Getting started
What is the max level in Cyberpunk 2077?
Level 50 in the base game, or level 60 with Phantom Liberty. Street Cred stops at 50 either way. Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo, and Engineer each stop at skill level 60.
How do I start Phantom Liberty?
Own the expansion and finish the main job Transmission in Act 2. Songbird then calls, and Dog Eat Dog starts. New Game also offers Skip Ahead to Phantom Liberty, which starts V at level 15 and marks some earlier quests completed.
How do I unlock the Relic perk tree?
Own Phantom Liberty and play Dog Eat Dog. Songbird unlocks the Relic tree at that first meeting. Relic points come from the expansion story and from Militech data terminals in Dogtown. The tree focuses on arm cyberware, Optical Camo, and enemy vulnerabilities.
How do I make money fast without exploits?
Fixer gigs and NCPD scanner jobs pay eurodollars when you finish them. Sell weapons and clothing you will not use, and dismantle the rest for upgrade components. With Phantom Liberty, Push It to the Limit in Dogtown unlocks El Capitan's vehicle contracts, which pay when you deliver the car.
Quickhacks
Why does a Memory Wipe queue from an older save show a different RAM cost?
Update 2.0 rebalanced RAM costs and changed the effects of some quickhacks. The scanner shows the cost of the tier you have installed. Compare those tiers before you upload.
Why does a hostile quickhack start a trace?
A hostile upload can start a trace. Watch it while the encounter continues. Update 2.0 removed Breach Protocol on enemies.
What does Hack Queue change?
Hack Queue uploads more than one quickhack to the same enemy. Cyberware Malfunction before Short Circuit raises that damage. Contagion with Overheat can explode the affected enemies.
What does Data Recycler refund?
After Patch 2.02, Data Recycler refunds the RAM you actually spent, after cost reductions.
What happens when RAM runs out mid-upload?
Overclock spends Health to finish the upload. It is an Intelligence perk and needs a cyberdeck. Perk gates list the attribute and the connected perk.
How do I get new quickhacks?
Buy completed quickhacks or their crafting specs from netrunner vendors. Defeated enemies and access points can also drop quickhacks, quickhack crafting specs, and quickhack components. Craft a spec with quickhack components, then slot the program on a cyberdeck of the same tier or higher.
Where do high-tier quickhack crafting specs come from?
Defeated enemies and access points can drop quickhack crafting specs, and the tier of a dropped spec varies. With Phantom Liberty, Dogtown airdrops can contain quickhack crafting specs from Tier 4+ up to Tier 5++.
How do I hack cars?
Buy Carhacker in the Intelligence tree. It unlocks vehicle quickhacks, and the actions available also depend on the installed cyberdeck's tier.
Cyberdecks
Can I quickhack with a Sandevistan or Berserk installed?
A Sandevistan or Berserk in the Operating System slot replaces the cyberdeck and its ordinary quickhacks. Install a cyberdeck in that slot to hack.
Which cyberdeck should I upgrade first?
Start from the Militech Paraline, the deck V begins with. It supports Smart weapons and Monowire and takes little cyberware capacity compared with other decks. Upgrade the deck you own, or buy the next tier when the ripperdoc stocks it.
Where do I get Militech Canto Mk.6?
Phantom Liberty only, on Reed’s path through Somewhat Damaged. The crafting spec is in the Cynosure Experimental Prototyping room, and the Behavioral System Component comes from Cerberus. Yoko decodes that component. The same component also crafts Erebus, so one pickup is one craft.
Do Relic points replace Hack Queue or Overclock?
Hack Queue and Overclock are Intelligence perks. Relic points are a separate Phantom Liberty track. Read the Relic node on the perk screen before you spend it.
Which cyberware is named for RAM recovery?
Ex-Disk, RAM Upgrade, RAM Reallocator, Camillo RAM Manager, Memory Boost, and Mechatronic Core. Update 2.1 added Feen-X and Cogito Lattice. Cogito Lattice requires a cyberdeck.
Cyberware
How do I get more cyberware capacity?
Capacity rises each time V levels up, and the Engineer skill adds more at skill levels 10 and 30. Cyberware Capacity Shards add a permanent amount; enemies and containers drop them at random. In Technical Ability, Renaissance Punk adds capacity for each attribute at 9 or higher, and Edgerunner lets you install past the limit at the cost of max Health.
How do I get Mantis Blades, a Sandevistan, or Berserk?
Buy them from a ripperdoc and install them there. Ripperdoc stock grows with V's level, and the ripperdoc can upgrade an implant you own with components. Mantis Blades go in the arms slot. A Sandevistan or Berserk goes in the Operating System slot and replaces a cyberdeck.
Where do I buy a better cyberdeck?
Ripperdocs sell, install, and upgrade cyberdecks. Their stock grows with V's level, and an owned deck can be upgraded with components. The deck goes in the Operating System slot, so it cannot run alongside a Sandevistan or Berserk.
Perk gates
My attribute is already 20 and the next perk is still locked.
The tier reads that attribute, not your character level. Follow the line to the connected perk and buy every rank it asks for. A middle perk left at one rank keeps the next node locked.
I bought Overclock and the mode still will not turn on.
The third rank of Overclock is the rank that enables the mode. Embedded Exploit at rank 2 is the connected perk. The Operating System slot also needs a cyberdeck. A Sandevistan or Berserk in that slot replaces the deck.
How do I take points back?
Refund one perk at a time, outside combat, at no cost. Update 2.0 removed the option to reset every perk at once. You get one Attribute reset on a playthrough, including a new game. After you use that reset, Attribute points stay where you place them.
