★ Phantom Liberty DLC releases on Sept. 26!
★ The Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.0 is now live!
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★ See our September 21 REDstream summary here!
This is a guide to the Best Gunslinger Build for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Update 2.0. Read our guide for details about the build, what attributes to level up, which perks to choose, and what weapons and cyberwares to use.
List of Contents
Gunslinger Build | |
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Main Attributes | |
Main Weapons / Arm Cyberware | ・Archangel ・Overture ・Guts ・Toxic Gorilla Arms |
Operating System | ・Militech “Apogee” Sandevistan |
This Gunslinger build lets you play as the meanest cyber-cowboy in Night City. Whip out your revolver, aim at your targets' heads, and take them out in a one, clean shot at a distance.
Perks from the Reflexes attribute will give you mobility options, which you can use to quickly reposition or retreat in case things get messy, while Adrenaline Rush under Body can give you extra health when you get stuck in heated gunfights.
This build also incorporates the use of shotguns as your secondary weapon solely against enemies who wish to meet you up close.
The core Handgun perks under the Cool attribute heavily relies on maintaining full stamina every time you shoot, so you need to wait for your stamina bar to be filled to take advantage these perks.
Revolvers also have small clip sizes, so you will be constantly reloading your weapon which makes you vulnerable.
Build Attributes | |||||
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Lv. | Body | Reflex | Tech | Intel | Cool |
1 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
10 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 9 |
50 | 15 | 13 | 3 | 20 | 20 |
This Gunslinger build uses several perks across four attributes.
Key handgun perks which enable this build to eliminate targets in a single headshot fall under the Cool attribute, which you should get early so your revolvers can be effective.
As you level up, health item recharge and cyberware perks are obtained under the Technical Ability tree. These give you more survivability and boosts your equipped cyberware.
Upon reaching midgame and up to the level cap, you can then incorporate mobility perks under Reflexes, as well as shotgun and health regen perks under the Body tree.
Jump to Each Attribute for Their Perks! | |||
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The main attribute for handguns are found under Cool, with the perks Focus and Deadeye giving you additional headshot and weak spot damage.
Focus removes stamina costs per shot when you aim for 2.5 seconds, which you can reset by killing a target with the Head to Head perk. Focus is then used in conjunction with Deadeye, which is active when you have 85% stamina.
This means that you can have both Focus and Deadeye active as long as you can keep killing enemies.
This is further improved by Nerves of Tungsten-Steel, which you can get after reaching level 20 in Cool. This perk guarantees that every weak spot or headshot is a critical hit as long as Deadeye is active!
Perk | Effect at Lv. 1 |
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+10% headshot and weakspot damage. |
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+10% headshot and weakspot damage |
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When Deadeye is active: Guaranteed Crit Hits for headshots and weak spots Increased damage as distance increases (max. +25%). |
Perk | Effect at Lv. 1 |
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Increases Crit Chance with Pistols and Revolvers by 2%. |
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Slows time by 25% for you and enemies when Focus is active. |
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When Focus is active, neutralizing an enemy with a ranged attack resets its duration. |
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When Focus is active, shooting grenades out of the air is easier and the blast is more powerful. |
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+10 reload speed for your next reload after neutralizing an enemy while aiming. Stacks 2 times. The stack resets to 0 whenever you reload or start aiming again. |
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-50% stamina cast from Focus made for each enemy neutralized while it was active. |
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+30% weapon swap speed when swapping to Pistols, Revolvers, Sniper Rifles and Precision rifles +30% Stamina when swapping during combat. |
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+30% Stamina after neutralizing an enemy with a ranged attack via headshot or weakspot. |
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Rifle and Submachine Gun damage increases the farther you are located from enemies. |
2.0 Cool Attribute and List of Cool Perks
After the 2.0 update, you can no longer spam health items to heal as these are now locked behind cooldowns per use, which warranted the need of some perks under the reworked Technical Ability tree to be included in this build.
The Glutton for War and Health Freak perks improve health item usage and will also lower its cooldown. These two will also benefit from buffs received from Adrenaline Rush perks, which is under the Body attribute.
For cyberwares, the Edgerunner and its connected perks will improve all of your equipped cyberwares. Edgerunner also has a chance to activate Fury, which will make you deal even more damage.
