Cyberpunk’s magic doesn’t stop with its marvelous rifles. The melee weapons are just as powerful, yet way more exciting! And feature some breathtaking designs. They make quite the inventory, anticipating every taste and need; knives, katanas, chainsaws, sledgehammers – you name it, it’s got it. Out of a great many blades and blunts, we’ve come up with a few that will make you absolutely dominate Night City’s hostiles. So, let’s unmask the top 10 OP melee weapons of Cyberpunk 2077 from early to late game.

10. Satori

Once the victim bleeds, you become possessed by the ghost of Saburo – the vampire for whom Satori was forged; you gain HP as they gush blood. It’s wicked sick

Stats

• Attack Speed: 2.12
• Damage per Hit: 133.41
• Stamina cost: 6.40

This iconic Katana belonged to Saburo Arasaka, CEO of the Arasaka Corporation. The single-edge longsword works in tandem with Saburo’s iconic kaiken, Nehan, for a brutal bloodshed. An authentic samurai sword, Satori is Cyberpunk’s earliest OP Katana.

What Satori Excels In

• It is Cyberpunk 2077’s vampire sword. Hostiles hit with a thrown Nehan, Cyberpunk’s vampire dagger, will suffer its bleed damage, which marks them as vampire’s victims during the bleeding; striking the victims with Satori’s Quickdraw will hemorrhage their HP while regenerating yours! You can repeat the same vampiric effect if you mark them with Satori’s Quickdraw before sucking the HP out of them with a thrown Nehan.
• It's a merciless shredder, despite spawning so early. Satori causes bleeding on every Quickdraw strike, compared to 30 percent extra bleeding chance of its normal swings. If Quickdraw is preceded by a Nehan throw, the target will hemorrhage – which is bleeding on steroids – and die in a flash. Thus, you get to slaughter even elite hostiles like a real samurai by constantly switching between Satori and Nehan strikes; while recovering lost HP with their vampiric effect.
• It's a lightning-fast blade, especially in Sandevistan; the pause mode will sabotage hostiles’ ability to counterattack. And since you can lunge with Satori, they won’t know what’s butchering them; although they’re bound to deeply feel the slash fest! There won’t be no lag between Nehan throws and Satori Quickdraws as long as you keep retrieving the kaiken. Also, its strikes are as fast as any other Katana’s.

How To Get Satori

You find it inside Saburo Arasaka’s AV, on the rooftop of the Konpeki Plaza during the main job The Heist. In case you miss it, you can always go back to the Plaza, glitch the roll-up door of the entrance and climb your way to the rooftop; Satori will be floating in the air, right where you found the AV!

9. Blue Fang

Poisons the target, and leaves them stunlocked for you to finish hassle-free

Stats

• Attack Speed: 3.08
• Damage per Hit: 95.07
• Stamina cost: 4.80
• Effective Range: 25.80
• Return time: 7

Fashioned after a fang, this is a blue dagger with a poison cartridge. It’s Neurotoxin knife on steroids. The iconic knife cuts, poisons and stunlocks the target, all in one throw. It may be a bit slow on bouncing back, but makes up for it with one-shot, skull-penetrating kills. It’s almost unfairly jacked up for an early spawn. Despite its lethal traits, Blue Fang is Cyberpunk’s coolest-looking throwing knife.

What Blue Fang Excels In

• It’s an effective crowd control solution, because of its stopping power. While in combat, targets, hit with Blue Fang, get stunned within 3 seconds; which shrinks to 1 second with headshots. When out of combat, any throw stuns immediately. That gives you time to recover and address other active threats, by temporarily taking a bunch of them out of combat; it also gives you the chance to finish the job with the stunlocked victims, unimpeded.
• It’s a great knife for stealth builds. Because it’s a silent ranged weapon, stealth attacks with Blue Fang won’t reveal your location to the victim. And since such attacks instantly stun the target, the surrounding hostiles won’t be able to locate you either; that is as long as you finish the victim in time and leave no witnesses. Thus, you get to take down an entire outpost, while maintaining your cover, with just Blue Fang and a couple of backup knives.
• It has the highest overall damage of all TKs. Blue Fang tops the poison chance of the rest of the knives; and its plain damage is second only to Headhunter. It does enough headshot damage to one-shot most elite targets; would have been a flawless knife if it wasn’t for its unending cooldown. But that can be fixed by scoring Crit hits, with the help of Style Over Substance as well as Kiroshi Cockatrice, Stabber and Handle wrap. On Crit kills, Juggler resets the Fang’s cooldown, providing an uninterrupted TK supply; and thus, you get to keep on crushing skulls with the poison fang.

