Master the unforgiving universe of Starfield with the Best Heavy Weapons Tier List and become the mightiest power on the battlefield.
Introducing the ultimate guide to the strongest heavy weapons in the boundless universe of Starfield. This all-encompassing guide lists the heavy weapons that stand out in raw firepower, promising to enhance your combat capabilities. This guide will explain the mechanics, mods, and weapon customization that make heavy weapons so strong and which you should prioritize obtaining.
The Best Heavy Weapons in Starfield – Tier List
The Magstorm is the best Heavy Weapon in Starfield because of its high base damage, fire rate, and penetration. It can be equipped with Depleted Uranium Rounds, which can penetrate any armor, making it especially effective against heavily armored enemies. The Magstorm also has a good range and accuracy, making it easy to hit enemies from a distance. It does not have a charge-up time or delay, so you can start dealing damage immediately. This makes it a great weapon for taking down enemies quickly and efficiently.
Here is the best Heavy Weapons tier list in Starfield:
- S Tier: Magstorm
- A Tier: Negotiator, Microgun
- B Tier: Bridger
- C Tier: Arc Welder
Arc Welder
Arc Welder features in Starfield:
- Damage: 20
- Ammo: 3kV LZR
- Type: Laser
- Fire Rate: 76
- Accuracy: 45.6%
- Range: 20 meters
- Mods: 2
The Arc Welder is the first heavy weapon on our list and it’s a laser weapon with a high magazine capacity of 100. The weapon has a lower range and 76 rate of fire which means it’s meant to simply hold down as a fully automatic “zapper.” The weapon has good base damage and if close enough, can melt targets with an electric beam.
The strength of the Arc Welder heavy weapon is its simplicity. The downside is that the mods are limited to a laser and internal without the ability to change ammunition. The accuracy and range are limited as well, but this is a fun weapon that can do some serious damage if you spec into Lasers skill from the combat tree.
Bridger
Bridger features in Starfield:
- Damage: 127
- Ammo: 40mm XPL
- Fire Rate: 5
- Type: Ballistic
- Accuracy: 38.4%
- Range: 40 meters
- Mods: 6
The Bridger is a 40MM heavy weapon grenade launcher with a magazine size of 4. This weapon is your first introduction to high explosive heavy weapons in Starfield. These weapons are great to use in area-based situations with clumps of enemies together. The downside is, that you need to watch out not to destroy yourself with these explosions.
The Bridger has up to 6 mods, a 40-meter range, and good base damage. You can modify the Bridger heavy weapon to include the Hornet Nest magazine and battery which turns the grenades into cluster bombs. The downside of the weapon is the Negotiator is just a better version of this weapon with more damage, a bigger magazine, and a better fire rate. The Bridger is still worth collecting from our Starfield Best Heavy Weapons Tier List Guide.
Related:
Negotiator
Negotiator features in Starfield:
- Damage: 140
- Ammo: 40mm XPL
- Fire Rate: 12
- Type: Ballistic
- Accuracy: 67%
- Range: 40 meters
- Mods: 6
The Negotiator is a better version of the Bridger using the same ammunition but having a 10-round magazine, double rate of fire, and the same range. The Negotiator can also pick up the Hornet Nest magazine and battery modifications giving it cluster bombs and game-changing area damage. The accuracy of this heavy weapon is also high and ballistic explosions mean your combat skill selections will increase damage. The Demolition skill alongside Ballistics makes the perfect pairing for a demolition build.
What holds the weapon back is the explosions are great, fun, and powerful, but are not as precise as other weapons and can essentially kill you. This is one of the best “add clear” weapons for multi-targets if you can aim properly and a must-have heavy weapon on our best Starfield Best Tier List Guide.
Microgun
Microgun features in Starfield:
- Damage: 12
- Ammo: 7.77mm
- Fire Rate: 350
- Type: Ballistic
- Accuracy: 47.2%
- Range: 40 meters
- Mods: 6
The Microgun is up next on our best heavy weapon tier list in Starfield. The fast 350 fire rate, base damage of 12, and range of 40 meters make it one of the best heavy weapons in the game. This is your standard mini-gun which players are familiar with from other games. The weapon takes a second or two to spin up before starting to spit out rounds down range and do some serious damage.
The strength of the weapon is 6 available mods one being bullet host which speeds up your rate of fire and essentially your damage. What holds the weapon back is its spin-up time of what seems like forever. When you equip this weapon from the quick slots you either need to hide behind a corner or wait for a time when you have a free one second which is unlikely in combat. The way to mitigate this issue is using the Starborn Power Reactive Shield on a Soldier Build which can lower or even reflect bullet damage. This is a great weapon to pick up and the N67 Rare Microgun can be bought from a vendor at the start of the game.
