Cyberpunk 2077 2.0: Best Character Builds for V

Looking for Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 character builds to help kickstart your imagination? Well you've come to the right place for the best 2.0 character builds for V. For this Cyberpunk 2077 guide, we've come up with a number of effective character builds that appeal to all styles of play, based on the new skill trees that were implemented via Update 2.0 (released on the 21st September, 2023).

You'll find recommended playstyles, weapons, and perks for each character build, as well as an overview based on what the build is trying to achieve.

Try not to view any of these builds as definitive, though. This guide isn't about creating a supremely overpowered character (although some builds could be considered far more potent than others). It's more about giving you a solid starting point — helping you establish a style of play that you really enjoy.

Cyberpunk 2077 Character Builds: How Do They Work?

Before we get into the builds themselves, let's quickly go over the makeup of an effective character build.

Generally speaking, an effective character build focuses on specific areas of expertise. By making the most of these areas and ignoring others, you create your own style of play.

In Cyberpunk 2077 2.0, most character builds should focus on just two or three key Attributes. That may sound limiting, but the game actually gives you a lot of freedom when it comes developing your character. You can combine any Perks that you want, and there's a lot of room for experimentation.

Attributes

Fundamental character builds in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 are made up of three core elements: Attributes, your preferred weapon, and Perks.

Attributes are your base stats. They form the basis of any character build, and determine the kind of path that your character takes.

There are five Attributes in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0:

• Body
• Reflexes
• Technical Ability
• Cool
• Intelligence

At the beginning of the game, when you first create your character, you're given a number of Attribute points to spend however you like. At this stage, the minimum for any Attribute is 3 points. The maximum is 6 points.

Once you're in the game proper, you'll gain an additional Attribute point every time you level up. The maximum level in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 is 60, so over the course of the game, you get 59 Attribute points to work with, on top of the points that you get by default.

However, this doesn't mean that you can pump 59 points into one Attribute. Each Attribute is capped at 20, meaning that you can max out three Attributes at most. This is why character builds in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 tend to focus on just two or three key areas, based on how you spend your Attribute points.

Perks

Perks are essentially the defining element of your playstyle in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0. They determine what you character build is good at.

Perks come in two forms: they're either major perks, which have a clear impact on gameplay by granting you special abilities, or they're minor perks, which are passive upgrades that enhance your major perks in different ways.

Perks can be bought with skill points. You get one skill point every time you level up, and you get additional skill points whenever a playstyle reaches a certain level threshold (playstyles level up automatically as you play the game, and are dependant on how you play). You can also gain skill points from special skill shards, which can be found as loot every now and then.

Cyberpunk 2077: Best 2.0 Character Builds for V

With all of that information covered, it's time to talk about actual character builds. Again, Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 offers a huge range of potential Attribute and Perk combinations, making it easy to create your own unique style of play.

Below, you'll find a list of character builds that we've come up with during our time with the game and update 2.0, categorised by their primary Attribute.

Body Character Builds

The following character builds primarily focus on perks from the Body tree. Body perks include benefits for health regen, shotguns, light machine guns, heavy machine guns, baseball bats, hammers, fists, and gorilla arms. Overall, these perks are for players who want to be brutal in combat, overwhelming opponents with sheer strength or firepower.

Adrenaline Junkie

Overview: Adrenaline Junkie is all about making the most of the Adrenaline Rush mechanic. You'll be chugging health items in order to maximise your abilities, with the goal of maintaining the rush for as long as possible. Tank hits thanks to your Adrenaline health shield and tear through your enemies with high-power shotguns (up close) and light machine guns (mid range).

Playstyle: Hard to Kill, Aggressive, High Damage, Close Range, Mid Range

Recommended Weapons: Shotguns, LMGs

Key Perks

• Painkiller (4 Body) - why wouldn't you want health regen in combat?
• Adrenaline Rush (15 Body) - the core of this character build, you gain Adrenaline — which acts as a second layer of health — whenever you use a healing item or healing cyberware
• Pain to Gain (20 Body) - dramatically increases the sustainability of Adrenaline Rush, as your healing cooldown is reduced for every kill
• Spontaneous Obliteration (15 Body) - buffs all shotgun and LMG stats, while Obliterate gives you an increasingly high chance to score immediate kills the lower an enemy's health is

Additional Perks

• Calm Mind (15 Body) - gives you three free seconds of Adrenaline before it starts to decay
  
• Juggernaut (15 Body) - buffs movement speed and damage while Adrenaline Rush is active
  
• Bloodlust (15 Body) - while Adrenaline Rush is active, this perk gives you a whopping 50 Adrenaline whenever you dismember an enemy, and you'll be doing a lot of dismembering with shotguns and LMGs

Maximum Gorilla

Overview: Maximum Gorilla is all about using overwhelming physical strength to both incapacitate and pulverise your opponents. You'll control the battlefield with your brutality, constantly knocking enemies down before smashing them to bits.

