Best Traits – Starfield

Nothing quite helps get into an RPG like Starfield quite like have a character with a great backstory and interesting personality. Even better when those things are woven into the gameplay and world. And that’s exactly what Starfield does by giving your character access to up to 3 Traits during character creation, which all have various mechanical and/or narrative impacts on the game. Some of these are minor buffs (usually with drawbacks), some add new content to explore, and some of them give you resources for the early game.

But not all traits are created equal. Some are absolutely incredible, adding useful new content or powerful abilities to the game, while others add nothing. Some of the worst Traits even make for a worse, more tedious experience. So, with all that in mind, what are the best traits in Starfield? Well, here’s our list for them and — we highly recommend you take at least one to prepare you for your adventure into the stars.

Below, you’ll find detailed explanations for the list, but if you just want to know what to pick, here are the best traits in Starfield:

• Wanted
• Hero Worshipped
• Dream Home
• Taskmaster
• Alien DNA

5. Alien DNA

Alien DNA increases both your health and your oxygen, increasing your survivability and helping you traverse Starfield’s massive landscapes quicker, making it one of the less exciting, but more useful traits in the game. It does come at the drawback of reducing the effectiveness of healing items, but that can be overcome by simply… using more healing items, which are plentiful throughout the game. And the effect of improved oxygen makes exploring Starfield much easier, ensuring you don’t need to stop and catch your breath as often while trying to reach that next structure on your map.

4. Taskmaster

Taskmaster provides a huge benefit: damage negation. Half of the time, when systems on your ship take damage and a crew member is trained on that system, it will automatically fully repair. This can be a lifesaver, and can snatch victory from the jaws of certain defeat. It does come with a major drawback by making the already-expensive crew even more expensive, but you can get by with crew you get for free as companions for quite a while, until you are raking in enough cash that it doesn’t matter how expensive crew is, essentially negating the downside with some slight patience. For as much increased survivability as it gives you, it’s more than worth it. Plus Taskmaster synergizes perfectly with our number 2 spot.

3. Dream Home

Who doesn’t want a place to be? Unlike most of other traits that add content of some sort to the game — like the chests added in Raised Universal or Raised Enlightened, or your parents with Kid Stuff — Dream Home gives you something actually worthwhile: a customizable house, complete with resources and a beautiful locale. Yes, you have a 125,000-credit mortgage out on it, and you have to pay 500 credits just to enter, but that is neither unreasonably large, nor all that important to pay back. The bank won’t foreclose on your property unless you tell them to, giving you the easy ability to opt out, should the mortgage prove too much.

2. Hero Worshipped

If Mass Effect taught us anything, it’s how annoying fans can be (remember Conrad Verner?). If Starfield teaches us anything, it’s how useful those annoying fans can be. Crew in Starfield is really expensive (even moreso if you take the excellent Taskmaster trait), and it can set you back a pretty penny. What if I told you, however, that you can get an extra crew member for free, who comes with hilarious dialog and free gifts? That is the point of Hero Worshipped, and what a boon it is. The downsides (that the “Adoring Fan” crewmember is a bit annoying) add to the appeal by giving you more funny dialog, and he makes up for it by being a very useful Companion (especially for carrying your stuff) and a… well… an okay crew member. While this trait isn’t perfect, it doesn’t have any real drawbacks, and does fill an otherwise-expensive crew slot for free, which is a win in my books.

1. Wanted

Most of the time, having a target on your head and hired killers on your trail is a bad thing. Most of the time, you aren’t piloting a well-armed starship while wearing combat armor and carrying several dozen weapons. That kind of evens things out. The main appeal of Wanted is its increase to your damage as your health decreases (something that will happen often, and which you can micromanage by healing smartly), giving you a massive upper-hand in difficult combats. And its supposed downside — to be pursued by dangerous killers and mercenaries — is both an excellent source of gear and loot, as well as a fun gameplay challenge. In short, this should be your most wanted trait in Starfield.

I’ll see myself out.

So those are the best traits in Starfield. Now that you’ve selected them, it is a good time to venture forth and make your way in the galaxy, making the best use of that backstory and personality. See you in the stars, traveler!