Many people discovering how amazing the cool attribute is are mostly role-players in Cyberpunk 2077. Several of the exciting dialogue options require cool points in order to give a suave response. So with these points, players figured that they might as well be curious and dig into a few of the skill points. And what a treasure chest of possibilities they discovered! Players mistakenly believe that the cool tree was tacked on after all other major skills that used staples like the submachine gun or hacking tool were all used up. But it's actually more likely that the cool skills were the core component of the game and the others were added on later.
That being said, not all skills were created equal. Most have at least some kind of advantage, but Cyberpunk 2077 has proven to be terribly difficult to level up in. After clearing the entire map and taking over 170 hours, it's certainly possible that players won't have enough points to max out a single tree. So every perk point must be spent with the greatest of care, only invested in the most critical and important skills on the tree. The cool branches can be the coolest branches with a little research and some thought about how players want their V to behave in and out of combat.
Updated on April 23rd, 2021 by Hodey Johns: After being released for months, the Cool tree in Cyberpunk 2077 is still baffling players. Min/Max gamers of all specialities are forced to pick up a few skills here, but people aren't sure which ones to take or why. As a result, an entry to the front of the list has been added to explain "What is Cold Blood?" to those who are still confused. Four more entries have also been added and worlds in each section have been highlighted for those looking for brief explanations.
15 What Is Cold Blood?
Part of what makes this buff so confusing is that the buff is anything that the player chooses for it to be. After unlocking the initial skill, appropriately called "Cold Blood," players can then select any number of abilities that will be unlocked so long as the buff is active.
The skill initially lasts for ten seconds and activates after killing an enemy. Those who want to get the most out of the skill will want to keep this duration refreshed by killing at least one enemy every ten seconds. More points in the tree allow this buff to stack up, meaning each dead enemy makes the buff even stronger.
14 Need: From The Shadows
- Increases critical strike chance by 25%/50% for 7 seconds upon entering combat.
This perk has obvious implications for those who like to get up close and personal. Melee weapons specialists and SMG masters general try to end the fight before seven seconds have passed already. By giving such a monstrous bonus to critical strike chance at the start of a battle, this essentially ensures the battle ends by at least that time.
However, snipers and other stealth characters should consider picking this up too. After two to three kills, go back into hiding. The next time V gets off another headshot, the buff will renew.
13 Not Worth It: Stunning Blows
- Quick melee attacks with ranged weapons stagger enemies, giving V the chance to grapple with them.
Anybody using their ranged weapon as a melee attack has likely lost the battle already. It's not that hard to switch to a melee weapon and do some actual damage, or even just use it to push enemies away.
This perk comes down to one word: laziness. It's for players that don't feel like switching to an actual melee weapon when enemies get in close. The"benefit" of grappling someone is actually a penalty; players who use ranged weapons don't want to be trading blows in a grapple.
12 Need: Sniper
- Increases damage from headshots fired from outside combat by 30%/60%.
V can suddenly increase all headshot damage from outside of combat by 60% for the cost of only two perk points. All shots outside of combat should be headshots anyhow since the player gets to line up the perfect shot. There are several sniper rifles of the legendary and epic variety that don't offer a bonus to damage quite this good, making this an efficient two points to spend.
To be clear, this does not even specify that a sniper rifle is needed. If V has a great pistol or revolver, that will get the benefit from this. Silenced weapons deal reduced damage, but this 60% increase will more than offset that reduction. This is the stealth tree, after all, so slap on a guilt-free silencer and ensure your headshots remain one-hit kills thanks to this ability.
11 Not Worth It: Dagger Dealer
- Allows you to throw knives.
Theoretically, all five of the "not worth it" items on this list could be dagger-based skills, do not get any of them. Throwing daggers are in a bad place right now and they are potentially bugged and/or broken, so until they are fixed or buffed, it's best to just avoid these abilities entirely. It's a shame because clearly there is some potential here, but it would be misleading to suggest getting a skill-based on "potential."
There are several issues, but the biggest is that the throwing knives are not retrievable, regardless of whether V hits or misses the target. These daggers cost money and some are even upgraded units worth up to $35,000 or more in eddies; the standard knives are already $1000. That is way too high of a price per kill. On top of that, they do nowhere near the damage of iconic sniper rifles, pistols, or revolvers, even with every skill in the tree. They're just bad all around, check back later to see if they are fixed.
10 Need: Silent And Deadly
- Increases damage dealt by silenced weapons by 25% while sneaking.
If the player is anywhere in the vicinity of danger and not yet in combat, V should be sneaking, there is no reason not to. So the 25% damage bonus while sneaking is granted. Next, the weapon just has to be silenced, which should also be a given for most gamers. Silenced kills mean staying in stealth and getting another stealth kill. Even if discovery is inevitable, players will be able to thin the herd significantly before an outright assault.
Once again, there is no tool requirement here, so any silenced weapon will do. It's another skill that eliminates the reduction of damage on the silencer, which is imperative on higher difficulties. Without this skill, even a silenced headshot on Very Hard will allow the enemy to live just enough to warn the rest of the team. Each stealthy shot must be lethal, and this helps gamers do just that.
9 Not Worth It: Hidden Dragon
- Allows you to perform non-lethal aerial takedowns on unaware targets.
The concept of this move is intriguing. When above an enemy unit, V can knock it out of commission for the remainder of the fight ahead. But that's where the problems begin. For a skill in the stealth tree, this is a particularly loud move that will alert enemies nearby and even somewhat far away. There is an effect of getting up after the takedown, too, so these alerted enemies will be shooting at V before the animation is completed.
