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

Building an effective character in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty requires understanding the fundamental changes introduced in Update 2.0. The complete system overhaul affects how you allocate points, unlock abilities, and synergize your equipment choices for maximum combat efficiency.

Eager to explore V’s enhanced capabilities in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty? The 2.0 update has transformed core progression mechanics, including how you optimize your character’s development. Our comprehensive guide examines Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty’s most powerful perks and skills across all attributes, plus strategic methods to acquire additional allocation points.

Core Mechanics Explained

All attributes begin with three base points, enabling access to entry-level skills. You must invest additional attribute points to unlock higher proficiency brackets. The maximum attribute level reaches 20, granting access to legendary-tier abilities. Crucially, you can only reset your attribute distribution once per playthrough, making initial planning essential.

When selecting perks, recognize that while options abound, points remain scarce (and you must continue leveling to obtain more). Consequently, your choices should align with your preferred combat approach and iconic weapons arsenal. Additionally, every attribute includes at least one vehicular combat enhancement. The positive aspect is that you can freely reallocate perk points at any time, allowing extensive experimentation with different combinations.

The Skill Progression interface displays your advancement across different combat specialties.

Point Acquisition Strategies

Before discussing optimal perks in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, we must first examine three critical components: attribute points, perk points, and relic points. Players familiar with the game before Update 2.0 may remember the original skill tree, which has been entirely redesigned. Nevertheless, certain foundational systems should maintain familiarity.

• Attribute points – You gain attribute points with each level increase, which can be invested to enhance the five core statistics: Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence, and Cool.
• Perk points – Perk points are allocated to obtain new active and passive abilities from each attribute tree. You also receive points when leveling up. Furthermore, bonus points are awarded when achieving rank 15 and 35 within your skill progression categories (specifically Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo, and Engineer). Although we won’t delve deeply into this system here, understand that these ranks improve based on your in-game actions. For example, Engineer progression occurs through smart weapon or tech weapon usage, while Netrunner advancement happens when employing quickhacks or completing terminal hacking challenges.
• Relic points – Relic points represent an entirely new resource exclusively accessible to players experiencing the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion content.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty’s most effective perks for the Body attribute concentrate on close-range engagements (including blunt instruments and shotguns), heavy weaponry (such as light machine guns and heavy machine guns), and the Adrenaline Rush mechanic. In our testing, we minimized focus on blunt weapons, but thoroughly enjoyed decimating adversaries with the Ba Xing Chong shotgun’s explosive potential.

• Rookie: Painkiller, Comeback Kid, Dorph-Head, Speed Junkie, and Army of One – All these selections prove worthwhile as they enhance damage resistance and health recovery rates.
• Rookie (Vehicle): Fury Road – This stands as arguably the premier vehicular combat perk in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. It reduces damage sustained by your vehicle while increasing damage inflicted on opponents during driving sequences.
• Pro: Die Die Die and Like a Feather – These primarily compensate for stamina consumption and mobility restrictions when employing shotguns and machine guns.
• Phenom: Spontaneous Obliteration, Dread, Rush of Blood, Adrenaline Rush, Juggernaut, Calm Mind, and Bloodlust – The Adrenaline Rush-associated abilities help minimize incoming damage while you engage in intense close-quarters fighting. Meanwhile, those positioned on the left branch cater to shotgun and heavy machine gun specialization.
• Legend: Pain to Gain – This perk accelerates health item recharge speed during Adrenaline Charge activation.

Body enhancements significantly strengthen both offensive output and defensive capabilities for intimate combat scenarios.

Advanced Body Build Strategies

For players specializing in Body attributes, prioritize Adrenaline Rush synergies early. The Pain to Gain legendary perk becomes particularly devastating when combined with the Ba Xing Chong shotgun’s area denial capabilities. Avoid spreading points too thinly across both shotgun and blunt weapon trees—focus on one primary weapon type to maximize effectiveness. A common mistake involves investing in both melee and ranged Body perks, resulting in inadequate specialization for challenging endgame content.

The Reflexes attribute serves players who prefer engaging enemies at close range, similar to the Body approach. The distinction lies in greater reliance on mobility techniques (specifically Dash and Air Dash), alongside bladed implements like the Black Unicorn katana.

