How to scrap items in Starfield

The weapon workbench in Starfield.

The weapon workbench in Starfield.
November 1, 2023: Check out how to scrap items in Starfield.

Are you struggling to work out how to scrap weapons in Starfield? You're not alone. You're not the first, and you won't be the last. With so many research projects, mods, and other crafts giving you plenty of reasons to salvage resources from across the cosmos, it makes sense to reduce the hundreds of weapons you'll find in your journey into their original components. If recycling is good for the planet, it's good for the universe.

We've been straight here, and say you're bound to be disappointed with this feature implementation. Whether it stems from a lesson learned from the team's last big game or not is pure speculation.

Need help elsewhere with the game? We've likely got a guide for exactly what you're wondering. Here's how to increase carry capacity, how to craft, and how to invert flight controls. We've even got everything together with a bow around it in our Starfield hub!

How to scrap items in Starfield

We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but you can't scrap weapons in Starfield. There's no way to salvage a weapon into the sum of its parts.

Despite mods demanding precious metals and various other materials, you can't reduce a weapon to reclaim the components that make up its body and various attachments. If you need them to craft more mods, you'll need to go back out into space to harvest more.

There's no skill that will enable the ability to scrap weapons in Starfield, and no character background will turn you into a weapon-salvaging space engineer. If you need raw materials, you'll just have to scout the stars.

Will weapon salvaging be added to Starfield?

There's every chance it could come in a future update or expansion, but Todd Howard and the team have said nothing on the subject matter just yet.

Three weapons in Starfield.
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Why can't I scrap items in Starfield?

It's pure speculation for now, but fan theories are fronting the idea that Bethesda learned from Fallout 76 that if you give players the ability to reduce the equipment they find into raw materials, they'll do that rather than forage for them out in the wild.

It's more fun to kill two birds with one stone, after all. If you can engage in combat and wind up with what you need at the same time, where's the fun in hunting for and mining rocks? It makes sense.

For more Starfield, these community stories are worth looking to. The game actually includes a moving tribute to a fan who sadly didn't live to play it if you know where to look. And with streamers encountering hilarious bugs all the time, there's plenty of comic relief to be had across the cosmos, too.

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