In Cyberpunk 2077, most encounters eventually devolve into a hailstorm of deep-tissue lead poisoning. However, they don’t always have to. One can choose to let most situations devolve into a skewer fest where the player can rack up the limbs of V’s fallen enemies and turn them into cyborg shish kebabs. Such a colorful way to paint Night City red is made possible with melee weapons.

Of course, being the protagonist in Cyberpunk 2077, V needs a set of Unique weapons to fit the role. In that case, arming oneself with the unique weapons available in the form of the “Iconic” melee weapon class is always a great idea. So far, here’s how the 11 iconic weapons in Cyberpunk 2077 fare to kill V’s assailants in style.

Updated July 17, 2022 by Sid Natividad: Thanks to its most significant patch, Cyberpunk 2077 is the game that it should have been at launch. Not only did patch 1.5 address many of the game’s issues and bugs, but it gave current-gen console owners of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S they have been waiting for. Furthermore, the update added additional weapons and modifications that can be used in the game as part of its free DLC packs.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any new melee weapons or modifications that can be used with Cyberpunk’s best melee weapons. However, this list has been updated to include stats for all the Unique melee weapons in Cyberpunk 2077. Some of the best Cyberpunk 2077 melee weapons in the game are bizarre and none more so than the range of melee weapons listed here.

11 Satori

Whether one is a wannabe Medieval Japanese warrior or not, a shiny and serious katana is a beauty to behold. For that matter, the Satori is a valuable weapon early in the game that players can use to slice their way to the top of the Corporation ladder.

The damage is high enough to not have the worst DPS among iconic melee weapons, but the stats leave much to be desired. The Satori doesn’t exactly have any gimmicks up its sleeve and is pretty straightforward. Other killing sticks tend to outshine it.

Satori Stats

  • DPS:
  • 221.0
  • Damage:
  • 57
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 3.85
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 1

How to find it

To acquire the Satori, players will need to be compulsive looters during the main quest; The Heist. It’s where Jackie and V are tasked with stealing from Yorinobu Arasaka in Konpeki Plaza. That’s the only way to obtain this katana. Players will be able to see the Satori leaning against a seat inside Saburo Arasaka’s personal flying car which is parked on the rooftop landing pad.

10 Cocktail Stick

The Cocktail Stick is one fancy weapon that was probably used by some armed prostitutes or pimps in Night City as it sports a purple shade of paint. The weapon flavor text itself is self-aware and it no doubt looks like some kind of kinky toy.

Only, V’s opponents will be surprised that this funny weapon they underestimated can cut them like butter. The Cocktail Stick is one of the earliest Katana V can find in-game and its DPS is respectable enough for the early game at 191 damage per second but has a significant bonus to critical chance and can cause bleeding.

Cocktail Stick Stats

  • DPS:
  • 1,300.9
  • Damage:
  • 260
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 5.00
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 1 for the Rare variant and 3 for the Legendary

The Cocktail Stick is also obtainable via the main quest, Automatic Love, where players will need to track down Evelyn Parker at Takemura’s behest. Players will need to rummage through Evelyn’s dressing room in the Clouds dollhouse during the quest. The katana is just lying around in the dressing room.

9 Cottonmouth

The Cottonmouth is a cane but don’t let its modest appearance go unnoticed. This sophisticated gentleman’s weapon has its place in Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City, particularly when one wants to beat their enemies to an inch of their lives while retaining a non-lethal ethic in V’s story.

In any case, the Cottonmouth is a fantastic weapon that comes in either electric or chemical flavors. That makes it great for either heavily armored organic enemies or machines. Moreover, the Cottonmouth has bonus stats that reduce Stamina consumption for attacks and can either shock or poison enemies.

Cottonmouth Stats

  • DPS:
  • 2,220.8
  • Damage:
  • 555
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 4.00
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 1 for the Rare variant and 3 for Legendary

Yet again, another main quest weapon, the Cottonmouth is obtainable during The Space in Between. It’s the main job where players are still tracking down Evelyn Parker’s location. At some point in this quest, players will have to visit Fingers — the creepy and sleazy Ripperdoc with a terrible, receding hairline. Players will find the Cottonmouth on a table in Fingers’ clinic.

