Progression

Progression in Cyberpunk 2077 rests on three parts that feed each other. Attributes are the points V spends to decide what kind of mercenary V is. Skills rise on their own from the way V fights and hand over rewards for it. Perks are bought with their own points inside an attribute's tree and are where a build actually takes shape. None of the three can be understood without the other two.

Attributes

There are the ones V raises with attribute points, Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence and Cool, and the Relic tree, which is not raised with points at all. Each of the five decides a basic number, improves a set of weapons, and opens dialogue and world checks of its own.

Attribute points arrive with character levels, and they are the scarcest thing in the game. A point spent in Body cannot be moved to Cool later, which is why the first real decision a player makes is how broadly to spread them. A tall attribute reaches the deepest perks and a broad spread reaches more branches and more checks.

Skills

Each attribute has a skill attached to it. Solo rises with Body, Shinobi with Reflexes, Engineer with Technical Ability, Netrunner with Intelligence and Headhunter with Cool.

Nothing is spent on them. They climb from the actions the attribute is built around, and at every fifth level they hand something over, from carrying capacity and armour early on to large changes to a build's signature abilities later. Some of those rewards are perk points, which makes the skills a quiet second source of them.

The attribute caps how high its skill can rise, so a build that leaves an attribute low never sees that skill's later rewards whatever it does.

Perks

Perks are bought with perk points inside a tree, and each one sits behind a gate that opens as attribute points go in. The gates are named Rookie, Pro, Phenom and Legend, and they are what limits a build rather than the number of points available.

Most trees are organised into branches, each bought through a single payoff perk. Those payoff perks usually have several levels, and the last level is where an ability appears rather than a number. The smaller perks above them refine whatever the payoff unlocked.

The Relic tree works differently. Its perks are bought with Relic points earned through Phantom Liberty, and they unlock abilities on V's arm cyberware or hand over a new way of reading enemies.

Where the Points Come From

Attribute points come from character levels. Perk points come from character levels as well, from several skill rewards, and from perk shards found in the world. Relic points come from the expansion's own progression.

Respeccing is possible, which means a build is not permanent, but the cost of changing course climbs. Planning a route through a tree before spending is still the cheaper approach.

Notes

A build is usually described by its tallest attribute and the branch it bought, such as a Body build running the blunt weapon branch or an Intelligence build running queues. Most serious builds carry more than one attribute, since the checks and the cyberware capacity of a second attribute are worth as much as the deepest perk of the first.

Technical Ability is the attribute every build borrows from, because cyberware capacity and armour help all of them, and Renaissance Punk in that tree specifically rewards spreading points around.

Progression Categories