Cyberpunk Guide 2.0 (Romance, Endings, Skill Points and 100% ACH, Killing In The Name Fix)

I've got 300+ hours in the game and im still going strong, figured i'd make this for anyone planning on getting the game or about to start their first run through so they'll know which choices to make when it comes to skills and such

Character Creation

as fun as it sounds to think that you'll be able to make a technocolored character that looks like a reject from some Calarts class, you have to remember that this will be the character you see in cutscene's and photo-ops if you decide to use the photo mode, so if you find something or want to take a near picture of something with your character you either have to suffer with your V, Rainbow Edition, or make a new proper character and play through the game to the same point you were before just for the image, or give up entirely up to you.

Also you need to remember that sex scenes also use your character, so no need getting excited for one only to see your abomination show up and ruin your fiddling, so be careful

Leveling In 2.0 CP2077

BODY (Shotguns, Health / Survival, Blunt Weapons )
REFLEXES (Assault Rifles, SMG's, Long Blades, Mobility)
TECHNICAL ABILITY (Grenade and Health Item usage, Cyberware Capacity, Tech Weapons)
INTELLIGENCE (Hacking and Smart Weapons)
COOL (Throwing Knives, Pistols, 'ninjutsu')

The New 2.0 update changed everything, even removing the 'crafting leveling' entirely. Upgrading weapons is easier, your exotics stay useful longer, oh - and they nerfed pistols into the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bedrock. Goodbye, sweet cowboy :(

Now for pistol builds you just need to get cool to twenty and full max all of the cool-pistol skills you want, then do whatever else you want.

You can, and should, max out technical, because that is how you get a higher cyberware capacity.
(and the game is nearly impossible without some decent cyberware now, regardless of build.)

All in all, I don't DISLIKE the new system, but the pistol nerfs and the way some of the leveling is makes me feel like a couple of my old builds are useless. If you want to be uber-op, max out technical, body, and reflexes and just pound mantis blades into everyone with every perk increasing bladed damage or cyberware maxed out for more efficiency, especially since the new Armor system makes your Cyberware-Armor OP as all hell.

There are also 'cyberware shards' that increase cyberware capacity you can find whenever you kill someone, found more commonly on higher-tier enemies.

Mission Paths

In cyberpunk the game is nice enough to generally add 4 ways to get through most missions or encounters

A) Stealth, sneaking around, disabling or hacking cameras and taking people down

B) guns ablazing like most idiots do, the main story missions dont even force you into stealth, even ones that most games wouldn't get in trouble for making stealth like the parade mission, if the parade mission was a COD stealth mission people wouldn't even bat their eyes they'd just go "Alright lets go"
and when its hinted "hey you should go quiet here" and you decide that that is boring and start shooting people the game generally just sasses you "what the ♥♥♥♥ are you doing?!" or "Are you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crazy???" but this doesn't affect the story at all, usually just makes the mission itself harder since the stealth missions generally have high level enemies around to ruin your week

C) Technical or Hacking routes, if you have a stealth build but you dont have hacking built up or technical leveled because you didnt want to craft stuff the game allows you to do either or, "Technical" doors you can hack, using Technical to turn off turrets and cameras, the like, its a nice addition to those who didn't enjoy or fully embrace hacking like me

D) "Force" with the Strength stat levelled up decently you can pry doors open, knock people out during missions, threaten them to leave or back down, or just straight allow you to choke hold stronger enemies that would normally wreck your ♥♥♥♥ for trying to pin them, meaning you can do a full Strength stealth run without Cool levelled. which on the higher difficulties is useful for taking out a couple enemies before a huge firefight.

each path is well written and planned, you can go through windows for stealth or technical routes, you can straight up pry open doors with the strength route saving you a minute or two of stealthy BS, however it forces you to stay still so dont do it while getting shot at, and the Gorilla Arms cybernetic can even make up for missing strength if you buy it, meaning if STR is your last stat to level and you get the implant you dont get blocked from a mission route.

overall the pathing is well written, and I cant fault them for something I wouldn't be able to do better myself

Side Quests / NCPD Crime Scanner

A lot of the side quests are SUPER well written, if there is one thing the game can't be faulted for its writing quality, Rivers quest line and Judy's quest line are some of the best written quests iv'e seen in games in years, and the impact you leave on the side characters is there, as seen in the endings

(as by now you should know, whether you've played it or not there are branching endings)

the branch endings are also locked behind side quests as well, meaning you cant get ending A without helping side character A, or B with B, ETC.

