12 BEST Cyberpunk 2077 Melee Weapons [In-Depth Guide]

You can also try your luck in hunting down all of the Iconic Weapons In Cyberpunk 2077 and equip V with the Best Cyberducks so you can deal the maximum damage with your build. Alternatively, you can narrow this list down to the Best Katanas, which are seemingly the most popular and easily the best melee weapons in Cyberpunk 2077.

I’ve summarized the stats for the best melee weapons in Cyberpunk 2077:

Socket Wrench

We figured to kick the list off with one of the simpler weapons to obtain, and that is the old reliable toolshed made for destruction known as the Socket Wrench. It is your everyday usage tool, but in Cyberpunk, it can be used as a makeshift weapon that easily fits in the criteria where almost anything can be used as a weapon. It perfectly aligns with the game’s theme, where brutality can result from using any means of artillery.

It is a blunt weapon type, meaning your attacks will hit hard on your foes, stunning them, too, as an added benefit. Furthermore, the legendary weapon variant comes locked with three mod slots, so you can boost its capabilities in any way you see fit. It also comes with high critical chance and damage modifiers, which will undoubtedly help you land powerful non-lethal strikes on your enemies.

Make sure to grab the weapon if you are looking to spice up your gameplay or playstyle. It can be a little pricey depending on where you’re at in the game, progress-wise, but it should prove valuable nonetheless. Plus, it also supports a 20% Bleed chance, which can be great against humanoid foes.

Location & Stats

Surprisingly enough, the game likes to hide away some of the best-quality melee weapons under your nose in the most obscure locations. Thankfully, the socket wrench is not too hard to find, as players will need to make the simple visit to a weapons shop in the eastern part of Night City. Just head to the Westbrook district in the borough of Japantown, where a Weapons Dealer will occasionally sell the weapon in his inventory.

Following are the stats for the Socket Wrench:

• Weapon Type: One-handed Club
• DPS: 781.6
• Damage: 233 damage
• Attacks Per Second: 3.35
• Mod Slots: Three

Sir John Phalustiff

Now it is worth mentioning that the design philosophy behind some of the weapons in Cyberpunk 2077 can tend to come off as weird and bizarre. The Sir John Phalustiff comes off just the same once you lay your eyes on its hilarious genital-like design for the first time and what kind of a weapon it is from the looks of it. It is one of the one-handed club archetypes, meaning your attacks can hit hard and potentially stun enemies.

The weapon itself has a short value for the DPS since you can get it in the beginning hours of the game. But if you are looking to get the most laughter out by stabbing thugs and netrunners, then I would highly encourage trying the weapon out for your selves. It does not have any particular unique attributes which make it stand out.

Location & Stats

As mentioned previously, players can get this weapon during the beginning quests of the game called ‘The Heist,’ where you and Jackie will plan to make a deal with the Maelstrom gang. But before you can even do that, you will have the option to partner up with Meredith Stout, a corpo who will aid V by giving them a new negotiation tactic against the gang members.

We recommend choosing the correct dialogue options once you meet her for the first before attempting The Heist quest to ensure she remains on your good side. If done correctly, upon exiting the gang member hideout after the mission, you will be contacted by her once again via text that she will be in touch with you for future work.

You can speed this part up by waiting in-game from the main character menu or making V sleep at their apartment so you can get the call from her as quickly as possible. Meredith will invite V to her apartment in a Side Job called the ‘Venus In Furs,’ and after some time, when you regain control of your character, the weapon should be lying on Stout’s bed.

The Sir John Phalustiff has the following stats on it:

• Weapon Type: One-handed Club
• DPS: 488.9
• Damage: 244
• Attacks Per Second: two
• Mod Slots: one

Scalpel

The first few of the Katanas on my list of the Best melee weapons in Cyberpunk 2077 is none other than the Scalpel, which is an excellent iconic weapon variant, easily acquired in the early-to-mid-game stages. What makes it so cool is the blade itself, which is made of carbon fiber material, which makes it unique in design.

The Scalpel has an element status effect, which will proc 20% electrical shock damage on your opponents with its deadly swings, thus easily stun locking them and making it a beneficial weapon against both robotic and humanoid enemies in the game. Furthermore, I suggest using the Cyberware known as Sandevistan, which will add a whopping 50% critical damage to your DPS, making it a solid melee weapon to use in almost every way.

