2.1 Best Blades Build (Katana Build)

This is a guide to the Update 2.1 Best Blades Build for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Read our guide for details about the build, what attributes to level up, which perks to choose, and what weapons and cyberwares to use.

Blades Build Overview

Build Basic Information

Blades Build
Main Attributes	Reflexes Body Technical Ability Cool
Main Weapons / Arm Cyberware	・ Byakko ・ Kongou / Her Majesty ・ Overwatch ・Mantis Blades
Operating System	・Militech “Apogee” Sandevistan

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

This build is extremely strong when used with a Katana and a Sandevistan that slows time. This allows you to quickly dispatch any enemy even if they are in a group! Update 2.0 introduced a lot of new mobility enhancements for V, so a melee swordmaster build is extremely fun to use now!

Weaknesses

The build relies heavily on jumping in and taking on multiple enemies at the same time, so it won't be very effective when stealth is required for a certain mission. Additionally, the player is required to jump in face-to-face with an enemy so they will inevitably soak up a lot of damage. This may not be very effective against high HP enemies like bosses.

Also since we are using a Sandevistan, note that V won't have access to any quickhacks in this build.

Blades Best Attribute Build

Attribute Progression

The max level is only up until 50 in the base game. Purchase Phantom Liberty to reach level 60.

When starting out, add points to Reflexes first. Reflexes are the main attribute of this build, due to the access it gives to the Blades perk tree. This attribute also provides perks that enable V to dash in and out of combat.

Body is your second-most important attribute, as it gives you access to perks that will not only reduce the damage you take in combat but also regenerate your health. Meanwhile, you will find yourself leveling up your Technical Ability attribute to unlock perks that enable you to increase cyberware capacity and reduce cooldowns for certain cyberwares like the Sandevistan.

We will not put any points in Intelligence mostly because our Operating Systems would be primarily a Sandevistan. V won't have access to any quickhacks in this build, so be wary of that.

Blades Build Best Perks

This is the full list of perks that you can get if you achieve the maximum level 60 with the Phantom Liberty DLC. Optional perks are also listed in their own section in case you have not purchased the DLC.

Jump to Each Attribute for Their Perks!
Reflexes	Body	Technical Ability	Cool
Optional Perks

Reflexes Attribute

Most Reflexes perks for this build give you mobility options as you dash in and out of battle. Dash will help you easily cut the distance between you and an enemy or give you the capability to jump out of battle when low on health.

Air Dash, on the other hand, will help you leap across platforms or buildings to more easily access enemies. Jumping around also makes effective use of the Flash and Thunderclap perk!

Perk List

Main Perk	Secondary Perk(s)
Slippery (1 pt)	Power Slide Parkour!
Lead and Steel (2 pt)	Seeing Double Bullet Deflect Bullet Time
Dash (2 pt)	Steady Grip Can't Touch This Mean Streak Mad Dash
Finisher: Bladerunner (3 pt)	Going the Distance Opportunist Flash of Steel
Air Dash (3 pt)	Aerodynamic Aerial Acrobat

Final Perks
Slaughterhouse	Tailwind

Cross-Branch Perk

Perk	Requirement
Flash and Thunderclap	Mad Dash Seeing Double

Get this perk when you have specific secondary perks unlocked.

Vehicle Perk

Vehicle Perk
Stuntjock

Body Attribute

Points are also invested in Body to promote maximum defense, and health regeneration. This is very important as you will be exposed to damage as you hack and slash your way to victory.

Perk List

Main Perk	Secondary Perk(s)
Painkiller (1 pt)	Dorph-Head Comeback Kid Speed Junkie Army of One
Adrenaline Rush (3 pt)	Juggernaut Unstoppable Force Calm Mind

Final Perks
Pain to Gain

Vehicle Perk

Vehicle Perk
Fury Road

Technical Ability Attribute

Perks from Technical Ability allows you to increase your cyberware capacity which also increases your overall armor and health. This also provides access to the Ticking Time Bomb perk that stuns enemies whenever the Sandevistan is active.

