With the release of the 2.0 patch for Cyberpunk 2077 and the Phantom Liberty expansion, the perk trees have gotten a massive rework. So massive that anything you knew or thought you knew about a build is pretty much out the window. But don’t worry. Your chooms at GameLuster have your back and will help you become the lean, preem, fighting machine of the “City of Dreams.” This guide will take a look at the updated Body perk tree in Cyberpunk 2077.
Your Body stat in Cyberpunk 2077 is all about brute strength. Increasing your Body stat improves your maximum health by 2 points for every attribute point spent (up to a maximum of 40). Beyond that, it’s helpful for gaining proficiency with Shotguns, Light Machine Guns, and Blunt Weapons like baseball bats. It’s also useful for forcing open certain doors in mission areas, ripping heavy machine guns off turret mounts, and utilizing intimidation-type dialogue choices. If you want to be a bruiser who doesn’t worry about little things like headshots, pinpoint accuracy, or finesse, the Body tree is likely where you’re going to be aiming the bulk of your attribute points.
Below is a list of all the perks available in the reworked Body tree and whether or not they’re worth spending your points on:
Rookie Tier (Stat Level 4)
Painkiller (Major Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This one is the keystone for the Body tree. It unlocks slow health regeneration during combat. With the way healing items have been reworked, this will likely be of great help for any character, regardless of their ultimate configuration.
Comeback Kid (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – Improves health regeneration rate by 1% for every percentage of missing health. In other words, the more damage you take, the faster you get better. You can still get flatlined, of course, but this will likely buy you a few seconds to get behind cover and out of the line of fire. It’s definitely a useful perk to pick up!
Speed Junkie (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – Grants a 60% bonus to your health regeneration rate while sprinting. As long as you can sprint, you’ll definitely heal up very quickly. The downside is that if you can’t sprint, you’re screwed.
Army Of One (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – Grants a 10% bonus to your health regeneration rate for each nearby enemy. The bigger the mob you throw yourself at, the faster your health will regenerate. If there’s a downside, it’s that downing enemies diminishes the regen rate, though this is probably offset by the fact that you’ll have less incoming damage to deal with.
Dorph-Head (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – When you use the Blood Pump cyberware or a health item like Maxdoc or Bounce Back, your Mitigation Chance is 100% for 2 seconds. Mitigation is a new mechanic, based off a new stat called Mitigation Strength, which reduces the amount of incoming damage by a certain percentage (which starts off at 50%). Two seconds of invulnerability doesn’t seem like much, but, like the Comeback Kid perk, it’ll likely keep you alive long enough to get under cover.
Fury Road (Major Perk, 1 Perk Point) – One of the new vehicle combat perks, this perk adds 50% damage to enemy vehicles in a collision while reducing the damage to your vehicle by 50%. As an added bonus, you don’t take any damage as a vehicle occupant when in a collision. If you plan to try and play bumper cars 24/7, this perk isn’t a bad one to have.
Pro Tier (Stat Level 9)
Die! Die! Die! (Major Perk, 2 Perk Points) – Featuring the war face of Rebecca from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, this perk and the Minor Perks surrounding it pertain to Shotguns, Light Machine Guns, and Heavy Machine Guns. The first point spent grants a 15% reduction in recoil when you have low levels of Stamina. The second point grants you an increasing bonus to the rate of fire as your Stamina decreases, topping out at 25% when you’re at 0 Stamina. If you plan to master the way of the boom-stick, this perk is going to be critical.
Like A Feather (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This perk eliminates the movement speed penalty for Shotguns, LMGs, and HMGs. You won’t necessarily be agile, but you will be mobile and hostile.
Don’t Stop Me Now (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This perk kicks in when you’re below 33% Stamina, bumping your Mitigation chance by 15% and your Mitigation Strength by 5%. Not a guaranteed thing, but a better-than-even chance to shrug off some damage while you’re merrily blasting away. You’ll definitely be “having a good time” with this perk!
