In Cyberpunk 2077, there are numerous opportunities to engage in stealthy activities like a silent ninja. Sneaking into corporate installations, pilfering valuable blueprints, and making a swift exit without alerting anyone is a viable approach that can yield significant rewards. On the other hand, an equally valid strategy is to charge in boldly, making a lot of noise and unleashing a barrage of gunfire to overwhelm adversaries in the vicinity.
This guide focuses on embracing a lack of subtlety and embracing a strategy of total destruction. It explores the kind of chaos that can only be achieved by unleashing a torrent of bullets to solve all of life's problems. If you're seeking to learn how to make your troubles vanish in a crimson haze, you've come to the right place, my friend.
The Solo Build
The Solo playstyle revolves around approaching enemies directly and swiftly engaging them by pulling the trigger. Alternatively, you can choose to stand in the line of enemy fire and continuously unleash rounds from your machine gun until your adversaries cease to retaliate. Both approaches are viable options.
For this build, your primary attributes will be Body and Technical Ability. In the Body perk tree, you should focus on acquiring perks that enhance shotguns and machine guns, improve health regeneration, and unlock the Adrenaline Rush ability. With these perks, you'll be capable of enduring incoming attacks while inflicting substantial damage at both close and medium ranges.
On the Technical Ability side, you should focus on advancing through the perk trees in the middle and left sections. The left side of the tree enhances your consumables, such as grenades and healing items, while the middle tree focuses on improving your cyberware. Both of these paths will enhance your overall durability, especially when combined with a high Body attribute. With this combination, you will become an unstoppable force.
It is strongly advised to acquire the Blood Pump cyberware. As the cyberware with the highest health boost in the game, it will significantly extend the duration of your Adrenaline Rush ability.
The typical expectation for a Solo character is that you will use a Sandevistan, which gives you a strong reason to choose the Ticking Time Bomb perk. However, if you decide not to use a Sandevistan, you can skip that capstone perk and allocate the points to other skills. Additionally, this build suggests taking the Doomlauncher perk, assuming you will equip the Projectile Launch System arm cyberware. However, if you prefer to use Gorilla Arms instead, feel free to reassign that perk accordingly.
You can create this build in the base version of Cyberpunk 2077 without the Phantom Liberty DLC. However, if you do possess the DLC, you will have additional perk points, allowing you to further develop the remaining branches of the Tech tree or even invest in the blunt weapons aspect of the Body tree.
Key Cyberware
- Projectile Launch System
- Blood Pump
- Epimorhpic Skeleton
- Neofiber
- Cellular Adapter
- Sandevistan
Recommended Weapons
- Wild Dog
- Guts
- The Headsman
Crouching Tiger Build
This build provides a somewhat more nuanced approach to gunplay, allowing for a blend of stealth and all-out carnage depending on your preference. You have the flexibility to seamlessly transition from sneaking around to engaging in a full-on massacre whenever you desire.
The primary attributes for the Crouching Tiger build are Reflex and Cool. Investing in Reflex will grant you perks that enhance assault rifles and submachine guns, while the Cool perks will provide notable damage reduction and increased crouch speed through the Ninjitsu perk.
When you combine the Feline Footwork and Gundancer perks, an interesting effect occurs: you will actually aim faster with an assault rifle or submachine gun while in a crouched position compared to when you are moving normally.
In most encounters, it is advisable to begin by employing stealth tactics using a silenced pistol. However, if or when you are detected, you can swiftly switch to your assault rifle or submachine gun to systematically eliminate targets one by one. Remember to stick to cover and stay crouched to preserve your damage mitigation and agility.
This particular build focuses on engagements that occur at medium to long-range distances, so it is recommended to try and keep enemies at a distance from you.
This build is designed to be versatile and well-rounded. By investing a sufficient number of attribute points in Intelligence and Tech, you can effectively utilize a cyberdeck for hacking purposes while also benefiting from powerful cyberware. With the addition of the Phantom Liberty DLC, you have the option to allocate more attribute points into the Intelligence tree to become a proficient hacker, or distribute those points across the remaining branches of the Tech tree to enhance your capabilities with grenades and healing items.
