Best Monowire build (Patch 1.63) - Cyberpunk 2077

In this post, I will cover the best Monowire build in Cyberpunk 2077. What is a Monowire you may ask and what makes this build special?

It is a melee weapon that is implanted into the wearers' Arms. What makes it special is that this wire can take out enemies in a large area and also damage them from a distance. That is not all, the Monowire counts as a melee weapon.

Monowire Build

This build opens up a very interesting gameplay mechanic where you can successfully take out multiple enemies from stealth in a single hit.

Moreover, you can easily hide from enemies or run away as you do not need to be as close as other weapons like knives, katanas, or Gorilla Arms.

Attributes

In this section, I will go through recommended attributes and how you should progress with them. Picking the correct ones will ensure that you have sufficient stats to kill enemies.

Starting the game

• Reflexes +3
  
• Cool +2
  
• Body +2
  

Progression

It is important to progress through the game in an optimal way. The problem is if you will spend points on incorrect attributes you may be too weak to fight against enemies.

Here is my recommendation on how to spend attribute points as your progress through the game

• Reflexes +2
• Cool +2 
• Body +2

I left out Intelligence and on purpose. I think you should spend points on it late in the game when you are about level 30+. The Monowire Build needs it for Cyberware to increase the critical chance

At the maximum level of 50 here is what you should have:

• Reflexes - 20. This attribute will be of most value to increase the base Monowire damage.
• Body - 19. We invest in Body attribute to increase melee weapon damage. Moreover, it provides bonus health points and stamina for greater survivability.
• Cool - 20. This attribute will boost Monowire build stealth capabilities. Moreover, Cold blood will increase the stats for each enemy that you kill
• Intelligence - 9. The stat is mainly taken to get Cyberware for a critical chance increase. I think it is better than 20 Body

Perks

In this section, I will go through recommended perks for the Monowire build in Cyberpunk 2077

Blades Tree

Since the 1.5 update Blades tree is the main one that affects Monowire. Adds increased damage, higher attack speed, etc.

Reflex Level	Skill	Description
1	Sting Like a Bee x3	Increases attack speed with Monowire by 30%
1	Roaring Waters x3	Strong Attacks deal 30% more damage. As you should use them often with Monowire this perk is mandatory
4	Slow and Steady x2	Armor is increased by 30% while moving
4	Crimson Dance x2	Monowire now has a 30% chance to apply bleeding with combos
6	Flight of the Sparrow x2	Reduces the cost of stamina attacks. This allows avoiding any fatigue
8	Shifting Sands	Recover 15% stamina when dodging attacks
10	Blessed Blade	Increases Crit Chance of Monowire by 10%
12	Bloodlust x2	Recovers HP when attacking an enemy that is under the effect of Bleeding
12	Float Like A Butterfly x1	Increases damage by 25% after dodging. This persists for 5 seconds.
15	Judge, Jury and Executioner x3	The first hit with Monowire will now deal 100% more damage. This makes it an extremely powerful weapon, especially for stealth
18	Deathbolt	After defeating an enemy you will restore 20% health and gain 30% movement speed for 5 seconds.
15	Fiery Blast x3	The less HP enemy has the more damage you will deal.
20	Dragon Strike	A very powerful perk that gives 40% increase to critical damage when wearing Monowire

Athletics Tree

Body Level	Skill	Description
1	Pack Mule	Increases carrying weight. Very effective ability early in the game
1	Regeneration	Allows to regenerate health during combat
5	True Grit	We take one level of this ability to have a bit more stamina. It is easily drained especially early in the game.
7	Epimorphosis x2	Increases how much Health can regenerate. Very good ability as the Monowire build will be ready for the next encounter with a larger HP pool
7	Wolverine x2	Increases the speed of health regeneration
9	Steel and Chrome x2	Melee damage is increased by 20%.
11	Like a Butterfly	You can now dodge without draining any stamina.
12	Invincible	Increases Maximum health.
12	Tenacious V	Health regeneration now works even when V takes damage
16	Cardio Cure x2	You will have faster Health regeneration while moving.
18	Steel Shell	Armor is increased by 10%. The Monowire build will take less damage

Ninjutsu Tree

Cold Level	Skill	Description
1	Crouching Tiger	With this build, you should be using stealth. For that, we take this perk that increases crunching speed.
7	Assassin	Allows dealing 15% more damage to human enemies. Easy choice as most of the enemies in the game are humans.
7	Strike from the Shadows	The Monowire builds get 7% Critical chance increase when attacking from stealth
12	From the Shadows x2	Increases critical chance by 20% when entering combat
12	Ghost x2	Increases the detection time when in stealth by 40%
16	Hasty Retreat	Once you are detected you receive a 50% movement speed increase. Thanks to this you can move fast from one enemy to another and shred them with Monowire.
18	Cheat Death	Damage is decreased by 50% for 10 seconds when V hp teachers 50%. Very good ability to provide a small chance of survivability.
20	Jeepers Creepers	A very powerful ability that doubles the damage and guarantees a Critical hit when attacking from stealth. Thanks to this you can take out many enemies with a single hit.