8 Sir John Phallustiff

Sir John Phallustiff looks like it drifted out of Saints Row and got lost in Night City. This one’s a deadly blunt weapon that will traumatize V’s enemies in more ways than just physical.

It’s a viable weapon as the attack speed is fast enough for some sensual clobbering. The damage is also higher than that of Cottonmouth; so if one is looking to drop the illusion of sophistication for something more boastful or vigorous, then this is a better “tool”.

Sir John Phallustiff Stats

  • DPS:
  • 2,163.4
  • Damage:
  • 540
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 4.00
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 1 for the Rare variant and 3 for Legendary

The reason why many players don’t wield this weapon too much (apart from sophistication) is that Sir John Phallustiff can only be obtained through side quests. This weaponized sex toy is hidden in plain sight during the Venus in Furs side job. It’s the one involving Meredith Stout and her rather odd fling proposition. Meredith will leave the baton behind on the bed after the “deed.”

A word of warning: the weapon won’t be available if players enable the nudity filter. Instead, it will be replaced by a regular shock baton.

7 Tinker Bell

Yet another re-skinned baton with a ridiculous makeover, the Tinker Bell is one w(h)acky weapon (pun intended). It’s not as vulgar as Sir John Phallustiff, but it will surely “send V’s enemies to Neverland”, at least according to the weapon description.

Like most weapons with the Electric Baton Gamma as their base, the Tinker Bell can squeeze in two attacks per second. The damage is also limited to electrical, and it can shock or KO V’s targets, especially those that don’t believe in fairies. It’s not the most powerful melee weapon in Cyberpunk 2077, but it’s one of the best for stealth builds.

Tinker Bell Stats

  • DPS:
  • 1,773.0
  • Damage:
  • 506
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 3.50
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 1 for the Rare variant and 3 for Legendary

Players will have to be friendly with River Ward if they want this weapon. It’s a potential loot reward during River’s side mission, The Hunt. In this side job, River and Ward are looking for a serial killer. At one point during the quest, the players will find themselves in Peter Pan’s farmhouse. There’s a hidden control room in that farmhouse; players will find Tinker Bell in this control room.

6 Jinchu-maru

Now, if a player is accustomed to the challenge of fighting stronger opponents to reap the rewards, then the Jinchu-maru is a perfect weapon. It’s a katana that means business and lets V deal double damage to enemies with twice his health stats.

On top of that, the Jinchu-maru gives a monstrous 100 percent critical chance whenever the Kerenzikov implant is active. Since that implant’s effect has a five-second cooldown, then the player can spam one-hit kills against enemies often.

Jinchu-maru Stats

  • DPS:
  • 1,300.9
  • Damage:
  • 260
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 5.00
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 2 for the Epic variant and 3 for the Legendary

It’s hard to miss Jinchu-maru as players will be able to loot this weapon off Sandayu Oda’s corpse in the aftermath of the quest; Play It Safe. This quest is part of the main storyline where Takemura and V will assault Saburo Arasaka’s funeral parade in Japantown. Players will have to fight one of the game’s big bosses here and he’ll drop Jinchu-maru.

5 Scalpel

It might not have the most menacing name among all the Katana in Cyberpunk 2077, but the Scalpel is more than meets the eye. It has one of the fastest attack speeds when compared to other melee weapons.

Pair that with the unique perk of the weapon that gives a 50 percent flat critical chance increase when the Sandevistan Cyberware is active, and V gets a devastating katana with elemental damage and bleeding.

Scalpel Stats

  • DPS:
  • 1,513.2
  • Damage:
  • 302
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 5.00
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 1 for the Rare variant and 3 for Legendary

The Scalpel is another iconic katana in Cyberpunk 2077, which is thankfully obtainable from a side job and not the main quest. Players will have to look for the Big in Japan side job; this can be triggered if players go to the Afterlife and talk to a man named Dennis. After the job, Dennis will reward players with some eddies and also tells players to pick up the Scalpel leaning on some barrels as an additional reward.