Key Cyberware
- Kiroshi "Clairvoyant" Optics
- Spring Joints
- Ballistic Coprocessor
- Kerenzikov
- Cellular Adapter
- Lynx Paws
Recommended Weapons
- Fenrir
- Buzzsaw
- Erebus
- Moron Labe
- Psalm 11:6
- Hawk
Smart Assaulter Build
Who says you have to lack intelligence to charge in with guns blazing? The Smart Assaulter build revolves around exceptional mobility, utilizing powerful smart weapons and quickhacks to effortlessly eliminate entire squads.
The primary attributes for the Smart Assaulter build are Intelligence and Reflex. By investing 20 points in Intelligence, you gain access to a wide range of perks that boost RAM capacity and enhance quickhacks. Additionally, you can acquire perks that specifically enhance smart guns, such as Smart Synergy and Recirculation. These perks not only increase the damage dealt by smart guns on enemies affected by quickhacks but also replenish your RAM whenever those enemies are defeated.
It is advisable to combine this build with a cyberdeck that excels in rapidly spreading quickhacks, such as the Raven Microcyber.
Reflexes attribute grants us access to all the perks related to assault rifles and submachine guns, amplifying the effectiveness of their smart variants. Additionally, you will have access to the complete range of Dash and Air Dash perks, enhancing your mobility significantly. With the assistance of Kerenzikov, you can execute impressive aerial kills, further leveraging your agility and reflexes.
Bullet spread and recoil do not affect smart weapons, so we can disregard some of the tier nine perks related to those attributes entirely.
This build has fewer available perks compared to others, but with the addition of the Phantom Liberty DLC, you have the opportunity to allocate more perks towards the Tech tree to unlock superior cyberware. Alternatively, you can invest in the Cool tree to improve your crouch movement speed or enhance your proficiency with smart pistols. If you prefer using the monowire as your arm cyberware, you can also invest in the corresponding monowire perks.
Key Cyberware
- Reinforced Tendons
- Kerenzikov
- Raven Microcyber
- Smart Link or Tiger Claws Dermal Implant
Recommended Weapons
- Divided We Stand
- Pizdets
- Chesapeake
- Shingen Mark V
- Yinglong
- Hercules 3AX
Tech Bolter Build
The Tech Bolter build differs from the other builds in that it emphasizes staying behind cover. However, this doesn't mean you won't be able to unleash a barrage of gunfire with reckless abandon.
The crucial aspect of the Tech Bolter build lies in heavily investing in your Tech attribute to unlock the Bolt perks, along with the Chain Lightning perk. This combination transforms your tech weapons into armor-ignoring lightning bolts capable of eliminating multiple enemies simultaneously.
The majority of tech weapons in this build consist of pistols, precision rifles, and sniper rifles. Therefore, you will need to invest in the Cool perk tree to unlock abilities such as Deadeye, Focus, and Nerves of Tungsten Steel. With precise aim, these perks enable most of your headshots to result in a one-shot kill.
With the primary emphasis on the Tech attribute, you have the flexibility to distribute the remaining attribute points for a well-rounded build. Investing in Intelligence grants you decent hacking skills, while Reflex provides increased mobility. If you have the Phantom Liberty DLC installed, you can easily allocate the remaining points to further develop either the Intelligence tree for improved hacking abilities or explore an alternative weapon system when needed.
Use the Ping quickhack generously to identify the locations of enemies who are concealed behind cover and walls. The Kiroshi "Stalker" Optics are also crucial for consistently targeting and hitting the heads of enemies while they are protected by cover.
Key Cyberware
- Kiroshi “Stalker” Optics
- Shock Absorber
- Feedback Circuit
Recommended Weapons
- Ambition
- Breakthrough
- Lizzie
- Widow Maker
- Rasetsu
- Apparition
