Best Cyberpunk 2077 Skills And Perks In Phantom Liberty And 2.0 Update

Eager to check out V’s new abilities in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty? Update 2.0 has completely revamped several mechanics, including how you maximize your character’s build. Our guide discusses Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty’s best perks and skills for each attribute, as well as how you can acquire more points that can be allocated.

What are the best perks in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty?

Before we talk about the best perks in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, we should first take note of three important facets: attribute points, perk points, and relic points. Those who’ve played the game prior to Update 2.0 might recall the original skill tree, which has since been revamped. Still, certain core mechanics should feel familiar.

• Attribute points – Attribute points are gained per level, and can be used to increase the five core stats: Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence, and Cool.
• Perk points – Perk points are distributed to acquire new active and passive skills from each attribute tree. Points are also obtained when you level up. Moreover, additional points are earned whenever you reach rank 15 and 35 in your skill progression bracket (i.e. Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo, and Engineer). While we won’t discuss this mechanic in detail here, just know that these increase depending on your actions as you play the game. For instance, Engineer rank-ups occur when you use smart weapons or tech weapons, whereas Netrunner rank-ups happen if you utilize quickhacks or complete terminal hacking minigames.
• Relic points – Relic points are a completely new resource only available to those who are playing the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion.

How do attributes and perks work?

All attributes have a base level of three points, which allows you to allocate perk points for low-tier skills. You’ll need to add more points to unlock higher brackets. The maximum level is 20, which lets you select the top-tier or legend perks. You may reset your attribute points once.

When choosing perks, bear in mind that there are numerous options, but points are limited (and you still need to level up to gain more). As such, it all comes down to your preferred playstyle and iconic weapons. Also, each attribute has at least one perk that affects vehicular combat. The good news is that you can freely refund your perk points whenever you see fit, so try to mix and match accordingly.

Best Body perks

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty’s best perks for the Body attribute primarily rely on close-range combat (i.e. blunt weapons and shotguns), heavy weapons (i.e. light machine guns and heavy machine guns), and the Adrenaline Rush ability. In our case, we didn’t focus too much on blunt weapons, but we did love blasting foes with the Ba Xing Chong shotgun.

• Rookie: Painkiller, Comeback Kid, Dorph-Head, Speed Junkie, and Army of One – All of these options are viable since they boost mitigation and health regeneration.
• Rookie (Vehicle): Fury Road – This is, perhaps, the best perk in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty in terms of vehicular combat. It decreases the damage taken by your vehicle, and increases the damage that you deal to others while you’re driving.
• Pro: Die Die Die and Like a Feather – These are mostly to offset stamina and movement penalties when using shotguns and machine guns.
• Phenom: Spontaneous Obliteration, Dread, Rush of Blood, Adrenaline Rush, Juggernaut, Calm Mind, and Bloodlust – The Adrenaline Rush-related perks help mitigate damage taken, while you get into the thick of the fray. Those on the left side, meanwhile, are for your shotguns and heavy machine guns.
• Legend: Pain to Gain – The perk speeds up the recharge rate of health items while Adrenaline Charge is active.

Best Reflexes perks

The Reflexes attribute is for those who also want to get up close and personal with enemies, similar to the Body attribute. The difference here is that you’ll rely more on mobility (i.e. Dash and Air Dash), as well as blade weapons, such as the Black Unicorn katana.

• Rookie: Slippery, Muscle Memory, and Multitasker – These make you harder to hit while dashing and dodging, while also allowing you to shoot and reload. Keep in mind that these aren’t relegated to a specific weapon, which means you can sprint and slide toward an enemy for a quick shotgun blast or whatever else you wish.
• Pro: Dash, Can’t Touch This, Mad Dash, Lead and Steel, Bullet Deflect, Bullet Time, Seeing Double, and Flash & Thunderclap – The pro-tier skills bolster your movement speed thanks to increased mitigation and distance when dashing. Likewise, you’ll now be able to deflect bullets when holding a sword.
• Phenom: Air Dash, Aerial Acrobat, Aerodynamic, Finisher: Bladerunner, Going the Distance, and Flash of Steel – If the previous options weren’t enough, then get ready to dash while in mid-air. You’ll also gain a finisher for your blade weapons.
• Legend: Tailwind and Slaughterhouse – The former ensures that you no longer need to worry about stamina when double jumping or air dashing. The latter, meanwhile, causes the bleeding status effect, which makes enemies more susceptible to insta-kill finishers.