Additionally, the move is difficult to line up. The controls really don't like V to be directly above the target and players will find that the sweet spot for the move to activate is very particular. As a death knell to those considering getting this ability, having done every mission in the game, there are only a handful of gigs that feature enemies below the player's position, so there just aren't enough opportunities to make this move count. Stick to silenced headshots.
8 Need: Cheat Death
- When your health drops to below 50%, reduce all incoming damage to 50% for 10 seconds. Cannot occur more than once per minute.
Having a backup plan is critical in Night City. The problem with going all-in on any skill tree is that it puts too many eggs in a single basket. The stealth skill tree helps players to stay in stealth, but sometimes detection is unavoidable, some cutscenes will leave V in a position where the player is in combat as soon as the scene ends. So players can't plan on a singular style of play.
This is where the cool attribute rewards players that have selected it in a very special way. In reducing all incoming damage by 50% when V's health sinks below the 50% threshold, cool players will start to feel like body players because they can't be brought down. The effect lasts for a full ten seconds, which is plenty of time to get to safety and recoup, or to finish the job and soak up the reduced damage. When stacking it with other damage-reducing modifiers in the tree, it's essentially immunity for that window of time.
7 Not Worth It: Ghost
- Detection time is increased by 20%/40%.
Obviously, being detected is a natural enemy for those who have invested in the stealth tree. The longer combat can be held off for, the better off V will be. But with so few skill points accessible in the game, it's important for a reduction in detection to value player investment and the return on this just simply isn't good enough.
In mathematical terms, if an enemy would catch the player in 1 second, the new time would be 1.4 seconds, which is a very scarce difference. If an enemy would detect the player in 5 seconds, the new time would be 7 seconds, but with 5 seconds, it's very easy to relocate before the target sees V. If V is getting detected a lot, back off and used silenced kills from range, there is no logical rationale for playing the game tight enough for this skill to be relevant.
6 Need: Cold Blood
- After defeating an enemy, gain Cold Blood for 10 seconds, and increase movement by 2%. Stacks up to 1/2/3 times.
It stands to reason that, in a tree called "Cold Blood" that the Cold Blood skill within it is kind of a big deal. Initially, the skill itself is nothing impressive, going 6% faster after killing three enemies isn't anything to write home about. But it's the implications of Cold Blood that make it such a game-changer.
The idea is to give snipers and silent killers an incentive to kill enemies faster and it does exactly that. Each enemy death will reset the 10-second buff timer, making the next kill faster and easier to acquire. After playing the game with this skill for a few encounters, gamers can appreciate that wiping out a sprawled out group of twelve enemies in under one minute is a feeling that won't soon be replaced.
5 Not Worth It: Quick Transfer
- Reduces quickhack upload time by 1%/2% per stack of Cold Blood.
There is a reason they are called quickhacks; they are fast. Players that love to hack into enemy turrets and optics simply need to scan, choose the quickhack, and then run away. There is technically a timer until the process is executed, but it cannot be interrupted or saved and this time period can actually help V by getting out of the way when the quickhack is executed and the newly alerted enemy starts looking around.
So this skill is possibly irrelevant and actually borderline dangerous. Quickhacks are quick enough that using them too often drains all of the RAM of even players that have maxed out their intelligence, so being able to hack faster has limited usefulness. As a player invested in stealth and cunning instead of computers, the skill feels misplaced and confused.
4 Need: Critical Condition
- Increases the duration of Cold Blood by 5/10 seconds.
The best way to learn to hate Cold Blood is by not having it last long enough to be effective. If stacks are dropping off as quickly as they get added, basically any other tree in the game is better than this one.
And that's why Critical Condition alone can be what makes this tree worthwhile. Taking out a group of enemies in ten seconds is difficult to execute even by an expert's standards. Extending the buff deadline to twenty seconds is much more manageable, especially considering how V will only get stronger as the fight continues.
3 Not Worth It: Rapid Bloodflow
- Increases health regeneration by 50%/100% per stack of Cold Blood.
The idea here is for players to heal back what they are shrugging off in the middle of combat. And that's a fair desire. The problem here is that with any investment into the tree at all, the enemies will die faster than they can do damage to V.
Perk points are limited. Consumables like food, however, have no limit. And food does the job essentially free because it drops off of every body in Night City. So it's much better to simply grab a bite to eat than to bury two unwise perk points here.
2 Need: Frozen Precision
- Increases headshot damage by 50%.
The skill speaks for itself. Snipers that have taken reflex skills and rogues that take the stealth skills will unite together in getting their cool attribute to at least eleven so they can pick up this single point skill. Other fantastic skills require silence or stealth to get a headshot bonus, but this gives a 50% boost to headshot damage without any qualifiers at all.
The cool trees are flexible, which is one of the reasons that players love them. This is the prized jewel of the Cold Blood tree because it has appeal to everyone. Outside of combat, it's obviously helpful for those silenced kills, but even inside of combat and with a shotgun, one close blast to the face will bring down even the healthiest goon.
1 Not Worth It: Blood Brawl
- While Cold Blood is active, increases damage with melee weapons by 5%/10%.
There are two other trees in the game that help out with melee weapons, one dedicated to doing damage with blunt objects and the other reserved for blades. It's hard to imagine anyone spending that much time in either of those trees is going to get twelve cool points just for maybe a 10% increase in damage.
Perhaps the skill could be redeemed if it was 10% per stack, then after killing five in a row with a katana, V would have a 50% bonus to remaining enemies. But it's simply a flat percentage and completely out of place in a tree that appeals to those who prefer the skilled and silent approach, not the "jump in and bash everything that moves" approach.