So you’ve painted yourself into a corner with V’s stats. Now you’re staring at the character sheet, wondering how you ended up with a mediocre, confused build that does nothing particularly well. Been there. Cyberpunk 2077 lets you reset attributes and perks, but there’s a catch: you only get one official attribute reset per playthrough. We’ll cover what to do when you want to respec more than once and the game won’t let you.
Before fixing your build, you might want to visit my main Cyberpunk 2077 hub, where I collect guides and mods.
What’s the difference between attributes and perks?
Attributes are your five core stats: Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence and Cool. Each goes up to 20 and determines which perks you can access. You get 59 attribute points by reaching level 60, which requires Phantom Liberty. The math doesn’t lie: you can’t max everything. Not even close.
Perks are the abilities inside each attribute tree. They provide passive bonuses, new moves, damage multipliers and the like. They’re much more flexible than attributes because you can refund them whenever you want, for free, as often as you like.
Cyberpunk wants you to specialize. Spreading points across all five attributes makes V decent at everything instead of good at something specific.
Method 1: the official attribute reset
Update 2.0 added an official attribute reset. Here’s how it works:
- Open the main menu and go to the Character tab.
- Look in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
- Click the Reset Attributes button there.
- Confirm the action when the pop-up asks if you are sure
Your attributes return to their base values, and you can redistribute the refunded points however you like. Sounds great… until you realize you can only reset once per playthrough. Yes, once. That’s it. It costs no eddies, but after you use that button, the option disappears for good.
You can only reset attributes once per playthrough. The developers want you to think about your build choices. I understand the design perspective, but it’s still annoying when you like experimenting with playstyles. And who doesn’t, honestly?
Wait until around level 20 or the start of Act 2 before using your reset. By then, you’ll understand how the game plays and which build you really want. Resetting at level 5 because you misplaced two points? That’s wasting your only chance.
What if the game won’t let you reset attributes?
Sometimes the button gives an error: “Unable to reset attributes.” Very helpful, right?
The problem? You have cyberware installed that requires perks affecting Cyberware Capacity. The game won’t let you reset because removing those attribute points would invalidate your chrome, and apparently handling that automatically is too much for the system.
Here’s the fix:
- Remove all cyberware from the affected slots.
- Refund the perks that unlock those cyberware slots.
- Now try resetting your attributes again.
- Redistribute your points however you like.
- Buy the necessary perks again.
- Reinstall your cyberware.
Yeah, it’s boring. But it works.
Method 2: how it worked before patch 2.0
Prior to Update 2.0, the reset system worked differently:
Players had to buy Tabula e-Rasa from ripperdocs for 100,000 eurodollars, later reduced to 25,000 in patch 1.2. It reset perk points, not attributes. That system was removed in patch 1.3 and replaced by the current free menu-based approach.
Method 3: console commands for resetting attributes
On PC, console commands are your friends. First install Cyber Engine Tweaks, available on Nexus Mods if you don’t already have it.
Once it’s working, press tilde (~) to open the console and paste one of these commands:
Command to reset all perks:
PlayerDevelopmentSystem.GetInstance(Game.GetPlayer()):GetDevelopmentData(Game.GetPlayer()):ResetNewPerks()
Command to reset attributes:
PlayerDevelopmentSystem.GetInstance(Game.GetPlayer()):GetDevelopmentData(Game.GetPlayer()):ResetAttributes()
Press Enter to refund your points. You can use these commands as many times as you like. The downside? Steam achievements are disabled for that session. Restart without mods if you want achievements back.
Honestly? For a single-player RPG, this feels like how things should work by default. The one-reset attribute limit has always seemed like a strange decision to me.
Method 4: mods that remove the one-reset limit
Multiple mods simply remove this annoying one-reset limit. If you use mods anyway (and let’s face it, most PC players do), they’re worth it.
Reset Attributes Always Available (Redscript)
Keeps Reset Attributes permanently available in the Character menu. Free, unlimited and otherwise identical to the official reset. Use it whenever you want.
Installation:
- Download and install redscript first. It’s required.
- Download the mod from Nexus Mods.
- Unpack files in the root folder of the game
- The file should be here: \Cyberpunk 2077\r6\scripts\ResetAttributesAlwaysAvailable.reds
Reset Attributes Multiple Times (Gameplay Balanced)
This one adds a price system if you want something more lore-friendly. Each reset costs eddies, starting at 100,000 and rising to five times that amount if you keep resetting. You can configure the exact cost through Mod Settings or the configuration file.
I actually like this approach. Unlimited free resets take the weight out of character development. Having to hand over a pile of eddies makes you at least think about whether you need that respec right now. It also fits the game’s corporate-capitalist atmosphere. 🤔
Installation:
- Install redscript.