Wrecking Ball (Major Perk, 2 Perk Points) – This perk and the Minor Perks surrounding it focus on Blunt Weapons. The first point spent reduces the Stamina cost by 15% for any attacks made with a Blunt Weapon. The second point gives you a special move, allowing you to smash into enemies and potentially knocking them down – as long as you are sprinting and holding a Blunt Weapon in a blocking position. You might not put Adam Smasher onto his chrome-plated ass, but, for the average mook, it’s probably gonna hurt them a lot more than it hurts you.
Kinetic Absorption (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – When blocking an attack with a Blunt Weapon, you get back 10% of your Stamina and gain a 30% damage bump to Blunt Weapons for the next 5 seconds. This is certainly a boon, and a not-entirely-subtle reminder that you can block attacks.
Breakthrough (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – After hitting a target with a Strong Attack, their armor is temporarily reduced by 40% for seven seconds. This certainly affords the opportunity to whale on an enemy with lighter blows, which you can deliver more rapidly.
Clapback (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This perk grants a 100% chance to knock a target down for 10 seconds with a Defensive Attack, as well as granting a 100% chance to stun a target when making a Counterattack. Paired up with the Wrecking Ball perk’s effects, you’re going to have a lot of gonks on the ground, wondering what truck ran over them!
Fly Swatter (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – A very useful perk, allowing you to reduce the incoming damage from ranged weapons by 40% when blocking with a Blunt Weapon. Maybe not as cool as slicing bullets in half with a monomolecular-edged katana, but certainly better than just being a bullet sponge.
Phenom Tier (Stat Level 15)
Adrenaline Rush (Major Perk, 3 Perk Points) – This perk and its immediate surrounding perks are all about building up the health bar and keeping you alive. The first point on this perk just gives you a flat bump of 35 points to your Maximum Health. The second point adds a 20% bonus to all health regeneration effects from all sources, pairing nicely with the Painkiller perk and its satellites. The third point unlocks Adrenaline Rush Mode. In this mode, using health items and the Blood Pump will grant a temporary buff of “Adrenaline” overlaying your health bar, up to 30% of your base Maximum Health. This effect can go up to 50% of your Maximum Health. Adrenaline behaves like temporary hit points, taking the brunt of the damage first before your regular health bar is shortened. It also decays, so this effect is best used while in the middle of a fight.
Calm Mind (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This perk adds a 3 second delay to the decaying effect of Adrenaline while in Adrenaline Rush Mode. Might not be much, but it could be the difference between life and death.
Unstoppable Force (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This perk grants immunity to movement penalties and non-damaging status effects like Knockdown or Blinded while Adrenaline Rush Mode is active. A serious boon when facing those who might try to trip you up or otherwise impede your efforts at righteous smiting.
Juggernaut (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – Rounding out the Adrenaline Rush group, this perk buffs your movement speed by 20% and damage by 10% while Adrenaline Rush Mode is active. It’s more situational than others in this group, but definitely useful in a pinch.
Spontaneous Obliteration (Major Perk, 3 Perk Points) – A direct continuation of the Die! Die! Die! perk cluster, this further improves your handling of Shotguns, Light Machine Guns, and Heavy Machine Guns. The first point adds another 15% reduction in recoil when your Stamina is low. The second point adds a 10% damage buff to nearby enemies. The third point unlocks the Obliterate special ability, a passive ability which instantly kills and dismembers enemies who have low health. The chance for Obliterate to proc increases as the enemy’s health reduces, up to a maximum of 20%. One in five gonks are going to become street slurry when you open up with a Shotgun or LMG.
Close-Quarters Carnage (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – Forget about one in five! This perk increases your chance for Obliterate to proc by 10%, giving you a roughly one-in-three chance to decorate the Street in gibs.
Skullcracker (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – With this perk, Quick Melee Attack damage is increased as your Stamina decreases, topping out at 200% damage at 0 Stamina. Helpful if you’re out of shot shells or ammo belts.
