Best Early Game Weapons in Starfield

When you first embark upon your epic quest across the stars, you’ll have nothing to your name except for a cutting tool, aptly named the Cutter. While it’s a basic piece of kit that offers limited damage, it’s super useful for mining resources and accessing emergency cuttable doors. Soon, however, you’ll discover better armaments that you’ll need to keep those pesky alien monstrosities at bay! But what are the best early game weapons in Starfield? Let’s take a look, shall we?

Honorable Mentions

Before diving into our recommendations for the best early game weapons in Starfield, we’ve put together a selection of honorable mentions that are great options to brandish, too. Really, all the weapons in Starfield are totally viable if you plow enough points into specific Skills. None the less, these are solid weapons to grab in the early game.

• Eon – Pistol
• Drum Beat – Rifle
• Sidestar – Pistol
• Solstice – Laser Pistol
• Grendel – Rifle

Best Weapons to Get Early in Starfield

5. Maelstrom – Rifle

The Maelstrom is a capable, all-purpose automatic rifle that boasts an impressive fire-rate, a speedy reload, and pinpoint accuracy. It also uses 6.5mm ammo, which is one of the cheaper and more easily attainable munitions in the game. Compared to its closest analog, the Grendel, it has far superior range and slightly improved accuracy.

4. Orion – Laser Rifle

There’s not a great deal of laser weaponry in the early game, but the Orion is a fantastic choice if you’re looking for something a little more futuristic and powerful. It boasts decent range and precise accuracy, and deals quite a lot of damage to boot. Plus, it comes equipped with a scope as standard. Handy!

3. Combat Knife – Melee

You’re probably wondering why a melee weapon as basic as a knife is so high on our list. But the truth is, until Bethesda patches the game, the Combat Knife is pretty OP.

That’s because you can effectively stun-lock enemies if you keep whacking ’em with your blade. When you deal damage with the Combat Knife, it staggers your opponent and leaves them vulnerable to another attack. Rinse and repeat, and the job’s as good as done. This trick also works with some other melee weapons like the Ripshank, but the Combat Knife deals more damage more quickly by comparison.

2. Lawgiver – Rifle

If you’re anything like us, you may be big fans of Bethesda’s previous post-apocalyptic titles from the Fallout series. If so, you’ll likely have a soft spot for the hunting rifle, which is one of the more iconic armaments within the game. The Lawgiver is basically Starfield’s very own hunting rifle, albeit with a fresh and modernized look. It’s both powerful and super accurate, though this is offset by its slow-ish fire-rate.

1. Beowulf – Rifle

The Beowulf is our pick for the best early game weapon in Starfield because it’s incredibly accurate, possesses an impressive semi-automatic fire-rate, and ample range. In addition, not only does it use 7.77mm ammo — which are the cheapest and most easily acquired bullets in the game — but it also can have up to eight mods equipped. It also feels really nice and responsive to handle and shoot, which is always a big boon in our book!

Weapon Perks/ Abilities to Look Out For

Not only are there plenty of weapons to find in Starfield, but each armament can potentially feature additional perks and abilities that can take your moment-to-moment shoot ’em up action to the next level. Here are a few weapon perks that we think you should look out for on your galaxy-spanning journey:

• Furious: Each consecutive hit deals more damage.
• Radioactive: Randomly deals radioactive damage and demoralises the target.
• Disassembler: +20% damage against robots.
• Med Theft: Chance that humans drop extra Med Packs on death.
• Bashing: Deals double damage when gun bashing.
• Incendiary: Randomly deals incendiary damage.
• Hitman: +15% damage while aiming.
• Corrosive: Randomly deals corrosive damage and reduces the targets’ armor over 6 seconds.
• Anti-Personnel: +10% damage against humans.
• Explosive: Randomly switches to explosive rounds.

That’s everything we have on the best early game weapons in Starfield. For more, why not take a gander at our related coverage down below? And for everything else, keep it locked at Twinfinite.