Playstyle: Aggressive, High Damage, Battlefield Control, Close Range

Recommended Weapons: Gorilla arms, blunt weapons

Key Perks

• Painkiller (4 Body) - this'll give you just a bit more survivability
• Wrecking Ball (9 Body) - your best way to move across the battlefield, slamming opponents to the ground in the process
  
• Quake (15 Body) - gives you access to a very powerful area-of-effect attack, which has a chance to knock enemies down, and can also be used from the air
  
• Finisher: Savage Sling (20 Body) - the key perk of this build, Savage Sling lets you pick up weakened or dead enemies, and hurl them into other foes or walls (or over cliffs!) to deal massive damage
  
• Dash (9 Reflexes) - this build requires a degree of additional mobility, so dash is a great perk to pick up, letting you close gaps and escape tricky situations

Additional Perks

• Clapback (9 Body) - an incredibly useful perk that gives you a huge boost to knocking enemies down with defensive attacks (block, then attack), leaving them completely vulnerable
  
• Aftershock (15 Body) - restores stamina for each enemy hit with Quake, making this perk a great way to keep your aggression going
  
• Ripple Effect (15 Body) - restores a chunk of health for each enemy hit with Quake, which can be a huge help, but unlocking it does require additional investment into the Adrenaline Rush portion of the skill tree

Carnage Incarnate

Overview: Carnage Incarnate is all about dealing devastating damage at lightning fast speeds. You'll tear across the battlefield like a demon — a demon with a shotgun. Everything you do will be in service of closing the distance between you and your enemy before pulling the trigger and watching the limbs fly. A monstrous build for the bloodthirsty.

Playstyle: Aggressive, High Damage, Mobile, Close Range

Recommended Weapons: Shotguns

Key Perks

• Die! Die! Die! (9 Body) - lessens shotgun recoil and increases your rate of fire the less stamina you have (and you'll be using a lot of stamina with this build)
• Spontaneous Obliteration (15 Body) - less recoil, more damage, and Obliterate is glorious gory fun — what's not to like?
  
• Rip and Tear (20 Body) - increases the damage of your shotgun melee attack by 100% after a shot, and vice versa; a shockingly effective way to rack up serious damage if you get a rhythm going, and you'll be close to your enemies anyway
  
• Painkiller (4 Body) - you are going to need a bit of health regen with this build, because you'll be in on the front lines basically all the time
  
• Slippery (4 Reflexes) - reduces enemy accuracy based on your movement speed
• Dash (9 Reflexes) - dash is an amazing way to get in close to your opponent before unleashing a shotgun blast

Additional perks

• Bullet Ballet (9 Body) - greatly reduces bullet spread while you're moving, which is perfect for shotguns
• Don't Stop Me Now (9 Body) - a great way to add some survivability, this perk increases mitigation chance and mitigation strength when you're on low stamina
  
• Like a Feather (9 Body) - a must for this build, this perk negates all movement speed penalties when wielding a shotgun
  
• Skullcracker (15 Body) - massively increases the damage of your shotgun melee attacks as your stamina decreases; synergises brilliantly with Rip and Tear
  
• Close-Quarters Carnage (15 Body) - increases your chance to trigger Obliterate against enemies who are up close
  
• Rush of Blood (15 Body) - increases reload speed quite significantly after dismembering an enemy, which is really useful since some shotguns can take an age to reload
  
• Muscle Memory (4 Reflexes) - lets you reload weapons while you sprint, which is a huge help with slow-to-reload shotguns
  
• Can't Touch This (9 Reflexes) - increases mitigation chance by 100% when you're dashing, greatly increasing your tankiness
  
• Steady Grip (9 Reflexes) - lets you shoot while dashing, and you'll be doing a lot of dashing
• Mean Streak (9 Reflexes) - perfect synergy with Steady Grip, this perk restores 40% of your total stamina (huge) whenever you kill an enemy while dashing
  
• Mad Dash (9 Reflexes) - increases your dash range towards enemies by a whopping 100%, maximising your shotgun damage in the process

Reflexes Character Builds

The following character builds primarily focus on perks from the Reflexes tree. Reflexes perks include benefits for movement, mobility, assault rifles, submachine guns, katanas, machetes, chainswords, and mantis blades. Overall, these perks are for players who want to race around the battlefield, delivering death at a fast pace while being difficult to hit.

