Cyberpunk 2077 Gun Fu Build

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Introduction to the Gun-Fu Expert Build

Gun-Fu Builds in Cyberpunk 2077 specialize in close range, time-slowed Pistols and Hand-to-hand combat! Ready to bust some heads and blast some brains? Read on!

Starting Attributes

Let’s talk starting attributes first. Our primary combat attribute which will improve our Pistols and Revolvers as well as give us access to some important Cyberware options will be the Reflexes Attribute. This will give you an early advantage in the game giving you access to the Handguns Skill Tree and Perks and also make it easier to pick up a Sandevistan Cyberware. I recommend you start with 6 total points in Reflexes.

The next attribute we need to invest in early on is the Body Attribute. The Body Attribute is required to unlock some essential Perks from the Atheltics Skill Tree such as firing and reloading weapons while moving, so make sure to start with 6 points here as well.

Your final starting attribute point is best spent on the Cool Attribute. Cool allows this build to improve both Cold Blood and Ninjutsu which will both provide some powerful late game Perks. Put your final starting point here for a total of 4 Attribute Points into Cool.

Suggested Starting Stats.

Attribute Progression

You’ll earn 49 additional Attribute points throughout your journey to level 50 in Cyberpunk 2077. The recommended distribution for the David Martinez build is as follows:

Body: 18 (+12)
Reflexes: 18 (+12)
Tech: 18 (+15)
Int: 3 (+0)
Cool: 14 (+10)

Life Path

With our heavy focus on Cyberware use as well as assassin style training I believe that a Corpo background fits this Gun Fu Killer type of build the best. Of course, you can adapt this as you see fit based on your favorite character background.

Weapons And Gear

The focus of this build in terms of firepower is going to be Pistols, firing off as many shots in quick succession as possible and with a high level of accuracy. Any basic Pistol combined with our Perks and Cyberware recommendations will be a powerful combination for this build in Cyberpunk 2077.

For example, the Dying Night Iconic Pistol can be found from the gun vendor outside V’s Apartment right at the start and can be amazing when fully upgraded due to its increased Headshot Damage and reduced reload speed.

If you’d like to eventually upgrade to something with more punch and flash then Johnny Silverhand’s custom Malorian Arms 3516 will do the job. Not only can this piece do massive headshot damage with the right Perks but it also has a custom reload animation that spins the gun for maximum style points!

It addition to our guns, it will be important to have a powerful melee option on this build for dealing with enemies at extremely close range. Keep in mind also that melee weapons such as Katanas, Blunt Weapons, and even Gorilla Arms move with enhanced speed while you are using a Sandevistan, while bullets still move at a slower speed, making melee weapons ideal for dealing with other Time-dilation powered enemies like Max Tac.

My favorite option on this build for melee combat is the Katana, which has many powerful Perks and can easily combo to slice through multiple enemies at once at close range.

Armor

For armor, try to pick up gear pieces that have as many mod slots as possible. Using Armor Mods as we will see below can greatly transform the power of this build.

Armor Mods

A wide variety of stat-boosting Armor Mods are also available in Cyberpunk 2077. Keep an eye out for any legendary mods that may drop from random encounters in Night City. My favorite option is the Fortuna Clothing Mod which increases Critical Chance. This will be ideal for upping our damage in all encounters.

Cyberware

The central piece of Cyberware used by any Gun-Fu style build in Cyberpunk 2077 is the Sandevistan. This powerful Cyberware piece can slow down time to a fraction, allowing this build to easily avoid damage and even get off several headshots before our enemies can even blink!

A powerful Sandevistan option that you can get fairly early in Cyberpunk 2077 is the QianT Sandevistan Mk. 4. This powerful Cyberware only requires 15 Reflexes to use and can be purchased with a relatively low Street Cred of 27. This amazing piece of Cyberware can be found from Fingers in Japantown.

A Bioconductor, which attaches to the Circulatory System, will be another very useful piece of Cyberware for this build as it can reduce our Sandevistan Cooldown by 10% – 30% depending on the rarity. The legendary Bioconductor can be obtained from the Nomad’s Ripperdoc in the Badlands and will reduce our Sandevistan cooldown from 15 seconds to 10 seconds! If you’ve already progressed the story far enough his location eventually changes to the Nomad Camp near the North edge of the Badlands as shown below.

The Heal-On-Kill Cyberware connected to the Frontal Cortex will be a powerful addition to this build as it instantly restores back up to 10% Health for each kill – and kills come fast on this build!

Cassius Ryder located in the Northside area of Watson sells the legendary version of this Cyberware though it does require at least 18 in the Reflexes attribute.

Cyberware Mods

The most important mods you’ll want to search out when building out a Sandevistan / Time-dilation specialist is the Heat Sink which reduces the Sandevistan cooldown between 2 – 4 seconds depending on rarity. Using three of these will push our Sandy cooldown to nearly zero seconds!

A Neurotransmitter mod for the Sandevistan is a powerful option if you want to focus more on the Crit Damage potential of this build.

