Starfield Powers Guide 2026: All Starborn Powers & How to Unlock Every Temple
Unlock every Starborn power in Starfield with our 2026 guide — how powers work, the fastest way to find temples, the best powers to prioritize, and NG+ stacking tips.
Starborn powers are Starfield’s answer to magic — reality-bending abilities you earn by hunting down the alien temples scattered across the Settled Systems. Once you have played through our New Game Plus guide or settled on one of the best character builds, powers are the piece that ties a late-game character together. This guide explains exactly how the system works, the most efficient way to reach every temple, which powers are worth prioritising in 2026, and how to stack them to maximum rank through repeated NG+ runs.
New to powers? Read how to use powers in Starfield for the controls on PC, Xbox and PS5, then try the Starborn build.
How Starborn Powers Work
Powers draw from a regenerating power meter that sits separately from your health and oxygen, so you can use them freely in combat without spending Med Packs or other consumables. You first gain access to powers during the main quest mission “Into the Unknown,” when Vladimir at the Eye sends you to scan your first Artifact and locate a temple. From that point on, every temple you clear grants one new power.
There are 24 Starborn powers in total, and a single playthrough can unlock all of them. Each power starts at Rank 1. In each New Game Plus loop, temples offer an upgraded version of a power you already have, raising it one rank, up to a maximum of Rank 10. Since the Free Lanes update (April 2026), you can also upgrade powers with Quantum Essence, which you earn by destroying Starborn ships. That upgrade loop is the reason powers reward the kind of replay that defines the back half of Starfield.
How to Find Temples Fast
Temples are unlocked by progressing the main questline. After “Into the Unknown,” the quest “Power From Beyond” repeats each time you are ready for a new temple: speak to Vladimir at the Eye, and he marks a star system on your map where a temple anomaly has been detected. Travel there, land on the flagged planet or moon, and use your hand scanner — the anomaly shows up as a pulsing audio cue and a visual marker that grows stronger as you close the distance.
Inside the temple you float through a zero-gravity chamber filled with rotating rings of light. Fly into the glowing rings to charge them; line up enough of them in sequence and the power is granted at the centre of the room. A few tips that genuinely speed this up:
- Level up the Scanning skill and use your scanner often: the temple anomaly is easier to track once you know which direction the signal is strongest.
- Use your boost pack to reach distant rings quickly; momentum carries in zero-g, so a single sustained boost usually reaches the next cluster.
All 24 Starborn Powers
Every power, the temple it is tied to and how much power it costs to cast. Temple locations are randomized per save, so use your scanner rather than a fixed map to find them.
| Power | Temple | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alien Reanimation | Phi | 35 | Revives a fallen alien creature to fight for you |
| Anti-Gravity Field | Eta | 45 | Creates an area of intense low gravity |
| Create Vacuum | Gamma | 25 | Pulls the oxygen out of an area |
| Creators’ Peace | Nu | 25 | Makes enemies temporarily drop their weapons |
| Earthbound | Mu | 15 | Applies Earth’s gravity to an area |
| Elemental Pull | Psi | 25 | Draws resources toward you |
| Eternal Harvest | Lambda | 25 | Restores harvested resources so they can be collected again |
| Grav Dash | Zeta | 15 | Propels you forward and briefly boosts damage |
| Gravity Wave | Beta | 25 | Pushes targets back and slows them |
| Gravity Well | Delta | 45 | Creates a point of crushing gravity that pulls things in |
| Inner Demon | Upsilon | 35 | Summons a friendly copy of an enemy |
| Life Forced | Pi | 25 | Drains an enemy to damage them and heal you |
| Moon Form | Rho | 35 | Makes you resilient and immovable as stone |
| Parallel Self | Sigma | 45 | Summons a version of you from another universe to help |
| Particle Beam | Omega | 15 | Fires a powerful energy ray at one target |
| Personal Atmosphere | Alpha | 45 | Provides clean oxygen and counteracts CO2 |
| Phased Time | Epsilon | 45 | Slows the world around you |
| Precognition | Iota | 35 | Lets you foresee someone’s path and words |
| Reactive Shield | Tau | 35 | A light shield that weakens and reflects projectiles |
| Sense Star Stuff | Chi | 15 | Senses the life force of humans, aliens and Starborn |
| Solar Flare | Theta | 25 | Fires an orb of searing plasma |
| Sunless Space | Kappa | 35 | Freezes enemies in their tracks |
| Supernova | Xi | 45 | An explosion of cosmic energy around you |
| Void Form | Omicron | 45 | Makes you nearly invisible |
The Best Starborn Powers to Prioritise
Best for Combat
Crowd control wins firefights. Sense Star Stuff highlights every nearby creature and enemy through walls, letting you plan an approach before anyone spots you. Anti-Gravity Field lifts a whole group of enemies off the ground and leaves them floating helplessly — pair it with a strong setup from our best weapons guide and you can clear a room before they land. Reactive Shield reflects incoming fire back at attackers, and Personal Atmosphere refills your oxygen so you can sprint and power-attack without losing your wind. For raw burst, Particle Beam fires a damaging blast straight from your hands.
Best for Exploration
Elemental Pull and Eternal Harvest are the resource standouts. Elemental Pull draws resources toward you, while Eternal Harvest restores harvested resources so you can collect them again, a huge time-saver for crafting and outpost supply runs (see our outpost building guide). For getting around, Grav Dash propels you forward and briefly boosts your damage, and Sense Star Stuff reveals the life force of nearby humans, aliens and Starborn, which helps you scout an area before you walk into it.
Best for New Game Plus Stacking
If you plan to loop through NG+ repeatedly, focus your upgrades. A high-rank version of one great power outperforms a shelf full of Rank 1 abilities, so commit to a small core kit. Sense Star Stuff, Anti-Gravity Field and Personal Atmosphere are popular picks because they are useful in almost every situation. Build the rest of your character around them with the help of our skills guide.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Ignoring the main quest, which gates the “Power From Beyond” missions you need to locate each temple.
- Leaving Scanning at a low rank and then wandering the surface blind.
- Spreading upgrades thin instead of ranking up a focused core kit across NG+ loops.
- Forgetting that powers regenerate for free — under-using them in tough fights wastes your strongest tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I lose my powers in New Game Plus?
No. Your powers carry across into every new loop. Revisiting a temple in NG+ upgrades the matching power to a higher rank rather than resetting it, so your collection only ever grows stronger.
Can I unlock every power in a single playthrough?
Yes. All 24 powers can be collected in one run by following the repeating “Power From Beyond” quest until every temple is cleared. Raising each power to Rank 10, however, takes many NG+ loops.
What is the best Starborn power overall?
Most players rate Sense Star Stuff as the single most useful power because it works for both combat awareness and exploration. Anti-Gravity Field is the top pick for difficult fights, and Personal Atmosphere is the best quality-of-life pick for stamina-heavy builds.
How many temples are there in Starfield?
There are 24 temples, one for each Starborn power. Their locations are randomised per save, which is why the in-game anomaly scanner — rather than a fixed map — is the reliable way to find them.
Want to build a character around these abilities next? Pair this guide with our skills guide to lock in a powers-first build for your next run, or browse the full set of best character builds to see how top players combine powers, skills, and gear.