Cyberpunk 2077 Weapon Compendium#

Cyberpunk 2077 rebuilt its weapon system from the ground up in Update 2.0: a weapon’s class is decided by its ballistic behavior, not by what the gun looks like. Which class a weapon belongs to comes down to how its bullets fly — whether they ricochet, curve, or punch through walls — and that decides where it fits in your build.

This page covers the mechanical criteria, not a damage-number table: weapon damage shifts with tier, player level, and patch version, so memorizing numbers is pointless. Understanding how each class behaves first, then deciding whether to sink perk points and cyberware into it, is the right order for picking a gun.

The Five Weapon Classes at a Glance#

The first three are the three ballistic schools of firearms; the last two are cold steel in two forms. Any given gun belongs to exactly one class, and the icon on the weapon panel is the quickest way to tell which.

Power Weapons#

Defining mechanic: ricochet. Power rounds bounce off corners, the edges of cover, and the ground, changing direction mid-flight. This is pure manual play — no lock-on, no homing, a straight ballistic line — so it rewards solid aim above all.

• Core of cover combat: when an enemy turtles behind cover, fire at the wall or floor next to them and let your rounds curve into the blind spot. This is the signature trick that separates Power weapons from the other two classes.
• Perk synergy: the Reflexes-based Power perks sharpen ricochets — bounced rounds can redirect toward the target, and high-tier perks even steer them at heads automatically. Fully invested, “shooting the wall” stops being a gimmick and becomes a stable damage route.
• Attachment logic: Power guns take conventional scopes and muzzle attachments, in line with how you’d mod a real firearm.

Signature weapon: Johnny Silverhand’s Malorian Arms 3516 — the poster child of Power pistols, with standout per-shot damage. You retrieve it during a Johnny-related side quest, and it’s the most story-rich gun in the game. Players who want that ricochet-everything feel should also give the Power shotguns and Power revolvers a try.

Tech Weapons#

Defining mechanic: charged penetration. Hold the trigger to charge, release to fire: the longer the charge, the higher the damage, and a fully charged round penetrates walls and cover — enemies included. Tap-firing uncharged works too, but that throws away the whole reason this class exists.

• Damage through walls: scan to tag the enemy behind cover, then send a fully charged shot straight through the concrete — the most iconic Tech weapon scenario, one that neither Power nor Smart can replicate.
• The price: you can’t reposition much while charging, so you stay exposed to incoming fire longer than with direct-fire guns; armor and Engineering perks are your safety net. The higher your Technical Ability, the smoother charging feels.
• Perk synergy: the Technical Ability engineering perks shorten charge time and boost charged damage — the key to making Tech weapons truly come online.

Signature weapons: Comrade’s Hammer — a Tech revolver whose magazine holds exactly one round. The spec drops from an NCPD Scanner Hustle in Santo Domingo, and you build it yourself at a workbench. One trigger pull, one explosion — the byword for one-shot builds. Widow Maker — a Tech precision rifle dropped during the Panam questline, with an exceptionally solid charged-sniper feel.

Smart Weapons#

Defining mechanic: homing lock-on. Smart weapon rounds curve: once a target is locked, you don’t need precise aim — the bullets chase the enemy on their own and even wrap around the edge of cover to hit whoever hides behind it.

• Prerequisite: a Smart Link cyberware must be installed. Without it, a Smart weapon is just an ordinary direct-fire gun making do — the tracking does absolutely nothing. Check your cyberware loadout before buying a Smart gun; it’s the classic newcomer trap.
• Feel: raise the gun and it locks on, and firing on the move costs no efficiency, freeing your attention for positioning and quickhacks. The natural partner for netrunner builds.
• Perk synergy: the Intelligence-based Smart weapon perks strengthen lock count and tracking performance, forming a guns-and-hacks loop with quickhacking.

Signature weapons: Skippy — the game’s only smart pistol that talks back to you, picked up in an alley in Vista del Rey, Heywood. It offers two modes, lock-on headshots (“Stone Cold Killer”) and non-lethal-only (“Puppy-Loving Pacifist”), but once its kill counter fills up the mode is locked in permanently — think it through before choosing. Ba Xing Chong — a smart shotgun you craft at a workbench late in the game once you have the spec, cramming homing logic into a shotgun barrage.

