Best Starfield weapons guide – guns, melee weapons, and grenades list

There are plenty of Starfield weapons to choose from in Bethesda Studio’s latest sci-fi RPG. The number of weapons available can seem overwhelming, hence this guide.

We’ll give you an overview of all the weapons in the game. For more help on your interstellar travels, check out how to store items on your ship in Starfield, where to get digipicks, where to get the Bounty Hunter spacesuit, where to get the Mark 1 spacesuit, Almagest Jackpot combination, and how to dock in Starfield. For now though, here are all the different weapons – from guns to grenades – that we know about in Starfield.

All Starfield weapon types

This sci-fi shooter has an impressive variety of weaponry to pick from. These all have unique stats that make them appropriate for specific situations or enemies. Some weapons like Eternity’s Gate and Fortune’s Glory are rare one-off weapons. Here’s a list of all the types of weapons in Starfield:

• Ballistic Pistols
• Laser Pistols
• Particle Beam Pistols
• Ballistic Rifles
• Laser Rifles
• Particle Beam Rifles
• Electromagnetic Rifles
• Ballistic Shotguns
• Particle Beam Shotguns
• Ballistic Heavy Weapons
• Energy Heavy Weapons
• Melee Weapons
• Ballistic Explosives
• Energy Explosives

Best Starfield weapons

Here are the best weapons you can get in the Starfield:

• Magshot/Trickshot – Potentially the best Pistol in the game, this one can be found in a lot of late-game areas if you’re lucky, as well as from the UC questline by looting it from a destroyed mech. A hand-cannon if there ever was one, it’s basically a rifle in a pistol’s body.
• Lawgiver – This weapon is great for long-range skirmishes. Add a decent scope, a long barrel, and whitehot rounds to amp up your performance with this gun. It’s a good pick if you want to snipe at enemies or dangerous animals.
• Coachman – This punishing shotgun packs a punch. Its reload speed isn’t terrible so you can comfortably clear encounters without switching to another weapon. It’s good at taking down bosses and enemies with large health bars.
• Deadeye – Even without mods, this revolver deals some sweet damage. It looks pretty cool too as it drips pure space cowboy.
• Fiscal Quarter – While the basic Maelstrom rifle is nothing to write home about, this modified variant shakes things up. You get this gun from a main quest that involves Walter Shroud and the city of Neon. Armor-piercing rounds are always a good thing to have.
• N67 Smartgun – This heavy weapon chews through both enemies and ammo with ease. While you can use mods to improve handling and recoil, I’d suggest investing into armor-piercing rounds instead.
• The Last Priest – The only melee weapon that’s worth actually using in our books. It deals huge damage, and can randomly deal elemental damage, too. If you’re gonna run out of ammo and have to rely on a melee weapon, at least make it this one.

Magshot/Trickshot

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 shots instead of one, potentially being one of the highest damaging guns in all of Starfield.

Lawgiver

The Lawgiver is one of the slower firing guns in Starfield, but it more than makes up for this with a high base damage, high accuracy, and its 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.

Coachman

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.

Deadeye

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.

Fiscal Quarter

A powerful rifle with a high-fire rate, this one gains its greatest benefit from Armor-Piercing rounds. Coming up against late-game enemies with strong armor that you seemingly can’t get through, this gun completely ignores that, negating 15% of the armor bonus that your enemies would normally get. Great and breaking through those tough to beat walls.

N67 Smartgun

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 be leaving your enemies like Swiss cheese.

Heller’s 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 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?

All guns in Starfield

Now that Starfield has dropped for PC and Xbox Series X|S players, we have a better picture of the guns in the game. Here are all the Starfield guns:

Ballistic pistols in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Ecliptic Pistol	PHYS 35	11MM XPL	25	20	0	45
Eon	PHYS 10	7.77MM	50	20	6	750
Calibrated Eon	PHYS 21	7.77MM	50	20	6	2437
Kraken	PHYS 3	6.5MM	150	20	6	748
Calibrated Kraken	PHYS 5	6.5MM	150	20	6	1428
Magshot	PHYS 53	.43 MI	25	20	6	11380
Rattler	PHYS 10	.27 CALIBER	50	20	7	942
Calibrated Rattler	PHYS 17	.27 CALIBER	50	20	7	1530
Razorback	PHYS 51	7.5MM	40	20	8	5300
Regulator	PHYS 35	.43 ULTRAMAG	20	20	7	4450
Advanced Regulator	PHYS 100	.43 ULTRAMAG	20	20	7	11124
Sidestar	PHYS 12	.27 CALIBER	20	20	7	825
Urban Eagle	PHYS 39	.43 ULTRAMAG	20	20	7	4800

