Starfield best weapons – best guns and melee weapons and where to get them

If you’ve come looking for the Starfield best weapons to choose from in Bethesda Studio’s latest sci-fi RPG, then you’re in the right place. The number of weapons available can seem overwhelming, so it can be difficult to figure out which ones are worth using and which you should sell ASAP. That’s why we’re here to help out.

We’ll give you an overview of all the weapons in the game to help you get to grips with it all. 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 the best weapons in Starfield, as well as all the different weapons – from guns to grenades – that we know about in Starfield, for you to compare them yourself.

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 shotgunpacks 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.
• Eternity’s Gate – This gun is high-risk, high reward. It has the potential to deal massive damage, especially to humans, but has the potential to fail every now and again. Worth the risk in most situations, but be prepared for when it does go wrong.
• Experiment A-7 – Potentially the strongest shotgun in the game, this gun has it all. High damage, decent fire rate, good accuracy, and a laundry list of weapon modifiers. Once you pick this shotgun up, you won’t need to use a different one.
• 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.
• Unmitigated Violence – This gun deals great damage on its own, but with the chance to deal double damage to full-health enemies, it fits in perfectly with a stealth build. Combined this with the extra damage for sneak attacks and you’ll be one-hitting enemies left and right.
• The Last Priest – The best melee weapon and the only one that’s worth actually using in our books. It deals huge damage, and can randomly deal elemental damage, too, ranging between corrosive, radiation, poison, and incendiary damage. If you’re gonna run out of ammo and have to rely on a melee weapon, at least make it this one.

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

Lawgiver (Rifle)

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 (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.

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.

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 Long Barrel, Recon Laser Sight, Focus Nozzle, Tactical Magazine and Overclocked all serve to back that damage up.

Experiment A-7 (Shotgun)

This shotgun is one of the best weapons in the game, and really packs a punch with massive damage, and a decent accuracy and fire rate. It also comes with a massive eight weapon mods: Lond Barrel, Laser Sight, Reflex Sight, Choke, Tactical Stock, Flechette Rounds, Hair Trigger, Fully Automatic. It also 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.

Fiscal Quarter (Rifle)

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 making it great  for breaking through those tough to beat walls. Add to that the Compensator weapon mod to add greater accuracy when hip-firing, and you’ve got a perfect SMG.

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 be leaving your enemies like Swiss cheese.

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.

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 deals much higher damage than any other melee weapon, and 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.

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 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?

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Alex’s Advice

When you’re exploring alien planets, you may often come across abandoned facilities manned by robots. Having a weapon with rechargeable ammo that can do extra damage to robots like Heller’s Cutter will come in incredibly handy here.

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
Ace Sidearm	PHYS 21	.27 CALIBER	40	20	7
Advanced Regulator	PHYS 100	.43 ULTRAMAG	20	20	7
Calibrated Eon	PHYS 21	7.77MM	50	20	6
Calibrated Kraken	PHYS 5	6.5MM	150	20	6
Calibrated Rattler	PHYS 17	.27 CALIBER	50	20	7
Deadeye	PHYS 70	7.5MM	12	40	7
Ecliptic Pistol	PHYS 35	11MM XPL	25	20	0
Elegance	PHYS 66	.43 ULTRAMAG	50	20	6
Eon	PHYS 10	7.77MM	50	20	6
Keelhauler	PHYS 64	.43 ULTRAMAG	140	24	6
Kraken	PHYS 3	6.5MM	150	20	6
Magshot	PHYS 53	.43 MI	25	20	6
Old Earth Pistol	PHYS 44	.45 CALIBER	67	20	4
Rattler	PHYS 10	.27 CALIBER	50	20	7
Razorback	PHYS 51	7.5MM	40	20	8
Regulator	PHYS 35	.43 ULTRAMAG	20	20	7
Sidestar	PHYS 12	.27 CALIBER	20	20	7
Sir Livingstone’s Pistol	PHYS 28	.27 CALIBER	67	24	4
The Prime	PHYS 84	7.5MM	12	48	8
The Zapper	PHYS 16	.27 CALIBER	104	24	7
Urban Eagle	PHYS 39	.43 ULTRAMAG	20	20	7
XM-2311	PHYS 53	.45 CALIBER	67	20	5

Laser Pistols in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots
Short Circuit	ENGY 44	1.5KV LZR	29	32	7
Solstice	ENGY 10	1.5KV LZR	25	30	7

