Katana
| Katana | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Melee Weapon |
| Type | Blade |
| Weapon | Katana |
| Armor Pen | 25% |
The Katana is the standard sword of Night City. It is a long blade for a Reflexes build that fights up close. Its cuts can cause Bleeding. With the blade perks, it can block bullets, send them back and finish enemies with a single strike. Standard katanas come in several finishes, from training blades to Arasaka and military models. Famous Iconic swords such as Satori, Jinchu-maru and Black Unicorn are built on the same sword. A plain katana is the natural way to start a sword build. A katana can be bought from Spector Cheng's melee shop in Japantown or looted from enemies at any point in the story.
Combat
The Katana is a blade. Every katana has a chance to make the target bleed. Several cuts keep dealing damage even after V moves on to the next enemy.
The blade gets most of its strength from the perks. With Lead And Steel, V can block incoming bullets with the sword. Bullet Deflect sends them back at the shooter. With these perks, a katana user can walk toward gunmen instead of hiding from them. Bullet Deflect only works while Stamina stays above a third, so V has to manage Stamina. Flash And Thunderclap turns a strong attack into a leap at an enemy in range. The leap hits harder the farther it travels. Finishers then kill weakened enemies with one strike and restore Health.
How to Get Katana Guide
- Buy a Katana from Spector Cheng's melee shop in Japantown.
- Loot one from enemies who carry it.
- Buy the crafting spec from a melee weapon seller and craft the sword.
Katana Map Location
The map shows Spector Cheng's melee shop in Japantown.
Katana map location:
Map credit by Map Genie.
Compatible Mods
8 weapon mods are compatible with Katana.
| Name | Image | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Airstrike | 
|
Raises crit chance and crit damage for midair attacks |
| Bleedout | 
|
Bleeding damage can crit |
| Cyclone | 
|
A sprint attack opens unlimited combos with stacking attack speed |
| Haemocide | 
|
Longer Bleeding and more crit chance, lower base damage |
| Pax | 
|
Makes the weapon non-lethal, more damage outside combat |
| Severance | 
|
Hits to the head or limbs of a weakened enemy can dismember and kill |
| Silencio | 
|
More crit chance and crit damage when crouched and undetected |
| Slice 'Em Up | 
|
A kill leaves enemies more open to Finishers for a short time |
Crafting Spec
Spector Cheng in Japantown sells the Katana spec. The spec lets V craft Katana in the crafting menu. Every spec in the game is listed on the Crafting Specs page.
The table shows what crafting Katana costs at each tier.
| Tier | Components |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 30 Tier 1 components |
| Tier 2 | 30 Tier 2 components |
| Tier 3 | 30 Tier 3 components |
| Tier 4 | 30 Tier 4 components |
| Tier 5 | 30 Tier 5 components |
Upgrades
A standard katana grows stronger by tier. As V levels up, shops and enemies offer higher tiers. A crafted sword is identical to a bought one of the same tier. The katana crafting spec turns crafting components into a new blade at V's current tier.
Character Builds
The blade perks are in the Reflexes tree. Lead And Steel lowers the Stamina cost of blade attacks and unlocks bullet blocking. Bullet Deflect and Bullet Time send deflected shots back at enemies. Bullet Time also makes those deflected shots crit while time is slowed. Finisher: Bladerunner raises blade attack speed and adds the blade finisher. Flash Of Steel grants movement and attack speed for a few seconds after a finisher. Slaughterhouse makes every blade attack and deflected bullet cause Bleeding. It also raises the chance to dismember bleeding enemies and restores Stamina on each dismemberment.
For cyberware, Stabber adds crit chance with blades. Microrotors raise melee attack speed, and the Adrenaline Booster restores Stamina after each melee kill. A Sandevistan such as the Dynalar Sandevistan slows time and adds crit chance and crit damage while it is active. A blade user then has time to cut through a whole group. Its mod slots take blade and melee mods. Bleedout raises the crit chance of Bleeding damage. Haemocide makes Bleeding last longer and adds crit chance, but it lowers base damage a little. Slice 'Em Up makes enemies easier to finish for a few seconds after a kill. Silencio adds crit chance while V is crouched and undetected.
Select a Build
The Sandevistan goes on when a clear path runs through three or four enemies, then goes off to save its duration. The Sandevistan is switched off before a Finisher, because the animation wastes its time. Dashes and air Dashes dodge bullets and reach the next target instantly.
Attributes: Body 20, Reflexes 20, Technical Ability 20, Intelligence 3, Cool 18.
The perks, cyberware and weapon mods for this build are listed below.
