Best Cyberpunk 2077 builds and how to put them together

What are the best builds in Cyberpunk 2077? Creating the best possible Cyberpunk 2077 build is a very layered process. Not only do you have to consider the attributes, skills, and perks to increase, but you've also got to consider the right weapons, mods, and cyberware to go along with a build in order to make it truly powerful.

Here, we'll walk you through our favourite top-tier Cyberpunk 2077 builds, covering in detail the exact perks to unlock and weapons to use to ensure you're cleaning out rooms of enemies in record time even on the toughest difficulty settings. With the release of the Edgerunners anime on Netflix, there's been an influx of interest in players wanting builds inspired by the show's characters; so we've also put together a quick-start guide for making your own David Martinez build below.

Builds in Cyberpunk 2077 are made up of attributes, skills, and perks. There are five attributes in Cyberpunk 2077, and each attribute has two or three associated skills. Each skill, in turn, has a tree of perks to be upgraded.

Below we'll walk you through exactly how to combine your attributes, skills, perks, and weaponry to create the most powerful builds in Cyberpunk 2077.

Sandevistan build (a.k.a. David Martinez build)

If you've come back to CP77 on the back of the Edgerunners anime on Netflix, I'll wager you're intersted in learning more about the Sandevistan cyberware operating system. Sandevistan is the make favoured by Edgerunners' protagonist, and happily it's possible to re-create a build that emulates David Martinez in the game too. This is a tanky, melee-damage focussed build,

The key attributes for this build are Body and Reflexes; but it also doesn't hurt to pay a little attention to your character's Technical Ability while you're at it, since you'll need that to upgrade your Sandevistan cyberware to its top efficiency.

Essential Perks

• Street Brawler: Crushing Blows, Flurry, Dazed, Rush, Efficient Blows, Opportune Strike, Reinvigorate, Relentless, Thrash, Frenzy, Unshakeable
• Technical Ability: Scrapper, Mechanic, True Craftsman, Grease Monkey, Edgerunner Artesan

Weapons & Mods

Naturally, a piece of Sandevistan cyberware is the central component to this build. But there are actually around a dozen Sandevistan pieces to choose from, so the one you want to specifically look for is the QianT Sandevistan Mk.4. (Find out how to get that using our guide.) While it's only a mid-level Sandevistan piece to begin with, when fully upgraded this cyberware allows you to spend most of your time in combat with time slowed down to 25%, making you nearly unstoppable against your enemies.

A Sandevistan-focussed build works handily with just about any weapon in the game, although if you want to copy David from the Edgerunners anime, you'll likely want to focus on melee combat as your eventual go-to. In that case, you'll want to aim for the Gorilla Arms cyberware; but since these are basically endgame items, it's useful to have some other choice weapons to get you to that point — your choice of Pistol or SMG makes a solid weapon for the early game when using this build.

Stealth Revolver Build

By far the most enjoyable Cyberpunk 2077 build I've come across so far is this powerful Stealth Revolver build. If you've found you like the punchiness of the revolvers in Cyberpunk, you'll love this build, which makes use of extremely high headshot and crit potential to one-shot most enemies while stealthing around with a silenced hand cannon. Even after breaking stealth, your damage potential is still through the roof, allowing you to deal with bosses with ease - as long as you hit those headshots.

The two key Attributes here are Reflexes and Cool. Within these attributes, your key skills are Handguns, Ninjitsu (formerly known as Stealth), and Cold Blood. Handguns and Ninjitsu are obviously essential in this build, but Cold Blood is also a worthy skill to explore as it allows you to access various global benefits (including a +50% increase to your headshot damage).

Essential Perks

• Handguns: Rio Bravo, High Noon, Desperado, Long Shot Drop Pop, A Fistful Of Eurodollars, Westworld, Brainpower, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
• Ninjitsu: Silent And Deadly, Strike From The Shadows, Assassin, From The Shadows
• Cold Blood: Cold Blood, Critical Condition, Coldest Blood, Frozen Precision, Cold And Calculating, Merciless

Weapons & Mods

The Overture Power Revolver is the best fit for this build that I've found. You don't need a high fire rate while stealthing around and one-shotting enemies: just a tonne of high damage potential. Look for the highest possible headshot multiplier in an Overture, then give it a silencer which increases crit chance if possible.