Perk List

Main Perk	Secondary Perk(s)
Glutton for War (1 pt)	First Aid Transfusion
Health Freak (2 pt)	Coming In Hot Borrowed Time Field Medic Demolitions Surplus
All Things Cyber (2 pt)	Chrome Constitution Renaissance Punk Lucky Day Driver Update Chipware Connoisseur
Pyromania (3 pt)	Friendlier Fire
License to Chrome (3 pt)	Extended Warranty

Final Perks
Edgerunner	Ticking Time Bomb

Vehicle Perk

Vehicle Perk
Gearhead

Cool Attribute

This attribute focuses on the stealth aspect of the Blades build. Having access to these gives V an alternative to just going in and slashing their way through hoards of enemies.

Perk List

Main Perk	Secondary Perk(s)
Feline Footwork (1 pt)	Unexposed
Killer Instinct (1 pt)	Gag Order
Focus (2 pt)	Main Perk Only
Ninjutsu (3 pt)	Shinobi Sprint

Vehicle Perk

Vehicle Perk
Road Warrior

Optional Perks

If you still have not purchased the Phantom Liberty DLC and have no access to the 10 additional perk points that came with it, these perks are optional and can be removed.

Removable Perks (10 pts)
Focus	Ninjutsu
Fury Road	Gearhead
Lucky Day	Shinobi Sprint
Chipware Connoisseur	--

Blades Build Relic Skill Priority

Take Vulnerability Analytics First

Priority	Main Skill	→	Branch Skill
1st	Vulnerability Analytics	→	Machine Learning
2nd	Jailbreak	→	Spatial Mapping

Blademasters would want to take Vulnerability Analytics first, as it gives them the capability to strike on weakspots of enemies. This is especially easy to do up close and while under the time slow effect of a Sandevistan. Take its branch skill Machine Learning next to further improve your damage against weakspots - very useful when fighting a boss.

Afterwards, focus on taking Jailbreak and branch off to Spatial Mapping to increase your Mantis Blades' damage.

Relic Skill Tree Available in the DLC

Please take note that the Phantom Liberty expansion is needed to access the Relic Skill Tree.

Relic Skill Tree Guide and List

Blades Build Recommended Weapons

Base Game Only

• Byakko is one of the most powerful blades you can get in the game, and you can get it simply by finishing all of Wakako Oda's gigs! If you still have not, using Satori from the main quest The Heist is a good alternative.
• The Kongou is the base game choice for a pistol-type weapon as it can be slotted with a scope and silencer, perfect for stealth headshots.
• Lastly, we suggest using Overwatch, the sniper given to you by Panam Palmer. If you are still far off the end of her story, using any basic sniper rifle like the SPT32 Grads is ok.

Base Game + Phantom Liberty

• Byakko stays as our recommended katana for the build, and you don't even have to enter Dogtown to get this beauty!
• Her Majesty replaces Archangel for the recommended Pistol in this build. This can be obtained during Phantom Liberty's story though, so use Kongou until you reach that point.
• The Overwatch is still our recommended sniper for this build.

Blades Build Best Cyberwares

Operating System

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Militech "Apogee" Sandevistan	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.

Equipping this time slow Sandevistan allows you to dash between multiple enemies with ease. Start by jumping to a group of enemies then picking them off one by one. If they start to inevitably swarm you, activate the Sandevistan.

This specific Sandevistan can also be activated at any charge level, so try to activate and deactivate it in the middle of fights to manage its charge levels.

Alternative: Militech Falcon Sandevistan

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Militech "Falcon" Sandevistan	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.

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Face

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Kiroshi "The Oracle" Optics	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 is a variant of Kiroshi Optics that lets you track enemies, cameras, and turrets near you. You can use this to identify the positioning of all enemies and plan your path along an area.

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Hands

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Ballistic Coprocessor	Increased ricochet chance with Power weapons. +30% ricochet damage.

The main purpose of this cyberware is to boost ricochet damage in case you need it while using your Pistol. This cyberware is low priority so slot it only when you have enough cyberware capacity.

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Circulatory System

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Adrenaline Booster	Stamina +23% whenever you use a melee weapon to neutralize an enemy.
Biomonitor	Automatically heals you with your Health Item when your Health drops below 35%. +14% Health Item effectiveness.
Threatevac	Movement speed +25% when your Health drops to 25%. The more your health drops, the more movement speed increases (max. +35%).

Both Blood Pumo and Threatevac help with your overall survival during fights especially when facing a large group of enemies.

Adrenaline Booster enables you to maintain your stamina while slashing through hoards of enemies.

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Legs

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Reinforced Tendons	Press Space Bar in midair to perform a double jump.