The secret ending also follows this, if you want to know how to get it i'll leave it at the end with a spoiler warning.

Also, don't be fooled by the "random encounters" that pulse blue on the map, they are scripted I think it just means the crime itself isn't on the NCPD database so if you leave it'll disappear, however I haven't tried this.

The NCPD Crime scenes are really good for power levelling early on, if you see a perk you want to play with but need a level or two hit up 1-3 Crimes and you'll both level up + possibly get a shard that gives you EXP in something, like stealth or crafting. Each crime ALSO comes with a DATASHARD which expands on lore and gives you a feeling of the crime you just prevented or avenged, like a woman being kidnapped by human traffickers who you didn't get to in time because she bled out, or a guy who snitched on a gang member but didn't get protected by the NCPD (Because they are corrupt as all hell, go figure) and gets himself and his sister murdered by them. I did every crime and at a point if you really enjoyed the game like I did you'll find the shards fun to come by if you are grinding through them for EXP or trying to 100% the game because they give you something to do besides "fetch me this, I need this, this is here and it needs to be there" ETC

there's also crime quests, which are basically all the same, find thing, get information on something like a stash of guns or something, steal stash with unique item, repeat. good if you are doing a build and need a specific item for it.

Killing In The Name BUGFIX -1.0, unsure if still a problem in 2.0

During a sidequest called Killing In The Name you have to hack a router after getting a mysterious message, and quite a few people have issues with this

There are several ways to fix this, one is to restart to before you took the mission, but if you started the mission like I did, found it was bugged and played for 60 hours before going back to it this may not be an option.

During the mission you'll find the router and be asked to jack into it, once doing so you might finish the hack and get kicked out only to find its telling you to do it again, what you need to do is check something

-Do you have ANY beserk equipped?
-Any cybermods which will prevent quickhacks?

if so then remove them and equip one of the other cybermods that gives you quickhack slots, go back to said router and you'll be able to hack into it

Guns, Swords, Bombs

The new 2.0 update changed the way the guns feel and work.

-Pistols were nerfed, hard. Before even on very hard a decent pistol (or just the Comrade's Hammer, RIP my baby boy) could easily 1 shot most enemies as long as you built your V towards Pistol damage.

I have actually had to farm, use the 'passives' of the pistols, and mods to make the pistols even viable. This sounds 'whiny', but the pistols were always a bit of a 'skill' weapon to me more than anything. A late-game revolver might be able to 1 shot, but it only has 6 bullets before needing a reload (or 1 on CH) every bullet you miss, or every bullet that doesn't kill is one less enemy dead. I have had issues on 2.0 even using the best pistol build with the best revolver's / pistols.

I would recommend playing on easy/normal if you want to run as a gunslinger, or else it might not be as fun as it used to be.

-SMG's are the new pistols. Honestly a few of them are just disgusting.

-Assault Rifles are boring, so I won't even bother here cuz I never used em.

-Snipers are still the go-to for 1 shotting behind cover and ending a fight before people can even get to you.

-Swords, Knives, and Mantis blades are now exceedingly busted when you are built for them. I didn't have a SINGLE throwing knife - damage skill active and I used it all game and my throwing knives were still one shotting until level 50ish

-Grenades were buffed HARD. You don't need to make them anymore, they regen passively, and you can upgrade your skills for them until they can 1 shot almost everything.

