Cyberpunk 2077, the futuristic role-playing game by CD Projekt Red, has received a major overhaul with the release of Phantom Liberty, the first paid expansion, and Update 2.0, a free patch that fixes many issues and adds new features. One of the most noticeable changes is the revamp of the skill tree and perks, which now offer more options and customization for players to create their own builds and playstyles.
Phantom Liberty: A New Storyline and Area to Explore
Phantom Liberty is a spy-thriller expansion that takes place after the main story of Cyberpunk 2077. Players will take on the role of V, a mercenary who gets involved in a conspiracy involving a mysterious relic that can alter the course of history. The expansion introduces a new area called Neo-Tokyo, a sprawling metropolis that blends traditional Japanese culture with futuristic technology. Neo-Tokyo is home to new factions, characters, quests, items, and enemies, as well as new gameplay mechanics such as relic points, which can be used to unlock powerful abilities.
Update 2.0: A Massive Patch that Improves Performance and Quality
Update 2.0 is a free patch that is available for all players of Cyberpunk 2077, regardless of whether they own Phantom Liberty or not. The patch is one of the biggest in the game’s history, and it addresses many of the bugs, glitches, and performance issues that plagued the game since its launch in December 2020. The patch also adds new features such as vehicular combat, dynamic weather, customizable HUD, photo mode, and new game plus. Additionally, the patch overhauls several aspects of the game, such as combat, AI, animations, graphics, sound, and user interface.
Best Skills and Perks in Phantom Liberty and Update 2.0
One of the most significant changes in Update 2.0 is the revamp of the skill tree and perks, which now offer more variety and flexibility for players to customize their characters. Each attribute (Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence, and Cool) has several skill trees that correspond to different playstyles, such as Headhunter (sniper), Netrunner (hacker), Shinobi (stealth), Solo (fighter), and Engineer (crafting). Each skill tree has active and passive perks that can be unlocked with perk points, which are earned by leveling up or progressing in each skill bracket. Some perks also have secondary effects that can be unlocked with relic points, which are exclusive to Phantom Liberty and can be obtained by completing certain quests or finding hidden relics.
Here are some of the best skills and perks in Phantom Liberty and Update 2.0 for each attribute:
Body
Body increases your physical power and health. Each point in Body gives +2 to your max health.
- Painkiller: This perk gives you slow health regeneration during combat, which can be very useful for survivability. It also has secondary perks that increase your health regeneration further.
- Wrecking Ball: This perk allows you to barge into enemies while sprinting or blocking with blunt weapons, which has a chance of knocking them down. This is ideal for melee builds that want to close the distance quickly.
- Spontaneous Obliteration: This perk works with shotguns, LMGs, and HMGs. It reduces recoil, increases damage to nearby enemies, and gives you a chance to instantly kill and dismember enemies that are at low health. This is perfect for shotgun or LMG builds that want to cause mayhem.
- Adrenaline Rush: This perk increases your max health, health regeneration, and unlocks adrenaline rush mode, which gives you a secondary health bar that absorbs damage but decays over time. This is one of the best perks for any build that wants to increase their survivability.
Reflexes
Reflexes determine your maneuverability and critical chance. Each point in Reflexes gives +0.5% to your crit chance.
- Dash: This perk allows you to quickly move closer to or away from enemies by pressing a button. This is very useful for agile builds that want to wield swords or other melee weapons.
- Air Dash: This perk is similar to Dash, but it allows you to dash while you are in the air. This can pair very well with swords and other melee weapons.
- Lead And Steel: This perk reduces the stamina cost of blade attacks and allows you to block incoming projectiles with your blades at the cost of stamina. This perk pairs very well with Dash and Air Dash.
- Slaughterhouse: This perk is the ultimate skill for blade builds. It increases your damage with blades by 25%, gives you a chance to apply bleeding to enemies, and allows you to perform a lethal finisher on enemies that are at low health.
Technical Ability
Technical Ability affects your crafting and hacking skills. Each point in Technical Ability gives +5% to your armor.
- Grease Monkey: This perk allows you to craft epic items, which are the second-highest rarity in the game. It also has secondary perks that reduce the crafting cost and increase the crafting speed of epic items.
- Mechanic: This perk increases the damage of tech weapons by 25%, which are weapons that can charge up and penetrate walls. It also has secondary perks that increase the charge speed and crit chance of tech weapons.
- Blast Shielding: This perk reduces the damage you take from explosions by 50%, which can be very helpful in combat situations where grenades or rockets are involved. It also has secondary perks that reduce the damage you take from fire and electricity.
- Cyberware Malfunction: This perk allows you to hack enemy cyberware and cause various effects, such as overheating, short circuit, or reboot optics. It also has secondary perks that increase the duration and damage of these effects.
Intelligence
Intelligence affects your hacking and cyberdeck skills. Each point in Intelligence gives +4% to your cyberdeck RAM recovery rate.
- Quickhacking: This perk allows you to hack enemies and devices with quickhacks, which are programs that can cause various effects, such as distract, ping, contagion, or suicide. It also has secondary perks that increase the damage, duration, and spread of quickhacks.
- Datamine Mastermind: This perk increases the amount of money and components you get from hacking access points, which are terminals that can be found throughout the game. It also has secondary perks that increase the chance of finding rare components or quickhacks from access points.
- Mass Vulnerability: This perk allows you to hack a network and reduce the resistances of all enemies connected to it by 30%, which makes them more vulnerable to your attacks. It also has secondary perks that reduce their armor or crit resistance by an additional 30%.
- Memory Boost: This perk increases your cyberdeck RAM by 4, which allows you to use more quickhacks in combat. It also has secondary perks that increase your RAM recovery rate or refund some RAM after eliminating an enemy.
Cool
Cool affects your stealth and cold blood skills. Each point in Cool gives +2% to your crit damage.
- Assassin: This perk increases your damage from stealth attacks by 15%, which are attacks that are performed when the enemy is unaware of your presence. It also has secondary perks that increase your crit chance or crit damage from stealth attacks.
- Cold Blood: This perk activates a stackable buff called cold blood after defeating an enemy, which increases your movement speed, armor, and resistances. It also has secondary perks that increase the duration, effect, or maximum stacks of cold blood.
- Sniper: This perk increases your headshot damage by 20%, which is very useful for sniper builds that want to deal massive damage from afar. It also has secondary perks that increase your reload speed or stability with sniper rifles.
- Merciless: This perk increases your damage by 10% for every stack of cold blood you have, which can be very powerful when combined with Cold Blood. It also has secondary perks that increase your crit chance or crit damage for every stack of cold blood you have.
