Best Mantis Blades Build - Update 2.1 - Cyberpunk 2077

Mantis Blade Build - Wolverine

In my opinion, the build is fairly straightforward and combat revolves around slashing with Mantis Blades. In essence, you are the closest thing to a cyber psycho - shredding enemies to pieces one by one, jumping 10 meters to have their bowels pierced with a blade.

This doesn't mean that it makes the game easy. You still have to be smart about your combat approaches. Playing Very Hard with this build can mean death in a matter of seconds. So you will need all the tools available to create the ultimate melee build. These include - correct cyberware, perks, attributes, and operating systems.

Once you reach Dog Town and get the new Relic perks, Mantis Blades becomes an even deadlier weapon allowing you to almost teleport to enemies from very far away. This deals area of effect damage and cripples them, leaving them no choice but to face you head-on.

The build is not too demanding on Perk points. Although we utilize most of them, the core of it is fairly straightforward. This allows them to accommodate additional ranged weapons like Throwing Knives or SMGs. However, I found using only Mantis Blades to be a healthy challenge as you would need to prioritize your enemies and think strategically about the combat approach.

 

So if this sounds like your type of build, let's jump in!

Attributes

Starting Game

Here are what attributes we should be taking at the start of the game.

Attribute	Allocation	Description
Body	+3	Will give us bonus HP early in the game and unlock the first perk.
Reflexes	+3	Unlocks the first tier perks and gives a boost to critical chance.
Technical Ability	+1	Additional armor protection.
Cool	+1	Unlocks a few useful perks for stealth approaches

End Game

Here are the attribute allocations for the Mantis Blade build at level 50.

Attribute	Total Allocation	Description
Reflexes	20	As one of the main attributes, we maximize it. It will give a high critical chance and many of the blade perks.
Body	15	We mainly want this for Adrenaline Rush which will give a huge survivability boost.
Technical Ability	20	Gives increased armor but more importantly, unlocks Edgerunner for a huge cyberware capacity boost.
Cool	13	We mainly take this to improve critical damage and get some stealth-related perks.
Intelligence	3	Not relevant for this build.

Leveling Progression

To improve the build understanding and give you some direction here is the recommended leveling progression. Use it more as a guideline to create your Mantis Blade build. Once you start "Feeling" your playstyle you can deviate and pick your own perks to better suit your style!

Perks

Let's go through the perks of the Mantis Blade build. We will go through about 60~ perk points for the build. This will cover the base perks that you get from level to level 50, skill progression, and perk shards.

Reflexes perks

The main perk tree of the build. It improves Mantis Blade damage, unlocks new actions, moreover gives abilities like Dash for higher mobility.

Level 4 Perks

Perk	Description
Slippery	Mainly we take this for progression
Parkour!	Faster movement through obstacles will help with stealth movement where every second counts.
Stuntjock	One of the coolest moves in the game, allowing you to jump out of the car. You can use this to activate an air takedown on an unsuspecting target.

Level 9 Perks

Perk	Description
Dash	Gives a huge mobility boost, making combat and traversing the world easier.
Can't Touch This	Gives you guaranteed mitigation while Dashing. This does not mean that you are invincible, but rather that damage is reduced against you based on mitigation strength.
Mad Dash	Further improves mobility when dashing straight to a foe
Lead and Steel	Allows blocking bullets with Mantis Blades, the next perk is mandatory for it to be worthwhile
Bullet Deflect	You can now deflect bullets back at enemies. This staggers them allowing to lunge at them for the kill.

Level 15 Perks

Perk	Description
Finisher: Bladerunner	One of the most important abilities of the build as it restores health, gives a brief period of invincibility and with the next perks provides additional buffs.
Flash of Steel	A huge boost to movement and attack speed after the finisher.
Opportunist	Increases the chance that the finisher is activated when enemies are under negative effects.
Going the Distance	Doubles Finisher activation distance.
Air Dash	A huge mobility boost works in the air. Combine it with Dash for fast movement around the world and battlefield.
Aerial Acrobat	An optional perk, but once I started doing mid-air turn jumps, I could not play without this.

Level 20 Perks

Perk	Description
Tailwind	Air Dash restores stamina, allowing to jump around indefinitely
Slaughterhouse	Always apply a bleed for easier Finisher: Bladerunner activation. Also restores bonus stamina on activating it.

