In the chrome drenched streets of Night City, your clothes don’t make you a legend; your cyberware does. With the revolutionary changes from Update 2.2 and the Phantom Liberty expansion, the implant system has evolved from a simple upgrade mechanic into the very soul of your character. This is the ultimate Cyberpunk 2077 Cyberware Complete Guide, your definitive roadmap to forging an identity from steel, silicon, and sheer firepower. Forget everything you thought you knew. Your armor, your abilities, and your very survival are now dictated by the chrome you slot into your body.
This guide will dissect every facet of the modern cyberware system. We’ll start with the fundamental laws governing your body’s limits, explore the game defining Operating Systems, and provide a comprehensive catalog of every implant available. Finally, we’ll assemble this knowledge into powerful build archetypes to help you dominate the urban battlefield. Whether you’re a fresh faced merc or a seasoned edgerunner, prepare to redefine your limits.
What’s in our Cyberpunk 2077 Cyberware Complete Guide?
The Foundations of Chrome: Understanding Cyberware Capacity & Tiers
Before you can become a walking arsenal, you must understand the rules that govern your body. The new cyberware system is built on a foundation of hard limits and strategic choices. Mastering these basics is the first step toward building a truly legendary V.
What is Cyberware Capacity and Why It’s Your Most Important Stat
Think of Cyberware Capacity as your body’s budget for chrome. Every implant you install comes with a “cost” that eats into your total capacity. This single stat is the most critical number in your character sheet, acting as the central balancing mechanic for every build in the game. It forces you to make meaningful, often difficult, decisions about which implants to prioritize, preventing you from becoming an unstoppable god overnight. Managing this resource is the key to power.
How to Increase Your Cyberware Capacity
Your base capacity isn’t static. As you grow your legend in Night City, you’ll find several ways to push your physical limits and accommodate more powerful chrome. The most reliable method is simply leveling up your character. With each level, your body adapts, granting you a small but steady increase in capacity.
However, for a significant boost, you must invest in the Technical Ability attribute. This tree holds the key to unlocking your true potential. The Renaissance Punk perk grants you bonus capacity for every attribute you raise to a high level, while the pinnacle Edgerunner perk gives you a massive 50 point injection. This power comes at a cost, chipping away at your max health for every point you go over your natural limit, a perfect mechanical representation of flirting with cyberpsychosis.
Finally, keep an eye out for rare Cyberware Capacity Shards looted from fallen enemies. These consumable items provide a permanent, albeit small, boost to your total capacity. They are incredibly scarce, making each one you find a precious treasure.
Upgrading vs. Buying: The Ripperdoc Dilemma
When it’s time to get better chrome, you face a crucial choice at the Ripperdoc’s chair: upgrade your existing piece or buy a new, higher tier version outright? Upgrading costs crafting components but preserves the unique, randomly rolled “Attribute Attunement” bonuses on your cyberware. These small stat boosts, like “+0.1% Crit Chance per Reflexes point,” are what separate a good build from a great one.
Buying a new piece saves your valuable components but forces you to roll the dice on new attunement stats. This creates a compelling economic loop. Is it worth spending a fortune in components to preserve a perfect stat roll, or do you risk it on a new purchase to save those parts for another upgrade? The choice is yours.
The Operating System: The Heart of Your Build
The single most important piece of cyberware you will ever choose is your Operating System (OS). This implant defines your entire combat philosophy. You can only have one, and your choice will lock you into a specific playstyle, fundamentally changing how you approach every encounter.
Cyberdeck: The Ghost in the Machine
The Cyberdeck is the weapon of choice for the Netrunner, a digital phantom who manipulates the battlefield from the shadows. With a Cyberdeck, you can unleash powerful Quickhacks to short circuit enemy implants, turn their own turrets against them, or simply fry their brains from a distance. A master netrunner can clear out an entire compound without firing a single shot, relying purely on their intelligence and control over the network. This path is for the patient, strategic player who sees every enemy and electronic device as a node in their personal playground.
Sandevistan: The Time Bending Samurai
Made famous by the Edgerunners anime, the Sandevistan is for those who believe the best defense is an overwhelming, lightning fast offense. Activating this OS slows time to a crawl for everyone but you, allowing you to unload a dozen headshots or slice through an entire squad with your katana before they can even raise their weapons. It offers unparalleled burst damage and a feeling of absolute power. This is the choice for the aggressive, in your face player who wants to move like a blur and kill with brutal efficiency.
Berserk: The Unstoppable Juggernaut
If subtlety isn’t your style, the Berserk OS is your calling card. This system turns you into a nigh invincible engine of destruction. When activated, it grants you temporary invulnerability, massive boosts to melee damage, and the raw strength to tear through enemies like paper. It’s designed for the tank, the brawler who wants to charge headfirst into the fray, shrugging off bullets and crushing skulls with Gorilla Arms or a sledgehammer. With Berserk, you don’t need to dodge; you simply endure and overpower.
Chrome Compressor: The Purist’s Choice
For the edgerunner who believes in raw, passive power over flashy abilities, there is the Chrome Compressor. This unique, passive OS offers no active ability. Instead, it provides a massive, flat bonus to your Cyberware Capacity. Choosing the Chrome Compressor means sacrificing a panic button like Sandevistan or Berserk in favor of cramming your body with more top tier, iconic implants than any other build can handle. This is the path of the ultimate cyborg, a walking fortress whose power comes from the sheer quality and quantity of their chrome.
The Complete Cyberware Catalog: Every Implant by Body Slot
Your OS may be the heart of your build, but the dozens of other implants are the flesh and bone. Each body slot offers unique enhancements that support your chosen playstyle. Here, we’ll highlight the most impactful cyberware for each category, focusing on the game changing Iconic variants.
