2.0 Skills - How to Level Up Skills and Progression Guide
There are 5 skills in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty: the Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo, and Engineer skills. Read on to learn more about the new Skills and Skill Progression Rewards, and find out how to level up each of your skills while playing!
List of Contents
How to Level Up Skills
Headhunter Skill
| All Skills in Cyberpunk 2077 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headhunter | Netrunner | Shinobi | |||
| Solo | Engineer | ||||
Stealth builds like the Assassin or builds that use perks from the Cool perk tree will have an easier time leveling up Headhunter due to their playstyle. To see vulnerabilities in combat, make sure to get the Vulnerability Analytics Relic Skill if you have the DLC.
Headhunter Skill and How to Level Up
Headhunter Skill Progression Rewards
| Headhunter Skill Progression | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Decreases Visibility to Enemies by 10%. | 35 | +1 Perk Point |
| 10 | +10% headshot damage. +10% damage against Vulnerabilities. |
40 | Optical Camo is active while grappling enemies. |
| 15 | +1 Perk Point | 45 | Decreases Recovery time after a throw by 30%. |
| 20 | No weapon sway when crouched. | 50 | 30% faster when crouch-walking and crouch-sprinting. |
| 25 | Decreases Visibility to Enemies by 10%. | 55 | Damage bonuses from being undetected outside of combat persist for 3 sec. after entering combat. |
| 30 | +15% headshot damage. +15% damage against Vulnerabilities. |
60 | +15% Optical Camo charge when neutralizing an enemy while undetected, during Focus, during Deadeye, or with a thrown weapon. |
Netrunner Skill
| All Skills in Cyberpunk 2077 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headhunter | Netrunner | Shinobi | |||
| Solo | Engineer | ||||
Players who want to level this up quickly should invest in builds and perks centered around the Intelligence attribute. We recommend a Quickhack-focused build to do this.
Netrunner Skill and How to Level Up
Netrunner Skill Progression Rewards
| Netrunner Skill Progression | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Increases RAM Recovery Rate by 5%. | 35 | +1 Perk Point |
| 10 | Increases RAM by 1. | 40 | -20% RAM cost for quickhacks used on devices and vehicles. |
| 15 | +1 Perk Point | 45 | +15% duration for Control and Covert quickhacks. +5% damage with Combat quickhacks. |
| 20 | +20% lock-on range with Smart weapons. | 50 | +40% duration for Overclock. |
| 25 | Increases Ram Recovery Rate by 5%. | 55 | -10% Health loss from using quickhacks during Overclock. |
| 30 | Increases RAM by 1. | 60 | When active, Overclock now reveals enemies within 10m and allows you to quickhack non-netrunner enemies through cover. |
Shinobi Skill
| All Skills in Cyberpunk 2077 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headhunter | Netrunner | Shinobi | |||
| Solo | Engineer | ||||
The Shinobi skill can be leveled up through the following methods:
-
▸ Neutralize enemies with Blades (Mantis Blades included).
▸ Neutralize enemies with Assault Rifles or SMGs.
▸ Moving around using perks like Dash or Air Dash.
Players who want to quickly level this skill up should use a Blade Build since this will be the easiest way to rack up Shinobi Skill XP.
Shinobi Skill and How to Level Up
Shinobi Skill Progression Rewards
| Shinobi Skill Progression | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Increases Movement Speed by 5%. | 35 | +1 Perk Point |
| 10 | +5% Stamina cost from dodging and Dashing. | 40 | Increased Mitigation Chance the faster you move. |
| 15 | +1 Perk Point | 45 | +25% damage with Fast Attacks |
| 20 | Increased accuracy for a short time after dodging or Dashing. | 50 | Air Dashing and sliding automatically reload 20% of your equipped weapon. |
| 25 | Increases Movement Speed by 5%. | 55 | When attacking from midair or while time is slowed, low Stamina does not affect ranged accuracy or melee attack speed. |
| 30 | -10% Stamina cost from dodging and Dashing. | 60 | When Sandevistan is active gain +40% Crit Chance and no Stamina cost for any type of movement. |
Solo Skill
| All Skills in Cyberpunk 2077 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headhunter | Netrunner | Shinobi | |||
| Solo | Engineer | ||||
The Solo skill can be leveled up by using Body-related weapons, such as:
-
▸ Shotguns
▸ Light Machine Guns
▸ Blunt Weapons
▸ Gorilla Arms Cyberware
Players who want to level up their Solo Skill will benefit from using a blunt weapons build like the Bonk Build. Do note that this skill heavily deviates in playstyle from what the Shinobi skill encourages. Despite both granting XP for melee combat, you will not be able to level up both skills at the same time.
