Starfield backgrounds are a group of pre-defined setups that you can choose for your characters. Some focus on combat skills, like the Soldier, while others have a more scientific side, like the Professor. Choosing the right background will make your game experience more complete, as your character will have more chances to be victorious in missions and interactions.
If you're not familiar with how backgrounds work and you're having trouble choosing the ideal one, we've ranked them from best to worst. Keep in mind that you should not just stick to the names at the top of the list. Explore all of them and choose your favorite.
Note: This ranking is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer
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Ranking Starfield backgrounds from worst to best
21) Sculptor
It is not very clear why this background is called the Sculptor. Its skills seem randomly ordered, combining Medicine, Geology, and Persuasion. Although all of them can give good results on their own, only Medicine is the highlight.
Medicine not only allows the Sculptor to heal faster but also to find less common inorganic resources while exploring and to get other characters to obey his wishes.
The Sculptor is not recommended for beginners, as it does not have much to offer.
20) Chef
Among Starfield backgrounds, there is one specialized in melee combat, cooking recipes, and getting extra resources from the containers they find along the way: the Chef.
The Chef’s combination of skills (Gastronomy, Dueling, and Scavenging) is very creative but not functional. It does not stand out in any of the main tasks proposed by the game, like fighting, trading, or stealing. However, if you want to test yourself as a player, this can be one of the most challenging backgrounds because of its lack of essential abilities.
19) Pilgrim
The Pilgrim is recommended for those who want to spend a lot of time in Starfield without having to worry about the main story of the game. This background focuses on exploration and research rather than combat or stealing.
Of the three skills, only one is useful for Starfield missions: Surveying. Gastronomy and Scavenging, on the other hand, are not as necessary because they focus on elements that do not contribute much to the main quests.
18) Cyberneticist
The Cyberneticist does not have a good mix of skills for beginners. The skills (Medicine, Security, and Lasers) are good individually, but they do not complement each other in the best way.
This background offers high healing powers, a talent for hacking locks, and a good laser weapon. It does not fit well for a thief, scout, or combat. Completing the main storyline requires learning and upgrading other skills.
17) Industrialist
For players who are less interested in combat and more interested in the science that is part of Starfield's lore, the Industrialist background is a must.
This background allows you to focus on developing technology and building settlements. It combines Persuasion with Security and Research Methods. This makes it easy to persuade other characters to do your bidding while allowing you to pick locks with little effort and use fewer resources to craft items or complete research projects.
16) Homesteader
Of all the Starfield backgrounds, the Homesteader is the one for the less restless player. It rewards those who want to start building settlements and research labs quickly at the cost of sacrificing other skills that are more useful to the story.
The Homesteader has a talent for geology, which allows you to extract more common and uncommon inorganic resources from surface objects. It also includes the optional zoom to the hand scanner (Surveying skill) and Weight lifting skill (total carrying capacity increased by 10 kilograms).
15) Explorer
The Explorer is one of the ideal Starfield backgrounds for those players who do not want to follow the main story of the game. Since the title has an open-world map, the ability to go to many places in different galaxies can be more appealing than following the default path.
This background includes the ability to do 10% more damage with laser weapons and the hand-held zoom scanner. You can also make larger Grav jumps with the Astrodynamics skill.
14) Professor
As the name suggests, the Professor is one of the Starfield backgrounds that focus on learning and discovery. If your focus is on gaining knowledge and mastering the sciences, this is perfect for you.
To create this background, three closely related skills come together: Astrodynamics, Geology, and Research Methods. This combination means that your ship improves its Grav drive, you get less common inorganic resources from surface objects, and you can complete research projects and craft items with fewer resources.
However, it is not ranked higher because its abilities are not the most useful for a better experience of the game's story.
13) Xenobiologist
The Xenobiologist is one of the Starfield backgrounds most focused on planetary exploration, thanks to its combination of Surveying, Fitness, and Lasers skills.
The first skill adds an optional zoom to the hand scanner, increasing the scan distance to 20 meters. This means you can find faster minerals, flora, and fauna.
The second skill gives the character more oxygen, which means more stamina. Meanwhile, the third skill allows the Xenobiologist to use laser weapons.
12) Ronin
The Ronin is one of the Starfield backgrounds that are ideal for those who want a game focused on stealing and stealth. It is one of the two backgrounds that start the game with the Stealth skill unlocked.
For many players, this may not be ideal, as the goods available for stealing are not that valuable in most of the locations. However, with the addition of the Scavenging skill, loot appears more often and may contain additional resources. The Duel skill gives you excellent opportunities to use melee weapons.
