As you embark on your planet-hopping sci-fi adventure across the cosmos in Bethesda Game Studios’ latest RPG, you’ll quickly realise that you’re just a small fish in a big cosmic pond. Indeed, much like its post-apocalyptic predecessor, you’ll start your journey as a freshly-plucked greenhorn with very few meaningful skills to your name. Thankfully, leveling up grants you skill points which you can invest in building out your character. So, if you’re wondering how to level up fast in Starfield, we’ve got all the details down below. Let’s get straight into it!
5 Ways to Level Up Fast in Starfield
As is typical in the genre, leveling up gets exponentially longer, the higher the level you achieve. Meanwhile, every time you level up, you also net yourself a permanent +15hp boost.
While XP is doled out at a fairly regular clip, we’ve gleaned five tips from our time with the game to help you level up sharpish.
1. Make Sure to Sleep
Kicking things off, we have a fairly easy method of netting even more of that good stuff. Much like the Fallout series, sleeping in a bed will heal you and grant you a temporary +10% XP bonus, which will pay dividends in the long run. Aboard your first ship, you’ll find a bed to lay down your head and get some shut-eye. To do so, simply press A when you’re facing it.
Try and get into the habit of resting every so often so that you permanently benefit from that additional XP buff. You don’t need to rest for too long, either. Simply sleeping for an in-game hour will give you a nice 24-minute XP boost. And if you’re about to complete a mission, that extra 10% can be a big buff. Speaking of which…
2. Complete Missions
It goes without saying that taking on missions (the in-game version of quests) and seeing them through to completion will net you a large amount of XP. While the quantity of XP varies from mission to mission, we do recommend following the main Constellation questline as these are the ones that dispense the most XP.
Still, often the shorter side missions can reward decent chunks of XP, so going off the beaten path and completing smaller-scale side missions can be an effective way of leveling up quickly as well.
3. Survey Planets
Once you arrive at a different planet, you can switch to your Hand Scanner by pressing LB. This brings up the planet’s survey progress. Generally, these are broken down into Flora, Fauna, and Resources sub-sections, though some planets or moons may have less or more depending on how habitable the atmosphere is.
Using your Hand Scanner, you can scan different wildlife, plants, or minerals. Thing is, scanning just one of everything isn’t enough. Instead, you’ll need to scan each specific flora or fauna organism eight times. For example, once you’ve scanned, say, a Cold Cave Nettle eight times, this will translate to 100% on your progress bar. Meanwhile, resources such as lead, nickel or cobalt only require one scan in order to be ticked off your to-do list.
Once you’ve fully scanned a specific organism plant, you’ll net yourself a handful of XP. Additionally, achieving a full scan of a planet will reward you with a Slate, which you can sell to Vladimir on Syrma VII-A for lots of Credits.
4. Kill Anything That Moves
If you really want to level up quickly, you can go hunting and try and kill as much random wildlife as humanly possible. Did it make us feel a wee bit guilty? Kind of, if we’re being honest. But when you see your XP meter popping off and you’re eagerly upgrading your skills, it’s hard to get too forlorn about those virtual ecosystems. I mean, you saw the look in its eye, right? I’m pretty sure it had MURDER written all over its mug.
See, while you’re busy exterminating an entire planet’s natural habitat and you’re enthusiastically laying waste to its food chain, the game rewards you with tons of XP to keep the ol’ serotonin flowing. Plus, some of the genuinely nasty and hostile critters undoubtedly deserve to go the way of the dodo. Well, that’s what I tell myself to help me sleep, anyway…
5. Explore
Upon arriving at a new city, point of interest, or planet, you’ll nab yourself a small quantity of XP. It’s nothing to write home about, but it does add up over the course of your journey. Luckily, fast-traveling is a snap in Starfield. So, when you arrive at a new planet, you can fast-travel to a local point of interest, like a mining facility or science outpost, and snag some quick XP. Bonus!
And on that note, we conclude our guide on how to level up fast in Starfield. For more, why not peruse our further coverage down below. And for everything else, keep it locked at Twinfinite for all your gaming needs.
About the author
