Starfield best Soldier build guide: Starting skills, traits, and more

If you want to run and gun through Starfield, the Soldier is an excellent choice. It is one of the best classes in the game, and they’re focused heavily on the combat aspect. You’ll feel like a Space Marine, smashing your way through humans and aliens alike using this build. This class does have some weaknesses, though; for example, soldiers lack social skills and aren’t experienced pilots.

But you'll make up for it with sheer destructive power in battle. Provided the equipment is good, they can overwhelm most foes with firepower and come out virtually unscathed. Here’s what you need to know about this fun background choice in Starfield.

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Starfield Soldier class starting skills

This background starts with incredibly useful skills (Image via Bethesda)

Starting skills

• Fitness: Increases maximum Oxygen
• Ballistics: Increases ballistic weapon damage
• Boost Pack Training: Starts the player with a jetpack

Soldiers in Starfield start with a pretty sharp skillset, making this class easily one of the best in the game. All three skills are incredibly useful. Fitness gives you more Oxygen, and Ballistics increases the power of any weapon that deals physical damage, covering a wide amount of ground.

In addition, Soldiers get access to the jet pack courtesy of Boost Pack Training. Such an addition will give the player, as they increase their mastery of it, awesome combat maneuvers. It also makes you feel like a Bounty Hunter, like Boba Fett. The Boost Pack is just fun and makes getting around much easier.

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Best Traits for Soldier class in Starfield

If you choose any traits, these three are quite useful (Image via Bethesda)

Trait	Pro	Con
Alien DNA	Start with increased Health and Oxygen.	Healing items and food items are less effective.
Extrovert	Use less Oxygen while with a companion.	Consume more Oxygen while alone.
Terra Firma	Health and Oxygen are increased while on the ground.	Health and Oxygen are decreased while in space.

Traits are optional additions you can bring to your character in the character creation suite. There are a few that make the Soldier more powerful in Starfield. Alien DNA is generally powerful since it gives you more Health and Oxygen, but the drawback is you don’t heal as potently from outside sources.

Since you will likely spend more time on the ground, Terra Firma is great to have. It grants more Health and Oxygen while on the ground. Combine this with Extrovert, and as long as you have an ally, you consume less Oxygen. Both resources are important, and this background will be safer using this loadout.

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Best skills to unlock first in Starfield’s Soldier class

Combat skills are a must for this class (Image via Bethesda)

Skills to focus on include

• Armor Penetration
• Ballistics
• Boost Pack Training
• Demolitions
• Fitness
• Intimidation
• Lasers
• Medicine
• Pain Tolerance
• Pistol Certification
• Rapid Reloading
• Rifle Certification
• Weapon Engineering
• Weight Lifting
• Wellness

Soldiers are pretty skill-intensive in this game. You want to be a master with as many weapons as possible, after all. If you are going to focus on one or two weapon types, you can remove the ones you don’t plan on using. Rapid Reloading speaks for itself, and having weapon masteries like Rifle Certification, Lasers, and Rifle Certification assist you when using those weapon types.

The whole point is to make sure you are as good as possible at killing anything in your path while also having lots of health. Fitness, Wellness, and Weight Lifting are great options. Armor Penetration will help deal with tankier foes as well.

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Best weapons for Soldier class in Starfield

It's hard to go wrong with a good laser rifle (Image via Bethesda)

One of the few downsides of this class is that their damage is primarily based on how good their weapons are. It’s recommended you have all types of weapons on hand. At least ballistics and laser weapons are key to success. There’s no real bad weapon for this background. Whatever works best for you is what you should grab.

Put on your heavy armor, scoop up some powerful weapons, and make sure you have damage types for any situation as you play Starfield. It will make the experience far more enjoyable in this class.

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This background is easily one of the best in the game, and one we recommend for beginners. Starfield is in early access now and goes live for everyone else on September 6, 2023. Discover more about all Starfield Traits and find the best Starfield Traits to suit your gameplay.