Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty 2025 Starting Guide (After Patch 2.3)

Cyberpunk 2077's major updates may have concluded, but that does not mean you should stop aiming for new playthroughs. Since the last Perfect Start guide over two years ago, many things have changed, including story decisions that are now easier to take with the addition of Phantom Liberty.

This guide focuses on the best things to get in Act One and the beginning of Act Two, setting you up for a strong start after Patch 2.3.

Fresh Start or Skip to Phantom Liberty?

From the new game screen, you now have two options: a regular start or skipping ahead to Phantom Liberty. You are highly encouraged not to skip ahead to Phantom Liberty for a few reasons.

First, skipping deprives you of particular story decisions you might have wanted to make up until that point.

Second, you start with a pre-made build, which may not align with your desired playstyle, forcing you to waste your only full character attribute reset that you get once per playthrough.

Choosing Your Life Path

In terms of the life path choice, you pick whichever you like the most. The differences are minimal, but there are quite a few you will highlight later.

Grab These Free Items & Vehicle ASAP

Once you are back at the visa department and the prologue is finished, you grab a few things from the mega building right away. First, you talk to Coach Greg and immediately buy a couple of capacity boosters. They will make sense shortly.

You also go to the Second Amendment and talk to Wilson, which gives you that free iconic Unity pistol. It is not the greatest, but it will do for now. If you have any GOG pre-order katanas and Witcher gear, you grab those as well. For this guide, you go with a reflex build.

If you pre-ordered Phantom Liberty, you get a message from the Body Count Lottery telling you that you won a free Quadra Vigilante. You accept it, as it is faster than the default V's car and will help you tremendously.

Once you are done with that, you go into town and grab one final thing: the gift that T-Bug left behind at the Kabuki Market. You get the Ping quickhack, which is very useful early on for seeing enemy positioning inside buildings.

Buzzsaw SMG Amazing Early Iconic

You are almost ready to go, but you do not follow the main story just yet. There are still quite a few things you can do to have more fun in Act One.

You create a hard save before any decisions involving Merid Stout or the Pickup mission and the Maelstrom sequence. Instead, you focus on the open world, specifically NCPD scanner hustles.

You start with three of them in Northside, as they provide three of the best iconic weapons in the game straight from Act One.

The first one is at Organized Crime: Vice Control on this side of the map. There is a parking lot over here, and inside, you eventually encounter Yena.

Once you defeat her, she drops the crafting spec for the Buzzsaw SMG. This is an amazing option; its shots can penetrate cover, and it comes with a 40% increase to limb damage, meaning a high chance of dismemberment.

Psalm 11:6 Iconic Location

Once you are done with this NCPD hustle, a second one opens just across the street. Right here, a bit up north, you head over to the NCPD event called Just Say No.

Here, you find a bunch of enemies, including a Maelstrom guy with the Mantis Blades. If you defeat him, he drops the crafting spec for the Psalm 11:6.

This is another amazing rifle option that shoots explosive rounds and starts with a base burn chance of 20%. You can buff that with a mod you get during the Pickup mission.

Fenrir Iconic SMG Alternative Location

The third and final weapon is another SMG, an alternative to the Buzzsaw, which is the Fenrir. You head over right here to the cargo bay and basically start the Sacrum Profanum gig from the monk brother you find in the area.

It does not matter how you complete the quest. When you save the brother, you pay attention to the counter on the left side of him. You notice the Fenrir weapon sitting right there; you do not even have to craft it.

This weapon has a solid 10% chance when shooting to upload a Cyberware Malfunction quickhack on the target and also increase shock damage against it, disabling all their cyberware for a number of seconds. Both this and the Buzzsaw are amazing; you go with whichever you want.

EXP and Healing Buffs

This brings you to the best XP and money farming method at this stage in the game. To prepare for that, you head over to V's apartment and get two 1-hour buffs.

One is acquired by resting in V's bed, which gives you a Rested buff that increases your skill acquisition XP by 20% for a whole hour. If you also shower, you get another buff that lets you regenerate HP even during combat.

This second buff further stacks with the Rejuvenation buff you have in your Body attribute line. There is also a third one you can get from drinking coffee, but that is only at the other apartments in the other neighborhoods.

Best EXP & Money Method Early in 2.3

From this point on, you hit up as many NCPD hustles as you can. You hit all of them, as that in total will provide at least 10 levels, 15 street cred, at least 150,000 eddies, and a ton of extra loot.

You have about 30 to 40 of them all across Watson, and it takes roughly 1 hour to 1.5 hours to complete all of them, making the most out of those 1-hour buffs you just got.

You grab every piece of loot you see enemies dropping, especially their weapons. Broken weapons are turned into crafting materials automatically, while the weapons themselves can be sold for hundreds of eddies each.

By the time you are finished with everything shown in this guide, you will have almost half a million eddies sitting in your bank very easily.

This is why you suggested those capacity boosters early on; they help if you are overencumbered or want to have more capacity to store more items on your way towards the next drop point.

