What are the Starfield weapon tiers? This is how the Starfield weapon level system works and how rarity factors in.
Starfield’s been out long enough that players have really started to dig into everything the universe has to offer. There are tons of worlds to explore and resources to collect, but the weapons you use for combat are pretty vital to your gameplay. At the end of the day, this is still a shooter. Plus, one that quite a few players think is basically a looter shooter. If you want to excel with the title’s gunplay, you need to know how the Starfield weapon tiers work.
All weapons in Starfield have a simple feature which helps you learn which the best Starfield weapons are, but it’s a system that might have a few players confused. The Starfield weapon tiers are the in-game classification for the power of each weapon. They can help you decide what you’ll need to carry and what will give you the advantage in a fight. Since half the weapon tiers have names that all pretty much mean “good” though, it’s not also obvious.
Along with the weapon tier, you’ll also need to look at the Starfield weapon rarity, all of this decides the strength of a weapon. While there are different terms, the Starfield weapon level is basically the weapon tier. This is a classification system which will let you know which weapon is more powerful. Although, the weapon tier can be a little complex at first. This is how the system works and how you can use it to get the best possible weapons when you’re out exploring.
Starfield Weapon Tiers Explained
Starfield utilizes a simple tier system for you to decide which weapons function better than others. While there’s is Starfield weapon rarity, this is the only factor in some stats of your gun. Each weapon can slot into one of these categories
- Base
- Calibrated
- Refined
- Advanced
Unlike using an obvious star or letter tier system, giving them descriptive names like this can be a bit confusing. After all, is Refined necessarily better than Calibrated? They’re basically synonymous. The tiers go in that order though, the lowest is clearly base. The highest of the Starfield weapon tiers is superior. There’s also how effective the actual guns themselves are. Just like how there are the best ships and worse ships, there will be some guns you prefer no matter the tier.
What Does Starfield Weapon Level Change?
There are a few main factors which will change with your Starfield weapon level. A weapon of a higher tier gets a higher value. They’ll go for more credits but also increase the damage that you can do. In terms of the actual difference between tiers, it’s simple. The higher-tier weapons have better stats. That’s fire rate, damage, etc. The core vitals that govern how much damage you can do with a weapon and how effectively it works. Those factors are all affected by Starfield weapon tiers. Players getting a weapon in a higher tier will get one with better core stats. The Starfield weapon rarity doesn’t affect this, just the tier classification.
The game goes beyond simple tiers though. There’s also the Starfield weapon rarity to bear in mind, this can also have an effect on its quality. The base level of the Starfield weapon tiers has the core values to the weapon. It has no bonuses, just the basic stats. These can still be useful but they lack the enhanced abilities of other guns.
As you find guns higher in Starfield weapons tier, you’ll likely get a bit more used to their better performance. It can be tricky to drop back down to the base after a while. You’ll know which weapons are upgraded since they have their tiers attached to their weapon name. Superior is the most powerful, so it’s this one that’s worth grabbing whenever you find it.
Along with finding better items, you can get better weapons in Starfield through your character level. You’ll see more of the higher-quality weapons as you go up in level. Base-level weapons will appear pretty much from the off, calibrated from Level 10, refined from Level 30, and so on. The Starfield weapon level will scale with your journey to a certain point. It’s important to grab decent weapons, although things like the Starfield persuasion system let you avoid violence sometimes too.
Starfield Weapon Rarity
Weapon Rarity is the second way that you can figure out how good a gun is in this game. There are a few of differences in how they impact a weapon though. The Starfield weapon tiers largely govern stats, the rarity on the other hand deals with modifiers. The higher the rarity of your gun is, the more modifies it has. This is a bit of a more random metric than the weapon tiers in Starfield though. These are all of the rarity levels that are in the game.
- Common – No Modifier
- Rare – 1 Modifier
- Epic – 2 Modifiers
- Legendary – 3 Modifiers
Finding more weapons of various rarities isn’t going to scale with your level like the Starfield weapon tiers. Instead, it’s purely random. You’ll have to just keep looking around until you find the weapons with the best rarity along with a decent tier.
Which Rarity and Starfield Weapon Tiers are the Best Guns in the Game?
Those are the two main systems for classifying how strong a weapon is in Starfield. How do you tell which is the best weapon though? Since there are two different measurements you could be torn between a weapon high rarity and one high in tier. Since one is stats and the other is rarity, there’s an element of personal preference. You can’t just go for the highest Starfield weapon level and ignore rarity entirely though.
Having a gun that’s higher for both rarity and weapons is obviously better. A weapon that’s second to highest on the tiers but has a better modifier than the tier above might be the superior pick. It’s really best to try and find the right balance between all of these. Starfield weapon rarity can improve lower-tier weapons quite a bit.
That’s how everything works in the Starfield weapon tiers. In terms of finding high-tier and rarity weapons, you’re limited by randomness to a certain extent. Sometimes you can find high-value weapons being sold for more money, but there’s a degree of randomness to think about. Even once you start levelling up fast in Starfield, there’s still some randomness. Once you find higher-tier weapons these will likely keep you safe and deal higher damage throughout the game though. It’s definitely worth seeking out the better Starfield weapon tier guns as you go though, to make sure you’re staying powerful enough to keep succeeding with the game’s gunplay as difficulty ramps up.