In this Cyberpunk 2077 Build Guide I’ll be showing you my Contract Killer Build which is a Build that uses a silenced Pistol or Revolver to take enemies out from Stealth. If you like to creep around systematically picking your targets off one by one, then this is the Build for you.
Cyberpunk 2077 Builds: Contract Killer (Stealth Assassin) Character Guide Weapons Perks
The way this Build works is that you begin by activating the Big Sleep Daemon, neutralizing all cameras in the area so that you aren’t detected while you’re sneaking around. Then you use the Ping Quickhack to locate all enemies in the area, allowing you to determine who to pick off first. Work your way through the enemies, deciphering which to kill next as you move silently through them.
You should be able to kill every enemy with one bullet from your Pistol or Revolver if you are close enough, so make sure that you aren’t too far away. A lot of times enemies will become alerted that someone is there, but they will not know exactly where you are unless they can see you. So all you need to do is stay hidden and continue to pick them off one by one.
Contract Killer Attributes
The Attributes needed for the Contract Killer Build are Cool, Reflexes and Intelligence. Cool provides you with increased damage from Stealth as well as unlock both Stealth and Cold Blood Perks. Relfexes gives you extra Critical Chance, and unlocks better Handguns Perks, which will significantly up your damage. Intelligence will making your Quickhacks more effective, but will also allow you to use better Daemons, which you will need for this Build.
Your Attribute spread should look something like this eventually:
- Cool: 20
- Reflexes: 20
- Intelligence: 15
You do not need to rush one particular Attribute with this Build and you will likely spread around your Attribute Points as you level up. You’ll want to keep Cool and Reflexes fairly even, with Intelligence lagging a bit behind. The idea is that you supplement your Pistol shots with some Quickhacks, giving you something for every scenario.
Contract Killer Perks
In this section we’ll take a look at what Perks you should acquire in order to get the best performance from this Build. Cool is our top priority, and since it contains Stealth and Cold Blood Perks, we’ll begin there. It’s important to note that in many cases higher level Perks are better than lower level ones, so if you haven’t maxed a lower level Perk out when you unlock a higher level Perk, you might want to come back to it later on.
Stealth Perks
Silent And Deadly – This Perk increases your damage with silenced weapons while your are in Stealth. That works perfectly for this Build because we use exactly that type of weapon.
Crouching Tiger – This Perk increases your Movement Speed while Sneaking, which allows you to get where you are going faster. Sneaking can be very slow, and this helps speed things up.
Strike From The Shadows – This Perk increases your Critical Chance from Stealth by a decent amount. You want every shot to be a kill, and Crits help make that happen so take this one.
Sniper – This Perk increases your Headshot Damage when you fire from outside of combat. This should be every single shot, so you this is an absolute must. Max this one out.
Ghost – This Perk makes it take longer for you to be revealed when in the sight cone of an enemy. This will allow you to get behind cover before spotted more easily, so you’ll max this one out.
Cold Blood Perks
Cold Blood – This Perk gives you a buff that lasts 10 seconds when you kill an enemy. It starts out as only a movement speed increase, but as you progress you’ll unlock other benefits as well. Take this one immediately in order to begin gaining experience in this Perk tree since at level 2 you gain a permanent Crit Chance boost. Max this one out after you’ve acquired Merciless.
Frozen Precision – This Perk just increases your Headshot damage, plain and simple. You can’t have enough Headshot damage with this Build, so take this one.
Merciless – This Perk increases not only your Crit Chance, but also your Crit Damage as long as you have Cold Blood activated. This can be a staggering amount of damage, so you’ll definitely want this one.
Critical Condition – This Perk increases the duration of your Cold Blood buff. You want this to be as long as you can, so this is a must have Perk for this Build. Max it out once you’ve acquired Merciless, since you won’t need it before.
Handguns Perks
High Noon – This Perk increases your Crit Chance with Pistols and Revolvers, which further boosts your damage. When your Headshots Crit you do even more damage, which plays to the strength of this Build. Max this one out.
Rio Bravo – What more could you want from this Perk? It increases Headshot damage with Pistols and Revolvers, which again benefits this Build perfectly. Max this one out eventually.
Desperado – This Perk gives you a straight damage increase with Pistols and Revolvers so you will want to max this one eventually, but not immediately since it’s not by a huge amount.
Long Shot Drop Pop – This Perk increases your damage to enemies that are more than 5 meters away, which is fantastic since this will be quite often. Max this one out as soon as you can.
A Fistful of Eurodollars – The Perk further boosts Crit Damage with Pistols and Revolvers, and you can never have enough of that! Max this one out eventually.
Wild West – This Perk removes the damage penalty from firing Pistols and Revolvers at range. This happens sometimes, and it’s worth taking to prevent it.