If you are playing for the first time after seeing 2.0 and the DLC come out, do a mantis build - cybertank build. Max out your Technical-Reflexes-Body, get all of the cyberware cap-skills, all the blade-skills and all of the body skills you can get and you'll breeze through the game (get a sandevistan, the stronger the better)

Or just do the previous attributes and stack cyberware and shotgun skills.

Or just beat ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to death with gorilla arms.

They 'Removed' (Kinda) The Crafting Tree, So Here's How to Max Money Fast.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Infinite-Glitch the cash.

Duplicate items, guns, whatever you can find on youtube and just break the game.

Honestly farming cash any other way is unfun, and quite frankly a huge waste of time.

It's genuinely easier now to get cash as you go along it seems, but its still not worth spending 20 hours farming money or components to upgrade one item once or twice, or buy all the vehicles for the achievement.

There are like 4 different dupli-glitches I know right now. Go on youtube, or google, and search up infinite money or whatever, save your time. You might feel dirty, you might not like it, but its honestly the only 'fun' way to level your guns to the max or buy all the vehicles without wasting several days of grinding.

How To 100% The Game (From someone who has done it 4 times)

as you start playing, even at the very start with Dexter Deshawn, if you are going towards a side quest or mission, if there's any crimes within 1-3 hundred meters do it before the mission, if you think you might want to 100% the game later on you will thank yourself for this. I didn't do any of the crimes besides the ones I basically walked into by accident, and when I decided to 100% the game myself I hate do scour the entire map for every single one and it took me about 10 hours to do them all, which could of been reduced to just 1 or 2 hours of doing the ones at the corner of the map n ♥♥♥♥. Make sure you also do Gigs as you do the crime waves, they are basically the same thing but you get your cash from Fixers instead of the feds, so you might as well do them on the way since they take like 30 seconds to complete

-

When it comes to buying ♥♥♥♥ or upgrading stuff for achievements, just infinite glitch items with guides or videos you find online.

Its not worth wasting several days worth of time grinding for cash or killing random NPC's where they spawn on the beachside or whatever when you can get it done in 20 minutes.

If you don't want to 'cheat', don't. Beat the entire game, farm for a few hours, then realize that farming all of the cash is barely worth it. Spend your entire game scrounging for cash, never buying items or high-tier cyberware, and when you aren't having fun because you have 2 mil and barely enough to buy all the vehicles realize you could have had a lot of fun with all the toys in the toy-box but you didn't want to 'cheat'.

It's easy, and it genuinely makes the game more fun.

Romance Guide (Spoilers, Duh)

Each character is realistic in this game, meaning you can't be an absolute prick to everyone and romance them like in every TV show centered around the dark and brooding type, and some characters cant be romanced if you aren't their preferred gender as they have a sexual preference.

Judy:
You HAVE to be a female, she doesn't do men and it should be a damn crime to make best girl non-romance-able at all because ♥♥♥♥ it broke my soft willed heart not to be able to pick her during my first play through.

First, don't be a ♥♥♥♥, this is the only time i'll say this in this chapter because I don't want to copy-paste it on every single one, being NICE is the safest way to work, since a sarcastic comment here or there might be fine but being a prick in every conversation might lock you out, although I haven't fully tested it yes as I dont have 70 hours to waste on going through every conversation option to prove any theories. To get her to like you though there is one major decision to make, when you are doing the Tygerclaws v Dolls quest or whatever if at the end you disagree with Maiko's plan you have to kill all the bosses, then Maiko for trying to betray you, Judy will be hurt but you won't be locked out of romancing her, if you Agree with Maiko when she betrays you but deny payment Judy will be pissed still but still romancable, however if you agree with Maiko, then accept payment she'll hate you.
Next she'll invite you to dive, accept, be nice, and in the bathroom try to kiss her
Bam, you've romanced Judy, have fun
(Honestly the most complicated one)

Rivers:
Be a chick, he doesn't let you romance if you are a dude. during the quest line for him agree with him, help him every step of the way and take his side, help him find the person who is missing and on the water tower kiss him. Easy peasy, unlike a few others

Kerry:
Be a dude, hes into chicks too but is getting over his exwife I think so you can't romance him as a chick. Agree to help him with the US cracks stuff, go meet him at the yacht and destroy the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing, kiss him when prompted and boom, you've romanced him.

