Star Citizen Skarnov Rifle Guide: Where to Find It and How It Handles
Lightning Bolt Co.’s new rifle brings arcing electricity to the 4.10.3 PTU. Find the weapon and its ammo, understand its heat limits, and see how it fares aboard a hijacked Caterpillar.
The Skarnov makes a wonderfully unsubtle entrance. Electrical bolts crackle across the fight, giving Lightning Bolt Co.’s latest rifle a personality you can recognise before you read its name. The attraction is obvious: catch enemies close together and let the discharge reach beyond the person in your sights. The harder question is whether that spectacle helps you survive the boarding action.
This guide covers the Alpha 4.10.3 PTU as checked on 26 October 2026. Its shop availability is explicitly for testing. The combat observations below come from Cpt_Foxyloxy’s 25 October PTU video, rather than an Impound playtest or a verdict on the eventual LIVE weapon.
Where to find the Skarnov and its ammunition
You do not have to complete the new Incursion contracts just to try the rifle in this PTU. The official feedback announcement lists four shops stocking the weapon and ammunition:
- Area18: Cubby Blast.
- Grim HEX: Skutters.
- Levski: Conscientious Objects.
- Checkmate: the weapon shop.
For a pilot already heading to Nyx, Levski is the convenient stop. The opening of the embedded video follows the route through the Grand Barter area to Conscientious Objects and searches the terminal for the rifle. Pick up the matching ammunition while you are there.
These are PTU access arrangements, not a promise that all four stores will retain the Skarnov when 4.10.3 reaches LIVE. Likewise, the Incursion overview announces an energy-rifle blueprint among its harder-tier rewards; that broad description alone is not enough to prescribe an exact Skarnov blueprint farming route.
Electrical arcs, rising heat and two ways to fire
The Skarnov’s defining mechanic is an electrical pulse left on a target that detonates and chains to nearby targets. It rewards an opportunity familiar to anyone who has watched hostile infantry crowd a doorway: several enemies occupy the same small space, and one rifle can potentially reach more than one of them.
There are two limits to keep in mind. Full-auto fire has a pronounced, consistent upward recoil profile, while prolonged firing builds heat. Ambient temperature also matters: hot environments accelerate overheating, and colder conditions slow the heat build-up. A cold firing demonstration therefore cannot establish a universal number of shots before overheating.
The early footage shows both single-fire and automatic modes. Foxyloxy finds single-fire easier to control, but switches back to automatic when an enemy takes longer to bring down than he expects. That is a useful distinction between comfortable handling and finishing a fight quickly; they are not necessarily the same thing.
Watch the rifle aboard a boarded Caterpillar
Cpt_Foxyloxy’s video combines the shop visit, a firing demonstration and a Retake Boarded Vessel run. Start at 1:11 for the weapon inspection, 7:56 for the mission approach, or 12:37 for the close-range combat sequence.
His verdict is mixed. The animation, electrical effects and sound make a strong impression, but he finds the rifle slow to kill the infantry encountered in this run. At the Caterpillar entrance, he also reports difficulty firing through the ship’s shield boundary. Later, at close range, he reports being caught by the electrical effect himself. None of those sequences is a controlled comparison against the entire FPS arsenal, but they are good reasons to bring a familiar backup weapon rather than depend entirely on a new PTU rifle.
For boarding teams, spacing deserves attention. Do not assume the electrical effect will politely stop at the intended enemy, or that a crowded doorway is automatically a safe opportunity to fire. The footage’s self-hit sequence is particularly relevant when closing distance.
Why the early numbers need care
The video catches inconsistencies between the item description and the weapon in use. Its inspection screen gives a battery capacity of 25, while the firing demonstration shows 30 rounds. Foxyloxy also flags different fire-rate figures in the item description and published notes. Those disagreements make a precise DPS ranking premature.
For the same reason, this guide does not promise a fixed chain radius, a universal shots-to-kill figure or an optimal attachment build. Those would need clearer current-build evidence. The useful conclusion today is narrower: the rifle has a distinctive electrical mechanic, heat management matters, and the first boarding footage gives it a more difficult reception than its spectacular effects might suggest.
If you are choosing what to do after collecting it, our Vanduul Incursion guide explains the contract families, ranks and announced rewards. The 4.10.3 PTU overview covers the wider update.
Sources and media: CIG’s LBCO Skarnov feedback announcement, 23 October 2026, supplies the weapon mechanics and PTU shop list. Cpt_Foxyloxy’s linked video, published 25 October, supplies the attributed combat observations and item-description discrepancies. Featured image: CIG’s official Skarnov feedback post. This is an early PTU guide; availability, balance and behaviour may change.