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Starfield

Best Unique Starfield Weapons in the Early Game

By
Craig Robinson

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that Starfield’s weapon and armor generation is largely random. It means getting your hands on a decent gun is somewhat of a tall order if you’re looting bodies, containers and other sources of loot. However, the stores in the game do offer some decent rare quality weapons, packed with many mods and buffs on them. There’s typically something for everyone here, and so, here’s a closer look at the best unique weapons in Starfield for the early game.

Best Unique Weapons in Starfield’s Early Game

Below is a list of weapons that you can purchase from traders on "Akila City" iconAkila City and "New Atlantis" iconNew Atlantis. These are a range of weapons for different builds and playstyles. Note that there’s no laser or melee weapon here, which is a shame, but, there are other weapons here that offer pistol, stealth, heavy, rifle, scoped and ballistic builds. Continue scrolling for the recommended best unique weapons in the early game.

Feel free to look at any of these weapons, and begin to take skill points that scale with those weapons, such as

Read More: Best Skills in Starfield.

Elegance

The Elegance is a solid pistol for damaging armored opponents or use while stealthed. It’s arguably one of the best unique weapons in the early game of Starfield.

The "Elegance" iconElegance is a 48 damage pistol which comes with the perk, Shattering: Break through even the strongest armor.

Mod Effect
Reflex Sight low range optic
Suppressor Silences the weapon for stealth
Penetrator Rounds Increased damage against armoured targets.
High Powered Increased round damage
Binary Trigger Fire Rate increase

This Elegance pistol is perhaps one of the best early-game weapons in Starfield. Period. The weapon comes with solid armor piercing via mods and its unique effect, Shatter. It is also suppressed for stealthed builds, and is a fairly accurate pistol too.

Players can get this item by visiting the "Belle Rowland" iconBelle Rowland in the Rowlands Arms, which is a gun store to the left-hand side of the central part of Akira City.

Head Ranger

For players looking for a decent sniper rifle, visit the Freestar Collective for a good unique scoped rifle.

The "Head Ranger" iconHead Ranger is a 50 caliber scoped rifle that deals 37 Physical damage per round. Its special effect is Rapid: +25% increase in attack speed. It’s perfect for an early game Stealth Sniper Build.

Mod Effect
Long Barrel Increases range
Recon Scope Higher magnification scope
Muzzle Brake Increases long range and stability at the cost of hip fire stability.
Penetrator Rounds Better damage against armored targets.
Hair Trigger Improved fire rate.

The Head "Ranger" iconRanger is likely the best scoped weapon you want to grab for a mid-range rifle or sniper rifle build early on, and its easily one of the first snipers any player can spend their money on and have a good time using. Remember that snipers in this game are buffed by scoped weapon improvements. So, you can grab this for sniper and your regular solider builds if you want.

You can buy this at the Southgate of Akila City gun store. From the spaceport, head into the city, then turn right and follow the pathway down towards the shooting range. There’s a gun store on the right-hand side.

The Prime

If you need a high-damage and reliable side arm, grab yourself the Prime, which is one of the strongest, yet unique and guaranteed revolvers in Starfield in Akila City.

"The Prime" iconThe Prime is a 61 Phys damage, Revolver, which comes with the skill, Elemental: Randomly deals corrosive, radiation poison, and incendiary damage.

Mod Effect
Laser Sight Improves hip fire accuracy
Recon Scope Higher magnification scope - pocket sniper anyone?
Muzzle Break Improves long range stability at the cost of hip fire accuracy
Penetrator Rounds Improves damage against armored targets
High Velocity Increases accuracy and range.

For players looking for a solid sidearm, then The Prime is a great weapon to use. The high-damage revolver offers players some solid burst when you need to switch to a sidearm, and is very accurate considering its mods too. It’s an all-around, all-purpose sidearm that you can get and make sure of regardless of the build

You can buy this at the gun store in the Southgate region of Akila City. From the spaceport, head into the city, then turn right and follow the pathway down towards the shooting range. There’s a gun store on the right-hand side.

N67 Smartgun

If you like heavy weapons, the Smartgun is purchased from the UC in New Atlantis, as it is the best unique heavy weapon in the early game.

The "N67 Smartgun" iconN67 Smartgun is a heavy minigun type weapon, that deals 10 PHYS per round. It also comes with the skill, Shatter: Break through even the strongest armor.

Mod Effect
Compensator Improves recoil stability.
Armour Piercing Rounds Increases damage against armored targets.

This weapon is the only real guaranteed heavy weapon you can get in the early game, and it’s also one of the best for ignoring all physical armor resistance in the game via its armor-piercing rounds mod and its shatter weapon effect. If you intend to use heavy weapons, and ballistic weapon, this is a great gun for mowing down hoards of enemies in the early game.

You can buy this by visiting the New Atlantis Supply Dept near the UC Vanguard building in the MAST part of New Atlantis.

Rapidshot

The Rapidshot is the best early-game unique shotgun in Starfield, which you can buy from the UC in New Atlantis.

The "Rapidshot" iconRapidshot is a Rare shotgun with 99 PHYS damage 6 mag weapon. It’s unique effect is Rapid: +25% increase in attack speed.

Mod Effect
Long barrel Increases the range of the weapon
Laser sight Increase ship fire accuracy
Tactical stock Better stability and ADS speeds.
Tactical magazine Faster reload and ADS speeds.
Hair trigger Increases fire rate.
Fully automatic Enable the weapon to be a fully automatic shotgun, rather than pump or semi auto.

This weapon and its mods allow players to get a fairly stable and accurate shotgun, which is also fully automatic with a 25% attack speed increase modifier. This weapon is one of the burstiest weapons in the game for taking down the biggest bullet sponges in the game.

It is still a spread shotgun designed for closer ranges, but it’s fairly effective at its burst damage, and its long barrel makes it more effective, so you don’t have to get too close to use it. It’s certainly worth taking when you have a high-level enemy or a creature with lots of HP to destroy.

If you’re looking for a close-range gun, or a solid shotgun for any Gangster builds out there, then this weapon should be on your radar.

You can buy this by visiting the New Atlantis Supply Dept near the UC Vanguard building in the MAST part of New Atlantis.

If we find any more weapons to add to the best unique weapons in the early game, then we shall update this page if you find any weapons that you can also get guaranteed all the time, then free to let us know so we can add them to the list if they make sense to make it on the list.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Bethesda Softworks
  • Platforms,
    PC, XB X|S
  • Genre
    Action Adventure, Action RPG, Shooter
  • Guide Release
    30 August 2023
  • Last Updated
    18 October 2023
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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Starfield is an action role-playing game from Bethesda Game Studios set in a futuristic interpretation of space exploration and colonization. Earth has long been abandoned, but there are plenty of other planets in different star systems where humans have ventured and settled. You have the freedom to create your own character with a unique background, but the main story will take you through a series of adventures as you uncover more information about mysterious artifacts which create gravitational anomalies. Along the way, you can build and customize your own space ship, establish your own outpost, befriend and romance new companions, and more. As a Bethesda game, you can also expect to see a lot of creative mods which have the potential to change your experience of the base game, or take it in an entirely new direction.

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