The best ships in Starfield are built to fulfil a specific job in space and make use of rare and valuable ship components for great performance. Your own goals in Starfield will therefore inform what you want out of your best possible ship, be it devastating armaments for battling ships, hauling loads of cargo and contraband, or something else entirely. Obviously the idea of the "best ship" is a little theoretical when everybody needs something different, so we've curated a short list of the best ships in Starfield below and how you can get them, as well as what they're suited for. Of course, you can even modify them to make them suit your playstyle even more.
All the best ships in Starfield
Here's our selection for the best ships in Starfield:
- Ecliptic Bayonet
- Razorleaf
- Va'ruun Litany
- Star Eagle
- The First Pterosaur
- New Game Plus ship (Spoiler)
These ships provide a good combination of elements that allows them to be modified via the process of Starfield ship customization in any direction, though we admit we've generally picked those that have an edge for combat - after all, a luxury liner isn't much use if it can get blown out of the sky by the first Spacer that sees it. Better to start with something lethal, then morph it by degrees to fit the criteria you need. Oh, and some of these ships will need to be stolen, so make sure you've read our page on how to steal ships in Starfield if you want to take one accordingly.
For more info on any of these ships, simply scroll down, or select the tabs at the side of the page to leap straight to them.
Warning: details for the last ship on the list contains some spoilers for Starfield's ending and New Game Plus. Do not scroll past the entry on The First Pterosaur if you don't want details!
Ecliptic Bayonet
Built for: Speed, boarding enemy ships.
How to get: Steal from enemy Ecliptic attacks
The Bayonet is a good, punchy little fighter that's a great first choice for anybody who wants to move past the initial Frontier starting ship. It's designed primarily for piracy, using missiles and energy weapons to disable enemy craft, so it's worth knowing how to dock in Starfield and board ships so you can make the most of that feature. For your first modification, you'll probably want to build up its Ballistic Firepower, so you have an option for just blowing ships out of the sky rather than disabling them.
Razorleaf
Built for: Combat, speed, smuggling
How to get: Complete the Starfield Mantis secret outpost mission
A really good ship that you can get for free, the Razorleaf is a quest reward as laid out in our walkthrough linked above. It looks cool and has a good name, which is always nice, but it's also just a really solid ship, with a range of weapons, an incredible amount of speed, and some shielded cargo if you want to get into the whole Starfield contraband smuggling business.
Va'ruun Litany
Built for: Shield damage, grav jumps, cargo space
How to get: Steal from enemy Va'ruun attacks
An eccentric little ship design but one with some real panache, the Litany is a ship that excels in fast jumping and a decent amount of Starfield ship inventory, and therefore could make a good option for those who want to get into shipping. Build up some more ballistic weapons or add some shielded cargo holds, and this is a good courier ship for any aspiring space trucker.
Star Eagle
Built for: Combat, defense, boarding enemy ships
How to get: Complete the Freestar Rangers faction questline and make the Starfield Ron Hope choice
The Eagle Star is a bigger ship than many might be used to, as it's effectively a little floating jail. Appropriate enough, considering it's earned by completing the questline for the Freestar Rangers, the cowboy frontiersman of the Starfield factions. It's big, tough and its weapons are good at disabling enemy craft - perfect for their missions of choice - but it doesn't lose out much on other stats in the process. Maybe consider swapping out some of the hab modules at some point for more effective ones, and the Eagle Star is a powerful ship indeed.
The First Pterosaur
Built for: Combat in all forms
How to get: Steal from the First enemies in the Freestar Rangers' questline
This underrated ship comes up in firefights with a group of mercenaries called the First, who can be encountered in the core missions for the Freestar Rangers. Disable and steal one of these ships to make it your own - it's sleek and powerful and easy to modify, and has a lot of purely visual/structural elements that you can remove to make it lighter or swap out for more functional ones.
Starborn Guardian
Built for: Everything except smuggling and modification
How to get: Complete the game and start New Game Plus
The Starborn Guardian can only be obtained by starting Starfield new game plus, whereupon it's given to you for free! It's got great stats across the board and unique weaponry and abilities, though there's two downsides: first of all, it can't smuggle or hide contraband, if you want to be a high-tech pirate, and secondly, it can't be modified in any spaceport, so what you see will forever be what you get.
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