Similar to some ofBethesda’s previous games,Starfieldgives players the option to customize their gear using a wide variety of mods. There are plenty of pieces of gear in the game that will serve you well even without any enhancements, but adding mods to them will make them even more powerful while also making your character more versatile.
Starfield: 10 Best Early Game Weapons
If you’re trying to get tooled up early in Starfield, these are some great weapons.
Starfield mods can be divided into several different categories, but for the sake of simplicity, we’re going to group them into just two – weapon mods and armor mods. This list will cover some of both as we attempt to rank the best overall mods in Starfield.
Updated by Jason Moth on August 10, 2025:This list has been updated with five additional entries. There are dozens of good mods available in Starfield so having a larger variety of them to consider is never a bad thing.
15Tactical Grip
You’ve only got a few options at your disposal when it comes to weapon grips. The Ergonomic and Shielded Tool grips can be applied to a very small selection of weapons, making the Tactical Grip the only option for the vast majority of guns in Starfield. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing because the Tactical Grip comes with many advantages, including increased ADS speed, reload speed, and stability. Plus, the grip is also light to boot.
The Tactical Grip can be crafted using 1 x Sealant and 1 x Titanium. These are fairly common resources in the game, so you probably already have a bunch of them in your inventory by the time you’re reading this. But if you’re struggling to find them for one reason or another you can always purchase all the resources you need from vendors like Wen Tseng and Dietrich Sieghart.
14High Velocity
High Velocity is a simple Internal Weapon Mod that increases both accuracy and range. A lot of the time these mods come with drawbacks designed to balance out the buffs, but that’s not the case with High Velocity. Granted, High Velocity is competing with some pretty good mods for the same slot, so it makes perfect sense that it gives you extra incentives to use it over some of the others.
High Velocity can be crafted using x3Platinum, 1xMonopropellant, x2 Titanium, and x3 Adhesive. Most of those are easy to acquire, but Monopropellant is a component that needs to be either purchased or crafted at an Industrial Workbench using x2Alkanes, 1xReactive Gauge, and x1Mag Pressure Tank. That’s a bit of an investment but, on the bright side, the High Velocity mod can be equipped on pretty much every standard weapon.
13Recon Laser Sight
The Recon Laser Sight is a weapon mod that provides a significant boost to accuracy. Even more importantly, the mod marks enemies while aiming, making them easier to hit. Even though it may seem a bit gimmicky at first, the Recon Laser Sight is genuinely a very helpful mod that comes in handy in many situations, particularly when you’re fighting multiple opponents at once.
Starfield: 10 Best Research Projects, Ranked
The best Research Projects in Starfield, ranked for your convenience.
The Recon Laser Sight can be crafted using x3Vanadium, x2 Adhesive, x2Palladium, and x2 Zero Wire. The resource cost isn’t too bad all things considered, but you do need to unlock the Optic and Laser Mods 3 Research Project before you can craft a Recon Laser Sight. That’s going to require a bunch more resources. Then again, the Recon Laser Sight is a pretty unique mod, so the investment is definitely well worth it.
12Medium Scope
The Medium Scope provides the perfect level of magnification for most long-range combat situations. If you’re using asniper build, the Long Scope’s 6.5x magnification would be a better fit, but aside from that very specific scenario, you can never go wrong with the Medium Scope’s 4x magnification. Ideally, you’ll want to use a secondary sidearm for close-range combat, but you can also just shoot from the hip if you don’t like switching weapons on the fly.
The Medium Scope can be crafted using x3 Vanadium, x2 Adhesive, x3Chlorosilanes, and x1 Zero Wire. Vanadium and Chlorosilanes aren’t particularly common resources, but you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding some provided you know where to look. As always, Wen Tseng and Dietrich Sieghart are your go-to traders if you would rather buy these resources instead of mining and harvesting them yourself.
11Power Boostpack
Starfield’s Boostpacks aren’t quite as cool as traditional jetpacks, but they are almost as efficient at helping you get from point A to point B faster. Boostpacks come in a handful of different variants and while they all do pretty much the same thing, there are some important differences between them. If you’re looking for raw power, there’s no better option than the Power Boostpack. This bad boy eats a lot of fuel, but it also makes navigating high-gravity environments a breeze.