Technical Ability Perks

Because the build requires a lot of perk points, we take her just the essential ones. Of course, many of them would be very useful, but we would need more perk points for that.

Level 4 Perks

Perk	Description
Glutton for War	With multiple enemy kills, getting health items faster is a good bonus
First Aid	Faster recharge speed
Transfusion	Close to the death and stronger item recharge? Take it.

Level 9 Perks

Perk	Description
Health Freak	Gives a third health item charge, greatly boosting the build's survivability.
Borrowed Time	On Very Hard this perk may not be useful as enemies usually take you out by the time you have 25% HP. However, even if there is a small chance instant item recharge is welcome.
Demolitions Surplus	Third grenade item. Definitely use grenades as a melee build as you can incapacitate or knock down foes.
All Things Cyber	We need it for progression but also gives a reduction to cyberware costs on Integumentary slots.
Renaissance Punk	Gives a small boost to Cyberware Capacity.
Chrome Constitution	Reduces incoming damage which is a huge survivability boost.
Driver Update	Additional stat boost for cyberware. Not a priority, but I recommend it in later levels.
Chipware Connoisseur	Again not a priority, but a third stat boost like more melee damage or health is a good improvement.

Level 15 Perks

Perk	Description
License to Chrome	Provides good bonuses like +40 armor. Moreover, we also need it for the next perk
Extended Warranty	Increases duration of the cyberware. This will work wonders with Berserk or Sandevistan operating system
Pyromania	This perk gives bonuses like faster item recharge speed and higher explosion radius for grenades. However, we mainly need it to reach the next tier.

Level 20 Perks

Perk	Description
Edgerunner	Gives a boost of cyberware capacity, and a special Fury state for a huge increase in damage.
Ticking Time Bomb	Really good perk for a melee build. The EMP stuns nearby enemies and deals damage while also decreasing incoming damage.

Body Perks

The main perks to increase survivability. We are aiming for 15 Body to unlock Phenom tier perks.

Level 4 Perks

Perk	Description
Painkiller	I think this is mandatory for every build, especially early in the game, when encounters are difficult and healing items recharge slow
Comeback Kid	Higher health regeneration while HP is low
Dorph-head	Ensures 100% mitigation chance after healing item use, which is a huge survivability boost.
Army of One	Health regen for enemies close by. As a Mantis Blade build this is a great synergy

Level 15 Perks

Perk	Description
Adrenaline Rush	Provides a second layer of HP after using healing items. Together with Biomonitor and Blood Pump, it will automatically activate when HP drops enough.
Juggernaut	10% damage and movement speed boost is a welcome boost for Mantis Blades build
Calm Mind	Delays the decay of Adrenaline Rush.
Unstoppable Force	Immunity to various debilitating effects

Cool Perks

This is the main tree for the build and gives most of the perks needed for stealth. It will be helpful before the encounter if you can take out one or two foes without raising an alarm. This is perfect if you are also using the Sandevistan operating system.

Level 4 Perks

Perk	Description
Feline Footwork	Improves crouching, allowing for better sneaking
Blind Spot	This will increase the time it takes enemies to detect you, just makes sneaking a bit easier.
Killer Instinct	We need it to unlock the next set of perks
Gag Order	Even if you are detected, this creates a delay until the target's allies are informed allowing you to finish them off with Mantis Blade hits.
Quick Getaway	As the build utilizes stealth, faster movement speed after each neutralization will allow either to hide or move to the next target faster.

Perks - Relic

Priority	Perk	Description
1	Jailbreak	Unlcoks new abilities for Arms cyberwar, our goal is to get the long-distance lung for Mantis Blades
2	Spatial Mapping	Improvements to the main perk, mainly cripple effect and higher dismemberment chance.
3	Vulnerability Analytics	Shows vulnerabilities, that allow for huge damage boosts especially useful against cyberpsychos and other stronger foes.
4	Machine Learning	Increases the frequency of vulnerabilities.

If you decide to use Optical Camo, you could also pick Emergency Cloaking and Sensory Protocol. These make melee combat a bit easier as you can instantly escape the combat state and use stealth before engaging in combat.