Best Technical Ability perks

The best perks in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty aren’t just for instant-use abilities. Some offer passive boosts when it comes to item recharge rate and cyberware. That’s where the Technical Ability skills come in. It’s worth noting that the cyberware feature has been reworked in the 2.0 update–you’ve got an assortment of new implants, and your armor value is dependent on the implants that are equipped.

• Rookie: Glutton For War and Gearhead (Vehicle) – Glutton For War is selected mostly for higher-tier perks. Gearhead, meanwhile, is to boost the damage of vehicle-mounted turrets and rockets.
• Pro: Health Freak, Coming In Hot, Demolitions Surplus, All Things Cyber, Renaissance Punk, and Driver Update – Those on the left side are there to give you increased item recharge rate and extra health injectors or grenades. The ones in the middle provide buffs and modifiers for cyberware implants.
• Phenom: License to Chrome, Cyborg, Ambidextrous, Built Different, Bolt, Lightning Storm, and Shock Value – The License to Chrome-related perks unlock new cyberware slots, as well as additional armor stats. Those that are Bolt-related only affect tech weapons, allowing you to fire a charged shot. Still, if you want to save up on points, just focus on the cyberware perks for now.
• Legend: Edgerunner and Chain Lightning – The former has even more powerful buffs for those who love using cyberware implants, whereas the latter triggers an electrical arc after shooting a Bolt.

Best Intelligence perks

The Intelligence perks in the game are those that focus more on quickhacks. These are skills that can cause debuffs or damage to enemies, while also creating distractions and explosions when used on machinery and vehicles. In some ways, the options here complement other playstyles, whether you prefer to run-and-gun or pick off opponents from afar.

• Rookie: Carhacker (Vehicle) – Carhacker is probably the most important perk here since it lets you control vehicles, set off alarms, or blow them up. You do need to equip certain quickhacks via your cyberdeck to make certain options available.
• Rookie: Optimization, Encryption, and Subordination – These three will help you recover RAM faster when using quickhacks, while also affecting their duration and enemy detection.
• Hacking-related: Eye in the Sky up to Queue Mastery – From there, we focus on perks that further increase our maximum RAM and quickhack queue slots. You can also consider grabbing options like Data Recycler, Explosion Hazard, and Queue Prioritization. The idea is to use quickhacks like Sonic Shock, Overheat, Memory Wipe, and Contagion to cause chaos when facing hostile groups, before moving in to finish them off, either with shotguns/machine guns (Body perks), blade weapons (Reflexes perks), or sniper rifles (Cool perks).

Best Cool perks

The Cool perks are for players who want to hang back when landing a well-placed headshot, or those who want a stealthy approach with silenced weapons. Most perks here affect pistols, revolvers, precision rifles, and sniper rifles.

• Rookie: Feline Footwork, Small Target, Blind Spot, Killer Instinct, and Quick Getaway – These picks help you sneak around while avoiding detection.
• Pro: Focus, No Sweat, Rinse & Reload, Head to Head, and Deep Breath – Focus improves accuracy if you aim with full stamina. The last perk, Deep Breath, also slows down time.
• Phenom: Deadeye, California Reaper, High Noon, Long Shot, Ninjutsu, and Creeping Death – These options further improve the damage you deal with headshots and weakspot hits. The two in the middle (i.e. Ninjutsu and Creeping Death) give additional benefits to stealth.
• Legend: Nerves of Tungsten-Steel – Lastly, this perk grants massive DPS due to guaranteed critical hits with headshots and weakspot hits, as well as a buff based on your distance from your target.

There you have it. These are what we consider as the best perks and skills in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Bear in mind that you won’t have a lot of points to allocate for all of these, so it boils down to selecting those that truly complement your playstyle and preferred armaments.