Location & Stats

The weapon is obtained by completing one of the Side Jobs in the game called ‘Big In Japan, which can be found in the Afterlife Club. The club itself is where you will meet Rogue in the Ghost Town main quest and is essentially located on the South side of the Watson district in Little China. You will meet an NPC in the club called Dennis, who will initiate the quest for you.

The side job is pretty self-explanatory as V will have to locate a package for Dennis in the slum area of the map. The package is revealed to be a dead body that you must transfer to Dennis at a designated location in the city. Once you get back to him, the quest should be completed, and the Scalpel Katana should be right alongside him, ready to be picked up, as shown in the image above.

Following are the stats for the Scalpel in the game:

• Weapon Type: Katana
• DPS: 239.6
• Damage: 82
• Attacks Per Second: 2.91
• Mod Slots: One

Gold-Plated Basket Bat

Not a fan of workshed tools or Ninja-blades? Then have no fear as you can swing for home runs on the enemies using the Gold-plated basket bat. Unfortunately, the weapon is unlocked during the late-game quests, but it is all worth it if you can tackle it during the mid-game stages, too.

The weapon is a two-handed club, so you can have the option to charge your strikes up to make sure each attack hits as hard as possible on your enemy. What adds to the credibility of the weapon being on my list is solely the fact that it has an intrinsic perk of Denny’s rage being infused in it. The Bat has a high chance of applying the bleeding status effect and a low probability of Stun, which can all be boosted thanks to the addition of mods.

Location & Stats

The weapon can be picked up during the Second Conflict mission, which has you meeting up with some of Johnny Silverhand’s old bandmates, along with Kerry Eurodyne. In the mission, you will meet up with Denny and Henry at a mansion in the hills to discuss some things regarding their crew. You should be able to spot the weapon here since Denny will be holding it in her hand during the conversation.

Do not worry too much about the dialogue options here, as they won’t affect the weapon’s requirement in any way, so proceed through the conversation with whichever method you want. Once you are done, in spite of anger, Denny will throw her Bat into the empty swimming pool, which can be collected as V. So make sure not to exit alongside the rest of the characters and watch for the Bat so it can be picked up.

The following are the stats for the Gold-plated basket bat:

• Weapon Type: Two-handed club
• DPS: 847.8
• Damage: 188
• Attacks Per Second: 4.50
• Mod Slots: one

Bluefang

One of the newly introduced weapons in the recent 1.6 update of Cyberpunk 2077 brought in a fantastic knife that goes great with the Throwing knife builds of the game. It is called the Bluefang, and the design almost resembles something out of a CSGO pocket knife with an amazing Blue metallic finish to it.

The weapon is a jack of all trades when it comes to its effects, as it incorporates things such as bleeding, poison, and a balance of critical damage to make it stand out as a fantastic choice for knives. Most importantly, the blue fang also supports a 250% headshot damage multiplier, so if you’re rocking a skilled aim, then this weapon can pop heads left and right with the correct playstyle.

Furthermore, the weapon’s main Perk allows you to stun enemies upon hits, but what’s more interesting is that headshot stuns will occur immediately after a second. At the same time, body shots will take 3 seconds. Moreover, if the enemy is not in a combat state, you will instantly stun them, making it an awesome choice for stealth players.

Location & Stats

The Bluefang can be bought from a vendor on the outskirts of Night City on the South end. For this weapon only, I figured I would provide an exact location image to purchase it easily. As you can see, the Melee weapons vendor is sandwiched between the ‘Colby Little Mule’ and Tango Tors Motel fast travel locations. You will just have to drive off-road a little bit to the right, and you should spot a parked trailer van in the distance with the merchant.

Following are the Stats for the Bluefang

• Weapon Type: Knife
• DPS: 1118.6
• Damage: 330
• Attacks Per Second: 3.38
• Mod Slots: One

If you want to unlock an additional Mod slot for the knife and increase its damage, you can also upgrade it to the Epic variant using the following materials in the crafting menu:

• Requires the Perk called the Grease Monkey
• Bluefang (Rare)
• Uncommon Item Components: 35x
• Rare Item Components: 30x
• Epic Item Components: 35x
• Legendary Item Components: 2x

Cut-O-Matic

Have you ever wanted to channel your inner Leatherface from the Chainsaw Massacre franchise in the game? Well, look no further than the brutal and murderous Cut-o-Matic, which lives up to its name of being a motor-running one-handed saw that can shred through the limbs of enemies in Cyberpunk 2077. The weapon earns its place among the best melee weapons because it has quite a unique theme to it.