Do Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo, and Engineer stop when the attribute stops?
No. Update 2.0 removed that limit. Those five skills level from the actions you use, grant a passive bonus every 5 levels, and stop at level 60.
Can attribute points open the Relic tree?
No. Songbird unlocks the Relic tree during Dog Eat Dog. Relic points come from the Phantom Liberty story and from Militech data terminals in Dogtown. They are separate from attribute points and from ordinary perk points.
Dash works. Why is Air Dash still locked?
Air Dash needs Reflexes 15 and Dash at rank 2, then all three of its own ranks. Dash itself is Reflexes 9, needs Slippery, and takes both of its ranks.
Can I respec all my perks at once?
No. Update 2.0 removed the option to reset every perk at once. Refund perks one at a time, outside combat, at no cost. Attributes get one reset per playthrough.
Build primers
Can one loadout use a cyberdeck and a Sandevistan?
The Operating System slot holds one implant. The netrunner order keeps a cyberdeck. A Sandevistan replaces that deck and its ordinary quickhacks. The Body order can finish on Berserk or a Sandevistan, and either one replaces a cyberdeck.
Where do the first attribute points go?
Netrunner: Intelligence through the Phenom tier (15). Buy Optimization, then Hack Queue and Data Recycler, then Overclock. Blades: Reflexes until Dash, then Lead and Steel and Bullet Deflect at the Pro tier. Blunt: split the opening points between Body and Technical Ability, reach Technical Ability Phenom, then take Body to 20 for Savage Sling.
I put the attribute points in the wrong tree.
You get one Attribute reset for the playthrough. Perk points move whenever you are out of combat: refund the perk, then buy another. Read the perk gates before you spend the Attribute reset.
Where is the pistol and revolver order?
Raise Cool to 9 and buy the first rank of Double Trouble. Both guns have to be Power pistols or Power revolvers. That unlock arrived in Update 2.5.
Missable Iconics
What should I grab during The Heist?
Kongou is on the bedside table in the penthouse bedroom. Nehan is on Saburo’s body after his death. Satori is in Saburo’s AV on the roof, reached by the interior stairs rather than the balcony escape. Keep a save before the hotel escape.
What should I save before The Pickup?
Save before the All Foods negotiation. A peaceful deal with Royce skips Chaos. Killing Dum Dum in Act 1 removes the later Totentanz meeting for Doom Doom. Sir John Phallustiff needs Meredith Stout to survive that meeting and invite V to the No-Tell Motel.
Does the Dogtown black market replace every missed Iconic?
Herold Lowe sells certain missed Iconics at the EBM Petrochem Stadium. His stock depends on the opportunities V reached. A story branch that never opened can leave its weapon unavailable. Patch 2.02 adds Sasquatch’s Hammer to that vendor when the arena pickup was missed.
I finished the activity and the crafting spec never dropped.
Patch 2.11 adds the Psalm 11:6 and Buzzsaw crafting specs when the required activity was completed and the spec did not drop. Craft the weapon from that spec. The same patch makes BFC 9000 obtainable if the crashed AV in Rancho Coronado was missed.
Where do the account Iconics show up?
Black Unicorn, Scorch, and Gwynbleidd appear in the apartment stash after MY REWARDS is claimed. A new game is not required. Scorch and Gwynbleidd need Phantom Liberty, and those claim steps use the CD PROJEKT RED account connected to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Which Iconics split on Firestarter?
Helping Reed and helping Songbird open different Dogtown Iconics. Bald Eagle and Wild Dog can be looted from Hansen on either branch. Pariah and Murphy’s Law follow the Songbird branch. Fang, Erebus, and the Iconic Crowbar follow the Reed branch.
Quest locks
Where is the Point of No Return?
It sits inside Nocturne Op55N1. The game stores a Point of No Return save outside the auto, quick, and manual slot limits. Keep a manual save from before you pass it. Update 2.5 groups Load Game saves by playthrough.
I finished The Tower and the game ended.
Things Done Changed is The Tower, the Phantom Liberty ending. After you complete it, you cannot go back to the Point of No Return. That epilogue grants no rewards, and the story ends. Load a manual save from before the Point of No Return.
I skipped ahead to Phantom Liberty and older jobs are already finished.
On a new game that skips ahead to Phantom Liberty, earlier simulated quests appear in the Journal. Dex's body is in the landfill, and Jackie's guns can be taken from the altar in El Coyote Cojo. Other pickups that needed a skipped job can already be closed. The missable Iconic list names the quest that closes each weapon.
Which Phantom Liberty jobs are the late branches?
Firestarter is the job with Kurt Hansen and the stadium security datashard. Siding with Songbird on that job still leaves Bald Eagle. The Killing Moon is the spaceport shuttle with Songbird. Somewhat Damaged is the bunker with the Neural Network, the core, and Cerberus. The Tower is Things Done Changed, and completing it ends the story without a return to the Point of No Return.
How do I unlock the secret ending, (Don't Fear) The Reaper?
Finish Johnny's side job Chippin' In and pick the friendly dialogue with him on that job. At the end of Nocturne Op55N1, on the rooftop with Johnny, do not choose a plan and wait. Johnny then suggests attacking Arasaka Tower without a crew; accept it. If V dies during that assault, the game ends and the credits roll.
Which rooftop options need side jobs first?
Hanako's Arasaka option is always offered. Panam's option needs her side job Queen of the Highway. Rogue's option needs Johnny's side jobs Chippin' In and Blistering Love. Finish them before the Point of No Return in Nocturne Op55N1.