If you’ve played Cyberpunk 2077 lately, you might have wondered if it’s possible to create a Bullet-Time Ninja build; a character that can dash up to opponents unseen, take them out, and dodge bullets to escape like a mixture of The Matrix and Assassin’s Creed.
The short answer is yes, it’s possible—you just have to follow a specific build. Below you’ll find the ideal attributes, perks, Cyberware, weapons, and more to get you feeling like some weird mix of Neo and Ezio Auditore in Cyberpunk.
Cyberpunk 2077 Bullet-Time Ninja build tips
Attributes
The Cyberpunk 2077 Bullet-Time Ninja build revolves around using blades to neutralize opponents and to make sure they never find their footing in a fight. It’s all about upping your speed as well, never allowing bullets to touch you. Make your main attribute Reflexes. Reflexes control how fast you run, your ability to dodge enemy fire, and your proficiency with blades.
In Cyberpunk 2077, you can’t rely on natural talent alone. This is why we recommend making Tech Ability your secondary attribute. Making use of a specific piece of Cyberware is key to the build.
When setting up your character, you’ll want to heavily invest your stats into Reflexes. I recommend the following start-of-game stat distribution.
| Body | Reflexes | Intelligence | Tech | Cool |
| Three | Nine | Three | Four | Three |
As you gain levels, make sure you put some points into Cool and Body. Cool will help you sneak up on opponents and deal Crit damage, and Body will keep you alive in tough spots.
Perks
As far as perks go, Dash and Air Dash are going to be your bread and butter. Dash is a perk you can unlock at Reflexes level nine. It replaces your dodge ability with a significantly stronger dash. You can cover more ground and even vault over small hurdles while dashing, which is perfect for that last burst of speed before taking opponents out. Grabbing yourself the dash perk also opens up a whole Dash skill tree, variations of which allow you to increase dash range, shoot while dashing, and recover stamina when performing dash attacks.
You can unlock Air Dash at Reflexes level 15. This allows you to dash in the air, opening up new possibilities for navigating Night Cities terrain, getting your drop on opponents, and raining down death from above.
Finishers, particularly the Bladerunner finisher, are important to this play style. This perk allows the character to perform a stylish finisher on an enemy with low health which will take out the opponent and boost the player’s health. This makes it easier than ever to go on a samurai-killing rampage against many opponents armed with guns.
Another one of the most important perks for you to get into his build is Lead and Steel. This perk allows you to block incoming projectiles with your blade, including bullets. This opens you up to a whole branch on the skill tree, notably the skill Bullet Deflect, which allows you to not just block bullets but return them to the sender and take your opponents out.
Cyberware
We’ll talk about Cyberware imminently, but the rest of the perks key to this build rely on a key piece of Cyberware. Prioritize your Reflexes first and make your early game all about adding Reflexes perks. But as the game goes on, start putting some stock into Cyberware so you can equip the Kerenzikov.
The Kerenzikov, similar to the Sandevistan, allows you to slow down time.
This puts the bullet time in your Bullet-Time Ninja build and makes the whole combo come together.
The perk Bullet Time requiring nine Reflexes takes this to the next level. It ensures that when time is slowed, your bullet deflections won’t take up stamina, allowing you to smack as many bullets back at opponents as your Ninja-heart desires. When these deflections hit opponents, they’ll automatically hit for critical hit damage as well.
Perks in this tree allow you to perform ranged attacks while you slide, dash, or dodge, and slows down time while you do so.
Weapons
This build centers on blades, with most of the perks above focusing on increasing their efficiency and your ability to close the gap to your opponents. Because of this, you’re going to want to make your main weapons blades. We recommend going for the various katanas you can find around Night City and making any of them your main. Even simple ones you can craft into something better are perfect for this build.
There are two contenders for the best katana for this build. First up is the Byakko. This katana increases your Melee range and allows you to leap to another enemy after taking one out. You’ll be doing a lot of this anyway, so having it ready on hand more often than ever before will only make you feel like more of a ninja. Anything that helps you increase your movement is also going to be key to this build.
Some would argue, on the other hand, that the best katana for this build is the Jinchu-Maru. This weapon increases its damage during a Kerenzikov slide, allowing you to glide around and deal massive damage. Both options are heavily movement-based, but this one specifically works with time, slowing mechanics, perhaps making it better for purists.
It’s less specific to this build, but many would suggest that the best katana in the game is the Scalpel, with it’s quick rate of attack and high critical hit damage. It’s also a strong option for the bullet time ninja bullet.
As your secondary, we recommend going with a submachine gun. Your reflexes will make you good with them, and with spare points for perks, you can get even better with them. Reflexes also make you good with handguns, so, at the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with either choice.
There are a lot of options, but Fenrir is probably the best for rate of fire.
