How To Level Up Quickly – Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 manages to hook players in with its engaging leveling system. While other open-world games can make leveling a chore, in Cyberpunk, gunning through gonks is actually fun. In this guide, we’ll discuss how leveling works, and show how to quickly level up in Cyberpunk 2077. Use the Contents button to quickly jump to a specific section!

How Leveling Works in Cyberpunk 2077

Much like in Skyrim, skills are leveled up by using corresponding weapons and abilities. For instance, using swords and knives will level up “Blades”, using pistols will level up “Handguns”, and so on. Many powerful perks require that you reach a certain level in the corresponding skill. You can access your stats table from the character menu to see the current level of all your skills.

Unlike skills, your Street Cred, Perks, and Attributes are increased by gaining XP — you can gain XP by doing side jobs, main jobs, as well as responding to NCPD scanner events and simply killing enemies. After every player level up, the player receives a perk point and an attribute point. Perk points, naturally, can be spent to unlock perks. Attribute points are used to increase the value of your main attributes; increasing attribute scores will improve related abilities (for example, gaining points in Technical Ability increases your effectiveness against drones and robots).

Accessing stats in the Character Menu

1. Open the main menu of the game.
2. Select the Inventory tab.
3. Next to Cyberware is the stats tab. Here you will see your stats and the damage associated with them based on their level.

Best Activities for Leveling Up Quickly

Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t afraid to incentivize exploration and free-roaming, giving the player ample time to level up for the big story missions. Thus, aside from story missions, the best sources of XP are the Side Jobs and Gigs. Side jobs usually involve one or more characters and multiple steps, like helping Panam free Saul. Gigs on the other hand are short and sweet, typically boiling down to a brief murder spree (free XP, essentially). Lastly are the random Reported Crimes, which should be taken advantage of while moving between locations.

It can be a pain finding everything on the generally-cluttered map, so here’s how to filter the map to display only Side Jobs and Gigs:

1. Open the map screen.
2. Press right on the filter options until the “Custom” option appears.
3. Select the following options:
   • Main Jobs (which includes side jobs)
   • Gigs
   • NCPD Scanner
   • Fast Travel.

Best Leveling Method

An interesting fact about Cyberpunk is that different areas have varying crime rates, giving a real sense of personality and variety to the different areas. For example, Watson has some of the most concentrated crime rates compared to the other areas. With that in mind, this is the best method for leveling in Cyberpunk 2077:

1. Go to Watson.
2. Start looking on the map for any nearby Side Jobs.
3. Once you find one, mark it on your map and start heading there.
4. While on your way, you will get a notification if close enough to a reported crime — it will appear as an NCPD message.
   • Stop the Reported Crime and collect the evidence. Easy money and XP on the way to the Side Job.
5. If the side job has multiple steps, you can complete some reported crimes in the area before heading to the next location.
6. After completing whatever Side Job you are on, repeat the process with some Gigs in the area.

We hope this guide on leveling in Cyberpunk 2077 was helpful! If you’ve got any questions, or your own method you think works even better, let us know in the comments!