There are several progression systems in Cyberpunk 2077 that you’ll advance in simultaneously, the most prominent being your character level. Complete quests and defeat enemies to earn EXP, get enough and you’ll level up, earning perk points and attribute points (which you’ll ultimately use to unlock perks via the perk trees) - standard role-playing game fare.

But depending on your actions you’ll also earn progress in one of five skill trees: Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo and Engineer. These skills have dramatically changed in patch 2.0, and this page will discuss the changes to skills while also providing detail on the new skills, what boons you get for leveling them, and tips and strategies for leveling up said skills.

What Are Skills in Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 2.0?¶

When you enter the “Character” menu, you’ll be presented with the five major attributes - Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence and Cool - and their related perk trees. Attributes range from 3 to 20, and while you get minor bonuses from increasing these attributes (+2 max health for every point of Body, +1 RAM for every 4 Intelligence, +1.25% Crit Damage per point of Cool, etc.), their real draw is allowing you to access higher perk tiers, which are cordoned off in four tiers:

This is the meat of character development, and your attribute point and hence your perk point allocation functionally determines your build. As you build up your name in Night City, however, you’ll notice that sometimes you’ll see pop ups informing you that you’ve earned EXP in one of five categories: Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo and Engineer. These are five skill trees, and the obvious correlation is with the five attributes, but the actual gameplay is more complicated, and parallels between skills trees and attributes aren’t always clear cut. You can access these skill trees by selecting the “Skill Progression” button on the bottom right of the “Characters” menu, simultaneously right in plain sight and also tucked safely out of the way.

Certain actions - usually defeating enemies in different ways - will earn you EXP in one or more skill trees. Get enough EXP and that skill will level up. Most of these levels don’t actually do anything, but every 5th level will unlock a boon. The game itself is pretty obtuse when it comes to information about leveling different skills (don’t worry, we got you - check below), but it’s quite happy to entice you with the benefits of reaching certain skill levels. Hover over the twelve skill progression rewards for each skill and you’ll see what they offer. Ranks 5 to 35 typically offer fairly general stat bonuses, which may not be inspired, but are quite useful. These include bonuses to headshot damage, max RAM, movement speed, health, carrying capacity, armor, cyberware capacity, and best of all, each tree gives you a Perk Point at ranks 15 and 35. With nearly 20% of the perk points you can earn locked behind skill progression, you’re well incentivized to level these skills up.

How Are Skills Different in Cyberpunk Patch 2.0¶

The most obvious change to skill trees in Cyberpunk 2077 patch 2.0 is the sheer number of them. Each perk tree used to have two or three skill trees associated with a specific subset of perks; Cool had Stealth and Cold Blood, Reflexes had Hunguns, Blades and Assault, etc. In patch 2.0, skills have been reduced from twelve trees down to five, and while this can create some odd bedfellows, it’s overall less of a hassle to level any specific skill tree - Athletics used to be a nightmare, as it required a lot of running, jumping and climbing. Not hard, per se, and something that would occur naturally over time, but it’s not the most engaging of activities, especially if you want to grind it out to earn, say, more carrying capacity of perk points.

Each of these old skill trees had twenty ranks, and each rank gave some bonus, although these were typically less generalized than the patch 2.0 rewards (Blades skill progression only boosted your proficiency with katanas, blades and mantis blades, for example), and gave a lot more perk points overall (although the old perk trees were more point-hungry than the new 2.0 perk trees are). The old skills also had to be maxed before you could unlock the ultimate perk in the affiliated perk tree - skills are now not connected to perks in any meaningful way. Likewise, the maximum level you could reach in any skill tree was determined by your related Attribute. If your Intelligence was only 10, you couldn’t get above rank 10 in Intelligence-related skill trees (Breach Protocol and Quickhacking). Attributes no longer influence your skill progression in any way in patch 2.0.

How to Level the Headhunter Skill¶

Something of a mix of the old version’s Cool and Reflex skills, Headhunter is now the stealth/operator/sniper skill tree. Kill enemies sneakily, silently, and with headshots to earn Headhunter EXP, and with axes, for some reason. Leveling the Headhunter skill will increase your headshot/vulnerability damage, make it harder for enemies to detect you, increase your movement speed while sneaking and more.

• Defeat enemies with axes, knives, pistols, precision rifles and revolvers.
• Perform headshots, regardless of the weapon used.
• Kill enemies with silenced weapons or takedowns.

How to Level the Netrunner Skill¶

One of the few skills in patch 2.0 that remains easy to associate with a single attribute and perk tree (in this case, Intelligence), the Netrunner skill tree offers few surprises. Quickhack enemies and objects and jack into access points to earn Netrunner EXP. There are no weapons that give you Netrunner EXP, so how tedious you find this will be determined almost entirely based upon how much you’ve invested into the Intelligence attribute and talent tree, and how well you’ve kept your OS upgraded. If you swap out an OS that allows quickhacking for, say, a Sandevistan or Berserk model, this skill tree becomes very difficult to level. As should be expected, leveling up the Netrunner skill will boost your max RAM, RAM recovery rate,

• Use quickhacks on enemies and objects (defeating enemies with quickhacks is worth more, using Overload on targets actually gives Engineering EXP, not Netrunner EXP).
• Successfully jack into Access Points.
• Defeat enemies while locked-on with any smart weapon.

How to Level the Shinobi Skill¶

The Shinobi skill tree is the successor to two old Reflexes skill trees, namely Assault and Blades with a mix of Athletics and Stealth thrown in, and honestly the divide for what ended up in the Headhunter skill tree and the Headhunter skill tree seems somewhat random. Despite the name, you don’t actually gain any Shinobi EXP for stealth (that’s headhunter) and why kills with SMGs and assault rifles both contribute Shinobi EXP instead of, say, Solo EXP is something of a mystery. Increasing your rank in the Shinobi skill will give you boons like faster movement speed, fast attack damage, and various bonuses while dodging and dashing.

• Defeat enemies with assault rifles, SMGs, chainswords, katanas, machetes and mantis blades.
• Run, jump, climb, dodge and dash.

How to Level the Solo Skill¶

The Solo skill inherited much of the old Body skills, namely Annihilation and Brawler (although it passed Athletics onto the Shinobi skill, apparently, but retained the boons previously associated with Athletics), which means it’s fairly easy to level; just defeat enemies with shotguns, clubs, LGMs and gorilla arms and you’re good. Unfortunately if you’re not a fan of brute force, there aren’t many other options - the Solo skill is not much for subtlety. Raising your Solo skill level will yield increased carrying capacity, max health, and general boosts to damage in melee or when close to enemies. Some of the buffs in the first half of the tree should be tempting enough to convince even the most noodle-armed netrunner to pick up a bat and start swinging for the fences!

• Defeat enemies with shotguns, hammers, LMGs, clubs, unarmed attacks and gorilla arms.

How to Level the Engineer Skill¶

Possibly the oddest skill tree in patch 2.0, the engineer doesn’t have any weapon types it governs, instead gaining EXP from a variety of niche weapon uses, quickhacking options, and pretty much any damage over time or area-of-effect, namely explosives. It’s not the easiest skill to focus-level, but you’ll likely gain points in it at a slow and steady pace. The following actions will give you Engineer EXP:

• Defeat enemies using charged tech weapons and Bolt shots.
• Defeat enemies with grenades or the projectile launcher.
• Use the Overload quickhack.
• Inflict elemental damage and DoT effects.
• Pick up new weapons (this bonus is marginal, but over the course of a game…)
• Crafting or disassembling items.