No Man's Sky Tier Lists

No Man’s Sky has no frozen meta. Hello Games has shipped free updates since the 12 August 2016 launch, and Cosmos 7.0 on 9 September 2026 changed what a “best” loadout even means. A Traveller who still flies the tutorial C-class is not underpowered because the letter is wrong. They are underpowered because supercharged slots, scanner modules, and salvage tools now decide the save.

This hub is the index for three living lists: starships, Multi-Tools, and companions. Each page uses the same S–F letters, then splits criteria so early-game advice is not pretending to be endgame gospel. If you want the how-to instead of the rank, start with Getting Started and the units and nanites loop.

What “S-tier” actually means here

We rank jobs, not posters.

• Early game — first planet through the Space Anomaly. Cheap pulse, launch recharge, and scrap value beat rare silhouettes.
• Endgame — clustered supercharged slots, adjacency, and whether the gear accepts standard upgrade modules.
• Cosmos salvage — hulks, ice fields, Gravitino Coil, and a Corvette Tractor Beam. Most classic hulls drop a letter here on purpose.
• Exploration — hyperdrive range, scan income, and whether you can hover, land, or walk an interior without babysitting fuel.

Class still matters. S-class is the highest stat ceiling on ships and Multi-Tools. It is not a personality. Four supercharged technology slots on a well-rolled A-class Interceptor will embarrass an S-class Fighter whose bonuses sit in corners. The same rule applies to rifles, staffs, and even companion eggs: the hidden layout is the build.

How to use the three lists

Read Starship Tier List if you are about to scrap the starter, hunt a Solar in an outlaw system, or spend nanites climbing a Corvette from C to S. That page is blunt about Voyagers 6.0 modular ships and about not marrying the tutorial wreck.

Read Multi-Tool Tier List before you dump nanites into a random Boltcaster. S-class scanner modules remain the best early nanite spend in the game. Combat then splits among Neutron Cannon, Scatter Blaster, Pulse Spitter, and Blaze Javelin. Mining belongs on Atlantid tools once Korvax monoliths are in reach.

Read Companion Tier List if you want a mount, a harvest buddy, or a Xeno Arena team. Expedition 23: Our Journey Continues added a diplodocus reward; robotic companions still want Ion Batteries instead of pellets.

The three lists interlink because a salvage Corvette with a dead scanner and no riding beast is only half a kit. Online co-op, cross-play, and Cross-Save mean you can also borrow a friend’s interior, staff, or arena roster — this is not a split-screen-only sandbox.

What we refuse to rank

We do not rank paint. We do not pretend an Exotic is easy to find on day one. We do not put Living Ships in S for new saves when Starbirth is a questline. We do not treat the Atlas as a standing board you grind with gifts; that story sits with the factions hub. Guild envoys, Gek traders, and Vy’keen armourers change prices and missions, not the letter on your hull.

Meta shifts when Hello Games ships another free update. Cosmos made Tractor Beams and station work matter. Voyagers made interiors matter. Worlds Part II made purple-class stars, gas giants, and water worlds matter for Autophage Travellers. If a patch moves supercharged behaviour, this hub will move the letters — not the other way around.

Keep a working ship, a scan-first Multi-Tool, and at least one companion you actually summon. Rank the rest as hobbies. The patch history is long because this game refuses to sit still, and a tier list that pretends otherwise is fan fiction.