Stellaris is a grand strategy game developed by Paradox Interactive. They are also the creators of other popular games in the grand strategy genre such as the Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, Victoria, and Hearts of Iron series. While all of those games took place in various recorded periods of history, Stellaris takes place in futuristic foreign worlds.
This grand strategy game has you managing an empire across several planets, making the conquest of a system seem even grander. Stellaris allows you to play as various races with their own strengths and weaknesses that blend in seamlessly with different worlds as per their specialty.
Many of these strengths and weaknesses are defined by traits, which are representations of species’ unique abilities and personalities. These traits can be chosen at the start of the game and will greatly influence how you develop your civilization. With so many traits to choose from, we have made it simpler for newer players by ranking the 10 best traits in the game.
10) Mass-Produced
Starting off with a couple of Machine empire traits, we have Mass-Produced. This trait simply increases the production speed of all Machine empire units by a flat 15 percent. A faster machine assembly line leads to increased output in the production of units ready for battle. In addition to this, your colonies will also grow and spread much faster than normal.
In Stellaris, population is arguably the most powerful resource. Having additional Machines over time when compared to your enemies ensures that your economy has a distinct advantage over them if they don’t have this growth speed increase.
While there are other powerful traits for the Machine empire, if you are still confused about what to pick, you can’t really go wrong with Mass-Produced. It only requires one trait point to research and will serve you well during your playthrough.
9) Emotion Emulators
The other Machine empire trait that is quite powerful in its own right is Emotion Emulators. This trait gives you a bonus to amenities. As a result, you require fewer maintenance drones in your empire. This is because drones are generally better used in other avenues, such as researching and producing alloys.
Giving your empire a flat 20 percent increase in amenities from jobs is an advantage most other empires do not possess. This also gives your empire higher stability, which in turn increases production values by quite a noticeable amount.
8) Intelligent
Now we head into the Hivemind sphere with the next two traits. Intelligence is a trait that serves the race just as much as it serves the player because it grants additional bonuses to the output from the researcher’s job. An increase of 10 percent, to be exact. Even though the difference in output might not seem like much at first, it definitely adds up when you compare it to your opponents.
This increase in efficiency then also enables your empire to tech up the ranks faster than the others. With how important it is to tech up regularly and quickly, the Intelligence trait is not only great for Hiveminds but also any race looking to speedrun through their technology tree. As such, this is a powerful trait that any race can use, even though it is stronger on the Hivemind.
Better tech also translates to faster economic growth via additional bonuses as well as having better weaponry to use in battle. This ensures both economic and military superiority as you are well on your way to becoming the most powerful empire in your games, although the early start might be a bit rough.
7) Charismatic
The other trait for the Hivemind basically enables better negotiation and is similar to the Emotional Emulators trait as well. The only difference here is that Charismatic is available to empires that are biological instead of machines. This is another trait that works well with other biological races too, but in the hands of the Hivemind, it truly thrives.
Basically, what Charismatic does for your empire is very similar to what Emotional Emulators does for the machines. The trait provides an additional 20 percent amenities from jobs, which means you will have fewer of your drones needing to provide amenities instead. They can instead be used to increase productivity and boost economic growth.
More amenities also lead to more happiness and stability around your empire, which gives you even more increased resource output from all of your jobs. Any additional drone usage is great for empires in general and Charismatic ensures that you can run your Hivemind better than empires that don’t use the trait.
6) Aquatic
The next couple of traits works best for most biological empires. First off, Aquatic is an interesting choice because it gives way too many bonuses in just a single trait. If that sounds broken to you, it was even worse in the past because Aquatic used to be a free species climate choice. At this point in time, you will need to spend one trait point in order to unlock it.
Let us break down what exactly Aquatic does for you as a biological race.
- 20 percent increase in ocean habitability
- 20 percent decrease in dry/frozen habitability
- 30 percent increase in housing usage on dry/frozen worlds
- 10 percent decrease in housing usage on ocean worlds
- 10 percent increase in worker output on ocean worlds
These bonuses affect you greatly on oceanic planets while they decrease your overall effectiveness on dry and frozen planets. The trait turns you into a powerhouse on oceanic worlds though and is the preferred option for biological races that want to thrive on these planets.
