Exploring the vast, perilous universe of Starfield means facing more than just hostile aliens and treacherous terrain – afflictions like infections, broken limbs, and radiation poisoning lurk to sabotage your journey. Mastering how to identify and cure these debilitating status effects is crucial to surviving and thriving in Bethesda’s latest epic. Whether you’re battling frostbite on a frozen moon or recovering from a fractured skull after a crash landing, this guide will equip you with the essential knowledge and remedies to keep your spacefarer in fighting shape across PC and Xbox adventures.
Exploring Starfield’s Settled Systems can be hazardous to your character’s health. There are pirates and Spacers and angry creatures that will all try to kill you, but there’s also a lot of environmental hazards like radiation and corrosive rain that you’ll encounter on some planets. This type of damage might leave your character with a type of status effect called an Affliction – things like a sprained ankle, pneumonia, or frostbite.
Our Starfield Afflictions guide will explain everything you need to know about Affliction status effects including how to heal them.
How damage types cause Afflictions and Injuries
Afflictions in Starfield are categorized into Injuries and Infections, each caused by different types of damage. Injuries result from physical trauma such as falls, combat wounds, or environmental hazards like burns and frostbite, while Infections arise from attacks by creatures or exposure to biological hazards. These afflictions manifest as status effects that reduce the player’s maximum health and impose various penalties. Environmental damage types like thermal, corrosive, airborne, and radiation hazards can also cause specific afflictions if the player lacks proper protection. Each affliction is represented by a unique icon that corresponds to specific aid items needed for treatment, making it essential to match the correct remedy to the affliction type for effective healing.
Damage in Starfield comes from a variety of sources. Enemies and creatures deal physical, energy, or electromagnetic (EM) damage. All of these can be healed with anything that increases your health – like food or med packs.
The other kind of damage comes from environmental hazards. This is thermal, corrosive, airborne, and radiation damage from dangerous planets – your spacesuit (and helmet and pack) help protect from these. You can see a bit about the environmental hazards when you scan a planet from orbit. Less obviously, environmental hazards can also include gravity in the form of fall damage. In Mars’ 0.38G, for example, you can fall a huge distance without batting an eye, but Akila’s 1.51G means skipping a few stairs can be hazardous to your health (and ankles).
Environmental damage can lead to Afflictions, and those cannot be healed the same way. Afflictions are a status effect that range from inconvenient (like a nagging cough) to debilitating (like a lung infection). Afflictions can be broken down into two categories, Injuries and Infections. (We’ve included a list of all known Afflictions in Starfield at the bottom of this post.)
How to check your status and status effects
To check your status and status effects in Starfield, open the Character Menu and select the “Status” button located at the bottom-right of the screen. From there, navigate to the “Status Effects” tab, which is the first option on the left menu. This screen will display any current afflictions or injuries your character is suffering from, such as infections or fractured limbs. Additionally, status effect icons appear on the compass HUD in the bottom-left corner during gameplay, alerting you to any ongoing ailments. If no effects are listed, your character is free from any status issues.
To see what Afflictions you’re currently suffering from, open your menu and hit Y on the controller or B on PC to open the Status menu. This menu is mostly stats and record-keeping, but the first entry – Status Effects – is where your Afflictions are listed.
The first thing to note is your prognosis. This basically just means how likely the Affliction is to go away on its own. From worst to best, here are the possible prognosis levels:
- Poor
- Stable
- Good
- Excellent
Below the prognosis, you’ll see how the Affliction is affecting you. You’ll see things like fever (increased O2 consumption) or blisters (melee attacks do less damage).
More importantly, you’ll be able to match up the Affliction and its icon. When you end up with an Affliction, you’ll get a new icon on your watch in the lower left corner of the screen. There’s a purple pill icon for an infection, a red bandaid for lacerations or puncture wounds, and an orange droplets(?) icon for burns and frostbite.