Solo Skill and How to Level Up
Solo Skill Progression Rewards
| Solo Skill Progression | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Increases Carrying Capacity by 50. | 35 | +1 Perk Point |
| 10 | Increases Health by 10. | 40 | +10% Crit Chance against enemies within 5m. |
| 15 | +1 Perk Point | 45 | +25% damage with Strong Attacks and Quick Melee Attacks. |
| 20 | Fists and Gorilla Arms have +20% damage and attack speed. Fists also have a chance to apply Bleeding. | 50 | +25% Health after performing a Finisher. |
| 25 | Increases Carrying Capacity by 100. | 55 | When Adrenaline Rush is active, Adrenaline decays 50% slower and cannot decay below 10%. |
| 30 | Increases Health by 15. | 60 | When Berserk is active: +30% enemy Health threshold to perform Finishers, +50% Health from performing Finishers, and +30% Berserk duration. |
Engineer Skill
| All Skills in Cyberpunk 2077 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headhunter | Netrunner | Shinobi | |||
| Solo | Engineer | ||||
Engineer is a skill to focus on when players want to increase their armor and cyberware capacity. Using a Tech Weapon-focused build will easily level up this skill.
Engineer Skill and How to Level Up
Engineer Skill Progression Rewards
| Engineer Skill Progression | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Increases Armor by 15. | 35 | +1 Perk Point |
| 10 | Increases Cyberware Capacity by 5. | 40 | Increased Shock chance from charging a Tech weapon or electric baton. |
| 15 | +1 Perk Point | 45 | +15% Health Item effectiveness. |
| 20 | +10% grenade damage and explosion radius. | 50 | +30% to all cyberware stat modifiers. |
| 25 | Increases Armor by 25. | 55 | +10% damage and +40% Burn chance with Bolt shots. Chain Lightning now also sets enemies on fire. |
| 30 | Increases Cyberware Capacity by 10. | 60 | When Fury is active, you occasionally release an EMP blast. |
Best Skills to Level Up
 Notice from XGamer |
Each of the 5 skills cater to different playstyles in the game. This list picks the skills that are great to level up in general because of the benefits they offer. |
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Solo Skill for Increased Carrying Capacity
Since 2.0 removed the Body attribute, there is no longer a sure-fire way to increase your Carrying Capacity outside of finding Carrying Capacity Shards. For an easy, +150 Carrying Capacity, make sure to level up your Solo Skill to Rank 25.
Netrunner to Reduce the RAM Restrictions
When first starting the game, many players will not really have access to alternative cyberware outside of V's default cyberdeck.
To make the most of your proto-Netrunner build, make sure to level up your Netrunner skill and get the extra RAM and RAM recovery rate from its skill progression rewards.
Engineer Skill to Increase Cyberware Capacity
Slotting in the right Cyberwares for your playstyle will make V more powerful. However, your cyberware capacity is limited.
Along with collecting Cyberware Capacity Shards, leveling up the Engineer skill will get you as much Cyberware Capacity as you can. This will allow you to equip more cyberware ideal for your playstyle.
How Does Skill Progression Work?
Earn XP for Performing Actions Related to the Skill
Much like in the previous versions of Cyberpunk 2077, Skills in Phantom Liberty only require you to perform actions related to them in order to get Skill Progression XP. The amount of XP will vary based on the action.
Reach Skill Level Intervals to Get Passive Rewards
Players will receive passive bonuses for each increment of 5 reached in the Skill Progression table. Bonuses can range from extra perk points, more carrying capacity, increased base stats, or even Perk modifiers.
Reach Rank 35 for Each Skill to Get 10 Extra Perk Points
Reaching Ranks 15 and 35 for any of the skills will grant you +1 Perk Point each. Raise all 5 of your skills to Rank 35 to get a total bonus of 10 Perk Points.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Related Guides
Cyberpunk 2077 Guide & Walkthrough
