Of the five Skill Progression categories added in version 2.0 of Cyberpunk 2077, the Solo Skill is probably the least self-explanatory. Contrary to what the name might suggest, it has nothing to do with being a lone wolf or doing things alone.
If you pan over the Solo Skill in the Progression tab of your Cyberpunk Character menu, you’ll be able to see that leveling up the skill gives increased melee damage and similar bonuses, but this won’t actually enlighten you as to how this skill is actually leveled up. Using melee weapons will help, but that’s only part of the equation.
Read on to learn what the Solo Skill does in Cyberpunk 2077 and how you can quickly increase your Solo rank.
Cyberpunk 2077: Solo Skill bonuses
The Solo Skill has 60 ranks, just like all others in Cyberpunk 2077. New passive bonuses are picked up every five ranks, for a total of 12 bonuses when Solo is maxed out. You can check your current Solo rank and unlocked bonuses at any time by going to Character then Skill Progression.
Here are the bonuses for each rank:
- Rank five—Increases carrying capacity by 50.
- Rank 10—Increases Health by 10 percent.
- Rank 15—Gain one Perk Point.
- Rank 20—Increases damage and attack speed with Fists and Gorilla Arms by 20 percent. Fists now have a chance to apply Bleeding.
- Rank 25—Increases carrying capacity by 100.
- Rank 30—Increases health by 15.
- Rank 35—Gain one Perk Point.
- Rank 40—Grants 10 percent bonus Crit Chance against enemies within five meters.
- Rank 45—Grants 25 percent bonus damage with Strong Attacks and Quick Melee Attacks.
- Rank 50—Gain 25 percent bonus health after performing a Finisher.
- Rank 55—While Adrenaline Rush is active, Adrenaline decays 50 percent slower and cannot reduce below 10 percent.
- Rank 60—While Berserk is active, the enemy health threshold for finishers increases by 30 percent and you gain 50 percent more health from performing Finishers. Berserk also lasts 30 percent longer.
Increasing ranks in Solo is relatively easy at first, but you need more and more XP between ranks as the skill progresses further, so it is important to know exactly how to earn progression XP for the Solo skill if you want to reach rank 60.
Cyberpunk 2077: How to progress the Solo Skill fast
Solo can be thought of as a blunt weapon and heavy weapon skill tree. Kills with blunt force weapons, fists, Gorilla Arms, shotguns, and LMGs all grant Solo XP. There are also a number of different interactions you can make throughout Night City and Dogtown that help progress the Solo skill.
Solo is linked to the Body attribute in Cyberpunk 2077. If you go to the Body attribute page, the brief description will list some weapons and actions that Body Points buff up. Any of these actions from the Body Attribute page will give you Solo Skill XP.
The fastest ways to earn Solo XP are:
- Smash your enemies.
- This can mean fists, hammers, clubs, Gorilla Arms, etc. Any melee weapon that doesn’t cut or stab will give Solo XP.
- Level up Body and use it whenever you can.
- You’ll encounter doors that can be forced open and turrets that can be ripped from their mounts and thrown, but only if you have a high enough Body score. Any action that uses the Body attribute will grant significant Solo XP.
- Use Shotguns or LMGs.
- Smashing your Cyberpunk enemies isn’t the only way to gain Solo XP. Because shotgun and LMG proficiency is improved by putting Attribute Points into Body, these weapons will grant you Solo XP.