How to heal Afflictions in Starfield
To heal afflictions in Starfield, first check your current status effects in the Character Menu under “Status Effects,” where icons indicate the specific afflictions you have. To cure them, use the corresponding aid items found in your inventory’s “Aid” section, matching the icon on the item to the affliction icon. These consumables can be crafted, bought, or found during exploration. Alternatively, you can visit doctors in settlements who will cure all afflictions for a fee, typically around 500 to 1000 credits. Afflictions also have a prognosis rating from “Poor” to “Excellent,” which affects the chance of natural healing over time, but using aid items or doctors is the fastest way to recover fully.
In your inventory, head to the Aid section. This is where you’ll find food and med packs for healing, but also where you’ll find items to treat Afflictions.
Scroll through whatever you have and look for items with the same icon as your Affliction under the treatment section of their description on the right (there’s also a small icon for you current Afflictions at the bottom). Items with icons that match will heal that kind of Affliction. For example, heal paste treats burns and penicillin X treats infections.
Find something that matches, hit A to use it, and you’ll get rid of your Affliction.
Doctors can heal Afflictions
Doctors in Starfield provide a reliable and universal way to heal afflictions, injuries, and infections. Found in settlements and medical facilities, doctors can remove all afflictions and fully restore your health for a fee, typically around 500 credits. This method is especially useful when you lack the specific aid items needed for your condition or need a quick and comprehensive cure. While aid consumables can be used on the go, doctors offer an affordable and straightforward solution to heal all types of afflictions without the need for multiple items, making them an essential resource during your spacefaring adventures.
If you don’t have the Aid items (or just don’t feel like wasting your own hard-won loot), doctors can cure Afflictions (and just generally heal you). Look for an infirmary or a Reliant Medical shop. There’s one in New Atlantis on Jemison just to the right of the Lodge and one in Cydonia on Mars along the left side just before you hit the mine.
Examples of Afflictions and Injuries in Starfield
Examples of afflictions and injuries in Starfield include a wide range of conditions such as addictions, brain injuries, burns, concussions, contusions, dislocated limbs, fractured limbs and skulls, frostbite, heatstroke, hernias, hypothermia, infections, lacerations, lung damage, poisoning, puncture wounds, radiation poisoning, sprains, and torn muscles. These afflictions can result from environmental hazards, combat, or accidents on hostile planets and each one imposes specific negative status effects on the player character. Managing these afflictions effectively is crucial for survival and can be done using specialized aid items or by visiting doctors in settlements.
Here’s a list of the Afflictions and Injuries (that we’ve discovered so far) in Starfield:
- Brain injury
- Burns and blisters from fire or radiation damage
- Concussion
- Contusions
- Dislocated limb
- Fractured limb and joint pain from fall damage
- Fractured skull
- Frostbite
- Heatstroke
- Hernia
- Hypothermia
- Infections
- Lacerations
- Lung damage and cough
- Pneumonia and a fever that we caught from a sick miner
- Poisoning
- Puncture wounds
- Radiation poisoning
- Sprain
- Torn muscle
Want to discover the secret to instantly curing deadly afflictions in Starfield
Want to discover the secret to instantly curing deadly afflictions in Starfield? The fastest way is to either use specialized aid consumables that match the icon of your specific injury or infection, or simply pay a doctor 500 credits to remove all afflictions and fully restore your health-doctors are common in settlements and offer a universal cure-all. Carrying the right consumables lets you heal on the fly, even in combat, while doctors provide a reliable, one-stop fix when nearby. Matching treatment icons with afflictions is key to quick recovery, making survival in the hostile cosmos much easier.
Is there a way to instantly cure all afflictions in Starfield
Yes, in Starfield, you can instantly cure all afflictions by paying a doctor 500 credits, who will remove all status effects and fully restore your health. Doctors are commonly found in settlements and offer a universal cure-all for any affliction. Alternatively, you can use specialized aid consumables that match the icon of your specific affliction to cure them on the spot. Some chems and consumables can heal multiple types of afflictions, but there is no single consumable that cures all afflictions at once. The doctor method remains the only true instant, all-encompassing cure.
