2.1 Best Smart Weapon Build
This is a guide to the best Update 2.1 Smart Weapons Build for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Read our guide for details about the build, what attributes to level up, which perks to choose, and what weapons and cyberwares to use.
List of Contents
Smart Weapons Build Overview
Basic Information
| Smart Weapons Build | |
|---|---|
| Main Attributes | |
| Main Weapons / Arm Cyberware | ・Yinglong ・Prototype: Shingen M.V / Pizdets ・Divided We Stand / Hercules 3AX ・Electrifying Monowire |
| Operating System | ・Militech Paraline MK.4 |
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
This Smart Weapons build combines the aim less, shoot more gunplay of smart submachine guns and the dubious power of quickhacks to deal as much damage as possible. Whip out as many as quickhacks as you can and follow up with a barrage of auto-targeting bullets while zipping around the field with dashes and air dashes.
Several perks are also obtained to make your target reticle bigger and improve its target lock mechanic, allowing you to shoot at multiple targets with ease.
Weaknesses
You can use this build if you want to be stealthy, but it is less effective as most of the SMG perks are better used for diving right into the center of combat.
You'll also burn through your handgun ammo quickly due to the effects of the Submachine Fun perk auto-reloading when you switch between submachine guns, so you'll need to use a smart rifle or your Monowire if a fight goes on longer.
Smart Weapons Best Attribute Build
Attribute Progression
| Build Attributes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lv. | Body | Reflex | Tech | Int | Cool |
| 1 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| 10 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 12 | 3 |
| 50 | 15 | 20 | 13 | 20 | 3 |
| 60 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 3 |
The max level is only up until 50 in the base game. Purchase Phantom Liberty to reach level 60.
This build has two main attributes: Intelligence for smart weapon and quickhacks perks and Reflexes for submachine gun and mobility perks. You'll be using quickhacks alongside with your smart weapon to deal damage, so both attributes are leveled up as you get points to make the most out of them.
The Technical Ability tree is leveled up next after maxing Intelligence and Reflexes so you can get additional stat boosts from your equipped cyberware and faster health item recharge.
A few points are allocated to Body to give you a bit of health, as well as to get health regen perks.
If you have Phantom Liberty, you can max out your Tech tree to get the Edgerunner perk, which can give you a very helpful damage boost when it activates Fury.
Smart Weapons Build Best Perks
This is the full list of perks that you can get if you achieve the maximum level 60 with the Phantom Liberty DLC. Optional perks are also listed in their own section in case you have not purchased the DLC.
| Jump to Each Attribute for Their Perks! | |
|---|---|
 Intelligence |
 Reflexes |
 Technical Ability |
 Body |
| Optional Perks | |
Intelligence Attribute
Intelligence is one of the main attributes of this build, with smart weapon and quickhack perks being under this tree. Maxing out Intelligence will also give you five extra RAM units, as you'll get one additional RAM for every 4 Intelligence points.
Once you start getting smart weapon perks, you'll be able to get a bigger targeting reticle for your guns and improved target locking.
The perks Acquisition Specialist, No Escape, Target Lock Transfer, and Targeting Prism all improve the smart weapons' target lock drastically; you'll have faster lock-on speed, and reloading and switching to another smart weapon does not break target locks. You'll also be able to keep a target lock on your enemies' heads even if you switch from aiming to hip-fire.
Over to the quickhacking tree, you can get perks that boost quickhack damage and speed up RAM regeneration. Overclock in particular will enable you to dish out multiple quickhacks easily at the cost of your health.
Both of these will then coalesce with the Smart Synergy perk. If Overclock is in effect, this perk will give your smart weapons instant target lock and a damage boost if you shoot at a target that is affected by a quickhack. If you get Spillover, your quickhacks during Overclock will have a chance to spread, thereby giving you more potential targets to quickly eliminate.
Perk List
| Main Perk | Secondary Perk(s) |
|---|---|
 Optimization
(1 pt) |
|
 Embedded Exploit
(2 pt) |
|
 Acquisition Specialist
(2 pt) |
|
 Overclock
(3 pt) |
|
 Target Lock Transfer
(3 pt) |
Proximate Propagation
Subordination
Icepick
System Overwhelm
Speculation
Siphon
Precision Subroutines
No Escape
Power Surge
Race Against Mind
Sublimation
Targeting Prism
Terminal VelocityFinal Perks
| Final Perks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Spillover
|
 Smart Synergy
|
||
Cross-Branch Perk
| Perk | Requirement |
|---|---|
 Recirculation
|
Get this perk when you have specific secondary perks unlocked.