Extra NCPD Tips

Another aspect of looting the bodies and all the containers is that you will often get cyber capacity shards from them. It is one of the main ways to increase how many implants V can take, so you try to visit every corpse you leave behind.

You do not leave any container unopened either, because a lot of them now give you upgrades, either to your max Doc Healing potion or to your grenades.

Finally, you read every single conversation shard you find from these NCPD hustles. A lot of them have follow-up crime activities that bring you to locations with even more containers and loot.

Once you are done with all of this, you should be at least level 10 and have at least 15 street cred, meaning you can now buy stronger cyber implants at any ripperdoc in the city.

In 2.0 and beyond, you can go to any Ripperdoc and buy the Reinforced Tendons the moment you hit level 10. This gives you the double jump and is absolutely important.

Everything else depends on your build. You are going with a reflex/slow motion build, so you look for a Kerenzikov, preferably even a Sandevistan if you can afford it, and anything that helps with slow motion or damage with your swords.

The Pickup: Dum Dum Survives Route

You are now pretty much ready to follow the actual main story mission. You create another hard save because The Pickup is one of the most complex mission structures you get.

Among all the ways to solve it, your favorite is still the one in which Dum Dum survives at the end. You ensure that he is alive so that you can encounter him a second time later on in the main story during the follow-up quest called Second Conflict.

This lets you get the Doom Doom pistol from him, one of the top three revolvers in the game, even after Patch 2.3.

For this to trigger, you either side with the Maelstrom gang or resolve the whole conflict peacefully without Militech's involvement.

You can, however, still get the Chaos pistol even if the Militech raid triggers by setting the game to the highest possible difficulty and letting Royce fight alone in the final boss room against Militech. There is a high chance he will perish, meaning you get his iconic weapon while Dum Dum survives.

Keep in mind that this locks you out of the Meredith Stout romance and her OP melee weapon, which you would normally get at the start of Act Two.

Meredith Stout Alternative

The second-best option is siding with Militech and specifically with Meredith Stout. You call Meredith, accept the chip from her, and immediately hack it.

This provides not only the extra 10k eddies but also the Synapse Burnout quickhack, which is amazing if you are going with a netrunner build.

During this, if you play as a Nomad and have at least seven points in Technical Ability, you comment on Jackie's bike, which provides a much better version of his motorbike in Act Two if you send his body to his family at the end of the heist.

During the Maelstrom conversation, you decide to punish Royce for his arrogance by letting him face a pistol shot straight to the head. This gives you quick access to the Chaos iconic pistol outright.

It cycles through random different crit chances, damage types, and status effects on every reload, dealing damage and status effects to the targets.

Before you progress further in the factory, pay attention to the room Royce came from. You open the door and see another container inside.

One of the items is the Pyro mod, which converts 25% of the dealt damage to more thermal damage if you specialize in fire damage.

From here on out, you take out Brigitte, even though that makes Second Conflict more hectic, because you want to deal as much damage to the Maelstrom gang as you can.

This ensures that Stout lives at the end of the mission, meaning you have that follow-up mission with her at the start of Act Two.

Sir Phalustiff Iconic Weapon

At the start of Act Two, after you meet Takemura, it does not take long for her to send you a message. Once you reply, you have the gig called Venus in Furs back at the No-Tell Motel.

Once done, you retrieve the weapon. It has a devastating three-hit combo that goes really fast. It consumes a ton of stamina, but it has a high chance of stunning.

A charged attack against heads has a 69% chance to leave them stunned, and head hits have a 69% increase in critical chance by default. It is a solid choice if you want a blunt weapon.

Maelstrom Vendor After 2.3?

For those wondering, it is possible to unlock the Maelstrom vendor, but after 2.0, it is not worth it any longer. It is only possible via the peaceful route: never contact Militech, never accept the chip, and when you go to All Foods, do not antagonize anybody; pay with your own funds.

Once done, you are escorted out peacefully and immediately unlock that vendor. Unfortunately, after Patch 2.0, you only get a Nova and a Komatic crafting spec, which are not worth it, and you can get them from somewhere else.

Phantom Liberty: Herold Lowe Iconic Vendor

There is a way to purchase the iconics you missed from all of these story decisions by purchasing them from Herold, the first vendor NPC you encounter in Dogtown at the beginning of Phantom Liberty.

He is at the main stadium waypoint. However, he only sells the iconics that you would have normally gotten via the decisions you made in the story, but did not get at the time. You cannot purchase iconics belonging to different story decisions that you did not make.

Can You Complete All Regina Jones Gigs in Act 1?

Before you attempt the heist mission, you confirm that it is totally possible to complete all of Regina Jones' 23 fixer gigs right here in Act One and get the final reward, the Axolotl.

However, it is only given at tier four since you are below level 40. If you want the tier five outright, you complete the last part once you hit level 40.

Completing most of them gives you another 200k eddies, lots more weapon mods, cyberware, iconic weapons, and even a missable ripperdoc that offers a 20% discount.

