Here’s a rather short guide on the Athletics 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 Athletics perks tree deals with generic “bodily” bonuses like health, stamina, and toughness. It also has regeneration and “body carrying” subthemes which are, uh, interesting to say the least.
Athletics is joined by Annihilation and Street Brawler in the Body attribute tied Perk trees.
Athletics Perks List & Tierlist
The regen and body perks will be rated harshly due to their extreme niche.
Tier Perk Attribute Req Description
F Regeneration Body 1 Health slowly regenerates during combat.
A Pack Mule Body 1 Increase carrying capacity.
A Invincible Body 5 Increases max health.
C True Grit Body 5 Increases max stamina.
F Epimorphosis Body 7 Health regeneriates up to 70-100% out of combat.
F Soft on your Feet Body 7 Reduces fall damage.
D Gladiator Body 9 Reduces amount of stamina used when blocking melee attacks.
B Steel and Chrome Body 9 Increases melee damage (of all types?)
D Like a Butterfly Body 11 Dodging does not drain stamina.
B DIvided Attention Body 11 Allows your to reload while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting.
B Multitasker Body 11 Allows you to shoot while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting.
D Cardio Cure Body 12 Health regenerates faster while moving.
D Stronger together Body 12 Increases damage while carrying a body.
D Transporter Body 12 Allows you to shoot Pistols or sprint while carrying a body.
D Human Shield Body 14 Increases armor while grappling an enemy.
C Marathoner Body 14 Sprinting does not drain stamina.
D Dog of War Body 16 Increases health regen in combat by 15%.
D Wolverine Body 16 Health regen activates 50% faster during combat.
A Steel Shell Body 18 Increases armor by 10%
A Indestructible Body 20 Reduces all incoming damage by 10%.
F The Rock Body 20 Enemies cannot knock you down.
B Hard Motherfucker Body 20* When entering combat, armor and resistances are increased for a duration.
Athletics Perk list rundown / viability / analysis
[A] Invincible (Body 5): Increases max health. Probably the best perk in this entire pile. A huge increase in effective HP! Any build wants this! For only 5 points in body, this is a steal.
[A] Pack Mule (Body 1): Increase carrying capacity. Quality of life perk that reduces your need to scrap by quite a bit. People that don’t take this, I get it, but personally – I took it every time. I will gladly take minus 1 perk to increase my in-game time to have fun. Please do yourself a favor and get this.
[A] Steel Shell (Body 18): Increases armor by 10%. Why not? Armor is an amazing stat and getting a free 10% all the time is juicy. No reason not to ever take this if you’re already here in the tree.
[A] Indestructible (Body 20): Reduces all incoming damage by 10%. What’s better than armor? Damage reduction! Brainless perk that any build would like if you got this far into body.
[B] Hard Motherfucker (Body 20*): When entering combat, armor and resistances are increased for a duration. Not that amazing compared to other 20* perks, but it’s still decent.
[B] Divided Attention (Body 11): Allows your to reload while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting. Very good for some build + weapon types. Shotguns come to mind.
[B] Multitasker (Body 11): Allows you to shoot while sprinting, sliding, and vaulting. Same as the above. Great for shotguns, but it’s a little worse than the reload perk IMO.
[B] Steel and Chrome (Body 9): Increases melee damage (of all types?). It’s unclear if this affects all types of weapons, but it’s a powerful increase either way.
[C] Marathoner (Body 14): Sprinting does not drain stamina. A decent stamina management perk if you ever feel like you need it. Great early / midgame perk for some builds.
[C] True Grit (Body 5): Increases max stamina. A point or two can’t hurt for some builds. You’ll know if you need it.
[D] Gladiator (Body 9): Reduces amount of stamina used when blocking melee attacks. Not entirely useless, but far from useful. How long and how many melee hits do you plan on blocking without retaliating? If you need this perk there’s something wrong…
[D] Like a Butterfly (Body 11): Dodging does not drain stamina. There are many perks that activate on dodge, but I don’t even see this being that useful to empower those perks.
Let the meme-tier grappling perks begin.
[D] Transporter (Body 12): Allows you to shoot Pistols or sprint while carrying a body. Unlocks meme-build potential. Sadly Pistols are under the reflexes tree!
[D] Stronger together (Body 12): Increases damage while carrying a body. What can I say… I mean… DPS is DPS?
[D] Human Shield (Body 14): Increases armor while grappling an enemy. Memes continued… you’re never sad with more armor.
Oh boy… here comes the regen perks. One of these days I’ll get them and make the ultra regen build, and still probably suck. I really want to give these an F.
[D] Wolverine (Body 16): Health regen activates 50% faster during combat. I wasn’t even aware there was a delay. These regen perks man. I feel you must take ALL of them from every tree for you to even feel it.
[D] Cardio Cure (Body 12): Health regenerates faster while moving. Well, if you’re into the regen build you need everything you can get…
[D] Dog of War (Body 16): Increases health regen in combat by 15%. 15% of what? Base? In-combat regen that gets further modified? Meh.
[F] The Rock (Body 20): Enemies cannot knock you down. Look, obviously this perk will improve as patches come. Currently, almost no enemy knocks you down – or rarely are you CC’d anyway. Secondly, reportedly this causes cars to instantly kill you when you get run over(please chime in if you think this bug has been fixed).
[F] Regeneration (Body 1): Health slowly regenerates during combat. It’s just so vague and unclear what this does. But, it’s likely an F either way given how shaky these regen talents are.
[F] Epimorphosis (Body 7): Health regenerates up to 70-100% out of combat. You can use a restorative consumable instead… Terrible waste of a point.
[F] Soft on your Feet (Body 7): Reduces fall damage. There was never a time in game where I wanted to reduce fall damage “by such a tiny amount”. Reload is your friend.
Summary and Closing
Well, the Atheltics perks tree is a mixed bag… You get some great health / armor / toughness / stamina perks here and there, but a lot of junk ones. The regen and body carrying subtheme is pretty much “4fun” right now.
I guess you can make some super tank / regen meme build taking all the armor and regen perks in the game… but somehow the regen perks will still be the “worse half” of that pile.
Well that’s about it for a list of Athletics 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!