In addition, a Trajectory Analysis mod for your Kiroshi Optics system can increase Headshot damage by a whopping 25% at Legendary rarity which is huge!

Skills And Perks

Moving on to Skills and Perks next, we have quite a bit to cover in this section involving Handguns, Athletics, Cold Blood, Engineering, Ninjutsu and more. I’m going to go through what I think are the most important Perks for this build, but as always, use this as a Template and feel free to mix and match Perks that you feel work best for you.

Recommended Handguns Perks

The Handguns Skill Tree will be the bread and butter Skill
Tree for this build, massively increasing our damage output to allow us to one-shot most normal enemies. The recommended Perks for this build are below.

For the full list of Perks, see the Handguns Skill Line.

LEVEL 1
NAME EFFECT
High Noon Increases Crit Chance with Pistols and Revolvers by (2% | 4% | 6%). (3 Ranks)
Gunslinger Reduces reload time for Pistols and Revolvers by (10% | 15% | 25%). (3 Ranks)
LEVEL 5
NAME EFFECT
Rio Bravo Increases headshot damage multiplier with Pistols and Revolvers by (5% | 10% | 15%). (3 Ranks)
Desperado Increases damage with Pistols and Revolvers by (3% | 6% | 10%). (3 Ranks)
LEVEL 7
NAME EFFECT
Long Shot Drop Pop Increases damage with Pistols and Revolvers to enemies 5+ meters away by (15% | 25%). (2 Ranks)
LEVEL 9
NAME EFFECT
O.K. Corral Deal 50% more damage with Pistols and Revolvers to enemies whose Health is below 25%.
Steady Hand Reduces Pistol and Revolver recoil by 20%.
LEVEL 11
NAME EFFECT
A Fistful Of Eurodollars Increases Crit Damage with Pistols and Revolvers by (15% | 30%). (2 Ranks)
LEVEL 12
NAME EFFECT
Grand Finale The last round in a Pistol or Revolver clip deals double damage.
Acrobat You can perform dodges while aiming a Pistol or Revolver.
LEVEL 14
NAME EFFECT
Wild West Removes the damage penalty from Pistols and Revolvers when shooting from a distance.
Attritional Fire Firing consecutive shots with a Pistol or Revolver at the same target increases damage by 10%.
LEVEL 16
NAME EFFECT
Westworld Increases Crit Chance for Pistols and Revolvers by 5% if fully modded.
Snowball Effect After defeating an enemy, fire rate for Pistols and Revolvers increases by 5% for 6 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
LEVEL 18
NAME EFFECT
Lead Sponge Enable you to shoot with Pistols and Revolvers while dodging.

 

Recommended Athletics Perks

The Athletics Skill Tree is focused primarily on improving our movement speed, maximum stats, and provides some additional combat options like shooting while moving, which is extremely important! The recommended Perks for this build are below.

For the full list of Perks, see the Athletics Skill Line.

LEVEL 1
NAME EFFECT
Pack Mule Increases Carrying Capacity by 60.
Regeneration Health slowly regenerates during combat.
LEVEL 5
NAME EFFECT
True Grit Increases max Stamina by (10% | 20% | 30%). (3 Ranks)
LEVEL 7
NAME EFFECT
Wolverine Health regeneration activates (20% | 40% | 60%) faster during combat. (3 Ranks)
Epimorhosis Increases Health regeneration threshold from (60% | 65% | 70%)  to (65% | 70% | 75%) in combat and to 100% out of combat. (3 Ranks)
LEVEL 11
NAME EFFECT
Like A Butterfly Dodging does not drain Stamina.
LEVEL 12
NAME EFFECT
Invincible Increases max Health by 15%.
Tenacious V Getting hit does not interrupt Health regeneration.
LEVEL 14
NAME EFFECT
Marathoner Sprinting does not drain Stamina.
LEVEL 16
NAME EFFECT
Dog Of War Increases Health regeneration in combat by (30% | 60%). (2 Ranks)
Cardio Cure Health regenerates (15% | 30% ) faster as you move. (2 Ranks)
LEVEL 18
NAME EFFECT
Steel Shell Increases Armor by 10%.

Recommended Ninjutsu Perks

The Ninjutsu (formerly Stealth) Skill Tree will add to the overall effectiveness of this build including increased damage and Crit Chance when starting combat. The recommended Perks for this build are below.

For the full list of Updated Ninjutsu Perks, see the Ninjutsu Skill Line Guide.

LEVEL 7
NAME EFFECT
Assassin Deal 15% more damage to human enemies.
LEVEL 12
NAME EFFECT
From The Shadows Upon entering combat, Crit Chance increases by (25% | 50%) for 7 seconds. (2 Ranks)

Recommended Engineering Perks

Similar to Ninjutsu, the Engineering Skill Tree will help us deal more damage to a specific type of enemy – in this case: mechs, robots and drones.

For the complete list of updated Engineering Perks be sure to check out our Engineering Perks Guide.

