Cyberpunk 2077 Beginner's Guide: A Post-2.0 Start

Update 2.0 rebuilt Cyberpunk 2077's progression from the ground up, so even returning players are effectively beginners again. This guide covers the attributes and perks that matter first, how to pick a playstyle, the reworked cyberware and armor system, and when to jump into Phantom Liberty.

The five attributes and what they do

Your build revolves around five attributes: Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence, and Cool. You start with three points in each and gain more as you level, but you will never max all five in one run, so treat attribute points as your most important long-term decision.

Body governs health, melee, shotguns and light machine guns, plus brute-force options like ripping open doors. Reflexes covers mobility, blades, pistols and assault rifles, and adds critical-hit chance. Technical Ability unlocks tech weapons, crafting, and crucially your Cyberware Capacity, which decides how many implants you can wear. Intelligence powers quickhacking and the netrunner fantasy. Cool boosts stealth, headshot damage, and how much punishment you can take under fire.

You can refund perk points for free at any time, so experiment freely there. Attribute points are far harder to walk back, so spend them deliberately and lean into one or two attributes rather than spreading thin.

Picking a playstyle: netrunner, blades, or guns

Netrunners pump Intelligence, install a strong Cyberdeck at a ripperdoc, and kill from cover by uploading quickhacks like Contagion, Overheat and the crowd-clearing ultimates. It is the most forgiving early style because you can weaken or wipe rooms before anyone sees you.

Blades and melee lean on Reflexes plus Cool for stealth, built around Mantis Blades or a Katana and the Sandevistan cyberware, which slows time so you can dash between enemies. It is high-skill but devastating once your reflexes and cyberware come online.

Gun builds are the easiest entry point. Reflexes suits pistols and assault rifles, Body suits shotguns and LMGs, and Technical Ability suits tech weapons that shoot through walls. You do not have to choose perfectly on day one, but pointing most of your early attribute points at a single fantasy makes the first ten hours smoother.

How perks and skills work after 2.0

Perks are bought with perk points inside each attribute's tree, and deeper, stronger perks are gated behind how many total points you have invested in that attribute. That means committing to an attribute unlocks its best perks, another reason to specialize.

Skills are separate and level up passively as you play. Each of the five skill lines is tied to an attribute: Solo (Body), Shinobi (Reflexes), Engineer (Technical Ability), Netrunner (Intelligence) and Headhunter (Cool). Using shotguns raises Solo, hacking raises Netrunner, and so on, with milestone rewards for reaching new skill levels. You do not manage these directly, so just play the style you enjoy and the bonuses accrue.

Cyberware and the armor-from-cyberware change

The biggest 2.0 shift for newcomers: armor no longer comes from clothing. Jackets, pants and boots are now purely cosmetic, so wear whatever looks best and use the wardrobe for outfits. Your defense comes from cyberware instead, with many implants adding an armor value shown on the cyberware screen.

Ripperdocs install cyberware into body slots, but you are limited by Cyberware Capacity, so you cannot fill every slot at once. Capacity grows as you level and through Technical Ability perks, so early on you must choose implants that fit your build rather than grabbing everything. Prioritize a good Operating System (Cyberdeck for netrunners, Sandevistan for melee, or a Berserk for tanks), plus survivability implants like the Second Heart before splurging on flashy extras.

Your first few hours, step by step

1. Finish the prologue and the heist, then take a breath in Act 2 where the open world truly opens up.
2. Decide your fantasy (netrunner, blades, or guns) and pour early attribute points into its lead attribute.
3. Visit a ripperdoc and install your core Operating System plus at least one armor or health implant.
4. Loot everything, sell spare weapons and junk for eddies, and dismantle only when you need crafting parts.
5. Clear nearby NCPD scanner hustles and early gigs, which hand out fast money and XP for little time.
6. Buy or upgrade one reliable weapon rather than hoarding cash, and keep a healing item mapped to a hotkey.

When to start Phantom Liberty

Phantom Liberty becomes reachable early in Act 2. Shortly after the mission Playing for Time, you get a call from the netrunner Songbird that opens the district of Dogtown and the expansion's spy-thriller storyline, which also grants the extra Relic skill tree.

You can technically enter as soon as it unlocks, but Dogtown enemies hit hard, so most players are more comfortable building up first, roughly the mid-teens in level or beyond, with a settled playstyle and a few solid cyberware pieces. It is genuinely excellent content, so it is worth waiting until your V can hold their own rather than rushing in underpowered.