What is Quantum Essence in Starfield?

By Jesse Lennox September 7, 2023

Taking place over 100 years in the future, there will be a lot of things you come across you’re unfamiliar with in Starfield. Also, since this is a Bethesda title, just about everything that isn’t nailed down can be picked up whether it’s useful to you or not. There’s one special item you won’t start encountering until you reach a specific point in the story, and after that only get it very rarely. Quantum Essence sounds very mysterious, and the game hides away what it actually does. Here’s everything you need to know about this special material in Starfield.

Note: We will be spoiling minor parts of Starfield ahead. No specific story details will be mentioned, but some mid-game mechanics will be discussed.

What is Quantum Essence?

A chart of symbols showing starfield powers. — Bethesda Softworks

Quantum Essence is a special resource only dropped by the Starborn enemies that show up between a quarter and halfway through the game. They show up most often, but not always, after you visit a temple and collect a Power. After defeating one, you may notice the notification that you’ve collected a Quantum Essence without needing to loot it off the ground yourself.

The only place you can see how many Quantum Essence you have, or what they do, is in the corner of your Powers screen. Here, you can use a Quantum Essence to temporarily increase how quickly your Power recharges. This meter slowly fills on its own over time, but if you want to sling Powers one after another, you will need to eat up some of these resources.

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