Best Cyberpunk 2077 builds for 2.0 and Phantom Liberty

The best Cyberpunk 2077 builds make the most of all the tweaks and polish introduced by CD Projekt Red in the 2.0 update. A complete overhaul of the Perk tree and reworked Skills open the door for a host of fresh builds. Diving back into Cyberpunk 2077 and the Phantom Liberty expansion with so many changes can feel a bit daunting, especially if you’re loading up a previous save and your old build doesn’t pack the same punch it once did. 

By honing in on specific attributes and foregoing others, then sinking points into perks that complement them is key to a strong build. We’ve pulled together a list of the best Cyberpunk 2077 builds for 2.0 to steer you in the right direction. While these aren’t by any means immovable or gospel, they’ll set you up nicely and will allow you to fine tune them to suit your playstyle. If you’re weighing up starting a new character to sample 2.0, check out our thoughts.

Attributes and Perks

Before we dive into the granular detail of each build, here’s a brief overview of how builds function in Cyberpunk 2077. Builds break down into two core parts: Attributes and Perks. 

Attributes are general character stats that determine what abilities you can use. You can sink attribute Points to level up a particular Attribute. Reach a certain threshold and you’ll unlock access to Perks available under that specific Attribute’s Perk Tree. Here are the Attributes available in Cyberpunk 2077:

• Body – affects physical power and fortitude, but also determines your proficiency with shotguns, blunt weapons, and light machine guns. For every Attribute point spent you get +2 Max health.
• Reflexes – affects manoeuvrability and evade, and improves your proficiency with assault rifles, blades, and submachine guns. For every Attribute point spent you increase your crit chance by +0.5%.
• Technical Ability – determines your abilities as a techie (think locks, cyberware, and devices overriding), along with explosive and tech weapon proficiency. You get +2 armour for every Attribute point spent.
• Intelligence – affects your netrunning abilities and proficiency with smart weapons. For every 4 Attribute points spent you get +1 Max RAM.
• Cool – covers stealth and assassination skills along with sniper rifles, precision rifle, throwable, and handgun proficiency. Every Attribute point spent gives you +1.25% crit damage.

Perks unlock buffs, boosts, and unique abilities tied to the Attributes above. Each Attribute has a Perk Tree that you can upgrade using Perk Points earned from levelling (gigs, jobs, quests – the usual XP earning fare). There are dozens for each Attribute so too many to list here.

What this means is that a build is primarily centred around spending your Perk points to maximise your character’s combat abilities in one or two very specific areas. Attributes are best seen as a way to unlock Perk levels in the Perk Tree as the per-point benefit of Attributes isn’t all that important. Weapons play a part as well, but their efficiency very much depends on what Perks you prioritise.

Acrobatic Ninja Mantis – Best Cyberpunk 2077 builds for 2.0

Agile, lethal, and oozing with style, the Acrobatic Ninja build is one for those that like to play fast and get up close to enemies while deflecting bullets with a blade. Dash in, slash, and evade. Rinse and repeat.

• Weapon – katanas, Mantis Blades
• Main Attribute – Reflexes

Perks

• Slippery (Reflexes) – faster movement (dashing, sliding, sprinting, vaulting, and dodging) makes it harder for enemies to shoot you.
• Dash (Reflexes) – unlocks Dash ability and reduces stamina cost of dodging and dashing.
• Mad Dash (Reflexes) – get 100% Dash range when moving towards an enemy.
• Air Dash (Reflexes) – unlocks midair Dash, reduces Dash stamina cost by 20%, and increases Dash speed by 20%.
• Tailwind (Reflexes) – air dashes don’t cost stamina and you gain +25 stamina for air dashes and double jumps.
• Lead and Steel (Reflexes) – block incoming projectiles (bullets mainly) with blades and reduces blade attack stamina cost by 15%.
• Bullet Deflect (Reflexes) – with stamina above 33%, you’ll deflect projectiles when blocking to where you reticule is positioned.
• Finisher: Blade Runner (Reflexes) – unlocks Blade Finisher, a lethal kill move, reduces blade attack stamina cost by 15%, and ups blade attack speed by 20%.
• Slaughter House (Reflexes) – attacks, deflected bullets, and counter attacks apply bleeding, which increases the chance of enemies being susceptible to finishers. You’ll also get +25 stamina for dismemberments.
• Flash of Steel (Reflexes) – +25% movement and attack for 6 seconds after a Finisher.
• Opportunist (Reflexes) – increase enemy susceptibility to Finishers when bleeding, staggered, stunned, or blinded.

