If you’re here, then you’re probably wondering about this: What are the “best” starting attributes in Cyberpunk 2077, or what stats you should be getting at character creation? Let’s try to find out shall we?
Since I don’t want this to be like a general guide or infodump about attributes in general, I will be summarizing info on attributes to better answer our main question. If I were to summarize my thoughts on this…
“Starting attributes should go to supporting your desired playstyle. If you do not know what these playstyles are, hop into the game with a “generic starting attribute” setup that I’ll detail below to help you “discover” the (or your) playstyles. Or, see my list to try and distill what playstyles these stats correlate to.”
Starting Attributes – points and limitations
You start with 3 points (the minimum possible amount) on each of the five stats. Namely, Body, Intelligence, Reflexes, Technical Ability, and Cool. You also get 7 attribute points to allocate freely (but you’re not allowed to go above 6 in any of them). You also get more points as you level up, in case you’re wondering.
So what starting attributes should you choose? It’s difficult to make sweeping statements here, but at the same time I’m just here to give you an idea. Let’s look at the stats one by one, but first let’s understand exactly how attributes affect us
Attributes and you – what do they do?
Before anything else you should know exactly HOW attritubes affect your character.
Attributes give us bonuses to certain statistics. Obviously. For example, each point in Body adds 5 Health Points (among other things), each point in Cool increases Sealth damage by 10% (among other things) and so on.
Attributes unlock certain perks. The higher you raise certain attributes, the more perks you can unlock to learn. For example, 12 points in Intelligence gives you the option to learn Mnemonic perk, or 7 points in Cool gives you the option to learn the Assassin perk. Note that the prerequisite attributes simply unlock them – you must still spend a perk point to learn it.
Equipment requirements. Certain things require certain attribute thresholds to be used or maximized. Don’t worry this isn’t so common, and are pretty logical (many are placed for balance I suppose).
“Ways of handling the story and game”. While not always explicit, having a different character type and playstyle will definitely affect “how” you can resolve certain conflicts in the game.
There are also stat checks like body to force open doors, or technical ability to figure out mechanisms (some doors included).
For the most part that I can observe, it doesn’t affect OUTCOME, but mostly the METHOD in which you go about doing things, which is nice since I don’t like the feeling of being locked out of certain types of content due to my stats. (Not always, though, I fear)
The Starting Attributes – a rundown
Okay, the last piece of the information puzzle is WHAT these various attributes “represent” if we tried to distill them into a simplified essence.
While I would struggle to give a “clear cut best”, as it’s purely defined by you and your preferred playstyle. Don’t think of it as best, but rather think of the starting stat points as a way to geat a head start on your planned playstyle. The “best” stats for a hulking brawler would most definitely be different from a
With that being said, I will describe how each stat links to certain playstyles, weaponry, or perk types to help you make your choice.
Body Attribute
Each point in Body gives HP, Stamina, Gorilla Arms damage, a small bonus to melee damage, reduced movespeed penalty while grappling and using an HMG.
Body Attribute Related perks:
- Athletics: General good improvements to tankiness, speed, stamina…
- Annihilation: Shotguns and LMG’s.
- Street Brawler: Blunt Weapons (fists too).
In summary: Take Body if you’re interested in brawling! Shotguns, LMG’s, and blunt weapons tend to be in the, uh, “Rip and Tear” territory… Body is also decent for most characters, as its bonuses are pretty generic. Of course, if you’re not interested in this kind of playstyle, focus your points elsewhere.
Intelligence Attribute
Each point increases RAM capacity, quickhack damage and duration.
Intelligence Related perks:
- Breach Protocol: Hacking related, Improved Breach Protocol, RAM.
- Quickhacking: Quickhack stats, Quickhack crafting specs, RAM.
In summary: Hacking, hacking, hacking. If you want to be a beefy hacker Intelligence is what you want. Hacking is extremely powerful. Basically “every player who hacks gains something from INT, but only invest heavily if you want a hack heavy playthrough”. Inversely, if you want to SPECIFICALLY AVOID hacking (Man, it can be pretty OP or crutchy I gotta admit), then avoid INT.
Reflexes Attribute
Each point increases evasion, crit chance, and Mantis Blade damage.
Reflexes Attribute Related perks:
- Assault – Rifles, SMG’s.
- Handguns – Pistols, Revolvers.