Perk | Effect at Lv. 1 |
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5% instant recharge of Health items and grenades after neutralizing an enemy. |
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+10% to all cyberware stats modifiers. |
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+8% recharge speed for Health Items and grenades. |
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+10% to all cyberware stats modifiers. |
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Allows you to exceed your Cyberware Capacity by up to 50 points, but at the cost of -0.5% Max Health per point. When you neutralize an enemy during combat, there is a 0.1% chance for each point you're over capacity that you will enter a Fury state. In this state, you gain: +10% damage, +30% Critical Chance, +50% Critical Damage. Duration: 12 sec. |
Perk | Effect at Lv. 1 |
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+15% recharge speed for Health Items when you've only used 1 charge. |
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+30% health from the final charge of your Health Item. |
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When upgrading cyberware, you can choose from two stat modifier options. A third option is available at Tier 3 and higher. |
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+4 Cyberware Capacity for each Attribute at 9 or higher. |
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-5% incoming damage if all Integumentary System and Skeleton cyberware slots are filled. |
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All cyberware gain an additional stat modifier. |
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+25% crafting components from looting. |
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+100% instant recharge of a Health Item after neutralizing an enemy if you're below 25% Health and have no charges remaining. |
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+50% recharge speed for grenades when you have none available. |
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+1 max grenade charge, +250% recharge speed for grenades outside of combat. |
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15% faster use of Health Items in combat. |
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Unlocks a new cyberware slot for your Hands. |
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+15% duration for all cyberware effects. |
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Unlocks Cellular Adapter cyberware for the Integumentary System. It can be purchased and installed at ripperdoc clinics. This Perk is required to use it properly. |
2.0 Technical Ability Attribute and List of Technical Ability Perks
Perks under the Body tree are centered around health regen and Adrenaline Rush, a buff which gives you extra survivabilty upon using your Blood Pump cyberware.
Some perks under the shotgun tree are also obtained to improve its usage. Shotguns are meant to be used as secondary weapons for this build, in case you encounter an enemy up close.
Perk | Effect at Lv. 1 |
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Unlocks slow Health Regen in combat. |
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-15% recoil at low Stamina. |
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+35 Max Health. |
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-15% recoil at low Stamina. |
Perk | Effect at Lv. 1 |
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+10% Health Regen Rate for each nearby enemy. |
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+60% Health Regen Rate while sprinting. |
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+1% Health Regen Rate for each percent of missing Health. |
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When using Blood Pump Cyberware or a Health Item: +100% Mitigation Chance for 2 sec. Mitigation - grants a chance to reduce incoming damage by current Mitigation Strength (default 50%). |
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Increases Armor by 15% while blocking with a Blunt Weapon. |
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-25% bullet spread when moving. |
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When below 33% Stamina: +15% Mitigation Chance +5% Mitigation Strength. |
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When Adrenaline Rush is active: +3 sec. delay before Adrenaline begins to decay. |
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When Adrenaline Rush is active: Gain immunity to movement penalties and non-damaging status effects such as Knockdown, Blinding, etc. |
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-15% enemy Armor when using ranged attacks. Dismemberment spreads the effect to nearby enemies. |
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Increased chance to Obliterate enemies with ranged attacks at close range (max. 10%). |
2.0 Body Attribute and List of Body Perks
A few perks are obtained under Reflexes to give this build a few movement techs which you can use to reposition or retreat from a fight.
Dash lets you quickly move but consumes stamina per use. You can use this while Focus is active, although you will lose Deadeye if you use too much stamina.
You can also use Dash to zip around enemies and get some easy kills.
Perk | Effect at Lv. 1 |
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The faster you move, the more difficult for enemies to shoot you. Effect increases when Dashing, dodging, sliding, sprinting and vaulting. |
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-20% Stamina cost for dodging and Dashing. |
Perk | Effect at Lv. 1 |
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Allows you to shoot while sprinting, sliding and vaulting. |
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Increased vaulting and climbing speed. |
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Increased slide distance. |
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Allows you to reload weapons while sprinting, sliding and vaulting. |
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+100% Dash range toward enemies. |
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+40% Stamina after neutralizing an enemy while Dashing. |
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Allows you to shoot while Dashing. |
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Grants immunity to all effects from your own grenades, including flash grenades. |
2.0 Reflexes Attribute and List of Reflexes Perks
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Effect | Deals Electrical damage with a chance to apply Stun and has significantly reduced recoil. An angel of a weapon with a devil's attitude. |
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Among all Iconic revolvers, Archangel works best for this build due to its standard rate of fire. Other Iconic revolvers have lower rate of fire, and anything slower will waste the few precious shots you can do within the 2.5 seconds Focus is active.
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Effect | N/A |
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The non-Iconic Overture is also a viable revolver to use for this build. Do remember to equip a scope so you can have an easier time aiming for heads.
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Effect | Let the lead fly! Shoot faster, deal more damage... accuracy be damned. Just don't shoot your eye out. |
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Guts is a great shotgun to use as your secondary weapon. When an enemy gets up close, switch to this gun and blast them to bits.
List of Cyberwares | ||||
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Operating System | Face | Hands | Circulatory System | Legs |
Frontal Cortex | Arms | Skeleton | Nervous System | Integumentary System |
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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Press L1 and R1 to activate and deactivate. It can be activated at any charged level. When active: Slows time by 85% (you are not slowed) +10% headshot damage +9% Crit Chance +13% Crit Damage Neutralizing an enemy when active gives: +20% extended duration +22% Stamina Max Duration: 8 sec. Cooldown: 30 sec. |
A Sandevistan is an important cyberware for this build as this will let you easily pop off heads with your revolver.