Relic Perks

• Jailbreak (Relic) – unlocks new abilities for the Arm cyberware (Mantis Blades, Projectile Launch System, Gorilla Arms, and Monowire), including charged leap attacks with the Mantis Blades.
• Spatial Mapping (Relic) – Mantis Blades leap attacks cripple enemies and boost the dismemberment chance against crippled enemies for 10 sec.

Cyberware

• Mantis Blades (Thermal, Electrifying, Toxic)
• Dense Marrow
• Adrenaline Converter
• Stabber
• Pain Editor
• Proxishield
• Reinforced Tendons

Hands-Off Netrunner – Best Cyberpunk 2077 builds for 2.0

This build lets your Quickhacks do all the dirty work for you. With a vast supply of RAM, queue Quickhacks (up to four per enemy) plus Contagion from a safe distance to melt through hordes of scavs. No need for guns other than maybe a sniper or smart weapon for occasional use.

• Weapon – snipers, smart weapons
• Main Attribute – Intelligence

Perks

• Optimization (Intelligence) – boost RAM recovery rate by 35%.
• Encryption (Intelligence) – reduces traceability for Quickhacks by 30%
• Subordination (Intelligence) – +100 duration for Control Quickhacks on enemies at full health.
• Embedded Exploit (Intelligence) – +10 RAM recovery rate.
• Overclock (Intelligence) – +10% RAM recovery, +10% Quickhack damage, and Overclock mode, which allows you to use health instead of RAM to fire off Quickhacks.
• Sublimation (Intelligence) – with Overclock active, RAM recovery generates health.
• Race Against Mind (Intelligence) – with Overclock active, Quickhacks cause up to 50% extra damage as health lowers.
• Power Surge (Intelligence) – using Overclock restores five times your max RAM in health.
• Spillover (Intelligence) – +50% change for Quickhacks to spread to another enemy.
• Hack Queue (Intelligence) – unlocks Quickhack queue (two Quickhacks per enemy).
• Copy-Paste (Intelligence) – when targeted by a netrunner, using a Quickhack against them spreads it to the netrunner’s allies.
• Queue Acceleration (Intelligence) – increase Quickhack queue by one along with +1 Max RAM and -RAM cost for device and vehicle Quickhacks.
• Queue Mastery (Intelligence) – +1 to Quickhack queue.
• Smart Synergy (Intelligence) – with Overclock active, Smart Weapon target lock instantly and get +25% damage if an enemy is affected by a Quickhack.

Cyberware

• Tetratronic Rippler MK.5
• Kiroshi Sentry Optics
• Bioconductor
• Memory Boost
• Smart Link
• Ex-Disk
• RAM Recoup

Stealthy Assassin – Best Cyberpunk 2077 builds for 2.0

One for those that like to attack from the shadows, skulking around undetected to perform swift, deadly takedowns with both throwable weapons and silenced guns. The focus is on keeping enemy detection down through a high mitigation chance while upping the effectiveness of attacks with poison.

