Starfield weapon modification system allows customization, personalization, and upgrading of futuristic energy weapons to powerful ballistic firearms and even advanced electromagnetic weapons.
By Deltia | Updated July 11th, 2023
Starfield Weapon Mods Explained
In Starfield, you’ll be able to customize your weapons with a variety of modifications (mods), changing their stats, appearance, and functionality. There are a variety of factors to consider when modifying your weapon in Starfield:
- Acquiring Weapon Mods
- Types of Weapon Mods
- Weapon Mod Bonuses
- Crafting Weapon Mods
Type of Weapon Mods
Weapon mods in Starfield offer a range of enhancements to improve weapon performance, giving players a competitive edge. Whether it’s increasing damage output, improving accuracy, or extending range, the modification system allows for fine-tuning weapons to meet specific combat requirements. Additionally, as players progress through the game, they’ll discover new and rare mods that unlock even more potent capabilities, ensuring a constant sense of progression and reward.
All Types of Weapon Mods
So far, we’ve seen six different types of weapon mods:
- Receiver: This mod changes the firing mechanism of your weapon, affecting its accuracy, range, and damage.
- Internal: This mod changes the internal components of your weapon, affecting its fire rate, recoil, and weight.
- Optic: This mod changes the scope or sight of your weapon, improving your accuracy and range.
- Magazine and Battery: This mod changes the magazine or battery of your weapon, increasing its ammo capacity or firing rate.
- Muzzle: This mod changes the muzzle of your weapon, adding a suppressor, compensator, or other attachment.
- Stock: while not shown directly, various weapons have included this as a mod which will likely help with recoil
While we’ve seen six mods, there are at least eight mod slots possibly shown in the weapon Modified Calibrated Razorback Pistol. Our Starfield Weapons Guide shows a variety of weapons coming from the three broad categories of physical (ballistic), energy (lasers), or electromagnetic (EM). Likely, the more advanced the weapon, the more mod slots, allow further customization, stats, and damage. Weapons are also shown to have “perks” or extra traits attached to them like Experiment A-7 Shotgun shown below.
This weapon comes with a perk or trait: Exterminator: +30% damage against aliens. This additional feature is on top of weapon mods and another factor to consider when selecting the best weapon in Starfield.
Weapon Mod Details
Here are some additional details about weapon mods that we’ve learned from the Starfield trailers and Starfield Direct gameplay demos:
- Mods can be stacked, meaning you can attach multiple mods to a single weapon.
- The effects of mods can be cumulative, so stacking multiple mods of the same type can have a significant impact on your weapon’s performance.
- Some mods may have unique effects, such as the ability to fire explosive rounds or the ability to see in the dark.
- The effectiveness of mods may vary depending on the weapon they are attached to.
- Mods can be removed from weapons at any time, so you can experiment with different combinations to find the perfect setup for your needs.
Crafting Weapon Mods
The weapon modding system in Starfield is deeply intertwined with the game’s crafting and resource management mechanics. Players will need to scavenge resources, acquire blueprints, and experiment with different components to unlock new mods and improve existing ones. This aspect adds depth to gameplay, as players must strategically balance resource allocation between crafting consumables, managing outpost resources, building a starship, and upgrading their weaponry.
Players can craft materials via a Research Laboratory on a Starship or Outpost. Here, the system will give five broad categories: pharmacology, food and drink, outpost development, equipment, and weaponry. For the sake of this guide, weaponry is what we are concerned with. Once selecting weaponry, going into the mod selection screen you can drill down further to a specific mod.
Armor-piercing rounds were shown, which required three materials: tungsten, adhesive, and lead. These materials can be obtained by collecting resources on planets via plants and animals as well as surveying planets and systems. You will also need to have the required research available and in the image above it’s “magazine and battery mods 2.” Once all prerequisites are met, you can craft your individual mod and install it on that weapon.
All Confirmed Starfield Mods
We know there are a total of at least eight mod slots per the weapon Modified Calibrated Razorback Pistol. here’s what we’ve seen so far:
Tombstone Rifle Weapon Mods
- Long Barrel
- Iron Sights
- Large Magazine
Razorback Pistol Weapon Mods
- Recon Scope
- Compensator
Experiment A-7 Shotgun
- Perk: Exterminator: +30% damage against aliens.
- Reflex Sight
- Tactical Stock
- Flechette Rounds
Eternity’s Gate Particle Beam Rifle
- Perk: Handloading: Volatile rounds that are designed to pack a bigger punch but aren’t as stable and can fail on occasion.
- Long Barrel
- Recon Laser Sight
- Short Scope
- Tactical Magazine
Ember Laser Pistol
- Standard Barrel with Laser Sight
- Focal Lens
- Ignition Beams
Brawler’s Equinox Laser Rifle
- Perk: Bashing: deals double damage when gun bashing
- Electromagnetic Beams
- Removed Cover
- Fully Automatic
Looking for more about Starfield?
Thanks for reading our Starfield Weapon Mods guide. With so many different mods to choose from, there’s no one right way to customize your weapons in Starfield. The best way to find the right mods for you is to experiment and see what works best for your playstyle.
- Starfield: 10 Things You Must Know!
- Character Creation Explained
- Starfield Gameplay Breakdown
- Starfield Exploration
I’ll be doing more deep dives into Starfield and covering the game here on deltiasgaming.com. Keep an eye out for more coverage as we anxiously wait for the game to release! Additionally, I’ll also be streaming the game on Twitch.
