Starfield Character Clothing
Image via Prima Games.

How to Level Up Fast in Starfield

Climb the ranks as quickly as possible.

For the majority of your Starfield playthrough, you’ll be leveling various skills across all five skill trees. Each of the skills provides a nice bonus that only compounds further when you level those individual skills to level four. However, this takes a lot of points to do and can take some time. With that, you might be wondering how you can level up quickly and finish these sooner. Here’s how to level up fast in Starfield.

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The Fastest Way to Level Up in Starfield

Starfield Commander Ikande
Image via Prima Games.

By far, the fastest way you can level up in Starfield is by completing missions, and more specifically faction missions. These missions give you a lot of XP for completing them, and you’ll get even more for all of the kills you make along the way. One particularly great faction mission line you should finish ASAP is the Crimson Fleet mission line since many of its missions will ask that you kill things. You can also go loud for specific stealth missions and rack up a ton of kills. On top of all this, you get XP when exploring new locations which these missions have you do frequently.

If you’ve already done a ton of these missions, then the next best thing you can do is rack up as many kills as possible as quickly as possible. The best way to do this is by landing on a planet with the “Abundant” trait next to Fauna. This means you’ll run into a ton of creatures, all of which grant XP upon kill.

Other Methods to Level Up Fast

Starfield Sarah Morgan
Image via Prima Games.

There are a few other methods you can use to speed up the leveling process. A few consumables such as Alien Tea will temporarily increase your XP gains. Having a companion you’ve either romanced or married will also give you the Emotional Security buff after sleeping in a bed with them. This buff lasts almost 30 minutes and grants 15% increased XP, which is nothing to scoff at.

If you’re looking for more ways to improve your character, check out our guide on the best skills to level early in Starfield.


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About the Author

Shawn Robinson

Shawn is a freelance gaming journalist who's been with Prima Games for a year and a half, writing mainly about FPS games and RPGs. He even brings several years of experience at other sites like The Nerd Stash to the table. While he doesn't bring a fancy degree to the table, he brings immense attention to detail with his guides, reviews, and news, leveraging his decade and a half of gaming knowledge. If he isn't writing about games, he's likely getting zero kills in his favorite FPS or yelling at the game when it was 100% his fault that he died.