• Weapon – silenced guns, knives, axes
• Main Attribute – Cool

Perks

• Feline Footwork (Cool) – 15% boost to movement speed and mitigation chance (enemy detection) when crouched.
• Blind Spot (Cool) – takes longer for enemies to detect you when mitigation chance is high.
• Small Target (Cool) – +20 mitigation chance when crouched and immobile.
• Killer Instinct (Cool) – damage from knives, silenced weapons, and axes increased by 25% when out of combat.
• Gag Order – attacking an enemy after detection with delay detection from surrounding enemies.
• Quick Getaway (Cool) – +10% movement speed for 30 seconds after killing an enemy undetected.
• Ninjitsu (Cool) – you can sprint while crouching plus you get +15% couch movement speed and mitigation chance when crouched.
• Serpentine (Cool) – +30 mitigation chance when crouch-sprinting.
• Scorpion Sting (Cool) – apply poison to throwable weapon attacks (crits, headshots, and normal hits).
• Neurotoxin (Cool) – Scorpion Sting poisoning also applies blinding and disables sprinting for 6 seconds.
• Corrosion (Cool) – apply poison to robots, drones, mechs, and turrets.
• Juggler (Cool) – instant cooldown reset for all throwables weapons after you kill an enemy with a headshot, crit hit, or poison using a throwable weapon.
• Sleight of Hand (Cool) – +20% crit damage for 8 seconds  when Juggle is active.
• Style Over Substance (Cool) – get guaranteed crit hits when using a throwable weapon when sliding, crouch-sprinting, dashing, and dodging.

Cyberware

• Kiroshi Clairvoyant Optics
• Stabber
• Optical Camo
• Lynx Paws

Slow Mo Rifler – Best Cyberpunk 2077 builds for 2.0

If you’ve got a soft spot for assault rifles and submachine guns, this is the build for you. With a heavy focus on increasing the damage and speed of these weapons and mixing in some mobility and slow mo magic courtesy of the Kerenzikov cyberware, the Slow Mo Rifler blends efficiency and style to take down enemies.

• Weapon – assault rifles and submachine guns
• Main Attribute – Reflexes
• Cyberware – Kerenzikov

Perks

• Ready, Rested, Reloaded (Reflexes) – reduces stamina cost for shooting with ARs and SMGs by 10% and increases reload speed by 30% when stamina is above 50%.
• Tunnel Vision (Reflexes) – boost range and accuracy by 20%.
• Mind Over Matter (Reflexes) – reduces recoil by 25% when aiming down sight.
• Sharpshooter (Reflexes) – stack Sharpshooter (+7% stamina regen rate for 2 seconds) up to seven times for each successful shot, improve weapon handling, and boost aim speed by 15%.
• Shoot to Chill (Reflexes) – reduce stamina cost by 7% for every stack of Sharpshooter when using ARs and SMGs.
• Gundancer (Reflexes) – removes movement slow when aiming and you can shoot when vaulting.
• Practice Makes Perfect (Reflexes) – increases crit chance by 7% and boost crit damage for every Sharpshooter stack.
• Salt in the Wound (Reflexes) – the 7th consecutive shot on a target deals damage equivalent to 100% of all the previous shots.
• Submachine Fun (Reflexes) – speed up SMG weapon swapping, reload automatically for every swap, and get +22% fire rate after each swap.
• Air Kerenzikov (Reflexes) – active Krenzikov in midair suspends you in the air and extends slow mo duration.
• Aerial Combat (Reflexes) – improve midair movement.

Relic Perks

• Vulnerability Analytics (Relic) – unlocks Vulnerabilities in combat, in both armor and cyberware. Hit vulnerabilities to get 100% crit chance, +25% armor penetration, and weakspot damage bonuses. Deal enough damage to a Vulnerability will make it explode causing an EMP blast that damages nearby enemies.
• Machine Learning (Relic) – destroying a Vulnerability gives you +10% frequency of new Vulnerabilities appearing and +5% crit damage against Vulnerabilities. Effect last 25 sec. and can stack up 5 times, with max stacks granting double the above effects.

Cyberware

• Militech Apogee Sandevistan
• Kiroshi The Oracle Optics
• Kerenzikov
• Kerenzikov Boost System
• Shock Absorber
• Clutch Padding
• Reinforced Tendons

We’re testing out some other builds at the moment, so we’ll update this guide if we stumble on anything else worthwhile. In the mean time, check out the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty voice cast, the best SSD for Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty, and our Phantom Liberty review for out take on what is by all accounts the finishing touch on CD Projekt’s 3-year redemption arc.

If you’re dipping into Phantom Liberty, we have all the Phantom Liberty tarot card locations, Data Terminal locations, and a Phantom Liberty quest list to get a sense of what’s available in Dogtown.