purchased in the Laredo Firearms shop in Akila City.

Coachman (Shotgun)

If you’ve used any shotguns in Starfield so far, you’ll already know that they can be incredibly powerful. With so many instances of combat taking place in the enclosed rooms and corridors of various outposts, being able to deal high damage at short range is a godsend. It has an awful reload speed, but can shoot two rounds incredibly fast, and should be able to kill almost any enemy with just those two shots if aimed well. It is also perfect for reducing large boss health pools. The Coachman can be looted in the Deadrock Mining Outpost on New Atlantis.

Deadeye (Pistol)

While it does have fairly good all-round stats, with great damage, decently high fire rate, great accuracy, and being effective at relatively long ranges for a pistol, it really comes into its own with the Penetrator Rounds mod. Being able to hit multiple enemies with every shot is incredibly powerful, especially in the later game when you’ll often come up against groups of enemies. You can find the Deadeye by clearing the Deputized mission for the Freestar Rangers.

Eternity’s Gate (Rifle)

This particle beam rifle is the weapon of The Emissary, which you can pick up by siding with them during the Unearthed quest, or loot from them in the Revelation quest. Its stats are decent, but its perks and mods are what sell it. Skip shot to fire double projectiles every fourth shot, Handloading to fire Volatile Rounds, and Anti-Personnel will help you deal massive damage against humans; while the Long Barrel, Recon Laser Sight, Focus Nozzle, Tactical Magazine and Overclocked all serve to back that damage up. You can only get Eternity’s Gate from the Revelation main story quest as a drop from the Emissary.

Experiment A-7 (Shotgun)

This shotgun is one of the best weapons in the game and packs a punch with massive damage, all with decent accuracy and fire rate. It also comes with a massive eight weapon mods: Long Barrel, Laser Sight, Reflex Sight, Choke, Tactical Stock, Flechette Rounds, Hair Trigger, Fully Automatic. If that’s not enough, Experience A-7 comes with the Exterminator perk which deals +30% damage against aliens. Once you pick this up from Ethan in the Starfield Entangled main quest, you’ll have a gun you’ll use for the rest of your playthrough. When it comes to the best weapons in Starfield, this is what you should look for. Pass the speech check with Ethan during the Entangled mission.

Fiscal Quarter (Rifle)

A powerful rifle with a high fire rate, the Fiscal Quarter gains its greatest benefit from Armor-Piercing rounds. Coming up against late-game enemies with strong armour that you seemingly can’t get through, this gun completely ignores that, negating 15% of the armour bonus that your enemies would normally get making it great for breaking through those tough-to-beat walls. Add the Compensator weapon mod for greater accuracy when hip-firing, and you’ve got a near-perfect SMG. You get this gun from a main quest that involves Walter Shroud and the city of Neon.

N67 Smartgun (Microgun)

It’s a minigun, what else is there to say? Well, for one, it can be equipped with certain mods to give it an almost laser focus, turning that spray of bullets into a beam that will shred anything unlucky enough to be in the way. Add in a mod like Armor-Piercing rounds to increase your damage and you’ll leave your enemies like Swiss cheese. N67 can be bought in New Atlantis from the UC Distribution Centre.

Unmitigated Violence (Rifle)

This laser rifle is the weapon of choice of The Hunter and is potentially one of the best laser weapons in the game. It has high damage, high fire rate, and high accuracy, and comes with three perks: Frenzy, Radioactive, and Instigating. On top of that, you get seven weapon mods: Long Barrel, Recon Laser Sight, Reflex Sight, Stealth Lasers, Stabilizing Stock, Large Battery, and Amplifier. Pick this up by siding with The Hunter over The Emissary in the Unearthed quest, or loot it from his body during Revelation. You also get a small chance to deal double damage to full-health opponents, making this the perfect gun for stealth players. Defeat the Hunter during the Revelation main story quest to obtain this gun. Naturally, this is our pick for the best gun in Starfield.

The Last Priest (Melee)

There are no particularly great melee weapons, and unless you’ve run out of ammo, you would be better off using a gun in almost every situation. However, if you are going to have a melee weapon, the only good choice is The Last Priest. This reward from the Infinity’s End quest can deal much more damage than any other melee weapon. It can also randomly deal environmental damage, too. There is no reason to use any other melee weapon than this, so make sure you have it ready for a worst-case scenario. The Last Priest is given as a reward for completing the Infinity’s End mission.

Heller’s Cutter (Cutter)

If you’re going to have a Cutter with you at all times, why not make it an upgraded version? Heller’s Cutter can be found back on Vectera where you started the game, and offers a bonus of 20% damage against robots. That might not sound like a lot, but that 20% really adds up, and it can be very handy to have if you’re low on ammo. Either way, it’s a direct upgrade on the standard Cutter, so why wouldn’t you want it? This weapon is found during the Back to Vectera quest in the Argos Extractors Mining Outpost.