Highlights
- Players should carefully invest their skill points to optimize their combat ability in Cyberpunk 2077, as there is not enough experience in the game to get every perk.
- Some skills in alternate trees have tremendous value and should not be passed up, even if it deviates from the optimized strategy.
- Certain perks in skills like Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Cool, and Intelligence greatly enhance combat effectiveness and make beating the game easier.
By the end of Cyberpunk 2077, players will realize that there simply is not enough experience in the game to realistically get every perk before the credits roll. If they've been diligent and finished up every single side gig and NCPD assault in progress, then it's possible that they've finished up one skill tree and maybe got a decent chunk into a second, but no more than this. This means that each skill has to be carefully invested.
So gamers have to invest most of their points in a very specific way to optimize their combat ability. But there are some rare exceptions to this strategy. A few skills in alternate trees have such tremendous value that it's a mistake to pass up on them, even with the best of intentions. Beating Cyberpunk 2077 becomes easier by having these perks.
Updated on September 26th, 2023 by Hodey Johns: With the Phantom Liberty expansion out and the 2.0 patches updates, the perk system has been completely overhauled. Because of this, every entry on this list had to be changed. Some perks are still present, in spirit and/or name but have different requirements or locations than before. It also has become more easy to get some perks not mentioned before while previously listed perks have become more unattainable. Since this is a list designed to be useful for every build and every character, the entries are now ones that every build can attain without burying a ton of skill points into something they don't frequently use.
10 Body - Fury Road
- +50% damage to enemy vehicles and their occupants
- -50% damage to your vehicles
- Take no damage as a vehicle occupant in collisions
Discovering the many endings of the Phantom Liberty expansion will likely require some amount of vehicular combat. Almost all of the vehicular perks are worth getting and more are to come on this list but Fury Road may be the most vital of all of them.
Doing an extra 50% damage while taking 50% less damage essentially gives V a victory in all vehicular combat regardless of player skill level. Even those who don't plan on participating in vehicular combat for whatever will enjoy being able to crash into everything else safely.
9 Body - Comeback Kid
- +1% health regen rate for each percent of missing health
To get this perk, players will also need to grab Painkiller, a perk that allows V to heal in combat. After taking the oath, gamers will be involved in more than just a little combat. Longer combat scenarios will demand using loads of health items without this perk.
Comeback Kid takes the existing perk and makes it even better. Not only will V be healing in and out of combat naturally but the power of that healing grows the more it is needed. Sure, if players aren't hurt at all this can slide under the radar but it will be one of the most critical ways to heal when the battles are toughest.
8 Reflexes - Stuntjock
- Unlocks new ways to exit vehicles.
- No bullet spread penalty for shooting while driving.
- -50% bullet spread when shooting while driving.
Players doing the Push it to the Limit mission will find that this is the start of vehicle contracts. With vehicle combat front and center in Cyberpunk 2077 now, players will be getting in and out of cars frequently. Doing so in style will make the game better.
Jumping and sliding out of vehicles will get V into foot combat quickly. When shooting from the vehicle, V becomes akin to a sniper. Within the safety of a car or from the speed of a bike, certain builds will prefer to fight from cars as soon as they unlock this perk.
7 Reflexes - Muscle Memory
- Allows reloading while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting.
The latest and greatest gunslinger builds are fun but they can be hampered when reloading. V is a sitting duck when standing still or slowly walking while reloading. Players can mitigate this by sticking close to cover and ducking into safety with every magazine.
But instead of doing that, grab the Muscle Memory perk and never worry about stillness again. This enhances the game with every build and allows V to stay mobile while placing more bullets into a given weapon.
6 Reflexes - Multitasker
- Allows shooting while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting.
Patch 2.0 offers some great new additions but the game will feel flat when it comes to gunplay until acquiring the Multitasker perk. Having to stay still or slowly walk while shooting is a death sentence for V on most difficulty settings.
Staying active and mobile while shooting will give V an advantage against opponents that is difficult to exaggerate. The Multitasker perk is both offensive and defensive, expanding shooting windows while simultaneously being a tougher target to hit.
5 Technical Ability - Gearbox
- +33% vehicle health.
- +25% vehicle-mounted weapon damage.
- -0.7 second vehicle-mounted weapon lock-on time.
Extra vehicle health is always welcome, giving players an advantage over any other vehicle they are trading blows with. But that's not the reason Cyberpunk 2077 is flying up the sales charts. It's the all-new vehicle combat mechanics that have returning players gripped.
That's what makes Gearbox so valuable. Cutting down on lock-on time by almost a full second while also increasing the damage by 25% represents a colossal output for vehicle-mounted weapons. With just one perk point, vehicle combat becomes much easier for V.
4 Cool - Killer Instinct
- +25% damage with silent weapons outside of combat.
- Silent weapons have a preview of estimated damage outside of combat.
When players try to figure out how long it takes to beat the Phantom Liberty expansion, each gamer will need to take into consideration if they go in fast or slow. Stealthy nipers will obviously get the most out of Killer Instinct which is a flat upgrade to almost all of the damage they do.
But this is also useful for a loud V build. In most combat situations, V gets to fire the first shot. So make it a good one by taking out the biggest baddie and then switching to loud automatic weapons.
3 Cool - Road Warrior
- Allows Sandevistan to be used while driving.
- Allows Kerenzikov to be used while aiming and handbreaking.
- +25% weapon damage when vehicle is drifting or airborne.
When looking through the Phantom Liberty mission list, there aren't many tasks that can't be accomplished with a vehicle. With so much driving and fighting to do, it's great to have an extra 25% damage while aiming out of the window and firing.
The big deal with the Road Warrior perk is how it allows the use of the Sandevistan and Kerenzikov abilities. These moves will slow down time, making it easier to fire off precise shots. The skills are great for the middle of combat and are total lifesavers inside of a vehicle.
2 Intelligence - Forcekill Cypher
- Reduces sequence length to hack access point by one (minimum of two).
To get Forcekill Cypher, players will first have to get Eye in the Sky which highlights access points, reduces RAM cost, and increases quickhack durations by 50%. That, on its own, has extreme value.
This is compounded by Forcekill Cypher which decreases sequence lengths. A dedicated hacker will use this frequently but this is even more valuable for those who only hack sometimes. With the reduction in the cost of hacking, an experienced hacker can still disable targets with a favorite hack without needing to invest anything more than this perk.
1 Intelligence - Carhacker
- Unlocks vehicle quickhacks.
A whole world opens up at the cost of only the Carhacker perk. Powerful hackers will be able to blow up a car if they want and take out all the occupants. Moreover, it becomes possible to take over a vehicle and drive it off a cliff or simply bring it to V for a free ride.
Low-level players who don't use hacks will find that Carhacker still offers plenty of value. Make an alarm go off and then toss a grenade to simplify an encounter or slow a vehicle down on a critical mission to catch up with the driver.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.