The Mad Dasher

Overview: The Mad Dasher is all about taking advantage of the Reflexes tree's many mobility-based perks, resulting in a character build that lets you traverse even the most intricate battlefields with ease, all while your enemies struggle to land a hit or deal any significant amount of damage. When your speed creates an opening, you'll unleash a flurry of bullets.

Playstyle: Hard to Kill, Mobile, Mid Range

Recommended Weapons: Assault rifles, SMGs

Key Perks

• Slippery (4 Reflexes) - reduces enemy accuracy based on your movement speed, resulting in greatly increased survivability as long as you stay mobile
  
• Dash (9 Reflexes) - transforms your dodge into a dash, which provides excellent mobility across the ground
  
• Air Dash (15 Reflexes) - lets you perform dashes in midair, which is an amazing option when attempting to avoid incoming fire, or when you need to get out of a tough spot
  
• Tailwind (20 Reflexes) - a must-have perk for this build that restores a significant 25 points of stamina whenever you double jump or dash in the air; essentially gives you infinite stamina if you chain ground dashing with air dashing
• Ready, Rested, Reloaded (9 Reflexes) - reduces stamina cost of shooting with assault rifles and SMGs, while also increasing their reload speed, which gives you more time for dashing
  
• Sharpshooter (15 Reflexes) - increases your shooting accuracy, which is helpful when you're moving so fast, and increases your stamina regen with each stack of Sharpshooter, which activates whenever you land a shot
  
• Submachine Fun (20 Reflexes) - automatically reloads SMGs upon swapping to them, and increases their fire rate; perfect for this build's focus on speed
  

Additional Perks

• Power Slide (4 Reflexes) - greatly increases the distance of your slide; an effective technique when you need to get behind some cover
• Can't Touch This (9 Reflexes) - gives your dashes a 100% mitigation chance, lessening all incoming damage during a dash by at least 50%, which transforms them into a key defensive move
• Aerodynamic (15 Reflexes) - gives you even more mitigation chance when you're airborne
• Aerial Combat (15 Reflexes) - improves your midair control, letting you perform more intricate jumps, dashes, and landings; can make a big difference when navigating busy areas
• Mind Over Matter (9 Reflexes) - lessens recoil of assault rifles and SMGs
  
• Gundancer (15 Reflexes) - aiming down the sights of your gun no longer slows your movement
  
• Practice Makes Perfect (15 Reflexes) - an effective way for this build to deal more damage, increasing your crit chance and crit damage per stack of Sharpshooter
  

The Real Samurai

Overview: The Real Samurai is all about mastering the blade. You zip from foe to foe, dealing up close and personal death to anyone within reach of your katana. This build emphasises speed, and tries to make use of every technique available to the (not-so) honourable swordsman.

Playstyle: Aggressive, Mobile, Close Range

Recommended Weapons: Katanas

Key Perks

• Slippery (4 Reflexes) - ideally, this build has you moving quickly, and Slippery reduces your enemy's accuracy based on your speed
• Dash (9 Reflexes) - a great way to close the gap
  
• Lead and Steel (9 Reflexes) - lets you block incoming projectiles with your blade at the cost of stamina; expensive at first, but quickly becomes a key technique for this build
• Finisher: Bladerunner (15 Reflexes) - reduces stamina cost of blade attacks, increases their attack speed, and gives you access to finishing moves that can trigger when an enemy has low health (finishers also restore your health by a significant 25%)
  
• Slaughterhouse (20 Reflexes) - all successful blade attacks apply bleeding to your foe, and although bleeding can't kill, the damage over time really adds up, drastically increasing your overall damage output

Additional Perks

• Seeing Double (9 Reflexes) - an incredibly powerful perk when you're up against a melee-based opponent, Seeing Double greatly increases the effectiveness of your counterattacks (block just as an attack is about to hit)
  