As soon as you pull out the weapon, it will automatically put you under a threatening status, meaning that nearby pedestrian NPCs will get scared off at the sight of you wielding the Cut-o-Matic. During combat encounters, you will need to remember that the weapon is not suited for stealth, as it will instantly alert your foes. So, with that in mind, it is relatively easy enough to find the weapon since you can buy it from a vendor.

Location & Stats

Luckily, it is yet another weapon that can be purchased with ease from Melee weapon vendors found across the streets of Night City in Cyberpunk 2077. The inventories of the vendors refresh with in-game time, so if you can’t find it as I did, make sure to refresh the clock by waiting or sleeping for 24 hours.

I found my epic variant Cut-O-Matic via the Melee Weapons vendor located in the bottom-most part of the map in the Pacifica district at the West Wind Estate. Alternatively, try to look for the West Wind Apartments fast travel station, which is where the vendor is located right next to it.

The stats for the Cut-O-Matic are as follows:

• Weapon Type: Chainsword
• DPS: 1080
• Damage: 883
• Attacks Per Second: 1.22
• Mod Slots: Two

Tinker Bell

The Tinker Bell is an electric Baton that can shock and electrocute enemies using its quick hits. It is yet another one-handed club iconic weapon that has a high probability of incapacitating your foes. I personally found this weapon to be quite helpful in completing the cyber psycho targets, which should preferably be taken down non-lethally.

The weapon has a 20% shock effect along with a 50% critical damage modifier, which makes it ideal if you are looking for another cool electric weapon to add to your inventory. Not to mention, you can easily find it lying around in one of the main NPC questlines featuring the detective, River Ward.

Location & Stats

The Tinker Bell can be found at the end of River Ward’s questline in his search for the psychotic tormentor Peter Pan. You will eventually come across the Farmhouse where River’s Nephew will be held captive, and you will need to infiltrate it safely while avoiding or triggering any of the mines or security systems.

However, River will suggest that I find a way to disable the security system, which is easier said than done by going into the nearby house to the side of Farmstead. Go into the room upstairs to disable the automated turrets, which will make things much more manageable. But it is also here where you will find the Tinker bell, which is located in a secret compartment of the room.

Simply scan the room, and you should be able to spot a hidden button under the nearby desk, which will open a hidden door. Once you enter it, the weapon should be lying on the desk for you to pick up.

Following are the stats for the Tinker Bell:

• Weapon Type: One-handed Club
• DPS: 1773
• Damage: 506
• Attacks Per Second: 3.50
• Mod Slots: 1

Cottonmouth

There is another weapon like the Tinker Bell, which can deal both electrical and chemical damage, called the Cottonmouth. The weapon is an intriguing choice to have since it can potentially shock and apply poison damage to your enemies, which is great for close combat encounters.

It doesn’t come equipped with too many numerical bonuses, but what makes it more interesting is that the weapon will continuously deal either shock or chemical damage, which is excellent in itself. You can also enhance these capabilities with mods to increase these elemental status effects greatly.

Location & Stats

The Cottonmouth can be found during the main quest in Act 2 called The Space In Between, where V will need to visit a clinic called Finger’s M.D. in order to gain access to some valuable information. While you are in the Clinic, there should be an open bedroom door on the left side where you can find the weapon lying around to be collected on the bed, as shown in the image of the Cottonmouth.

The stats for the Cottonmouth are as follows:

• Weapon Type:
• DPS: 352.2
• Damage: 175
• Attacks Per Second: Two
• Mod Slots: one

Stinger

The Stinger is basically another awesome throwing knife that players can collect from a missable conversation with one of the NPCs in the game. Now that the throwing knives function like boomerangs, you can use this weapon in pure style and comfort by ridiculously throwing it to one-shot most enemies at your level.

