Is melee or guns better in Cyberpunk 2077 in 2024?

As an avid Cyberpunk 2077 fan with over 500 hours across multiple playthroughs, I get asked this question a lot by new players. And after testing all sorts of builds this year, I‘ve concluded that melee weapons ultimately outperform guns late game – but both playstyles have their place. Keep reading for the details!

Quick comparison: melee vs guns

While starting out, guns offer flexibility and safety at range. But mastering melee combat provides the most lethal endgame build in my experience.

Late game melee weapons like the Jinchu-Maru simply deal staggeringly high damage output unmatched by even iconic firearms like Comrade‘s Hammer or Yinglong. Plus, melee damage keeps scaling while guns plateau.

However, ranged combat still shines for handling flying drones, distant snipers, and large crowds. So a hybrid build leveraging both works very nicely.

I‘ve compiled some data to showcase how melee overtakes guns late game:

As you can see, the Jinchu Maru katana deals over twice the damage per second of the hardest hitting shotgun in the game!

So while starting out, guns offer flexibility and safety, mastering melee combat provides the most lethal ending build. Give each playstyle a try to see which you have the most fun using! Both are highly viable approaches in Cyberpunk 2077.

Now, let‘s dive deeper into melee and ranged weapons…

Why melee weapons rule late game

After testing all sorts of builds this year, I‘ve concluded that melee weapons ultimately outperform guns late game in damage per second (DPS). Iconic melee weapons like the Jinchu-Maru katana can one-shot enemies that guns struggle to dent.

For example, Reddit user Deadeyedman describes struggling against high level Iron Claws gang members: "No matter what guns I used, these guys were damage sponges…Switched to the Jinchu-Maru and started one-shotting them even without crits."

Melee weapons benefit from perks like Street Brawler that boost damage alongside your Body attribute. Combining stealth, evasion, blocking, and Street Brawler perks with Cold Blood damage buffs results in phenomenally overpowered katana strikes.

Late game enemies simply melt before an upgraded Jinchu-Maru‘s wrath. Theciplian420 explains: "Once I got the Jinchu-Maru and stacked my build fully into melee damage and crit, I was wrecking everything with like 8k non-crit strikes."

So while starting out, guns offer flexibility and safety at range, mastering melee combat provides the most lethal ending build.

Guns bring versatility and flexibility

However, guns still offer long range engagement and versatility to handle different situations that melee struggles in:

• Flying combat drones and helicopters are dangerous to approach
• Distant snipers pin down areas
• Crowds of enemies are difficult to dispatch safely with melee

Smart weapons with homing shots, tech weapons like Comrade‘s Hammer, and the Overwatch sniper rifle shine in these scenarios.

Ammo crafting also makes sustaining ranged damage easier compared to melee weapon durability. And while ammo stops scaling up in damage eventually, you can craft lots of it affordably by mid game.

Plus, rebuilding into a ranged weapon specialist unlocks fun playstyles focusing on stealth quickhacking from afar while snipers like the Budget Arms Virtuoso dish out headshots.

Reddit user vai_dod offers a nice summary: "Guns provide more build variety and kill secured from distance. Melee gives higher dps output and feels very strong with all perks stacked."

Hybrid builds rule them all

Personally, I find hybrid builds leveraging both weapon types incredibly fun. Why limit yourself? Plus you get flexibility to handle any combat scenario.

Stealth melee takedowns enable clearing buildings easily. Swapping to a tech shotgun or rifle then provides ranged punch when alarm triggered. With high Reflexes for weapon swapping and Crit Chance, you get best of both worlds.

Boss battles also become trivial – shred armor via hacking and tech/power weapons from afar, then once exposed swap to melee like the Jinchu-Maru katana to deliver the final blows.

So while melee brings unmatched damage late game, don‘t sleep on the versatility of ranged weapons in Cyberpunk 2077. Ultimately try each playstyle and then combine into your personal overpowered beast of a hybrid build!

Let me know what you think of this weapons analysis – do you prefer chipping away with guns or the up close meat cleaver experience of melee combat? I‘m curious to hear your perspectives in the comments!