• Mad Dash (9 Reflexes) - doubles your dash range when you're dashing towards a foe
  
• Flash and Thunderclap (9 Reflexes) - makes you lunge towards the enemy when you use a strong attack, whether you're on the ground or in the air, covering a lot of distance almost instantly
  
• Bullet Deflect (9 Reflexes) - adding to this build's cool factor, you'll be able to send bullets back at the shooter, potentially scoring headshots if your aim is accurate
  
• Can't Touch This (9 Reflexes) - 100% mitigation chance when dashing simply can't be passed up
• Opportunist (15 Reflexes) - makes bleeding or stunned enemies more susceptible to finishers, making this an excellent companion perk to Slaughterhouse, which applies bleed to all of your attacks

Behind Cover Cop

Overview: Behind Cover Cop is all about maximising your effectiveness with assault rifles by taking up tactical positions on the battlefield and mowing down enemies from a safe distance. A straightforward, but very effective build for players who want to play Cyberpunk 2077 like a more traditional first-person shooter — complete with high-powered grenades.

Playstyle: Versatile, High Damage, Mid Range, Long Range

Recommended Weapons: Assault rifles

Key Perks

• Ready, Rested, Reloaded (9 Reflexes) - a flat 10% reduction on all assault rifle shots, which is a must for full-auto or even burst fire guns
• Sharpshooter (15 Reflexes) - better weapon handling and each successful shot gives you one stack of Sharpshooter, which can massively increase your stamina regen rate
  
• Salt in the Wound (20 Reflexes) - a surprisingly powerful perk that greatly increases your damage output on every seventh successful shot against the same enemy; amazing for dealing big bursts of damage against heavily armoured foes
  
• Glutton for War (4 Technical Ability) - knocks off 5% of your healing item and grenade cooldown whenever you kill an enemy; a deceptively great perk when fighting against groups
  
• Health Freak (9 Technical Ability) - a flat 8% increase to recharge speed for all health items and grenades, while also giving you an extra healing charge
  
• Pyromania (15 Technical Ability) - faster cooldowns on healing and grenades, plus a 10% boost to the explosion radius of grenades; also makes grenades incredibly deadly by further buffing damage whenever an enemy is caught in an explosion — and this can stack up to five whole times

Additional Perks

• Tunnel Vision (9 Reflexes) - provides a significant buff to effective range and accuracy of assault rifles, letting you shoot from safer distances
• Mind Over Matter (9 Reflexes) - greatly reduces recoil of assault rifles
  
• Shoot to Chill (15 Reflexes) - this perk may not be of use to you if you prefer burst fire or single-shot assault rifles, but it's an excellent choice for full auto as it further reduces the stamina cost of shooting when Sharpshooter is active
  
• Practice Makes Perfect (15 Reflexes) - an exceptional perk for dealing more damage, you get a 7% increase to crit chance and crit damage per stack of Sharpshooter
  
• Demolition Surplus (9 Technical Ability) - gives you an extra grenade charge
  
• Coming in Hot (9 Technical Ability) - increases grenade recharge speed when you're out of grenade charges
  
• Burn This City (15 Technical Ability) - every time you hit five stacks of Pyromania, you get an instant grenade recharge, and the stack bonuses still apply for the next six seconds, potentially buffing your grenade damage output to crazy levels

Technical Ability Character Builds

The following character builds primarily focus on perks from the Technical Ability tree. Technical Ability perks include benefits for cyberware, armour, healing items, grenades, and tech weapons. Overall, these perks are for players who want to make the most of their equipment, and transform their V into a chromed-out monster.

Gundamned

Overview: Gundamned is all about stuffing yourself with cyberware and then increasing its effectiveness to the limit. You'll be blessed with a ridiculous amount of armour, which lets you shrug off incoming damage, while all of your cyberware abilities and greatly increased stat modifiers will contribute towards a a character who's more machine than man. You'll use the ultimate cyborg weapons, mantis blades, to dominate your enemies. Requires a lot of money, and a lot of trips to the nearest ripperdoc.