- Blades – Katanas, Knives, Mantis Blades
In summary: A weirdly flexible stat that covers many types of gunplay, and even blades. Up close? Assault rifles, pistols. Far away? Pistol sniping, sniper rifles, precision rifles. Melee? Blades. Reflexes is a great attribute that typically rounds out many gun-centric builds. Avoid it if you’re not interested in these weapon types.
Technical Ability Attribute
Each point represents Tech weapon use & damage, environmental tech, and armor.
Technical Ability Attribute Related perks:
- Crafting – Crafting, Disassembling
- Engineering – Tech weapons, Grenades.
In summary: A lot of people say this is bad, but honestly, crafting is a great SUPPORT stat for almost any build! Technical Ability can even stand on its own if you max it out first since it increases both Armor, Tech Weapon Damage (of which there are many types), and of course, crafting just boosts your stats in many ways. Cons? Crafting adds a layer of tedium (or “intricacy”, for those crafting inclined).
Cool Attribute
Cool Attribute Related perks:
- Stealth: Assassination, stealthiness, knives.
- Cold Blooded: Multi-kill streak stacking combat buff (that’s a mouthful)
In summary: Stealth. It’s all about stealth. And, on the flip-side you get Cold-Blooded which is “stealthy”, and at the same time supports “quickly killing many enemies, stealth or not”. Invest in cool if you like the whole assassin vibe (even if you plan to assassinate with pistols, which is very powerful). It does have a “knife” and “headshot” damage subtheme as well. Cons? In a straight up brawl you’re going to feel a little worse.
How to spend your starting attribute points
“You need to have an IDEA of what your playstyle is, to determine the stats you’re going to take. Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world – worst case is you reroll once you figure out what exactly it is you want.”
Typically your starting stats will be spent like this: 3 on two different stats, and 1 on another one, resulting in a total of 7/7/4/3/3 starting attributes.
So if we’re going to make a template for builds, it’s gonna be like this:
- +3(6 total) attributes on an attribute that supports your core playstyle.
- +3(6 total) attributes on a “support” stat, or access to a “hybrid” playstyle.
- +1(4 total) attributes on a distant “third stat” mainly for support or utility.
- +0 on the remaining two stats.
With that being said, let’s see see what we can do.
Sample starting attributes “builds” / template
Let’s imagine “what we want to be”, and get some sample starting attributes to go with.
Shotgun “Bruiser” with Crafting Support Starting Stats
- +3 Body (for Shotguns / Blunt)
- +3 Technical Ability (for Crafting)
- +1 Intelligence (to possibly reach the money perks)
Then proceed to heavily invest attribute points into Body > Tech > Other
Pistol Assassin “Stealth” archetype Starting Stats
- +3 Cool (For Stealth bonuses and Headshots)
- +3 Reflexes (for Handguns, Rifles)
- +1 Technical Ability (To maybe craft in the midgame)
Then proceed to heavily invest attribute points into Cool > Reflexes > Other
“Hacker” archetype Starting Stats
- +3 Intelligence (For… Hacking)
- +3 Technical Ability (To craft and use more tech)
- +1 Cool (potentially branch into stealth later)
Then proceed to heavily invest attribute points into Intelligence > Tech > Other
Hack n’ Slash “Melee” Merc Starting Stats
- +3 Reflexes (for Blades)
- +3 Body (for the beefiness and blunt weapons)
- +1 Technical Ability (For future crafting)
Then proceed to heavily invest attribute points into Reflexes or Body > Other
And if you REALLY DONT KNOW WHAT YOU WANT, I highly suggest you just jump into the game with a build that looks something like this – and see what you like, then choose to just reroll or simply continue after.
Generic “IDK WHAT I WANT YET”
- +2 Body (Shotguns, LMG)
- +2 Reflexes (Rifles, Pistols, Blades)
- +2 Intelligence (Hacking)
- +1 Technical Ability (Tech and Crafting)
Hopefully these sample starting attribute spreads give you an idea of where I’m getting at.
Summary and Closing
I can’t stress it enough. “Your playstyle and goals will determine your starting attributes in Cyberpunk”, not the other way around. And this helps you determine your future points, and “build” thereafter.
So discovering your playstyle, goals, and what makes you happy in-game or challenges you set yourself with (For example, a no hack run), should EASILY guide you on what stats and perks you want.
Allocating your starting attributes can be a little daunting in any game, Cyberpunk not excluded. In the end, I hope we help you decide and set you on the path into Night City ASAP!
