Armor no longer works the same way, as the Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update has entirely shaken the base game up. While this might break multiple pre-update builds, it also provides new opportunities to bulk up. Before, you were somewhat locked into purely the stats that clothing allowed, but that’s not still the case. Instead, you’ll need to do a few things that weren’t previously possible to increase your armor levels.
Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Armor: How to Increase Your Defense
The first thing to know is that clothing no longer provides a viable amount of armor. There are a lot of pieces that don’t even provide any. If you still want to utilize the ones that do, you’re stuck with vests and helmets, but they only ever provide a measly 25 armor apiece.
Instead, you’ll want to focus mainly on Cyberware parts that provide a decent boost. Skeleton Cyberware is where the biggest bonuses are, but upgrading them can be costly due to the material requirements. As this would also weigh heavily against your Cyberware Capacity, players might opt to follow a different path and build out their Cyberware differently.
If you don’t utilize Cyberware for its high-end armor capabilities, you can always rely on your stats. Putting points in your Technical Ability Attribute allows you to gain a bonus to your Armor score based on how many points you have. When at the maximum of 20, it’ll boost your overall Armor by 40 points.
You can also increase your Engineering Skill. These bonuses might seem a little small in comparison to what Cyberware offers, but they add up quickly if this is where you want to specialize your character. Gaining experience for the skill is as simple as tossing out grenades during combat, and you should be able to reach a fairly high level without too much effort.
As far as Perks go, All Things Cyber and License to Chrome offer the best further increase.
What Is the Maximum Armor Amount?
Despite how useful all of the above is, the game gives a hard limit to possible armor levels of 1500 total Armor. This might seem like it’s not enough, but it would take you plenty of upgrading and Attribute points to reach it. Likewise, you’d need to dump a significant amount of Attribute and Perk points into Technical Ability to even come close to this total while also utilizing the best possible Cyberware available.
Fortunately, you’ll get by just fine with an Armor score that’s anywhere between 300 and 800 on the Normal difficulty setting, so you don’t need to worry too much about trying to reach this cap.
How to Check Your Armor Stat in Cyberpunk 2077
The Cyberware section of your character menu includes a gauge on the right side to track your armor level. This tracks points earned from every possible source to calculate your overall Armor level, and it will show you any Perks that might further increase the stat if you hover over it.
As increasing armor is key to V’s survival, all the above information should help you on your path through Night City. For more Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 guides to help you understand all the changes, take a look at our relevant links down below.