Playstyle: Hard to Kill, Close Range

Recommended Weapons: Mantis blades

Key Perks

• All Things Cyber (9 Technical Ability) - increases all of your cyberware stat modifiers by 10%, and lowers the cost of integumentary system cyberware by a not-insignificant 20%; your first step on the path to mechanical power
• License to Chrome (15 Technical Ability) - a further 10% buff to cyberware stat modifiers, a large 40 armour point increase, and unlocks a third slot for skeleton cyberware, which is where you can really start stacking armour values to make this build super tanky
• Edgerunner (20 Technical Ability) - this is where the build evolves into a monster; Edgerunner adds a chance to enter a very powerful Fury state during combat if you're exceeding your cyberware limit, and you're packing a lot of cyberware
• Lead and Steel (9 Reflexes) - a great way to avoid additional damage, blocking bullets with your mantis blades
  
• Finisher: Bladerunner (15 Reflexes) - unlocks mantis blade finishing moves that restore a good chunk of health while instantly killing weakened foes

Additional Perks

• Renaissance Punk (9 Technical Ability) - gives you 4 points of cyberware capacity for each attribute that's at 9 or higher, which may not seem like much, but it adds up later in the game
• Chrome Constitution (9 Technical Ability) - provides a flat 5% damage reduction for all incoming attacks if you're full up on integumentary and skeleton cyberware (which you should be)
  
• Driver Update (9 Technical Ability) - all of your cyberware is given an additional stat modifier, allowing for even more stat stacking
• Cyborg (15 Technical Ability) - when all of your current cyberware slots are filled, all of your cooldowns for cyberware abilities are reduced by 15%
• Bullet Deflect (9 Reflexes) - a must-have perk on top of blocking bullets
• Painkiller (4 Body) - the sheer amount of damage you'll negate thanks to all of your armour means that Painkiller's passive health regen can help you stay completely topped up

Lightning American

Overview: Lightning American is all about maximising the potential of tech weapons, in the interest of demolishing your enemies with precision shots. It partly relies on weapon-based perks from other trees, as the tech weapon perks are powerful, but limited. A shockingly effective build when your aim is on point.

Playstyle: High Damage, Battlefield Control, Long Range

Recommended Weapons: Tech precision rifles

Key Perks

• Bolt (15 Technical Ability) - the first step in transforming your tech precision rifle into a weapon of mass destruction, Bolt electrifies your shots when you correctly time your charge, dealing huge additional damage and letting your bullets penetrate cover
• Chain Lightning (20 Technical Ability) - enhances Bolt even further, giving successful shots electrical bursts that deal high damage to surrounding enemies
• Focus (9 Cool) - increases headshot damage with your rifle
  
• Deadeye (15 Cool) - a further increase to headshot damage, plus a reduced stamina cost, and unlocks Deadeye, making your shots ridiculously deadly
• Nerves of Tungsten Steel (20 Cool) - requires full investment into the Cool attribute, but the additional damage you get from headshots — which are now guaranteed critical hits when Deadeye is active — is insane with this build
  

Additional Perks

• Lightning Storm (15 Technical Ability) - increases your tech precision rifle's charge speed by 10% after firing a Bolt shot, and it can stack three times, allowing for more damage across the board
• Shock Value (15 Technical Ability) - the cherry on top of all these damage-boosting perks, Shock Value makes your Bolt shots ignore enemy armour so that no opponent is safe
• Head to Head (9 Cool) - Focus stays active when you kill an enemy, meaning that you can take out groups of foes with no stamina cost if your aim is true
  
• Deep Breath (9 Cool) - temporarily slows time by 25% when you aim down sights, allowing for easier headshots
  
• Long Shot (15 Cool) - your rifle shots always deal full damage regardless of shot distance
  
• High Noon (15 Cool) - greatly increases your reload speed after killing an enemy when Deadeye is active; a useful perk considering precision rifle reloads are quite slow

Cool Character Builds

The following character builds primarily focus on perks from the Cool tree. Cool perks include benefits for pistols, revolvers, precision rifles, sniper rifles, stealth, knives, and axes. Overall, these perks are for players who prefer precise, one-shot kills or stealth-based gameplay — or both. Either way, your enemies probably won't know what hit them.

Pale Rider

Overview: Pale Rider is about scoring headshot after headshot with your trusty revolver. Six shots usually means six kills, and you excel at mid-range combat. This build is bolstered by additional mobility-based perks so that you can quickly find the best angles to zero multiple enemies in quick succession, whether you're aiming down the sights or from the hip.