The Power Boostpack can be crafted using x1Zero-G Gimbal, x3 Monopropellant, x1Tau Grade Rheostat, and x3Beryllium. Aside from the Beryllium, which can be found on a wide variety of planets, all the other components need to be either bought or crafted. Meanwhile, you’ll also need to unlock the Pack Mods 3 Research Project before you can make your own Power Boostpack. Not an easy mod to craft, but an essential one if you don’t like exploring planets at a snail’s pace.
10Gravitic Composites
In typical Bethesda fashion, Starfield gives you the freedom to play however you want. This includes, among other things, playing as astealth-focused character. If being a silent space assassin sounds right up your alley there’s no better mod out there than Gravitic Composites. ThisSpacesuit Modreduces the ability of nearby enemies to detect you, allowing you to more easily sneak around.
The Gravitic Composites mod can be crafted using x3Adhesive, x4Caelumite, and 1xMicrosecond Regulator. you’re able to buy a Microsecond Regular from Dietrich Sieghart or other vendors, but Caelumite is more difficult to come by. There’s no surefire way of getting this exotic resource, however, there is a chance that it will spawn randomly in containers. If you manage to get enough of the stuff, you should also consider crafting a Gravitic Composites helmet mod.
9Explosive Rounds
There are several Magazine and BatteryWeapon Modsthat imbue rounds with a variety of effects. Armor-piercing and damage-over-time rounds are always popular, but it’s hard to beat a mod like Explosive Rounds. Just as its name indicates, this mod creates rounds that explode on contact with any surface, including enemies. This mod isn’t recommended for stealthy builds for obvious reasons, but if you love going into every fight with guns blazing this is the mod for you.
Starfield: Mining Guide
In Starfield, players are able to mine resources on the many planets to use in crafting, upgrading gear, or building outposts.
Explosive Rounds can be crafted using x2Tetrafluorides, x2Adhesive, and x2Lead. Tetrafluorides are quite a rare resource, but you may find some of them in stock at Wen Tseng or Dietrich Sieghart. It can also be found on a handful of planets as a mineable resource. Explosive Rounds can only be attached to six weapons. Namely, AA-99, Breach, Pacifier, Drum Beat, Eon, Sidestar.
8Muzzle Brake
The humble Muzzle Brake is the best Muzzle mod you can attach to your weapon. The mod improves long-range accuracy and stability, allowing you to more easily hit targets from afar. The problem is that Muzzle Brake also reduces hip-fire accuracy, albeit only slightly. Ideally, you’ll want to equip this mod on a weapon that you don’t plan on firing from the hip all that often. That way, you don’t have to worry about the drawback.
The Muzzle Brake mod can be crafted using x3Tungsten, x2Sealant, and x2Titanium. This mod requires more resources to craft than some of the others on this list, but the good news is that they are all fairly easy to find. As far as compatible weapons are concerned, the sky’s the limit with this one. Muzzle Brake can be attached to everything from pistols and shotguns to rifles and more.
7Emergency Aid
Emergency Aid is aPack Modthat can save you from dying during particularly tense engagements. The mod automatically restores some of your health whenever it drops below a certain threshold, giving you the chance to live to fight another day. The mod doesn’t do much else otherwise, so we can only recommend it to players who find themselves dying a lot. Emergency Aid is particularly useful to those who play on higherdifficulty settings.
The Emergency Aid mod can be crafted using x2 Heart +, x3Sedative, and x2 Trauma Pack. All these components can be purchased from various vendors, and you’re likely to also stumble across at least a few of them during exploration. Heart + and Trauma Packs are consumable items that provide healing, so it’s very tempting to use them when you’re in a tight spot. However, we recommend hanging onto them until you have enough to craft this mod because it’s going to be more useful in the long run.
6Long Barrel
The Long Barrel is another must-have weapon mod as it provides multiple enhancements, including increased accuracy, recoil, control, and range. The caveat is that the mod also decreases ADS speed, though not by a significant amount. As long as you don’t constantly switch in and out of ADS mode, you’ll barely notice it. There are a couple of versions of this mod that can only be attached to the Solstice laser pistol. You’ll need the regular version if you want to attach it to other weapons.
Starfield: Research Explained
Starfield allows you to do research to increase the effectiveness of your items. Here’s a guide on how to do this research.
The Long Barrel mod can be crafted using x1 Sealant, 1xIron, and 1x Nickel. All those resources are easy to come by and, as an added bonus, you only need to complete a tier 1 Research project to unlock the ability to craft this mod. The Long Barrel mod can be attached to close to two dozen different weapons, so there are plenty of options to choose from.
