Cyberpunk 2077 Melee Mayhem: Mastering the Gorilla Arms and Mantis Blades
So, you’ve decided to step away from the smart weapons and hacking routines, and dive headfirst into the visceral, up-close chaos of melee combat in Cyberpunk 2077. Excellent choice. There's nothing quite like feeling the crunch of bone under your fists or the swift, silent dispatch of a blade. Two of the most iconic and powerful paths for this playstyle are the raw, brute-force Gorilla Arms and the elegant, lethal Mantis Blades.
This guide is your one-stop shop to mastering both. We're not just going to list stats; we're going to build a complete melee-focused V from the ground up, covering Attributes, Perks, Cyberware, and playstyle nuances to make you an unstoppable force on the streets of Night City. Whether you want to punch your problems away or slice them to ribbons, we’ve got you covered.
The Core Philosophy: Strength or Speed?
Before we dive into the builds, let's establish the fundamental difference between these two iconic arm cyberware options.
- Gorilla Arms are the essence of pure, unadulterated power. This melee build for Cyberpunk 2077 is about staggering enemies, breaking their guards, and turning them into paste with a few well-placed blows. It’s a tanky, resilient style that often involves walking through gunfire to deliver a knockout punch. A key advantage here is their utility: they permanently boost your Body attribute for checks requiring brute strength, making them invaluable for opening certain doors and winning the "Beat on the Brat" side quests with ease.
- Mantis Blades are the tools of a cyber-ninja. This playstyle is defined by agility, speed, and precision. It’s a high-risk, high-reward Cyberpunk 2077 blade build that focuses on closing distances rapidly, executing devastating leap attacks, and cutting down foes before they can even raise their weapon. It’s flashy, deadly, and immensely satisfying.
You can absolutely create a hybrid build, but for maximum effectiveness, it's best to specialize. Let's break down each one.
The Brawling Behemoth: Gorilla Arms Build
This build turns you into Night City's premier problem-solver, and every problem looks like a nail.
Primary Attributes:
- Body (20): This is your main stat. It governs your health, stamina, and melee damage. You need this at 20 to unlock the most powerful perks and become an unstoppable juggernaut.
- Technical Ability (18): Crucial for a top-tier Gorilla Arms build. This allows you to craft legendary weapons and, most importantly, open up all the doors in the world to access the best cyberware from Ripperdocs. The "Edgerunner Artisan" perk is a must for crafting legendary Gorilla Arms.
- Cool (16): The Cold Blood tree is a game-changer. It provides stacking buffs for consecutive kills, making you faster, tougher, and deadlier as a fight progresses. It synergizes perfectly with a run-and-gun (or run-and-punch) playstyle.
Essential Perks: Your perk points will be heavily invested in the Annihilation and Athletics trees under Body, and the Cold Blood tree under Cool.
- Athletics (Body): "Pain to Gain" (heal on enemy knockdown) is your sustain. "Regeneration" keeps your health ticking up outside combat. "Invincible" gives you a massive health boost. "Berserk" synergizes thematically, but the cyberware version is often better.
- Annihilation (Body): While technically for shotguns, the "Burning Bullets" perk (which applies burn with every pellet) works with the Gorilla Arms' charged attack when it slams the ground, setting multiple enemies on fire. It's a secret powerhouse combo.
- Cold Blood (Cool): Start with "Cold Blood," then grab "Frozen Precision" (increased damage), "Coldest Blood" (longer stack duration), "Immunity" (resistance to status effects), and "Blood Brawl** (increased melee damage with stacks). This turns you into a snowballing monster.
Cyberware and Playstyle: Get the best Gorilla Arms you can craft or find. Legendary versions come with mod slots; look for the "Titanium Bones" for more carry capacity or "Syn-Lungs" for better stamina regeneration.
For your operating system, Berserk is the perfect thematic choice. It dramatically increases your damage, reduces damage taken, and makes you immune to stuns and knockbacks. The Militech "Apogee" Sandevistan is also a fantastic option, as slowing time allows you to close the gap and land multiple free punches.
Your playstyle is straightforward but brutal. Sprint into combat, activate your Berserk or Sandevistan, and start swinging. Use heavy attacks to break enemy guards and send them flying. With high Body and the right perks, you'll be a health-regenerating, damage-soaking titan who turns cyberpsychos into scrap metal.
The Cyber-Ninja: Mantis Blades Build
This build is all about finesse and lethal efficiency. You're not a tank; you're a whirlwind of death.
Primary Attributes:
- Reflexes (20): This is your god stat. It directly boosts your blade damage, attack speed, and crit chance. The entire Blades perk tree lives here, and it's absolutely essential to max it out.
- Cool (18): Even more critical for blades than for brawling. We're focusing on the Stealth tree for opening bonuses and the Cold Blood tree for its incredible damage and speed buffs.
- Technical Ability (16): Still important for accessing legendary cyberware and crafting your ultimate Mantis Blades.
Essential Perks: Your home is the Blades tree (Reflexes), supported by Stealth and Cold Blood (Cool).
- Blades (Reflexes): "Roaring Waters" (increased strong attack damage) and "Crimson Tide" (increased attack speed) are your foundation. "Stinging Blade" lets you lunge at enemies, which is your primary engagement tool. "Flight of the Sparrow" allows you to attack while dodging, making you incredibly evasive. "Unbroken Spirit" (heal on blade kills) is your key to survival. "Judge, Jury and Executioner" is a massive damage boost against high-health targets.
- Stealth (Cool): "Assassin" (increased damage to humans) and "Sniper" (increased damage from stealth) are key. The "Mantis Blade leap attack from stealth" is often an instant kill on regular enemies.
- Cold Blood (Cool): Same as the Gorilla Arms build, but even more potent. The speed and damage buffs make your blade flurries absolutely devastating.
Cyberware and Playstyle: Your Mantis Blades are your primary weapon. At legendary tier, they are monstrous. The key mod to look for is the "Physical Damage" mod to amp up your base damage.
The single most important piece of cyberware for this build is the Sandevistan operating system, specifically the legendary "QianT" Sandevistan "Warp Dancer" or the Militech "Apogee." When activated, it slows time to a crawl for a short period. This allows you to leap from enemy to enemy, executing them before they can even react. It is the quintessential cyber-ninja playstyle and feels incredibly powerful.
Pair this with the "Kerenzikov" nervous system cyberware (dodge while aiming to slow time) for even more temporal control. Your playstyle involves using cover and movement to get close, activating your Sandevistan, and then unleashing a flurry of lethal leaps and slashes. You are a blur of motion, and by the time time returns to normal, every enemy in the room is already dead.
Final Showdown: Which is the Best Melee Weapon?
So, which is better for your ultimate melee character?
- Choose Gorilla Arms if: You want to be a nearly unkillable tank who enjoys the raw, physical feedback of pummeling enemies. You appreciate the utility of easily passing Strength checks and don't mind a slightly slower, more methodical approach to combat.
- Choose Mantis Blades if: You value speed, agility, and style above all else. You want to feel like an anime character, darting around the battlefield and dishing out insane amounts of damage in a flash. You enjoy the high-risk, high-reward playstyle and the sheer cool factor.
Both are supremely viable and can easily handle the game on the highest difficulties. The best Cyberpunk 2077 melee build is ultimately the one that feels the most fun to you. So, get out there, visit your local Ripperdoc, and start disassembling the competition—one punch or slash at a time. Night City won't know what hit it.