The trait also gives you a bonus to production as well, guaranteeing a great start on favorable worlds. This early advantage can turn the tide in most games, giving you a good advantage to snowball with much earlier and win the game. The cherry on top is the bonus to all resource outputs which just adds to the snowball playstyle derived from this trait.
5) Adaptive
The other preferred trait for biological empires. Just like humans in general, the Adaptive trait ensures a good start and decent progress in just about any world for the empire that chooses it. This trait increases your general habitability across all worlds by a flat 10 percent, making it so that surviving on any planet type becomes much simpler.
There is an upgrade to this trait called Extremely Adaptive, which further boosts habitability by an additional 10 percent, making it a 20 percent increase in habitability across all planets. Although this upgrade is quite expensive because players have to invest four trait points to unlock it for their empire.
This is a favorable trait for any biological empire because settling down in any environment can make your empire truly flexible. You should be able to work with any kind of strategy because you can make the most out of any given situation with this trait. This can lead to races thriving in locations they would not normally be able to and can lead to some interesting situations.
4) Budding
Going back to a Hivemind specialty trait, Budding is one of the best traits in the game for them. The trait gives you an increase to pop growth right when the game starts, steadily increasing over time till you become a total powerhouse. By the time you reach the late game, the bonuses are so massive that propagation across the map is inevitable.
The pop increase starts off at +0.02 but grows bigger depending on the pop size of your empire. The bigger that number gets, the more bonuses you will get from this trait. This in turn will increase your growth bonuses, further amplifying the eventual spread. The rapid increase cannot be overstated and the next time you decide to play, try choosing this trait and see for yourself.
3) Logic Engines
This trait brings back the Machine empire into play. Logic Engines increases the research rate from jobs by a flat 10 percent, making it so that tech-ups happen at a faster rate than normal. This trait is basically the equivalent of Intelligence but for the Machine empire. A boost rate to the processing power of your empire works wonders the longer the game goes on.
Logic Engines boosts overall brain drone output, making not only tech-ups faster but advancing your empire through the ranks faster than most other races can do. Even though the bonus aspect of it seems mild, any boosted rate of production pays dividends in the late game.
2) Rapid Breeders
Another powerful trait in the hands of the Hivemind, the Rapid Breeders trait increases growth rate by a flat 10 percent. This trait can also be used well by any other biological race too, making for a great choice for any civilization that wishes to pump out a massive population earlier in the game than most.
Even though it is quite similar to Budding, Rapid Breeding has the advantage of being a basic trait and not locked behind a paid DLC. This trait can be accessed early in the game by any race, further boosting its effectiveness across the board. If you’re just starting out in Stellaris and are not sure what to pick, this is one of the few traits you cannot go wrong with.
One final note here is that the bonus to population growth also stacks with technology and building bonuses, thereby enabling you to grow bigger and stronger than your enemies at an astonishing pace over time.
1) Thrifty
Our pick for the best trait in Stellaris goes to Thrifty. This powerhouse of a trait costs two points to unlock but is well worth the cost. It provides a boost to all trade value from any job by a flat 25 percent. This means that if you choose to go all out focusing on the trade value aspect, you should be rich in no time.
The boost to the economy works for any race and any type of economy you wish to boost. But his trait only works for races that have access to trade in general, which means that Hiveminds and Machine empires will not be able to use it. For the races that can use it, you are in for a good time.
As you might have noticed, every trait so far in the game that provides a flat increase in value grows stronger over time. Although it was mostly capped at 10 percent, this trait’s 25 percent increase just makes it even more of a powerhouse come the late game and there is nothing you will not be able to afford.
About the author
Anish Nair
Freelance gaming writer for Dot Esports.An avid gamer of 25 years.Esports writer for 2 years and a watcher for 12 years.Aspiring author.Dad to a host of animals.Usually found playing games when not writing about them and managing his stock portfolio.
More Stories by Anish Nair
FAQs
Our pick for the best trait in Stellaris goes to Thrifty. This powerhouse of a trait costs two points to unlock but is well worth the cost. It provides a boost to all trade value from any job by a flat 25 percent.
