Murphy's Law
| Murphy's Law | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Melee Weapon |
| Type | Blunt |
| Weapon | One-handed Club |
| Tier | Iconic |
| Armor Pen | 50% |
| Attack Speed | 1.7 |
| Charge Time | 1 s |
| Weight | 4.2 |
| Location | Dogtown |
Murphy's Law is the baton of Albert Murphy, a senior BARGHEST soldier, and an Iconic one-handed club from Phantom Liberty. It rewards a fighter who knocks enemies to the ground and keeps hitting them there. Every hit on a knocked-down enemy speeds up V's attacks, and strong attacks deal extra damage. With Body perks that cause knockdowns, V can knock an enemy down and then hit it again and again on the floor. It is only available on one branch of the story. Murphy's Law is a late Phantom Liberty reward from the main job Firestarter at the EBM Petrochem Stadium. Only players who side with Songbird can get it.
Combat
Murphy's Law is a one-handed club. Like every blunt weapon, it knocks enemies out rather than killing them. Its Iconic effect triggers on knocked-down targets. Once an enemy hits the floor, every blow against them raises V's attack speed for a short time. V can then finish them quickly before they stand up.
Strong attacks also get extra damage, so they are the best way to start. A heavy strike that knocks a target down sets up a series of fast hits on the floor. Against groups, a fighter can knock one enemy down and finish them. V can then move to the next enemy while the speed bonus is still active. Against enemies who keep their distance, a dash gets V close before the first swing.
How to Get Murphy's Law Guide
- Play Phantom Liberty to the main job Firestarter.
- At the stadium, choose to help Songbird escape instead of handing her to Reed.
- Fight through the stadium to the market area.
- Defeat Albert Murphy when he blocks the escape route.
- Loot Murphy's Law from his body.
Murphy's Law Map Location and Quest Guide
- Play the Phantom Liberty story to the main job Firestarter.
- Drive to the stadium with Alex and follow Murphy inside.
- Leave the weapons in the locker and talk to Hansen while posing as a Cassel twin.
- Follow Songbird to the Neural Matrix and choose to help her escape. Handing her to Reed loses Murphy's Law.
- Signal Alex, then fight through the secured area to the locker with V's gear.
- Wait for Songbird to open the doors, then push on into the market.
- Defeat Albert Murphy when he blocks the way.
- Loot Murphy's Law from his body.
Murphy's Law map location:
Map credit by Map Genie.
Upgrades
Murphy's Law can be raised through the tiers in the Upgrades tab of the crafting menu, like every Iconic weapon. Each tier costs crafting components, gathered by looting, crafting and breaking down unwanted gear. The baton needs to be in V's inventory to appear in the list.
The table shows what each tier step of Murphy's Law costs.
| Upgrade | Components | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 to Tier 1+ | 75 Tier 1 components | - |
| Tier 1+ to Tier 2 | 40 components | - |
| Tier 2 to Tier 2+ | 75 Tier 2 components | - |
| Tier 2+ to Tier 3 | 40 components | - |
| Tier 3 to Tier 3+ | 75 Tier 3 components | - |
| Tier 3+ to Tier 4 | 40 components | - |
| Tier 4 to Tier 4+ | 75 Tier 4 components | - |
| Tier 4+ to Tier 5 | 40 components | - |
| Tier 5 to Tier 5+ | 75 Tier 5 components | - |
| Tier 5+ to Tier 5++ | 200 Tier 5 components | Phantom Liberty |
Character Builds
Blunt weapons use the Body tree, and several of its perks work with the baton's effect. Quake unlocks a ground slam that staggers nearby enemies and can knock them down. Clapback adds Knockdown chance to defensive attacks and Stun chance to counterattacks. Kinetic Absorption rewards blocking with Stamina and extra Blunt damage. Wrecking Ball lowers the Stamina cost of Blunt attacks. It also lets V ram into enemies while sprinting and blocking. Finisher: Savage Sling adds a Blunt finisher that restores Health. Stunned enemies are easier to finish.