• Rookie: Slippery, Muscle Memory, and Multitasker – These make you more difficult to target during evasion maneuvers, while permitting simultaneous shooting and reloading. Remember these aren’t restricted to particular armaments, enabling you to sprint and slide toward opponents for rapid shotgun discharges or alternative tactical choices.
• Pro: Dash, Can’t Touch This, Mad Dash, Lead and Steel, Bullet Deflect, Bullet Time, Seeing Double, and Flash & Thunderclap – The professional-tier abilities enhance movement velocity through improved damage mitigation and extended dash distances. Similarly, you’ll gain the capacity to deflect projectiles when wielding swords.
• Phenom: Air Dash, Aerial Acrobat, Aerodynamic, Finisher: Bladerunner, Going the Distance, and Flash of Steel – If preceding choices proved insufficient, prepare to dash during aerial maneuvers. You’ll additionally acquire execution moves for bladed weaponry.
• Legend: Tailwind and Slaughterhouse – The first ensures you no longer concern yourself with stamina depletion during double jumps or air dashes. The second, meanwhile, inflicts the bleeding status condition, rendering enemies more vulnerable to instant-kill finishing moves.

Reflexes enhancements facilitate rapid engagement tactics, augmented by gymnastic movement capabilities.

Blade Combat Optimization

Reflexes-focused builds excel with katanas and monowire implementations. The Bullet Deflect ability transforms blade combat entirely, allowing you to neutralize ranged threats while closing distance. A critical mistake many players make is neglecting the synergy between Air Dash and blade finishers—this combination enables devastating aerial assault sequences that bypass conventional defenses.

The most valuable perks in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty extend beyond immediate-use capabilities. Certain options deliver passive improvements regarding item recharge rates and cybernetic enhancements. That’s where Technical Ability competencies become relevant. Importantly, the cyberware functionality has been completely redesigned in the 2.0 update—you now possess an array of new implants, and your protective rating depends on equipped modifications.

• Rookie: Glutton For War and Gearhead (Vehicle) – Glutton For War is primarily chosen to access superior-tier abilities. Gearhead, conversely, enhances damage output from vehicle-mounted turrets and missile systems.
• Pro: Health Freak, Coming In Hot, Demolitions Surplus, All Things Cyber, Renaissance Punk, and Driver Update – Those positioned leftward provide augmented item regeneration speed and supplementary health injectors or explosive devices. The central selections offer enhancements and adjustments for cybernetic implants.
• Phenom: License to Chrome, Cyborg, Ambidextrous, Built Different, Bolt, Lightning Storm, and Shock Value – The License to Chrome-associated perks unlock additional cyberware slots, plus extra defensive statistics. Those connected to Bolt exclusively influence tech weapons, enabling charged projectile firing. Nevertheless, if aiming to conserve points, concentrate initially on cyberware-related abilities.
• Legend: Edgerunner and Chain Lightning – The former provides even more potent improvements for enthusiasts of cybernetic implant utilization, while the latter generates an electrical discharge following Bolt activation.

Technical Ability enhancements significantly strengthen your cybernetic implementation effectiveness.

Cyberware Build Fundamentals

Technical Ability has become the cornerstone of defensive builds post-Update 2.0. The Edgerunner legendary perk offers exponential returns for high-cyberware loadouts, making it essential for Very Hard difficulty playthroughs. Prioritize License to Chrome perks early to unlock additional implant slots—this directly translates to higher armor values and survivability. Avoid the common pitfall of underestimating cyberware armor scaling; by level 40, Technical Ability builds can achieve triple the protection of other approaches.

The Intelligence perks within the game concentrate predominantly on quickhack utilization. These are abilities that can inflict debilitating effects or direct harm to enemies, while simultaneously generating distractions and detonations when applied to machinery and vehicles. In certain respects, the selections here supplement alternative playstyles, whether you favor aggressive assault or systematic target elimination from distance.

