Okay choom, so you want to make more money in Cyberpunk 2077? Don’t we all. Good news is we got here a money making “modular sub-build” that you can tack onto any character you have or plan to make. It’s basically a relatively “low investment” in perk points and attribute points to get some cold hard eurodollars quicker.
Best part is you can “respec” the perks later when you’re swimming in credits. Yeah, yeah, you can’t get the Intelligence back, but it’s never a bad attribute anyway (Unless you’re going for a no-hack run or something).
Attributes and Perks Needed
Here we talk about the attritubes and perks you invest into for this “build” to work out. There’s a few choices depending on how hard you want to invest into this. Naturally, your starting attributes can help you get to these quicker – and earn money faster.
5 Intelligence – Advanced Datamine perk
Under the Breach Protocol perk tree, 5 Intelligence gives you access to the Advanced Datamine perk. This perk boosts money gained from hacking Access Points by 50/100%. 2 Perks to double your income from one of the easiest money sources in the game? Sign me up.
Don’t even bother considering if you want to spend “1 or 2?” perk points on it. If you’re already here and spent 1, go ahead and spend the other. Thank me later.
7 Intelligence – Extended Network Interface perk
Also under the Breach Protocol perk tree. This one is “optional”. Honestly, I would consider almost always taking this anyway. Well it needs 7 Intelligence to unlock the Extended Network Interface perk. It makes Access Points easier to see in the map. This is purely a “quality of life” increase. It has no in-game stats effect.
I know, I know, spending a perk feels bad when you can exert a little more effort with your eyes / ears / brain / ping hack to locate them – but honestly perks aren’t that hard to come by especially if you’re more “focused” on the build you want. Again, you can reset your perks later.
BONUS! No attributes needed – Mechanic perk
the Mechanic Perk from the Crafting perk tree (Technical ability) is unlocked right off the bat. It gives you more components when dissasembling. It’s honestly a good idea to get this if you ever consider crafting, or simply to gain a little extra money from selling components if you never intend to craft. This perk represents hundreds of thousands of eurodollars across a playthrough. I think almost every character should have the Mechanic Perk, crafter or not.
5 vs 7 INT? 3 Perk points? It’s worth it?
Honestly, it’s up to you. Here’s the pros and cons.
Are the Attribute points worth it?
If you were planning to go INT anyways, this is a non-issue. I would take the perks any day if you’re just “passing by” as you’re gonna need all the money you can get your hands on for cyberdecks and software.
But if you WEREN’T? Well, now we’re talking. I can’t answer this for you. 5 INT isn’t a backbreaking investment for massive income, but 7 INT may be a stretch for some. Thing is, higher INT unlocks harder Access Points later on. IMO 7 int always seemed worth it for me.
You also unlock Hacker’s Manual from the Quickhacking perk tree, and the decent Weak Link. Which allows you to craft blue software, as well as reduce RAM costs to hack devices respectively. Not bad for a few more perk points.
Again, you can alleviate the investment right from the starting attributes selection!
Are the Perk points worth it?
Mechanic perk is available ASAP, and is ALWAYS WORTH THE POINT.
Are the perk points worth spending on these? Yeah, they don’t affect combat whatsoever DIRECTLY, but it will allow you to buy stuff and power up quickly.
Eventually you will be swimming in eurodollars and you can reset your perks later on – essentially giving you back “free money”.
Remember, it’s the attributes you can’t reset, and are the more worrying half of this investment.
Other “money” perks worth considering?
Sadly, they’re either too far down the line (unless you’re heavily investing in that attritube anyway), or simply not worth it. Here’s a few of what I’m talking about.
Datamine Mastermind (Breach Protocol 9 INT) – Increase component yield from access points. Honestly I would never take this perk. You don’t need that many components, and the cash you get from selling them sucks. Sucks.
Datamine Virtuoso (Breach Protocol 12 INT) – Increase drop chances for quickhacks from access points. Honestly useless. The perks are better spent on crafting if you want the hacks, and if you take this for the “money” it simply doesn’t cut it. Terrible perk.
I wouldn’t even consider the above two perks “temporary”. They’re so terrible I’d rather invest in almost anything else.
Scrapper (Crafting 5 Tech) – It’s not currently working as “intended”. It also scraps the “valuable junk”, the ones worth more than 3$. This would be an amazing quality of life perk otherwise. (If they ever “fix” this, or change this from auto-scrapping without me realizing – please let me know!). Honestly, scrapping junk is so tedious that I might just take this perk anyway, even if it means you lose some money.
But luckily, you’re rich since you’ve read this guide.
Summary and Closing
For a few attritubes and a few perks worth of investment – you can potentially get some serious eurodollars in return. I get that some people hate non-combat perks, but I hate being poor even more.
Well, I hope I helped you get more money in Cyberpunk 2077. This guide on the money making mini-build goes a LONG WAY, trust me. I’ve plugged these perks and attributes in, to varying extent, every character I’ve made. Hopefully you do to, money grubbin’ corpo bootlicker.
