Starfield: How to use the boost pack
Why walk when you can jump?
While you don't have access to a true jetpack in Starfield, the various boost packs you can equip come pretty close, depending on your location. These packs provide a little bit of extra thrust, giving you a jump that can help you reach that ledge that's just out of reach, or dodge a fatal blow from some alien creature you've angered. Here's how to use the boost pack in Starfield.
How to use the boost pack in Starfield
In order to use a boost pack, you need to have one equipped. This is pretty simple, as the game will give you one for free once you reach Constellation's Lodge in New Atlantis for the first time. You can also find them as loot or buy them from a variety of traders and shopkeepers, and they'll have a wide variety of different stats and bonuses.
Like almost everything else in Starfield however, you can't actually use a boost pack immediately, even if you own one. In order to use it, you'll need to acquire the Boost Pack Training Skill. It's a Novice-level Tech Skill, and you'll start out with it if you take certain Backgrounds. If not, you'll have to sacrifice a single skill point.
Once you've got it, you just need to jump, then jump again while you're in the air, and you'll automatically boost. You can continue to boost as long as you have fuel, a meter that can be seen in the lower-right of your HUD.
Ranking up the Boost Pack Training Skill will make your boost pack usage more efficient, making you use less fuel and having fuel regenerate quicker. In order to rank this skill up, you'll need to use your boost pack in combat, something that should come naturally as you use it to jump above enemies and obstacles.
Once you have a boost pack equipped and the skill unlocked, you'll find your movement reaching new levels of fluidity. It's absolutely vital to have this skill in order to navigate zero-gravity environments, and it can come in extra-handy depending on the type of planet you're on.
Each planet or moon has a different gravity, and in low-gravity environments, clever use of a running start and a boost pack can send you flying. By contrast, in high-gravity locations, using the boost pack may be necessary for you to jump much at all. It's just an all-around useful skill to have, and it's something you'll want to have no matter what build you're going for.
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Just keep boosting, just keep boosting...
With clever use of your boost pack, you can easily reach places that are otherwise inaccessible, scan alien life that's flying, dodge enemy grenades, and more. Just make sure you're keeping an eye on your fuel!
Starfield is now available to play on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC, as well as being available for Xbox Game Pass subscribers to play.
Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.