Summary

InCyberpunk 2077, stepping foot into Night City can be a one-way ticket to an early grave if you don’t come prepared. Good news. There’s a bunch of weaponry you can get your hands on early to make life easier. How easy? Well, it’s never a walk in the park — and that’s why we love Night City. But when armed with the right tools, you might just make it out alive.

The weapons you pick depend on what kind of build you’re aiming for. But no worries. There’s a ton of options to choose from. From slicing and dicing with katanas to picking off targets from a distance with high-caliber rifles, there’s plenty of firepower to go around. While powerful, these weapons won’t make you invulnerable to bullets. But you got to use every advantage you can get your hands on.

Updated May 28, 2025 by Britt Poteet:This list has been updated to include even more weapons to help beginners navigate their first playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077. With an additional katana and a couple guns, you’ll be running Night City before you know it.

Tech Pistol

Militech

Meet Lizzie – a pistol that makes your early-game V a force to be reckoned with. Treat her right and upgrade her as you level up, and she’ll be your trusty sidekick for the long haul. This semi-automatic pistol is your go-to weapon for turning enemies into mincemeat.

If you’re looking for killer early-game weaponry, this is it. You don’t need to jump through hoops to get it. You can acquire Lizzie during the main mission Automatic Love in one of the rooms inside Lizzie’s bar. And don’t let the pink paint job fool you. This pistol’s got some serious firepower, and it comes equipped with the option to charge your shots when aiming down sights, firing multiple rounds.

Katana

Arasaka

Is street fighting with a sword more your style? Scalpel is an iconic, early-game katana you may find in Cyberpunk 2077. Given to V as a reward after the Big In Japan quest, this sword deals out extra electrical damage to your foes.

With a 20 percent chance of Shock and increased Crit Chance while Sandevistan is active, this is a melee weapon worth the work of the side job.

Smart Pistol

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Skippy. Probably the most recognizable weapon in Cyberpunk 2077. Why?Because it talks. But it’s not just a voice-over interface. Skippy has a personality. A comedic one. It’s far from a cute gimmick, though. This smartgun leaves chaos and destruction in its wake.

Head to an alley in Vista del Rey, Heywood to find Skippy. When you scoop him up, you’ll trigger a funny cutscene. He’ll present you with two modes to choose from: Stone Cold Killer or Puppy-Loving Pacifist. Both choices have their perks, so it’s up to you. There’s a whole questline to explore with Skippy, but one thing’s sure: he can make surviving the twists and turns of Night City a breeze.

Submachine Gun

Darra Polytechnic

Buzzsaw is an Iconic version of the Darra Polytechnic DS1 Pulsar. With mustard-yellow paint on top of the darker base, it looks cool and has a great modifier, changing standard rounds to high penetration ones.

This weapon increases your damage to enemy limbs by 40 percent, so there is a high chance you will dismember people during combat. The weapon truly lives up to its name.

Tech Precision Rifle

The Widow Maker isn’t your run-of-the-mill rifle. This beast is a tech precision rifle with a twist, charging up shots to provide serious firepower. Besides charged-up shots, it also has a chance to poison your enemies. The Widow Maker excels at range, but it’s just as powerful when face-to-face, similar to a shotgun.

It fires off two projectiles per shot; you don’t need a math degree to figure out how strong it is. It’s one of thebest tech weaponsin the game. You can get your hands on the Widow Maker during the Ghost Town mission with Panam. Find Nash, take care of business, and the rifle is yours to keep.

Power Pistol

Dying Night is your very first iconic firearm in Cyberpunk 2077. It’s V’s trademark pistol. Its high fire rate and shot strength make it stand out. Dying Night provides a 50 percent boost to headshot damage and a greatly reduced reload time, making it feel similar to wielding an SMG. And the bayonet’s cool, too.

Completing the early-game side job The Gun gives you Dying Night. Even though you obtain it early, an upgraded Dying Night can hold its ground against late-game weaponry in the hands of a skilled player.

Power Shotgun

Budget Arms

No discussion about easy-to-obtain weapons would be complete without mentioning Guts. Thanks to its inclusion in Patch 1.6 as part of the Edgerunners Content DLC, it’s right there for the taking. Guts is an iconic shotgun with a devastating impact. When firing it, the recoil feels like a cannon blast. It doesn’t just pack a punch. It packs a thousand of them. Guts makes short work of any enemy, making it one of the more, if not the most, overpowered weapons in the early game.

As mentioned earlier, Guts is incredibly easy to acquire. You’ll stumble upon it at Memorial Park, discreetly hidden among some bushes close to the three praying monks. Although obtaining it so early might seem somewhat gimmicky, Guts is the perfect choice if you need some serious firepower.

Power SMG

Fenrir is an iconic SMG that dismantles and melts enemies like butter. With its unique modifier, it provides a chance to disable enemy cyberware. This rugged black-and-red SMG is the perfect counter to enemies equipped with Sandevistan and Kerenzikov implants, those pesky little buggers who zip and dash to close distance. Fenrir stops them right in their tracks.

Like all the weapons on this list, Fenrir is easy to come by. You can acquire it by wrapping up the Sacrum Profanum / Losing My Religion side job in Cargo Bay – taking just a few minutes of your time.

Blade Katana

Satori was none other than Saburo Arasaka’s personal blade. This is the perfect choice if you’re looking to wield one of thebest melee weaponsin the game. When Cyberpunk 2077 first launched, many players missed out on Satori, one of the best katanas in Night City. However, updates have made it possible to acquire Satori even after finishing The Heist.

Satori’s modifier has changed, allowing you to leap toward distant enemies, close the gap, and drop them like flies. There’s no denying the thrill and satisfaction of slicing through foes with a katana — and Satori really does make you feel like a samurai.

Power Sniper Rifle

Techtronika

After completing the Riders on the Storm job, Panam gives you a sniper rifle— Overwatch. Funny thing, the sniper rifle is the second-best reward you get from that job. If you’re romancing Panam, you know exactly what we’re talking about. So, how does Panam’s trusty sniper rifle rank among the best early-game weapons? Sure, it packs a punch, but that’s not its standout feature, though.

Overwatch comes equipped with a suppressor. And it’s the only silenced sniper rifle in the game. That alone makes it a must-have. Recent updates nerfed it by removing its ability to penetrate walls, but Overwatch remains one of the best early-game weapons in Cyberpunk 2077.