How To Get Blue Fang

You ought to buy it from the melee weapon vendor near Autowerks Dataterm in Jackson Plains, southern Badlands.

8. Cut-O-Matic X-Mod2

It’s chainsaw massacre brought to Night Citizens by the one and only V from Heywood. An excellent choice if you don’t mind being swarmed by the entire NCPD

Stats

• Attack Speed: 1.71
• Damage per Hit: 171.41
• Stamina cost: 9.60   

This iconic toothed blade is made by the notorious Budget Arms. It’s a compact chain saw, about the size of a machete; and has the same visuals, except at executions with Bladerunner. The Chainsword’s fuming, loud engine scares off civilians, and alerts hostiles. Still, it does extremely high damage. Cut-O-Matic X-Mod2 may not be environmentally friendly, but it definitely is Cyberpunk’s goriest melee weapon.  

What Cut-O-Matic X-Mod2 Excels In

• It's surprisingly fast for a chain saw. Its attack speed matches that of regular machetes, despite the weight of its chain and engine. Also, wielding it costs less Stamina, which makes its handling faster; and has a minimal, 1 second, charge time; meaning it won’t kill your momentum. To max out attack speed, you ought to get the Cyclone mod; which unlocks repeat combos with Cut-O-Matic, following a sprint attack. The combos boost the attack by up to 35 percent.
• It has higher DPH than machetes or Katanas. A couple strikes with Cut-O-Matic sinks hostiles’ HP; before its burn damage melts down what’s left, for Bladerunner to do its thing. That’s about it for regular ones; as for the elite spec ops hostiles, a couple more strikes are needed to slice them up real nicely.
• It’s the one bladed weapon for the true gore fans. With Bladerunner, you get to chop up the victim in creative ways: in the lite version, they watch helplessly as you take your time cutting off their legs with the Chainsword! In the extreme version, you drag Cut-o-Matic all the way across their neck while covering their mouth with your hand! Then you get to watch blood gush out of their stumps, courtesy of Night City chain saw massacre.

How To Find Cut-O-Matic X-Mod2

You find it at the eroded foundation of the round structure, to the left of the space museum near Terra Cognita, in Dogtown, Pacifica. You ought to pull it out of a severed human head sitting at the foot of one of the foundation’s diagonal columns, around the back. The adjacent museum, with the overhanging space shuttle, is an Increased Criminal Activity site.

7. Butcher’s Cleaver

For when you want the victims neatly disjointed. It’s not just a knife; the moment its victim bleeds, it becomes something else

Stats

• Attack Speed: 1.79
• Damage per Hit: 201.20
• Stamina cost: 8

This iconic knife is more of a sword than a cleaver, though you find it early in a butcher shop. Its massive blade maims and dismembers everything in its way; and is second only to Cut-O-Matic when it comes to gory executions. Butcher’s Cleaver has by far the most lethal chops of all Cyberpunk’s blades.

What Butcher’s Cleaver Excels In

• It is as effective a shield as it is a knife. Just like larger blades, and unlike other knives, the cleaver can deflect incoming projectiles; as long as you max out the Reflex Perk Bullet Deflect, of course. With decent stamina, you’ll get to rebound the incoming fire, and hit the hostiles with great precision. This is particularly useful when you carry no firearms, like with a samurai build; also, when you’re low on ammo, with a rifle build.
• It has the highest base as well as bleed damage of all blades. The cleaver’s pulverizing chops knock even elite targets off balance while taking away big chunks of their HP; the crippling chops leave them vulnerable to repeat attacks as the knife’s bleed damage keeps draining what’s left of their health. That’s when Bladerunner comes in to finish them: You get to land a vicious stab across the jaw, which chops halfway through the face and leaves the victim’s head wedged open as you pull the cleaver out!
• It’s surprisingly fast, despite its bulky blade. Butcher’s Cleaver is a bloodthirsty knife; once it plagues the enemy with Bleeding, its underwhelming attack speed rapidly rises; it also goes light on your stamina! It’ll progressively gain speed as long as its victims bleed. And unlike other knives, it works with Flash And Thunderclap to let you lunge at targets. Thus, the carnage will continue without any hiccups.