4 Tsumetogi

The Scalpel might be humorously deadly and all, but for those who prefer weapons that don’t rely on Cyberpunk 2077’s Cyberware mods, the Tsumetogi can be more accommodating. It’s a katana that matches the Scalpel in terms of speed but has slightly higher damage.

The Tsumetogi shifts its focus toward electrical damage, making it an ideal weapon for duels and even machine enemies. Its crowning stat is that it can stun enemies with its 20 percent chance to shock.

Tsumetogi Stats

  • DPS:
  • 1,326.5
  • Damage:
  • 265
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 5.00
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 1 for the Rare variant and 3 for the Legendary

Tsumetogi is also available in the side job, Pisces. This is Judy’s side quest where she decides to revolt against Clouds and take over the prostitution ring. During the final confrontation of this quest, Hiromi Sato will either attack players or barter a peaceful resolution with them; the former scenario will have Hiromi dropping the Tsumetogi after she’s killed, while the latter scenario makes the Tsumetogi lootable from a display stand.

3 Gold-Plated Baseball Bat

Of course, why settle for just stunning V’s enemies before dicing them to death when he can also stun and drain them of their blood? The Gold-Plated Baseball Bat is just that and while it might not have the elegance of a Katana, but three strikes to an enemy, and they’re out… of existence.

Despite all that buzz about damage, the Gold-Plated Baseball Bat is a non-lethal weapon. The 50 percent chance to apply Bleeding and immense physical damage as well as the low chance to stun is merciful enough to let the enemies live. The Gold-plated Baseball bat is one of the best non-lethal weapons in Cyberpunk 2077.

Gold-Plated Baseball Bat Stats

  • DPS:
  • 2,163.4
  • Damage:
  • 432
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 5.00
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 1 for the Rare Variant and 3 for the Legendary

Players can loot the Gold-Plated Baseball Bat from Denny’s pool accessible during the side job, Second Conflict. It’s the side quest where players will need to find Nancy inside the Totentanz talking to Maelstrom gang members. Players will want to explore the area and look for the pool.

2 Stinger

A stealthy player can’t just prowl around Night City without the best dagger in the game. That weapon would be the Stinger. True to its name, it applies chemical damage to its physical attacks and has a chance to poison the target.

That is on top of the insanely high base damage the weapon has. Since it’s also a dagger, the attack speed is the highest among the melee weapons though the short-range limits its capacity for frontal combat.

Stinger Stats

  • DPS:
  • 2,295.3
  • Damage:
  • 344
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 6.67
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 1 for the Rare Variant and 3 for Legendary

Players can acquire this huge knife from Mitch’s side quest; I’ll Fly Away. He’s out in the desert area as a Nomad and players won’t have trouble finding Mitch if they follow through with Panam’s questline.

1 Caretaker’s Spade

The most powerful iconic melee weapon in Night City isn’t even a native to its game world. The Caretaker’s Spade is an Easter Egg weapon plucked straight out of The Witcher 3. It belonged to a scary horror house boss in that game.

As one can imagine, that kind of reputation carried over to Cyberpunk 2077. The Caretaker’s Spade grants a big bonus to critical damage. Moreover, it also applies Bleeding. For some reason, it’s non-lethal despite being a monster of a weapon.

Caretaker’s Spade Stats

  • DPS:
  • 2,080.8
  • Damage:
  • 832
  • Attacks Per Second:
  • 2.50
  • Attachments:
  • Empty Melee Mod Slot
  • Mod Slots:
  • 3 Legendary

Sadly, players will have to finish the game if they want this easter egg weapon. Players can only acquire it in the jungle room in the Arasaka Tower which is only accessible during the main job; Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. Players will want to explore this indoor jungle, as the Caretaker’s Spade is slightly hidden, leaning on some rocks in the central area.

Cyberpunk 2077 is available now for the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.