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Best Early Weapons in Starfield

There is some surprisingly excellent gunplay in Starfield and a nice wide range of weapons to find and use. If you want to ensure you’re blasting enemies with the best weaponry right from the get go, then this is the guide for you. We’ll be going over some of the early best weapons you can get in Starfield.

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Best Early Game Weapons to Use in Starfield

As you complete your first few missions in Starfield, you’ll start acquiring plenty on new weapons to use. Keep an eye out for rare and modified versions of weapons. These will be very powerful early on and will often give you a nice advantage. Here is a list of 5 of the best weapons to find and use early on in your adventure:

5 – Sidestar Pistol

Pistols are pretty darn awesome in Starfield. They have some good accuracy and damage and can be a very efficient weapon in terms of ammo. If you’ve put skill points in to mastering pistols, then the Sidestar in particular will be a great choice to try out. You’ll get reliable headshots for critical damage and good ammo capacity. The ammo is also quite easy to find which is nice.

Sidestar pistol

4 – Rescue Axe

If you want an up-close and personal option, the Rescue Axe is a great choice. It has high damage and you’ll get some very hefty swings in that will often stagger enemies. Become a space terror by invading other ships wielding your axe! Melee combat is pretty great in Starfield, and even better once you spec in to it with skill points.

Rescue axe

3 – Maelstrom Rifle

You’ll get ahold of these rifles pretty early on. The Maelstrom is a very good rifle, and you’ll be able to get some really solid damage down range. Keep an eye out for rare or modified versions of the Maelstrom, as they can be very strong. This is the best weapon to use for medium-to-long ranged engagements.

Maelstrom rifle

2 – Grendel Rifle

While it says this is a Rifle, this is more of an SMG. It fires and plays more like a P90. Those of your familiar with the P90 in other FPS games will know its got solid damage, good rate of fire and a nice ammo capacity, and you’ll find plenty of ammo around for it, too. It’s one of the best close -to-medium range weapons early on. Find a nicely modified version, and you will absolutely shred enemies with the Grendel.

Grendel SMG

1 – Old Earth Shotgun

You’ll get this shotgun off of an elite enemy on a ship near Neptune. Don’t worry, you’ll have to go there for the main mission as you progress. Make sure you loot the tougher enemies you take down so you don’t miss it! This shotgun is amazing to use. Its damage is through the roof, and you’ll be able to demolish most enemies in one to two blasts. Get in close by sprinting and using cover, then let this beauty rip. It’s tougher to find ammo for it, but it sure is worth it for the amazing damage.

Old Earth Shotgun Starfield

These are the best weapons you can find and use early game in Starfield. You can of course make most weapons better by specializing with skill points. The weapons on this list are a great starting point for most players as they begin their journey through space. And for more on the game, check out our list of all of the the voice actors who appear in Starfield.

KEEP READING: What Happened to Earth in Starfield?


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Author
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Alex Berry
Contributing Writer
Alex Berry has been a freelance contributor at The Escapist since January 2023. His coverage ranges from funny takes on the latest games to a whole bunch of guide content on such titles as Honkai: Star Rail, Genshin Impact, and various new games. Alex is a jack of all trades when it comes to games, playing almost every new title that shows promise. From RPGs to shooters, all the way through to sports games, he plays it all, although he does have a soft spot for turn-based RPGs having started out his gaming journey with a copy of Pokémon Red on the original Game Boy. Alex has a master's degree in Business and is fascinated by online game economies, often spending a lot of time finding ways to maximize wealth in these games (but he should really be doing that in real life instead).