Reinforced Tendons enable double jumping, which is a valuable positioning move that lets you reach higher places, helping you get away or giving you a better vantage point. Do note that you can combine double jumps with air dashes, which lets you zip across areas easily.

This also makes effective use of the Flash and Thunderclap perk as jumping around basically creates greater distance between you and the enemy.

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Frontal Cortex

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Newton Module	-1.25% Cooldown instantly for all cyberware after neutralizing an enemy.

Equipping Newton Module further improves Cyberware cooldowns - very important to maintain your Sandevistan's uptime. If you have extra cyberware capacity, you can also opt for the iconic Axolotl cyberware!

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Arms

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Mantis Blades	+6.2% Bonus Stealth Damage +3.1% Melee Damage.

Mantis Blades can serve as your melee backup in case you need a quick alternative to dispose of targets that have detected you. The base variant of Mantis Blades fits well for this build as they deal bonus melee damage!

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Skeleton

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Dense Marrow	+24% melee damage +15% melee Stamina cost
Para Bellum	+12% Armor
Scar Coalescer	+22% Armor when below 50% Health.

For Skeleton cyberwares, we focused mainly on improving V's overall defense. Dense Marrow is added to bolster this build's overall damage with the cost of some extra stamina.

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Nervous System

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Adrenaline Converter	+40% movement speed for 7 sec. when entering combat.
Neofiber	+10% Mitigation Chance, +9% Mitigation Strength Mitigation grants a chance to reduce incoming damage by current Mitigation Strength (default: 50%).
Stabber	+16.75% Crit Chance with Blades and throwable weapons.

Both Adrenaline Converter and Stabber improve your overall damage and movement speed in battle.

We also added the Neofiber cyberware to improve your overall survivability during battle.

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Integumentary System

Cyberware	Effect (Tier 5)
Nano-Plating	7% chance to block an incoming projectile. +100% bonus chance after performing a dodge or Dash. This bonus lasts 1.7 sec. or until the next projectile is blocked, whichever comes first. Cannot block more than 3 projectiles in a 5 sec. span. +0.2 headshot and weakspot damage per Attribute Point. +1.3% Bonus Ricochet Damage +1.3% Decreased enemy vision
Proxishield	The closer an attacking enemy is, the less damage they deal to you. -20% incoming damage at 3 m. Damage reduction tapers off to 0% at 6 m. +0.5 Health per Attribute Point. +2.1% Melee Damage Resistance +2.5% Melee Damage
Subdermal Armor	+0.5 Armor per Attribute Point. +1.3% Decreased enemy vision +2.6 Health

All of the cyberwares listed above aim to improve V's overall survivability in fights. Nano-Plating works well with the Bullet Deflect perk to return incoming projectiles back to the enemy.

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How to Play the Blades Build

Keep Dodging, Keep Killing

When it comes to using Blades, the key to surviving is to not let your enemies pin you down in one location. Keep moving and cut through each enemy one by one - leaping from one to the next. Make use of the improved Dashing perks to go in or out of battle when necessary.

Use Leap Effectively

With the addition of dashing-related perks, mobility using Bladed weapons is so much better than before. You can either use the improved mobility to pick each enemy one by one or dash away so you can recover your health. It's all about choosing the best time to strike and retreat.

Be Aware of Your Stamina

Wielding the immense power of Blades comes at a cost. Always be mindful of your yellow stamina bar (found at the upper left corner of your screen) as each slash eats up part of your stamina bar. Stamina management can make or break your attack, so be careful of running out.

Effectively Use Your Sandevistan to Slow Down Time

Though CDPR removed Cyberware mods in Update 2.0, Sandevistans that slows down time is still as effective as before though you have to choose your timings more carefully.

We suggest using the slow effect when you have a clear-cut path to mow down at least 3-4 enemies then deactivate the cyberware to recharge. Do this repeatedly during a fight and you'll be able to mow down hoards of enemies without dying.

Additionally, deactivate your Sandevistan when you initiate a Finisher move. The animation will eat up your duration, wasting precious active time.

Use Grenades to Disorient Enemies

Grenades are not only used to damage enemies but also to disorient them.

This is a godsend to melee fighters like Blademasters, so don't be afraid to throw a grenade or two in between fights. You can even use explosive materials scattered in the environment to create a chain explosion reaction for a wider area of effect!

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