Secret Ripperdoc and Discount

You unlock Charles Bucks at the Scavs Clinic in Kabuki during the gig: Last Login. This is part of the fifth batch of gigs, or the 14th gig you do for Regina Jones.

During this, you go up the stairs at the end, and inside the clinic area, you see Charles. No matter what, you pick the option "you're lying". After, he attempts to bribe you; you accept that.

This opens him up as a ripperdoc and provides a discount on all the cyberware he sells. Since Ripperdoc shops are simplified in 2.0 and beyond, you can buy the majority of cyber implants way cheaper than anywhere else.

Hypercritical Iconic

You get the Hypercritical rifle from the gig: Concrete Cage Trap in Kabuki. This is one of the last batches of gigs, gig number 18. You help Tiny Mike escape the Militech agents.

During this, you find him in a bathroom, and the iconic precision rifle is in the bathroom next to him. The shots with this rifle detonate on impact and provide an insane amount of knockback.

Additionally, every time you shoot with it, you get 100% more critical damage, and the last shot in the magazine deals guaranteed critical damage.

Free Electric Mantis Blades

You attempt Occupational Hazard. This puts you up against a cyberpsycho in a Mox facility in Northside.

If you loot the cyberpsycho body, you get a pair of thermal Mantis Blades. Instead of wasting 10 to 15,000 eddies, you grab them for free.

Best Missable Iconic Clothing in Act 1

By this stage, you probably want some legendary gear. You get a pair of legendary boots right here at the Kabuki Market. Going in the market to the left side, you take the first elevator to the third floor and get the Steel Solo boots from the chest next to the vendor.

You get a very cool outer torso, the Rocker's Jacket, from Bellview Overwalk from the waypoint. You make your way up the stairs all the way into the back and find a corpse dropping that for you.

You have a couple of extra items very close to Mega Building H12. Right here on this side of the map, very close to the passageway, you follow this route all the way near some water systems and go all the way to the top. This lets you get one of the coolest Netrunner pants in the game.

Not too far off, you have an intersection further down south. Going behind the building blocks, you find a nice pair of cop glasses.

If you want a more Corpo look, you get both the pants and the vest right here, up north in Northside. The first one is right here on this side of the map.

There is a bodega with a bunch of corpses, and behind the exploded car, you find the chest piece on a corpse.

For the cotton pants, you go further northwest from this location, closer to the highway. You see the Trauma Team AV from afar, and near the car, you find another corpse giving you the cotton pants.

Free Optical Camo Location

If you want a free optical camo even before level 10, you get it from opening this garage over in Kabuki. It is the same area where the gig Shark in the Water takes place for Regina Jones.

If you open the door, you see a container inside which has the optical camo cyber implant, plus an Overheat quickhack and a few more goodies. Optical camo gives you outright invisibility, good for escaping or sneaking around.

All Missable The Heist Iconic Armor and Satori Katana

You are now ready to attempt the heist mission. You are careful here because there are a few completely missable items. The important bit starts the moment you reach Yorinobu's apartment.

First, you grab the Kongou pistol right next to your bed. It is a decent option that takes a couple of mods.

You start with the bathroom and get Yorinobu's attire. There is a really cool coat right here in one of the corners.

You also find the chest piece and the legs in a briefcase up the set of stairs, though the door beyond them is locked for now. You also grab the iguana egg at the terrarium; you can get a pet back at your apartment.

Finally, you have two more weapons remaining. This happens after the whole scene with Yorinobu and his father, and after the alarm gets triggered. Once you get out of the hideout, you retrieve the Nehan knife from Saburo's body.

After you hear T-Bug getting glitched, you do not progress through the main parts. Instead, you go back up the stairs all the way to the outer terrace on the rooftop. You defeat the two enemies and retrieve the Satori katana.

It is one of the top four or five katanas in the game and has a very good chance to apply bleeding. In conjunction with the Nehan knife, if you throw the knife at a bleeding target, it turns that bleed into a hemorrhage, meaning instant one-shots.

This lets you blast through Konpeki Plaza to the end of the mission. However, you make sure you send Jackie's body back to his family. If you do that, at the start of Act Two, you get a message from Mama Welles.

After completing a brief mission over at the Coyote Bar, you get both his pair of iconic pistols and Jackie's bike, which helps since your own car is gone in a Damagen incident.

Extra Tips

If you want more quickhacks for free and boost your Netrunner skill quicker, you hack all the access points you find. You see them by their distinctive icons.

You focus specifically on the third row below, the one that both extracts and copies the daemon for you, so you do not have to purchase them from vendors.

You have a complete full reset of all attributes and skill points. Skill points can be reset at any point, but attributes can only be reset once.

You use the build planner that CDPR put out online if you want to create a low-level build and go with something else.

Since you have enough funds, you pay off your debt to Victor. The only thing this achieves after Patch 2.3 is that it opens up his Ripperdoc services once again, so you can access him straight from near your apartment building.

Also, check our Cyberpunk 2077 Review, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Review, and other guides below:

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