Melee Weapons#

Melee splits into blades (katanas, knives) and blunt weapons (clubs, hammers). The criterion is simple: blades scale with Reflexes and chase attack speed and crits; blunt weapons scale with Body and chase stagger and suppression.

• Bullet deflection: a katana’s block stance deflects incoming rounds — the core reason melee can hold its ground after 2.0. You don’t tank bullets; you turn them aside.
• Sandevistan synergy: carving through enemies inside a time-dilation field is this game’s most famous image. For how melee hooks into the cyberware system, see the cyberware guide.
• Don’t charge a wall of gunfire: even a strong melee build uses cover and dashes to close the distance. Sprinting head-on into automatic fire isn’t a build — it’s a death wish.

Important boundary: arm cyberware such as Mantis Blades, the Monowire, and Gorilla Arms are not weapons — they’re installed on the ripperdoc’s operating table, occupy cyberware slots instead of the weapon slot, and their damage is calculated separately from melee weapons. When building, don’t lump cyberware damage in with weapon perks: the two stack rather than replace each other.

Thrown Weapons#

Patch 2.1 added knife throwing to the knife family: the same blade can slash up close or be hurled at mid-range targets, filling the last stretch of missing range in a melee build.

• Throwing upgrades the knife from a pure stealth tool into a complete combat weapon: two slashes point-blank, one throw at mid-range — a coherent style throughout.
• For stealth players, thrown knives are a silent mid-range clear that never gives away your position.

Quality Tiers and Upgrade Rules#

• Upgrading happens at the workbench: weapons can be upgraded with components of the matching tier, which mostly come from dismantling spare gear. Don’t rush to use a Tier 5 weapon the moment you see one — check whether your build actually needs it first.
• Iconic weapons: unique named weapons with exclusive effects; their tier can climb all the way to 5+ and even 5++ (which requires the matching Iconic components). If a weapon name carries a special marker, stash it first and think later.
• Zone decides drop tier: the more dangerous the area, the higher the tier of what drops there. No need to hoard Tier 2 guns early on — your arsenal turns over fast.
• Never dismantle or sell Iconics: exclusive effects can’t be copied, and once a quest is gone you’re waiting on the next opportunity.

Where Iconic Weapons Come From#

A few extra notes:

• Dogtown airdrops are the steady new farm added by Phantom Liberty: weapon convoys drop supply crates across Dogtown, and after beating the escorting guards you can open them for a chance at high-tier and Iconic weapons — the main late-game collection loop. For the full walkthrough, see the Phantom Liberty guide.
• Erebus is Dogtown’s Blackwall-themed Iconic weapon and pairs with the Canto Mk.6 cyberware as one Blackwall package; netrunner players should plan this line deliberately. For the related quickhack mechanics, see the quickhacks guide.
• Don’t mistake cyberware for weapons: something like the Militech “Falcon” sounds like firearm gear, but in-game it belongs to cyberware — it never enters the weapon slot and gains nothing from weapon perks. Listing it next to your guns on a collection checklist just wastes a slot.

Classes and Build Pairings#

For full attribute spending and cyberware choices, see the builds guide; for the combat side — positioning and armor-breaking logic — see the combat system.

How to Decide on a Weapon#

1. Pick your operating system first: cyberdeck, Sandevistan, or Berserk decides whether Smart weapons, blades, or blunt weapons are your mainline.
2. Then check your cyberware: want to run Smart weapons? Confirm the Smart Link is actually installed.
3. Then look at the perk lines: ricochet, charging, and lock-on each demand heavy perk investment — don’t spread across all three at once.
4. Fill in Iconics last: collect the Iconic weapons that fit the direction you’ve already set, not the other way around.

Follow that order and every gun in your weapon slot has a clear job — and your workbench materials never get spent on tiers you’ll never use.

Related Pages#

• Builds — attribute points and perk planning
• Cyberware system — arm cyberware and the Smart Link explained
• Combat system — positioning, cover, and blocking
• Phantom Liberty DLC guide — Dogtown airdrops and Blackwall content
• Quest guides — quest walkthroughs tied to Iconic weapons