What are the best species traits build in Stellaris? ›
Our pick for the best trait in Stellaris goes to Thrifty. This powerhouse of a trait costs two points to unlock but is well worth the cost. It provides a boost to all trade value from any job by a flat 25 percent.
What is the max species traits in Stellaris? ›
Each species is limited to a maximum of 5 traits; traits that cost 0 points do not count against this limit but can only be acquired from certain origins, events, or ascension perks.
Is docile a good trait Stellaris? ›
Build your ecumenopoli and relocate to ring worlds and you've greatly reduce the second big chunk of sprawl: districts. Thus proven: Docile (and it's synth counterpart Streamlined Protocols) is the best trait.
What is the weak trait in Stellaris? ›
the weak trait states that it lowers resources from worker pops. This makes sense for miners, farmers and probably electricians to.
What is the best species origin in Stellaris? ›
Top 12 Stellaris Origins Tier List
- S Tier. Imperial Fiefdom. Teachers of the Shroud. Clone Army. Scion.
- A Tier. Necrophage. Progenitor Hive. Resource Consolidation. Life-Seeded.
- B Tier. Here Be Dragons. Calamitous Birth. Remanents. Prosperous Unification.
Species. The Screk Empire is perhaps one of, if not the oldest, known interstellar nations in the whole Milky Way, one that predates even the ancient polities such as the Vran, the Ti-Zru and the Baanthurians.
What is the highest possible pop growth in Stellaris? ›
Planet capacity is capped at 500, regardless of free housing or unblocked districts. Pops can go over 500 and will not stop growing (or decline) until the required housing exceeds available housing by 15% (or 25%). species growth by −0.5%. At 0% Habitability pops have −50% growth speed.
What is the best empire in Stellaris? ›
Stellaris: 11 Best Origins
- 8 Necrophage.
- 7 Here There Be Dragons.
- 6 Clone Army.
- 5 Common Ground.
- 4 Void Dwellers.
- 3 Scion.
- 2 Shattered Ring.
- 1 Hegemon.
There are many advantages to forming a Federation in Stellaris, both with and without the Federations DLC. The simplest benefit is safety in numbers, as all members of the Federation will support each other in defensive wars, and can vote to join offensive wars as well.
The Extradimensional Invaders, commonly known as The Unbidden, or Shabanash in their native language, are a major antagonistic faction of the videogame Stellaris, along with the Prethoryn Scourge and The Contingency.
How bad is slow breeders Stellaris? ›
Well, slow breeders hurts you when you colonize worlds and it significantly hurts your mid game when you want to start building tall and your pops mature in 4 years.
How strong is the toxic god in Stellaris? ›
The Toxic God is extremely powerful and one of the toughest Guardian creatures to be added to the game. While it has no armor, its shield and hull more than make up for it, so kinetic weapons should be used to bring down the shield as quickly as possible.
How strong is a dragon Stellaris? ›
Knight of the Toxic God. The dragon's power is about 40k, so it's definitely a great shield for the early game. It has armor for defense so you can optimize your ships for maximum shields and make invaders unable to be effective against both your fleet and your dragon.
How powerful are fallen empires Stellaris? ›
Fallen Empires' Military Capabilities
All Fallen Empires spawn with two major fleets, and each one can have between 40k and 120k Fleet Power. If their Fleet Power is too low, though, and they are at peace, they may add ships to their fleets.
What is the biggest war in Stellaris? ›
The Battle of The Core was the largest planetary assault in galactic history and utilized seven entire Army Groups of the Terran Army.
What is the best tradition in Stellaris? ›
Psionics is surely the most popular Ascension path in Stellaris. It provides unique benefits, cool roleplay, and a lot of new possibilities. Like any other Ascension path, you get a lot of benefits for your pops and the whole empire.
What is the best relic in Stellaris? ›
What are the best Relics?
- The contingency core.
- The cybrex warforge.
- The galatron.
Default is 2400. Victory Year – Determines when the empire with the highest score is declared winner. Setting it to max disables victory. Default is 2500.
