No Man's Sky: Best Multi-Tool Guide

The multi-tool is your most-used piece of equipment in No Man's Sky. It mines resources, scans life for units, and doubles as your weapon, so a good one makes nearly everything you do smoother. Like ships, multi-tools come in types and quality tiers, and knowing the difference saves you from settling for a weak one.

The information here was checked in October 2026 against the official No Man's Sky wiki, PC Gamer, and r/NoMansSkyTheGame. Because exact stat ranges and spawn details vary between updates, I keep the specifics qualitative and focus on how the types and classes compare.

Types and classes explained

A multi-tool has a type, which sets its slot capacity and general strengths, and a quality tier from C to S. As with ships, an S-class tool has the most slots and the strongest bonuses, so it is worth holding out for the best tier of the type you want. Slot count matters a great deal, because the real power of a multi-tool comes from the upgrade modules you install, and more slots means more upgrades.

Funding those upgrades means spending nanites at technology merchants, so a multi-tool project pairs naturally with our guide on farming nanites.

You can carry several multi-tools at once and swap between them, which is more useful than it sounds. Many players keep a dedicated mining tool with a maxed-out mining beam and terrain manipulator, and a separate combat tool loaded with weapon upgrades, switching depending on the task. Because inventory slots and supercharged slots differ between tools, specializing each one lets you get more out of every slot rather than cramming everything onto a single jack-of-all-trades. If you are just starting, one good all-rounder is plenty; the multi-tool collection is a refinement you grow into later.

It is also worth noting that your starting multi-tool is deliberately weak, a small pistol-type tool with few slots, so do not judge the system by it. One of the first meaningful upgrades any new player should make is replacing that starter tool with something larger and higher class, which you can usually do inexpensively at a space station within your first few hours. The jump in mining speed, scanning income, and combat capability from even a modest upgrade is immediately noticeable, and it makes the rest of the early game considerably smoother.

The main multi-tool types

You will encounter several distinct types, each with a different look and slot profile:

• Pistol — the smallest, fewest slots; usually a starter tool you replace quickly.
• Rifle — larger with more slots, a solid general-purpose choice.
• Experimental — high slot counts and often found at higher tiers, favored by many players for all-around use.
• Alien — organic-looking tools with strong slot counts and a distinctive style.
• Royal — rarer tools with excellent stats, found through specific monolith encounters.
• Sentinel — recovered from sentinel-related sites, with a cold mechanical look and strong combat leanings.
• Atlantid — associated with the Atlas, with a mining bonus that many players value.

As with ships, the type sets the general shape and slot profile, while the quality tier and your upgrades decide how powerful the tool actually becomes. Do not fixate on finding one specific type to the exclusion of all else; an S-class tool of a type you can actually get your hands on will serve you better than endlessly chasing a rarer type at a lower tier. The differences between types are real but modest for everyday mining and scanning, so prioritize slots and class, and treat the rarer types as a bonus to hunt once your basics are covered.

Where to find good multi-tools

There are a few reliable sources. Space stations have a cabinet that sells a rotating multi-tool, and the tool on offer changes as you visit different stations, so station-hopping lets you shop for a good type and tier. Minor settlements and outposts often have a tool for sale too. For the rarer types, Royal multi-tools come from alien monoliths in specific systems, and Sentinel multi-tools are recovered from harmonic camps and the sites tied to corrupted or dissonant systems, following a short chain of steps to locate them.

When you inspect a tool, check both its type and its class before buying or claiming. A high-slot S-class tool of a strong type is the goal, and because the station cabinet refreshes across systems, patient shopping usually lands one.

There is also a reliable upgrade path that does not rely on luck. If you find a tool you like but it is a lower class or has few slots, you can increase its slots incrementally and upgrade its class at the appropriate vendors over time, improving the exact tool you want rather than waiting for a perfect one to appear. This matters most for the rarer types, since you may only encounter them occasionally; grabbing one and upgrading it yourself is often more practical than hoping a maxed version turns up. Between station shopping, monolith hunting, and manual upgrades, there are enough avenues that nearly anyone can end up with an excellent tool.

Upgrading your multi-tool

Once you have a good base tool, its performance comes down to upgrades. Install upgrade modules for your mining beam, scanner, and weapons, and group related modules adjacently so their layout bonuses stack. The scanner upgrades in particular pay for themselves, since they boost the units you earn for every plant and animal you catalogue. You can also expand a multi-tool's slots over time, and upgrade its class, improving a tool you like rather than replacing it.

Deciding what to prioritize depends on how you play. Miners and explorers lean into scanner and mining bonuses, while combat-focused players invest in weapon modules. There is no single correct loadout, just the one that fits what you spend the most time doing. If you want a better ship to go with your tool, our best ship guide applies the same class-and-tier thinking to starships.

The terrain manipulator deserves a special mention. It is the attachment that lets you dig through terrain, carve tunnels, and mine underground deposits, and it is one of the most useful tools in the game for both building and gathering. Keeping it charged and upgraded makes mining faster and opens up base-building options like underground rooms. Alongside the analysis visor, which handles scanning and surveying, these attachments are what turn the multi-tool from a simple gun into the Swiss army knife that the whole game is built around. Invest in them early and nearly every other activity gets easier.

When it comes to weapon attachments, the multi-tool offers several, from the all-purpose mining beam to dedicated weapons for dealing with hostile creatures, pirates on foot, and sentinels. You do not need to max every weapon; most players settle on one primary combat option they like and upgrade that, leaving spare slots for mining and scanning technology. The boltcaster and its relatives are reliable workhorses, while the more exotic weapons suit players who enjoy combat enough to invest heavily. As always, group matching upgrade modules together and use supercharged slots for whatever you lean on most, and even a modest tool will punch well above its class.

A final point on scanning, since it is the most underrated multi-tool function. Every creature and plant you scan pays units, and with scanner upgrade modules installed and grouped for their adjacency bonus, that income climbs substantially. For explorers, a scanner-focused tool effectively funds your travels as you go, turning the simple act of cataloguing life on each new planet into a steady paycheck. It is a perfect example of why the multi-tool deserves real investment: the same device that defends you and mines your materials also quietly earns the units that pay for everything else.

Pulling it together, the ideal approach for most players is to secure one strong all-rounder early, keep its mining beam, terrain manipulator, and scanner well upgraded, and only branch into specialized tools once you have the nanites and the inclination. Shop the station cabinets as you travel, grab any Royal or Sentinel tool you stumble across to upgrade later, and use supercharged slots for whatever you lean on most. Do that and your multi-tool will quietly carry you through hundreds of hours of mining, scanning, building, and the occasional firefight, which is a lot of value from the single piece of gear you never put down. It is easily one of the most worthwhile long-term investments in the game, and unlike a ship or freighter, you are using it every single moment you are on foot, so every upgrade you add is felt immediately.

If you would rather skip the search

Hunting a perfect S-class tool and kitting it out is a satisfying long-term goal, and station-hopping for the right type is part of the fun. If you would rather start with strong gear already in place and spend your time exploring, our No Man's Sky modded starter save provides a maxed save on PS4 and PS5.

It is a save file and you must own the game. Everything we offer for the game is on the No Man's Sky page.

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