Reflexes Attribute
All submachine gun perks, which include smart SMGs, are found under Reflexes. You'll be able to get reduced stamina costs and recoil from these perks.
Once you max Reflexes, you'll be able to get the Submachine Fun perk that speeds up weapon swapping, automatically reloads your SMGs, and increased fire rate. This means that you can endlessly shoot without ever reloading and breaking target locks (from the Target Lock Transfer perk) as long as you keep switching between two smart SMGs.
You can also access movement perks like Dash and Air Dash under this tree which you can use to zip around the field as you shoot at target locked enemies.
Perk List
| Main Perk | Secondary Perk(s) |
|---|---|
 Slippery
(1 pt) |
|
 Dash
(2 pt) |
|
 Ready, Rested, Reloaded
(2 pt) |
|
 Sharpshooter
(3 pt) |
|
 Air Dash
(3 pt) |
Muscle Memory
Multitasker
Steady Grip
Can't Touch This
Spice of Life
Tunnel Vision
Shoot to Chill
Practice Makes Perfect
Gundancer
Spray and Pray
Aerial Acrobat
AerodynamicFinal Perks
| Final Perks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Salt in the Wound
|
 Submachine Fun
|
 Tailwind
|
|
Technical Ability Attribute
After the 2.0 update, you can no longer spam health items to heal as these are now locked behind cooldowns per use, which warranted the need of some perks under the reworked Technical Ability tree to be included in this build.
The Glutton for War and Health Freak perks improve health item usage and will also lower its cooldown. These two will also benefit from buffs received from Adrenaline Rush perks, which is under the Body attribute.
You'll also get cyberware boosts from the All Things Cyber perk tree. If you have Phantom Liberty, you can use the extra perk points from the raised level cap to extend this tree and get License to Chrome and Edgerunner. Edgerunner has a chance to activate Fury, which gives you a damage boost.
Perk List
| Main Perk | Secondary Perk(s) |
|---|---|
 Glutton for War
(1 pt) |
|
 All Things Cyber
(2 pt) |
|
 Health Freak
(2 pt) |
|
 License to Chrome
(3 pt) |
First Aid
Transfusion
Chrome Constitution
Renaissance Punk
Driver Update
Borrowed Time
Field Medic
Extended WarrantyFinal Perks
| Final Perks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Edgerunner
|
|||
Body Attribute
Lastly, a few points are alloted to Body to raise your health and give you some survivability outside of using your health item.
During the early game, get level 4 Body to gain access to health regen perks. You can get Adrenaline Rush later on once you max out the Intelligence and Reflexes attributes and obtaining the necessary perks in those trees.
Perk List
| Main Perk | Secondary Perk(s) |
|---|---|
 Painkiller
(1 pt) |
|
 Adrenaline Rush
(3 pt) |
Comeback Kid
Speed Junkie
Dorph-Head
Juggernaut
Unstoppable Force
Calm MindOptional Perks
If you still have not purchased the Phantom Liberty DLC and have no access to the 10 additional perk points that came with it, these perks are optional and can be removed.
| Removable Perks (10 pts) | |
|---|---|
| -- | |
Smart Weapons Build Relic Skill Priority
Take Vulnerability Analytics and Machine Learning First
| Priority | Main Skill | → | Branch Skill |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st |
 Vulnerability Analytics
|
→ |
 Machine Learning
|
| 2nd |
 Jailbreak
|
→ |
 Data Tunneling
|
Vulnerability Analytics and Machine Learning are the main Relic skills for guns in the game, including smart weapons. These skills will highlight enemy weakspots that the target lock can aim and shoot at to deal extra damage.
Once you get these, you can next obtain Jailbreak and Data Tunneling to improve your equipped Monowire.
Relic Skill Tree Available in the DLC
Please take note that the Phantom Liberty expansion is needed to access the Relic Skill Tree.
Relic Skill Tree Guide and List
Smart Weapons Build Recommended Weapons
Base Game Only
| Recommended Weapons (Base Game only) |
||
|---|---|---|
| Yinglong | Prototype: Shingen Mark V | Divided We Stand |
- You can use Yinglong as your primary gun. It deals electric damage which you can use in combination with the Short Circuit quickhack.
- Equip Prototype: Shingen Mark V as your second SMG. Switch between the two to utilize Submachine Fun's effects.
- You can use Divided We Stand as your side smart weapon in case you run out of SMG ammo or if you need a bit more reach.