Laser Pistols in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Solstice	ENGY 10	1.5KV LZR	25	30	7	1960
Calibrated Solstice	ENGY 18	1.5KV LZR	25	30	7	2485

Particle Beam Pistols in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Novalight	PHYS 8 ENGY 25	LIGHT FUSE	22	30	7	4620
Va’Ruun Starshard	PHYS 26 ENGY 80	LIGHT FUSE	12	30	7	18250

Ballistic Rifles in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
AA-99	PHYS 17	11MM	112	40	8	7865
Beowulf	PHYS 36	7.77MM	50	40	8	4850
Drum Beat	PHYS 8	11MM	160	39	7	4922
Grendel	PHYS 3	7.77MM	170	20	8	1402
Calibrated Grendel	PHYS 5	7.77MM	170	20	8	1720
Advanced Grendel	PHYS 13	7.77MM	170	20	8	6501
Hard Target	PHYS 116	.50 CALIBER	25	100	7	20510
Kodama	PHYS 13	7.77MM	170	20	7	5632
Lawgiver	PHYS 31	.50 CALIBER	10	40	6	2395
Maelstrom	PHYS 4	6.5MM	150	40	7	1210
Magpulse	PHYS 71	6.5MM MI	17	40	5	13560
Magshear	PHYS 10	.50 MI	300	40	5	17721
Magsniper	PHYS 223	6.5MM MI	17	100	6	27790
Old Earth Assault Rifle	PHYS 15	7.62MM	150	40	7	10582
Old Earth Hunting Rifle	PHYS 30	9X39MM	40	100	3	5264
Tombstone	PHYS 19	11MM	90	40	6	6150

Laser Rifles in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Equinox	ENGY 13	3KV LZR	50	50	7	2408
Orion	ENGY 27	3KV LZR	33	50	7	5227

Particle Beam Rifles in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Va’Ruun Inflictor	PHYS 38 ENGY 113	HEAVY FUSE	25	50	6	22500

Electromagnetic Rifles in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Novablast Disruptor	EM 100	HEAVY FUSE	20	20	5	5700

Ballistic Shotguns in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Breach	PHYS 99	15X25	10	20	8	6780
Coachman	PHYS 52	CASELESS SHELL	47	20	7	1650
Advanced Coachman	PHYS 200	CASELESS SHELL	47	20	7	7425
Old Earth Shotgun	PHYS 73	12G SHELL	6	20	5	2870
Pacifier	PHYS 59	15X25 CLL SHELL	20	20	6	4590
Shotty	PHYS 50	CASELESS SHELL	20	20	8	7368

Particle Beam Shotguns in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Big Bang	PHYS 32 ENGY 94	HEAVY FUSE	14	20	7	12870

Ballistic Heavy Weapons in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Auto-Rivet	PHYS 100	RIVET	15	20	4	7640
Bridger	PHYS 127	40MM XPL	5	40	6	8190
Magstorm	PHYS 9	.50 MI	400	40	2	19129
Microgun	PHYS 9	7.77MM	350	40	6	13519

Energy Heavy Weapons in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots	Value
Arc Welder	ENGY 17	3KV LZR	76	20	2	2450
Cutter	ENGY 4	CUTTER	76	3	0	475

All melee weapons in Starfield

Here are all of the melee weapons in Starfield:

Melee Weapon	Damage	Mass	Value
Barrow Knife	PHYS 22	0.34	1220
Combat Knife	PHYS 16	0.36	505
Osmium Dagger	PHYS 28	2.7	2395
Rescue Axe	PHYS 17	1.4	650
Ripshank	PHYS 12	0.4	365
Tanto	PHYS 40	0.45	3075
UC Naval Cutlass	PHYS 20	1.4	935
Va’Ruun Painblade	PHYS 62	1.8	11260
Wakizashi	PHYS 49	1.35	6140

All grenades and throwables in Starfield

Here are all of the grenades and throwable projectiles in Starfield:

Grenade/Throwable Name	Damage	Mass	Value
Frag Grenade	PHYS 101	0.2	350
Fragmentation Mine	PHYS 101	0.3	415
Shrapnel Grenade	PHYS 51	0.3	450
Cryo Mine	PHYS 1 ENGY 35	0.4	575
Inferno Mine	PHYS 1 ENGY 35	0.4	510
Tesla Pylon	PHYS 1 ENGY 25	0.5	NA