Panam:
Be a dude, she isn't into chicks, be nice, don't berate her too harshly when she ♥♥♥♥♥ up as she does often and you'll be good, help her with her revenge and help her clan out when she calls, if you want to be safe just do all her quests. at the first night at the motel DON'T try too hard to flirt with her, it won't work. Next is the Saul mission, flirt a bit, but don't go full feet monster n ♥♥♥♥. After this during the basilisk mission flirt with her a bit, tell her to follow her impulses, and when in the basilisk itself later on tell her to follow them again and you'll complete her romance quest line. Congrats

Cant romance Johnny I don't think, or at least I haven't found a way, probably not possible since he is a "ghost in the machine" , plus I don't think CDPR would get Keanu's permission for a sex scene that actually showed him in 3RD person railing someone, or getting railed

Meredith Stout:
During the quest line in the start where you need to deal with Maelstrom for the bot, call Meredith, tell her you want to make a deal, and be truthful to her during the "talk" Then pay for the chip later on, or kill buddy boy during the hold up, if you hack the chip she gives you and clean it, or pay with your own money or just resolve the situation peacefully you'll get locked out of her romance, because she'll be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dead

Cant Romance Takamura, or Misty (Hands off Jackies girl you rat), or Jackie (Hands off Misty's man you home wrecker)

Best girl is Mama Welles, fight me

How To Get EVERY ENDING (SPOILERS)DUH) 2.0/DLC not included yet.

----------------------
I am now going to outline every ending, and how to get each one + small changes certain choices can have on them. I wont spoil the endings as hard as I could so that if you read this without knowing the endings you will still get some shocks at the end.

Panam Ending (Good Ending)
Do Panam's entire story line, be nice to her, don't yell at her or berate her. Basically suck her ♥♥♥♥ the whole game. She has the longest side quest story line so get a drink.
She helps you raid Arasaka tower.

Rogue Ending (Kinda Good Ending? / Legend Ending)
you need to do Rogue's side quest "chipping in" and "Blistering Love" to do this ending, You accept Johnny taking over to raid Arasaka with Rogue, you gear up, get some new boots and a nice jacket, and blow into the tower.
Depending on who you romanced this ending has small changes, but nothing major.

Arasaka ending, the Base ending (Bad Ending) .
The Arasaka ending is basically the bare minimum ending, if you were speed running it it is the one you would probably get, no choices must be made to get it, simple playing through the game can get it, HOWEVER, if in the mission where you kidnap /// you can save ////// who gets seperated from you during the ambush by fighting up to the second floor, meaning you can change the ending a little bit. You have 2 choices at the end of this that change the ending entirely, up to you to choose though.





Secret Ending (Don't Fear The Reaper Ending)
for the secret ending you need to do a very specific conversation, as well as treat johnny relatively nicely, so don't be a super aggressive prick.
A) During the blistering love sidequest for johnny agree to go to his grave site where Adam Smasher buried him, there scrawl his initials and the phrase
"the guy who saved my life"
then say to him in the following conversation
"Nah, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ that up too"
"what do you want from me?"
"ok. but as second chances go, this is your last"
"you were a ♥♥♥♥ in the beginning"
"When you said you let down your friends"
"Smasher biz really got to her"
"Yeah, I'll call Rogue"
if you don't do this, even if you have his relationship maxed out as high as it can go it won't matter, you cant get the secret ending.