| Name | Image | Level | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Painkiller | 
|
Body 4 | Slow Health regeneration in combat |
| Adrenaline Rush | 
|
Body 15 | More Health and the Adrenaline Rush mode |
| Juggernaut | 
|
Body 15 | More speed and damage during Adrenaline Rush |
| Calm Mind | 
|
Body 15 | Adrenaline lasts longer before it decays |
| Slippery | 
|
Reflexes 4 | Harder to hit while moving fast |
| Dash | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Unlocks the Dash and makes it cheaper |
| Mad Dash | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Double Dash range toward enemies |
| Lead And Steel | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Block bullets with Blades |
| Bullet Deflect | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Blocked bullets fly back at the aim point |
| Seeing Double | Reflexes 9 | Counterattacks hit harder and can stun | |
| Flash And Thunderclap | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Strong attacks leap to nearby enemies |
| Air Dash | 
|
Reflexes 15 | Dash in midair |
| Finisher: Bladerunner | 
|
Reflexes 15 | Faster Blade attacks and a Blade Finisher that heals |
| Flash Of Steel | 
|
Reflexes 15 | Faster movement and attacks after a Finisher |
| Opportunist | 
|
Reflexes 15 | Stunned, staggered and bleeding enemies are easier to finish |
| Going The Distance | 
|
Reflexes 15 | Double Finisher range |
| Slaughterhouse | Reflexes 20 | Every Blade hit applies Bleeding | |
| Tailwind | 
|
Reflexes 20 | Stamina back from Air Dashes and double jumps |
| Glutton For War | 
|
Technical Ability 4 | Kills recharge Health items and grenades |
| Health Freak | 
|
Technical Ability 9 | One more Health item charge and faster recharge |
| All Things Cyber | 
|
Technical Ability 9 | Stronger cyberware stats |
| License To Chrome | 
|
Technical Ability 15 | Stronger cyberware, more armor and a Skeleton slot |
| Edgerunner | Technical Ability 20 | Cyberware past the capacity limit for a small Health cost |
| Name | Image | Slot | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biomonitor | 
|
Circulatory System | Uses a Health item when Health runs low |
| Reinforced Tendons | 
|
Legs | Double jump |
| Stabber | 
|
Nervous System | More crit chance with Blades and throwables |
| NeoFiber | 
|
Nervous System | More Mitigation Chance and Strength |
| Militech Apogee Sandevistan | Operating System | Slows time by 85% with crit bonuses | |
| Dense Marrow | 
|
Skeleton | More melee damage |
| Name | Image | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Cyclone | 
|
Endless combo for a few seconds after a sprint attack |
| Severance | 
|
Chance to dismember and kill enemies below half Health |
Notes
- Black Unicorn, Byakko, Cocktail Stick, Errata, Jinchu-maru, Satori, Scalpel and Tsumetogi are Iconic variants of the Katana.
Weapon Categories
All Melee Weapons
Every melee weapon is listed below. The Iconic weapons come first, then the standard ones.
Iconic Melee Weapons
| Name | Image | Weapon | Headshot | Armor Pen | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agaou | 
|
Axe | +125% | 25% | Dogtown |
| BFC 9000 | 
|
One-Handed Club | Rancho Coronado | ||
| Baby Boomer | 
|
Two-Handed Club | 25% | ||
| Baseball Bat x-MOD2 | 
|
Two-Handed Club | Dogtown | ||
| Black Unicorn | 
|
Katana | 25% | ||
| Blue Fang | 
|
Knife | +150% | Badlands South | |
| Butcher's Cleaver | 
|
Knife | 25% | Coastview | |
| Byakko | 
|
Katana | 25% | Little China | |
| Caretaker's Spade | 
|
Hammer | 25% | Corpo Plaza | |
| Claw x-MOD2 | 
|
Axe | |||
| Cocktail Stick | 
|
Katana | 25% | Japantown | |
| Cottonmouth | 
|
One-Handed Club | 25% | Japantown | |
| Crowbar | 
|
One-Handed Club | |||
| Cut-o-Matic x-MOD2 | 
|
Chainsword | Dogtown | ||
| Errata | 
|
Katana | 25% | Arroyo | |
| Fang | 
|
Knife | +50% | ||
| Gold-Plated Baseball Bat | 
|
Two-Handed Club | 25% | North Oak | |
| Gwynbleidd | 
|
Sword | |||
| Headhunter | 
|
Knife | +150% | West Wind Estate | |
| Jinchu-Maru | 
|
Katana | 25% | Japantown | |
| Murphy's Law | 
|
One-handed Club | 50% | Dogtown | |
| Nehan | 
|
Knife | +150% | Arasaka Waterfront | |
| Sasquatch's Hammer | 
|
Hammer | 75% | Coastview | |
| Satori | 
|
Katana | 25% | Arasaka Waterfront | |
| Scalpel | 
|
Katana | 25% | Northside | |
| Sir John Phallustiff | 
|
Blunt | 25% | Kabuki | |
| Stinger | 
|
Knife | +150% | Badlands East | |
| Tinker Bell | 
|
One-Handed Club | 50% | Badlands East | |
| Tsumetogi | 
|
Katana | 25% | Japantown | |
| Volkodav | 
|
Machete | 25% | Dogtown |
Standard Melee Weapons
| Name | Image | Weapon | Headshot | Armor Pen | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball Bat | 
|
Two-Handed Club | 25% | ||
| Chef's Knife | 
|
Knife | +150% | ||
| Claw | 
|
Axe | +125% | 25% | |
| Cut-O-Matic | 
|
Chainsword | 50% | ||
| Electric Baton Alpha | 
|
One-Handed Club | Rancho Coronado | ||
| Electric Baton Beta | 
|
One-Handed Club | 50% | ||
| Electric Baton Gamma | 
|
One-Handed Club | 50% | ||
| Hammer | 
|
Hammer | 25% | ||
| Kaiken | 
|
Knife | +150% | ||
| Kanabo | 
|
Two-Handed Club | 25% | ||
| Katana | 
|
Katana | 25% | ||
| Knife | 
|
Knife | +200% | ||
| Kukri | 
|
Machete | 25% | ||
| Machete | 
|
Machete | 25% | ||
| Neurotoxin Knife | 
|
Knife | +150% | ||
| Punknife | 
|
Knife | +150% | ||
| Razor | 
|
Machete | 25% | ||
| Steel Pipe | 
|
One-Handed Club | 25% | ||
| Tire Iron | 
|
One-Handed Club | 25% | ||
| Tomahawk | 
|
Axe | +125% | 25% |