Playstyle: High Damage, Mobile, Mid Range

Recommended Weapons: Revolvers

Key Perks

• Focus (9 Cool) - more headshot damage, please
  
• Deadeye (15 Cool) - even more headshot damage, please, while Deadeye mode itself provides incredible accuracy, even when shooting from the hip
  
• Nerves of Tungsten Steel (20 Cool) - headshots are now guaranteed critical hits while Deadeye is active, and the damage scaling is truly insane given that revolvers come with a built-in headshot multiplier to begin with
  
• Dash (9 Reflexes) - a great way to reposition yourself, either for your next shot or to duck behind cover

Additional Perks

• Head to Head (9 Cool) - resets Focus when you kill an enemy with your revolver, keeping that bonus headshot damage rolling for as long as possible
• Deep Breath (9 Cool) - slows time by 25% when Focus is active, giving you loads of time to take careful aim at an opponent's head
• California Reaper (15 Cool) - this is the perk you need if you want to clear out an entire room of punks in seconds; it refunds 30% of your stamina when you kill via headshot
• Can't Touch This (9 Reflexes) - an always-excellent defensive perk for those who like to dash
  
• Muscle Memory (4 Reflexes) - lets you reload your weapon while sprinting, sliding, or vaulting; great for keeping your six-shooter stocked
  

Phantom Liberator

Overview: Phantom Liberator is all about one-shotting your enemies from the shadows with deadly precision. Throwing knives and axes are your go-to weapons, allowing for massive headshot damage and crippling additional effects. You're also highly mobile, evading your attackers as you reposition and begin to strike fear in your foes all over again.

Playstyle: Stealth, High Damage, Mobile, Mid Range

Recommended Weapons: Knives, axes

Key Perks

• Killer Instinct (4 Cool) - a flat 25% damage increase with throwing knives when you're not in combat, ideal for stealth kills
• Scorpion Sting (9 Cool) - recovery time for throwing weapons is reduced by a noticeable 15%, and all of your headshots and critical hits apply poison to the enemy (which deals a lot more damage than you might think over time)
  
• Juggler (15 Cool) - this build comes alive with Juggler, which further reduces throwing weapon recovery time, increases headshot damage, and returns all of your throwing weapons to you whenever you kill via headshot or poison; an insanely strong perk if you maintain your accuracy
  
• Style Over Substance (20 Cool) - this perk pushes your damage output to another level, providing guaranteed critical hits whenever you throw a weapon while crouch-sprinting (unlocked through the Ninjutsu perk), sliding, dodging, or dashing
  
• Feline Footwork (4 Cool) - increases movement speed and mitigation chance by 15% when you're crouched
  
• Ninjutsu (15 cool) - more crouch movement speed, more mitigation chance, and unlocks the ability to sprint while crouching; pretty much the ultimate stealth perk
• Dash (9 Reflexes) - a great way to get out of trouble, should you get spotted or surrounded, or if you need to rush to a body to retrieve your weapon
  
• Air Dash (15 Reflexes) - air dashing opens up so many traversal options, which is ideal when you're sneaking around more complex areas
  

Additional Perks

• Quick Getaway (4 Cool) - gives you an immediate 10% buff to movement speed when you kill an enemy from stealth, meaning that you can reposition as quickly as possible
• Gag Order (4 Cool) - a deceptively effective stealth perk that stops enemies from alerting others as long as you land an attack right after they detect you
  
• Neurotoxin (9 Cool) - poison applied from the Scorpion Sting perk also applies blind to the enemy, and stops them from sprinting for six seconds, which is more than enough time to make your getaway; not all that useful for regular enemies (who'll likely die from a single headshot anyway), but great against bosses
  
• Pay It Forward (15 Cool) - massively boosts your next melee attack after retrieving your weapon; useful if you find yourself in a sticky situation and you need to deal quick, high damage
  
• Sleight of Hand (15 Cool) - a huge, temporary 20% increase to crit damage when Juggler is active, and it can stack five times

Intelligence Character Builds

The following character builds primarily focus on perks from the Intelligence tree. Intelligence perks include benefits for quickhacks, smart guns, and monowires. Overall, these perks are for players who want to be tactical, manipulating their enemies and the environment around them. It should be noted that Intelligence has the largest and most complex skill tree in the game, and so mastering it requires a greater amount of skill point investment, limiting your ability to unlock perks from other trees.

