Best Blades Build (Patch 1.63) - Cyberpunk 2077

This post will cover The Best Blade build in Cyberpunk 2077. With this build, I wanted to achieve a character that would be extremely proficient in everything that is related to Blades.

And how did it go? Let's see below

Best Blades Build - Blademaster

Even though the name is a bit cringy the build does what its name suggests. Being the best at using blades no matter the situation. This includes:

• Knives
• Katanas
• Long Blades
• Throwing blades

So as you can see, you will be ready for any situation. Also, you will have some mid-range capabilities thanks to the throwing blades

Attributes

This section will cover recommended attribute progression for Blade Build.

Starting the game

• Reflexes +3. This will ensure the maximum damage with blade weapons early in the game
• Body +3. Body attribute provides additional health, stamina and increases melee damage with weapons.
• Cool +1. Cool gives some critical damage boost and stealth bonuses.

Progression

Here is how I recommend progressing with attributes during the playthrough with Blades build

Level	Reflex	Body	Tech	Cool	Int
10	11	8	3	6	3
30	18	13	3	14	3
50	20	20	8	20	3

• Reflexes 20. Ensures that we have the best perks available to be used with Blades. Moreover, it provides bonus Crit Chance and Mitigation Chance.
• Body 20. This attribute serves two purposes: increase survivability and increase melee damage.
• Technical Ability 8. We mainly take it to get bonus armor.
• Cool 20. This perk will provide Cold Blood upgrades and allow to effectively utilize stealth mechanics. Moreover, we will be using Throwing Blades so this perk comes in handy.

Note: you can also get 8 Intelligence instead of Technical Ability. Why does that help? It allows you to wear Visual Cortex Support or Limbic System Enhancement cyberware to increase Crit Chance or Crit Damage. Choose this option if you wish to maximize your damage.

Perks

This section will cover recommended perks that you should pick for Blades build in Cyberpunk 2077

Blades

The main tree that boosts the effectiveness of Blade weapons. I suggest not putting much points into defensive perks as you cannot really defend from bullets.

Reflexes Level	Skill	Description
1	Sting Like a Bee x3	Increases attack speed with Blades by 30%.
1	Roaring Waters x3	Strong Attacks with Blades by 30% more damage.
4	Crimson Dance x2	Combos with Blades have a 30% chance to apply Bleeding.
4	Slow and Steady x2	Moving while wielding a Blade increases Armor by 30%.
6	Flight of the Sparrow x2	Reduces the Stamina cost of all attacks with Blades by 50%.
8	Stuck Pig	Increases Bleeding duration by 3 sec.
10	Blessed Blade	Increases Crit Chance with Blades by 10%.
12	Bloodlust x2	While wielding a Blade, recovers 4% Health when hitting an enemy affected by Bleeding.
12	Float like a Butterfly x2	Dodging increases damage with Blades by 50% for 5 sec.
15	Fiery Blast x3	Increases damage with Blades by 3% for every 1% of Health the enemy is missing.
15	Judge, Jury, and Executioner x3	Increases damage with Blades by 100% against enemies with max Health.
18	Crimson Tide	Bleeding applied with Blades can stack 3 times.
18	Deathbolt	While wielding a Blade, defeating an enemy restores 20% Health and Stamina and increases movement speed by 30% for 5 seconds.
20	Dragon Strike	Increases Crit Damage with Blades by 40%. +1% per Perk level.

Athletics

This is a very important tree for Blades build. it provides bonus armor, reduces damage, and gives health. If you have perk points left definitely get some health regeneration perks.

Body Level	Skill	Description
1	Regeneration	Health slowly regenerates during combat.
7	Epimorphosis	Increases Health regen threshold from 60% to 65% in combat and to 100% out of combat.
9	Steel and Chrome x2	Increases melee damage by 20%.
12	Invincible	Increases max health by 15%.
12	Tenacious V	Getting hit does not interrupt Health regeneration.
14	Marathoner	Sprinting does not drain Stamina.
18	Steel Shell	Increases Armor by 10%.
20	The Rock	Enemies cannot knock you down.
20	Indestructible	Reduces all incoming damage by 10%.
20	Hard Motherfucker	When entering combat, Armor and Resistances increase by 10% for 10 sec. +1% per Perk level.