For cyberware, Microrotors add melee attack speed, which adds to the Iconic bonus. Adrenaline Booster returns Stamina after each melee takedown. A Berserk operating system limits V to melee weapons. In return, it removes the Stamina cost of attacks and adds attack speed while active.
Select a Build
Attributes: Body 20, Reflexes 18, Technical Ability 20, Intelligence 3, Cool 20.
The perks, cyberware and weapon mods for this build are listed below.
| Name | Image | Level | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Painkiller | 
|
Body 4 | Slow Health regeneration in combat |
| Breakthrough | 
|
Body 9 | Strong attacks strip enemy Armor for a short time |
| Kinetic Absorption | 
|
Body 9 | Blocking gives Stamina and blunt weapon damage |
| Wrecking Ball | 
|
Body 9 | Cheaper blunt attacks and a sprinting shoulder charge |
| Aftershock | 
|
Body 15 | Stamina for each enemy hit by Quake |
| Epicenter | 
|
Body 15 | Midair Quake hits harder from higher falls |
| Quake | 
|
Body 15 | Faster blunt attacks and a ground slam |
| Ripple Effect | 
|
Body 15 | Health for each enemy hit by Quake |
| Adrenaline Rush | 
|
Body 15 | More Health and the Adrenaline Rush mode |
| Calm Mind | 
|
Body 15 | Adrenaline lasts longer before it decays |
| Juggernaut | 
|
Body 15 | More speed and damage during Adrenaline Rush |
| Unstoppable Force | 
|
Body 15 | Immunity to knockdown and blinding during Adrenaline Rush |
| Finisher: Savage Sling | 
|
Body 20 | Blunt weapon finisher that can throw the enemy |
| Pain To Gain | 
|
Body 20 | Kills recharge Health items during Adrenaline Rush |
| Dash | 
|
Reflexes 9 | Dash replaces the dodge |
| Air Dash | 
|
Reflexes 15 | Dash in midair |
| Machine Learning | 
|
Relic | Crit damage builds on enemy Vulnerabilities |
| All Things Cyber | 
|
Technical Ability 9 | Stronger cyberware stats |
| Chrome Constitution | 
|
Technical Ability 9 | Less damage taken with full Skeleton and Integumentary slots |
| Built Different | 
|
Technical Ability 15 | Unlocks the Cellular Adapter cyberware |
| Cyborg | Technical Ability 15 | Shorter cyberware cooldowns with every slot filled | |
| Extended Warranty | 
|
Technical Ability 15 | Cyberware effects last longer |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blood Pump | 
|
Circulatory System | A Health item that heals over time |
| Heal-On-Kill | 
|
Circulatory System | Health on each kill |
| Self-ICE | 
|
Frontal Cortex | Blocks an enemy quickhack |
| Reinforced Tendons | 
|
Legs | Double jump |
| NeoFiber | 
|
Nervous System | More mitigation chance and strength |
Lore
Albert Murphy is a former Militech soldier who served under Kurt Hansen. When Hansen broke away and founded BARGHEST in Dogtown, Murphy went with him and rose to a high rank in the militia. The item text gives the baton its name and its mood: for when things go very, very wrong.
Firestarter is the turning point of Phantom Liberty. V and Alex arrive at the stadium disguised as the Cassel twins. Murphy meets them at the door and escorts them inside. He makes them leave their weapons in a locker before they see Hansen. After the meeting, Songbird leads V away. V must choose between helping her escape and handing her to Solomon Reed. If V helps Songbird, Alex makes her move against Hansen, and the whole stadium turns on the two agents. On the way out, Murphy leads a squad of BARGHEST soldiers to block the escape. V can slip past him or fight him, and his baton drops when he goes down.
Notes
- Siding with Reed in Firestarter makes Murphy's Law impossible to get.
- If it is missed on the Songbird path, Herold Lowe sells it at the black market in the stadium, under the same condition.
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% |