There are several Starfield weapon tiers to discover in Bethesda’s sprawling space RPG, and the type that you choose can have an impact on how well your gun performs. Of course, you’ll want to choose a weapon that suits your playstyle, too. Early on, you can’t afford to be too picky, but there are plenty of options, and once you get a feel for the different types, you can focus your sights on acquiring higher tiers.

Weapon rarities play a part, too, as these can add useful modifiers to your arsenal. In some cases, a specific modifier might make a lower-tier weapon more valuable, depending on what it does, so it’s worth paying attention to the fine print on a weapon before dismissing its worth due to tier. With that in mind, here’s what you need to know about Starfield weapons tiers.

Starfield weapon tiers: How they work 

There are five weapon tiers in Starfield, with each one offering better stats than the previous tier, as well as increasing the overall value—meaning that you can get more credits for it if you decide to sell it to a vendor. 

Here are the five weapon tiers in Starfield:

• Base
• Calibrated
• Refined
• Advanced
• Superior

Each tier appears to be tied to your character level, so it’s more common to see higher-tier weapons drop at higher levels. As such, it’s unlikely that you’ll find a Superior weapon early on in the game, for example. 

Weapon rarities don’t appear to have any such restrictions, so it’s possible to find legendary weapons from the minute you set out into space, or get them through quests—though obviously, these are still quite rare. If you’re lucky enough to find one with a decent set of modifiers, though, you won’t be needing a higher-tier weapon for quite some time as a higher rarity weapon will often out-perform a weapon of the same tier. 

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In the screenshots above, you can find examples of a base rare Solstice, and a Calibrated common Solstice. Both are literally identical stat-wise, aside from the extra Energy from the Calibrated version, but the rare pistol is actually worth more if you decide to sell it, and it has a modifier because of its rare status. Likewise, the two Calibrated Krakens both have the same stats, though the epic version has two modifiers. Basically, if you’re after the best weapon, you’ll need to consider a balance of both tier and rarity.

If you want to add a little more punch to your loadout while you wait for your perfect weapon to drop, you can always turn your hand to crafting and, more specifically, the weapons workbench.