Starfield: Damage types explained

You’ll find yourself in many dangerous situations throughout your Starfield playthrough, and most times you’ll leave them a little scathed. While there are plenty of melee weapons, most of Starfield’s combat ends up consisting of guns. Did you know that there isn’t just a single damage type? Learning about each damage type is actually quite important, once you start to upgrade your spacesuit for damage defenses. Here are all the Starfield damage types explained.

All damage types explained in Starfield

There are three main damage types in Starfield, which are Physical, Energy, and Electromagnetic damage. Different types of weapons deal different kinds of damage, and while you may have protection from one, you may be lacking in another. 

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Physical damage

This is probably the most common damage type you’ll see in Starfield, and the most understandable. Your typical bullet and gun will deal this damage, which can come from Ballistic weapons. These weapons are your usual real-life guns, which can be pistols, shotguns, and rifles. They’re nothing fancy, but they can still pack a punch.

Energy damage

If you encounter a laser weapon, this will exclusively deal Energy damage. And if you’re up against an enemy, and you don’t have much protection from that damage, you better watch out. You can tell when a weapon does Energy damage if it has ‘laser’ in the title, such as laser rifles or pistols. Also, one of my favorite weapons is the Arc Welder, which electrifies enemies with Energy damage.

Electromagnetic damage

This is the least common damage type in Starfield, since there are only two weapons in the entire game that use this. If you ever come across the Novablast Disruptor, or the Brawler’s Equinox, keep that weapon. What’s interesting about this damage type is the fact that it actually stuns enemies, and doesn’t kill them. This can be good for wanting to temporarily take out an enemy during a stealth mission.

Those are all the damage types explained in Starfield! My recommendation for which to look out for is Physical and Energy damage. You won’t likely come across an enemy dealing EM damage. This means that when you’re adding mods to your spacesuit, prioritize mods that protect you from Physical and Energy damage.

Starfield is available on Steam and the Microsoft Store.