How To Get Butcher’s Cleaver

You find it in Rolland´s butcher shop, during the main job M’ap Tann Pelen. Placide – a Voodoo Boys shot caller – leaves it on the table, next to the chicken´s head he chops off with the cleaver.

6. Scalpel

The cool black blade lets you do laser cuts in a humane way, by electrocuting the victim first 

Stats

• Attack Speed: 2.12
• Damage Per Hit: 163.06
• Stamina Cost: 6.40

This iconic Katana is the lightning sword of Cyberpunk 2077. The single-edge longsword gives its victims a Shock, as in electroshock. The black steel is surgically sharp, as the name suggests. You shouldn’t let Scalpel’s cool-looking, blue grip deceive you; it is Cyberpunk’s most lethal, early Katana.

What Scalpel Excels In

• It is particularly effective against hybrids and Mechs, for its electroshocks. Chopping up robots could be challenging; not for Scalpel though! Its intense Electrical damage fries their Cyberware, with a few strikes. It’ll cut down even the giant Minotaurs, with massive electroshocks.
• It is customized for annihilation in Sandevistan. Crit damage is way more devastating than a weapon’s plain damage; and so, higher Crit chance leads to more lethal strikes. With Scalpel, you get an extra 50 percent Crit chance in Sandevistan, for free! Something you would otherwise need to spend a lot of eddies and Perk points to get. With the Crit hits, Scalpel will dissect everything in its way; and the carnage will go on forever, with a perfect OS such as Apogee Sandevistan and a little help from Axolotl.
• It is pretty fast for an early Katana. Scalpel is lightning fast, especially in Sandevistan’s pause mode. You just cannot lunge at targets with it; not without Flash And Thunderclap though, which has a similar effect. With Adrenaline Rush and Bloodlust, it holds up even at late game. To further speed up the slice and dice, you can get the Circulatory System implant Microrotors.

How To Get Scalpel

You find it right next to Dennis, at the end of the side job Big In Japan. It’s your reward for delivering Haruyoshi in one piece. Dennis will offer it to you after you ask for payment.

5. Tinker Bell

The cattle prod belonged to a murderous psychopath; now you get to use it to tame/shock your enemies out of existence

Stats

• Attack Speed: 1.29
• Damage per Hit: 141.24
• Stamina cost: 9.60

This iconic one-handed club belonged to Peter Pan, Night City’s own serial child killer. It’s an electric cattle prod with two electrodes. The electric baton does an amazing job of stunlocking its victims, with high voltage electrical shocks. Despite being classified as non-lethal, Tinker Bell is one of the few OP Blunt weapons of Cyberpunk 2077.

What Tinker Bell Excels In

• It’s an extremely effective crowd control solution, as a direct contact electric shock weapon. Strong attacks with Tinker Bell can knock the target right out; in case they don’t, the regular zaps are good enough to stunlock them for a few seconds. In the meantime, you get to deal with other active threats before giving the same victim a couple of more pokes until they’re out cold. If they choose to resist, you can render them completely immobile by triggering Savage Sling. 
• It's especially great at shredding enemy’s materiel. Tinker Bell’s prods do extra damage to Mechs and Drones because of their vulnerability to EMPs. Its Electrical damage deep-fries their batteries and circuits. You only need a few Strong hits with the cattle prod to zap into oblivion anything Mech, from Militech Robots to machine-gun-mounted Minotaurs.
• It has the most efficient Strong attack of all Blunt weapons. No other club, not even the most lethal ones, can take out high-threat hostiles, such as Cyberpsychos, with one strike; only Tinker Bell gives you the ability to short-circuit the fight with an early knockout, courtesy of its paralyzing Strong prods. You wouldn’t expect anything less from a shock baton. Alternatively, you could wait for a later, yet more striking knockout with Savage Sling; where you get to stick the electrodes in the victim’s neck or spine, and watch the electric arcs scorch their flesh until they collapse.