Frontal Cortex
This slot is your cognitive core, enhancing everything from hacking prowess to ability cooldowns. The Iconic Axolotl is a must have for ability focused builds, reducing all cyberware cooldowns with every kill. For netrunners, the Bioconductor is essential, allowing your Quickhacks to land devastating critical hits.
Skeleton
Your skeleton is the primary source of your Armor and raw survivability. The Iconic Rara Avis provides a massive percentage based boost to your total Armor, making it the top choice for any tank build. For a more balanced approach, the Epimorphic Skeleton offers a solid mix of bonus Armor and max health.
Hands & Arms
Your arms are your weapons. The four main Arm cyberware options are game changers. Gorilla Arms turn your fists into blunt weapons of mass destruction. Mantis Blades are for the swift assassin, perfect for dicing up enemies at close range. The Monowire offers a unique blend of melee and tech, capable of applying Quickhacks with its Relic perk. Finally, the Projectile Launch System turns your arm into a grenade launcher for explosive area control.
Legs
Mobility is life in Night City, and your leg cyberware dictates how you traverse the urban jungle. Reinforced Tendons grant the classic and versatile double jump, essential for vertical exploration. For pure height, Fortified Ankles provide a powerful charged jump. For speed demons, the Iconic Leeroy Ligament System offers a substantial boost to your movement speed.
Nervous System
This system governs your reflexes and often involves time dilation mechanics. Kerenzikov is a classic, slowing time when you aim while dodging or sliding. The Iconic Revulsor is a lifesaver, automatically slowing time when your health drops critically low, giving you a precious window to escape or counter attack.
Circulatory System
Your circulatory implants are your emergency response system, focused on health and stamina restoration. Second Heart is the ultimate safety net, instantly reviving you with full health the first time you die in an encounter. Blood Pump acts as a reusable, powerful healing item, while the Biomonitor automatically uses your healing items when you’re in danger.
Integumentary System
This is your skin, your outer layer of defense and utility. It’s home to your secondary source of Armor and specialized damage reduction. The Iconic Peripheral Inverse is a must for close quarters fighters, drastically reducing incoming damage from nearby enemies. This slot is also where you’ll find Optical Camo, granting you temporary invisibility for stealth or a quick escape.
Face & Optics
Your eyes are more than just windows to the soul; they are advanced targeting systems. The Iconic Kiroshi “Cockatrice” Optics are the pinnacle for damage dealers, offering a massive 30% boost to Crit Chance. Other Kiroshi variants are invaluable for tactical awareness, highlighting enemies, explosives, and loot through walls.
You can also check our Best Cyberpunk 2077 Builds for more Builds info
Ripperdoc Locations: Where to Buy the Best Chrome
Knowing what chrome you want is half the battle; knowing where to get it is the other. The way Ripperdocs operate has been streamlined, but there’s still a key distinction to understand.
Night City’s Unified Network
In the base game areas of Night City, all Ripperdocs now share a single, unified inventory. This is a massive quality of life improvement, meaning you no longer have to hunt across the city for a specific implant. Their stock scales with your level, so as you get stronger, better tiers of cyberware will become available everywhere.
Dogtown’s Black Market: The Endgame Cyberware Hub
This rule of a shared inventory is broken in Dogtown, the new zone from the Phantom Liberty expansion. The Ripperdocs in this lawless territory operate their own black market, and they are the exclusive source for the vast majority of the game’s most powerful Iconic cyberware. To truly max out your build and achieve your final form, a trip into Dogtown to visit its unique vendors is not just recommended; it’s mandatory.
Building the Ultimate Edgerunner: 4 Powerful Build Archetypes
Now, let’s put it all together. Here are four distinct and powerful build archetypes that showcase the incredible synergy possible within the cyberware system.
The Netrunner God (Intelligence/Tech Build)
This build uses a Cyberdeck like the Tetratronic Rippler to control the battlefield. The core synergy involves the Overclock perk, which lets you spend health to cast Quickhacks, and the Axolotl cyberware to constantly reduce its cooldown. You become a digital god, wiping out squads from stealth with a cascade of lethal hacks.
The Untouchable Samurai (Reflex/Cool Sandevistan Build)
This build pairs the Militech “Apogee” Sandevistan with the Axolotl. Every kill you make while time is slowed reduces the Sandevistan’s cooldown, allowing for near permanent uptime in the hands of a skilled player. Armed with Mantis Blades or a katana, you become a phantom, a blur of steel that enemies cannot touch.
The Cyber Juggernaut (Body/Tech Berserk Build)
Centered around the Militech Berserk OS and Gorilla Arms, this build is about pure, unstoppable force. Activate Berserk for invulnerability and charge into the fray. Key cyberware like Rara Avis, Chitin, and Second Heart make you virtually unkillable, allowing you to smash, crush, and pummel your way through any opposition.
The “Max Chrome” Purist (Chrome Compressor Build)
This advanced build forgoes an active OS for the Chrome Compressor, pushing Cyberware Capacity to its absolute maximum. The goal is to stack as many powerful Iconic passive effects as possible. Implants like Deep Field Visual Interface for snipers or Immovable Force for gunners create a character with staggering raw stats. You have no tricks, only overwhelming, permanent power.
In the end, your journey through Night City is written in chrome. This guide provides the data and the pathways, but the true joy lies in experimenting at the Ripperdoc’s chair, combining implants to create a style that is uniquely yours. The tools are in your hands. Now go out there and become a legend.
Cyberpunk 2077 Official Website
Thanks for keeping up with Game.Dazepuzzle.com
