Cyberpunk 2077: Best Perks to get early for any build

by RPG Site Staff on 10 December, 2020

NOTE: This guide is no longer valid due to the updates made with the 2.0 update. We have a new build guide here for those looking for the best perks for Cyberpunk 2077.

Even though nearly everything is perceived from a first-person perspective, Cyberpunk 2077 is just as much of an RPG as The Witcher 3, even if you’re keen to aim down the sights of a rifle, pointed at an enemy’s head. Right off the bat, you’ll be asked to allocate some points across a selection of attributes, faithful to the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop game. Soon after, you’ll have to start thinking about perks, and might be unsure what to spend perk points on.

It turns out that regardless of what types of weapons you want to use, or what type of playstyle suits your fancy, there are some perks that are near-universally useful for any type of player. After putting several hours in both the early and later sections Cyberpunk 2077, here are some perks that you should consider grabbing early.

Also, don't worry about spending point and getting stuck with a bad build. Starting after the prologue of the game, a respec option is made available to you, at the cost of a good chunk of Eurodollars. Note that this won't reset your attributes, however.

Cyberpunk 2077 – Best Body Perks

Even if you’re not planning on playing a combat-focused character, a lot of Body perks are useful everywhere. Placing points into Body also gives passive bonuses to Health, Stamina, and even how fast you move while holding an enemy. You’ll also be able to force open specific routes and verbally strong-arm yourself out of (or into) combat situations in dialogue.

Athletics

Pack Mule (Body 1): Increases carry capacity by 60.

While it won’t directly impact how strong V is in combat, this quality-of-life perk will pay dividends in the long run with respect to requiring fewer trips to the merchant to empty your backpack, and just eases the burden of managing your inventory limit in general. An easy suggestion for a single perk point.

Regeneration (Body 1): Health slowly regenerates during combat

The less time you have to spend sucking down MaxDocs, the better.

Annihilation

Dead Center (Body 7): Increases damage to torsos by 10/20%.

You might have to spend a couple perk points to be able to select this one, but extra damage regardless of weapon type is always useful.

Cyberpunk 2077 – Best Reflexes Perks

Reflexes probably has the least impact on contextual dialogue compared to every other stat. On top of that, the passive bonuses for Reflexes is limited mostly to passive evasion or minor crit chance increases. Even the perks found here are typically tied to specific weapon types. However, if you find yourself favoring pistols, revolvers, rifles, katanas or the like, you’ll find a lot of ways to improve those weapon types here. As for generally-useful perks, there’s not much to be found.

Blades

Slow and Steady (Reflexes 1): Armor is increased by 15/30% while moving.

Even if you don’t plain on using a blade, or melee weapons at all, a significant armor boost while moving is useful pretty much everywhere.

Cyberpunk 2077 – Best Technical Ability Perks

Technical Ability is a well-rounded attribute. Anyone wanting to use tech weapons will have plenty of options here, and lots of dialogue and blocked doors will also depend on V’s technical prowess. You’ll also get a passive armor boost with each point here as a bonus.

Crafting

Scrapper (Technical Ability 5): Junk Items are automatically disassembled.

Your mileage may vary on this one. It’s nice to be able to pick up anything and everything and know it’ll be broken down automatically into useful crafting materials. On the other hand, you’re giving up the handful of junk items that sell for $750, so there’s a tradeoff here.

Engineering

Bladerunner (Technical Ability 9): Increases damage to mechanical enemies by 20/40%.

Another perk that’s not weapon specific, which means it’s easy to recommend to anyone. You’ll have to spend a bit to grab this one, but the further into the game you get, the more and more robots and mechs you’ll encounter, so keep it in mind.

Cyberpunk 2077 – Best Intelligence Perks

Intelligence is another attribute that has a lot of dialogue options tied to it. It also determines what access points and computers you’re able to hack into, along with some passive bonuses to you quickhack damage and duration.

Breach Protocol

Advanced Datamine (Intelligence 5): Upgrades the Datamine daemon, increasing the amount of eurodollars from access points by 50/100%.

More on this below, but this perk is literally free money that could add up majorly over the course of the game. Should be one of the first perks in any loadout for a fresh file.

Extended Network Interface (Intelligence 7): Automatically highlights nearby access points.

Hacking into access points will be a primary source of income throughout most of Cyberpunk 2077. Being able to easily see all of the stashes in any location translates to thousands of dollars if you manage to hack all the access points across the entirety of the game. An easy recommendation.

Quickhacking

I Spy (Quickhacking 5): Reveals an enemy netrunner when they’re attempting to hack you.

Most of the quickhacking perks will only be useful to build that are specific to hacker/netrunner builds. However, everyone is susceptible to being hacked themselves. Not the most impactful perk in the world, but it’s nice to know who’s trying to set you on fire in the middle of a fight.

Cyberpunk 2077 – Best Cool Perks

Cool is one of the better attributes to slot points into, especially if you’re inclined to ever be sneaky. Cool is involved in a lot of dialogue options, and has some pretty strong passive bonuses as well. Enemies will take longer to detect you, your critical damage will increase, and you’ll do more damage from stealth for each point you have in Cool. Cool also has some of the most useful perks to start out with.

Stealth

Crouching Tiger (Cool 1): Increases movement speed while sneaking by 20%

Even if you don’t plan on making a super sneaky character, being able to move a good bit quicker while crouched is something universally useful.

Assassin (Cool 7): Deal 15% more damage to human enemies

Humans make up the majority of enemies in Cyberpunk 2077. You’ll deal 15% more damage to all of them. Self-explanatory.

Ghost (Cool 12): Detection time is increased by 20/??%.

Yes, this is one of the more attribute-intensive perks that we’ve listed here. However, it’s also one of the most generally useful. More so if you want to play stealthily, but in general being able to move around enemies before they fire back is a good thing.

From the Shadows (Cool 12): Upon entering combat, crit chance increases by 25% for 7 seconds.

Another slightly more expensive one, but useful regardless of build. Except for pacifists, we suppose. Put points into stealth, and then use the critical chance bonus with a shotgun. Who’s gonna stop you?

Cold Blood

Frozen Precision (Cool 11): Increases headshot damage by 50%.

The Cold Blood line of perks is the type that builds on itself. The most you put into it, the more you’ll get out. However, frozen precision is a powerful bonus that’s independent of the Cold Blood mechanic itself. Again, you'll need to invest a bit into Cool here, but then you can grab those nice Stealth perks as well.