Westworld – This Perk increases your Crit Chance with fully modded Pistols and Revolvers, which yours will be. It’s not too difficult to find mods, and practically any will do in order to gain this bonus.
Brainpower – This Perks makes it so the Critical Hits increase Headshot Damage. Since every shot you do should ideally be a Headshot, this is an exceptional Perk. Take and get more Crits.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – This Perk increases your damage and Armor for a short time after a successful Critical Hit. This is perfect for this Build because we focus on high Crit Chance.
Breach Protocol & Quickhacks Perks
Big Sleep – This Perk allows you to shutdown all cameras in the area that might detect you while you are Sneaking, and alert enemies of your presence. This is a must have Perk for this Build because it just makes your life so much easier.
Biosynergy – This Perk will allow you to regain RAM over time while in combat, so that you can continue to use Quickhacks. If you want to use Quickhacks with any regularity, this is great to have.
Forget-Me-Not – This Perk returns one RAM to you if you kill a target that is affected by a Quickhack. This should ideally be every target you kill if you use Ping, so this is an easy choice.
Signal Support – This Perk increases the Duration of your Quickhacks on enemies. This one is really important because you aren’t likely to use Quickhacks for damage, but rather their effects with this Build, and you want them to last as long as possible.
Contract Killer Equipment
In this section we’ll take a look at what equipment is needed to play the Contract Killer Build. We’ll begin with Weapons first since they are very important to this Build.
Weapons
The weapon you want for this Build is a Pistol or Revolver with very high per shot damage, not DPS. You need to kill things in one hit, so DPS is not important, and you always want a gun that deals the most damage per shot. Headshot Multiplier is also a huge factor, so make sure you have one that is 3 or more ideally. This may take you some time to find.
Additionally, Revolvers and Pistols can be modified to use Silencers which allow them to be quiet, which is how this Build works. These not only increase your Stealth damage by a huge amount, but they also increase your Critical Chance as well. The downside is that they reduce your damage out of Stealth, so you need to try to avoid this when possible.
Armor
Armor-wise, you want to look for bonuses to Crit Chance or Crit Damage ideally. Having more Armor is of course better, but you are not planning on being hit whatsoever, so you should prioritize damage over Armor if you can.
Additionally, you can mod some Armors for added effects, so it’s not a bad idea to craft or find these as well. Use the Wiki for their locations.
Cyberware
There is some great Cyberware for this Build, and I’ll go through them here. The first thing worth noting is that you will be able to use the Frontal Cortext: Limbic System Enhancement with this Build because you will have decent Intelligence. This will enhance your Critical Hit Chance by up to 25%, which is a huge amount!
Another good Cyberware to have is the Tyrosine Injector which extends the Duration of Breach Protocol by 100%. This will give you more time to keep the cameras down in the area, so you don’t have to rush as much.
Synaptic Accelerator is another good Cyberware that slows time when you enter combat. This allows you a quick second to eliminate and enemy before they can notify others of your presence, and can often save you a reload. Slot it and love it.
Trajectory Analysis is probably the single most deadly Cyberware Mod you can get with this Build because it will further boost your Headshot Damage by a whopping 50%. It’s quite expensive though, and will take you some time to get.
Final Tips
Range is an important factor this Build because your bullets will do less and less damage the further away you are from your target. For this reason you must get as close to the target as you feel comfortable in order to ensure you kill them, until you gain the Wild West Perk. You often have way more damage than is necessary with this Build, but Range affects it severely.
Be sure to use the Big Sleep Daemon before you begin moving into a group of enemies, picking them off. A lot of times it seems like there are no cameras around, but there is generally at least one that is hidden you might not see. Get in the habit of doing this every time, unless there are like 3 enemies, so that you don’t have to reload your game.
One of the biggest benefits of this Build is that you can use Quickhacks or your Pistol/Revolver, which leads to a hybrid style of playing. Not only can you shoot things fairly well, you can jam enemy weapons, or set them on fire, etc. You can even use some Quickhacks to disable them completely or to make them not hostile anymore so you can shoot them from Stealth. It can be a ton of fun.
If you are discovered an you get pulled out of Stealth a lot of times you can just retreat and and wait for the enemies to forget about you. It doesn’t always work, but it happens quite often that if they cannot find me very quickly they just go back to looking around slowly and I can start picking them off again. Always fire from Stealth when possible to gain the added damage from it.
Lastly, play around with different Revolvers and Pistols as there are a ton in the game to use, and they don’t all handle exactly the same. Some have more rounds per clip, and some fire slower or kick more. Try them all and find the one you like the most. You can always upgrade it if you do, and keep using it along the way.
Stay tuned for more of Cyberpunk 2077 Build Guides, and be sure to drop by the Cyberpunk 2077 wiki for all your Night City needs. Or you can drop by our Twitch Channel and say hi as we stream the game over the next couple of weeks! And make sure to check out our Early Impressions and Character Creation!
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