• Rookie: Carhacker (Vehicle) – Carhacker likely represents the most crucial perk here since it permits vehicle control, alarm activation, or explosive destruction. You must equip specific quickhacks through your cyberdeck interface to enable particular options.
• Rookie: Optimization, Encryption, and Subordination – These three assist in accelerating RAM recovery during quickhack employment, while simultaneously influencing their duration and enemy awareness.
• Hacking-related: Eye in the Sky up to Queue Mastery – From that point, we emphasize perks that further boost our maximum RAM capacity and quickhack sequencing slots. You might also consider selecting options such as Data Recycler, Explosion Hazard, and Queue Prioritization. The concept involves employing quickhacks like Sonic Shock, Overheat, Memory Wipe, and Contagion to generate pandemonium when confronting hostile groups, before advancing to eliminate them, utilizing either shotguns/machine guns (Body perks), bladed weapons (Reflexes perks), or sniper rifles (Cool perks).

Intelligence enhancements facilitate improved RAM regeneration speed and quickhack functionality.

Netrunner Build Optimization

Intelligence-focused builds require careful RAM management to maintain combat effectiveness. The Queue Mastery perk chain is essential for advanced hacking strategies, allowing multiple quickhacks to be deployed in rapid succession. For optimal performance, combine Intelligence perks with our Class Guide for synergistic equipment choices. A common mistake involves over-investing in Intelligence without complementary Technical Ability for cyberdeck capacity, resulting in inadequate quickhack variety for diverse combat scenarios.

The Cool perks cater to gamers preferring tactical positioning when executing precisely aimed cranial shots, or those desiring covert methodology with suppressed firearms. Most enhancements here impact handguns, revolvers, designated marksman rifles, and sniper rifles.

• Rookie: Feline Footwork, Small Target, Blind Spot, Killer Instinct, and Quick Getaway – These choices assist in stealth movement while minimizing detection probability.
• Pro: Focus, No Sweat, Rinse & Reload, Head to Head, and Deep Breath – Focus enhances targeting precision when aiming with complete stamina. The final perk, Deep Breath, additionally decelerates time perception.
• Phenom: Deadeye, California Reaper, High Noon, Long Shot, Ninjutsu, and Creeping Death – These selections further augment damage output from cranial impacts and vulnerable spot strikes. The central two (specifically Ninjutsu and Creeping Death) provide supplementary advantages to stealth operations.
• Legend: Nerves of Tungsten-Steel – Finally, this perk provides enormous damage-per-second through assured critical strikes with headshots and weakpoint hits, plus a modifier determined by your distance from the target.

Cool enhancements support players pursuing more discreet engagement methodologies.

Sniper Specialization Tactics

Cool-focused builds excel with precision rifles and silenced weapons. The Nerves of Tungsten-Steel legendary perk transforms sniper gameplay, especially when combined with the Overwatch rifle from our Weapons Unlock guide. For maximum effectiveness, combine Deep Breath’s time dilation with Long Shot’s damage amplification for devastating long-range eliminations. Avoid the common error of mixing stealth and aggressive Cool perks—specialize in one approach for consistent performance.

There you have the complete analysis. These represent what we identify as the most effective perks and abilities in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Remember that you won’t possess abundant points to distribute across all these options, so the decision ultimately involves choosing those that genuinely enhance your preferred combat methodology and selected weaponry.

Hybrid Build Optimization

Advanced players should consider hybrid approaches that combine two attribute trees. A Body-Technical build creates an unstoppable tank, while Reflexes-Cool combinations produce the ultimate assassin. The key to successful hybridization is identifying complementary mechanics rather than spreading points too thinly across multiple trees.

Common Resource Management Errors

Many players waste precious attribute points by failing to plan their build progression. Unlike perk points, attribute respecs are severely limited. Consult our Complete Guide for comprehensive character development strategies. A frequent mistake involves investing in multiple vehicle combat perks—these rarely provide sufficient value to justify their cost compared to core combat enhancements.

Employ quickhacks to induce incapacitating conditions on adversaries.

Endgame Scaling Considerations

When planning your build, consider how abilities scale into late-game content. Technical Ability’s cyberware armor becomes increasingly valuable on higher difficulties, while Intelligence quickhacks maintain relevance throughout the entire campaign when properly optimized.

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