Arms are your “fists” weapon, which — in a way — makes them your fourth weapon slot. There are no Attribute requirements to equip any of these, but you will need a lot of eddies and a lot of Street Cred.
Also, you will probably be looking into related Perk trees to upgrade damage you can deal with these cyberweapons (for example, you want to work on Blades for your Mantis Blades).
Each comes with two unique types of mods that affect its Damage Type and improve its functionality, and with a universal third slot (we have a subsection for these below). In other words, Arms can be a noticeable investment of time and money.
Arms Cyberware doesn’t add any necessary functionality to the gameplay. Even though Gorilla Arms hint that you need them to force open doors, for example, you can already do it with a high enough Body Attribute score. The best a Cyberware like this would do is give you significant advantage for questlines like “Breat on the Brat“. So, the question comes down to: do you want to use one of these as a regular weapon?
There is not much lasting advantage these four could provide for you unless you employ bonuses from your Perks and Skills in addition to installing mods. You will have to look into improvements for Blades (Mantis Blades), Blunt Weapons (Monowire and Gorilla Arms), and Smart Weapons (Projectile Launch System, arguably not too many ways of adding to this one) in your Skills and Perks tree. If you do not, at a certain point your regular weapons will really out-do any of your Cyberware ones (some will be beaten more quickly than others).
If you aren’t too sure about any of these, you can simply get the Gorilla Arms for improved fist functionality that will extend into any bare-knuckle sparring you might do. You will get a Legendary version by completing any of the game’s endings.
Note: all items are listed with a range of minimum to maximum values. Beware that there is a significant value variation due to rarity. Starting and highest rarity rank is likewise listed as a range in parenthesis. Most of the cyberware comes across all rarity ranks. We will not be listing intermediary values to keep things clean.
Mantis Blades (Rare – Legendary):
Rare: Allow you to slice and dice your enemies with swift, deadly slashes. They also unlock the ability to leap towards a target and deal massive damage. One mod slot available (edge). Required Street Cred: 20.
Available edge mods:
Physical Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Physical.
Thermal Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Thermal.
Chemical Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Chemical.
Electrical Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Electrical.
Epic: Second mod slot available (rotor).
Available rotor mods:
Slow Rotor (Epic): Attack speed +20%.
Fast Rotor (Epic): Attack speed +35%.
Haming-8 Rotor (Legendary): Attack speed +45%.
Legendary: Third mod slot available (sensory amplifier).
Monowire (Rare – Legendary):
Rare: Charges when equipped but not used in combat. Attacks with a charged wire deal bonus damage based on the charge level. Charge level and bonus damage dealt decline with each attack. One mod slot available (wire). Required Street Cred: 20.
Available wire/cable mods:
Physical Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Physical.
Thermal Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Thermal.
Chemical Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Chemical.
Electrical Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Electrical.
Epic: Second mod slot available (battery).
Available battery mods:
Monowire Battery, Low-Capacity (Epic): Damage with Monowire +10%.
Monowire Battery, Medium-Capacity(Epic): Damage with Monowire +25%.
Monowire Battery, High-Capacity (Epic): Damage with Monowire +50%.
Legendary: Third mod slot available (sensory amplifier).
Gorilla Arms (Rare – Legendary):
Rare: Charge with each attack. When you perform a Strong Attack, they deal bonus damage based on the charge level. One mod slot available (knuckles). Required Street Cred: 20.
Available knuckle mods:
Physical Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Physical.
Thermal Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Thermal.
Chemical Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Chemical.
Electrical Damage (Rare): Changes type of damage dealt to Electrical.
Animals Knuckles (Legendary): Changes type of damage dealt to Physical. Punching enemies applies Bleeding Status Effect.
Epic: Second mod slot available (battery).
Available battery mods:
Battery, Low- Capacity (Epic): Damage with Gorilla Arms +10%.
Battery, Medium-Capacity (Epic): Damage with Gorilla Arms +25%.
Battery, High-Capacity (Epic): Damage with Gorilla Arms +50%.
Black-Market Battery (Legendary): Damage with Gorilla Arms +100%.
Rin3U Battery (Legendary): 10 Charge. Restores 100% stamina upon killing an enemy.
Legendary: Third mod slot available (sensory amplifier).
Projectile Launch System (Rare – Legendary):
Rare: Allows you to unleash various powerful projectiles, dealing various types of damage as well as causing explosions and applying Status Effects. One mod slot available (missiles). (Requires Smart Link Cyberware for smart-targeting.) Required Street Cred: 20.
Available missiles/launcher round mods:
Explosive Round (Rare): Normal shots explode on impact and deal Physical damage. Charged shots increase damage, explosion range and dismembering chance.
Electrical Round (Rare): Normal shots explode on impact and deal Electrical damage. Charged shots increase explosion range and stun targets.
Thermal Round (Rare): Normal shots explode on impact and deal Thermal damage with a 20% chance to apply Burn. Charged shots increase damage explosion range, and chance to apply Burn to 50%.
Chemical Round (Rare): Normal shots explode on impact and deal Chemical damage with a 20% chance to apply Poison. Charged shots increase damage, explosion range, and chance to apply Poison to 50%.
Militech Incendiary Round (Rare): Explodes on impact and deals Thermal damage to Enemies within the area of effect with a small chance to apply Burn. Charged shots increase damage, the explosion radius and the chance to apply Burn. Effective against groups of enemies.
Tranquilizer Rounds (Rare): Normal shots can render a single target unconscious. Charged shots have a larger area of effect.
Epic: Second mod slot available (wiring).
Available wiring mods:
Neoplastic Plating (Rare): Crit Chance +10%.
Metal Plating (Rare): All resistances +10%.
Titanium Plating (Epic): Armor +7%
Legendary: Third mod slot available (sensory amplifier).
Universal Arms Mods
The third mod slot you will unlock with all four Arms types when you get them at Legendary rank is a universal mod slot, the Sensory Amplifier. It has various moderate bonuses it can offer you and comes in four varities (which you can find at different vendors in Night City).
Of course, whether the ludicrous price of the Legendary rank justifies having any of these bonuses is up for debate. It might be a good idea for you to stick to the Epic grade until you have a few zeroes in your account. (And, by then there is a fair chance you might your desired Arms Cyberware as a looted item.)
Sensory Amplifier (Rare): Crit Chance +10%.
Can be found in Creek Loop, Kabuki.
Sensory Amplifier (Rare): Crit Damage +30%.
Can be found in Wellsprings, Heywood.
Sensory Amplifier (Rare): Health +15%.
Can be found in Cherry Blossom Market, Japantown, Westbrook.
Sensory Amplifier (Rare): Armor +5%.
Can be found at Finger’s, Japantown, Westbrook.
Where Can I Look For Arms Cyberware?
You can find all of the Epic rank Arms in collection of the unnamed Ripperdoc in Rancho Coronado, Santo Domingo. All of the Legendaries will be sold by the unnamed Ripperdoc at Wellsprings, Heywood.
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Mila Grish
Dedicated contributor at EIP Gaming and a part-time collector of books she will never have time to actually read. Jumps on the newest releases just as quickly as on the uncovered dusty collections from the basement. For her, shiny graphics can never be an excuse to not have a polished player experience or an immersive story.