High Damage Gunslinger Build (Pistols and Revolvers)

The world of Cyberpunk 2077 is filled to the brim with sleek, compact, and stylish handguns that are just as lethal as the other weapons in the game. They’re easy to handle and pack a mean punch that only gets meaner with the right combination of passive skills and gear mods.

The following is a gunslinger-style pistol build that relies on high crit stats and the player’s ability to chain kills and score headshots. It’s great at all stages of the game, and it’s more than capable of one-tapping almost every enemy in Cyberpunk 2077, even in the hardest of difficulties. Here’s how to set it up.

Updated November 12, 2024, by Marc Santos: The patches following update 2.1 for Cyberpunk 2077 did not implement any new changes that drastically affect the most important parts of this Cyberpunk Pistol build. However, one patch did add a hard cap to cyberware, which might throw some players in for a surprise if they’re just starting the game again. We’ve updated this guide to take note of that, and we’ve also improved the skill build section to include perk descriptions.

Cyberpunk 2077 Pistolero Skill Build

The important perks needed for this build to work have remained untouched by the 2.1 update.

The total revamp for the skills and perk system in the Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update drastically changed how pistols are played. Instead of spending the majority of perk and attribute points into Reflexes, players now need to invest in Cool and Technical Ability (and also a little bit into Reflexes still).

Long story short, in order to get a strong pistol build, players need to unlock every pistol-related skill in the Cool skill tree, starting with Focus and ending with Nerves of Tungsten Steel, including most (if not all) of the sub-nodes connected to them. Here’s what each of the major skills do:

• Focus: Increases headshot and weakspot damage; no Stamina cost when shooting for a short duration after aiming down sights
• Deadeye: Greatly increases headshot and weakspot damage when Stamina is above 85%
• Nerves of Tungsten Steel: All headshot and weakspot hits are guaranteed to be critical when Deadeye is active; increases damage the farther away a target is

Run ‘N’ Gun is the only optional major skill here. Having no Stamina cost for hip-firing means Deadeye will always be active, but players will miss out on all the benefits Focus and its sub-nodes provide.

Speaking of sub-nodes, Head to Head, Deep Breath, and Quickdraw are the most important ones for this build because of the following:

• Deep Breath makes hitting headshots easier by slowing down time without using cyberware
• Head to Head extends the duration of Focus and its unlimited Stamina effect as long as players keep neutralizing targets
• Quickdraw negates the need to reload since players can just switch to another gun
  • Players will never have to reload if they use the Shuffler mod, which reloads a percentage of a gun’s empty magazine after swapping to it

With all these in mind, the new Cyberpunk pistol build playstyle revolves around scoring and chaining together headshot kills. Any weapon mod that helps make this easier (Zenith, Shuffler, Pinpoint) will help immensely.

As for the other skill trees, take the following:

The Reflexes skills allow for more agile movement in combat while enabling the use of Kerenzikov when sliding or dashing. Meanwhile, the Technical Ability skill build above is more or less mandatory for all builds, and this one is no different. Spend any remaining points on preferred Reflexes, Cool, or Body skills.

Technical Ability skills should be saved for when you have enough resources to fully invest in cyberware. There’s no need to rush anything here, so feel free to spend your points elsewhere unless you have a piece of chrome that you really want to use.

Recommended Weapons

The 2.1 update has given crafted weapons two mod slots instead of one. However, weapons crafted before this update are not affected, so you’ll need to make new ones.

Since 2.0 removed almost all the go-to weapon mods that make the old pistol build strong, players will need to make do with what’s available. Thankfully, the pistol skills above guarantee that pistols and revolvers still have access to improved Critical Hit Damage and 100% Critical Hit Chance (as long as players hit headshots), which play core parts in the original playstyle.

The Overture revolver remains the most well-rounded option for this build thanks to its solid damage profile and easy handling compared to other revolvers. The heavier RT-46 Burya can also be a good choice if players manage its hard-kicking recoil.

Legendary variants are recommended for their modding capabilities, though some Iconic Cyberpunk 2077 guns like Amnesty, Archangel, and the Doom Doom DR-5 Nova are all worthy alternatives.

Regular pistols follow the same rules applied to revolvers, though they are better suited for stealth builds since revolvers can no longer use silencers. Still, hard-hitting handguns like the Nue and Tamayura can also be used in a loud build like this one.

Given the killstreak-focused nature of pistol skills, it’s best to equip two or even three revolvers at a time. Don’t bother reloading and just swap to another gun if one runs out of ammo. Keep the streak alive and reap the benefits of the build.

Recommended Weapon Mods

• Zenith: Increases crit chance and weapon swap speed. Reduces bullet spread.
• Shuffler: Drawing your weapon automatically reloads a percentage of its magazine. Increases weapon swap speed and improves reload time.
• Better Half: Increases crit chance when on the bottom half of your magazine.

Cyberware

Patch 2.11 introduced a hard cyberware cap of 450. Make sure to check if your equipped implants can fit this new cap, and if needed, downgrade defensive ones first. Just make sure that all slots are filled to get Cyborg’s cooldown reduction.

Cyberware now plays a significantly bigger part in this build than before. The simple stat bump implants are now gone, and players need to improve their cyberware capacity in Cyberpunk 2077 and equip more advanced ones to get the most out of this setup. Priority implants include:

• Militech “Apogee” Sandevistan (OS): Slows down time and greatly increases damage output
  • May not be available until Level 40+; use Zetatech or Dynalar Sandevistans until then
• Tyrosine Injector (Nervous): Increases movement speed and headshot damage after a takedown
• Newton Module (Frontal Cortex): Reduces cyberware cooldowns after a takedown
• Kerenzikov: Slows down time when aiming after a dash, dodge, or slide
• Clutch Padding (Circulatory): Reduces Stamina cost for shooting
• Kiroshi “Clairvoyant” Optics (Eyes): Cool-attuned; highlights enemies when scanning
• Shock Absorber (Hands): Reduces recoil

Players should fill the remaining empty cyberware slots with their preferred implants for the sake of enabling the Cyborg skill, which reduces the cooldowns of all cyberware by 15% if all slots are filled. Use Sandevistan whenever it’s available for quicker kills and easier aiming.

If you need more critical hit chance, or if you want to make space for other damage modifiers, replace the Kiroshi Clairvoyant Optics with the Kiroshi Cockatrice. This is only available in Dogtown.