What makes the weapon feel special is the fact that its special effect is that with each successful hit to the opponent, it will dish out chemical damage. Furthermore, the poison effect chance is 30% on each of these hits, making it an ideal weapon if you are planning on using a throwing knife build for your playthrough.

Location & Stats

The Stinger can be fairly tricky to find if you are not paying attention to the Side Jobs of the game. Upon finishing the Riders On The Storm quest with Panam, there will be one last thing you will need to do here in the Desert. Head back to the Aledcaldos Camp, where you will need to talk with Mitch.

He will be sitting near Scorpion’s grave. He died in one of the previous missions I tackled with Panam. Talk to him in order to trigger a heart-to-heart conversation and a quest called ‘I’ll Fly Away,’ and at the end of it, Mitch will hand you the Stinger Knife as well as a lucky charm, which is essentially an easter egg figurine of Scorpion from the Mortal Kombat games.

• Weapon Type: Knife
• DPS: 578.2
• Damage: 173
• Attacks Per Second: 3.33
• Mod Slots: Two

Also worth checking out: Rebecca’s Shotgun Location In Cyberpunk 2077

Caretaker’s Spade

Out of most of the legendary weapons, the Caretaker’s Spade is certainly one special weapon for a couple of different reasons. One of which is that the weapon is quite literally a reference to The Witcher 3‘s Hearts Of Stone expansion, where you must battle against an abomination known as the Caretaker, who wields a rusty old shovel like the one represented in Cybperunk 2077 here.

It is a Two-handed Hammer type, which means it has slow but powerful attacks that can indefinitely immobilize enemies if used on a melee weapon build of the game. The weapon has great guard potential, which can prove to be fantastic as a guard option against the enemy’s unrelenting attacks. Furthermore, if you successfully manage to land hits with the weapon, it will also restore some of your health, which is useful during combat scenarios.

Location & Stats

The weapon can be obtained during one of the final missions in the game called ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ in which you infiltrate Arasaka Tower with Rogue, Johnny’s Girlfriend. It can be a little tricky to find since the location of the weapon has been slightly altered since the patch 1.5 release. Thankfully, the spade can be found leaning against a rock when you reach a conference table in the green room-like area of the tower.

Once you reach the Conference Table, there will be a security console that you can hack through in order to disable the defenses around the area. Go forward a bit to the left of it, and you should be able to spot it near a rock formation ready to be picked up.

The stats for the Caretaker’s Spade are as follows:

• Weapon Type: Two-handed hammer
• DPS: 188
• Damage: 125
• Attacks Per Second: 1.51
• Mod Slots: Three

Satori

If you are one of those players who are eager to get their hands on a superb Katana during the beginning hours of Cyberpunk 2077, then look no further than the Satori. The blade belongs to none other than Saburo Arasaka, who is one of the most prominent figures in the game that you meet during the opening missions. It was forged during the 20th century, and it is easily noticeable that the weapon hasn’t lost its shine since that time.

The weapon is by far the best weapon to grab in the early stages because the effect allows you to increase your total DPS output by 500% by lowering the base damage by 20%, which isn’t too substantial amount. You will be chopping enemies up at high velocity, making it yet another one of the best melee weapons in Cyberpunk 2077.

There are also ways to maximize the damage probability by applying some mods to it as well as activating some perks that you can earn from the skills tree. I have done some testing by ourselves and found that using perks like Blood Brawl Ninjitsu, and Too Close For Comfort can easily ramp up your damage numbers. Lastly, be sure to equip melee weapon mods like Kunai and White-knuckled to increase critical damage and attack speed.

Location & Stats

The Satori can be obtained during the ‘The Heist’ questline, where you infiltrate the Arasaka Penthouse room in a hotel with Jackie Wells, V’s best friend. You will be taken to the 42nd floor, where you will need to locate the package that you must steal from the room, but here is where the weapon can be collected. I recommend you do that as soon as possible because coming back here to collect it again can be tricky.

The Satori is resting on the Helipad just outside of the penthouse room and can be obtained by hopping out through one of the windows and grabbing it before you exit the sequence. It will be worth the trouble because you will have one of the strongest melee weapons to use for the rest of the early hours in the game.

