In Cyberpunk 2077 there are a few skills that are highly versatile and Cold Blood is one of them. It works magnificently within a number of different builds, which is why it’s almost always worth picking up. However, the builds that will benefit the most from this skill are without a doubt stealthy, melee, and blade builds that need to get up close and personal with the enemy.
Cold Blood essentially allows you to stack status effects every time you kill an enemy. To unlock this skill, you first need to get the actual Cold Blood perk from the tree, which activates the skill. Every time you kill an enemy, you’ll receive powerful bonuses to your health and stamina, as well as increased armor and resistances. Here are the best perks from the Cold Blood perk tree.
Following this surge of interest, this list of the best Cold Blood perks in Cyberpunk 2077 has been updated with new information and additionally six new perks that are also just as great in the Cold Blood tree. Cold Blood continues to be a powerful and versatile skill that fits into many character builds, hence making it a great skill tree for any “type of V” to specialize in.
15 Cold Blood
This is the base perk in the skill tree and is what you need to get by default to start unlocking more Cold Blood perks. The basic version of Cold Blood boosts V’s movement speed by two percent after every kill. With each level of Cold Blood, the effect is stacked first once, then twice, and at level three, three times. The effects last for ten seconds.
Cold Blood works fantastically in a lot of builds that rely on getting kills quickly, be it a gunslinger build or a melee fighter. Moreover, builds that rely on scoring critical hits on enemies are even better for Cold Blood, since it allows V to quickly stack the effects of this perk.
14 Coldest Blood
The Coldest Blood perk can be unlocked once you reach level 11 in the Cool attribute. It only has to be unlocked once and increases the Cold Blood stack limit by one. As such, it’s not the greatest perk out there, but given Cold Blood’s reliance on stack numbers, it’s still a must-have Cold Blood perk.
Plus, since it only requires one perk point, it’s a decent investment and one that doesn’t demand too many resources. Sometimes, it’s the simple perks like Coldest Blood that help the most in Cyberpunk 2077.
13 Bloodswell
This Cold Blood perk is great for particularly tough fights. Bloodswell allows V to gain the maximum stack number of Cold Blood whenever their health drops to 45 percent. As such, it allows V to become more powerful and resistant in the thick of the fight. It also only needs to be unlocked once for full benefits.
To get this perk, you first need to level your Cool up to level 14, meaning it’s definitely a more end-game perk. By this point, the Cold Blood status effect should already provide V just more than movement speed thanks to other perks you may have unlocked in the tree, making Bloodswell a powerful addition to your perk arsenal.
12 Frosty Synapses
Cold Blood isn’t just unique to melee or gunner builds. There are a few versatile perks that make it fantastic for any netrunner builds as well. The Frosty Synapses perk can be unlocked at Cool level seven and is among the best Cold Blood Perks for netrunners who rely almost solely on their quickhacks to win fights.
Frosty Synapses comes in two levels, each reducing quickhack cooldowns by a few percentages, per each stack of Cold Blood. Level one reduces cooldowns by three percent and level two reduces them by six percent. It’s a very good perk for netrunners to grab and proves that Cold Blood is an incredibly versatile skill tree.
11 Blood Brawl
For melee fighters, this is a must-have Cold Blood perk. Blood Brawl applies a massive boost to melee damage when Cold Blood is activated. To get this perk, level up your Cool attribute to 12 points. This should be possible around mid-game. The perk comes in two levels and requires two perk points to fully unlock.
The first level boosts V’s melee damage by five percent whenever Cold Blood is activated, and the second level bumps this number to ten percent. In the grand scheme of things and particularly towards the end-game, these are huge numbers that can make a big difference in tough fights.
10 Unbreakable
Unbreakable is a simple yet powerful perk that’s quite similar to Coldest Blood. In fact, it’s pretty much identical to it. The only difference is that this perk can only be unlocked once you reach level 16 of your Cool attribute, rather than at level 11, which can be attained fairly early on.
Just like Coldest Blood, Unbreakable only requires one perk point to fully unlock and increases the maximum number of possible Cold Blood stacks. It’s a simple number increase, but given how powerful Cold Blood can become in many different character builds, it’s worth investing in given its low perk price as well.
9 Will To Survive
At level five of the Cool attribute, you’ll be able to unlock the Will To Survive Cold Blood perk, which is a great perk if you’d like to increase your resistances. Every time you kill an opponent, your Cold Blood status effect will stack and along with it so will your resistances.
