There are five Starfield weapon tiers that you’ll encounter throughout the game as you level. This gear progression is not obvious, but you’ll start receiving equipment that have specific adjectives such as “calibrated” and “refined” as you continue to earn experience points. Fans of Bethesda’s Fallout 4 will be familiar with how this works as far as the naming convention is concerned. You’ll want to know what these weapons tiers are in Starfield, so that you know what is and what isn’t worth upgrading at around your level.
What are the five Starfield weapon tiers?
The five weapon tiers are base (no adjective), calibrated, refined, advanced, and superior.
You will begin to see “calibrated” weapons at around Level 10 and “refined” at around Level 20-25. Meanwhile, “advanced” weaponry will appear around Level 30-35 while “superior” has a chance to drop at around Level 40-50 in our experience. These level breakdowns are general approximations since there’s no clear indication by the game when you are high enough level to reach a new tier of weapons. You’ll also see these tiers on gear, such as helmets, spacesuits, and boost packs.
But either way, to get these higher-grade weapons to drop, you usually need to find an enemy of a suitable level or open a chest on a planet that’s around that level. You’ll want to do this anyway to gain a lot of XP fast. Weapons of a higher tier will do more base damage, and will appear more often on higher difficulty levels due to the increased number of legendary enemies.
For clarity, these weapon tiers are separate from item rarity, like uncommon, rare, and legendary. Item rarities determine how many additional traits are on a weapon or equipment. So you can have a common superior weapon deal more damage than a legendary calibrated weapon of the same type. You’ll want to be aware of these weapon tiers so that you don’t accidentally sell powerful weapons just because they have a low rarity.
That said, some unique weapons like the N67 Smartgun don’t have an obvious weapon tier. So you’ll need to compare and contrast stats to see where they fit in terms of power level.
Starfield Weapon Tier FAQ
A: The five weapon tiers in Starfield are base (no adjective), calibrated, refined, advanced, and superior. Generally, “calibrated” weapons start appearing around Level 10, “refined” around Level 20-25, “advanced” between Level 30-35, and “superior” weapons may drop between Level 40-50. These are approximations since the game doesn’t give clear indicators of reaching a new weapon tier.
A: No, weapon tiers are distinct from item rarities. While weapon tiers, like “superior”, signify the base damage of a weapon, item rarities like uncommon or legendary determine the additional traits on the weapon or equipment. This means a common superior weapon could potentially deal more damage than a legendary calibrated weapon of the same kind.
A: Unique weapons in Starfield, such as the N67 Smartgun, might not have an evident weapon tier. You should compare their stats with other weapons to gauge their power level relative to the known tiers.
