Cyberpunk 2077 Character Builds: Is Balanced Or Specialized Better

Despite being in first person, Cyberpunk 2077 is an role-playing game with various stats and skills to choose from. Unlike most RPG games that force players to select a specific class, Cyberpunk 2077 allows players to customize their character, skills, and attributes however they choose. Players are not limited to just being one specific class type. If they want, players can be a jack of all trades and potential master of all. With the core attributes providing various boosts and gameplay advantages, creating a balanced character could help players be ready for anything Night City throws at them.

There are 5 core attributes in Cyberpunk 2077: Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence, and Cool. Body deals with raw power, health, and stamina. It allows players to do things such as force open doors, hijack cars easier, and do more melee damage. Reflexes involve movement speed and critical hit damage. Technical Ability handles skill with tech weapons and increases armor. Intelligence is focused around hacking, which is called netrunning in Cyberpunk 2077. Finally, Cool is similar to a charisma stat, focusing on resilience, composure, and effectiveness with stealth.

Each attribute in Cyberpunk 2077 has correlating skills and perks that level up as the player uses them, similar to Skyrim. Body skills include Athletics, Annihilation, and Street Brawler. Reflex skills include Handguns, Blades, and Assault. Technical Ability skills and perks include Crafting and Engineering. Intelligence skills include Breach Protocol and Quickhacking and Cool skills include Stealth and Cold Blood. While putting all attribute points and perks into one skill tree in Cyberpunk would make that one attribute and skill extremely powerful, when a player is put at a disadvantage due to neglecting other attributes and skills, it may be difficult to get out alive, especially on harder difficulties.

What Attributes & Skills Cyberpunk Players Should Think About

Some attributes and skills go well together. Players who want to try a non-lethal character build may benefit the most from the Body, Intelligence, and Cool attributes. The stealth skill in the Cool attribute tree will allow players to sneakily takedown opponents. Both hacking skills in the Intelligence attribute tree can help stealthy characters distract opponents or help them plan their movements, while the street brawler skill in the Body attribute tree allows players to have a way incapacitate opponents with non-lethal melee weapons. On the opposite side of the spectrum, a run-and-gun player might benefit from the Body, Reflexes, and Technical Ability attributes, as they all focus on the various guns available in the game.

Even if a player isn’t necessarily interested in using every skill in the game, investing attribute points into every core attribute can be helpful in missions, general gameplay, and dialogue options. Similar to how the Body attribute can allow Cyberpunk 2077 players to force open doors and steal cars, the Technical Ability attribute also has those capabilities. There also numerous scenarios where a player’s attribute points can play into dialogue options. The Body attribute can provide more aggressive and forceful dialogue options. The Technical Ability attribute can provide further incite on tech objects in dialogue as well as bond with other techies. Cool can calm heated dialogue conversations down with a composed response.

No matter how a player decides to play Cyberpunk 2077, they should examine each attribute and the various skills within them to see what might enhance their character build and gameplay experience. While it may be fun to become specialized in one specific thing, players may be surprised at how much stronger their character can become when dipping their toe into other skills as well.

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