- (Optional, but recommended) Install Mod Settings
- Download and unpack in the root folder of the game
Refunding perks is much easier
Unlike attribute resets, perk refunds are generous. You can do them as often as you want, whenever you want, for free. Here’s how:
- Open the Character menu.
- Select the attribute containing the perk you want to refund.
- Hover over a perk you’ve already purchased, highlighted in yellow.
- Press the refund button shown in the tooltip, usually middle mouse on PC, Y on Xbox or Triangle on PlayStation.
- Boom: the perk point is refunded immediately.
A few things to remember. You must refund dependent perks before their prerequisites. The game won’t let you refund a perk while others still depend on it. There’s also no “refund all” button. Resetting a whole tree means clicking every perk individually. It gets tedious quickly, but at least it’s free.
I’ve lost count of how often I’ve rearranged my perks mid-playthrough. Testing different combinations is essentially free, so there’s no reason not to experiment until you find what works.
Save editors offer full control: use with caution
Save editors are the nuclear option. Tools such as CyberCAT-SimpleGUI or CyberpunkSaveEditor let you modify almost everything in a save: attribute values, perk points, inventory, appearance, you name it.
What you can do:
- Change any attribute value directly.
- Add perk points out of thin air.
- Edit inventory items and quantities.
- Change the appearance of the character after creation
- Adjust hidden stats and modifiers.
What could go wrong:
- Corrupting a save if you make a mistake.
- Game instability from values outside normal ranges.
- Features may break after game updates
- You can accidentally make the game a lot less interesting by giving yourself everything at once.
Always, always back up your saves before editing them. I’ve seen too many people ruin 100+ hour playthroughs because they didn’t make a backup. The risk isn’t worth it, so use mods or console commands instead.
How many points do you actually get at max level?
With Phantom Liberty, the level cap is 60. Without it, you’re capped at 50. Street Cred maxes out at 50 either way.
Total points at level 60:
- 59 attribute points, one per level starting at level 2.
- 59 perk points, one per level.
- 10 additional perk points from skill progression: reach levels 15 and 35 in each of the 5 skills.
That gives you around 69 perk points in total if you maximize everything. That’s… actually not much compared with the number of perks in the game. You still have to prioritize.
The attribute math is even tighter. 59 points across five attributes, each reaching 20? You’ll max perhaps two and bring a third halfway up. Build specialization is mandatory in this game.
Putting it all together
Respeccing in Cyberpunk 2077 ranges from very easy for perks to annoyingly restricted for attributes. The official one-time attribute reset works fine if you plan ahead and don’t waste it early. Perk refunds are essentially unlimited, so experiment freely. PC players get much more flexibility through mods and commands. Honestly, that feels like how a single-player RPG should have worked from the start.
My advice: don’t obsess over the perfect build during character creation. You’ll learn what you enjoy by playing, and that’s the right time to reset attributes. The game is much more fun with a build you actually like than one you’re forcing yourself to use because it sounded great on paper or in a generic YouTube guide but feels awful in practice.
And remember, if you’re on a PC and the one-reset limit is driving you crazy, mods are there for a reason. Use them. It only makes the game better.
More questions answered
Can I skip spending attribute points during character creation and use them later?
Yes. When you’re looking at those initial 7 attribute points in character creation, click “Next” without spending them. The game doesn’t mind.
Here’s the trick. Character creation normally caps each attribute at 6. Skip spending your points there, though, and you can put all 7 into one stat as soon as you open the Character menu. One attribute at 10 before your first gig.
Intelligence builds benefit the most. Starting with 9-10 Intelligence unlocks quickhacking perks that normally take hours to reach. You’re shutting down enemies before meeting Jackie at the noodle stand.
Does resetting attributes affect Street Cred or other progress?
No. An attribute reset only affects your attribute and perk points. Your Street Cred stays the same, as do your character level, skill progression, inventory, eddies, cyberware and quest status. All of that remains untouched.
The catch? You need to spend points again to unlock perks with attribute requirements. Drop Body from 18 to 3, and those high-level Body perks disappear until you meet their requirements again.
Can you max every attribute in one playthrough?
Not even close. At level 60 with Phantom Liberty, you have 81 attribute points in total. Raising all five attributes to 20 would require 100. You’re 19 points short.
Does loading an old save restore the one-time reset?
Yes. Reset status belongs to your save file, not your account. Load a save from before you pressed the reset button, and the option returns. Make a manual save immediately before resetting attributes. Test the new build for a couple of hours. Don’t like it? Reload that save, and your reset is available again.