How To Get Tinker bell

You find it in the upstairs bedroom of Peter Pan’s farmhouse on Edgewood Farm, during the side job The Hunt. It’s inside the closet, right next to the bed. You ought to press the red switch under the desk, in the bedroom, to open it.

4. Jinchu Maru

NC’s hostiles are in for a slash fest in stealth with the all-black beaut

Stats

• Attack Speed: 2.12
• Damage per Hit: 148.23
• Stamina cost: 6.40

This iconic Katana belonged to Sandayu Oda, Takemura’s former Gakusei. The single-edge longsword served its owner loyally, as the name suggests, until Oda lost it to V. Jinchu maru is much faster at chopping hostiles than the rest of Cyberpunk’s Katanas; courtesy of its Crit hits and Arasaka’s razor sharp tech.

What Jinchu Maru Excels In

• It is Cyberpunk 2077’s ultimate stealth Katana, for its all-black build as well as Camo mode Crit hits. It’s the only blade forged to work with the Integumentary System Cyberware, Optical Camo. When Camo is active, every strike with Jinchu Maru does Crit damage on top of plain damage; which makes the black blade ultra lethal in stealth; it also turns you into an invisible Cyberninja, much like its former owner Oda.
• It easily is in the top 3 most lethal Katanas. Besides the Crit damage in Camo mode, every third hit with Jinchu Maru also is a Crit hit, that is the last in a combo; thus, it maintains its lethality even out of Camo. The blade really outdoes itself against elite enemy operatives such as MaxTac, by inflicting extra damage to compensate for their toughness! And when they need a little more convincing to let go, its Bleed damage will land the final blow.
• It’s one of the fastest Katanas, especially in Camo mode. Jinchu Maru’s attack speed matches that of the best Katanas. And since it’s an ultrafast chopper, it has one of the highest kill speeds as well. Also just like the best Katanas, it gives you the ability to lunge at the target; though available only in Camo mode, the flying leaps provide a smooth slicing experience, by eliminating the lag between straight kills.

How To Get Jinchu Maru

You get it by defeating and looting Sandayu Oda during the main job Play It Safe.

3. Caretaker’s Spade

If you wish you could disfigure Night City’s hostiles with a shovel from The Witcher 3, this is how

Stats

• Attack Speed: 1.20
• Damage per Hit: 190.21
• Stamina cost: 16

This is a mysterious gift from the world of The Witcher 3, to Cyberpunk 2077 chooms. It’s a digging shovel with a broken, jagged blade. The iconic hammer steamrollers hostiles, plasma-radiating on every strike. Despite its supernatural aura, Caretaker’s Spade is a natural killer among Cyberpunk’s later Blunt weapons.

What Caretaker’s Spade Excels In

• It’s definitely an overkill crowd control solution – more like a crowd crusher – as a handheld kinetic impact weapon. The shovel swings are bound to knock the target off balance; that’s when they don’t outright knock them down. There’s also a chance they get the target stunned, whose scale could expand with Quake; by giving you the ability to generate seismic waves, it’d get more of them stunlocked, even knocked down. This would happen following a devastating ground slam, or – with exciting cinematic effect – a superhero landing; and would take enough of them out of combat for you to regroup and take everyone down. Thus, with or without Quake, Caretaker’s Spade would take good care of hostile crowds.
• It's the only Blunt weapon that takes care of your health. The paranormal shovel comes from a different dimension, with sadistic tendencies; meaning it takes pleasure in inflicting pain on its victims. And shows it by plasma radiating as well as rewarding you with boosted health regen every time you strike the victim; the Spade saves you time and resources in combat by making all HP regen agents twice as fast and as effective.
• It has one of the highest DPHs of all Blunt weapons. A couple Strong swings of the Caretaker’s Spade would take care of average targets; as for the elite types, it’d take a couple more to bludgeon them to death. For mass casualties, you can count on Wrecking Ball, whose assist would let you shovel a horde of hostiles with one dash. Although you might prefer Caretaker’s more personalized care, with Savage Sling; in which case, you’d get to maim the victim before pummeling what’s left of them with the jagged shovel.

