With the release of Cyberpunk 2077 and its revamped 2.0 update, a new skill tree has been added to V’s arsenal. The Relic skill tree in Cyberpunk 2077 adds a new arsenal of upgrades to things you were probably already doing in Night City, but enhanced.
Whether it’s deadlier Mantis Blades, specifically targeting weaknesses for massive damage, or just being a little sneakier than normal, the Relic skills can enhance your playstyle. Here’s how they work, and where you can get them.
How to unlock the Relic skill tree in Cyberpunk 2077
To unlock the new Relic skill tree, you’ll need to own the Phantom Liberty expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. It’s specifically tied into the main quest and its location, Dogtown.
Once you get the starting quest from Songbird to head to Dogtown, the netrunner will hack in and unlock the Relic skill tree as part of the introductory quest “Dog Eat Dog.” She’ll give you an initial batch of three Relic points, enough to unlock one of the main three skills: Emergency Cloaking, Jailbreak, or Vulnerability Tactics.
From there, you’ll need to progress the Phantom Liberty quest and explore Dogtown to get more. You can acquire more Relic skill points in Cyberpunk 2077 by either doing Phantom Liberty quests, or finding Relic terminals littered around Dogtown, often guarded by NPCs.
What should you spend them on? Well, that depends on your build. Here’s the full rundown.
Every Relic perk in the new skill tree
Emergency Cloaking: Improves Optical Camo cyberware. Activating Optical Camo during combat will cause enemies to lose track of you, giving you a chance to exist combat. (Note: To use this ability, you must have Optical Camo equipped to your Combat Gadget quickslot.) Costs 3 Relic points.
Sensory Protocol: When crouched, becoming detected by an enemy will temporarily slow time. Dodge or Dash out of the enemy’s line of sight to immediately exit combat. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Costs 1 Relic point. Requires Emergency Cloaking.
Jailbreak: Unlocks new abilities for Arm Cyberware (Mantis Blades, Gorilla Arms, Projectile Launch System, and Monowire.) Costs 3 Relic Points.
- Mantis Blades: Dismembering an enemy or performing a Finisher with Mantis Blades will charge the next Leap Attack. Hold the attack button and release to perform a long-range Leap Attack. A charged Leap Attack with Mantis Blades has +30 m. longer reach and deals massive damage with a wide slash that hits the target and other nearby enemies. Killing an enemy with this attack also dismembers them.
- Gorilla Arms: Attacking with Gorilla Arms now charges them up. When fully charged, a Strong Attack deals massive damage and creates a shockwave, staggering nearby enemies. Neutralizing an enemy this way will send their body flying.
- Projectile Launch System: You can now overcharge the Projectile Launch System by holding the Combat Gadget quickslot button. This launches a burst of five projectiles that cover a larger area.
- Monowire: The Monowire now has a dedicated slot for Control quickhacks. To use the installed quickhacks, charge the Monowire by holding the attack button. When fully charged, release the attack to deal damage and upload the quickhack without paying its RAM cost.
Spatial Mapping: All Leap Attacks with Mantis Blades now cripple enemies and increase dismemberment chance against those same enemies for 10 seconds. Costs 1 Relic point. Requires Jailbreak.
Limiter Removal: The shockwave from a charged Gorilla Arms attack now knocks down all enemies within range. Costs 1 Relic point. Requires Jailbreak.
Launch Capacity Override: +1 charge for the Projectile Launch System. Costs 1 Relic point. Requires Jailbreak.
Data Tunneling: When an enemy is affected by a Monowire-uploaded quickhack, normal Monowire attacks which hit that enemy and other enemies simultaneously will spread the quickhack to them. Costs 1 Relic point. Requires Jailbreak.
Vulnerability Tactics: During combat, you can now detect Vulnerabilities in enemy Armor and cyberware. Hitting Vulnerabilities gives 100% Crit Chance, +25% Armor penetration, and Weakspot damage bonuses. Dealing enough damage to a Vulnerability will cause it to explode, generating an EMP blast that damage enemies within 3 m. Costs 3 Relic points.
Machine Learning: Destroying an enemy’s Vulnerability grants +10 % frequency of new Vulnerabilities appearing and +5% Crit Damage against Vulnerabilities. Duration: 25 seconds. Effect and duration can stack five times. Reaching max stacks doubles these effects. Costs 1 Relic Point. Requires Vulnerability Tactics.
