Cyberpunk 2077: Best Shinobi Build

Best Attributes For Shinobi

Reflex is the top priority and is the most important attribute to max out for skills like the Air Dash and corresponding high-level skills like Blade Finishers to help you weave between targets. Depending on the route you want to take with your playstyle, you can use Intelligence for a Netrunner type, Technical for more chrome and healing item usage, Cool for a Throwing Knife/Silenced Pistols Stealth build, or Body to stay alive while you are up close and personal. Body is the best for harder difficulties and a more open combat playstyle that doesn’t involve Hacking or Stealth if you are focused solely on the blade. The other listed attributes can lead to a more flavorful and varied build with a bit more flexibility at the cost of health.

Best Perks For Shinobi

No matter which type of weapons or build you use for your Shinobi, you will want the Dash and Air Dash for its huge benefit to mobility and moving around fights with your health intact. There are additional perks that give you more control and Mitigation while in the air for survivability, as well as other ways to gain Mitigation by moving around quickly or sliding. The name of the game for survival is movement and picking the right target to pounce on next. Staying behind cover and picking off isolated targets in huge firefights is the best way to stay alive.

Mobility

Slippery: Gives you more Mitigation the more you move to keep you alive while dodging and running around.
Dash: Grants the ability to dash in a direction quickly at the cost of some stamina. Extremely powerful for staying alive and staying aggressive
Mad Dash: Gives you 100% increased range if you dash toward an enemy to close the gap quickly and for a low stamina cost.
Mean Streak: Replenishes 40% Stamina when you kill an enemy while dashing to keep the carnage going.
Can’t Touch This: Gives you a 100% Mitigation chance while dashing, making you immune to damage while dashing. This helps you close the gap unscathed and stay agile while waiting to make your next move.
Air Dash: Ability to dash in the air. It gives you even more mobility and Mitigation for fighting against enemies with guns.
Aerodynamic: Increases Mitigation while in the air. It works amazingly with Air Dash and Double Jump as you will be in the air much more often, and it makes you much harder to hit while in the air.

The Blade

Lead and Steel: Allows you to block bullets at the cost of stamina when fully upgraded. The first level grants you attack speed with melee weapons. This is a great perk to have, since most enemies will use guns, so that will be the primary thing you need to be able to block.
- Pairs beautifully with bullet deflecting.
Flash and Thunderclap: This amazing perk gives your Power Attacks a leap that can be used midair and gets extra damage based on distance. A great pairing with Dash to always be on a target and to make sure your opening attack is as strong as it can be.
Finisher: Bladerunner: unlocks finishers, which gives you the ability to finish off low health targets while granting invincibility frames during the animation. Very useful — especially with the range increase for finishing off targets and buying yourself time.
Going the Distance: Increases the range from which you can perform finishers by 100%. This works well with throwing knives if an enemy survives, since you can finish them off and get your knife back in one fluid motion.
Flash of Steel: a Movement speed and Attack speed buff off each Finisher for 6 seconds can help give you more Mitigation and keep the damage coming. It adds a ramping momentum effect that can enable you to clear out rooms in, well, a flash.

Best Melee Weapons For Shinobi

Firstly, you need a Katana or bladed weapon of any kind to slice up your foes. Bladed weapons combo well with Dash to close the gap between targets and take them out before they shoot you too much. Throwing Knives are powerful ranged options that can be picked back up or returned after a cooldown — this makes them a great silent ranged attack for a stealthy or flashy playstyle. The throwing knife perks are in the Cool skill tree if you choose to spec into them on the side; it compliments a Stealth playstyle well.

Scalpel: A great Katana obtained as a reward from the Quest: Big In Japan. This Iconic Weapon gets 50% more crit while using Sandevistan, which can let you carve up enemies while time is slowed.
Cocktail Stick: Additional armor Penetration and Bleed Chance, and it gets a greatly empowered bleed when attacking from Optical Camo stealth for a longer-lasting bleed. Ideal for a stealthy Shinobi who uses stealth to move around as well as Dashing. This weapon is found during the quest Automatic Love at Clouds in the changing room under the Bliss sign.

Best Cyberware For Shinobi

Reflex-attuned Cyberware synergizes best with the Shinobi build, and depending on what you take as a secondary stat will determine how effectively you can chrome up. A high Technical stat means more Cyberware, which aids the close-quarters play style of the blade immensely, but Cool can keep you hidden to help avoid sight altogether. Depending on how aggressive you want to play, Cyberware can help keep you alive while you get shot.

Microrotors: A 25% increase to your swing speed just means more DPS, more stagger on enemies as you hit them, and faster kills. Since you are in melee range, the faster you can finish off a target and move on to the next one, the better — standing still can often spell disaster and a lot of damage to you.
Adrenaline Booster: Restores some stamina each time you get a melee kill. This is amazing for cutting down foes and dashing away from bullets and from target to target. Since all those things require stamina you are bound to run out in intense encounters. The Adrenaline Booster can alleviate that loss and let you stay mobile and deadly even in prolonged combat. Works well if you combo it with Dense Marrow to help fight the increased Stamina cost of melee attacks to reap the rewards of the increased damage.
Sandevistan: Being able to slow down time is an amazing tool to have as a close-range fighter. Perks like Bullet Time which lets you deflect bullets at no cost while time is slowed can be a lifesaver especially if you are taking heavy gunfire to defend yourself at no cost to your stamina.
Mantis Blades: The clear choice for a build such as this. Mantis blades are Reflex-attuned arm blades that let you leap around from target to target while never being caught without a blade at your disposal. Not as thematic as a Katana but another useful tool nonetheless as an additional tool in your arsenal if you have the Cyberware capacity to spare.
Reinforced Tendons: The ability to jump twice is an amazing feature of just about any build as it increases mobility by a large margin. Double jumps let you stay highly mobile during a fight and allow you to get to high-up vantage points before a fight breaks out or even during one very quickly. With perks like Aerodynamic which increases your Mitigation in the air to make you more resistant while moving fast.
Subdermal Armor: Nothing special but more armor is never a bad thing especially when you are going to be up close fighting enemies most the time.
Biomonitor: Cyberware that heals you automatically and without animation is super helpful since most of your time will be spent close quarters and taking the time to heal could mean death.