Combat and Tips

Here I would like to share some general tips that I would like to recommend for the best approach with this build.

Hold Attack for Lunge

The main action of Mantis Blades is its Lunge attack. It is activated by holding an attack button and releasing it when targeting an enemy. This is a mid-range attack, so it does not work from afar. It is perfect to jump from one enemy to another.

Moreover, once you unlock Jailbreak after dismembering a foe you will be able to do a 30-meter long-range jump dealing massive damage. It will be further improved by obtaining Spatial Mapping.

Utilize Finishers

 

The hard part with Melee weapons is that you are always in the open when slashing enemies. This makes you vulnerable to enemies using ranged attacks. However, there is a trick that you can use to "get some invincibility time".

These are finishers, in our case - Finisher: Bladerunner. When using it you will be invulnerable giving a breather. Moreover, during this time stamina will start regenerating fueling the next flurry of hits.

Using Stealth before engaging in combat

Stealth is welcome with this build. Without quickhacks, we cannot disable cameras or turrets, but if you are able to nip two or three foes before combat starts that is an excellent start. If you choose Sandevistan you can use it to enhance your stealth. For example, by slowing down time, enemies will take longer to detect you, giving time to run behind them with a takedown.

Embrace the Cyberpsycho

Often you will feel like a cyberpsycho with this build. I think that is normal as you will slash your blades like crazy and pierce enemy bowels when finishing them off. However, this comes with a sense of enjoyment, that you are the scariest melee combatant on the field.

Moreover, once you unlock Relic perks, this will become even more apparent as you jump from one target to another without them realizing what is happening. I haven't even started on Sandevistan and Berserk which open up new capabilities.

Berserk vs Sandevistan

The main decision for this build is which Operating System to use. I will go into this more in the equipment section. But to briefly overview it, they offer different combat satisfaction. Sandevistan slows time allowing you to avoid being detected, slash enemies before they understand what is going on, and better control the flow of the battle. In my opinion, Sandevistan is more powerful, especially as you get to level 30 and unlock Tier 4 rarity. You can then start/stop it whenever not wasting any time.

With Berserk you use it up, and that's it. This gives a lesser degree of control. However, it makes you invincible and gives a huge boost to damage that is not comparable to anything else, except maybe Fury with Edgerunner perk.

Equipment

To be honest there is not much equipment choice here. You could have a rifle as a fallback against some boss encounters but generally, you will not need ranged weapons. You could equip some upper body armor for a little more protection but that is more or less all.

You really only need some options early in the game, before level 10 as that's when the first Mantis Blades start appearing in Ripper doc inventories. So here are my recommendations:

Pistols

Item	Description
Scorch	Iconic pistol that can be charged up to release three burning shots.
Dying Light	The first iconic ranged weapon that you will obtain. For maximum effectiveness hold the trigger as it has a fast fire rate and deals decent damage with headshots.

Katanas

Item	Description
Gwynbleidd	A decent katana, that is from The Witcher world. Has multiple effects that guarantee critical hits
Black Unicorn	Base katana that you find in your apartment's stash. Do not lose attack speed even if all stamina has been drained.

Cyberware

Cyberware is a unique mechanic that allows us to fill the build with implants. Early games can be quite difficult as you will have limited slots. However, as you progress and drop more Capacity Shards, you will be able to equip even multiple iconic ones.

Cyberware - Frontal Cortex

There is a wide variety of options that you can take here.

Slot	Item	Description
1	Axolotl	No matter if you are using Berserk or Sandevistan this baby gives 10% cyberware cooldown reduction for each enemy killed.
2	Mechatronic Core	Increases damage against drones, mechs, and robots. Totally optional cyberware if you need free capacity
3	Self-Ice	Some protection against enemy netrunners. This cyberware is optional.

