Character Development in Cyberpunk 2077

Character Development in Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most important parts of gameplay as everything depends on your skills, reputation, perks and cyberware. In this post, you will not find the best builds for Cyberpunk 2077, but get to know the general understanding of how things work.

Character class

There are no classes in Cyberpunk 2077 you can play the way you like and distribute skills the way you like. But there is one thing you’ll need to choose when you start playing – a background story. There are three lifepaths that you can choose from in Cyberpunk 2077:

• The Nomad
• The Streetkid
• The Corpo-Rat

Each of the lifepaths has a unique introduction. Also, you will see specific dialogue lines related to your background. Nomad will know much about the gangs outside the city, Streetkid vice versa about the gangs in the city and how they are related. As for the Corpo-Rat he’ll know the relations between corporations and how things go there. It doesn’t influence the game though.

Skills

Skills in Cyberpunk 2077 are very useful and you will need to think over your build. Decided what weapons you will use and how you will fulfil missions. Cause even stealth missions can be fulfilled with blood. There are 12 different skills that you develop over time. They are linked to attributes, so they are easy to control. You can check what a given skill affects by browsing the perks.

It is worth adding that you need to use the skill that you want to max as much as possible. All perks require a specific level of skill to get unlocked.

Perks

There are five attributes, each corresponding to different statistics and skills. You need to develop them to unlock newer and more interesting perks.

Attributes are divided into skills. Skills are divided into perks. It is up to you to decide what you want to unlock. As we have already mentioned you need to decide beforehand how you are going to play as you cannot take the points back. So choose wisely. If you want to see what this perk will give you just hover on it and you’ll see the description. But if you click on it the perk will be activated and you cannot undo that.

Cyberware

The core of Cyberpunk 2077. This peculiarity game the name of the whole game. If you play on the low difficulty you might not need cyberware, but hard and very hard difficulties will require the usage of them. In the guide below you can see how to find a reaper in Night City. Each of them has different types of cyberware.

Cyberpunk 2077 Map Details and Guide

Visit any reaper and see what he has to offer from the cyberware. You can read the stats and abilities that you’ll unlock as you implant them. They come of different qualities and you’ll need to meet the requirements to apply them. For example, if you have a low reputation you will not be able to buy legendary implants.

Hero’s reputation

We’ve briefly mentioned why you’ll need reputation – to buy better cyberware. But that’s not all. A higher reputation will unlock more jobs from fixers and side quests as well as new vendors and items.

You can get reputation bonusses for wearing cloth with high street cred. If so you’ll get more reputation fro killing enemies.

Attributes

By completing missions and various tasks you will earn attribute points. With them, you can improve one of the main attributes. They affect various elements of the game. The choice is as follows:

1. Body – responsible for health and stamina;
2. Reflexes – improves your critical damage chance;
3. Cool – affects critical damage, resistance, and detection time;
4. Technical Ability – determines the armor level;
5. Intelligence – affects RAM.

Attributes are directly linked to proficiency in using weapons.

Body affects:

1. Shotguns of all kinds;
2. Rifles;
3. Fists;
4. Blunt weapons of all kinds.

Reflexes affect:

1. Blades;
2. Pistols;
3. Revolvers;
4. Rifles of all kinds.

So when you start playing don’t distribute attribute points randomly. Max one or two of those you’ll need to fight or hack.

Health, armor, and stamina

Of course, you have health points in Cyberpunk 2077. You lose them when the enemy shots you or applies the harmful effects. Also, you can get burned from some sources etc. Your character has a specific number of health points; they will increase when:

1. You gain a new level of experience;
2. You purchase attributes that give you more health;
3. You purchase the appropriate cyber software.

Health regeneration takes place automatically when you finish the fight. In this way, you can recover 60% of the maximum HP. Also, health can be easily restored with different consumables that you can loot from enemies or places around.

As for the armor. It is good to have a high number of it as it helps much in battles. As armor reduces the amount of received damage. For every 10 points of armor, you reduce your damage per second by about 1 point. You will see which clothes give more armor, but as you proceed through the game you will find clothes with better quality that have sockets. Those sockets can be filled with upgrades that apply different guarding qualities (like anti-burn). So don’t forget to check on them. You can craft the upgrades or buy them at clothing shops.

Stamina is responsible for your hero’s endurance level. You deplete it by jumping, running or using a melee weapon. Your character has specific stamina points, they will increase when:

1. You gain a new level of experience;
2. You purchase attributes that give you more stamina;
3. You purchase the appropriate cyber software.

If your stamina drops to zero, you get Exhaustion debuff, which will affect you negatively until you regenerate. Exhaustion reduces the efficiency of your actions, e.g. it makes you unable to sprint, and your melee weapon attacks are ineffective.

Stamina is important for melee fighters so don’t worry if you get Exhaustion debuff when you run, for example.