When it comes to attacking out of stealth, I like to switch to an RT-46 Burya Tech Revolver, which deals even higher damage per shot than the Overture. It lacks a muzzle slot for a silencer, which is the only reason I use the Overture for stealth. With all your other equipment and cyberware, just look for any opportunity to increase crit chance and damage, and headshot damage.

Graceful Ninja build

Despite the name, this build doesn't focus primarily on the Ninjitsu (or Stealth) Attribute. We've already put together a stealthy build above that we really like, so what we've gone for here is a build that's focussed more on flipping about the place while wielding some of the coolest bladed weapons in CP77's extensive armory. The Ninja doesn't go in loud, exactly, but they're less concerned with being spotted than they are with getting in close to deal some devastating damage, then dancing back out of reach before they can retaliate effectively.

The Ninja build requires some careful balancing of Attributes: you want to strike a happy medium between Cool, Reflexes, and Body. 20 points in each ought to do the trick.

Essential Perks

• Blades: Sting Like a Bee, Slow and Steady, Blessed Blade, Fiery Blast
• Athletics: Regeneration, Epimorphosis, Steel and Chrome
• Cold Blood: Blood Brawl, Predator, Merciless, Cold and Calculating

Weapons & Mods

Naturally, a ninja's weapon of choice is any high-damage katana. In Cyberpunk 2077 you have a number of options in this category, including the Jinchu-Maru, the Satori, and the Tsumetogi. These are all fairly challenging to get hold of, though, so in the early stages of working on this build, just make sure to keep your weapon focus (and skill development) on knives and blades.

In terms of cyberware, the Ninja build is another case where the QianT Sandevistan Mk.4 really shines. Want to go full Keanu and slip into Bullet Time to take your enemies apart with ease? It's got to be the Sandevistan. Equip the Synaptic Accelerator as well to double down on this time-slowing effect. Finally, offset the Ninja's vulnerability to immediate melee retaliation by setting them up with the Subdermal Armor mod.

Quickhack build

Without a doubt, this Quickhack build is the most overpowered build you can possibly make in Cyberpunk 2077 right now. Once perfected, this build allows you to kill a dozen enemies in quick succession without ever drawing a weapon. You can win fights without even stepping into combat. I personally don't find this to be fun in the slightest, but for breezing through every encounter, there's no better build.

The key Attribute here is Intelligence, and you'll be upgrading both its associated skills. Breach Protocol will give you all the RAM and hacking potential you need, while Quickhacking is the true hero of the build, allowing you to craft ridiculously powerful Legendary Quickhacks, giving them increased damage, and allowing them to spread to nearby enemies.

If you need some help understanding the hacking minigame used for Breach Protocol, be sure to check out our Cyberpunk 2077 hacking minigame guide.

Essential Perks

• Breach Protocol: Mass Vulnerability, Mass Vulnerability: Resistances, Mass Vulnerability: Quickhacks, Total Recall, Totaler Recall, Cloud Cache, Efficiency, Hackathon, Head Start, Compression
• Quickhacking: Bloodware, Biosynergy, Forget-Me-Not, Hacker's Manual, Daisy Chain, Signal Support, Subliminal Message, Diffusion, Mnemonic, School Of Hard Hacks, Plague, Hacker Overlord, Critical Error, Bartmoss' Legacy, Optimization, Master RAM Liberator

Weapons & Mods

Weapons? What weapons? Use whatever you want. Your Quickhacks are your main weapons here.

As for mods and cyberware, that's a different story. Your aim is to beeline straight to Legendary Quickhacks with this build. Key quickhacks are Ping, Short Circuit, Synapse Burnout, and Suicide. Thanks to the Critical Error perk, your Quickhacks can crit, so any cyberware or modifications which increase your crit chance will be essential, alongside anything which boosts your RAM capacity and recovery rate.

That's all we've got in terms of top-tier Cyberpunk builds for the time being, but we've got plenty more to discuss with this game. Check out our Cyberpunk 2077 romance options guide for details on how to strike up a relationship with whoever you like. Or, if you're wondering how far into the main story you might be, feel free to consult our Cyberpunk 2077 story quests list.