11) Combat Medic
Starting with the Medicine and Wellness skills is a safe bet. Both guarantee health-related stats, so you can consider them useful in most situations. That's why Combat Medic could be an outstanding choice for most players.
While Medicine increases maximum health (by 10%), Wellness helps to restore 10% additional health 10% faster with Med Packs, Trauma Packs, and Emergency Kits. The third skill is Pistol Certification, which is essential for combat.
10) Bouncer
Sometimes, Starfield backgrounds can offer skills that may not be much individually but can be a huge advantage when combined. This is the case with the Bouncer, a background that is perfect for combat while also having thieving skills.
This background's basic skills are Boxing, Fitness, and Security. This means that your character's unarmed attacks have a 25% damage increase, while they need less oxygen to perform a power attack. They can also hack advanced locks.
9) Beast Hunter
Among the Starfield backgrounds, the Beast Hunter has a special balance. In addition to an extremely useful skill like Ballistics, it has Gastronomy, which does not contribute much to most of the game.
The Fitness skill provides 10% more oxygen. However, the ability to create specialty foods and drinks, thanks to the Gastronomy skill, is not a talent that fully integrates with the other two, which are more combat-oriented.
8) Diplomat
The power of persuasion makes the Diplomat one of the most prominent Starfield backgrounds. Despite its name, it is not a political discipline but rather a trade discipline.
While not a very useful background for combat, the Diplomat's Persuasion and Commerce skills ensure that your trading is done in the most beneficial way possible. Not only will your character be able to persuade others to do his or her bidding, but your finances will also benefit from the start: buy for 5% less and sell for 10% more.
7) Gangster
The Gangster is one of the most versatile and useful Starfield backgrounds. At first glance, its skills may not seem special, as they are some of the most basic required by the game. However, if you start the title with them, you are already halfway to a functional combination of fighting and stealing.
The Shotgun certification gives this background the ability to increase the damage of your character's shotguns by up to 10%. The Boxing skill may not be the best choice for a game with a lot of firearms or lasers, but it makes melee combat more advantageous for the character by increasing the power of unarmed attacks by 25%.
In addition, with the Theft skill, you can start the game with the ability to pickpocket targets.
6) Cyber Runner
There are many fans who like to loot to make some money, so for them, the Cyber Runner is probably the best background.
With this background, you can easily win side quests and complete many tasks in total stealth. You will also be able to steal all kinds of artifacts with a high degree of success.
Its basic skills are Stealth, Theft, and Security. This means that your character will be 25% harder to spot when sneaking, is able to pickpocket targets, and can hack advanced locks.
5) Space Scoundrel
If you like to explore the galaxy, the Space Scoundrel is one of the best Starfield backgrounds. It is ideal for those who want total control of the ship and the crew.
The Pistol Certification, Piloting, and Persuasion skills indicate that your character will be able to inflict 10% more damage with pistols, pilot a starship, and have 10% higher chances of success when trying to persuade someone.
4) File not found
File not found is an interesting option because, according to the history of Starfield, there are no details about its past. It is not clear from the description whether this is a case of memory loss or deliberate deletion of records.
Compared to other Starfield backgrounds, this one offers fewer elements in the dialog lines, making the experience flatter than other options.
The base skills are Wellness, Ballistics, and Piloting. With these three, your character's health will be 10% higher than normal, and ballistic weapons will do 10% more damage. You will also be able to pilot ships.
3) Bounty Hunter
The Bounty Hunter is one of the Starfield backgrounds that combines useful skills in a single build. It focuses on space combat, although its talents can be used in looting or piracy.
This idea is demonstrated by breaking down its essential skills: Piloting, Targeting Control Systems, and Boost Pack Training. The combination of these three results in a character who is in command of a starship from the start, can attack enemy ships very effectively, and uses Boost Packs to better move through planetary environments.
2) Long Hauler
One of the most useful Starfield backgrounds for planetary exploration is the Long Hauler, which focuses on trading and transporting goods. For this purpose, it accumulates the skills of Weight Lifting, Piloting, and Ballistic Weapon Systems.
According to these metrics, this background offers the advantage of an additional 10 kilograms to the total carrying capacity. Moreover, your character will be able to drive ships and reduce the cost of targeting mode by 20%.
1) Soldier
The Soldier is a very powerful background, especially for those who want a more combat-oriented story. It comes with skills like Fitness, Ballistics, and Boost Pack Training.
This combination means 10% more available oxygen, 10% more damage using any ballistic weapon, and the ability to use Boost Packs to move from the beginning.
After reading this ranking of Starfield backgrounds, perhaps you'll be more ready to choose the right one for your game. Remember that besides the three default skills, you can choose more while advancing in the story.
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