Cyberpunk 2077: Best starting Attributes for new builds

Choose your build.

Promotional art for Cyberpunk 2077's upcoming 2.0 Update.
Image via CD Projekt Red

Cyberpunk 2077 latest 2.0 update features five different attributes for you to throw points into when building your character and customizing your play style. The attributes include Reflexes, Body, Technical Ability, Intelligence, and the aptly named Cool attribute.

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This is an innovative approach compared to the classic attribute tags we’ve seen in the past, such as strength or charisma—stats that most people have come to expect—but it leaves some wondering what the best starting attributes are and what each actually does for your character.

Ultimately, your goal will be to create a build with said attributes and may need more of one certain type than another to make the build work to its fullest potential.

Best starting Attributes for builds in Cyberpunk 2077

A player riding a bike near a city as the sun sets in Cyberpunk 2077.
Your build will define you. Image via CD Projekt Red

Stealth

If you assign your starting attributes in Cyberpunk 2077 correctly, you can set yourself up for a fantastic stealthy assassin build.

Cool is going to be your main attribute for this build. Helping you keep a steady hand and clear mind in battle, Cool will allow you to sneak up on your opponents and get extra critical hit damage for attacks. This build is all about optimizing the power of a single stealth strike, so you’re going to want it to be as powerful as possible.

To do this, we recommend nixing Body—the stat for strength and stamina—in favor of Reflexes. Reflexes will help you dodge out of the way of opponents’ attacks and recoup to sneak up on them again—perfect for this play style.

As a tertiary attribute, we recommend putting some points in the Intelligence stat. This will help you disable security systems and keep a low profile.

Rush

You don’t need to sneak around in the shadows to play this game, however. Some builds like the Rush build, turn Cyberpunk into Doom—all about rushing into a room and taking down as many enemies as possible in a blaze of glory. If you want to feel like John Rambo more than John Wick, we recommend this approach.

Optimize your Technical Ability, Reflexes, and believe it or not, Intelligence to make this build your own. Your emphasis on Reflexes and Intelligence will make you a beast with almost every gun and blade in the game, able to target enemies quickly on the fly and switch up weapons based on the situation.

Your Tech Ability will help you become proficient with explosives, also important for a Rush play style. The reflexes will keep you on the run, dodging opponents and sneaking off when you need to, just like a commando.

Your body should be your secondary focus as it will help you absorb blows and use shotguns, which are great for a rushing playstyle. However, you won’t have much usage for the Cool stat. Let James Bond be cool and sneaky. You’re Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Hacker

A bustling section of Dogtown in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Image via CD Projekt Red

The Hacker role is quite unique to Cyberpunk in its emphasis on technology. Heck, there’s a whole attribute right up there next to your standard strength one about Technical Ability.

Tech doesn’t help you with obscure things either. The world of Cyberpunk is digital and a great hacker build, focusing on Technical Ability and Intelligence, is practically a sorcerer bending the world around them. With this build, you can get through locked doors and override devices that might have taken you out. You can also quickhack opponents, which can stun and eventually destroy them outright.

This build is all about finding unorthodox ways to solve solutions that are unique to this game. You’ll want to keep Reflexes as a secondary attribute in case you need to slip out of a tough situation. Cool and Body have less use to you.

Tank

Rounding out our list is a good old-fashioned tank build. While there are tons of new and innovative play styles you can lean into for your Cyberpunk character, sometimes there’s nothing quite like the classics.

For this build, you’re going to want to put as much as you can into your body. This will make you great at absorbing blows and opening up heavy weapons, shotguns, and melee weapons like the Gorilla Arms to you.

You’re also going to want to pump up your Cool and Technical Ability stats. Cool will help you land critical hits as often as you can, which is just what a tank that wants to rack up damage needs. Technical Ability will give you the option to craft weapons and keep you great with explosives, which is another important part of the tank’s game in Cyberpunk.

Author
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Christian Flynn
Christian Flynn (he/they) is a mixed race Puerto Rican writer and performer in NYC. He can be regularly seen performing in and producing comedy shows at the People's Improv Theater. His plays have been developed around the city.