LEVEL 9
NAME EFFECT
Bladerunner Increases damage to drones, mechs and robots by (20% | 40%). (2 Ranks)

 

Recommended Cold Blood Perks

The Cold Blood Skill Tree increases our overall damage and resistances based on how many kills we rack up in combat. The recommended Perks for this build are below.

For the full list of Updated Perks, see the Cold Blood Skill Line Guide.

LEVEL 1
NAME EFFECT
Cold Blood After defeating an enemy, gain Cold Blood for 7 seconds and increase movement speed by 2%. Stacks up to (1 | 2 | 3) time(s). The duration of each additional stack is 1 second shorter. (3 Ranks)
LEVEL 5
NAME EFFECT
Will To Survive Increases all Resistances by (3% | 6%) per stack of Cold Blood. (2 Ranks)
Blood Brawl While Cold Blood is active, increases damage with melee weapons (5% | 10%). (2 Ranks)
LEVEL 9
NAME EFFECT
Defensive Clotting Increases Armor by (4% | 8%) per stack of Cold Blood. (2 Ranks)
Rapid Bloodflow Increase Health regeneration inside and outside of combat by (5% | 10%) per stack of Cold Blood. (2 Ranks)
LEVEL 11
NAME EFFECT
Coagulant Stacks of Cold Blood are removed one by one, not all at once.
LEVEL 12
NAME EFFECT
Predator Increases attack speed by (10% | 30%) per stack of Cold Blood. (2 Ranks)
LEVEL 14
NAME EFFECT
Cold And Calculating Landing a Crit Hit has a 50% chance of applying a stack fo Cold Blood.
Pain Is An Illusion While Cold Blood is active, reduces damage taken by 5%.
LEVEL 16
NAME EFFECT
Coldest Blood Increases max stack for Cold Blood by (1 | 2).  (2 Ranks)
Critical Condition Increases duration of Cold Blood by (25% | 50%). (2 Ranks)

Recommended Blades Perks

The Blades Skill Tree, including all of our combat related Perks for using Katanas, will be extremely useful for dealing with close ranged foes and dispatching them quickly.

For the complete list of updated Blades Perks be sure to check out our Blades Perk Guide.

LEVEL 1
NAME EFFECT
Roaring Waters Strong Attacks with Blades deal (10% | 20% | 30%) more damage. (3 Ranks)
Sting Like A Bee Increases attack speed with Blades by (10% | 20% | 30%). (3 Ranks)
LEVEL 4
NAME EFFECT
Crimson Dance Combos with Blades have a (15% | 30%) chance to apply Bleeding. (2 Ranks)
Slow And Steady Armor is increased by (15% | 30%) while moving. (2 Ranks)
LEVEL 6
NAME EFFECT
Flight Of The Sparrow Reduces the Stamina cost of all attacks with Blades by (30% | 50%). (2 Ranks)
LEVEL 8
NAME EFFECT
Stuck Pig Increases Bleeding duration by (3 | 6 | 10) seconds. (3 Ranks)
LEVEL 10
NAME EFFECT
Blessed Blade Increases Crit Chance with Blades by 10%.
Unbroken Spirit Successful Counterattacks with Blades restore 25% Health and Stamina.
LEVEL 12
NAME EFFECT
Float Like A Butterfly Dodging increases damage with Blades by (25% | 50%) for 5 seconds. (2 Ranks)
LEVEL 15
NAME EFFECT
Judge, Jury And Executioner Increases damage with Blades by (50% | 75% | 100%) against enemies with max Health. (3 Ranks)
LEVEL 18
NAME EFFECT
Deathbolt While wielding a Blade, defeating an enemy restores 20% Health and increases movement speed by 30% for 5 seconds.

 

Pros And Cons

Let’s discuss what works well on this build as well as the potential challenges you will face.

Pros

This build has an extremely high uptime on the Sandevistan, letting us slow time almost indefinitely, helping us to easily land headshots on multiple enemies at once. This build is especially good for players who like having some extra time to aim and prioritize targets in order to completely control the flow of combat.

Cons

In terms of disadvantages keep in mind that you don’t have as much defense against Snipers and other super long range builds that may take you more time to deal with. Be sure to use cover as needed and work your way methodically closer to each target as you pick them off one by one.

Combat Tips

Finally, a few additional combat tips before you head out.

1) Use a Strong Attack as your opener for the additional Armor Shred provided by the Thrash Perk.

2) Use the Sandevistan to slow down time in order to close the gap between you and a long distance enemy.

 

Explore More Cyberpunk 2077 Builds!

Hack The Minotaur (HTM) is a professional Gaming Blogger and Youtube Creator with decades of experience in Gaming. Hack is the owner of HackTheMinotaur.com – an Elder Scrolls focused site for character builds and guides, and now Cyberpunkcentral.com – your source for unique Cyberpunk 2077 guides, builds and more!

Hack loves gaming content, particularly Traditional RPG’s, Action RPG’s and MMO’s. Go check out his YouTube Channel for even more builds and guides on popular series like the Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Cyberpunk and make sure to check out his social media for updates on what content is coming next!

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