Starfield weapon mods

As you’ll probably have noticed on the guns list above, some of the weapons have a ‘Modified’ prefix. Similarly to previous Bethesda games such as Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, this is a classification of weapons that have had weapon mods applied to them. Mods can be crafted at the Weapon Workbench. New recipes are unlocked via Research Projects. Some of these projects require you to progress in the game and unlock new skills. There are five different weapon mod categories. These are:

• Magazine and Battery
• Muzzle
• Optic
• Receiver

Magazine and Battery

Magazine and Battery mods pertain to your ammo, or in the case of energy weapons, charge. Using different weapon mods will allow you to increase your ammo capacity, clip size, and even the types of ammo you use, such as piercing or explosive bullets.

Muzzle

Muzzle mods will be key for any stealthy players as they will give you benefits such as suppressors and recoil control. But beyond that, it will also give you new ways to use your weapon, adding things like focused fire, or beam splitters for energy weapons.

Optic

This will determine what kind of scope or sight your weapon has. This will likely range from very basic sights that just allow you to aim more effectively, to more specialized scopes for things like sniper scopes and laser sights.

Receiver

Receiver mods will cover anything to do with your weapon’s fire modes, such as making certain weapons fully automatic. If it’s similar to the Receiver mods in the Fallout series, it may also confer certain buffs to weapons such as increased damage.

How do weapons work in Starfield?

Weapons in Starfield can have a variety of different stats and damage types. They can come from different sources, and from what we’ve seen in trailers, they can even come in different grades and rarities.

Weapon damage types

• Electromagnetic – damge from weapons that fire fast kinetic projectiles, creating a forceful explosion of energy on impact.
• Energy – This is the damage type for laser weaponry and similar weapons.
• Explosive – Explosive damage is an area of effect damage type, and works as a mixture of energy and kinetic damage. It’s a damage type that most grenades will possess in some capacity.
• Physical – this is your standard kinetic damage. Most melee and ballistic weapons fall under this damage type.

Weapon stats

All weapons will have a series of different stats, though some of course will be exclusive to certain categories. If it turns out that melee weapons can in fact take different ammunition types, we’ll be sure to amend this part. The stats we know about right now are:

• Ammo – which type of ammunition a gun uses.
• Damage Type – what sort of damage a weapon will inflict.
• Magazine Size – how many shots can be fired before the weapon needs to reload or recharge.
• Rounds – the current number of shots in the weapon.
• Fire Rate – how quickly the weapon fires.
• Range – the distance within which this weapon will be effective.
• Accuracy – how likely this weapon is to hit shots successfully.
• Mass – The in-game ‘weight’ that this weapon will take up in a player’s inventory.
• Value – How much this weapon is worth in Starfield credits.
• Mods – How many modifications this weapon has, or can hold in total.

Weapon rarity

There are four differen levels of rarity in Starfield. The weapon rarities are color-coded.

• Grey – basic weaponry
• Blue – rare weaponry
• Purple – epic weaponry
• Yellow – legendary weaponry

How to get weapons in Starfield

There are a few different ways to get weapons in Starfield. Looting weapons is the most common way. Crates, dead bodies, and other storage have a chance of holding them. You can also get weapons as rewards for completing quests. Lastly, weapons can be bought using credits at vendors and shops around the Settled Systems, including Jemison Mercantile in New Atlantis.

Starfield weapon development

We know that every weapon in Starfield has been carefully crafted for players to enjoy. In a recent interview, lead weapons artist Dane Olds revealed that Combatech weapons were all designed with optimization for space travel in mind, meaning these weapons are all rather compact, and usually made of lightweight alloys and composites. All this speaks to a level of care and dedication to create Starfield weapons.

Even with the best guns and gadgets though, it’s not always wise to go at it alone. If you’re wondering where to find Starfield companions, or how to hire Starfield crew members, we’ve got you covered. To complement your weaponry, it’s worth getting through the Lair of the Mantis puzzle to bag a excellent early game ship and space suit. Check out our Starfield tips and tricks beginner’s guide for some worthwhile advice to kick start your journey across the cosmos.

Does Starfield have unique weapons?

Yes, Starfield has unique legendary weapons.

Will there be melee weapons in Starfield?

Yes, Starfield has a variety of melee weapons.