Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Skill Progression explained

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Do you need help with the Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 skill tree? In the original Cyberpunk (pre update), you earned XP by defeating enemies. When you leveled up, you earned perk points and attribute points. That is still in place. Complete quests and defeat foes to get yourself some perks.

Thanks to the 2.0 update, the traditional skill tree shrank down from twelve to five. Much easier to handle and far less messy. The new skills are Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo, and Engineer. Before, you had skills for everything from assault rifles and precision rifles to mantis blades.

Thanks to CD Projekt Red’s update, players will have a much easier time navigating the skills menu and will enjoy some new perks. Are you ready to experience a new type of combat, crafting, and more? Here is everything you need to know about Cyberpunk 2077. 2.0 skill progression.

How does the new skill tree work in Cyberpunk 2.0?

In the new skill tree, you have a total of five skills that you can upgrade. These skills are:

• Headhunter
• Netrunner
• Shinobi
• Solo
• Engineer

Let’s break down what each one of these skills covers in the game.

Headhunter

Headhunter has a focus on combat. You can increase this skill by participating in combat, getting headshots, and hitting weak points. Defeating enemies with axes, knives, pistols, and revolvers, will also help rank up this skill. You can also use a silenced weapon.

As you can tell, the more you mess around with combat, killing enemies silently, and getting headshots, the more progress you will make in the Headhunter tree. You get the following benefits from this skill tree:

• Rank 5 – Increases your stealth by decreasing enemy visibility by 10%
• Rank 10 – Bonus headshot damage and damage against vulnerabilities
• Rank 15 – Gain a perk point
• Rank 20 – Reduced weapon sway while crouching
• Rank 25 – Decreases enemy visibility by another 10%
• Rank 30 – Bonus headshot damage and vulnerability damage
• Rank 35 – Gain a perk point
• Rank 40 – Optical camo while grappling enemies
• Rank 45 – Decreases recovery time
• Rank 50 – Faster walking speed while crouched
• Rank 55 – Damage bonus while undetected and outside of combat
• Rank 60 – Optical camo charge when neutralizing an enemy

Netrunner

To earn experience in the Netrunner skill tree, you will need to quickhack enemies, jack into access points, and quickhack objects. This is obviously the more intelligence-based skill in the game that grants you bonuses to your hacking abilities.

Just make sure if you are going for this skill tree that you keep your OS upgraded and that you focus on hacking so you can get this skill tree to the max. You get the following bonuses from this tree:

• Rank 5 – Increase RAM recovery rate
• Rank 10 – Increases RAM by one
• Rank 15 – Earn a perk point
• Rank 20 – Increased rank with smart weapons
• Rank 25 – Increases RAM recovery rate
• Rank 30 – Increases RAM by one
• Rank 35 – Earn a perk point
• Rank 40 – Decreased RAM cost for quickhacks used on devices and vehicles
• Rank 45 – Increased duration for control and covert quickhacks and additional damage for combat quickhacks
• Rank 50 – Increased duration for Overclock
• Rank 55 – Less health loss from using quickhacks during overclock
• Rank 60 – Overclock reveals enemies within 10 meters.

Shinobi

There is some confusion about what gives experience to the Shinobi skill and what gives XP to the Headhunter skill. Despite the name, the Shinobi skill is not based on stealth. If you want to get experience with it, you will need to use Submachine guns, Assault rifles, chainswords, katanas, machetes, and the mantis blades.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to use tech weapons, grenades, or special armor. This skill tree focuses on increasing your reflexes and is good for those with a more fluid playstyle. Those are for another skill tree. Leveling up the Shinobi skill tree will get you the following skills:

• Rank 5 – Increases base movement speed
• Rank 10 – Decreased stamina cost for dodging
• Rank 15 – Earn a perk point
• Rank 20 – Better accuracy after dodging or dashing
• Rank 25 – Increases base movement speed
• Rank 30 – Decreased stamina cost for dodging and dashing
• Rank 35 – Earn a perk point
• Rank 40 – Increased mitigation chance the faster your movement speed
• Rank 45 – Increased damage with fast attacks
• Rank 50 – Air dashing and sliding reloads part of your weapon’s magazine
• Rank 55 – When attacking from the air or when time is slowed, stamina does not affect ranged accuracy or melee attack speed
• Rank 60 – When Sandevistan is active, you gain increased crit chance and movement doesn’t cost stamina.

Solo

Solo is the easiest of the skill trees to level up. To gain experience with this skill tree, you can defeat enemies using shotguns, clubs, Light Machine Guns, and Gorilla Arms. Solo is the brute force skill tree meaning that you won’t be using Cyberware and will instead be using anything that will brutally break someone.

The Solo skill tree grants you buffs for things like larger melee weapons and strong attacks. Of course, being the brute force person, you might want to pack some extra health items since you might be using your fists a lot. The following benefits come from the Solo skill tree:

• Rank 5 – Increase in carrying capacity
• Rank 10 – Increases health
• Rank 15 – Earn a perk point
• Rank 20 – Fists and Gorilla Arms have increased damage and attack speed. They also have a chance to apply bleeding.
• Rank 25 – Increase in carrying capacity
• Rank 30 – Increases health
• Rank 35 – Earn a perk point
• Rank 40 – Increases crit chance against melee targets
• Rank 45 – Increases damage with strong attacks and quick melee attacks
• Rank 50 – Increases health after performing a finisher
• Rank 55 – While Adrenaline Rush is active, Adrenaline decreases 50% slower and cannot go below 10%
• Rank 60 – While Berserk is active: Increased enemy health threshold for finishers, increased health from performing finishers, and increased Berserk duration

Engineer

The last of the skills trees, Engineer, focuses on explosives and damage-over-time effects. For instance, applying status effects on enemies that affect their stats or cause damage will increase this skill tree.

Tech weapons, bolt shots, grenades, overload quickhack, inflicting elemental damage, crafting, and disassembling items are all ways to increase this skill tree. Night City is a dangerous place so all of these will come in handy. You get the following skills from this tree:

• Rank 5 – Increases armor
• Rank 10 – Increases Cyberware capacity
• Rank 15 – Earn a perk point
• Rank 20 – Increases grenade damage and explosion radius
• Rank 25 – Increases armor
• Rank 30 – Increases Cyberware capacity
• Rank 35 – Earn a perk point
• Rank 40 – Increases shock chance from a charged tech weapon or electric baton
• Rank 45 – Increased health item effectiveness
• Rank 50 – Increase to all cyberwar stat modifiers
• Rank 55 – Increased damage with bolt shots and bonus burn chance
• Rank 60 – When Fury is active, release an occasional EMP blast

How to rank up skills in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0

In the base game, you defeated foes and earned experience. With the new update, this largely stays the same except you will be earning different types of experience.

Depending on what skills you use, you will earn experience in a specific skill tree. This will, in turn, grant you bonuses based on the items used. You can get bonuses like increased crit damage, more health, and increased special abilities like the Sandevistan Cyberware or overclock mode.

Remember, unlike the old skills tree, everything you do will work towards a specific attribute. The way you interact with NPCs, how you perform in combat, and how you solve problems, will all count toward new skills. You can expect this to be a big change as well when the Phantom Liberty DLC releases.