How To Get Caretaker’s Spade

You find it in the bushes beneath the boardroom, at the Jungle level of Arasaka Tower, during the main job Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. It’s best to start under the boardroom table and then roam through the Jungle till you stumble upon the Spade. But first you ought to turn down Hanako’s offer at Embers, and go to Mikoshi with Johnny and Rogue, in the final mission Nocturne OP55N1.

2. Gold-Plated Baseball Bat

You get to poke the victim in the huevos before bashing their head in, with the studded bat; and that’s just for starters, although they’re called Finishers

Stats

• Attack Speed: 1.20
• Damage per Hit: 190.21
• Stamina cost: 12

This iconic two-handed club belonged to Denny, former Samurai drummer. It’s a late gift to those who are into that whole Negan’s brain bashing stuff from The Walking Dead. The Blunt weapon’s studded barrel makes sure that every strike would cause bleed. Aside from looking awesome, Gold-Plated Baseball Bat is one of Cyberpunk’s most lethal melee weapons; although it’s technically non-lethal!

What Gold-Plated Baseball Bat Excels In

• It’s perfect for crowd control, as a handheld kinetic impact weapon. One Strong swing of the golden bat would knock the luckless victim right out; even when they luck out, the monster impact would still knock them off their feet, like a fly ball, before laying them flat on their back. Either way you’d get ample time to engage and neutralize other active threats. Especially in Sandevistan, it wouldn’t take more than a few swings to bring a horde of hostiles into compliance with the baseball bat.
• It is Cyberpunk 2077’s ultimate overkill bleed weapon. Every swing of the baseball bat does bleed damage on top of plain damage, inflicting excessive force that often results in the unintended death of the target. So, you shouldn’t let that non-lethal classification mislead you; it’s best to go easy on those golden studs if the mission objective is to take prisoners.
• In terms of lethality, it's in the top few percent of Cyberpunk’s later weapons. One Strong strike with the golden bat is more than enough to take out tough hostiles. Even the elite ones – MaxTac included – won’t survive the second or third swing; and if, by some miracle, they do survive the blunt trauma, they’ll give in to the unforgiving bleed damage soon after. So, all you need to do next is wait out their bullet storm, and watch them collapse of internal bleeding! Alternatively, you could go with Savage Sling to toss all waits, and finish the victim with interesting visuals; such as poking them in the huevos before bashing their head in, with the bat.

How To Get Gold-Plated Baseball Bat

You get it at the end of the side job Second Conflict. Once She’s done swinging it in Henry’s face, Denny will toss it in her pool – which, for some reason, Henry’s filled with cement.

1. Byakko

You get to chop and toss their heads and limbs in the air while teleporting from one MaxTac operative to the next, with this meat grinder aka Byakko

Stats

• Attack Speed: 2.12
• Damage Per Hit: 117.27
• Stamina Cost: 6.40

This iconic katana is the most authentic-looking samurai sword of Cyberpunk 2077. The single-edge longsword is as ferocious a tiger as its name suggests. And when it comes to Attack speed, Byakko is in a league of its own. It is hands down Cyberpunk’s deadliest Katana.

What Byakko Excels In

• It is an effective ranged weapon as well as a sword. It gives you the ability to lunge from yards away, which you ought to pair with Apogee Sandevistan’s pause mode for a crippling surprise attack; by allowing you to freeze the target right before lunging, Apogee would render them defenseless against Byakko’s meat grinder.
• It is the fastest of all Katanas. Byakko’s Attack speed doubles for 5 seconds once you cut down a target. And as long as you keep chopping up hostiles, Byakko’s ultrafast combo attacks continue uninterrupted. With BioDyne Berserk MK.5 OS, you can further boost the speed, plus remove the stamina cost; meaning there’ll be no lag between the attacks.
• It is the most lethal of all Katanas, for its superior speed. Byakko’s double speed multiplies the slice toll; so does the Crit chance from Kiroshi Cockatrice Optics and BioDyne Berserk. There’s also Byakko’s Bleed damage, which helps the lucky survivors bleed to death! But the real party begins when Axolotl and Reflex Tuner come to BioDyne’s assistance; and you get to play hell-raiser armed with a blood gusher, in the subsequent always-on Berserk!

How To Get Byakko

You find it in V’s stash, after finishing Wakako Okada’s last gig, Professional Widow; it’s your compensation for not disappointing Wakako.

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