Magstorm
Magstorm features in Starfield:
- Damage: 12
- Ammo: .50 MI
- Fire Rate: 400
- Type: Ballistic
- Accuracy: 47.2%
- Range: 40 meters
- Mods: 2
The Magstorm is up next and the best heavy weapon in Starfield due to hits base damage and fire rate. Unlike the Microgun, the Magstorm can equip Depleted Uranium Rounds which can penetrate any armor. On higher difficulties, this is very helpful with heavily armored enemies with multiple bars of health. The Hair Trigger modification can increase the rate of fire to 480 which is unmatched rounds per minute.
The strength of this weapon is its combination of range, accuracy, and damage. Unlike the Microgun, there is no “charge up” time or delay. You start doing damage, shredding armor, and dropping enemies. And unlike the Negotiator, you don’t run the risk of blowing yourself up. The only weakness of this weapon is its lack of available mods at 2 and heavy mass which can be annoying when hauling resources.
The Magstorm makes the ideal weapon for a Bounty Hunter build. You can use it to mow down targets at close or medium range and especially helpful when completely bounties or carrying contraband. All Starfield players should look to obtain the Magstorm heavy weapon making it the best in Starfield.
How to Obtain Heavy Weapons in Starfield
In Starfield, you can obtain Heavy Weapons in a variety of ways, such as purchasing from vendors, looting from enemies, finding contains, and completing quests.
Here is a detailed list of each way to get Heavy Weapons in Starfield:
- Vendors: Heavy weapons can be purchased from vendors in most major planets and outposts.
- Enemies: Heavy weapons can be looted from enemies that are killed.
- Containers: Heavy weapons can be found in containers, such as chests, crates, and abandoned buildings.
- Quest: Some quests reward players with heavy weapons.
The easiest way to obtain Heavy weapons in Starfield is via traders located at the three major planets and cities.
- Centaurian Arsenal in New Atlantis, Residential District, Alpha Centauri system.
- Rowland Arms in Akila City, town square, Cheyenne System.
- Neon Tactical in Neon, Neon Core, Volii System.
N67 Smartgun
The N67 Smartgun is a rare variant of the Microgun, which can be purchased from Wen Tseng on New Atlantis, Alpha Centauri System, Commercial District, UC Distribution Center for 38,713 credits.
Here is a summary of the N67 Smartgun stats:
- Damage: 14
- Ammo: 7377MM
- Fire Rate: 18
- Accuracy: 49.3%
- Range: 24 meters
- Mods: 6 of 8
- Weapon effect: Breakthrough even the strongest armor.
- Mod Slot 1: Compressor
- Mod Slot 2: Armor-Piercing Rounds
This is an amazing heavy weapon that comes with one of the best weapon perks and two weapon modifications. This is very helpful when you haven’t unlocked crafting skills due to the lack of skill points.
Why Use Heavy Weapons
Heavy weapons are extremely powerful weapons that can be used to effectively deal with a variety of enemies and challenges in Starfield. Heavy Guns have high burst potential, which can eliminate the hardest enemies quickly. However, ammo for this type of weapon can be an expensive and rare drop from enemies, so you want to save it for the hardest bosses. Heavy weapons are easy to find and have a decent amount of weapon modifications that change the ammunition, magazine size, or barrel to increase the damage significantly. Consider the heavy weapons a must-have weapon against the bosses.
Here are the Pros and Cons of using the Heavy weapons in Starfield:
| Heavy Weapons Pros | Heavy Weapons Cons |
|---|---|
| Best Damage | Ammo Scarcity |
| Multiple Kill Potential | Weak Range |
| Fun Factor | Lacks Mod Customization |
Skills That Influence Heavy Weapons
There are many skills that influence your heavy weapons damage in Starfield. Most of which you can find in the Combat skill tree. To optimize your Heavy weapon damage, you will need weapon engineering. This will allow customization of the weapon to include powerful barrels, ammunition, suppressors, and scopes.
The following list presents all the skills that increase heavy weapon damage in Starfield:
- Isolation (Social Skill Tree): Do +10% weapon damage and gain 15 Damage Resistance for each Spacesuit and Helmet equipped when you don’t have a companion or any crew.
- Armor Penetration (Combat Skill Tree): Attacks ignore 15% of a target’s armor.
- Ballistics (Combat Skill Tree): Ballistic weapons do 10% more damage.
- Heavy Weapons Certification (Combat Skill Tree): Heavy weapons do 10% more damage.
- Incapacitation (Combat Skill Tree): EM weapons do 5% more damage.
- Lasers (Combat Skill Tree): Laser weapons do 10% more damage.
- Particle Beams (Combat Skill Tree): Particle beam weapons do 10% more damage.
- Chemistry (Science Skill Tree): You can create improved chems, and research additional chems at a Research Lab.
- Weapon Engineering (Science Skill Tree): You can craft improved weapon mods at a Weapon Workbench.
- Special Projects (Science Skill Tree): You can research experimental projects at a Research Lab.
Looking For More About Starfield?
Thank you for reading Starfield: Best Heavy Weapons – Tier List Guide. We provide the latest news and create guides for Starfield. Also, watch me play games on Twitch or visit my YouTube channel!