Ninjutsu

This perk tree is very important for Blades build. It allows throw knives, boosts stats, and increases the stealth abilities of the character.

Cool Level	Skill	Description
5	Dagger Dealer	Enables knife throwing. A thrown knife returns to the hand after 6 sec. or immediately after pickup. Each increase in knife rarity decreases return time by 0.5 sec. Hold the aim button to aim and press the fire button to throw it.
7	Strike from the Shadows	Increases your Crit Chance by 7% while sneaking.
7	Assassin	Deal 15% more damage to human enemies.
9	Cutthroat x2	Increase melee damage dealt to the target enemy by 80% for 6 sec. after hitting them with a thrown Knife.
12	From The Shadows x2	Upon entering combat, Crit Chance increases by 20% for 7 sec.
14	Looking Sharp	Headshots with thrown Knives apply Blinding to the target.
14	Venomous Fangs	All knives apply Poison.
16	Hasty Retreat	Temporarily boosts movement speed by 50% for 5 sec. when detected by an enemy.
16	Juggler	When you defeat an enemy or land a Crit Hit with a thrown Knife, you will regain all Knives currently on cooldown.
18	Corrosive Poison	Poison now also affects drones, mechs, and robots but with reduced effectiveness. Deal 20% more damage to poisoned enemies
18	Cheat Death	When your Health drops below 50%, reduce all incoming damage by 50% for 10 sec. Cannot occur more than once per minute.
18	Critical Antidote	A Strong Attack or thrown Knife against a poisoned enemy will remove their Poison status, dealing instant Poison damage instead, and will have a 100% increased Crit Chance. Cooldown 5 sec. per affected enemy.
20	Jeepers Creepers	Crouch Attacks from stealth with melee weapons deal 100% more damage and guarantee a Crit Hit.
20	Toxicology	Increases the duration of Poison applied to enemies by 5 seconds. +0.2 sec. per Perk level.

Cold Blood

Cool Level	Skill	Description
1	Cold Blood x3	After defeating an enemy, gain Cold Blood for 7 sec. and increase movement speed by 2%. Stacks up to 3 times. The duration of each additional stack is 1 sec. shorter.
5	Blood Brawl x2	While Cold Blood is active, increases damage with melee weapons by 10%.
9	Rapid Bloodflow x2	Increases Health regen inside and outside combat by 10% per stack of Cold Blood.
9	Defensive Clotting x2	Increases Armor by 8% per stack of Cold Blood.
11	Coolagulant	Stacks of Cold Blood are removed one by one, not all at once.
12	Predator x1 (optional)	Increase attack speed by 10% per stack of Cold Blood. Due to the game limitations, some weapons have their attack speed capped very early. Test the perk to see if you really get increased attack speed.
14	Pain Is an Illusion	While Cold Blood is active, reduces damage taken by 5%.
14	Cold and Calculating	Landing a Crit Hit has a 50% chance of applying a stack of Cold Blood.
16	Critical Condition x2	Increases duration of Cold Blood by 50%.
16	Coldest Blood x2	Increases max stack amount for Cold Blood by 2.
18	Immunity	Grants immunity to Bleeding, Poison, Burn, and Shock when at least 4 stacks of Cold Blood are active.
20	Bloodswell	Upon receiving lethal damage while Cold Blood is active, prevents death, consumes all stacks of Cold Blood, restoring 10% Health per stack, and grants Damage Immunity for 5 sec. Playing cannot gain Cold Blood while the perk is active. Cooldown 15 sec.
20	Merciless	While Cold Blood is active, increases Crit Chance by 5% and Crit Damage by 25%. +1% Crit Chance and +3% Crit Damage per Perk level.

Build tactics

The blade build is pretty straightforward as it is a melee build. However, there are still  some tips that I would like to share:

• Use Throwing Knives while in stealth (to get a boost to Crit Chance) and take out a few enemies before you are detected. Getting a headshot will deal large amounts of damage.
• You can either go for Sandevistan or Berserker operating system. However, I prefer Sandevistan as it allows to control of time and some of the variations have very long durations.
• Unfortunately, there are not many iconic Long Blades with unique effects. Due to this by default, it is very easy to just go with Katana. However, you can still deal and kill enemies with one hit if you get legendary long blades.

Equipment recommendations

This section will cover what gear I recommend using with Blades build. Always try to obtain the highest tier equipment as it provides the best stats and most modification slots.

