Space combat in Starfield can be quite challenging as you jump up in difficulty. Understanding the nuance of ship weapons, including which ones are the best, is pretty important. Credits are limited, and you don’t want to waste your hard-earned money on garbage, do you?
Ship weapon type breakdown
The first thing to know is what your weapons do because they are not all dishing out numbers equally.
- Lasers – do more damage to shields (LAS)
- Ballistic – do more damage to physical structures/hulls (BAL)
- Particle Beam – a really great weapon that does good damage to both structures and shields (PAR)
- Missiles – pretty much equal damage to shields and hulls. They lock on and don’t miss, so offer a guaranteed DPS.
- Electromagnetic – specialist weapons designed to fry systems. It is ideal for trying to get up to some piracy using the ship targeting mode.
Ship weapon stats explained
Now, let’s take a look at the weapon stats and break them all down.
- Class – this limits where your weapons can be applied. You cannot equip down Class, so Class C weapons need a Class C reactor, and so forth. You can, however, apply Class A or B weapons on a higher Class reactor.
- Range – how far the weapon can reach.
- Fire Rate – how quickly it will fire, can be used to dictate DPS values.
- Hull DMG – how much damage it does to structures/hulls.
- Shield DMG – how much damage it does to shields.
- Max Power – how many power slots from your reactor can be put into the weapon.
- Hull – everything you put on your ship has a positive impact on the ship’s Hull value.
- Crew Capacity – oddly enough, weapons can increase your crew capacity.
What is the ideal weapon split?
This depends on playstyle because there are more complex issues at play. You are unlikely to be able to bring everything you want on a ship, and it’s likely you’ll need something specced out as a dedicated fighter to bring three different weapons. You will also need to decide if you want control of your weapons yourself or to use automated turrets. I’d mostly suggest auto turrets for less skilled pilots or for steady DPS at the game’s hardest settings, allowing you to focus on evasive piloting.
If you really want a build that is equipped for just about anything, then you will want to go with Particle Beams and Missiles for good, all-around DPS. If you do manage to get a third slot going, then you might consider Electromagnetic weapons for piracy or just lean into a Laser/Ballistic split and drop the Particle Beam to really maximize damage to individual targets.
The best weapons for your ship
This boils down to playstyle and what you pick for your Skills. Check out your skill tree, and you’ll see you have the ability to increase damage with certain weapon types, or you can use companions to add bonuses if they are part of your crew. We will run through some of our favorite weapons for each type and why we like them.
Lasers
- Reza 300 PHz SX Laser – short range at just 800, but this hits for 63 shield damage and will maul anything that gets too close. (Class C)
- Dragon 261 SX Laser Turret – a useful turret that will do the work for you and dish out plenty of shield damage. (Class C)
- Reza 10 PHz UV Laser – a later weapon that does do solid damage, but you don’t need to get to Class C to get it. (Class B)
Ballistic
- Marauder 115N Railgun Turret – this thing is something of a monster, chucking out 81 hull damage and 24 shield damage per hit. Also, as a turret, you don’t need to do anything. It does all the work itself.
- KE49 Cannon – A solid Class B Cannon that does a lot of DPS to Hull and respectable shield damage.
- KE49 Autocannon – basically a better version of the precious weapon. You can only get access to this at Level 60, but it shreds.
Missiles
- Atatl 280C Missile Launcher – This Class C missile launcher is tremendously powerful, doing 264 base damage to shields or hull. You need to get to level 43 and part with nearly 50,000 Credits just to get it, but it’s worth it.
- Atatl 280B Missile Launcher – The B version of the above. It unlocks at Level 38 and hits for 141 damage.
Particle Beams
- Exterminator 95MeV Auto Helion Beam – These bad boys do 130 DPS to hull and shields, have a Max Power of 4, and will unlock at Level 60. You would think they’d be Class C, but they are actually Class B. Fantastic.
- Vaporizer 35MeV Auto Proton Beam – Looking for a Class A weapon that can make mincemeat of enemies for your fast and nimble fighter? Then this is it.
Electromagnetic
- EMP-200 Suppressor – honestly, this is all you ever need if you decide you want to run one of these. A Class A, you can drop some cash at Level 60 for a Tatsu if you want, as it will be guaranteed not to accidentally blow up an enemy ship on you.
How to get more weapons for your ship
To get more weapons, you need to visit Ship Technicians and ask them to modify or upgrade your ship. The actual weapons you can get access to will be somewhat limited due to a number of factors.
- Your Starship Design skill – rank this up to get access to experimental and very powerful ship modules. It is a vital skill if you plan on going deep on your builds.
- Your overall character level – lots of weapons are locked away behind high levels. You’ll need to play through the game and rank up as fast as you can to get the more powerful goodies.
- Some components will have a separate skill requirement – From time to time, you may need specific ranks of additional skills to use certain modules and weapons.
Whether you want to wait until you are Rank 60 to start experimenting with builds is up to you. The Class A and Class B ships and weapons are by no means bad, and Class A combat-focused builds can be incredibly powerful if just a little delicate. Feel free to experiment and do what you like, as the Credits eventually start coming pretty easily.