Base Game + Phantom Liberty
| Recommended Weapons (with Phantom Liberty) |
||
|---|---|---|
| Yinglong | Pizdets | Hercules 3AX |
- Pizdets will help you dish out more damage the longer it is fire, and can be used in the place of Prototype: Shingen Mark V.
- You can replace Divided We Stand with Hercules 3AX, a rifle which has poison properties that can help you deal more DPS.
Smart Weapons Build Best Cyberwares
| Jump to a Cyberware section! | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Face | Hands | Circulatory System | ||||
| Legs | Frontal Cortex | Arms | Skeleton | ||||
| Nervous System | Integumentary System | ||||||
Operating System
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Militech Paraline MK.4
|
Allows you to perform quickhacks on enemies and devices while scanning. +10% quickhack damage +2% Monowire damage per used RAM unit (max. 30%). When uploading a quickhack to an enemy, shooting them with a Smart weapon will accelerate upload speed. When Overclock is active: Smart weapons and Monowire deal bonus Electrical damage equal to 25% of normal attack damage. |
The Militech Paraline MK.4 is the only cyberdeck that give bonus effects to smart weapons. If Overclock is active, you'll be able to deal additional electric damage to your targets, adding up to the regular damage you can inflict with your quickhacks and guns.
Face
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Kiroshi "The Oracle" Optics
|
Effect active when scanning: Highlights enemies within 17.5 m.including enemies behind cover. Highlights cameras and turrets within 35m. Highlights explosive devices and traps near your crosshair within 26m. |
The Oracle variant of a Kiroshi Optics lets you track enemies, which is useful to keep track of who to kill next.
Hands
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Smart Link
|
Target Lock Duration +20% and +10% Crit Damage with Smart weapons. +2 Max RAM. |
A Smart Link is required to use the smart targeting function of smart weapons. Higher tiers of Smart Link will also give you more stat boosts.
Circulatory System
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Blood Pump
|
Activate to instantly restore 90% of max Health. Cooldown 30 sec. |
 Clutch Padding
|
-18% Stamina cost for shooting. |
 Heal-on-Kill
|
Health +7% when you neutralize an enemy. |
Blood Pump will activate Adrenaline Rush and all of its effects if you have the perk. Outside of it, you can use this as your main healing item.
Heal-on-Kill will give you additional health recovery after killing enemies, while Clutch Padding will reduce weapon recoil.
Legs
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Reinforced Tendons
|
Press Space Bar in midair to perform a double jump. |
Reinforced Tendons enable double jumping, which you can use to move around.
Frontal Cortex
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Ex-Disk
|
+6 Max RAM and +17% Upload speed for quickhacks. |
 Memory Boost
|
+1.25 RAM when you neutralize an enemy. + 1 Max RAM. |
 Ram Upgrade
|
Increase RAM recovery rate by +0.17 unit(s) per sec. +2 Max RAM. |
Ex-Disk, Memory Boost, and RAM Upgrade all give you additional RAM and RAM recovery so you can constantly keep using quickhacks even without activating Overclock.
Arms
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Electrifying Monowire
|
+1.9% Health Item Recharge Speed +3.1% Grenade Rechage Speed |
If you run out of SMG ammo, get too overwhelmed, or while waiting for your RAM to replenish, switch to your Monowire to attack. The Electric variant is chosen to stack up electric damage from the Militech Paraline MK.4 cyberdeck if Overclock is active,
If you have Phantom Liberty, you can also get the Jailbreak and Data Tunneling Relic skills to upgrade your Monowire by giving it a dedicated Control quickhack slot.
Skeleton
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Epimorphic Skeleton
|
+13% Max Health |
 Para Bellum
|
+12% Armor |
 Ram Recoup
|
Receiving damage restores RAM equal to 0.28% of damage received. +2 Max RAM |
These Skeleton cyberware are slotted in to make you more tanky by getting more health, armor, and damage reduction.
RAM Recoup will give you additional RAM and regen.
Nervous System
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Kerenzikov
|
Allows you to aim and perform ranged attacks while sliding, dodging or Dashing. Slows time by 60% for 3.5 sec. when you aim a ranged attack during a slide, dodge or Dash. Cooldown 6.5 sec. |
 Neofiber
|
+10% Mitigation Chance, +9% Mitigation Strength Mitigation grants a chance to reduce incoming damage by current Mitigation Strength (default: 50%). |
 Visual Cortex Support
|
Crit Chance increases the farther you are from the enemy (max. +28% at 30 m). |
Kerenzikov slows down time if you dash while aiming, giving you a few seconds to determine your next set of targets.