The stats for the rare version of the Satori Katana are as follows:

• Weapon Type: Katana
• DPS: 200
• Damage: 52
• Attacks Per Second: 3.82
• Mod Slots: one

You can also enhance the Satori to Epic rarity, which can be done in the crafting menu using the following materials at hand:

• Requires the Perk called the Grease Monkey
• Satori (Rare)
• Uncommon Item Components: 35x
• Rare Item Components: 30x
• Epic Item Components: 35x
• Legendary Item Components: 2x

Jinchu-Maru

The weapon is easily one of the fastest Katanas in the game and belongs to none other than Sandayu Oda, one of the game’s main bosses that you will encounter during the mid-game quests. The weapon is by far the strongest Katanas and is my personal best pick for the Best melee weapons in Cyberpunk 2077.

Enemies will get sliced up to bits in just a couple of seconds because the main effect allows V to deal twice the damage against foes who are double their health them. Furthermore, the effect is boosted with the addition of the last strike in the combo, dealing 2x damage, totaling the damage around four times more than the normal one.

While you are experimenting with the weapon, I strongly advise opting to equip the cyberware ability known as the Kerenzikov alongside it. It works in full conjunction with the weapon as time is slowed down, and the critical chance modifier is raised to a whopping 100 percent, which will allow you to deal tenfolds of the normal damage.

Location & Stats

The Jinchu-Maru weapon can be found during the ‘Play It Safe’ main quests, where you must successfully aid Takemura in infiltrating the parade and letting him meet up with Hanako. The mission’s first objective will be to take out all of the roaming enemies, including the Snipers perched in three distinctive locations in the vicinity, without alerting them. So you will have to rely on stealth to take them all out as quickly as possible.

Most importantly, be careful of the patrolling guards and drones, which can easily spot you if you’re not careful enough with your approach. At the end of the mission, you will need to disconnect the interfering netrunner, but before you can do that, players will face off against Oda Sadayu in an epic boss battle.

The Jinchu Maru Katana will be rewarded to you by looting his body once you defeat him, after which you can simply complete the mission by going through the nearby exit and finishing the entire quest sequence.

• Weapon Type: Katana
• DPS: 1016.5
• Damage: 203
• Attacks Per Second: 5
• Mod Slots: Two

In case you have the Epic variant of the weapon, you upgrade it to a Legendary rarity with higher DPS by crafting it using the following materials:

• Requires Perk called the Edgerunner Artisan
• Jinchu-Maru (Epic)
• Rare Item Components: 25x
• Epic Item Components: 40x
• Legendary Item Components: 3x

My Opinion And Experience With Melee Weapons

Throughout my time in Night City, I mostly used the Scalpel. As a fast and precise Katana, it offered a unique and stylish approach to melee combat. The Scalpel’s 20% electrical shock damage made it a versatile choice, effectively stunning both human and robotic adversaries. It became even more lethal when combined with the Sandevistan cyberware, boosting critical damage by 50%. This weapon’s non-lethal capabilities were ideal for stealthy gameplay, allowing incapacitation without killing foes.

Cyberpunk 2077’s melee combat, in general, is a pleasant surprise within a predominantly first-person shooter game. The diverse selection of melee weapons and the ability to customize and apply various status effects to them added depth to the overall gameplay, offering players an array of combat styles to explore.

The Wrap-Up

Cyberpunk 2077 is on track to becoming the most-played game as the influence of the Edgerunners show adaptation and the recent 1.6 patches heavily benefitted the reputation of the game. New and returning players are flocking to see what kind of new misery awaits them in the world of Night City.

While the game was an utter mess on launch, it is safe to say that the redemption arc has finally paid off, and even more so, CD Projekt Red is on track to release their first major expansion for it; Phantom Liberty. It is unknown if I will continue V’s adventures in it or not, but if I hear anything more about it, I will be sure to cover it first and let you know all about it.

Cyberpunk 2077 has multiple different Melee weapons, but only a handful stand out as the best in it. Remember that if any of these weapons interested you in hunting them down, then try to be at the highest level so they can have the best stats possible since they vary in terms of character power level and your street cred level too.

If you enjoyed reading this list, please let me know your favorite weapon, and if so, would you recommend it to other players? Be sure to let me know if you have any other questions too in the comments section below!

Next: How To Get Edgerunners Jacket In Cyberpunk 2077