The first level of this perk gives you a small boost of 2.5 percent and the second level bumps it up to five percent. Resistances are an important feature to consider when fighting a variety of enemies, from netrunners to explosion specialists, so don’t ignore this passive perk.
8 Critical Condition
With Cold Blood basically being a heightened state where protagonist V is much stronger and more durable, you’ll want to reap the benefits of that for as long as you possibly can. That’s why Critical Condition, a perk unlocked at level seven of the Cool attribute, is an extremely handy Cold Blood perk for a number of builds.
Critical Condition has two levels. The first increases the duration by five seconds and the second level increases it by ten seconds. In a close-range fight in particular these additional durations can be the difference between life and death.
7 Rapid Bloodflow
One of the more overpowered Cold Blood perks in this tree is without a doubt Rapid Bloodflow. Health regeneration allows you to save up your consumables for a time where you really need them, so investing in this perk is smart. You’ll need a Cool level of nine to get your hands on it.
Rapid Bloodflow increases your health regeneration both inside and outside of combat by 50 percent at the first level and then by 100 percent per each stack of Cold Blood status. This is incredibly powerful, for both strong solo builds and stealthy builds that rely on taking down unaware enemies.
6 Frozen Precision
Firearm specialists shouldn’t ignore the Cold Blood perk tree, simply because of this fantastic Cold Blood perk alone which significantly boosts headshot damage. Frozen Precision is wonderful for any type of gunslinger, but sniper Vs and silenced pistol specialists relying on stealth will benefit from it the most.
To get this perk, level up your Cool to level 11. It only has one level, unfortunately, but once unlocked you’ll get an immediate 50 percent headshot damage increase, which is massively useful.
5 Predator
If firearms aren’t your thing, rest assured Cold Blood still has quite a bit to offer for players who are specialized in melee combat, brawl, or blades. The key in those character builds is to get as many blows in while you’re in the enemy’s face and extremely vulnerable.
Predator is a great Cold Blood perk in Cyberpunk 2077 for adding attack speed increases into your stacks of Cold Blood as well and is unlocked at level 12 of Cool. It’s a fantastic addition to any blade or melee build that relies on securing kills quickly and effectively while stacking up that Cold Blood to build resistances and power. With each stack, your attack speed will increase slightly, first by ten percent at level one of the perk and then by 30 percent at level two.
4 Cold And Calculating
If you’re basing your entire build on hitting Critical Hits with guns for example, then the Cold and Calculating Cold Blood perk just might be the best choice for you. With just one level of this perk to unlock, it’s easy to grab as well once your Cool is at level 14.
Every time you manage to land a Critical Hit, you have a 25 percent chance of activating a stack of Cold Blood. This means you don’t even have to deal a killing blow to receive a stack of Cold Blood in combat, which means you can get your resistances and boosts much sooner at the beginning of a fight.
3 Pain Is An Illusion
The most important aspect of Cold Blood is to ensure that V is tankier and more resistant, dealing immense amounts of damage. To help with that, there’s the perk Pain Is An Illusion, which becomes available at a high Cool level of 18. Still, it’s worth waiting and grinding for, as it’s one of the best Cold Blood perks by a long shot.
This perk has one level, which reduces any incoming damage by five percent while Cold Blood is activated. That might not sound like a lot, but as you progress through Night City, you’ll want to get any possible damage reduction you can to cope against tougher enemies.
2 Merciless
Merciless is a late-game perk in the Cold Blood tree and requires 20 levels in Cold Blood in order to be purchased. It’s another strong Cold Blood perk for players who build their characters around high and easy Critical Chance and Critical Damage.
Merciless increases your Crit Chance by ten percent and your Crit Damage by 25 percent. If your character already has high Crit statistics, these increases are massive. On top of that, you get an additional permanent one percent Crit Chance and three percent Crit Damage per level of this perk, of which there are two. This is the ultimate choice for any assassin Vs.
1 Immunity
The ultimate best perk in Cold Blood is undoubtedly Immunity, which can be unlocked once you reach level 20 of Cold Blood. Not to worry, though, because this one is worth waiting for due to just how incredibly powered it is.
Immunity comes in a single level, and basically gives you immunity to Bleeding, Poison, Burn and Shock damage types whenever Cold Blood is active. By now, it’s safe to assume your Cold Blood is pretty high level, and you’re activating it in every single fight, so consider just how much damage this soaks in for you. It’s a must-have, no matter what build you’re going for.
NEXT: Cyberpunk 2077: The Best Skills To Get In Annihilation
