Starfield: Which Skills You Should Pick First

As you gain levels in Starfield, you’ll get Skill points, which can be used to upgrade your character and their ship. It can take a while to increase levels in Starfield, so there are certain skills you should prioritize first to maximize the benefits of exploration and to ensure you always have the cash to do whatever you want in the galaxy.

In Starfield, you don’t have access to the full Skill tree straight away. Instead, they are broken into five categories: Physical, Social, Combat, Science, and Tech. Each category is separated into tiers, so you must spend points in the lower tiers to unlock the higher ones. You can also improve the effects of the lower tier Skills, but you need to complete challenges to do so, such as using the boost jump move in combat to improve the Boost Pack capabilities.

Related: Starfield: Can You Respec Skills, Level Cap Explained

Best Skills to Pick First in Starfield

There are dozens of skills to choose from in Starfield, with all of them being split into five categories. Physical, Social, Combat, Science, and Tech are the skill trees you can dive into and customize your character. With so many choices on offer, you could be left wondering which ones to go with in the beginning. These are some of the best skills you should invest in first for your Starfield playthrough to make space life easier.

Commerce: Will Save You Money In The Long Run (& Earn You More)

Money makes the universe go around in Starfield; even if you don’t want to focus on trading or improving your ship, you’ll still spend a lot of time with merchants. This is where the Commerce Skill comes into play, as it lets you buy items for less and sell things for more. It’s also an easy Skill to upgrade, as it involves selling rare items, which actually aren’t that rare in Starfield, as most enemy mobs will usually carry a couple of blue or gold items that you can loot and trade.

Commerce will be useful to you throughout Starfield, as you’ll constantly buy Med Packs, ammo, crafting materials, explosives, and upgrade your ship. Barring some kind of ridiculous challenge run, you’ll be dealing with money throughout the entire game, and it’s especially scarce during the early hours, so it helps to know your way around cash.

Security: Will Earn You Lots of Loot Throughout the Game

What, you thought you could escape from lockpicking? You thought that just because Starfield is a futuristic game, there would be no locks? “But surely I can just buy a big laser and blast my way through every door and treasure chest in the galaxy?”

Sorry, but locks are very much still a thing in the future, and so are lockpicks. You’ll be finding lots of Digipicks around the world, which are tied to Starfield’s lockpicking minigame, and if you want the best gear in every dungeon, then you better prepare to become the master of lockpicking. Some locks are classed as Expert, Advanced, and Master, and you can’t even attempt these without unlocking new tiers of the Security skill.

It’s highly advised that you take Security early on and master it as soon as possible. Enemy bases tend to keep the best loot behind locked areas, so investing in this Skill early means you’ll find way more loot in the long run.

Targeting Control Systems: Helps You Disable Enemy Ships

The ship combat in Starfield can be difficult, especially when the enemy vessel is more maneuverable than your own. It can feel a bit like Medieval jousting, where both ships fly at each other, attack, then slowly turn around for the next assault.

The Targeting Control Systems Skill is extremely useful for people struggling with the ship combat. This will unlock the ability to slow time and target certain aspects of an enemy ship, such as taking out its weapons, shields, or Grav Drive, preventing it from being able to run away. With Targeting Control Systems, you can incapacitate enemy vessels rather than needing to burn through their shields and hull.

Boost Pack Training Makes Traveling A Lot Easier In Starfield

You’re going to be doing a lot of running around in Starfield, which means you will be battling the stamina meter throughout the game. One way you can alleviate this is by using your Boost Pack to perform jumping glides, which not only makes it easier to pass environmental hazards but it also slows your stamina burn, as your pack has its own separate power meter. The pack jump can also give you some verticality in combat, allowing you to escape from enemy sight and attack from above.

Persuasion Helps You Avoid Fights In Starfield

If you’re finding the combat difficult in Starfield or you’re running out of resources to use in battle, it might be best to invest in some silver tongue powers. The Persuasion Skill allows you to change an NPC’s mind during dialogue and talk your way out of bad situations, possibly even avoiding combat altogether. Persuasion can also give you positive outcomes in quests, allowing you to convince characters to hand themselves in, letting them survive in instances where they should have died.

Payloads: Will Help You Carry More Loot & Lower Ship Mass

Like in Fallout or The Elder Scrolls games, Starfield restricts how much gear the player can carry. Luckily, you have options, as your companions can carry gear, and you can store items in your ship’s cargo hold. Unfortunately, there are limits to how much load the ship can carry. You can add more cargo holds to the ship, but that will lower your mobility, making it harder to maneuver in combat.

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This is where the Payloads Skill comes in handy. Each upgrade allows you to carry more cargo, with the final rank allowing you to carry 50% more cargo than if you hadn’t taken the Skill, which means you’ll be able to steal far more loot from enemies and will have more gear to trade with merchants.