If you've so much as glanced in the direction of any modern looter shooter, you're likely familiar with the concept of rarity in equipment drops. In truth, the concept far predates the likes of Destiny, but Bungie's big adventure is undoubtedly where many gamers learned the code.
Starfield is no Destiny, nor does it intend to be. But RPGs and gear rarity are another classic blend, and Bethesda has embraced the notion in full. How much does this stuff actually matter, though? It varies. In this guide, we'll find an answer to how much you should care about legendary loot, and why!
Rare, Epic, Legendary, And You
Most weapons, spacesuits, helmets, and packs that you'll find in Starfield will appear as normal. That is to say, the text and backdrop when you examine the items will be the same color as everything else in your inventory. Being 'normal' doesn't make them bad, however, because when it all comes together, the most important aspects of gear are the defensive stats and the quantity and quality of attached mods.
Up to eight mods can be slotted into many pieces of equipment. Some mods rock - 'Chameleon' helps your stealth, 'Armor Piercing' breaks through tough armor to penetrate HP, and there's even a mod that reduces a weapon's mass nearly to zero. Starfield absolutely encourages us to get into gear-modding, but you'll need to have leveled up a decent number of times before you can access the good stuff in the skill chart.
Normal gear can come equipped with multiple mods. Normal spacesuits can have incredible AC (defense), or superb protection against radiation. But when you get to Rare, Epic, and Legendary - with blue, purple, and yellow coding respectively - you're looking at equipment with better odds of having cooler stuff.
The rarity is, unsurprisingly, relative to the scarcity when scavenging. But you can increase the odds of finding good loot by raising your scavenging skill; truly, in Starfie𝔍ld, everything has a skill to hone if you want ⛎the best of the best.
Be On The Lookout For Uniques
And yet, again, having a legendary pistol in your possession might be little more than a point of pride. In our travels across the galaxy, we've found Legendary Eon guns with barely a mod to their name that we ended up selling to vendors for credits in the low thr﷽ee-figure range. Meanwhile, we fou⛦nd a spacesuit just five hours into our file with an AC well in excess of 100, and reasonably decent Corrosion and Radiation, too.
That's not to say there aren't plenty of fantastic legendary-tier items that live up to their ranking. There are also unique pieces of gear that either belong specifically to one NPC, or can only be acquired through specific quest-related means. The lFreestar Collective diplomat has an Assassin for a pistol, and it's fully-loaded with all eight mod slots. You can talk her into giving it to you if you get blackmail evidence from her assistant and insist on better pay.
Keep an eye out for special stuff in the pockets, coffers, and tucked-away containers of many of Starfield's most important characters, because the odds are very good that a unique is powerful. Even if it isn't, it'll stand out in your collection better than that Legendary Eon that dealt eight damage per shot, that's for sure.