Cyberpunk has been reworked from the ground up ever since update 2.0 went live. That includes damage types and how they affect you or the enemy. Let’s face it, it’s pretty cool to have a game that introduces a dystopian world drenched in crime, colorful hairdos, and fully decked-out cars. But the spice only goes up when the weapons to go along with this gleeful nihilism have damage types! 

Chemical Damage

Acid Katana, Maelstrom

Chemical damage is by far the best option to rock on your weapons of mass destruction. Why, you ask? Well first off, chemical is just another word for poison. Also, poison stands out because of its lingering effects on the subject. Cool, right? Only if you’re not on the receiving end!

Damage types can be linked to weapons, throwables, and even quick hacks. That means if you’re a good netrunner, using a skill such as Contagion could help poison a bunch of enemies in one go. Other than that, chemical damage can be laced onto swords, blunt weapons, cybernetic enhancements like the mantis blades, and of course, guns.

To give you a few examples, let’s get creative with the usage of chemical damage with various weapon types:

Mantis Blades (Chemical damage mod) 

The mantis blades are a fantastic option for those looking to get up close and personal with their enemies. The whole deed only gets better when you have a chemical damage mod for ‘em. A few slashes with these bad boys protruding out from your arms and you’ll have cleanly cut heads flying about. Shliiickk!

Shotguns/revolvers 

The aforementioned two gun types are the heaviest of hitters and they only get more formidable when you throw chem damage into the mix. Consider a boss-level fight and all you’re doing is dealing a couple of hits and letting chemicals handle the rest. Cheating? Nay! Smart exploitation. 

Grenades

If you’re like us and love watching the enemy slowly reduce into a pile of goo, this one is for you. Chemical grenades are a slower albeit effective solution for getting large groups of enemies in one go. Just lob a blob at an unsuspecting bunch of people and watch the chemicals slowly take them down.

Chemical damage is great against:

• Armored enemies are especially susceptible to the poison effect that stems from chemical damage. Use it to get under their armor!
• Poison also reduces enemy movement speed for the duration that it is inflicted on them.
• Chemical damage has a slow but lasting duration to it. Use it in tandem with other status effects to gain an edge in boss fights.

Thermal Damage

Errata, thermal katana

Just because we’re through with the best damage type doesn’t mean we don’t have other ways of dealing damage and causing agony to enemies. That’s right, folks. Cyberpunk helps you get your creative juices flowing and that is why we jump onto our next candidate for this article; thermal damage!

The damage type is pretty self explanatory. Set enemies on fire and watch them get BBQ-ed in a matter of seconds. Many weapons double as incendiaries, grenades that double as incendiaries (duh) and even your cybernetics can catch fire so you can go ahead and blast those chooms up with elemental suave. 

Let’s check out the weapons that help you do this:

Gorilla arms (thermal mod)

Beating down on trash talking brats has never felt as good as when you’re bashing their skulls in with fists! The gorilla arms are a cybernetic enhancement that V can equip to his…well…arms and then go on a rampage using his punches. Make those fists flame up with a thermal mod and you have created a monster.

Fenrir

The Fenrir is a gun you pick up early on in the game from a gang of Maelstromers. What this baby does is quite akin to how this thug faction represents itself. Mad. Furious. Insane and out of control. It’s basically a submachine gun with an incredibly high rate of fire. Pair that with stock incendiary rounds and you’re going to lose control…literally.

Lizzie

Picked up after completing the questline for quite a notorious character in the game, Lizzie acts as a fantastic addition to your armory. For one, the gun can fire multiple shots at once and has a headshot multiplier that activates after you start bonking off heads in succession. 

Thermal damage is great against:

• Inflammable objects that can cause AoE damage. Use thermal damage to blow up fuel canisters, flammable objects, and even enemy types.
• Use quickhacks such as Overheat to make objects and enemies more vulnerable to burn damage. 
• Once the effects of burn take hold on the enemy, they will stay inflamed for a certain duration. Meaning their health bar will deplete a lot faster. Get creative!

