Cyberpunk 2077’s recent 2.0 update revamped and changed tons of systems in the game. One of the most significant was the addition of five separate Skill Trees—one for each of the five Attributes in the game. The Engineer Skill grants bonuses to all things tech related, and can be easily confused with the Netrunner Skill given how similar the two are in their uses.
This guide will walk you through exactly what the Engineer Skill does in Cyberpunk 2077, and perhaps more importantly, how you can quickly and efficiently progress your Engineer rank.
Cyberpunk 2077: Engineer Skill bonuses
The engineer has 60 different ranks you’ll need to progress through to receive every possible passive bonus in the tree. Passive bonuses are acquired every five Engineer ranks, for a total of 12 bonuses. At any time, you can check your progress by going to Character>Skill Progression. The bonuses gained from the Engineer are:
- Rank five—Increases Armor by 15.
- Rank 10—Increases Cyberware Capacity by five.
- Rank 15—Gain one Perk Point.
- Rank 20—Grants 10 percent bonus grenade damage and radius.
- Rank 25—Increases Armor by 25.
- Rank 30—Increases Cyberware Capacity by 10.
- Rank 35—Gain one Perk Point.
- Rank 40—Increases Shock chance from charged Tech weapons and electric batons.
- Rank 45—Health Items are 15 percent more effective.
- Rank 50—Increases all Cyberware stat modifiers by 30 percent.
- Rank 55—Bolt shots deal 10 percent more damage, have a 40 percent higher burn chance, and Chain Lightning now sets enemies on fire.
- Rank 60—When Fury is active, you occasionally release an EMP blast.
As you can see, Engineer has some wicked bonuses that will benefit you regardless of playstyle. No matter what your offense looks like, extra armor and healing is something you’d be a fool to refuse.
Reaching that coveted Rank 60 in Engineer will take a chunk of time no matter, but following the steps in the next section will make it much, much easier.
Cyberpunk 2077: How to progress the Engineer Skill fast
XP towards Engineer is gained by interacting with or using tech related items and weapons. Anything governed by the Technical Ability attribute will earn you Engineer XP. This means that things like using Tech weapons, grenades, and bypassing locks will all earn some progression.
There are some fail-proof ways you can ensure Engineer progresses as quickly as possible:
- Put Attribute Points into Technical Ability
- This will enable you to bypass more doors and override more tech systems using Technical Ability. Doing so grants a massive chunk of Engineer XP.
- Get your hands on a Tech Weapon
- Any Tech weapon kills help progress Engineer. The bonus isn’t as high as bypassing doors, but it certainly adds up.
- Throw grenades every chance you get
- Grenades are unlimited in Cyberpunk 2077, they just have a recharge timer. Grenade damage and kills both progress the Engineer Skill, and this is something that should be taken advantage of in every single fight if you’re serious about increasing it.
Finally, make sure you keep your eyes peeled for Engineer Skill Shards, which can be found throughout Night City and Dogtown as of Cyberpunk 2.0’s release. Skill Shards are available in five tiers, and can be found at random on enemies or in containers.