Can you win Stellaris peacefully? ›
With strong ethics and authority, you can very much "win", even peacefully. Build starbases to scare off agggressive AI empires, or diplomatically tame them.
To defeat a Fallen Empire, you must first break their fleets. And that's gonna be difficult if you aren't prepared. Each one of their fleets have a fleet power of around 80–120k. You need a very good economy and lots of alloys in order to mass-produce battleships and of course, replace losses.
What species has survived the longest? ›
There are two basic types (genera) of shield shrimp, Triops and Lepidurus. Scientists credit Triops cancriformis as the oldest animal species. Other species may not be quite so old, but the natural histories of the species are similar.
What type of slavery is Stellaris? ›
Chattel Slavery is the most common form of slavery in the galaxy. Whether for life or a limited time, unrestricted access to the labor of others is in some parts seen as a privilege with numerous counter-duties attached, and elsewhere considered a self-evident prerequisite for a functioning society.
What is the most ancient species still alive? ›
Scientists have announced that the oldest living creature on our planet is a jellyfish-like organism called a ctenophore. It evolved from the same primordial animals that humans did.
What is the max homeworld size in Stellaris? ›
Homeworlds have a size between 18 and 21, unless otherwise determined by the empire's origin.
How many people is 1 pop in Stellaris? ›
How many people is 1 pop in Stellaris? There are about 1.1 billion people per pop.
How big is Earth in Stellaris? ›
For example: in Stellaris, Earth has a size of 20 tiles. Mars has a size of 13 tiles. Earth's real surface area is about 510 million square kilometers.
What is the best noob empire in Stellaris? ›
Which Empire Should I Pick? Stellaris allows limitless customization in creating your space empire, but beginners are better off picking one of the pre-generated nations. We recommend the United Nations Of Earth, since playing as humans provides perspective and makes it easier to remember names.
What used to be the strongest empire? ›
In 1913, 412 million people lived under the control of the British Empire, 23 percent of the world's population at that time. It remains the largest empire in human history and at the peak of its power in 1920, it covered an astonishing 13.71 million square miles - that's close to a quarter of the world's land area.
How powerful is the chosen one Stellaris? ›
Powers and Stats. Intelligence: At least Extraordinary Genius. Far smarter than any normal scientist, and can understand science better than almost everyone in verse without studying science at all. Capable of micromanaging on a galactic scale even better than the most advanced of supercomputers.
If a federation loses the experience required for a level and fails to raise it above the required limit within 90 days, the federation level will downgrade and remove all perks from the previously held level. A federation's experience is capped at 20,000XP.
Should I care about Empire Size Stellaris? ›
Early in the game you won't need to worry about Empire Size at all. As long as it's one hundred or less, it has no effect. For every point of Sprawl above a hundred, however, the cost of Technologies increases by one tenth of a percent and the cost of Traditions increases by one fifth of a percent.
Can you destroy the galaxy in Stellaris? ›
By choosing the Become The Crisis Ascension Perk, you can start down the path to constructing a doomsday weapon and destroying the entire galaxy yourself. Becoming the Crisis means the entire galaxy will turn against you.
What did Nemesis add to Stellaris? ›
Nemesis is an expansion to Stellaris in which you will be able to determine the fate of a destabilizing galaxy. Adding espionage tools, a path to power as the Galactic Custodian - or the Menace option to become the crisis - Nemesis gives you the most powerful tools ever available in Stellaris.
How do you deal with Great Khan Stellaris? ›
Since the Great Khan will actively seek to conquer their neighbors, the best strategy against their fleet is to fortify a system directly in their path, preferably with Starbase installations that debuff enemy ships.
How long can a leader live in Stellaris? ›
Machine leaders are immortal, they can still die by accident, regardless of their age. Every 10 years, there is the following chance of a single leader suffering a fatal accident: 94%: nothing happens.
How many hours to beat Stellaris? ›
When focusing on the main objectives, Stellaris is about 29 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 286 Hours to obtain 100% completion.
How long does the average leader live in Stellaris? ›
So, wiki says default leader age is 80 years.
What happens if you destroy a holy world Stellaris? ›
If an empire seals, terraforms or destroys a Holy World with a Colossus or Star-Eater, the Holy Guardians will always awaken and declare a war of subjugation.