Melee Blade Weapons

There are many great weapons that you can use for this build. There are multiple katanas with unique abilities.

Here I suggest a few of my favorites:

Item	Description
Stinger	This one should be used as a throwing blade. Of course, you can use it as the main weapon. It deals additional Chemical damage and can apply poison.
Byakko	I like this katana which was introduced in the 1.5 patch. It allows jumping onto the enemy from medium distances
Kukri	A long blade that has fairly high damage
Knife	Alternative as a throwing blade until you get the Stinger

Weapon mods

Mod name	Description
Cold Shoulder	Increases damage by 5%.
Scourge	Increases Crit Damage by 10%.
White-Knuckled	Increases Crit Chance by 2.5%.

Armor mods

Mod name	Description
Bully	Gives +8% Crit Damage. Great for maximizing damage late in the game
Armadillo	I recommend this mod for maximum survivability It gives bonus armor. Try to get the Legendary or Epic variant
Fortuna	Gives a +4% Crit Chance.
Zero Drag	Increases movement speed. It can make the gameplay a bit more difficult as you may run through the enemies. But overall makes the experience even more enjoyable and the enemy kills much faster

Cyberware - Frontal Cortex

Slot	Item	Description
1	Heal-On-Kill	The only decent Cyberware in Frontal Cortex for Blades build. However, it should greatly improve your combat capacity as you restore health after each enemy you kill.

Cyberware - Ocular System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Kiroshi Optics Mk.3	Enables to have additional upgrades for the ocular system. Try to get the highest rarity which is Epic. It provides 3 upgrade slots.

Mods

Mod name	Description
Trajectory Analysis	Increases headshot bonus damage by 25%. use this mod to increase damage with Throwing Knives
Weakspot Detection	Increases Crit Chance by 2%.

Cyberware - Circulatory System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Biomonitor	Instantly restores a large portion of health when it drops below a certain threshold.
2	Bioconductor	Reduces all cyberware cooldowns
3	Second Heart	Another great option, especially early in the game when you may die often. It provides a second chance before you die.

Cyberware - Immune System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Shock-n-Awe	Release electroshock when being hit. Has a certain activation chance.
2	Pain Editor	Reduces all the damage that you receive by 10%.

Cyberware - Nervous System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Kerenzikov	You can now slow time when dodging or sliding.
2	Nanorelays	Increases Sandevistan and Kerenzikov duration
2	Reflex Tuner	Slows time when your Health drops to 25%

Cyberware - Integumentary System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Subdermal Armor	Provides flat armor increase. Try to obtain the highest rarity for the highest value.
2	Optical Camo	This is a bad boy. You will become invisible for a few seconds which you can use to take out enemies. Really neat cyberware for a stealth build
3	Heat Converter	Increases damage if you are burning

Cyberware - Operating System

Priority	Item	Description
1	Militech "Falcon" Sandevistan Mk.5	Has 60 seconds cooldown, but provides 20% Crit Damage and Crit Chance. Moreover, increases overall damage dealt by 15%.
2	QianT Sandevistan Mk.4	Has a very short cooldown of 15 seconds. However, provides a shorter time slow.
3	Dynalar Sandevistan Mk.4	Increases damage and Crit Chance by 15%. Has a 30-second cooldown.
4	Dynalar Sandevistan Mk.3	This epic rarity Sandevistan has 16 seconds duration. Also increases damage by 15%

Operating system mods

Mod name	Description
Heatsink	Reduces Sandevistan cooldown
Prototype Chip	While Sandevistan is active, increases Crit Chance by 5%.
Neurotransmitters	While Sandevistan is active, increases Crit Damage by 15%.
Overclocked Processor	Increases duration of Sandevistan

Cyberware - Skeleton

Slot	Item	Description
1	Dense Marrow	Increases stamina cost of melee attack and greatly improves base damage.
2	Synaptic Signal Optimizer	This cyberware greatly boosts overall health. This will be very useful to provide some bonus survivability.

Cyberware - Legs

Slot	Item	Description
1	Reinforced Tendons	My personal favorite makes traversing much easier.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this post on the Best Blades build in Cyberpunk 2077. It is a very exciting build that concentrates on melee combat. However, thanks to Throwing Blades ability it can engage in medium-range combat.

Feel free to leave a comment below!