Optic Modifications are all about improving the aim of your weapon in Starfield. Some will improve the overall accuracy of your weapon, whilst other mods offer magnified scopes, red dot laser sights, and more. This page will detail all the optic mods that you can unlock and we’ll also give a detailed breakdown of each optic modification, their crafting cost, and the research required. And, we’ll also give some advice on whether we think the different Optic Sights are worth it, giving pros and cons for each mod!

All Optic Modifications in Starfield¶

Below, you’ll find a full list of all Optic Modifications, with a list of all compatible weapons, crafting costs, bonuses (and cons!), as well as the research requirement to unlock the mods.

Optic Mod	Description	Crafting Cost	Research Requirement (Skill)	Compatible Weapons (Inc. Unique Weapons)
Reflex Sight	Reflex sights for quicker target acquisition and visibility.	Aluminum x1, Adhesive x1, Chlorosilanes x1	None	AA-99, Ace Sidearm, Ambassador, Beowulf, Big Bang, Breach, Bridger, Coachman, Desperation, Drum Beat, Elegance, Eon, Equinox, Experiment A-7, Gallow’s Reach, Grendel, Hard Target, Jake’s Hangover Cure, Kodama, Kraken, Lawgiver, Maelstrom, Marathon, Negotiator, Novablast Disruptor, Novalight, Old Earth Assault Rifle, Orion, Pacifier, Peacekeeper, Pirate Legend, Rattler, Razorback, Reckless Bombardment, Reflection, Regulator, Shotty, Sidestar, Solace, Solstice, Street Sweeper, Tempest, Terror Inflictor, The Buzzcut, The Spacer, Tombstone, Unfair Advantage, Unmitigated Violence, Urban Eagle, Va’ruun Inflictor, Va’ruun Starshard
Glow Sights	Iron sights with specialized capsules that glow in both day and night for increased visibility.	Aluminum x1, Uranium x1	None	Eon, Novablast Disruptor, Novalight, Rattler, Regulator, Shotty, Va’ruun Starshard
Red Dot Sight	Standard red dot sight for better target acquisition.	Aluminum x1, Neon x1, Helium-3 x1	None	XM-2311
Iron Sights	Standard issue iron sights.	Aluminum x1, Nickel x1	None	AA-99, Beowulf, Big Bang, Breach, Bridger, Coachman, Drum Beat, Grendel, Kodama, Kraken, Lawgiver, Maelstrom, Memento Mori Negotiator, Old Earth Assault Rifle, Orion, Pacifier, Razorback, Regulator, Sidestar, Tombstone, Urban Eagle, Va’ruun Inflictor, Va’ruun Starshard, XM-2311
Medium Scope	Medium scope for 4x magnified view.	Adhesive x2, Chlorosilanes x3, Vanadium x3, Zero Wire x1	None	AA-99, Beowulf, Drum Beat, Equinox, Hard Target, Hunterwulf, Maelstrom, Magsniper, Orion, The Last Breath
Short Scope	Short scope or 2x magnified view.	Titanium x2, Adhesive x1, Chlorosilanes x2	Optics and Laser Mods 1 (No Skill Required)	AA-99, Beowulf, Breach, Bridger, Drum Beat, Equinox, Eternity’s Gate, Fiscal Quarter, Grendel, Lawgiver, Maelstrom, Marksman’s AA-99, Negotiator, Novablast Disruptor, Orion, Razorback, Riot Shotgun, Shattered Shock, Tombstone, Urban Eagle, Va’ruun Inflictor, XM-2311
Holographic Sight	Holographic sight for increased target visibility.	Adhesive x2, Vanadium x3, Palladium x2, Zero Wire x1	Optics and Laser Mods 1 (No Skill Required)	Solstice
Long Scope	Long scope for 6x magnified view.	Adhesive x3, Chlorosilanes x4, Europium x3, Zero Wire x2	Optics and Laser Mods 2 (Weapon Engineering 1★)	Hard Target, Magsniper, The Last Breath
Recon Scope	Marks enemies while Aiming.	Adhesive x2, Chlorosilanes x3, Europium x2, Zero Wire x1	Optics and Laser Mods 3 (Weapon Engineering 2★)	AA-99, Avatar, Drum Beat, Equinox, Hard Target, Head Ranger, Lawgiver, Magsniper, Orion, Peacemaker, Razorback, The Prime, Tombstone, Va’ruun Inflictor

Best Optic Mods in Starfield - Pros and Cons¶

The Optic Modifications are best suited to players looking to build sniper rifles. There are other optic mods with different bonuses, and we’ve listed some of those below as well. You’ll find a breakdown of the best optic mods, complete with pros and cons.

Reflex Sight¶

The Reflex Sight is a base tier optic modification that will offer your weapon a cute lil red crosshair on a light green screen to help improve your aim. This is great for players who are newer to shooter games as it’ll help with aiming for headshots or other specific targets. If you’re interested in other sight modifications that go well with the Reflex Sight, the Laser Modifications offer more added benefits of increased accuracy and visual aiming aids.

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(1 of 2) The Reflex sight offers a lil red crosshair on a green background that helps with manual accuracy

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The Reflex sight offers a lil red crosshair on a green background that helps with manual accuracy (left), you can craft this upgrade easily or purchase weapons with it already equipped - it’s quite common! (right)

Short Scope, Medium Scope and Long Scope¶

The Medium Scope is a base tier modification that offers 4x magnification. Whilst this is a higher magnification than the Short Scope, which requires researching Optics and Laser Mods 1, it is only available to a handful of weapons. It is a good option for the Hard Target and Magsniper weapons, but you’ll likely want to upgrade these to the Long Scope mod when you have completed the research!

The Short Scope is available after researching Optics and Laser Mods 1, which doesn’t require any skills to research. This mod will offer a 2x magnified view, allowing you to zoom in and shoot with greater accuracy from a distance. Although it has less magnification than the medium scope, it is compatible with far more weapons.

The Long Scope offers 6x magnification, which is the greatest magnification of the three scopes. This modification is only available for actual sniper rifles though, such as the Hard Target and Magsniper. So, if you’re looking to become the greatest Sniper of the Settled Systems, you’re gonna want the Long Scope mod. It can be found on modified weapons found in the wild and The Last Breath unique weapon, which is purchased from the Starborn Trader in NG+.

Be careful with combining these weapon mods with mods that might reduce your weapon’s range (barrel mods in particular) as you may find that you can’t shoot from as great a distance as you’d like

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(1 of 3) You can upgrade some rifle weapons to have a magnified scope, making them more akin to a Sniper.

Recon Scope¶

Like the Recon Laser Sight in the Laser Modifications, this mod will mark enemies whilst you’re aiming at them, highlighting their bodies to make it easier to target them. This is great for low-light environments where it’s harder to spot the enemies. This weapon mod can’t be accessed until you’ve researched Optics and Laser Mods 3, so perhaps only suitable for the hardcore weapon modifiers.

Looking For More Weapon Pages?¶

We’ve been busy writing a ton of pages on the best weapon mods and recommended weapon builds in Starfield. Take a look at some of them below:

• Starfield Sniper Build
• Best Barrel Modifications
• Best Laser Modifications