Perks

Perks are where a build takes its shape. They are bought with perk points inside one of its trees, and each one sits behind a gate that only opens once enough attribute points have gone into that tree. Five of the trees belong to the attributes, Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence and Cool, and the sixth is Relic, bought with Relic points instead.

Best Perks

The perks below are the ones each tree is built around. A branch is bought through most of them, and the rest unlock an ability nothing else provides.

Name	Image	Attribute	Tier	Effect
Painkiller		Body	Rookie (4)	Unlocks slow Health Regen in combat.
Adrenaline Rush		Body	Phenom (15)	+35 max Health
Spontaneous Obliteration		Body	Phenom (15)	+12.5% Crit Chance at low Stamina.
Quake		Body	Phenom (15)	-15% Stamina cost for attacks with Blunt Weapons.
Slippery		Reflexes	Rookie (4)	The faster you move, the more difficult for enemies to shoot you. Effect increases when Dashing, dodging, sliding, sprinting and vaulting.
Dash		Reflexes	Pro (9)	-20% Stamina cost for dodging and dashing.
Lead And Steel		Reflexes	Pro (9)	-15% Stamina cost attacks with Blades.
Sharpshooter		Reflexes	Phenom (15)	+15% aim speed.
Finisher: Bladerunner		Reflexes	Phenom (15)	-15% Stamina cost attacks with Blades.
All Things Cyber		Technical Ability	Pro (9)	+10% to all cyberware stat modifiers
License To Chrome		Technical Ability	Phenom (15)	+10% to all cyberware stat modifiers.
Pyromania		Technical Ability	Phenom (15)	+8% recharge speed for Health Items and grenades.
Bolt		Technical Ability	Phenom (15)	+20% charge speed for Tech Weapons.
Health Freak		Technical Ability	Pro (9)	+8% recharge speed for Health Items and grenades.
Optimization		Intelligence	Rookie (4)	+35% RAM recovery rate.
Embedded Exploit		Intelligence	Pro (9)	+10% RAM recovery rate.
Overclock		Intelligence	Phenom (15)	+10% RAM recovery rate.
Queue Acceleration		Intelligence	Phenom (15)	+1 Max RAM.
Acquisition Specialist		Intelligence	-	+10% larger target reticle for Smart Weapons.
Feline Footwork		Cool	Rookie (4)	When crouched: +15% Movement Speed. +15% Mitigation Chance. Mitigation grants a chance to reduce incoming damage by current Mitigation Strength (default 50%.)
Focus		Cool	Pro (9)	+10% Headshot and Weakspot damage
Deadeye		Cool	Phenom (15)	+10% headshot and weak spot damage.
Ninjutsu		Cool	Phenom (15)	+15% Movement Speed.
Juggler		Cool	Phenom (15)	-15% recovery time for throwable weapons.
Scorpion Sting		Cool	Pro (9)	-15% recovery time for throwable weapons.
Jailbreak		Relic	3 Relic points	Unlocks new abilities for Arm cyberware: Mantis Blades, Gorilla Arms, Projectile Launch System and Monowire.
Vulnerability Analytics		Relic	3 Relic points	During combat, you can now detect Vulnerabilities in enemy Armor and cyberware. Hitting Vulnerabilities gives: 100% Crit Chance. +25% Armor penetration. Weakspot damage bonuses. Dealing enough damage to a Vulnerability will cause it to explode, generating an EMP blast that damages enemies within 3m.
Machine Learning		Relic	1 Relic point	Destroying an enemy's Vulnerability grants: +10% Frequency of new Vulnerabilities appearing. +5% Crit Damage against Vulnerabilities. Duration: 25 sec. Effect and duration can stack 5 times. Reaching max stacks doubles these effects.

Gates

The gates in an attribute tree are named Rookie, Pro, Phenom and Legend. Rookie opens with the first points, Pro after a solid run, Phenom deep into a serious investment, and Legend only when nearly everything V can spend is in one attribute.

The gate is the real limit. Perk points are plentiful enough that most builds can buy what they want, while the gates decide what is available at all. That is why a build is described by how tall its attributes are rather than by how many perks it owns.

