Cyberpunk 2077 Melee Katana Build Guide: Attributes, Perks, Armour, Cyberware

Katanas are some of the most showstopping weapons in Cyberpunk 2077, and if you are looking to play as Cyber Samurai, this build will be perfect for you.

In Cyberpunk 2077, urban Samurai take on their enemies in direct combat, but often from the shadows as well.

In order to play this Katana focused melee build, your character will need to be able to withstand damage, move fast in order to dodge attacks and be able to apply powerful critical hits, so they can finish the job quickly, and thus reduce the time they are in danger.

(Picture: CD Projekt RED)

This build feels very satisfying to play, your character will move very fast and slice through enemies with precision and efficiency, and you will truly feel like you are playing a futuristic samurai.

If this style of gameplay sounds exciting, that's because it is!

Let's take a look at what attributes, perks, and equipment are good for this build.

Best attributes for Melee Katana build

Given that Katanas will be your main weapons in this build, Reflexes will be your primary attribute.

Reflexes will increase your Movement Speed and the ability to evade the enemy's attack, which is really important for this build. You need to be fast to quickly close the gap between you and your target, and take as little damage as possible.

And of course, the most important thing is that Reflexes will unlock you crucial higher level Blades Perks, which are the single most important thing when you use Katanas.

(Picture: CD Projekt RED)

As we've mentioned earlier, with this build it will be very important for your character to be able to sustain some damage because he will often be exposed to the enemy's attacks. Which means that the Body attribute is rather important, which will be your secondary attribute.

• Read more: Cyberpunk 2077 Netrunner build guide: attributes, skills, cyberware, and more

The Body attribute will increase your overall Health and Stamina, which means that you will be able to spend more time in combat, and it will also unlock some crucial Athletics Perks and Annihilation Perks, which are really important both for your damage output and survivability.

Best starting Attributes for Melee Katana build:

• Body: 6
• Intelligence: 3
• Reflexes: 6
• Technical: 3
• Cool: 4

As you progress, you should spend most of your points on these two attributes. Focus more on Reflexes, but don't let Body fall too far behind, as it is equally important.

Any extra points you have, you can spend on Cool and unlock Cold Blood Perks which will be a useful addition to this build, with a lot of Crit Chance and Armour upgrades, which are important. But don't spend too much here, as it will dilute your build.

Best perks for Katana Melee build

(Picture: CD Projekt RED)

Blades Perks

The biggest focus should naturally be on Blades perks, because Katanas are blades, and you want to maximise their efficiency. You will look for perks that maximize your damage, speed, and survivability.

Ideally, you would like to kill your targets in 2-3 swings and move to the next target.

It's important to note that all these bonuses stack, so whenever you see a Perk that adds % to something, it will add on top of others bonuses from other Perks.

• Sting Like a Bee - It has three levels and increases your attack speed with Blades. You want to deal with your enemies as fast as possible and move on to the next target.
• Bloodlust – This is essentially a life steal mechanic. When you hit an enemy affected by Bleeding, you can recover a percentage of Health. A very useful survivability tool, especially when combined with the next perk.
• Crimson Dance – This Perk will make your enemies Bleed. Combined with Bloodlust, it will help you to constantly heal while fighting, and minimize the need to stop and heal. Being time-efficient is crucial for surviving with this build.
• Flight of the Sparrow – This Perk reduces the Stamina cost of your Blade attacks, which means you can have more Katana swings in a fight before you run out of Stamina.
• Blessed Blade – Your Crit Chance with Blades will be considerably increased with this perk, which means a higher burst of damage and faster kills. 
• Dragon Strike – Another perk that increases your Crit Chance with Blades.
• Slow and Steady – With this perk, your armour will be significantly higher while moving and when you fight with Katana you will be constantly jumping and running around your enemies, which works great with this Perk.
• Deathbolt – An extremely strong perk that will make you jump from one opponent to another with ease. It instantly heals you for a significant amount and drastically increases your movement speed for 5 seconds. Perfect Perk for this build.
• Fiery Blast – Increases damage with Blades by 1% for every 1% of Health the enemy is missing. A very useful perk against "fat" Boss enemies, which usually have a lot of health.
• Judge, Jury and Executioner – It increases your damage against full HP enemies, which is great for strong opening moves. It will often allow you to kill some weaker enemies with one swing instantly.

(Picture: CD Projekt RED)

Athletics Perks

• Regeneration – This perk will slowly heal you over time while in combat. It is not a particularly big amount of heal, but it can give an edge in crucial moments and help you to survive, especially in prolonged fights.
• Epimorphosis – This perk will heal you fully whenever you are outside of combat. It's a very useful perk because it will guarantee that you are always entering a fight with max HP, and as a Melee character, that's very important.
• Steel and Chrome –  This one is a pretty straightforward Perk, it increases your Melee damage - more DPS for your deadly Katana.

Annihilation Perks

• Dead Center – Increases your damage to the torso of the enemy. Given that most of the time you will be hitting exactly that part of the body anyway, it goes perfectly with this build.
• Cardio Cure – Health regenerates significantly faster while you are moving, and as we've said earlier, you will almost never stand still with this build, at least not in combat, and that's where it matters.
• Dog of War – Another perk that increases your health regeneration while in combat.
• Marathoner – Sprinting will no longer consume Stamina. This means not only that you will be able to run endlessly, but also means more Stamina for combat. Great Perk and especially in combination with the next one.

• Speed Demon - The faster you are moving the more damage you deal. And you will be Speedy Gonzales with this build.

• Wolverine – Triggers Health regeneration faster in combat, which means that all these bonuses above will kick in faster.

Best items for Katana Melee build

(Picture: CD Projekt RED)

Armour

There's no specific best amour for this build, but ideally, you will want Armour that increases Crit Chance or Crit Damage, while also having enough Armor to make you stay alive longer.

This build comes with a lot of survivability options, so armour amount is not a priority.

Weapons

Obviously, this is a Katana build, so you will want to use them.

There's a lot of Katanas all around Night City, and you can find some of them very early, at the same place where you will find Mantis Blades.

Generally, you should constantly check weapon vendors in Night City and try to find better Katanas as you progress through the game. There are also some really cool and unique Katanas that you can discover, but we will not spoil that here, find them yourself!

Cyberware

As with other equipment, you will want to equip things that give you bonuses to Crit Chance and Crit Damage, because you want to maximise your DPS. The more damage per swing of your blade, the faster you kill them.

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And that's it about Cyberpunk 2077 Katana Build For Melee,

This build is really efficient and insanely fun to play, you will feel great while killing enemies around you with the speed and precision of a samurai while jumping from one foe to another.

Shout-out to Castielle and Fextralife for creating this build. To find out more in-depth information and more details about this build, we advise you to watch their video below, where you can also see Street Samurai in action.