One Rare Starfield Weapon May Be A Glimpse Into Combat For The Shattered Space DLC

Summary Recent updates to Starfield show promise in improving the base game, potentially turning the tide for hesitant players.

The highly-anticipated Shattered Space DLC may bring crucial changes to weapons and gameplay mechanics, addressing community feedback.

More variety in weapons, including Va'Ruun weapons and unique modifications, could enhance player experience and combat dynamics in Starfield.

Starfield has had a pretty contentious lifespan since the Bethesda-developed game launched in September of 2023. Though the community remains largely divided on whether the title is good or not, recent improvements in the base game via a large May update may be the first steps in turning things around for those that put the game down or never picked it up to begin with.

Though team behind the game has also been largely criticized for past underwhelming updates, the highly-anticipated Shattered Space DLC leaves room for much of what the community has been asking for, with huge changes in the underlying gameplay mechanics possible for the expansion. One such update that is a must is an enhancement to weapons, with one rare weapon serving as a hint of what could become a robust suite of firepower obtainable in the Settled Systems.

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Va'Ruun Weapons Are Ugly But Awesome

A Severely Lacking Arsenal

Though rare compared to other guns, it's possible to obtain Va'Ruun weapons like the Va'Ruun Starshard and Va'Ruun Inflictor, which are two of the very few particle weapons in the game. These weapons are powerful and blast a radiant white pulse at enemies, typically damaging them even when they are facing higher difficulties. What's even rarer is the occurrence of a Legendary variation of this weapon, as user AlwaysBeGentle_ on Reddit found out after searching for days on extreme difficulty, even though they are level 120.

The weapon in question is a previously-posted Legendary Concussive Advanced Va'Ruun Inflictor, which is able to dish out an astounding 131 physical damage and 386 energy damage with a 20-round mag. In addition to being generally powerful, the gun also feels different to use, which makes it unique among others.

An easier particle gun to obtain is the Va'Ruun Star Shard. After reaching somewhere around level 30 in the game, it can be purchased for a hefty sum of credits at vendors in major UC and Freestar Collective cities.

Notes in the comments say that it's possible to get the weapon from the Ka'zaal moon via the mines in the Nirah system, to the far right side of the star map. Characters should be at least level 55 before attempting this and will need a decent grav drive to get there.

More Va'Ruun Weapons Should Be Added In The Shattered Space DLC

Along With More Lasers, Rocket Launchers, & Better Meele

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It's not to say that the overpowered Va'Ruun weapons should be easy to obtain — they can still be reserved for later in the game, potentially even after the first Starfield NG+, but the fact there are so few variations leaves a lot to be desired. Luckily, Starfield Shattered Space should be released before the year is over, and this will give Bethesda plenty of opportunity to add a more wide variety of guns to player's virtual arsenals.

In addition to a severe lack of Va'Ruun weaponry, one other major aspect that needs a complete overhaul is Starfield's melee weaponry. In effect, because all of the melee weapons have the same slashing animation and attack at the same rate of speed, every melee weapon in Starfield is essentially the same item with a different skin. In addition, the vast majority of melee weapons in Starfield are underpowered, making it a less-than-viable option for a weapon slot.

Combinations like the Hornet Nest weapon mod and the Coachman can create an actual mortar that can be used to rain down concussive shells on enemies

This was a huge letdown to Fallout fans, as in those franchises of games it was possible to go melee-only, and there were certain buffs that could enhance one's melee prowess. Additional lasers, rocket launchers, and perhaps even more creative weapons could also be added to the game, giving players more reasons to tinker and modify their weapons with crafting.

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Starfield Weapons Need More Variety

Some Cool Weapon Modifications Provide Alternatives

Custom Image by Katarina Cimbaljevic

Starfield weapons were highly criticized upon launch due to their generic nature, with the main issue of most weapons mechanically being very similar — the same issue with melee weapons. Although there are technically four types of weapons, including laser, particle, traditional ballistic, and EM weapons, the unique EM, laser, and particle weapons have so few variations compared to the traditional ballistic that many players opt to get a Beowulf over anything else.

Combinations like the Hornet Nest weapon mod and the Coachman can create an actual mortar that can be used to rain down concussive shells on enemies, which is a cool modification and fun to use. That said, even these more impressive modifications require a lot of work and discovery on the player's part and include several layers of using the crafting mechanic, which some opt to forgo entirely as it's not a requirement to beat the game.

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Shattered Space Has The Opportunity To Turn Things Around

Too Many Mechanics Make Starfield Lose Focus

The vast expanse known as the Settled Systems in Starfield provides an excellent palette to work with in the future and turn people around who avoided the game from negative reception. Although some Starfield mechanics are stellar standouts, like Starfield's shipbuilder — others, like settlement building, have much less of a narrative drive in the story and thus are much less explored than in previous titles like Fallout 4, where the element was at least related to the story.

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Similar to the sometimes dense and grindy-feeling crafting mechanics, other ideas could be explored more, giving players a reason to collect a rare herb or travel to a distant planet for a specific resource. As it stands, it seems like an outside activity that falls even below side missions in the priority list, as there's no narrative drive or even in-game reason to do such things. In this way, there are many hidden aspects of Starfield that fall by the wayside to many, because there is no direction given for the task and little in-game motivation to participate in these activities.

Ultimately, an update to the weapons and the addition of more unique or Legendary weapons that have their own functionalities or modifications would be a massive boon to the combat in Starfield. Although other elements also need work, adding more dimensions to an already fleshed-out system may be easier to accomplish by the fall of 2024.

Source: AlwaysBeGentle_/Reddit