Here’s a rather short guide on the Annihilation Perks Tree. Here you’ll find a list, tierlist, attribute requirement, shortened description about each perk, and a short blurb about why each perk is “good, bad, or something in between”. Here goes!
Overall, the Annihilation perks buff up your Shotguns and LMG’s. It also has a subtheme of movement speed related buffs, as well as dismemberment. It’s a pretty solid perk tree, with almost no “garbage tier” picks. I found it really hard to rate many of the perks lower than B, and they would be A in most other perk trees…
Annihilation is joined by Athletics and Street Brawler in the Body attribute tied Perk trees.
Annihilation Perks List & Tierlist
| Tier | Perk | Attribute | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | Hail of Bullets | Body | 1 | Shotguns and LMG's deal more damage. |
| A | In Your Face | Body | 5 | Recuces reload time of Shotguns and LMG's. |
| B | Pump It, Louder! | Body | 5 | Reduces recoil of Shotguns and LMG's. |
| B | Dead Center | Body | 7 | Increase damage to torsos. |
| B | Bloodrush | Body | 7 | Increases in-combat movement speed of Shotguns and LMG's. |
| B | Mongoose | Body | 9 | Increases evasion while reloading. |
| B | Bulldozer | Body | 9 | Increases crit chance with Shotguns and LMG's. |
| A | Momentum Shift | Body | 11 | Defeating an enemy increases movement speed for a duration. |
| B | Massacre | Body | 11 | Increases crit damage with Shotguns and LMG's. |
| C | Skeet Shooter | Body | 12 | Deal more damage to moving targets. |
| F | Heavy Lead | Body | 12 | Shotguns and LMG's knock back enemies with more force. |
| B | Manic | Body | 14 | When entering combat, increase movement speed for a duration. |
| C | Unstoppable | Body | 14 | Dismembering an enemy increases fire fate for a duration, stacks three times. |
| A | Speed Demon | Body | 16 | You deal more damage the faster you're moving. |
| D | Burn Baby Burn | Body | 16 | Doubled the duration for burn. |
| B | Poppin' Off | Body | 18 | Shotguns have a higher chance of dismembering enemies. |
| B | Hit the Deck | Body | 18 | Increased damage to knocked-down and staggered enemies. |
| A | Biathlete | Body | 20 | Weapon spread does not increase while moving. |
| A | Bloodbath | Body | 20* | Dismembering enemies reduces weapon recoil by 50% for 6s. |
Annihilation Perk list rundown / viability / analysis
I found it real hard to find C’s and D’s. Annihilation is amazing.
ITS UNCLEAR about how some perks work, if they need a Shotgun or LMG.
These grades assume you need a Shotgun or LMG on some of the weirdly worded perks.
But if they’re “always active regardless of weapon”, whoa.
[A] In Your Face (Body 5): Recuces reload time of Shotguns and LMG’s. This innocent little perk early on in the tree is such a game-changer. It’s probably the single best perk in the whole tree. Reload time is the absolute bane of any shotgun or LMG, and this cuts it by a huge margin. God level.
[A] Speed Demon (Body 16): You deal more damage the faster you’re moving. Oh boy. This is what I was talking about if these perks only worked on shotguns and LMG’s. Moving fast is always good, and getting stronger because of it is just icing. Amazing with the Cold Blood tree.
[A] Momentum Shift (Body 11): Defeating an enemy increases movement speed for a duration. Well, you need some movespeed right?
[A] Biathlete (Body 20): Weapon spread does not increase while moving. Eliminating weapon spread while moving provides such a great DPS boost and quality of life buff that “numbers can’t account for”.
[A] Bloodbath (Body 20*): Dismembering enemies reduces weapon recoil by 50% for 6s. While recoil value varies on shotgun type – 50% is a whole lot.
A vast chunk of perks in Annihilation are just plain “Good”.
[B] Hail of Bullets (Body 1): Shotguns and LMG’s deal more damage. Basic and unexciting DPS is still DPS. Never sad to take it.
[B] Manic (Body 14): When entering combat, increase movement speed for a duration. Amazing with Speed Demon, and pretty good even without it. Getting a jump start means easily taking out another one or two guys before you even take a single hit back.
[B] Hit the Deck (Body 18): Increased damage to knocked-down and staggered enemies. Well, most enemies that do survive a shot become staggered or knocked, so this is surely gonna help end them.
[B] Mongoose (Body 9): Increases evasion while reloading. Well, depending on specific weapon type, this increases or decreases in value. It’s never bad to have! Just don’t think it makes you invincible!
[B] Poppin’ Off (Body 18): Shotguns have a higher chance of dismembering enemies. Great for enabling the “dismember” bonuses, if you’re into those perks…
[B] Bloodrush (Body 7): Increases in-combat movement speed of Shotguns and LMG’s. The bonus is small, and I would wait until I have Speed Demon until I invest into this. It’s not really a great perk unless you do have Speed Demon anyway.
[B] Dead Center (Body 7): Increase damage to torsos. Go for headshots still! But having this “insurance” or “laziness” perk isn’t terrible. With enough damage buffs you can mindlessly body shot some fools to death anyway, especially if you’re using something like Sovereign.
[B] Bulldozer (Body 9): Increases crit chance with Shotguns and LMG’s. Unexciting but efficient DPS gains – but costs quite a few perk points!
[B] Pump It, Louder! (Body 5): Reduces recoil of Shotguns and LMG’s. Hmm… I personally am not bothered by recoil in the shotguns I use often, but for LMG’s and other shotty’s this is obviously amazing. While a little niche, I can’t call this bad.
[C] Unstoppable (Body 14): Dismembering an enemy increases fire fate for a duration, stacks three times. Fire rate for shotguns is hard to come by. For that reason alone this is pretty unique. My problem is that fire rate isn’t exactly what “gates” most shotguns anyway? IDK.
[C] Massacre (Body 11): Increases crit damage with Shotguns and LMG’s. While the numbers are high, you NEED decent crit for this to be worthwhile. It’s hard to come by with shotguns, but this perk is worth it “when that time comes” AVOID IN THE EARLY GAME.
[C] Skeet Shooter (Body 12): Deal more damage to moving targets. Honestly, moving targets are a little rare. You’re usually diving into enemy cover. I personally don’t like it, and find it unnecessary but it’s not terrible by any means.
[D] Burn Baby Burn (Body 16): Doubled the duration for burn. Honestly, this is so bad. This is only for niche builds or “Overheat”… For any build that you’re likely to be going with using a Shotgun or LMG – this is worthless. Doubling the duration on burn when you can shoot them in the face?
[F] Heavy Lead (Body 12): Shotguns and LMG’s knock back enemies with more force. Don’t get me started on this one. The knockback mechanic is buggy as it is with loot phasing thru walls. This honestly makes like HARDER for you as you want to be in close range anyway. Strange perk.
Summary and Closing
Well, the Annihilation perk tree is, quite simply, amazing. Imagine rewarded to move fast with a shotgun and kill our enemies as quick as possible – that sounds like something you wan’t to be doing anyway! I’d pay good eddies for that BD!
Well that’s about it for a list of Annihilation perks – hopefully you enjoyed our tierlist of these perks to help you decide what to get for your build! Check out our tierlists on the other perk trees in Cyberpunk 2077!
