When you’re first dropping into the world of Cyberpunk 2077, you’re given so many skills (and skill trees) to choose from it makes our cybernetically-enhanced heads spin. There’s so much to choose from, and some of these skills are literally invaluable — you basically must get them.
Not all the skills are required though, and some skills (found in multiple skill trees) work incredibly well together. For example, you can increase the damage of headshots with pistols in one tree, increase the damage done to human opponents in another, and increase damage done by silenced weapons in yet another tree — giving you x3 damage buff just for using a silenced pistol.
There are tons of skills like that, and some of them can be earned very early in the game. Before talking about all the skills we think are best, it’s also important to know how you earn perk points. You’ll earn them as you level up individual skills — not just from leveling up your character. It’s kind of like Skyrim — each individual skill gains its own XP just from doing it.
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Essential Skills Everyone Needs
The following skills are the basics everyone needs eventually. Put poitns into whatever weapons you want to use most, and don’t neglect the following skills. You should be doing as many different activities as possible — sneaking, using stealth attacks, hacking, swapping to different weapons, crafting and upgrading. The more you do, the more skill points you’ll earn.
Mass Vulnerability: Breach Protocol Level 1 – Unlocks the Mass Vulnerability daemon, which reduces the Physical Resistance for all enemies in the network by 30% for 3 min.
Regeneration: Athletics Level 1 – Health slowly regenerates during combat.
Pack Mule: Athletics Level 1 – Increase carrying capacity by 60.
True Craftsman: Crafting Level 1 – Allows you to craft Rare items.
Innovation: Crafting Level 1 – Consumables are 25% more effective.
Headshot King Stealth / Ranged Build
This is a highly specific build, but it’s everything you can unlock early. With these skills, you can become a stealth slaughtering machine — with a focus on damage and headshots, you can finally start doing killing damage with pistols and sniper rifles. Use the following skills from multiple different skill trees to kill anything and anyone in the game with a little bit of precision.
Bulletjock: Assault Level 1 – Increases damage by Rifles and Submachine Guns by 3% / 6% / 9%.
Bullseye: Assault Level 7 – Increases Rifle and Submachine Gun damage while aiming by 10%.
Silent And Deadly: Stealth Level 1 – Increases damage dealt by silenced weapons by 25% while sneaking.
Assassin: Stealth Level 7 – Deal 15% more damage to human enemies.
Sniper: Stealth Level 1 – Increases damage from headshots fired from outside combat by 30%.
Nerves of Steel: Assault Level 1 – Increases headshot damage with Sniper Rifles and Precision Rifles by 20% / 40%.
Frozen Precision: Cold Blood Level 11 – Increases headshot damage by 50%.
Rio Bravo: Handguns Level 1 – Increases headshot damage multiplier with Pistols and Revolvers by 30%.
There are many, many more skills but these are all the best skills we’ve gotten the most use out of. Are there other essential skills we’re missing?
