Have you ever thought after a run through Unity.. “Damn, it sure would be neat if I could play as a Starborn Space Wizard in Starfield.”
Wonder no longer, friends! Today I have a guide for you to enjoy your space wizardry and embrace being the badass Starborn you feel like you should be. I did multiple Unity runs with this build, and also did multiple side quests (including the Vanguard and Crimson Fleet quests).
Important note: This does require at least 1 mod to work, but it is available on both Nexus Mods and Bethesda’s Creations: Starborn Perk Tree (Nexus link / Creations link).
This is also a very simple build, so let’s start with the prep work needed before you can become a true Starborn Space Wizard.
Early game: Less Starborn, more newborn babe
The Starborn Space Wizard doesn’t really come into it’s own until, well.. You’ve at least unlocked some Starborn powers.
And, in order to do that, you’ll need to invest in some combat skills.
I’d suggest putting your points into Ballistics; It’s cheap, and there are plenty of ballistic weapons out there. You don’t have to go crazy; Just add a point if you’re feeling particularly weak in regards to damage. Feel free to also pop points into Rifles (as that tends to get you the most damage early on) as-needed, too. Finally, Stealth is a great investment just for the sneak attack damage bonus, and will be useful later on in the game, too.
Outside of those skills, invest into things like your boost pack, ship-based combat, health boosting stuff, and even crafting (for modding your space suits). Basically, anything and everything not tied to your damage directly.
Your goal is going to be to speed-run the main story, nab the artifacts, and hit all the temples.
Once you’ve done that? Well, now you’re ready to start becoming the Starborn Space Wizard!
Starborn Space Wizard: The best Starborn powers
There are a handful of Starborn powers that are going to be extremely critical to your success, plus a handful of others that have additional usefulness.
First: With Starfield’s Free Lanes update came a way to level your Starborn powers using Quantum Essence (which you get from killing Starborn), however it should be noted that (as of writing) this is bugged and you can’t actually level your Starborn powers until you’ve gone through Unity. If they’ve fixed that bug? Great. If not? Hop through Unity now.
With that out of the way, here’s the Starborn powers you’ll want to be sure to max out ASAP, as well as other Starborn powers worth having hotkeyed and leveled down the road.
Most critical Starborn powers
- Solar Flare – This is your primary single-target damage dealer. This, along with the next power, are going to be the first powers you should max out. While the attack itself is a slow-mover, it’s got some minor AOE damage and a continuous damage effect that will last well into the very, very late game once maxed.
- Gravity Well – This is actually more powerful than Solar Flare in most cases given it’ll pull enemies from the surrounding area, deal damage over time, and make them unable to harm you.. However, it’s not smart to use it in areas where you might hit friendlies, and doesn’t always incapacitate larger foes like Terrormorphs in my experience (although it will still damage them).. Also: This will harm enemies while they are on the other side of walls!
- Phased Time – This one is just amazing for handling tough fights and giving you a chance to get up close to guarantee a good hurt on your foes and chain attacks, or even just give yourself a break to get into cover should things get hairy.
- Create Vacuum – If Gravity Well is too chaotic, or if it isn’t killing them fast enough, Create Vacuum can do the job exceptionally well (although it doesn’t work on robots, FYI).. Especially in tight quarters when combined with Gravity Well.
Additional Starborn powers that are useful
- Personal Atmosphere – This one is just good for helping you haul loot or run to objectives.
- Sense Star Stuff – Get an idea of the amount of (living) targets in the area so you can plan your attack.
- Void Form – Doing stealth-based missions? You need this.
- Sunless Space – Just a fun way to incapacitate foes if you want to change things up a bit.
- Particle Beam – This is actually a fairly weak attack, but it is useful in 2 ways: It moves faster than Solar Flare, isn’t an AOE attack, and eliminates the need for a mining laser if you’re just interested in collecting artifacts (as it can destroy the minerals preventing you from grabbing the artifact).
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the Starborn Perk Tree.
The best Starborn Perk Tree perks
The following perks are what make this build viable; grab them as you can, as each one is important. Don’t be afraid to hit a planet just to grind out the leveling requirements for some of these!
- Inner Focus – This should be maxed as soon as humanly possible; This is what allows you to handle more complex fights without running out of power.
- Quantum Being – One of many perks that will boost the effectiveness of your powers.
- Salvaged Essence – Grab just one or two points in here if you’ve got some free perk points; This can be useful early on if you’re still working on maxing out existing powers. Otherwise, feel free to skip.
- Timefold – This is a nice way to boost duration of powers (including things like Gravity Well, FYI).
- Deadly Impact – We mostly want this for boosting our damage output.
- Energize – It’s always good to gain your power back faster.
- Critical Power – This is how you’ll get critical hits with your powers, and is definitely a must max.
- Total Control – This one is interesting.. Early on it’s less useful, but once you max it you’ll essentially always be able to cast something, which is fantastic for thick sustained fights.
- Ability Master – Just another important boost (especially for the increased area of effect).
- Limitless Power – If you want to experience multiple universes and get access to the late-game Starborn suits, grab this too, as it’s basically a free boost every time you jump through Unity.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about caveats.
Limitations of the Starborn Space Wizard
Overall, I found this build to be exceptionally fun, especially in the ultra-late game (read: Level 140, well past 15 entries into Unity, where the game does get harder). Hell, in some ways it’s more balanced than the stealth arch-err, stealth sniper build.
Remember how I suggested putting points into rifles? Well, if you want to do the Vanguard questline and not murder folks it’s probably a good idea to have some points into it so you can use the EM rifle, as there is no way to safely incapacitate enemies when necessary there in order to progress (Creator’s Peace doesn’t work on them).
Also, early-mid game you may struggle just a bit, and you’ll need to hunt down Starborn to level your powers. The easiest way to do this in my experience is to do a few runs through Unity: Each run will net you enough essence to max a Starborn power. Once you’ve done 2 or 3 runs your Starborn ship should be powerful enough that you can handle running around with the Armilarry built on your ship to help draw in other Starborn to attack you, letting you max your choice powers.
Finally, don’t bring companions out with you in ground combat unless required: They’ll just get in the way.. A lot.
That’s it! I hope this guide helped.. And, as a fun note, you may have wondered: What in the fuck is going on in the image at the top of this?
Well, if you’ve gone through the buried temple, you’ll know that – at one point – you get attacked by a bunch of your own duplicates..
..Duplicates who will use whatever weapon you have available, but not Starborn powers.
So, if all you’re carrying is the mining laser? Yeah, that’s what they’ll use against you..
..And do practically no damage.
I laughed a lot at that one the first time it happened.