Cool Blood

Cold Level	Skill	Description
1	Cold Blood x3	One of the main abilities that I suggest taking. It provides buffs to various stats for each enemy that you kill.
12	Predator x2 (optional)	From testing, I can see that the ability does not provide increased attack speed, but that could change in future patches
7	Critical Condition x2	Increases Cold Blood duration
12	Blood Brawl	Damage is increased with melee weapons by 10%
11	Coldest Blood x2	Increases the number of Cold Blood Stacks that Monowire build can have. It will further boost damage, armor, and other stats.
14	Cold and Calculating	Gives a 50% chance to add Cold Blood on a critical hit.
16	Coolagulant	Cold Blood stacks are removed one by one instead of instantly.
18	Pain is an Illusion	Reduces incoming damage by 5% when Cold Blood is active.
20	Immunity	Makes you immune to various status effects like Poison, Burn, etc.
20	Bloodswell	Once you are close to death instead of dying, Cold Blood buff is consumed and health is restored. This can happen every 15 seconds.

Build tactics

• The build has a small advantage against other melee builds. Monowire can attack enemies from a short distance. This allows you to take out enemy snipers if they are on small ledges or stealthily kill enemies a few meters before you reach them.
• Monowire can damage multiple enemies. Due to its wide attack radius, you can easily take out a group of enemies.
• The Monowire hitbox can be confusing. It may even miss if the enemy is standing in front of you. Due to this try to practice how each attack will hit an enemy
• The more you attack with Monowire the weaker it becomes. Due to this, it is good to pause the offense after a few hits. Run behind a cover and wait a little bit for the weapon to recharge.
• Since patch 1.5 Monowire uses the Blade tree as the main tree for base damage and perks.
• Using charge attacks will ensure that Monowire deals the maximum amount of damage. Use together with stealth for almost one-hit KOs

Equipment recommendations

In this section, I will cover how to best optimize Monowire build gear. I will go through the main mods and cyberwar options that I recommend

Armor Mods

Mod name	Description
Fortuna	Increases Crit Chance by 4%
Bully	Gives an 8% Crit Damage bonus
Armadillo	Provides bonus armor. Good for increased survival
Zero Drag	Increases speed, especially good for stealth as you will move faster.

Cyberware - Frontal Cortex

Slot	Item	Description
1	Heal-On-Kill	This item provides a certain percentage of health after each enemy that you kill. The effectiveness increases with the cyberware rarity
2	Limbic System Enhancement	Once you have 9 Intelligence, you can increase your critical chance by 4%

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	Automatically restores HP once it reaches a certain threshold.
2	Bioconductor	A decent Cyberware that decreases cooldowns of other Cyberware: Sandevistan, Biomonitor, Second Heart.
3	Second Heart	Instantly resurrects when you die. Very good cyberware especially for a melee build. The cooldowns are quite lengthy

Cyberware - Immune System

Slot	Item	Description
1	Shock-n-Awe	Provides a chance to release electroshock when V is damaged.
2	Pain Editor	All incoming damage is reduced. Very powerful Cyberware increasing overall survivability.

Cyberware - Nervous System

You can wear 2 pieces of cyberwar for the Nervous System. Try to get the highest Rarity of the mentioned item

Slot	Item	Description
1	Kerenzikov	Thanks to Kerenzikov you can slow time for a few seconds. This helps to better plan your encounter or decide what next steps to take.
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	Very strong Sandevistan option, but has a fairly long cooldown
2	QianT Sandevistan Mk.4	This one has 12 seconds cooldown. Moreover, it provides decent time slowly, so this is my preferred option
3	Dynalar Sandevistan Mk.4	Another good option which provides a longer Sandevistan duration of 16 seconds
4	Dynalar Sandevistan Mk.3	Slows time by 50% for 16 seconds. A very good option and get as early as possible. It is of Epic rarity

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	Although it increases the Stamina cost of melee attacks it will greatly boost melee damage
2	Microvibration Generator	Increases damage with melee weapons

A good option is Microrotos cyberware. Unfortunately, after testing I did not see that it would improve the attack speed.

Cyberware - Arms

Because you will not use any conventional weapons, Monowire is equipped through ripperdocs

Slot	Item	Description
1	Monowire	This will be your main weapon. Try to go for the highest rarity that you can get.

Mods for Monowire:

Slot	Item	Description
1	Monowire - Physical damage	Perfect for single target damage. You will want to take out enemies with a single hit when in stealth
1	Monowire - Electrical Damage	Equip this modification when fighting drones, mechs, and other robot-like enemies
2	Monowire Battery, High-Capacity	Increases the charge damage, however, it is reported that this mod may be broken.
3	Sensory Amplifier (Crit Chance)	Increases Crit Chance by 2%. Very good, when you have low Crit Chance.
3	Sensory Amplifier (Crit Damage)	Increases Crit Damage by 20%. Once you have a high Crit Chance, these stats will provide a larger DPS increase

Cyberware - Legs

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

You can also go for Lynx Paws for better stealth approaches.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this post on Best Monowire build in Cyberpunk 2077. We went through recommended perks, attribute progression, and best gear. All of this should help you understand how to make the most out of this unique weapon.

Feel free to leave a comment!