You’ve got a nearly endless choice of Starfield weapons to take into combat with you. Pistols, laser beams, electric generators – it might not be the wild stuff of sci-fi fantasy, but there’s more than enough to shake up how you approach battles with civilization-devouring monsters and average mercs. Some of them are great and get even better when you mod them with in-game changes. And some of them are just kind of… there… and really shouldn’t use up your time or modding resources.
This is a list of my favorites that I kept nearby for the first half of the game or so, including some underrated gems and a few mid choices that I just think are pretty cool.
Arc Welder
I wanted to like the Arc Welder a lot. A big, industrial looking monster of a weapon that fires off beams of electricity just seems cool. And it is! Sometimes. Not often, though, unless you modify it extensively. The Arc Welder’s range is atrocious, and even epic drops I tried with radioactive energy and other nifty perks dealt so little damage that the target moved out of range several times before the job was done.
Maelstrom
All the universe’s bad guys use the Maelstrom and I just cannot figure out why. Its range and spread are terrible, and when it does hit, it seems like it barely does any damage unless you’re right in front of the target. At that proximity, you might as well use your handy rescue axe or something and just close in for a melee strike.
Rattler
The Rattler annoyed me with its recoil, so I sold it and never went back. Even with mods, that much inconvenience is a major dealbreaker in a shooter.
Eon
The Eon is just your basic pistol with a slightly shiny sci-fi sheen tacked on for good measure. It’s fine and gets the job done, but it doesn’t do anything special.
Calibrated Grendel
The Grendel is a pretty basic rifle with nothing fancy about it. It’s just the rifle version of the Eon, really. You can get some decent mods to make it function quite well, but if you want something with a bit more pizazz, this ain’t it.
Sidestar
This is a world with sunflower monsters and technology that bends gravity so you can travel to another planet in seconds, and yet here we are with this gun pulled right out of Call of Duty or something. It’s so ridiculous that I can’t help but love it.
It works really well, too. Slap some mods on this sidearm, and you’ve got a formidable weapon to see you through most encounters.
Coachman
The Coachman is such a good Starfield weapon, held back by the same thing that makes it good. It’s a shotgun, so it packs a mighty wallop – until you have to reload it again, when you’re vulnerable for a few seconds. If you start with the shotgun perk, though, it’s definitely worth putting up with the reload times.
Rescue Axe
It turns out it hurts pretty bad when you hit someone with an axe. Two hits from this should see enemies at or below your level off with no trouble. Just bear in mind that melee strikes in Starfield have a long animation and a sort of hidden cooldown where you can’t use them again for about two seconds.
Combat Knife
And if it doesn’t work, then the trusty combat knife will. Whether it was a bug or not, I dealt a lot of damage with this handy little thing at close quarters. Just don’t try it with robots. Bringing a knife to a giant metal death machine fight won’t end well for you.
Solstice
I loved this little thing. It looks like a Fisher-Price version of a flare gun, with its chunky plastic casing and bright blue colors, but it sure packs a punch. The laser blasts it fires deal a surprising amount of damage, so you almost always need just two or three shots to take down a foe.
Which is good, considering the rate of fire is pretty low.
Livingston’s Pistol
Livingston’s Pistol is a rare find you can only get if you have the Kid Stuff trait, since your father gives it to you. It’s essentially a modified Nightstar, with a similar rate of fire and impact. You’re firing a piece of Constellation history with every shot, though, and I dug that a lot. Thanks, Space Dad.
Equinox
The Equinox is an interesting weapon, a big, chunky rectangle that fires multiple energy bolts almost like an automatic gun. Its range is impressive, though the spread definitely needs tightening, and the bolts deal a hefty amount of damage. The only downside is how small the magazine is. You’ll need to keep an eye on your ammo count so you don’t run out at a critical moment.
Lawgiver
The Lawgiver was one of my favorite Starfield weapons for a long time. The rifle is one of the few weapons that starts life with a scope, and while the accuracy is a bit hit-and-miss – literally – you can score critical hits and target jetpacks much more easily with a Lawgiver than you can with most weapons.
Novalight
Novalight probably isn’t the best pistol or energy weapon, but I didn’t care. It’s the closest to firing a proper Star Wars-like sci-fi blaster, and at mid- and close-range, it works exceptionally well. It even staggers enemies sometimes, without you having to land a critical hit.
You can buy this early on at the arms dealer in Neon’s Ryujin Tower and get a rare version with better mods. It might not have the crowd control potential of something like the Magpulse or Magstorm, but it sure is fun to use.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