Particle Beam Pistols in Starfield

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

Ballistic Rifles in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots
AA-99	PHYS 17	11MM	112	40	8
Beowulf	PHYS 36	7.77MM	50	40	8
Despondent Assassin	PHYS 47	9X39MM	40	100	3
Drum Beat	PHYS 8	11MM	160	39	7
Ecliptic Pistol	PHYS 35	11MM XPL	25	20	0
Grendel	PHYS 3	7.77MM	170	20	8
Hard Target	PHYS 116	.50 CALIBER	25	100	7
Head Ranger	PHYS 51	.50 CALIBER	14	48	6
Kodama	PHYS 13	7.77MM	170	20	7
Lawgiver	PHYS 31	.50 CALIBER	10	40	6
Maelstrom	PHYS 4	6.5MM	150	40	7
Magpulse	PHYS 71	6.5MM MI	17	40	5
Magshear	PHYS 10	.50 MI	300	40	5
Magsniper	PHYS 223	6.5MM MI	17	100	6
Old Earth Assault Rifle	PHYS 15	7.62MM	150	40	7
Old Earth Hunting Rifle	PHYS 30	9X39MM	40	100	3
The Buzzcut	PHYS 5	7.77MM	212	22	8
Tombstone	PHYS 19	11MM	90	40	6

Laser Rifles in Starfield

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

Particle Beam Rifles in Starfield

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

Electromagnetic Rifles in Starfield

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

Ballistic Shotguns in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots
Boom Boom	PHYS 68	CASELESS SHELL	60	24	8
Breach	PHYS 99	15X25	10	20	8
Coachman	PHYS 52	CASELESS SHELL	47	20	7
Old Earth Shotgun	PHYS 73	12G SHELL	6	20	5
Pacifier	PHYS 59	15X25 CLL SHELL	20	20	6
Rapidshot	PHYS 135	15X25 CLL SHELL	18	24	8
Shotty	PHYS 50	CASELESS SHELL	20	20	8

Particle Beam Shotguns in Starfield

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

Heavy Weapons in Starfield

Gun Name	Damage	Ammo	Fire Rate	Range	Mod Slots
Arc Welder	ENGY 16	3KV LZR	76	20	2
Auto-Rivet	PHYS 100	RIVET	15	20	4
Bridger	PHYS 127	40MM XPL	5	40	6
Cutter	PHYS 4	N/A	76	3	0
Magstorm	PHYS 9	.50 MI	400	40	2
Microgun	PHYS 9	7.77MM	350	40	6
N67 Smartgun	PHYS 14	7.77MM	350	40	6

All melee weapons in Starfield

Here are all of the melee weapons in Starfield:

Melee Weapon	Damage	Mass
Barrow Knife	PHYS 22	0.34
Combat Knife	PHYS 16	0.36
Osmium Dagger	PHYS 28	2.7
Rescue Axe	PHYS 17	1.4
Ripshank	PHYS 12	0.4
Tanto	PHYS 40	0.45
UC Naval Cutlass	PHYS 20	1.4
Va’Ruun Painblade	PHYS 62	1.8
Wakizashi	PHYS 49	1.35

All grenades and throwables in Starfield

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

Grenade/Throwable Name	Damage	Mass
Cryo Mine	PHYS 1 ENGY 35	0.4
Frag Grenade	PHYS 101	0.2
Fragmentation Mine	PHYS 101	0.3
Impact Grenade	PHYS 101	0.2
Inferno Mine	PHYS 1 ENGY 35	0.4
Shrapnel Grenade	PHYS 51	0.3
Stun Mine	PHYS 1 EM 58	0.4
Tesla Pylon	PHYS 1 ENGY 25	0.5
Toxic Gas Mine	PHYS 1 ENGY 20	0.4

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 damage – damage from weapons that fire fast kinetic projectiles, creating a forceful explosion of energy on impact.
• Energy damage – Energy damage is the type for laser weaponry and similar weapons.
• Explosive damage– 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 damage– 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

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 main and side 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, or check out the Starfield Delivering Devils and Starfield Entangled missions for some great questing. And if you’re building a ship, make sure you’ve got one of the Starfield best reactors to power it. Check out our Starfield tips and tricks beginner’s guide for some worthwhile advice to kick start your journey across the cosmos.

What is the best weapon in Starfield?

Based on our playthrough, the best weapon in Starfield is the Experiment A-7 shotgun. This is thanks to its incredibly high damage potential.

What is the best melee weapon in Starfield?

The best melee weapon in Starfield is The Last Priest.