How strong is the grey tempest Stellaris? ›
Each Gray Tempest fleet will be about 10k-100k fleet power, dependent on the difficulty.
They heal automatically, both when landed on a planet and while embarked. (This has changed since the accepted answer was posted, they used to only heal when on a friendly planet.) Land them on an occupied or friendly planet. This will slowly heal each and every day they are not under attack.
What is the hardest dragon to train? ›
One of the most mysterious and feared species in the Book of Dragons, the Skrill is aggressive, powerful and nearly untrainable.
What are the strongest dragon races? ›
15 Ancient White Dragons Are Primal Hunters
Ancient dragon remains the highest status most dragons can get, achieved by living and growing for a long time, becoming more dangerous with every year. Ancient white dragons are the most powerful of the primal and predatory white dragons.
What is the most powerful dragon species? ›
A Great Wyrm or an Ancient Dragon is a sub-species of a normal wyrm and is the most powerful type of dragon. A Great Wyrm can even control all the natural elements and fire.
What happens if war exhaustion reaches 100% Stellaris? ›
When a side's war exhaustion hits 100% they can be forced into a status quo peace after 24 months.
What is the secret fealty in Stellaris? ›
Secret Fealty is a new action your subject empires may take if they decide they don't like you very much after all. Disloyal vassals may swear allegiance to opposing empires, and you likely won't know it happened until it's too late (hence being called “secret”).
What is the war in heaven Stellaris? ›
The War in Heaven resulted in cataclysmic losses endured mostly by the races in the Galactic South, who had already endured repeated defeats at the hands of the GTU and the glazing of their worlds by the Jaz'Gavaz would also have to face the initial fury of the Unbidden as a direct consequence of the glazing.
What is the best type of empire in Stellaris? ›
Which Empire Should I Pick? Stellaris allows limitless customization in creating your space empire, but beginners are better off picking one of the pre-generated nations. We recommend the United Nations Of Earth, since playing as humans provides perspective and makes it easier to remember names.
How good is aquatic trait Stellaris? ›
The trait gives you 100% habitability, -10% housing usage and +10% worker resources for 1 trait point (on your main world and all guaranteed habitable worlds and any ocean world you find/terraform later).
What is the habitability cap for species in Stellaris? ›
The Habitat's Base Habitability is scripted to 70% for everybody. If you also have Habitat Preference, you go up to 170%, which is then reduced to the cap of 100%, but you can have a total of -70% Habitability through other effects and will still be at 100% Habitability.
Maximum Naval Capacity may never exceed 9999 but empires can still build over it as long as their economy supports the upkeep costs. Titans have a strict build limit, with a base of 1 allowed per empire; every 200 Naval Capacity increases an empire's Titan cap by 1, up to a maximum of 20 Titans at 3800 naval capacity.
Is forming a federation worth it Stellaris? ›
There are many advantages to forming a Federation in Stellaris, both with and without the Federations DLC. The simplest benefit is safety in numbers, as all members of the Federation will support each other in defensive wars, and can vote to join offensive wars as well.
Can you use a colossus on a habitat Stellaris? ›
Habitats can be destroyed by a Colossus as well as Crisis factions and cannot be rebuilt once destroyed.
Which fleet is the strongest? ›
Contents hide
- 2.1 United States Navy, the most powerful navy.
- 2.2 People's Liberation Army Navy, 2nd strongest navy.
- 2.3 Russian Navy.
- 2.4 Indonesian Navy.
- 2.5 Republic of Korea Navy.
- 2.6 Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
- 2.7 Indian Navy.
- 2.8 French Navy.
According to a report by the US Defense Department, China has the largest Navy in the world in terms of the number of warships, with 355 frontline ships in 3 fleets, compared to the US Navy's 305 frontline ships.
What is the ideal ship ratio in Stellaris? ›
While missiles are extremely powerful, they can be hard countered by Guardian Point-Defense systems that the Picket Ship Corvettes have. With the 80/20 ratio of these two designs, you will have a very good formation that is hard to beat in the early stages of the game.