Electrical Damage

Mantis Blades, Electric

After having covered two brilliant and brutal damage types, we now bring your valuable attention to our sparkly third choice. Electrical aka shock damage. Poison and fire are good and all but we know an elemental pack is only complete with the addition of electric buzz-buzz. Let’s break it down for you!

Electrical damage is where the fun takes a cool twist. Since the game has a lot of goons and machines, the former of which is also cybernetically altered, that means electricity is going to fry up circuits. The player can use this to their advantage by equipping this damage type and zapping away mechs, drones, and crazed-out chooms.

Wondering which weapons can help you with this epic adventure instilled with shock drama? Read on below!

Electric Baton

A classic. Only made better with the addition of electricity. The electric baton is a one-handed blunt weapon that hits, shocks, and paralyzes the enemy. Think of it like a sparky stick. There are different variations to the baton as well.

Hammer

Another addition to the blunt weapons list, we have the HAMMER. A simple name, a simple wrecking device, and one that simply annihilates enemies with shock blows. Pair this up with a skill that allows you to drop from a considerable height, and smash the ground with this weapon, and you’ll be unstoppable.

Sparky

A sniper rifle with electric rounds! Fancy. Sparky is an endgame rifle with a concise ammo clip but with bullets that have the ability to one-shot KO. And in the rare case it doesn’t KO, then you can shock your enemy as punishment. Double trouble.

Electrical damage is great against:

• Shock damage is especially useful when in combat with mechs, drones, and robots. It makes them vulnerable to follow-up attacks as well.
• Enough shock damage hits and you might get lucky with creating an EMP effect. This hits mechs and robots pretty hard, even having the ability to cripple them.
• Combining the blade runner perk from the skill tree doubles shock effects, making you an absolute unit in combat.

Physical Damage

Sniper Rifle, Power Weapon

We’ve rounded up all the elemental damage types for Cyberpunk but there’s still the OG physical damage remaining. The general notion of this damage type is that it doesn’t get fancy like the others but rather just uses good old shoot-and-aim tactics to whip enemies into submission. 

Players start the game with physical damage weapons. These are anything from knives and baseball bats to arms cyberware like the Gorilla Arms. Even if this damage type doesn’t have an elemental aspect to it, it can still apply effects like bleeding when used with precision.

Let's have a look at the weapons that employ this type to stay simple yet deadly as ever:

Liberty

A simple, effective pistol encountered early on in the game. Shots fired from Liberty have the chance to be dangerously lethal if aimed at limbs or the head. There’s nothing extra about this one. Just load up bullets, aim, and fire. A trusty power weapon.

Baseball bat

Swing this stick and bonk heads in style. The baseball bat is your sure shot way to exact damage with a blunt weapon that is alien to none. Typically this weapon type dishes out good damage numbers too provided you can aim with it. Get cracking!

Chef’s knife

A peculiar name for a peculiar weapon. The chef’s knife is one of the newer additions to the game after the launch of Phantom Liberty, Cyberpunk’s one true expansion. This knife has a wicked look to it and don’t be surprised if it kills off your enemies in one throw. *chef’s kiss*

Physical damage is great against:

• Bleeding is a common occurrence when physical damage is utilized properly. With this, an enemy becomes slow and their agility is compromised.
• Physical damage also leads to crippling. You could knock a limb or two off the enemy by focusing your fire on their exposed parts.
• Knockdown and stun are two other effects coming in hot with physical damage. Take up a blunt weapon and hit it with full force onto an enemy, knocking them down or stunning them entirely. This exposes their weak points, letting you finish them off easily.

Conclusion

That’s about all the weapon types we have for you. Remember, Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that encourages the player to get creative with their arsenal. Rock your weapons with different damage types and see which one suits you best. Our vote is with chemical damage but you do you and be sure to let us know how your variations worked out. Stay frosty out there, choom.

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