Cyberpunk 2077 - 8 Essential Perks for Any Play Style

Whether you’re playing a bruising melee fighter, a stealthy assassin, or a hacker, there are a number of perks that will benefit you regardless of your play style in Cyberpunk 2077. Perks are the skills you can grab from each major attribute category (Body, Reflexes, Intelligence, etc.), and choosing the right ones from the huge perk tree makes all the difference in Cyberpunk 2077.

Most of these perks are available early in the perk trees, so they shouldn’t require you to level up that skill much to get them. At the time of writing this guide, the Athletics skill levels up very slowly, so any perks mentioned are available at level one Athletics or are based on an area of need from playing through the game and the perk description. Here are some of the best perks in Cyberpunk 2077 no matter what your play style.

Cyberpunk 2077 - Best Body Perks

Athletics - Regeneration: The very first perk you can grab is arguably one of the most valuable. Regeneration essentially turns V into every stereotypical first-person shooter character by having the magical ability to passively regenerate health during combat. Stims and healing aren’t particularly difficult to find in Cyberpunk 2077, but if you play on harder difficulties, you will be taking a ton of damage and will need to save those heals for critical moments. Combine Regeneration with later skills that boost it and let yourself gain back health out of combat, and you may never need to use heals again. 

Athletics - Marathoner: Unlimited sprint. Specifically, it means you don’t need to spend stamina to sprint anymore. Marathoner does a great job of not making you waste all your stamina while sprinting around during a fight, and should open up more options for players who utilize stamina for other parts of combat, such as using dodge. Melee players or players who use close-quarter weapons will really appreciate the extra stamina they can use for melee fighting.

Athletics - Pack Mule: Any Fallout players will certainly appreciate this perk, which gives you 60 additional capacity and only costs one perk point. Sure, it could be unnecessary if you’re a good, organized person who regularly sells their junk and other goods; however, if you’re anything like me then this perk is crucial for avoiding the awkward trek back to sell or forcing yourself to breakdown items when you’re in the middle of completing gigs.

Cyberpunk 2077 - Best Intelligence Perks

Breach Protocol - Mass Vulnerability: Even if you play Cyberpunk as a more standard first-person shooter, Mass Vulnerability is a fantastic perk. For just one perk point, you are able to weaken all enemies in the network, which is typically quite a few, by 30%. This can take almost any difficult combat encounter and make it a breeze. It will require you to spend a bit of time completing a breach protocol mini-game, but it’s worth it for any big fight you encounter.

Breach Protocol - Advanced Datamine: If you’re not terribly interested in crafting or making money through conventional means, this can be a solid perk by boosting money you receive from getting money from Access Points. You will need to grab the Ping quickhack to help use this perk, but it’s essentially free money for minimal effort. Best of all, this money doesn’t require you to go back to a merchant as it can be regularly accessed in the course of completing gigs.

Quickhacking - Biosynergy: Even if you’re not big into hacking or netrunner type skills, I would argue Biosynergy is an almost essential perk to grab. Like Regeneration, it allows you to regenerate RAM, which is sort of like the “ammo” for completing hacks, while in the middle of combat. While I didn’t do a ton of hacking in my playthrough, this skill was amazing for difficult fights or bosses where you could add on extra damage or blind your enemy with some quick hacks. Difficult enemies become a whole lot easier with Biosynergy, so taking this perk is certainly a fantastic one to invest early in.

Cyberpunk 2077 - Best Reflexes Perks

Blades - Slow and Steady: It may seem a bit odd to dip into the Blades skill tree if you’re not going to be using, well, blades, but getting an added 15% armor just by moving is pretty nuts. Combined with other perks that make movement easier and less clunky during combat, you’ll be much more durable when you have Slow and Steady to boost your damage resistance. Best of all, it doesn’t require you to be using a sword of any kind and is viable with all weapons and play styles in Cyberpunk 2077.

Blades - Shifting Sands: Dodging is a fantastic way to get out of trouble whether you’re a melee or ranged fighter. Using Shifting Sands will reduce the amount of stamina it takes when dodging by 15% at the first level. This is huge because dodging consumes a massive amount of stamina for each dodge. Adding more levels into this might make this even more worthwhile if you find yourself dodging a lot.

For more Cyberpunk 2077 guides, check out our guides hub for all things Night City.