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In Starfield, skills are one of your character’s most defining features. They determine what you’re best at, which in turn determines what activities you’re likely to pursue. If you have no training with melee, you’re unlikely to seek out knife fights, after all. There are many skills in Bethesda’s new RPG, each with multiple Ranks, so there’s plenty of variety for custom builds. Although there’s a way to get value from every skill, some are better than others. A few are either too weak, too niche, or both, and better off avoided. Here are the worst skills in Starfield, ranked from the disappointing to the truly terrible.
6. Xenosociology
There are several social skills in Starfield that allow you to get your way in conversation. They only work on humans, but there is one skill that allows you to sway aliens to your cause: Xenosociology. It’s a catch-all manipulation tool and also one of the worst skills in Starfield. Its effects are level-restricted, meaning you can’t pacify, terrify, or otherwise influence creatures that are too strong. Temporarily pacifying enemies isn’t that appealing when you could just put points into Ballistics or Marksmanship and directly improve your DPS. Even if you have a build specifically tailored around this skill, Xenosociology is hard to like.
5. Geology
Geology helps the player obtain more and better resources while mining. Lead, steel, aluminum, as well as rarer and more valuable materials, can all be found this way. These resources are necessary for crafting equipment mods as well as adding new structures to your outposts. If resources are so useful, why is Geology bad? Geology is simply inefficient. While it’s true that Geology helps you obtain certain resources faster, mining remains one of the slowest ways to gather materials. Almost all of these resources can be found in abundance throughout your travels if you pay attention because they’re often just lying around.
4. Botany
Botany has essentially the same flaw that Geology does. That’s not surprising, because other than swapping plants for stones, this skill is functionally identical. The first rank of Botany allows you to grow certain plants at your outposts, which can be useful. Still, it’s hard to justify sinking a point into this skill unless you intend to focus heavily on outpost construction or you’re already on New Game Plus. Even if you don’t feel like scouring every room for free plant matter, you can just buy all the Fiber and other resources you need. Doing so is cheap and convenient, all the more reason that Botany is one of the worst skills in Starfield.
3. Boxing
Though combat in Starfield suffers from the occasional bullet sponge enemy, it’s some of the most fun and satisfying in any Bethesda game. It also occurs a lot, so combat skills tend to be some of the most valuable in the game. So why is Boxing one of the worst skills in Starfield? In short, it buffs an ability that most players will never use. When you have guns, explosives, and even swords, there’s no reason to resort to punches, even when they’re upgraded. The only reason to spec into Boxing is if you intend to pick up Martial Arts later. Unless you have nowhere else to sink your points, leave Boxing be.
2. Nutrition
What do Nutrition and Boxing have in common? They both rank amongst the worst skills in Starfield because they buff things you don’t actually need. Nutrition increases the buffs you get from consuming food and drinks. At Rank 4, that’s a 50% efficacy buff. That sounds great, especially because found can be found pretty much everywhere. Unfortunately, the buffs that food and drinks offer tend to be low, and even if you doubled them it wouldn’t be much of an improvement. Food and drinks aren’t useless, and you can even tank your way through some tricky fights by chomping and slurping enough. You just don’t need Nutrition to do so.
1. Gastronomy
If food offers lackluster benefits, cooking isn’t useful. The argument against Gastronomy is that simple. This skill lets you research and craft specialty food and drink items. If you’ve always wanted to roleplay as a space chef or you’re just sick of filling your pocket with Chunks, take Gastronomy. Otherwise, don’t bother. This might be one of the best skills in Starfield in terms of roleplay potential, but it’s one of the worst in terms of mechanical value. Even some of the game’s fancier food items can be obtained without mastering the culinary arts since you can just find or purchase them anyway.
