Cyberpunk 2077 2.0: Mantis Blades Build

Mantis Blades are the top pick for players who want to slice and dice their way through Cyberpunk 2077 without relying on any handheld weapons. This cyberware greatly increases V's lethality and with the right build, it'll also turn them into an agile assassin that can close extreme distances in the blink of an eye.

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By  Max Borman

Like other arm-based cyberware in Cyberpunk 2077, Mantis Blades are generally good in combat scenarios but excel in one area in particular: mobility. This guide capitalizes on the game's revamped skill trees and reworked cyberware options to create a Mantis Blades builds that can leap dozens of meters away and rip even the toughest of targets apart on Very Hard difficulty.

Cyberpunk 2077 Mantis Blades Build Skill Tree

Ideally, players will want to invest most of their attribute points into Reflexes as they're leveling up. Get to 20 Reflexes as quickly as possible to unlock all the important Blades skills and access to more cyber implants.

Using Mantis Blades is the same as using other bladed weapons like katanas, machetes, and chainswords. They all share the same skill tree and functionally, they perform similarly to one another. Players must block bullets, dash toward enemies, and manage their stamina as they hack and slash their way through targets. The most important starting skills for this build are:

• Lead and Steel
• Finisher: Bladerunner
• Slaughterhouse
• Flash and Thunderclap
• Dash
• Mad Dash
• Can't Touch This

All of these provide players with the damage and survivability they need to win fights during the early parts of the game. As V's level increases, players should get 20 Body and 20 Technical Ability to unlock the Mantis Blades' full potential.

Work toward getting Edgerunner and Pain to Gain along with all the minor nodes in their respective trees to gain access to massively-improved cyberware bonuses and reach semi-immortal status with Adrenaline Rush paired with the Blood Pump implant.

Those with the Phantom Liberty DLC should unlock the Jailbreak skill as soon as they can. This unlocks the ability to leap toward targets up to 30 meters away after dismembering or finishing an enemy, greatly increasing the player's mobility and making snipers less of a threat. The same can be achieved (albeit with more difficulty) without Jailbreak by bunny-hopping and air dashing.

Recommended Gear

As players level up and gain more Street Cred, they'll unlock more Mantis Blades variants at the majority of ripperdoc clinics throughout the city. These variants feature different damage types, changing the default Physical one to either Thermal, Shock, or Chemical depending on what players choose to install.

Any of these will work fine, though Physical and Thermal Mantis Blades are arguably the better options since their overall DPS increases depending on V's Reflexes and Body attributes respectively. The most important thing to do is to always upgrade the installed Mantis Blades so it deals the most damage possible relative to V's level.

Players shouldn't completely rule out the use of firearms or throwing weapons when rocking a Mantis Blades build. Assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns, and any of the tech weapons are the most ideal choices here given the attribute point distribution of the build, and it's up to the player to decide what gun they want to use.

Cyberware

Once players start pumping points into Technical Ability and get enough Street Cred from doing missions, they'll be able to install the new cyber implants introduced in the 2.0 update. The Mantis Blades build isn't strict with what cyberware players pick so long as they help keep them alive and agile. Some are absolutely mandatory on Very Hard mode though. Players who want to get the most out of the implant options available, use the following:

The cyberware setup above is optimized for a Level 50 character and uses 272 Cyberware Capacity in total. All implant slots have been filled to gain 15% more cooldown reduction with the Cyborg perk in the Technical Ability tree, which explains the filler implants for the Hands slots.

OS choice here is very flexible. Players can pick between a Sandevistan or a Berserk implant depending on how they want to play — the former grants a lot more breathing room while the latter lets players go on a rampage without worrying about death.

Phantom Liberty owners can forego Cyborg and instead use the Axolotl Nervous System implant, which reduces all active cyberware cooldowns by over 10% per enemy killed. This implant requires 55 Capacity, though, so expect to make a heavy compromise.

Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.