Arms

There are 4 main choices for Mantis Blade. Personally, I do not see much of a difference between them. The bonus elemental effects have only a 20% chance and you get reduced base damage. However, there is one special Mantis Blade:

Slot	Item	Description
1	MaxTac Mantis Blades	A special variant of the cyberware. What makes it special is that it has an additional modifier that provides flat health restoration after a kill. This is just a minimum improvement over the base version.
1	Mantis Blade	An obvious choice for this build as it is the main weapon we will be using

Cyberware - Skeleton

Slot	Item	Description
1	Rara Avis	The iconic version gives a huge boost to armor and some HP based on Body attribute
1	Para Bellum	A normal version of Rara Avis, that has lower Cyberware Capacity cost. Also scales with Technical Ability for bonus armor
1	Spring Joints	Gives bonus mitigation strength. Works perfectly with perks like Dorph-head
2	Epimorphic Skeleton	This cyberware greatly boosts overall health, a great option for melee builds.
3	Dense Marrow	Increases the stamina cost of melee attacks and greatly improves base damage. Only works on melee weapons

Cyberware - Nervous System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Revulsor	Iconic version of Reflex Tuner. Movement speed for you is not slowed which makes it very powerful, for this type of build, scales with Cool.
2	Stabber	Mandatory for Blades build as it gives a huge boost to critical chance for blades.
3	Adrenaline Converter	Gives a movement speed boost at the start of combat. Pair this with sandevistan and you run like a wind
3	Neofiber	Gives higher mitigation chance and strength and scales with Reflexes for bonus critical chance.

Cyberware - Integumentary System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Subdermal Armor	Provides flat armor increase. Has a low cyberware capacity cost.
2	Chitin	The ultimate armor cyberwar, giving +200.
2	Pain Editor	As the build will rely on close combat, having higher damage reduction is good.
3	Nano-Plating	As we will be dashing with Mantis Blade build, this will give a boost to survivability by negating projectiles.

Cyberware - Operating System

Here are my recommendations for different Operating Systems. There are two options - Sandevistan and Berserk. The former is especially fun to use as you slow time.

Item	Description
Militech "Apogee" Sandevistan	The most powerful Sandevistan. Each kill increases the duration by 20% and Stamina. Moreover, it gives a decent boost to critical chance and damage.
Militech "Falcon" Sandevistan	A junior version of Apogee. Has a smaller Cyberware capacity, but, the bonuses are smaller also.
Dynalar Sandevistan	The cheapest option. Generally, it has lower cyberware capacity and gives good critical damage and chance bonuses. If you pair it with Axolotl, this can be a solution for limited capacity until you can increase it

The second option is Berserk, and boy does it allow you to lash out while being invincible, no melee stamina cost and a huge boost to damage:

Item	Description
Biodyne Berserk	My preferred option for Berserk. Although it has a longer cooldown, the damage boost is very high needing only a few hits to take out an enemy.
Militech Berserk	The iconic Berserk operating system. Try to activate it with the lowest HP possible, this way you will get the highest boost to damage. This is the problem for me as it is a risky approach. Allows you to release a flurry of hits without any stamina cost

Cyberware - Ocular System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Kiroshi "Cockatrice" Optics	Gives a huge boost to critical chance. If you have the luxury of 30 Cyberware capacity, definitely take it.
1	Kiroshi "Doomsayer" Optics	We are mainly interested in critical chance boost based on the Reflexes attributes

Cyberware - Hands

As this build does not rely on weapons, there aren't any special options here in my opinion. Maybe something like Microgenerator for bonus damage dealt based on Intelligence attribute, but that's 0.45% additional damage. I don't think that is worth the Cyberware Capacity.

Cyberware - Circulatory System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Biomonitor	Automatically restores health by using healing items. I started loving this one, as you do not need to waste time and concentrate just on the combat.
2	Blood Pump	The most powerful healing item in the game
3	Microrotors	Gives a huge boost to melee weapon attack speed and bonus critical chance based on reflexes
3	Isometric Stabilizer	Reduces stamina cost on all attacks. This is perfect for Mantis Blades as you can chip away longer against sturdier enemies like Cyberpsychoes, Elites, or bosses.

Cyberware - Legs

Slot	Item	Description
1	Reinforced Tendons	My personal favorite makes traversing much easier.
1	Leeroy Ligament System	Iconic leg cyberware, providing faster movement speed.
1	Fortified Ankles	Gives the highest jumps and high boost to armor compared to cyberware capacity cost.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this post on the Mantis Blade Build in Cyberpunk 2077. The ultimate melee combatant with implanted blades makes every fight a thrilling bloodbath. The post should help you to achieve this build easily through perk recommendations, attributes, and cyberware options.

Leave your suggestions and opinions on the build in the comments below!