When making the decision on what ending to make (you'll know when) you'll be presented with all your options, during this take the "I'll let you and rogue go" then look at johnny, look at the gun next to you on the table, then back to johnny a few times, then leave the game going and get a drink, because you need to wait about 4-5 minutes. Once this happens you get the "♥♥♥♥ this im not dragging my mates into this" and is honestly my favourite ending.

at the end credits, after all is said and done if you saved Takamura's life Arasaka will be destroyed and Hanako most likely killed or something, so Takamura having his life destroyed will call you regardless of your relationship and tell you that you are a dog for betraying him, and that he is going to commit Seppeku for failing to protect his masters, and that you should Rot In Hell. if you dont plan on doing the Arasaka ending I RECOMMEND letting him die earlier on

Ending Comments

I loved the game, honestly I really did, for every complaint I have 10 hours of gameplay, and when I have more than an hour of gameplay put into a game per dollar spent i'm hard pressed to ♥♥♥♥ on it, yes the game should never of been released to lastgen, yes the crunch and all the other issues are horrible, no i'm not going to blame the devs for this. It's quite obvious in my opinion if you do any research you'll find that it looks pretty obvious that it was the suits that forced the early release, not the devs. To everyone saying the devs are the ♥♥♥♥♥ or bastards for early release, they are wrong. Devs generally don't have much choice in the matter besides a simple "no its not playable" or "yes its playable but I wouldnt recommend it" which is always just a simple "yes" or "no" answer to the guys at the top, meaning if you tell suits that "its not as good as it should be" they'll just hear "its ready but prepare for some PR work" and thats it, they dont care about anything other than their investors and their bottom line, thats it.

I BELIEVE this game will be great, near the end of the year most of the issues should be ironed out, and I wouldn't be shocked if theres some DLC planned to fix some of the dead ends or tie up the story, like how Dying Light did their The Following DLC. I Believe this game is going to be great, because I genuinely like CDPR, even after this disaster of a release.

We'll just have to wait and see

[BagOMarbles]

Nvm did the prompt and got shot down lmao

[Scruffy]

@Eishaa Yeah, but compared to before where if you just stacked pistol-skills and had any random revolver off the street become at the very least viable it certainly hurts now :/

I miss my gunslingin' days

[Eishaa]

(Picked up 2.0 from a level 50 save. No idea how well this build will work if you are starting from a fresh save.)

You can still get pistols to one-shot all but the tankiest of High-Threat enemies, BUT you will need to abuse stealth damage to the max. For tougher enemies, Level 55 Headhunter will still let you quickly clean them up with follow-up shots before other enemies detect you.

From best to worst, stack as much +X stealth damage, +X% stealth damage, +X% Headshot & Weakpoint damage, +X% Crit Damage, +X% Damage to High-Threat enemies, +X% Damage to enemies at full health as you can. Make sure to stack as much Cool-attuned cyberware as you can, as well.

Best pistols for this: Her Majesty (DLC pistol), or Seraph, if you don't have the DLC (Rest in Peace, Silenced Revolvers ): ). Revolvers are still decent when not in stealth.

Here's a short clip of it in action: https://medal.tv/games/cyberpunk-2077/clips/1wInSe4VtCDaFP/53HEIgvgAzV2?invite=cr-MSxMY3MsMjAxMTk3ODk3LA

[Eras]

Best way to start the game, before you go to viktors originally, do 20k worth of NCPD crimespots around your apartment, then after do another 25k of NCPD crimespots/gigs and get your leg implants. then go talk hop in dexter's car and enjoy

[Dokka]

This is just Amazing Overall,the explanation is very good

[Tactical Nikita]

Some CalArts class LOL. I partied on that campus some 30 years ago. Fun place!

[Ephii Testarossa]

SO U TELLIN ME, I CANT DO "IT" WITH BEST GIRL JUDY, DAMN, IMMA GET A REFUND :L

[WhiskeyNebula]

Appreciate this heads-up. I've been skipping side quests and NCPD stuff and wondering how I kept getting my ass handed to me in main quests.

[Scruffy]

lol

[dijo]

Guns, swords, bombs? you want it? its your's, choomba as long as you have enough eddies. Sorry V, i cant give credit, come back when you a little mmm, richer.