Mindflayer

Overview: Mindflayer is all about utterly destroying your enemies without even lifting a finger. You'll queue Quickhacks to cripple your opponents beyond repair, and if you happen to run out of RAM, you'll sacrifice your own health to continue your brain-crushing crusade. A ridiculously powerful build later in the game.

Playstyle: Tactical, High Damage, Battlefield Control, Long Range

Recommended Weapons: Longer range guns

Key Perks

• Hack Queue (9 Intelligence) - gives you one additional unit of RAM, and lets you 'queue' quickhacks on a single target, opening up all kinds of crazy combinations
• Queue Acceleration (15 Intelligence) - grants one additional quickhack per queue, and increases your quickhack upload speed by a huge 60% when they're placed third or later in the queue
  
• Queue Mastery (20 Intelligence) - one more additional quickhack per queue, and the final quickhack in a queue costs 50% less RAM, which can really help you queue up on multiple opponents at once
  
• Optimization (4 Intelligence) - a flat 35% increase to RAM recovery rate, the bread-and-butter of a netrunner build
  
• Embedded Exploit (9 Intelligence) - better RAM recovery rate, and you get a whopping 60% quickhack damage increase to enemies who are already affected by control-based quickhacks
  
• Overclock (15 Intelligence) - this is the big one: when activated, Overclock lets you spend 10 health to use a quickhack instead of RAM, potentially allowing for a deadly burst of additional quickhacks, which is usually enough to wipe out an entire group of enemies
  
• Spillover (20 Intelligence) - a borderline broken perk against gangs of foes, your quickhack effects can spread to another enemy when Overclock is active
  
• Painkiller (4 Body) - this perk can help you regain a bit of health after you've used Overclock
  

Additional Perks

• Copy-Paste (9 Intelligence) - a situational perk, but it's lethal when used correctly, spreading your quickhack to all of a netrunner's allies if you ping them while they're attempting to hack you
• Feedback Loop (9 Intelligence) - provides a huge increase to your RAM recovery rate based on how many quickhacks you have queued
• Data Recycler (9 Intelligence) - together with Feedback Loop, this perk will keep you flush with RAM for as long as possible, restoring a significant portion of your resource whenever an enemy dies before your quickhack queue is finished
  
• Queue Hack_Root (15 Intelligence) - reduces RAM cost by 1 for each quickhack in a queue that's unique in terms of quickhack category (covert, combat, or control); a tricky perk to master, but the benefits of massive RAM cost reductions could be yours
  
• Encryption (4 Intelligence) - reduces quickhack traceability by 30%, meaning that enemies will have less chance of noticing your uploads
  
• Speculation (9 Intelligence) - another great way to recover your RAM, this perk recovers a portion of the resource when you kill an enemy with a combat-type quickhack, and if they're suffering from multiple quickhacks when they're killed, you'll increase the amount of RAM recovered
  
• System Overwhelm (9 Intelligence) - a great way to rack up extra pain, you get a 7% increase to quickhack damage for each unique quickhack that's currently affecting the enemy
  
• Sublimation (15 Intelligence) - when Overclock is active, all of your RAM recovery effects also regenerate your health, significantly increasing the efficiency of Overclock as a whole
  
• Blood Daemon (15 Intelligence) - play your quickhacks right, and you'll be borderline invincible, as this perk restores a chunk of 40 health per active quickhack on an enemy when you kill them
  
• Race Against Mind (15 Intelligence) - increases your quickhack damage by up to 50% based on how little health you have

Agent of Chaos

Overview: Agent of Chaos is all about creating chaos with quickhacks before moving in for the kill. It's a cold-blooded build that exploits your enemy's weaknesses, and ensures that you're always well-protected should you run our of RAM, thanks to your deadly pistol skills. You'll alternate between crippling hacks and precise shooting, with your two specialities perfectly complementing one another.