Visual Cortex Support raises your crit chance the farther you are from an enemy, which is useful while using smart weapons as you don't need to be close to your target.
Neofiber is chipped in to get additional defense stats.
Integumentary System
| Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
|---|---|
 Defenzikov
|
When Kerenzikove ends: +90% Mitigation Chance for 4 sec. Mitigation grants a chance to reduce incoming damage by current Mitigation Strength (default: 50%). +0.1% Crit Chance per Attribute Point. +2.6% Weapon Handling +2.1% Damage Over Time Resistance |
 Shock-N-Awe
|
Whenever you take damage, you have a 10% chance to release a large electroshock that deals 500 damage to nearby enemies. +0.25% activation chance for this cyberware per Attribute Point. +0.6% Explosion Damage Resistance +2.6% Explosion Damage |
 Subdermal Armor
|
+0.5 Armor per Attribute Point. +1.3% Decreased enemy vision +2.6 Health |
These cyberware will give you more defense boosts.
Shock-N-Awe's electric blast is useful if you get clumped up with a group of enemies; by then, you can follow up with attacks from your Electrifying Monowire.
Smart Weapons Build Best Quickhacks
Weapon Glitch
 Weapon Glitch |
Type / Stats |
|---|---|
| Control Quickhack RAM Requirement: 6 Upload Time: 0.3sec |
|
| Effects | |
|
▸Detonates the enemy's primary weapon, forcing them to switch to their secondary weapon which will be affected by the quickhack's core effects. ▸Causes a weapon to malfunction that reduces enemy accuracy and disables smart-targeting and cover penetration. ▸Locking onto the affected enemy with a smart weapon will extend Weapon Glitch's duration until target lock is released. ▸+6 crit chance with smart weapons for 10 seconds, whenever you upload the quickhack. Stacks 6 times. |
You can use Weapon Glitch as your initial quickhack to get rid of your target's primary weapon. Higher tiers will let you extend this quickhack's duration as long as you maintain target lock and even get bonus crit chance with your smart weapons.
After using Weapon Glitch, you can follow up with combat quickhacks, activate Overclock, and go ham with your smart weapon.
Cyberware Malfunction + Short Circuit
 Cyberware Malfunction |
Type / Stats |
|---|---|
| Control Quickhack RAM Requirement: 4 Upload Time: 0.3sec Duration Time: 10sec |
|
| Effects | |
|
▸Stacks up to 8 times. ▸Disables enemy cyberware for 10 sec. and increases all damage against affected enemy by 5%. ▸At 2 stacks, permanently disables enemy cyberware. ▸At 3 stacks, deals Electrical damage over time. The amount of damage increases with each subsequent stack. ▸At maximum stacks, enemy cyberware overloads, dealing massive damage. Cyberware Malfunction cannot be used on the same enemy again. |
|
 Short Circuit |
Type / Stats |
| Combat Quickhack RAM Requirement: 10 Upload Time: 0.5sec |
|
| Effects | |
|
▸Deals damage. Mechs, robots, drones and turrets receive additional damage. ▸+3 sec. duration for all Control quickhacks currently affecting the target. ▸+10% damage for each stack of Cyberware Malfunction affecting the enemy. This increased damage also causes the affected enemy's weakspot to explode. ▸Applies an EMP effect that deals additional damage over time. ▸+20% damage against enemies below a High threat level. |
Short Circuit adds 10% damage for every stack of Cyberware Malfunction on an enemy on top of the damage boost from the Embedded Exploit perk.
Activate Overclock, use these quickhacks, then use your smart weapons as a follow up to deal damage against enemies with a lot of health.
How to Play the Smart Weapons Build
Hack and Shoot
Your combat flow for this build is as follows: activate Overclock, use a control quickhack followed by a combat quickhack, then aim and shoot with your smart weapon.
Following this flow will enable to you utilize smart weapon and quickhack perks under the Intelligence tree and submaching gun perks under the Reflexes tree.
Equip Two Submachine Guns
Equip two smart submachine guns and swap them as you empty their magazines to take full advantage of the Submachine Fun perk.
Use this in conjunction with Overclock to deal bonus damage to enemies that are affected by a quickhack, orwhenever you activate Adrenaline Rush, Edgerunner's Fury, or if you've applied a quickhack on multiple enemies.
Use Monowire for Melee
Switch to you Monowire if you run out of SMG ammo or if it gets too crowded.
If you have Phantom Liberty, you'll be able to inflict a quickhack with your Monowire and even spread it to nearby enemies with the Jailbreak and Data Tunneling Relic skills.
