The best Starfield unarmed build relies on both armor and skills. Since there are no unarmed weapons in the game, you will need to rely on a sturdy spacesuit to mitigate damage and putting a lot of skill points into the Physical tree. There are multiple skills that you’ll want to prioritize to enhance your punching ability, giving your strikes very important crowd-control abilities that can knock enemies prone and stun them for a lot of free follow-up attacks. You won’t be doing a lot of damage, particularly compared to high DPS guns, but you will be an effective single-target striker in close quarters. Here is a breakdown of the best skills and armor for an unarmed punching build in Starfield.
Best skills for Starfield unarmed build
The following are the skills that you should take to make an effective unarmed build:
- Boxing – This skill is the bread and butter for any puncher. This will increase your punching damage and lower oxygen you need while running and doing a power attack. At rank 4, you also have the ability to knock enemies prone.
- Martial Arts – This will give your punches the chance to crit more often while giving power attacks the ability to disarm foes. This will leave most human enemies helpless to fight back. At higher ranks, this skill will reduce oncoming damage and reflect some melee damage back at attackers.
- Neurostrikes – This is a must-have, as it will give your punches the chance to stun enemies. At Rank 4, you even have the chance to knock down multiple enemies around you after stunning an enemy.
- Weight Lifting – Getting more carrying capacity is great for every build, but this is important for a punching build mainly for the armor. Around the midgame, the best armor protection will weight about 20, so having more carrying capacity will help balance this out. At Rank 4, this skill will also make you stagger less, which happens often in melee range when you’re bashed with a gun.
- Rejuvenation – Time to become Wolverine. At high ranks, this skill will let you regenerate a lot of health while in the middle of combat. This will save you from needing a med pack or caring too much about your health.
- Spacesuit Design – As a frontliner, you’ll be taking a lot of hits getting in front of an enemy’s face. So learning new mods that can increase melee damage and mitigate oncoming damage further is great.
- Armor Penetration – It will be tough gaining the skill point just to reach this Tier 4 skill in Combat, but having your punches ignore a portion of enemy armor is fantastic.
- Crippling – In a similar vein to Armor Penetration, the Tier 4 Combat skill Crippling will give you a chance to force an enemy to stay prone for longing. This works for human enemies at first, but at Rank 4, this skill will apply to all enemies and also doubles any damage you deal at a downed enemy.
There are other skills to consider as well that is good for all builds. This includes Wellness for more health, Fitness for more oxygen, Boost Pack Training to unlock boosting, and Medicine for making med packs more effective.
Some skills that impact melee like Dueling are hit and miss, since by our understanding, unarmed strikes do not count as melee weapons. However, they still count as melee attacks, which means that effects involving melee kills impact you. A debuff like Soreness, which depletes your oxygen when you do a melee attack, still counts against you when you perform a punch.
Best armor and items for Starfield unarmed build
The best armor for an unarmed build will have high resistance in all three categories (physical, electromagnetic, and energy). The best items will be consumables that increase melee damage and resistance.
We recommend that you find any piece of equipment that has the O2 Filter trait. This will lower your overall oxygen consumption by 25%, which is a huge boon since you’ll be running at enemies most of the time and since power attacks use oxygen.
Meanwhile, some aid consumables like the Battlestim, Boudicca, CQB-X, Frostwolf, Heart+, Red Trench, and Squall will help in giving you increased damage resistance, melee damage, oxygen capacity, and movement speed for a limited time. Just make sure you have some Junk Flush to cure any addictions you might receive from taking too many combat-enhancing drugs.
We also recommend taking a companion who specializes with guns and that you have at least one gun in your back pocket in case you come across turrets or are unable to reach an enemy.
Starfield Unarmed Build FAQ
A: Prioritize Boxing, Martial Arts, Neurostrikes, Weight Lifting, Rejuvenation, Spacesuit Design, Armor Penetration, and Crippling to enhance unarmed damage, defense, and effects.
A: Choose high-resistance armor, use the Exo Servos mod, and equip items with the O2 Filter trait. Boost performance with consumables like Battlestim and CQB-X. Keep Junk Flush handy for potential drug side effects.
A: Pair with a gun-skilled companion and always carry a backup gun for ranged threats.