Playstyle: Versatile, Battlefield Control, Mid Range

Recommended Weapons: Pistols

Key Perks

• Optimization (4 Intelligence) - a sharp increase to RAM recovery to start things off
• Embedded Exploit (9 Intelligence) - more RAM recovery, and a significant 60% damage increase when quickhacks are used against an enemy that's already under the influence of over quickhacks
  
• Overclock (15 Intelligence) - Overclock itself isn't strictly necessary for this build since you're supplementing quickhacks with gunplay, but it's still a great way to deal with tough situations, and the base RAM recovery and quickhack damage buffs are worthwhile anyway
  
• Eye in the Sky (4 Intelligence) - a versatile perk that automatically highlights access points and cameras, while also reducing the RAM cost of your quickhacks when you hack through cameras
  
• Hack Queue (9 Intelligence) - lets you queue up quickhacks against individual targets, giving you even more control over your enemies
  
• Focus (9 Cool) - when you're finished weakening your opponents with quickhacks, you'll finish them off with your precision pistol shots
  
• Deadeye (15 Cool) - more headshot damage, and Deadeye mode gives you pinpoint aim for clean kills
  
• Run 'n' Gun (20 Cool) - firing from the hip has no stamina cost, and you get a nice 25% movement speed bonus while Focus is active, which is great for repositioning
  

Additional Perks

• Proximate Propagation (4 Intelligence) - reduces RAM cost the closer you are to the target; useful for this build since you won't be too far away from the action
• Subordination (4 Intelligence) - doubles the duration of control-type quickhacks when they're used on enemies with full health
  
• Sublimation (15 Intelligence) - lessens the health cost when you're forced to use Overclock
  
• Power Surge (15 Intelligence) - restores a significant portion of your health based on your max RAM, when you activate Overclock (you can basically use it as a free heal)
  
• Warning: Explosion Hazard (4 Intelligence) - massively increases explosion damage from hacked devices, giving you a significant edge even before you start shooting
  
• Data Recycler (9 Intelligence) - recover RAM based on how many quickhacks are active on an enemy, when you kill them (ideally with your pistol)
  
• Feedback Loop (9 Intelligence) - a great way to keep your RAM recovery rate high during the initial phases of combat

Smartypants

Overview: Smartypants is all about maximising the effectiveness of smart weapons — guns that fire enemy-tracking projectiles, so there's little need for precise, manual aiming. Although smart weapons may not be quite as deadly as their counterparts to begin with, acquiring specific perks in the Intelligence skill tree and combining them with SMG perks can make them brutally efficient. With this build, your foes will have absolutely nowhere to hide, and thanks to smart aiming, you can concentrate on movement, positioning, and quickhacks.

Playstyle: Versatile, Consistent Damage, Mid Range

Recommended Weapons: Smart SMGs

Key Perks

• Acquisition Specialist (9 Intelligence) - the basis of this build, your smart lock targeting is no longer interrupted when you reload your gun, and lock-on speed is noticeably increased
• Target Lock Transfer (15 Intelligence) - increases the size of your target reticule, and lets you switch between smart weapons without interrupting target lock
  
• Smart Synergy (20 Intelligence) - this is an incredibly effective perk, but it requires significant investment in both the smart weapon tree and the Overclock tree. When Overlock is active, your smart guns gain instant target lock and do a whopping 25% additional damage to enemies who are currently affected by a quickhack
  
• Ready, Rested, Reloaded (9 Reflexes) - a flat reduction in stamina cost for SMGs, plus much faster reload speed at 50% stamina and above
  
• Sharpshooter (15 Reflexes) - a must-have perk for fans of spraying bullets, it improves your weapon handling and Sharpshooter is a stacking effect that increases your stamina regeneration significantly
• Submachine Fun (20 Reflexes) - this perk is a perfect choice for SMG users, giving you massive buffs to your gun's fire rate after swapping to it
  

Additional Perks

• No Escape (9 Intelligence) - shooting an enemy when the target lock is close to running out resets it
• Terminal Velocity (15 Intelligence) - provides noticeable buffs to both damage output (thanks to faster-travelling bullets) and lock on range whenever you kill an enemy, making this a great perk for crowd control
  
• Targeting Prism (15 Intelligence) - lets you target multiple enemies with your smart weapons
  
• Spice of Life (9 Reflexes) - increases weapon swap speed so you can switch between SMGs in record time
  
• Gundancer (15 Reflexes) - aiming no longer slows movement and lets you shoot while vaulting — and you barely have to worry about aiming anyway
  
• Practice Makes Perfect (15 Reflexes) - greatly increases your crit chance and crit damage if you're stacking Sharpshooter (which you will be)

This guide is currently under construction. Check back soon for even more character builds!

Do you have a favourite Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 character build? Give us a rundown of your V in the comments section below, and be sure to check out our full Cyberpunk 2077 guide for more help with the game.