Dread (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – When blasting a target with a Shotgun, LMG, or HMG, this perk reduces the target’s armor by 15%. As an added bonus, dismembering a target spreads the effect to nearby enemies.
Rush Of Blood (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This perk gives you a 20% buff to reload speed for 8 seconds after dismembering an enemy. Given how long some Shotguns and LMGs take to reload, this perk could give you the edge you need to keep the thunder rolling.
Bloodlust (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This perk bridges the Adrenaline Rush and Spontaneous Obliteration clusters. If you’ve got Adrenaline Rush Mode active, and you dismember an enemy, you’ll get an extra 50 Adrenaline. You won’t quite be invincible, but you’ll sure do a scary impression of it during a particularly brutal firefight.
Quake (Major Perk, 3 Perk Points) – A direct continuation of the Wrecking Ball cluster, this perk further improves your Blunt Weapons handling and damage. The first point grants another 15% reduction in Stamina costs for Blunt Weapon attacks. The second point gives you a 20% to attack speed with Blunt Weapons, a real boon for two-handed weapons like Hammers. The third point unlocks the Quake special attack. Pressing the left shoulder button on a controller causes you to slam the ground with your weapon, damaging and staggering nearby enemies with a chance to knock them down. As an added bonus, if you’re in mid-air and hit the button to do a Quake attack, you’ll effectively perform a Superhero Landing. The Quake attack has a 10 second cooldown, so deploy carefully for maximum effect.
Epicenter (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – When using Quake to perform a Superhero Landing, this perk causes both the area of effect and damage to scale with your fall speed and fall distance. The perk tree doesn’t say what exactly the AoE or damage tops out at, but given some of the buildings you can jump from, you might be impacting the local real estate pretty severely.
Aftershock (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This perk will boost your Stamina by 30 points for each enemy hit by Quake. Even if used just by itself, without any aerial showmanship from a Superhero Landing, this is the sort of bonus can help you get a second wind for renewed clobbering opportunities.
Ripple Effect (Minor Perk, 1 Perk Point) – This perk bridges the Quake and Adrenaline Rush clusters, granting you 15% health for each enemy hit by Quake. If you’ve taken a beating and need to recharge, this (paired with Aftershock) will definitely put you back into the fight.
Legend Tier (Stat Level 20)
Pain To Gain (Major Perk, 1 Perk Point) – The culmination of the Painkiller and Adrenaline Rush clusters, this perk grants to a 20% buff to the recharge speed of health items after dropping an enemy while Adrenaline Rush Mode is active.
Finisher: Savage Sling (Major Perk, 1 Perk Point) – The culmination of the Wrecking Ball and Quake clusters, this perk unlocks a special finishing move for Blunt Weapons. Tapping the Interaction/Reload button near an enemy with low health will finish off the opponent and restore 20% of your health. Holding the button down will allow you to throw the enemy, killing them and damaging any enemies near the point of impact.
Rip And Tear (Major Perk, 1 Perk Point) – One of two culminating perks from the Die! Die! Die! and Spontaneous Obliteration perk clusters, this perk only affects Shotguns. The next Quick Melee Attack you make after shooting an enemy with a Shotgun will get a 100% damage buff. Conversely, the next Shotgun round you pump into an enemy after hitting them with a Quick Melee Attack will also get a 100% damage buff. It’s a vicious cycle!
Onslaught (Major Perk, 1 Perk Point) – One of two culminating perks from the Die! Die! Die! and Spontaneous Obliteration perk clusters, this perk only affects Light Machine Guns. With this perk, 20% of your ammo is refilled after neutralizing an enemy with an LMG. Not infinite ammo, to be sure, but you’re definitely going to be taking longer between reloads.
If you subscribe to the philosophy that pain is simply weakness leaving the body, then you’ve got plenty of options to bring the pain to weak sauce gonks all over Night City by specializing in the Body perk tree!
Not a fan of heavy weapons and blunt instruments? Is your Body more a bodega than a temple? Check out GameLuster’s other Cyberpunk 2077 v2.0 perk tree guides for other options!