Get at a position where you have clear sight of all your targets, activate your Sandevistan, and aim for their heads. You can easily wipe out a group of enemies with this strategy.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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When active: Slows time by 70% (you are not slowed), +10% damage, +10% Crit Chance, +5% Crit Damage. Neutralizing an enemy when active gives: +10% extended duration, +5% Health. Max Duration: 9 sec., Cooldown: 35 sec. |
A good alternative to the Apogee, in case you missed it during the Riders On the Storm mission, as this can be bought in Ripperdocs all over Night City.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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Effect active when scanning: Highlights enemies within 17.5 m.including enemies behind cover. Highlights cameras and turrets within 35m. Highlights explosive devices and traps near your crosshair within 26m. |
The Oracle variant of a Kiroshi Optics lets you track enemies, which is useful to keep track of who to kill next.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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Increased ricochet chance with Power weapons. +30% ricochet damage. |
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-20% Recoil |
Power revolvers are to be used for this build, which is why you should equip a Ballistic Coprocessor so you can also capitalize on ricochets. A Shock Absorber, on the other hand, will reduce recoil.
Do note that you need the Ambidextrous perk to unlock a second cyberware slot for Hands.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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Activate to instantly restore 90% of max Health. Cooldown 30 sec. |
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-18% Stamina cost for shooting. |
Blood Pump is another key cyberware for this build, as this will activate Adrenaline Rush and all of its effects, apart from it being your main healing item.
Clutch Padding will further decrease stamina used when shooting. This will shorten the time needed to wait for your stamina to fully replenish so you can get Focus again.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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Press Space Bar in midair to perform a double jump. |
Reinforced Tendons enable double jumping, which you can use to move around.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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When Kerenzikov is active: -100% stamina cost for shooting. Slows time by 15% relative to your enemies. |
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+35% damage against drones, robots, mechs and turrets. +2 Max RAM. |
Equipping a Kerenzikov Boost System will give you more stat boosts when you activate Kerenzikov.
Mechatronic Core will let you deal more damage against robots, which you will encounter as you progress through the game.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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+6 to Body Attribute checks. Deal Physical damage. 20% Poison chance |
In case you need a quick melee kill, you can switch over to your Gorilla Arms to wallop your enemies. The Toxic variant can deal damage over time if you can poison your target.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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Armor - Simple but effective. |
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+16% Mitigation Chance when Stamina is above 85%. |
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+19% Mitigation Strength (Total Mitigation Strength cannot exceed 90%) Mitigation grants achance to reduce incoming damage by current Mitigation Strength (default: 50%). |
These Skeleton cyberware are slotted in to reduce the damage you will take.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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Allows you to aim and perform ranged attacks while sliding, dodging or Dashing. Slows time by 60% for 3.5 sec. when you aim a ranged attack during a slide, dodge or Dash. Cooldown 6.5 sec. |
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+10% Mitigation Chance, +9% Mitigation Strength Mitigation grants a chance to reduce incoming damage by current Mitigation Strength (default: 50%). |
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Slows time by 60% for 4 sec. when your Health drops below 25%. Cooldown 40 sec. |
Kerenzikov acts as your second Sandevistan of sorts, which you can activate when dashing on the ground. As this will consume stamina, you will not be getting the effects of Focus, but you can still try to kill nearby enemies when time is slowed down.
Meanwhile, a Reflex Tuner can be you third time-slowing cyberware, but will only activate on low health, in which case you should use Blood Pump to heal.
Lastly, Neofiber is chipped in to get additional defense stats.
Cyberware | Effect (Tier 5) |
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When Kerenzikove ends: +90% Mitigation Chance for 4 sec. Mitigation grants a chance to reduce incoming damage by current Mitigation Strength (default: 50%). +0.1% Crit Chance per Attribute Point. +2.6% Weapon Handling +2.1% Damage Over Time Resistance |
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-7% all incoming damage +0.1% damage reduction per Attribute Point. +0.5% Mitigation Chance +2.1% Damage Over Time Resistance |
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+0.5 Armor per Attribute Point. +1.3% Decreased enemy vision +2.6 Health |
Defenzikov is a cyberware which gives Kerenzikov defensive stats after using it.
Pain Editor and Subdermal Armor are equipped to get another set of defense stats and damage reduction.
In the middle of a gunfight, always aim at your enemies' heads to take advantage of the bonuses you get from handgun perks.
Once your stamina is full, use your Sandevistan, aim with your revolver to activate Focus and Deadeye, and start popping heads one by one.
Make sure to also shoot from a distance instead of running close to your target, as several perks give you extra damage if you shoot from far away.
As Focus and Deadeye is stamina dependent, make sure to keep an eye out on your stamina bar before fully engaging in combat.
If it's full, you can start shooting. If it's not, wait for it to fully replenish before fighting. Eliminate any nearby enemies so you won't be overwhelmed while waiting for your stamina to be full.
If Focus is active, shooting with your revolver will not consume any stamina. You can determine if Focus is active if your stamina bar has a lock icon.
Switch to your shotgun whenever an enemy is closing in on you to quickly deal with them.
Several shotgun perks are included in the build to increase the damage you can do with it.
You can also use your equipped Gorilla Arms as another backup weapon.
Best Gunslinger Build for Update 2.0
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