Highlights
- Starfield doesn't feature that many major bosses compared to some of Bethesda's other RPGs, but there are a few challenging encounters.
- Many boss fights in Starfield are level-dependent, making some of them more difficult for low-level players.
- Some boss battles feature challenging environments like space that force players to think creatively and upgrade their ship before jumping in.
Starfield hasn't featured that many massive bosses in its quests, with many areas simply featuring an abundance of enemies or testing the player's skills with space combat. Moreover, with procedurally generated planets and systems with higher levels locked in, any old Ecliptic boss found randomly in the wild can technically be considered a tough boss, depending on their arsenal and the player's level.
That said, there are a couple of set encounters in Starfield that players will likely remember more or less fondly due to how gripping and challenging they can be. Since many of these are difficulty and level-dependent, they might not be hard for every single person out there, but there's no denying they are special in their own right. With that in mind, here are some of Starfield's toughest boss encounters.
WARNING! Spoilers ahead for main story and faction quests!
8 Terrormorph On Tau Ceti & Terrormorph Anomaly
- Quest: Initial appearance in Grunt Work (UC Vanguard Faction Quest)
- Location: Tau Ceti II & Londinion ruins
The first mission players are sent to on their journey as a UC Vanguard member is not a walk in the park. Of all critters, they will end up facing off against a Terrormorph. Considering how early on the UC Vanguard quest becomes available, and how reachable it is as players first enter New Atlantis, it's likely that this Terrormorph is the very first that players will fight in Starfield.
Terrormorphs are extremely durable and resistant monsters. These bullet sponges can move fast and jump on rooftops if need be, meaning players won't be safe from them no matter where they go. While the quest offers a proper way to deal with it, it's still a chilling experience with Alien-esque vibes. It doesn't help that the Vanguard quest culminates in a sort of "super"-Terrormorph, which is much bigger than the rest and able to summon other critters to its aid—a boss battle that's also decently challenging, despite having a mechanic that turns things around to the player's favor.
7 Maya Cruz
- Quest:Surgical Strike (Freestar Rangers Faction Quest)
- Location: Abandoned Asteroid Mine in Sakharov
Maya Cruz is one of the leads that aspiring rangers will be sent after during the Freestar Rangers quest line. After searching for Maya at the Clinic, her trail leads to an abandoned asteroid mine somewhere in Sakharov. What follows is a small dungeon players need to go through before getting to her.
While Maya herself is not a formidable opponent (and players also get to choose what to do with her), the final arena is very tricky, especially at lower levels. There are several, powerful mining laser turrets on high grounds all around the last area, which deal tons of damage from multiple angles at a time. On top of that, the place is flooded with robots chasing after the player. Positioning is key in order to get to Maya, who just so happens to be holed up at the top of the room in a chamber.
6 Paxton Hull
- Quest: First To Fight, First To Die (Freestar Rangers Faction Quest)
- Location: Abandoned Mech Factory on Arcturus II
Another lead from the Freestar Rangers quest line is Paxton Hull, leader of the First. He's the main boss of the quest line, even if he isn't exactly the only villain of the story. The whole lead-up to his fight is quite long-winded, with massive rooms full of members of the First blasting down at the player. It's a pretty challenging run to tackle.
The final area is also swarming with enemies, with Paxton joined by his most loyal members in a final stand. Similarly to Maya Cruz, Paxton himself isn't a tough one to deal with, but with the amount of enemies around it can get overwhelming at lower levels.
5 XL-069 Interloper
- Quest: None
- Location: Schrodinger System, look for a ship marker on the star map
Found on one of the abandoned vessels and considered a secret in Starfield, this bizarre creature is a bit of an Easter egg to all Alien franchise fans. He's the only one of his kind on the Colander, a ship that was assaulted by the xenos the crew picked up.
Players will find the Interloper in one of the rooms of the vessel, and he's quite the strong enemy at a set level of 85. Depending on when players discover the Colander, they might be in for a tough fight if they don't have enough bullets to take him out. Luckily, the ship's cramped hallways provide a ton of cover to abuse.
4 Juvenile Grylloba Queen
- Quest: Echoes Of The Past (SysDef & Crimson Fleet Quest)
- Location: The Lock on Suvorov, Krys System
At the conclusion of Echoes of the Past, after surviving a harrowing run through UC Lock's abandoned prison complex, players will encounter one of Starfield's biggest enemies: the Grylloba Queen. Its entrance is quite memorable, in all the right and terrifying ways.
The Queen is surrounded by a bunch of smaller critters, so players will have to manage their positioning while keeping an eye on the burrowing Queen. Fortunately, the stairs leading down to this final arena are the perfect spot to bottleneck all the small critters, without being melee attacked by the Queen.
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2 The UC SysDef Or The Crimson Fleet
- Quest: Legacy's End (SysDef & Crimson Fleet Quest)
- Location: The Key or UC Vigilance
Once players hit the Legacy's End quest, depending on whose side they have taken, it's time for an epic space battle of large caliber. No matter what the target is (the SysDef or the Crimson Fleet), this space battle is extremely challenging for those who have yet to acquire a good ship, so it's highly recommended that players either buy a better ship or upgrade their current one before jumping in.
There are a ton of enemies during this space battle, so the key is to focus on the biggest threats while evading enemy missiles by boosting and swerving. Players can also take advantage of boarding vessels once their engines are destroyed to commandeer them if they have the right skills. All in all, those who are not comfortable with big ship battles should do a bit of practice in the UC Vanguard simulation before tackling this one.
1 The Hunter & The Emissary
- Quest: Revelation (Constellation Main Quest)
- Location: The Cave on Masada III
Starfield's main quest forces players to make multiple key decisions, and one of them is whose side they should take at the end. Players can side with the selfish Hunter or the diplomatic Emissary, or neither, if they feel like they can take on both at the same time—a true challenge.
Fighting both the Hunter and the Emissary is quite a task, and happens after already being faced with waves upon waves of powerful Starborn. The boss fight itself includes duplicates of the player and their potential companion, distracting from the actual two bosses. Moreover, the constant teleporting changes the arena frequently, so players are forced to adjust to a new environment at every turn while hunting down the Hunter and the Emissary.
It's possible to side with one or the other, or even use Persuade against them to avoid the fight. However, those looking to get their hands on those Legendary weapons that both bosses drop will likely want to kill both at the end, which sets them up with one epic multi-dimensional fight.
Starfield is available on PC and Xbox Series X/S.