Branches

Each tree is organised into branches, and a branch is bought through a single perk. Painkiller opens the Body healing branch, Lead And Steel opens the Reflexes blade branch, Pyromania opens the Technical Ability explosives branch, Embedded Exploit opens the Intelligence netrunning branch, and Focus opens the Cool marksman branch.

Those payoff perks usually have two or three levels, and the last level is where an ability appears rather than a number. Adrenaline Rush ends in a second health bar, Quake in a ground slam, Bolt in a new kind of shot, Overclock in a mode that lets hacks be paid for with health, and Ninjutsu in a silent sprint.

The smaller perks above a payoff refine whatever it unlocked. They are cheap, they are numerous, and almost none of them do anything on their own.

Conditions

Many perks apply only to one group of weapons, and the group is always the one its attribute improves. A Body perk that reads shotguns, light machine guns and heavy machine guns is useless to a build carrying a katana, however many points are in Body.

Others read a mode or an implant by name. Dorph-Head reads the Blood Pump, Air Kerenzikov reads the Kerenzikov, Road Warrior reads the Sandevistan, and the Relic arm perks read whichever arm cyberware V has installed. Those conditions are listed on each perk's own page.

Relic Perks

The Relic tree is paced separately. Its points come from Phantom Liberty rather than from levelling, and its perks unlock abilities rather than raising numbers. Jailbreak gives every arm implant something new to do, and Vulnerability Analytics shows V weak points in enemy armour and cyberware that can be hit for guaranteed critical hits.

Where Perk Points Come From

Perk points arrive with character levels, from several of the skill rewards, and from perk shards found in the world. They are not tied to a tree, so a point earned by levelling the Solo skill can be spent in the Cool tree.

Notes

A respec is possible, so a build is not permanent, but the cost of changing course climbs with each one. Reading a branch from its payoff perk downwards before spending anything is the cheapest way to plan, since a branch bought from the top down leaves points in perks that have nothing to modify.

All Perks

Body PerksReflexes PerksTechnical Ability PerksIntelligence PerksCool PerksRelic Perks

Every relic perk in the game is listed below.

Name	Image	Cost	Requires	Effect
Data Tunneling		1 Relic point	-	When an enemy is affected by a Monowire-uploaded quickhack, normal Monowire attacks which hit that enemy and other enemies simultaneously, will spread the quickhack to them.
Emergency Cloaking		-	-	Improves Optical Camo cyberware. Activating Optical Camo during combat will cause enemies to lose track of you, giving you a chance to exit combat. Note: To use this ability you must have Optical Camo equipped to your Combat Gadget quickslot.
Jailbreak		3 Relic points	-	Unlocks new abilities for Arm cyberware: Mantis Blades, Gorilla Arms, Projectile Launch System and Monowire.
Launch Capacity Override		1 Relic point	-	Increases the number of Projectile Launch System charges by 1.
Limiter Removal		1 Relic point	-	The shockwave from a charged Gorilla Arms attack now knocks down all enemies within range.
Machine Learning		1 Relic point	-	Destroying an enemy's Vulnerability grants: +10% Frequency of new Vulnerabilities appearing. +5% Crit Damage against Vulnerabilities. Duration: 25 sec. Effect and duration can stack 5 times. Reaching max stacks doubles these effects.
Sensory Protocol		1 Relic point	-	When crouched, being detected by an enemy will temporarily slow down time. Dodge or Dash out of the enemy's line of sight to immediately exit combat. Cooldown: 120 sec.
Spatial Mapping		1 Relic point	-	All Leap Attacks with Mantis Blades now cripple enemies and increase dismemberment chance against those same enemies for 10 sec.
Vulnerability Analytics		3 Relic points	-	During combat, you can now detect Vulnerabilities in enemy Armor and cyberware. Hitting Vulnerabilities gives: 100% Crit Chance. +25% Armor penetration. Weakspot damage bonuses. Dealing enough damage to a Vulnerability will cause it to explode, generating an EMP blast that damages enemies within 3m.